It was a battle of the spiciest girls on this week’s challenge on RuPaul’s Drag Race. As the episode opens, emotions were running wild in the werk room after Mirage’s heartbreaking elimination. Q is emanating disappointment that she didn’t win last week (and, IMHO, her Cher look and performance on RDR Live should have secured her a victory). She says she’s tired of getting so close and not going all the way.
Plane Jane is finding it hard to sympathize with her and makes her feelings known – and this results in Q stating she is finding it hard to trust Jane now. Jane is not here to make friends, is she? And, as far as Amanda Tori Meating is concerned, playtime is over.
The next day, Amanda and Jane exchange fake niceties before Ru enters. As a (not-so-subtle) plug for his new memoir, Ru announces that for this week’s mini-challenge, the queens have to pose for their own book cover and write an author bio. I couldn’t be happier about this because it means it’s time for my favorite thing about Drag Race – quick drag! Plasma channels Jinkx Monsoon for the cover of “All That Plazz”, Megami serves Jersey Shore glam for “It’s Me-Gah-Me, Not Mega-Mi” and Amanda is a gold digger for “Time for a Meating.”
Jane goes Downton Abbey as Lady Cox Du Stinque, Mhi’ya Iman LePaige dons a Catwoman costume for “Angry Puss,” Nymphia Wind dresses as a banana (again) and Morphine showcases her assets for “The BBL Effect.” Sapphira offers singing training for “Throat Goat” and Dawn leans into the eternal appeal of a fart joke with “Bubble Up: Stories of a Gassy Girl in the Modern World.” Geneva Karr talks “hairy legs and bad choices” in “Vroom Vroom,” Xunami Muse pens “Memoirs of a Muse” and Q has the cleverly titled “Why?” Ru declares Sapphira Cristal as the winner.
For the maxi challenge, it’s girl group time! The queens team up to collaborate with Ru on three songs from her “Black Butter” album. The teams have to write verses and create choreography. Sapphira (mini-challenge winner), Plasma (last week’s winner) and Geneva (winner of last week’s lip sync) are captains and choose their teams. Team Sapphira, performing “Star Baby,” is made up of Dawn, Morphine Love Dion, and Q. Team Plasma, performing “Courage to Love,” is Amanda, Xunami, and Jane, and Team Geneva, performing “ASMR Lover” is Mhi’ya, Nymphia, and Megami.
As the teams start to work on their sings, we learn that Sapphira was in a girl group in Philadelphia (Philly’s Foxes), Morphine chooses to take on the choreo and Q admits she can’t dance. Plasma is eager to do pop music, Amanda refuses to let Jane stand in her way, and, as the composer of ‘Burger Finger,” Jane feels like she’s already got the win. Xunami is struggling with her lyrics, so Jane and Amanda try to help her – if by helping, you mean talking over each other. Megami hated the fact that she was picked last and gets emotional about it. Nymphia also has issues with lyrics (because not much rhymes with banana) and resorts to cracking herself up by making yak sounds.
When it comes to choreo, Plasma conducts dance boot camp, rapidly firing directions to her teammates and confusing the heck out of Xunami. Amanda, who was in Kinky Boots (one of my favorite musicals) is positively killing it. Mhi’ya pretty much whispers directions to her team, Megami is struggling, and Geneva isn’t being very captain-y. Nymphia reveals she choreographed dance moves for a K-Pop group, and everyone is starting to realize that she is really playing the game by giving the impression that she can’t do anything. Clever banana. She’s also quite shady, as she giggles with Geneva about Q’s clunky moves (she really was walking the runway like a robot.)
Before the main stage, Amanda feels on top of the world, and Q confronts Jane about her earlier comments. Jane says she has more respect for Q than she does for Amanda. Ouch. She then apologized to Q. Girl is definitely getting the villain edit this season. Sapphira does her best “mama bear-ing” to help Jane take other people’s feelings into consideration, but I think her advice is falling on deaf ears.
Ru, as always, stuns in a magenta and purple gown, and it’s great to see TS Madison on the panel again (as well as guest judges Icona Pop.) The group performances were pretty solid. QDSM (Team Sapphira) was probably the weakest (due to Q’s still clunky dancing. Sapphira and Dawn were standouts, though. The only note I wrote for Lovah Girlz (Team Plasma) was “Amanda!” That girl can dance and I couldn’t take my eyes off of her. Thicc & Stick (Team Gebeva) ws a surprise. They were all great.
The runway theme was “Faster Pussycat! Wig! Wig!” Morphine gave us a glam take on Catwoman in a gorgeous gown complete with cat scratches on the back. Q was a “badass warrior vampire knight” in a fabulous look she created herself (of course), and Sapphira’s pussycat wig was an actual pussycat, and she gave us her unique take on Dr. Evil. Dawn served “alien girl goes to the mall” (in other words, Dawn), and Plasma went from mid-century to ancient Greece in a Hermes goddess look. Amanda went robins’ nest, Xunami was a sexy matador and Jane was a latex S&M fantasy. Geneva said her look was 20s flapper, but I didn’t see that (her leopard print look was nice though). Mhi’ya wore a black mini dress with exaggerated, pointy shoulders, Megami was a “Staten Island fairy” in a sheer dress, and Nymphia gave us two reveals and was not dressed like a banana.
The winning team this week was Team Geneva. Q’s dance moves and Amanda’s bad padding and confusing runway look got called out in the critiques. When Ru asked the queens who should go home, the votes were divided between Amanda and Q. And, of course, these were the bottom two queens of the week. They performed a lip sync of Icona Pop’s “Emergency,” and they were both amazing, so much so that I thought there would be a double shantay. But no…Amanda is sent packing – and I don’t think she deserved it. She was so good in the challenge, and now we won’t get to see her and Jane roast each other in the reading challenge. Next week, the queens get dolled up for another test of their design skills and I can’t wait. See you then!
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