"Drag Con Panel Extravaganza"
Sunday, April 29, 2018 at 10:14AM RuPaul's Drag Race S10E6
Didn't u just die at that "facts are facts" / "all right, brown cow" / "your back is ashy" / "your talent is bottom two" banter with Monique-Asia-Monet early in the episode? The season 10 queens have such sharp friendly-but-competitive chemistry. And there's so much bonafide talent that there's already no filler remaining! We revert to the often anticlimactic "Snatch Game" next week but we've been pleased to see the show coming up with new angles and challenges lately. This episode began with the hilarious "sitting on a secret" game. Asia O'Hara proved the most sensitive bottom, accurately guessing the most things she was sitting on whilst blindfolded -- even a fax machine! It ended with a hat challenge where most of them had great looks though Asia's dandelion look was tops.
Inbetween those delights the maxi-challenge was even better as the nine queens had to hold three mock Drag Con panels to shill for RuPaul's latest entrepeneurial success...
You're a winner, baby
Team Eureka, Monique Heart, and Kameron Michaels -- who banded together because the others didn't want them -- got sweet revenge by not being fussy or depressed about it and just living their best selves. Their #proportionizing panel to accentuate and love whatever kind of body you have was terrific. Wouldn't you actually lineup for that? Eureka won for the second week in a row with Monét X Change obviously a close second.) She's back, bitches! Actually they're back. Let us never speak of those awful moments earlier when both were doubting themselves because they're excellent when they're confident / living large.
That should be a lesson to all of us really.
Sashay away
Blair St Clair receded into nothing on her panel whilst sandwiched between two larger personalities The Vixen and Miz Cracker. After their face-plant panel (in which they imparted next to no information despite a great topic: wigs!) Blair revealed that she had been raped in college. And in that horrible but touching moment we learned that The Vixen, who rarely has been caught on tape saying nice things about the others, actually really holds Blair close to her heart. Why didn't we see more of their friendship in the edit in previous episodes?! Still The Vixen was forced to lipsynch against Blair and handily won despite barely rehearsing as she assumed that she was safe. Never assume on this show. The judges can be unpredictable.
In truth we wanted Miz Cracker to be in the bottom two if only to see how she managed to dance or do a "white lady split" in her Eliza Dolittle Ascot gown...
What a frenzied moment that was
Didn't they maintain an exhausting pace?
'Twas a thrilling, absolutely chilling
Running of the ascot opening race 🎵
Can Monique Heart just narrate all our lives, please?Quotable Bitches
“Twirl for Peggy!” -I forget who in Untucked
“And, yes, I do take the EBT” -RuPaul
“I came to this competition with glitter and Jesus.” -Monique
Name dropping
Guest judges: Kumail Nanjiana and Emily Gordon, recently Oscar nominated together for their autobiographical comedy The Big Sick did the honors and did it well.
Pop culture references this episode: My Fair Lady, Mamma's Family, Lady Gaga, comic book superheroes, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?, Hello Dolly!, The Kentucky Derby, Hattie McDaniels, and Sheryl Lee Ralph.
Rankings
Shifts from last week indicated with arrows...
| PREDICTION | PREFERENCE |
 |
 |
| Subject to change as we get to know them | |
| 1. 🔺 Asia O'Hara (on scale of 1-10 how 11 was that dandelion hat? Love her.) |
1.🔺 Eureka (currently flaming. Can she keep up the heat?) |
| 2. Eureka | 2. 🔺 Asia O'Hara |
| 3. 🔻 Miz Cracker | 3. 🔺Monét X Change |
| 4. Monique Heart | 4. Monique Heart |
| 5. 🔺The Vixen | 5. 🔻Miz Cracker |
| 6. 🔺 Kameron Michaels | 6. Kameron Michaels |
| 7. 🔺 Monét X Change | 7. Dusty Ray Bottoms OUT |
| 8. 🔻Aquaria | 8. 🔺 The Vixen |
| 9. 🔻 Blair St Clair OUT | 9. Aquaria |
| 10. Mayhem Miller OUT | 10. Yuhua Hamasaki OUT |
| 11. Dusty Ray Bottoms OUT | 11. Blair St Clair OUT |
| 12. Yuhua Hamasaki OUT | 12. Mayhem Miller OUT |
| 13. Kalorie Karbdashian Williams OUT | 13. Kalorie Karbdashian Williams OUT |
| 14. Vanessa Vanjie Mateo OUT | 14. Vanessa Vanjie Mateo OUT |
Gif as episode grade
Drag Queens, RuPaul's Drag Race, TV, hats
Reader Comments (12)
This episode was a bit of a car crash to me, and not much of an advertisement for Drag Con (which I think it was supposed to be). I didn't really ike the 'Proportionizing' panel, and it only got worse after that. And even worse after that.
