The rusical
episode can be polarizing for Drag Race fans. Drag is a big,
beautiful umbrella attracting theater kids, punks, comedians, artists and more,
but your personal musical mileage may vary. I’m typically full up on group
performance challenges by this point, but this season’s rusical managed to land
a few solid jokes and leave a significant impact on the competition.
Combining
singing, dancing, comedy and character, there’s plenty to trip up the queens.
Recording with Michelle Visage, complex choreo with Jamal Sims and a snappy
social media script push the queens to their limits, while shaking up the
standings. Would this finally be the week performers like Tina, Rosé and Denali
take down frontrunner Symone? Let’s find out!
As Ru
explains, since the gals are probably missing their Grindr phones,
this season’s rusical is dedicated to social media. The queens need to assign
roles inspired by different social platforms. We get a little taste of drama
when Utica holds strong to her desire to play a fast-paced, Gilbert &
Sullivan/Hamilton-inspired Twitter-based character. (She’s clearly still
smarting from losing
the mime role to Olivia last week.) Rosé and Denali are both angling for
the same part. Rosé believes she needs it, because the signature song is
similar to her hero, Barbra Streisand. (A homosexual idolizing Barbra
Streisand? As Hathaway’s Prada co-star famously said:
Groundbreaking.) This all leads to something that rarely happens on this show,
but, honestly, always SHOULD: an audition.
I mean, it’s
crazy it doesn’t always come to this. This time, Denali makes the mistake of 1.
thinking she can outperform Rosé in a musical, and 2. letting Rosé go first.
It’s really no contest (though a few girls vote for Denali to provoke Rosé), so
Rosé takes the part.
An unexpected
Ru-Alert rattles the girls, but it’s not a mini-challenge or even a returning
queen. Instead, it’s a princess. That’s right, the Princess of Genovia herself,
Anne Hathaway. Despite a reputation for not always coming across particularly
likable, Hathaway is a delight here, and she offers some of the most actionable
advice shared in the werk room. (RuPaul and her mushy inner-saboteur koans
should take note.)
First, Gottmik
tees up a great question about what to do when you don’t get the part you want
(coughDenalicough). Hathaway inspires Denali to steal the show
anyway. You can see the confidence surge in Denali, and it’s exactly what she
needs to hear. As a follow-up, Denali asks about performing with an accent,
since she was left with the role of a Russian bot, and Hathaway gives a lesson
all actors should learn. You play a person, not an accent, so try to think of
someone you know with that accent to draw inspiration from. Luckily, Denali’s
years of experience as a figure skater has exposed her to a Russian woman or
два.
Recording with
Michelle is a mixed bag. Tina opens up an Ethel Merman belt, and Olivia shows
off a few runs. (Olivia’s reputation as a sneaky assassin continues to grow.)
Utica struggles with her rapid-fire lyrics, while Symone crumbles. It’s not
just that she’s not a good singer. It’s all just so lifeless. She’s not feeling
confident, and it shows.
Her troubles follow
her to the choreo, another area of weakness for this season’s breakout star.
Here again she appears to be Weekend at Bernie’s-ing herself
through the motions. Gottmik, paired with Denali, has difficulty matching her
partner’s energy. Synchronicity is key to their segment, so Gottmik needs to
rise to Denali’s level.
Before hitting
the stage, the dolls spill about their own social media escapades while getting
in drag. Kandy dishes about her own brush with meme infamy and
all the hate Aja received following her blowup with Valentina. Rosé puts Tina’s
former relationship with Graham Norton on blast, and Tina explains the backlash
she faced during the relationship. (Those flat-ironed papparazzi photos, honey!
The early-aughts of it all, mama!)
The curtain
rises on Social Media: The Unverified Rusical, and it’s a mixed
bag. Tina Burner brought Merman to the recording booth, but she brings a whole
different vibe to the stage. It never quite clicks. Utica manages to turn in a
serviceable performance of her clearly more difficult material, which should be
more impressive than it is. After a lousy vocal and wishy-washy choreo, Symone
struggles to sell it. Gottmik and Denali use their time on stage to indeed
steal the show, just as Fantine predicted. They are perfectly hammy, and they
don’t drop the schtick for a second they are on stage.
Following a
solid yellow-themed runway, their wacky duo nabs two of the three top spots for
the week. Gottmik especially gets praised for transcending perceived
limitations, which you know Ru just eats up. Eventual winner Rosé has a
near-miss with Michelle for her runway — inspired by the Jim Carrey film, The
Mask — because the jacket reads more orange than yellow. How funny
would it have been for Rosé to finally make it this close to winning a
challenge — the rusical, no less — only to lose it over a “warmer yellow” hue?
That’s not how this goes down. Rosé deftly demures to the criticism and
apologizes. This, my friends, is how you survive a Michelle critique. She
rightfully snatches the win.
