‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ Recap: Corn? I Don’t Remember Eating Corn!
RuPaul's gunning for another Emmy -- he even let a queen touch his Klein Epstein and Parker.
Ni Hao, friends! Much like Scott Morrison plunging his racist foot straight into his mouth with more excitement than that Grindr hookup who really just wanted to suck your left pinky toe (but not the right!), this week Ra’Jah didn’t so much overcome her saboteur as saba-stab herself and everyone else around her in a last ditch effort to not go home.
No queen has survived four lip-syncs for their lives before, and the writing was on the wall — much like Scarlet’s mirror message, we didn’t even need to read it to know what it said. Besides, there was plenty of reading this episode regardless, between the many separate fights that happened on Untucked. This week’s farm-to-runway design challenge lacked a little, but we chugged along through it and RuPaul gunned for that fourth Best Host Emmy with an Emotional Workroom Walkthrough-Psychoanalysis.
We, As Gay People, Get To Choose Our Own Insecurities
‘Personality’ was the word of the episode, with the queens all vying to ‘show who they really are’.
As I’ve said a few times now, this season really reminds me of S7: a talented, funny cast who aren’t always given the best environment to thrive. Unlike S7, S11’s problem hasn’t been iffy challenges (though there’s been a few), but an over-reliance on celebrity moments, Drag Race royalty cameos and too many competing queens.
A lot of padding this episode.
We’re only really getting to establish a lot of the ‘storylines’ of the season now. As a result, this episode somehow felt like it was pushing through the points (Silky v Yvie! Vanjie’s insecurities! Plastique will be top 5/4! Silky needs to listen to the judges!) while also being filled with filler.
Take Alyssa Edwards’ ‘Miss Jay Alexander’ runway coaching moment for example. Don’t get me wrong: I will never, ever slander Alyssa Edwards — though I refuse to talk about or acknowledge her (sluggish, oddly boring) Netflix show Dancing Queen, as I simply don’t know her. The segment was entertaining/fun/very cute, but had little ‘purpose’ beyond propelling’s Plastique’s personality forward by having her act up with her drag mum. These queens don’t need help with their runway; then again, Nina West’s stomp down was, to paraphrase what Shuga would probably say, ‘honey, that was a lotta Godzilla, girl’.
Like mother, like daughter.
Plastique got a lot of screen-time this week, and a massive workroom moment with Ru. She’s been struggling to show herself off as she’s got a tense relationship with her family, who aren’t super supportive of her drag career or her sexuality.
The moment where Ru hugs her is genuinely touching and super surprising, since he almost never hugs a queen while wearing her Klein Epstein and Parker. Having said that, his advice is a bit of a miss — much like when he pressured Kim Chi to come out to her parents, Ru’s ‘tell the truth and live your life’ ethos isn’t cross-cultural, and ignores the impracticality of doing so in many Asian communities.
At the same time, it’s a hard lesson to learn. When I was a little younger, I was incredibly dismissive of anyone who hadn’t come out to their family, as I simply had no time to endure it again and had found it so freeing and liberating to do as a teenager. To struggle through something and come out the other side can leave you a little impatient with those who don’t do the exact same — and Ru, as a six-foot tall, gay, black man growing up in the South in the ’80s, has been through a lot. Trauma can erode our edges of our empathy.
And talk about trauma! Ra’Jah comes off terribly in this episode, especially when she outright claims Plastique is making up a sob story for a storyline — a theory she pushes further in Untucked when Plastique gets a message from home, saying the competition is rigged to push her to the top. And look, she’s not exactly wrong with the latter part, but it’s pure insecurity that makes her lash out so brutally, and as much as I’ve championed her previously for her amazing confessionals, it’s clear the show’s getting to her.
It was something internal. Instead of kicking her when she’s down. I wanted to give comfort because there’s been times where there was no one there to comfort me.
— Plastique Tiara (@plastiquetiara) April 12, 2019
While I’d prefer Ra’Jah to stick around rather than Shuga (who, unknown to this episode’s editors, is still there) for entertainment purposes, it was her time to go. It was telling her workroom chat with Ru didn’t air, and I’m almost certain we’ll be saying bye during the Snatch Game next week. Honey, prove me wrong, girl.
