K. Clark's Corner

Pose Season 2 Ep. 10: 'In My Heels'

noreply@blogger.com (K. Clark) — Wed, 21 Aug 2019 14:39:00 +0000

Photo: FX

Oooh, Pose you tried it. Playing with our emotions by bringing Blanca to the brink, then having her come back in a glorious tour de force of slayage. But seriously, I would expect nothing less from Pose, which has always committed itself to portraying the glamour of the ballroom and the grit of its characters' lives.

This season has certainly doubled down on that commitment, depicting the realities of violence against transgender women and the AIDS epidemic while also showing moments of triumph, whether it be Blanca's legal victory against Frederica (however brief) or the breezy girls' trip where the women could simply enjoy themselves and each other. "In My Heels" feels like a fitting conclusion, tying up narrative loose ends while hinting at what will happen next.

"In My Heels" jumps forward to May 1991. Damon's still dancing in Paris. Angel and Papi have practically become the Ricardos. And Pray and Ricky are still together, though he hasn't moved in. Blanca however, is in a much different place than we left her in "Life's A Beach."

She's alone, now doing nails in her apartment since her salon burned down, just as Frederica cattily predicted. And, as Pray Tell notes(you knew these two were gonna make up at some point) she hasn't been to a ball since her kids moved out. "Nothing more dangerous than being left alone with your own thoughts," he says, reminding her the balls exist to give a sense of belonging and community. But with all her kids gone, Blanca believes walking would just amplify her loneliness.

She also hasn't been to a doctor recently, which lands her in a hospital bed with pneumonia. Things aren't looking good, and we get a sense of how not good when Blanca asks Pray Tell to go over her will. Though he encourages her to fight, Blanca, always indomitable, doesn't have the strength. But like the real one he is, Pray fights for her, calling up everyone she knows so she won't be alone. Later, Judy explains her infection was possibly caused by chemicals in her salon, at one point suggesting she retire and go on disability. "I'm only 30 years old. What kind of life is that?" Blanca responds.

As Blanca wrestles with the idea she may be forced to take a backseat to her own life, the other ladies have their sights set on taking the steering wheel. "In My Heels," also shines a spotlight on the schism between the women and men of the ballroom. Elektra, Angel and Lulu feel their presence has been diminished in the wake of "Vogue's" success. The boys have been dominating the categories, while the emcee council is an all boys' club led by men who do nothing but judge them, deeming themselves an authority on femininity even though their daily existence is nothing like a woman's.

The difference between the experiences of gay men and transgender women has been a small plot point previously. However it takes center stage this episode. Pray Tell brings their grievances to the council, who decide a stunt is in order: they'll all dress in drag at The Mother's Day ball to show solidarity. Like Pray Tell, I had my doubts about whether this would come across as more unintended mockery than celebration. But those concerns were rendered moot the moment I saw Elektra judging the guys' proficiency in high heels. Ricky and his Wintour siblings do just fine; however, Pray Tell isn't down with the six inch shits, and storms out. Ricky, revealing more than a little emotional maturity, comforts him as he talks about the homophobic abuse he suffered at the hands of his father, encouraging him to move on. "It's time for you to embrace all of you."

While Pray Tell is pushed to confront the fear of his own femininity, Angel's womanhood is called into question. Outed by a messy queen from the ballroom, her modeling career crumbles. All of her contracts have been pulled, her name essentially dirt in the industry. "The world isn't ready yet," Ms. Ford says, delivering a sad dose of reality as Angel bawls in her lap. And while you could make a drinking game out of the number of times Angel's cried this season, having your dream evaporate before your eyes is some shit to shed tears about. Papi, ever the hustler, has been keeping tabs on all the assistants from Angel's shoots, who are now moving up professionally. He wants to start a talent agency--Esteban Martinez Talent. Unfortunately the girls are less than confident Papi can turn them into a household name. "Try selling something people actually want, like insurance or Big Mac's," Elektra tells him.

But Papi is relentless, convincing Angel, who in turn helps him convince Ms. Ford to allow EMT to operate under the umbrella of the Ford Agency. "The world don't change," Angel says. "People change it." He and Angel make a good team, and Papi quickly proves his professional worth by landing her a job in Berlin. "You know you're my Angel right?" Papi says, and it's a testament to his utter sincerity such an on the nose line doesn't come off as unbearably cheesy. "You showed me how to feel love," Angel gushes, and they simultaneously propose to each other. Awww. The Ricardos are getting hitched.

Good news comes for Blanca when she learns she can go home, just as Damon arrives at the hospital. Blanca asks him about his own HIV status--he's negative--before, Damon, now a choreographer and a house father himself, gives her some guidance. "There are so many more Damons in the world that need saving," he says, his voice breaking. "Your work isn't done yet."

The conversation appears to reawaken something in Blanca, who, though confined to a wheelchair, is determined to not only attend, but compete in the Mother's Day Ball.

And can we talk about the ball? The girls served looks for days, from runway to the vogue category. Though Elektra wins Mother of the Year, it's Blanca who proves to be the showstopper, lip synching for her goddamn life to Whitney's rendition of The Star Spangled banner, lifting herself and the crowd to their feet. It's heart warming and wig snatching all at once.

The ball ends with the men of the council and a few of the boys walking in their best drag. Ricky turns it out as Janet, and Pray silences his inner judge to serve the crowd Diana Ross. While waiting for Pray to change, Blanca calls over two young kids hanging around outside. It turns out they just arrived in New York after being kicked out by their families, and are living on the streets. Blanca and Pray ask them if they want to grab a burger on the way home. The House of Evangelista lives on.

Pose's decision to focus on themes rather than strictly adhere to a straightforward narrative largely paid off this season. The series drew even more from historical events, weaving the political (the St. Patrick's Cathedral protest), the tragic (Candy's murder), the shocking (Elektra's closet corpse) and the farcical (the condom caper) into the characters' lives in ways that made them feel authentic and multifaceted. They laugh. They cry. They dream. They fight. They forgive. They live. They work. They pose.

See ya' next season!

Other Thoughts/The Shade of It All

Karma gives Frederica a much-needed bitch slap when she's been charged with felony. To add insult to injury her bail's been revoked. "The only thing I feel bad about, if I have anything to feel bad about, is that I ended another woman's dreams," Frederica snarls during a rant to her lawyer. "I refuse to be shamed for my ambition!" Her diatribe felt out of character to me, despite truth it contains about the disdain often heaped on ambitious women. To me, Frederica would be pissed about being in jail not because she felt she was victim of sexism, but because she'd find it unimaginable to be locked up and denied bail like "the little people." Either way Patti Lupone gave a great performance.

Blanca's will: Angel gets her clothes and jewelry books and tape collection, Damon gets her mother's cookbook, Papi her journals, and Lulu gets her salon supplies. As for Elektra? The "shake and go" wig she wore the night they met. Ha, suffer!

"Pass the motion bitch." Okay that was a bop!

'Now fix your face. You shouldn't look constipated.

"She walking like an old deaconess."

"Listen Sasquatch. You need to invest in some Nair amd prep your meaty tuck, ' cause you're walking."

"You're in the sort of heel I wear when I'm asleep or suffering from food poisoning. Take tinier steps."

Pose Season 2 Ep. 9 Recap: 'Life's A Beach'

noreply@blogger.com (K. Clark) — Wed, 14 Aug 2019 14:30:00 +0000

Photo: FX

With its second season about to come to a close, it wouldn't have been totally surprising if Pose decided to delve further into the dramatic fallout of last week's explosive "Revelations." Instead, it gives us one of its most delightful hours with the sublime "Life's A Beach."

However, it wouldn't be Pose without some drama, which comes to Blanca's doorstep courtesy of a 4 a.m. phone call telling her her salon has caught fire. Hmm, how very convenient a fire would destroy the salon just after Blanca won her suit against Frederica. And right on time Ms. Norman flies through the door, feigning shock and dismay. Of course she drops the act once the inspectors leave, gloating about how she plans to raise the rent and attract rich clientele, relishing the idea of Blanca filing acrylics in her "grim little" apartment. Checkmate Frederica. It's a bit anticlimactic given all the back and forth we've seen between these two. That said, torching her own building to collect the insurance money and put Blanca out on the street fits perfectly within Frederica's wheelhouse of wickedness.

Between the salon(and her life savings) going up in smoke and all her kids moving out, Blanca's not in the best headspace. It also doesn't help that it's August and New York is hot as an inferno. Or, as Elektra puts it, "I feel like I'm being fucked by Satan himself in the seventh circle."

August in NYC also means the city's wealthier residents have fled to their summer homes. Except for Joe, a client of Elektra's who loves the scorching temperatures--all the better to be left alone and sweaty for hours on end. Joe loves isolation, so much so he wants to be left alone all night. But, Elektra, not comfortable with leaving clients to their own devices for obvious reasons, is not having that. Joe let's it be known he has a summer home, and Elektra plants the idea in his head about letting her use it for a girls' trip. All she has to do is keep him in a cage in the garage and check on him every few hours and it's all good. Child...to each his own.

While Lulu and Angel are excited to escape the heat, Blanca's initially not in the mood for the trip, worried she'll be clocked and harassed. That fear lingers among the women throughout the episode, like when Angel asks Elektra if they should be walking around New York in bathing suits. Or later, when Lulu worries another beachgoer is eyeing them too closely. Even something as simple as a nighttime walk along the beach with a man is cause for concern. "They don't kill us because they hate us," Elektra says at one point. "They kill us because they hate what it means to love us." These fears aren't portrayed in an overtly dramatic way, but an unfortunate part of what comes of being a transgender woman. It's why Elektra carries a switchblade in her cooler, or why Lulu and Angel have a taser and brass knuckles on deck. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.

Fortunately, the worst doesn't come to fruition in "Life's A Beach," where the idllyic setting allows the girls to let their hair and their guards down. Elektra and Lulu share a tender moment when Elektra reveals she regrets not going up to Candy's casket during her funeral. Lulu reassures her the grand send off she gave Candy is what she would've wanted and more than makes up for it.

Blanca, whose mood has lightened by the time they hit the beach, checks in on Angel, who swears she's been keeping her nose clean(literally) and hopes to move back into her house with Papi. But Blanca explains she's an adult now, and needs to concentrate on building her own family. Things almost take a tragic turn when Blanca nearly drowns in the ocean. But wouldn't you know, a handsome lifeguard named Adrian comes to her rescue.

Blanca is absolutely glowing afterwards, revealing a giggly, flirtatious side we've rarely, if ever, seen from her. A much smaller crisis occurs when the girls discover Joe has no liquor, so they opt to go to an upscale restaurant. Blanca runs into Adrian, and agrees to go on walk along the beach, despite Elektra's reservations. The vibe at the table is good, and not even a snooty country club wench can kill it. She tries though, leading to Elektra unleashing a read to rival the tongue lashing she gave the House of Ferocity last season. A highlight: "God may have blessed you with Barbies, a backyard with a pony, a boyfriend named Jake and an unwanted pregnancy that your father paid to terminate so you could go to college and major in being a basic bitch! None of these things make you a woman." The true gag of gags was the sight of mother pausing for the cause to take a sip of her drink before continuing to read Hamptons Hanna down to her brown roots. "Now pick your jaw off the floor and go back to your clam chowder and shallow conversations!" she concludes. Bloop! As delicious as her read is, she also usea it to make an important distinction between herself and Hamptons Hanna: while she is filling a privileged slot picked out for her by the world, Elektra, Lulu, Blanca and Angel have done the hard work of finding out who they truly are. And now that they know, they aren't going anywhere.

Meanwhile, Blanca meets Adrian for their impromptu date. Adrian tells her he wants to be a doctor, inspired by his mother's death from cancer when he was a kid. Blanca drops hints she's not like other girls when she talks about "the outside world" and "my community." But Adrian already knows, and doesn't care, kissing her as the waves crash behind them. Blanca strolls back to the house barefoot the next morning, beaming ear to ear. "It was nice to be wanted and seen," Blanca gushes.

Her outlook is the opposite of Joe's. Elektra hits him with a quick two piece of wisdom as she and the girls prepare to leave. "You have the luxury of choosing loneliness," Elektra tells him after he rhapsodizes about the fantasy of her leaving the house and leaving him locked in a cage for days, possibly forever. "For some people, it's not optional." Candy makes an appearance on the ride home, popping up in the rear view mirror to sing along with the rest of the crew to the En Vogue's classic "Hold On" making Elektra break out into a wide smile.

