My My My, MamaRu is not someone you want to see angry! A few surprises lurked around every corner of this episode, and it keeps us wondering how much higher they can get than what we’ve seen already.
Samir: The outcome of all of this, like we’ve come to expect this season, was both shocking and expected at the same time. I want to first address the enigma that is Pearl, since she figured so strongly in this episode.
Margaux: Talk about another ‘zero to hero’ storyline this week; Pearl went from nearly walking off of Drag Race, twice – over the course of two episodes – and ended up winning this week. Though I feel her performance in The Despy Awards was stronger than Davenport’s performance in the Punny or Die video.
Samir: Agreed squirrel friend. I had a thrilling ride on this emotional rollercoaster with Pearl-two things I never thought I would include in the same sentence. There was so much drama with her, especially in the epic moment following the “Paper Dolls” mini challengewhere she says basically what was in her head (that it’s even more difficult to get in a good mental space right after harsh criticism), but in a sassback kind of way with RuPaul. That’s a BIG no-no because Ru will always win that staredown.
Margaux: I felt the worst for Max in that moment, but I think and hope Pearl learned a couple lessons on “The Despy Awards” and maybe we’ll get treated to her hilarious Ginger Minj impression again soon.
Samir: For real, that took me for a loop when she was “presenting” with Max-who knew she was such a good mimic? That moment when there was utter silence as Ru was burning holes into Pearl with her eyes, made my heart skip a beat. And THEN Pearl has the audacity to say “Do I have something on my face?” Ru openly admitted she wanted to “light a fire under [her] ass” and it totally worked. Pearl was appreciative of the smack-down and actually performed for a change.
Margaux: I wanted to hide under all the shade in the world when Pearl had the untucked balls to say to Ru, “do I have something on my face?” – BITCH WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?! I thought RuPaul was pull a Chloe from B in Apartment 23, “I almost just hit you right now”. But glossing over Pearl’s disappearance from the workroom for over an hour, I guess time plus space multiplied by a RuPaul verbal beatdown equals a funnier Pearl.
Samir: A stern word from the ultimate drag mother can be the sand that makes the Pearl after all. It seems we learned more than a few interesting facts in this episode about some of the queens. Like Miss Fame was a chicken farmer? And used to hatch her own chickens in her room, and has a tattoo of one of her award-winning chickens on her arm?? This was an earth-shattering revelation to me, for the sheer contrariness of the photo of her as a chicken-loving teen to her now. WOW.
Margaux: Ginger Minj has Gatorland and Miss Fame has the chickens she hatched under her bed as a chubby, awkward teen. The more you know!
Samir: Wasn’t that Violet’s sassback answer to Kathy Griffin when “blue humor” was explained to her? Speaking of, I feel the show edited down the rehearsal footage with Kathy into a very choppy segment. It was hard to see what her effect on the performances was because they kind of zipped right through all that. Violet and Miss Fame clearly were having the most trouble in their presentations.
Margaux: I relate to Violet on a personal level, it’s why I refuse to side with the other queens calling her ‘rude’ or ‘mean’. But I’m jumping up ahead to Untucked; I agree with you about Kathy’s segment, she would give one critique, that exactly sound like her best feedback (based on what we’ve seen of her past judging duties) and they moved on. So when Ginger said in panel that Griffin’s notes had changed their performance, I was confused.
Samir: “I need to call my Mom to hear her tell me how good I am” classic Minj response. The “everyone does bad” editing of the rehearsals is a bit old-school at this point on Drag Race. Because even Katya kept the line Kathy told her to nix-about Ginger Minj being the “Danny DeVito of drag,” which I actually thought was funny since Ginger describes herself as a glamour toad.
Margaux: I was surprised by that comment from Kathy, that joke sounded a lot something she herself would make, I’m glad Katya went with her gut and kept it. Speaking of Katya’s performance, I can’t believe she didn’t get more laughs during her banter on stage, but I’m glad her acceptance speech for meatiest tuck got the chuckles it deserved.
Samir: Hunty we are so in sync that I think are cycles have matched up now. Because i thought she killed it too. At least she was recognized as having done well and the ultimate judgment was accurate. Mrs Kasha Davis and Kandy Ho were the weakest. I was a little surprised, but in the end I find Pearl more interesting than Kasha, so not totally an unexpected bottom two. I think this run of bottom-two-to-challenge-winner will end next week though.
Margaux: Or Kandy Ho will be the person who breaks the trend by getting sent home next week. Don’t me wrong, she’s beautiful and her lip sync was vastly more entertaining than Mrs. Kasha Davis, who was nailing it at first but once Kandy Ho started ramping up her performance, Mrs. Kasha Davis started to slide away. My hopes that Kandy Ho will bust out something we’ve yet to see though, aren’t high.
Samir: It was interesting to hear one of the other queens say that Kandy had started off lackluster and then suddenly came to life. We hear a little more about this in Untucked. I agree, again, because I would not bet Miss Fame’s chicken farm on Kandy Ho continuing this cycle of drastic turn-arounds in the next episode. And after all of Kasha’s protestations about how hard she worked to get here and her dismay at the queens who seem to give up, you could feel the trap door beneath her feet creaking ever more loudly as the episode went on.
Margaux: It was a stark contrast between Trixie’s departure last week on Untucked to Mrs. Kasha Davis’, girl read everyone backstage – going off queens she thought were less deserving, ones that were present and not. Thank God Ginger’s husband had a sweet video message for her because I wasn’t sure how the room was going to recover or comfort her.
Samir: It’s eerie how much of what I thought of each episode is echoed by the queens backstage. I’m beginning to think the editors of RuPaul’s Drag Race take their tips on what to highlight based on these conversations. Everyone instantly called out Katya as being the major support on her team and Kandy Ho being in the bottom, and that Kandy is not really growing from her criticisms. None of them believe she has any more to offer at this point. Not that what she has is terrible, by any means, but she’s not giving as much as the rest of them are week to week. I’m also glad Untucked finally brought back the video messages, even with the documentary-aesthetic overhaul, because these are beautiful human moments that help us identify with these contestants beyond the humor and cattiness. She may not have talked to her mother, but she still got a loving phone call to help her out. It also led to Miss Fame having a meltdown of her own.
Margaux: I loved seeing the softer side of Ginger in Untucked and loved how much Miss Fame has let her guard down, and bonus points to her because I love when drop-dead gorgeous people ugly cry like that. It’s deeply satisfying, and coupled with chicken farm story, shows her in softer light too. And this time, without the help from the man upstairs with the spotlight 😉
Samir: Also, we saw Kandy Ho saying she was just over it all right before Kasha comes in to rail against the queens who are over it. Baby Jesus couldn’t have given us a more perfectly wrapped Untucked package this week. It was revealing too because it seems to lead directly into Kandy’s LSFYL where she started out with that attitude but then seemed to snap out of it. The opening scene of next week’s RPDR will likely reveal how Kandy Ho found the fire she displayed to stay in the race.
Margaux: Or she’ll keep sticking to the tactic of, give them as little as possible and just when they don’t think you’ve got anything going on, give them something and the judges will praise it as amazing. Unless RuPaul and Michelle Visage have tired of that schtick by next week then I clearly see her shashing away.
Samir: Eventually this will be the case I have no doubt. This week is deserving of at least 4.5 stars, but I think I might actually feel 5 stars because of the legendary Ru vs Pearl staredown.
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