POSE: The Final Season

Bumpin' as we inch closer to the premiere date...

Wow, no comments about the two episode kick off? I hate this continued “we’re going to show up with a few hours notice and join the competition, and win!” It completely discounts the creative side of making and assembling their looks from scraps, instead of coming off like they have an endless closet of outfits and deep pockets to pull this off. I think that really cheapens and discounts so much of what the ball culture was about, making a silk bag out of a sow’s ear. Wouldn’t be upset if Billy Porter’s character died early on.

This thread will end in tears.

Why are they showing two episodes back-to-back with the second starting after 11pm (wtf)? Are they trying to burn through episodes quickly and ensure the smallest possible first run viewership possible?

I know we slag the show and Porter, but he was brilliant tonight. I can't lie - I could see another Emmy for him.

And I think Dominique has improved dramatically.

Damon was abruptly written out because Ryan Jamaal Swain's sister was murdered last year so he was off for bereavement. Although I thought the way they handled the story was bizarre. Damon became an alcoholic, then got on the wagon and then relapsed. I don't know why they didn't just say he was on tour.

R5 Interesting, that didn’t seem to effect or slow Jennifer Hudson down.

Having never watched the show, I do hope it spells the end for Billy Porter and his unattractive face and irritating personality. I also think no matter what the cast says, their future careers will be about as successful as the cast of Gilligan's Island.

I loved season one but thought season two was a huge letdown.

Where did the first two episodes of S3 land, quality-wise?

Haven't watched yet, but I feel compelled to finish the series regardless.

I cannot stand Billy Porter, he ruins the whole show for me

I cannot stand Porter either but he was really strong last night.

The quality was so-so r8. The first episode was clunky. Interestingly, it was written and directed by Mock.

The second, written and directed by Steven Canals, was much better. The intervention scene with Billy Porter was really strong. The cast was very good overall.

I couldn’t bring myself to watch both in one night, a single left me queasy as it was.

It does seem like they're just trying to get the show over with. It's obvious there was so much turmoil behind the scenes. I don't know why they're not spacing out the episodes. There really was no reason to have two episodes last night. Maybe they're just trying to tie in the episodes to Pride?

I also find the handling of Damon's exit very strange. They basically said "He's an alcoholic" and then in the next "He relapsed; he's gone". There was no "Thank you Ryan Jamaal Swain" and just a brief "He wen on bereavement leave which is why his character was written off". Yet the show finished shooting in March. You would think Damon being an alcoholic and relapsing would be a huge deal, especially for Blanca, but it was just quick references and onto the next scene. There must have been issues between Swain and others from the cast and creative crew. I get the sense that Canals does not care for Swain.

I'm glad this shit ended, Billy Porter + misogynistic tranny = yuck.

Everyone hated the Damon character.

Everyone.

R14 It’s been a long time, but wasn’t he the whole framing device, leaving home and coming to the big city? What the fuck happened to that storyline? And wasn’t his dance teacher supposed to be a major character? They originally hired Tatiana Maslany for the roll, I guess she really dodged a bullet.

I don't disagree with you r14. I hated the character and I find Swain has this smug sense of himself and the character that shines through in every scene.

I think Swain thought he was going to be a big star as the show kind of started from his character's point of view, but it quickly changed to Porter and Rodriguez as a) Swain was charmless; b) he was not a good dancer and c) the audience did not warm to his character.

But, having said that, the way his character was written out was just so abrupt and dismissive.

From the season previews, it looks like Porter will be in female drag more frequently. Just like in real life.

Great. Just GREAT.

Maybe Porter dies early on an then plays his own mother? R17 Mothers seem to be a big theme this season.

Haven't watched season 3 yet but I am glad this show is back. I have a couple of episodes of season 2 (In my heels & Never Knew Love Like This) and really enjoy the ball scenes. The 'Never Knew Love Like This' is fun in that 'Candy' comes back and does a wonderful version of the Stepanie Mills song that includes a lot of the ballroom cast.