The lip sync
comes down to Symone and Kandy, and it’s a lot of fun. This one feels less like
a competition and more like a duet. It’s a joy to watch. It’s unfathomable to
consider a Symone sashay at this point, so of course Ru tells her shantay. The
real gag occurs as Kandy makes her exit. Ru stops her, and then ruveals the
double-shantay. Kandy stays!
I still don’t
think Kandy has a shot of unseating a lot of these queens, but I can also
understand the difficulty in sending her home on a week where the lip sync was
solid, the runway was beautiful and the misses in the main challenge weren’t
that egregious. I’m sure opinions will be split, but I’m looking forward to
seeing what Kandy brings to Snatch Game.
No episode
next week, but there is a documentary special about the filming of this
COVID-compliant season that looks fascinating. We’ll be back with recaps the
following week after Snatch Game.
But where does
that leave the standings? Check out our rankings below, and leave yours in the
comments!
1.
I still think this is Symone‘s Race to
lose, but her win feels much less like a lock after this week. The seemingly
unshookable Symone was clearly shook this week, and that sort of stalling out
is a bad sign for future, more intensive challenges. Still, the judges are
gobsmacked by her runways week after week, and when she shines, no one is
nearly as bright.
2.
Whoa, look out! Gottmik is
surging. In fact, I would’ve given Gottmik the win this week over Rosé,
especially considering the yellow latex ensemble. Already routinely
best-in-show on the runway (neck-and-neck with Symone), this week’s stellar
performance establishes Mik as a serious threat. Scoping out the Russian bot
part was a masterful move. Gottmik knows where to put the zucchini, if you
will. (Let’s hope that bodes well for Snatch.) I thought this interpretation of
a crash test dummy was much more FASHION than Denali’s previous attempt.
3.
Olivia‘s diva tendencies continue to ruveal themselves. It’s not necessarily a
bad thing, but it adds a little edge to the bubbly, beautiful queen. She’s got
a ton of performance experience in that tiny purse of hers, and that face! She
already has an effervescence on the runway, coupled with those chops we’ve got
a real contender on our hands. She definitely fulfilled this week’s assignment,
though her part was lacking some of the over-the-top humor of the others. Her
yellow runway was another classic Olivia, glamour gown.
4.
Rosé finally delivered the sort of dominating performance she’s been
teasing. Granted, this was her signature challenge, so maintaining this
momentum is crucial. We already knew Rosé was a musical theater queen. This
felt like Tom Brady winning a pop warner game. (Did I sports that right?) I
guess of all the challenges to truly slay, the rusical lacks the punch of some
other season regulars. I was disappointed with Rosé’s runway, but not for the
same reason as Michelle. I love the concept, but the green face makeup didn’t
live up to the promise. It needed to be bigger/bolder, or maybe bald or even
some prosthesis to really sell the Mask-yness of it all. It was a
cute idea, but far from a ‘wow’ moment.
5.
Tina got hammered for the way she stopped lip syncing during her death
scene, but I think the more important factor is the one Michelle touched on
earlier: She didn’t match the character in her singing. I was much more charmed
watching her facial expressions recording than I was when she was supposed to
be serving face in the lip sync. The fact this is her arena made the errors
more glaring. On the runway, the taxi outfit was just OK, especially compared
to Elliott’s.
6.
It was a very good week for Denali.
She was unsung in the discomentary and Bossy Rossy, so this recognition feels a
bit overdue. I appreciate what she brings to the runway each week, but, again,
it always feel very obvious, like one iteration away from where it needs to be.
There’s been a fire lit in Denali now, so I’m eager to see where she goes next.
7.
Utica‘s performance should have felt more triumphant. After getting a
struggle edit in recording and choreo, the end result was good! Perhaps she was
dinged for the runway, which was another Utica dress that gave me Ren Faire
vibes.
8.
I’ve been hard on Elliott (and
this ranking isn’t exactly changing that), but I thought she had a great week.
She fully delivered the Billie Eilish TikTok character, from look to attitude
to (computer-assisted) voice. No notes! I also thought this was one of
Elliott’s best showings on the runway. Even though Tina was going for camp and
Elliott was serving something more chic, I still think Elliott was more
successful. Plus, her details (like the fare inside the lining) were more
unexpected and clever than Tina’s headlights and license plate.
9.
I can see the conundrum in figuring out who
should go home this week. Would I say Kandy was the worst part
of the rusical? No. (Symone truly stunk up the place.) Was her runway lacking?
Not at all. But, zooming out, hot glue gun to the head, who would I send home?
It would have been Kandy. However, Kandy’s time didn’t feel done just yet, and
I’m glad Mama Ru agreed.
How would you
rank the queens?
SOURCE: TOWLEROAD
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