S11.E14: Grand Finale

[OnceSane]

TBA

Airs May 30, 2019.

[DisneyBoy]

I just want to say...I'm torn between Brooke Lyn and Yvie...but I don't really feel either killed it hard enough to earn the crown.

Am I alone?

[Sew Sumi]

They killed it harder than Silky! 

[TheLukeP]

Congratulations to our newly crowned queen [Placeholder for edit]YVIE or BROOKE[/placeholder]!

[zenithwit]

Sooo.... Silky picking Brooke Lynn in the first round had to be some sort of crazy producer manipulations in order to get a Brooke Lynn v Yvie F2, right?

[Keywestclubkid]

I don’t know if it’s editing or what but both those lips syncs were stank I’m sorry 

[Stardancer Supreme]

Yvie is an awesome Queen. I'm good.

[Temperance]

I actually thought the lipsyncs were good tonight. I enjoyed Bootylicious with Brooke Lynn and Silky, who I thought did a good job. I also thought Yvie did well particularly in her lip sync against Brooke. 

I was happy for Nina West, that she won Miss Congeniality and I love Nina and Monet X Change.

I liked Aquaria's outfit. 

Silky should have picked A'Keria for her lip sync like Kameron picked Asia. 

It does seem kind of rigged that it came down to Brooke versus Yvie! But I'm so happy for Yvie Oddly! You go girl! It kinda feels like the right person after all. 

[zenithwit]

Congrats to Yvie!  Also, congrats to Nina West on Miss Congeniality!

In general, I think Sasha Velour has ruined all Finale lip syncs and it may be some time until we have another one at her level.  But overall, I appreciated this one.  I thought Yvie's headpiece was gorgeous and created a beautiful, subtle reveal.  But I also liked Brooke Lynn's sarcastic and not so subtle nod to all of the reveals that happen during these finales.  While it was close, I think Ru made the right decision.

Edited May 31, 2019 by zenithwit

[laprin]

20 minutes ago, Keywestclubkid said:

I don’t know if it’s editing or what but both those lips syncs were stank I’m sorry 

 Their rematch reminded me of that saying “lightening never strikes the same place twice.” Overall, not that impressed with any of the lip syncs. However, as an ABS person, I am fine with the outcome. 

[Kanner]

Though I was rooting for Brooke Lyn, I think based off of lil syncs the right person won. Yvie was my second favorite. 

Congrats Yvie!

I really liked Yvie’s minimal take in the last lip sync. I also liked Brooke’s “obvious” reveal. 

I felt Silky was doing too much in her lip sync and I knew Brooke won it when she did the handstand. 

Was not crazy about the second lip sync. 

[bluvelvet]

Glad Yvie won. Agree that none of the lip syncs were gag worthy.  I didn’t know why Yvie’s first lip sync outfit had 10 million muppets on it and it limited our ability to appreciate her movements. 

Silky had too many reveals and it was still a mess. Brooke needed a lot (A LOT) more stank. She had a second with the split booty bounce but she should’ve done that more. 

For some reason Papa Oddly touched me, so supportive of Yvie, wearing the t shirt and making his motorcycle buddies watch Yvie. Maybe it’s because he looked a bit straight-laced.  

Congrats Yvie, you were my pick!!!

Edited May 31, 2019 by bluvelvet
Grammar

[zenithwit]

20 minutes ago, Kanner said:

I felt Silky was doing too much in her lip sync and I knew Brooke won it when she did the handstand. 

I knew Brooke won when the show cut from one of Silky's 438 reveals to show Brooke's handstand. 😂

32 minutes ago, Temperance said:

I was happy for Nina West, that she won Miss Congeniality and I love Nina and Monet X Change.

I'm also really happy for Nina West.  I think finally making it on the show meant a lot for her.  So I'm glad that she gets to join this exclusive club.

Edited May 31, 2019 by zenithwit

[kissedbyarose]

“Meh.” - Nina West

 Best part of the finale.

