RuPaul's Drag Race S9E12 - Final Fourgy Four
Saturday, June 10, 2017 at 12:30PM 
by Chris Feil
We're almost to the finish line! This week, RuPaul's Drag Race brought the feels for an emotional runway but also at the thought of eliminating one of these queens. I don't know about you, dear readers, but I feel more affection to each of these four than any final four (maybe) ever. Everybody say "LOVE"!
Taking a clear lead from All Stars popular final rap single challenge, the queens all have to write their own verse to a remix of RuPaul's "Category Is". Between rehearsal, the girls each guested on Ru and Michelle's podcast "What's the T?" and all its ad-friendly earnestness - all that Squatty Potty and Ru didn't take a minute to talk about Squarespace? Quelle surprise!
But the real story to this final competitive episode was to spend some real quality time with each of the queens before the crowning finale - it was really about giving each queen the chance to sell themself. The runway found each queen in peak form and pulled on our heartstrings as they spoke to their child-selves about their own journey. Once again, the show proved its worth in showing all different kinds of stories within the LGBT community, the competition itself at its most and least significant with all these queens have faced. How in the hell can one of these queens be sent home?
Well, Mama Ru had one more surprise in store. For the first time, the show is giving us a top four for the finale! While it's hardly surprising givenmany competition shows have gone this route when it's too close to call, it feels very rewarding here. After a powerhouse performance this week, it would have been unjust to send Peppermint home based on previous mistakes and a subpar turnout from Trinity would have flown against her brilliant season run. A win-win all around, especially for the audience.
Let's take a look back at what will help and hinder each queen on their way to the crown:
Peppermint
Working for her - Her heart. While you could mix up Michelle’s other C.U.N.T. assignments (Shea for Talent or Sasha for Nerve would have also been correct), Charisma is all Pep’s. Her story as a trans woman has been the most moving of the entire season. Momentum is also strongly on her side and she is going out on a high note with brilliant work this week. *Peppermint scream*
Best of the Season - Her “Jennifer Hudson leather mommy” lipsync to “Macho Man” last week or the Roast.
Working against her - Her unpolished moments have lingered. The stats simply don’t favor a win for her: she would be the first queen in the history of the show to win with multiple lipsyncs.
Worst of the Season - Yeah, those pink skirts are hard to let go.
Sasha Velour
Working for her - Our brainy queen is one of the few in Drag Race herstory to never land in the bottom two. Sasha is also the only queen in the finale that landed in the top three in the first episode - while her highs may not match her competitors for memorability, she’s been the most consistent from the beginning. She has the most distinct and recognizable aesthetic. And now for a gay history lesson!
Best of the Season - Marlene Dietrich in Snatch Game should have nabbed her a solo win
Working against her - Her two wins were shared with Shea. Her creativity takes a lot of explanation sometimes (like her Pride flag look), which softens her impact. The show always seemed to want us to root for someone else and never her.
Worst of the Season - At her worst Sasha just doesn’t register, like in the Kardashian musical.
Shea Couleé
Working for her - All those damn runways! Though 2 wins were shared with Sasha, Shea ties Sharon Needles and Alaska (for All Stars) with the most wins in a season. She won each for acing different skills: fashion, humor, dancing, sheer stage presence. The show has presented her in a “can do no wrong” way that no other contestant this season received - not even Valentina before her fall from grace. "Why y'all acting brand new?!"
Best of the Season - Her Hometown runway was a hint of the ferocity and wit to come
Working against her - But perfection can be boring. For all the Drag Race boxes she checks off with ease, you think she’d be more of a consensus favorite than she is.
Worst of the Season - Her crew makeover.
Trinity Taylor
Working for her - The season narrative has been about fighting your way to the top and Trinity is the most competitive. No other queen has pushed themselves past their own aesthetics and point of view more than her, or done so with such an unwavering sense of humor. Her bitchier side is her most endearing and don’t call her just a pageant queen - she’s not the girl we thought she was. *duct tape rip*
Best of the Season - Can her interviews count? If not, then her 9021ho mom
Working against her - Had this been a top three, her final performance would have likely sent her home - not a strong final note to be asking for fan votes in the most competitive finale ever.
