Workin’ It Into The Act
Episode 4 of AJ And The Queen begins with AJ and Robert making their way across the country to Louisville where they meet another group of drags. With Ruby’s picture on the ground, AJ immediately heads in and confronts the trio over this travesty. However, Robert receives a call from Damien soon after, prompting him to immediately phone Louis for advice. While he works on trying to find AJ’s mother, he tells Robert not to phone Damien back no matter what. While AJ’s mother frantically tries to get a phone to call her daughter, back at the drag club Officer Peter arrives and they discuss Damien. Thankfully, AJ has the licence plate of his car and hands it over to the officer, who promises to follow up on this. Back in the make-up room, Robert has some issues with the other drags, prompting him to throw their kit out the window when he suspects they took his box. As awkwardness descends over the room, Robert takes his leave when he learns they didn’t actually take it and retreats to the RV to get ready instead, where he winds up phoning Damien. The con-man apologises for the issues between them and promises to get his money back within a week. During the night, the drag act goes horribly wrong when the other drags pay off the backstage crew to drop Ruby from her harness. Thankfully she manages to salvage the performance and burns the other drags on the way out the door too. Unfortunately, AJ reveals the truth about what happened to Robert to the press, prompting him to confront her about the issue. Eventually she reveals her Mother’s name is Briana Douglas, leading Brian to phone Robert and tells him he’s been grifted by Damien too. It turns out Damien never kissed Brian either, admitting that that wasn’t his “thing”, throwing more questions around whether there really was something between him and Robert after all. Managing to bring Brian back to the club to perform his Cher act, Robert phones Louis and asks whether he could have been special to Damien. While they talk, out on the road the police stop Damien and Lady Danger, where they bribe the officer by handing over the Birkin Bag and the remaining money they still have to keep them free from a jail cell. As the episode closes out, Damien sees the “gay grifter” message online and prepares for the next step as he looks set to explode into a flurry of rage. I’ve said it before here but AJ And The Queen’s biggest problem for me comes from the length of the episodes. As a zippy, 30 minute comedy I think this would suit the style and humour of this one a lot better but at 50 minutes it does feel like the show fails to keep its momentum going. The situation with Brian is a good example of this, as the episode reaches its climax with the Sia performance and harness being dropped. The performance with Brian after this pales by comparison. Still, there are some positives with this and there’s enough comedy, singing and dancing to keep this one engaging. It’s not the best comedy out there, but AJ and Robert’s growing respect and relationship is enough to earn this one some brownie points.
