Drag Race RuCap: “Booked & Blessed”

Tuesday

Apr092024

Tuesday, April 9, 2024 at 9:00PM

Nick Taylor and Cláudio Alves are watching and recapping RuPaul’s Drag Race season sixteen. This week, it’s time for episode fourteen…

Ronan Farrow has that All Stars glow-up.

CLÁUDIO: Just when we were starting to think the season had turned into a two-way race for the crown between Sapphira and Plane, here comes a new episode to shake things up. After years of top fours and a one-time fiver, RuPaul’s Drag Race has returned to a triadic finale, using this fourteenth chapter to boot its fourth-placer, fragilize one of the frontrunners’ bid, and bolster another contender’s narrative. A well-produced piece of television, this game-changer hour felt like a gift to Nymphia Wind fans everywhere, making it look like she might stand a chance after all. Considering her strange edit, I’m skeptical, but this episode gave me some much-needed hope. Were you similarly enthused, or is this season’s sagging energy getting to you?

NICK: The sagging energy is definitely getting to me. As much as I’ve been eager for this particular queen to get the boot, and as rewarding as this challenge was, I wouldn’t have minded a top four for the sake of wrapping it all up a little sooner...

I’m very happy for Nymphia, who should have been framed as a much stronger contender by the show throughout this season and still seems in a slightly unenviable position as far as the edit. She’s bookending the season with very deserving wins. It still feels as though Nymphia’s being set in an awkward Sasha Velour position of the brainy, arty queen upsetting the apparent frontrunner, a very strange choice given that the whole season has already been filmed.

We can get into Nymphia’s edit later, but first we must join our final four in paying last goodbyes to Morphine Love Dion. The girls knew how hungry she was and rightly believed that BBL was an insurmountable threat in a lip sync. Sapphira, at least, is unbothered at her stint in the bottom two and is taking it in stride. She knows she’s making it to the end, and anyone who thinks otherwise isn’t scared enough. Plane is quite gagged by her fourth competitive win. Plane is even more gagged when Q starts throwing shade at the judge’s critiques and the quality of her makeover. Are you surprised to see that, once again, Q is acting a sore loser for a maxi challenge she likely came in second place for?

CLÁUDIO: I don’t want to heap more hate on Q, especially since the editors are doing a great job at stoking those flames within the fandom. However, her attitude is rotten. It’s also fascinating how the Drag Race supplemental material (Pit Stop, Untucked, Whatcha Packin’, etc.) has bent itself backward to present this queen’s competitiveness as a manifestation of her perfectionism. An attempt at humanization was made, but it feels more like insincere apologia. Isn’t Nymphia just as perfectionist as Q? Yet, that facet of her personality works inward and never results in her invalidating her sisters’ victories. The alphabet baldie is a sore loser and a sore winner, quick to point at queens like Sapphira and say they didn’t deserve their plaudits outright.

I don’t like it. Indeed, I think it’s even more annoying than Plane’s delusional self and constant bitchery. At least Miss Aircraft is occasionally entertaining, and her moments of vulnerability feel less calculated than those of the hairless seamstress. Then again, I am aware that the editors are skewing our perspective. I guess I’ll say Q, the TV character, is getting on my nerves. Q, the person, is another matter altogether, and I don’t condone any of the folks sending hate toward her.

Next morning in the werkroom, Nymphia keeps praying to the heavens above that she doesn’t get saddled with another writing-related challenge. There’s no time to reflect on her fate, however, for Mama Ru’s in the house with a couple of speedo-ed hunks in tow. This week’s mini-challenge will see the queens lipsync to one of the host’s songs in quick drag. But wait, there’s more. Rather than a simple bar performance, our beloved contestants have to put on an underwater show, dunking their heads into a tank with a camera at the bottom. It’s sheer insanity, and I think it might violate the Geneva Convention. Sapphira wins, mostly because of her boobage - a weighty improvement on the premiere’s Fisher Price titties.

Was it a fair victory? Is there such a thing when the challenge is this absurd?

NICK: It’s very silly! I’ll give props to Plane for enunciating the hell out of her lip sync underwater and to Nymphia for moving her arms like she’s doing laps. Most importantly, they all did better than me because I would have short-circuited the second I realized this was the actual “Kitty Girl” track and not the All Stars 3 RuMix. Kennedy Davenport, where are you?!?!

After this warm-up exercise, Ru announces this week’s maxi challenge will be . . . . a memoir! The queens are tasked with creating a catchy title, writing several chapters about their lives, doing a photoshoot for the cover, and sitting for an interview with Matt Rogers to discuss their lives. Exactly what Nymphia wanted! Ru stipulates that even though this challenge is a branding exercise, it requires the queens to be vulnerable and open about themselves. Every piece of fashion and every dialogue they submit must cohere around the version of themselves they wish to present to the judges. Also, this week’s guest judge is Ronan Farrow, someone who has a lot to say about strong, emotionally gripping writing.

