Drag Race RuCap: “RDR Live!” (again)

And just like that, a villain is born.

CLÁUDIO ALVES: It’s a testament to how much I’m enjoying this season that, even with a challenge as chronically unfunny as RDR Live, I still finished the hour of television ready to proclaim the return of old-school Drag Race fun. Girl, Jinkx Monsoon has been spritzing her fragrance all over the Werk Room because these bitches are delusional, already splitting into cliques and badmouthing each other like we’re in season 3. Some seem to think runways count as much as main challenges, and there’s tension so thick you can cut with a knife. And like with season 5, the folks deemed soft and unstylish are unbothered and thriving, while the resident sourpusses get pressed like paninis. For once, Untucked is essential viewing, and I feel as if I spent most of it cackling like Onya Nurve. Bless this mess.

NICK TAYLOR: The confidence these bitches have exuded so palpably has really begun to curdle...

It’s almost mystifying to see some of these queens so mad to realize their runways just can’t compensate for safe-to-low performances. We haven’t seen this sort of style vs comedy discourse in a long time on the main Drag Race stage - is it because so many recent winners have announced themselves as generally versatile, rather than specializing in comedy drag? I barely believe it as I’m typing it. Maybe it’s less complicated than that. The beauty queens are thrown to see such adulation directed towards a type of drag they themselves would never perform and don’t view as at their level. We’re back to the classic, baby!

You know who most definitely wasn’t serving drag at the level of the other girls? Joella. When the queens enter the werkroom they spend zero seconds mourning her demise. They’re not celebrating, exactly, but no one’s shocked or upset for her like they were for Lucky. So they quickly move to the couches and kiki. Kori is the first to congratulate Onya for winning the challenge, and she is over the fucking moon. No longer does she she seem nervous about her place in the competition. Instead, she’s very aware the other queens (namely Crystal) are steamed to see her win in that outfit (which I thought looked great) compared to their more fashionable doodads. It’s a stand-off, exacerbated by the one-woman furnace Arrietty, who is deeply bitter about being placed low last week.

CLÁUDIO: Arrietty is so mad. In this post-elimination moment, but also for most of the episode. It’s something to see, this rage simmering right at the surface, glazed with a glamorous visage that can’t quite hide this villain’s origin story. But you’re right to point out Onya. Miss Nurve and Suzie Toots start the episode quite amused with their sisters’ madness and vibing with each other, winner energy abounds. I would have never described them as a dynamic duo, but they have a nice chemistry that will extend across the episode and into Untucked, even if they’re never really working together. I guess it’s the confidence, the security, the piggishness.

Yes, because next morning, Jewels Sparkles breaks the ice and dissipates tension by talking about the piggy of the week. My mind went straight to sex pigs, some dark room nonsense, or those munching on dick through Joella’s quilted glory hole. But no, Trinity’s granddaughter is talking about the gals who’re eating up the competition. Arrietty wants to be a pig so much it hurts, a palpable need manifested in her cute lil’ devil curls. She has decided she’ll go all out in whatever challenge she’s given. Looking back, the narrative of her downfall starts right away. Good storytelling on the editors’ part.

NICK: I also thought Jewels was talking about sex pigs. Clearly, everyone else did too. While everyone is recovering from this new slang, RuPaul walks into the werkroom and announces this week’s main challenge will be RDR Live!, which has become a loose staple for the past three years. Is this meant to be a replacement for the more traditional scripted acting challenges, like RuCo Empire or Emilia Pérez? Who can say. The important part is that the queens seem excited to sink their teeth into this week’s shenanigans - a marked contrast from the viewers at home praying everything would turn out okay. 

