Last week on Drag Race, we said sashay away to sweet cyst-er Soju, and this week we say a big halleloo to what is actually a much, much-improved episode that restores our hope in this season.
We’re dealing with much more personalities than we thought! You need strong personalities for a reality television program to be entertaining and we are living for it!
In the first minutes of the episode, the queens all play marry, fuck, kill with each other, and much of the focus is on the fact that many of the girls would kill Silky (We wonder why). Ru pops on the screen and leans hard on the movie-title puns, so we’re pretty sure we know what we’re getting. An acting challenge! But first, a mini-challenge, this time the popular celebrity photobombing game.
Brooke Lynn and Silky Nutmeg win the challenge and are named team captains for the maxi-challenge. One team will star in the film Good God Girl, Get Out and the other will perform Why It Gotta Be Black, Panther?
When RuPaul comes through for her walkthrough and asks the Black Panther team what they think of the Get Out girls (to stir the pot), Ariel goes in on Silky Ganache neck. It’s definitely a choice to say this much this soon to Ru, little schoolyard girl that she is, Ru basically gossips on the girls to Silky and her group, spilling all the tea about how her opposing group thinks she’s the extra (AF) of this season. Silky plays it off humorously, cracking Ru up in the process.
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Michelle and Ross are directing the shoot for both of the films, and Black Panther is first. Brooke Lynn has a difficult time landing a very simple joke: “Beyoncé-what?!”. Shuga Cain needs some coaching on how to perform smoking weed, but you can tell she’s going to be fun in the film. Ariel, in the sister scientist role, delivered a poor performance in all of her takes. It’s clear that Plastique’s Vietnamese accent is going to steal the whole show, and Nina West also looks powerful and confident in her role. There’s a run of Ra’Jah messing up her lines again and again. Overall, we’re gonna be entertained.
Yvie continues to be a big presence, as she takes a note offered by Ross to go bigger with her character and soars. Also improving once given a direction is Vanjie, in the father role. She’s not exactly versatile and this is exactly what’s so funny about her. She gamely tries different takes on her character, and everything she does is hilarious. We are thankful for her presence in this show and in our lives, on season 10 she left too early (Venjie, Veeenjie), but on season 11 it looks like she has a lot to show! Michelle and Ross literally can’t keep it together watching her.
Mercedes then gets her moment, and it reminds me of Kenya Michaels. It’s tough to expect her to say the word “opulence” exactly the way Michelle and Ross expect her to. Kahanna is also there, just like her drag mother, not delivering (facts are facts). Silky is having altogether too much fun, laughing during every take in which she is getting tased by A’Keria’s character.
When the girls are talking about past for pageants, Mercedes reveals that she use d to jet-set often until she was placed on the no-fly list. Originally born in Mombasa, Kenya, and the show’s first Muslim contestant, Mercedes had such a difficult time in regards to travel that she exhausted herself and had a stroke in the middle of a pageant. She lost all feeling on her right side and was resigned to a wheelchair for some time. Breaking down, she’s comforted by the rest of the girls in a moment that brings to the forefront the reality of how difficult it is to be an immigrant.
On the main stage, Ru looks absolutely amazing (as always) Fatty Lupone, a.k.a. Bobby Moynihan, and Sydelle Noel, a standout actress from Black Panther and GLOW, are our guest judges, and this week’s runway theme is “What’s Your Sign?” Astrology may be bullshit for some people, but the runway this week are largely anything but. It’s altogether an impressive week, with highlights including Plastique Tiara’s Met Gala–ready Aries look, Yvie Oddly’s innovative “digital lion” to represent Leo, and Vanjie’s scale-inspired rosy Libra ensemble. Lowlights? Mercedes and Kahanna, who just don’t seem ready for the competition.
We’ve got two winners this week, as Scarlet Envy and Yvie Oddly’s acting duet slayed. Mercedes and Kahanna are the bottom two, with Ariel barely surviving the chop (there is always next week, hun). The lip-sync is to “Work Bitch” by Britney Spears (girlll time to slay!) and we think it’s safe to say that Kahanna almost kills herself performing the number(too much, girl, too much!). It’s messy if entertaining for how all over the place it is. Meanwhile, Mercedes has tricks up her sleeve, including the reveal of what Ra’Jah correctly identifies as a “Toni Braxton wig.” Overall, it’s obvious that Mercedes wins the lip sync, and Kahanna is sent packing.
© 2019 GCN (Gay Community News). All rights reserved.
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