S02.E10: In My Heels

[Surrealist]

52 minutes ago, RealReality said:

how to find a random glass of pink lemonade when you're ready to vandalize someone's house.....

Easily the best scene of the season. 

[Lunula]

On 8/21/2019 at 12:32 AM, LittleIggy said:

I couldn’t figure out why that dipshit outed Angel either. That women he told had a big smile on her face until he whispered in her ear. Bitch was perfectly pleased with Angel up to then. 

I felt they alluded to the disconnect between the gay men and the transgender women when they discussed why the women were no longer participating in the balls. The women felt judged and looked down on, and I immediately thought about the ass who outed Angel - he looked down on her and didn’t feel a part of her community. 

Overall, satisfying finale!

[RealReality]

I never saw the crying game but thought that was rae dawn chung?

[Ohwell]

2 hours ago, RealReality said:

I never saw the crying game but thought that was rae dawn chung?

It was Jaye Davidson.

[Blakeston]

 

 

 

 

8 hours ago, Angelsmom1009 said:

Plus I think if they used more “masculine” trans actors,  they’d be accused of throwing wigs on some men and making fun of trans women.

If they cast actual trans women in the roles, I certainly hope no one in the queer community would accuse the producers of throwing wigs on some men.

If anyone said that, they'd be subjected to an Elektra-style reading to end all readings!

[Token]

I LOVE this show!  I love the characters, I love their love for each other, I love it all!  I’m sad the season is over and can’t wait for season 3.

[MelloYellow]

Pass The Motion Bitch! Pass The Motion Bitch!

[Cotypubby]

On 8/22/2019 at 4:01 PM, gatopretoNYC said:

Actually, it isn't. They have filmed a few times in areas I know, and to my great surprise, those scenes have aired only weeks later. The diner scenes with the ladies are done just across the street from me, and I saw signs in Tribeca for the scenes that turned out to be outside Elektra's apartment - those were in the last two episodes, and were filmed August 5th.

Maybe they shoot all the indoor stuff first and do all the location stuff at the end?

I also love this show! 

I recognized that diner right away! I also live right by there. 

Great finale. I totally thought was the series finale until I read this thread!

[Mattipoo]

This was such a great season finale. So many scenes to love: Angel and Papi's marriage proposal, Elektra coaching the men to walk in heels, Blanca lip-syncing to Whitney Houston, everyone dancing at the end to "I'm Every Woman" etc. So glad everyone seems to be happy moving forward and that nothing bad happened to anybody. Looking forward to season 3!

Edited August 24, 2019 by Mattipoo
Added

[eejm]

On 8/22/2019 at 1:34 PM, Blakeston said:

If they reveal that she's intersex, that would make her appearance a lot more plausible. But I'll still be irritated that they're choosing only to focus on the most femme-looking trans women out there.

I'd just like to see a character or two who actually looks the way that most trans women looked in the late '80s/early '90s. They don't have to be major characters. Just some kind of representation.

Also, it turns out the actress (Gia Parr) is a trans activist.

I get the impression that Ryan Murphy is using this show to say, "See how beautiful trans women are? They're all woman - just look at them!" And if that what he's going for, his heart is in the right place, but that's not really the best way to argue for equality.

I agree it would be good if the show featured a major trans character who can't pass quite so easily.  One of the mothers featured in the "Mother of the Year" contest (Kiki) would be a great addition.  She's trans, but not particularly feminine looking, and seems to have her own successful house.  There's also the prostitute who helped Elektra, Candy, and the bargain basement plastic surgeon deal with Elektra's dead stockbroker.  We've seen less femme trans characters, they just haven't been on the front burner quite yet.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Elektra wins mother of the year:

Angel proposes:

[RealReality]

@ElectricBoogaloo - if you ever come across a clip of electra calling up the mothers to "judge for me" I'd love to see that.  If I find it I'll try to post.  

[hoodooznoodooz]

I loved the shirt Pray was wearing when he read the newspaper article to Blanca, and also the black & white houndstooth outfit. 

Angel sometimes looks like Lisa Bonet. 

[hoodooznoodooz]

Is “Come judge for me,” something from the real balls, or did they write it just for Elektra and this show? 

In any case, I need to find a way to use it with my friends.

I love that Elektra even has a unique way to say, “Big Macs.”

Papi has so much chemistry with Angel, it makes me wonder if the actor is in love with the actress IRL. (But, no. I do realize that this actor is just extraordinarily talented!)

Every woman deserves to be treated the way Papi treats Angel.

I could google it, but I prefer all of your explanations. Is it much easier to live as a trans person in Europe? 