‘The Only ‘Type Of Sick’ She Is Is Sickening’
The other major storyline this week is Yvie vs. Silky, after Silky tells Ru that she should go home because her ankle’s sprained.
Given it’s the result of Yvie’s Ehlers Danlos, it’s a pretty low blow, and Yvie is justifiably pissed off, and lets it be known with some pointed comments during the runway training. And then it comes up in Untucked, which, if you haven’t watched, is absolutely vital viewing this week.
Ultimately, Silky comes off worse in their Untucked blow up, as she continually directs her body and words out to the other queens, and responds to Yvie by speaking about her, rather than to her. She’s performing for the cameras to such a point that it’s bizarre and rude, and the moment where she ends the conversation by saying ‘the viewers will love me’ is not cute, at all.
Still, it’s clear that Yvie’s ‘always honest’ policy is pretty hurtful and abrasive. You can hear this snideness in her voice during the runway training, and then again when she confronts Vanjie for telling Ru she should go home for telling Vanjie she needed to mix up her looks, “because I knew she was right”. Vanjie’s own shortcomings are clear (though who the fuck cares, she’s perfect), and Yvie bringing this up again misses the point. It ends with Vanjie SCREAMING at the top of her lungs in pain. Again, much like Violet Chachki, Yvie’s going to have to reign it in and show growth if she wants to win.
Flame-r? I Hardly Even Know Her!
As does Silky, as Ru leaves their talk together a little uncertain of her. She doesn’t seem to take critique, and we’re sure that’ll land her in the bottom soon enough: most likely against Yvie. I’m going to bet my money on another Sharon-Phi Phi double shantay situation.
Country Couture? I Haven’t Heard That Name In Years…
The runway had three absolutely stunning looks thanks to Yvie, Plastique and Brooke, though I do think the latter keeps leaning on polish over personality.
Untucked was Brooke’s though thanks to all of her reaction shots during the arguments: I’d love to see more of that in the main show, because she made me laugh several times. On Twitter, Plastique said Brooke was tipsy, and while I’m not suggesting alcoholism, it’d be nice for her to loosen up elsewhere too.
Class, ass and no sass.
But THIS. This is perfection.
Most looks were middling this week, and A’keria and Ra’Jah end up in the bottom. I think Silky should have swapped out for A’keria, but, again, they’re likely saving her lip sync debut.
Silky can pull off anything with charm, so this looks great. But that doesn’t make it ‘good’.
Nina’s ‘proportionising’ is a problem, but I don’t really care that much. This was inventive, and deserved congrats.
As a confused Andrew Denton might say, “Enough Rope?” This isn’t quite executed completely — I think it’s the skirt. If it too was rope, it could have been stunning.
Plastique is the rightful winner this week. Her look is stunning — it’s not crazy inventive (nor shows that ‘personality’ too much), but it’s perfectly pulled off. I’m glad she turned up, and hope she does a solid in Snatch Game.
Plastique. Is. So. Pretty.
Stab me!! Use my intestines for a bracelet!
Much like Groot in Avengers: Infinity War, Ra’Jah dissipates this week — but instead of dust, she leaves behind a lot of bitterness. Eight queens remain, and by the coveted ‘scorecard’, Brooke leads the pack at two wins, with Yvie, A’Keria, Nina, Platique, Silky and Yvie all taking out one maxi challenge. Shuga and Vanjie are the only queens there without a win to their name, and we can imagine the latter winning next week’s ‘Snatch Game At Sea’ with the right character.
Until next week, I leave you with this supercut of Brooke’s (alleged) drunken reactions during Untucked.
mood 🍹 @Bhytes1 #DragRace #Untucked pic.twitter.com/DG8NKpsnAF
— RuPaul's Drag Race (@RuPaulsDragRace) April 12, 2019
RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 11 streams on Stan from 2pm AEST each Friday.
Jared Richards is a staff writer at Junkee, and co-host of Sleepless In Sydney on FBi Radio. Follow him on Twitter.