If you thought the drama would be gone with Briar Blush’s exit, you were wrong. Episode five of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” season 18 showcases some fun, occasionally ridiculous strategy and backroom deals. With Rate-A-Queen coming back and the talent show happening in the middle of the season instead of the beginning (like normal), this caused a bit of a scramble among the queens.
Rating Fellow Queens Fairly Or Whatever
Call me Jane Don’t, because I’m not the biggest fan of Rate-A-Queen, in general. It’s silly to have the girls’ judgement be a factor in sending a queen home. They’re competing for Ru’s attention, not these other weirdos. It’s understandable that a lot of the queens dislike this part of the talent show.
Let’s break down the best parts of episode five.
The Drama
At the top of the episode, the girls discuss Briar fainting again and there was still an air of skepticism, considering the timing around it. (In the latest episode of “ Whatcha Packin’,” Briar confirms it was real because she had pneumonia at the time of filming.) Discord Addams is back to bitching about her placement, but she has a point about the polarizing and confusing opinions on her runway walk.
Ru knows what she’s doing when she makes the queens choose their own teams, line-up, and groups. She knows there’s almost always drama with choice and the queens of season 18 have proven that they’ll rise to that expectation.
Granted, this drama was of a different kind. For starters, no one cried throughout the process, it was just a bunch of pretty people being shady behind each others’ back. If you’ve heard the term “back-channel politics” (secret communications between politicians), that’s kind of what happened in this episode.
When Ru announces that the talent show will be happening along with Rate-A-Queen, Athena Dion immediately goes into strategizing mode. She plans with Mia Starr to put her and Juicy Love Dion in the same week so they can get the top two spots, with Kenya Pleaser wisely getting in on this deal. This alliance worked a LOT better than Ciara Myst’s attempt to get the Glam! girlies in allegiance. Aside from the one challenge they did together and them all being there, why did Ciara think this would work in her favor? She was already aware her talent show number might turn some folks off, so she was definitely trying to cover her own ass.
The Looks
Category is: Not Today, Satin, which is a clever turn on Bianca Del Rio’s iconic and much-memed quote. All in all, not my favorite runway of the season but there were some highlights like Juicy’s carnivorous plant look which was giving couture “Little Shop of Horrors” and Vita VonTesse Starr’s opulent emerald green outfit.
I wanted to like Mia’s look so much but the giant bow and the flowy gown absolutely swallow her up, which is almost impressive considering her giant titties. Myki Meeks’ ribbon look is stunning and her bow placement ate Mia’s up. Kenya’s runway is way too simple, but apparently she was given it by Jane because her original outfit wasn’t done on time. Jane might end up with Miss Congeniality accidentally if she keeps helping her competition.
The Talent
The talent show itself was a fun time, very entertaining with different types of performers being highlighted; some good, some bad. Ciara went first in a really cool white monster outfit, which dancers help rip off to unveil a bone suit with bedazzled, sinewy muscle. She does this dramatic spoken word, which isn’t bad, but it was a little haphazard.
Juicy’s video game inspired performance was fantastic, we all knew she would eat. She wasn’t stiff, she had funny moments, she really did a great job. Nini’s praying mantis performance was excellent, the props were on point. She’s got flips and tricks like Juicy; an all-around threat. She was a bit worried that because this had already been “seen before,” the girls would rate her low, but that barely factored in.
Vita’s 80s workout performance was boring, has been done before and better. Not only did she seem less confident, but she was wearing sneakers. As if Darlene Mitchell didn’t just get read for that a couple weeks back. No flats on the runway in front of RuPaul! Speaking of Darlene, her cheeky tool box song was memorable and her smile does make her a more interesting performer to watch.
Mia showed out with a high-energy performance and rap, showing exactly why she’s been on numerous pop stars’ tours. Her and Juicy had the best energy of the whole group. I’m honestly not sure the second group will match up to this group.
The Guest
Zara Larsson was this week’s guest judge and I’m not sure why. She’s gorgeous and has a great accent, but the queens were judging each other this week, so why was she needed? Even though the judges still discussed the looks after the queens left, it was basically for the audience’s benefit, not the girls. They didn’t even get to hear their feedback. Hopefully, Larsson can come back and be utilized better in a future episode.
The Winner and Loser
Juicy and Mia were the judges’ top choices and the queens agreed when the Rate-A-Queen results were revealed. Auntie and her niece lip synced HARD against each other and had wonderful chemistry; it almost felt choreographed. Mia and Juicy are both declared the winner, which makes the most sense. They both ate.
I was so certain that Vita was going to be the bottom queen, but it turns out it was Ciara. That alliance she constructed absolutely let her down. Kenya even apologized during her rating. Vita having good relationships with majority of the girls definitely saved her ass here. (Side note: earlier in the episode, Kenya was talking about the queens being friends and “lovers” and the camera cut to Vita and Athena holding hands. Is a showmance being teased?!) Anyway, Ciara will have to lip sync next week against the bottom queen of the second group. No loser this week, unless you count appreciation for poetry.
Final Thoughts
Still a strong season, but not my favorite episode, solely because of the Rate-A-Queen aspect. I will say I enjoyed how quickly everyone jumped into strategizing because it made for good television. Next week, we’ll see the other half perform and be rated. I have a feeling Ciara’s going to be enacting some vengeance on her fellow alliance members that rated her low.
Season 18 of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” airs weekly on Fridays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on MTV.
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Writer and editor