Don’t watch this episode if you don’t feel like laughing for an hour. Episode 10 of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” was one of the best episodes so far. It focused so much on the queens and their sense of humor while making ridiculous clothes; it felt more like a “Project Runway” episode from the golden years.
You Remember Crystal?
Jane Don’t might have had her funniest episode yet. I know she mildly irritated everyone recently by faking a scandal, but she had some of the hysterical moments, along with Juicy Love Dion, Kenya Pleaser, and Darlene Mitchell’s bag of wigs.
Let’s break down the best parts of episode 10.
The Talent
We finally got the reading mini challenge! And it was fun, especially because the “Drag Race” editors only let the girls have a couple reads a piece and then moved on. Juicy flopped, but Myki Meeks won because she delivered legitimately biting jokes.
With a THIRD design challenge of the season, Ru seems to be making a statement on the type of drag queens she has respect for. Girls who come into this competition not knowing how to sew (or at least, fake it), style a garment or have an eye for design don’t belong here, she’s practically screaming. The main challenge brought the eliminated queens back…rather their suitcases they left behind. Every queen was told to bring fabric to use in a future challenge and the twist is that the remaining queens need to use the eliminated fabric.
Jane, Kenya, Nini Coco, Discord Addams, and apparently Darlene all have an advantage being into fashion design. Considering Juicy had help for every design challenge so far, I was pleasantly surprised to see that she was able to construct something great by herself. The most impressive feat, however, was Jane dealing with Ciara Myst’s discarded scraps. She made such a big deal about this, the outcome was either going to be disaster or magic. And, of course, it was magical.
Discord completely let the challenge get away from her by basically cheating. Using safety pins (800!) to hold her pieces (from Mandy Mango’s suitcase) together rather than sewing them, she tried to hold on to her aesthetic, while essentially skirting the challenge. The girlies were in their right to call her out for that later on the runway.
A lot of this episode’s amusing moments came from the girls working on their garments in the werk room. From Juicy telling RuPaul “The juice is loose,” but not knowing it was an O.J. Simpson reference to Jane forgetting Ciara’s name, saying Crystal instead, and then running with the joke, it was a particularly unhinged episode. Unhinged in the best way possible. Also, we can’t forget that, for the first time ever, Ru gave someone a runway workshop, helping Discord relax her walk. The punk queen should be honored for that exclusive.
The Looks
Category is: “Partyyy” in the Adore Delano voice, of course. Darlene managed to turn out a funky 80s-style, zebra print dress that I knew Michelle Visage would love; it’s something she would’ve worn in 1988. Discord’s outfit is sexy, but she cheated and didn’t use all of the materials in her suitcase. (Ru gave her a thumbs up on her walk, while Iman was giggling like somebody told a fart joke.)
Juicy looks so Miami Beach glam and gaudy. Jane’s awful scraps were turned into a beautifully constructed, glimmering outfit. Nini’s look was absolutely wonderful and my favorite. I’m a sucker for a crop top and skirt done in a high fashion way. Myki’s two-toned, sequined look with complete, matching accessories (the earmuffs!) is so camp and done perfectly. Kenya’s red disco jumpsuit is really gorgeous but it’s basically a red version of her blue entrance look. Every queen pulled out something phenomenal, which made this judging harder than usual.
The Guest
IMAN! THE GUEST JUDGE IS FUCKING IMAN. Never in your life will you ever see a more regal, put-together woman that defies the laws of gravity, aging, and whatever else regular humans have to deal with. Her critiques were just as thoughtful and kind as her eyes are.
Because of her impressive career, Iman’s comments for the performers were considerate and relevant to the challenge at hand. In particular, her telling Discord that if drag doesn’t work out, she could always be a designer was a really sweet, validating moment.
The Drama
Every person got good critiques from the judges, so Ru uses this opportunity to ask the infamous question, “Who should go home tonight and why?” Darlene says Discord because she’s never been in the top, while Discord says Darlene for basically the same reason. Then it gets really interesting. Juicy names Discord because of the safety pins and the aforementioned cheating. The girls were calling it out throughout the episode so I knew Ru’s question was coming. “It was not in the box,” Juicy said, emphatically. (Punctuated by Myki’s talking head, “GET HER JUICY.”)
This opened up an onslaught of the rest of the girls saying Discord’s name. Literally. Every. Single. Person. Except for Discord, named her. You can almost see physical steam coming out of Discord’s ears. The judges were just living it up because this is the drama they want to see when RuPaul asks that messy ass question.
The Winner and Loser
No losers tonight and Discord should thank her Lucky Starzzz that RuPaul likes her and her stupid walk so much. The top two are Jane and Kenya who lip sync for the win. I wasn’t that impressed with Jane’s lip sync against Athena, but this time I was really astounded by this performance. She pulled it out and yes, you guessed it, Kenya struggled a bit with the lyrics. It was a no-brainer that Jane won this. Her third win!
Final Thoughts
We need more episodes like this from RDR; the queens getting along, having fun, cracking jokes with Ru and each other, it was a love fest and the audience would like more of it. Season 18 is turning out to be the exact opposite of season 17. The entertainment isn’t coming from the escalated and tense fights between young queens, it’s being delivered by professionals who have been doing this awhile and are confident doing it. They don’t need to manufacture drama to be enjoyable to watch.
Season 18 of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” airs weekly on Fridays at 5/8 p.m. PT/ET on MTV.
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