{"id":77092,"date":"2019-01-12T14:27:27","date_gmt":"2019-01-12T19:27:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/tops-and-bottoms-all-stars-roasting-on-an-open-fire-recap-and-rankings\/"},"modified":"2019-01-12T14:27:27","modified_gmt":"2019-01-12T19:27:27","slug":"tops-and-bottoms-all-stars-roasting-on-an-open-fire-recap-and-rankings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/tops-and-bottoms-all-stars-roasting-on-an-open-fire-recap-and-rankings\/","title":{"rendered":"Tops and Bottoms: \u2018All Stars\u2019 Roasting On An Open Fire [RECAP and RANKINGS]"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tops and Bottoms: \u2018All Stars\u2019 Roasting On An Open Fire [RECAP and RANKINGS]<\/b>
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They say comedy equals tragedy plus time, so the good news is eventually some of last night\u2019s tragically poor performances will get more funny.<\/p>\n

As it were, though, the majority of our remaining queens struggled to wring laughs from the dearly departed Lady Bunny as they delivered a Ru \u2026 ology? Ru \u2026 loogey .. Ru-who-logy! to Ru\u2019s best friend. It\u2019s a dark spin on the typical roast challenge, and (the still very much alive) Lady Bunny would be laying in state in a casket on stage.<\/p>\n

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The queens all needed a laugh after last week\u2019s shocking elimination. Manila really uses the space for her grief, wandering around the workroom sobbing like she\u2019s Catherine on the moors in Wuthering Heights<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Manila\u2019s desire to save her friend alienated her from the rest of the group. Monet vowed to send Manila home if given the chance.<\/p>\n

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Once all the queens got to work, Manila and Monet seemed to really take off, while everyone else struggles. Ru\u2019s visit only made the weak links more apparent. Valentina and Trinity both whiffed their roast during their season, and that failure hangs heavy over both their heads. Trinity appeared to channel that anxiety into overthinking her material, while Valentina came off utterly lost.<\/p>\n

The queens weren\u2019t alone. Each queen gets some time with SNL<\/em> comedy KWEEN Cecily Strong. Ironically, the stronger queens got much more value out of their time with Strong. Maybe it was because they had actual material to workshop, but Valentina, Trinity and Naomi all seemed to leave the session the same or worse than they arrived.<\/p>\n

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When the time comes for the roast itself, the only surprises were the under-performers failing to meet already low expectations. Monet slays the opening, as expected (Sample joke: \u201cWe are here to celebrate the life, legacy and illiteracy of Lady Bunny\u201d). Trinity gurgled out a string of statements that are maybe 60 percent of the way to being an actual joke. Monique delivered a Southern-style preacher character, but her one-note jokes all blended together into one sort-of-funny din. Naomi attempted a millennial spin on her weak, old-age jokes, but it felt like nothing hit. I don\u2019t even know how to describe what Valentina did, but I will say it straddled the line between utter, abject failure and almost Kaufman-esque comedic brilliance. People were laughing, yes, just not how she likely intended. Lastly, Manila closed the show stupendously, from her memorable entrance (she brought a big, black umbrella\/veil prop from which she peeked and then recoiled at the sight of Bunny) to her opening line (\u201cDearly beloved \u2026 AND MICHELLE VISAGE!\u201d), Manila delivered a thoroughly professional performance.<\/p>\n

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The runway called for the queens to show up in their Angelic Whites, and everyone delivered. (More detailed takes in our rankings, below.) Monet in particular was this week\u2019s standout, storming the runway in a beaded ensemble with dramatic train, papal headpiece and bright red, glowing eyes. It was a showstopper.<\/p>\n

Manila and Monet were rightfully chosen as the top two, which left everyone else vulnerable to elimination. Backstage, it became quickly apparent that the queens\u2019 report cards aren\u2019t an easy, objective barometer to pick the weakest competitor. It\u2019s not like each queen is awarded actual, quantifiable points. Does winning a challenge outweigh never being in the bottom? What about lip sync wins? The four bottoms\u2019 records all sort of even out.<\/p>\n

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Monet and Manila performed one of Drag Race<\/em>\u2018s most joyous lip syncs to Aretha Franklin\u2019s underrated bop, \u201cJump To It.\u201d It was a collaborative, campy, comedic number, and it\u2019s a joy to watch.<\/p>\n

Ru (again, rightfully) names both queens winner, splitting the cash tip $5,000 a piece. There\u2019s a momentary panic that two queens would be sent home, but Ru eased everyone\u2019s mind by instead no one was sent home. Instead, she ominously warns that All Stars<\/em> rules are suspended.<\/p>\n

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Back in the workroom, a cryptic message from Ru heralded the return of the Lip Sync For Your Life, and a surprise appearance from Lady Bunny reintroduced the \u2014 *gasps in faux shock* \u2014 return of the eliminated queens.<\/p>\n

