The queens hustle to stay alive through RuPaul’s Drag Race’s “Disco-Mentary”
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Disco is an effervescent and evocative genre of music and, based on the sample set of the season 13 queens, far too few Americans are familiar with it. It’s long overdue the Drag Race treatment and while there’s plenty that “Disco-Mentary” struggles to deliver on, Ru’s reverence for the genre and the episode’s crash course in its history is refreshing. Unfortunately, the queens aren’t up for the challenge and this, combined with an underwhelming runway and some questionable judging, makes for a disappointing episode.
The episode begins with the queens reacting to Joey’s elimination and the lingering tension from one of the wildest episodes of Untucked in years. The editors splice together a quick catch-up for the non-Untucked viewers, but basically, Kandy and Tamisha got into it. Tamisha doesn’t have any patience for Kandy’s attitude and her dismissal of the B Squad queens, and as LaLa says, both Atlanta and Brooklyn queens do not let slights go. The Kandy and Tamisha tension is here to stay.
The next day, Ru heads into the workroom rocking a red suit, a white shirt, and a red polka dot ascot, a nod to actor and comedian Charles Nelson Reilly. The queens play along, but none of them have a clue who Reilly is, which Ru handles delightfully. The queens will work in teams of two for both the mini and maxi challenges this episode, and as the previous winner, Mik gets to pick which pair he’d like to join. For the mini, each team will have 30 minutes to make a designer dress out of wallpaper from sponsor Spoonflower.com. Then one queen will model the dress in front of a wall covered in the same paper while their partner provides fashion commentary. The team who most stands out from the background will win.
The queens scramble to it, coming up with solid designs given the time constraints. Gottmik models in a sushi print while Kandy and Tina make fish puns. Denali channels a hopefully intentionally creepy button-eyed doll in a button-print dress, with Rosé introducing her as Button Foster. Elliott shows off a surprisingly cohesive hot pink animal print dress and Tamisha goes all in on Tiger King references, which Ru eats up. Utica commits to a bumbling character for her flower-print dress, and Olivia tries to sell it in the description, but everyone mostly seems confused. Last, LaLa goes minimal in a pizza print, with individual slices cut out as pasties, along with a collar, cuffs, and a skirt. Symone and LaLa have fun, and Ru is buying what they’re selling, but ultimately, Ru gives Elliott and Tamisha the win, with each awarded a $2500 gift card to Spoonflower.
For the maxi challenge, the queens will celebrate disco with a dance challenge. Each team will embody a different aspect of disco’s heyday, learning routines choreographed by Miguel Zarate. They’ll need to get their disco moves on and most importantly, convey the energy and spirit of disco. Gottmik, Kandy, and Tina will cover the birth of disco, while Elliott and Tamisha will cover the sexual liberation of disco. Olivia and Utica have Studio 54, the iconic night club, and Denali and Rosé have disco fashion. That leaves LaLa and Symone with disco sucks, the pushback against disco that marked the beginning of the end for the genre’s pop culture dominance.
Elliott is thrilled to be taking on a challenge suited to his strengths and he’s not the only one. All the dancers are ready to strut their stuff and show what they can do. Ru returns to the workroom and calls the queens over, one team at a time, to talk through their subjects and give the audience a quick primer on disco. Denali and Rosé seem to be in sync and are working well together. They’re both eyeing a win in this challenge, particularly Rosé, who’s ready to give the producers the vulnerability they’re looking for. Symone and LaLa are pretty unfamiliar with disco, so they get a crash course on the disco sucks movement from Ru. Kandy, Tina, and Mik are similarly unfamiliar with disco, though Tina does manage to name three disco hits, even if he miss-attributes two of them. Given how much of a spotlight the queens’ lack of disco knowledge gets, it’s surprising that the episode skips right past Tamisha and Elliott. As the grande dame of the season, Tamisha is the likeliest to have a personal connection to at least the music of the era. Granted, he’s only 49 so the disco scene was before his day, but it feels safe to assume he’d at least be able to name some Donna Summer jams from his childhood.
Eventually the queens head to the main stage for their choreography rehearsal. Zarate introduces himself and gets to business, working with each group on their spotlight number. Kandy, Tina, and Mik are definitely outside their comfort zone, though Tina is much more at ease than his teammates. Symone and LaLa are next, getting pointers on their thrusting and shuffles. Elliott is excited to prove what he can do, so he’s less than thrilled to be handed a hula hoop. Tamisha struggles with his hoop, feeling foolish, and it doesn’t help that his mobility is somewhat limited by his ostomy bag. Tamisha may be in trouble. Denali and Rosé waltz through their rehearsal and according to Zarate, they have the most dance-heavy segment. If they can execute the routine, it should set them up well to contend for the win. Olivia and Utica, in contrast, are given some fabric to work. Olivia takes it in stride, but Utica battles with his fabric, and he’s not winning.
The next day, it’s time to prep for the runway. Olivia opens up to Symone about his high school experience, including wanting to join the color guard and playing piccolo in the marching band. He was bullied about his weight in school—he was almost 300 pounds—and was incredibly insecure. After urging from his doctor and mom, he went on strict diets and found his way to theatre and other means of self-expression, which led him to drag. It took a long time for him to find confidence in his body, but Olivia’s in a much better place now, focusing not on a number on a scale, but how he feels.