It’s a daunting challenge, yet the queens are ready to throw themselves at it. Ru referring to them as “my semi-finalists” instead of “my final four” adds even more fire under their asses - is someone going to go home? Scary shit!

CLÁUDIO: While Nymphia’s utter despair is a funny gag, it oversells the writing portion of this challenge. It’s more about providing anecdotes and insights than actually constructing a sample for a book. Mostly, it’s notes for Matt Rogers to use during their interview. The task at hand is to let audiences in and give the Drag Race editors enough material to “sell” their contestants, their personalities and personal stories.

Immediately, Plane Jane reveals how much she has misread this affair. Instead of being vulnerable, she’s dead set on being funny, foregoing “dead grandma stories” to, once again, celebrate her bitchy side. I’m not sure if this is a sign she doesn’t know Drag Race nearly as well as she implies or if this is a genuine issue she has in her art. Q and Sapphira immediately get what’s being asked of them, and even Nymphia gets there. When she realizes there’s no need to be witty, it’s like a flashbulb goes off above her head. I do wonder how fair this is for Miss Wind, since English isn’t her first language and the show has punished queens with such troubles in the past. Still, she manages to come up with a perfect title, which can’t be said for some of her sisters.

NICK: Real quick, let’s go through the titles...

Breaking Wind - The Subtle Art of Letting Go, by Nymphia Wind
Plane Crash! How I Walked Away From Disaster, by Plane Jane
Alphabet Soup - Savor Every Bite, by Q
Slue Foot - Embracing All of Me, by Sapphira Cristál

Nymphia wins the naming mini-challenge I just invented, with Sapphira a close second. Only Q’s title underwhelms me, though she’s got the spirit. Inversely, Plane provides a very fun title that signals she doesn’t understand the assignment. The sense of understanding and fun the queens display in these titles is borne out in the photoshoot portion of the challenge. Ru himself is on hand to direct the photoshoots, and his direction is some of the liveliest, most engaging advice the queens have gotten all season. It’s so fun to watch, and the contestants are uniformly game to his direction - I’d argue that even the less successful shoots are closer to the mark because of Ru.

Nymphia struts on the stage in some black geometric jumpsuit, along with a similarly structured jacket and the most insane shoes I’ve ever seen on Drag Race. She nails the assignment so fast it’s almost astonishing. Plane brings out the flattest wig anyone has worn this season, and Ru does everything to make it seem voluminous. Fans, hair toss, you name it. Nothing works. Q’s outfit - a ‘60s-inspired getup with a beehive and mumu in similar shades of beige and peach - looks awful, and incongruous with the kid’s book styling of her memoir cover. We’re all the way back to Chad Michaels’ magazine cover in season 4, showcasing a truly bizarre vision of what an otherwise fashionable queen considers mature glamor. Sapphira answers the prompt in a smart suit and glasses, as if the photoshoot was taken while she was already on her book tour.

CLÁUDIO: That Chad Michaels deep cut is spot on. You’re so smart. Anyway, the photoshoot is when the episode’s ultimate shape starts to come through, as Nymphia triumphs, Sapphira acquits herself nicely - love her super long braid - and the two white bitches flounder.

Next up, the queens face the Las Culturistas slightly less famous host. Plane Jane is the first one on the hot seat, and she’s an unmitigated disaster. I was aghast at how disconnected she seemed from what Rogers was trying to get from her, missing a number of openings into a new tone. Yet, she remains bitchy, re-hashing the same nonsense she’s been spewing since week one. How on earth are we still talking about Amanda? By this point, it feels less like confident bullying and more like an insecure bitch’s obsession. I guess I enjoy her outfit as a new spin on her entrance look. That’s it.

Sapphira is so much better it almost gave me whiplash. She’s charismatic, relatable, keen on reaching out to the audience and on sharing her vulnerabilities as a path to success. Whether she’s being genuine or not, it doesn’t matter. It’s the professionalism that shines through, the way this interview proves she’d be a great representative of the Drag Race brand and thrive as a crowned queen. From stories of her nona to opening up about the bullying she suffered because of her slew foot, Miss Cristál is a knock-out interviewee. Moreover, she looks great, fully selling that talk show guest fantasy.