[icol]

At least we got the final showdown between the two best of the four remaining. Yvie deserved if it we based it on that last number. I like how she just tried to acted it out with minimum stunts and relied on the drama as much as possible. I wish this was the season we had the tie instead of All Stars 4.

[Guiaoshi]

A good finale.. Like the passing better with the edit videos to introduce each final 4 queen instead of having a mini ´´interview`` with them/with those lame questions.. 

Memorable runways: Plastique (wasnt into her looks during the season but if she follows more  the cultural direction of this and her reunion looks, it would make her way more unique and interesting as a look queen), Shuga (way to show a good reveal this time around), Nina, Ake´ria (her runway/interview look only), all Ivye´s looks (she gave us such a great varation between the three looks and they all looked great/exciting). I expected more from Brooke to be honest.. And of course, Aquaria look was a wow.

On the lip syncs:

Round 1: Brooke VS Silky: You could see on Silkys face that she was so nervous before the lip sync, now I´m 100% sure most of that personality is used to hide her insecurities. Anyway, Brooke kinda nailed this, Silky still was messy/all over the place with random reveals/ getting uglier and uglier (she used that bodysuit from her lip sync with Nina again? Really? Geez). If wasnt for some bad camera work (this thing of taking the queens from down-up/down-up takes away from the mininal details that we would like to see on a lip sync. Anyway, not even close (just not sure if the chains had any purpose as a reveal or anything on Brookes performance).

Round 2: Yvie VS Ake´ria: Both went different directions, Yvie was a mix of playfull and wierdo approach while Ake´ria was more of a straight forward interpretation of the song. Both interpretations serve the song well tho. At this one, however, I felt the camera work hurt it more (they didnt even showed Yvie´s ´´leave Britney alone`` semi-reveal under her skirt). By the end, while more close, Yvie stood out more while Ake´ria, as Silky, made some reveals that made her become uglier/too basic (that last wig, really? Don´t do a reveal at all if you gonna serve this).

Final Lip Sync: Yvie  VS Brooke: Great song for a final lip sync (I actually would have liked it more if they played the slowed down version, going with full emotion). Anyway, both started of ok (its a song made for a build up, you can´t serve alot at the beginning).. By the middle it turned, have to say, Brooke reveal was one of those too obvious reveals so not exciting (specially since it took her like 10 secs to take it off) and here were both went different directions and IMO, it was clear who should win: Brook went for the dance moves with totally worked once the chorus kicked but then went for the multiple splits when the song builds into a emotional moment while Yvie owned that transition with her head piece moment (that was a wow moment, more that any reveal tonight), using her flexible/wierd poses that totally were complimented by her look (that mirror head piece giving us different angles? Amazing). And here the camera work did a better job, by the end was no doubt in my mind, despiste Brooke respectable job Yvie was a eye catcher with her interpretation.

Winner: Yvie Oddly- IMO, a great winner. At the beginning I thought she would be wierdo just for the sake of it and make not sense/lose her way at some point but no.. As the competition progressed, we saw more and more of her thought process, keeping us surprised till the end, never predictable while showing a vulnerable and strong character at the same time. She shined all the moment during the finale, it was mean to be her night.

PS: Well deserved miss congeniality, I major LOL when she played the ´´meh`` joke. Overall, a really good season, talented queens, unpredictable.. Only thing that hurt it was producer/ Ru pushing tiresome characters as Vangie and Silky. They had a good cast, they didnt needed to keep them like they did. Hope they will think better before assume who the public would like to see more.

Edited May 31, 2019 by Guiaoshi

[Guiaoshi]

1 hour ago, zenithwit said:

Sooo.... Silky picking Brooke Lynn in the first round had to be some sort of crazy producer manipulations in order to get a Brooke Lynn v Yvie F2, right?

I dont know.. If was about producers manipulation, they could have maded her choose Yvie, having the lip sync between both finally happening and still we would have the same F2. IMO, it felt like Silky was extremely nervous, wasnt prepared for her to make a choice. Maybe she didnt wanted to go first against A´keria because of their friendship and between Brooke and Yvie, both would be hard to beat, maybe she was afraid to go against Yvie and eat her words.

