More thoughts on Sh*rry Pie's elimination and why I think it's screwing over Jan.
Each episode of Drag Race typically focuses on only a cross-section of the current competition. You have your front runners, villains, losers, and sometimes red herrings. This is the case for all reality TV competitions, and the roles can shift episode to episode. It helps guide the audience through the intended narrative of each season and conditions us to like or dislike certain contestants.
Initially, the show aired with the original edits, which meant Sh*rry was getting substantial attention as a front runner. Eventually, the re-edits caught up with the pace of episodes being released and Sh*rry's presence notably diminished. No longer do we get her confessionals or interactions with other queens on the set unless it specifically pertains to an important plot point.
So what has this got to do with Jan?
Jan is a lovely gal and a solid contender. She serves strong looks, her personality is magnetic in the confessionals, and she knows how to be campy. But clearly the judges aren't ready for her to be a front runner and have largely ignored her (Gigi is beating her in looks and Sh*rry is beating her in camp). However, she is being edited like a front runner. Why? Because they had to fill the void that removing Sh*rry left behind. Subtracting an entire queen's airtime (and one who's doing well) requires a lot of filler, which also helps to explain why the workroom scenes seem to drag on.
Here's why this is bad for Jan and for the show as a whole. For one, it makes the judges look even more out of touch than usual. Two, it makes Sh*rry's win(s) look unearned (obviously). Three, it inflames the "she was robbed!" tribalism that follows bad judging. And four, the robbed queen -- in this case Jan -- has more to prove with less headroom to do it in. If she's already operating at a level above queens in the middle of the pack but being judged like them, we'll need edits showing her putting in even more effort or otherwise her sudden materialization at the top each week will risk exacerbating the issues with point one (bad and arbitrary judging).
It's hard to blame production too much, however, because ultimately their hands were tied. No way could they have aired the season uncut and no way could they have canceled it altogether without fucking over their credibility and the rest of the cast. It just sucks that one of my favorite queens of the season has unintentionally become collateral damage. I really want to be proven wrong ASAP, though, and I'm hoping that last week's episode and her placement as "top 6" is an indication of that.
Now, can somebody please address the Aiden gang-bang from last week's untucked?