by Nathaniel R
S10E7 Behold the ever-divisive power of the "Snatch Game". It tends to totally shake the chess board and upend expectations about who the final three or four will be. Though some fans have called for a moratorium on the signature challenge, after diminishing returns each season, others claim that it's always been thus: half terrific, half abysmal. We used to belong to Camp A but we're back with Camp B. And if you can't hack it in the Snatch Game, you're often next on the chopping block. But the episode didn't begin with the game but with the Reading Challenge. The library opened and Eureka, still on a roll, took yet another win.
Here's a funny visual example of how divisive these episodes are. Check out these competing headlines that popped up when I was searching for images from the show...
You're a winner, baby
Much to our surprise neither she nor Miz Cracker, who were our 'either/or' bets to win the Snatch Game, managed to do so. And, in fact, the very last person we expected to be able to handle that particular challenge -- Aquaria! -- aced it. While her Melania Trump impersonation was short of Laura Benanti's comic genius level, it was perfect in the short dose punchline appeal of Snatch Game. Even better Aquaria managed spontaneous improv banter in character. WHERE DID THIS COME FROM? We've never seen Aquaria be this whip-smart or funny at all before. She suddenly looks like a contender for the top three.
Aquaria's mermaid fantasy was sublime
Asia and Aquaria had the most inventive mermaid looks
Eureka got even bigger laughs for her hlarious Honey Boo Boo but Aquaria sealed the win by also outdoing herself on the runway with the most inventive lewk in the mermaid fantasy challenge. A mermaid in an oil spill? Brilliant and the best look by at least an Olympic Sized Pool margin. Did you catch the webbed hands?
Sashay away
Monique Heart, 'the ooh ah ah sensation,' left us far too soon. Not that she didn't majorly fail in this episode with a very weak unfunny spin on Congresswoman Maxine Walters. But Monique was the season's best narrator and we'll miss her confessionals enormously. She also brought a much welcomed discussion of the economic disparaties of drag into the equation. Some queens, we learned, go into major debt preparing for the show. They're all banking on a huge career payday afterwards, even if they lose. Others come to the show with nothing (like Chi Chi Devayne in her year and Monique now) and get far on personality and scrappy invention. But it's definitely not a level playing field. Kameron Michaels whose looks have been much showier than her personality, admitted to spending more on her drag than she spent on the downpayment of her house in Nashville !!!
Quotable Bitches
"I'll take my check" - MONIQUE HEART
"Bring back... my gills." - RUPAUL
"Not even a meditation in a zen garden with Buddha would have prepared me for the Snatch Game" - AUDRA MCDONALD
Name dropping
Guest judges: the glorious Audra McDonald slaying, and Kate Upton and even Alex Trebek in a cameo; Pop culture references this episode: Bette Midler aka the Divine Miss M, "Smash," Divine, "Empire," Whitney Houston, Edith Head, Destiny's Child, Amy Schumer and Goldie Hawn in Snatched, Barbie, Ursula and The Little Mermaid, Tina Turner, Battlestar Galactica, Jaws, and all the impersonated celebrities on Snatch Game.
Rankings
Shifts from last week indicated with arrows...
| PREDICTION | PREFERENCE |
 |
 |
| Subject to change as we get to know them | |
| 1. 🔺 Eureka |
1. Eureka |
| 2. 🔺 Aquaria | 2. Monét X Change |
| 3. Asia O'Hara | 3. 🔻 Asia O'Hara |
| 4. 🔺 Monet X Change | 4. Miz Cracker |
| 5. 🔻 Miz Cracker | 5. 🔻 Monique Heart OUT |
| 6. Kameron Michaels | 6. Kameron Michaels |
| 7. 🔻 The Vixen | 7. 🔺 Aquaria |
| 8. 🔻 Monique Heart OUT | 8. Dusty Ray Bottoms OUT |
| 9. 🔻 Blair St Clair OUT | 9. The Vixen |
| 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
