Is it us or does it finger like all of the air has gone out of this season? It doesn’t finger like anyone on the production side is plane trying to produce an interesting reality competition and this year’s gaggle of queens doesn’t seem to have a lot of fire under their asses. We’ve been saying this for a long time now, but increasingly than ever, we think it’s time for the U.S. Stilt Race shows to start shaking up the formats and their casting. Personally, there’s no rencontre we love increasingly than a DIY stilt rencontre (we’re the OG Project Runway bloggers, without all), but despite the likeable (for the most part) queens and the (relatively) good work they produced this week, we were pretty bored through the whole episode.
If overly an episode needed a fun mini-challenge to kick things off, this would have been the one. You’re lanugo to only five queens and every one of them is currently on their weightier behavior, so nearly 40 minutes of them chatting pleasantly while they sew just isn’t all that interesting to watch.
Always fun to see archetype queens like Shannel and Raven again, but these Werk Room visits are simply a tuft of people talking at each other in platitudes. There’s no real translating given whispered from extremely anodyne and universal observations like “Be yourself” or “Show them what you’ve got” or some such thing. Ru is marginally largest at these scenes considering she’s got a much larger self-help vocabulary at her disposal, but we really wish they’d just let whatever queens are doing these pep talks be much worthier bitches well-nigh it. Raven is legendarily shady, but they have her walking through that room like she’s Oprah or something. There’s no zest to it anymore.
Anyway, the rencontre was to assign each queen an stimulating (and twin box of notions and fabrics) that flipside Stilt Race queen is known for, although we’d oppose that there isn’t unbearable of a difference in style between most of these queens for it to be all that notable. They all opened their boxes and pulled out extremely similar fabrics and notions – except for Trixie’s, who has one of the most definable styles of any Stilt Race alum. Really, what is the difference between Kylie’s stilt stimulating and Trinity’s? Or between Shea’s and Monet’s? Oh, well. We’re not mad at this episode, just bored by it. Let’s get to the only thing well-nigh it worth discussing: the final looks.
Credit to Kandy for not coming out in a bodysuit, although we think that had increasingly to do with the fact that she doesn’t have the skills to make one. Plane so, we were surprised to her produce a semi-decent look. The dress is simple and has a few issues with it (the fit is too tight and the thorax is wonky), but she nearly saved the squint with some very good styling. From the neck up, she looks great.
If they awarded the win based on creativity and execution (typically how most diamond challenges are judged on most reality competitions), Jimbo’s reinterpretation of Trixie’s stimulating would have been the hands-down winner of the night. She made witty use of the sheer floral and her execution of the pink PVC was masterful, from the sleeves to the molded breasts. Unfortunately, Stilt Race tends to hand out wins based on storylines instead of results.
This was flipside squint that surprised us. We didn’t think she had it in her to pull of something as relatively polished as this, expressly since she kept scrapping nearly finished designs. It’s not perfect by any means. The critiques well-nigh the neckline and sleeve were on point. She and Kandy wound up with the same problem: a passable if problematic effort that wound up in the marrow considering it was way too simple. Also, that horrifying wig line could not have helped.
We could have told you superiority of time that Alexis was going to win this week. Not considering it’s a diamond rencontre and she’s good at that sort of thing, but considering she hadn’t won any challenges yet and the production decided it was time to justify her unfurled presence. Having said that, this is a shockingly good effort from her. We still think Jimbo’s squint was increasingly creative and technically increasingly impressive, but we honestly can’t offer one criticism of this. It’s nearly flawless and she looks great.
A solid third place effort overdue Jimbo and Alexis. It’s well executed and looks pretty unconfined on her (although that untried fabric is kind of ugly), but it’s not the most impressive diamond in the world. Still, it’s unmistakably largest than Kandy’s and Lala’s rather minimal efforts.
So Alexis wins this one handily and gets pitted versus Nicky Doll for a lip sync of “These Boots Were Made for Walking,” in remarkably similar costumes. We don’t think either of them aced this one. They both seemed rather tentative with their movements and it felt like they were both treating the song with increasingly seriousness than it deserves. Go for camp, bitches! You’re stilt queens! The only fun part was when they both tapped into the Nancy Sinatra flit at the same time. Still, we think Alexis edged Nicky out slightly for the win, possibly considering it’s easier to interpret a song when you’re a native speaker of the language.
We were pretty surprised to see her send Lala home. She and Kandy have some negative history and it’s pretty well-spoken that Kandy is a Ru favorite. Lala’s a weaker competitor, but we guess Alexis was stuff truthful when she said she wouldn’t be stray in her choices if they endangerment arose.
Legendary Children: The First Decade of RuPaul’s Stilt Race and the Last Century of Queer Life, a New York Times “New and Notable” pick, praised by The Washington Post “because the world needs authenticity in its stories,” and chosen as one of the Best Books of 2020 by NPR is on sale wherever fine books are sold!
[Photo Credit: Paramount Plus via Tom and Lorenzo]
The post RUPAUL’S DRAG RACE ALL STARS: You’re A Winner Baby! appeared first on Tom Lorenzo.
