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S02.E08: Revelations


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12 hours ago, Gummo said:

I get the feeling that his whole life Ricky has only been valued for his looks and sexuality, so that is the only way he knows how to relate to others, as a seducer, whether emotionally or physically or both.

So when he felt gratitude to Pray Tell for helping him thru the clinic visit and everything that came after, the only way he knew how to express it was as a sexual feeling. When we've seen him get in trouble with Damon or Blanca, he does the same thing - turns on that smile and tries to charm/seduce them out of their anger. Because his whole life, Ricky's been told that's all he has to offer.

IOW, he's a mess. Add to that a deadly medical diagnosis, and his decisions are not to be trusted. 

You've said what I was thinking far more eloquently than I could and I totally agree.

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On 8/7/2019 at 7:22 AM, 12catcrazy said:

  I consider myself more open-minded than many people but that scene was uncomfortable to watch and I can't figure out why. 

I felt the same way but I know why - the age difference was too evident and I don't want to see that. Consensual or not, I just subtract 15 years off both and automatically feel a shudder down my spine.

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Other than having to FF through Pray and Ricky's scene, this episode wasn't too bad. I wasn't as mad as I thought I'd be about them getting together although it's still super weird and awkward and the Daddy/Son vibe is just a no for me.  

Blanca being called out on her shit was good. The perfect mother does have her flaws after all. If Angel does get her own place, I sense an even faster downward spiral approaching.

Elektra definitely came through this episode. 

Last week it was the Reeboks, this week it was the Slick jumper....Yasss!

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I think logically Pray knew he was wrong, but let's not forget he just had a near-death experience just a few weeks ago (I guess, in their time?). He is faced with the fact the only drug known to slow the progression of the disease in his time does not work for him. He's spent the past year or so watching friend after friend die, and in his mind, he's only a cough or cold away from being dead. So logically, yes, he is an elder and what he did was wrong. But if I was Pray with all the crap I'm going through, and a young hot piece of ass shows up at my place offering companionship (which Pray hasn't had in a while) and he's positive too so I don't have to worry about infecting him? I can't say that I wouldn't have done the same.  Yeah, he knew all that was wrong about it, but he's a man on borrowed time. He wants to enjoy what he can when he can.

Blanca has kept herself busy being a mother and taking on the landlord, which distracts her from thinking about it too much. It should be interesting to see how being alone affects her and her thoughts on her diagnosis. At least the AZT works for, at least for now.

Edited by AgentRXS
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I didn't like this episode because of Pray and Ricky (Pricky), but at least there was no Ghost Candy.  So there's that.

The thing that really skeeved me out about Pray Tell and Ricky was that, even though they don't look alike in the face, they're the same complexion and both have the same slim build, so it looked like a father having sex with his son. 

Edited by Ohwell
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I thought it was really sad how happy Papi was so excited and proud to win a trophy, but everyone, even Blanca, were too wrapped up in the drama and being pissed off and pouty to even give him a pat on the back. Ouch. 

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On the one hand, for the most part, I loved the way they shot the sex scene between Ricky and Pray Tell. I don't know what they did with the lighting but they managed to convey that it was nighttime while still creating this mood lighting that made their bodies look fantastic. We don't really get to see gay black male bodies in this sort of romantic soft-core scene in a mainstream show. So that was nice. HOWEVER, I hate this as a corruption of the mentor relationship. And it does put forth the unfortunate implication that an older gay man can't be a mentor or parent figure to a younger gay man without a romantic or sexual component of the relationship. And that sucks. I'm not really cool with big age differences to begin with but if they wanted to do that for whatever reason, it didn't have to be these two characters. Bad choice. I do appreciate that they spent the rest of the episode dealing with it and not just pretending like it was all above board.

Speaking of the direction, that was a beautiful shot of Angel and Lil Papi kissing backlit with the sun streaming through the window. I don't get her bebe ad at all. Bebe sells clothes. That was a beauty shot that you'd see for makeup or jewelry. The way she was posed covered up a lot of the top. Confusing. The apartment he showed her was gigantic by NY standards. $450/month!?! Is Pose incapable of renting locations that don't look like warehouses?

I loved Pray's yellow hat. I'm glad this bi-monthly meeting is becoming a thing. I love the energy of this group. I wish we could have more of them on the show.

Damon was completely ridiculous this episode. He decided that he was ready to forgive Ricky. Then he got all offended and made everything about him. I feel like you can have a character behave badly if the show understands that the character is being ridiculous but it was played a little too much like Damon was reasonable. 

When Damon was doing his final recital, did they use a body double? The editing was chaotic but I swear his haircut and body type changed a number of times in a way that made me think he had a body double for some of the dancing. I appreciate that they bothered to tie up the school storyline and had him graduate. I'm confused by Damon going on tour with Malcolm McLaren. Yes, it brings back voguing, but I was under the impression that Damon's education was more classical... some combination of ballet and modern dance. The recital was very Alvin Ailey. So why does he keep going on tour with pop acts? 

