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Pose returns for its shortened third and final season, jumping ahead in time again, this time to 1994. Things kick off on a kind of humorous note as the slo-mo O.J. Simspon freeway chase takes center stage in the lives of Blanca and family, with everyone gathered in front of the TV for a watch party and various family members having decidedly different viewpoints on Simpson’s guilt or innocence. Elektra can’t believe ‘one of the greatest actors of our time’ has committed such a crime, while Pray Tell notes that when a Black man achieves the status of someone like Simpson, they become raceless. It’s a mild diversion from the tragedies about to unfold, and rivalries that are about to come to a head.
Elektra’s former child Lemar is busy building his House of Khan and snatching trophies — and now cash prizes — any way he can. His methods are enough to push Blanca to regroup the now scattered House of Evangelista (and I can’t tell you how thrilled I am that she and Elektra are no longer at odds) to remind everyone how the balls used to be, and to cement their iconic status. But the spectre of AIDS still hangs heavy over everyone, especially as Lemar’s House brother Cubby is living out his last days in the hospital with Blanca and the rest of the Evangelistas to comfort him. And despite Blanca’s admonitions, Lemar is too busy to visit. Until it’s too late. Blanca even managed to bring Cubby’s mother it to reconnect with the child she pushed away and they all have a lovely last few moments, but his death and Lemar’s behavior has only lit a fire under Blanca’s ass.
But now Blanca has her own set of concerns. Not only is she also living with HIV, she’s got a new boyfriend, Christopher, she’s helping Judy in the hospital’s AIDS ward, and she’s got her children and her friends to worry about. Always the Mother. The biggest issue at hand is Pray Tell, who has been to more than enough funerals and is waiting for his time to come, pretty much giving up on life and the ballroom, and self-medicating with alcohol. He’s always out of hand when they get together, and not even Damon can get through to him after his own stint with Alcoholics Anonymous. But does Pray want help? On top of everything else she’s dealing with, Blanca also feels the call to do more with her life, looking to attend school again to become a nurse with a little encouragement from Judy.
But first they have to honor Cubby … and show Lemar what family really means. Of course they slay the house down and shame the House of Khan in the process, and Christopher even joins the family for Chinese after the ball. All seems well at the end of the episode … but downward spirals continue.
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There’s another jump from the first episode, several months it seems as O.J. is on trial at this point, and Pray Tell’s drinking has gotten worse. Not only that, but Angel and Lulu have started smoking weed laced with crack … and none of them are hiding their addictions from anyone. Pray is the most obvious in need of help and Blanca attempts to set up an intervention, going through a dry run to make sure everyone is on board and knows how to handle what is sure to be a massive confrontation. The only issue here is the rehab which costs $2500. Luckily there’s a Summer Solstice Ball on the horizon with cash prizes of $500 in each of the five categories. All the Evangelistas have to do now is win. And with Elektra now in drill sergeant mode, there’s no way they can lose.
But Papi is not blind to Angel’s and Lulu’s extra-curricular activities. He doesn’t care what Lulu wants to do with her life, but he’s not going to let his fiancee go down that rabbit hole with her. Of course Angel denies everything, and is more concerned about what appears to be Papi’s lack of focus on her modeling career (in the time since the last season, Papi’s become a successful agent). Angel fears her career is over, but Papi tells her that in this industry you’re hot, then not, then hot again. Angel’s time will come. And it finally does, but she’s actually come to her senses and booked herself into an out patient program to deal with her crack addiction. She might be losing a major job now, but Papi couldn’t be happier that she made the decision on her own.
That may have come because of Pray Tell’s reaction to the impromptu intervention over a family dinner. Papi let the cat out of the bag, so Blanca had to proceed with the first step of the reading of the letters, none of which Pray accepted with grace. Instead he lashed out at everyone, with Ricky (yes, they’re still together!) being the straw that broke the camel’s back by threatening to leave the relationship if Pray didn’t get help. (We also learn here that Damon went to visit his cousin and relapsed and he’s never coming back.) With a lot of anger and hurt feelings all around (Elektra telling Pray that gray is not a skin tone and that he is severely deficient in Vitamin D and Shea butter was priceless), this was probably one of the worst interventions in the history of interventions.
And Ricky carried through with his threat, bags packed when Pray came home from work at the Macy’s Chanel counter. The thought of Ricky leaving unleashed a torrent of emotions in Pray, begging Ricky not to leave him like everyone else has, but I think Ricky could see that was just the ploy of an addict trying to lay guilt on someone else for their situation. Ricky did leave, but was it enough to get Pray to finally open his eyes? And if things couldn’t be bad enough, Pray’s friend Castle is hinting that he’s planning to take his own life with all of the medication he’s been hoarding.
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But there is still a ball to attend, and Pray drags Castle along, forbidding him to drink while he’s on his meds. The House of Evangelista again slays and humiliates Khan in the process, but Castle ends up having a seizure after getting the bartender to put some vodka in his soda water. After he’s released from the hospital, no one knows where he is but all of his pills are gone … and Pray knows he went to the Plaza hotel to order room service and take his pills. Pray gets there in time, but Castle found he wanted to live after all, but only if Pray promises to get off the bottle. The intervention may not have worked, but a close brush with death looks to have opened Pray’s eyes at last.
Blanca’s boyfriend has finally taken a step to introduce her to his parents, and the first dinner didn’t go great. Christopher comes from a well-to-do family, he’s studying to be a doctor (Blanca jokes at one point that she didn’t know she was dating Theo Huxtable), and his mother is a piece of work, looking down on Blanca because she comes from the projects. What made the situation worse was that Blanca felt Christopher didn’t stand up for her, but he promises to do better at their second dinner. Blanca doesn’t want to go but he promises that it’ll be a do over. His father is late, so mother begins with the questioning, zeroing right in on the question of children. Blanca says she already has four, and Christopher has to explain she’s a House Mother. The questions become more pointed and personal and Blanca finally blurts out that she’s a trans woman and Christopher’s mother said she knew it. And helpfully added that her husband is a psychiatrist who ‘treats transsexuals’. That was Blanca’s last straw but before she could storm out, Christopher actually took her side and stood up to his mother, telling her that she can’t decide who he loves, and if she can’t accept that he loves Blanca then she’s going to lose him. And they left her at the restaurant all alone. That was a very satisfying moment.
With the ball won, Pray realizes that the money they won was for his rehab (and it was great to see Pray actually compete during the category of Candy’s Sweet Refrain — RIP Candy, you are still missed — lip syncing to En Vogue’s ‘My Lovin’ (You’re Never Gonna Get It’) and showing Lemar how it’s done. But after losing Ricky and nearly losing Castle, Pray finally admits to Blanca that he drinks because he hates himself and he hates himself because he drinks. Now is the time, and Blanca drives him to the rehab clinic in upstate New York, Mariah Carey singing ‘Anytime You Need a Friend’ as they exchange ‘I love you’s’ before Pray enters the facility. As the episode ends, Blanca is a happy woman.
But with just five episodes left, will that happiness last? It was an emotional season premiere full of tears and laughter. Hopefully there will be another short time jump and Pray, Angel and Lulu will be sober — although we don’t know Lulu’s status at the end of the second episode (and if she’s still missing Candy, I can see her riding a crack pipe to the grave to be reunited with her friend) — and Blanca and Christopher will be in a good place. But Pose is always a roller coaster do there will be drama, but one way or another there will be a happy ending because the producers never end a season on a sad note. So through whatever comes next, we have to know there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I just hate that it’s coming so soon.
What did you think of the season premiere? Give us your thoughts in the comments section below.
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