I tried to tell all y’all not to sleep on Naomi, and now look at the mess we’re in. With this season suddenly picking up steam when it’s supposed to be winding down, it would seem that race to the top four is now even closer than we thought, and to be honest, I am exhausted by the out-and-out goopery and am ready to crown a dang All Star already. May her flare for the dramatics and the vulnerability of Judy Garland give me the strength to crank out this review.
As Monet correctly surmises at the top of “RuPaul’s Best Judy Race”, everyone mostly still wants to play fair, but as this competition gets closer to the end, it will become harder to do so (something Manila had also pointed out earlier in the season). Give me that foreshadow, henny! When the queens enter the werkroom the next day, they are quick to notice that all of the pictures of RuPaul have been replaced by pictures of the legendary Judy Garland, leading to believe that at long last, we’re getting Judy Garland episode we deserve.
Alas, as much I love when RuPaul weaves in queer cultural touchstones of importance, this weeks theme came across a bit muddled. First off, the whole “Stonewall riots started because of Judy Garland’s funeral” was a myth that was debunked some time ago. Secondly, it felt like a bit of a reach to connect Judy Garland and friendship, not because I don’t think it’s not true on some level, but to boil down Judy Garland’s representation in the gay community to solely encompass friendship rang a bit shallow (and a missed opportunity that perhaps VH1 was not interested in exploring or didn’t have the time/resources to do so properly). Either way, I first heard the phrase “friend of Dorothy” in Clueless, and I asked my uncle (who is gay) what it meant, and even after he said “me”, I didn’t quite connect the dots till high school. That’s also when I figured out that Ty was referencing cocaine and not Coca Cola when she says, “no shit, you guys got coke here?”.
Anyway, I was hoping for more Meet Me in St. Louis or A Star is Born drag, and less a stilted and mildly confused Judy Garland inspired number at the top of the runway show. But, here we are and we gotta judge based on what we got, not what we wish for.
After Ru introduces the maxi challenge for the week, the queens are surprised by their loved ones, and just like those YouTube videos of unlikely animals becoming friends, I always get a bit choked up watching people reunite. Can you even imagine the sheer excitement of seeing someone that’s not one these bitches you’ve been trapped in a windowless room with for weeks on end though? It was nice they got to have a piece of home brought to them.
Enough niceties because I’m here to answer the hard questions, like, is Manila’s husband very attractive? Yes! Did Ru’s workroom visit with Latrice and Tim make me laugh (“goodnight Alexis, goodnight!”) and cry (the moving power of friendship!) in equal measure? Yes! Is Patty my favorite friend of the show? Yes! But “RuPaul’s Best Judy Race” focuses on two key stories this episode: can Monet overcome the ghost of the challenge that sent her home on her season, and Naomi must win or sashay away. If you’ll cast your mind back (and if you can’t, the editors of Drag Race will do it for you) to season 10 when Monet committed a makeup job so horrendous on Tyler Oakley that it sent it her packing?
Well, let’s just say the pressure is as high, if not higher, for Monet to paint Patty, (he is as pale and redheaded as his name implies) Monet’s friend AND assistant, properly for this Best Judy challenge. Thankfully, Monet has a lot of gold sparkly fabric to distract the judges if Patty comes out…as Monique put it, “you know that movie, Powder?”. Naomi, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to be sweating this challenge, but her hands are trembling when Ru stops by her station for a little chat. Ru’s advice comes down to encouraging Naomi to say the wrong thing and fuck it up as much as possible, and this little nugget is all it takes to give her permission to channel some the same unexpectedly fun energy of episode one Naomi.
I always appreciate a good beat face, but my favorite part of the makeover challenge is when we watch people attempt to walk in heels for the first time, and the sound of duct tape being ripped from the roll. Eyebrows were lost and facial hair scorn off, if there was ever a week not to send anyone home, this would’ve been it because everyone was committed to the cause of winning, only some didn’t turn out as we’d hoped.The Judy Garland subtheme doesn’t seem like a total miss until we get to the runway, the total lack of cohesion that could’ve been solved by calling the runway category “A Night of Double Judy Garland’s” or something, but instead, we get a strange and haphazard (the haphazardness only underscored more by not seeing any footage of a rehearsal in the episode) “You’re My Best Judy” dance – question mark – number.
Obviously, I’m not Michelle Visage, so I can’t safely safe say any of the performances gave me “chills” (which sounded forced at best to make this Monet top two come off more cleanly), to my eyes, and to borrow again from the greatest rom com Clueless, “up close, it just looked a big old mess”. With exception of Monet and Patty’s tap dance, it was kind of rich to single out Monique’s performance as sloppy when all of them had an element of slapdash to them, for their own reasons, but still “thrown together” is the phrase that comes to mind to describe this segment.
