‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ S13E9 Recap: Paris Hilton, Harriet Tubman And JVN Walk Into A Snatch Game
Utica painted Bob Ross in an odd, menacing light - it was objectively awful, but that doesn't mean we didn't laugh.
Blame it on the post-Mardi Gras brain-rot, but I laughed at Utica’s Bob Ross a lot more than I did a lot of the other queens’ Snatch Game performances. That’s not to say it wasn’t objectively awful and the worst of the pack.
Utica is a quirky queen, but the thought process here is beyond baffling: it’s hard to imagine a character less suited to Snatch Game’s pacing than Bob. Utica had some okay ideas, but nothing really made sense with the character. Why was Bob horny for green underwear? Why did he eat paint? Why did he have the squirrel afro?
Well, we can speak to the last one: Utica explains to a perplexed Symone and Ru that she ‘can’t’ wear an afro as it’d be appropriative, to which both point out that some white people, such as Bob Ross, have afros.
This made me laugh a lot, but also my brain is absolutely fried right now.
It’s an incredibly warped idea of what is and isn’t appropriate to do as a white performer, and while the intent is obviously from a good place, it veers into patronising territory. Utica comes from a teensy town, and it makes sense she’d be wary of cancellation on a global stage, but it seems like that concern came above considering whether people would actually be hurt by it. And when multiple Black queens — one being the host of the show, no less — then assure you it’s fine, assume they know more than you do.
I defended Utica’s improv in the Bossy Rossy challenge as someone who was trying to create a character arc that was being shut down by Ross/the confines of the challenge, and I think something similar happened here. There was clearly a plan here, but it just didn’t work within what Snatch Game is. Utica is a really interesting queen, but can’t seem to harness her humour/personality into the challenges.
I’m still holding out for her to make it work, though, as Crystal Methyd was in a pretty similar place during S12’s Snatch Game, though I do think Utica is truly out-of-this-world odd, where Crystal is a much more TV-palatable twink-chaotic. Anyway, Utica still has time to pull it together, as she avoided elimination this week mostly because Eliott With Two Ts was so defeated and ready to leave that the judges even pretended they liked her ‘flamingo’ runway.
It hasn’t been fun to watch Elliott be repeatedly crushed each week, and I wish the show cut her a few weeks back for both her health and the show’s — it hasn’t made anyone involved look good. It’s all very reminiscent of Aiden Zhane, but this time, the ‘RuPaul’s Stanford Prison Experiment’ of it all intentionally shut her down in episode one.
Maybe another queen could’ve worked their confidence back up, but Elliott has spent most of the season exhausted, defensive and alienated: by this runway, she seemed on the verge of tears. Utica beat her fair and square in this week’s lip-sync, but given what we saw last time she was in the bottom, it seemed like Eliott wanted to go home.
She just wasn’t trying, and there’s nothing sadder than a draq queen who has given up. I will miss her obnoxious laugh, and hope the show’s viewers recognise she was dealt a terrible hand on the show.
Tina’s Buns’Hert (After Shaking Them So Vivaciously) [I Know This Doesn’t Work As A Pun But Be Kind, I Am So Fragile]
As RuPaul once wrote, ‘must be jelly, ‘cuz jam don’t shake’.
After a mini-challenge where we saw more of Tina Burner than I ever imagined, this week’s episode runs straight into Snatch Game. From the werkroom chats, it’s pretty clear who will be in trouble as Utica, Olivia and Elliott all make questionable character choices.
Elliott goes with Rue McLanahan, aka Blanche from Golden Girls, a character who has failed twice before on the show. It’s a hard one to nail, given the reverence Ru has for the sitcom, and if Mariah and the UK Crystal both went home after trying it on, it’s hard to imagine Elliott nailing it.
The curse continues!
“Your Blanche was not golden, girls” pic.twitter.com/2VSWCdbCXL
— Crystal | Black Lives Matter (@crystalwillseeu) March 7, 2021
Olivia picks Tabitha Brown, a vegan chef who is big on TikTok. Watching her during Snatch Game is hard. She fumbles her lines, has no clear characterisation and, when she begins to get a little desperate towards the end, tries to do the ‘fake vegan’ storyline that Ru suggests in the walkthrough, which isn’t funny enough to be worth the tradeoff of undermining her whole performance.
When judging, Michelle says there was “a lot” to work with that Olivia doesn’t play with, such as the fact Tabitha “loves her husband and she loves her kids”: sounds like a laugh riot! It’s just a boring choice of character — and on Twitter, Olivia revealed that she originally planned to do Rachel Dolezal but the producers wouldn’t let her.
