Queer Eye returns to Netflix for a third season Friday, starting with a new episode that perfectly captures the subtle emptiness and frustrating facade of each episodes makeover moment.

The very first makeover subject (or hero, as they are called in the show) of Season 3 states early on that she grew up poor. The episode ends with her eating a giant Maine lobster with her husband in a beautiful hotel room shortly after telling her stunned daughter, Im going shopping with you more often. Regardless of the empowering messages that happen on the shows margins, the Queer Eye makeover is defined, in this and previous seasons, by a hero essentially gaining the lifestyle of a rich person.

Before I go further, I should note that I love watching Queer Eye and even ranked it as one of 2018s best Netflix shows . But whenever I more deeply examine the tear-inducing joy the show brings me when the heroes have a transformation, I cant shake a feeling of being duped. This show may have an explicit message about inner empowerment, but implicitly all the transformation scenes are centered on turning the hapless heroes into wealthier (or wealthier-looking) versions of themselves. No amount of can-do attitude can achieve these results; only about six-figures in material upgrades can.

These makeovers showcase the heroes with new clothes, expensive haircuts and fancy skin lotions as they walk into an expensively renovated home to consume a meal that likely came from a Whole Foods-esque store.

With this in mind, all the asides about self-help and care seem insincere. The heroes arent choosing their own life renovations, which could narratively prove some actual change. The heroes just stumble into a whole new life of luxury and can only thank the hosts for the change in fortune.

Of course, anyone with a heart should still get something from watching down-on-their-luck people get shiny new things, but thats a different show than what Queer Eye is billed as.

Marketing materials sent by Netflix state the narrative premise as, This season, these fearless ambassadors of taste are headed to Kansas City to bring their infectious brand of self-love, confidence and encouragement to a whole new roster of heroes. But rather than giving us stories truly rooted in self-improvement, Queer Eye falls into a trap many makeover shows fall into when trying to depict a visual transformation. Instead of inner triumph, were given the spectacle of someone experiencing a lottery windfall and finding happiness in the new things.