‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’: 33 Runway Looks? Witch, Please!
This episode was more packed than BenDeLaCreme's suitcase before he self-eliminated.
Lady Gaga should sue: it is a crime that RuPaul’s Drag Race had a ‘Monster Ball’ and didn’t feature a single reference to her 2009-11 world tour. But where would have they fit it in?
With 3 categories and 11 queens still in the competition, this episode was more packed than BenDeLaCreme’s suitcase before he self-eliminated in All Stars 3. It was, to quote Laganja, simply “too fucking much” — and probably, judging by how inconsistent the looks were, maybe a little too early to break out such a big challenge.
At the beginning of the episode, Yvie says she wants to thin out the competition and I nodded so aggressively that my head, actually, had some complaints. With 15 queens at the start, this season’s cast is the show’s biggest, and since now it’s pretty clear who is and isn’t top competition, the episodes can feel a little sluggish at times.
But there was plenty to shriek over (Elvira! Elvira!), and we saw a few of the producers’ chess-pieces move this ep: Silky vs. Yvie, Ra’Jah vs. herself. Then there’s Brook and Vanjie canoodling: it’s so cute we could die.
“Bitch, Do You Bathe?”
Besides the fact that Elvira is clearly eternal (she’s 67!), the biggest takeaway from this episode is that Yvie Oddly smells. Ra’Jah’s confessional — (“I’m not gagging. Actually I am gagging, from the smell.”) — is the second time Yvie’s BO has come up on the show, and I wish Ra’Jah went into more detail. I imagine a decaying Brie cheese, left out in the blistering afternoon sun for a few too many hours.
Whatever’s happening, this episode certainly smelt fishy. The Monster Ball was clearly Yvie’s challenge to win, and the way the judges gagged over her perfectly good-but-not-amazing dinosaur look suggest it’ll take a massive fumble to take her out of the top 4. But Brooke takes it out — her looks were en pointe, and she’s clearly an incredibly polished queen with a smart eye. The bandage look could have been basic, but it was elevated, no pun intended, by her ballet presentation. It’s hard to do something surprising on the runway, which means a turn towards dramatic reveals and goopery — but Brooke seems to know that a simple idea can be very special.
She’s also getting a massive plot-line with the ‘Branjie’, a term Plastique coined. When she says she deserves credits for their merch, it’s the sort of joke that shows that these girls are hyper-aware of how the Drag Race game plays out both on and off the show. Earlier, Yvie says that Ra’Jah’s comments about ‘lip syncing her way to the top’ piss her off so much because it’s a storyline she hates as a viewer, and meanwhile, right now Brook and Vanjie are doing way too much with cute comments on each other’s Instagrams, which pretty much confirms they’re not still together. Do we think they’ll have to lip sync against each other at some point, but they’ll both stay?
This season, in some ways, reminds me a little of the underrated Season 7, which struggled as the show relied too heavily on in-jokes to itself, rather than just letting the queens be themselves. These mini-challenges all reference previous Drag Race challenges, and, as much as I love her, Trixie’s appearance was really… tiring. Queens have popped up every single episode this season, and while we already have so many still competing, it’d be great to just let them breathe.
Slurp it up.
Because when they do, they shine! The mini-challenge was genuinely funny, and all of them made me smile, particularly A’Kieria’s one-armed felon. But Ra’Jah won as soon as she mentioned driving a bus and having a ‘big drank’: it’s the exact sort of joke that RuPaul loses his shit over. I’m not mad, mostly because I’m really hoping Ra’Jah sticks around for a while.
While we’re talking about breathing, it’s probably for the best that Ariel peace-d and pouted her way out this episode. In the excellent Vulture Drag Race podcast What’s The Tuck?, extremely gay comedians Mano Agapion and Matt Rogers talk about how scared Ariel seemed the whole time she was on the show (and also how they want to hate-fuck Joel McHale), and it’s very apt.
Watching her confessionals with that in mind, you can hear and see she’s attacking queens and being shady out of fear, understandably: this is a scary as hell show to compete in, because your whole career might be distilled down to one mispronounced word, Cyst, or fall. But she got back up again.
Bring It To The Runway! Please!?
There are three categories in this Monster Ball: “Trampy Trick-or-Treater”, which is essentially a slutty Halloween costume; “Witch, Please,” which is self-explanatory; and “MILF Eleganza: Monsters I’d Like To Freak”, which is sexy monster. This creates some pretty mixed results; I think the categories might’ve been a little too similar or not specific enough, because there’s a lotta repetition, or Witch looks that should be Monsters and vice-versa.
