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Well, here we are, the penultimate episode of Season 3 and of the series in general, premature as its end may be. It’s bad enough this season was cut short by the pandemic, but three seasons (and cable seasons of ten episodes, not broadcast seasons of 22) I think all of us who have invested so much time into the show and the characters just are not ready yet to say goodbye. But the powers that be have decided that this story has been told and it’s time to move on. Thankfully they gave us an episode of complete joy — well, except for one bit of bad news — before the tears that are sure to flow next week, both of sorrow and happiness I’m sure.
Now, the producers have always made it a point to end each season on an upbeat note, so this week’s bad news may or may not play into the finale. Pray Tell’s HIV status has begun to take its toll on his eyesight now, what the doctor described as the beginning of the end for him. Pray has declared that even when they told him before his time was up that he’s still hear and he’s not going to let them put a clock on his life this time either. But he knows it’s ticking … and hopefully the finale will spare us a goodbye before we say goodbye to the show. Pose has always been about family, and we need to see this family together and happy when the credits roll. The inclusion of Pray asking Blanca to help finish his panel for the AIDS quilt — with the reality hitting her that her friend was dying — was a nice touch. The design she showed him later in the episode with a mirror ball and the words ‘Live – Werk – Pose’ was entirely fitting and he loved it.
Pray is determined to not let this black cloud hang over the impending social event of the season — the marriage of Angel and Papi. If it’s still going to happen. After finding out she was going to be an instant mother, Angel could not handle it and ran back to Blanca’s house where she and Ricky did their best to convince Angel that it would be the biggest mistake of her life if she cancelled the wedding. Papi is alone now, doing a great job at raising his son, still planning to have this wedding.
But Angel still isn’t sure, to the point that she’s removed her engagement ring. What she seems to want right now is advice from her father, something that surprised Blanca because she didn’t know the two of them still talked after he threw Angel out. But Angel’s been helping him with some money, and she decides to make her next donation to him in person. What she was hoping for an what she got were two different things … but even then she got what she expected. For his part, while still having a hard time addressing his son as a woman (and telling the waitress at the diner that Angel was his daughter seemed like a change was coming), her dad actually gave her something to think about even though she didn’t want to hear it — when they see an M on her passport at the marriage license registration office, there is no way they will grant her and Papi a license. It’s 1994, that just isn’t happening. While he thought he was telling her this out of love so she didn’t get her heart broken, she took it more as an admonition about her lifestyle and left things on a bittersweet note. She loves him but she’s fairly certain he will never change.
But meeting with her father made her realize the one man who has always had her back was Papi, and she finally decided to go back to their apartment and make amends. Catching him talking so sweetly to Esteban Jr., aka Beto, about it being okay for men to cry when they’re sad — because he’s cried over Angel — just melted her heart and she revealed that she was there and apologized for ever doubting that what they had was real. But they both know they may have problems getting a marriage license.
Mother Elektra thinks she has the problem solved — get her mob friends to alter her passport, replacing the M with an F. Blanca said starting her marriage with a lie was not the way to handle this. They just need to march into the office and once they see Angel there will be no question that she is a beautiful woman. As the moment of truth comes, Angel and Papi go to get their license. Papi hits it off with the woman behind the desk who shares his Dominican heritage. They already have their forms in order so all she needs to see is their IDs. And Papi works some magical verbal distraction on the woman, dazzling her with his son, their honeymoon, watching Disney movies, that she seems to have not looked closely at Angel’s passport. But … she notices she missed something — Angel’s signature on the form. That was all they needed and left with a marriage license in hand.
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Now Papi struggles to write his marriage vows because what he says at the wedding has to be next level compared to what he says about Angel in their everyday lives. But he’s celebrating the moment with his friends Pray Tell, Ricky and Lamar (the hatchet has been buried). Pray reveals his condition to them but insists that the only thing on anyone’s mind right now is this wedding. Papi delivers a toast to these men who’ve stood by him, and he even sees the spirit of Cubby with them toasting to his happiness. In the bridal suite, Angel is getting ready with Elektra, Blanca and Lulu, and they each give Angel the traditional bridal gifts of something old, new, borrowed and blue. For Old, Blanca gives Angel her mother’s recipe book. She nourished her children with those recipes, and she wants Angel to use them to nourish her family. Elektra gives Angel a new white mink coat. It was the first extravagant thing she bought herself before she even had furniture in her apartment after her mother kicked her out, and now she will have this to keep her warm and be a symbol of her Mother’s love. For the Borrowed, Lulu didn’t have much to give (and when did she get a boyfriend, whom we saw briefly earlier in the episode as the two had a fight over her sobriety and him walking out because he wanted to get high) but she gave Angel all the appreciation she had for Angel always having her back. So for that support, Lulu is letting Angel borrow her 30 days sober chip.
The Something Blue was rather unexpected — Candy’s ball-peen hammer wrapped in a blue ribbon. We saw Candy wield that hammer many a time if someone was trying to come at her, but for Angel is was just another reminder that Candy was gone. And it gave us one more chance to see Candy appear to talk some sense into Angel about all that ‘survivor’s guilt’ being a waste of time. She’s got the hammer now, and if Papi gives her any trouble she can use it to crack him in the shins.
And then it was time for the wedding. All of their friends did, in fact, arrive in the stolen wedding dresses, a sea of white that may have been the show’s nod to the protests last Summer in New York to bring attention to the violence being perpetrated against Black trans women. Lulu, Lamar, Elektra, Blanca, Ricky and Papi made their way down the aisle and awaited the bride. I half expected Angel’s dad to make a last minute appearance — perhaps that would have been a bit too trite — but she sashayed down that aisle in style, taking everyone’s breath away. With Pray Tell as the officiant, he said what he had to say and let the couple recite their own vows. Angel’s vows were full of emotion and apology for ever doubting Papi’s love for her. She has no doubt now, and she is ready to take on motherhood as well. Papi began his vows but paused, looking a bit panicked and saying he couldn’t do this.
Then he busted into song, covering ‘I Swear’ by All-4-One, with back-up from Ricky, and eventually the entire crowd joined it. It was one of those moments that could have come off like a huge slice of cheese, but with emotions running so high from Angel’s vows, you couldn’t help but be drawn in to the moment. And with that, Pray Tell had nothing more to say but to tell Papi to kiss his woman. Little Beto covering his eyes when they kissed was just perfect. We didn’t get to see the reception (although we did see that Angel changed her dress), but as the new family was leaving the venue and saying their goodbyes, they were surprised with one more gift from Mother. She certainly wasn’t going to forget about Papi, gifting them with a new white convertible. The scene faded to the family enjoying time on the beach, getting the happy ending that they (and we) dreamed of. Hopefully this isn’t a final goodbye for them. I want to see them all make one final, triumphant return to the last ballroom of the series!
What did you think of this episode? Give us your thoughts in the comments section below.
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