What happens next? I guess we\u2019ll find out next week!<\/p>\n

We should probably stop pretending the return of the eliminated queens is even a shocker anymore. We all know it\u2019s coming. I wonder if future seasons of All Stars<\/em> would be better served by some kind of \u201cRedemption Island\u201d or \u201cLast Chance Kitchen\u201d style mechanic transparently built into the game from the jump.<\/p>\n

My guess is next week will see an eliminated queen return and TWO other queens sent home. Of the eliminated queens, Latrice is the only viable option for a return.<\/p>\n

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Until then, let\u2019s assess the remaining queens\u2019 current standings. This season continues to be an incredibly tight race, and I could see a valid argument for almost any order of success. We\u2019re splitting hairs, but we\u2019ve put together our rankings for which queens seem the most likely to earn that spot in the hall of fame below. Disagree? Leave yours in the comments.<\/p>\n

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1. Ross said it best: Now is a good time to build momentum, and Manila Luzon<\/strong> is doing just that. This was another incredibly strong performance from her in the challenge. While Monet may have had more jokes, Manila\u2019s gags felt more varied and overall more successful. She had physical humor, reads, wordplay and her delivery was spot on. I wasn\u2019t as crazy for her runway as the judges were (the cherubs felt cheap), but her hair and makeup were gorgeous.<\/p>\n

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2. Under normal circumstances, Monique<\/strong> would have likely been safe this week. Out of the bottom four, she was easily the best of the bunch, and I was gaga for that headpiece. Monique does very dramatic, severe makeup which in this instance made sure her face was just as impactful as the elaborate headpiece on the runway. More than almost any other competitor (Monet may be the exception), Monique has demonstrated impressive growth in the short time between her season and now. That makes her a winner, regardless.<\/p>\n

3. As some readers have noted, I\u2019ve been a bit hard on Monet<\/strong> the last few weeks. I\u2019ve been waiting for Monet to give us a MOMENT, and tonight was just that. Yes, she deftly handled the opening slot of the roast with her signature stand-up delivery, but it was that jaw-dropping runway lewk that really sealed the deal. That\u2019s how you do an All Stars<\/em> runway, honey. I was gagged, gooped, slimed, dead. I stan. I\u2019ve gone from Monet skeptic to Monet cheerleader, and I hope this week\u2019s performance gives her the confidence boost to fight for a spot at the end.<\/p>\n

4. Did Trinity<\/strong> always have that shrieking opossum laugh? I don\u2019t recall hearing it in her season, but now I\u2019m hearing it in my sleep. Again, not to just copy-paste Ross\u2019 comments, but I also am on the edge of my seat ahead of her runway appearances. With her Snatch Game win under her belt and the roast challenge behind us, hopefully Trin\u2019s biggest challenges are behind her. She may have roasted slightly less credibly than Naomi, but they were both rough. While Naomi had solid jokes conceptually that just weren\u2019t funny, Trinity struggled to craft material that even followed its own logic. Her stunning runway likely would have spared her from a bottom two position under normal circumstances, but she had reason to be nervous.<\/p>\n

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5. Ouch, Naomi<\/strong>, that looked rough. It\u2019s one thing to bomb when you know you\u2019re unprepared or out of your element, but there\u2019s something particularly difficult about bombing when you think your material is great and you can\u2019t in the moment figure out what\u2019s going wrong. Beneath the nervous giggles and smiles, you could sense the panic surging through Naomi once it became clear this was not going well. The sight of her angelic, white, Prince-inspired runway nearly sent me to heaven to meet the Purple One myself. I died. I lived. It was a series best. Naomi is the only competitor we haven\u2019t seen lip sync this season, so there is a chance she could come into the finale Sasha Velour style and blow us all away.<\/p>\n

6. I guess this is just the part of any season with Valentina<\/strong> where we realize that this is just all we\u2019re going to get. She\u2019s beautiful, she\u2019s fashion, she\u2019s strange, she\u2019s unintentionally hilarious, but we\u2019ve seen all she has. She\u2019s a unique little gem of a queen, but there\u2019s only so much there. It\u2019s not quite that she didn\u2019t understand this week\u2019s assignment, but, honestly, I\u2019m not sure she understands funerals, roasts, public speaking or interacting with human beings. It was so far off the mark that it almost circled fully back to being extremely entertaining. On the runway, she always delivers, but sometimes I worry she confuses \u201cexpensive\u201d with \u201cexciting.\u201d<\/p>\n

How would you rank the queens?<\/p>\n

The post Tops and Bottoms: \u2018All Stars\u2019 Roasting On An Open Fire [RECAP and RANKINGS]<\/a> appeared first on Towleroad Gay News<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Tops and Bottoms: ‘All Stars’ Roasting On An Open Fire [RECAP and RANKINGS]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n