‘Ru Paul’s Drag Race All-Stars 6×06’ Review
I still can’t get my head around the pink table discussion challenge from last weeks episode…. I struggle to understand how the queens were supposed to perform as their drag personas, in full drag but real and personable; surely that’s the complete opposite of what a drag queen is supposed to be? This challenge led to the elimination of Scarlett Envy who to this point had been turning out some of the best looks in the drag race herstory! We also had the “Attack of Jan” from the judges who called her out for been 100 miles per hour all the time (which was praised this week but more on that later), which made Jan get very emotional as she is a big supportive cheerleader to everyone out of drag and so this over-the-top personality is real and I have to admit I felt very sorry for Jan as the judge’s comment did verge on a critique of her personality as a whole. However, despite all those negative things we did get a few golden moments in last weeks episode. We saw the return of Bianca Del Rio as a fake lip-sync assassin (despite not being included in the Ru-cap) and we also got one of the most entertaining lip-syncs in recent herstory as Ginger battled against Mayhem Miller to that chaotic Lizzo song. Ginger won and walked away with a $30,000 cash tip, which is more than the winners of seasons one and two got combined! Now onto this weeks episode…
In this weeks episode, the queens had to act in a spin-off of ‘Ru-American Horror Story: Cover Girl’ which is a very funny play on words! I have to admit that I have never seen an American Horror Story (which this is a spoof off) and so I can’t comment on any idiosyncrasies or accuracy of the challenge but as general performance, I can still pass judgement. I know for a fact that Scarlett would have loved, and done insanely well in, this week’s challenge but unfortunately went home last week before she could show everyone what it is she does best! The remaining queens had to perform in this supernatural-influenced challenge but on top of this had to act in celebrity-inspired roles again!
I have never seen a more perfect casting than Jan playing a character inspired by Lea Michele who, when is not a part of a bullying scandal, is most known for her role on Glee. In this Lea plays an overbearing preppy young person, who is obsessed with musicals and this is Jan. Kylie was given the role of the head witch in this challenge, which was interesting considering that last week she was critiqued (by Scarlett) for not being big enough character to moderate the discussion, so I was intrigued to see how she would cope with playing such a big personality. During the rehearsal I thought that Kylie was struggling a lot, so much so that Michelle had to step in and demonstrate the type of performance she wanted. I enjoyed this moment as a big critique of the show is that the judges and Ru Paul are judging the queens on things that they do not/cannot do themselves but to see Michelle give a moving performance in the rehearsal showed that it’s not just her saying things but it’s something she knows a lot about. At the end of the episode, Kylie was declared the winner which I was quite surprised at as she needed a lot of support (but if you want to see more of the acting skills, she is a part of the cast of the dragged up Brady Bunch special!)
This episode was well thought out as they had drafted Emma Roberts as a guest judge on the show, who appeared in American Horror Story and, as an acting professional, is a perfect judge for this episode! The runway theme this week was OMG (Oh My Goth) which fits into the dark and supernatural theme of the show they were imitating. Trinity looked amazing this week in an extremely drag outfit that had an incredible train, feathers, sequins and tool which was so much but still managed to look incredible. Eureka also looked amazing this week in her sexy “Bride of Frankenstein” outfit that had a saucy peek-a-boo moment of her lingerie underneath. I found it fairly ironic that the judges critiqued Eureka in this episode for being overbearing and one-note as this is exactly what Eureka was saying to Jan at the beginning of the episode! I thought that Jan also looked amazing with incredible make-up but in her original season she did a wonderfully dark voodoo doll outfit in her buttons runway which was wonderful but this one which was supposed to be gothic was not as scary as this week. Kylie looked insane in her wonderfully sexy black leather strap outfit, which was equal measures spooky and sexy. As I said earlier, Kylie was declared the winner and the last lip-sync I can remember is her gymnastic showcase against Morgan McMicheals in her original season.
On the bottom this week were Akeira and Ra’jah, which marks Akeira third time there which is never a good sign! Ra’jah has shown so much growth from her original season, whereas Akeira was such a powerhouse in her first series but had not developed as much – so to me there is a logical choice as to who should be sent home. Manila Luzon was revealed as the secret lip-sync assassin this week who will soon be hosting a new show called Drag Den. Manila and Kylie perform to the song “Dirty” by Christina Aguilera which seems to favour the latter performer as they are much more sensual whereas Manila is more camp. Kylie slayed this challenge as she showed off all her gymnastic skills in a very sexual performance that fitted the song perfectly! This means it’s Kylie’s vote that is important this week and it is revealed that Akeira will be going home.
Overall, I didn’t particularly enjoy the main challenge this week as it’s not a show I have experience of but the runway was enjoyable. We saw Kylie showcase her incredible performance skills and a discussion around what happens if a tie occurs which I have been curious about since the beginning.