Back in the city, Blanca and Angel come home to a message Adrian left on her machine. Beaming from ear to ear again, she calls him back. Good for Blanca. Like Pray Tell, we've seen how much she thrives as a caretaker and mother. But romantic comedy heroine looks good on her as well.

Pose has more than proven itself adept at depicting the darker realities of life for transwomen. "Life's A Beach" is a wonderful reminder it's equally adept at showcasing the lighter moments as well.

Other Thoughts/The Shade of It All

Elektra bitches about the heat, but demurs when she accidentally brings up the smell in her apartment, lying to the girls--well at least to Lulu and Angel--when they ask to go to her place, saying the smell is from some other tenant's cooking.

"We may not live in the same house. But you'll always be my daughter Blanca." Aww.

"A popsicle in this heat is like throwing a snowball in hell."

"I have a Hertz rental car waiting outside. O.J. himself would approve." Well, it was 1990.

"Are you three done eating each other out yet?"

Lulu: "How does this man have all this money and nothing to drink? Angel: "Girl, white people."

Pose Season 2 Ep. 8 Recap: 'Revelations'

noreply@blogger.com (K. Clark) — Wed, 07 Aug 2019 14:42:00 +0000

Photo: FX

Well color me surprised. The last thing I expected after the mostly feel-good family vibes of "Blow" was the sight of Blanca crying alone at her dinner table. But that's just what happens at the end of "Revelations," which finds the children of the House of Evangelista leaving the nest to fly on their own.

What's great about this episode is the way it connects seemingly disparate plotlines--Angel's ascent as a model and her descent into a newfound drug habit, Pray Tell and Ricky's deepening bond over living with HIV, Damon graduating from dance school--to bring what have been flickers of conflict to a head until they catch fire. And child there are some sick burns.

However the episode, written by Steven Canals, makes the smart decision to let us see the calm before the storm. The hour opens with Pray Tell hipping Ricky to the game of keeping healthy while living with HIV, laying out a long list of pills and food recommendations. Ricky, who's still wrapping his head around knowing he's HIV positive, jokes about how he's going to remember what vitamins to take, before the reality of the situation hits him.

"Who's gone love me?" Ricky despairs. He hasn't told anyone, including Damon, which Pray again encourages him to do. Ricky ends up spending the night, but trades the couch for Pray Tell's bed. "You're going through a lot right now. You're confused," Pray Tell explains. But Ricky responds with a kiss. And it is ON. What follows is a rare but welcome sight on network television: two HIV positive black gay men having sex and having it not be played for laughs or shock or desperation; nor is it another case of having a male on male sex scene amount to a kiss then a quick cut to them in bed post-coitus. Pray and Ricky enjoy each other's bodies without shame.

Pray's so sprung he strolls in late to the ballroom emcees' meeting the next morning. "I've taken a lover," he gushes after some prodding, giving the girls more tea to sip on as he describes his new lover's body. When he confesses it's Ricky shade ensues--remarks about how many of the kids are damaged pups looking for father figures seem to sting Pray the most--but ultimately they're happy for him

Pray Tell often plays the father role, dispensing advice and tough love to wayward children, so it's nice to see him in a different space, laughing and cutting up with friends. In fact, much of "Revelations" is about these characters pushing against the roles others have placed on them. For Pray Tell, that means flipping the bird to the idea being an elder equals living like a monk, ushering young men into greatness and lives filled with love, or at least the expectation of it, while cultivating nothing for yourself.

Ricky wants to be seen as a grown man and not a fly-by-night playboy. However, confessing his status to Damon (and basically confirming he cheated) and alluding he's sleeping with Pray Tell doesn't help him in that regard.

Speaking of Damon, who knew sis could summon this level of savagery? Still pissed at Ricky, he has no patience when Angel, gone off that booga shugga, starts throwing shots at his career prospects during his graduation party. The shade is tossed back and forth until Damon lets it rip Angel's on coke. Lulu vouches for him, but when Blanca refuses to believe it, he goes off, calling her selfish for focusing on her salon, and calling Pray a slut for sleeping with Ricky. Child the tea is scalding hot! Even Elektra is scandalized, laying into Pray about violating the cardinal rule of the ballroom: elders don't sleep with the kids.

Unlike previous intra-house spats, this one sticks. Damon thinks Blanca's a hypocrite since she kicked Papi out for selling weed, but allows Angel to stay. Damon and Pray are obviously not cool, Angel and Damon got drama...gurl it's a lot. A lot.

Worst of all, Pray Tell and Blanca have got beef. Pray Tell calls out her selective judgment with her kids and with him, coming down on him hard for what she sees as predatory behavior--even though, as Pray points out, Ricky's a grown man who came to him, adding just because she let her sex dry up doesn't he should do the same. Damn. While it's hard seeing them fight, it does provide an opportunity for them (and the show) to bring up harsh truths about dating and sex in the shadow of AIDS. Blanca points out Pray Tell and other black gay men still have each other for romance and protection; though disenfranchised, Pray can insulate himself from the larger straight world in a way Blanca cannot if she wants to find love or even get a little on the side. Meanwhile, she and other transwomen have to deal with clueless straight men who think HIV can be caught from a spoon.

"Who's my mother now?" a drunken Pray Tell asks Ricky after he and Blanca's fight, sniping he blew up a friendship for a player who'll be gone by the morning. Ricky works toward proving him wrong by not only staying until the next morning, but cooking breakfast for Pray Tell. Hmm, maybe there's more to young Ricky then abs and a smile.

The one person who can't accept it ain't all good is Blanca. Even after Angel confesses she's been using, Blanca tries to shift the blame to Papi. Angel won't have it, and pushes her to uphold her house rules and kick her out. "I'm not gonna let you stop being a good mother because of me," she says. She plans to move into a new apartment in the Village with Papi. Their conversation reveals despite her recent behavior, Angel's got a good heart, and can look beyond herself and see the bigger picture. Just like her mother.

Blanca patches things up with Damon, just as he's tapped to go on a European tour with Malcolm McLaren of "Deep In Vogue" fame. Blanca, back on her maternal A-game, encourages him to go. All her kids are gone, and she's got mean case of empty nest syndrome.

"If they don't grow strong enough to rebel, to reject you, to move away, you're not raising men and women, you're creating parasites," Elektra explains. However she adds, there are always more children to raise. "If you choose to be a mother, you choose to shape the world." Being Elektra, she throws in a dig about getting a puppy if Blanca's so lonely, but her words still ring true.

Though she's hurting right now,--MJ Rodriguez (with help from a classic Mariah Carey song) just broke my heart in that last scene--hopefully Blanca will take this time to check in on herself, see what she wants out of life, and if those wants include a relationship.

And maybe, just maybe she and her friend/brother/father/son Pray Tell will reconnect and share the ups and downs of that journey together.

Other Thoughts/The Shade of It All

Did Damon get tested before he left for Europe?

Ricky's familiarity with getting Pray Tell off the couch and into bed while he's drunk makes me think this isn't the first time he's done this. Perhaps one of his parents was an alcoholic?

Blanca and Helena share a great conversation, complimenting each other on how they both kept Damon's eyes on the prize, with Helena giving Blanca her flowers for wanting to create a legacy. "They aren't afraid of dying. They're afraid of not leaving their mark," she says, seemingly talking about Damon but explains she's actually talking about Blanca "It has been an honor to know you."

Angel's shoot went as well it could with the sleazy photographer, despite him putting his paws all over her. All I know is Blanca better not catch wind of it or we may being see Ms. Orlando soon.

Though they do move in together, it's worth noting Papi offered to stay with Blanca if it'll make Angel more comfortable with the idea of having her own spot. For Papi, it's not about them as a couple, but Angel realizing her own potential. Seeing Papi's evolved, mature atitude toward her career has been a pleasant surprise.

Elektra bringing boyfriends home? Do tell Ricky.

"You got opinions like these queens got bleached assholes."

"Last night we went from In Living Color to four in the morning." I mean that's not read that's just a fact! Go head Pray Tell!

"What are those moves? She looks like a pigeon with a busted foot."

"What's with Golden Girls realness at our table?"

"Ray Ray? That bitch is so old she was waiter at the last supper!"

"Why? Because of these Judy judgemental jealous jezebel bitches!" Whew that's an alliteration for yo' ass!

"I need some Remy Martin for this shit."

"We know where you're from bitch!"

Pose Season 2 Ep. 7 Recap: 'Blow'

noreply@blogger.com (K. Clark) — Wed, 31 Jul 2019 17:38:00 +0000

Photo: FX

Pose has taken quite a few creative left turns these past few episodes, with dream and fantasy sequences, musical numbers and ghostly visitors dominating the narrative. With "Blow," the series brings things back to reality, once again exploring how the characters' personal struggles intertwine with their political activism.

Damon's still teaching the white girls how to vogue, but his trio of pupils is a far cry from the packed classes he taught not too long ago. Like all underground trends that go mainstream, voguing's popularity is waning, and so are Damon checks. As a co-worker succinctly puts it: "Remember. White folks like to visit. But they never move in."

Pray Tell, who's cast a mighty side eye to the notion "Vogue's" success would mean success for ballroom community, gets in a quick "I told ya' so." But he encourages the kids to keep doing what they doing best: turning it out with creativity, charisma and nerve, because sooner or later, the "looky-loos" will be back to sample a taste of the ballroom's flavor. But coming down off the high of the mainstream's embrace isn't easy. Damon's classes get canceled and Ricky can't get booked as a tour dancer, so the two spend their days sipping wine coolers and watching cartoons. Meanwhile Lulu, still reeling from Candy's death, is an absolute mess, falling down at work and likely dabbling in drugs.

Blanca's at a loss at what to do, but Pray Tell has a plan, excuse me, a caper, to get the kids back on the right track: wrap a giant condom around Frederica's country house. It's a plan designed to simultaneously promote safe sex and clap back at the tycoon, who's been using the press to whip up AIDS-induced homophobia and transphobia against Blanca in their ongoing legal battle. Like other storylines this season, the stunt is based on historical events, in this case a 1991 ACT UP protest where activists placed a giant condom over the home of homophobic senator Jesse Helms.

One of Pose's strengths, particularly this season, is how it incorporates LGBT history in a way that feels completely natural to its own fictional world. Sometimes, as was the case with the St. Patrick's Cathedral protest, Candy's murder or Elektra having to store a mummified body in her closet, those stories are sobering, violent and tragic, feelings the series has never shied away from exploring. But others, like the condom caper, reveal the show can depict protest while still reveling in its campier side.

The protest trip also brings new depth to Pray Tell and Ricky's relationship. The two have a meaningful conversation about the lack of gay elders and mentorship, bottom shaming and the responsibility that now comes with being sexually active. The last topic hits close to home for Ricky, who reveals his ex Chris called and told him he was HIV positive. Ricky reveals he only got head, but Pray emphasizes the importance of getting tested and telling Damon.

In the end, the stunt succeeds in both bringing Damon, Ricky and Lulu out of their downward spirals and getting press attention. Lulu tells Blanca she's going to enroll into the Bronx community college to get her accounting degree, while Damon's going to...well she's off the couch so that's something.

Blanca also wins her suit against Frederica. But you already know Frederica isn't the type to tuck her tail between her legs and run. Mama comes in the salon looking snatched and ready with the quips, acknowledging Blanca as a worthy adversary while throwing in a vague threat or two. "Underestimate me at your own peril," she snaps, turning Blanca's words on her before walking out. This ain't over. Not by a long shot.

Ricky's post-protest mood is dampened considerably after he takes Pray Tell's advice to get tested. His results come back positive, and while Damon isn't there to hold his hand, Pray Tell is there to hold him while he cries.

"Blow" also shows Papi and Angel in full couple mode, but also implies being booed up may not the best thing for either of them. Angel has been invited to an upscale party at Nells. On top of that, she's also the new BeBe Girl. A full-fledge modeling career is at her fingertips. However, there are still nagging fears. She's afraid she'll be clocked and outed, afraid she really doesn't belong in the world of high fashion. Alhough Papi encourages her to believe in herself, from the moment they walk into at Nells, their eyes and mouths wide open, it snaps into focus how green they both are to this slice of New York nightlife.

