RuPaul's Drag Race: Snatch Game
April 15, 2015 11:33 AM - Season 7, Episode 7 - Subscribe
No mini-challenge this week, just the much-anticipated maxi-challenge: Snatch Game! Max finally donned a colored wig as a "Disney" Sharon Needles, Pearl went really big as Mob Wives' Big Ang, Violet and Miss Fame fought over Donatella Versace, with Fame claiming the character while Violet went with Alyssa Edwards. Katya channeled a shady Suze Orman, while Jaidynn had visions as Raven Symone. Ginger Minj was Adele, and Kennedy took a real risk in playing Little Richard, the first male impersonation in the six seasons of Snatch Game.
Interesting take on both Kennedy and Ginger, as the A.V. Club is the exact opposite - Little Richard was funny and well-done, while Adele was series of lazy jokes, though well-performed.
Violet really pulled through here, and the cut-scenes of everyone coming into rooms has shown people being more friendly than they appear in the televised dialog. But I don't think she's a clear lead. I think Katya and Ginger are strong, with Kennedy following behind. I think Violet is rightfully a level down for relying too heavily on looking (really) good, similar to Fame, except with moments of good acting.
posted by filthy light thief at 12:01 PM on April 15, 2015
Violet really pulled through here, and the cut-scenes of everyone coming into rooms has shown people being more friendly than they appear in the televised dialog. But I don't think she's a clear lead. I think Katya and Ginger are strong, with Kennedy following behind. I think Violet is rightfully a level down for relying too heavily on looking (really) good, similar to Fame, except with moments of good acting.
posted by filthy light thief at 12:01 PM on April 15, 2015
Wow, Max really ate it this week. Arguably Sharon played the Disney version of herself on S4, so I don't think it was an intrinsically terrible idea, but her performance was just a complete disaster.
posted by en forme de poire at 12:04 PM on April 15, 2015
posted by en forme de poire at 12:04 PM on April 15, 2015
Little Richard was funny because barely anyone else was. It was the cream of an otherwise lackluster crop. Shame this season is so boring :(
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 12:09 PM on April 15, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 12:09 PM on April 15, 2015 [2 favorites]
I almost always agree with Ru's choice for winners, both for individual lip syncs and season winners. But this season, I've found myself disagreeing more and more with the choices she's made (#JusticeForTrixie). TheWhiteSkull, I also thought of Alaska's boy costume in the Draggle Rock episode, which was also done for humor's sake. And even in this season, Pearl got in trouble for using a very deep voice for her character in the ShakesQueer sketch (before that entire train derailed), but Detox was praised for using a deep voice in her "Heroine" perfume ad. So I'm confused by what constraints the show is actually working with, and it seems the queens are, too. I do recognize that some of this is Ru and Michelle's acceptance of various new trends in different drag cultures (for example, I think breast plates got reads for Alexis Mateo back in season 3, but they are much more common and accepted on the show now), but I'm honestly not clear on what's acceptable and what's not anymore.
I remain optimistic that Violet will not win this season, in part because the winner of Drag Race has to be a bit of an ambassador between drag culture and outsiders, and Violet just does not have the social skills to do that. Though she does consistently look amazing, and she doesn't embarrass herself in talent challenges.
I'm very curious about Max, given some Untucked scenes from last week and this week. Last week, some of the girls noted that Max is a completely different person off-camera than on (meaner, and less fake-accented), and this week, she made some joke about how this show isn't Garbage Bag race, which was probably a read against Jaidynn. I'm just not a huge fan of faking your way through a personality on this show, and I think Max may have done just that. And she deserved to go home this week, both for her Sharon performance and her lip sync.
posted by joan cusack the second at 12:11 PM on April 15, 2015 [1 favorite]
I remain optimistic that Violet will not win this season, in part because the winner of Drag Race has to be a bit of an ambassador between drag culture and outsiders, and Violet just does not have the social skills to do that. Though she does consistently look amazing, and she doesn't embarrass herself in talent challenges.
I'm very curious about Max, given some Untucked scenes from last week and this week. Last week, some of the girls noted that Max is a completely different person off-camera than on (meaner, and less fake-accented), and this week, she made some joke about how this show isn't Garbage Bag race, which was probably a read against Jaidynn. I'm just not a huge fan of faking your way through a personality on this show, and I think Max may have done just that. And she deserved to go home this week, both for her Sharon performance and her lip sync.
posted by joan cusack the second at 12:11 PM on April 15, 2015 [1 favorite]
I was kind of half-listening, and when I heard "Disney Sharon Needles," I was hoping that she meant a cartoony, caricatured take, a Disney villain. But instead we got this incredibly ill-considered character and performance. I was betting high on Max making top 3, but she was the worst thing in the weakest Snatch Game I've seen, and I can't possibly argue with Ru this time. It was bad enough to force a total re-assessment of Max, though I think it was mostly her youth and immaturity finally emerging at the worst possible time.
