Episode seven begins on the tails of Robin Fierce’s elimination. The queens are sad to see Robin leave, but the real meat and potatoes of the top of the episode is the boiled-over tension from Metalgate. After a heated Untucked — the backstage behind-the-scenes show that airs after the main episode — tension is still high between Luxx Noir London, Marcia Marcia Marcia and Malaysia Babydoll Foxx.
But the real back and forth takes place between Mistress Isabelle Brooks and Malaysia. Mistress was on stage when Malaysia, Luxx and Marcia got into it, so Mistress was a little upset Malaysia didn’t say all of this to her face. Sasha Colby steps in to resolve the issues between Mistress and herself regarding Metalgate, but Malaysia stayed silent toward Mistress, leaving unresolved tension.
The next day in the Werk Room, RuPaul announces this week’s Maxi Challenge: The queens will be starring in the sequel to season 14’s iconic acting challenge “The Daytona Wind.” While season 14’s was a parody of soap operas, season 15’s sequel is a sitcom.
“The Daytona Wind” from season 14 was the best acting challenge I’ve seen on the show — I particularly enjoyed the surprise fart jokes — so my expectations for the sequel were incredibly low.
[Alaska wants you to know Valentine’s Day is ‘tremendously burdensome’]
As the winner of last week’s challenge, Aura Mayari is tasked with assigning the roles for the challenge. Many of the queens want the role of Fancy, including Aura. Of course, as casting director, Aura gives herself the role. The queens split into pairs to rehearse, and one of those groups is Mistress and Aura.
Now, I have to applaud Mistress. Somehow, she jedi mind-tricks Aura into giving her the role of Fancy. It was absolutely hilarious to watch how Mistress was able to politely and calmly manipulate Aura into giving up the coveted role.
We hit the set of “The Daytona Wind 2” and it isn’t as fun to watch RuPaul’s directing this time around. In season 14, the queens and the audience had no clue about the fart jokes, so watching Ru direct was really fun. This time, it doesn’t land as well. Spice, Aura and Jax are struggling while Malaysia and Mistress are killing it.
Back in the Werk Room, Mistress and Malaysia come together to bury the hatchet and resolve the tension lingering throughout the episode. Honestly, it was not the most interesting part of the show, but as two of my favorite queens in the competition, I hated seeing them fight. I like it when Drag Race balances the tension of a competition while also highlighting real personal connections.
We hit the runway, and the category is Puffa Please. I generally think the looks were good, but it wasn’t one of the strongest runways. However, I absolutely loved Malaysia’s look. It felt very Richard Quinn-inspired. To no shock, Luxx and Sasha kill it, just as they have week after week. I also thought Mistress’ look was great and outside her comfort zone.
The weakest looks for me were Spice, Aura and Salina EsTitties. I thought Spice’s was so predictable, Aura was only good from the waist up and Salina’s was just a little off.
We watched “The Daytona Wind 2,” and all in all it was fine. I would’ve appreciated it more if I understood the sitcoms it was referencing. It didn’t replicate a Full House- or The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air-style of sitcom, but rather had an Adult Swim angle. I absolutely loved it when Danny Trejo made his cameo at the end — it was so random but so perfect for Drag Race.
[The Diamond Drag: Old Friends Gold of ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’]
The tops are Mistress, Malaysia, Marcia and Anetra while the bottoms are Spice, Aura and Jax. Mistress wins the challenge, and honestly it is one of the best decisions all season. I just have such a love for Mistress — she is a textbook definition of a drag queen and does what she does so well and with such polish. And while we’ve seen queens like her before with her classic drag aesthetic, she just continues to do it flawlessly.
Jax and Aura are put in the bottom two, and honestly, I really do not understand RuPaul’s hate-boner for Jax. Jax was not good in this particular challenge, but week after week, the judges hate on her.
Now, I have to call out Spice for her reaction after being announced safe because, oh my God, I lost it. After being critiqued for doing the same runway walk and voice schtick every time — the same persona she does with Sugar on social media — she is announced safe. But then, she says “thank you” in the same voice and prances away completely ignoring the critique. The way the editors left the sounds of her steps in on top of having RuPaul yell “cue the snipers” made one of the funniest moments in a hot minute.
Jax and Aura lip sync to “Sweetest Pie” by Dua Lipa and Megan Thee Stallion, and honestly, both queens killed it. Jax is such a talented performer, I just loved watching her. Jax is announced the winner, and Aura is sadly told to sashay away.
