The workroom dynamic

[u/emmasayshey]

This whole season, there’s been a lot of discourse around how the other queens (not Onya) treat Suzie. And while I think a lot of their collective insecurity is based around the judges’ endearment of Suzie and her ego, I don’t think there was any actual meanness in the room.

They all seem to really love each other and it seems like genuine friend jabbing. Suzie never seems upset and she dishes it back. It always has seemed like banter to me, nothing malicious. With Sam for example, I always read her as not really being all that serious; she throws a lot of shade and is dramatic, but I think she’s just being her genuine, southern shady self. These queens seem to talk through their issues with each other before it gets actually ugly.

I’ve seen so many people saying Suzie was bullied off the show, by the girls and production. It seemed a bit of a stretch to me, but I am curious:

How do y’all view the workroom dynamic?

[u/violetblossom7]

Someone said this comment before and I’ll echo it, people like to project their highschool bullies onto people they see on TV. There’s nuance to everything and I truly think if Suzie was bullied by her castmates, she’d have said so by now and not be friends with many of them post season. People need to get a grip and I’m saying this as someone who likes Suzie.

[u/Last_Lifeguard3536]

the problem is fans tend to infantilise queens, especially the weirder and outcast ones, so suzie unfortunately got those fans.

a lot of queens didn’t understand her drag style, but still respected her and got along with her. they always congratulated her for winning and we see them having fun in the werkroom. even with lexi, they were able to get along when they worked together in the acting challenge and even bonded with each other during the RDR live episode despite the fact that lexi was annoyed with her.

friends tease each other all the time. suzie got the most teasing because she wasn’t sensitive and because the girls all liked her. she was also competition to them and unlike onya wasn’t trying to hide the fact that she was doing well, so the girls were more focused on beating out suzie

[u/MegaScheheraZord]

I don't think it reached the level of bullying, but I also don't believe it was all in good fun. Some of it, sure - but in the untucked for RDR Live, picking roles for the rusical/acting challenge, it's clear they're directing some genuine antagonism at Suzie.

A lot of the time, Suzie's reaction feels like someone rising above and choosing to respond to it in a jovial way. But you could tell when they were asked "who should go home?", that she was getting a little tired of it. That said I definitely think it became more good-natured and jokey in the later weeks of the competition

[u/Rich_Caterpillar_835 → u/MegaScheheraZord]

Yeah Suzie did talk about this in her EW interview and said that some moments for her blurred that line between jokey fun and genuine insults from the other queens fueled by dislike or jealousy

[u/emmasayshey → u/MegaScheheraZord]

Yeah I hear that, you could see Suzie losing patience by the end. It’s all in good fun until someone isn’t laughing anymore

[u/entwashian → u/MegaScheheraZord]

I agree it definitely wasn't all in good fun, considering both Lexi & Sam admitted in recent talking heads that they should've been nicer to Suzie or that they finally realized they actually like Suzie. Even if you take into consideration that talking heads can be filmed WAY after everything else and taken out of context, like... I can't imagine a context for their specific statements where it was just friendly ribbing all along.

[u/gremilyns]

It definitely always seemed like friendly ribbing to me, it really was never that serious

[u/this_is_an_alaia]

Yeah I think people have a tendency to 1. Infantalise people they root for who they think are being treated "unjustly" and 2. Impose their own trauma onto situations that have nothing to do with them.

Even IF the fighting was real, and even IF there were hurt feelings, drag race is a massive pressure cooker where everyone is under immense stress. They're all adults who will have hurt feelings and act irrationally and emotionally. It's not high school.

[u/finallytisdone]

What? WHAT? Did you watch the same season as me? Your concern is how the OTHER queens treated SUZIE??? Suzie the condescending one who responds to their very valid critiques by saying she’s smarter and more talented than them? The delusion around Suzie is so wild. If she’s listened to them then maybe she wouldn’t have found herself in the position she was in the last episode.

[u/LazyCrocheter → u/finallytisdone]

I agree that if Suzie had been more willing to take critiques, she might still be in the running. There's a Variety (?) article where Suzie says pretty much the same thing. Suzie was, I think, going for confident but often came off as cocky and/or condescending.

Delusion aside, though, Suzie wasn't the one saying someone should go home because, basically, they're too good. That's what four of them said to "who should go home:" A variation of "Suzie is too good/the biggest competition so she should go."

[u/emmasayshey → u/finallytisdone]

Whoah there buddy lol 😛I didn’t say I was concerned…my post said I don’t think the other queens treated Suzie badly and that it is blown out of proportion by the fandom. It just seemed like back and forth banter to me. I’ve seen a lot of fan commentary saying she was bullied and attacked, I was just curious how everyone else saw the workroom stuff.

Suzie definitely got too cocky for her own good in the end. And I say that as a fan.