'Legendary' on HBO Max sees Jameela Jamil lose her 'gag virginity' to Lanvin's high-octane flip
The first episode was the 'Grand March' where each house had to show the judges what and who they are. Before kickstarting the show, the judges had made it clear what they were looking for.
Fashion is a very integral part of ball culture and Law Roach wanted to see the houses and their abilities to tell a story through their costumes while the 'Savage' hitmaker Megan Thee Stallion mentioned she would judge the houses on their abilities to connect with her and the audiences. Leiomy was looking for a house's ability to not only come together as a family but to create a show-stopping group. This was a no-elimination episode but that didn't stop the houses from bringing all they've got to the 'Legendary' floor. The houses are competing for $100,000. There is also a 'Superior House' trophy that would go to the best performers, to be decided by the judges, at the end of each episode.
While there are eight houses - Escada, Ebony, Ninja, Gorgeous Gucci, West, St.Laurent, Lanvin, Balmain, only a few managed to really step up to the challenge and impress the judges. Escada's performance was branded "boring" while Ebony's costumes were "confusing" to Law Roach. House of Ninja managed to create a lot of buzz with them being an all-white cisgender women group, reflecting well on the inclusivity factor of the ball community that accepts everyone. Their performance was truly some femme fatale action on the floor. Gorgeous Gucci made the judges happy with their performance while the House of West's campy outfits were such a hit with the judges and Law Roach finally got what he was longing to see, in terms of fashion. Jameela continued to be "dazzled" by their outfits even after they left the stage.
Next on stage was St. Laurent who came into the show with a lot of confidence but their performance was criticized for lacking energy. The group found it hard to stomach the harsh comments of the judges and the mother of the house Miss Shalae tried to justify their performance. She mentioned that they were just sticking to the theme of the ball which clearly was to present themselves and that is what they did. She mentioned that if the judges want to see voguing, they have no idea what they have in store. The penultimate group on stage was Lanvin and after their performance Jameela exclaimed, "You've just taken my gag virginity, thank you". The house took this moment to gloat backstage with Eyricka announcing, "We knew we were going to be the first to give someone a gag. There are many more gags left to give".
The last house to take the stage was Balmain and even though in fashion it's pronounced Bah-maan, this house declared that they are Ba-Main, reasoning "we are the main attraction". The performance received mixed reactions with Leiomy mentioning that their performance could use more voguing and runway influences.
When it was time for the judges to declare the first keepers of the 'Superior House' trophy, House of Ninja won it fair and square.