Having done this gig for going on eighteen years now, we won’t deny that there are times when we really miss the bad old days of reality TV blogging. Long gone are the times when we could just rip an episode to shreds because it bored us, alas. There are too many stans, too many people invoking identity politics, and the contestants have so much social media clout now that it’s not worth all the pouting, accusations and drama that ensues if one wants to just ask the simple question “Is it us or is this all sucking?”
Oh, CALM DOWN. We don’t actually think this episode sucked and there’s enough time left in the season for us to hold off on making a declaration as to its overall quality, but we’re far enough into things to note that that, from where we’re sitting at least, so far there hasn’t been one iconic performance, hilarious line delivery, or epic lip sync all season. It’s even been somewhat light in the sickening looks department. And the one drama-providing villain in the group is far too aware of the tropes and winking to the camera a bit too much for anyone to get worked up over her shenanigans.
We don’t think this group lacks talent or personality, but there’s a sense that everyone is extremely aware of how the show works and is simply coloring inside the lines as much as she can for as long as she can because everyone knows that it’s less about the prize money and more about the exposure. It’s a competition that rewards safeness and that has become its dominant mode. Take this observation or leave it, but we think it says something that the Top Three in a Sound of Music spoof were the ones who played Maria, Mother Superior and the Baroness. How…predictable. There was a time when playing a monkey, a chicken or a head in a box could lead to an iconic performance.
There was the usual jockeying for roles and this one’s starting to get a weensy bit full of herself, although she’s proven twice that she’s the best gal for a classic musical theater performance. We can’t argue with her strategizing, but we felt like she was going for the one role that wouldn’t challenge her. Again, it’s that whole “coloring inside the lines” feeling and as noted, the show rewarded her for it.
Morphine got a little pissy about not being handed the lead, but we had to laugh. She’s done better in the performing than we would have predicted, but she sure as hell hasn’t shown any reason why she should be the lead in a musical. Still, we almost wish all the jockeying for parts had led to some real drama, just to shake things up a bit.
We won’t complain about this. It was really cute.
The Rusical, like so many other parts of this season, was JUST OKAY. Like, aggressively just okay. The concept felt a little obscure. It took a minute to grasp that this has virtually nothing to do with the original story. The songs were… fine. The performances… also fine.
To be fair, our hometown girl Sapphira really did stand out and it felt to us like she was making a meal of a part that wasn’t inherently attention-grabbing. She was never not in full character, which goes really far in a Rusical.
The judges were hard on Megami for reasons we don’t disagree with, but we did think she commanded the stage fairly well. It’s true that her energy level dropped off completely when she wasn’t in the center. Dawn was cutely funny and Nymphia was a bit too much.
Girl, we guess so. It was a cute idea and all three of them sold the hell out of it, but playing one of the all-time great cinema bitches as… bitches… it isn’t all that interesting, is it? Granted that’s not the queens’ fault.
We won’t claim that Plasma wasn’t good, but we do think she should have gotten the classic Ru/Michelle critique that she was on the same level throughout the performance. There was no modulating. And to be honest, she was giving Sandy Duncan way more than she was giving Julie Andrews.
The runway category was flower-based and okay, yes. Some of these bitches actually did deliver sickening looks this time. Of the safe girls: Dawn’s look was the best, Nymphia’s was appropriately bizarre but not necessarily fabulous, Jane’s was meh, and Xunami’s concept of an upside-down bouquet would have made so much more sense if the bottom of her skirt was filled with flowers.
Both Plasma and Sapphira absolutely slayed that runway. Just pure gorgeousness from both of them. The kind of drag that makes you gasp when you see it. Morphine’s idea was cute, but her outfit was incredibly flimsy and cheap-looking.
Mhi’ya’s look was gorgeous, but it tended to fade into the background next to the others, as she does. Megami’s was a stunner. The bit about the stained gown wasn’t needed. As we noted before, there’s no question that her drag is technically really good, but she’s so bad at selling any of it. She could be the queen of Brooklyn drag, but she’s not delivering it with Brooklyn attitude. Q’s look was amazing, but we’d quibble with some of the details. Like a lot of her costumes, it’s overdesigned. The hairpiece and the makeup were only so-so.
We can see why they gave it to her, but we’d have given Sapphira the win this week.
Mhi’ya and Megami squared off for what may have been the most timidly delivered, boring to watch lip synch in a decade. Ru isn’t allowed to get mad at the girls like she used to, but she’d have been justified in reading them both and sending them both packing.
But like we said, Megami’s drag is very good. We could see good reasons for keeping her, but it felt like the clock was ticking for her.
Legendary Children: The First Decade of RuPaul’s Drag Race and the Last Century of Queer Life, a New York Times “New and Notable” pick, praised by The Washington Post “because the world needs authenticity in its stories,” and chosen as one of the Best Books of The Year by NPR is on sale wherever fine books are sold! It’s also available in Italian and Spanish language editions, darlings! Because we’re fabulous on an INTERNATIONAL level.
[Photo Credit: MTV via Tom and Lorenzo]
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