S02.E05: What Would Candy Do?

[aradia22]

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(I assume she's still a dom, given that wad of cash she was flashing.) 

I assume so, too. I guess that traumatic experience is worth it for the cash. I assume she's just very careful now and never leaves the room or constantly checks in to make sure the guy is alive. 

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The narrative pacing of this season is really bizarre. 

My guess is that it's the fault of different people writing episodes. Who knows if there's a big collaboration in the writers room and one person just puts their name on it or if people go off and write episodes and then the writers room talks about it or whatever. I think season 1 was also uneven but maybe the broadstrokes were better planned out in the show bible. This season it feels like whoever gets the ball runs off with it and then the next person has to figure out where to go from there. The credited writers for last week are Ryan and Janet. This week it seems like Steven Canals just heard... OK, Candy died, and jumped to, "Great, that means her hammer is free"!?!

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I'm surprised they didn't get canned immediately for the obvious homoeroticism during their TV shoot lol.

I'm glad someone else brought it up. I know it was just a pilot but even if that wasn't choreographed, there would have still been someone in charge who assigned people to particular songs. (And I'm assuming that even the less formal numbers were somewhat choreographed since someone had to choreograph the numbers when they were in sync.) Would someone have really paired two male dancers for a love song in the early 90's? Can someone who remembers Solid Gold weigh in?

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We saw Blanca scrubbing the bathroom within an inch of its life in a previous episode.   I also don't understand why she has not fixed that or painted something in that apartment. 

I assume they either want to A) continue communicating that they're not wealthy even with Angel getting modeling gigs and Ricky booking tours (unclear if he contributed part of his paycheck) and Blanca opening her salon or B) the place they're renting to shoot this show won't let them. I feel like B is unlikely. If it's A, I wish they would be more creative. I know I complain about them making the balls look too glamorous with the props and the costumes that at times seem beyond the reach of ordinary people (even if some are stolen). But you can still communicate that it's not a fancy place after you paint the walls. Blanca's nail salon looks nice but not too posh and last I checked the walls are pink.

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Seeing a more mature Damon was heartening, but was a leap too far.  It was super cool seeing him as the Alpha in Helena's class.  THAT, was on point. 

Are there dance programs that only take two years? I'm sure there are some kind of programs or concentrations but Helena referred to him as a "senior" and when she told him to come back and finish, I think she implied he'd be getting a degree. 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Clips:

Damon

Ricky & Damon audition

[sugarbaker design]

On 7/17/2019 at 1:23 PM, Liquid6 said:

Rickey was a little too "fem" in this episode. I know it had to do with the vogueing, but his appeal is that he's masc.

It may be appealing to you, but it may not necessarily so for everyone else.  Rickey is never more sexually attractive than when he's showcasing his fem side.  YMMV.

On 7/17/2019 at 6:26 PM, heckkitty said:

I like what they’re doing with quotes at the end, but this one felt forced, and everything that was true last week (they’re a family! Everyone unite around Candy!) is now totally forgotten (shank Damon with a hammer over an audition!). 

I didn't like last week's episode, it certainly didn't ring true to me.  Characters didn't act like themselves.  This week they're back to form.  After crying up a storm to Candy's ghost Pray Tell was back being a mean girl/bully to ball contestants.  Electra is back to being Electra.

[MelloYellow]

Still glad Candy is gone.

[Scarlett45]

On 7/19/2019 at 9:16 AM, Blakeston said:

Did anyone else think the blatant homoeroticism in Damon and Ricky's dancing on Solid Gold seemed extremely unrealistic for a TV show from that time period? At one point one wound up in the other's arms, as if they were on the cover of a romance novel or something.

I would have loved it if that kind of thing had been on mainstream dance shows in the early nineties, but I certainly don't remember anything like it.

I think mainstream audiences just pretended homoeroticism didn’t exist. 

When I was a middle schooler I asked my mom how Jane Russell’s “Isn’t Anyone Here for Love” got past the censors in the 1950s (Gentlemen Prefer Blondes). That scene is FILLED with homoeroticism, I saw it at 12 or 13!! My Mom said people were concerned with covering up women’s bodies and women having sex, so it got through. 

I can see how In arena of dance that would’ve been acceptable. 

[Ohwell]

8 hours ago, MelloYellow said:

Still glad Candy is gone.

I don't miss her.

[Blakeston]

On 7/21/2019 at 10:37 AM, Scarlett45 said:

I think mainstream audiences just pretended homoeroticism didn’t exist. 

When I was a middle schooler I asked my mom how Jane Russell’s “Isn’t Anyone Here for Love” got past the censors in the 1950s (Gentlemen Prefer Blondes). That scene is FILLED with homoeroticism, I saw it at 12 or 13!! My Mom said people were concerned with covering up women’s bodies and women having sex, so it got through. 

I can see how In arena of dance that would’ve been acceptable. 

That was definitely the case back in the fifties and earlier, when homosexuality wasn't on most people's radars. There were plenty of those male sailors dancing with each other in musicals, without most people raising an eyebrow.

But in 1990? I think two men embracing like that would have teenage boys across America dismissing it in extremely homophobic language the moment it aired.

[TrininisaScorp]

On 7/17/2019 at 8:51 PM, Galloway Cave said:

Dominique Jackson is from Trinidad, so I think part of her speaking pattern is trying to hide her accent. It just comes off as haughty. But then again, it does fit perfectly with Electra's over-the-top persona.

I really hope an apartment make-over is in the future. I would be so depressed living in a place like that.

As a Trini, I actually think it's a play on a clever thing that some Trini ppl 100% do, which is to try to move their accent to the higher class, almost British sounding accent that the Anglo Trinis or higher socio econ status Trinis have.  My mom's family is from the north, in what you could call suburbs of the capital area, while my dad is from the south where the cane fields used to be.  Mom has a classier sounding accent (some of my non-versed friends wonder if she is British sometimes), and Dad has a strong, more rural accent (a more traditional "island" sound with our trademark sing-song-ness).  That SOUNDS like a thing Electrka would do and Dominique is from our sister island Tobago (Winston Duke from Us and Black Panther is too and his accent is so much stronger than hers). 

I LOVE Damon.  His patience and genuine care to teach these random suburb white folk to vogue tells me a lot about him.  I could watch him teach ppl all day!  While I'm not thrilled by the plot with him and Ricky, it is a nice break between the heaviness of the last episode and the potentially heaviness of the next one.  A gal needs to breathe!

More Pray Tell, please. 

Angel and Papi heated up RIGHT quick!  Damn.  Let's see what happens. 

Edited July 22, 2019 by TrininisaScorp