Without doubt, this was the best RuPauliday yet, for the latest episode of Drag Race made me feel as reborn as Jesus in a world of unrivaled fabulousness. Many prayers were answered this week, as well a stronger hint of trouble in the kingdom of the judging panel, as we also saw the return of an old RPDR friend from the first 2 seasons of the show. Let’s dig into this sumptuous feast shall we?
Samir: I think my heart exploded several times this episode. SO much that I have been waiting to see and things I didn’t even know I wanted to see, happened throughout, and it felt like the episode was over way too soon for me.
Margaux: I needed Violet’s respirator from the runway for all the breathless drama that ensued in “RuHollywood stories”. But, let’s start at the beginning with the wiping away of Mrs. Kasha’s Davis’ goodbye lipstick note. It was interesting to hear Kandy Ho sorta shade the two “older queens” she’s defeated in LSFYL- I instantly thought to myself, bitch is gonna some words later on tonight. Same goes for Jaydin’s saddening family story, been watching reality TV too long not hear dem alarm bells ringing for those two.
Samir: It was interesting that right from the first line of the show, you can see the editors creating a well formed story arc. I thought the whole episode was perfectly crafted narrative-wise without being cloying, and led to a rousing conclusion. Kandy Ho already has had to lip synch for her life twice before the contestants were down to double digits, so the bull’s eye on her has grown ever more prominent. And I always love when the queens have these moments every season where they start conversations, however obviously designed by the show to occur, about their place in society and within their families. I was actually brought to tears by this whole scene. No matter how often you hear these stories, they never feel scripted-they sound the same because as a gay person we all have had to deal with these issues. And it never sounded so succinct and honest as when Miss Fame mentioned that it’s especially difficult to live in a world where you can’t be your authentic self even in your own home. Sometimes her verbosity actually pays dividends.
Margaux: Not being able to be yourself, even in your own home, was the moment that got me really choked up. It doesn’t matter how many times you hear stories like Jaydin’s because you know it happens more than you can imagine, everyday. And even more head-scratching, though I also imagine this happens more often than not, Jaydin’s family accepts the drag aspect of his life – chalking it up to a ‘phase’, for a lack of a better word – but Jaydin cannot fathom his parents accepting him just as a gay man.
Tear jerker aside, Jaydin outshone Kandy Ho despite this nagging feeling in the back of her mind and I found it interesting that Kandy and Jaydin were two, somewhat tired horror tropes: zombie and vampire – at least, on the surface of their final runway looks. But we can talk about that more later.
Samir: Definitely, there is plenty to say there. But to start with, the mini-challenge, I was ecstatic that RuPaul found another excuse to have 20+ hot men parade around in their underwear for our amusement. In Season 4 it was called “Whatcha Packin?” and the queens had to find the matching pairs of underwear among the models, meaning they dropped their pants every second. This time, it was simply asking men to pull the numbered cards hidden in their packages and add up the totals until you find “The Monster” in one man’s pants and lose everything-including my sense of time and space since it looked like every guy had a monster in their pants. By far the queen who echoed my sentiments best was Katya-”I don’t even know the rules of this game, just tell me when I get to blow them-oh I can’t say that?” When the producers and crew are laughing you know this comedy queen’s doing things right. Ginger, the smartest of the bunch, easily wins, which means something only because she got to assign all the teams for the maxi-challenge. And here my heart exploded again- as Ru put the RPDR spin on one of my all-time favorite shows E!’s True Hollywood Stories, to investigate “Whatever happened to Merle Ginsberg” told from Ru’s, Michelle’s and Merle’s POVs.
Margaux: Divided up by Ginger, the teams break down to: Ginger, Kennedy, and Katya. Pearl, Kandy Ho, and Miss Fame. Max, Jaydin, and Violet. Directed by Ross Mathews, each group acted out the different versions and just the “Death Becomes Her” challenge later on, every queens interpretation of the material was…unique.
Samir: Unique eh- aren’t we diplomatic Swiss Miss?! Obviously Katya and Ginger were the only major contenders to win this week, but I was thoroughly taken aback by how good Pearl was in this challenge. Major surprise there, but also surprised that Jaydin was still having trouble. You knew when they first got their scripts that she was back in Shakesqueer territory as she stressed about learning her lines.
Margaux: I’m more surprised by the second-coming of Pearl, she’s still riding high on her Ginger Minj impression from last week, she was pretty funny as Michelle Visage. But what I really want to talk about is Miss Fame needing to take a five-minute, “real talk” break in the middle of them shooting their RuHollywood Story. To quote Ross, “I feel like I’m dating you!”. Miss Fame’s backstage freak out from Untucked last week still isn’t ovah.
Samir: Apparently not, judging by that epic freeform soliloquy from the recesses of her perspicacious brain. Man, she really thinks out loud doesn’t she. I did agree with Pearl when said in her interviews “Just say the fucking line!” You just want so badly to reach through the screen and shake Miss Fame into focusing on the moment she’s in instead of envisioning the moments after she’s spoken or performed in any capacity. RuPaul says as much to her later on. Do they have weed backstage? Miss Fame must have had some, and it must have been good shit.
Margaux: Miss Fame really missed her calling to as a beat poet.
And Kandy Ho did NOT pick a good time for the return of her shady beard, her take on Ru was…hard to watch at times. Actually, I don’t think any of the queens who portrayed her came close to doing RuPaul justice. But Ginger and Katya really nailed Michelle Visage and Merle Ginsberg, respectively. I’m still laughing at RuPaul’s read of the tagline for the show, “What did happen to Merle Ginsberg?!”.
