After weeks of social media uproar, RuPaul’s Drag Race is back to being in an hour-and-a-half timeslot, and this week’s episode truly showed why having the full block creates a dynamic and interesting show.
We enter the Werk Room after Malaysia Babydoll Foxx’s elimination. Salina EsTitties is once again feeling shaken after being in the bottom and understandably so. The third lip sync is an infamous kiss of death in Drag Race lore, and usually, the only people who survive it go home on the fourth.
The queens congratulate Sasha Colby on winning her third challenge, but that is quickly overshadowed by another week of queens — specifically Luxx Noir London and Loosey LaDuca — fighting over who won second place. I am so sick of these conversations about who almost won the challenge. At the end of the day, whether you were second or third, you did not win.
The next day, the queens walk into the Werk Room and the second place debate continues. Loosey and Luxx go back and forth about Loosey not having a baby bump for Loosey’s “Love On Top” MTV Video Music Awards runway. I was living for this whole fight because it was just so stupid and so funny. We finally get RuMail this season leading us into our mini-challenge. The queens have to get into quick drag and will be participating in a Harlem Vogue Ball, in honor of the Harlem Vogue scene. I thought the mini-challenge was really fun. Members of the ballroom community have had issues with Drag Race misappropriating ballroom culture, but I think the queens didn’t think what they were doing was going to make them icons in the community. Sasha and Anetra were really strong and I loved Mistress Isabelle Brooks’ take on the challenge, but Anetra ended up winning.
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The maxi-challenge is announced to be a stand-up comedy challenge in duos. The queens will be paired up by picking Bubly sparkling water out of a cooler and the queens that get the same flavor are put together.
After drawing the cans, the pairs end up being Loosey and Luxx (shocking after their tiff), Marcia Marcia Marcia and Mistress and Sasha and Anetra. Salina is by herself, since she picked the lone flavor — but, in a shocking twist, Salina is told since she did not get a pair, she can either steal someone’s partner or work alone. Salina ends up picking Mistress, leaving Marcia alone.
The queens start working on their comedy and it seems like everyone is just unsure. Anetra is having a migraine, Luxx and Loosey are brainstorming but are worried about their extreme drive to win being too much for each other and Marcia is overwhelmed.
The queens then go to their comedy coaching sessions with Michelle Visage and comedian Ali Wong. We are once again seeing everyone struggle. I honestly can’t tell if the editors wanted our expectations low for everyone so we would be pleasantly surprised or if they wanted us to not suspect who would win. Luxx and Loosey keep commenting on the other person’s joke, Marcia is doing OK, Salina and Mistress are too long-winded and Sasha and Anetra are not being funny at all.
The next day as the queens are getting ready, we get my favorite Drag Race cocktail: dramatic manipulation and real human stories. First, we see Luxx and Loosey basically trying to nicely tell Marcia that she has a lot riding on her performance because she’s alone. It was funny watching the two play mind games with Marcia, whether it was intentional or not.
We then have a really emotional moment between Mistress and Salina where Mistress opens up about being estranged from her mother. It’s moments like this that I appreciate because these moments strip back the glitz and glam of being a drag queen and we get to see who these performers really are.
We head to the main stage, and it’s time for the comedy show. Overall, I was whelmed. It was just fine. There have been much better stand-up performances in Drag Race herstory, but also much worse. It sounded like there were a lot of edited-in laughs.
Marcia opened the show and wasn’t great, but she didn’t bomb. Loosey and Luxx volleyed really well and had me laughing. Sasha and Anetra were hard to watch. Salina was stronger than Mistress, but both were still good.
[The Diamond Drag: The Crystal Ball: Episode 200 of ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’]
We hit the runway and the category is “Rip Her to Shreds.” This was such a strong runway. I sound like a broken record each week, but Luxx and Sasha are just next level. Every week, they blow me away and this week was nothing short. Despite online commentary, I liked Salina’s look, but it wasn’t the best on the runway. Loosey’s look was good, but the makeup was a sleep paralysis demon. I didn’t love the judges telling Marcia she should’ve made something new because Loosey did a similar look a few weeks ago. The queens brought what they brought and, honestly, Marcia’s interpretation was better than Loosey’s.
The tops are announced to be Luxx, Loosey, Mistress and Salina with Sasha, Anetra and Marcia placing in the bottom three. Luxx and Loosey win the challenge and I agree they truly did the best out of everyone.
The bottom pair is announced to be Anetra and Marcia and I personally think Sasha did worse than Marcia but it feels as if we’re at the point in the competition where production and RuPaul know who they want in the finale — and they don’t want Marcia.
The two lip sync to “Boss Bitch” by Doja Cat and this lip sync will go down in Drag Race herstory as one of the best of all time. I think my neighbors probably thought I was being robbed or something with how much I was screaming. Marcia and Anetra are such electric performers and I’m just so obsessed with this lip sync. Anetra is announced the winner, but I think it should’ve been a double save. We’ve had a double save wasted on such mediocre performances compared to this, so I don’t get it. Marcia is told to sashay away and I’m sad to see her go. I would love to see her comeback on an All Stars season even more polished and elevated.