And boy, did the judges drop Blair like a hot potato this week. Considering they never had one bad word to say about her up to this point, those harsh critiques come as a surprise, considering she really was just as bland as ever. Seeing how much the judges were eating her up until this point, I really thought she'd pull a Pearl (or Rebecca Glasscock) and survive to the final three against way superior competiton.
A No Guts, No Glory Prediction for the snatch game: Miz Cracker finally wins a challenge (it's about time, and Snatch Game should be in her wheelhouse), and Kameron and Aquaria have to lipsynch, with Aquaria going home (my first instinct was to say Asia rather than Aquaria, but then I came to my senses; I do have a feeling however that it will be two queens who haven't lipsynched yet, and Kameron will be one of them; I also have a feeling Kameron might turn out to be a lipsynch assassin - still waters running deep and such).
A No Guts, No Glory Final 3 prediction: Eureka, Kameron, Asia. (I originally wanted to say: Eureka, Kameron, Cracker; but an all-white Top 3 seems rather unlikely, and we haven't had our shock-elimination of the season yet.)
I'm dying for Cracker to do well in Snatch Game.
at first I thought this was gonna be such a hard challenge to sit thru but I actually ended up enjoying it, and I like its an actual representation of something they'll actually be doing in real life. it ended up being a smart challenge and I liked the shade from the third group. eureka is slaying much to my surprise, and you know what, good for her. get it girl!
Snatch Game always separates the Women from the Girls. Going into the show, you absolutely must have a solid Snatch Game look and performance prepared (and I get irked when people change their look mid-workroom). But you also need to be able to respond on the fly. I feel like Kameron and Aquaria will have excellent looks, but won't be able to banter. The Vixen and Monique might have the banter, but you know the looks will be suspect. They also tend to overpower with their personalities, and showboating never goes over well in Snatch Game.
Side note: Someone should do Morticia Addams in Snatch Game.
But gosh, I feel like the quality this season is very high. Even Blair St. Clair was kinda great and she's gone very early. Excellent casting this season.
I loved this episode, I thought the challenge was different and fun. I also find these queens really charming, so the workroom scenes are are way more interesting this season than is generally the case.
I question how far Cracker is really going to go. She has a weekly review of the latest episode on YouTube. It’s very funny, but particularly in the Bossy Rossy episode, she outlines all the ways that the producers manipulated that episode. In particular, that it was the producers who forced Vixen and Asia to do Cracker and Aquaria, and provided them with just one costume choice (the yellow dresses). Cracker is quite upfront about how angry she is, as she sees it as the producers perpetuating an untruth about her career.
If she was top 3, I can’t imagine her being so merciless. I’m guessing she goes sooner than most people think.
I love Monique but I was not digging that edit about her being so poor she needs to put all her costumes together at the last minute. A girl’s gotta be prepared. It’s just as cheap to put them together ahead of time at home.
Loved the proportionizing. I am optimistic about Kameron with Snatch Game (not necessarily for the win but generally). When she does characters she does well but (even with this week) as herself she reads as dull. Hopefully she doesn’t get in her head about it.
This is such an entertaining season. As you and others suggest the high-level banter is tops. It started strong early in the season with the facial gags to Cracker’s name and Yuhua’s crack about not being a real woman. This group just continues to be stellar in drag and out.
