Hello, Drag Race nation! We are back, back, back again with another acting challenge and a runway where festive and colorful spring fashions are in bloom.
This week, we’re also treated to a few blasts from the past, guest judge Ava Max and another case for RuPaul's Drag Race to provide some sort of medical insurance to the dolls while they’re filming.
As we open the episode after Alyssa Hunter’s elimination, we’ve got some determined queens coming into the werk room. Kerri says she’s ready to show her scary side, Bosco says she needs to “put some points on the board” and Kornbread says she’s ready for a reset and Lady Camden is ready to bring some cheeky sparkle” to the show.
The next day, all of the queens are ready to face their next challenge…but one of them is missing. RuPaul enters the werk room and announces that Kornbread rolled her ankle during a challenge and has to leave the competition. I don’t think that’s the reset Kornbread had in mind, but I am positive we haven’t seen the last of her. (What is it with queens and ankle injuries? I need to create some sort of ankle protection specially made for death drops and jump splits…could this be an idea for Shark Tank?)
After the bad news, Ru introduces this week’s maxi challenge. It’s another group challenge, but Mama Ru has come up with a clever new way to pick teams. The Pit Crew guys have confetti-filled balloons on their bums and the queens have to test their bump and grind skills to pop the balloon and reveal their teams. After some hilarious attempts (mostly from Jorgeous, who had quite a tough time with her balloon), we got our teams. Bosco, Daya Betty, and Lady Camden are the green team, Jasmine Kennedie, Maddy Morphosis, Willow Pill, Orion Story are team purple and Deja Skye, Kerri Colby, Jorgeous and Angeria Paris Van Micheals are team orange.
And now…the challenge. The teams need to create part of a PSA titled “Save A Queen.” Each team has to produce a “rhyming commercial parody” about a queen who followed in the footsteps of Victoria Porkchop Parker and sashayed away on episode one. The returning queens are season 7’s Tempest DuJour (team orange), our favorite wig wizardress, season 9’s Jaymes Mansfield (team purple) and last season’s “Mackie Barbie”, Kahmora Hall (team green).
On the runway, the theme was “Spring Has Sprung” and we were treated to a pastel, floral fantasy. Jorgeous was “cutesy bootsy” in a mint green mini dress, Kerri said she was bringing “creature couture, but she still looked amazing in a field of flowers and Angeria had her first (albeit minor) misstep with a loose-fitting bodice on her Cardi B inspired, bloom covered yellow gown.
Deja’s violet wide-legged pants or her “bunny, but make it fashion” look are on my wish list. Both Maddy and Bosco went with a cloud theme, with the former giving us a rainfall effect from her fluffy headpiece that was beautiful and dramatic and the latter’s grey tulle dress revealed a sunny yellow ball gown.
Jasmine had on the most gorgeous look of the week with a (handmade) stunning beaded corset and over-the-knee boots. Orion gave us a cross between a Playboy bunny and a fembot (and I’m not mad at it) and Willow’s “little house on the fairy” look was so adorable – and totally Willow, as when she turned around, her home headpiece had “help” written on the back in blood.
Daya was clad in orange and covered in butterflies, Lady Camden made her skirt into a table, ready for tea service (and her teacup headpiece tilted to reveal “tea” streamers, which gave her look an extra whimsical touch. (And she had teabag earrings!)
We also got to see the returning queens grace the runway, with Tempest serving a Norma Desmond-esque leopard fantasy, Jaymes giving us pure Jaymes in pink from head to toe (with her wig from the Trixie Cosmetics “Bottle Blonde” ad campaign) and Kahmora again delighted in a Mackie gown that Ru demanded be left in her dressing room (same, Mama, same.)
The PSA was the second acting challenge this season that was actually really entertaining, and all three teams brought the laughs. Jorgeous struggled with the dialogue in rehearsal but managed to pull her performance off. Kerri said she was giving ugly, but I honestly think it’s an impossible task for her. Deja was good, but Angeria (as usual) stole the show for her team.
Team Jaymes was the weakest of the bunch – if you had to choose – but Willow’s line delivery elicited loud chuckles from RuPaul (deservedly so). The best was saved for last, as Kahmora’s team was hilarious (as was Kahmora), Bosco got the best line with, “Do you know some queens have to get ready in less than seven hours?” We even got a Sarah McLachlan cameo! More challenges like this, please?
Our safe queens this week are Kerri, Daya, Maddy, Willow and Deja. While the judges gushed over Jasmine’s look, Bosco was declared the week’s winner. (See? I said don’t sleep on this queen.) Jorgeous’ struggle in the acting challenge and Orion’s overall lack of energy put them into the bottom and the pair lip sync to “My Head and My Heart” by guest judge Ava Max.
Orion’s lack of energy carried over into her lip sync and she did the ultimate no-no and kicked off her shoes mid-song. Kerri predicted Jorgeous would “buck her ass down” and that’s exactly want she did. And, sadly, we must once again bid adieu to our lovely Michigan queen (her bar, like Kornbread’s earlier) was merely chocolate, so the golden ticket is still in play.
So, there are lots of nominees for this week’s MVP. Angeria killed the PSA performance and Jasmine won the runway, but I am going a bit out on a limb this week and awarding my MVP of the week award to our returning queens, Kahmora, Tempest and Jaymes. Tempest was more than happy to let the queens riff on her age (as she was dubbed “old” by Kandy Ho on her season), Kahmora (who still can’t deliver the “I’m rooting for you” line) leaned into her notoriously long prep time and Jaymes allowed the queens to refer to her as a “busted ass pig.”
All three of the guest queens also gave great confessional. I, for one, would be so happy to see more queens who could use this second chance on the show…come on Venus D’Lite, Alisa Summers and Kelly Mantle!
Next week, our top ten face a new challenge and turn more looks on the runway and, until then, remember that if you can’t love yourself, how in the hell are you gonna love somebody else? Can I get an “amen”?
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