We’re Here season 3 is like Queer Eye with teeth

For a subgenre that once ruled the middle American airwaves, makeover reality TV has seemingly largely disappeared on modern networks and streamers. Is it because of larger cultural shifts surrounding personal style? Or maybe the Kardashians’ stranglehold on the very audience that makeover shows would otherwise cater to? We’re … not sure. But despite the fact that dating and romance shows have long since usurped the reality makeover series, there’s one outlier that’s not just surviving but thriving: HBO’s unapologetically joyful We’re Here.

Starring Bob the Drag Queen, Shangela, and Eureka O’Hara (all RuPaul’s Drag Race alums), We’re Here sees the trio of queens playing fairy godmothers to three everyday residents of whichever town they’re visiting that episode. Season three begins in the very religious, very red Granbury, Texas. While there, Bob, Shangela, and Eureka take a drag baby under their wings—not just to prepare them for a culminating performance, but also to unpack personal trauma and find a way to make their hometown a more welcoming place.

It’s an ambitious premise, like Queer Eye with teeth. Though queer people visiting a community is one thing, bringing the art of drag to conservative towns is entirely another, and season three’s opener makes no attempts to shy away from the real-world criticisms the series has faced over the course of its production. In fact, much of the conflict driving this ep came from online petitions and forums responding to the announcement that Bob, Shangela, and Eureka would be visiting Granbury.

Although homophobia (and transphobia) in rural America is certainly nothing new—and absolutely something this series has explored before—the way We’re Here frames the hate the queens receive is pretty remarkable. The criticisms being leveled at them aren’t easy to stomach, with a number of Granbury residents shown voicing concerns that Shangela & Co.’s appearance in town is somehow harmful to the children and dangerous.