Drag Race: "Last Ball on Earth"
Saturday, April 14, 2018 at 12:04PM by Nathaniel R
You can't blame RuPaul for so many apocalypse jokes. It really does seem like the world is on fire of late. Last days, indeed. So if we're going out have a ball. Or throw one. Which is another way of saying bless this show for existing because FUN and a sense of humor are so needed and both are in such short supply. This week's maxi-challenge was runway based as the queens had to come up with three global warming end-days looks...
It was a big week for Aquaria, winning both the mini and the maxi-challenges but our biggest unexpected giggles came when she heard RuPaul mention Global Warming. Twice.
Who knew she cared about the environment?
You're a winner, baby
We're never big on Queens who don't know their herstory or reveal little education (and don't seem to think that's a bad thing). Aquaria's weird confessional in which she name dropped Gandhi in a way that suggests she actually has no idea who Gandhi is, combined with her quip "some girls chose to read books, I chose to turn looks" had us cocking an eyebrow (Funnily enough it wasn't Aquaria who the other queens were recommending pick up an Encylopedia this week - ha). But the girl CAN turn looks so credit where it's due. She was the winner of the challenge with Miz Cracker and Kameron Michaels not far behind. The judges, or at least the editing, have been high on Aquaria and Miz Cracker's chances to make the finals but perhaps we've been underestimating Kameron. Not necessarily for the top 3 but to last quite a while? She's been nothing if not uneven but so have other queens who people don't seem to be doubting (Mayhem Miller, anyone?)
Sashay away
Another absolutely killer 'lipsynch for your life' with Monet X Change renewing the faith with an energetic and crazyfunny performance. Dusty Ray Bottoms (never always loved ya) sent home.
Quotable Bitches
“The bible says 'What’s done in the dark will be brought to light, mother darling.'” -Monique Heart. (Hmmm. Not sure that’s a direct quote. Is that from the Queen James translation?)
“C’mon shrugged shoulder!” - Aquaria
[On Sewing] “That’s a great skill to teach a kid to make them gay.” - RuPaul
Name dropping
Pop culture references this episode: Edward Scissorhands, Martha Stewart, Mother Teresa, Gandhi, comic books, Buzz Lightyear, Gladys Knight, Dolly Parton, The Jetsons, Tim Gunn and Project Runway. Donna Summer. Encyclopedia Brittanica. Siri. Betty Boop. Sarah Palin. Latoya Jackson. Poetic Justice. Barbie dolls. Bobblehead dolls. Into the Woods. Frozen. Snow White. Beyoncé and Destiny's Child, Helmut Lang. Bond Girls. Studio 54. Marilyn Monroe. Solid Gold. The Hunger Games. Star Trek. “Karma Chameleon,” Venus Williams, Jonas brothers, Rihanna, Will & Kate, Taylor Swift, Oprah Winfrey, Mariah Carey, The Trumps, Grumpy Cat, Kanye & Kim, “Gold Digger,” Awkwafina.
Rankings
Shifts from last week indicated with arrows...
| PREDICTION | PREFERENCE |
 |
 |
| Extremely subject to change as we get to know them | |
| 1. 🔺 Miz Cracker (Whether or not she'll win no one has proved as consistent thus far) | 1. 🔺 Monique Heart (loving her more and more each week. Why aren't the judges?) |
| 2. Asia O'Hara | 2. Eureka |
| 3. Blair St Clair | 3. 🔺 Monét X Change |
| 4. 🔺 Aquaria | 4. 🔻 Asia O'Hara |
| 5. 🔺 Eureka | 5. Miz Cracker |
| 6. Monét X Change | 6. 🔺 Kameron Michaels |
| 7. Mayhem Miller | 7. 🔻 Dusty Ray Bottoms OUT |
| 8. The Vixen | 8. Blair St Clair |
| 9. 🔺Kameron Michaels | 9. Mayhem Miller |
| 10. Monique Heart | 10. Yuhua Hamasaki OUT |
| 11. 🔻 Dusty Ray Bottoms OUT | 11. Aquaria |
| 12.Yuhua Hamasaki OUT | 12. The Vixen |
| 13. Kalorie Karbdashian Williams OUT | 13. Kalorie Karbdashian Williams OUT |
| 14. Vanessa Vanjie Mateo OUT | 14. Vanessa Vanjie Mateo OUT |
Gif as episode grade
Reader Comments (14)
What you say about Aquaria appearing a bit dumb is true, and it sure is a factor against her. The twelve seasons so far (I'm including All Stars) have produced very different winners, but they have one thing in common: They all appear to be very intelligent. (Well, all but one, but then again, these days probably even RuPaul might be tempted to pretend the season two winner was Raven, which would make it a full house again.) Apparently RuPaul isn't big on queens who don't know what an adjective is.
