It’s time for a game within a
game on RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars season six: Snatch Game!
Of course, All Stars rules are in effect, which means instead of the stacked
panel gameshow free-for-all, we get the Snatch Game of Love, a divisive
challenge among the fandom.
There are, of
course, good and bad performances, but the challenge itself has its own quirks.
For starters, the inspiration switch from Match Game to The
Dating Game doesn’t feel quite right. It’s somehow more of a parody
and less of an homage. However. By splitting the gals into two smaller groups,
there’s less of a frenzy for screentime. It’s great news if you’ve got a lot of
sharp material, but it’s a nightmare for struggling queens. And, boy, was that
on full display this week.
I at least
have to admire this cast for showing up prepared. Everyone’s got a character
down, and they all (eventually) settle on a POV. Competing for the hearts of
Cheyenne Jackson and Fortune Feimster, the gals get gussied up in their best
celeb drags, but not everyone can stand the hot seat.
Ginger, Trinity and Kylie
Our first
group really comes out swinging, starting with Snatch Game superstar Ginger as
the iconic comedian Phyllis Diller. I wish Ginger pushed her costuming and
voice further, but there’s no denying the jokes were there. Let this be a
lesson for future comedy queens: When it comes to Snatch Game, portray a, well,
comedy queen. Roseanne, Paula Poundstone, Sarah Silverman … it doesn’t matter.
Because, as Ginger demonstrated, it becomes less about the character and “What
would this person do in this situation?” and more about just firing off
punchlines. It’s all about making Ru laugh, and Ginger has her in stitches.
From the
outside, Trinity’s Whitney Houston looks fantastic, but even TKB knows this is
not her challenge. She admits she’s not a quick queen, which I disagree with,
but whatever. Her frontrunner status becomes something of a hindrance here, as
she’s hoping to skate by based on her previous two wins.
It’s a risky
move, and it’s certainly not any fun to watch. Ru and the queens even try to
feed her the very obvious joke about “having
nothing,” but even that reaches Miss Fame levels of “How’s your head?”
obliviousness.
I came into
this week most concerned for Kylie (who reminds us she was the first queen in
herstory to be sent home after Snatch Game performance). When she announces
she’s doing Dolly Parton, I immediately raise my hackles. I must confess, in
the interest of full disclosure, I am a HUGE Dolly Parton fan. (I am actually,
truly writing this from Pigeon Forge as I’m visiting Dollywood.) It’s an
excellent Snatch choice. Dolly is a big personality with a very specific sense
of humor that is perfect for this exercise.
Kylie has it
all down. Of course, she’s giving us the body-ody-ody, but she’s also got her
Dollyisms down. (Even the little hand stirrup at the end of her sleeve was a
nice detail.)
The best part
is the interplay between Ginger’s Phyllis and Kylie’s Dolly. It’s a relentless
volley off Ru, off one another and both dunking on Trinity. There are almost
too many jokes to keep up with. Ginger obviously has a slight edge, but Kylie
stays right there with her, matching her punchline for punchline. Ru looks like
he needs oxygen.
It’s a risky
move, and it’s certainly not any fun to watch. Ru and the queens even try to
feed her the very obvious joke about “having
nothing,” but even that reaches Miss Fame levels of “How’s your head?”
obliviousness.
I came into
this week most concerned for Kylie (who reminds us she was the first queen in
herstory to be sent home after Snatch Game performance). When she announces
she’s doing Dolly Parton, I immediately raise my hackles. I must confess, in
the interest of full disclosure, I am a HUGE Dolly Parton fan. (I am actually,
truly writing this from Pigeon Forge as I’m visiting Dollywood.) It’s an
excellent Snatch choice. Dolly is a big personality with a very specific sense
of humor that is perfect for this exercise.
Kylie has it
all down. Of course, she’s giving us the body-ody-ody, but she’s also got her
Dollyisms down. (Even the little hand stirrup at the end of her sleeve was a
nice detail.)