I suppose a worse outcome for Angel after being clocked would have been if companies attempted to exploit her as a novelty.

Edited August 29, 2019 by hoodooznoodooz

[Juneau Gal]

On 8/28/2019 at 12:55 PM, hoodooznoodooz said:

Is “Come judge for me,” something from the real balls, or did they write it just for Elektra and this show? 

In any case, I need to find a way to use it with my friends.

I love that Elektra even has a unique way to say, “Big Macs.”

Papi has so much chemistry with Angel, it makes me wonder if the actor is in love with the actress IRL. (But, no. I do realize that this actor is just extraordinarily talented!)

Every woman deserves to be treated the way Papi treats Angel.

I could google it, but I prefer all of your explanations. Is it much easier to live as a trans person in Europe? 

I suppose a worse outcome for Angel after being clocked would have been if companies attempted to exploit her as a novelty.

The actor who plays Papi is actually in a relationship with writer/director/show runner Janet Mock..........and I think I have misnamed her, will have to look up. 

Edited August 31, 2019 by Juneau Gal
to correct name

[aradia22]

I finally had time to watch it tonight. This episode gets a big old MEH from me. It has a lot of the weaknesses of other episodes but this time there wasn't enough good to overcome the bad. Worst of all, it gave me late season Glee/early Empire/late season soap vibes. They're burning through plotlines when they don't need to be. The characters are too successful without working for it and earning it. And so the emotions come off shallow and the show comes across, not quite preachy but... there's a flatness. It feels like platitudes and posturing and performative wokeness. 

The 8.5 month time jump was ridiculous. It completely deflated the emotional impact of Blanca's illness and Angel's career setback. People have been sick on and off this season so not building up to it at all, you didn't feel the impact of it hitting Blanca as well as MJ tried to act what she was given. Angel's career has been a mess (what was even the point of her 5 minute cocaine addiction?). They haven't bothered to establish her successes properly. There was the threat of the photographer. And then it was just some random guy from the balls? First of all, that was some Ellis (Smash) nonsense. Secondly, even if they were going to go with such a tired plot, they could have built it up over multiple episodes as a B or C plot until it became an issue. Why is most of this happening offscreen or in flashbacks? Did they spend all the budget on gold lame? 

I'm not sure it's a great idea for the 3 creators to write an episode together in general. This episode was all weird platitudes. Other writers make the same points without you feeling so distanced from the characters. Patti Lupone's character's weird attempt at feminism. The whole thing about the council needing to respect the women at the balls. Angel and Papi taking on the modeling establishment. Even little things like Blanca talking to Judy. It all felt like it was at such a remove. Like it was writing for bumper stickers. It's Glee writing at its most archetypal and least human. Character A represents this specific identity and will be used to show X. OK, now they'll retreat into the background in the next episode and we'll barely ever mention this issue again. I'm not against the show being sentimental or issue-driven but this is not the way. 

How in the hell is Damon on a European tour and also finding time to teach classes and also setting up his own legendary house with his own children? Boy was a homeless teen what... 2-3 years ago? The other problem with all the time jumps is even if you could stretch suspension of disbelief to argue that him setting up a house within a few years could make some sense (though again, how the hell would a dancer do that between tour dates???) it feels unearned in the show because we've only had 2 seasons of him struggling. And in a good chunk of that, success came too easily to him. Again, this is the later Glee problem where the writers wanted to give the characters all these good things but didn't know how to do it in a way that felt organic. People can be successful and still have compelling problems and personal drama. But instead we get characters booking world tours and huge fashion campaigns with barely any trouble and then none of it is really explored with any depth. 

I like that they're trying to find a way to make Papi a bigger part of the show but it's at the expense of Angel's agency. Aside from the proposal, she was such a damsel this episode. It went beyond her just temporarily giving up because she was discouraged. She full on seemed like a doll, a sexy lamp, whatever you want to call it... just waiting for him to give her motivation, tell her what to do, make things happen for her. 

I get where they were going with the end of the episode but I would have expected younger versions of Angel and Damon, not full on adorable orphans. Is Blanca really going to take those ACTUAL CHILDREN and have them walk in balls? Also, those are the cleanest homeless orphans I've ever seen. They look like they came from a Disney channel casting call. 

Lastly, those damn broken windows in Blanca's apartment!

[aradia22]

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I love that they had Billy Porter be awkward when trying to walk in the heels -- I was half expecting him to rock them, but that would have been too expected. How many performances of Kinky Boots did he do? Weren't those heels like 6 or 8 inches?

