'We're Here' Episode 1: Hunter, Erica and Darryl perform an epic one-night drag show that runs high on emotion
'We're Here', a new drag show fronted by 'RuPaul's Drag Race' veterans Shangela, Bob the Drag Queen and Eureka O'Hara arrived on HBO tonight (April 23). The episode saw the three of them arriving in the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
It is established that the city is not too receptive of gay people when audio picked up a man saying, "You can tell the sweet lady inside that I will never come here again because of these freaking freaks." The camera couldn't capture it but his revolting outburst was a straight result of Shangela, Bob and Eureka's presence in the store.
However the episode also focuses on the positives — there was this man who was asked by Bob as to how many people are gay in the city and he mentioned it was half and half.
He also said this beautiful thing that every one bleeds red when cut and that screams equality and inclusivity. All the three drag queens set up tents in a communal space, "where we can feel safe to be ourselves," said Bob.
Coming back to the premise of the episode, the focus was on Hunter, a young gay make-up artist yearning for a deeper connection with his father; Darryl, a local college admissions officer hoping to tell a story of race in America while being an effective ally to the LGBTQ community; and Erica, a conservative Christian mother eager to reconnect with her estranged daughter Hailey, who recently came out as bisexual.
Hunter's dad loves him but not enough to be present at any queer event and all his life the former had been feeling like he is "carrying a weighted backpack" around. He had a friend who he was very close to but he had to move to Italy and after that things have not been great for him.
Hunter also mentioned that he tried leaving town many times but something or the other would happen to force him to come back to Gettysburg.
Darryl is known as the straight ally of the gay people in the city and the reason for him getting into drag is because he felt it was important to get into the shoes of the community he was supportive of in order to fully support them.
He wanted to be Bob's drag son and even came up with a cool drag name for himself — Darrylina of the House of Joneses.
Erica is a mother to a daughter and son — both of them moved out of her house to go live with her ex-husband, Fernando. The reason for this, as she states, was her reacting harshly to her daughter Hailey when she came out as bisexual.
Erica admitted to having said things like "you are not gay" and "you will go to hell" because of her Christian upbringing and that is what pushed her children away from her. A couple of months later, Erica found Hailey's diary and she couldn't believe that she made her daughter feel like she shouldn't be alive and that weighs heavy on her soul.
Since then Erica has changed, she also is a part of the Free Mom Hugs group that turns up at queer events to support members of the LGBTQ+ community. The reason for her doing this and also wanting to do the drag performance is in order to make an apology to her daughter and show her that she's a changed person now.
After all the sob stories, it was showtime and the drag queens started prepping their proteges to put on a one-night-only drag show. On show day, a lot of people turned up along with Hunter's grandmother and mother but his father was nowhere in sight, yet.
Hailey, who was reluctant to come as she didn't think Erica doing all this would help erase the past, also made it to the show and so did supporters of Darryl.
Shangela, Bob and Eureka also put up a show along with their drag daughters and it was as "sickening". The highlight was the audience cheering loud for all of them. Hunter's motorcyclist dad turned up to the event on his bike in a Johnny Bravo hairstyle while the former was on stage and even shook a leg with his son.
'We're Here' Season 1 will return to HBO next Thursday night.