Drag Race: "What a Way To Go!"
Wednesday, May 7, 2014 at 8:00AM There's so much to say which is perhaps why I never say it. And why I'll let you say it instead since I gave up trying to write up my thoughts each week (too many thoughts!) COMMENT PARTY! You're invited. Bring your own comments.
Ben's farewell at the Glitter Ball
And the predicted winner is... Adore (love that bitch) though my true heart belongs to Bianca
Ben de la Creme at least understood filling the entire workroom mirror with lipstick brain vomit when he departed last week leaving only four... and then three Monday night (Adore, Bianca, and Courtney) to compete for the crown tiara of America's Next Drag Superstar.
But what a way to go... and Ben even referenced What a Way To Go! (1964) at one point (though I regret to inform that I couldn't find it to prove it in screencap form) before sashaying away. Which made her exit all the more painful since a queen who can reference old movies and has a grasp of cultural history to draw from beyond current reality tv and Beyoncé (the only two things the lesser queens seem to "get" each season) is always a better queen for it. I still cringe thinking of that old episode where even drag queens didn't know what Grey Gardens (1975) was -- and this was even after the Emmy & Globe winning Jessica Lange and Drew Barry more version in 2009 -- and chastised Jinkx for choosing an "obscure" celebrity to riff on. RuPaul didn't dress them down for it but justice in the end because guess who won the whole season.
My point is two-fold and as yet unexpressed. See how I can't focus with this show?
1) The last couple of episodes have been curiously muted and I hope the show finds a way to put a little pep back into its step when it goes away again at the finale and
2) there are surely few better films to draw inspiration from if you're a man in a dress than What a Way To Go!. Consider Miss Shirley Maclaine in the Oscar nominated costumes by Moss Mabry and Edith Head in gif form after the jump... if you dare...
Reader Comments (18)
I was super sad to see Darienne Lake go home, and honestly feel (at this point) that any plus-size queen who enters can only hope for 4th place at best. 6 seasons in (with an All Stars half season tacked on) and that is the best any has ever done. If Darienne 'deserved' to go home last week for being the weakest in the Glitter Ball challenge, then I would say that Courtney Act (who is still my pick for the win) probably should have gone home this week.
Ah well. This is a pretty strong group at the end, so at least there are no Phi Phi's making me question my sanity this time.
i was sure courtney was going to get booted after that strangely muted episode (and, from what we saw, should have). not that it matters; it's clearly a bianca/adore showgirls-type showdown...and i don't really care. after sensational wins by sharon and jinkx, this season's victor was pretty much guaranteed to be anticlimactic
I love all these queens (although Courtney Act has started to get on my nerves a bit), but these past couple of episodes have been a little muted - probably because they're all (mostly) mature, professional people. There's no easily hate-able person to provide drama. The four-way lip sync was maybe not the best idea - you couldn't really tell how well anyone was doing, but it looked to me as though Courtney was the most unimpressive.
I mostly agree. Although I am team Bianca, Adore would be a worthy winner (even though she is a little green). Courtney Act is impressively beautiful but I think she is a little bland.
I just saw the most random Shirley movie where she was playing a Chinese woman helping Michael Caine steal a statue.
I think Courteney Act is boring, boring, BORING! Drag should be big & fun. What's the point of doing drag if all you do is look like a cute (not even stunning) women? That's why I would be perfectly happy with either Bianca or Adore for the win!
Bianca for the win, for sure, although her lip syncing is questionable. She hasn't had to yet this season and it wasn't looking too cute in the four-way competition. Adore will benefit enough from being in the top three, and Courtney is nearly unbearably egotistical. I had a soft spot for Darienne, partly for her sharp wit and a killer lip syncing but also because the Internet has decided to hate her viciously for some unknown reason. It was practically predetermined she would go home this week, though, because of her past mishaps. Honestly, I think a big girl could totally win, but none of them have had the whole package. Darienne was hilarious and could beat a face, but just look at her runway looks from last week.
Adore. No.
I would be uber pissed if Adore got the win over Bianca. Yeah both ladies have three wins, but there's a big disconnect there--when Adore won the rap, commercial, and ball challenges, Bianca was also pretty great as well. Whereas when Bianca won sewing, comedy, and makeover challenges, Adore was respectively messy/bad. Bianca's slayage this season has been too much and it would be a shame if anyone but her won.
Bia, that movie was Gambit. Never seen it all the way through but what I saw seemed lotsa fun.
I would be really surprised if Bianca didn't win, not just cause I love her (she could go head-to-head with some of the most gifable queens from previous seasons in a Best Reaction Shot competition) but because it really seems like she's getting the winner's edit. Around the half-way mark of this season there seemed to be a clear shift in how she was getting presented, and it came across to me like the producers were grooming us in the audience for a Bianca win.
I don't watch the show but completely love What a Way to Go! particularly the Lush Budgett production. Almost everything Shirley wears throughout the movie is a marvel.
What parallel universe is this, where there's a film starring Shirley MacLaine, Paul Newman, Robert Mitchum, Dean Martin, Gene Kelly, Robert Cummings, Dick Van Dyke, Margaret Dumont and Fifi D'Orsay that I had never heard of (let alone seen) until it was mentioned on RPDR?
(Team Bianca, by the way. Adore's too green, and Courtney's too...pink.)
I recently saw What a Way to Go! after being curious for many years--and what a letdown. Shirley was charming and looked tres chic, but I felt the film was very draggy and crude. Loved an angsty Paul Newman though--and Shirl's dance number with Gene was the highlight for me.
Bianca for the win! I look at Bianca in awe every week, but I can't say the same about Adore. What Adore does, I've seen other queens do. She is charming and I do like her, but she isn't put-together. Bianca is unique, hysterical, and seasoned for the win. Ru has given the crown to two almost-there queens the past two seasons. I loved them both, but now is time for a true professional to win. #TeamBianca
I'm still Team Courtney even though she has no chance in hell of winning. What can I say? I like pretty. Plus, i loved most of her looks even when most people didn't like the buttefly dress and the ruby mask poncho thing.
Bianca deserves it but it really looks like they are making a case for Adore. After Ben get sent home, all bets were off.
Ordered by my preference:
Nina
Bebe
Rebecca
Raven
Jujubee
Tyra
Manila
Raja
Alexis
Sharon
Chad
Phi Phi
Chad
Raven
Jujubee
Jinkx
Alaska
Roxy
Adore / Bianca
Courtney
So excluding Tyra, I've gotten one of my top two chosen every season. Just don't let it be Courtney. I also think the editing favors Bianca. If you watched this last Untucked, the other contestants were talking about how they loved Bianca. And while Adore and Courtney said the other should go home, Bianca stayed above the fray, never saying who she thought should go home.
Adore for the win. I was team Bianca all the way up until last episode. I mean they're both amazing obviously and I love em, but Adore has been more versatile and risky. She has a freshness and an edgy quality that is perfect for the winner. Bianca is amazing too, though. Just a little more stagnant.
Ben de la Creme should've been third place hands down. She's miles more interesting than Courtney and leagues more talented than Darienne. I was legitimately baffled when Ru saved Darienne, I think it's the worst decision he's made on the entire series.
Courtney is talented and gorgeous, but boring and borderline mediocre for this show. She's never done anything interesting.
Darienne had a disgusting personality and was one of the most mediocre queens this season. She started off with a lot of potential but should not have made it this far under any circumstances.