RuPaul's Drag Race All-Stars, Episode 8: "RuPaul's Best Judy's Race"
First off, this is way late and I'm really sorry. I got a horrible toothache Friday night and was out of commission until Tuesday. I'm doing well, and I'm going to do my best to keep things short and sweet this week, but that could be difficult.
I was firmly Team Manila. When the rumors were circulating that Manila was returning for All-Stars, I thought that it would be a wrap and she would finally have a crown and scepter. Well, that wasn't to be. Naomi needed a win and she got it this week. People gripe about the All-Stars format, but I think it's great. I think the reasoning is valid and it kind of gives you an insight into who the queens are. There is no rule book. You don't want to go home, don't land in the bottom two. Naomi clearly saw Manila as strong competition and decided to take her out while she could. It was her decision. It was her right. Now, do I agree with it? No. Do I respect it? No. But that being said, Naomi deserves zero hate on social media. Don't tweet hateful, racist shit at her. That's not cool. She doesn't deserve it. You're not doing it for Manila, because I can guarantee you that since this was filmed almost a year ago, Manila is over it. Don't be trash.
With that out of the way, let's dive right in. After Valentina's elimination, the queens do their usual gather and Trinity reveals she also chose to eliminate Valentina. This tracks with Trinity's stated goal to want to win against the best. Valentina was doing the worst, time to go. Talk turns to track records and it's clear that statistically Manila and Trinity are doing the best. Each of them try to deflect, but they aren't super successful.
The next day, the Werk Room has been transformed. The pictures of Ru that were gracing the walls have been replaced by pictures of the legendary Judy Garland. Ru enters with maybe one of her best suits. It's definitely deserving of the producer mandated compliments it receives. Ru gives the All-Stars a gay herstory lesson about the Stonewall Riots and their connection Judy Garland's funeral. I hadn't heard of that correlation and it's neat, but doing a little more investigating, it seems like the connection is a lot more tenuous than Ru made it out to be. Not a huge shock. What is the tie-in to the maxi challenge? Well, the gals best Judy's are there!
I love the makeover challenges and I especially love them when there is a personal connection ala All-Stars 2. Monét, Monique, Naomi and Latrice get their platonic best friends, while Manila and Trinity get their significant others.
 |
| Somewhere over the Werk Room |
Aside from mini-challenges, the other thing missing from an All-Stars episode is Ru's usual walkthroughs. I get why they are. The walkthroughs serve a couple of purposes: coating from Ru and as a way to get to know the queens. That's not really needed in All-Stars. The queens need to figure things out for themselves and we know them. I get why Ru chose to use this episode to return to his walkthroughs. He wants to mine some drama and emotion from these reunions. He gets that mainly from Monique, Naomi and Latrice.
Monique apparently has been yearning for a pep talk from Ru, so she finally gets that. It's nothing super revelatory. Monique can't take bad critiques. Yadda, yadda. Same with Naomi and her Judy. Ru encourages her to be silly, make mistakes. Cool. The most affecting moment is when Ru gets to Latrice and her good Judy, Tim. We get a reminder about Latrice's time spent in jail and how Tim really helped her during that difficult time. Ru always says that as gay people we get to choose our family and this is really a great illustration of that.
Part of the main challenge is to do a duet to an original song done in the style of Judy Garland. It's... not great. The song itself is trash. Like, I don't expect much from these parody songs, but this is rough. Why not just use an actual Judy Garland song? Like... it's painful to watch and that carries over to the performances. None of them are good and it's difficult to really differentiate any pair due to the matching outfits. This whole thing feels really slapped together honestly.
I feel like Monique Heart and her sister were for sure robbed. I loved this look. It's classic Monique. It's so graphic and awesome. I loved the trading of the giant eyes and the campy, kitschy presentation. It gets very little love from the judges. Michelle gives Monique a half hearted "your make up has been great all season." I mean, it has, but like how about some more praise for this killer look.
Monét and her sister are one of the top two and I love Monét but I don't see it. Monét's make-up is phenomenal, but her sister's look... not so much. She is so freaking white. I can't handle it. Like, I feel like the judges should have said something, but they didn't. I also wasn't a huge fan of the gold outfits either.
