Another week of All Stars 3, another disappointing challenge.
While the competition has thinned out and we’re down to only six remaining queens, the predictability of the season continues to be a major problem. Obviously, this being All Stars, viewers are already familiar with these queens or, at the very least, are made aware of their defining characteristics via flashbacks to their respective seasons. So viewers already know their strengths, weaknesses, and personalities, a fact that makes it difficult to get roped into the stakes of the weekly challenges.
Take, for example, this week’s episode, titled “Pop Art Ball.” Intended as a tribute to Andy Warhol and the legendary Studio 54, the queens were tasked with designing their own Campbell’s Soup Can, and a dress from scratch. The problem is Shangela, one of the season’s two frontrunners, can’t sew. Cue multiple scenes discussing Shangela’s problem and, of course, the inevitable conclusion: an outfit thay is uncharacteristically disappointing. One of the episode’s biggest conflicts is telegraphed to the audience over and over again, and it doesn’t make for an entertaining competition.
Of course, it doesn’t help that the main challenge wasn’t even all that interesting. The original soup can bit – in which the queens were forced to imagine a comical flavor that lampoons their own self-image – fell totally flat. None of the jokes landed, and the judges’ responses felt canned and forced. It was a terrible first half, raised only slightly by the dress portion of the night. With the notable exception of Shangela, all of the queens delivered fairly strong looks, though no one really hit it out of the park. Even worse: all of the judges’ criticism felt heavily foreshadowed throughout the opening moments of the episode, taking away any real sense of suspense.
The true ruredemption of the episode occurred in the final 15 minutes, when the victorious queens were left to deliberate on who would go home. Without spoiling the top or bottom two, there were legitimate stakes on the line here, as would be expected in an All Stars competition. Right through the lip sync, it was impossible to predict who would ultimately be eliminated. For a challenge so completely devoid of tension, waiting to see who would be eliminated certainly brought viewers to the edge of their seats.
While the week’s lip sync was a bit of a bore, especially when compared to last week’s spectacular riff on “I Kissed a Girl,” it’s hard to ignore how much fun the final moments were. And, of course, the best news was shared with viewers at the end of the hour: the big twist Ru has been hinting at with Handmaid’s Tale-esque clues will finally be revealed next week. Blessed be, indeed.
Having a competition made up entirely of All Stars is a bit of a risk. As the title suggests, these are all drag queens at the top of their games. In an ideal world, even the worst of the performers could still be pretty damn great, which makes for stressful viewing experiences. But it’s even worse when the queens are performing to the best of their abilities, and the challenge itself is underwhelming. While still more entertaining than virtually any reality competition series, All Stars 3 is starting to drag a bit as it approaches it’s last few weeks. Hopefully it can pick things up again, especially once the much buzzed about twist is put into action.
Art Pop Ball Overall rating: 4 out of 10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bD9TW9C1ls