Kandy also gets a spotlight, talking about his background. He grew up with his mom in and out of jail and spent a lot of time on the streets. He had to fight for himself in every situation, from school and work to relationships; he didn’t have adults sticking up for him. Kandy has put a lot of effort into releasing that anger and improving himself, and he sees his blow-up with Tamisha as a real step backwards. As for Tamisha, he talks with Denali about his childhood growing up in the projects and the community member, Miss Kim, who first introduced him to performance through cheerleading. Miss Kim saw Tamisha’s talent for dance and performance and celebrated him for it, but his grandmother did not approve, because, “boys don’t do that.” Miss Kim had a big impact on him and Tamisha traces his role as mother of the House of Iman back to her and the influence she had on his life.
On the main stage, Ru walks out covered in sequins, a purple and pink vision with fabulous orange hair. The panel looks great, but they’re surprisingly subtle with their wardrobe, leaving the ’70s fashions to the queens. Michelle is in a red dress with a chic up-do and hoop earrings, while Carson goes for a shiny pink jacket and returning guest judge Loni Love has on a blue, gold, and green patterned top, even bigger gold hoops, and lovely braids.
The disco-mentary is up first, a combination of voice-over and clip packages from Ru and the queens’ dance numbers. Tina, Kandy, and Mik are up first. Tina looks fabulous in a red, orange, and yellow beaded fringe dress. It moves with every shimmy and swing and does a lot of work to cover for her more awkward movements. She needs more hip action, but she’s much more confident than Kandy and Mik, who are stiff. It’s a rough way to start out a celebration of disco. Elliott and Tamisha are second, and while it’s easy to see Tamisha counting her steps, she’s at least moving and feeling the beat. Elliott is in her element. It’s a shame she doesn’t get more to do—she’s clearly capable of it. Next are Olivia and Utica, who twirl fabric because… Studio 54? Utica is pulling the same faces she did in her runways last episode, and they do not work in this context. Olivia isn’t amazing technically, but she fully commits to the routine and she looks fantastic. Even Denali and Rosé’s segment is underwhelming, the choreography not living up to the hype. Rosé edges out Denali thanks to her look, but like the other queens, they need more torso and hip action and they could have gone bigger with their motions, extending their energy all the way to their extremities.
The group routines are actually the most impressive parts of the disco-mentary, and it’s in these moments that the dancers set themselves apart. This viewer’s eye flits right from LaLa to Tamisha to Elliott to Rosé to Denali, with props to Tina for matching their energy. Elliott and LaLa in particular stand out, arching their backs and getting low when needed. From the crispness of Denali’s flicks and hip pops, she’s likely right with them, but the camera moves away from her frequently, so it’s hard to tell. LaLa is the first queen to really nail her routine, hitting each move in her closing segment with Symone. The challenge ends with a Soul Train line and though the queens are much more relaxed and in the groove by this point, as a whole, the disco-mentary is one hell of a let-down. The queens needed more time to rehearse and, for at least some of them, more compelling choreography—get those hula-hoops out of there.
It’s time for the runway, and category is: Little Black Dress. Tina’s out first, in a painter’s coverall tear-away that reveals a form-fitting black mini dress with red, orange, and yellow paint at the skirt and yellow and orange hand prints on her chest and cheeks. It’s simple, but effective. Kandy is the latest queen to take inspiration from Comme des Garçon, wearing a white canvas dress with Princess Diana’s famous revenge dress hand-painted onto it. Mik takes Valentina’s Madonna runway to a whole new level, wearing pasties and the littlest of black dresses, a fashion doll-sized garment glued to her navel that barely covers her crotch, with a bow offering some coverage from the back. On another queen this would land differently, but given Mik’s out-of-drag struggle to feel comfortable in his body, this look takes on greater significance. It’s frankly less shocking than she wants it to be, but Mik looks great because she obviously feels great.
After the first group’s more creative approaches, Elliott’s traditional take is a little disappointing. She looks great and her gold and black coat is gorgeous, but her dress itself is pretty basic. Tamisha’s look is a bit more interesting, with a butterfly silhouette across the front. There’s extra fabric at the waist that doesn’t help her shape, but at least it’s somewhat distinctive. Olivia’s dress is less exciting. She’s in a strapless cocktail dress with gold embellishments. Her hair looks fantastic, but the garment itself is just fine. Utica doesn’t look all that great, but at least she’s interesting. She’s in an Audrey Hepburn-inspired dress, but with a gold bodysuit underneath and gold paint. She’s copying her stylized Hepburn earrings, but that detail is lost, as they’re far too small for the audience to clock, even in a close-up.
Denali’s dress is pretty straightforward, but she gives it a fun twist. When she takes off her hat, she reveals six more black eyes. She’s a spider, beaded webbing connecting her arms and torso, hanging from her hem, and decorating the back of her dress. Rosé calls back to her train runway in a little black dress with gray tulle framing and filling out the silhouette. LaLa’s dress is again pretty expected, a mini-dress with long sleeves and a little shape to the shoulder, with a silver neckpiece as embellishment. Symone is last, and she immediately wins the category, wearing a cute black dress with massive side and center cut-outs and gold rings holding the pieces together. The dress is made out of braiding hair, and adding drama is a platinum blonde wig, with hair styled over rings and into beads. She’s channeling RuPaul’s “Back To My Roots” music video and she looks fantastic. It may have dipped in the last episode, but Symone’s runway game is back.
