Does Pray Tell Die on the Pose Series Finale?
At the beginning of the episode, it seems pretty clear where Pray Tell's story is heading. Given a death sentence by the doctor, due to a weakened immune system and a case of pneumonia, Pray essentially gives up. "I want everybody to know I died happy. Satisfied. But I do have one thing I need to finish, my panel for the AIDS quilt," he says to Blanca. After one of Blanca's white AIDS patients makes a miraculous recovery, she fights to get Pray included in the clinical drug trial that made him better. Blanca, Christopher, and Nurse Judy make the argument that the trial is unreliable due to its lack of patients of colour and both Pray and Blanca are accepted as patients.
Pray soon recovers and reconnects with Ricky. The two bond while spending time with the Gay Men's Chorus and things began to look up for the hopeful Pray. Eventually, Ricky shows Pray a lesion on his chest and that he's worried he could be dying. Pray reassures him he'll take care of him and it isn't until later it's discovered what this means. While talking with Blanca shortly before one of their final balls, Pray reveals he's done pretty much everything on his bucket list and that he feels like "I've left a lasting mark, and I understand that now." It's truly Pray's moment in the lip-sync category of "Candy's Sweet Refrain," where he and Blanca fully embody Diana Ross's famous rainy Central Park performance.
We all should've known Pray wasn't long for this world when his moment came halfway through the finale. After leaving the ball, he heads home alone to take off his makeup. Ricky arrives in the morning to find that Pray died in the night. It's later revealed he had stopped taking his trial medicine in order to give it to Ricky, and that inflammation of the heart led to his death. There's nothing we wanted more than for Pray to get the happy ending he deserved, but he went out on his own terms and was able to give someone he loved a new lease on life. Did the "switcheroo" absolutely wreck us? Yes, and some of us are still tearing up as this is being written.