What’s most surprising is how largely painless the casting process is. You’d think some of these roles would have people arguing over them like last year’s Brick, but no, it all lines up nice and neat. Only Hormona Lisa is blocked from her first pick, being shunted from a Golden Girls parody by Lydia B. Kollins into a beaver-centric spin on the Schwetty Balls/Dusty Muffin radio show routine. She’s clearly not happy, but as with many a professional, Hormona trusts in her talent to thrive in this new role while eagerly side-eying Ms. Butthole to find evidence of her impending demise. Our final roll call is:

Host: Onya Nurve
Neanderthal Town Hall: Arrietty, Lana Ja’Rae, Kori King, Onya Nurve.
Beaverlogy Podcast: Hormona Lisa, Jewels Sparkles, Sam Star
Weekend Update: Crystal Envy, Lexi Love, Suzie Toot.
Emergency Room Visit: Acacia Forgot, Lydia B. Kollins

After deliberations are settled, the cast quickly rehearse before being sent to record their sketches on set. Lydia’s eagerness to play a sassy old broad is quickly muffled by her unfamiliarity with Golden Girls, leaving her co-star Acacia a bit frantic and Hormona looking please as punch.

Suzie quickly becomes the de-facto director of her Weekend Update segment, citing her background in improv and sketch comedy as leadership credentials. Lexi quietly suffers her advice, though she’s pissed about her zanier performance ideas being shot down while Suzie seemingly never accepts any of her advice. Does this smell like sabotage to you? I don’t see it that way, but it makes sense as a foundation for Lexi’s sulking in Untucked.

CLÁUDIO: I don’t see it as sabotage. Indeed, I think Suzie might have saved Lexi and Crystal from themselves by keeping true to what the SNL Weekend Update does. The anchors are supposed to be the straight men in the comedic alchemy, the tonal discrepancies between them and their guests being the whole point of the joke. If Lexi and Crystal got their way, there would have been no peaks and valleys in the sketch, just craziness from start to finish. Or, at least, that’s what it sounds like. Maybe I’m a bit defensive because I have been Suzie Toot many times in my life so I feel for the tap-dancing clown of season 17. Lexi can be as pissed as she wants, but I don’t think she was as screwed over as she makes it sound.

Lydia, on the other hand, can’t blame anyone but herself. Why would she fight for a Golden Girls part if she’s unfamiliar with the material? Watching Acacia try to instruct her on how to do Sophia’s “picture it” schtick was painful. Indeed, I can’t abide by such Golden Girls’ ignorance. Not since I badgered your husband on the occasion of Betty White’s death by asking for episode recommendations. Since then, I’ve become a fanatic and watched nearly every episode. It has come to the point I’m rationing the last season because there’ll be no new Golden Girls discoveries when I’m done with it. Such tragedy!

But let’s touch on the other groups for a second. The cold-open girls seem pleased as punch and more confident than seems possible, so high on their own supply that they’re the meme of two bitches saying “exactly” to each other. Only there are three of’em, with Arrietty wanting to go over the top to the point it seems Kori and her have missed the point of the sketch. The joke is clearly that, while they’re done up as cavewomen, they’re behaving as modern-day Karens. Right?

As far as the podcast ladies are concerned, Sam is very eager to explore the lesbian within her and has decided to abandon her natural Southern accent to try another voice. This is prompted by Hormona wanting to lean on her Southerness. Miss Star assumes a contrast between the two will be funnier than not. In the meantime, Blackie O’Reilly’s doppelganger is getting in touch with her Australian side to dubious results. Gotta love her enthusiasm, though. Indeed, everybody but Lexi seems confident as fuck going into the challenge, but my gut feeling only really trusted Onya and Suzie going in. And I was right! Well, sorta.

NICK: The Neanderthal group is fun, though it's clear how much Onya is stabilizing her teammate’s performances. Arrietty does so much it disguises Kori not actually doing very much. Lana has exactly one (1) joke with her gigantic, jiggly knockers, but she sells it decently. Once Onya gets to hosting duties, dressed in the sweetest lavender getup ever to grace the catwalk, she’s even more entertaining. It’s such an assured, relaxed performance, lining up punchlines with a conspiratorial energy, as if we’re all in on the jokes with her. Magnificent.

