RuPaul's Drag Race: Shady Politics
April 19, 2016 5:11 AM - Season 8, Episode 7 - Subscribe

Our six remaining queens get dirty in a political attack ad challenge. Vivica A. Fox is a guest judge. Two queens bring their Effie game with "And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going"--and then there were five.
posted by duffell (11 comments total)
 
I went into this episode hoping for a Derrick Barry loss, but wound up rooting for her by the end (who would've thought?). Bob, of course, once again showed herself to be the star of this season. That ad was fucking perfect.

I was thoroughly puzzled by Thorgy's ad. I guess she was trying to serve up "New England Matriarch Realness" or something, but she sounded like Edward G. Robinson. I fully expected her to end the ad with "YEAH, SEE!"

As soon as I saw what song Chi Chi and Thorgy would be doing for the lip-sync, I knew Thorgy would be going home. Chi Chi poured all of her emotion into that song, and Thorgy gave a characteristically hammy performance that fell completely flat. Her shtick would have been great for "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun," but she's no Effie. Chi Chi served her ass on a platter. And did you see those camera cuts to Ru? I thought she was going to start weeping.
posted by duffell at 5:20 AM on April 19, 2016 [5 favorites]


Though I'm in agreement that Chi Chi beat Thorgy in the lip sync, I'm really sad at what the final is going to look like, because all the interesting queens are gone, except Bob. Kim Chi has astounding looks, and the show desperately wants us to think she's got hidden wells of performance talent that spring up from time to time (mostly in the talking head segments), but she's entirely wooden to me.

Naomi is gorgeous, and for a looks queen, that's all you need. She just is dull in most other ways.

Chi Chi brings all the fun talking heads, and can lip sync better than anyone else in the show, but her excuses are more often than Robbie Turner, and we seem to be relying on the "girl from a small town makes it big" storyline, which just seems a bit forced.

Derrick is...well, Derrick. I mean, he did well enough this week, but you can't convince me that wasn't 100% Bob's (and the producers') doing. It gave me such "Bianca helps out Trinity, and Trinity SLAYS!" that I thought I was watching a repeat. I think Derrick is just Too Famous to Fail.

So that leaves us with Bianca Del Rio 2.0, the Bob Show Starring Bob. Unless they're planning on pulling some sort of upset that will stun the fans, I think Bob is going to walk away with the crown. Which is great! He's amazing and hilarious and will be astounding on the road and is 100% suited to the title, but it's just looking like it's going to be a boring ascent from here on up.
posted by xingcat at 8:06 AM on April 19, 2016 [3 favorites]


Thorgy has been working my LAST nerve, she thinks a lot of herself, and hasn't really showed us anything. The minute she started writing an novel for her ad, I knew she was through.

I love Bob, and I won't be sorry when she wins. Chi-Chi is a lot like Jiggly Caliente, she's the Party City queen who has a spark within her.

Derrick bores me and I found his whole, 'Bob in a Hoodie..." thing really offensive. Trayvon was murdered by a racist, I tried really, really hard to find the funny in that and just couldn't.

Naomi, as much as I love her for being beautiful...there's no there there.

Kim Chi...you love her, but dayum, there's no talent there!
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 8:45 AM on April 19, 2016 [1 favorite]


I was super happy with this ep and I actually really like the remaining queens! Bob of course is Bob. Kim Chi definitely still has training wheels on as far as performance goes, but her make-up is amazing; Naomi has great "body" looks and knows her fashion, and is lovable and funny. Derrick is a doof, but can be a lovable robot when she relaxes a little (and gets away from the whole racist "suburban white girl making jokes about the ghetto" schtick). And Chi Chi is a fucking lip sync assassin at this point. (I still think we could be on track for a Bob/Kim Chi/Chi Chi top 3, maybe with Chi Chi sending Derrick home, but I'm not sure about that last slot any more given Derrick's win tonight.)

This episode I felt a lot of alternating empathy for and frustration with Thorgy, as a fellow scatterbrained ADHD neurotic chronic ruminator. I wasn't as in love with her as it seemed like a lot of the fanbase was (Reddit is losing its collective shit right now for instance), but she is def talented and gave us some great TV. Just a simple scarf!