I was pulling for a win for Monét this week but I don’t begrudge Eureka (Although it was funny that the narrative of their group was “no one wants to be with Kameron and Monét so I grabbed them” when in fact a lot of people don’t want to be around Eureka either! But I love an unloved group so I’ll forgive it.
Aquaria continues to dazzle on the runway in such big ways every week. Vixen is a puzzling paradox. She reads as so charming and (yes!) warm as a boy but so defensive and combative in drag. There is a story there that we’re not yet getting. Hints of her friendships with Blair, Cracker, etc. suggest there’s more than meets the eye (and more than what scars ears and beats the shield). Monique is so damn entertaining and the narrative for her this week was weird because DECK OF CARDS DRESS. Everything from her should be equally stellar even if it’s home made. The talent is there! I’m all in on this season.
@ IanO - Review with a Jew has also been shedding a light on the good and loyal side of The Vixen. Miz Cracker has spoken of how they have bonded during the competition and how strong their relationship is. We got glimpses of this side of hers in her reaction to Blair's past, but not much. I like Cracker a lot in the show but the way she talks up the other queens in RwaJ has sealed the deal for me. She's awesome! All the success in the world to her!
Re: the episode. I have to eat a bit of crow. Eureka is not a favorite, but she's had two great episodes in a row. Last week was slim pickings, but this week she truly excelled and overcame strong competition from Monet and Monique. Plus, I will ALWAYS have mad props for any Qween who slays the runway with a Carmen Sandiego look. #represent
I was glad to see Monet bounce back to the top. Monique was better than Kameron, but was prevented from a top placement due to the whole team being's judged as an unit. Aquaria deserved to be in the bottom with Blair and was saved by the collective judging.
The lip-sync was, once again, an easy call. The Vixen had the right tone for the song, she looked like she was taking a victory lap around Blair. Understandably, Blair was not in the best of places to perform an upbeat celebratory song. She had the pain and intensity of her own coming out story, but it just didn't match what that Diana Ross song is all about. Had it been Fighter or I Am What I Am, I think she would have killed it.
Sad to see her go, especially right after such a vulnerable revelation. Still, she did feel as the weakest link at this point. I assume Kameron will be next after a poor showing on Snatch Game.
Then we will have zero fat to trim and every week will be intense. Best top 7 since season 5 .
As others have said, watching Cracker's Review with a Jew videos is essential! She pulls no punches in describing how things went down and how the producers manipulate events for drama. Not to mention the affection she has for the girls is so clear.
(Also, she's damn funny).
Asia's delivered two gag-worthy and all-time-best runway looks so far. I can't wait to see more.
Also: AUDRA MCDONALD IS JUDGING NEXT WEEK! We are not worthy.
I hope the lip-sync is a showtune- we've yet to have one, and they're an essential part of drag. Even queens who don't bill themselves as "Broadway" do them.
"Team Eureka, Monique Heart, and Kameron Michaels" - Nope, you mean Eureka MONET and Kameron... don't pull a yuhua and mix up your girls
Why has Eureka two wins (in a Row) and Miz Cracker has ZERO? That is beyond me. With Blair one of my Favorites is going home (and so early!), it pains me to death. The challenge was meh, so I cant blame her to not shine. But I still think she was good enough to let your safe. She was always great and one time not so much and then she is thrown under the bus. So sad. Hoped she can pulled a Jinkx Monsoon, but sadly it could never happen. Not am afraid that Cracker wont be in the Top 3. I love the Cast, but I dont see a real superstar there. I love Cracker and Monique so much, but I think my favorites will now gone soon. I think Asia and Aquaria will be in the Finale with maybe Eureka. That is not a great Top 3 for me, but hey judges are always went safe with Aquaria and Asia. Maybe the producers want it, I dont know. Hope that The Vixen will go far with Cracker und Heart. She is a great villan and an interesting charakter to watch or dont you think so? (sorry for my english, I am from germany ;-P)