Worst of the Season - The talk show that landed her in the bottom before she found her comic stride
This week's Untucked was nothing but love and reflection, and thankfully minimal shade thrown as they (and we) get to soak up the last time as an assembled group.
For the first time, this season of RuPaul's Drag Race gives us a finale lineup where any one of these competitors feels like a worthy winner. It's a very close call, but I am still firmly #TeamShea.
Final Ranking:
- Shea Couleé
- Trinity Taylor
- Peppermint
- Sasha Velour
- Valentina OUT
- Eureka O'Hara OUT
- Nina Bo'Nina Brown OUT
- Farrah Moan OUT
- Alexis Michelle OUT
- Aja OUT
- Cynthia Lee Fontaine OUT
- Charlie Hides OUT
- Jaymes Mansfield OUT
- Kimora Blac OUT
Gif as Episode Grade:
Tell us in the comments which queen you're rooting for!
Reader Comments (21)
I'm TeamSasha, but after last week's episode (where Shea got the win because Sasha was 'too fashion'), I feel like nothing short of the Internet going all out for one of the other contestants (and in a 'rally behind just one' way) will prevent a Shea win.
PoliVamp -- agree with this notion. The deck seems stacked. But I'm rooting for either TRINITY or SASHA which would both be historic wins, one for the pageant aesthetic finding more variety and wit and never having won before and the other for being an avant garde queen in a series that generally sends those ones home much sooner.
as much as I love her personality I think Peppermint should have gone home and had a traditional final 3. That said she did great this week so sending her home might have felt very fishy (in the other way not favored by this show)
Totally disagree that this "twist" feels deserved or rewarding. Shea is the clear leader and the rest are fighting for second place.
What made All Stars 2 a return to form was the high DRAMA, the fact that not everyone can be a winner, even if they slay. RPDR isn't about everyone getting a crown, and you'd be hard pressed to justify that this of all seasons has the most competitive final four. I hope they make some much needed changes to the finale format and then seriously mix it up for season 10. Congrats Shea!
I have a feeling Shea won't actually win. Her speech was very unimpressive and I think they are setting up for an upset where Sasha will snatch the crown. Honestly I would love for Sasha to win to show once and for all that it's not a numbers games to win the crown.
I also do not see what Chris sees in her runways when she's worn a bathing suit with thigh high sock/shoe and/or jacket for most of the challenges.
Sharon was an avant garde winner, "the future of drag." Sasha is not that level. What, then, would the rationale be to snatch the crown from the more/most accomplished (on the show) queen? Wishful thinking.
It's between Sasha and Trinity for me. I've only watched a few of the early seasons, but these two have the best stories of the season.
Sasha is a unique voice, and a possible future for drag in entertainment. Trinity is the Most Improved Player of the season, and sounds like she, more than the others possibly, has survived the harshest road to this moment.
But they are all very very good. Should be a great finale!
I'm torn between Peppermint and Sasha. Shea would be mildly disappointing, and Trinity would have me throwing things at the TV.
I love Sasha, but I would like Trinity to win. Although I wouldn't actually mind if Shea won.
Shea has been been my favorite most of the season and I'm hoping she'll win, but If Sasha wins I'll still be happy.
Was Trinity's performance really that bad this episode? She gave the best runway look
I wish you all good luck in avoiding all the scalding T spilled by people who attended the finale taping. :X
Shea will be a boring winner for a boring group of queens, but there were only two things I absolutely loved this season (Nina's Jasmine Masters and Shea's Village People look), so I am fine with her win.
I love the newish (maybe the last 3-4 seasons?) "send a message to your young self" tradition in this final competition episode. I still think of Kim Chi's emotional message, with real tears and emotion, ending with a laugh line on "oh and get yourself to a dance class ASAP."
