'...and DON'T *bleep* IT UP!' -- the RuPaul's Drag Race thread

That was ugly, that was sour, that was unnecessary.

I can see why Valentina was so unbelievably angry during that recent Nina Bo'nina FB live.

Oh, for god's sake. Why isn't the reunion episode on my Netflix? Stupid Ireland.

That was ugly, that was sour, that was unnecessary.

But other than that!

Combine that with the live (well, at the time of taping) lipsync that's been introduced to help determine the final winner and next week suddenly gets really interesting.

Wooo this was waaaaay more popcorn than I expected

whoaaaaa this was so claws-out

I actually feel kinda vindicated hearing all of the other queens call Valentina out for being totally artificial and self-serving, like clearly no one really likes her

part of me was like omg why weren't you guys like this during the show?! but it kind of makes it somehow better that they locked most of it down? idk. like I love that it alllllllll came out in the reunion. and somehow during the season they were all I wanna win i haven't got time for your shit. like a sort of professionalism set in somehow. maybe I'm wrong.

but yeah, the Valentina stuff was pretty fascinating. I was definitely taken by her from the get go, so it was great to see that she's a really just a plastic irl and that no-one really liked her.

i could watch Eureka and Trinity read each other all day, love it.

and Charlie with her 9 million excuses jesus christ that was some lameness on parade there

Kinda loved Aja taking the role of 'greek chorus' throughout the reunion and whenever the need arose just being like, "I'm sorry but [truth]" especially with that whole Fan Favorite Award. I said the same thing yesterday before I watched the reunion when I saw Valentina won! I was like in what universe is she CONGENIAL? And even then I had no idea how the other queens saw her lol

Or they are all a bit jealous of her, which I can understand. She does have that star quality like no-other queen in the season had.

A friend on FB called her Vilaintina and I laughed so hard. It's kind of true! Anyway, best episode of the season. Even Ru seemed to be enjoying himself more.

Some great outfits and costumes from @RuPaulsDragRace displayed on Santa Monica Blvd in WeHo. #DragRaceFYC pic.twitter.com/0DFy9aWP8U

— Matthew Gillman (@RealMattGillman) June 17, 2017

OK, I watched it again and it doesn't seem *AS* sour as it seemed on first blush. In fact, it almost made me feel bad for Valentina again, despite mounting evidence that she was no sweetheart on set.

i kinda turned a corner in Aja & Farrah tbh

*on

If only Farrah had brought some of that "fuck it" attitude to the competition. Any amount. At all.

i don't give a fuck, valentina is the breakout star of this season

everyone looked really really good in this ru-union btw, especially chad michaels and acid betty

xpost Eric otm

I find the respect that Eureka and Trinity have for each other SOOO touching, like it seriously warms my heart. Trinity is legit af.

Also yeah Farrah was really great this ep! Also Valentina as Miss Congeniality seemed super inevitable and I really felt bad when everyone unanimously ganged up on her.

The sarcasm that greeted a $5,000 prize. Hell, that queen on The Price is Right three weeks ago won like six times as much on Plinko.

yeah... i guess there is that :/

describing humor obv not very humorous but oh well:

Valentina implored her fans via Instagram video to put a rose emoji in the comments of every season 9 queens to show love/support w/e

so far kimchi has requested croissants instead

and Bob the Drag Queen did a parody video asking for eggplant emojis to "show that we're not all size queens"

man Valentina done fucked her career up so bad, we have never come close to seeing someone with this much potential blowing it all.

So near, and yet, etc.

all those people posting eggplants are dumb as fuck. really starting to hate the fandom for this show.

she shouldn't have said "i'm like selena" but i probably would have ignored farrah moan's annoying ass too.

Also, as the breakout star from the show, and one facing humiliation on a grand scale, I'm willing to cut her a bit of slack for not being super quick with the texts.

what, exactly, does her humiliation entail? working with jeremy scott and moschino?

