TV

‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ Recap: Turn That Brown Upside Down

This week the RuPaul crew gets a makeover, before one queen says a bittersweet goodbye.

by Nic Holas  28 May 2017

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Hey Kitty Girls!

After the shock and awe of last week’s Valentina elimination, I wasn’t quite ready for the emotional response I had to this week’s episode of RPDR. From the very first scene, Nina Bo’Nina Brown’s narrative started to be tied up, playing out to a moving – and somewhat disappointing – conclusion. Fortunately, the bittersweet farewelling of Nina was offset against the joyful backdrop of this week’s makeover challenge (more on that later).

?’s out of the ? I’ll be getting a makeover ?? THIS FRIDAY @ 8pm on @rupaulsdragrace on @vh1 ? tune in Queens ?

A post shared by Josiah J. Rizzo (@rizzostudios) on

Nina’s journey this season has been one of the most interesting, at times frustrating, and considerate, in the show’s long history. Personal traumas have been deployed by the queens and the producers in the past, but never to the extent Nina’s was given time, and focus.

“Being my own worst enemy is a struggle,” Nina explains early on in the episode, owning her self-saboteur narrative. The difficult thing about watching Nina this season is her keen self-awareness of what is holding her back, being insurmountable within the format of a competitive weekly reality television show. Usually, being unable to show growth is how you lose drag race, but then again Nina’s journey is not the usual wellness/self-help journey so many queens have gone on: this is depression, and she names it.

It raises questions about how we deal with mental health issues in public/social spaces, and how well-equipped a show like RPDR is to really deal with it sensitively and effectively (I think they did pretty well, overall). This week, many of the remaining queens expressed their frustration with Nina, with Sasha and Trinity in particular displaying their exasperation. “I’m tired of spending all our time as a group building someone up who doesn’t want to hear it,” said the usually empathetic Sasha Velour.

Nina’s greatest champion all season has been Shea Couleé, who has repeatedly tried to lift her Season Nine sister up and spoke directly to the systemic oppression of black people as an ongoing barrier to safety and success. So, it was no surprise that they both ended up in the bottom two lip syncing for their lives. This is after all a television show, and the hungry beast of dramatic irony must be fed.

Shea

In a recurring theme this season, Nina nearly gave away the lip synch (she certainly did not put in the same energy and effort we saw in her previous performances) but she didn’t throw in the towel completely. Ru told her to sashay away by symbolically welcoming her into her drag family (Nina’s ongoing feelings of exclusion from her Atlanta drag community has been a big part of her story), and Brown said her farewell with a line that just killed me:

“I was trying to be a voice for African-Americans who think all they can do is one type of drag, but I guess I wasn’t strong enough mentally.”

The Challenge

This week saw the return of the annual drag makeover challenge, where the cast must transform a clump of non-queens into their well-heeled, made-up sisters. In the past, these clumps have included gay military veterans, the cast of Little Women (the reality show, not the Winona/Kirsten film, 90s kids represent), and straight men who married their partners in drag on the runway.

This week continued the introspective, self-aware theme of the season by having the queens makeover the RPDR crew. This resulted in one of the warmest, cutest episodes of the season, if not the show’s history. It also confirmed what I have pervertedly observed for some time, namely that there are a number of hunky’n’husky babes working behind the camera.

“You look like Linda Evangelista.” – me, screaming at the TV

HUNKY2

Rule one: don’t screw the crew. Rule two: rule one is hereby rendered void and invalid, in perpetuity.

The makeover challenge is another staple of RPDR, and it’s another opportunity to check on your faves’ versatility and talent. Over the years, more than a few queens have come unstuck during this challenge because they have no idea how to do someone else’s makeup, or they simply aren’t very skilled at working with others (especially a reluctant straight guy nervous about getting into drag).

This week, we didn’t have any of the nerves or apprehension that often accompanies this challenge, because the crew have watched these queens year after year, and came with an already opened mind. This left room for more hijinks and humour, which made the ep feel like a behind the scenes special on the show, more so than any architectural “BTS” ep of Untucked.

The Runway

With all the friendly goodwill and in jokes flying around, this week’s runway and judging was a delight to watch. We’re at the stage now where if you don’t turn out an amazing look, you’re probably in trouble, and there is something about this makeover challenge that has seen more than one eventual top three queen stumble. (See: Alaska in All Stars 2, Bob in Season Eight).

This week, it was Shea Couleé’s turn to wobble down the runway:

When her crew member’s cotton candy wig started to come apart, my first thought was this terrible tragedy, followed by “Shea’s lip syncing.”

Meanwhile, can we just give Sasha Velour the Drag Pulitzer Prize already?

I know Trinity was overdue for a win to ensure she kept ascending to Top Three status, and Sasha co-won last week, but this look was everything.

This week, Trinity pulled off the win by getting her crew member Rizzo to pull back, sack, and crack with the most comprehensive tuck we’ve seen on the makeover challenge. Their drag sister look was flirty and fun, and their dance routine was indeed the best.

This Week’s Real Winner Is…

Rizzo, the hot crew member whose Twitter account is now blowing up after he stepped in front of the cameras and helped Trinity win the challenge. Let’s just say when it comes to this Rizzo, there are worse things I could do than go with a boy or two, if you know what I mean.

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