[Not4Me]

34 minutes ago, kissedbyarose said:

“Meh.” - Nina West

 Best part of the finale.

That’s certainly the perfect word to describe the season.

Glad the right person won. Even if eventually.

[Aerobicidal]

I would have eliminated both Brooke and Silky immediately after the first lip-sync, given Nina West the title, and then headed to the nearest dive bar to slam shots of 151 until I forgot this entire season.

That said, the winner and Ms. Congeniality are both not unsatisfying.

[Gothish520]

Very happy for Yvie! I was team Hytes, but Yvie has such a unique style. Loved her final lip sync look. 

I also loved the voiceovers and the comedy bits with the final four - very funny! 

I had not heard about Michelle getting her implants removed, I will have to do some Googling about that.

Overall, I enjoyed this season and think there were some memorable queens. Brooke, Vanjie, Scarlet, Yvie, Nina, Shuga and Plastique are my favorites, I will be happy to see any of them pop up somewhere in the future.

[Guiaoshi]

37 minutes ago, Aerobicidal said:

I would have eliminated both Brooke and Silky immediately after the first lip-sync, given Nina West the title, and then headed to the nearest dive bar to slam shots of 151 until I forgot this entire season.

That said, the winner and Ms. Congeniality are both not unsatisfying.

Loooove Nina, deserved a place at the finale, was all the way bouncing up and down in my top 3, but It wouldnt be her moment IMO. It would be hard for her to beat either Brooke and Yvie (even Ake´ria), All Stars might be the best for her, lip sync wont matter as much, she can afford to not be a lip syncer assassin, keep winning acting challenges/staying on top.

[Sew Sumi]

Does this result mean that Ru actually looks at the social media tallies? #TeamYvie killed it, and the last I saw, Silky was a distant 4th.

Congrats Yvie! 

eta: Congrats to Nina for Miss Congeniality. A much loved queen!

Edited May 31, 2019 by Sew Sumi

[phoenix780]

I thought Vanjie and Nina killed it tonight, fully taking advantage of this moment. I'm openly biased and hopeful that they're in my area soon. I feel like I owe them tips. 

Silky's bluster is obviously a cover, after seeing the nerves tonight. For me, she's not quick-witted enough to be a good villain, genuine enough to be neutral, or talented enough to be enjoyable.  That said, I hope she refines her character before the inevitable all stars appearance, because I'd feel bad, sort of, if she came back without the skills for some kind of redemption. Huh, I somehow softened towards her, albeit very slightly. I'm also pretty sure it won't last- I can't imagine her losing gracefully or without excuses. 

Add me to the list of those who thought the final lip sync was just OK. I liked Yvie's second face reveal, and I was impressed she did a flip in that head piece. Brook does a great twirling reveal. But...was it really short, or did it just feel that way? I felt like they didn't have enough time to really go somewhere with their performances. 

I'm down with who won, I'm curious to see where she goes from here. 

How was miss congeniality chosen? I totally missed the explanation. 

[Glade]

Yvie's final look was breath-taking with those reflective surfaces around her face, and a perfect look to be crowned in.  I wasn't terribly impressed with either of Brooklyn's lipsyncs, they were just ok, same with her looks tonight.  Meh.  Congrats to Yvie and Nina, but this was a bad season, which saw RPDR drowning in its own memes and dragging dead queens long past their due date.  Drag Race Thailand is the only really exciting thing happening right now, and episode 3 of DRT's season 2 was better then season 11 and AS4 combined.  I somehow doubt that UK RPDR is going to be anywhere near as good when Ru and WOW are still in charge. 

[Delete]

Yvie won so I'm happy. She's very cool, and her promo bit was the best by far. 

Her Dad is a hottie!

I found the show badly edited, and it didn't flow very well at all. 

Happy for Nina too. She definitely the Queen of Congeniality. 

