‘RuPaul’s Drag Race: All Stars’ S7E4 Recap: Once Upon A Time, Ru Wore Flip Flops & Elf Ears

First things first: justice for Raja. For the third week in the row, by my count, she’s been deserving of a top-two spot and keeps missing out on a badge.

Raja’s eternally unbothered, but in Untucked, she seemed a little frustrated by continually just missing out on winning week after week.  We’re a third through the competition at this stage: it doesn’t feel right that she’s one of the two queens to not have a badge!

But it’s the court of public opinion that really matters and Raja’s clearly coming out on top — plus, she even made Drag Race herstory this episode when she pass-ag pointed out she should stay on-stage for the lip-sync. Drag Race statistics/trivia Instagrams, take note: Raja is the first queen to threaten RuPaul* (*James’ Drag Con bomb threat exists in its own realm).

But the show loves to play out its little twists and turns, which is how the blocked Jinkx grabs a win (but no badge) for a well-acted but not particularly funny influencer character in this week’s improv challenge. Inspired by AS4‘s Jersey Justice, these queens took on a Fairytale Court in two groups, taking on a jumble of classics (Goldilocks, Little Red Riding Hood, The Three Piggies, Hansel And Gretel) trying to sort out their disputes in front of Michelle Visage (strange she wasn’t in character, but whatever).

“Well-acted but not particularly funny” unfortunately sums up a fair chunk of this week’s challenge, which got a little bogged down in the amount of plot to get through in each scenario, meaning the queens spent most of their time stuck in exposition. I enjoyed it, but maybe these kinds of jokes — essentially dirty mad libs with fairytales (little piggies have OnlyFans!) — are just not for me. It feels a bit cheap. Then again, cheap and obvious jokes are drag 101! Maybe I just needed a few more punchlines, a little less plot.

This Little Piggy Went To Herrensauna…

No mini-challenge this week, as the queens get straight to the main game: Trinity and Jaida, last week’s winners, get to pick their groups. Jaida takes Jinkx, Monet and Yvie, with Trinity picking Shea and Viv, with Raja being picked by default as the last queen waiting. Our mums were right: it does happen to everyone at some point.

The first group sees three widdle pigs torn apart by a big bad wolf, played by Yvie. I really don’t have that much to say: it just felt really slow and lacked many punchlines! Maybe Jinkx’s whole pig influencer character was a little too ‘cheugy’ for me: the only thing more cringe than influencers is a broad strokes parody of influencers, and this felt like a BuzzFeed listicle of jokes. (Trust me, I’m aware of the house of cards here in criticising someone for low-hanging fruit). She was best in the physical moments, like walking in, and when she ad-libbed when her ear fell off: I guess where Judy Garland felt very prepared, this felt rehearsed/lacked that energy behind it?

Jaida’s character was less …developed… but I found her a lot funnier, less studied, maybe? Monet was barely there, and Yvie, while not very funny, was really good as the wolf — similar to the Boogieman, Yvie has the acting down and an interesting character, but he’s playing the straight man here. No laughs, but the character worked, and was sustained well across the two groups.

I enjoyed Group #2 more, just because the story — a compulsive liar Goldilocks changing personas and identities to get away with doing shit — was clever! It wouldn’t have worked without Viv’s many accents and talents, though, including her improv (“I’m Hansel and Gretel, yes I am both of them” was a very funny self-assist). Move over Willam, Viv is our new sitcom queen. She absolutely deserved to be in the top this week, as did, say it with me, Raja. She made one-liners punchlines: she was funny. Isn’t Ru always on these queens to make him laugh? Trinity, as always, continues to prove she is one of the strongest Drag Race competitors of all-time, and Shea makes a boring role not as boring as it could be.

Trinity Coming Out As A Staked Vampire For The ‘Spike’ Runway, But Not Dressed As Spike? A Missed Opportunity To Be Sued By Joss Whedon

Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman is back as a guest judge this episode: I’m very pro-JBC and not just because he’s hot. Yes, his stint on Canada’s Drag Race saw him play the villain harder than a method actor taking on the Joker, but it was a teething issue. I’d love to see him back (let’s not discuss Br*d Gor*sk* here), but he’s probably much happier with the guest stints. Can’t blame him after all the hate he got.

This week’s runway is all about spikes. A few rare misses from where I stand, like Shea’s alien and  Jinkx’s porcupine dress. You can’t win ’em all!

I love Monét’s look, but wish she took the mask off during the runway as she looked beautiful when she was chatting to the judges. The judges are wowed by Yvie’s alien look with crutch arms — it’s pretty cool and the proportion extensions with the heels and muscle padding really create a confusing, scary figure. Unfortunately, anyone who’s seen Drag Race España S2 will instantly think of Onyx’s similar look. They’re aiming for different things, but Onyx’s is a bit more of a spectacle.

Ru calls Viv’s “baby blue spiked Hellraiser with S&M chaps and some Vegas Christianity mixed in for good measure” look one of Drag Race‘s best ever. Let’s check back in a few months, but it is beautiful, scary and looks incredibly painful, which ticks the main boxes. I also really, really loved Trinity’s: she’s just so good at drag.

Raja’s is ugly-beautiful, a Greecian goddess with a stuffed codpiece that looks a little like a diaper about to burst. It’s not a boot (I wouldn’t dare after the reaction to Violet and Gotmik!), but it’s probably something only she can pull off: there’s a lot off here, but it all works for me, depends and all.

My favourite of the night goes to Jaida. Any nod to Grace Jones wins me over, but this make-up is just drop-dead. You know my bias here, but you also know I’m right.

This week’s top two — Jinkx and Viv — get to duke it out to a remix of Whitney’s ‘Love Will Save The Day’, which isn’t really in Jinkx’s wheelhouse. Viv kills it, with an assist from Jaida who hands her a xylophone for a little solo during a bridge (that’s one way to ensure you don’t get the plunger). Viv gives the plunger to Monét, who refuses to look at it, kind of like when a dog refuses to look at the shoe they’ve torn apart while their owner was at work.

Next week, the queens deliver a commencement speech, a twist on a stand-up challenge. This week’s challenge felt a little too restrictive to really let the queens’ humour shine, but this should be different, right?

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