A few more thoughts:
Blair St. Clair is finally starting to grow on me. Maybe I'm just easily manipulated by the more frequent of appearances in cutaway interviews this episode? At the moment, she is the one queen I'm most confident will end up in the Top 3, and it actually stopped bothering me.
I loved the generally positive mood in the workroom this week. More of that, please.
Whatever happened to Dusty Does Dots? I don't think I've seen noticeable dots on her face since episode 1.
I want Snatch Game as badly as I never wanted it before. Maybe it will help me make my mind up who I want to win this season. I am still #teamcracker, but somehow I feel much more like #teamallthembitches right now. I will regret losing every single one of them now when their time comes. Even Aquaria.
This was Monique's only miss for me so far in the competition, but it's still shocking how little love she's received from the judges.
But it was such a treat to have an early ball again as early seasons used to do. The downside of this is you get great looks and don't get enough love. I was head over heels for The Vixen's plastic beach look and massive seashell fan!
The only queens I'm thus far ready to say goodbye to are Kameron and Blair. My heart broke for Dusty on her graceful and gracious exit
I’m almost certain that Aquiria’s quote about books and looks is a direct quote from Ronald Dahl’s Matilda. It’s said, word for word, by Matilda’s gloriously trashy mother in the scene where she dismisses her daughter’s incredible smarts, by emphasising that she chose looks over books. Considering it’s a well known kids movie from 90s, a beloved book and a Broadway musical, there’s plenty of places she could have picked it up
I live for Monique’s confessionals.
Aquaria made a cameo appearance on Real Housewives of NYC this week. So, she's already a winner!
One thing I don't like about this show is that the dramatic queens (I'm looking at you, The Vixen) seem to outstay their welcome precisely because they cause drama. And that is irritating. Dusty is over there sewing as best she can and gets read because her costume doesn't fit some cartoon definition of Mars. But The Vixen comes out with floral decorations from Michaels in her hair and superglued mirrors on an ill-fitting body suit (Michelle ... wake up!) and nothing is said. Nada.
Regardless, I don't see any low-hanging fruit left. It's a pretty good bunch this season. Setting up for a Season 11 letdown?
Sad to see Dusty go so early. She had so much promise.
The judging was weird to me. Dusty was read for her Martian look (supposedly a Fairy), but Aquaria won the challenge despite her Martian look being much more like a Comic Book superhero than anything space related or futuristic. Still, both her Alaskan Summer and Florida Winter looks were great, so I guess her win was still legit.
Personally, my top 2 would have been Miz Cracker and Kameron. The interesting thing about Kameron is that this is the second week in a row that she slays the runway, but her reserved nature seems to be preventing her from standing out. She was cutesy as the ditsy telecom Martian secretary, but with bigger personalities around, she is being overlooked.
The stars of the episode (and of the series thus far) were Monet, Asia and Monique. Their energy and humor and overall goofiness are a joy to witness. Monet delivering the best lip-synch of the season, Monique, as always, serving great confessionals, and Asia just showing a lot of heart in the werk room. And that whole exchange about English accents was hilarious.
I also enjoyed Cracker and Aquaria's exchange about hard work and sugar daddies. It allowed Aquaria to present a more relatable perspective and for Cracker to land a really funny and self deprecating joke about copying Aquaria's looks. It was a nice little exchange that made me like both queens a bit more.
Overall, a very enjoyable episode!
Untucked, on the other hand, was the worst one yet. Unlike last week's argument between The Vixen and Aquaria, which was interesting and insightful, this one between The Vixen and Eureka was just a mess. I feel sorry for The Vixen. She is talented and I have sympathy for her distaste of Eureka (the most annoying queen in Drag herstory since Laganja Estranja), but if she can't control it, her temperament will hinder her in the industry, No one wants to hire a loose canon with a short fuse. It does not help her that Eureka was later admitting on camera that she was deliberately provoking The Vixen to test her reaction. No one can blame a potential patron for watching that video of hers, lashing out like a mad woman and cussing at Eureka's face, and going "actually, I would not like that in my club, so thank you, I'll pass".
I would have had Vixen in the top 3 for this challenge, and since the last look seemed to count the most, I would've placed Monique in the bottom over Asia. They can't clock Dusty for having an outfit that doesn't say space but ignore Monique's...dress.