Samir: Well lucky that the security cameras caught everything. The scenes were all brilliantly written I thought, so it was a shame Jaydin couldn’t make the most of her opportunity to play RuPaul. And on every level Kandy Ho was a hot mess-that wig looked literally shoved on her head right before going on-stage, as opposed to worn and blended into a complete look. Pretty sad stuff to be honest. I absolutely LOVED the runway challenge- #DeathBecomesHer was an opportunity for the queens to imagine how their drag personas would perish and represent their deaths in their looks. This show really is expanding the limits of drag it feels like, as we saw earlier in the season the queens imagine how their drag characters might age, and now how they might die-a bit darker in tone perhaps, but to my eyes and ears it was a gift from baby Jesus as Kathy Griffin would say, and just in time for Easter too. My favorites def were Katya, Violet and Max, but really all the queens, save for Kandy Ho, brought a lot of creativity, skill and humor to the runway. And finally we got to see Violet’s corset!!! And Max’s heart! Though I have to wonder what the hell Kennedy was trying to do with her dead chicken meets Jade Jolie’s god-awful hair dress from Season 5.
Margaux: From what I gathered from Kennedy’s interview, she’s a hooker rising from the ashes (?). This runway challenged was basically a dream come true for me, like an early birthday gift, it combined the stuff my daydreams are made of: Death Becomes Her and fierce ass drag queens. And OOOHH HUNTY if everyone didn’t deliver ten fold, and Violet? NOT TODAY SATAN, NOT TODAY. Seeing Violet’s waist, my inner 7 year old was jumping for joy, I’M SEEING BARBIE IN REAL LIFE. And even though Michelle admonished her for it, I still loved Max’s outfit too, it showed a lot of creativity and thought. Katya’s Tara Reid in Sharknado had me tearing up in laughter, that bitch tickles my funny bone to no end.
Samir: I got another heart explosion when Katya was finally named the winner of a challenge! Long time coming, but well-deserved. I did have the slightest feeling that the win was also sort of a “fine, we should have done this a while ago, but here’s a win.” But her runway look did top Ginger’s bear victim look I thought, great as it was. But did you also notice the heat on the judges’ panel in this episode-as if Michelle was more than a bit perturbed than usual by the cutting jabs the judges usually sling at each other. The whole season to me has been hinting at some frisson of tension between Ru and Michelle. There’s always disagreements of course, but when Ru said “Seriously, watch your back” and “I miss us Merle” the editors’ cut to Michelle’s displeased face made it seem like they’re aware of something simmering beneath the surface.
Margaux: TV SHOW TWIST! I totally caught that stank face Michelle gave (IN A DANG CLOSE UP NO LESS) when Ru said that, should’ve known Super Sleuth Samir would be on the case. I obviously can’t speak to any backstage drama, save for the drama on Untucked, which there is plenty queen on queen cat fighting on back thurrrrr.
Samir: And AGAIN Miss Fame talked so much she missed the same cue from RuPaul-”How is your head?” I actually did understand what the judges were saying about Jaydin’s look on the runway-it wasn’t as glam as the others’ but I loved her concept that her character died escaping from prison with the barbed-wire all over her. I thought she executed her concept flawlessly, even though it was not a glam look. But next to Violet-she def paled in comparison. (If Violet hadn’t been on one of the losing teams, she might have been a contender for best of the week.). But how about that LSFYL???? Takes me back to the epic “I Whip My Hair Back and Forth” performance from Season 5. It was no holds barred, high energy, true fighting to stay in the competition. I think Kandy lost mainly because she had been in this position twice already before this. Really it was a photo finish between them, yet I think Jaydin having more to offer going forward nudged Ru’s decision in that direction.
Margaux: I can’t remember which judge said it right before they call they “ghouls” back to announce the bottom two, someone said that Kandy had “flatlined” which to me read as ‘good as gone’. And I might doubt Ariana Grande’s talent as good judge, she did echo my previous statements about Kandy getting lost in the crowd and not standing out enough. Though it was super sweet she made her way backstage to say bye to Kandy, class act that Grande.
Samir: Yes, that tidbit in Untucked was a pleasant surprise. And backstage the consensus among the safe queens was that Max is a lot more bitchy and unpleasant when the judges aren’t looking. Interesting, you’d think the cameramen and editors wouldn’t let that go so easily, but since the words came from Katya and Ginger, I wonder if there’s more to come than Max’ superiority about not being “vulgar” like the other queens. Kennedy was a laugh riot-she was drawing blood with every cut too, knocking Pearl for her death look (“She dies from getting first aid?!”) and less-than-impressive tuck (“It looks like she straight-up shit in her pants.”). And again, the loser was even more apparent in Untucked this week as Kandy seemed emotionally frail, admitting to her unfocused state of mind, something that we saw less of in Drag Race. And what about the revelation of exactly who Miss Fame inherited her chronic verbal diarrhea from in the message from home video? It was like they put up a mirror instead of a video.
Margaux: As always, Untucked answers so many of the fly-on-the-wall questions I have while watching. Miss Fame’s Mom was quite the insight, and echo, of the critique Ru gave Fame on the runway. But I thought her reaction, “this bitch is calling me out!”, is how a lot of us feel about our Moms.
“RuHollywood Stories” and the Untucked that followed just keeps setting the bar higher for me and the level of expectation of the show and the queens on it. I cannot say for sure who is going to win it all, and we’ve only got eight queens left! I wonder what will become of my nails (cause I’m biting them out of anxiety).
Wanna talk stars, darrrrrling?
Samir: I think it’s no secret that 5 stars is not nearly enough for this episode. It’s now also no secret that SNATCH GAME awaits us next week, the only time you will ever hear me clamoring desperately for some snatch.
Margaux: 1, 2, 3, 4, FIFTH! Five stars indeed, hunty. Until next week. Or, our Shady Ladies podcast.
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