Touching yet funny moment for Michelle's breast implant removal. Hope she is feeling well, and doing better now. TBH, I think she looks fantastic without them. 

[futurechemist]

For the first 55 minutes of the 90 minute finale, this was me. 

I should have realized the live finale wasn't actually live when there were "coming up" bumpers at each commercial.

As for the actual competition, I'd have been happy with either Brooke or Yvie winning. The outfits, lip synching and song choices were entertaining, especially Yvie's rear-face. And while I'm impressed with Silky's flexibility, I still think that she and Vanjie are best served in small doses no closer than 10 feet from a microphone.

Edited May 31, 2019 by futurechemist

[violet and green]

That was a very odd finale... Some of those film packages seemed to go on forever. (RIP Michelle's inflatables.) The only one I enjoyed for its full length was Yvie Oddly's, who I adore - so, hooray! My Queen! Fabulous ending to the season. So lovely to see a Queen with a deep soul win. It's been a while. Loved seeing her tear up over Papa Oddly...

[rollacoaster]

Those legends got about 2 seconds a piece, and no name chyrons. Though, Raja got maybe 3.5 seconds, and rightly so. 

HOORAY FOR YVIE!!!!

Edited May 31, 2019 by rollacoaster

[Kroliosis]

I can't bring myself to watch this...can anyone tell me the 3 lsfyl songs? 😉

[phoenix780]

The songs were Bootylicious (Silky vs. Brooklyn), Edge of Glory (Brooklyn vs. Yvie) and...I can't even remember the third. There was so much filler, and other than Akeriah on the floor I can't remember anything about it. 

I wish they'd named the queens who came out during the live performance from that random singer who I'd never heard of. I wasn't quick enough to recognize some, and I missed a couple trying to figure the one before them out. Also, they couldn't have let one of the past queens sing? 

Is the UK version airing here? 

[ItCouldBeWorse]

12 hours ago, Guiaoshi said:

(just not sure if the chains had any purpose as a reveal or anything on Brookes performance).

I think the chains were used to pull off her boots to reveal red ballet slippers which allowed her to proceed en pointe.

Edited May 31, 2019 by ItCouldBeWorse

[Blakeston]

1 hour ago, phoenix780 said:

The songs were Bootylicious (Silky vs. Brooklyn), Edge of Glory (Brooklyn vs. Yvie) and...I can't even remember the third. There was so much filler, and other than Akeriah on the floor I can't remember anything about it. 

The Yvie/A'Keria song was SOS, by Rihanna.

I love Yvie, but her win wasn't as satisfying to me as it could have been, because I found her performance in that first lip sync to be very underwhelming.

[Keywestclubkid]

3 hours ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

I think the chains were used to pull off her boots to reveal red ballet slippers which allowed her to proceed en pointe.

Like vanji and her silhouette Brooke is beating that preforming en pointe to death like it’s not a reveal and shocking or new and exciting when you do it every god damn time.  It’s like oh there it is we knew it was coming cause u obviously have no other creativity to put in but that AGAIN. 

Edited May 31, 2019 by Keywestclubkid

[Juneau Gal]

15 minutes ago, Keywestclubkid said:

Like vanji and her silhouette Brooke is beating that preforming en pointe to death like it’s not a reveal and shocking or new and exciting when you do it every god damn time.  It’s like oh there it is we knew it was coming cause u obviously have no other creativity to put in but that AGAIN. 

I agree. In my time zone they showed the episode where Vanje was eliminated before they showed the finale. I literally yelled at my TV during the LSFYL, “Get off you damn toes Brooklyn and do something else!” So tiresome. And so limiting for her. In the very last lip sync in the finale, her weaknesses showed though. Too much throwing herself with splits, etc. while Yvie actually interpreted the song and saved the tricks for the end. 

[Juneau Gal]

1 hour ago, Blakeston said:

The Yvie/A'Keria song was SOS, by Rihanna.

I love Yvie, but her win wasn't as satisfying to me as it could have been, because I found her performance in that first lip sync to be very underwhelming.