Anyway, the 2 episode start of the 3rd (and final season) is a kind of kick start as episode 3 (9th of May) is the only one listed. Yes, Billy Porter is a Queen without a Throne in most scenes but he does have a general good vibe which I appreciate.

I'm trying to watch on FXNOW on my Apple TV but the 2nd episode is no longer there as far as I can tell

^ Maybe good taste prevailed and they pulled it.

It really seems to be treading water now. Wasn’t everyone on drugs and then getting clean last season? We’re just doing that again? The only scene that worked for me was when Ricky moved out of the apartment at the end of episode 2. The ball scenes are fun but kind of meaningless... everyone gets a 10 and the main characters’ house is an instant win any time they deign to enter the competition. The show has always been glurge at best, but this feels like they’ve ran out of things to say.

[quote]And wasn’t his dance teacher supposed to be a major character?

I love Charlayne Woodard and was disappointed to see her character vanish, especially after she began what seemed like it was going to be a mentorship/friendship with Blanca in S1.

[quote]I love Charlayne Woodard and was disappointed to see her character vanish

Whenever a real actor (like Charlayne) appeared on the show, you were given a hint of what this POSE could have been if talent, skill and experience had been prioritized over "lived experience, self affirming fantasy version of recent history and bland queeny "fierceness" doing the work that real talent should be doing.

[quote]Damon was abruptly written out because Ryan Jamaal Swain's sister was murdered last year so he was off for bereavement. Although I thought the way they handled the story was bizarre. Damon became an alcoholic, then got on the wagon and then relapsed. I don't know why they didn't just say he was on tour.

I also wondered if the noticeable weight gain (and its affect on his ability to Vogie) had smoething to do with it. Lamar is showing his lithe little body and they have Damon in 2 shirts and a f*cking sweater to hide the girth.

I also LOL'd at crack girl back on the pole, who's put on at least 20 around her hips and they are acting like she's wasting away. Are you blind?

R25 I thought she was pregnant, and then remembered....

The final season, good, so we wont have to hear about this shit and see the Billy Porter creature.

Oy, this dialogue. La Bernhardt just said, "Fuck etiquette. How about basic manners."

Bernhardt has to be the worst actor of all time

And on Pose, that ^ is saying a lot

I think with Damon's diminished screentime that Woodard got less time. But she is a solid actress. They could have found a way to keep her on. I think MJ Rodriguez and Dominique are so watchable. MJ brings a lot of heart and Dominique brings the right amount of sass. I do think Indya can be good with decent material, but she hasn't had a good story since season 1.

I think that Canals and some of the other cast members dislike Swain. His tweets about Damon the other night were curt and abrupt. NOTHING about Swain. He was kissing Brandy and Mariah's ass and then going about how amazing Burnside and Porter were in their scene, also complimenting about Sahar, MJ and Jason Rodriguez. The silence about Swain was very telling.

I like this Domincan cutie

Who is back on the pole?

Only 3 seasons?

Shouldn't a "landmark" series run longer?

Hell Gilligan's Island had three seasons and more episodes.

pathetic

Lol

This wasn't even a series, more like a miniseries with it's 8 episodes season 1 and 10 episodes season 2.

How much is Angel? To fuck? As he is obviously a total fucking whore.

Why is he a whore??

[quote]Who is back on the pole?

r33, Hailie Sahar who plays Lulu.

I love listening to Dominique say “Dot Her.”

Did anyone else feel like you were watching a new show? It seems disconnected from the first seasons.

I'm not buying the official story on Ryan Jamaal Swain's departure after 1 episode. Look at his Insta account. Sure there's mention of his sister, but there's also plenty of very recent self-promotion going on. This does not strike me as the account of someone on break from the entertainment industry to grieve.

What gives?

Ha ha ha! This shit show’s ratings were down 50% from last season’s numbers. Good.

R29 Is Berhardt being type cast? She seems to play an AIDS nurse or doctor in so many series/films.

