RuPaul's All Stars Drag Race: Pop Art Ball

February 23, 2018 9:42 AM - Season 3, Episode 5

The six remaining queens participate in a mini-challenge where they dress up in "Quick Drag" and model in an Andy Warhol-inspired photoshoot. For the main challenge, each contestant is asked to prepare two runway looks for the Pop Art Ball: one inspired by Warhol's Campbell's Soup Cans and a second inspired by Studio 54. Guest Judges: Tituss Burgess & Shay Mitchell

Drag Race All Stars continues to meander with a disappointing pop art ball (Oliver Sava for A.V. Club)

Gold Derby live (timestamped) recap by John Benutty and Marcus James Dixon

Vulture's recap by Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers

posted by filthy light thief (6 comments total)

I was surprised by how quickly this episode went into the runway portion - it was only just over 15 minutes in! I thought that there were FOR SURE going to be shenanigans (maybe the reveal of a certain potential mole?) but nope, it was a normal episode. I guess they made this one a little shorter than the earlier episodes had been because of the S10 queens announcement that followed.

Overall, I thought this was a pretty bad episode, I thought. The judging was uneven, faulting Shangie for her dress when Bebe's was very similar. The choice of lip sync song was a total rig for Bebe as well. I literally groaned and rolled my eyes at it.

I'm looking forward to next week's episode to see what will happen with the three (!) captured queens. Based on arms, I'm guessing these are Morgan (the hands look like I remember Morgan's to look), Aja (tattoos, obviously) and Chi Chi (this one is really just a wild guess ;) )
posted by urbanlenny at 10:56 AM on February 23, 2018 [1 favorite]

My wife and I were wondering about that - Morgan McMichaels, Thorgy Thor, Milk, Chi Chi, and Aja were out, but only 3 came back? Er, were "caught"? And they need to be re-auditioned?

And I agree, it was a lackluster episode. It was Bebe's song to lose, and she had picked Aja before they even sat down to talk ... after Aja helped her sew her outfit? Which Bebe claimed was all her work? Shady, shady.
posted by filthy light thief at 12:23 PM on February 23, 2018 [2 favorites]

Thorgy and Milk seem like they left with some bad blood. I wonder if that might have led to them deciding to not come back. Plus, I think that the one undetermined "caught" person wasn't tall enough to be Milk or Thorgy.
posted by urbanlenny at 12:59 PM on February 23, 2018 [1 favorite]

I was also sure Bebe was a plant

“A plant? I thought men like that were usually called a fruit.” – Miss Scarlet
posted by roger ackroyd at 7:23 PM on February 25, 2018

Aja's tattoos were pretty noticeable- she's one of the three returnees.
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 4:49 PM on February 26, 2018 [2 favorites]

Biting my nails for DeLa. Ross all but pulled a Tenth Doctor “doesn’t she look tired?” on her, I actually gasped.

Kennedy is getting a little too ruthless and practical for my comfort. I get it, I’m too soft-hearted for reality TV and she does have a point, but goddamn.
posted by angeline at 2:56 PM on March 1, 2018