We’re Here :: Sussex, New Jersey

HBO

We’re Here has been so successful over the last three seasons because of the brilliant casting, from Bob the Drag Queen, Shangela and Eureka O’Hara to all of the ‘drag kids’ who have participated in the show, allowing the world to see their stories, their struggles, their ally-ship with the LGBTQ+ community. Each story is told with care and sensitivity, giving the participant a safe space in which to tell us all what they’ve experienced in their lives while living in small, ultra-conservative towns that don’t want to admit the LGBTQ+ population exists, or just barely tolerates them as long as they’re not ‘in your face’ with their lifestyle (while, of course, having no problem being in everyone else’s faces with their personal religious and political beliefs … which are often one and the same). That all changed a bit with this week’s episode set in Sussex, New Jersey — which Bob points out is so close to New York City but feels like Idaho because it’s a rural area with silos, so many silos, and strip malls. The Queens arrive at a car show in the ‘Jersey girl’ best, big hair, leather prints, and the biggest set of boobs imaginable on Eureka. It’s hard to tell if the crowd is laughing with them or at them.

Things start off great with Ashley, a lesbian police officer who is fully supported by her family but feels that she’ll never find love in the town she loves because everyone she could date is too far back in the closet. The few women she has brought home were welcomed with open arms, but in the end they were the right partners for her. There is no gay nightlife in Sussex, so it’s Bob’s mission to get her into the city and take her to a lesbian bar. And it goes so well, with Ashley immediately connecting with a group of strangers, feeling comfortable enough after such a short time to reveal that she’s having ‘top surgery’ soon. The reaction is so positive Ashley is overwhelmed, and by the end of the night they are all sharing digits with the women promising to be at the drag show.

Next up is Eureka’s new drag daughter Josh, a married man with a wife and two kids who identifies as bisexual and wants people to know that their home is a safe space for any who may need shelter. When Eureka meets Josh at a stable for equine-assisted therapy, which helps Josh and he hopes to be certified to help others, he reveals a period of trauma in his life that is absolutely heart-shattering. Josh had been in the Navy and at one point had felt comfortable enough with someone to reveal his bisexuality to them believing it would be kept confidential (this was in the era of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’). Josh found out in the worst way possible that his secret had been made public and he was assaulted in the shower by five men, and the commanding officer covered up the incident (which means those guys are probably still out there, never having faced consequences for their actions, and that is truly disturbing and gross). The experience made Josh withdraw into himself and then he just happened to be in a bar, met the woman who would become his wife and have two kids. But while Josh heals from the trauma, he’s still not fully himself but he does own one dress that he’ll wear on occasion to help him relax a bit. While Josh really embraces the process of preparing for the drag show, it’s clear his wife is very conflicted and probably concerned about how this will affect their lives. She is a music teacher who works with special needs kids, and she has been helping Josh with his trauma and when Eureka pulls her aside for a chat she says she is still processing all of this but she wants to see Josh as his best self and she’ll be by his side to help him get there. But you can’t help feeling that she’s not okay and is perhaps worried that if Josh goes too far into his feminine side — he proudly announces later in the episode that he just went and got his ears pierced to help him feel more feminine — it could have a serious impact on their marriage and family. I hope their marriage is strong enough to weather all of Josh’s opening up to himself, and this certainly is one of those times when the series really needs to do some follow-up episodes, a ‘where are they now’ type of thing.