It’s funny, given that Ru celebrates Symone’s choice of abolitionist and escaped slave Harriet Tubman as a potentially offensive and un-PC choice. Clearly, the show thinks Rachel is too risky (or maybe are worried about litigation). It’s a shame, as Rachel is a morbidly fascinating woman who deserves to be mocked, and it’s also a really edgy choice for Olivia, who is otherwise pretty tame with her choices. What could have been.
Symone as Harriet Tubman is excellent. Doing a historical character is essentially a carte blanche to do whatever, and you could criticise Symone for playing a version of herself, but that’s not exactly fair.
The stamping! The Nicki reference! It was all so good.
Between this and her runway, Symone is simply doing things we haven’t seen on Drag Race before. Where other Black queens have made political statements on the show (and their drag and presence/pride itself will always be ‘political’), this ep, Symone curtailed the show to her own voice and needs as an artist.
Without labouring the point too much, her runway literally broke the show’s conventions: there were no quips from the judges, just Symone’s own narration. She demanded the moment, and via her speech and walk — the slow reveal — essentially edited the moment herself, and the show had no choice but to hand over the reins.
The Rest, And The Best
Back to Snatch Game: it was overall a really strong showing. Kandy’s take on YouTuber Patrick Starrr was funny if not definitely just ‘Kandy in a turban’.
I do respect how much Kandy says ‘bitch’.
It wasn fine, but not exactly the showing you want to make after almost being eliminated the week before. I’m beginning to doubt whether she’ll make it to the end despite how much air-time she’s gotten — especially given how well Denali and Rosé performed this week.
Picking Mary Queen Of Scotts was a smart choice from Rosé, and if not for GottMik’s literally perfect Paris Hilton, she would have won. And Denali’s piss-take of JVN’s ‘I came out as non-binary by promoting a product‘ energy was an astute but gentle ribbing. I loved it.
“I think any way I can let little boys and little girls know that they can express themselves and they can like be — like, making iconic partnerships with brands like Essie no matter how they present is really important and exciting.”
Tina was very middle-of-the-road as Richard Simmons, and, much like Kandy, I’m beginning to reconsider where she stands in the competition. It was surprising to see Ru ask her during the walkthrough whether she considers herself as “funny person”: given that’s Tina’s whole schtick, it’s not clear what Ru is seeing if not a comedy queen.
If anything, Snatch Game proved that it’s hard to pick this season’s top four. Symone, GottMik and Olivia seem like sure things, but it could be anyone else up there with them. Mik continually surprises me: I think pre-competition a lot of us wrote her off as purely as fashion queen, but time and time again she’s proven her acting and performance chops. She’s very witty, and I appreciate the it-twink vocal fry: finally, some representation.
Make TS Madison A Permanent Judge, You Cowards
This week’s runway is an ode to Kath & Kim’s Melbourne cup episode, and each queen dons their most fascinating fascinators. Tina gets a little confused and dresses as a horse, a jockey and a garden all in one.
Okay actually this almost matches Elliott’s look.
Rosé comes as an ode to a Myer brand activation at the Spring Races.
Olivia is everyone who recongises that horse racing is an abhorrent, cruel sport and is driven into madness each year it continues.
Denali works at the concession stand, and GottMik is the sullen goth teen whose gambling-addicted dad has left in the Kombi outside the TAB for three hours while he goes in just to ‘pop in and check the horses’. Eliott is, famously, a flamingo.
Utica is your grandma who packs a lunch consisting purely of devon sandwiches because she refuses to spend more than the $15 she has put aside to bet on the big race.
Symone isn’t off to the races, and, as mentioned before, makes an absolutely stunning, powerful statement with her runway look. I really recommend watching her Instagram video about the outfit, where she talks about she grew up being told she was an ‘exception’ of a Black man for being ‘articulate’, and how that fuels her pride, anger and art. It is an exceptional video.
Astonishing.
It doesn’t matter that Symone is merely safe this week: what she did is well beyond any scorecards. She’s had a few off weeks recently, but who cares? I can’t wait to watch her for years to come, whether she’s crowned or not (but she will be).
Next week’s a makeover challenge with a COVID-bubble twist: rather than bring in outsiders, the queens will do each other’s makeup. I’m excited.
RuPaul’s Drag Race S13 is available on Stan, with episodes dropping 3PM AEDT each Saturday, and UK episodes 8am AEDT Friday.
Jared Richards is Junkee’s Drag Race recapper and freelancer who has written for The Guardian, The Big Issue and more. He’s on Twitter.