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| 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!"
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