Ru gets right to business: Gottmik, Denali, Rosé, LaLa, and Symone are safe, and they’re not pleased. Tina, Elliott, and Olivia are in the top, which leaves Kandy, Tamisha, and Utica in the bottom. The judges loved Tina’s performance and they like her runway too. Kandy is read for her disco outfit and the judges want more variety in her performances. Michelle is not thrilled with Elliott’s runway, but she and the other judges rave over her dancing. Carson likes Tamisha’s dress, though Michelle has notes, but in the challenge, the judges wanted more from her. She was thinking too much instead of projecting fun and confidence. Olivia wowed the judges in the challenge, her positivity and energy shining through her movement. Utica is read for the second episode in a row for her face-pulling and though the judges love her look once she explains it, she shouldn’t have to explain it.
After deliberations, Olivia gets the win and the cash tip of $5000, and Tina, Elliott, and Utica are declared safe. That leaves Kandy and Tamisha up for elimination, lip-syncing to Blue Cantrell’s “Hit ‘Em Up Style (Oops!)”. Tamisha is in the pocket, feeling the beat and showing it with her whole body, while Kandy serves up more variety in her performance. Both do well, but this lip-sync isn’t the barn-burner that the past few episodes have delivered. Ultimately, Ru tells Kandy to shantay, sending Tamisha out of the competition much sooner than many anticipated. She’s certainly made a big impression during her run though, and should she return for All Stars, when she’s had more time to recover from her cancer treatments, she’ll be a strong contender. Tamisha came into Drag Race an established, formidable queen and she leaves with a new, nation-wide fanbase. Her journey to and on the show is truly impressive and the season will not be the same without her.
Stray observations
- Need a palate cleanser from those lackluster disco routines? Seek out clips of Soul Train on YouTube. They’re a great way to immerse yourself in the sound, style, and energy of the 1970s dance scene and beyond.
- I’m #TeamTamisha so perhaps I’m biased, but this is the first time this season I really didn’t agree with who was up for elimination. There were several queens who struggled more than Tamisha in the challenge. Yes, her eyes and face weren’t in it enough, but at least her hips were. This smacked of rigga morris, an opportunity to have a lip-sync pay-off to the recent Kandy and Tamisha drama.
- Similarly, there are several queens I’d go to before Olivia this challenge as the performer you couldn’t take your eyes off of. If the judges are right on this, the camerawork and editing missed the mark in capturing her performance.
- I loved Michelle’s Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman reference. A remake is currently being developed for Sony TV and Schitt’s Creek fans will be happy to hear that Emily Hampshire has been tapped to write, produce, and star in it.
78 Comments
Ok, haven’t seen this episode yet, but if anyone wants to experience one of the most memorable emotional roller coasters in Drag Race herstory, I highly recommend this weeks episode of Drag Race UK. Even their promo for next week’s episode is eyebrow raising.
I think we all heart Ginny Lemon. Walking away in the midst of a lipsync should have ruined it all — but didn’t — and her rationale made me a little teary.
spoiler ffs
Ooh, that’s a fair point, but what’s the rules on giving things a spoiler tag if it’s already received an official airing in another country (or countries)? Does this even have an outlet in the US? How long is one supposed to wait?
I’m in UK and it airs Monday nights on BBC. I see you put spoiler tag next week 🙂 so thank you x
The fact that Canadians have this show aired five days in advance of everyone in the UK is scandalous! Spoiler tags it is.
oh UK Drag Race thread. Yeah, it was very emotional. I see Bimini winning the season, and I smell drama coming up from Veronica.Let’s see what next week brings.
Also: what the judging? Lawrence’s look was 50% of Nina’s MILF leatherface and 50% of Crystal Methyd’s Freddy. The challenge is to bring an original costume to the show, not two characters that have already been presented on Drag Race US!For the record, I tried to put this in a spoiler tag…but it appears that I don’t have that ability.
This week was frustrating, and even more so because I really, really wanted to love an educational disco challenge.What about “sexy” and “disco” leads to…hula hoop choreo? Why were none of them lip synching? Was there no budget to get the actual disco songs they are referencing? Are the judges ever going to call Tina out for wearing red/orange/yellow all the time? How were the judges that confused about Utica’s look? Does Rose (who, with LaLa, I think deserved to at least be in the top, btw) just always put unnecessary tulle on a look?The only judging I agreed with was them stanning everything about Olivia. Ok yeah, the dress was basic and probably should have been clocked, but she was feeling it and THAT HAIR. And normally I wouldn’t be a fan of a body queen going down the runway basically naked, but that definitely took so much courage from Mik that I can’t be upset.I’m glad Tamisha went out both clearing the air with Kandy and being so, so inspired by and confident from her time on the show. She has to be a lock for a future All Stars season.
Are the judges ever going to call Tina out for wearing red/orange/yellow all the time?An ugly red/orange/yellow dress.
