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This week’s Legendary threw quite a few wrenches into the process of choosing the final Superior House. In this week’s superhero-themed Capes & Tights Ball, judge Jameela Jamil announced right from the start that there would be no elimination this week. That also meant there would be no scores and no chops during each category round, just a winner. But to keep everyone on their toes, each of the four rounds would offer a cash prize of $5000 for the first three and $10000 for the fourth. And then another twist! Keeping with the superhero theme, the winners of each category had to face off against a ‘Super Villain’ to keep the cash prize. Phew. Got all that?
Category is: Queen Titans
The first category was a Runway and Vogue presentation with one member from each of the four remaining Houses doing their best strut down the runway and classic vogue moves to finish. And with supermodel Winnie Harlow as a guest judge, the runway walks were going to be scrutinized very closely. The vogue also had to include a reveal of the performer’s superhero costume. The voguers for this category are:
- Jamari Balmain
- Zay Zay Lanvin
- London Escada
- Delicious Gucci
Jamari, again, slayed and set a high bar for the other three. Zay Zay had an awkward reveal when her tear-away pants refused to tear away. London also did a good job but Delicious did more of a runway stomp than walk but her vogue was pretty fabulous. In the end, howver, it was no contest — Jamari was the winner, but he had to face off against super villain ‘The Bad Baby’, who was actually Shorty from the House of Ebony, a fan and judges favorite. Shorty put it all on the runway the week Ebony was eliminated in a tough call so he was back to fight for that cash. And he pulled out all the tricks in the book including trying to trip of Jamari with some silly string sprayed in his face. But when Shorty was on his back before the judges, Jamari took that opportunity to pin him down and … grind his crotch into Shorty’s face, causing Winnie to cringe and cover her eyes. But because Jamari was unflappable even with all the distractions, the judges awarded him and Balmain the first $5000 of the night.
Category is: Elastic Fantastic
This competition is all about hands and arms control, a battle of dexterity creating waves, rolls and other classic vogue movements only using the hands and arms. No body, no face. The voguers for this round are:
- Yyoyo Escada
- Carlos Lanvin
- Gravity Balmain
- Jeter Gucci
It’s pretty amazing what these people can do with their arms and hands, making them appear fluid through the movements. For me, Gravity was the clear winner with what looked like some double-jointed positions but it’s becoming clear that the judges have their favorites now and they will lean towards that person or that House. For this round they fawned over Carlos, because they really seem to be favoring the House of Lanvin now (and if Zay Zay hadn’t messed up the reveal in the first category she probably would have won that too). Not to take anything away from his performance, which was also terrific, but I think Gravity had the edge. So that put Carlos against The Beast, aka Monster from the House of 007 … who has not appeared on the show previously so the general viewer will have no idea who this is. Monster had a great demon-inspired look to Carlos’ Doctor Strange, and while they were both amazing, I felt The Beast was the clear winner. Nope, the judges handed the $5000 to Carlos and the House of Lanvin.
Category is: Super Fashionista
This category is all about high fashion and poses, poses, poses. Meaning they had to have a flawless, expensive looking outfit and poses you would see on the cover of Vogue magazine. The voguers for this round are:
- Calypso Balmain
- Jazzul Escada
- Eyricka Lanvin
- Deshon Gucci
I don’t think Jazzul understood the concept of high fashion because his Batman look was far from it. Mother Eyricka wowed everyone as a superhero fantasy in white. And let me tell you, she has the experience to deliver exactly what this category required with a high fashion runway look and sharp, crisp poses. At the close of the category, judge Leiomy Maldonado criticized everyone saying all she saw was a lack of confidence. Winnie disagreed strongly, even telling Calypso that she’s given her inspiration for poses for her next photo shoot. But there was a clear winner here and that was Eyricka, who then had to face The Filthy Penguin, aka Champ from the House of St. Laurent. This battle really didn’t seem fair as Champ had a (busted) umbrella that he was always using to block Eyricka. But she’s so good that she managed to get the prop away from him and finish the routine, putting no doubt in anyone’s mind that Mother was the clear winner of the $5000. Even if favoritism is involved, Eyricka earned that cash prize.
So of three categories, that’s two for Lanvin and one for Balmain.
Category is: Wonder Twin Powers
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Unlike past final rounds, this one only used two House members in an approximation of looking like twins, not always successfully. The pair had to come out with one doing a routine then tagging the second to finish. The voguers for this round are:
- Torie & Cali Balmain
- Makaylah & Packrat Lanvin
- Shyanne & Twilight Escada
- Jarrell & Jeter Gucci
With Makaylah in this part of the competition, there was some shade tossed around backstage with some other Houses saying Lanvin only won the final category in the last ball because of her flips coming out of the egg. Otherwise, they said, the rest of the performance was bland. No one said it out loud but perhaps there was also a bit of that Lanvin favoritism going on as well. Everyone did a great job here but I felt for sure that Gorgeous Gucci had it in the bag. Nope. The win went to … say it with me … Lanvin, putting Makaylah & Packrat in a head-to-head competition with Lethal Leopard (Lolita Leopard, House of 007) & Queen Bee (Honey, House of Balenciaga). With no wins for any of the super villains, this duo was out to slay the heroes. At one point, Leopard grabbed the cape of one of her competitors and pulled her backward as the judges’ eyes popped out in amazement. That move pretty much secured the win for the villains. I think there would have been a riot in the ballroom had they given it to Lanvin again.
So with no elimination, the judges’ decision on Superior House for the evening was quite obvious. Even though Lanvin didn’t win the final cash prize, they still won three of the four categories and were the obvious choice to be Superior House of the night, the fourth time in the seven weeks of competition that they’ve won. Is Lanvin a freight train in the competition that can’t be stopped? We’ll see in next week’s penultimate episode. But the win came with another twist — for the next round of battle, two Houses will join forces to form one Super House and Eyricka got to choose who Lanvin would team up with. Balmain, I think, would have been the obvious choice but she went with Gorgeous Gucci — Jarrell said she had no choice but to pick them — putting Balmain and Escada together. Interestingly, Gucci only has four members and this week, Escada only had four members. We know there was a blow up in Gucci that led to the departure of one of its members but there was no mention as to why Escada was down to four. So, coincidentally or not, each Super House will have nine members (unless the missing Escada suddenly reappears).
With two episodes to go, does Lanvin have the overall win in the bag or will teaming with Gorgeous Gucci shoot them in the foot? Stay tuned.
Legendary streams new episodes every Thursday on HBO Max.
What did you think of this episode? Who are you rooting for? Tell us in the comments section below!
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