Jewels goes for a lark I found entertaining, neither overly successful or deeply tragic. Hormona finds Al much detail to beef up her character, from the trimmed nails on her middle and ring fingers to her ASMR voice. Re: Sam, I think the bigger problem comes from deciding her rapport with Hormona should be oppositional - this sketch is funnier if it’s about a swinger couple looking for a third, yeah? The dialogue certainly allows for a more playful approach. An even bigger issue might be Sam and Hormona’s decision to paint their faces to match the color of their wigs. What a weird movie. 

Next is Weekend Update, where everyone harmonizes together marvelously, in part by not lunging for the camera. Even Suzie, in her Amy Winehouse wig and brassy accent, is pretty controlled with her jokes and persona. I love the slyness to her humor as she dances around potential litigation issues - “Now I didn’t say that, you did. And I agree with yooouuuu.” I don’t think she’s every laugh-out-loud funny, but it’s a complete creation. Lexi’s innate charisma is its own energy source, but I don’t see either her or Crystal reaching the underplayed absurdity of a Heidi N Closet or Amanda Tori Meating.

Last but not least is Acacia and Lydia, with guest judge Paul W. Downs stepping in as a hunky doctor. Acacia gets the Blanche Devereaux-isms without much strain, or falling into the trap of imitating other Drag Race. More impressive is that she’s so solid opposite Lydia, who gives absolutely nothing underneath her caked-on old-age makeup. It’s one thing to do a pastiche role and approach it from your own kooky direction, but I’m shocked Lydia had basically no ideas about those to approach this woman.

CLÁUDIO: Onya wipes the floor with everyone in that first sketch, followed by her monologue. She’s so good it only makes Mirage’s disaster of a performance last season look worse. I left the episode believing she could ace an actual SNL hosting gig. She even sounds properly enthusiastic about presenting RuPaul’s latest music performance. For some reason, the queen of all drag queens is doing Kori King cosplay. And what was going on with that editing, all fades and juxtapositions, tricks left and right? Was it to hide how limited Ru’s movements were? Her bad lip syncing skills?

I liked Hormona more than you, maybe because I read the scenario differently. The two lesbians are presented as platonic roommates, which made me think of a tense situation where they might’ve tried to work together romantically but didn’t and now compete to get their guest’s attention (and their beavers, too). Indeed, I really loved Miss Lisa’s entire deal, her delivery, her grating sweetness, the two short nails in her manicure. Now, that’s attention to detail. Jewels was fine, Sam seemed intent on effacing her persona and presence, her charm. I guess she succeeded. Crystal felt extraneous to the Weekend Update portion, in part because she was eclipsed by Lexi’s charisma in a near identical role. Suzie is a triumph, in part because she underplays her caricature. Compared to last year’s shrillness - I’ll never get Q’s top placement - Toot’s serving awards-worthy acting. We have a thespian on our hands!

Finally, three cheers for Acacia, who was tremendous, utterly unphased by the muted trainwreck of Lydia’s un-Petrillo-ed Sophia. Moreover, she got the Devereaux side of the role but still made it sing in harmony with the Dorothy-esque bitchiness toward her mother. In another week, she might have landed on top for this. She certainly deserved to try some of her head skills on Dr. Downs more than the elderly Butthole she got for a scene partner.

After the filming, everyone feels super confident about their performance - again - which can only mean bad things. We also get a better notion of the cliques forming, with Lexi deeming Acacia, Lydia, Hormona and Suzie as the Kumbaya girls, of which Miss Toot is the She-E-O. Supposedly, this means they’re too soft, unable to deal with casual shade, the kind of queen that makes other girls feel like they can’t act like drag queens without hurting someone’s feelings. The likes of Arrietty and Lana are happy to laugh and join in Lexi’s bitchery, which makes for some delicious villainy. It’s even better because they’re all cut down to size later in the episode, proving that there are some thin-skinned dolls on set, but they aren’t the Kumabaya gals.

NICK: It’s a very funny lead-in, especially since it’s not like any of these girls did well enough to warrant the cockiness over Suzie and Hormona.