I don't think I'm gonna be able to watch this thing. It's so bad.

First of all, wasn't Blanca in a wheelchair at the end of Season 2? And now she seems to be just fine.

Then there's the anachronistic dialogue. Blanca says "we're having a watch party" of the OJ low speed chase. The term "watch party" didn't exist in 1994.

And finally, there's the insufferable Billy Porter. I can barely stand to look at his overly pulled face, let alone endure his ridiculous histrionics. He really wants another Emmy.

The boyfriend of Bianca storyline is also completely bonkers. What promising young doctor says "I'm gonna take an uneducated tranny with AIDS as a wife?"

They should have had a young actor portraying the boy Electra, not the ancient star, there was no believability to the flashback, just bad camp.

So what is the hoped for happy ending here, that they all get pussies?

Yeah, what happened to Porter's face? It looks stretched.

They're so afraid to show them as "boys" because they have to acknowledge BIOLOGICAL FACTS.

Though, I was impressed that Indya let themself be portrayed as butch queen last night (and apparently they cut their hair for real for that episode).

Some of the writing was really bad last night, like when Elektra was declaring "herself" to her mother. It was so cheesy. Nobody talks like that. I thought the actress who played Elektra's mother brought authenticity to the scene, but then the life-affirming dialogue ruined the momentum.

They’re playing loose and fast with history again, the park was finished coverage the vats of human waste by 1993.

Has Blanca had bottom surgery yet?

Emmys for all the women!!!

Golden Globes for the whole cast! Stunning and brave!

Porter’s face is creepy.

Porter's face looks like it's going to snap. It is uncomfortable watching him.

Dominique is so gorgeous. She has improved dramatically as an actress, but she's also got the IT factor which helps her.

I thought Indya looked better with the shorter hair. They really haven't done anything with their character since season 2. I just don't care about the relationship between Angel and Papi.

I know it's fiction, but I just can't buy hood rat Papi as a successful model scout/agent.

I loved this episode...I thought the scenes between Electra and her mom were fantastic. I loved seeing the early days of the House of Abundance. I'm glad they resolved trunk situation and how they came together to help Electra. The best episode in a very long time!

I agree r56, and throughout Electra was the most convincing she has been in this show.

Oh please, there was not one iota of believability in Electra as a boy in a dress, Orange is the New Black was exceptional in having Laverne’s real life identical twin brother play her as a pre-op, anything outside of that needs to be another actor all together. If there’s going to be an argument that trans people should be the ones playing trans characters, then it needs to work the other way around as well.

OF course, straight men throwing themselves at Billy Porter willing to give up their wife and three kids for his disease ridden dying body.

Does Sandra Bernhardt eat the pussy?

My lord! Anna Maria Horseford is FAT! That arse on her!!!!!!!

The music heard on episode 4, season 3, worked perfectly with the story.

Horrible (over)acting. Painful to watch. How is this show getting Emmys - it’s worse than a bad gay community theater production. Had so much potential - having grown up in the period and been surrounded by queens like this, I’m so disappointed that they created caricatures instead of capturing the real rawness and strength (ex, Dorian from Paris is Burning)

R63 Did it get any Emmys other than Porter’s undeserved one? The show is painful and bad!

R59-You might have noticed the preacher didn't show up at the bus station.

I’m confused. Ep 3 ended with Pray beginning his rehab. Ep 4 opens with no mention (presumably time has passed) and he’s confronting a new issue, and the addiction storyline has never happened. Amateur hour.

And there was no B story in this episode. Just one long slog through Pray’s backstory that wasn’t that compelling.

(And that was a poorly attended church service... and Pray seemed the only one of the bus!)

This show plays fast and lose with time.

Y'all just need to shut the fuck up about all the little mistakes you feel the need to point out.

I bet y'all are single.

Ok, I got a bit of a laugh when Pray asked how long he had left to live. My cynical side said "two more episodes, I guess?".

