Well well well, it turns out our prediction from last week (or to be more precise our Nancy Drew amateur sleuthing) was spot on. Finally we get down to the finalists in this week’s episode with the music video challenge narrowing down our finalists to the triumphant triumvirate of new drag royalty. The Bitter Lady Brigade vs New School of Drag was on! Miss Marguax kittygurl, let’s shake off the dust and shade.
Margaux: There was much shade coming off The Bitter Lady Brigade this episode, you feel the tension of being in the top four. It was a little clunky editing, but it only took 30 seconds after (tear) Kayta’s elimination for Ginger to trade shade with Violet. And it just kept on coming for the rest of, “And The Rest is Drag”.
Samir: Yes, Ginger gave Violet some of her medicine from earlier in the season when she said “What does it feel like to have a weakness?” I love violet but turn-about is fair play. That being said, I felt Kennedy and Ginger were laying it on THICK, like Robin Thicke-thick, the whole time. It actually reminded me of the first season’s final episodes with Rebecca Glasscock’s wig and Pearl’s wig giving me a sense of deja vu, except Bebe and Nina Flowers were much kinder.
Margaux: I really think Kennedy’s shady-ness this week was her undoing. I love a good insult, but I think Ginger and Kennedy spent a lot of time talking about professionalism and not really demonstrating it.
Samir: Michelle Visage said it herself when Kennedy brought it up on the runway. If she’s going to talk about being professional, her speech didn’t show it, which was a running theme for her. And that was truly unfortunate because we learned a lot of wonderful things about her in this episode, and it put her shade in a different light for me. But there was so much of it that it literally overshadowed her beautiful human qualities, like learning that she was also a full-time caretaker for her mentally disabled sibling after her father passed away.
Margaux: After I got over being taken aback by Kennedy’s sincere use of the word “retarded”, I totally agree that her bitterness this episode eclipsed the truly great entertainer and sweet human being Kennedy is.
That being said, I thought Kennedy’s dance moves stole the video portion and I’m not sure if it was her tightly tailored gown on the runway, but I was missing some of that Kennedy razzle-dazzle I’ve come to expect from her lip syncs.
Samir: OMG, how ironic that the eliminated queen would be edited out of the final music video and thusly Kennedy’s portion, by far the best dancing in the video, will not be seen in it! Also, she really did save her best look for this episode, that gay rainbow gown was to DIE for but to tight to dance in. How tragic that when she finally wears something I loved and she performed great in a challenge is when she goes home. But her final speech and lip synch, and performance in the acting challenge, where they each played every character in rotation, from the bitchy teen, to the baby, to the boozed out pill-popping southern hick wife (with RuPaul as the beer-guzzling old conservative codger) just sunk her.
Margaux: And it was surprising that, by comparison, how varied Pearl’s (and Violet) performances were. It was a foregone conclusion that Ginger was going to nail another acting challenge, but you’ve gotta give credit where it’s due, Pearl and Violet’s acting has come a long way. Sadly, their dancing still has even longer way to go, but that’s usually fixable with some booze.
Samir: Violet didn’t seem the worst, and in fact is known for her amazing performances outside the show. But as Kennedy said during the music video challenge, Pearl has the same moves every time she dances-what did they call it again? I called it drag Jim Carrey, but what was the term the queens had for it?
Margaux: I thought it was Pearl Smash, like her arms go all Hulk-y, I get more of a possessed witch vibe, but that’s just me.
Samir: That’s it, “Pearl Smash.” Yes that is a much tougher road for her to hoe, but I do think she has star quality, which was NOT apparent from the beginning. I thought it was interesting that the only queen we got some real information about in the “lunch with Rupaul” that enviable feast of tic-tacs, ws Kennedy. We never learned what happened in Pearl’s or Violet’s life, just that something traumatic nearly wrecked young Pearl’s life. I’m an instant fan of the new trope of RuPaul showing them pictures of themselves as young boys and asking each queen what they would say to that little boy now. Combined with the epic emotional upheaval of Untucked, the water works were flowing tonight.
Margaux: Fun fact, I LOOOOOOOVE baby pictures of people, they were such little cuties! So, it was nice note to end on on the runway, especially after that blood bath when Ru asked the remaining queens who/why should be the top 3.