Blanca's red suit was great.

On the one hand, it's annoying that Angel was reading Damon and picking a fight and that was the way they got her to move to her own apartment. On the other hand, I like that we're not pretending Angel is... well, an angel. Even though she was sympathetic when she was with Stan, she was still being ridiculous. She's never been a "nice" character in the way Blanca has. I appreciated how much this episode lived in a moral gray area. I feel like sometimes the show is safe and a little boring making our main characters relatively wholesome and put upon by external forces. I like that sometimes they fight and they don't always do the right thing. I didn't really get why Blanca favored Angel so much until she made that comment about her being her "only daughter." That was smart. 

Elektra's top in that scene at Blanca's during the fight was so 90's. I loved it. Also, shout out to the super bright makeup looks this episode.

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She needs some friends! She's only in her 30s, right? She needs to go out and have some fun. I get that she would have a hard time dating, but still. She and Damon's teacher could stay friends, couldn't they?

I support this. It would also be a way of better integrating other characters into the show. If ballroom feuds aren't going to be a primary plot point then Blanca should make friends with Ferocity or Wintour. Why not? Also, I hope Damon's teacher isn't gone from the show forever. 

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How tall is Elektra?!

TALL. I feel like they avoid showing it too often because the show wants us to believe that Elektra passes better than some of the other transwomen on the show. But even allowing that she was in a 4-5 inch heel, her head almost grazed the top of a pretty tall door frame. 

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I would've been fine if that opening scene was revealed as a sex dream. Thought that was where it was going. To have it be real felt very fanfiction-y. 

LOL. This is hilarious and accurate. I don't think Ricky is a grifter but I can see why you would. I think I'm distracted by the performance vs. the details of his character backstory. From a performance standpoint, the actor has a baby face and he doesn't really have the depth to present more than the surface emotion so it's hard for me to believe that he's scheming. He just seems genuinely sweet. Like a dumb puppy.

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This was the first time I was not a fan of hers, and I want to blame the coke...but I also think that she's really feeling herself because of this new found fame and fortune, and is looking down her powdered nose at everyone now. It's so ridiculous because a model's career can be just as short lived as a dancer's but at least Damon has a degree to fall back on. He could at least teach dance at a school or something once the tours dry up. What is Angel going to do once the industry decides her look isn't "it" anymore and they move on to the next girl? 

I like that even though the fight came out of nowhere, I believed that Angel would say all of that. We've been distracted by her romance with Papi and the way she's been mistreated so far but Angel is not just some starry-eyed ingenue with a dream. I'm glad someone on the writing team remembers that. That said, I do think at some point they need to give her an ambition beyond modeling. Not that fashion design or pop stardom or makeup artistry are wildly more stable careers but Angel needs to find something tangential to being a pretty face that she can turn into a business or a longterm career.

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Angel was looking to get kicked out, which I thought was kinda mean on her part to force Blanca to do it.  If you want to move and you're an adult say that you want to move so you can do your medical grade cocaine in peace

Bwahaha. Excellent point.

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Loved the diner scene with the emcees. Reminds me of Sex and the City. I would watch a show featuring the 4 emcees and their sex lives.

YES

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On 8/7/2019 at 7:37 AM, Empress1 said:

In the Village! That's $880 today, which is still completely out of reach for an entire apartment, and would be a GREAT deal on a single room.

She needs some friends! She's only in her 30s, right? She needs to go out and have some fun. I get that she would have a hard time dating, but still. She and Damon's teacher could stay friends, couldn't they?

So did Damon just not get tested? I can 100% understand why he would want to get out of Dodge, plus that's a job and money is money, but he still needs to get tested.

Nope. Also when she said the last time she had a place of her own, a guy got it for her, I was like "... And this place too. Your dude presented this place to you." I assume she's paying for it herself, but it's not like she did the leg work and found the place herself.

Right. No one batted an eye when Pray started dating his late boyfriend, who was considerably younger than he is, but with Ricky, as Elektra and Blanca both pointed out, the power dynamic is skewed. Plus Ricky JUST got a life-altering diagnosis. Really, he probably shouldn't be jumping into anything with anyone, but he really shouldn't be sleeping with Pray. And Pray knows better. I can understand his perspective, but he should look for that comfort elsewhere - they both should.

How tall is Elektra?!

The whole Pray & Ricky situation was so weird and so wrong on so many levels. Ricky gave me the impression of being a "hoe". At the club scene when Damon won the trophy before he approached Ricky...Ricky was trying to flirt with this other guy. I'm like "dude...weren't you confessing your attraction/love to Damon a few days ago?!" He's a mess. It's sad that he contracted the HIV virus. 😞

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