The season continues to impress me, and the regular quality of the lip syncs (all have been at the very least good, with 3 already great ones!) speaks to the talent this season. Other than Miz Cracker and Aquaria who seem poised for the top 2 (though I don't think either of them wins) there's still a great deal of combination of queens for the finale.
Disappointing to see Vixen labelled as the dramatic aggressive one, precisely what she was talking about. For two weeks in a row two white queens actively provoked her and when she shuts them down and closes the argument, she's labelled as the troublemaker. At least it's bringing a much needed discussion of racism within the community (and of course this show) to the front.
Very good episode. The best of the season so far. It’s nice to see so many queens being great and not just knowing way ahead of time that, for example, Adore, Courtney and Bianca are your top thee, that no way Raja loses, and so on. Reminds me of season 5.
I think Cracker and Aquaria are safe for the final episodes, and the Monique-Monet-Asia combo will join then. Everybody else gets eliminated one by one until, I think, Blair is left to get into that group and throw somebody out. My feeling is that Asia will be that girl that sees herself in the bottom, for a sewing challenge of all things, and says “never again!”. Sort of like Trinity Taylor.
My personal top 4 would be Miz Cracker, Asia, Monique, Aquaria.
I like Cameron (for the looks and concept) and Vixen (for the beauty and drama) too.
I'm not feeling Eureka this season.
Mayhem Miller is too self-entitled, girl not.
I wanna see more from Monet and Blair, I'm sure they can bring more too the table, just not that impressed.
I love Monique so much, that massive personality with that angelic glow she has is everything. I want to see her and Asia make it to the end. I have to admit I’m warming to Kameron as she has delivered the last three weeks on the runway.
I love Cracker but was surprised the judges were so into her looks this week. That bikini has terrible proportions and the other two were just safe to me. Aquaria may be irritating but she soundly won this week.
While I really like Miz Cracker, I don't understand the judges' love for her this week. I agree that the first look had some weird proportions. Girl, where did your padding go? Because the silhouette read "boy." And her astronaut look was fairly dull in comparison to the others. Aquaria was the clear winner here.
I love Monet's personality, and she turned it out on the lip sync, but her looks thus far in the competition have been questionable at best. I want a "wow" look moment from her at some point. Also, I'm hoping the judges come around to Monique because her confessionals are giving me life. She's becoming the narrator of this season.
Dusty wound up on the bottom for failing 2 of the 3 categories. Her Alaskan Winter realness was bad from the hairline down. I actually liked her Martian look, but that opening stumble plus a less traditional spacey dress sealed her doom. I think if she went full Dots for Dusty on the makeup, she might have landed safe with the Martian look, but she was too afraid of Michelle's week one comments to do it. (At least Michelle waited a couple weeks to clock Max for the gray wigs, Bianca for the giant stripes of white eyeliner, and Jinkx for that nose contour.)
Monet's three looks weren't the absolute worst, but she did not stand out in any category and was pretty much near the bottom for Alaskan Winter and Mars.
The Vixen had a bad look for the Miami Summer category, but she sold the hell out of the Alaskan Winter and Martian presentations. That's enough sometimes. Remember, Alyssa Edwards had the judges calling her ugly ass camera dress high fashion and couture just because of her attitude selling it.
Asia was put in the bottom not because she was the worst, but because the producers wanted to scare her away from helping other queens. There's more drama in leaving Nina Bonina Brown to try and cut and sew a bodysuit on her own than helping Bebe Zahara Benet sew a body suit and letting her win a design challenge on someone else's work with a little hot glue.
I also think Miss Cracker only got praised so much in the top (while Kameron's far more adventurous work was standing right there) to play up that Cracker/Aquaria feud (and I'm a Cracker Fan).
my biggest laugh came from dusty's outfit being declared not martian enough - as if the judges were experts on what's hot on the red planet right now. i'll miss dusty's boy face in the confessionals
it was so great seeing ru spend more time with the queens in the workroom; that's the best use of the extended episodes
anyone who's sewed a hem for dolly parton is alright by me - asia goes to the top of my love list, followed by mz cracker and monet. now that i can finally tell who's who in and out of drag, i will be more vocal on my standings
"Eureka (the most annoying queen in Drag herstory since Laganja Estranja)"
AMEN, @carmensandiego
Me and Mariah go back like babies with pacifier is a line from the iconic and game changing remix with Ol’ Dirty Bastard of Mariah’s 1995 hit and 9th number one single, Fantasy.