RuPaul's Drag Race: Grand Finale
May 31, 2019 7:16 AM - Season 11, Episode 14 - Subscribe

A Queen is crowned.

Filmed before a live studio audience, with the twist that they filmed crownings for all girls and RuPaul airs just the winner, so they find out at the same time as all of us.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero (21 comments total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
This went exactly as I wanted it to. 10/10 agree with the lip sync winner choices and overall winner.

Also, I am pretty surprised at how much Aquaria has grown on me over the last year, particularly after watching her on Fashion Photo Ruview with Raja. I like her and think she is a very decent person.
posted by urbanlenny at 7:35 AM on May 31, 2019 [3 favorites]


Meh. I was more excited about the filler content (can we PLEASE give Miss Vanjie a show already?) than I was about the actual contest. Nina deserved to be in the final. Vanjie deserved to be in the final. Silky, I love you girl, but you did not deserve to be in the final.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 8:07 AM on May 31, 2019 [7 favorites]


MY YVIE WON! I loved every minute of her onscreen. I love that her first lip sync look was inspired by fan art, I love that she was having fun again, I love that she owned her style so completely and thoroughly.
posted by ocherdraco at 8:22 AM on May 31, 2019 [7 favorites]


Silky seemed terrified.
posted by ocherdraco at 8:23 AM on May 31, 2019 [7 favorites]


Came here to say that I don't know if I saw Silky smile once. Deadpan.

This turned out well ofc but Silky's choice felt odd. Wonder if something related to the whiplash between being treated as a presumptive fan favorite by the producers and Ru to... not affected her.

Yvie's final look was amazing. Both shied away from obvious reveals; BLH by making it more meta, Yvie by making it unnecessary. The mirrors. THE MIRRORS.
posted by supercres at 9:23 AM on May 31, 2019 [6 favorites]


I need to go back and watch the “sissy that walk” bit again. They cut through those queens so fast that I couldn’t identify everyone.
posted by ocherdraco at 10:01 AM on May 31, 2019 [2 favorites]


I'm so happy with the outcome, both winner and Miss Congeniality were exactly right! My whole heart loves Yvie for her sweet weirdness. And Nina for her kindness and warmth - who else would make their post-show music drop a children's album??

The segment with Vanjie was adorable. I would watch her in anything.

Silky, well, this was the first time I actually felt anything other than annoyed by her, and the feeling I got was pity. She looked like she might throw up from fear, did not seem to enjoy anything she was doing, and her lip sync reveals were just a sad series of bad hair and outfits. I hope that she's able to take some lessons from her time on the show and not be broken by it. Because it really seemed that seeing her disastrous lip sync and the fan reaction to her was quite a shock.
posted by donnagirl at 10:02 AM on May 31, 2019 [4 favorites]


I also watched Yvie's Whatcha Packin' and thought that he looked particularly good in it. I don't know if it was makeup or lighting or what, but wow. And then I watched part of Silky's and same thing. I don't know what magic is going on in these but I would like some for myself. It's not at play in any of the other Whatcha Packin's so I don't know what is going on but those two are GLOWING.

The bit about Michelle having her breast implants removed was an interesting choice but strangely kind of funny.

I need to go back and watch the “sissy that walk” bit again. They cut through those queens so fast that I couldn’t identify everyone.

Same. Lots of S11 queens and I otherwise saw Monique Heart, Ongina, Gia, Sonique and Raja, off the top of my head. It was so hard to keep track!
posted by urbanlenny at 10:53 AM on May 31, 2019 [1 favorite]


Wait, no, it just turned out that I mistook Kennedy Davenport for Mercedes Iman Diamond. Shorties! No S. 11 queens.

Here is who I think I could ID, in order (with a little help from Twitter):

Eureka
Mayhem Miller
Monique Heart
Blair St Clair
Jaymes Mansfield
No idea (White, Red wig, black dress)?
Mrs. Kasha Davis
Nicole Paige Brooks (thanks Twitter)
Jasmine Masters
Yuhua Hamasaki
Venus D-Lite
Raja
Kennedy Davenport
Ongina
Gia Gunn
Serena Cha Cha (thanks Twitter)
Sonique
Alexis Mateo
Coco Montrese
posted by urbanlenny at 11:20 AM on May 31, 2019 [2 favorites]


I'm OK with this result. Last year was a glam year, so this year can be a freak year.