I'll be waiting for this to land on Netflix later this year, as I understand it's supposed to do. I actually really enjoyed the show after quitting part of the way through the first episode of season one, and skipping to the second episode.

I really hope MJ Rodriguez gets an Emmy out of this (I adore her as Blanca), and that we never have to see or hear from Billy Porter again.

Anna Maria Horsford has a HUGE arse!

The third season is better than season two but it's all over the place. And some of the writing is just eye-rolling. So many speeches and "I LOVE MYSELF" mantras. People did not talk like this in the '80s or '90s.

Mock and Canals are horrible writers. Good ideas but horrible execution

And that gospel performance by Porter was horrible. His shrill vocals sounded like a good dose of Auto-tune had been put on them.

So was he from East Liberty, New Jersey, or more likely East Liberty in Pittsburgh?

[quote] (And that was a poorly attended church service... and Pray seemed the only one of the bus!)

That was probably due to COVID filming restrictions.

[quote]Y'all just need to shut the fuck up about all the little mistakes you feel the need to point out.

[quote]I bet y'all are single.

Now re-read this in Billy Porter's over-emoting sticcato voice.

BP often sounds like Oprah giving away a CA-AR.

Porter has been so hammy this season. Everything is pitched at 100. The desperation for another Emmy is so off-putting. The guest stars have been much stronger. Even Janet Hubert reigned it in and was effective as the judgmental aunt.

And the writing was so amateurish the other night.

You know when they mentioned "knees", Pray Tell would make some comment about being on his knees, and sure enough he did. It was so tacky.

What a shitty episode. Pray sitting around his mother’s table with 3 women chewing the scenery as hideous stereotypes - the religious nut, the fun supportive aunt, the disapproving mother.

Shit. Grade F.

I still haven't started watching this season, and this thread makes me want to skip it altogether.

“You’re my ride or die” uttered in the last episode by Angel to Papi at their wedding, seemed anachronistic. Isn’t that a 2010’s expression?

R81 The writing is so sloppy this season. It's like the episode where OJ's low speed chase was on TV, and Blanca said, "We're having a watch party." That term didn't exist in the 90s.

This latest episode was beyond bad. They're actually paying Janet Mock to write this shit?

I laughed out loud when Papi started singing at the wedding. Could this show get any more ridiculous?

And why is it that only Pray Tell is dying this season, when the last season ended with Blanca in a wheelchair?

I half expect a character to wake up from a coma in the final episode and say, "I had a dream, and in the dream we were all happy and accepted, and all our hopes and wishes came true." It's always been a fantasy version of trans life in NYC, but this season has not even the most tenuous connection with reality.

[quote]I laughed out loud when Papi started singing at the wedding. Could this show get any more ridiculous?

At the end of this scene my "watch group" laughed when someone said, "And look, not a cellphone recording anything... they must have confiscated them before it started" since this scene was so 2021.

This shitfest can’t be over soon enough.

This is the best season of American Horror Story EVER!!!

Can't believe any of you watch this insufferable tranny shit!

How many fucking trannies and bi people have infested Data lounge?! There are so many fucking Threads on this shit tranny Series! Are gay men and lesbians actually watching this tranny shit?!

R87 Wait, I thought this was Scream Queens?

The writing in this last episode was strictly Afterschool Special pablum. Janet Mock complained that she only gets $40K per episode? She should be thanking her lucky stars she's not getting 40 bucks for this crap.

I was hoping at the end of the episode when they were on the beach that a rogue wave would swallow up Angel and the kid and sweep them out to sea.

I guess without another season we’re going to miss the episode where Lil Papi leaves Angel for a real woman.

I am enjoying the lack of ballroom scenes and the fact that Dominique Jackson is better at playing a sympathetic character than she was a vixen. Or maybe she’s gotten more comfortable? I still don’t understand that about-face, though.

