I find Vixen, for her faults, represents a politically-minded, confrontational edge of drag that I’ve been finding poorly represented on RPDR in recent seasons. Bob talked about his experiences in that vein during season 7, though it’s not a dimension to his drag that I think we saw too much of in the show itself,…

“While the other kids were turning looks... wait.”

So many queens have a clear drama club theatre kid vibe, expressing in some distinct ways, but having the same roots in insecurity, awkwardness, and adolescent angst. In Aquaria’s case, one can picture she tried out a Gwyneth Paltrow/Madonna British accent for two months, sophomore year of high school, and this kind…

It’s more that I can manage to keep specific people as friends by knowing they have their bullshit - and I have my mechanisms to keep that out of my life, in some cases, by carefully doling out and constraining contact and expectations.

Fast-forward spoiler: Vixen comes out as otherkin, and we all feel very ashamed and embarrassed.

Thinking of a drag queen as a wallflower seems counter-intuitive and paradoxical, but there you have it.

I will happily agree to disagree on Monique.

I feel like I gotta probe here - is it the affected drama club theatre kid thing she has going on, especially in confessional/talking head?

Funny, I was actually thinking during the episode that I have friends whom I can take in measured doses for reasons similar to those. Of course, it limits and constrains how tight one can really get with a person. But I find with advancing age, I’m more able to adjust my expectations of people in that manner, I guess.

I genuinely like Blair, but I’ll only add the caveat that if you remember Ben on Season 6 - the carefully practiced Dela persona was as much of a crutch for his performance in the challenges. Not because Ben was untalented or seemed particularly anxiety challenged by the competition in any way. At the time, it seemed…

Just settling in for a late-night set o’ Random ‘pinions:

Pop-psychology is the kind of thing I try and be leery of, especially in my academic life. But fucked if that book isn’t a harrowing read, for how much truth it tells.

I’m giving Untucked credit for letting the fourth wall break just enough to address, rather than sweep it under the rug. The way race has been evolving as an ugly, ugly dimension to how this show relates to its audience is absolutely something that demands discourse and dialogue, especially from the show.

In the end, isn’t the complicated argument running through these threads: “Who’s more legitimately awful, and in what specific ways?”

I don’t see that. I see Monet and Monique coming to Vixen’s defense in that regard, but I don’t see Blair, Eureka, Kameron, or any of the bottom queens (they had more important stuff to do). It seemed like Cracker summed up what seemed like the prevailing issue in the room to me - to let it play out, and not add to…

<rattlesnake sound cue>

VAAAAANJIE.

Based on tonight’s challenge, I just can’t see growth in the talent competition for Kameron. Multiple mentions were made of extensive direction to try and amp up Kameron’s performance. It’s hard to take Carson and Michelle’s judges’ critique comment that they gave it twenty tries literal confidence. But it’s clear…

By large, drag prefers clubbier, dancier, poppier tracks, certainly. But this show has given great stead to there being a deep catalogue of unexpected pulls from country, jazz, rock, folk, soul, and beyond.

Where she lost it for me was calling out Aquaria having a reaction. I’m certainly sensitive to Vixen recognizing the optics of those racial dynamics. But her aggressive demeanor has an absolute stop when she’s telling people to have or not have certain feelings or reactions.