1) It was occurring to me over the episode that even though Nina deservedly gets the 'Debbie Downer' award for the season. We've seen a few instances this season that Valentina also has a capacity for self-sabotage quietly simmering beneath that polished, placid surface. It's clear she has far more successful coping…

…is as much as I care to find out from Google.

Watching Sasha and Shea riff off one another has the kind of intimate kiki, inside joke feeling that makes watching - say, UNHhhh, or Fashion Foto Ruview so endearing?

Side-note: Can we talk about "spruik" for a second?

1) Even as a fan of UNHhh from the beginning, I can definitely sense a good argument to be had there. I find it unlikely, if only because it's been managing to continue to grow its viewerbase in a way none of the other WoW Presents shows have managed. The wild popularity of their DragCon panel helps attest to that.

It's upset season, y'alls. This is where the race gets good.

1) Those spots were a goddamn riot. If Trixie's new country music career takes off - Katya's found herself a new performing partner.

This season is not as severe - but there are clear indications the show proper glosses over that the queens establish relationships with the crew. The thirst thing could be part of it. But it's also at least as likely that's just simple labor economics.

Now that we're in the homestretch - the math of wins starts to matter. With Shea at 3, and Sasha at 2, that seems like a safe bet.

Her defensiveness about taking off the veil says otherwise.

Definitely the middle point. I actually expected more genderfuck.

We had the exact same comment here. I suppose there may be something to Nina and Tina having a bit of a messy carcrash you can't look away from sort of vibe. The choices are bewildering and incongruous. It never fully circles back around to being essential and necessary. But then, this is the kind of show where that…

Ooo, I can definitely see that. It sounds a bit like the marinating judgment I'd passed on Katya back in AS2. Trinity's definitely a great exemplar for growing past their origin story as a pageant queen.

One fears that the judges may have been conditioned to be oversensitive to hurting her feelings. At the cost of her really growing over the course of the season.

I was recently reviewing Untucked from seasons past - and yeah, it seems like the tech crew has quite a few straight dudes.

Upvote for Phil Donahue reference.

You make it sound so certain she's definitely not gonna win. She might not be the leading contender - but one has to point out she keeps building momentum over the course of the season.

Nina seems to have time-management issues in preparations for the mainstage that are particularly exacerbated by her facepainting cosplay aesthetic situation. She cops to as much tonight, talking about her incomplete bodypainting.

It felt weird, right? Like - even recognizing the heightened expectations, you could still get far more of a sense that Trinity was pushing very hard outside her comfortzone. As on-brand as the challenge was for Sasha, it was hard not to feel it like a bit of a half-effort, by comparison.

I was under the impression the point of this subthread was that 1) not learning the LSFYL song and 2) backtalk to Mama Ru were signs of that.