Hello, Kitty Girls.
Was this an episode full of drama or what? From top to bottom, it was somebody vs somebody, continuing this seasons Obvious Plotline of the Day parade. We open with Kennedy justifying her elimination of MILK, and it is apparent that it was a completely personal decision. Dela shares that she chose Chi Chi to go, and she seems surprised at Milk’s ousting. Trixie too seems to be smarting from this, because it makes it apparent that regardless of competition and stats, a queen could be eliminated out of spite or in the name of personal feelings. That’s a scary place to be, if you are perceived as a contender, which Trixie was as she came in, but she hasn’t really done anything to really justify that so far.
This week’s challenge is the Drag Race staple, Snatch Game. It is the challenge renowned to separate the boys from the Queens, where a queen has to employ all of her drag skills especially improv, characterization, humour and quick wit. This challenge has given us so much, like Dela’s Maggie Smith, Adore’s Anna Nicole Smith, Sasha Velour’s Marlene Deitrich and Jinkx Monsoon’s Little Edie.
The best Snatch Game characters not only are fully realized characters, but also are grounded well enough in that character to be able to interact freely with the others and get funny moments out of it. Most of the ladies here have already played the game to varying effect, Bebe and Trixie are losing their Snatch Game virginity here having never had the chance in their original seasons. Who plays what? Who hits the ball out of the park, and who throws like Mariah at a game? We’ll discuss in detail below.
But first let’s discuss the drama that anchored this episode. Shangela, our resident Nancy Drew of Drag, Pot-stirrer and Daenarys Targaryen wannabe, wanders into Trixie’s station to find the perfect tool to knock ono of her biggest competitors down a peg. Trixie has pinned Thorgy and Milk’s notes for her after their eliminations, but Shangie darling zeroes in on Thorgy’s bitter read of Shangela (which literally says “this shady shady bitch Shangela”). Apparently Trixie hung it up without thinking twice about it, but of course Shangela mines it for drama. She seems hurt by the fact that Trixie has put such a shady note up in her station. Trixie starts to tear out the shady part, but Shangela ain’t having none of it darling. She’s Hurt Fish at the moment. Trixie then gets irritated and asks Shangela to leave her station, and she does in her best impression of a wounded puppy.
Here’s the thing. Shangela is a master at playing the reality TV game, and she’s using every frame she gets to her advantage. She knows the public wants drama, and she’s gonna give it to them. Was Trixie being shady by putting up that note? No, because it’s from a friend, one of two who got sent home, and it’s in her station and Shangela purposely invaded her space. Shangela uses the opportunity to frame Trixie in an unflattering light while at the same time providing herself more screen-time and attention, and sets up a narrative for the episode, additionally to the fact that going into All Stars 3, Shangela and Trixie are the clear favourites to win, apart from Dela. Trixie realizes that Shangela is playing for the cameras, and her irritation is palpable. And of course Kennedy is siding with Shangela on this. What Trixie doesn’t realize is that while everybody else is being the best Drag Race contestant they can be, but Shangela is being the best reality TV personality and player she can possibly be, and she truly is the best in the history of Drag Race. Oh well. The argument clearly rattles Trixie, and she later apologises to Shangela in a bid to clear the air and her mind to be ready for Snatch Game. We have Marc Jacobs come into the workroom to go over the characters the gals have chosen for Snatch Game alongside Ru (Milk must be PISSED), and they point Shangela away from a very questionable Irish Miss Cleo towards Jennifer Lewis, whom she knows well and could possibly impersonate better. Nothing much interesting happens with the prep after that, so we’ll skip it. Carson and Michelle stand-in as the contestants this time around, so yay? The runway theme is Flower Power.
Trixie: Trixie chooses to do Rupaul, because she’s done Rupaul a couple of times in her many shows to goo response, but here, it’ doesn’t work nearly as well.
Trixie has been dying to do Ru on the Snatch Game since Season 7, and it seems that it was good that she never did, because that was not good. While she does have a few jokes, none of them really have any relation to the situation they are being used and it’s completely out of context. She might have deliberately chosen to do a robo-Ru, jerky and almost inhuman, nut it’s more jarring than funny because none of her depthless one-liners land particularly well. But she did clock Ru’s habit of shameless self-promotion, even though it got a little repetitive like Jaidyn’s Raven. It wasn’t a complete disaster, a la Phi Phi in Season 4 or Fame in Season 7, but it wasn’t as great as people would have expected from a certified comedy queen. Her runway look is probably the best she’s ever looked on the show, super cute and beautiful. Love it.
