Emmy Catch-Up: Pose

Every year, I watch the six submitted episodes of every series I don’t regularly watch that’s up for one of the Emmy series prizes. This year, I’m getting a jump start to check out the entire season of some of most high-profile shows I didn’t watch when they originally aired.

Pose: Season 2, Episode 5 “What Would Candy Do?” (B+)

This episode’s title was misleading in that it didn’t have much to do with Candy or with the new category created for her, but instead shined a spotlight on two characters we haven’t seen featured all that prominently in a while. I thought that the news coverage of the voguing classes that mentioned the ball scene might mean a mainstream breakout for the community in general, but it did help to propel Damon and Ricky toward the same kind of breakthrough stardom that Angel achieved with her modeling gig. I liked the presentation of the opportunity for the two of them to audition for Madonna’s Blond Ambition tour, with Blanca expressing how proud she was of Damon and Elektra announcing that she was proud of herself. The house mothers do have different styles of encouragement, and Blanca stressing that Damon needs to continue his studies was certainly gentler than Elektra telling Ricky not to come home if he didn’t get it. It’s a relief that people talk and that Blanca was able to convince Elektra to surrender her hammer and her sabotage plan. Ultimately, it was good that Damon and Ricky reconnected and repaired their relationship, even if Damon is insistent that things remain platonic and business-oriented. While the tour would have been an amazing accomplishment, being part of something slightly more down-to-earth but still incredibly exciting was a great way for things to turn out. Their pilot could lead somewhere and it could just as easily not, but at the very least, it was a fun opportunity that allowed them to express themselves.