Episode Discussion: Sissy That Walk

[keeper-of-stars.livejournal.com]

Sissy That Walk

Welcome back, squirrel friends! It’s time for the next lap of the race! Bust out your wigs and padding because this is going to be a crazy ride.

Wigs and heels don’t go on for a few hours yet, but let’s get the T flowing now!

Just a few things to keep in mind…
~ Try to stay on topic. This is an episode discussion after all.
~ Don’t be throwin’ no shade towards your fellow LJ-ers. (Everyone is entitled to their own opinion.)
~ Since this is an episode discussion, there will be spoilers in the comments. Enter at your own risk.
~ Please do not post spoilers for upcoming episodes.
~ And of course, don’t forget to werk.

Also, don’t forget that @rupaulsdragrace is once again holding their contest to win a prize pack! Just re-tweet the specified message and you’re entered.


[Poll #1967116]

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

do u have a live stream link i can watch the show from the uk here

[keeper-of-stars.livejournal.com]

Streaming links are in the sticky post at the top of the community. :)

[kapvik.livejournal.com]

I think that was actually the closest call I've ever seen on this show. Everyone actually impressed me, to varying degrees, and there was no one I looked at and thought, "You sucked, you're out" right off the bat.

Adore: condragulations, I finally see why you got so far in this competition. She really is a great performer. However as was mentioned, she's 23 and it's really obvious in her lack of awareness of what a bigheaded little shitstain she is - she is everything terrible about her generation in spades, and it really detracts from her talent. Come back in 10 years.

Courtney: here's another one who's talented and beautiful to boot, but just doesn't get it. For all the smack she talked about Bianca not being vulnerable or warm or compassionate, Courtney doesn't understand how plastic and disingenuous she comes off. She can perform and she can put together an amazing look (when she remembers to cover up her obvious boy parts), but there's no heart there. At least Adore is relatable to other young obnoxious little cocklunches; Courtney isn't relatable to anyone, because she's too perfect.

Bianca: as much as I'm rooting for her to win this whole thing, I think she actually did the worst tonight. Her lip sync was nothing to write home about, her acting was memorable but didn't leave as big an impression as everyone else, and her style and look are really limited. Plus I thought it was a big warning sign that it doesn't seem as though RuPaul has very much to impart to Bianca, and we all know how much Ru loves to be that sage figure. The thing I think really redeemed Bianca was her runway speech about letting down her walls and going through a transformative experience - I think that was just enough studiousness, however faked it may have been or not, to keep Ru's interest. As she said, Bianca knows how to play this game. Go Team Bianca!

Darienne: as much as I didn't like that BDLC went home before her, Darienne was right up there with the other queens in just about every aspect of this challenge. She brought talent, vulnerability, and appeal, and the only place I thought she was a bit lacking was in having outfits that 1) didn't fit during the music video, and 2) didn't wow you on the runway and just emphasized her pooch. Darienne is good, but Adore, Courtney, and Bianca can basically do everything that she can, and often better.

So what, Mathooooooooooooooooooooooo(hallel)oooooooooooooo Andersen ages 684,316,504,681 years for every normal year? Is that what's going on with him? So by Season 7 we're going to be dealing with his mummified corpse or something? Gotcha. Though a really sadistic part of me enjoyed that when he said Darienne's name, it sounded like he was calling her "Diarrhea." Heh. "Diarrhea Lake." I'm easily amused.

What a surprise, obnoxious cockstainicity doesn't bother Santino and the only thing that impresses him is Courtney's ability to look good on the runway. Shut up, Santino.

[blacktonguedevi.livejournal.com]

That "Sissy" acting prologue was like something penned by John Waters, and I loved Ru in the eye-patch :)

I thought Courtney`s final runway speech came over quite arrogantly, and out of the remaining queens I think she is the least deserving of the crown. Her femme real drag is lovely and some of her costumes have been great, but why the fuck did`nt she wear that amazing "Priscilla" wig ?

Tickets for Bianca`s up-coming London show sold out in 90 SECONDS !!! So even if the bitch does`nt get the crown it seems like she`s still getting the audience.
I was hoping that Bianca would`nt get to her final runway speech and retract all her delicious poison in favour of something more saccharine and humbling for the judges purpose. What I love about her is that when faced with a tedious dance task she excuses herself with a great line like "Just to let you know I had a stroke in 1972 !" :D

I`m a 20th century girl, so like Miss Darienne I also have a house phone. The way Adore reacted to this news was as if Darienne had just squeezed out a turd on the coffee table. Seriously cunt, not everyone was born with a damn cell phone wired to their soul.

[keeper-of-stars.livejournal.com]

I was so upset Courtney didn't go with the Priscilla wig, that thing was fantastic. I'd love to have seen her do a full homage to Priscilla.