We also get to learn a fun tidbit about Lexi’s day job - Miss Love is a consultant assistant project leader who teaches bankers how to not commit fraud. It’s so engaging hearing Lexi talk about her career, and how being on Drag Race will almost certainly upend her life and knock her out of the closet to a lot of her colleagues. We even get to see her LinkedIn page! Still, one can’t help being a little nervous from learning this info after we got the same deets from Amanda last year right before she was sent home.

From there we move to the runway, where this week’s theme is "Tickled Pink," and the girls do not disappoint.

Onya Nurve is up first; wearing dozens of skinned pink sneakers into a leotard with knee-high boots and shoulder-length sleeves to match. It’s such a fun idea, bringing me right back to Sasha Colby’s baseball mitt glove runway. The proportions are beyond perfect, and the pink compliments her skin so beautifully.

CLÁUDIO: I was even more reminded of Bimini’s football ensemble for the UK2 premiere and Symone’s Timberland boot ensemble from the Season 13 finale. Onya looks good here, the color is perfect for her, and the boob plate matches her skin exactly. However, Michelle was right that this needed some hair. Even Miss Nurve agrees since she added a ponytail for the photoshoot she did to promote the look on her Instagram.

Kori King is serving Barbiecore, which probably felt more relevant back when this was shot and the world was still vibing from Greta Gerwig’s picture and Margot Robbie’s iconic promo tour. Even so, she looks good and the doll-ness even makes the shiny wig work as a coherent styling choice. However, it must be said that this ensemble would have made a bigger impact if we hadn’t already seen multiple permutations of its basic silhouette from Kori. It’s time to change it up, girl.

NICK: Seconding all of that. A good look held back by the rest of her package thus far.

Arrietty continues to show us new things with her fashion and makeup sensibilities. She looks like some kind of frilled punk rock demoness, and she struts with the confidence of someone who fully believes they’re about to get good critiques from the judges. Love the wig and the stitched-up mouth, too - she’s got great instincts, and this runway actually serves the prompt.

CLÁUDIO: I mean… when the prompt is a color, there isn’t a lot of space for misinterpretation. Still, I cosign most of your praise and especially love the head styling. Don’t like the shoes, though, since stilettos make no sense with the remaining punk rock attitude of the ensemble. I’m also getting tired of chaps on the runway, but that’s just a matter of personal taste.

Lana’s ensemble is a surprise coming from her. For starters, she’s awfully covered up, playing at a sort of midcentury demureness that’s almost antithetical to the drag persona she’s showcased so far. Generally, I like it, with major props given for the pale, almost gold, hue of pink she went with - it stands out amongst a sea of bubblegum and neon. The construction could be better, though. The back bunches weirdly when she poses, and that hoop is too noticeable. I tend to prefer this silhouette when it’s achieved through layered petticoats. I get it’s more cumbersome for the model, but it looks better. And as a looks queen, I imagine Lana would prioritize glamour over comfort.

NICK: I like Lana’s outfit but don’t love it. Maybe I’m not fashionable enough to get the Bo Peep reference. Maybe it’s just lost without the shepherding staff. She looks gorgeous, and I agree with you about how flattering the color of the fabric is.

Hormona Lisa looks fabulous strutting the runway in her mother-of-the-bride, cotton candy pinks. No complaints per se, but I am waiting for her to show us a different silhouette - as flattering as this is, we’ve seen this from her before.

CLÁUDIO: I cosign your critique. Nevertheless, one must admit this is the most beautiful she has looked on this runway, perfunctory as the whole ensemble might feel. By the way, that’s a gorgeous wig that prevents the pink fantasy from washing her out like other looks of hers..

I know you thought this was a strong runway showing across the board, but I confess myself disappointed. A color prompt leaves things so open to interpretation that you can go as wild as can be. But most of the girls served basic variations on their drag persona. Case in point: this tired showgirl schtick from Sam Star. It’s boring.

NICK: I’ll say this for her: pretty! Not an adventurous look, but as far as pretty pink baubles go, this is competently executed.