It reminded me of the robe that The Master wore in Manos: The Hands of Fate. But The Master wore it better. This to me was the worst runway that I can recall on this show.
It was certainly the worst this season. Gottmik’s was probably the cleanest, but I would’ve been more impressed if we hadn’t already seen something similar with Valentina’s “Sex” look. Yes, the concept was different than what was shown here, but the execution turned out to be pretty much the same. That being said, all the rest of the outfits were pretty terrible. I particularly disliked the “Comme des Garcons” Gaga ripoff garments, as the style only works as a conceptual/political piece and not as a straight runway look, especially as it fights the curves. Rose’s interpretation was particularly awful, although it had steep competition from Kandy and LaLa in a race to the bottom.
How were the judges that confused about Utica’s look?From the unedited tape of panel judging tonight:Ru: “Utica, you haven’t been pegged as the “Lewk Queen” this season, so we are blind to the quality of your work. Gottmik, Gottmik, Gottmik!”Michelle: “And you made us look stupid when we didn’t see your iconic point of reference!”Ru:”…and because you have been anointed a quirky queen, we can only laugh at you, and not with you, and you will get the Jimbo Edit and land frequently in the bottom three before your untimely elimination.”
I’m shocked they didn’t keep Tamisha around just for the drama between her and Kandy. They’ve kept queens around just for the mere hint of potential drama down the line… so it’s weird when ones bring IT and then send her home.
I guess they thought doing rigga morris by having them lip sync against each other was a better pay off
In Untucked Tamisha said they more or less made up, so there wasn’t much more drama to milk from that anyways. But Tamisha makes good enough TV that they could have figured out a way to keep her if they wanted (starting with not assigning her a hula hoop number).
Especially in a episode with Ru trying to get people to remember their drag past.
No, I’m glad that they let Tamisha leave with a classy, dignified exit in which she was able to state her point of view and future goals. She even had a bit of validation with that highlight from Untucked, which is the first time that I can remember the show taking a queen’s side since, what –S2 with Tatianna’s complaint about Raven? Dragging on a fight for the fight’s sake would just have cheapened Tamisha’s time on the show and the gravity of the situation. Performing on the show with an ostomy bag? Oh, Tamisha.
100% agree, just surprised the show retracted their claws instead of digging them into Tamisha for drama’s sake.
Part of me thinks an earlier season would have milked it for all its worth and exacerbated the feud for ‘good’ tv, but they seem more aware this round (or at least pretend to be)
I mostly agree with this write up more than I usually do. This was a pretty “meh” episode for me which is a shame given that disco is such a promising subject. The bottom definitely should have been Utica and Kandy based on what they did that night but I guess Ru couldn’t resist setting up a Tamisha vs Kandy lip synch. Having said that I think this was a good point in the season for Tamisha to go. She lasted long enough that it was a respectable showing and sets her up for “All Stars” and she never embarrassed herself. Staying any longer would’ve been rough on her healthBtw I’m 48 and believe it or not those of us born in the early 70s do have some firsthand memories of disco from our childhoods. The “Saturday Night Fever” soundtrack was absolutely ubiquitous and all of us remember it. Like you said disco absolutely permeated pop culture. There was a novelty song “disco duck” where Donald Duck did a disco song! There was a Sesame Street disco album. There was a disco version of the Star Wars theme! Kids loved all of these, but of course we weren’t old enough to to a nightclub and dance to disco which is probably what you mean
Utica was entertaining! And Ru should have ditched the voiceover, which robbed the subject of its sense of fun and romance. And yes, even though I was in the single digits through the ‘70s, I can certainly remember disco myself, so I completely agree with you here.I’m going to quote PhiPhi on Kandy: “it was a cool concept, but it was messy”. And add this: she should’ve ditched the beard.
Rick Dees was the Disco Duck. And what kind of New York queen doesn’t know anything about Donna Summer? Her jukebox musical was still playing last year, if nothing else.
I figured the odd fabric around the waist of Tamisha’s runway look (and her disco outfit) were due to the ostomy bag. Why she said nothing when asked about it is a mystery, but I guess she thought the Mother of Iman does not make excuses. Which, is a level of class you don’t often see on this show.
When Kandy started bawling after being rescued by Ru, I was hoping that there had been some sort of “come to Jesus” moment in Untucked. No such luck. The traffic barrel was crying tears of relief, and still doesn’t get what the judges were saying. At least she threw a tarp over her ass on the runway this week, although the paint smears on her face didn’t cover enough. Could still see that smug maw.
Kandy didn’t win the lipsync either, unless the gauge for success is copious tears and the stench of desperation. She wasn’t terrible, but I found her expressions and interpretation of “Hit ‘em up Style” to be trite and expected. Tamisha found more nuance and emotion in the song, and if she went home for her performance, Kandy should have been sent packing as well.
Tamisha seemed to be off more than once on the lyrics. I’m wondering if that was more noticeable in person where there weren’t cuts away.