Latrice and Alexis Knight suffered from the same issue as Monet and Short Change (Tyler Oakley) on their season, they looked less related and more like friends with the same taste in clothes and hair. Although I got the fire and ice reference Latrice was going for, I think the outfits should really signal that her Dynasty meets pageant drag isn’t working as well as it once was.
Monique and Shanida Heart leaned a bit harder on the styling to convey family resemblance, but overall it worked for me. Thought the blinking eye was a clever touch, and the makeup looked flawless.
Manila and Iyowife Luzon definitely ended up looking Halloween store basic, which is especially disappointing coming from Manila. All she did was drape a nylon tablecloth and add some vague card illusions and called it a day. Also, I hate the drag name “Iyowife”, it emphasized how phoned in the concept was. I have to agree with judges on the lack of resemblance between them too, Iyo looked more related to Naysha Lopez than Manila, again, a shapeless white sheet did nothing to help matters.
I feel like my point about the need for a more specific category is really highlighted by Naomi and Extra Smalls who hit the Best Judy runway dressed as Cher. It’s not that I don’t think Extra looks amazing in the yellow Cher number, or that Naomi’s reveal/transformation into Sunny wasn’t an unexpected delight. It was just bizarre to see Cher pop up during Judy Garland week.
Thought Trinity and Indigo the Tuck didn’t get as much praise as they may have deserved, I loved the Nomi from Showgirls realness I was getting from Trinity’s boyfriend, Leo. They looked great, had the resemblance that was only amplified by their 90s Versace, surprised Trinity didn’t get in the top two. I mean, I know why from a story production standpoint, but it this wasn’t a week Naomi needed a win, she would’ve been there.
Monet X Change and Patty Cash, where to start. Did Monet truly redeem herself from her previous makeup debacle? Sort of. Truly, I think Monet landed in the top because she looked beautiful, and Patty sold the fuck outta her look. When Patty first hit the stage for the “My Best Judy” number, I gasped, she was so pale she looked like she was doing unintentional vaudeville. By the time they got to the runway, her makeup evened out a bit, but it was still on the whiter side of ghost. I don’t know if Monet overcompensated for the lights or what, all I do know is, doing your own makeup is hard, and even harder to do someone else if you’re not a professional. This is a marked improvement from Monet’s last attempt at this challenge, and she was the only one to channel Judy Garland for the runway, so for that, points.
And now, “RuPaul’s Best Judy Race” gets started for real when Naomi and Monet find themselves in the top this week with their ability to send Manila or Latrice home. I love deliberation tactics because as Monet rightly points out, Manila doesn’t not feel the need to plead her case, her impeccable track record, already hashed out at the beginning of this episode, should speak for itself. Latrice almost sounds like she’s on her goodbye tour, until she helpfully reminds Naomi why she’s even in this position in the first place, she saved her ass last week.
I do believe for all her posturing, Monet would’ve sent Latrice home because if she didn’t, we’d risk another RoLaskaTox redux and seriously, no one fucking wants another breathy rap on a finale remix. But Naomi really could go either way. On one hand, she openly loves Manila and cites her as a huge inspiration; on the other hand, Latrice isn’t a threat and has the added benefit of keeping her over Valentina last week. I’m not saying Manila got what she deserved, but if we can all learn a lesson from Morgan McMichaels, it’s to never reveal your plan to take out the biggest competitors. Naomi didn’t and look where it got her!
Onto the lip sync, “Come Rain or Shine”. Monet gave us through and through Judy Garland with a more facially dramatic performance, and Naomi’s sweet spot is malfunctioning Stepford Wife, and she delivered that fully. It’s whatever way the wind moves RuPaul, and for the sake of storyline continuity, she gave it to Naomi. Talk about gag of the season though, Naomi sent home her biggest threat to the crown and completely changed the rules of play for the time we have left with All Stars. Is it sad to see Manila go home? Yes. Was it fair? Not totally. Was it good TV? Yes, ma’am.
Not much can take away the sting of having $100,000 ripped out of your hands by someone younger and much much taller than you, but this won’t hurt Manila’s career by a long shot. She’s already released new music. But her going home shakes up I thought was a locked in top 4 that included her in it. If there’s one upside to being eliminated this week, it’s that at least your loved one is waiting in the wings to comfort you after.
Next week, Naomi has to answer for her sin of sending one of the best competitors home!
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