RuCap Realness
This week is the clip show, which is sort of a bummer, because we want to see who wins, damnit! But it’s still sort of fun, because it’s RuPaul and so it can’t help being a blast.
One nice thing is that they got a lot of past queens to comment on the new bunch. There’s nine in all, including past winners Jinx Monsoon, Sharon Needles, and Raja. Alaska, Latrice, Manila, Shangela, Jujubee, and Tammie Brown represent favorites from all five previous seasons. Sharon, unfortunately, comments in the character of Michelle Visage — only more grotesque and less spot-on than in the Snatch Game. It’s off-putting. Everyone else looks fabulous.
The show consists of many countdowns. There are the Five Catchiest Phases, which gives bonus points to everything Joslyn Fox said, and Bianca Del Rio’s Rolodex of Hate. Interestingly, none of the phrases come from Laganja. I know she was one of the most annoying queens ever, but her stuff gets quoted a lot.
There’s a Top 4 Team MVPs: Bianca, Adore, Courtney, and BenDelaCreme take those honors. It’s nice that Dela gets some love, but I think they could have cut that list down to two.
We get three “WTF Mini-Challenges”: The beach party lip-synch, the hungman game, and the first episode photoshoot. Manila speaks for the nation when she notes that half the queens had to “jump to [their] death,” while the other half got to have a pillow fight with cute guys. But we do see RuPaul do the Geronimo leap into the foam.
The Top 4 “Dragcessories” include Gia’s giant purse, April’s umbrella, the flask of fish oil, and Ornacia. The Top 5 “feel things” moments are Milk’s elimination, Adore’s mom video, Laganja’s umpteenth breakdown, Trinity’s reveal of her HIV status, and the mass wedding. Shangela loves the conflux of feelings when Joslyn is making up a bride while thinking about her own wedding.
Definitely worth watching is deleted footage from the Talk Show episode, because the queens got surprise animal visits from a wildlife society. Bianca’s bit is really funny.
There’s the usual rundown of the top runway looks. It’s nice that Vivacious’s red cone dinosaur look made the list. As usual, the segment ends with a montage of all of RuPaul’s looks, while the past queens seethe with envy and admiration.
Adam Lambert made the Top 5 Judgmental Moments by flirting with April Carrion. I want there to be a show starring Adam where all he does is sing and flirt with drag queens. It could be a modern sitcom interpretation of Cabaret, with Adam as the Emcee, plenty of backstage drama, and lots of onstage performances. The other four judges are Sheryl Lee Ralph (who could play the tough-as-nails owner of the cabaret theater), Leah Remini (who could be an aging burlesque Diva), Michelle and Santino (feuding partners in a double act), and Khloe Kardashian (who would make a terrific Sally Bowles). There’s bonus footage of Khloe lip-synching with Raven and Manila. It’s easy to see why it got cut. That’s all I’m going to say about that.
The show moves on to the Top 5 Smackdowns. But at least two of the five were creations of the editors, one was inconsequential, another was Laganja vs. Adore, which wasn’t really a smackdown, and the final one was Bianca vs. The World, which seems about right. More fun are the “Top 3 Support Hos,” where queens give pep talks. Joslyn stands up for Milk against Gia, Trinity gives pep talks to everyone, and Bianca is Drag Mother of the Year.
The final segments focus on Adore, Bianca, and Courtney, the ABCs of Drag. Adore is a lovable mess, Bianca is the bitch with a heart of gold, and Courtney is perfect. RuPaul urges fans to vote by Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram by hashtagging #TeamAdoreDelano, #TeamBiancaDelRio, or #TeamCourtneyAct.
RuPaul spends a minute not promoting her new CD, perfume, and candy bar, then introduces “Sissy That Walk” which uses a lot of the dancing footage from last week’s video shoot, but precious little of the acting footage. Watching the video, I can’t see that anyone stands out as better or worse than any one else. I am bummed, however, that Adore’s vagina-kissing gesture didn’t make the final cut.
That’s the clip show! While we’re waiting for the finale, let’s talk about how our feelings towards the queens changed throughout the season In my first post for the season, I recorded my impressions about each contestant. I did call out Bianca and Courtney for Top 3, but that wasn’t a stretch. I was right that April would struggle, although I thought it would be the cultural barrier, and it turned out to be performance in general. I was also worried about Gia, Kelly, and Milk. The two I was most wrong about were Vivacious (I thought she would last a long time) and Magnola (I thought she had a really good attitude!). Who really change your mind? Let me know!
