Now this is a
top four! I don’t understand folks
complaining about this season’s crop of queens. If anything, this might be the
most well-balanced group of contestants we’ve seen in a while. The beauty
queens can do comedy. The clowns can serve look. They’re savvy. They’re
passionate. They take criticism and use it to push themselves. I might have my
personal pick to win it all, but I would be happy to see any of these gals
snatch that crown.
Or maybe I’m
just in a particularly good mood because my least favorite queen is no more.
Tell ‘em boy, bye, and see
what happened in our SPOILER-y recap and rankings below.
First things
first, it’s time to reach out and put your hand up somebody. That’s right, it’s
puppet time. The mini-challenge is a classic: Read a fellow queen by dragging
out a puppetfied version of your competitor. Bob fired off the most successful
one-liners on Kim Chi, but Chi Chi picked up the win with a silly take on Bob’s
overwhelming personality. The real story though was how Derrick and Naomi
exchanged blows, barely even trying to make jokes, opting instead to trade
stinging insults.
This week’s main challenge
tasked the girls with creating three autobiographical looks. There’s baby drag,
which comes along with oversized high heels and jewelry, drag odes to their
mothers and an unconventional materials dress using books and paper. Sibling
judges Amy and David Sedaris joined the judging panel for the night, calling
for a special group lip sync performance to a song all about Jerri Blank. (Move
over, Lin-Manuel Miranda!)
Who slayed, who stayed and who
sashayed? Let’s dig in to this week’s rankings:
1. If
anything, Bob’s bottom two performance tonight only served to
humanize this season’s clear frontrunner. Her march to the crown needed a
moment to show how Bob overcomes adversity, especially on such a small
critique. Her lip sync was perfect, and it illustrated the difference between
performing and performing drag. Every second we saw
Bob’s sync, it was entertaining. In fact, the whole time on the runway was a
showcase for Bob’s talent. (My favorite moment may have been when she told the
judges she considered wearing a wig, “but eh.” Gold.) And for the record, I
really don’t think Bob’s makeup is a problem. Is it sensational? Nope. But it’s
not going to be a hindrance either.
2. The exact
order for the remaining queens is really neck and neck. I’d say Naomi is
the surest lock for the top 3 given her consistent performance across
categories. She can serve look, she can paint for the gods and she can give a
competent performance (as long as it’s not of New York). Off the runway
and in interviews, she’s more clever than she initially seemed, and her love
for her mother is very endearing. She even came around to rising above and
helping Derrick with those brows. (Though, I mean, did she help? Is that what
they looked like with her help?)
3. Given Kim
Chi’s complicated relationship with her mother, her second look was
beautiful and somber and artful in a way we’re not used to seeing on this show.
It should go down as one of the series’ most memorable moments. It was a
brilliant touch to add a unifying theme to her three looks, comparing her
own growth to that of a seedling. Kim Chi’s looks and story this week were
stunners, but, at this point, she feels like a surefire winner for Miss
Congeniality. If this season follows a similar trajectory to Drag Races past,
one of the final big challenges will be a dance-heavy, acting-heavy music
video. That’s not in Kim’s favor. I don’t know why Ru seems convinced this show
will out Kim to her mother (is her conservative Korean mother really watching
that much Logo?), but the one thing that is certain is Kim will be an even
bigger star going forward.
4. I’m glad
they stopped editing Chi Chi as sort of over the competition.
She rose to the challenge throughout last night’s episode. Although I think Bob
had the better puppet performance, Chi Chi had some good digs (the best of
which was the one that came after she was announced the winner, using her Bob
puppet to claim to win everything). Her final book dress was easily her best
(and the best on the runway), plus I loved her as Jerri Blank. My gut tells me
we won’t be seeing Chi Chi in the top three, but I wouldn’t be mad if she made
the upset. Go on, country queen!
5. Ding dong,
the ding-dong’s gone. Derrick finally got the deserved boot.
His racially-charged ignorance aside, last night’s episode pushed Derrick’s
primary shortcoming in this competition to the forefront. This is not RuPaul’s
Female Illusion Race. I mean, those brows. THOSE BROWS. It was the worst
paint job in Drag Race herstory. How, HOW did that happen in the
top five?! Ridiculous. The lip sync only reinforced what we already knew.
Derrick can dance like a pop star, but not as a drag superstar of the world.
Don’t serve Britney when I ordered Sylvester, honey. With Naomi, Derrick’s
insecurity made her mean-spirited when the shade was supposed to be fun. In the
end, Derrick is simply simple, which in so many ways is opposite of the
charisma, uniqueness, nerve and talent necessary.
How would you rank the queens
this week?
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