It didn’t take
long for the twists of this season of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars to
have an effect on the competitors, did it? This week saw the young Ru-mocracy
reckoning with its choices as frontrunners raced to establish themselves ahead
of the pack.
Fresh off the
first runway, the gals have a lot to process. Not only are they handling the
loss of Derrick Barry, but also the addition of the season’s lip sync assassins
and a ballooning cash tip. Of course, it’s also the first time they need to
reckon with their own personal votes.
No longer are
the post-elimination huddles merely exchanging hypothetical elimination
choices. Now, they have to put their lipsticks where their mouths are in terms
of whom they’d send home. As we learned on last week’s Untucked, it
was nearly unanimous to send Derrick packing … except for one vote.
To her credit,
Jujubee volunteers that she actually voted to oust Mayhem. Ms. Miller doesn’t
take this all too well, but the whole thing passes rather quickly. If anything,
it says more about Jujubee’s approach than it does about Mayhem’s performance.
The confidence to boldly stand alone and own your actions is exactly the kind
of nerve it takes to snatch the crown.
Plus, there’s
bigger drama to concern ourselves with the next morning. Cracker enters feeling
a little salty. She feels the need to share with the class that she was up all
night, shredded with guilt over her lipstick vote. It seems in hindsight,
Cracker believes Ongina should have gone home, even though that was not an
option and would not have changed the outcome anyway.
And yet?
Cracker simply must confess this change of heart. She paints a picture of an
alternate universe wherein she commandeers Wite-Out, a la Bendelacreme and,
instead of sacrificing herself to go home, makes the executive decision to
eliminate a queen she believes was wrongly spared by the judges. It’s a major
act of hubris, both by assuming she’s a better gauge of success on RuPaul’s
Drag Race than the titular queen herself and by convincing herself the
other girls must hear her assessment.
Not a good
look.
It’s the
narrative thread that weaves throughout the episode. When she’s not
retroactively raking Ongina over the coals for getting in her own head, she’s
bossing around her teammates in this week’s group challenge.
This week, Ru
has the ladies split up to perform original verses and choreography dedicated
to their celebrity crushes. As she assigned the challenge, Ru gave the gals an
important clue: Ru’s celebrity crush was Al Bundy from Married With
Children. The judges are going to want them to crank up the camp and amp up
the absurd for this one, not just swoon over Brad Pitt.
Ru tricks
India into helping divide the gals by asking her to pick her biggest
competition. She chooses Shea (obviously) and Blair (?), who become the other
two captains.
Blair St.
Clair’s group is first to record along with Miz Cracker and Mayhem. Cracker
already ruffled Mayhem’s feathers in the workroom steamrolling some lyrics.
She’s just as assertive in choreo, easily out-maneuvering Blair, who is already
in her head with high expectations for the vocal challenge.
India’s team
gets off to a hot start recording with an energetic verse from Alexis and a
tight ode to John Stamos from Jujubee. But it’s team captain India that really
spoils the party here. Before even hitting the “studio,” India toys with the
idea of dedicating [*heaves*] her verse to her [*gag*] fiancé. It’s bad, y’all.
Here are the actual lyrics: “I’m in love with my fiancé. His name is R.J., and
nothing can take him away.” YIKES. She really said that! On television! I’ve
seen better homages to crushes scrawled onto the back of school bus seats.
Alexis acts as more of the leader of this team, helping dissuade India from her
terrible song idea and taking charge of choreo.
Team Shea
struggles in the recording. Mariah doesn’t seem to really know much about her
crush, Jason Momoa, and Ongina has seemingly lost her voice completely.
Luckily, Shea manages to deliver both a sickening verse and lead the trio in
sharp choreography during rehearsals. Will keeping up with Shea’s lead be
enough to save Mariah and Ongina?
Before the
mainstage performance, it’s time for Cracker’s comeuppance. Blair is the first
to drop the dreaded D-word; “Difficult.” This isn’t the first time Cracker’s
name has been smeared with that label, and it’s obviously a bit of a trigger
for her. It’s not exactly fair to judge based on these edited segments and
interviews, but Cracker’s concentration on how she is being misperceived
(rather than the damage she does) seems to suggest she’s got a bit more
reflecting to do.
The
performance itself is a lot more fun than all the lead up prepared me for. The
breezy pop track quickly transitioned between teams and queens, keeping it
moving even when the performances sagged. The good was good enough (and the bad
speedily moved along).
After a
glamorous “Love the Skin You’re In” runway, the judges send Cracker, Mayhem and
Alexis to safety. There’s a lot to love about Jujubee’s performance and outfit,
and the judges lavish praise onto her Full House jokes and
elegant runway presentation. Blair St. Clair also hit the bullseye with a
cheeky crush on Hannibal Lecter, but her pink latex runway — though sickening —
didn’t quite meet the “skin” theme.
Neither comes
close to unseating this week’s eventual winner Shea Couleé. In the performance,
Shea is in another league, an all star among all stars. Her moves are crisp,
her lyrics are clever and her skin lewk is a gorgeous African-inspired bodysuit
that looks like it could be equally at-home in the pages of National
Geographic and Vogue.
India, Ongina
and Mariah all find themselves in the bottom for a similar reason: failing to
stand out. None of them were total failures, but in this crew, just good is not
good enough.