The party is fabulous, with all the accoutrement of the fast life, including narcotics. Papi warns Angel about doing coke, reminding her of Blanca's strident anti-drug attitude. But the beautiful people present call it "pharmaceuticals," not coke, which is enough to convince them to take a sniff. Then they're off, dancing to Bel Biv Devoe and making love in the apartment. It would've been easy to write their dip into decadence as one-time thing if Damon didn't catch sight of a vial of coke they stashed in their room. Angel tosses it out the window and vows to leave it alone. It's a vow she ultimately breaks, strolling into a crucial photoshoot high and hung over. Luckily Ms. Ford, who's seen many girls "dim their own light," is stern but forgiving. While Papi certainly loves Angel, is he strong or mature enough to realize love also means not enabling her or being a co-conspirator in her self-sabatoge?

Angel's self-destructive turn is maddening to watch--if Candy hadn't played such a large role last week, this would've been the perfect time for a "Bitch get your shit together" style read--but also relatable. The things we want the most often scare us. While watching her make the wrong choices is infuriating, it's also deeply human. Though things go from bad to worse when the sleazy photog from the season premiere shows up for the shoot.

Talk about your bad days.

Other Thoughts/The Shade of It All

Though she berates herself for being stupid, Lulu reveals herself to be very adept at getting want she wants. Not just anybody could convince Elektra part with $1500 to help fund the condom caper, and become her dominatrix protege to earn the rest of the cash.

I mentioned it above, but Billy Porter and Dyllon Burnside played off each other really well this episode. It's nice to see a dynamic between an older and younger gay man that isn't predatory or competitive. Burnside in particular really shows his dramatic chops when Ricky learns he's tested positive.

"Get 'cho ass up and do somethin'." The wittiest line ever? No, but mother Blanca meant that shit.

"TV stations love angry gays."

"This ain't a yellow brick road bitch!"

"Underestimate me at your peril." A word.

"Girl stop. Hammertime?!"

"Look at these boozy bitches!"

"Brunch is for some alcoholic bitches who ain't got to work!"

Pose Season 2 Ep. 6 Recap: 'Love's In Need of Love Today'

noreply@blogger.com (K. Clark) — Wed, 24 Jul 2019 14:54:00 +0000

Photo: FX

After lightening the mood with last week's "What Would Candy Do?" Pose goes heavy again on "Love's In Need of Love Today."

Largely on the sidelines last week, Pray Tell takes center stage, and unsurprisingly, Billy Porter knocks it out of the park, channeling all the feels as the larger-than-life emcee confronts his personal demons and darkest fears.

Pray is rushed to the hospital after passing out during a ball.. The doctors suspect internal bleeding and a low platelet count, likely due to AZT, the medication he was so adamant about not taking. Blanca and Judy try their best to console him, but their words don't make a dent.

"I'm sick of it...I'm sick of not knowing how fast or how slow I'm gonna go," Pray Tell says, his voice cracking. While hospitalized, Pray Tell meets Lewis, a black gay man suffering from pneumonia, which is likely a result of contracting AIDS. He scoffs when Pray Tell mentions the balls, and balks when Pray calls him a "posh queen." "I'm a college educated man," Lewis replies. I am not a queen." It's a short, terse conversation, one underlining the masculine/femme and class schisms that still exist in the LGBT community.

However, all of this a warmup to the real psychodrama. Louis later suffers a fatal heart attack, and Pray gets a sedative in the arm when he tries to stop staff from treating him. He wakes up to a roomful of flowers from well wishers. But what kind of well wishers leave cards that say "Die bitch?" Guess who's back? Miss motherfuckin' Caaaaandy!" And Candy is living her best afterlife; photoshoots with Mapplethorpe, lunch with Lee--that's Liberace--and hanging out with Alvin Ailey. "I'm with people who understand me," she says, and Pray Tell connects the dots: Candy was living with AIDS. She--or her ghost--asks him pointedly why exactly is he fighting so hard to stick around? Another ball? To drink in a bar where the number of patrons gets smaller and smaller? To drown in his own bile while "Saint Blanca" holds his hand? She encourages him to take a bottle of pills and join her, but he resists.

"Love's In Need of Love Today" makes much better use of Candy and the impact of her death, framing it as part of much larger question about what it means to be alive, and the struggle to find a reason to believe things will get better when there's not much evidence they will.

His former ballroom antagonist isn't the only person to visit his bedside. Pray Tell's stepfather also makes an appearance, and while neither man explicitly says what went on between them, the stepfather's pathetic comeback ("You seduced me!") says enough. Porter has been candid about his own history of sexual abuse, and when he screams "I forgive you!" it feels as if the character and the actor are attempting to cleanse themselves of the grime dumped on them by their abusers.

Costas, a former lover who died from AIDS last season, also shows up. However, as happy as their reunion is, it cannot last. As the lyrics to song Pray performs in his fever state underscore, Costas, like so many, is gone. It's futile to carry a torch for a man who's flame has gone out.

Pray Tell's bout of sickness has put planning the AIDS Cabaret squarely on Blanca's shoulders. But that's not what's really bothering her; as she confesses to Angel, she's feels guilty for pushing Pray Tell to go on AZT, and believes she'll be responsible if he dies. Angel, like a good sister(I know technically Blanca's her mother but they feel like sisters in moments like this) reassures her that's not true.

Meanwhile another battle is brewing with her landlord Frederica. She starts things off on a typically bitchy note by tearing down a flyer Blanca put up for the AIDS Cabaret in her salon. Blanca dismisses her as in denial and out of touch. However, Frederica responds by naming the people she's lost to the disease. She then invites herself to the cabaret, going on and on about how she wanted to be a performer but couldn't stomach being told what to do. Of course the woman playing Frederica is legendary Broadway star Patti Lupone, so it's only right she come and make the girls gag with a sickening rendition of "I'm Still Here."

But just when Blanca thought it was all good, the other shoe drops. Turns out Frederica is using her attendance as a distraction so her son can clean out and board up Blanca's shop. Blanca won't go down without a fight, filing a lawsuit and holding a protest--mama plans on doing two a day--in front of her salon.

Backstabbing, wannabe Elizabeth Taylor tycoons aside, the cabaret accomplishes its goals: raising money and providing necessary catharsis, for both the audience and the performers. During the show Blanca reveals her HIV status, and Pray Tell pulls himself up to join her for a duet on the Stevie Wonder classic that gives the episode its name.

Pray Tell eventually checks out of the hospital. However, an unwelcome guest has followed him home. "Every dark night of your soul, Candy's gon' be there," she taunts filing her nails. But the fight has returned to Pray, and he snaps it's not his time. And while I'm not entirely sure how I feel about Candy being used as the ghost of sequined, suicidal temptation, if 'ole girl was gonna haunt anybody, it'd be Pray Tell.

The scene puts a fine point on the series' central message: choose life, even when the world has given you every reason to lay down and die.

Other Thoughts/The Shade of It All

Ricky and Damon touching Lulu's hands to comfort her during Judy's song about loss was a nice, subtle way to show she's still missing Candy.

Candy was serving "Greatest Love of All" Whitney and I'm here for it!

Well well, Miss Elektra showed up to not one, but two events for the community. But mother is not a singer. No ma'am.

"Did she always have dyslexia?" Oh Papi if you have to ask it doesn't matter anymore.

"Bring it like it's 2015!" Nothing ages faster than the future. But the girls were bringing the looks.

"I said back to the future. Not Sinbad after Weight Watchers!"

"Now get up and put on some cologne that make you smell like an old whore."

"This bitch is crazy. First she wanna evict me now she wanna be my friend?"

Pose Season 2 Ep. 5 Recap: 'What Would Candy Do?'

noreply@blogger.com (K. Clark) — Wed, 17 Jul 2019 18:00:00 +0000

Photo: FX

Since it began, Pose has committed itself to being both an unabashed celebration of life and an unapologetic look at how the horrors of AIDS and the threat of violence affects the lives of its character. However, between "Butterfly/Cocoon" and the emotional tour de force that was "Never Knew Love Like This Before," the emphasis has been more on the latter than the former.

"What Would Candy Do?" is perhaps the lightest episode of the season so far, using the professional opportunity of a lifetime--dancing on Madonna's groundbreaking Blond Ambition Tour--as a backdrop to check in on the state of Damon and Ricky post-breakup.

Voguing has become a national craze, as suburbanites pack YMCA classes and curious journalists likes NYC luminary Sue Simmons cover what's now the latest mainstream dance trend. And Damon is reaping the benefits, teaching rooms of rhythmically-challenged white folks to strike a pose like there's nothing to it. A scout who covertly posed as a student gives him a card to an audition for the Material Girl, while Ricky hears about the audition through the dancer grapevine and earns a spot as well. As with other episodes, Pose weaves Damon and Ricky's story into a larger, historical narrative; in real life, Madonna did pull from the ballroom scene, recruiting Jose and Luis Xtravaganza after watching them vogue at The Sound Factory one night. The duo went on to help choreograph the "Vogue" video and dance with her on The Blond Ambition Tour.

Ryan Jamaal Swain and Dyllon Burnside definitely have chemistry, and it's beautiful the show is allowing them--and us--to have a respite from the heavier subject matter to indulge in a little "will they or won't they?" That said, I think we'd be more invested in that question if we knew more about Ricky. Yes we see the bitter end of his breakup with Chris. But what else has he been up to since he left the House of Evangelista? We know a love of dance drives Damon. But what drives Ricky? We get hints he's largely been aimless, been drinking a little too much and fears being alone. But throwing us a scene or two without Damon may have given us more insight into what makes Ricky tick.

The episode also takes another opportunity to juxtapose Blanca and Elektra's mothering styles. Blanca is all pep talks and pragmaticism--she's excited about the opportunity but insists Damon get permission from his dance teacher Helena before auditioning--while, Elektra's a provider, offering her coin and little else. While Blanca is happy for Damon, Elektra can only think about what Ricky's success could mean for her. What she wants more than anything is access to power, which Madonna represents. And when it looks like Damon may beat out Ricky, mother gets downright diabolical.

"What would Candy do?" Elektra asks her children, pulling out her legendary hammer and ordering one of her children to use it to "accidentally" break Damon's foot. The kids object, but Elektra leaves the hammer behind with the promise that the child who comes through for mother will get to go to Madonna's birthday party. This girl is delusional, invoking her late daughter's name for some fuckery she would not be down for. Make no mistake: Miss Candy was most definitely with the shits. But she usually popped off when she felt she'd been wronged. Trying to cripple one of kids? I could be wrong, but I don't think Candy would stoop that low.

Luckily one of the house hopping bitches has some sense and spills the beans to Papi, who of course tells Blanca who rips into Elektra, explaining the opportunity is bigger than both Ricky and Damon. It's a chance for their entire community to be seen. Elektra sees the error of her ways, and hands the hammer over. "You ruin all my plans mongrel," she says with a small, knowing smile. But girl, why do your children always have to remind you to have a conscience?

Neither Damon or Ricky make the final cut. But like Issa and her girls' ill-fated trip to Beychella, it's beside the point. Being so close to one another for the first time since they split allows Ricky to low key admit he cheated ("I messed up") and for Damon to set firm boundaries. Said boundaries being that they keep things strictly professional. And who cares about Madonna when you can be part of Solid Gold reboot?

Was Solid Gold still the jam in 1990? Help me out Gen X queens! Whatever, it's a gig, with the boys dancing to one pop classic after another.

"What Would Candy Do?" may not go down as one of the great Pose episodes. However it provides a breath of fresh air as the series prepares to go back into more dramatic territory for the season's final stretch.

Other Thoughts/The Shade Of It All

This episode, with its lighter mood and subject matter, was the right showcase for Swain and Burnside, who don't yet possess the scene-stealing power of Billy Porter, Dominique Jackson and MJ Rodriguez.

Angel's modeling career is still flourishing. She's booked another Wet N' Wild campaign and a possible Essence cover. Papi still carries a torch for her, and is working double shifts to pull his weight.

Blanca was serving pure Jessie Spano with that big bow. Or was it a nod to Madonna circa '85? Also, one of the Wintour children was wearing a shirt emblazoned with "Who's That Girl," her second tour.

