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| Photo: FX |
Blanca's quickly establishing herself and the House of Evangelista as a threat to the House of Abundance. Watching the crowd gag over Angel as she snags a trophy for serving the best weather girl, Blanca sees an opening and challenges Elektra in the femme realness category. She not only wins the trophy, but also gets declared an early favorite for Mother of The Year. Elektra is pissed, which leads to mini-read off from which Blanca emerges victorious. Damn Elektra, two L's in one night.
However, Blanca is less successful when it comes to making inroads outside the ballroom. She invites Lulu to Boys' Lounge, an almost exclusively all-white gay bar in Manhattan to have a drink to celebrate to her first win (and to try and steal Lulu from the House of Abundance) where they're promptly ejected for being transgender before their first sip. Blanca yells at the manager that this isn't over, but Lulu counters it was over as soon as they walked inside. Everyone needs someone to feel superior to, and as transgender women they're at the end of line.
But Blanca's not trying to hear that, and tells her kids she won't be able to walk in the St. Lauren Ball because she has a plan to make sure she gets served at Boys' Lounge. She goes back a second time, asks for a drink but is only served concrete as the bouncer tosses her out on the street as the patrons cheer and laugh. My first thought was "girl that wasn't much of a plan," but of course I'm being facetious. Blanca is a Latino transwoman in 1987; she's been disowned by her own family, has little to nil legal protection, and is viewed by the larger straight world and what is supposedly her own community as a freak. Sadly many gay men still hold these attitudes toward the transgender community, and I like that Murphy and Co. didn't shy away from this (the snow queen who also dismissed Blanca's protest was a nice twist of the knife). Elektra, missing a worthy adversary, sashays into the nail shop where Blanca works and informs her she's punching at windmills and will never be accepted by the gay white boys before gliding out without paying for her manicure. Blanca gives Elektra and transwomen of her generation props for paving the way, but says she's trying to push things forward, to go places Elektra never dreamed of.
Unfortunately Blanca's third visit to the bar lands her in jail. Elektra bails her out, then reiterates her point that in a society that views them as disposable at best, the balls are all that matters. Elektra reclaims her throne at the next ball, and Blanca ends the episode at the window of Boys' Lounge, on the outside looking in.
Damon has slightly better luck breaking into Manhattan. It helps he has an insider in the form of his dance instructor Helena St. Rogers, who's impressed enough by his dancing to invite him to a ballet. Damon tears up and starts to give a standing ovation, but Helena gently tells him to hold his applause until the end. Damon's talent could give him access to a world beyond his current one, but a potential roadblock comes in the form of a hi-top fade and cute smile, also known as Ricky. They share a sweet first date talking about Janet Jackson (who Ricky's not a fan of...chile....) and racing to an abandoned warehouse where Damon has his first kiss. Ricky tells him he loves him (too soon?) and starts to escalate the make out session when Damon pumps his brakes, saying they need to know each other better first. I guess Damon took Damita Jo's advice to wait a while to heart.
Damon breaks curfew and comes home two hours late to a wide-awake Blanca, who after going through the "where have you been" checklist--drugs, sex, etc.--schools him on the ins and outs (or tops and bottoms) of sex, warning him to protect himself physically and emotionally. He also experiences his first bout of relationship drama when he stands up Ricky to go to the ballet. He finds him and tries to apologize, but it's not easy; like Damon when we first met him, Ricky is homeless and carries more than a little self-loathing, seeing himself as a screw up who may have gotten to see a little more of life's good side had Damon kept their date. Blanca's no-quit attitude must be rubbing off though, as Damon convinces Ricky to join him at the ballet, the two of them soaking up a new experience together.
Angel has her own Manhattan insider, but unlike Damon and Helena, her relationship with Stan is a lot more complicated. Stan's been a no-show since he gave her the brush off outside his office, but the increasing pressure to fit into the borough's ritzy social scene and the subsequent toll it's taking on his marriage leads him to go searching for her. Angel's moved off the corner and is now working in the peep show booth at Show World. Stan pulls a Pete Campbell and tells her he doesn't like seeing her like this, but Angel will have none of his jealousy; she counters she makes good money without having to get touched or facing the threat of fatal violence. She answers his question of whether she fears being kept by explaining kept would mean being a woman in a high rise apartment with fridge full of groceries and a mink coat in her closet. And no dishwasher (no shade but shade). Angel's world may be perilous, but it's one where she has full agency. Besides Blanca, she answers to no one.
She agrees to go get something to eat with him on her break, and after taking him up on his offer to buy her apartment---but only after he agrees to lease it for a year (smart girl that Angel)--presses him on why he's so taken with her.
"I don't live, I don't believe, I accumulate," he tells her. From his job to his new Coupe to the ball gowns and dishwasher he buys for his wife Patty, Stan's life is built around being the person he's supposed to be, rather than who he actually is. In Angel he sees someone who is completely authentic, and wants to hold onto that. I hope I'm just being paranoid, but I'm more than a little afraid for Angel in this situation. While his monologue ended on a sorta romantic note, he basically told her he's a man who lives and dies by the need to keep up appearances. Which could mean he would also be a man willing to kill to keep them up as well.
But for now, Angel's got her deluxe apartment in the sky.
Other Thoughts:
- Stan gets the raise needed to please both of the women in his life, but also makes things more complicated as he has to confess to Matt he's got a woman on the side. Of course he doesn't let it be known that woman is transgender; Matt's doesn't come across as someone you can trust with your secrets.
- Was I the only one living for Elektra almost talking that police officer out of his drawers? Nope, didn't think so. I also know I wasn't the only who gagged when she left Blanca on the sidewalk after telling her why the ballroom is the be all, end all of their otherwise harsh life as transgender women. Mama is both petty and profound.
- Apparently Lil' Papi's making a little side coin by slinging drugs. Blanca's in the dark about it for now, but when she finds out it won't be pretty.
- Along with Jose Xtravaganza, this episode also featured fellow ballroom legend Hector Xtravaganza as a judge.
The Shade of It All
- "I would give you an explanation, if your outfit didn't look like the inside of a coffin!"
- "You are the Cracker Barrel to my Gucci."
- "Oh so ya'll 'gon be bumpin' purses all night?"
- "Close your mouth hood rat."
- "Darling the champagne is burnt!"
- "Children I repeat the category is Dynasty, not goddamn Falcon Crest!"
- "You're a regular transvestite Norma Rae."
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