The girls are getting more comfortable with each other, making this an overall better episode. “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars” season 11 episode 5 pushes the queens to showcase their producing, directing, writing skills with “How-To” videos.
Spoilers ahead!
How To…Win A Challenge
Bracket 2 (Silky Nutmeg Ganache, April Carrión, Aura Mayari, Salina EsTitties, Crystal Methyd, and Vivacious) is full-steam ahead on strategizing for points, while some girls struggle to trust others and form connections with different queens. April and Silky’s relationship, in particular, is intriguing and the most fun to watch.
Let’s talk about episode 5’s highlights.
The Drama
The MVQ point-giving was relatively chill with no real drama. April gave Salina her point, Salina gave her point to April, Vivacious gave her point to Silky, and Silky gave Viv one as well, so everyone has at least one point heading into the second episode.
At first, there appeared to be some spiciness between April and Silky with April throwing shady comments at Silky about her outfits and personality, but over the course of the episode, you realize that that’s just their relationship. By the end of “Untucked,” I became a huge fan of whatever the hell is going on between them.
The actual drama is pretty minimal. Aura is increasingly worried about how Salina is going to dole out her points and is smartly realizing that Salina might be playing her. Salina is actively campaigning for points all over the place, racking up alliances left and right. Aura was smart for trying to form a connection with Vivacious, if awkwardly in her clunky manner.
There’s also this tug-of-war brewing with Silky, between her trying to be her true, authentic self but also holding back the parts that want to crash out when things don’t go her way. It’s a little growth, but also hyper-awareness of how she’s perceived by the fandom. The “Drag Race” fandom is always harsher on queens of color, particularly Black queens, and bigger queens, so Silky has dealt with some extreme fan reactions since her original season. The struggle within her is pretty visible to everybody.
The Challenge
The main challenge that RuPaul tasks the girls with is to make “How-To” videos on whatever they want. They have to produce and direct themselves with the help of no one, which is a departure from the norm; usually a judge like Michelle Visage or Ross Matthews steps into help them.
Every queen looked like they had everything under control during the filming of their videos, which speaks to the All Star-level professionalism. Most of them look like they’re having a blast with their sketches.
Prior to them filming these videos, there was a moment that really made me smile between Crystal and Vivacious. As they’re conversing about their ideas, you can sense a mutual respect between the two performers. Viv is highly impressed by Crystal, calling her a “dark horse” in the competition. “She don’t talk, she just executes,” Viv said about her, which is so accurate because while the other girlies are plotting for points, Crystal is just focused on winning.
Now onto the main challenge, which everyone did amazingly well honestly.
- April’s how to make tostones video was actually pretty good. She went for the sultry angle but it’s pretty accurate to the way boricuas make this side dish. She looked incredibly hot and her voice was so smooth.
- Aura’s surviving a zombie video was fucking funny and she was very clever to use her season 15 sisters’ “signature moves” as zombie fight moves. This was one of my favorites.
- Crystal’s banana split video was absolutely and delightfully insane. It’s high drag, campy pop art; I just knew she would kill this challenge. It was so smart of her to demonstrate the how-to using herself as the banana, making it very visually disturbing but wonderful. There’s a reason why she was top 3 on her season, y’all!
- Salina’s keeping your man from cheating video was silly, funny and immersive. She was smart to have “Lil Chalupe” as her alter ego with the Sesame Street-style setting giving the whole thing a high-budget feel. This was another one of my favorites; it made me laugh the whole time.
- Silky’s how to decorate a birthday cake for a fuckboy was okay. Silky is naturally funny but the video wasn’t really a how-to and seemed more like her working through her past trauma. It felt a bit directionless, but the mini Silky was a nice touch.
- Vivacious’ jerk chicken video was a great idea but she’s so deadpan the whole time. There were some really funny lines in there too but the delivery threw me off a bit. She’s delivered funny, shady one-liners before in the Werk Room, but it doesn’t always translate to the challenges.
The Runway
The category is: Barn This Way, a look inspired by life on the farm, and another solid pun.
- April’s hay gown was fucking stunning. It was inspired by the Puerto Rican pava, a straw hat worn by field workers that has become mainstream to wear amongst Puerto Rican celebs like Bad Bunny. It’s very couture and the proportions are immaculate, giving her childbearing hips.
- Aura had a barn owl-inspired dress and headpiece, she looks like an angel actually, but I’m not getting “farm animal” from this much.
- Crystal came as dragged out hen. It’s insane, it’s bedazzled, it’s so very Crystal. Not my taste, but it’s clearly very well made.
- Salina also had on a hay gown with a beautiful train. Her and April’s looks are very similar but I appreciate the train and basket making it different enough to stand apart.
- Silky was a sexy ass cow with a corset that had UDDERS that actually squirt milk. A clever and gross fashion moment. Big Silk with the good milk, indeed!
- Vivacious came as a John Deere tractor. I loved what she tried to do with it, but it was a bit too cosplay at a comic con for me.
The Guest
Gina Gershon is the guest host, looking fabulous in an emerald green showgirl outfit. She’s a legend and had such a regal air about her. Her criticisms held a lot of weight with the girls. Her funniest moment was playfully critiquing Crystal for not allowing nuts in her banana’s mouth. (A sentence that would confuse a young Victorian child.)
The Winner
Silky, Crystal and Salina are declared the top 3, but Ru chooses Silky and Crystal as the top two. I personally feel this is bullshit because Salina had a better video and runway outfit than Silky. I can sense her disappointment and its valid, especially because her lip sync outfits these past two episodes have looked intriguing. But as I’ve said before, Ru has her favorites and this is how the cookie crumbles.
All in all, this was not a good lip sync. Silky’s flags kind of saved the day, making the performance a little more visually interesting to watch. I never know what Crystal is doing in lip syncs. Predictably, Silky wins this one, but, man, this bracket’s lip syncs have been lacking a bit.
The Untucking
A slightly more interesting “Untucked” this week, and I think it’s because the girls are more comfortable around each other. Here are some of the highlights from the episode:
- The girls are joking but they really want Crystal to fail a challenge since she’s been in the top the entire time. It’s pretty obvious to everyone at this point that Crystal will be making the merge and everyone else is fighting for second place.
- Silky squirting milk onto Salina is a wild visual and it should’ve happened on the main stage too.
- Salina and Aura continued to conspire about the points, but at this rate, Aura isn’t so sure she wants to give Salina her point.
- And she’s correct to worry about that because she can clearly see Salina plotting with April and Crystal to give each other points if they’re not in the top. Salina being open about her strategy with Aura right there is hilarious to me. She does not give a fuck about feelings, baby, she wants POINTS.
Final Thoughts
There hasn’t been a bracket with an outcome this predictable since Ginger Minj’s first round in season 10. It’s painfully clear that Crystal will be moving on; Ru adores her and everything she does and for good reason. Crystal has the competition figured out and doesn’t lose herself in the process, something Silky still struggles with. Unless something crazy happens, it’s pretty evident that Ru is going to send Crystal and Silky through to the semifinals.
Season 11 of “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars” and “Untucked” streams weekly on Fridays on Paramount+.
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