I suspect you may carry over similar complaints from Sam to Jewels Sparkles, but I’m into the My Fair Bell-Bottoms pants. The hat, the giant hair, the exposed hips and shoulders. This glamour works for me, though perhaps not enough for me to agree it should have gotten her a top placement. 

CLÁUDIO: It’s a fun look - constructed from a recycled pageant gown - but some of the proportions seem off. I think either the wig should be smaller or Jewels should have picked a different hat style. That said, the bell bottoms moved beautifully on the runway and she knew how to model them. Points for that.

Crystal Envy went for a literal take on bubblegum pink, complete with a balloon she popped when sauntering onto the runway. It’s a simple idea, neatly realized, down to the shoes and the gum-chewing attitude. My only quibble is that the blonde wig is a bit too yellow to complement these rose-colored drips. I think a cooler, more platinum, shade might have been more flattering. Great work, nonetheless. 

NICK: Of the main pageant girlies thus seen, I appreciate Crystal’s willingness to go for camp silliness. The quick pop of the gum at the top is such a fun introduction to this look, and she sells it through sheer chutzpah. Those bubbly patches on her hip and shoulder are a nice touch. I don’t disagree about the wig per say, but I think my first instinct would be to put fake gum all over that unit, and that’s a terrible idea, so I’m gonna let Crystal do Crystal.

Lexi Love struts out with a pink-ified look from season 15’s House of Michelle Visage display. She looks fucking fabulous in her leopard-print fantasy - the sheer fabric on her chest and arms? The huge stole/cape thing?? The MAKEUP?? Fabulous. I’m a little lost for words. Now that’s a runway to be mad about not making the top in.

CLÁUDIO: Chaps again - how thrilling. Jokes aside, I commend Lexi for her ability to always conjure a character for her runway presentations. Because this feels like very specific character, some lost Housewife from the Bravo show or maybe an offcast from a Dynasty porn parody. The shoes are a needle scratch, the makeup a miracle. That frosty highlighter is to die for.

Let me be highly pedantic for a moment. Suzie keeps pointing to the 1920s as her source of inspiration, but almost everything she has presented thus far feels closer to 30s Old Hollywood. Consider this week’s harlequin outfit. She refers to the roaring decade to describe it, but this thing’s based on a Claudette Colbert costume from 1933’s Tonight Is Ours. Okay, rant over. In any case, she looks lovely, and all those bitches coming for this look were just jealous. 

NICK: She looks stunning. This brought me right back to Yvie Oddly’s orange freak moment, as both a declaration of supreme creativity from a talented queen and an unexpectedly controversial look among her peers. It’s such a wonderful approach to this prompt, and she nails it. The makeup is divine.

Lydia Butthole Kollins is up next, representing a different piece of human anatomy. What’s the word? Oh yeah, PENIS. Again, this wins points for sheer creativity, and I love how she walks it down the runway, serving face and kicking out her leg like that. Whatever fabric she used for the head and shaft are just so fun, and make me want to touch it even more than such objects usually do. The feathery cum spurts are the cherry on top. 

CLÁUDIO: I wish she had opened the shaft because those veiny details on the bodysuit underneath make for a cool, performance-ready take on anatomy. Anyway, it’s lovely to see the dad from Beau Is Afraid getting another gig.

Suzie’s right out of Tonight Is Ours, Lydia is serving Beau Is Afraid, and Acacia Forgot could be confused for one of the window displays in Mannequin. Or maybe she’s more Jem and the Holograms? Whatever the answer, this is fun. Don’t you love when your shoulder pads get so excited they sport erections? Frilled ones at that? Derrick Berry’s Tin Man dicks could never.

NICK: I love you for the Beau is Afraid reference. Your mind!! Acacia looks like a fucking rockstar, which is not what her persona thus far has suggested was in her repertoire. She’s got those Dorothy Zbornak shoulders dialed up to 100, and I love that for her.