So let’s go through them all. Apologies for the iffy-screenshots: after a certain point, I, like some of these girls, phoned it in. It was a bit too uneven this week — even the tops, Yvie, Scarlet and Nina, all had at least one so-so runway. Originally, I thought this was because they were busy making three looks, and didn’t have enough time. But only the final runway, MILF, was a sewing challenge — the rest were brought from home.
Trick, Treat, Or Trade?
Silky is a unicorn, which I believe is a nod to Sia’s unique, otherworldly ability to write chart-toppers.
As Sia’s 2016 album says, This Is Acting!
A homage to Sia’s best song, ‘Bleed Me’.
Whoa, is this Natalie Portman in criminally underrated film Vox Lux, executive produced by Sia? Because Brook Lynn is all ‘Wrapped Up’.
Is this Sia? Because it’d be cool to not see Shuga’s face or this outfit on stage.
I’m rooting for Ra’Jah, but sometimes she wears out my ‘Elastic Heart’. This is fine.
Much like Sia, Nina West is incredibly talented. This is not on-theme at all, but Quelle Horror! I don’t care.
Scarlett, like Sia, could cut me and I’d say thank you.
Plastique doesn’t know pop culture, so it would feel disrespectful to try and link this to Sia. Though I’m sure you could make the connection if you tried. What, like it’s hard?
Vanjie shines bright like a diamond and shits all over this competition, no matter what she wears or does.
A’kieria pays homage to Sia’s favourite film, The Flinstones In Viva Rock Vegas.
Witchy Woman, Woo-Yeah!
Okay no more Sia references. I really only did it to reference Vox Lux. Anyway, Scarlet is fast becoming a reluctant favourite of mine: she’s not afraid to be dumb and silly and turns out solid, clever looks. She definitely missed an opportunity to go as the Scarlet Witch here, though who the fuck remembers what that Marvel character even does or looks like?
A’kieria is Edgar Allen Hoe.
Ease on down the road, Silky: ease on down with the talk of your spin-off show, too.
Not so oddly, Yvie utterly slayed this witchy look.
Ariel literally looks like the someone you’ve met 15 times who re-introduces themselves each time before spotting a friend and walking away mid-sentence.
Salem Witch, but make it Hot Wheels.
Maleficent 2: I’m Evil Again, Bitch!
Vanjie’s charms are too powerful.
I think this is the most confused screenshot of the bunch, but so was this Oz look. Emerald City citizens aren’t witches!
Katya, creeping out of her hiatus.
Honey, this girl is bleeding, honey! Girl, she’s giving you blood, honey!
Fergie’s Song ‘MILF’ Is Underrated
Yvie’s Voodoo look isn’t a Voo Don’t, but it is a little Voo Disappointing.
Ra’Jah may be divisive, but you can’t deny she’s got one hell of a backbone.
This is how you RuTurn.
Do you have 12 limbs, or are you just happy to see me?
Alas, poor Yorick, the lighting designer who was killed for making the stage so purple this episode.
Sure Ariel’s Fish, but she’s also outta water.
WILF (Widow I’d Like To Freak)
Shuga, this ain’t sweet honey, girl.
Is this a reference to Face/Off (1997) or Under The Skin (2014)? I wish I could pick Nina’s brain, but that’s be a whole other look.
I’d like to keep it on, please.
Plastique’s got so much potential: I really hope she Reaps what she’s sown.
Runway? We’re Rundown.
After that extravaganza, the judges determine that Brooke is the winner, with Yvie and Plastique coming just behind.
Shuga and Ariel lip sync, and Silky has a scary moment in the bottom three — perhaps she’ll realise that charm can only get you so far (unless you’re Vanjie, who could wear the ugliest outfit in the world and I could care less). The lip sync to Whitney is whatever, and I’ve had multiple people tell me they thought it could’ve been a double sashay. I don’t necessarily agree, but I certainly wouldn’t have been surprised.
Next week, we’ve got a Drag Olympics, which seems like a dance/lip sync challenge reminiscent of the terrifying gymnastics challenge in Season 9 that sent Eureka home with a cooked knee. Wonder how Yvie will go, given her Ehlers–Danlos syndrome means popping joints are an everyday possibility. The most important thing to note is that Elvira will not be there. To quote Sharon Needles, “Boo!”
RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 11 streams on Stan from 3pm AEDT each Friday.
Jared Richards is a staff writer at Junkee, and co-host of Sleepless In Sydney on FBi Radio. Go watch Vox Lux.