Latrice and her sister are by far the worst. Latrice's sister looks horrendous. She's not cinched at all. There is definitely some suspicious padding. Why would you do your friend dirty this way Latrice?! Why?! It seems pretty clear at this point that Latrice will be heading home again. Little did we know.
 |
| Card queens. |
Manila and her sister/wife, Michael, look beautiful. I'm going to be honest, I don't really understand when they tell a queen there's no family resemblance. I see on with Manila and Michael. The make up looks similar to me. I like that one is wearing blonde and the other a black wig. A nice take on Manila's usual style. The dresses are pretty basic compared to what Manila usually brings. When you're consistently crushing the runway game, you can't pull something like this when it's almost finale time. Manila earns her first trip to the bottom two with these looks. It is nice that the episode focuses so much on Manila and Michael's marriage. For a show full of gay people, we rarely see gay guys kissing or showing affection towards each other, so it's kind of cool to see that on the show.
 |
| Snap out of it. |
Naomi and her Judy do a Sonny and Cher routine on the runway it's really good. Naomi takes Ru's advice and let's her hair down. She looks like she's having a ton of fun on the runway and I dig the gender bending that Naomi does. It definitely has a family resemblance. Probably the strongest of all the duos. It's not a huge shock that Naomi does well here. She won the makeover challenge on season 8. This is her strong suit. She rightfully earns her place in the top two. I did think it was a little odd that the judges didn't say anything about Naomi doing a Sonny and Cher illusion for a Judy Garland challenge. I don't think it's enough to keep her from a win, but it maybe warrants a mention. Especially if Michelle will comment on Valentina's look a couple of weeks ago and be wrong.
I love Trinity and her boyfriend's looks. Classic Versace. Trinity is the other queen that's been slaying the runway game and this episode is no exception. After Naomi, I think they have the clearest family resemblance. I was a little surprised when Monét landed in the top alongside Naomi. I thought the other would be either Trinity or Monique.
 |
| It's a rainy day in Manila. |
I have to give some props to the editors of this episode. A lot of the time, who is going to be eliminated is telegraphed throughout the episode, but not this time. Had you had no prior knowledge of how the episode was going to go down, I don't think that there would be any indication that it would be Manila getting the chop. Sure Latrice saved Naomi last week, but Naomi has been vocal about "fair" eliminations and against Manila this choice seems pretty clear. During the actual lip sync, Naomi slays. Her look is perfect. She embodies the song. Yes she does her slide across the floor for the third time, but I'll allow it. Monét is much more subdued and I get what she's going for, but she's no match for Naomi. Naomi eliminates Manila. Everyone is gooped. Naomi hands Trinity the crown.
So, yeah. That happened. I'm not going to lie. It's a bummer that Manila isn't going to be in the finale. I can only imagine the look she had planned. I can see why Naomi would want to eliminate the strongest competitor but it sucks. I also don't think it helps Naomi's game, because I just don't think that Manila was her big obstacle to get to the top 2. It feels like Naomi is on her way to a solid fourth place finish and that would be the case if Manila were there or not.
Some standings:
5. Latrice (Buy Naomi a nice gift, girl.)
4. Naomi (Listen, she won and that's awesome, but she has the worst track record.)
3. Monique (Girl. Please win next week. Now that Manila's gone, you're my only hope.)
2. Monét (Objectively, Monét is now tied with Trinity for most wins. Impressive, girl.)
1. Trinity (With Manila gone, it's Trinity's to lose at this point. Especially if she wins next week.)
It's crazy to think that we only have two episodes left of All-Stars 4. Even though I am not pleased with this elimination, I'm still really pleased with the season as whole, especially after the train wreck that was All-Stars 3. I do feel like my dream of a queen of color entering the Drag Race Hall of Fame is slipping away, though.
Are you shocked to see Manila go? Sad? Happy? Mad? Who are you rooting for? Let me know in the comments.
No comments:
Post a Comment