Tamisha was more old school lip sync it didn’t have alot of acrobatics was just showing emotion. I prefer these types more. Just wish they would lay off the up tempo dance tracks and pick different types of music. All of the songs have been like this the whole season so far.
and Dance Fever with Denny Terrio (who taught Travolta the moves for SNF) was in syndication up through the early 80s
I was hoping that “Disco Sucks” would reference Disco Duck someway. Even just a queen with a duck bill for a quick gag.
Ru Paul could have given more information. She didn’t tell me anything I didn’t know. My knowledge of disco comes from various docs I’ve seen over the years. Like most of the albums that were blown up at that Disco Sucks rally were of black artist and weren’t disco.
She secretly doesn’t know anything about the Disco era except what’s being fed through her earpiece. She had posters of Captain & Tennille on her bedroom wall (along with Leif Garett), went to Peter Frampton concerts, and thought that Paul Anka’s ‘70s comeback was the hottest. I bet she was heavily into Bread and listened almost exclusively to Easy Listening stations. I went through a heavy Bread period myself as a teen (although this was in the ‘80s and ‘90s).
Ugh.
I have yet another reason to want to see Kandy Muse sashay as soon as possible; bitch don’t know who Donna Summer is, besides “dead.”That said, I’m glad she and Tamisha squashed their beef, and I also agree that Tamisha’s time had indeed come; there’s only so much strain a healing body can take.I feel a bit disappointed with all the queens in general regarding their lack of knowledge of disco, but maybe I’m just biased because I grew up listening to my mama’s old tapes of Donna, Chaka Khan, Chic and Parliament Funkadelic.
Lastly, I can’t get over the difference in narratives from the UK cast to this season’s American cast. The difference between Awhora’s ‘mean girl’ facade, and Kandy’s; both stem from a place of deep insecurity, but in Awhora I unexpectedly see room for growth and evolution that I’m just not seeing from Kandy yet.
Hands down the worst episode of the season. I don’t know what went wrong exactly, but the entire disco performance was awful. I’m stunned Tina was safe; she looked incredibly awkward. I guess they got so distracted by the tassles they didn’t realize her actual moves were off.Tamisha was far more interesting queen an it sucks that Silky 2.0 sent her home. Even Kandy’s lip sync performance seemed more like a tantrum than a performance. She’s really dragging down the season for me, and having so many other queens constantly taking her side and talking her up makes them harder to cheer for for me.Sending Tamisha home for struggling with a dance number (while still actually hitting all the beats in the performance) after everything she’s been through just left a bad taste in my mouth.
God I forgot to even mention how awful almost everyone looked. Tina’s outfit didn’t read ‘paint dripping’ and was just basic and ugly. Kandy just looked cheap instead of artistic, and her face, ugh. LaLa, super basic. Utica needed bigger earings to pull that off. Tamisha at least looked classy, and the spider eyes reveal was cool.
I can see from the comments there’s a lot more love for Utica out there than I have for her, but she just seems a little one trick. Like past quirky queens have been able to mix it up, but Utica seems to pull the same faces and the same schtick every time. Like if you want to pull of the earring thing – the earrings need to be bigger, you don’t need to add the oversized lips, and the hook has to be easier to see. Her runway should have drawn attention to the earrings which it never did.
Tina reminds me too much of Sherry Pie hole. I just can’t get into her for that reason plus her fashion is ugly and she needs to lay off using so much red, orange ,and yellow.
Sherry had a better sense of fashion. Did I just type that?
Well she had the money to have someone with talent to make her looks. I’m really surprised that they cast Tina how can Ru and the producers see her and not be reminded of Sherry Pie hole.
Tina’s reveal… good grief. I’m so sick of her red, orange and yellow. They are NOT her colors, and dying her hair reddish and spray tanning is not doing her any favors.
That’s her “brand”, a concept of which she knows RuPaul approves, and is going to beat that dead horse into the ditch. God help her, though, if she decides to wear grey hair or put dots on her face for more than one episode.Someone else commented that she’s repeatedly turning to her style icon, Ronald McDonald, for fashion inspiration, but I’d like to be fair to her and point out that she seems to be open to poaching her pallette from the entire fast-food industry. And I’d like to namedrop her true spirit animal in this thread: the Dairy Queen Flamethrower. It’s sloppy, overstuffed, and it leaves you with indisgestion. Ronald’s paint, on the other hand, is flawless.
What the hell did I just watch.Kandy is not my favourite queen of the season, but she was the only one giving the right moves at the right moment. Tina Burner is INSUFFERABLE. I don’t know if it the producing storyline or what but I cannot see her shit stirring condescending manipulative awful presence anytime soom. And she danced awful and looked awful on this episode. Next one is a comedy one so I guess we have her for quite a while, probably even to top four. Oh well. At least Tina Burner is not, I don’t know, a serial killer or a sexual harasser.The Tamisha elimination was more logica, but seriously, I thought Symone and Lalari were the best and most fun dancers, followed closely by Rose and Denali. Denali was my favourite runway, with that makeup, followed closely by Symone, but who the hell knows, I have no taste because Utica is still my favourite and I got the reference and the judging panel hate her because they are too stupid. Michelle, stop gaslighting the fucking audience, please, and now complain about a drag being too camp. I had some respect for you, and this shit is transparent enough. What is what Drag Race wants to do? Does it want to empower queens that can be creative and groundbreaking? Does it want to create specific drama? Or it wants for a specific queen, picked up from before the recording, to be groundbreaking and creative even when she is not and fake the judging until we all make it, while also doing emotional manipulation of all the people that get in there because the TV is to harass minorities that already have it hard?The disco lesson was also awful, only namedropping. If you namedrop, say Patrick Cowley or Larry Levan, and have some fucking respect for the people who did the music. That was all, I love you all.
