‘RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under’ S2E6 Recap: So Where The Bloody Hell Are Ya?
Apparently lip-sync assassin means "might kill you by stabbing you with a heel mid-cartwheel".
Forget about Lara Bingle, the Hemsworths or a camera-mugging Quokka: Tourism Australia + New Zealand’s latest campaigns promote local towns with drag talent. And while we won’t be visiting Newcastle any time soon, Palmerston North better get ready for the biggest tourist boom in their history.
This week, our top five make ads to promote their hometowns, a twist on the branding challenge that comes right as the queens scream at Beverly Kills that she has no idea who she is. But is it better to overwrite a sketch and fill it with references to Bindi Irwin, sugar daddies and Jeremi’s (fka Phi Phi O’Hara) ‘Party City’ read, or to make an ad about how you’re kind of unlikeable and permanently stressed? Both Kween and Bev are getting similar critiques — the judges need them to loosen up and be themselves — but where Kween is getting a sympathetic edit, RuPaul literally says Bev is too handsome and young to have ever had a character-building experience.
There might be some merit in that (I could barely talk to strangers when I was 21, let alone present an original personality on a show like Drag Race), but it’s hammered HARD this episode to the point that the show basically is saying Beverly is the most generic drag queen to ever exist. She’s not even the most generic queen of this cast! Ignoring whatever that lip-sync was, I do think Kween deserved to say above Bev, but it didn’t need to go so hard to prove the point.
All episode long, there’s repeated talk of track record and how Beverly is lagging behind the other queens, but I’m not sure that’s fair: she might’ve been in the bottom twice, but Molly and Kween easily could’ve done the same by now. Clearly she’s rubbed the cast the wrong way for being a little annoying/literally just being 21, but this week’s pile-on is pretty hard to watch especially given it ends up with Beverly sashaying away. Last week’s ‘confrontation’ with Kween was harsh but fair — this week felt like kicking someone while they’re down, reminiscent of Aiden Zhane’s arc on S12.
]I think we’re missing something here, though: the show hasn’t quite shown exactly why the queens are so over Beverly, or what made Hannah shut her down twice this episode. Then again, tensions are high, and the queens are probably just exhausted to the point one annoying comment or repetitive convo could make them snap.
I’m sure there’s a filming reason Bev is standing so far away from the other queens, but geez, it’s not exactly giving the picture of five bosom buddies.
The good news is that Bev, like Ru says, is a handsome, young white queen, which is to say she probably won’t be demonised by the audience and will be able to bounce back from her edit. She mightn’t have had the funniest ad this week, but she’s clearly a talented queen and excellent live performer who has already accomplished a heap at a young age — I’m excited to see what she does next, and reckon she’d be a great contender for a vs. The World (see also: Yuri, Etc, Anita, Coco, basically all DU alumni actually). Still, send her some love if you’re so inclined: it was probably a rough week.
Spankie Jackzon Must Win, I’m Sorry
We get a fun variety of hometown rep this episode, with Perth, Newcastle, the GC and Palmerston North getting some love. And a fictional island called Kween Kong, which kind of misses the brief of the challenge but the judges don’t mention it and who really cares? You only know a city when you’re able to hate it as much as you love it, and roasting is basically our trans-Tasman love language: it’s another challenge that shows the Down Under team are honing in on what makes our queens and culture unique.
The obvious winner is Spankie Jackzon, who creates a fever dream story of trying to keep partying after her town’s club closes. My favourite part are the low-res backgrounds, seemingly because Google didn’t have any HQ shots of Palmerston North. But if Spankie won this challenge, she’d have four wins and be the clear front-runner.
Me when Spankie is on screen.
Instead, they give it to Hannah for her Hobbiton-Perth parody, where they credit her professionalism and ability to self-direct. It is one of the clear distinctions between Spankie and Hannah, who I think after this week are the likely season winners — Spankie has an undeniable IT factor and a rough-around-the-edges charm, where Hannah is a polished queen who still has a distinctly Aussie humour, and might be the more regal choice. It makes sense they give this week’s win to Hannah, but I think Spankie is going to be the fan fave of the season.
80% of Down Under S2’s budget went into this black swan. And they were right to do so.
Molly’s ad, mostly about annoying party girls, is the obvious safe of the week. After jumping out of the gates as a strong contender, Molly’s lost steam as the show goes on, with the added negative of being largely absent from the show’s main storylines and drama, too. (She also keeps putting on an American accent and occasional Blaccent during the challenges, which is as cringe as anything Bev does.) Bev’s ad is a jumble of ideas and references, so eager to impress that she loses sight of the challenge itself being an ad for the Gold Coast; Kween’s is also a swing-and-miss, but she’s aiming for self-deprecating humour that doesn’t really fit the brief. It’s clear who’s in the bottom.
This would have killed in a like… S10 challenge… judges would have eaten it up
Let’s Go To The Beach, Each – Ancient Proverb
This week’s runway is all about swimwear, which means we get a Pamela Anderson, two Metre Maids (not Meter!), a Barbarella bikini and an ode to Samoan queen Nafanua. Personally, I would have dressed as Nicole Kidman as Virginia Woolf entering the river in The Hours, borderline offensive nose prosthetic and all, while reciting her AMC monologue.
Never change, Spanks.
The closeups made this look a little unfinished, but I do quite like it.
Hannah’s just really pretty, okay!
Sucks for Molly that Bev had the same idea.
Metre Maids LOVE to touch themselves, as per Molly and Bev.
After weeks of teasing, we get the lipsync showdown to end all showdowns: Bev vs. Kween. Or, at least, that’s what we’re supposed to get, but the queens are severely impaired by the song choice (‘The Beginning’ by Ru, really?) and the tiny Down Under stage, which means the two continually run into each other while stunting out. It’s a bit messy and devolves into ‘who can do the most tricks’ regardless of the song’s tempo or lyrics. From the edit, Bev gives a slightly more levelled performance but is still guilty of plenty of unnecessary stunts that turns drag into a contact sport. We’re lucky nobody’s hurt. I’d love to see a rematch on a bigger stage (and with a better track), but for now, Kween makes it through to the top four and Bev sashays away.
For the semi-final, our queens make over four members of a family — not to make assumptions, but this could be a difficult week for Spankie. Two more episodes to go!
RuPaul’s Drag Race: Down Under streams on Stan in Australia, with new episodes each Saturday at 4pm AEST.
Jared Richards is Junkee‘s Drag Race recapper, and a freelancer who writes for NME, The Big Issue, The Guardian and more. He’s across the internet as @jrdjms