NICK: She looks like Beyoncé! Especially in that yellow “Lemonade” dress. Sapphira’s poised, open responses are lovely, even without the contrast of Plane’s ineptitude. Q absolutely shines in this segment, looking fabulous in an all-black ensemble and speaking candidly about the importance of her drag while overcoming the feelings of guilt she had about pursuing art when her family was so impoverished. It’s a facet of Q’s perfectionism I often forget, one of the more undeniably sympathetic pieces of history any of these queens have shared. You were right to distinguish Q the person and Q as an assembled character earlier -

Nymphia Wind finds one last opportunity to surprise her fellow queens and her audience, and shows some impressive candor in her interview. This may also be the best outfit any of the queens wear, in a sharp black getup characteristically informed by odd textures and sartorial beauty. Her pivot from a funny story to a serious one, jumping from a bad hookup to how she still wrangles with the impact white, Western beauty standards have made on her self-confidence since childhood, is all the more engaging for not carrying a dramatic swerve in affect or tone. Nymphia is a great communicator when she lets herself open up, and she’s so engaging with Rogers. She caps off the whole thing by flaunting her ass, and that’s all Nymphia wrote

CLÁUDIO: If this was the only component of the challenge, I think Q might have put up a fight for the win, or at least top placement. She’s great at inviting more complex readings into her on-screen behavior, illuminating the architecture of her discontent. It’s good stuff, but not nearly as riveting as Nymphia Wind’s candor.

We were chatting with a friend before this episode, and he mentioned that, for all that he loved Nymphia’s runways and challenge performances, it didn’t feel like, as an audience, we knew who she was. This interview portion resolves that, further showing the sincerity behind the nerves we were all so quick to dismiss as strategy.

I would also say that, intentionally or not, Nymphia’s talk about white Western beauty standards is a good reminder that we haven’t had an Asian queen winning the flagship Drag Race show since Raja. If we go specifically into notions of East Asian identity, then Miss Wind would be a unique winner in the series canon. Her victory would mean a great deal.

This week’s mirror moments aren’t especially interesting. The queens are basically just summarizing their experience in the competition so far. It doesn’t feel especially spontaneous or insightful, the producers’ fingerprints all over the place. There was one funny moment, though. When Sapphira is talking about Nymphia’s track record with writing/speaking challenges, the Banana Buddha is quick to pull her bald sister into the shade. But Q’s having none of it, resulting in one of the episode’s biggest laughs. After that, shall we move on to the main stage? Young Blue Eyes is waiting with his boobs out.

NICK: Ronan Farrow somehow pulled off an All-Stars glow-up as a guest judge. What if Jon Heder in Blades of Glory was sexy? That’s what Ronan looks like. Not to be outdone, RuPaul’s dress looks like the inside of a geode and I love it. Our runway category for the evening is FANdango, our other guest judge is Ts Madison, and our me is ready to roll.

First up is Q, wearing an orange ballet skirt seemingly made entirely out of fans, capped off with a wig that’s just bonkers as a piece of architecture. What the hell are those pleated pigtail things going down her noggin? They kill the look completely. The curvature of those top pieces at least make an interesting contrast to the rigid lines of the fans but good lord. It’s remarkable how these runways were lined up so the best designs Q brought from home were almost entirely front-loaded into the season.

CLÁUDIO: Do you know how Gloom can evolve to either Vileplume or Bellossom depending on the evolution method? Last week, we saw what Mhi’ya’s entrance look would have turned into when exposed to a Leaf Stone. This week, Q shows us the Sun Stone alternative. I’m quite enamored with it, to be honest, from color to execution. Or, more accurately, everything works from the neck down. The mug and wig are…something. Let’s be kind and say “less successful.”

Sapphira Cristál is serving Roberto Capucci with a wax print twist. While I love the reference, I also have to say our Philadelphian Mother chose one of the designer’s least interesting pieces. I’d have preferred one of his more sculptural variations on the fan idea. I also kept wishing the blue column was less robe-like, or that it had a reveal underneath. The styling is cute as far as the wig goes, but the jewelry seems mismatched. Wouldn’t a more African or geometrical design marry better to the wheel on her head and the featured motif?

NICK: I really wanted more from this look, especially in regards to the blue column down the middle and the sheer scale of the fan reveal from her sides. She’s served much better than this many times on the main stage.

The unquestionable peak of the night, Nymphia Wind freshens up and specifies a riff on Marie Antoinette - one of the oldest Drag Race runway staples. The fans on her nails are delicious, remarkable details, as are the prints on her jacket. Nymphia’s flaming pussy is an extra bit of silliness, one the outfit arguably doesn’t need but really puts it over the top, as far as I’m concerned. It’s all too much, yet the color coordination and eye for detail pull it all together.

CLÁUDIO: I’m always dreaming up drag looks that I’d like to see on Drag Race, and a Chinoiserie variation on Rococo styles has been on my wishlist for ages. So, it was basically impossible for me not to love Nymphia’s mini robe à l’anglaise. My only quibble is that the pussy-covering fans feel a tad disconnected from the outfit. A competing pattern might have been too much, but also just enough. The wig is a riot, as are the Marge Simpson pearls.

