ReadMy Drag Race S10E13 Ruview (SPOILERS)

6/21/2018

I feel so unhappy and uncomfortable after watching this episode that I'm debating continuing to the last episode with my reviews.

But I mean, clicks.

Me, holding a funeral for Ru's sanity (or, if we're going with the 'production is forcing Eureka to win' narrative, Ru's loss of dignity)

Okay so I thought I was gonna make this post more of a toot and boot sort of article with just the looks, but after the Vixen interaction I think I need to devote some space to that.

I sympathize with Vixen. I also sympathize with Asia, though in the heat of the moment I don't think her argument got through completely? But nobody is going to be rhetorically eloquent when having a breakdown: so here's my thought.

Everyone seemed to agree that Eureka was intentionally testing Vixen in Untucked. Vixen was being pushed and snapped.

Ru seems to think that, because he personally can remain resilient to being attacked in a situation like that, everyone can.

I have this ability, therefore everyone else must.

It does not matter that you are both black, and you are both gay, and that you are both femme, people respond differently, and for someone like Ru who has made an empire off of exploiting the uniqueness and individuality of artists to not understand that, feels so close-minded

The Vixen, having potentially instigated one argument, now facing the gauntlet of attacking backlash that Eureka will never have to face.

I think this may come from Ru's philosophy of 'we're all born naked and the rest is drag'. While we are all born naked, we are not identical in our nakedness, and some things like, how much you can be tested before snapping, whether that feature be natural born, conditioned, trained, or disordered, that's not drag. That is part of your nakedness; you can't just take that off at the end of the day.

I honestly see Vixen's response as involuntary. For better or for worse, that is who she is. For Ru to say 'well couldn't you just sit there and take the grating attack from Eureka' just feels ridiculous.

The Vixen did an interview with intomore.com and had this to say about it: (I've heavily abbreviated it so I'm not literally just copying and pasting the article. Do read the full thing)

"What do you think about RuPaul telling you several times that you have a choice to be silent?

"I think that sends a horrible message to people of color ... that their only option is to be silent or to be persecuted. ... it felt like Ru was trying to redirect the story to make sure I was at fault ... I kind of just realized that there was no way for me — that my side was not going to be told that day. And so I was like, “OK.” ... Technically, Ru is there to be a moderator and it felt like I was having a fight with her.

...

"To be there at the reunion, it almost felt like they wanted me to apologize for these things that have given me a better life and made a difference in viewers’ lives. It’s like, “This is not what I signed up for and this is not going to get better,” so that’s why I left.

...

"They wanted to teach me a lesson about speaking up and they failed really horribly."

To make things even better, the entire reunion was just a giant hot pot to push her. The clips, the pointed questions, what was Ru trying to get Vixen to say? "I am sorry for being human? I am bad for being human? I am sorry that I am not RuPaul Charles?"

Most if not all of the reunion is a hyper form of reality television aimed to get the strongest emotional response out of the queens. They roll clips of the queens in vulnerable states, and it elicits a similar response from the queen at the reunion.

You show vulnerable sad Dusty in the clip, Dusty starts to cry. Show vulnerable sad Blaire? Blaire starts to cry. Same for Monique.

Blaire's crying face is regrettably unapparent in still form.

You show vulnerable, hurt, and angry Vixen in the clip, and they you get surprised that she gets emotional? Leaving the stage was truly the only option for her.

And for Ru to say "oh well it was just a one-sided conversation with her, she wasn't listening" ???? No, Ru, you were the one who wasn't listening.

Before this episode I was definitely a die hard Aquaria stan, but with the way Asia behaved, I'm now seeing her more on the same level, not because of aesthetics or anything, but just how much she gets it.

Of course that's not an option because of the #Butterfly incident, but thank you Asia for saying what needed to be said.

Anyway, back to commentary on looks.