Oh, and yes, the Harold Melvin version of Don’t Leave Me This Way >>>>>>>>>>> the Thelma Houston or the Communards one.
the fire truck creeps me out.
I’d bet everything I have that the choreographer included those damn hula-hoops because of the Beyoncé video for “Work It Out” (during her “Austin Powers” based Foxxy Cleopatra period).The video was a 70s homage that featured a disco theme and used a hula-hoop too.See below:
Indeed, the hula hoop would have been just an old piece of kitsch in the ‘70s.
I was actually thinking of Grace Jones. But still, it is a stretch.
A part of me wondered with Tamisha in the bottom if it might not be related to the strain of the competition. She is not in the best health yet to no fault of her own, and it is possible if the producers either full on knew that or had seen things in the work room, they might have passed that info on. The fit of her dress was definitely off because she has an ostomy bag which seemed particularly noticeable in her outfits this week now that she’s mentioned it. I do think the song also played to Kandy’s strengths.I’m also not a huge fan of Kandy and her styling was off, but she had a far better runway than Utica.
A part of me wondered with Tamisha in the bottom if it might not be related to the strain of the competition. She is not in the best health yet to no fault of her own, and it is possible if the producers either full on knew that or had seen things in the work room, they might have passed that info on.Yes, completely plausible, and probably factual. Tamisha never had a chance of winning this competition, and Ru gave her an out, as one professional to another. While I do suspect RuPaul’s motives for fomenting many of the events that have been aired on this show over the years, she also seems to have a lot of respect for industry veterans and I don’t doubt that she pushed for Tamisha to appear on the season. Of course, I also don’t doubt that she wanted to Tamisha to disclose her medical status to the rest of the cast (translation: Kandy), and that that would have kept her around for a few more episodes, but that’s another story.Tamisha’s the first of the “older” queens who have been cast on the show who’s had the goods — had she been completely healthy — to make it to the finale. That’s also tragic, and for a variety of reasons.
Tamisha was robbed. Were the judges seeing the same lipsynch??Kandy was all over the place and boring.
Narrative considerations. The competition is secondary for the most part. So much energy has been devoted to establishing Kandy’s character, so there’s got to be some sort of character arc that shows some kind of growth or maturation before they get rid of her.
If this is the plot of this “competition” show, then it’s a terrible one. They should do better after the whole Sherry Pie fiasco, but I guess that is too much to ask.
Kandy didn’t even know the words! All that lying on the ground and facing away from the judges was purely to hide that she wasn’t lip syncing, which is a crime because Blu Cantrell really gave us an absolute bop.
Maybe it was the editing, but it looked to me like neither of them knew the words.
Sometimes, I hate this show. This was one of those times, from the blow up in the last episode to Tamisha getting the chop. That Kandy not only gets away with her bad behavior, but rewarded for it, is shitty.
The producers couldn’t be more obvious in their manipulations of the audience, one had to know it was going to play out this way. It doesn’t matter what the reality of the challenge is, or the critiques, because RuPaul is made aware of the backstage antics, and the producers have a plan, which is why Ru shushes the other judges and makes the finals decision about who is up for elimination. It is why the judging process is opaque, and frequently makes little sense to the viewers. It doesn’t matter what we see, who we know to be more successful, or who we know was busted.
Last week, there is no possible way that LaLa should have been saved, when she embarrassed herself and disrespected the entire show by wearing a few paper bags barely glued together, over Joey Jay. I am not a fan of JJ over LL, this wasn’t subjective. JJ made a complete outfit, it may have not been a great look, but she fulfilled the brief, LL demonstrably DID NOT. Honestly, if it wasn’t Drag Race, in any other situation, LL would have been summarily dismissed without even moving on to a lip sync. This is when the show should be ashamed of itself.
I know this show is just silly fun, and all the participants are guaranteed a career (well, they were pre-covid) just for getting on the show. But this is when RPDR make it clear, the producers do not respect us as viewers, and this is not actually a competition.
The girls are CONSTANTLY talking about how this is a competition, but no, this is not, it is a fully produced, artificially created storyline that drives how it all plays out.
We know that there were worse racers this week than Tamisha, but the storyline created last week necessitated playing out that conflict in a lip sync between Kandy and Tamisha. Kandy had to stay, because she is the season’s antagonist. She has, in no other way, illuminated her value or superiority to other queens to continue on, but she will be here all season folks (possibly hanging on through the top four). We have seen it again and again. As long as the producers are able to find that antagonizing character, once they get enough video shot to pull out the villain, and maneuver things the way they need to. It is so frustrating.
