RuPaul's Drag Race: Bring Back My Queens!
May 10, 2019 5:33 AM - Season 11, Episode 11 - Subscribe

The queens welcome their eliminated sisters for the family resemblance makeover challenge.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero (25 comments total)
 
What in the fresh helllllll was that lipsync, and why was it not a double elimination night? supercres was right, Ru certainly has it bad for Silky.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 5:35 AM on May 10, 2019 [8 favorites]


Boooooooo

(I am pleased, however, that Vangie did well)
posted by urbanlenny at 7:12 AM on May 10, 2019


Oh I was also going to say that this episode explains the wig weirdness in Untucked several episodes back but that still didn't make it interesting. Give her her wigs back so we can stop hearing about this.

I feel at this point that this is really Brooke Lynn's to lose. Two of the remaining five are frequently extremely weak (Vangie and Silky), I feel like we barely know anything about A'keria, and then Yvie is quite good but I don't know if she can make it through.
posted by urbanlenny at 7:15 AM on May 10, 2019


How is Silky still here after that hot mess??? I was fully expecting double elimination.
posted by ocherdraco at 2:54 PM on May 10, 2019 [4 favorites]


Jesus what the fuck does Silky have on Ru?
posted by Automocar at 5:32 PM on May 10, 2019 [3 favorites]


What in the holy fuck was that LITERAL, OUT-LOUD “Meh...” AND WHY WAS IT NOT A DOUBLE SASHAY

Honestly I was just glad Yvie made it through. Though neither Silky nor Nina wouldn’t have stood a chance there.
posted by supercres at 7:50 PM on May 10, 2019 [2 favorites]


I’m at a complete loss as to what the fuck just happened. It didn’t even look like Silky knew the damn words! Grrrrr.
posted by ancient star at 7:51 PM on May 10, 2019 [1 favorite]


(I want to see YO lip sync on the big stage in the finale, but Scarlett pulled a lot of the character weight in Yvie being safe.)
posted by supercres at 7:52 PM on May 10, 2019


I might be coming around to T&L’s complete writeoff of the season tbh. The only redeeming thing is that I did think Yvie and BLH’s lip sync was a helluva show while they just thought it was gimmicky. I was to see them lip sync again.
posted by supercres at 8:02 PM on May 10, 2019 [1 favorite]


This cast is kind of at All Stars level of quality, which was refreshing when there were a lot of queens and dispiriting when we get to 6. Every one left just isn’t there enough to win a season — but someone has to. So I guess Ivy Winte — I mean, Brooke Lynn Hites — wins?
posted by argybarg at 10:03 PM on May 10, 2019


ThePinkSuperhero, that was literally - LITERALLY - the first thing out of my damn mouth after that synch, closely followed by "Oh thank fuck, now e can finally see the back of Silky".

I mean Jesus Christ, man. Did Ru take a huge bribe to let Silky win? That synch was fucking ghastly. Nina wasn't spectacular by a long shot but her dancing found the beat more times than it didn't, her outfit didn't disintegrate, she didn't get stuck behind her own damn hair and sort of give the fuck up for a few beats, for fuck's actual sake.

My viewing partner has a theory that Silky might have pissed Ru off in another life and is being tortured, basically, by making her the Roxxy, but good God girl, why you gotta take us out too?
posted by Jilder at 6:03 AM on May 11, 2019 [1 favorite]


This cast is kind of at All Stars level of quality, which was refreshing when there were a lot of queens and dispiriting when we get to 6.

It is? I think most of them are a shambolic mess. What the everloving fuck was Nina West wearing this week? Silky CAN’T DO HER PADS. Shuga doesn’t know how to paint her face. I literally forgot about Soju (who doesn’t know how to walk in heels and doesn’t block her brows) and Honey Davenport. Ariel throws a lot of money at her outfits and wigs and mistakes that for good drag. The worst Snatch Game I’ve ever seen.

This season is the fucking worst. I think they’re keeping Silky around because we’d all fall asleep otherwise.
posted by Automocar at 8:02 AM on May 11, 2019 [3 favorites]


By “All Stars level” I mean a bunch of queens who didn’t win their seasons, and you can see why.
posted by argybarg at 8:36 AM on May 11, 2019 [1 favorite]


The slap mini-challenge: 10/10

Seeing the Sashay'd queens return: 10/10

Ru's shady-ass walkthrough and the Pad Interrogation: 10/10

Lena Waithe and Wanda Sykes: 10/10

Vanjie's commentaries: 11/10

That lip-sync: -1000000/10
posted by Gin and Broadband at 2:32 PM on May 11, 2019 [5 favorites]




Like, Silky’s not going to win the season, but now it looks like she’s going to beat out better queens to get to the finale. She’s already claimed one victim based on what Ru and the other producers are after: drama and size-diversity-tokenism. Again, see also: Eureka.
posted by supercres at 6:41 PM on May 11, 2019 [1 favorite]


Well, fuck my drag. Nina deserved better than to be this season's version of S6 Bendela, though she'll win Miss C in a landslide if there is any justice. I wish she'd had the confidence to give us some comedy in the lip sync -- easy for me to say but I think she could've killed.