"Boy bye?" I have confirmation from the mature girls that the kids were not saying this in 1990. It would've been "Child bye!" or "Child boo!" Also, respect on our name? C'mon Pose!

"These bridge and tunnel bitches are terrifying."

"Please. Like that specimen of perfection would be desperately seeking to spend a moment with any of you peasants."

"If your swerve game was so good, you wouldn't need a map to find my G spot."

"Learn to swallow your pride as well as you do men and maybe you wouldn't end up alone."

"Quack quack boo boo."

"Oh you mad?"

Pose Season 2 Ep. 4 Recap: 'Never Knew Love Like This Before'

noreply@blogger.com (K. Clark) — Wed, 10 Jul 2019 15:08:00 +0000

Photo: FX

Wow...that was...a lot. After exploring the subject of death in "Butterfly/Cocoon," tragedy hits much closer to home in "Never Knew Love Like This Before."

The title, taken from the classic Stephanie Mills song, seems to be used with equal parts sincerity and irony when it applied to Candy Ferocity. The daughter turned co-house mother was a lot of things, but well liked was not one of them. While she's been allowed moments of vulnerability--last year's "The Fever" comes to mind--she's largely been used as comic relief, the punchline for Pray Tell's withering stare and most vicious ballroom reads. "Never Knew Love Like This Before" finds them clashing again, this time over whether lip synching should be added as a ballroom category. "What is real about flapping your jaw to a cassette tape?" he quips to his fellow ballroom emcees. Candy, who's crashed their brunch meeting, can see the future coin in the category, but her words fall on deaf ears and side eyes. "Why don't you take me seriously?" she screams at Pray, the look in her eyes making it clear she's talking about something beyond ballroom trophies and shade. She's asking why she isn't being taken seriously as a person.

Tragically, he'll never be able to give her an answer. "Never Knew Love Like This Before," doesn't keep us guessing about Candy's fate for long. After Lulu tells Blanca she hasn't come home in two days and has been taking tricks to a hotel in a dangerous part of town, it's all hands on deck to find her. But their search doesn't even begin before a phone call from the motel manager delivers the brutal truth: Candy is dead, her bloody body left in a closet. "The NYPD doesn't care about a dead transsexual," Elektra says matter-of-factly.

Candy could say no one in the ballroom scene cared all that much for her either. Pray Tell, always one to keep it 100, acknowledges he and Miss Caaaandy didn't exactly see eye to eye. "She was a pain in my goddamn black ass," he cracks during the eulogy, breaking the tension. But he also acknowledges she, like everyone else in attendance, was his family, and they are all charged with protecting the lives of transwomen from men too afraid to be open about their desires. Pray Tell remarks death means the deceased can no longer give speak their truth; however, Candy does get in the last word. Lots of them.

"I forgive you," she tells Pray Tell, before asking why he was such an asshole to her. He answers what she was--black, femme, loud and unapologetic--was all the things he hides from the outside world. Candy responds she had no choice but to be herself, and while the conversation is between two people about their combative relationship, it can also be taken as a commentary on the policing of behavior marginalized groups often do amongst ourselves. Sometimes it comes out of a need to simply survive, sometimes out of a misguided need to appear respectable to the majority. Her conversations with Lulu--child, the kids will be sipping on the tea of her ripping accessories off Candy's body for years to come--Angel and her parents are tearful, honest ones about the complicated dynamics of family, friendships and the struggle to believe in yourself.

What's beautiful but frustrating about the episode is how it allows Candy--or at least her spirit--to take center stage in a way the character rarely if ever got the chance to in life. Watching how she moves from sarcastic to sensitive, coldly blunt to forgiving and introspective, Angelica Ross certainly has the dramatic chops necessary to give more depth to Candy. And she does. But why did the character have to die for us to see this side of her? Pose has consistently made the point that life is precious but is only capable of "giving Candy her flowers" after killing her off. Complaints aside, a definite highlight was watching Candy get one last stroll on the runway, lip-synching for her afterlife to "Never Knew Love Like This Before," basking in the love from the crowd and 10's across the board. Sashay on girl. Sashay on.

Candy's death also knocks some sense into Pray Tell, who has refused to start taking AZT despite the fact Blanca's T Cell count has improved. But the episode's final scene sees him trading out his "holistic" approach of a daily pound of butter for a bottle of AZT.

"To life," he and Blanca toast. To life.

Other Thoughts/The Shade of It All

If you've watched Paris Is Burning, Candy's tragic end couldn't help but bring to mind Venus Xtravaganza, who was found dead in a hotel during the documentary's filming. Also, Angel's rant about 11 girls already dying in 1990 was likely a comment on transgender murders in 2019. Eleven transgender women, most of them black, have been murdered this year.

Considering Madonna's Blond Ambition tour kicked off in April 1990, and "Vogue" hit number one in May, Miss Candy pulled together a cone bra and pinstriped suit with the quickness, especially given this was the pre-Internet era. But some divas aren't given their due until it's too late.

Leave it to Elektra to be mistress of funeral protocol, shushing Judy and Blanca then trying to shoo folks away from the food. In another life, she'd be a church mother named Beulah or Evelyn who handed out peppermints and butterscotch candies.

"White folks just want a smile and a show."

"Everybody knows this is where you bottoms brunch."

"My patience is as thin as your wallet."

"I can't let her go in the ground lookin' like my Aunt Carol."

"I assume she's a Scorpio." Now Pray, you cut a little too close to the bone with that read. Too close bitch.

Pose Season 2 Ep. 3 Recap: 'Butterfly/Cocoon'

noreply@blogger.com (K. Clark) — Wed, 26 Jun 2019 18:00:00 +0000

Photo: FX

So far in its second season, Pose has managed to seamlessly blend the personal and the political, drawing on historical events like the St. Patrick's Cathedral protest, the mass graves of Hart Island to show both the harsh reality of the AIDS epidemic and explore how they push the fictional characters, in particular Blanca and Pray Tell, into more public acts of resistance.

Where the series been less successful is figuring out exactly where Elektra fits into the show's more overtly politicized world. Elektra's never been a go with the flow kind of gal. However, the first two episodes saw her leaning into her worst self, ruining all her relationships and eschewing Pray Tell's calls for community and action in the name of "fuck ya'll, I got mine." Let's be honest: part of Elektra's appeal is her narcissism, delivered with style and panache by Dominique Jackson. But what was once one part of a complex personality is in danger of becoming her sole character trait.

An emotionally disjointed episode, "Butterfly/Cocoon," takes a step in the right direction of correcting this problem courtesy of a shocking twist. Paul, the john we met last week in "Worth It," brings along a new device that will get him sky high on poppers. Elektra breaks her own rules and allows him to take the drugs, letting him hang (literally) for 20 minutes so they can fully kick in. But when she comes back, Paul is dead, choking on his own vomit.

In a panic, she rushes to Blanca's and spills everything. Blanca tells her to call the police. Less than convinced that will turn out well, Elektra heads straight to the strip club to get Candy's advice. But sis has nothing but shade and truth bombs. She points out the sad truth that police aren't likely to take the word of three transsexuals in the death of a rich white yuppie. Candy takes them to her friend Euphoria, who recalls the time a john beat her up and got her arrested for robbery; in jail she was pimped out by a guard.

"For girls like us. The system is never on our side," Euphoria says. Candy's got a connect-- Ms. Orlando, the woman who injected her and Angel with her "ghetto silicone" last season--who can get rid of the body, while Blanca still thinks they should call the police. Now Blanca's optimism is something to admire. It's commendable. Shit it's inspirational at times. But...sis that ain't the move. Elektra knows as much, and pulls Blanca to side for a private chat.

"You're my daughter. And not responsible for my sins," Elektra explains, sending her to her room so she won't be complicit in what happens next, and displaying some genuine maternal love for the first time in a long time. Even when she, Candy and Ms. Orlando start the process of "cocooning" Paul, she pushes for them to say a prayer beforehand. So much for the woman who said she didn't care what happened to any man. Paul wasn't a good man-- Candy reveals he was kicked out of the strip club for beating up on the girls--but recognizing he deserves better than ending up in a trunk in her closet says there is good in Elektra. These touches of empathy and vulnerability are a welcome change of pace. However, it'd be better if didn't take a dead body for us to see this side of her.

Later, Elektra confesses she's had nightmares about Paul, that she moves things in her closet around out of fear the others can smell him. "He's mine now," she tells Blanca. "He'll be with me for the rest of my life." Blanca reassures her she did what she had to do for survival, and the two appear to come to a truce. It's a grim story to take on, but the writers and cast handle it with aplomb, approaching the situation with empathy and hard-edged pragmatism.

Set against this, Angel's story line--clearly the "butterfly" part of "Butterfly/Cocoon"--provides some welcome relief, even if the shift from watching lye being poured on a body to Angel pouring herself into slinky dinner dress can be jarring.

Angel has made it to the top 5 for 'The Fresh Face of 1990.' Angel bears a bit of her soul during the final interview, saying she grew up hearing she would never amount to anything, and wants to prove people wrong. Unfortunately she doesn't win, and lashes out at Blanca, snapping at her to focus on herself.

"I was gonna snatch that title. Be a real Ford Model. My face was gonna be everywhere," she tells Papi, who responds with more encouraging words before the two kiss.Rather than get a room, Papi asks to take her out on a real date.

Later, Angel gets a callback from Ford modeling agency to be the face of Wet N' Wild makeup's Spring Color Collection. The photoshoot is the fabulous experience her first one should've been. But when the shoot runs late, she chooses to stay, leaving Papi waiting outside of Barbetta. To his credit, Papi sees the bigger picture, telling her not to apologize for doing what she had to do. But he also reminds her that, like her burgeoning model career, he's a prize too. You betta know your self worth Papi!

Given the track record of Evangelista romances, who knows how this will end. But for the moment they're booed up and blissful. The episode ends on a happy note, with Angel, Blanca, Damon and Papi rushing to the drug store to see Angel's debut as the face of Wet N' Wild.

Hooray for Angel.

Other Thoughts/The Shade of It All

The episode ends with a quote from Dorian Corey, who coincidentally had a dead body in her own apartment, one that was discovered after her death in 1993. The man, identified as Robert Worley, is thought have been either an abusive ex-boyfriend or a robber she shot in self defense.

Although Elektra's arc was treated seriously, the show couldn't resist a little black humor by setting Paul's cocooning to Evelyn Champagne King's "Shame."

I liked the montage of Elektra reading, filing her nails and brewing tea. You know, doing the mundane things anyone would do while they're at work trying to pass the time; because gags and whips aside, she is at work.

Damon is Team Papi--who now has a job and a GED thank you very much-- but basically tells Angel she can and should aim higher.

Can we talk about the other music choices? "Black Cat," "Buffalo Stance," "Nasty Girl" and "My Prerogative" to name a few. One classic after another.

"Do it look like I wanna spend the rest of my life in prison? Orange ain't my color."

"Bougie bitch come on!"

"You hoes kill me. Comin to me like I'm Dear fuckin' Abby."

"Business is slow. Damn Bush economy."

"He white? Oh bitch you fucked."

Pose Season 2 Ep. 2 Recap: 'Worth It'

noreply@blogger.com (K. Clark) — Wed, 19 Jun 2019 14:17:00 +0000

Photo: FX

After loudly proclaiming their right to exist in "Acting Up," "Worth It," finds several of Pose's characters reevaluating their self-worth.

Elektra has seemingly found hers in a new side hustle, working as a dominatrix at The Hellfire Club. Playing a domineering, verbally abusive tyrant clearly agrees with her personality(no shade but shade). She's also still working the door at Indochine in order to stay in close proximity to the rich and famous--get your coin and your clout boo--and the extra money is helping the House of Ferocity level up from its status as the red-headed stepchild of the ballroom scene.

If only mama could learn not to take her work home. Elektra stirs the shit during dinner, upends another table (her signature move darling) and sashays away to recruit a crew that includes the best dancers and a white girl to create the House of Wintour. "Quake in fear children. Wintour is coming," she tells the crowd after interrupting a runway category. Who knew Elektra could see into the future and make a pun on a classic Game of Thrones line?

While she may be reveling in her newfound power, Elektra doesn't seem to have learned much from her recent struggles as, in the harsh words of Candy, "an over the hill, homeless sex change." She hasn't realized one can be a ferocious goddess without shitting on everyone else. But if previews for next week's episode are any clue, she'll need the help of one of her former children soon.

