The Norm Can Conform

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TV Review: RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 4, Episode 3: Snatch Game Of Love

Well bugger me blind, in the words of Gia Gunn, “Shit’s getting gaggy!” I was quite thrilled to have found a very early leak of episode 3 on YouTube (link at the bottom of the article – just close your eyes and keep scrolling) thanks to the @dragrace_facts Instagram account for pointing it out. I don’t know how or why, but I’m thrilled that episode 3 was leaked online and it was juicy. So I might as well get straight into the review.

The episode started with Gia Gunn explaining that she didn’t mean throw Farrah or her team off with the outburst from the last episode and the whole workroom was calling bullshit. Shortly after that, Monét and Trinity started to get into a heated beef about Monét’s drag aesthetic for her lip sync against Valentina. Then, Monét started calling out Trinity’s lip sync dress she wore the first week. My oh my, the cattiness has already started.

Then, pretty quickly, the challenge was revealed. Yes, there was no mini challenge this week because it’s time for The Snatch Game… Of Love?! Why couldn’t they do a regular Snatch Game? Instead, this is a mixture of both the Match Game and Blind Date – but without Cilla Black.

As drama would have it, two queens revealed that they were both doing the same Snatch Game character. Trinity the Tuck Taylor and Gia Gunn were both wanting to do Caitlyn Jenner. The two got pretty heated but eventually, Trinity managed to stand her ground with her character and Gia picked somebody else.

Genuinely, I was so excited to see that somebody was finally going to do Caitlyn Jenner for Snatch Game. I’ve said for years that if I was ever on the show, she’s who I would be, followed by Dot Cotton or Kim Woodburn. I’m also glad that Trinity won the battle because I know Gia’s characterisation would have been shit and then a great character would have been wasted.

The Snatch Game of Love

The queens were split into two teams with one half competing for the love of gay Olympic freestyle skier, Gus Kenworth and the others aiming to match with Love, Simon star Keiynan Lonsdale.

Part of me just wanted a nice, normal Snatch Game but seeing something new was nice… let’s just hope they go back to the original again next time.

1st Group

Monét as Whitney Houston, Noami as Wendy Williams, Trinity as Caitlyn Jenner and Valentina as Eartha Kitt

Let’s get straight into it, Trinity killed it. The voice wasn’t the most accurate but the outfit, the mannerisms and the jokes were spot on. She absolutely killed it this week and I would go as far as saying that it’s probably one of my favourite Snatch Game characters of all time.

Monét’s Whitney fell a flat but the look was alright, it was a shame because I expected more from her.

However, Naomi’s Wendy was very accurate and it was such a step up from her previous Snatch Game as Tiffany ‘New York’ Pollard which was utter shite. Wendy was much more polished and thought out as a character.

She may have been terrible at Snatch Game on her season but my word did she come back fighting. Naomi is not planning on being in the bottom 2 any time soon.

Now, I have to share something, I personally thought Valentina’s Eartha Kitt was accurate as fuck! The voice was spot on, the look was accurate, sure, there wasn’t a whole load of jokes but it wasn’t a terrible impression. We knew it wasn’t going to be a winner, but to be in the bottom was bullshit.

2nd Group

Monique as Tiffany Haddish, Manila as Barbara Streisand, Gia as Jenny Bui and Latrice as Della Reese

Monique’s Tiffany Haddish was alright. The look was relatively accurate and the impression was kinda good but it was very much still Monique being Monique in terms of the voice. Latrice’s Della Reese was also a bit ‘meh’. The jokes weren’t that great and the impression wasn’t anything special… And then there was the bust-up on set with Gia. Latrice was not happy with Gia stepping on everybody’s jokes and it read in her face. Gia’s jokes were shitty and you could tell the whole group was having enough of her.

By far the strongest queen in this group was Manila Luzon as the legend that is Barbara Streisand. The look was such a hilarious caricature but also so damn accurate. The accent was hilarious and the jokes were great – absolutely nailed it.

Toot or Boot – ‘Boots The House Down’

After the Snatch Game of Love, it was time for the queens to get ready for the runway and this week’s theme was “Boots The House Down”. Simple enough, wear an outfit that features a strong pair of boots. But before they got to the runway, Latrice wanted to let Gia know that she fucked her off in the Snatch Game which Gia pretty much agreed to doing but she felt bad that it happened.

