RuPauls Drag Race All Stars
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Well, who expectedthat?
AnAll-Stars 9episode where the contrived drama of the ruby slippers built to a true moment of pathos?
AnAll-Stars 9episode where the judges offer harsh critiques that cause a girl to open up about a personal insecurity?
AnAll-Stars 9episode that made me care aboutAll-Stars 9?
I, for one, am shocked and more than a little excited.
If the season continues along this line, theyll have shut me and my worried ass up for good.
If they dont, then at least we got one good episode of it.
The episode begins with a torrent of passive aggression.
Its interesting to watch Roxxxy navigate this.
We also get a very confused Shannel, which I loved.
Shannel is always great, but a confused Shannel is even better.
The Teletubbies come in, do aSoul Traindance line, leave.
I wasnt really allowed to watch TV as a kid, so I have little connection with these creatures.
I find them mostly frightening.
Still, this was fun and cute enough.
Theyre paired up by Angeria, and, despite her still being pissed, she plays fair.
Jorgeous and Gottmik(Arctic Circle), this weeks team twink.
Both queens are naturally funny (Gottmik moreso) but unexceptional planners.
Vanjie and Angie(Florida Everglades), two high-charisma queens with limited range.
One of the issues that went under-discussed withAll-Winnerswas that the no criticism thing extended to the filming segments.
The queens on that season were never shown receiving notes, and thus the filming segments were not interesting.
This season is doing a little better on that front.
Gottmik and Jorgeous are such a mess during filming that they warrant criticism, and thank God!
See Plastique, for example.
Now, shes here to prove that she can do it.
Allowing the queens to fail makes the successes seem larger.
The biggest drama before the runway this week surrounds the hillbilly girls.
Watching Roxxxy attempt to navigate this episode is interesting shes a ball of nerves and it makes sense.
During her season five outing onDrag Race, she was talented but mean.
OnAll-Stars 2, she was nice to be around but a famous flop.
The second costume is legitimately hideous, and the shoes are still there.
The third is fine.
Michelle calls out her shoes, but the rest goes somehow uncommented on.
The briefcase doesnt make much sense with the second look, however.
I think she could have done something better in terms of the literal reveal portion.
Roxxxy eats the runway this week.
Jorgeouss first outfit is hideous and tiered, but the reveal is nice.
The patterns all go together well, and I like that shes showing off a non-pageant side.
Notably, both looks are individually great, and theres nothing left on the catwalk after.
Vanjie does aPretty Womantribute that mostly includes taking off a coat.
Nina and Shannels commercial is up first and, as expected, it is very polished.
You get Salem Witch and cant come up with anything other than positive with a secret dark side?
Roxxxy and Plastique, on the other hand, put together the perfectDrag Racecommercial.
Its funny enough, but the real coup is that they both push themselves into completely unselfconscious characters.
Both the dolls go from Barbie to Cabbage Patch Kid, essentially.
A confession: I laughed through most of Jorgeous and Gottmiks commercial.
Just a spot-on real estate mogul parody.
At the same time, Jorgeous flopping her way through, not seeming to know what she was saying?
The loudest I laughed this whole challenge was at her falling down.
Dont cry, little Jorgeous!
and Vanjie still cant do any character other than Vanjie.
Ultimately, Roxxxy and Plastique win the challenge, rightly, and lip-synch to Super Freaky Girl.
She needs to apply the commitment from the challenge to her lip-synching, then shell finally win some money.
So Roxxxy wins the lip-synch and sends the whole episode into the stratosphere.
Luckily for all of us, she lands on Angeria, giving me the hardest laugh of the episode.
The second hardest was when Ru started heckling her.
Roxxxy breaks down and ends up giving the snippers to Gottmik, seemingly at random.
What a great moment to cap off a stellar episode.
Also onUntucked…
Did we really need to see Alec Mapa inUntucked?
(The answer is no.)
Roxxxy officially moves into front-runner status with this episode, congratulations to her.
Im still betting on Gottmik overall, but shes got a real, real shot.
