RuPaul’s Drag Race Recap: Jersey Injustice

Well, that was quite the gag that trickster RuPaul played on us.  Imagine producing an entire joke episode of Drag Race, releasing it to the world and making the “joke” that Latrice got sent home. Very dark humour, Ru (why it gotta be black comedy?). Anyway, lucky next week everything goes back to normal and Latrice will still be in the competition.

<laughs maniacally and runs out of the room before anyone can tell me otherwise>

This ‘Drag Race’ Recap Is Where I Will, At Length, Explore My Latrice Grief

Chekhov’s play ‘The Seagull’ begins with Masha being asked why she always wears black. Her iconic response is, “I’m in mourning for my life.” (We stan a misanthropic diva.) I don’t want to come off sounding too dramatic… but it is only now, after Latrice was sent home from All Stars 4, that I truly understand Masha’s words.

As many people have pointed out, Drag Race has filled a sport-sized hole in many queer people’s lives (and we know a thing or two about getting a variety of holes filled). When your queen gets knocked out of the comp, you feel it. It’s tribal, with all the intersecting issues of class, identity, and loyalty coming into play.

However, just like each of the footballs and the other sports which I definitely know all about, you don’t win a season of regular Drag Race because you have the biggest/best/most loyal fans. It’s a game of skill, strategy, and endurance. But when it comes to All Stars, fanbases matter. So, did Latrice drop the ball or was this some foul play?

Let’s look at the stats. This was Latrice’s first time up for elimination. She fared poorly in Snatch Game and wasn’t helped by having to do another improv character comedy challenge this week (as discussed in last week’s recap, it’s not her strongest suit). Latrice did win the reading mini-challenge but was yet to win a main challenge. All in all, she was doing pretty average when compared to some of the other queens.

Here’s the thing though: Trixie fared pretty much exactly the same way throughout her All Stars season and managed to make it all the way to the crown. She failed to get going in The Bitchelor improv challenge thanks in part to her scene partner Milk, and then bombed spectacularly in her Snatch Game, which put her in the bottom two.

Shangela could have sent Trixie home that week but she saved her. Why? Because Trixie is Trixie, and Shangela understood the complex value of that brand, what it would mean to send her home early, and who she should be competing against in the top four.

Shangela thinks that way because Ru thinks that way. In the world of All Stars, what you’ve achieved with your post-Drag Race career matters. That’s why Ru brought Alyssa back into the AS2 competition and why she was visibly gagged when Detox sent her home over Roxxxy.

I don’t think Latrice was bragging in the workroom when she described herself as one of the most beloved and respected queens, and seeing her go home this early was a real facecrack. Unlike Alaska’s iconic meltdown in AS2, Latrice was speaking her truth without being bratty or coming off as ungrateful (also she didn’t have a spare $10,000 via PayPal to bribe people with…because she hadn’t won any challenges).

So, Where To From Here?

Just to pause my Latrice eulogy for a second, the queen who did have a bratty little moment this week was Valentina. Her deconstructed padded runway look was critiqued by guest judge Erica Ash, and Valentina had such a tantrum in the workroom you would think someone offered her a green M&M or something. Like with Milk’s sour tanty in AS3, Valentina’s outburst was poorly timed. Firstly, she was safe and secondly, the top and bottom queens were staring down one of the trickiest eliminations in All Stars herstory.

I’d happily allow one tantrum per queen per season, which means Valentina has now used up her credit. Given part of her brand is her diva attitude, I hope Valentina works at showing us growth and using her diva powers for good, not just nabbing screen time. With Latrice out of the way, Valentina is one step closer to the crown and joining the winner’s circle.

Manila might have something to say about that, though. The OG queen is going from strength to strength and is displaying a cunning mix of maturity, talent, and strategic thinking. If Latrice is truly gone (we have no clear sense of whether the eliminated queens will get a chance to ru-turn for their ru-venge this season), Manila joining the Drag Race Hall of Fame now makes the most sense.

Trinity still seems likely to join Manila and Valentina in the top four. That leaves a spot for either Naomi, who has thus far been consistently great without nabbing a win, or Monique, who has now won two challenges

You Got Me, Gallery: This Week’s Runway 

Ironically the theme of this week’s runway, “Swerves and Curves, Padded for the gods” was inspired one of Latrice’s many body positive catchphrases (although I think Miss Stayci Layne Matthews said it first on Season Two). Speaking of padding, here are some pics!

The Lip Sync And The Lipstick

Obviously, I have already explored some of my feelings about this week’s elimination but let us take a moment to be grateful for this season’s licensing budget. This week, the producers shelled out for an Elton John number performed the one and only Tina Turner. It’s the first time the queens have performed a Tina number, and it was pretty obvious who the artist was going to be when Monique and Manila walked out onto the mainstage.

By this stage of All Stars, you know that if the elimination stakes are remotely high then the winner of the lip sync is determined by the producers. If a queen has given away who they will send home, there is no drama and thus there is no $10,000 coming there way. Manila knew this last week, which is why she played out that Valentina vs Gia storyline to the cameras.. and then sent Gia home.

In openly declaring that she couldn’t send Latrice home, Manila voided her chance at winning that lip sync. It was her only move, as anything less would have been seen as an act of betrayal, but that left Monique as the only plausible winner of the week. Monique chose to save her Season Ten sister Monet, and in doing so contributed to deepening the divide between OG and next-gen Drag Race girls.

Next week, we welcome Lady Bunny to the mainstage for the VERY FIRST TIME and Ru tells the queens that All Star rules have been temporarily suspended. Could we be looking at the beginning of the ru-demption challenge?  Will next week be a non-elimination?  How many more Stacy Layne Matthews cameos can we expect, nay demand?

 

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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.