And then there is Brandon, who admits he’s only on the show because an old high school teacher told him the show was looking for a straight guy like him to participate. On the surface, Brandon does seem to be a straight ally, but he’s still 100% a product of his environment. Poor Shangela is taken aback upon their first meeting, but doing all she can to be her cordial self. Meeting at a local bar, Shangela makes a bet with Brandon that if she can sink a ball playing pool he has to do a runway walk from one side of the room to the other. That’s a flat no from Brandon because ‘I live here.’ Brandon doesn’t seem to know what he’s signed up for, nor does he seem to care or think that what he’s going to do will have an impact on members of the LGBTQ+ community in Sussex (at least he has one friend there who tries to explain to him how what he’s doing will help those, especially the younger residents, see that it’s okay for them to be themselves because at this point in time they are too fearful to admit anything). Brandon still doesn’t seem to get it, and when Shangela mentions she’s from a small town in Texas, Brandon cracks a joke about the state’s lack of Planned Parenthood and says ‘Fuck Texas’ — probably not the best thing to say to the person from there who is now supposed to mentor you through this process. I actually expected Shangela to simply say this isn’t going to work and walk out, but bless her heart she believes she can help break down the wall Brandon has built around himself even though she comments that he’s not only not politically correct, he’s not correct.

Things don’t improve as Brandon demonstrates he has zero clue as to what they are going to do, having just researched drag queens on YouTube and believes the act of ‘tucking’ requires duct tape and Super Glue. The glam squad assures him there will be no Super Glue involved, but Brandon isn’t sure they’re right about that. Later in an effort to bond, he and Shangela go fishing — from separate piers, no less — and Brandon proves her right when she said he wasn’t ‘correct’, using some words that even HBO bleeped out (I believe the derogatory F-word and the N-word) and telling her he’s offended by pronouns, and even more offended when Shangela tries to school him on the proper order of the letters LGBTQ after he left out the G, snapping at her if she felt he had hate in his heart for leaving out the G. I don’t know how she did it, but Shangela did stick with Brandon, remaining calm and respectful, hoping that her demeanor would be the way to get the message through to Brandon. The rest of filming must have been a tough haul because we get very little of Brandon after that leading up to the night of the show, for which he does show up and participates in a lackluster way with Shangela to Amy Winehouse’s ‘Valerie’. At the end he’s just by himself, smoking, saying he was surprised by the reception and everyone seemed happy but he did very little. Yes, Brandon, you sure did. Someone please give Shangela a gold star for this week’s episode.

HBO

Perhaps the lack of usable Brandon footage allowed for the inclusion of the one segment that I was really missing over the last few episodes — the group get-together. I love seeing the Queens and their ‘kids’ all meet up and share their stories, and while Ashley and Josh were fully into it, Brandon still had that wall up around him. The episode also had time to end with a performance from our three Queens to ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough’ by Jennifer Hudson, decked out like angels with glowing halos and wings. Gurl, those wings were sickening!

But with Brandon out of the way at the top of the drag show, we move on to Josh who selected the name Fionix as his drag name, a combination of the phoenix (as in he feels like a phoenix rising from the flames) and Fiona from Shrek. His performance with Eureka is inspired by Toy Story, they and the dancers are the toys come to life, with Eureka as a big Barbie doll and Josh as a wind-up doll performing to Scissor Sisters’ ‘Let’s Have a Kiki’. It fun and his family seems to like it, but I still see concern in his wife’s face when he brings them on stage and tells the crowd how the whole experience was ‘transformative and incredible’ thanks to his drag mother Eureka.

Last up is Ashley, who requested some very femme drag and the team delivered, with she and Bob in matching-but-opposite electric green and black outfits and wigs. They do a stunning performance to Heart’s ‘Alone’ that included a spinning platform with a vanity on it and falling snow. You can’t help but get emotional seeing her mom crying and singing along with her. Bob gives her a moment to talk about the experience and she tells the crowd, ‘To the deepest corners and closets in this country, I hope you know that if you don’t have a support system at all, we’re your family.’

And that is really what We’re Here is all about. It’s still a message that needs to be heard, especially after a week when Kellyanne Conway went on Fox News and said it was basically okay to attack drag queens, proving definitely that drag queens are not the ones we should be worried about. The first of the two-part season finale is up next and the Queens and production team boldly go where they may be needed most — Florida. Buckle up.

What did you think of this episode? Tell us in the comments section below!

New episodes of We’re Here premiere Fridays at 10:00 PM on HBO, streaming on HBO Max.