Sam
Last week’s episode of Drag Race brought 90 minute episodes back with a stand-up comedy challenge — and saw Marcia Marcia Marcia sashay away after a middling performance.
As this week’s episode kicks off, it seems as though the feeling of “there but for the grace of God go I” has come upon Salina EsTitties, who is all too happy to see Marcia go. It’s a bold take from the queen who has been arguably been performing the worst, without a single redeemable runway and subpar efforts in the challenges.
Still, Salina had a good week in the comedy challenge, but it’s still strange to hear her compare her own consistently mediocre performances in weeks past as being on the same level as Marcia, who, despite never being a standout, was also never really that terrible…just boring.
Nonetheless, the freshly saved Anetra and the rest of the queens head back to the werk room to erase Marcia’s mirror message and kiki where Salina admits, “I don’t need to have wins under my belt to win [the competition].” Interesting.
Speaking of winning, Sasha Colby is still reeling from her brush with the bottom three last week, largely due to Anetra collapsing their duo’s placements. Still, other queens are eager to race past Colby, who’s been the most clear and consistent frontrunner so far. Still, though, Luxx, Loosey, and Mistress have been putting up a fierce fight with their own high performing consistency, making this one of Drag Race‘s closest seasons yet (and being one of the most frustrating reasons that past episodes were cut and butchered so badly.)
It’s a new day in the werk room, and RuPaul arrives with a maxi challenge: the Ru-sical “Wigloose”, set in the ’80s in a town where Drag has been outlawed. (With some scarily relevant timing, giving current U.S. laws being proposed to ban public drag performances in states, with wide reaching anti-LGBT+ bills also coming with them.) It’s the perfect timing for Drag Race to get political, even if the timing is purely coincidental. It just goes to show that LGBT people and drag artists have endured the running theme of being under attack.
Of the remaining queens, Mistress is the only one without any musical theatre experience, which may be all it takes to knock a queen out at this point in the competition. The queens read over the script and vie for their desired roles. Just like the previous music related challenge, a fight erupts over role choices, and Luxx and Loosey go head to head over a leading role, with Mistress backing Luxx up.
Loosey gets genuinely heated, causing Luxx to back down and quip that she doesn’t need a lead role to shine. There’s a lot of pressure on Loosey now, and with her snagging a leading role, if she were to buckle under the pressure, she has to deliver.
Loosey and Salina have a heartfelt talk about Loosey’s anxieties while Ru does a walkthrough of the werkroom, where Anetra opens up about how going to Drag Con and discovering her drag talents saved her life and made her feel free and loved.
The girls then meet with Miguel Zarate to rehearse the Ru-sical who is quick to warn the girls that not being able to dance is not an excuse. Anetra soon realizes there’s a difference between being able to lip sync & vogue and doing choreographed routines. Mistress also shows signs of nerves, struggling to grasp the choreography easily.
The Ru-sical starts, featuring many of the queens in boy-drag (remember when Alaska was heavily scrutinized for doing boy drag in Season 5? Ah, how far Drag Race has come…) at a conservative, religious school where the schoolboys end up rebelling and doing drag in secret. As far as Ru-sicals go, this is one of the series’ best thanks to its nice mix of comedy and catchy lyrics, and the perfectly timed message just further cements it in Drag Race her-story.
Watch ‘Wigloose: The Ru-sical’ below.
After the Rusical, the queens hit the runway serving “Everybody say Glove” realness.
Loosey hits the runway first in a simple green latex swimsuit, followed by Anetra in a sparkling blue rave-inspired outfit complete with lasers coming from its leather gloves.
Mistress delivers a grandiose yellow number with gloves that are dripping in jewels — which are attached to the gown. Luxx Noir London takes a much more interesting, emo take on the runway category — delivering gloves made of arm casts, complete with signatures from her friends back home. It’s definitely one of the night’s more intriguing looks.
Salina, in a turn of events, actually delivers something interesting to look at for once — even if its not the most polished runway presentation. Oversized, red plastic hands let her camp it up down the runway, although the designs on the bodysuit don’t flatter her figure.
Sasha Colby struts the runway in a baseball inspired look, taking inspiration from a baseball glove. The outfit is made from baseball mitts and is definitely the night’s most creative and out-of-the box use of the briefing.
Before the judging, Michelle and Carson applaud the entire cast for putting on a ‘broadway level’ performance, with Ru adding that it makes the judging even more difficult.
The judges give Loosey positive reviews that aren’t overly zealous. Anetra gets rave reviews for her moving solo, and Mistress gets positive reviews as well for playing the villain that everyone loves to hate.
Luxx’s emo runway concept was praised, as well as for taking a smaller role and making it pop. Salina’s boy-drag role was praised, though as usual, her runway gets some critiques.
Sasha Colby is applauded for taking chances and being a trans woman who was unafraid to take on the role of a male presenting character.
Ru then gives the queens the dreaded question of who should be sent home. Track record comes into play, with Loosey and Anetra, choosing Salina to go home. Mistress is ‘tired of being at the Sasha Colby meet and greet’ and wants to send Sasha home, but Luxx is quick to defend and applaud her competitors before cutting into Loosey as being ‘generic’ and choosing her. Salina then fires back at Loosey and Anetra before saying she doesn’t see the future of drag in Loosey. Finally, Sasha wants ‘the competition gone’, saying she wants Loosey or Luxx to go considering they are the closest on her coattails.
As the judges deliberate, they discuss whether Loosey is continuing to deliver on the level required at this point in the competition, in comparison to how other competitors are having impactful moments. Salina’s outfit is knocked as looking ‘secondhand’, though Ru acknowledges she did a good job despite needing some work.
After deliberation, Ru names Anetra as the week’s winner, and pits Loosey and Salina against each other after the drama surrounding the question of who should be eliminated. The two lip sync to ‘Running Up That Hill’ by Kate Bush.
The lip sync is empassioned on both sides, and Mistress can’t hide their excitement at Loosey’s bottom placement, shouting “Come on Salina, eat her up bitch!” This isn’t a song for stunts and tricks, and neither queen resorts to them. In the end, Ru decides to rightfully save Loosey, and after a long run in the bottom, Salina sashays away.
Next week’s Drag Race teases the makeover challenger seeing the queen’s turning educators into glamazons.
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