The other layer to this is that we never really know what is real, because this is just what is presented to us. There could easily be other conflicts or stories that we never see, because the producers couldn’t manage the players in just the right way, or get enough footage to give the viewers a complete narrative. Utica could be a horrible bitch (this musing is in no way an accusation of any bad behavior from Utica, just an example of the theory), but not display enough bad behavior to make it worthwhile to highlight, the editors just cut the footage in a way that leaves all hint of it out of the show (that’s because they need things to stay “black & white”, they don’t want to muddle the charater slots they have placed the girls into). This is also not to say that what we are seeing is faked, the girls are doing what they are doing, and the producers are giving it to us. Phi Phi was always doing nasty and manipulative things on her seasons, but that doesn’t mean that she was one sided. She may have done other lovely things, and treated some girls really well, the producers just may not have shown us any of that behavior to balance out her negative behavior. Kandy is actually behaving like a nasty, aggressive, defensive, arrogant, bully. It doesn’t negate her talent, but Kandy’s arrogance belies her talent. Tamisha was given a raw deal, and is the sacrificial lamb to the narrative. One had to know she was never going to get far in the “competition”, because she is too old (and not spectacular enough?). I think every season, girls are chosen for the show specifically as filler. Talented enough, but expendable filler, to round out the cast for the season. It is rare when all /most / many of the girls exhibit anything resembling an equity of charisma uniqueness nerve and talent. Everyone is talented, for sure, but the producers don’t select a cast that way, they select them based on how they fill character roles. They do deep dives on the psychological make up of the girls way before they approve them. It is NEVER simplistically based on the talent levels of the pool of possible contestants. That wold be a true competition.
Sorry for the rant, if it was even worth reading or just took up space. I am obviously angry that Kandy was rewarded, Tamisha was screwed and disrespected, and that I have any emotional response to this nonsense to begin with.
My last point, unrelated to this episode, but makes me mad. When the judges, consistently suggest that a girl needs to be vulnerable, or do something that is risky, and when they do the thing the judges ask for, that is almost universally the episode that they get sent home. Frequently, the episode in which a queen opens up about her life challenges, surrounding having been abused by a family member or partner, being HIV positive, having cancer or other health issue, or having been abandoned as a child, whatever the trauma is, is the episode in which they are rewarded for being honest, and as vulnerable as a person can be on internationally broadcast television, by being sent packing. It is distasteful, and the ironic message it sends (subconsciously?) is to keep this shit to yourself. That in life you need to swallow your trauma because if you do open up to others, you will get the chop. Don’t be vulnerable, it makes you weak, and the repercussion is more loss and trauma.
I think they show those workroom moments when the people are going home because it’s the last chance the audience gets to hear their story. Also, it’s clear that some (or more than some) of these questions are prompted by the producers, who probably have a good rundown on a queen’s background (including all things said in the competition, interviews, and whatnot). Whenever someone’s opening up in the workroom I’m always worried for their immediate future. It’s the red shirt of RPDR.
It’s not a morality contest.
Don’t you have some girls to focus on?
I said what I said.
I didn’t even get the Tamisha reference at first! Nice.
I have never seen a more inspiring drag queen than Tamisha. The elimination was a travesty.
The girls are CONSTANTLY talking about how this is a competition, but no, this is not,True; it’s actually a beautifully-constructed, well-intentioned (at least to some extent) Ponzi scheme. Ru drafts queens into her empire, and Drag Race is the interview: if you perform well, you can suckle at Ru’s withered teat, and that prize is almost surely more than 100K if you play it right, like Bianca, Alyssa, Shangela, Latrice, and Raven did. And if you think Kandy’s insufferable now, just wait until the reunion episode, when she’ll be confronted with her noxious attitude and will almost certainly try to be cute about it all by giggling that “she’s from New York”, and then will try to justify it with more stories about her tragic background. And I’m sure her childhood was terrible, but still.
like Bianca, Alyssa, Shangela, Latrice, and Raven didUm… Bianca won her season, but I see what you’re saying. Drag Race is one of the rare “reality” tv shows where even if the contestants don’t win, it can still make a huge improvement in their careers. Performing on the show with an ostomy bag? Oh, Tamisha.Right? Talk about sacrificing to be there. I do hope that her body heals completely and she gets cast in All Stars.
You’re right, of course, but I included Bianca because she spun off her Drag Race fame into Netflix gold with those two movies that I haven’t watched. I don’t pay much attention to Alberta’s drag scene (Alberta has a drag scene!), but I take note when a Drag Race almunus comes into Edmonton or Calgary. There’s a big cover charge, and they take top billing over the local queens, even if the performers have worked those clubs for years, and have stellar reputations. I can see how appearing on Drag Race is becoming a prequisite for any queen to get a booking, and that just feeds into the entire WoW system. Or a future booking, in a post-pandemic world.
she spun off her Drag Race fame into Netflix gold with those two movies that I haven’t watched.Confession: I tried to watch Hurricane Bianca, but it just didn’t hold my attention.Next, you make an excellent point regarding non RPDR queens, and the effect that the series has on their ability to get bookings etc. It’s the old game of big business exploiting the little guys all over again, sadly.