Of course,
given the wrinkles in the format, performance is just part of the equation, as
the queens jockey for position and alliances ahead of this week’s lipstick
voting.
Ongina
addresses the group at large to try to offer herself to go home instead of
Mariah or India. By her logic, she lost faith in herself, and, as Cracker said,
that means she doesn’t deserve to be here.
Cracker, whose
Resting Stink Face is beyond control, sees exactly where this is heading and
takes this opportunity to apologize for unnecessarily getting into Ongina’s
head. However, the damage seems to be done, and Ongina’s easy surrender appears
to turn off the rest of the girls.
Shea takes the stage to face off against this week’s lip sync assassin:
ALYSSA EDWARDS. OK, so they’re not playing with these assassins! Not that I
wasn’t happy to see recent winner Yvie Oddly, but Alyssa is one of Drag
Race‘s most beloved alums and seeing a dream match-up of Alyssa v. Shea is
an incredibly appealing proposition!
The resulting lip sync does not disappoint. Set to the Pointer Sisters’
“Neutron Dance” (R.I.P. Bonnie Pointer, who died earlier this week, but had
left the group before they hit it big with successful singles in the ’80s),
both queens brought it. Neither gal seems capable of a bad lip sync, but Shea
seems to do more with the softer moment than Alyssa.
Ru agrees, awarding the win (and the $20,000 tip) to Shea. With great
prizes, though, comes great responsibility. Shea reveals she picked Ongina to
go home. (And Untucked confirmed the other gals unanimously
voted Ongina as well.)
Was that the right call? Check out our rankings below, and share your
thoughts in the comments!
1.
Truly the gauntlet has been thrown down
by Shea Couleé. She just seems to be operating on another level than the
other queens. Even within the chintzy confines of the challenge, Shea fully
embodied her performance like it was live on-stage at the Super Bowl. Shea is
self-aware, strategic and missing the sort of self-flagellating obsession with
perfection that’s derailed so many other talented queens. Her skin runway
bodysuit is a Drag Race best.
2.
Jujubee hasn’t had a “moment” just yet
(no, I’m still not sold on her bloated ballad from last week), but she has
everything necessary to stomp out the competition. She’s funny, she’s talented,
she’s sharp as hell. She’s also lethally likable, which means she’ll amass
allies quickly. (Even Derrick Barry singled her out for a sweet goodbye.) Her
Uncle Jesse verse could’ve been more original (its most clever line is owed to
India), but Juju still delivered on everything asked this week.
3.
Alexis continues to charm, but will it
be enough? Daddy Yankee was a fun choice, and I liked her level of low-brow
humor in her lyrics. (Rock M. Sakura can take note.) Alexis is delightful, but
what I still need to see is how she pushes beyond what we know she can do. She
has impressed, but not yet surprised me this season.
4.
Watching Blair St. Clair sweat in
the studio was uncomfortable viewing, as the self-proclaimed singer seemed to
struggle to want to … well, sing. It’s exciting to see how Blair has grown as
an artist since we were first introduced, but I’m not sure we’re quite at her
final form. If she can continue to turn it out when it counts, she’ll linger a
while longer, but she won’t be able to compete with the more seasoned queens
unless she can tap into her talent a bit more naturally.
5.
Miz Cracker‘s storyline didn’t feel like a
one-and-done episode, and I fear her attitude may become a central story for
the season. Being “difficult” isn’t exactly something that’s endearing for
audiences, nor is there an established arc or trope for easy redemption. I hope
that doesn’t mean Cracker is being set up to be this season’s villain, because
I’m into her twisted humor. I give both her performance and bat
mitzvah-inspired runway a solid B.
6.
This was not a great week for Mariah,
but it wasn’t terrible, either. She looked beautiful as a blonde babe during
the performance, but it was mostly forgettable. Same for her deliciously detailed
gown that still struggled to stand out amongst the more dramatic outfits on the
mainstage. She continues to outrank the others due in large part to the
creativity and passion of her talent show performance which still has me
hopeful there’s much more to come.
7.
I’m starting to think I like Mayhem out
of drag more than I do in drag. In interviews, Mayhem comes off so quick and
funny and warm and engaging. On stage, Mayhem looks cool sometimes. There’s
just something that’s not connecting. She did enough with the material this
week to earn her safe spot, though I had issues with the runway gown dripping
in beading. The styling just seemed off with the makeup and shoes paired with
that dress. No single piece will ever be gorgeous enough to outperform a fully-realized,
head-to-toe vision.
8.
My feelings on India have been
established, so I won’t belabor too much. Her immediate instinct to write
lyrics about her fiancé and her timid delivery just reinforce for me this idea
that India has no idea who her character really is. Even her eventual Justin
Timberlake lyrics didn’t quite add up (as pointed out by Michelle Visage). That
lack of point-of-view is a non-starter if you’re looking to separate performers
from superstars.
9.
There’s just no coming back once you admit
you don’t think you should be here. Ongina may have pulled off a few
more weeks here had she not given up so easily. Neither her dress nor
performance were so bad as to guarantee the chop. With Ongina out of the way,
the pressure is really on the other queens who have been to the bottom (Mayhem,
Mariah, India).
SOURCE: TOWLEROAD
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