Samir: That’s Ru taking the Tyra road, and showing the ANTM roots of the show. Because RuPaul does, pun-intended, drag out the tears from her children, not just for the entertainment value of it, but Ru wants them to honor and acknowledge their pasts in a way that is at once more shrewd and more emotionally invested on a real level than on ANTM, because Ru truly shares common ground with every contestant.
Margaux: What’s unrelatable about being 15, in PARIS, booking runway jobs with top-notch designers, SAMIR?
Samir: I once went to a national Indian-kid spelling bee in New Jersey when I was twelve, does that count?
Margaux: I’ve never been to Jersey, so, yes!
But back to Drag Race, it was the most reality show-y moment of the night, and I have to agree with Pearl’s sentiment from Untucked, it was part of the “game” that’s necessary, but there’s a way to answer the question without having to go the, “I’m not here to make friends” route. Cause that’s a kiss of death, too.
Samir: It’s amazing how reality TV contestants ALWAYS seem to give editors this material to work with. We already knew Kennedy was eliminated before we saw UT but when she quoted LaShaun Beyond “This is not RuPaul’s Best Friends Race!” Um. Kennedy she went home in episode two of that season, probs not the best omen for your continuation on this show. But yes GAWD to the drama backstage this time around. When the competition gets this close, the claws come out and Ginger and Kennedy’s pageant background drew blood from the sensitive overconfident younger queens. It was a brilliant UT because they honestly delineated the “competition vs sisterhood” dynamic this show always has better than ever before. Do you call out your queens to lift yourself up, or do you hold each other up? The younger queens were about sisterhood first, and the pageant girls were all about the competition before the sisterhood. The dual storylines of Violet/Kennedy hashing out their differences with the much more trying Ginger/Pearl conversation outside was genius that you couldn’t write if you tried.
Margaux: I loved that Kennedy had to CLAP AT GINGER to get her to stop digging her damn hole, in trying to apologize to Pearl. It was hard to listen to because Ginger had to admit, multiple times, how this her…doing anything she can to win. I appreciated and will miss Kennedy’s more straight forward and unapologetic take on things, it’s very Godfather-esque, it’s not personal – it’s business. But I was in shock just as much as Violet to hear that Kennedy isn’t proud of herself and doesn’t look in the mirror and feel pretty. Not because that’s how a lot of women, and probably most of the population feel about themselves, but because I was under the impression that Kennedy loved drag not only for the performance, but because she knew looked sickening.
I know we gave Ru and the judges crap about not seeing the same things in Kennedy that were presented, but it’s interesting to hear to that maybe Kennedy has more in common with her former contestant squirrel friend, Jasmine besides elimination. I remember Kennedy trying to pick her up and lend her some confidence, trying to tell her the same things Violet is now saying to her, and I’m not sure any of got through to her.
Samir: I hope in time it will. It really was no surprise that Kennedy was eliminated, but even though I did feel the shade was unnecessary on the runway, I also appreciate that Kennedy does not apologize for how she feels. She’s had to take on so much responsibility and still do drag at the same time, that’s why she SHOULD have been Sweet Brown for Snatch Game, she really DOESN”T have time for that. Violet says “I hope when you watch this on TV, you say to yourself ‘I’m sickening.’” Speaking of the runway again, I did take issue with the judges complimenting Ginger’s “best drag” look, because it was not my favorite of her looks this season.
Margaux: Personally, I thought Ginger looked like White Diamonds era Liz Taylor. Still trying to decide if that’s good or bad. Either way, Ginger’s runway look was not my favorite, but I thought Pearl, Violet, and Kennedy knocked it out. I think Ginger’s look was something we’ve already seen before, so I’ve gotta give Michelle Visage the side-eye at her comment to Violet. I thought Violet’s look was planned before she ever set foot in the work room.
Even though I loved getting to know Kennedy better, and love her old school drag commitment, I do think her elimination should of come last week.
Let’s talk shady stars, shall we?
Samir: Agreed, Kennedy’s time was last week. I felt Ginger was right to tear up because Katya not being there just didn’t make sense. but if Kennedy had gone home then, we wouldn’t have learned the true depth of her character this week, so at least there was a silver lining to last week’s tragedy. Best Untucked all season and a palliative to soothe my shade on Kennedy is worth 4.5 stars to me, saving 5 for the finale if possible I think. Can’t blow the whole wad too early again, done that too much already.
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