Plane Jane is last on the runway with a look partially constructed by Season 13’s Utica. It’s undeniably well-made, gorgeous in textile and crystal-encrusted hardware. However, I question some of the styling choices, namely the shaping beneath the outfit. Plane’s padded ass and boob bib detract from the fashion, while the color story washes her out somewhat. A darker wig could have done the trick, perchance a deeper lip with a more warm-toned eye. Still, it’s a good look for the shady aircraft.

NICK: I joked to you earlier that Plane’s outfit resembles Aja’s All Stars 3 promo look. I still think that comparison works, especially with that headpiece and the silhouette of her whole getup. You’re right that the paleness of the whole thing cancels itself out, though at least it draws your eye to Plane’s breasts even faster than usual.

In no time at all the queens are on the main stage, ready to be judged. Nymphia and Sapphira receive glowing critiques, while Q is dinged for her photoshoot outfit and Plane gets dinged for just about everything she presented. The bottom two is inevitable, and the winner would almost be a toss-up if everything wasn’t aligned so ideally for one queen. Nymphia Wind cinches her third victory of the season, an impressive haul even without taking into consideration the many other challenges this panel feels she should have won by now. Does this sit right with your soul?

CLÁUDIO: Nymphia’s win this week? Absolutely. Nymphia’s losses for the Talent Show, Goth, and Makeover challenges? No, they do not. Indeed, I’ve found a lot of the critiques aimed at her to be puzzling, if not downright disingenuous. When Ts Madison came for her yellow obsession last week, the fandom was angered, and though the reaction was overblown, there’s some truth to the pushback the panelist received. Sapphira has been even more consistent with her blue runways, yet she hasn’t received a single note about that. Plane’s silhouettes are much less varied, but she rarely gets a bad critique for her fashion. As much as Nymphia has succeeded in this competition, it sometimes feels like she’s held to a different standard than her sisters.

Sapphira would make a brilliant winner for season sixteen, but I can’t help but think the edit has bolstered her in a way it didn’t for Miss Wind. Performance-wise, our final three should feel quite even, but their presentation in the show’s final cut couldn’t be more different. Entire episodes have gone by when Nymphia was nearly invisible, and this year, the editors don’t have the same excuse as last time. There are no Real Friends of WeHo messing things up. So what gives? This episode felt like an attempt at making her a real contender for the crown. But I fear that, if she takes it, a lot of the same complaints lobbied at Sasha Velour will be thrown Nymphia’s way. You’re right to compare their edits, even if their seasons were shot in such different ways and contexts.

NICK: It’s a strange edit, as if Nymphia’s being framed as a sneak contender for the crown rather than someone who’s performed incredibly well throughout the season. I’m also mystified at how Plane and Q’s edits have been given room for the audience to see the cracks and gaps between their delusions of self-confidence and the events in their lives that have informed that behavior. Nymphia isn’t playing the same confidence game as a lot of the other top queens, and though Drag Race has shown the gradations between her frantic, comedic panic and her actual nerves, these emotions aren’t given the same depth we can now associate with Sapphira’s robust energy, Plane’s judgments, or Q’s perfectionism. I would love to hear from the readers if I’m just taking her edit for granted and they find her a reasonably fleshed-out contender. But I really want to know more about Ms. Wind than they’re telling me.

The finale will hopefully be a great place to get that knowledge. Ru may have helped by performing a double elimination on Plane and Q, who lip sync for their lives to Tina Turner’s “Better Be Good to Me”. It’s not an intuitive song choice for a lip sync, which comes across as sing-speaking under a good beat. Plane has certainly thought her way through the song, nailing her timing and enunciations without doing anything I found interesting with the song.

I don’t hate what she did per se. I just don’t think she did anything noteworthy, aside from maybe her cape choreo.

Q’s fighting for her life, putting more visible effort in this performance than she did against Amanda, but it’s still a losing battle. It’s maybe too mean to say that Plane didn’t win either of her lip syncs so much as the girls she competed against lost theirs, but it’s kinda funny, so I’ll say it anyway. Those Miami girls woulda torn Plane the fuck up. Q should have been gone weeks ago, and though I’m glad she’s not in the top three, it’s a bit underwhelming to see her leave in these circumstances, and when she did relatively okay in the challenge.

CLÁUDIO: Wasting Tina Turner like this is a hate crime. I dearly hope that next week’s LaLaPaRuza with all the eliminated queens will redeem the season, lipsync-wise, but I’m not holding my breath. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Mirage knows the words this time around. In any case, goodbye Q, may you have an All Stars Rudemption someday.

NICK: Best of luck to Mirage, to Amanda, and to Morphine. I hope Dawn does okay this time. If Amanda wins I think she should be allowed to personally deny Plane a spot in the top 2. Funniest shit of all time if it happened.

CLÁUDIO: Now that would be GREAT television.

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