I don't even know who to root for anymore. Yvie and Brooke Lynn's humor isn't fully baked for me plus Yvie keeps distracting herself with interpersonal drama (that she isn't not creating). A'keria doesn't really have the record, and similarly Vanjie is charming af but is batting a Jujubee (my heart broke for her this ep, btw! Ariel looked like her biological sister here and the more I look at pics, the more I think she should've won). And Silky is coming off like Adore without the self-awareness or warmth.

If only Yvie had taken some improv classes, and maybe a conflict resolution workshop while I'm dreaming...
posted by en forme de poire at 7:44 PM on May 11, 2019 [2 favorites]


*Dons jaunty tinfoil hat* I'm starting to suspect that they're keeping Silky around so she can have an epic lip sync to get to the final three. I also think we need some more time between seasons; all these queens are lackluster.
posted by CatastropheWaitress at 8:07 PM on May 11, 2019 [1 favorite]


Honestly I love this show to death, but I do agree it's either not casting the right queens or not using them properly. Maybe the show itself is having a homogenizing effect, but I agree with kanata that there's too much bland but HD-ready drag, and maybe not enough pop-culture obsessives with a sewing machine and a dream.
posted by en forme de poire at 8:24 PM on May 11, 2019 [2 favorites]


supercres: ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ Is Gaslighting Its Audience
Based on the edit and the season’s storyarc, Vanjie deserved to win. Period. The story’s right there: fan-favorite gone-to-soon unlikely meme queen comes back for another season, starts off high, then hits a series of lows culminating in back-to-back lip syncs. The edit gave us that underdog tale, and the runway sure as hell did. Queens get clocked in every makeover challenge for not making their partner look like a clone. Not a sister, a clone. Vanjie and Ariel Versace were identical to the point that I could not tell them apart at first. This was Vanjie’s moment to shine–and Brooke got the win.
Counterpoint: while Vanje did make Ariel a darn good look-alike (via Pink News.co.uk*), their walk didn't have the story that Brooke's did, which I thought gave her an extra few points, for the win.

* Where you can also see what looks to be a screencap of a tweet where Ariel confirmed that that she gave most of her wigs to Plastique, so maybe she was pissed that Kahanna took one wig? In the words of Ru: Meh.

But that lip sync? Damn, Silky was a hot mess. She's only kept on, as I see it, for the drama. Without Silky, Yvie's "real talk" doesn't lead to fights. And without that drama, this season loses a good bit of its interest (not for me, TBH -- I am happy to see what Yvie pulls off each week, Vanjie is always entertaining, and A'keria is definitely winning Most Improved in my book, if she doesn't take the crown).

So the kooky, self-sabotaging due to over-thinking queen got booted, and we keep the loud drama queen doesn't pick up what Ru's putting down.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:53 PM on May 11, 2019 [2 favorites]


Apparently, word is they cut some of Vanjie and Ariel's fun runway moments. Which makes it even less explicable that they'd give Brooke the win.
posted by en forme de poire at 12:08 PM on May 12, 2019


Honestly I love this show to death, but I do agree it's either not casting the right queens or not using them properly.

I believe it's more the latter. I peek in on Miss Vanjie on IG, and she's up on stage dancing like a mad woman, whipping her hair around - you'd hardly know she could dance because they're doing so many acting challenges. They need to tailor the challenges more to the queens they pick. Like, you almost could have skipped Snatch Game this season.

Also, I don't really understand what was so bad about Nina's outfit? Maybe the rainbow cuteness blinded me.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 6:23 AM on May 13, 2019 [2 favorites]


I agree that there should be more than just skits and acting challenges. Apparently Suga is a really good singer, but we never had a chance to hear it. Too bad.
posted by Duffington at 4:39 PM on May 13, 2019 [2 favorites]


The longer it has been since this episode the more annoyed I am that the makeover challenge was eliminated queens. What a complete cop out. The show is so much better when they choose unlikely people for the makeovers, the pinnacle of which was Season 10's crew makeovers. This was such a boring concept that the main drama in the werkroom was that Soju wears small heels... but then she walked in normal high shoes on the runway anyway.

And isn't there normally some kind of family dance thing attached to this challenge? This was such a bad episode.
posted by urbanlenny at 9:31 AM on May 15, 2019


‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ Is Gaslighting Its Audience

Tonight on Hot Takes: Has the term "gaslighting" finally lost all fucking meaning?
posted by duffell at 6:21 PM on May 21, 2019 [2 favorites]


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