I love this group of queens. I know that many think this season was boring - I can see it, there wasn't a ton of drama; but the idea that these queens aren't one of the best final fours, I can't agree with. Peppermint is so instantly lovable, with her enthusiasm and incredible faces in talking heads; Sasha provided a more cerebral approach to drag that I often appreciated more and more as I thought about it, plus the gay history lesson talking heads and how well she did when she had to be funny; Shea's runways being pretty great, and her performances in acting and live performance challenges being pretty great, plus her attempt to save Nina from her inner saboteur + "Why y'all acting brand new?" (still a great moment, thanks for mentioning it); and Trinity's oscillation between pageant-y looks and amazing body-baring looks (there's a reason her nickname is Trinity "the Tuck" Taylor) with a dash of "who knew this pageant queen could perform so well in performance challenges?", plus her over-the-top cutthroatness that was so endearing, as it was clearly a persona she was putting on, and she never got truly shady, mad, or manipulative.
I think Shea is probably going to win, and I think that, outside of the fact that it seems like a done deal, I like that, but I would kind of like a surprise. I wouldn't be mad at any of these queens winning the crown.
If I *had* to pick, I'm on Team Trinity, as she reminds me of a few pageant queens I know in real life, and I can't remember if there's ever been a season where, in Episode One, a contestant looked to be getting a bitchy-queen-leaving-in-Episode-4 edit and then had such a redemption arc.
But I really won't be upset with any of the four winning (although my money is on Shea). After watching Untucked, I just wanted to hang out with the four of them.
The problem with Shea is exactly what you've noted, Chris-- her best performance was her Hometown introduction. She's had two fun challenge performances since (the partnerships with Sasha) and last week's outfits were amazing, but she has not wowed me since the first runway. She's solid, but not exciting.
SO pleased with this outcome and I'm not at all surprised. I knew that if nobody fouled up this episode Ru would be in an impossible position.
By the numbers, Trinity, Shea and Sasha thoroughly earned their spots in the finale. But sending Peppermint home would've sent such an unfortunate message about the politics of drag. She's helped jolt the franchise away from its emphasis on polish and perfection.
She's the "weak link" in the conventional Drag Race sense but she's enriched the competition so much with her heart and story. And not for nothing—those things inform and enlighten all of her performances.
As much as I love Sasha I don't really buy her "future of drag" proclamations.
Her references actually look backwards more than any of the others—to club kids, old Hollywood, midcentury design. She's a successful bald queen. She's a successful avant garde queen. But she's not the first to bring either of those elements to national attention.
When I think "future of drag" I think of Katya pioneering a new idiom of drag comedy in real time, or Alaska pushing the medium into higher and higher production values. With Sasha, there's a difference between executing looks very well and pioneering a new aesthetic.
I think Sasha should have won last Week, so that Shea, Sasha und Trinity have all 3 Wins. Peppermind is the clear winner this week, so that Ru cant let her go. Trinity was last this week, but her season was strong. For me its between Shea and Sasha, but since Sasha was multiple times robbed for a solo win, it´s clear that the Producers want Shea to win the Crown.
It´s sad, that still no asian, big queen or latina queen have won und never will maybe.
Still Shea would be a Worthy winner, not like Bob last season. I like bob, but Kim Chi is Miles ahead of her in my opinion.
Hayden -- great points on Sasha actually.
Patrick -- one Asian queen did win: Raja (season 3)
Sasha was the weakest this episode. She's lucky Ru didnt send her home. A sparkling house dress for the runway? Come on this is the final runway. WTF?
Team Sasha all the way. Ok, I know Sasha, but still. Shea is super-solid but somehow lacks some spark or something. I don't know, it's hard to put my finger on it. Peppermint is a love. Trinity is ok but, um (see above re: Shea). At any rate, a good final 4 and I've enjoyed the season a lot.