Some thoughts:

-Silky's lipsync was terrible again

-Nina absolutely deserved Miss Congeniality, and her "Meh" response was perfect

-Vanjie proving once again why she should have been in the top 4 instead of Silky

-A'keria's lipsync outfit was surprisingly dowdy

-I kind of wish Yvie had had some sort of reveal for either of her lipsync outfits, but she made up for it with pure flexibility

-I loved Brooke's "Reveal" gown (particularly the "Here comes the big reveal" on the back), but the body suit underneath was underwhelming

-I absolutely loved Yvie's headpiece for the final lipsync. Just sickening
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 11:25 AM on May 31, 2019 [4 favorites]


They should've thrown up the names as the queens walked out during Sissy That Walk.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 1:16 PM on May 31, 2019 [1 favorite]


In the AV Club comments there's some tea that Silky apparently froze when she was given the Lip Sync choice and took a long time to decide. I agree with the Vulture recap that she probably wanted the whole thing to be over, given that her mouth had already tried to write a cheque her lip sync couldn't cash once.

Usually I would get annoyed with such obvious filler like Christine and the Queens and Vanjie's walkabout, but I liked the Sissy That Walk, hollered at seeing original showgirl Alexis Mateo (and then Coco! Damn!), and as for Vanjie I could watch her do damn well anything for any length of time. She is pure magic; I think my favourite part of the LSFTC was the cutaways to her. And I love the LSFTC, for the record.

The top two were my top two, and while I have a Canada-sized soft spot for Brooke, I knew this was Yvie's night. The strategy of doing a more Latrice-style "staying still[er] and letting the audience come to you" choreo was perfect. Plus the headpiece, damn!

A satisfying end to a mixed bag of a season. But this was the season where I ran a work pool for the winner at my new-ish job, which led me to make some more friends in the office and also feel part of a LGBTQ-supportive network there, which def didn't happen at my last job. So Season 11 has brought me many gifts, and I'm grateful for it.
posted by Gin and Broadband at 2:07 PM on May 31, 2019 [8 favorites]


In the AV Club comments there's some tea that Silky apparently froze when she was given the Lip Sync choice and took a long time to decide.

I definitely noticed Brooke leaning over to her, and wouldn’t be surprised to find out that she whispered something like “It’s okay. You don’t have to pick Yvie. Just say me and it’ll be over soon.”
posted by ocherdraco at 8:43 AM on June 1, 2019 [2 favorites]


Also, I think that was Kimora, not Gia. But otherwise you recognized way more than me, urbanlenny!
posted by ocherdraco at 8:44 AM on June 1, 2019


And re: the Whatcha Packin glow-up, for Yvie at least I think it’s a combo of having hair and eyebrows, being relaxed, and having been outside in the sun a little more.
posted by ocherdraco at 8:47 AM on June 1, 2019


Also, I think that was Kimora, not Gia. But otherwise you recognized way more than me, urbanlenny!

Oh yeah you're totally right, that's totally Kimora. I basically didn't even try to look at her face and focussed on her belt, which has GG on the front of it. Maybe that is a fancy brand name (Gucci?? who knows) or something.
posted by urbanlenny at 4:12 PM on June 1, 2019


Man it took me so much time to figure it out but the last queen I couldn't identify is Pandora Boxx! I can't believe it. What a terrible look for her.

I can't help but wonder if that group of queens is going to end up being who is on AS5. Which, no thanks.
posted by urbanlenny at 4:30 PM on June 1, 2019


Ugh am I ever relieved. Just....relieved. It took me a bit longer than I wanted to get to the finale due to my daughter's second birthday falling the same day and bitch I know where my priorities are, and we've just minutes ago gotten a chance to watch it.

But fuck me did Silky look terrified the whole damn time. Like...she actually realised how out of her league she was. Picking Brooke was a total hari kiri and I'm pretty fine with it.

And Yvie really did a magnificent job on her lip synchs. No gags, no tricks, no fucking pyrotechnics, just a good show. Asia's butterflies have, with any luck, taken the Big Reveal format down with them.
posted by Jilder at 6:17 AM on June 2, 2019


Just watched Silky’s feature segment. I’m just shocked at how much she’s phoning it in and how defeated she seems. What a bummer that Vangie or Nina wasn’t in her spot.
posted by supercres at 6:21 AM on June 2, 2019 [2 favorites]


donnagirl: And Nina for her kindness and warmth - who else would make their post-show music drop a children's album??

What? Drag Race star Nina West is releasing a children’s music album -- called Drag is Magic.
While she is hardly the first drag queen to capitalise on the reality show with a music release, Nina West’s album of original songs will be geared towards children.

The album, set for release on May 17, comes after heightened protests against Drag Queen Story Time events, which invite local drag queens to read to children.
Drag Queen Story Time sounds fantastic, and I'm so sad it was ended because of death threats from so-called Christians.

Back to the finale -- "Meh," indeed, Nina. I loved Yvie's outfits, but those LSFTCs were dull. I don't understand the gasps from the audience, but maybe I'm jaded from seeing enough LSFYLs, to the point that death-drops are almost expected.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:50 AM on June 6, 2019


I see "Drag is Magic" available on Amazon music! My family will be sure to listen later.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 8:13 AM on June 7, 2019 [1 favorite]


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