I was watching a choppy live stream, so I couldn't really tell, but it looked like Fame barely even knew the words. She is so pretty, but possibility one of the most underwhelming live performers the show's ever had.
I am a firm believer in serendipity- all the random pieces coming together in one wonderful moment, when suddenly you see what their purpose was all along.
I'm back in snoozeland with this show. I'll watch out of courtesy, but I thought this week's episode was pretty dull. The main challenge routines went on ad nauseam until I got nauseous. And I say that as a huge John Waters fan. Good luck to all of them.
Have we really come down to 6 queens (again) and there hasn't been a SINGLE sewing or creating-an-outfit challenge? It baffles me, as in past seasons, there's always been such an emphasis on knowing how to sew.
The first challenge was all about creating a nude illusion, and presumably some sewing was involved in the conjoined twins challenge.
I am a firm believer in serendipity- all the random pieces coming together in one wonderful moment, when suddenly you see what their purpose was all along.
I'm just not rooting for anyone. I mean, Trixie KILLED me in that Anne Frank bit, but that wasn't even on the show. Tonight she was terrible. She didn't ... do anything? She brought some basic schitck. I think Ginger is the only consistently funny one, but tonight she felt a little flat to me too. Katya is funny, but I don't know that I'm rooting for or that she's on the same level as Bianca or even Jinx.
The nude illusion/first challenge seemed as if they had been prepared for it and brought most of the materials from home. Most had body suits they had brought. It was like in the past where they go to fabric stores, dig through dumpsters, or raid the workroom for materials to create an outfit.
Also, though the conjoined queens challenge "presumably" had some sewing, there really wasn't any focus on that. This seems to be the first season that blatantly has the queens showing up for every challenge already very, very prepared. (At least moreso than previous seasons.)
I am definitely team Katya, with a side of Minj. I actually liked Fame a lot after the intro interviews before the show aired, but she has been so meh! And somewhat clueless. That was the worst lipsync since whatsername picked up the other queen seasons ago. Once she and Pearl were in the bottom two, I knew it was going to be dreadful. They are both beautiful, but boring with no real talent. Pearl redeemed with her Big Ang, but that was it. I expect her to go soon.
The music for the challenge was pretty bad, but didnt the girls write their own lyrics? That shouldn't be laid at Lucien's feet.
"Carson has combined his passion for helping children with his love for one of Cincinnati's favorite past times - cornhole - to create a unique and exciting event perfect for a corporate outing, entertaining clients or family fun."
"Carson has combined his passion for helping children with his love for one of Cincinnati's favorite past times - cornhole - to create a unique and exciting event perfect for a corporate outing, entertaining clients or family fun."
Lucien's music always seems very "first pass" to me. I mean, maybe he was given the assignment only a day before and that's what he threw together, but otherwise it seems like he just rights a first draft and that's it.
To be completely fair, Ru has never really made any of her own outfits. Ru, like Divine and every other drag star before her, got there by being funny, not only off the cuff, but on film as well.
Aesthetic is a huge part of drag, sure, but ain't nobody gonna pay money to see a queen on tour who just stands there and smiles in a gorgeous gown (see Bebe, Tyra, and Raja's post-show careers).
This might be the first season where the queens finally got the memo and actually brought everything they were asked to bring. Every other season has had queens admitting afterwards they didn't bring half the stuff because they thought the producers were joking or that the challenge wouldn't happen. That's why there's been so little sewing. In other seasons, that death challenge would have been a sewing challenge for most of the contestants. Same with ugly dress.
RuPaul seems to enjoy surrounding himself with mediocrity - Santino Rice, Michelle Visage, Lucian Piane. The girl doesn't want competition, I suppose...
Perhaps it's the fact that the first episode of this season so heavily featured garments that the queens brought with them, and that the "creating a nude illusion" was something that many of the queens had prepared for or could easily accomplish makes me feel as if sewing or creating new looks isn't a big factor in the competition this year.
Both the Dead Queen and the Ugly Dress could have been their own maxi-challenge, not just the runway look. Replace one of the number of acting challenges we've seen this season and have THAT be the challenge - to create the look. I'm guessing that's what the Final Ball challenge will be - as in previous seasons - but it seems too late.