Monét X Change – Toot

I’m kind of loving this outfit on Monét. Her proportions are right, the boots look awesome and her makeup looks great. Monét is giving me a biological woman in a badass music video vibe. #proportionising

Naomi Smalls – Toot

She looks great. Do the shoes give me ‘Boots The House Down’ vibes for the runway theme? Not quite, but the whole outfit was so good that I just couldn’t boot it.

Trinity The Tuck – Toot

I love this outfit. It’s very Madonna meets 90’s Versace and that is an aesthetic I can get behind. The boots look expensive as hell and she styled them with the outfit beautifully.

Valentina – Boot

I don’t really like this. I think her hips look too big for her body, the crotch was dragging and the outfit wasn’t very exciting. However, I do like the fact that the whole outfit is attached to the boots which definitely works for this weeks theme. I would have loved this if it was in a bold colour like a red or a green almost like a comic book supervillain – I’m looking at you Poison Ivy.

Monique Heart – Boot

I love the idea behind the costume. I think the cape looks so expensive and I completely understood the ‘Lil’ Red Riding from the Hood’ vibe she was creating. However, I’ve seen the boot idea before with Katya’s shark attack look and the denim starred shorts don’t quite work with the outfit. She’d have worn a blue gingham check it could have added to the Little Red Riding hood feel but still keeping the sass of her overall idea.

Manila Luzon – Toot

I absolutely ADORE this outfit. It’s witty, sexy and classically Manila. The bondage bunny look that had her hopping down the runway was giving me all kinds of life. But the bit I loved the most was the ball-gag carrot in her mouth. This is how you combine humour with sex appeal!

Gia Gunn – Boot

I wasn’t crazy about this outfit. I loved the boots, but I think the way the pants and the jacket are proportioned makes Gia look like she has a really long torso and really short legs which I know isn’t the case. I just don’t think it was the most exciting outfit.

Latrice Royale – Boot

It’s nice to see Latrice out of her comfort zone. Being a big girl in a leotard is never the most fun, but she looks good. The boots match the outfit well but I think they needed to be thigh highs. Because they’re below the knee and so blingy, it makes her legs look really short and Latrice has a great pair of legs.

The scores

Manila and Trinity were both the winners of the week. It’s not hard to see why. They were pretty much the only two who were funny and they were both picked by their Snatchelors in the main challenge.

The bottom two this week was Gia Gunn (of course) and Valentina! Valentina?! This really had me shooketh to my very core because she wasn’t that bad.

The look was right, the impression was spot on and yes, it wasn’t that funny. But there were worse impressions this week I thought. Personally, I don’t think Monét gave a great performance or Latrice.

When the queens went backstage to deliberate, Trinity pulled Manila to one side to see how she would be making her decision. This is where the competition starts to get fierce. Straight away, Trinity said she wanted Gia gone but Manila said that she has an opportunity to eliminate one of the strongest competitors at this point.

Is Manila instilling fear in her competitors or has she just made a tactical move like Morgan McMichaels did last season when she said she would eliminate the strongest queens if she got the chance? Trinity told Valentina this which may come back to bite Manila on the butt at a later date. However, Manila did win the lip sync BEAUTIFULLY and she actually sent home Gia Gunn.

Maybe she was just using a fear tactic? Who knows, we may find out next episode. Will people be gunning for Manila now? Only time will tell, but she’s definitely got her fire back, so she may not find herself in that situation where she could get eliminated (I hope because she’s my ultimate All-Star in this competition).

How has that affected the scores?

It’s quite nice to have a winning queen this week. I’ve made it into the top a few times, but finally one of my queens has come out victorious.

Winner: Manila – 5 Points
Top 2: Trinity – 3 Points
Safe: Naomi, Latrice, Monét, Monique – 1 Point
Bottom 2: Valentina – 0 Points
Eliminated: Gia – -3 Points

Frustratingly, with Gia going home, that pulled my points down from my win with Manila meaning that I only got 4 points this week. Annoyingly, even though Tom didn’t win, he walked away with 5 points. I wanted this episode to close the gap between Top and I. My total score is now 11 points and Tom is on a total of 19 points. It’s not quite the cap closer I would have hoped for, but it’s getting there (ish).

Don’t forget to watch Episode 3: Snatch Game of Love in the video below. Do you think the tops and bottoms were justified? Who would you have sent home? 👑

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6wJZDDTSm4

Harry J Bartlett

Digital Content Creator, lover of fashion, drag queen connoisseur and all around phenomenal human being. If I had to describe myself in 3 words I would say; Gorgeous, Talented and Humble.

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