Once the girls are assembled, Ru calls for Onya, Arrietty, Hormona, Sam, Suzie, and Lydia to remain on the stage. The three comedy queens are our tops of the week, while Arrietty, Sam, and Lydia are sent to the bottom lands. This isn’t an unfair selection, though I half expected Arrietty’s runway to save her over Kori’s serviceable but uninteresting look (and performance). I wish the judges had made room for Acacia in the top, but the three we get are as correct as they are inevitable.

Boy, do the judges love Suzie and Onya’s runways. Boy does Arrietty look fucking pissed throughout the critiques. I can’t remember a single thing the hilarious Ross Matthew said, but Paul Downs delivers such succinct critiques I wish he could’ve come in to coach the queens a little before they filmed their sketches. Hormona gets great reviews, and if I register her as a firm third place in this trio, she at least gets the smug satisfaction of listening to Lydia’s poor reviews from the judges. Sam is rightly criticized for her bizarre voice, but she never felt in danger of going home, did she? Or was the narrative around Arrietty too juicy to save her when Sam had the dullest runway of the tops and bottoms? I’ve seen a couple comments online calling a double standard on Arrietty getting slammed for overplaying when the other top performers went Big, but she repeated the sin of Milk’s catastrophic turn on The Bitchelor in AS3 - if you go pedal to the medal the entire time, you will be punished for making such a spectacle of yourself.

CLÁUDIO: Mr. Dowds looked like a snack on that judging panel and, as you said, delivered some of the best critiques. Love when a guest isn’t afraid to be specific and actually gives feedback the queens can use to better themselves moving forward. Not that Arrietty seemed especially receptive to any form of negative assessment. Not even the very fair point that she took it so far they couldn’t understand what the hell was coming out of her mouth.

I know we usually steer clear of Untucked but this week’s episode deserves a mention. Because the frilled lizard was coming for everyone, Hormona and Suzie especially, while Lexi and Crystal steamed on the background, smoke practically coming out of their ears. It’s amazing to me that some queens like Lana believe their runways should secure top placements regardless of their challenge performances. Luxx’s daughter believing she should have scored above Suzie is legitimately as delusional as anything Joella said during her brief stint. And, at least, the Slaysian queen of LA was funny and had rapport with her sisters. When Jewels tries to comfort Lana, all she gets is a back view of the other girl’s updo. It comes to a point where I was having season 5 flashbacks, only, this time, the editors actually allowed us to see the oddball standing up for herself.

Suzie Toot is as unbothered as can be which only seems to rankle the discontented queens further. Not fellow top three sister Onya, however. That gal’s having the time of her life witnessing this nonsense. I love her so much. I also love Hormona, who has been riding the wave of her sisters’ hatred with uncommon grace since episode one. Gotta give props to the chill queens.

It should be noted that these are people and what I’m writing here isn’t about the drag queens on a personal level. This is an assessment of them as TV characters in this over-produced show that is RuPaul’s Drag Race. And in that regard, the likes of Arrietty and Lexi were this week’s villains while Suzie stood out as the hero. No wonder she won the whole thing - even if she hadn’t deserved it, the narrative alone could be argued as a just cause for another victory - her second this season. 

NICK: Bless you for the note about how we’re reacting to the queens. Yes, they’re characters on a show, but they’re also real people who are gonna keep existing in the public eye after this airs. I’ve already seen Lana post about how much Suzie’s meant to her since the show wrapped, and I believe it wholeheartedly. It’s been nice to see the past couple seasons of queens stick by each other, even if we get to see some combative encounters throughout their time in the competition.

But as you say, too, this was pretty fantastic in terms of narrative storytelling and shaping character arcs. The best part is how organic it all feels in the context of the show - no apparent strain from producers, editors, or the queens themselves to manufacture drama for the sake of it. These bitches are feeling themselves, and even if I don’t agree with some of the delusions we’re witnessing, it’s compelling to watch as self-expression and unvarnished conflict. I imagine this week’s top three are going to be major threats for the rest of the competition, and their unbothered reactions make it even funnier. Can you imagine the bloodbath if they all make it to Snatch Game?