The costume was wrong, wrong, wrong, a bad choice for a lip sync. It didn’t allow for her movements/dance to fully seen and made no sense. 

[Keywestclubkid]

8 minutes ago, Juneau Gal said:

The costume was wrong, wrong, wrong, a bad choice for a lip sync. It didn’t allow for her movements/dance to fully seen and made no sense. 

And that sad free Britney reveal on her panties that she didn’t raise her dress up enough to fully see. That was a sloppy lip sync   Did production tell silky to pick Brooklyn because that choice also made no sense. It’s like they needed Brooklyn and yvie to not lipsync each other that first round and that’s why she picked her and not Akeria who would have logically made more sense for her to pick 

Edited May 31, 2019 by Keywestclubkid

[Gothish520]

I've accepted that the finale is all Ru producer-driven. Probably the entire season. I was underwhelmed by all of the lip syncs, which is a shame because the songs were great. How was I bored by a lip sync to Bootylicious? 

Still, fine with Yvie's win, and would've been even happier if Brooke won. A'kiria and Silky had no chance against them, IMO. 

[Blakeston]

I would have expected the production people to encourage Silky to choose Yvie, rather than Brooke Lynn.

The ideal scenario, drama-wise, would have been for Silky and Yvie to finally face off, and then they could give us the inevitable Yvie/Brooke Lynn finale.

I wonder if Silky's choice was just (wildly misguided) bravado - trying to prove that she isn't afraid to take on the best dancer in the competition, even though she was clearly scared shitless.

[Juneau Gal]

53 minutes ago, Keywestclubkid said:

And that sad free Britney reveal on her panties that she didn’t raise her dress up enough to fully see. That was a sloppy lip sync   Did production tell silky to pick Brooklyn because that choice also made no sense. It’s like they needed Brooklyn and yvie to not lipsync each other that first round and that’s why she picked her and not Akeria who would have logically made more sense for her to pick 

While it made no logical sense for Silky to pick Brooklyn, I also can’t imagine Silky being able to be producer manipulated like that. Plus the whole wheel spin adds a bit of uncertainty; Silky may not have had the opportunity to pick. I think we may have seen pure hubris on Silky’s part; other much, much better queens had been sashayed away all season while her amateur ass was repeatedly saved. I think she thought Ru would choose her and she would have her dreamed for Silky vs. Yvie showdown. I firmly believe if Silky had picked A’keria and won, Ru would have called it a tie between the Yvie/Brooklyn semifinal and we would have had a three way final lip sync. 

All pure speculation of course. The only thing I know for sure is that Silky looked scared to the point of zoned out after the wheel landed on her photo. It was a both kinda awesome and sad at the same time. 

Jinx Blakeston, we must have been typing at the same time. You know what they say about great minds! 

[butterbody]

As a fellow sufferer of breast implant illness, (explanting on August 14, sick as a dog) I have been following Michelle's story for a while. I thought the memorial to her breasts was absolutely hysterical. 

[Juneau Gal]

9 minutes ago, butterbody said:

As a fellow sufferer of breast implant illness, (explanting on August 14, sick as a dog) I have been following Michelle's story for a while. I thought the memorial to her breasts was absolutely hysterical. 

I wish you good health. I too thought it funny, loved the “In Mammorium”.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I know the finale is always a bunch of filler, but I liked the filler we got this season. The Stonewall anniversary segment, Michelle's in mammorium, and extended bits for each of the four finalists were all the good kind of filler before getting down to the LSFYLs.

I finally realized why I dislike Silky's lip syncs so much. As someone with dance training (and as someone who has secondhand gymnastics training thanks to my sister being a gymnast), technique is important which is why I  cringe when I watch dance competitions. Many of the dancers go to competition studios where the emphasis is on learning tricks that the judges like. This often results in kids who are doing tricks but with terrible technique (which causes injuries). I have been known to squeak when watching little kids to bad back handsprings because it's so obvious that they're a hair away from hurting themselves. I get that same feeling when I watch Silky slam herself into the splits and do other dance moves. Technically, yes, she is doing them, but with such bad technique and uncontrolled energy that it makes me flinch.