Blanca is moving forward with opening her own nail shop, meeting with fearsome landlord Ms. Norman, a rich divorcee and casual racist who can tolerate the fact Blanca's Dominican--they're hard workers you know. She schools Blanca on what's on the horizon for New York: gentrification, a process that will transform the city's gritty, diverse culture into the safe, homogenized and very white Big Apple of the 21st century. All of this initially goes over Blanca's head, partially because she's thrilled about having her own space, but also because she doesn't understand what gentrification means for her and her community.

"Worth It" also focuses on Blanca's continued ambivalence about her health. When Judy presses her on why she isn't taking her medication, her response is heartbreaking: she's not taking it because she doesn't feel she deserves it. However, when Damon reveals he and Ricky are still having unprotected sex, Blanca's forced to confront her own tenuous relationship with self worth. She decides to tell them about her painful past, one where she dranm too much, debased herself for men and eschewed condoms all in the name of wanting to feel loved, at least for the moment. She reveals she has AIDS, and the house rallies around her, Papi especially.

The confession seems to set something free in her. She begins taking her medication, and stands her ground when Ms. Norman attempts her evict for being a "liar" (her son clocked Blanca as trans),and threatens her with legal and bodily harm. "I've had more beatings than you had breakfast," Blanca snaps. Oh it's on bitch. It's on. Like the protest at St. Patrick's Cathedral, pushing back against Ms. Norman is an act that's both personal and political. If season one was about Blanca finding her way as a mother, season two appears to be about her discovering her voice in the outside world.

Damon also has a personal reckoning. After some child named Chris cattily tells Damon he and Ricky slept together while on tour, the two argue for hours, with Damon never fully believing Ricky's claims of innocence. Both their HIV tests thankfully come back negative, but something is still nagging at Damon. Between music videos and touring, Ricky's life appears to be moving forward, while his, despite the thrill of the ballroom, remains stagnant.

Feeling that he's lost himself in their relationship, Damon breaks it off with Ricky at the Eros Ball. I predicted these two wouldn't make it for the long haul, being so young and inexperienced in how to sustain a relationship and the feels that come with it. That said, the pain of their breakup was palpable. Damon begins to focus on himself, teaching voguing classes. Meanwhile, Ricky moves out of Blanca's house and joins the House of Wintour.

Damn Elektra snaps the kids up quick.

Other Thoughts/The Shade of It All

Angel trying help Blanca upgrade from her "shit style" leads to a casual but insightful moment, one where Blanca explains her lack of fashion sense comes from years of rushing into women's sections and grabbing what she could before being kicked out. One of the things that's so wonderful about Pose is the way it delves into the lives of trans women in such a casual way, in this case via a conversation between two friends (or mother and daughter).

"Gay black boys ain't never been trained to have a dollop of self-belief." Fuck that cut like a knife.

Not to nitpick, but were the kids saying slay in 1990? I'll ask around and report back.

Ms. Norman named her dogs Cash and Credit. She's such fabulous trash.

"Lil Papi is certainly putting that GED to good use ya'll.

Shush mongrel."

The council has spoken. No bitch.'

"I mean it's a concert tour. Aren't all the dancers gay?" Papi ain't wrong.

"Could somebody please take this bitch back to kindergarten so she can learn the difference between feathers and foam?"

"I said in alphabetical order. Chanel. Dior. Fendi. Get it right."

"Save your well wishes for someone in need of validation hag."

"Whatever that doorman did to him was nothing compared to reaming I gave old Randy Norman in divorce court."

Pose Season 2 Ep. 1 Recap: 'Acting Up'

noreply@blogger.com (K. Clark) — Wed, 12 Jun 2019 16:52:00 +0000

Photo: FX

In the lead up to the premiere of its second season, Pose creator Ryan Murphy dropped a few hints of what fans could expect; the most important of these being a time jump to March 1990--when Madonna's iconic single "Vogue" dropped--and a possible story line involving the pop legend herself.

While she doesn't make an appearance, Madonna's presence, and the the effect of "Vogue" exposing the rest of America to what's been happening in the underground clubs of New York City, reverberates throughout "Acting Up."

Taking its title from the LGBT rights organization Act Up, the episode deftly juxtaposes the ways the outside world looking in could positively impact these characters' lives, while also making it clear they can no longer afford to turn a blind eye to the world's attitude toward them, which is often indifferent at best and cruel at worst.

"Acting Up" forcefully underlines the latter point in its opening scene. Pray Tell and Blanca go to Hart Island, where Pray Tell's ex has been buried. His final resting place isn't a graveyard or a mausoleum, but a pine box in an open field. This final indignity comes after dying alone in his apartment, his body only discovered after the smell of decomposition began to spread to the rest of the building.

For Blanca, it's another harsh reminder of a fate that could happen sooner rather than later. A visit to her nurse Judy doesn't go well. Her T cell count has fallen below 200, which means her diagnosis must be moved to full blown AIDS. Judy gives her a bottle of AZT to help, the meds collected from wealthy queens who have died of the disease, and tells her she'll be dead in six months if she doesn't take what HIV is doing to her body seriously.

The plague, and the spectre of death, are never far away. Pray Tell administers a quick read to Candy and Lulu for their flippant attitude at a funeral--one of hundreds he's attended--before engaging in the same gallows humor with Judy. In an effort to help him channel his grief into something productive, Judy drags Pray Tell to his first Act Up meeting, where the group is planning a Sunday protest at St. Patrick's Cathedral, a real life act of resistance that led to hundreds being arrested.

The meeting galvanizes Pray Tell, who, has no patience for Elektra and her bullshit, especially after she defies Blanca (Elektra' still bunking with her former daughter) and blows off the protest. Pray Tell blesses her with a righteous
at the next ball, and demands she and the rest of the crowd recognize they only have each other and to start fighting for their lives.
Elektra appears back in the money, gliding in late for family dinners with mink coat in tow, casually shading the kids and basically reverting to her old bitch goddess antics. Which in this case means going off on Blanca and Pray Tell when the former presses her about her new source of income, flipping a table and stlrming out to join the house of Ferocity. Well at least we'll get some sickening looks out of this rekindled rivalry.

While characters like Candy and Pray Tell--who recalls when the racist and homophobic disco backlash of the late 70's ended what appeared to be the beginnings of acceptance of homosexuality and LGBT people--aren't holding out much hope the success of "Vogue" will catapult them all to mainstream success. "Put your glass slippers away Transerella," he coolly tells Blanca.

But if we know one thing about Blanca, it's that mama is determined. She pushes Angel to leave the piers and sex work behind and concentrate on modeling. Showing a bit of her voguing skills, the agent at a modeling competition gives Angel the info for a photographer to get professional pictures taken, and pushes her through to the semi finals. Unfortunately the photographer, recognizing her from the piers, takes advantage of her, forcing her to strip naked and touch herself as payment for a session. Blanca finds out and, with Papi and Angel in tow, heads to the photog's studio to fuck his shit up. They get the negatives back and Angel advances to the top 10 in the competition.

Will the co-sign of one of the biggest pop stars on the planet translate into victories outside the ballroom, to partially quote Angel? While real-life ballroom luminaries like Jose and Luis Xtravaganza got shine from Madonna and others like Willi Ninja, Dorian Corey and Pepper Lebeija gained some status from Jennie Livingston's documentary Paris Is Burning, it wasn't necessarily the life-changing, buy-my mama-a-house, send-all-my-cousins-to-college success they, or Blanca have in mind.

But for the moment it's thrilling for them--and us to watch them--bask in the glow of a bigger spotlight. To realize, to quote a few classic lines from "Vogue": You're a superstar. Yes that's what you are. You know it.

Other Thoughts/The Shade of it All

Timeline wise, depicting the St. Patrick's Cathedral protest doesn't add up, since it occurred in December 1989, not March 1990. But, you know, artistic license.

Damon and Ricky are still together, with Ricky still on the road but coming home soon grom Al B. Sure's tour.

Candy and Lulu get dissed and dismissed by the judges during a French revolution category in which their best is but peasant rags. Child...

Blanca quits her job at the nail salon to go to the protest, setting the stage for an arc that involves her fighting to start her own business while coming up against transphobic attitudes.

New York-based anchor Sue Simmons gets a shout out, as Blanca mentions she wants to interview Pray Tell about the ballroom scene.

A nice meta moment: Jose Xtravaganza, a ballroom legend who of course appeared in the "Vogue" video, vogues with the rest of the kids as the track plays during the last minutes of the episode.

"She's over here serving you trash bag realness."

"All these candles and flaming homos, I'm surprised God doesn't burn this bitch to the ground."

Ya'll are hard hearted hoes. Show some damn respect."

"Look at these unquenchable hoes thirsting for dick."

"I'm joining your house. You're welcome bitches."

"I am not a slum rat like the rest of you whores!" Elektra will bring the capital D Drama!

Can I have her bed?" Too soon Papi. Too soon.

Barry Season 2 Ep. 8 Recap: 'Berkman/Block'

noreply@blogger.com (K. Clark) — Mon, 20 May 2019 16:24:00 +0000

Photo: HBO

After a seven episodes chronicling his fits and starts toward becoming a better man, Barry doubles down on the worst version of himself in the season's finale "Berkman/Block."

Part of what makes the episode--in particular it's final scene--so hard to watch is because, like other instances this season, events have conspired in a way that allows Barry to get off Scott free. He doesn't have to go on a killing spree that leaves a gang leader (bye bye Esther) and scores of her, Cristobal's and Noho Hank's men (damn Mayrbek) dead.

Also, it's not as if Fuches doesn't deserve every inch of the vengeance Barry attempts to rain down on him. After stopping short of murder, Fuches flees the scene as the police begin to arrive, leaving a shell-shocked Gene to take the wrap for Janice's murder.

"Not so altruistic now are you motherfucker," Fuches gloats over the phone, acidly pointing out all Barry has to do is tell the truth and he saves Gene. Though that would also mean condemning himself.

It turns out Barry didn't even have to do that. Gene is released after police find a Chechen pin with a saying that translates to "the debt has been paid." Things appear to be settled, until he gets a text from Hank saying Fuches is at the monastery. In that moment Barry has a choice, hard as it may be: let Fuches live, charge his treachery to the hitman game, and move on. Instead, Barry gives in completely to his rage, embracing the inherent darkness he's tried to fight all season. In the end Fuches, like any good villain, lives to fight another day. Meanwhile, the final shot of Barry finds him stalking off into the darkness, literally and figuratively. Can he ever come out? We'll have to wait till next year to find out.

Though the consequences aren't deadly, Sally reverts to type as well. It's the night of her and the rest the acting class's big performance, and she's nervous about acting out her scene in front of a packed house filled with industry professionals. Barry, in a fugue state due to his guilt over Gene, begins the performance as they rehearsed it. However Sally changes things midway through, flipping over the table and telling Barry/am off, acting out of the fictional version of how she left her marriage.

Afterwards, she tells Lindsay she was scared of revealing the truth. However her lie is a hit with the Mikes and the rest of the audience. As they begin to surround her, offering up praise, the look on Sally's face isn't one of triumph, but one of ambivalence and regret. She's gotten the attention she's wanted for so long, but the recognition is coming from a tweaking of her truth, one that, while miles away from the hackneyed trash of Payback Ladies, is a version that seizes on commercial appeal at the expense of her artistic integrity.

After his son Leo helps him into bed, Gene begins reminiscing about Janice, until happy images are replaced by the one of her body lying in a trunk. It's then that the words Fuches whispered in his ear become clear.

"Barry Berkman did this."

Barry Season 2 Ep. 7 Recap: 'Audition'

noreply@blogger.com (K. Clark) — Mon, 13 May 2019 17:00:00 +0000

Photo: HBO

In the penultimate episode of its second season, Barry brings a simmering conflict to a boil while sliding in some satire on the mechanics of Hollywood.

Sally meets with the Mikes after her other rep Lindsay catches a bit of the play she's written about her abusive past. Her career prospects really appear to be on the upswing when she's told famous television producer Aaron Ryan wants her as a lead in his new series. However, in what feels like a razor sharp commentary on the entertainment industry's knack for taking potentially great, if not highly profitable, stories and twisting them into highly marketable drivel, what Ryan has in mind is far from Sally's vision.

