After starting strong, with an engaging group of queens and lots of potential in the air, season 11 of RuPaul’s Drag Race petered out in its closing episodes. To make up for its underwhelming late-season lip-syncs and controversial eliminations, the season needed to deliver with the finale. While this episode doesn’t…
The reunion episodes of RuPaul’s Drag Race have a tendency to be a bit of a mixed bag. Some have prompted memorable, emotional moments, but they frequently act as filler, a season highlight clip show to promote the finale. They can be an opportunity for particularly divisive or controversial queens to plead their case…
Sometimes performers have a particularly good day. All the hard work comes together and they’re able to get into the flow and execute at their peak. Everything that can go right, that should go right, does. And sometimes, they don’t. An issue or insecurity crops up and suddenly the performer is in their head, or…
Throughout its seven-season run, Veep has been one of the most consistent, most densely-packed comedies around, delivering blistering political satire, the most creative profanity on TV, and regular acting masterclasses from its talented ensemble. It’s raked in bucket-loads of nominations and awards so far, including…
Back its early seasons, how many would have predicted that of all the planned Marvel live-action television shows, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. would be the one to make it to the end of Phase Three of the MCU? Yet while the other series have come and gone, some ripped away far too soon—justice for Agent Carter…
Of all of the staple maxi challenges on Drag Race, the makeover is the one with the greatest potential for emotion, fun, and discovery. It centers on transformation and connection, the contestants showing their non-drag-queen partners a new side of themselves and sharing with them a taste of what it means to walk in…
Selina Meyer has done many terrible things in her quest for power. She’s doxxed sick patients and used hacked medical files to target grieving parents with her mailers. She’s railroaded and scammed, lied and manipulated. She’s gotten people deported and hurt, and of course, she’s been a terrible mother and now…
Season 11 is full of entertaining, talented queens. With such a large class, however, it took a while for the episodes to focus in and give a good, close look at the contestants. One or two particularly strong moments were enough to stand out from the crowd. Now, with only a top seven left, each of the queens are…
Veep took some big turns in “South Carolina,” breaking from the approach of the first half of the season and setting up the final push to the finale. Selina is no longer sparring with Sen. James or wooing billionaire donors, she’s committing election fraud and trying to stay two steps ahead of the allegations…
The hand of the producers is rarely subtle on Drag Race. Coaxed and massaged and outright manufactured storylines are a fact of reality TV, and they don’t have to be a negative. Producer manipulation can result in incredibly dramatic moments and reveals, such as the surprise early elimination of Latrice in All Stars 4…
Situated where it is, half-way through Veep’s final season, it follows that “South Carolina” would pivot the show from its familiar first half to the series’ endgame. What’s unexpected is how dramatic a turn the episode takes. Much of the first half of the season is wiped away, both characters and plot points, and the…
One of the most endearing charms of RuPaul’s Drag Race is its catalog of entertaining, show-specific challenges. There’s the Reading Is Fundamental mini-challenge, the makeover challenge, and the Rusical, to name just a few. Its most high-profile challenge, though, is Snatch Game. Snatch Game is not only Drag Race’s…
As Julia Louis-Dreyfus and the writers demonstrated so entertainingly in the premiere, the Selina of season seven is significantly darker and more cutthroat than the Selina of season one. Whereas she started the series competent and clear-eyed, stuck in a mostly ceremonial position, in season seven Selina’s desperate…
Halfway through its run, RuPaul’s Drag Race season 11 has a personality problem. While there is energy and charisma to spare in the workroom, only a few of the queens consistently stand out in the challenges, delivering memorable, distinct performances. Most of those who do—Vanjie, Nina, and sometimes Silky—are…
After a strong return, Veep slows down in “Discovery Weekend,” focusing less on re-establishing the show’s trademark rhythms and energy and more on setting up the rest of the season to come. Selina has taken the weekend off of campaigning in Iowa to attend mega-donor Felix Wade’s Discovery Weekend, a retreat in the…
Season 11 has been exciting and fun so far, with interesting and varied challenges and plenty of talented queens delivering both in the challenges and on the runway. Yet at episode six, we’re only to a top 10. There’s a long way to go and the pressures of competing on Drag Race are starting to take a toll on some of…
Veep has been off the air for the better part of two years. When we left Selina (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and company, she was planning her re-entry into the political sphere, having decided to run for president again. It was disappointing, if not unexpected, at the time. What candidate could overcome the criminal charges…
The time has come, once again, for a Drag Race ball. One of the show’s staple challenges, the ball is eagerly anticipated each season and with the queens upping their runway game year-over-year, expectations are high. This season, Ru’s throwing a Monster Ball, a creative and fun choice and the most interesting ball…
Drag is an incredibly varied art form, but there is one aspect all drag shares: It is inherently political. Whether a queen centers their performance on politics and social justice or distances themselves from current events entirely, the act of getting up on stage in drag is a bold statement, challenging societal…
RuPaul’s Drag Race is no stranger to manipulative, misleading editing. The producers’ main goal is to create an entertaining television show and frequently, they correlate entertaining with surprising, angling for shocking twists and underdog, come-from-behind victories. But what’s a producer to do when one team nails…
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