I'm glad that Silky and A'Keria were not rewarded for their multiple reveals. If your reveal isn't going to be gasp inducing, don't bother. Multiple reveals don't make up for lackluster LSFYLs.

[stormy weather]

Considerations after this finale, the outcome of which I'm actually pretty happy with:

- I would've given the crown to A'keria's mom and grandma. They were adorable and hilarious and I wish they had a show of their own. Also in the "Friends and Family" category, a special mention goes to Yvie's dad for being the hottest relative ever to make an appearance in Drag Race herstory. 

- Do better songs than the ones they chose for the lip sync's cost more? How much more? I mean, these three were still way more famous than some of the obscure relics from the past we had to suffer through this past season, but come on, I'm sure they could've chosen something more interesting and upbeat, especially since this was the finale!

- Yvie's mirrors head piece was the single most beautiful accessory I've ever seen on RuPaul's Drag Race and possibly in my entire life. She was just GORGEOUS during that last lip sync. She should honestly get hired by some major fashion house.

- As for Silky's choice of Brooke for the lip sync, I called the producers pulling the strings when Ru asked her who she wanted to go against instead of just spinning the wheel one more time to get a random opponent. Okay, I get why they did it, but if you're afraid that by choosing random opponents you'll risk having your two best queens battle each other at the first round and have a mediocre last round, maaaaaybe it means you sent the wrong people to the finale. 

Edited May 31, 2019 by stormy weather

[Jesse]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought Yvie's dad can Get It.

So happy for Yvie! And also I wonder how she was doing physically that day -- did she wear heels at all? (I only noticed the boots in the first lip sync and the floor-length gown in the second, and started wondering.)

I'm also thrilled for Nina, who just seems like such a good egg.

15 hours ago, rollacoaster said:

Those legends got about 2 seconds a piece, and no name chyrons. Though, Raja got maybe 3.5 seconds, and rightly so. 

HOORAY FOR YVIE!!!!

I really wish they had IDed all those people! 

[Diane Mars]

I love the energy and the vibe of it 🙂

[icol]

I think the reason why Silky chose Brooke Lynn is because A'keria is her friend, and as much as Silky blabs about being a great lipsyncher, she's afraid of Yvie and won't give her a chance to directly "beat" her. Thus, she's left with no option but to go with Brooke Lynn.

[theatremouse]

33 minutes ago, icol said:

I think the reason why Silky chose Brooke Lynn is because A'keria is her friend, and as much as Silky blabs about being a great lipsyncher, she's afraid of Yvie and won't give her a chance to directly "beat" her. Thus, she's left with no option but to go with Brooke Lynn.

I had similar thoughts, but a slightly different take. I think Silky knew her lipsync would suck, not as badly as the two she did earlier, but still she knew there was no way she was going to win at that task. So she chooses Brook Lynn "the lipsync assassin" and then when she loses she can use that as an excuse. She's just another victim to the assassin. What can you do? 

...it wasn't at all that she's just plain all bluster and this lipsync was barely any better than her previous too terrible performances in which she was clearly winging it and didn't seem to have actually prepared. Not that at all.

[After7Only]

While I’d still give Brooke the win over Silky in their lip sync, Brooke’s lip sync was lazy.  The song was called Bootilicious,  and she included 0 Booty in her performance.  The song requires at least a little shimmy.   Silky got the spirit of the song right in her lip sync, but all of her uncontrolled flailing came off as desperate.  

Happy with the Yvie win, and as others have said Daddy Oddly is fine as hell.  

[violet and green]

Rewatching... Hat's off to the little dog in the red bouffant wig and earrings staring earnestly at the stage after SOS is announced as the next song!

[kissedbyarose]

5 hours ago, stormy weather said:

a special mention goes to Yvie's dad for being the hottest relative ever to make an appearance in Drag Race herstory. 

Second best part of the finale. 🤤😉