Performance: 6 Runway: 8.9
Kennedy: Kennedy won the Snatch Game back in Season 7 with her hilariously randy Little Richard, and this time she chose someone called Phaedra Parks, and I have absolutely no idea who that is, and based on her performance, I have no intention to know either. She was simply bland, delivering the kind of bumbling word-salad laden Snatch Game, not unlike Farrah Moan or Coco Montrese, and it’s a stark display of the fact that you might have won the thing once but you might just be a one-hit wonder. There’s no characterization that really sticks, and it is inherently undercooked. On the runway, she impersonated Bianca Del Rio as Rupaul. It’s a cute look, nothing spectacular. I liked it better than the judges, apparently.
Performance: 4 Runway: 7
Dela: Oh. My. God. I thought no one could challenge the Maggie Smith we got in Season 6 (the best Snatch Game panel by far) in terms of a fully realized, funny and quick character in terms of snatch Game, but Ben Dela Crème proves that she’s no one-trick pony by outdoing herself with this delightful version of Paul Lynde, a veteran of the game show circuit back in the day
. Not only is Dela delivering a somewhat obscure character, but she’s doing it with such command that we will be forced to look him up later to see if he is really as riotously funny as the Dela version. It’s such a fully realized and successful impersonation because Dela is not only able to deliver jokes by the dozen, she’s able to interact freely with anyone completely in character and make the quickest funniest jokes out of these interactions as well, and it’s magic. Dela is operating on a completely different playing field at the moment, and it’s almost a shame that she didn’t get to compete with real heavyweights like Alaska, Alyssa and Manila. Dela’s orchid fantasy on the runway was again a beautiful interpretation of the flower theme. It’s typical Dela with a twist appropriate for the challenge.
Performance: 10 Runaway: 8.9
Chi Chi: After the best by a mile comes the worst by ten. Chi Chi’s Maya Angelou (misspelt Mya) makes Fame’s Donatella look Oscar-worthy in comparison
. There’s absolutely nothing in here. Even though her Eartha Kitt in Season 8 was moderately successful, this one doesn’t even take off before coming down in flames. She doesn’t have a clue throughout the Game, and it’s a sad sad situation where we see a truly lovely queen crash and burn so hard it’s hard to watch. I was just waiting for this to be over, it was so painful to watch. As for her runway, it was my least favorite of the weak simply because the standard was really high overall. Just the proportions of the dress seemed slightly off, but her face and hair were fabulous.
Performance: 2 Runway: 6.8
Shangela: Cut. Print. Thank god Shangela switched, because this was a delight. Shangela captured the essence of Jennifer Lewis and ran with it.
It’s really funny and at the same time very in-line with Shangela herself, this Jennifer Lewis with the tart tongue and sharp wit. While it’s not as brilliant as Ben Dela’s Lynde (nothing ever will be), it’s a really good enjoyable Snatch Game performance from someone who once gave a questionable Tina Turner. On the runway, Shangie presented our one true goddess herself, Beyonce in her iconic pregnancy reveal Instagram look, complete with pregnant belly and sheer fabric covered with flowers. Anything Beyonce, and I’m satisfied (unless it’s Kenya Michaels.)
Performance: 8.6 Runway: 8.9
Aja: Aja continues her streak towards endearing herself to the Drag Race audience by giving the other really good character this evening. Even though I had no idea who Crystal Labeija was, Aja’s hysterically funny ( and eerily accurate) portrayal of the drag legend is probably her greatest achievement in the show so far (easily eclipsing her perennial rival Valentina’s measly Miss Columbia from Season 9).
The look, the mannerisms, the voice-everything is dead-on, but she also does the crucial task of channeling the character and finding appropriate humour in her responses and interaction with the others (this is where Trixie failed). Aja came into All Stars 3 under a cloud of malicious online hullabaloo over her induction into the All Star cast so soon after her not so spectacular run on Season 9, but so far she has shown that she’s far and away deserving of the chance and has stepped her pussy up. Aja had probably her best look on the runway as well, that gorgeous yellow hair juxtaposed with her pink outfit.