What he pitches is Payback Ladies, where a trio of abused wives band together and become a suburban death squad, first murdering their husbands and then the husbands of other abused women (and possibly new girlfriends, because dust to sidechicks). The tagline? "It's that time of the month...for revenge." Thankfully Sally passes on that godawful idea. Unfortunately the Mikes aren't trying hear the legitimate reasons why Sally passed on the show--like how it takes the genuine pathos of her and other women's stories of domestic violence and turns them into male-fantasy revenge porn--and Lindsay doesn't stick up for her either, so she may be without representation.

Meanwhile Barry, who just happened to be sitting in the lobby waiting for Sally, catches Michael Cohen's eye, and lands an audition for a movie where the director will be present. No cattle call, no callbacks. All because he's 6'2. And a dude. Sally is flabbergasted to say the least, and at one point launches into a long speech that's equal parts frustrated artist, jealous, ego-driven rant and (sorta) supportive girlfriend.

Sally's play, at least what we've seen of it, is way better than the forgettable dudebro fest Barry's auditioning for. Yet Sally not only has to wrestle with revealing a dark part of her past publicly, but must consider if her personal truth will be taken as the absolute truth for all abused women, and whether her depiction of her story will be good for all women. Contrast her fears with Barry, who can portray a meathead who shits in a pie and not for a second have to think how it will affect the image of white guys. Later, Lindsay apologizes for her temporary lapse in judgement, making up for it by booking Sally and the rest of the class a bigger theater, one that will be filled with industry professionals when her play debuts.

Noho Hank's week was not so good. After being ratted out by Khazam, Hank and his men are carted onto a school bus and driven out to a remote location to meet their doom. Esther and Cristobal decide to go with fire, and begin pouring gasoline on the roof. Hank, certain this is the end, confesses he's not about this crime boss life. Mayrbek's basically like "fuck what you talkin' about," freeing himself and the rest of the men then fighting off Esther and her crew. Hank tries to save face, but the damage is done: his men no longer respect him, and Mayrbek is now de facto boss. Damn.

Meanwhile, this season's longstanding question--what will be the fallout of Barry killing Detective Janice Moss--is on the verge being answered. While waiting for his audition, Barry gets a call from Gene, explaining he won't be able to read with him because a private detective contacted him with new details about Janice's death. Of course it's Fuches, who leads Gene to the car and Janice's body, then calls the police pretending to be Gene and confessing to the murder. As Gene stares at his girlfriend's body, he can't see Fuches raising a loaded gun to his temple, and we don't know if he pulled the trigger because the screen cuts to black. Shit has just gotten irreparably real.

Barry Season 2 Ep. 6 Recap: 'The Truth Has a Ring to It'

noreply@blogger.com (K. Clark) — Mon, 06 May 2019 15:30:00 +0000

Photo: HBO

Heading into the final stretch of its third season, Barry begins putting the pieces in place for what could be an explosive finale with "The Truth Has a Ring to It."

After the absurdist head trip of last week's "ronny/lily" the show comes back down to reality to deal with the aftermath. LAPD concludes Detective Loach's demise was related to a domestic dispute--in this case, confronting Ronnie Proxin, the man sleeping with his ex-wife Diana, and getting a fatal roundhouse kick to the dome. Barry steals and presumably disposes of his remaining case files, and that appears to be that.

Except it isn't, at least when it comes to Barry and Fuches. After realizing the devil has been staring him in the face the entire time courtesy of stab wound-induced hallucinations, Barry again cuts ties with Fuches, arguing he's only out for himself and has no idea who the man he condescendingly calls buddy truly is. Barry's not wrong on either point, but Fuches also raises a valid one when he counters Gene may accept Barry even after learning he "killed someone and got away it," but wouldn't if he knew about Janice. The second killing didn't take place in "the fog of war" as Fuches calls it, and thus can be blamed on misplaced rage; killing Janice was an act motivated by pure self-interest. It was the act of a violent man, one who gives much lip service to wanting to leave the violent world he inhabits behind but always falls back on his murderous instincts when his back is against the wall.

Regardless, Barry snaps at Fuches that he has no business without him and takes off to essentially say goodbye to Noho Hank. Esther and her men are moving back into the monastery to prepare for an incoming shipment of heroin, and with his men trained as well as they could be, Hank plans to use the small window of opportunity to take out her and the rest of the Burmese gang at the stash house. Barry backs out of teaming up on that potential blood bath/suicide mission, and with a musical serenade, he drives away. Hank's attempted coup gets short-circuited, however, when Khazam, the accordion player he berated for interrupting his goodbye speech to Barry, sells him out to Esther and Cristobal. Damn.

Sally confesses to Barry she went to meet Sam at his hotel, berating herself for not standing up to him. Barry of course, already knows this, as he nearly killed Sam (and possibly Sally) when he followed her. Sally is understandably nervous about doing her scene about the night she left in front of the class; however, unlike an earlier conversation, Barry encourages her to tell the truth about what happened. Unfortunately, her scene garners stunned silence instead of applause, and she walks off the stage. Barry, perhaps bolstered by cutting Fuches off and his deepened relationship with Gene, asks his teacher to help him channel his energy into playing Sam in order to help Sally. Gene attempts to calm Barry's fear of being unable to control his rage by drawing a hard line between him Sam. Sam is a violent and terrible man. Barry is not. It's both true and untrue because while Barry would not verbally or physically abuse Sally the way Sam did, his reliance on violence does cause him to commit terrible acts in the name of self-preservation.

In the end, Barry actually absorbs Gene's advice, utilizing the method acting he accidentally tapped into in last year's "Loud, Fast and Keep Going," funneling the rage of Korengal and the reptilian logic of murdering Janice into a superb performance as Sam. "Really well done," Gene, his newly minted surrogate father figure, tells him. Sally rises to the occasion as well, passionately delivering her monologue to applause from the class; even better, her agent Lindsay, who she blew off earlier in order to do the scene, also enjoyed the performance and wants to arrange a sit down with her and "the Mikes."

Honesty (or in Barry's case, semi-honesty if we're being honest) appears to be paying off for Barry and those close to him. Though lingerg in the background is Fuches, unwilling to let go of his golden goose without a fight. He spends most of the episode searching the area around Gene's cabin for something to ensnare Barry with, and eventually finds it when he stumbles upon Janice's car, stashed deep in the woods. "I'll have what he's having," he drawls to the waiter as he watches Gene from afar at the restaurant where he and Janice's unlikely romance first began.

So much for having nothing.

Barry Season 2 Ep. 5 Recap: 'ronny/lily'

noreply@blogger.com (K. Clark) — Mon, 29 Apr 2019 15:48:00 +0000

Photo: HBO

Well, that escalated quickly. After the heavy emotions of last week's "What?!" Barry opts for a dark comedy of errors with a dash of art house flick quirkiness in "ronny/lilly."

The episode opens in the home of Ronny Proxin, the man with whom Detective Loach's wife Diana was having an affair. Barry isn't seen but instead heard at first, which should've been the first clue things were about to go very wrong. Instead of keeping his half of Loach's deal--that he kill Ronny in exchange for dropping Janice's murder case--Barry attempts to strike his own bargain, asking that he leave L.A. and live in Chicago for a year so Loach and Fuches will think he did the deed. It's classic Barry: well-intentioned but hopelessly naive, attempting to apply half measures (shout out Mike Erhmantraut) in a situation that can only end with one person being dead.

Ronny surprisingly seems game, until he gives Barry a kick to the chest, knocking him unconscious. See, Ronny's a taekwondo master, and won't go down without a long, extended fight that doesn't skimp on showing the brutality of a bare-knuckle brawl. Ronny eventually dies (or does he?) courtesy of a broken windpipe, which leaves Barry to contend with his daughter, presumably the Lily referenced the episode's title. I'm not sure how to feel about the portrayal of Lily; on one hand, I get the whole episode is a departure from the show's usual narrative structure, that while what we're watching on screen is actually happening, it's also meant to have an absurdist edge to it. It's just...jarring to see a young girl react to finding her father's body by acting like, as Barry calls it, "feral mongoose." That said, Lily more than holds her own, inflicting stab wounds on Barry and taking a chunk out of Fuches' face.

The cherry on top of this disastrous sundae comes in the episode's final stretch when Barry has to stop in a store to get paint thinner for Fuches, who's superglued himself to the steering wheel--because what else could be the outcome of trying to patch up a horrendous stitch job by applying superglue to stab wounds? Lo and behold in aisle three, there's Ronny, who is alive and ready to rumble. The ensuing chaos ends with Ronny being shot by police (but not before he delivers a fatal roundhouse to Loach) and Barry managing to emerge from the whole scene relatively unscathed, taking off with Fuches in his car.

So what to make of all this? Is it really plausible Barry could just limp off from a scene inundated with police and news crews and not be noticed? That Fuches could do a hit and run on a cop and not be arrested? Will LAPD connect the dots as to why Loach, a homicide detective, responded to a fight in a grocery store? What will happen to Lily? What do the scenes of Barry walking towards a serene-looking Fuches mean? Honestly, I'm still processing everything, and while "ronny/lily" definitely kept me glued to the screen, I don't know how many more lucky breaks the show can cut Barry until it just starts to get unbelievable.

Barry Season 2 Ep. 4 Recap: 'What?!"

noreply@blogger.com (K. Clark) — Mon, 22 Apr 2019 17:00:00 +0000

Photo: HBO

During its first season, Barry deftly straddled the line between comedy and drama, mining laughs and pathos out of its protagonist's struggle to break out of a world ruled by violence through an acting class. So far, the series' second season, while retaining some comedic charms, has leaned decidedly more dramatic. Now with "What?!" it seems Hader and his team have chosen to go full tilt into the drama.

Save for an early appearance by Noho Hank, who cannot take the tension at the stash house--Cristobal has opted to get Esther's favorite flavor of ice cream--it's a pretty serious half hour.

The return of Sam leads to a personal reckoning for Sally. During class, when Barry asks why she'd agree to have dinner with a man who almost choked her to death, Sally breaks down and confesses to lying about how her marriage ended. Her reasoning is sad but understandable. It's easier to write--and for an audience to digest--a domestic violence story that ends on the Lifetime-friendly note of the wife telling off her abusive husband then walking out; explaining why you stayed and endured years of abuse is a messier, more complicated one to tell. Barry, eager to rewrite his own history, encourages her to embrace the lie. He's simply Barry Block, the actor, and she's Sally, the wife who found the strength to stand up to her former husband.

Of course, it's not that simple. Sam quickly drops his nice guy act after Barry spots him spying on Sally practicing her lines, dismissing her as dramatic and spitting to Barry "I fucked her first" before driving off. Sam invites Sally to come to his hotel and draws out her sympathy, explaining he has a family now and his father is sick. All seems to go well until Sally says she's still going through with the play. Sam unleashes his inner asshole, punching the wall and berating her, displaying a glimpse of the abuse she lived under. Things nearly take a very tragic turn when Barry, who followed Sally to the hotel, almost shoots her, but luckily stops and hides, both keeping another victim off his list, and allowing Sally to keep her sense of agency after asserting herself.

Barry reaches out to Fuches to talk about almost killing his girlfriend, but Fuches, who's still working with Detective Loach, instructs him not to call him anymore. It's a generous gesture, but for Barry, unaware LAPD is closing in, it only means his sole outlet for talking about the ugliest parts of himself is closed off. So he goes to Gene, and after some prodding, reveals what actually happened after fellow soldier Albert got shot in Korengal. That being he mistook an innocent man as the shooter, charged into his home and killed him in front of his wife and child. Afterward, he was sent to a German hospital and was discharged instead of charged with murder thanks to some connections. After wisely advising him to never tell that story to another living soul, Gene provides reassurance, commiserating about his own cruel and selfish behavior as a father to his son Leo, and accepts Barry. Perhaps in the first season, Gene would've been less empathetic, but the loss of Janice seems to have made him more sensitive. Though I doubt he'd have the same reaction if Barry told the truth about Janice.

Elated, Barry tracks down Fuches at the hotel and blurts out everything, including murdering Janice. Aw shit. Detective Loach emerges from the back room and tells Barry to sit down. He has his admission on tape, and jail time seems imminent. However, there's just one thing wants and it'll all be over--for Barry to kill the man with whom his ex-wife was having an affair.

