Well I wrong about this week being the Snatch Game episode. I guess Ru decided to hold it off for another week. I wonder if Ru decided that perhaps this years players were as deep improvisationally as last year and so they couldn't be trusted with a 10 person Snatch Game. I had the chance to check back in on last year's Snatch Game and it was more excellent than I had remembered. Bianca, Ben, and Adore were all very strong and there were good supporting turns put in by the other queens. Of this year's queens, I think Ginger, Katya, and Kennedy will all have a chance to be strong in the Snatch Game. Max and Pearl are wild cards, Max will succeed if he chooses the right character, while Pearl will succeed if she raids Jessie Spano's drug cabinet. I think Miss Fame and Violet will both be in trouble.
In news from this week, I got the chance for the first time to watch Untucked, and I think it will be mandatory viewing from now on. As you will see the show confirmed some opinions I had and shed a new light on some other queens. On to the rankings:
10.) (OUT) Mrs. Kasha Davis (-1)- No one likes a bitter old queen, Mrs. Kasha. Kasha seems to mistake gay theatrics for people actually giving up, which no one did. On Untucked, with all his "at least I tried" nonsense I thought he was going to launch into a live reading of Bill Clinton's 2006 smackdown of Chris Wallace. Mrs. Kasha may have been trying but the bottom line is that she wasn't very exciting. I probably would have sent home Kandy Ho before her, but it was not history's greatest injustice.
9.) Kandy Ho (+1)- Hey ho, Kandy Ho has got to go. Kandy is boring, unpolished, and not in the same league as the rest of the Queens. Even Jadyn Diore Fierce has shown flashes of talent in a mostly undistinguished run. Kandy has conspicuously avoided any excitement. I read a book this past week that discussed the possibility of multiverses where, in worlds slightly different than our own, the many quantum possibilities played out. Well, for the next 8 queens, I can imagine there is some Universe out there where they win Drag Race. Not so, for Miss Kandy Ho, however.
8.) Jadyn Diore Fierce (No Change)- I wish Jadyn would stop counting herself out. I have found her not totally unpleasant, and I think she could be funny if she had some confidence and the courage to work on it. This week she got totally steamrolled by Kennedy, whose performance on Untucked revealed her to be extremely ambitious and, above all, Aware. Jadyn seems to have the old "Deer In the Headlights" look to her. She's too starstruck to realize that she is a star.
7.) Miss Fame (No Change)- I'm sorry but I just don't think there's much depth to Miss Fame. "He's got no bottom" as Margaret Thatcher might say of him (now wouldn't she be a hilarious viewing companion for Drag Race?). Miss Fame is pretty but in a very conventional way. She doesn't ooze sexuality like Pearl or Violet, and she doesn't seem to have much to say. His freakout at Ginger's husband's phone call was strange and possibly condescending (OMG IF THE UGLY ONE CAN GET LOVE....THATS...THATS...INCREDIBLE!!!). She doesn't seem to have a sense of humor, and doesn't have any avant garde fashion sense to make up for that deficit.
6.) Violet Chachki (-2)- Violet does have a bit of daring to her, and I like that she's the bitch, but she seems so young and so Over It. She has promise, like Adore in the early episodes of last year, but she doesn't have Adore's eagerness or her kindness. I do think you have to have a bit of kindness to you to succeed at Drag Race. It's a humanizing quality and it allows you to be receptive to criticism. Violet just seems like she's too good, yet not quite good enough for every challenge.
5.) Pearl (+1)- Ah Pearl, perhaps the show's greatest enigma, and thus, the most intriguing character this year. I could see Pearl bottoming out next week or going on to win the whole thing. Whither Pearl? I'm excited to see what she does in the Snatch Game, because we saw she secretly does have some talent at mimicry. But why didn't we see that before? Maybe her withholding is subconscious strategy, an art learned to create the greatest possible intrigue. We all love a mystery.
4.) Ginger Minj(-2)- A drop for Ginger this week, and I can't fully explain it. It has something to do with the fact that she spent $5,000 for that hideous dowdy skirt. It also has something to do with the fact that she didn't quite connect with the challenge this week as I would have liked. I couldn't quite justify putting her above the queens ahead of her.
3.) Kennedy Davenport(No Change)- One look at Kennedy in Untucked solidified her character in my mind. She was standing up, with perfect posture, holding a drink, nervously looking around, and dispensing advice. She's in it to win, and she thinks she has the talent to do so. It was hilarious that she brushed aside all of Jadyn's suggestions and went with her personal vision for the challenge. I like that. It shows confidence and competence. I also think there's a little bit of Machiavelli in Kennedy, which will help her as the show goes along.
2.) Katya(+3)- I know! I can't believe Katya ended up this high either, but Katya is fast becoming my favorite. Katya's eyes belie an intelligence that has its equal only in Max. His opening was a bit of a clunker, but the acceptance speech was very good. I also have to emphasize that we still haven't seen the schtick that got him here. Here's hoping we see it in Snatch Game.
1.) Max(No Change)- Max thinks he has this thing in the bag, that much became very clear after watching Untucked. Max treats the other queens like wayward children who don't seem to have their heads fully screwed on. Incredibly the other queens take this treatment not with indignation, but with friendliness. That tells me that they believe it too, at some level. Max is only 22, the same age as Violet, incredibly, but he seems to be working on a different level. I think if Pearl had dropped out, Max would have been able to win that challenge by himself. But Pearl did show up, and Max brought out the best in him. At this point Max is the clear favorite.
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