Dragula: Titans S1.E2 "Revenge of the Witch"
Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 4:41PM by Nathaniel R
Just give us dark beauty, right?
Challenges on competition reality shows are planned out in advance but sometimes it's fun to imagine they aren't but instead, forced by the previous episode. Last week, when Dragula Titan's competitors were asked to reinterpret a classic horror type for a Halloween party, nobody chose a witch, surely the most common costume of all. So for episode two, witches are the whole theme. Revenge!
For those of you who need a little cinematic referencing in your TV (oh, maybe that's just me?) the guest judges were the "Demon Nun" herself Bonnie Aarons (The Conjuring 2, The Nun, Mulholland Drive) and director Darren Stein (Jawbreaker, GBF)...
Most importantly, half of the main challenge was a nod to the most famous witch of all, The Wizard of Oz's Wicked Witch of the West and her shoe obsession. Speaking of "Shoes". What a surprise delight that the show opted to resurrect this classic 2006 music video from Liam Kyle Sullivan for its lipsynch floorshow...
It never gets old.
For episode 2 Abhora, "banished to oblivion", last episode is back (a trick from the Boulet Brothers on the cast; a treat for Abhora). The winner of the fear challenge, right out of "Hot Ones", where the competitors were asked to see who could last the longest with spicy foods, gets to cast a curse of baldness on one of her fellow queens. That would be a good curse for most drag shows but given Dragula's supervillain aesthetic it's not very damaging since everyone knows bald = evil. [That was sarcasm] In fact the winner last season was bald and never covered up his sexy dome.
Okay quickly to the rankings...
Excuse me, you copied my nose!
01 EVAH DESTRUCTION (last week: 2)
For two weeks in a row we have to agree with the judges on the winner (what is happening?). Interestingly, though they asked for originality, Evah was the most impressive while adhering to the most traditional interpretation. She came complete with a broomstrick, hooked nose, straight messy hair, and black costume. But the look was executed with such panache and edited with such a firm aesthetic that it was impossible to deny her. Plus the shoes, bloody flesh boots, wowed the panel.
Bonus points to Judge Bonnie for her self-deprecating quip about Evah stealing her look and for noticing how easily Evah's look would transfer to a great movie character. Iconic looks often require being honed down to their essence, minimalism if you will.
02 HOSO TERRA TOMA (last week: 6)
Which brings us to the show's maximalist. Hoso was truly original, offering up a feline witch from another dimension complete with grotesque joke of dead rats all over the shoes. Darren Stein likened the boots with their bones and rats to a David Cronenberg movie but, frankly, we don't really see the connection. Hoso also slayed the lipsynch, definitely familiar with the novelty hit... or maybe just being c**** to retail workers?
They were the only two that really excelled on every point of the challenge
03 ASTRUD AURELIA (last week: 4)
Astrud looked amazing but struggled with the performance. We can excuse that, though, because the hooved shoes were the best of the night. Doing Wicked Witches everywhere proud with that footwear!
04 VICTORIA BLACK (last week: 1)
...also struggling with the performance, carrying too many props. A well thought out look if not particularly enthralling. Second best shoes of the night though with their jawbones and twine. Bonnie Aarons (who proved a great judge) had a very smart critique about running more fully with the implied bird theme.
05 MELISSA BEFIERCE (last week: 7)
The judges were surprised that Melissa lurched so far from her own aesthetic -- we haven't seen earlier seasons so we'll have to take their word for it. Good performance but the judges didn't seem to mind that you could barely see the shoes (more on that in a bit) which were overgrown-garden themed.
06 ABHORA (last week: 9)
Despite being basically an afterthought in the editing of the floorshow, her spiral witch look was well thought out from bald head to toe. Redemption from last week's total miss.
07 ERIKA KLASH (last week: 8)
This interpretation (one of two "candy" witches) was okay. She performed decently and there were smart minor details in color scheme and such. But at the end of the day it was underwhelming including the boots which were just boots with tons of candy glued on.
08 KENDRA ONIXXX (last week: 5)
She was placed in the bottom entirely due to her unimaginative shoes which she had made almost zero alterations too. She went with a voodoo witch and her performance was excellent so if only she had paid attention to half of the challenge (SHOES... OMG SHOES) she would have been placed much higher.
09 YOVSKA (last week: 3)
It is mandatory (apparently) on competition shows to be wildly inconsistent with critiques. While Yovska had creative footwear (half the challenge) the judges complained that they couldn't see the shoes, even though Yovska's shoes were just as visible as some other contestants that they praised. Ah well. Yovska made other mistakes. The outfit had too much going on and lacked cohesion of purpose and readability. The candy mask, for example, was too much. When she took off the mask her painted face was much better and still of a piece with the look.
10 KOCO CAINE (last week: 10)
She evaded the bottom two again somehow. We didn't understand, at all, what the judges saw in this very simple messy look. Like Kendra she barely did anything with the shoes, and we struggled to see the "witch" here. That said she's an excellent reality tv character and the producers surely know that. We've seen on this (and many shows) that having a vivid personality helps a lot in sticking around, even if you're not particularly good at the challenges.
P.S. No Quip to Wrap Up
This episode was short on wit so allow Yovska to speak for us all...
You guys are talking so fucking much, OHMYGOD !!!
What is it with the editing and sound mix of this show? It's like Robert Altman movies if absolutely zero lines were meant to be heard and all characters, not just, oh four, were instructed to shout-talk at the same time.
So the reaction shot of the night goes to...
This handsome harnessed dude. Dragula has their own version of Drag Race's pit crew but they never reference them or call them by name; they're either just eye candy, enslaved devil worshippers, or fresh meat for the kill depending on the sequence. Somehow the editors were smart enough to grant this one an actual close up as he surveyed the chaos. Telepathically, we heard him loud and clear.
Reader Comments (2)
That leather dude is kind of cute.
Shoes was and still is a whole ass bop. OhMiGah SHOES.
YAS @ Evah being #1. When it's right, it's right and she has been ALL KINDS OF ROIGHT.
The sound team needs to either fix/do something with the mics or be replaced.