Performance: 8.4 Runway: 8.7
Bebe: Bebe’s Grace Jones is adequate. Like everything she has done this season, it’s not bad, but it’s not great either. It seems that Bebe is just not pushing herself enough to really challenge herself, or the top queens of Drag Race, to do something truly outstanding. It makes me wonder what good her appearance on the show has done apart from reintroducing her to a younger audience. (Also makes me question the calls for an all winners edition of All Stars, because I have absolutely no doubt that Bianca Del Rio, Jinkx and probably Sharon would steamroll over Violet, Raja, Bob and the other one. Bob might be funny, but she ain’t no Bianca). Her runway was polished as ever, opting for a dark twist on the flower theme by going all black.
Performance: 5 Runway: 8
And the surprise contestant is… Kristin Chenoweth. She’s a fun addition to the roster in a one-off gig actually managed to do better than half the queens on the panel. Solid. But good lord is she tiny!!
Shangela then takes time to call out Ben Dela Crème for acting meek and humble so as not to appear as an insurmountable obstacle to everyone else’s chances to win, and I eyeroll so hard. Gurl, we get it, you’re playing the game, she’s playing the game, but there’s no need to go around ruffling everyone’s feathers. Hypocrite. (Also, I’m living for it secretly).
On the runway, Shangela and Bendela are quickly named the winners (rightfully so, but if it were a regular season Dela would be even Stevie Wonder’s pick to win) and sent to the back of the stage. Everyone else gets some good and bad critique, but it’s hardest for Trixie, who seems to have let down the judges really hard, and most importantly, herself. And Trixie breaks down. It’s a humanizing, sad moment because we see how real the emotions are. Trixie has had such success after her mediocre performance in Season 7 (She lasted 7 episodes, and never won anything), and the anticipation for her to do an All Stars season was so high, the expectations and pressure an immense.
Unlike someone, say Aja, who had very little expectations from the audience, it’s easier to do good and then build her confidence and shine bright, but for Trixie, the bar is set exceptionally high 1) because she’s such a funny, confident and charming personality off Drag Race and 2) Katya came back and slayed the game hard enough to reach Final 3. That amount of pressure and expectations from others, and oneself, can be crippling, and Trixie’s main-stage breakdown is very understandable and relatable. She’s terrified, absolutely petrified, and that shows in her mostly middling run till now. The judges simply tell her that she should relax and be herself, because Trixie Mattel is a hoot and a half. Based on the critiques, Trixie, Kennedy and Chi Chi land in the bottom. So, that means that Dela and Chi Chi maintain their polar opposite streaks on the show, one making the most stellar track record on the show by winning ALL the damn challenges, while Chi Chi is the Anti-Dela by being in the bottom every week ( although she shouldn’t have in the lipsync episode). Chi Chi absolutely deserves to sashay away, and she says that herself to both the tops. Shangela puts her cards out and flat out tells Trixie that she has not just the challenges on her mind, but the actions outside of challenges also, and I’m sure Trixie is shook.
Shangela and Dela lipsync to Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl”, which is no great lipsync track. Dela has lipsynced now four consecutive times, so I’m sure she’s exhausted. But both queens deliver decent lipsyncs to a decent song, bringing the camp and comedy once again, interacting with each other. There’s no clear winner in the lipsync that I could see, though I would have picked Dela because she had a better concept in the lipsync.
And then Ru pulls out a shocker and names both the queens winners. So, that means both queens get to eliminate someone. Dela promptly and rightly eliminates Chi Chi. Shangela’s decision is the crucial one, because Chi Chi and Kennedy are her boos, and she has just had a disagreement with Trixie who’s also her second biggest rival. She says that she has to eliminate someone who may not have had such a great run on her season but made a stellar career afterwards, and I nearly had a heart attack.
I’m clutching my pearls and colostomy bag, on pins and needles, already resigned that she’s booting Trixie (Trixie herself thinks so) and then… she eliminates Chi Chi. I died. I literally screamed so loud my sister-in-law came running thinking I had been electrocuted or something. Oh the drama, the tension, the exquisite relief. So many emotions in such a short amount of time. But ultimately, Shangela showed herself to be no Cersei Lannister.
She’s a shrewd one, who knows even if Trixie is a threat, eliminating her would be the cause of a riot probably, and she would be getting the same reaction as Alyssa and Tatianna’s unfair eliminations in All Stars 2. So we bid adieu to power-bottom Chi Chi, who came in with such promise but never fully realized her full potential. May be she can join Adore, Max and Laila Mcqueen in the never fully there category who probably need a little more time to do this to their full extant.
Scribbles of Arjun 