Agree that Dominique's character-shift made zero sense. And J has grown a lot as an actor

Dominique has been the bright spot of the season. She's like Gina Gershon in Showgirls - the writing is so bad and oh-so-serious but DJ plays the camp side of it and makes it entertaining.

I like MJ but she's been saddled with basically reciting expository dialogue and being preachy. She's been a bit tiring this season. The perfect boyfriend storyline has been a waste of time.

I thought Hailie did a good job in her scene considering they just threw in a boyfriend who she dumped in the same scene, that she was giving up drugs and standing up for herself. Like the rest of the season, sloppy and rushed writing.

Finished the series and decided to take a look at how it started. The writing and character work in the pilot puts the nonsense it ended with to shame. Real dialogue (not brilliant but not mere exposition and themes stuffed into characters' mouths) and much less self-indulgent acting all around. Porter wasn't yet a medieval gorgon, the cinematography was better, and the whole thing isn't a self-important screed. I think I blame the heavy hand of Mock for the decline.

As the younger people say these days, "I was living!", when I saw Blanca and Pray's performance to Miss Diana Ross' rendition of, "Ain't No Mountain High Enough".

And billy porter is much better when he's not performing for an Emmy

I wonder if one of the things that happened is that this show launched just before the spotlight was aimed at the issue of predominantly white, straight, cisgender, male writers telling stories about women, people of color and the queer community.

Then it became incumbent upon Murphy to hand creative control to people who could advance the narrative without being attacked for not understanding the stories they were writing about.

There are not that many experienced writers, producers and directors in Hollywood who represent those communities.

Well the thing is it did have white het cis male characters played by Evan Peters and Janes Van Der Beek and there should have been a cis het female main character played by Tatiana Maslany as the dance teacher, which was to be a prominent role. The latter was excised before filming and the former disappeared after season one. It would have been a much stronger story had these characters remained and balanced out what became a narrowly defined range of personalities that seemed by the third season to live in some magical fairy world of their own making without any touchstones to the outside world of greater NYC.

Season one dialogue was Tennessee Williams compared to where they ended up

Angel would have been found dead on the piers, Blanca would have been working some low-paying job instead of becoming "Magical Nurse, Elektra would have been doing tranny porn, and Lulu would have been a crackhead who doesn't get clean.

That's the real Pose. Not Mock's fantasy Pose.

God, just finished that 2-hour finale slog and barely made it through. Thank God Pray died halfway through or else I probably wouldn't have made it.

The ridiculous dialogue - it was like somebody went to Wikipedia, looked up "AIDS crisis," printed the page out, handed it to the actors, and said, "Here's your script. Make it sound dramatic."

The ONLY thing Ryan Murphy has ever been good at is picking the right music. Other than that, thank God "Pose" is finally dead.

Angel had about 3 lines in the finale, and she looked and sounded wasted out of her mind delivering them.

[quote] The ridiculous dialogue - it was like somebody went to Wikipedia, looked up "AIDS crisis," printed the page out, handed it to the actors, and said, "Here's your script. Make it sound dramatic."

r104 nailed it. That's what I was trying to say too. Check out the 1st and 2nd episodes to see how far it felt, esp re dialogue with some attempt at wit and character instead of platitudes

R106 Yup!

I think you're right, R100. And as the audience continued to shrink, Murphy washed his hands of it and allowed Mock & Co. to produce a show that was mostly aimed at indulging trans fantasies. Nothing wrong with that, but it was far from what season one promised.

R3 Yeah! Tears of laughter!

POSE is about as far removed from the actual lives of tranny, pier queen ball-walkers as having Julia Roberts play Harriet Tubman.

No joke!

The show died a pong time ago.

[quote] The show died a pong time ago.

You mean ping-pong? Yes?

r111 "died a pong"?

died a [bold]long[/bold], perhaps???

Janet Mock’s writing was the major problem this season. I applaud Ryan Murphy for giving her such a big opportunity but she was not up to the task. The episodes (particularly #3 this season) written and directed by others were the highlights.