If you look at the past 6 seasons, every premier episode was a challenge where the queens were given some sort of raw material and had to create an entire outfit (often something high-fashion) on the spot, generally with a theme. That's a challenge that I was really missing this season. It also helps me see how some of their minds work and what they can create under pressure, given a surprise theme.
(Correct me if I'm wrong, but I am under the assumption that the first challenge of past seasons, the queens had no idea what to expect, just that they would most-likely have to create some sort of outfit on the spot using provided materials. If someone is "in the know", I'd love to hear what they're told.)
Eh, I don't miss the sewing challenge. Yeah, a good queen should be able to put together a look, but I find that those challenges allow the pretty/boring queens to slip through because they can make a dress. Of course creativity is important, but I don't look for dressmaking skills in my favorite drag queens.
I am a firm believer in serendipity- all the random pieces coming together in one wonderful moment, when suddenly you see what their purpose was all along.
As much as I love a Project Runway, it does seem kind of moot to have a create your own dress challenge. I'd rather see a Queen who can work a room and land a joke than sew a dress. I'm paying to see you entertain me, not make a cute outfit.
And what is Tyra and Rasha up to these days? I know Rasha was on America's Next Top Model beforehand as their make-up artist.
Raja is Iggy Azalea & Adam Lambert's makeup artist as well as still touring. She also is hosting Raja Drawja & Fashion Photo Ruview with Raven on the WoW Youtube channel.
Someone on Reddit brought up the problem with all of the performance challenges this season, they're all pretty much pre-scripted and how well you do or shine depends almost entirely on what role you get. Like with Ginger & Trixie this week Ginger's role was the star and Trixie was just her scene partner. Aside from Despy's & the Parody episodethey've been told exactly what to do in every challenge. They don't really get a chance to be bring themselves to the show because they're always being asked to be someone else.
As for wanting to see a queen who can entertain rather than make a dress? They're not independent of each other. Performance episodes show their skills performing while the sewing challenges give the show more on screen queen interaction. The challenges we're given now... aren't good. All they show is that queens can deliver pre-written lines without ****ing it up. There's a few exceptions to that, but for the most part that's it. Season 6 only had 2 episodes where the performances weren't created by the queens Season 7 is coming up on 5. That's so boring.
In addition, this season to me has come off so gimmicky with the Runways. Bearded. Green. Ugliest Dress. How did your drag character die?
That's why this season has been frustrating to me because I like a lot of the queens this season, but pretty much none of them have been able to show off any of their assets because they're stuck being told what to say and how to perform.
It was pretty dull stuff; the mini-challenge was mildly funny, but the winner seemed to be a rather arbitrary choice (to me). That main challenge was just yawn inducing.
None of them were bad, but none of them were all that great either.
Side Note: I went to LoveGun in Williamsburg to see Raja perform. Show was billed as starting at 11:00pm. We got there at like 10:30, it was kind of dead. Raja didn't even walk through the door until about 12:00. Then I saw her in the bathroom, outside smoking. Still in her "everyday" drag look. We left at 1:45am and she still was sitting outside talking in her everyday look. I was so disappointed.
I barely remembered anything about last night's episode this morning, which I attributed to being a wee bit tipsy when I watched. Turns out, it just isn't memorable. Thanks for making me feel less Promises: Malibu, kids!
I just kind of watched UNTUCKED and it's as boring as the episode was. Thank God there's only a couple episodes left this season. I'm really praying they make an announcement that "due to popular demand" or some sh*t like that, next season will be going back to the original format.
It's just SUCH a good show. But this season does feel lackluster. I wish they'd do more super-size episodes like Project Runway or something. And I hope there is an all-stars.
I was discussing this with a friend. I think one problem, at least that I have, is it's starting to get too self involved, for lack of a better term--now the Queens and instead of referencing or mentioning drag queens who inspired them, etc, they discuss past contestants. Unfortunately, especially with reality tv, I dunno if there's any real way to completely avoid some of this pattern--but going back to the original format might help (didn't Ru say there would only be one or two more seasons, anyway?)