The best part
is the interplay between Ginger’s Phyllis and Kylie’s Dolly. It’s a relentless
volley off Ru, off one another and both dunking on Trinity. There are almost
too many jokes to keep up with. Ginger obviously has a slight edge, but Kylie
stays right there with her, matching her punchline for punchline. Ru looks like
he needs oxygen.
Eureka,
Pandora and Ra’Jah
The last time
we saw Eureka play the Snatch, the
judges loved her Honey Boo Boo. It’s a character that worked so well with
Eureka’s big personality and broad, physical humor. This go ’round, she’s
choosing to channel the legendary Divine. She looks incredible. The makeup, the
hair and the body are perfect, no notes! The problem is with her
characterization, which seems based exclusively on Divine in Pink
Flamingos. It leads to a repetitive and unpleasant Snatch dominated by
Eureka as Divine campaigning for murder. It’s not a train wreck by any means,
but all her bluster throws a lot of sand into the gears of this group.
Pandora, for
example, is quite rattled. Already reeling from last week’s trip to the bottom
and subsequent shocking tie, she’s also coming into this challenge with huge
expectations. Pandora famously stole the show (though didn’t win!) the first
every Snatch Game with her Carol Channing. This time, she’s trying to do Kim
Cattrall. It’s not a bad idea, but Pandora plays her in the most obvious way
possible — in character as Samantha Jones making non-stop sex puns.
Unfortunately, that doesn’t leave a lot of room to respond to what else is
going on in the game. It’s all very one-note, and she sort of shakily warbles
that note.
Finally,
Ra’Jah makes the brilliant move to do La Toya Jackson. Already, La Toya is a
character, and there is a TON you could do here. More importantly, Ru LOVES La
Toya. In the werk room, Ru gives Ra’Jah a little anecdote about La Toya once
saying her favorite food was sushi, but she doesn’t like fish or rice. With
that, Ra’Jah is off to the races. I mean, she crafts every single joke around
the notion that La Toya is just a sort of ditzy bundle of contradictions. Way
to take the note!
(Though,
selfishly, what I wouldn’t give for a reference to two of my favorite La Toya
moments: Fighting with Nene on Celebrity Apprentice and
when she was reunited with Michael’s chimp, Bubbles.)
This trio
lacks the sizzle of the first group. It’s uncomfortable to watch, and even
Ra’Jah’s little nuggets about being a workout instructor who hates working out
can’t put enough sparkle on the aggressive turd Eureka’s Divine is making us
all choke down while Pandora’s sadsack Samantha just sort of sits there in a
pile.
Even our celeb
contestant, Fortune Feimster, can’t pick a winner.
The runway
tonight is pop art themed, which sounds so promising, but everyone mostly comes
down in Warholian frocks plastered with colorized portraits of themselves.
Yawn.
Trinity is a
notable exception, combining this week’s pop art theme with a political message
for Black and Trans lives. It also looks STUNNING, but the combo of art and
politics really hits here.
Kylie shows a
little something different as well, highlighting some buttcrack cleavage — a
thing I didn’t even know existed until now! Ra’Jah misses the mark with
something a little too simple, and not pop art enough.
The judges
have extraordinarily high praise for Ginger and Kylie. They make a point to
tell Kylie this is the hardest they’ve seen her pushing herself in this
competition, and I agree. Unfortunately, the win still goes to Ginger, whose PPM
(punchlines per minute) was just undeniably higher than all the other girls
(maybe combined).
Of course, the
judges ding Trinity, who continues to shrug it off. (She’s also thrown a bit by
guest judge Tina Knowles-Lawson, who’s a real bore.) But once Pandora is in the
bottom, the writing is on the wall.
They try to
tease the unexpected, claiming Trinity is resting on her laurels and basically
hedged her bets not trying in the Snatch Game. But, come on, this should have
been Pandora’s week. If she wasn’t going to get a dominant win in the Snatch
Game, then when? After stalling out the last few weeks, this was her chance for
a comeback that just never got off the ground. It’s clear she’s got to be the
one to go.