And I love that they showed a little of Bob's protest side. Check out this performance clip. I can't remember a previous front-runner who was this explicitly political and I fucking love it, BTDQ for America.
posted by en forme de poire at 11:16 AM on April 19, 2016 [1 favorite]


If we ever get a Bob the Talk Show Host I world def. watch it and i want Thorgy to be in it as a Statdler & Waldorf character doing really grumpy commentary. I would like that.

Also, when Ru said "Good luck Femocrats" I was screaming "But what id you identify as a Recuntlican!"
posted by uandt at 12:23 PM on April 19, 2016 [3 favorites]


This season has been good, if a little disjointed so far - those disappointing lipsyncs, Naysha back for some reason - until tonight! What an episode, even the nonsensical mini-challenge at least had hot men to look at. The lipsync was one for the ages, and while this is indeed The Bob Show starring Bob The Drag Queen and I don't really see any of the girls upsetting his eventual crowning, it seems like the next few episodes should be pretty interesting.
posted by the uncomplicated soups of my childhood at 1:56 PM on April 19, 2016


Disappointing — I really like Thorgy but I agree she was getting a real crummy edit these last few weeks. I mean, she said some testy stuff, but I also think they probably have that footage from EVERY queen (you know they ask them each week "Who do you think should go home this week?"). Also it's clear from more recent stuff that she and Bob really do get along, and their drama was mostly played up in editing.

That being said, that song was designed for Chi Chi to slay and she delivered. She connected with the emotion of the song, which Thorgy didn't dig as deep to do.

It's clear to me now that Derrick is going to play the Phi Phi role in the top 3 (i.e., sticking around so we'll keep watching, just to make sure she doesn't win), clearing the way for a Bob/Chi Chi/Naomi/Kim Chi win. I honestly wonder if it could be Naomi's win at this point, her improvement has been so marked. I love Bob and would be thrilled with a Bob win, but I also think Bob will have no trouble getting superstar gigs even without the crown. I'm back on board with team Chi Chi, but she still needs to step it up if she wants that crown.

Kim is just a sweetheart with amazing artistry and I'm glad she's sort of coasting through to more episodes (she IS trying her hardest!).
posted by Zephyrial at 10:22 AM on April 20, 2016


I feel like an outsider because I never quite got Thorgy's charm even before the last few weeks (where it did seem like he was getting a harsh edit) so I can't say I'm sad to see him go. And if we're willing to accept that you're only as good as your last contest/runway, it was definitely the right choice, as even the next weakest this week (Chi Chi) was much better, especially in the lip sync.

On that, I feel like "And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going", like "I Will Survive" earlier this season is one of those Drag 101 things where if you can't pull off an acceptable version, you should immediately go home. An acceptable version does not include a last minute cartwheel.

Speaking of the dearly departed, if you haven't seen Bob doing his Thorgy impression at Roscoe's here in Chicago last week, you should.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 11:53 AM on April 20, 2016 [3 favorites]


even the nonsensical mini-challenge at least had hot men to look at

I was actually agog at that - there's been so much fun innuendo and double-entendre in this show over the years, but to literally take the Pit Crew and say "these guys this guy is a top and these guys are all bottoms"... it was too much. I kind of fell out of love with the show a bit.
posted by psoas at 1:39 PM on April 20, 2016 [1 favorite]


Yeah, it was kind of missing the show's usual wink. I feel like it could also have worked to be even more blatant and self-aware about it, e.g.: "Now we will watch the Pit Crew be adorable for five minutes, after which we will arbitrarily pick a mini-challenge winner"; dissolve fade to montage of the Pit Crew playing Twister, doing feats of strength, forming a hamster-pile; congratulations Derrick!
posted by en forme de poire at 5:23 PM on April 20, 2016 [1 favorite]


On reflection, Thorgy seems so easily threatened by the other very skilled queens around her, I wonder if she intentionally refused to get footage of Chi Chi getting drunk for her attack ad because she didn't want to give her any opportunity to shine. If so, that's some serious self-sabotage.
posted by duffell at 6:10 PM on April 25, 2016 [2 favorites]


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