Really old gay man he (well, younger than RuPaul and slightly older than Carson Kressley)re; the flag/fan dancing is pretty old-school thing for gay men who were good at it up in the disco. Kind of campy, not unlike the queens that show up to discos with tambourines.Am I the only person that was disappointed that the lup sync wasn’t actually some deep-cut disco track? I mean, if the powers that be at World of Wonder were pressed, they could even have gone with something Kylie Minogue throwback.Back in the days of disco, I was a fifth-grater, and my first boy-girl party was disco-themed, and I was they gay boy who taught all the girls in class how to do the Hustle, something in me now wants something even more nostalgic than what we got in this episode.
“…and to celebrate the Discomentary, we’ve asked the queens to bring us the best of that classic disco look, the Little Black Dress! And the losing queens will be lipsyncing to an amazing #2 non-Disco hit by a former non-Disco star, Blu Cantrell!” And. Not. Sylvester. HOW???
Yup, we’re stuck with Kandy for a while. Hopefully her little clique (the Dollar store version of Rolaskatox) does not end up in the top four. I mean, if you’re calling yourself the mean girls… You’re fuckin lame. And Tina Burners red, yellow and orange shtick is so tired already. Will miss Tamisha and it should have been Utica in the bottom 2 but maybe this was a good time for her to exit so she can take care of herself Rosé seems to be getting better and better, hopefully she will win a challenge soon
Rolaskatox was talented. This group…gawd. I’m trying to give Gottmik a pass with everything, but I found myself shouting at her for her talking head. Bad Gottmik!Tina sure does love her branding, but she should’ve known that audience would’ve preferred seeing outfits that looked good (and paint that was blended and could withstand closeups). It says something that her best outfit (and that is a comparative measure) that she’s shown so far is the one she had to make on the show.Kandy is not going to win S13. She’d probably be cut next week now that she serves no narrative purpose, but will probably be called “charming” for her comedy performance. I’d also like to point out that the Kandy drama seems to be taking time away from discussing LaLa’s runways, all of which have been really, really bad. And I feel bad for typing that, because she seems like a lovely person. Rosé seems to be getting better and better, hopefully she will win a challenge soonNoted: she kept her Moe cut covered with that tuque or a wig throughout her time in the werkroom. Win-win for everybody!
Gottmik is coming across as a sad little follower. Be your own person I’m just waiting for Tina to assume her final form (Ronald McDonald)LaLaRi should have gone home for that crime of an outfit. Her lip sync was not good enough to overcome the complete lack of effort.
LaLaRi should have gone home for that crime of an outfitWhich one? …I did like her gold lame outfit.
I really hated Gottmik’s LBD. It was supposed to be shocking (maybe?) but it came across as lazy and I know she can do better than that.
She was probably trying to be outre, but the concept was a one-note smirk, it’s not 1985, it was overly embellished, and in the end barely reached “cute”. But in contrast to the rest of that runway, it was a standout. Valentina’s similarly minimalist look was so much better because it not only stuck to the challenge completely, represented an iconic moment (to viewers of a certain age), and was literally nothing, thereby giving a little finger (and needed attitude) to the show. That one was amazing.
the Dollar store version of RolaskatoxThank you for clocking that shit. Have these queens learned nothing from S3 and S5, regarding how toxic cliques are to the contest? ‘Rolodex’ spent all that time and energy hating on Jinx, and Jinx still won. Raja did win her season, but her drag has been stagnated ever since, in my opinion.Why it is that Tina thinks being “means girls” is a good thing, I cannot begin to fathom; this is Drag Race not the fucking BGC.And Tina Burner’s red, yellow and orange shtick is so tired already.Not to mention that the way it seems to be spreading to the rest of her clique (Kandy and Gottmik were both rocking her color palette in the workroom) seems a little too fucking cult-ish for my tastes.Long story short; I can’t wait to see the backside of both the those underwhelming queens. Rosé seems to be getting better and betterAgreed, though that runway tonight was AWFUL; I’ma need Miss Rosé to stop with the excessive tulle and the ruffles, for real.
TAMISHA shall return victorious to all stars and win the talent show mark my words!
that fire engine queen is boring.
Kandy is starting to really grate now. Yes, we get it, you’re a big personality, you’re loud and think you’re in charge, blah blah blah, but…honestly? No. Get rid of her.
Disco was before my time, too. So were a lot of things. But this generation of gays really has a lock on the whole “I’m proud to be completely ignorant of anything that happened before I was born” thing.Honestly, this is the double edged sword of a show like RPDR. Drag queens used to be expected to be cultural (or at least pop-cultural) sponges. They learned what they were through movies, music, mentorship, much of it from long before their own time. Now they learn what they are through…RPDR. And YouTube. It’s like the difference between screenwriters who learned from the movies rather than from living lives. It shows.We’re watching copies of copies of drag queens at this point and it’s boring. And I’m not singling them out—its not just young drag queens, it’s not just young gays, it’s young people. There have always been young people who didn’t know or care about the past and others who did. But at least in “the old days” the ones who didn’t know or care didn’t make it a f— king VIRTUE.
Tamisha was the better lip-syncher, but I think Ru sent her home as a kindness. The competition isn’t going to be getting any less physical going forward. Hell, the dude had an ostomy bag on for crying out loud, and he never used it (or any other cancer-incurred physical limitations) as an excuse. Once Tamisha is all healed and recovered, I’ll be looking forward to seeing all she can offer on All Stars.