Back to this week’s challenge - Suzie secures her second win of the competition and it is immensely deserved. I’m still torn between giving it to her or Onya, but hey, I love the clown runway. Meanwhile, Sam is saved from the bottom two, leaving Arrietty and Lydia to lip sync for their lives. Do we think Arrietty’s tantrum helped secure her bottom placement, purely for the drama of it? There’s Astrud Aurelias everywhere for those with the eyes to see her.

Anyways, the song is Earth, Wind, and Fire’s “Boogie Wonderland”, a certified bop. Arrietty goes the same way as Lucky before her, pushing her moves a little too hard for a song best served by grooving with it. Still, I’m not sure even a good performance could have beaten Lydia boogieing her little white ass into the stratosphere. She sheds her foreskin - how often do we see a circumcision on live TV? - and suddenly the veins on her bodysuit turn into glam electric shocks, almost Bowie-esque in its androgyny. On the spectrum of white twink domination, Lydia’s far closer to Willow Pill’s “Never Too Much” performance than I could have imagined, connecting to the groove so kinetically she almost makes it look easy.

CLÁUDIO: Give or take Lexi’s performance on episode 2, Lydia might have delivered my favorite individual lip sync of the season so far. Her timing is pristine, her stunts immaculately tied to the song’s variations. And then there’s that leg movement going into an unorthodox but oh-so-elegant dip. Arrietty didn’t stand a chance, but it doesn’t help how little rhythm she had, absolutely disconnected from what the song was asking for. Even RuPaul seemed entranced by Lydia. Quick question - are Mama Ru and Kori living through some kind of Persona-type shit? Are their identities melding through a case of sartorial similarity and twinned Butthole obsession?

So, Lydia wins and Arrietty is eliminated. Or is she? There’s still the Badonka Dunk to contend with and, miracle of miracles,our Latina elf queen pulls the right lever, sending Michelle careening into the water. I gotta assume Arrietty got some pleasure out of it after those makeup critiques from last week. In any case, she’s back in the competition and this season’s gimmick is over five episodes in. Honestly, considering the numbers were 1 and 7 (aka 17 for season 17), I’m starting to think we might have been too hasty in calling this whole thing rigged.

NICK: The simplicity of the gag convinced me it’s fair play. If nothing else, I think finishing off this gag earlier helps offset the accusations of rigga morris that would’ve absolutely come later in the game regardless of who got it. Still, how wild is it that only two queens have gone home in five episodes? And Joella’s the only one who’s lip synced more than once.

As it stands, I’m very happy for Arrietty, and I hope this second chance gives her the energy to really knock the next challenge out of the park. Up next is The Ball, with Law Roach and Hunter Schafer sitting as guest judges. The preview spells a terrible time for Lexi, who bursts into the werkroom wanting to know who ruined her dress. I’m not convinced we’re about to see the last of her, but Drag Race knows how to get me scared enough to tune in next week.

Previous RuCaps:

• Episode 1: “Squirrel Games”
• Episode 2: "Drag Queens Got Talent"
• Episode 3: "Monopulence!"
• Episode 4: "Bitch, I'm a Drag Queen!"

Comments

[NATHANIEL R]

fun read. In a weird way (in that i don't love how long each episode is -- i cant fast forward the commercials!) it's one of those seasons where I wish I could see less edited takes on what's happening. For instance people keep describing Arriety as nice but the edit is clearly aiming for villain. So where is the disconnect. is it just like sees like and the other villains think she's kind because she's kind to them or has she been legitimately done dirty by the need for reality shows to create these edits?

anyway, I knew Suzie Toots would be my fav in the very first episode but the others I've shifted opinions about based on the regular based on what they've presented.

The most underrated queen this season based on what's been presented... CRYSTAL ENVY

[Deanna Alexander]

It's great to see the excitement around Drag Race! I love how it brings unique personalities to the forefront. Speaking of personalities, have you guys tried the bad parenting game? It’s a hilarious way to explore different parenting styles and decision-making quirks, just like the diverse characters we see on Drag Race. Can't wait to hear everyone's thoughts on this season's drama!