The episode with Pray Tell’s visit to Pittsburgh, which JM wrote and directed, was this season’s low point.

The show became "Trans In The City".

It wishes, r116

Janet Cock is a hack.

Does this show have any gay storylines? I mean with two gay men? I know it's all about trans people.

Yes, r119. Ricky dates both Damon and Pray Tell over the course of the show. And Ricky has more chemistry with Christopher, Blanca's too-perfect boyfriend than Blanca has with him. Another trannie fantasy of Mock's.

I think the Pray-Ricky romance was at the behest of Ms. Porter.

Another fantasy - no way would someone like Ricky have any kind of interest in a scary old queen like Pray.

Billy Porter is an accomplished writer, no joke.

I'm certain he was frustrated when he was asked to perform substandard writing.

R21 right? How does one go from dating hottie Damon to a loud old Queen like Praytell? That made no sense.

I can't believe that Ms. Murphy initially wanted Ms. Porter to play one of the girls??? Clearly that woulda been a disaster since although he is an amazing singer, his acting aint shit! He can only play a version of himself.

Hottie Damon? You must be kidding. Damon was a total turn off. Maybe not as bad as Pray Tell but nowhere close to Ricky in terms of sex appeal.

R124 I gotta disagree. I had a huge crush on Damon. He's gorgeous. I get a vibe that he's kinda arrogant though. I don't like Ricky's hairline, plus the personality reminds me too much of someone I know and dislike. Ricky has a nice body though.

[quote]died a pong

Well, it did stink.

Sandra Bernhard is an impossibly bad actor.

I think one of the pretend doctors at the pretend hospital where they pretend to work did Sandra's face.

And remember that hack Mock was pissed about her treatment and tore everyone a new one at the premiere.

[quote] “Fuck Hollywood,” she said early on in her address to the audience, which lasted about 15 minutes. “This makes you uncomfortable? It should. It should make you fucking shake in your motherfucking boots. This is speaking the truth. This is what [italic]Pose[/italic] is.”

Plus admitted—at the damned premiere—to the adorable Angel Bismark Curiel that she cheated on him.

Papi deserves better

Papi is the man! He "rode" that opportunity with Mock for all it was worth. But the series is over now and I'm sure he's got all kinds of trannies throwing their dicks at him! He doesn't need Mock.

Is Papi a gay?

Most overused words in every episode: "I deserve" - sorry but that's just egomaniac. Okay for Elektra but not the other characters to say. Didn't it occur to the writers that decent people don't talk like that? Changing the gender or working in prostitution aren't achievements that qualify for accolades in life.

Sandra Bernhard was good in the series. It was a hard part, more mouthpiece than character. She did fine.

Especially since her mouthpiece and all her other parts were destroyed by bad surgery.

Sandra is a pussy licker.

R132 I don't know how he identifies but Papi (Angel Bismark Curiel) dated Janet Mock (a transexual who had gender reassignment surgery so I assume she has an actual pussy). However he married a "character" on the show (Angel) who did not have the surgery. With that blurring between his character and his private life, and him being such a cutie, I'm pretty sure he gets hit on by biologically born women, pre and post op transexuals and gays as well.

Why didn't Electra pay for her "family's" reassignment surgery?

Angel, the actor, strikes me as someone who will be exactly what you want to be depending on what you can offer him.

And I'm totally fine with that, because he's a cutie.

R139 Papi seems very "willing" to do what it takes to get ahead. They probably passed him around over there at POSE!

Enjoying re-watching the first few episodes of season one. They just mugged some salvation army Santas. More playful inventiveness than anything in this dismal last season

The last season really was shit.

Waste of a premise with some promise.

The last season was depressing, but I think that is the story they REALLY wanted to tell but they knew nobody would watch it if it started that way.

So were the Emmy noms deserved?

MJ’s was.

MJ will not win. Nor should she.

R147 Don't be sure. Awards shows are all about virtue signaling these days.