What?!

Donald Glover and Mo'Nique are the Comedy Duo We Didn't Know We Needed

noreply@blogger.com (K. Clark) — Thu, 18 Apr 2019 18:56:00 +0000

Photo: Adidas/YouTube

Martha and Snoop better watch their backs. Since Donald Glover can never do anything straightforward, why shouldn't the new ads for Adidas feature him getting roasted by Mo'Nique the way only a black mama/auntie could in a series of vignettes that look like they came off the Atlanta editing team's cutting room floor?

Watch all the ads below. The viscosity...gimme my damn grits.

Barry Season 2 Ep. 3 Recap: 'Past Equals Present x Future Over Yesterday'

noreply@blogger.com (K. Clark) — Mon, 15 Apr 2019 17:00:00 +0000

Photo: HBO

"They don't want honest. They want entertainment."

Such is the current dilemma (among others) Barry finds himself in "Past Equals Present x Future Over Yesterday" as everyone around him encourages him to tap into what Gene calls his "inherent darkness." Well, everyone except Fuches, who utters the aforementioned quote when Barry reveals he wants to write about the time he saved a fellow soldier's life while in Korengal. Apparently, that story goes left pretty fast, its emotional trauma something Barry and Fuches have worked hard to keep at bay. It's a genuine, touching (well if you leave out the fact Fuches is wearing a wire) moment between the two that comes out of nowhere. Dysfunctional as their relationship is, Fuches is the one person Barry can tell his whole ugly truth to without fear of judgment.

Sally instinctively understands the value of entertainment over truth. When Skyping her friend Kate to help her recall details about the night she left her abusive ex-husband Sam, she's less interested in confirming the actual assault than her reaction to it, one where she defiantly told him "choke on this, I'm fucking leaving you," and walked out. Katy doesn't remember that part, but can still remember the welts on Sally's neck from Sam choking her. However, Sally's convinced that's what happened and incorporates it into her script. Part of this is because of her not-so-small ego, but part of it has to do with emotional survival. Quietly leaving a terrible marriage is her truth, but eviscerating her husband then walking out the door is not only darkly entertaining but an important personal truth, one she told herself in order to rebuild her self-esteem and break free of a role--abused, weak wife--that had defined her life.

Barry's attempt to present his story as a tale of uplifting heroism instead of horror fails miserably of course; he's so literal about everything he takes Fuches' Braveheart reference as a license to plagiarize Mel Gibson. Gene sees right through this and calls Sally up on stage to have them act out her scene, with Barry portraying Sam. Unsurprisingly, Barry shrinks at this request, pushed by Sally until he breaks and storms off. "I don't want to hurt anybody," Barry snaps as she tries to comfort him before she freezes and quietly says "Hi Sam." Judging by the chilling look that washes over Barry's face as he lays eyes on the man who choked his girlfriend, someone is definitely going to get hurt.

Other Thoughts:

Barry's failure to kill Esther has put Noho Hank in a bind. See, since someone's out to kill her, she'll have to stay with Cristobal, which means Hank and his men have to share a storage unit. Not cool. After some decidedly unfriendly fire--Hank and one of his henchmen interrupt Barry's bout of writer's block by pumping some bullets into his apartment--Barry convinces Hank he can train his men to be better assassins. It's a tall order considering these guys make the A-Team look like Navy Seals. All except for Mayrbek. Mayrbek is Annie Oakley.

In an attempt to make amends, Gene asks his son Leo to work for free as a groundskeeper at the cabin where Janice was murdered. Child...

Barry Season 2 Ep. 2 Recap: 'The Power of No'

noreply@blogger.com (K. Clark) — Mon, 08 Apr 2019 17:00:00 +0000

Photo: Isabella Vosmikova/HBO

In its second season, Barry is seems intent on forcing its characters to face the harsh truth about themselves. "The Power of No" follows through on the premiere's promise, as several characters get their bubbles burst.

"Am I evil?" Barry asks Noho Hank, as the two stake out the monastery that houses Esther and the rest of the Burmese crime gang. "Of course," he chirps back, before asking Barry to do a classic Noho Hank favor by using the bullet the Chechens sent him as a warning to kill Esther (and to dig it out of her head so he can send back the bloody souvenir of course). While it's easy for Barry to brush off Hank, shaking off doubts about his morality is harder to do elsewhere. Inspired by his confession about his war experience, the rest of the acting class is engaging in what Sally correctly deems "competitive grief," and the results are as unintentionally hilarious and self-indulgent as you'd expect.

Barry's semi-honest reveal has brought a new conundrum at his doorstep. On the one hand, Gene and his classmates expect him to offer up more gruesome details about his military service. But what goes unsaid is those stories are to be told in the way where Barry is a reluctant, guilt-ridden mercenary, an otherwise good man who was forced to kill and is now haunted by his actions. The actual story--that discovering he was good shot was a highlight of what had up to that point been an unremarkable life--is too messy and uncomfortable.

Even worse, Gene has the bright idea to have everyone write their own pieces about defining moments in their lives. Barry initially manages to dodge the assignment by making his piece all about how he met Gene. However, Gene changes his mind after a painful conversation with his estranged son Leo. Gene goes on and on about repairing their relationship, blaming his students as the reason he walked out on the family. Leo, without a hint of malice, points out the obvious: the whole gesture, as with his acting class, is all about feeding his own ego. Hearing this, and seeing his egomania depicted via a script reading between Barry and Antonio, deflates him enough that he forces Barry to write about his time in Afghanistan.

Sally, now signed to an agency, has little time Gene's new exercise, or so she thinks. Judging from a reel that includes bit parts as a suburban damsel in distress, a secretary and an alien, she's far from A-list status. While her male agents are oblivious to her unease, their coworker Lindsay knows what's up and advises her to play the game--which in this case means continue to take shit parts until a star-making role comes along. Like Gene, Sally is content to coast on the surface emotionally, convinced her defining story is her struggle to reach beyond terrible bit parts. After Gene pulls his patented stone face routine though, she stumbles onto her own painful backstory, that of a woman who left an abusive marriage and rebuilt her life, one with a burgeoning (to put it kindly, no shade) career and a man who wouldn't hurt a fly.

Of course, we know the opposite is true of Barry, as the camera quickly cuts to him putting a silencer on his gun before sneaking into the monastery to take out Esther. Unfortunately, Sally's words come to mind at the worst possible moment, causing Barry to falter and walk into a room full of Burmese gang members. Next thing you know they're all pissed off, shooting at his car as he barely escapes.

Fuches is back in the picture as well, paying Barry a visit after being tracked down by Detective Loach. In case you forgot, Fuches is all about Fuches, and is working with the cops to trap Barry into confessing to Janice's murder. Barry's too smart and wary to blurt out "yea I killed a cop," but never underestimate Fuches' powers of emotional manipulation. His former mentor represents another person seeking to confine Barry to his past, one that he's still struggling to escape.

Barry Season 2 Ep. 1 Recap: 'The Show Must Go On, Probably?'

noreply@blogger.com (K. Clark) — Mon, 01 Apr 2019 14:00:00 +0000

Photo: Isabella Vosmikova/HBO

"If we cancel the show then what was the point?"

Barry mumbles this to himself while trying to convince Sally they and the rest of their acting class should proceed with their production of The Front Page. This, despite Gene having a nervous breakdown and leaving rehearsal. If you watched Barry's first season you know the finale ended with Barry murdering Janice Moss, the cop investigating his case who also happened to be Gene's girlfriend, and her death looms large over "The Show Must Go On, Probably?"

Barry has become fully invested in acting, but as the episode deftly reveals, even less invested when it comes to emotions, both his own and others. It's why he can visit a suicidal Gene and ask if he'll be ready to direct the show or call Noho Hank a fucking idiot--glossing over the fact Hank saved him from the wrath of the Chechens by blaming his former boss Goran's death on the Bolivians. That's when he's not pushing Sally away or talking in phony British accents to customers at his day job. While the show's first season took pains to make us feel empathy for Barry's internal struggle, this season Hader and his collaborators don't seem to mind if their protagonist comes off like an asshole.

Those on the receiving end of Barry's selfishness push back, however. Noho Hank displays a darker side for the first time, ordering Barry to take out Burmese gang leader Esther so he can resume his bromance with Bolivian boss Cristobal unbothered, or else he'll tell the Chechens who really killed Goran. And when Barry suggests Gene use the class to explore his pain, Gene challenges him to open the Pandora's box of his time in the military. Barry almost rises to the occasion, because while he tells the truth about what happened--killing two enemy soldiers during his first rotation--but not about his reaction. He did not collapse into despair and self-loathing but instead took pride in his newfound ability, encouraged by his fellow soldiers' cheers. It's the moment he realizes he has a talent for something, a talent that ultimately led him to Fuches and a violent, miserable existence.

Barry's smart enough to know admitting to cracking a smile after killing two men would make him look like a sociopath, so he lies. Gene reverses his plan to cancel the class permanently, and all is well.

Because after all, if the show doesn't go on, then what's the point?

Other Thoughts

Fuches manages to finesse his way out of a police interrogation after both his latest recruit and a client die when a hit goes wrong. However, trouble could be coming he and Barry's way after the police find his tooth at Goran's garage.

Brief mask slip aside, Noho Hank is still the nicest criminal you'd ever want to meet, playing volleyball with the Bolivians (his nickname is Bullet) and taking more reading recommendations from Cristobal. The entrance of Esther is bound to shake things up, and it'll be interesting to see how Hank asserts himself now that he's the boss.

Sally pushes Barry to tear down the emotional wall between them, then leaves him alone to go have drinks with her agent after he opens up about a deeply personal experience. Never change Sally.

'The Craft' Reboot In The Works

noreply@blogger.com (K. Clark) — Tue, 26 Mar 2019 19:22:00 +0000

Photo: Archive via Getty Images

While recent headlines involving cult classic The Craft have been unfavorable to say the least--i.e. Rachael True calling out conventions for excluding her in favor of her three white co-stars--the announcement of a remake is welcome news (well, depending on how you feel about remakes).

Blumhouse Productions is producing a remake of the 1996 film, which centered around four teen girls who create chaos when they begin dabbling in witchcraft. Shadow and Act reports director Leigh Janiak was originally set to helm a follow up, one set two decades after the events of the first film and that focused on a new group of witches. However, with Janiak gone Zoe Lister-Jones is set to direct, with screenwriter Daniel Casey coming aboard to rewrite the script.

While remakes can either be triumph or trash, the fact Blumhouse is the same production company that brought us Get Out and Halloween is heartening.

LISTEN: Full Version of 'I Got 5 On It ('Us' Remix)' and 'If Beale Street Was Chopped' Mixtape

noreply@blogger.com (K. Clark) — Fri, 15 Mar 2019 18:55:00 +0000

Music from two black films will give you the feels in very different ways. Unless you been under rock or just not about that horror flick life, you know the trailer for Jordan Peele's Us featured an unsettling reinterpretation of "I Got 5 On It (feat. Michael Marshall)" that fit the film's hair-raising visuals to a terrifying tee. Now you can experience the terror in full, as the whole track has been released in ahead of the film's soundtrack.

If you're more in the mood to chill than be chilled to the bone, the new mixtape If Beale Street Was Chopped is the perfect Friday soundtrack. Released by The Chopstars, the album features chopped and screwed remixes of songs by The Fugees, Chaka Khan, Anita Baker and Bootsy Collins. Get into the mixtape below.

Queen Sugar Announces Return Date, Women Directors for Season 4

noreply@blogger.com (K. Clark) — Fri, 15 Mar 2019 18:26:00 +0000

Photo: Skip Bolen/Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc./OWN

OWN drama Queen Sugar will return for its fourth season on June 12. As with the previous three seasons, series creator Ava Duvernay has selected an all-female roster of directors, which include Cheryl Dunye, Carmen Marron and Numa Perrier.

Shadow and Act reports that "Dunye, the groundbreaking auteur most known for her film The Watermelon Woman, made her television directing debut on Queen Sugar and has gone on to helm episodes of Claws, The Chi, The Fosters, Star and the upcoming David Makes Man. Meanwhile Perrier's directorial debut Jezebel is getting rave reviews after its recent premiere at SXSW.

