I have been waiting for the moment that I could write about my appreciate for this phenomenal show. As an LGBTQ advocate, and being a curious person in general, I enjoy a show that portrays an aspect of life that we as regular people living regular lives don’t get to see or talk about in our everyday lives. First and foremost, I watch Rupaul’s Drag Race religiously and most of what I know about ballroom culture stemmed from that show until Netflix put Paris is Burning up. Those two shows were my foundation while this show is a living personification and, for lack of a better term, imitation of that life (which was FABULOUS!).
The show centers around Blanca and her “family” battling it out in the ballroom every night for respect and trophies for fierceness, realness and overall fabulousness. Season one focused on establishing these characters and exploring their struggle in late 80’s America. Season two, which is set in the 90’s, expands on those characters, voguing becoming popular, the AIDs epidemic and the rise of supermodels.
Before we dive into this new season, I have to recap a little of what happened last season. I will try not to do any spoilers. So Blanca set some stern rules in her new house after leaving the house of Abundance. She picked up her son Damon off a park bench after he was put out of his house, Angel came from the house of Abundance because she missed Blanca, Papi found them after a ball one night and Ricky was Damon’s pick because, let’s face it, he was fione! The house of Evangelista was born while the house of Abundance started to crumble.
Meanwhile, in a comfy loft across town, EleKtra Abundance longs to be a complete woman all the while bossing her children around reminding them of how ungrateful they are. Season one ended with a nice pretty bow but it gave up a future.
Let’s watch and review, in depth, what we got going on this season, shall we?
So the title image that I chose for this article features Indiya Moore’s character Angel Abundance. I think a lot of this season will focus on her new life as a single woman. Last season Angel fell i love with a man she met during her sex work phase. Now that her Prince Charming is gone, she has her sights set on a new venture, modeling. Modeling was Blanca’s idea and not hers. Blanca wants the best for her children and Angel is the one who can pass just as well as Elektra.
Now I want to say this before the season starts, Damon and Ricky will not last and because they live in the same house, someone is going to have to leave. Damon is a boy who is still trying to find his way through the world as a gay man and be ok with his new lifestyle and live by his mother’s rules while Ricky is a free-for-all type of guy. Plus, he is back from being on tour with Al B. Sure. Only trouble can come from this.
Then there’s Elektra. She got to a point where she was down on her luck and Blanca was there to pick her up and not that mother is tired of living below what she’s used to, mother wants out. Looks like mama is doing some dominatrix work. Don’t know how much that pays but it looks like she has a new house with new children. Scandal!
Last but not least are my favorites, Blanca and Pray Tell. Here’s what I want from these two. I need them to both have a love interest. Blanca almost has someone last season and then he turned out to be a dud. What Angel almost had with Wall Street is what I want for Blanca. Pray Tell might not be ready for love since his lover died from complications of AIDs but I want someone to try. He also had someone during last season. Let’s see if they delve deeper into that relationship.
There’s a lot I expect from this show. The ballroom has to be fire and I can’t wait to see how Madonna releasing “Vogue” changes the ballroom movement. I also want this show to continue to educate some of us about people that we don’t personally interact with every day. I think in order to combat fear we must educate people about what they think is an unknown. This show does a great job of entertaining, educating and fluctuating between the two.
Season two of Pose is now on Netflix! Go watch and we’ll discuss!
BLACK WATCH 