[kapvik.livejournal.com]

It's times like this I wish 1) Ru didn't make all the performance challenges about him or 2) involving songs that his stable has come up with due to the cost of securing royalties for stuff that isn't LSFYL music, and 3) would reference a work other than Paris Is Burning. Because I would love for, say, the drag ball challenge obligatory performance number to be the "Finally" number from Priscilla.

[keeper-of-stars.livejournal.com]

Yes. Yes. Yes. I love the show, don't get me wrong, but it would be amazing if they could shine some light on other corers of the drag world. RuPaul is not the mother of all drag and the show doesn't acknowledge that. Talk about knowing your herstory!

I would LOVE a whole Priscilla themed ball. It deserves it.

[blacktonguedevi.livejournal.com]

Nothing says Aussie pride like a Priscilla wig the size of the Northern Territories :)

[keeper-of-stars.livejournal.com]

So true! :P

[barnacleboo.livejournal.com]

London show?! Where?! When??!

[barnacleboo.livejournal.com]

Never mind!!! I JUST GOT TICKETS :D I'M SEEING HER IN JULY!!!

[lucifuge-5.livejournal.com]

Adore (who I'm rooting to win) did a great job this week. Now, I've heard (elsewhere on the internets) that, aside of her charm and talent, the one thing that has kept Adore in the race is that Mama Ru's a total sucker for mentoring queens who need to smooth their rough edges (Bebe Zahara Benet, Tyra Sanchez). This, of course, can be debated because Mama Ru also looooves queens who are polished and have a very defined sense of themselves (such as Sharon Needles and Raja). I do wish that Adore would polish her look a little bit more. She can deffo rock her trashy mermaid style for sure, but she's been given the opportunity to reach a level in her drag that would take years otherwise.

Meanwhile, Courtney's all polish and no real warmth. She keeps talking about her being the Australian drag superstar (kinda like the Aussie version of Ru, I guess?) but I've only caught glimpses of her spark. It was most notable during the Queens of Talk episode. I would totes tune in for the Courtney Act late night talk show for sure! Yes, she can deffo work the fishy look and yes she's relied A LOT on her body-ody-ody. Still, she doesn't register as a real contender for the crown. Also, her runway look was boooooooring. She should've definitely gone with the feather!explosion thing that she mentioned while in the workroom.

Bianca (who I'm also cheering to snatch the crown) was good in everything except the lip-synch. Another (very minor) disappointment is that she rarely stepped away from a very specific silhouette. Though it is true that, after so many years of drag, she'd know what works best for her, a little variety (shorter hems, for example) would've impressed the judges a lot.

Darienne Lake was good. However, her behaviour in the past 3 or so episodes have really killed any good will I ever felt towards her. I can see where some of it is from being insecure/getting fed up with being sequestered while filming the show. Her attitude's been very rotten so I was shaking my pompoms when Mama Ru told her to sashay away.

I can't say I was super enthusiastic about this episode. OTOH, the acting scenes were great as well as the vid shoot. OTOH, the editing felt a little disjointed (notice, for example, how some of the interviews with Mama Ru went on longer than others). Also, this week's Untucked leaned more towards filler than anything else. My general meh could also be explained by the fact that I really don't care about 1/2 of the cast (Darienne and Courtney) at this point. YMMV.

[myswtghst.livejournal.com]

the one thing that has kept Adore in the race is that Mama Ru's a total sucker for mentoring queens who need to smooth their rough edges

I think this is absolutely true - Ru loves to shape and mold queens, and seems to have a fondness for superstars "in the rough" she can teach and help develop. We've definitely seen it with queens in the past (I'd count Jinkx in that category too, for the growth she showed). That's why the Adore / Bianca dynamic in the top 3 is still interesting to me - we've seen both "types" win before, so while Bianca is the obvious front-runner, I'm not counting Adore out just yet.

Courtney's all polish and no real warmth. [...] she doesn't register as a real contender for the crown.

Completely agreed. While Bianca's final runway speech was a little cheesy / predictable, I appreciated that she showed a little humility and seemed genuine. Courtney, on the other hand, came off as though she's almost as out of touch with her performance on the show as Darienne was, given her "I'm already a superstar" speech. Courtney's been lucky enough to skate by just barely out of the bottom 2 so so many times, so while she definitely has presence and has done well off-RPDR, it just felt really disingenuous and out-of-touch to frame why she should win that way.

[lucifuge-5.livejournal.com]

I don't know why, but I always saw Jinkx as a queen who knew who she was from the get - go. She's more polished nowadays, of course, but I don't see any huge steps forward or backwards in regards to her own aesthetic. YMMV.

At this point in the competition, I don't understand why Courtney's made it this far. After Shade: the Rusical, she's been mostly OK, but has kept skating through...I dunno. I would deffo watch a talk show hosted by her (a la Graham Norton, for example). But I'd haaate it if she won.