My friend suggested that Ru put Jaidynn into the bottom 2 to be Max's assassin, and I agree. It's the Jiggly Maneuver: take a weakening queen who keeps saving herself through great lip-synchs and pit her against someone Ru is done with, thus putting another strike against the former while ensuring that the latter goes home. (And I really do think that, whether it was the bizarre muddle of Sharon Needles' character or the vapors during the judging, Ru felt personally affronted by Max this week and terminated her with prejudice.)
Really disappointing on all fronts. I don't know why Ginger fell back on the crutch of playing a character who eats the whole time; it wasn't funny when Latrice did it, and Ginger is a much better character queen than Latrice.
Pearl is somehow still coming off as vapid and over-it to me, even playing the most over-the-top member of the Snatch Game panel.
posted by thesmallmachine at 3:05 PM on April 15, 2015 [1 favorite]
My friend suggested that Ru put Jaidynn into the bottom 2 to be Max's assassin, and I agree. It's the Jiggly Maneuver: take a weakening queen who keeps saving herself through great lip-synchs and pit her against someone Ru is done with, thus putting another strike against the former while ensuring that the latter goes home. (And I really do think that, whether it was the bizarre muddle of Sharon Needles' character or the vapors during the judging, Ru felt personally affronted by Max this week and terminated her with prejudice.)
Really disappointing on all fronts. I don't know why Ginger fell back on the crutch of playing a character who eats the whole time; it wasn't funny when Latrice did it, and Ginger is a much better character queen than Latrice.
Pearl is somehow still coming off as vapid and over-it to me, even playing the most over-the-top member of the Snatch Game panel.
posted by thesmallmachine at 3:05 PM on April 15, 2015 [1 favorite]
I liked Max in this competition, but ugh. His Sharon look was so on point and there was just nothing at all behind it. He seems savvier than "I can just do a not very good Sharon laugh" but who knows. On twitter he claims the whole melt-down and singing thing on the runway was taken out of context.
posted by the uncomplicated soups of my childhood at 3:50 PM on April 15, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by the uncomplicated soups of my childhood at 3:50 PM on April 15, 2015 [1 favorite]
I feel like there have been way too many queens with no sense of humor this season. Max didn't seem to understand that she was supposed to have jokes as Sharon Needles, Violet thought that the only problem with Fame's Donatella was her costume and her accent, and Ru keeps lobbing softball joke set-ups to Fame on the main stage and Fame just doesn't get it.
posted by joan cusack the second at 4:04 PM on April 15, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by joan cusack the second at 4:04 PM on April 15, 2015 [1 favorite]
I would have loved to see a full "Disney Sharon Needles," where it was Sharon, only spouting sunshine, lollipops and rainbows, but Max just seems a little bit prudish for a drag queen.
I really think that Ru is desperate to keep Kennedy right now, because the double win shouldn't have been so (Ginger wasn't great, but she was way better than that Little Richard), and the editing was so obvious that they were sweetening the laughs that Kennedy got. It's almost sad to see them so desperate.
I honestly believe that Violet was going to do Alyssa all along, but cooked up this Donatella thing to get some air time. I mean, a last-minute idea (that happens to have perfect, on-point makeup? Hmmmmm.....) is going to get a lot more slack than something you brought with you. Miss Fame's Versace was....ugh.
I think that Miss Fame was saved by the heart-to-heart with Katya, because Jaidynn's Raven at least got a laugh or two, while Fame seemed to be drowning completely.
I don't get why a couple of balloons and a terrible set of lips got Pearl any laughs, but Pearl is one of the anointed pretty ones this season, so she'll coast until final 4, I'm sure.
posted by xingcat at 4:50 PM on April 15, 2015
I really think that Ru is desperate to keep Kennedy right now, because the double win shouldn't have been so (Ginger wasn't great, but she was way better than that Little Richard), and the editing was so obvious that they were sweetening the laughs that Kennedy got. It's almost sad to see them so desperate.
I honestly believe that Violet was going to do Alyssa all along, but cooked up this Donatella thing to get some air time. I mean, a last-minute idea (that happens to have perfect, on-point makeup? Hmmmmm.....) is going to get a lot more slack than something you brought with you. Miss Fame's Versace was....ugh.
I think that Miss Fame was saved by the heart-to-heart with Katya, because Jaidynn's Raven at least got a laugh or two, while Fame seemed to be drowning completely.
I don't get why a couple of balloons and a terrible set of lips got Pearl any laughs, but Pearl is one of the anointed pretty ones this season, so she'll coast until final 4, I'm sure.
posted by xingcat at 4:50 PM on April 15, 2015
This episode was rough for me. "Watching Max try at Snatch Game is like when your kid falls down during school pageant" was what xingcat tweeted, and it was very much.. that. Very difficult to watch.