Well, now the humiliation of being called fake by virtually every single one of your castmates, I guess.

i honestly don't see any of them apart from val going on to do anything apart from peppermint. shea is polished but she's not really that funny and her lipsyncs were boring as hell. sasha is a privileged snob who does the same silhouette for every look and think she's so ahead of gender norms because she read judith butler once.

Well, Eureka does have season 10 ahead of her.

Well,

Shea's a pretty great performer live, and is pretty good with a crowd.

Listened to her Feast of Fun episode too awhile back, and she doesn't mince words about being woke, et al.

That...was actually the best finale in a long time! Introducing the final lip syncs instead of stagily going through the reunion stuff (and therefore saving it for the episode we had last week) was a stroke of genius. Mind you, how will they try and upend expectations next year...

yeah that was really amazing

And somehow resulted in the queen I'd had pegged fourth most likely to win taking the crown.

I was bummed when Trinity went first and stunned when Shea went second, this was NOT the top 2 I was expecting.

I also spent the whole episode wondering how much was predetermined, like did whoever the wheel land on have to pick the person they were already assigned? Were the lip syncs choreographed? Was the winner determined in advance or did she seriously let it all come down to these performances right here and now (bcz that seems ridic tbh)

Also did they actually announce the winner live a week ago and manage to keep it under wraps????

I have to assume they did the usual deal where both 'won' and reactions were recorded, and then editing is where the actual decision was made.

Yeah that was fab

I am glad the finale was an actual competition for the crown ... and goddamn Sasha really brings it with her lipsync.

I had no idea about any of that Shea stuff with her Dad & sister. How tragic. And what a tough queen to bring it so hard. Love her

Yeah that was damn sad and a half. If there is a bright side, yay her mom, and yay for her being there and being amazzing.

sisterly love for Sasha all the way from Sydney - check it, they all have "Sasha Brows"

https://instagram.com/p/BVudk1Kje_Z/

That's like a stupid good crew right there. Drag Avengers.

i like that there seems to be genuine affection between the 4 - like Biancas season with Adore, Courtney & Darienne: that crew are still friends to this day which i think is cool

also now that i've seen Sasha fully lipsync twice, i realized that she has an Annie Lennox vibe that I never caught before ... and I like that she has built on a variation of the Latrice school of "stand & emote" lipsyncing which is still a perennial favorite

god it was an enjoyable finale. so much more watchable & interesting & less like a yawny variety show

oh and shea's "that was a NICE car" about Black Chyna fkn killed me, hilar

Nice comparison re Annie! Hadn't thought of that at all.

(Yeah too bad Sasha got the worst guest video message thanks to Katy Perry. That seemed...all too convenient. Then again, Gaga would have been not only too obvious but thanks to her being in at the start would lead to accusations of bias. :-D )

she seems like a very nice person but i just don't feel like that was the right decision. same silhouette every outfit, not much charisma imo and a worse dancer than pearl. i thought shea was so clearly the winner from the beginning.

i did too tbh and i was surprised she was such a mediocre lip-syncer

yeah Shea didn't deliver nearly as well as I expected in the lipsync

I kinda thought Peppermint was kinda flat til her wig change in the first lipsync, without those gimmicks & the late energy burst I'd have given the first round to Trinity

Agreed. And yeah, weird how Shea just seemed...there in her effort. Very surprising.

in the regular show that prob would have slayed but Sasha pushed into a higher gear that Shea just didnt have or wasnt prepared for

Maybe (although I'm not sure this would be Ru's decision to make) Ru reckons that Shea just has enough shit going on just now and should maybe take some time out to gather herself and chill out, and then she'll blast the hell out of everyone in the next All Stars.

I was very lukewarm on Sasha till the final, where I thought she absolutely brought it, in terms of both her looks and her performance. Her Tudor/Papal/Jurassic Park frilled dinosaur look was majestic and alien, and her lipsyncing was A+. The initial removal of the gloves was very Gypsy Rose Lee.

The most enjoyable live finale so far. I wonder if they'll pick four queens again next year to get the same end result?