Ooh girl, that reunion episode was TENSE TENSE TENSE ACROSS THE BOARD. There I was thinking Beyoncé dropping a surprise album (feat. Parkwood’s favourite intern, Jay Z) was going to be the most heart-stopping thing that happened to me this week. Then the RuPaul’s Drag Race season ten reunion ep happened and… I need a moment.

As drag queen Shivannah would put it: “I think I smell a little trauma in the air.” That could be the theme of this reunion, and sums up the season as a whole: genuinely hurt people struggling to be contained within an increasingly formulaic program.

State of the Reunion

First up, the new RPDR: Reunited ep format is where it. is. at. As anyone who is not a heterosexual man already knows, every reality TV show needs a reunion ep where the cast comes back together to pour over the footage of them all being extra, crack jokes, and show off their recent plastic surgery. The reunion eps on Real Housewife franchises are pieces of video art that deserve to be on display at the Tate (drag queen name: Taint Modern).

When Drag Race hit the big time in season four, the post-season reunion ep was rolled into the finale, filmed before a live audience. Over the years, we rarely got more than a few scripted lines from the queens as they looked back at the season, aside from a few choice barneys onstage in the early days (never 5get everyone vs. PhiPhi). The finale format kept expanding, with solo performances from the final three and more stunts.

Now that the finale includes a sudden death lip sync battle to determine the crown, there is no time for eliminated queens to wander down (padded) mammary lane, so we go back to the standalone reunion ep. Except now, it gets filmed before the finale. I love this, because the wind is still in the season’s sails: the top four don’t know their fate, and it all the queens are still caught up in the maelstrom of being in-season.

Before we get into the ins and outs of what made this reunion ep such good TV, a moment of silence for Kameron. At the end of the ep, Ru asked all the queens who they thought should win. No-one said Kameron. I know I have made a lot of noise about her not deserving to be in the top four, but hot damn you could see all those buff little frown muscles working overtime in that moment.

HooRu From The GuRu

So is Ru smoking something from Oprah’s stash, or what? The “Pop-psych Ru” is the rapidly ascending incarnation of himself that is being put out into the world via RPDR, his podcast, and his upcoming book, GuRu. All you need to know this version ru-point-oh can be found in this new book:

“Throughout the history of humans on this planet, there’ve always been shaman, seers, and mediums who are able to interpret both high and low frequencies and remind humans to look beyond the surface for the truth of who we really are… That is RuPaul’s secret for success, not only in show business, but in all aspects of life, especially in navigating the emotional landmines that inhibit most sweet, sensitive souls.”

Ru went in on The Vixen and other queens (mainly other queens of colour) serving Oprah-meets-Dr Phil-meets pissed off Judge Judy, and it was baloney. He seemed genuinely affronted when The Vixen walked off set amidst their fiery confrontation, and took Asia to task for caring more about the systemic issues at play than The Vixen’s refusal to play along (more on that below).  

Oprah built her neoliberal self-help empire off the back off a trashy show in which extremely other-ed members of society made for great TV, and lined the budding mogul’s pockets so she could power up to the next level of TV stardom. Sounding familiar? I am guessing that Ru is gunning hard for a not-so-straight talking TV show that promises to cleanse you inner saboteur while Michelle cleanses your colon.

The Vixen was one of the most compelling characters on this, and any, season of Drag Race. I’ve written a fair bit on her unapologetic stance on intersectionality, and with good reason: it’s a conversation the show needs to have.

During the reunion, Ru brought up the initial Aquaria vs. The Vixen beef which saw the latter call out the former over white tears on Untucked. But it was the Eureka vs. The Vixen beef that saw the Chicago queen walk offset and not return.

I, for one, am here for The Vixen sticking to her guns instead of accepting the narrative pathway being made for her. What we are seeing is someone who knows instinctually that they are not wrong, but is yet to find a way to game the system that is stacked against them to come out on top of confected conflict. Eurkea picked that fight for the sake of scoring screen time, and then allegedly went to The Vixen the next day in an attempt to map out the rest of their storyline).

Tellingly, Ru went off at The Vixen for a lack of respect (“This is my house!”) but barely gave Eureka a rap over the knuckles, and that’s because once again Eureka performs an apology and talks about growth without actually growing, and that shit is pop-psych crack for Ru. And that was no more evident than in that way Ru handled Asia’s response to The Vixen walking off set.   

We Love You, Asia (I’m Totally India!)

In a kinder parallel universe, Asia O’Hara has won season ten of RuPaul’s Drag Race. Who knows what will happen next week (Aquaria will win) with the lip sync battles (Aquaria will win) but it feels as though we are gearing up for Aquaria to win. Which is a shame (not that Aquaria doesn’t deserve the crown) because Asia is surely the sentimental favourite.

Her extraordinary response to The Vixen’s walk off seemed to come straight from the heart, and spoke to complex struggles that many queer people of colour face being seen and heard in the world. Ru’s response revealed the neoliberal lens through which he sees the world. Whilst it’s true that The Vixen may be forever stymied by her inability to in the moment rise above the various barriers left in her way by the world,  it’s telling that Ru’s strongly worded advice to Asia was essentially “just walk away”.

Never before has it been more clear that there is no room on the show for a genuine dialogue on systemic oppression and other traumatic barriers, but there is plenty of space for people experiencing it — so long as they play by the house rules. As if to prove that point, we also revisited the traumas of Blair, Dusty, and Monique Heart because Ru is now pretty much that bald villain in Indiana Jones who tears out your heart before lowering into a pit of molten lava.

All in all, this was a GREAT episode of RPDR, and watching Ru start to get into Oprah drag is car-crash compelling. It’s an adjustment, one of many long-term fans have made as the show morphs and changes into a larger, more popular beast. While the rubbernecking this season has been dialled up a little too much, and the showrunning of the actual challenges has been found a little lacking, I, like you, will be coming back for more. See you next week for the finale, squirrel fronds!

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RuPaul’s Drag Race is fast-tracked from the US on Stan. Read more Drag Race recaps here.

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Nic Holas has written for The Guardian, Sydney Morning Herald, Archer Magazine, and Hello Mr. You can find him on Twitter @nicheholas, or in his role as co-founder of HIV movement The Institute of Many.