The runway "meltdown" though, was completely shenanigans, and that bothered me. He did unlace his corset and ask for a drink of water, and he was called out on that, but they made him look CRAZY. And I haven't been able to watch Untucked, because now everyone is crowing "SEE, IT'S TRUE, MAX IS A FAKE BITCH."
Max is not crazy. Max is not a bitch. i am really glad Max wasn't there on Monday because it would have been really awful. Not because of the elimination; he knew about that. He signed the boilerplate reality show agreement that they can make you look however they want to move the story forward, but I don't think he expected they would tear him apart quite this much. I can understand the urge to take someone so "perfect and proper" down, but shit.
He's a genuinely nice kid, and I know it hurt him, he didn't deserve that.
posted by louche mustachio at 3:39 AM on April 16, 2015 [3 favorites]
The runway "meltdown" though, was completely shenanigans, and that bothered me. He did unlace his corset and ask for a drink of water, and he was called out on that, but they made him look CRAZY. And I haven't been able to watch Untucked, because now everyone is crowing "SEE, IT'S TRUE, MAX IS A FAKE BITCH."
Max is not crazy. Max is not a bitch. i am really glad Max wasn't there on Monday because it would have been really awful. Not because of the elimination; he knew about that. He signed the boilerplate reality show agreement that they can make you look however they want to move the story forward, but I don't think he expected they would tear him apart quite this much. I can understand the urge to take someone so "perfect and proper" down, but shit.
He's a genuinely nice kid, and I know it hurt him, he didn't deserve that.
posted by louche mustachio at 3:39 AM on April 16, 2015 [3 favorites]
Maybe it was the accent. Because nobody in the history of RPDR has ever affected the mannerisms and speech patterns of a culture that isn't their own. (fucking hamburger hamburger hamburger)
posted by louche mustachio at 3:41 AM on April 16, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by louche mustachio at 3:41 AM on April 16, 2015 [1 favorite]
I was really sad to see Max go. I agree that the queens this season just aren't that funny :-\
I'm hoping Katya can pull it together and win, because she and Max (and Tempest DuJour) were my favorites.
posted by Strass at 5:29 PM on April 16, 2015
I'm hoping Katya can pull it together and win, because she and Max (and Tempest DuJour) were my favorites.
posted by Strass at 5:29 PM on April 16, 2015
Dullest Snatch game ever. SG is usually the episode where it becomes obvious who;s smart enough to go all the way and who's not. Some queens were better than others, but nobody really shone.
I don't mean that you can always identify the *season winner* from SG, but the queens who do well there usually go on to be some of the most popular post-competition. There was nothing on the level of, say, Pandora Boxx's Carol Channing, Tatianna's Britney Spears, Chad Michaels's Cher, Sharon Needles's Michelle Visage, Alaska's Lady Bunny, or Jinkx's Little Edie.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 8:24 AM on April 17, 2015
I don't mean that you can always identify the *season winner* from SG, but the queens who do well there usually go on to be some of the most popular post-competition. There was nothing on the level of, say, Pandora Boxx's Carol Channing, Tatianna's Britney Spears, Chad Michaels's Cher, Sharon Needles's Michelle Visage, Alaska's Lady Bunny, or Jinkx's Little Edie.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 8:24 AM on April 17, 2015
I agree
I'll be sad if they bring back Trixie Mattel after Snatch Game, because then that's one less opportunity for a self-proclaimed "comedy queen" to show off her stuff. Also, this is the latest in the series they've had SG. Seasons 2-5 had 9 queens competing, last season had 10 queens, and this time it was 8.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:37 AM on April 17, 2015
I'll be sad if they bring back Trixie Mattel after Snatch Game, because then that's one less opportunity for a self-proclaimed "comedy queen" to show off her stuff. Also, this is the latest in the series they've had SG. Seasons 2-5 had 9 queens competing, last season had 10 queens, and this time it was 8.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:37 AM on April 17, 2015
Trixie's proposed Snatch Game character from her audition tape was Anne Frank, which she was forbidden from doing, or indeed bringing the relevant materiel for into the studio.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=BqbXWYXoJTQ
posted by the uncomplicated soups of my childhood at 3:19 PM on April 17, 2015
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=BqbXWYXoJTQ
posted by the uncomplicated soups of my childhood at 3:19 PM on April 17, 2015
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Also, I'm kind of pissed about the whole Little Richard thing- didn't both Alaska and Milk get read to filth for doing "boy drag"? Not to mention, it wasn't really that great of an impersonation. It didn't even seem that funny, and it looked like they were editing in laughter in weird ways. At least Ginger got the co-win. Here Adele was excellent.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 11:45 AM on April 15, 2015