True Detective Season 3 Ep. 8 Recap: 'Now Am Found'

noreply@blogger.com (K. Clark) — Mon, 25 Feb 2019 16:14:00 +0000

Photo: HBO

After dropping hints of a larger, sinister conspiracy, True Detective focuses squarely on the human tragedy at the heart of its third season, ending on a note of hard-earned solace.

"Now Am Found," a take on a lyric from "Amazing Grace," noticeably leaves out the word "I." Wayne has been spent much of his life unsure of who he is; he listened to his mother and then joined the Army, then became a cop because it seemed like something he should do. In middle age, when he worked as a campus security guard on a campus where Amelia taught, he appeared to settle into another comfortable role. "What you think you are, it made you stuck," Amelia once told him. Even now, in old age, he is still stuck, working to solve a mystery everyone else has long forgotten about; the difference now is he has lost his ability to push back his past, struggling not only to retain his memories but to handle the emotional weight of them, to process the different stages of his life as his days get shorter.

Back in 1990, Ed Hoyt takes Wayne out into the woods to question him about Harris James' whereabouts. Wayne holds fast in his denial about what happened, even after Hoyt reveals Harris' beeper had a GPS tracker that could lead him right to his last location. Wayne offers to trade confessions, but Hoyt cryptically advises him letting Julie be is for the best. Later, when Amelia finds him in a bar, the two have the most intimate and empathetic conversation they've had all season. Amelia, understandably concerned after finding her husband burning his clothes at three in the morning, pushes Wayne to come clean about everything. However, he refuses, carefully but firmly explaining he shared too much of his job with her out of a need for her approval, and their life together is wrapped up in "a dead boy and a missing girl." Amelia agrees and encourages him to find something he could be good at, and he encourages her to not limit herself as a writer.

While deciding to quit the force in '90 likely saved his marriage, the specter of the case has haunted Wayne for decades, but "Now Am Found" finally gives him--and us--some answers. Wayne and Roland track down "Mr. June," also known as Junius Watts, the one-eyed black man last seen confronting Amelia at a book reading. Junius explains Isabel Hoyt, after losing her daughter Mary in a tragic accident, became obsessed with Julie, eventually wanting to adopt the girl. Will's death wasn't a murder but an accident, one caused when Isabel, off her medication, pushed him into a rock. Harris James helped cover their tracks, planting evidence and paying off Lucy, and Julie lived with Isabel, docile due to a regular dose of lithium being slipped into her drinks. Junius helped her escape, but she didn't meet up where they agreed and went missing. Isabel suffered another psychotic break and committed suicide. Junius eventually locates her, but it's too late; Julie passed away in at a convent in 1995.

And that, in a nutshell, is the whole sad story. Or is it? Amelia's ghost visits Wayne again, helping him connect the dots between Mike Ardoin, the boy who took her disappearance the hardest, and the grown man he and Roland encounter at the convent whose daughter, named Lucy, resembles a young Julie Purcell. Amelia suggests the nuns told their own story, one where Julie "died" but actually went on to live a quiet existence, safe from those who'd try to harm her. Wayne goes to the Ardoin address and sees a woman who's likely Julie Purcell. However, he suffers another memory lapse and calls Henry for help. Later, Henry takes the note containing the Ardoins' address and crumbles it, telling his father to go play with his grandkids. A convenient plot twist, albeit a plausible one, and one that allows both Julie and Wayne, whose lives have been defined by forces larger than themselves, to find some sense of peace.

"Did I lose you?" Wayne asks his daughter Becca, who's come to visit. "No," she answers, choking up as she holds his hand. As he watches his grandchildren ride their bikes up the street, Wayne's mind travels back to 1980, at the same bar where he and Amelia would recommit to their marriage ten years later. Their first reconciliation comes after a fight over the fallout of Amelia's article about the investigation. Nursing a drink and a bruised ego, Wayne softens and apologizes. When she asks if he wants to try again, he stutters and stumbles over his words, barely able to express how much Amelia's presence has turned his life upside down, stirred in him emotion he's become so accustomed to tamping down. The tear rolling down his cheek and saying "I think I wanna marry you," makes his point, however. He and Amelia walk out the door and into a bright light. The last shot we see is of Wayne as a young soldier in Vietnam, where his own story of life and loss and ultimately healing, began.

True Detective Season 3 Ep. 7 Recap: 'The Final Country'

noreply@blogger.com (K. Clark) — Mon, 18 Feb 2019 14:46:00 +0000

Photo: HBO

"Stop. Let go. This is our job. It ain't here to make you right. And it's not the place you work out your shit."

Roland snarls this hard truth to Wayne in 1990, after the two detectives find Tom Purcell's body at Devil's Den, the teen hangout/gay cruising spot where his two children were last seen ten years ago. If the previous six episodes have shown anything though, it's that Wayne never took that advice to heart, charging ahead despite the danger until, as the final moments of "The Final Country" make chillingly clear, it threatened to destroy him and his family.

Season three's penultimate hour answers several lingering questions while letting others twist in the wind. The mystery of James Harris' disappearance is solved--he's killed by Roland during he and Wayne's brutal interrogation--but it also means whatever knowledge he had about Julie and who took her went to the grave with him. Amelia learns Lucy's cousin Dan O'Brien was seen talking to a one-eyed black man who could have kidnapped Julie. Whether Dan met his end at the hands of Tom or someone else, however, is still unknown. As for Tom Purcell, while how and when he died, a typed suicide note doesn't fit the who he was, leaving Wayne with more than a little suspicious. But it's enough for the attorney general, who overturns Brett Woodard's conviction and pins the murders on Tom.

"A sudden act of violence, a dead man and the case is closed," Elisa says to Wayne in 2015, noting the similarities between the 1980 and 1990 investigations. When pressed, she puts her cards on the table; Elisa believes the Purcell case is connected to season one's serial killer investigation in Louisiana, and that Will and Julie were sold off by either Tom, Lucy or both, with help from Dan. Also, Watts, the one-eyed man, may be a possible procurer for a pedophile ring. Wayne brushes it all aside in her presence, spouting off platitudes about the uncertainty of police work, but he and Roland take the new information and interview the Hoyt family's former housekeeper, who seemingly corroborates Elisa's story with her description of "Mr. June," a one-eyed black man who was the caretaker of the Edward Hoyt's troubled daughter Isabel.

Later, Wayne again spies a black car parked outside his house. What was once easy to dismiss as a fractured mind slipping into paranoia is now a potentially terrifying reality. It turns out Ed Hoyt himself paid a visit to the Hays home in 1990, parking outside in a black Cadillac DeVille and blithely reeling off personal details about Wayne like he was reading items off a grocery list. Presumably, that scare--along with Amelia being spooked thinking Henry and Becca had been kidnapped while she talked to Lucy's old boss--is what led to them agreeing to put the Purcell case behind them. Amelia never wrote a sequel to her book and Wayne quit the force. Now that he's once again taken up the case, it's possible the same powerful forces who silenced Lucy, Tom and Dan are out to keep him and Roland quiet too.

Other Thoughts:

Wayne's encouraging of Amelia's writing aspirations in 1980, but it's likely as much about wanting to solve the case as being a supportive boyfriend. When Amelia brings up the potential trouble her writing an expose could bring to Wayne, his response is "Fuck 'em. They don't wanna do it right it's not a job worth havin'."

Roland stops short of calling Wayne a nigger, while they bury Harris James. But angrily telling him he's thinking it but not saying it is still some capital B bullshit.

True Detective Season 3 Ep. 6 Recap: 'Hunters In The Dark

noreply@blogger.com (K. Clark) — Mon, 11 Feb 2019 22:29:00 +0000

Photo: Warrick Page/HBO

As the season finale draws nearer, True Detective steps up the suspense by tying a few more knots into an already twisted plot in "Hunters In The Dark."

The 1990 investigation has kicked into high gear after a young woman, most likely Julie Purcell, has called state police demanding her father Tom stop looking for her. Sensing an opportunity for a new scapegoat--a particularly convenient one, since Tom didn't have an alibi for the time Julie and Will went missing--prosecutor Gerald Kindt asks Wayne and Roland to work him over, and the two men do until he breaks down into a primal, anguished scream. Although their interrogation doesn't lead to a confession, Kent orders Tom be kept for 24 hours while Wayne and Roland dig deeper into his private life.

Tom's old boss drops a few bread crumbs when he reveals Tom was harassed by coworkers after being spotted at a gay bar. A search of his home turns up a brochure promising to cure homosexuality, a revelation that places his alcoholism and disastrous marriage into a different emotional context. Wayne believes Tom could've hurt the kids after they discovered him at Devil's Den, a common cruising spot, but Roland's not convinced. Meanwhile Tom goes on a downward spiral, relapsing then tracking down Lucy's cousin Dan O'Brien and roughing him up. With the barrel of a gun pointing in his face, Dan says he was going to give the detectives the names of the men who were bankrolling Lucy's Vegas lifestyle and her drug use--men who would've had no problem making a murder look like an overdose if she pushed for more beyond the agreed upon arrangement. Tom then breaks into the Hoyt family compound, stumbling into what up until now seemed like a fictional pink princess room Julie told other runaways about. Though Tom may not get to ponder the mystery of what the fuck he just discovered as the fuzzy, threatening figure of Harris James comes close behind him.

James, as we know by way of Elisa's research, went missing during the '90 investigation, but in "Hunters In The Dark" he's alive and well, an ex-cop now working as Chief Security Officer at Hoyt Foods, and judging from the last shot, serving as security detail for the Hoyt family. The show has been hinting Harris James planted evidence at the Woodard scene for a few episodes now; but insinuating he have played a role in keeping Julie locked away for a decade places him squarely in the suspect category. Tom's status as grieving father has been muddied up as well. Is he the one who buried Dan's body in a quarry? The person behind Harris James' disappearance? By 2015, Tom, like Lucy, Harris, and dozens of others are all dead. And what of the room itself? A pink "princess" room on the bottom floor of a wealthy family's compound is practically a neon sign for weird, disturbing shit insanely rich people do because they have the coin and the power to get away with it. Could the pedophile ring Elisa mentioned earlier in the season be in fact true?

"Have you thought about the sheer number of fatalities surround this case?" Elisa asks elderly Wayne, whose shoulders practically collapse under the weight of her question. Wayne's been living and breathing this case for decades; the only difference is he can no longer live his life "in the now," as he explained to Amelia in 1980. In 1990 they still aren't seeing eye to eye, with Wayne none too happy she's writing a sequel to her book and Amelia quipping he likes being back out in the field, running free. She proves to be right when Wayne hops out of the patrol car when Roland attempts to drive him home, heading on foot toward the now abandoned Purcell home. What Wayne fails to see is Amelia's drive to solve the case matches his own. During her visit to a home for runaways, a young girl unknowingly corroborating details a transient told him and Roland about Julie. Perhaps the outcome of the case would've been different had Wayne allowed himself to be to open to her perspective.

Maybe it's what he was getting at when he asks Henry if he taught him to withhold his feelings. He confesses becoming a father made him a coward, caring for his children but holding back from expressing it. Its likely why daughter Becca doesn't come around and why he's spending his remaining days pouring over a case about a girl who never came home.

With these new developments the show is setting up some big expectations going into the final two episodes. Hopefully all the brooding will be worth it.

Other Thoughts:

During her book reading in 1990, an older black man with a dead eye confronts Amelia about writing about the case and "making money from their pain." The man isn't Sam Whitehead, but could he have some other connection to the case? Personally I think he's a red herring, but you never know.

Back in 1980, under (self-inflicted, as Wayne rightly points out) media scrutiny and bolstered by planted evidence, prosecutor Kent pushed to pin everything on Woodard, and assassinated his character while charging him posthumously with a double murder. In the '90 investigation, with a fresh round of self-generated media attention and motivation to find the easiest fall guy, Tom Purcell, another potentially innocent man, finds himself in the cross hairs. New decade, same old shit.

Wayne discovering the hole in the wall in Will's closet wasn't for peeping by Dan was a huge relief. By how sad was the realization the hole was there so the kids could provide some comfort for each other in what was a terribly dysfunctional household?

I can't decide if the look Wayne gives Harris James when he says he has a nice body is one of general disgust about being complimented by a man on his physique, his detective senses going off about a possible personal connection between Harris and Tom, or both.