Ginger lip
syncs to Sheena Easton’s “Sugar Walls” against season 12 Miss Congenialty Heidi
N Closet. Heidi loses her wig early in the number, and we all know what that
means. Regardless, Ginger serves the kind of campy, silly sync we’ve come to
expect to great success. She snatches another win, and another $20,000. She
pulls out the lipstick to reveal it’s Pandora’s time to pack her wigs and go.
That leaves us
with only a top five (and then, like, maybe a bunch of other queens off
competing on an island for some kind of Merle Ginsberg Memorial Idol). If this
“game within a game” ends up being just another week where the eliminated girls
compete in one challenge for the chance to come back, this is going to be a
disappointment. But we’re running out of time for it to be much more than that!
What do you
think the game within a game will be?
However it
shakes out, whoever returns, there will be quite the competition awaiting.
After so much complaining about this season’s cast prior to the premiere, this
batch of All Stars have proven more than worthy of the title and, perhaps,
provided us one of the most unpredictable, neck-and-neck All Stars seasons.
Where do the
ladies stand? Let’s review in this week’s rankings.
1. After a
series of strong performances, a second win and a second winning lip
sync, Ginger is our new official lead. She was so snappy in
Snatch, and all her runways have been particularly polished. (Though sometimes
I question her taste level a bit.) It is starting to feel like Ginger may
capture the crown over our former frontrunner.
2. Trinity’s whole
problem her first time around was that she gave up on herself when things got
too hard or she was pushed out of her comfort zone. This was certainly not as
dramatic as that, but she did carry an air of resignation and the quiet
confidence that her previous challenge wins would carry her through. (She
wasn’t wrong.) With Snatch in the rearview, though, Trinity may be able to
dance and rap and act her way easily into the finals.
3. I was
expecting the judges to come harder for Eureka. I also appreciate
how she took big swings, but there’s no denying there was a lot of misses.
She’s just so striking, so tall, so brightly colored, so well put together,
it’s tough not to be a bit impressed/entertained whenever she’s on stage. Even
when she’s not doing great, she’s a lot of fun to watch. She knows her Snatch
wasn’t great, but she gave it her all. Without a challenge win under her belt,
it’s tough to say she’ll be able to overtake Ginger or Trinity in the top
spots.
4. Although
she’s been jockeying fourth position a bit, Kylie is coming
through at a great time. I was very impressed with her Dolly (and, again, I say
that as someone with Dolly Parton permanently tattooed on their body, presently
sitting in Pigeon Forge, about to make my second pilgrimage to Dollywood this
week). Most of all, her performance was a pleasant surprise, and it was
disappointing not to see the judges put more weight on that (as opposed to
Ginger, whose comedy bonafides were long ago proven). This is, after all, a
reality show, not a true comedy competition, so reward us with a little story,
you know? I’d love to see Kylie continue to ascend, and it’s not unthinkable
that Kylie could sneak up on everyone and actually win this whole thing.
5. OK, Ra’Jah!
It was extremely savvy to pick such a Ru favorite for this exercise, and wiser
still to incorporate one of Ru’s favorite little La Toya-isms into the act. Did
she lean a little too heavily on it? Sure, but at least it was funny. Ra’Jah’s
La Toya was easily the best part of the second group. The runway wasn’t my
favorite. Sadly, I think we’re almost at Ra’Jah’s time to go. She’s a great
queen, will always be an All Star, yada yada yada, but we’re almost at the top
four, and those slots have been claimed.
6. There’s no
way Pandora could have stayed after the Snatch Game. She
whiffed it, and it should be her signature challenge. This was the moment to
turn this all around, and it just didn’t happen. I do think there’s a tiny
amount of credence to her claim that Eureka’s character was tough to work with,
but the fault was in the lack of depth to her character. Even the “funky spunk”
reference Pandora made in confessional would have been the kind of specific
choice that gives the character life. (Also, I would’ve loved to see a little
of season three’s Raja doing Tyra Banks screaming about Naomi Campbell, except
Kim Cattrall dropping the sexy, cool exterior to go absolutely ape over her
bitter enemy, Sarah Jessica Parker.) There was just no denying this was
Pandie’s time to go.
How would you rank
the queens?
SOURCE: TOWLEROAD
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