It just felt silly to me knowing how familiar he is with performing in drag. There's a world where they could have devoted an episode to exploring the difficulty that some gay men experience with embracing their femininity because of cultural pressures, respectability politics, etc. But it was not meant to be a C-plot to hand wave away critiques about the all male council and also put them all in drag. 

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Blanca looked the most gorgeous she's ever looked during her Candy's Sweet Refrain performance -- good lord. 

Agreed. She almost always looks great but they like to pretend for the sake of the story that she's somehow this clockable brick. But tonight was one of those times they really glammed her up. Her body is fantastic. And I definitely noticed that highlighter gleaming on her cheekbones. Weird song choice but otherwise, I was into it.

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I forgot to respond to this but he did it because he could.  While it'd be great if people who were bullied or marginalized would stand up for others in their shoes, so often the opposite happens.  They lash out at others to give themselves a feeling of superiority or power they're denied in other areas of their lives.

Not that it justifies his behavior but in that rushed scene, they did make it seem like he was resentful that Angel was slightly condescending. It wasn't mean-spirited and she probably wanted him to relax but he was telling her about his concept and she said something like we're just selling tights. She deflated his sense of confidence and self-importance so he saw a way to lash out. I can see him thinking that she needed to be taken down a peg. It reminds of Nashville with the characters of Juliette and Layla. The higher status character doesn't think a comment is a big deal but for the lower status character a throwaway comment starts a whole feud/vendetta/war.

Does anyone remember the backstory for Jazmine Wintour? Damaris Lewis is so gorgeous I looked her up and apparently the character and the actress playing her is a cis woman? It seemed odd since I can't think of another cis woman in any of the houses.  

[aradia22]

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Overall, I think Candy's character arc was the wobbliest, especially the highly questionable decision to try to force a character arc postmortem. She wasn't that important or significant when she was alive, and if anything was kind of a one-dimensional mustache twirling villain that just kind of sucked up air whenever they needed some sort of antagonist. Then suddenly she dies and she's a beloved martyr. Not only did she magically become everyone's best friend or beloved sidekick through revisionist history, but the rest of the cast was apparently so stricken that they all continued to hallucinate her for months on end. It's very clunky and I don't buy it. I think it was just a case of the writers and cast really liking the actress and trying to make her relevant as much as possible, but it just didn't work with the character.

Unless someone finds evidence the whole season is plotted in advance- in which case WOOF- I can see them realizing the gold they had in Candy during the funeral episode and then finding ways to keep bringing her ghost back when they should have done more with her character while she was alive. 

I really appreciate reading the conversation about passing privilege, hormones/puberty, and the representation of trans women on Pose in terms of physical appearance. Not that they couldn't still compete in the balls, but given the way the balls have been severely minimized in season 2, there's no reason they couldn't introduce more characters and actresses who don't have supermodel good looks. The balls were our way in but now that they have the audience, surely they can just tell compelling stories about the characters. The Kiki Pendarvis character is one of the few to be featured (and not in any kind of special body category) with a realistic body type. Have we ever seen Jiggly compete in a category? 

[qtpye]

On 10/1/2019 at 1:46 AM, aradia22 said:

Unless someone finds evidence the whole season is plotted in advance- in which case WOOF- I can see them realizing the gold they had in Candy during the funeral episode and then finding ways to keep bringing her ghost back when they should have done more with her character while she was alive. 

I really appreciate reading the conversation about passing privilege, hormones/puberty, and the representation of trans women on Pose in terms of physical appearance. Not that they couldn't still compete in the balls, but given the way the balls have been severely minimized in season 2, there's no reason they couldn't introduce more characters and actresses who don't have supermodel good looks. The balls were our way in but now that they have the audience, surely they can just tell compelling stories about the characters. The Kiki Pendarvis character is one of the few to be featured (and not in any kind of special body category) with a realistic body type. Have we ever seen Jiggly compete in a category? 

I just know as a cis gendered woman of color that there is a lot of pressure on women in this society to put on a attractive feminine appearance. The most influential woman in the world right now is not a scientist or a human right's activist, but a woman with a big ass and an ancient sex tape. The pressure for Trans women must be immense and it must be heartbreaking not to be able to easily pass.

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Agreed. She almost always looks great but they like to pretend for the sake of the story that she's somehow this clockable brick. But tonight was one of those times they really glammed her up. Her body is fantastic. And I definitely noticed that highlighter gleaming on her cheekbones. Weird song choice but otherwise, I was into it.

Yes, please stop it with Blanca is homely and manly bullshit. She is petite, which was what was in for rich white women at the time, and lovely.