‘Ru Paul’s Drag Race 14×04’ Review
I had to admit I do feel very sorry for June Jambalaya, who was the first queen to leave Drag Race this season. Her elimination comes right after we saw two previously eliminated queens get a second chance to compete in the race and Ru Paul introducing the new magic chocolate bar twist which means at least one other queen will get also get a second chance at some point in this season. So after a minimum of three queens were given a magic save, June was told that she had to leave the race. After the episode had repeatedly talked about second chances, she was the first officially eliminated which, if I were her, I would be incredibly frustrated about! As a viewer, I was really enjoying her African inspired drag that she had showcased in her limited time in the show and I can’t wait to see how she develops in the near future. At the polar opposite end of last weeks episode, we saw Willow Pill declared as the winner of the two different ball categories. I personally thought that they should have done one ball at a time with a winner from each ball being selected and then the two winners lip-sync for their legacy to find an overall winner. If you are a fan of the fashion elements of Drag Race then you would have really enjoyed last weeks episode as we saw forty-two different looks in the challenge across the two very different ball categories with one overall winner who was Willow Pill!
This weeks episode of Ru Paul’s Drag Race began with Jasmin Kennedy being rather upset that she was simply safe in the ball challenge. Every season there is a queen who gets really upset after not doing as well in a challenge that they were looking forward to and I can never understand it as at least they are still in the competition! This showing of emotion then led to a disagreement between Jasmin and Kornbread after the former repeatedly talked over the former (and it wasn’t just Kornbread that felt this way!) While I can understand why this sort of behaviour would be extremely aggravating and needed to be addressed, the way Kornbread went about it was very confrontational which was quite difficult to watch. On top of this aggressive confrontation, Kornbread was also displaying some toxic behaviours throughout the episode that she was calling Kennedy out for. The idea of Kennedy talking over everyone else became its own mini-storyline in the episode with this being integrated into this weeks maxi challenge which was very clever and is an indication of the professionalism of the queens on this season.
For the main challenge this week the queens had to create a teaser video for the season which was filmed inside the werk room. The two teams, captained by last weeks winner of the episode Willow and the winner of the lip-sync Maddie Morphosis, had to create and perform dramatic scenes that would create an almost trailer for the current season. In last weeks episode, we saw an adorable friendship blossom between Willow and Kornbread so it was so adorable when the latter was the formers first choice for her team. However, the most controversial team allocation was reserved for Jasmin who, after being the only person not selected, decided to join Kornbread on Willows team after the drama occurred earlier in the episode. I know that I was in Jasmin’s shoes I would not have chosen to work with someone who I’d argued with earlier in the episode! It was also very clear that Willow had sketch comedy acting as she was brilliantly funny throughout and constantly stayed in character. She took on the role of an eccentric person who thought they were on ‘The Bitchelor’ (which was a parody of The Bachelor from All-Stars 3) and looking for host Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman which was hilarious! I thought a highlight of this weeks episode was Maddy Morphosis who seemed to really come out of her shell! During Ru Paul’s rather strange critique last week, she mentioned how she thought Maddie was missing something so it was great to see Maddie listening to judge feedback and applying it! She did a hilarious sketch that involved a series of jokes about coming out as straight and her dads disowning her which was brilliant. While her performance wasn’t that great I thought that Keri Colbi looked absolutely stunning in a crystal mesh bodysuit that showcased her incredible body!
The runway theme for this weeks episode was a night of a thousand J-Los where the queens had to wear an outfit inspired by something Jennifer Lopez has worn. While the queens were getting read however the werk room alarm sounded revealing that Jennifer Lopez had sent in a video message to the queens to help inspire them for the runway but also promote her new film called Marry Me. I thought that the outfit Kornbread decided to wear for this weeks runway was the best she has looked all season. The black and white stoned mesh outfit with a fabulous cross in the centre was inspired by Jennifer Lopez’s 2018 Met Gala look, with Kornbread’s interpretation being cleverly thought out to exaggerate key body parts. Keri’s look this week was probably the most accurate look as it was J-Los actual outfit she wore for the Versace spring 2020 runway. We have seen Jan Sport during All-Stars 6 do a look very similar to this one but obviously, it was not as accurate as it was not the actual dress. Keri yet again looked absolutely amazing in this outfit! Jorgeous is another queen who always looks incredible anytime she is on the runway and this mirror jumpsuit was no exception. However, I found Jorgeous’ presentation and performance with the outfit were very distracting! Jasmin Kennedy decided to draw inspiration from Jennifer’s VMA look from 2015 which looked exactly like the reference photo she was trying to replicate. The ombre pink jewels were incredible by themselves but looked amazing as a part of her cohesive look. I really think that people are underestimating Deja Skye as she continues to showcase incredible looks, including this weeks blue and gold capes look. The two colours worked beautifully together with her hair, make-up and body looked insanely stunning. She was fairly different to the reference photo she was using but as the judges commented on, Deja’s version was slightly better! While I am talking about the judges, I thought it was so important that Loni Love talked to Kornbread about her thoughts on how as bigger people we should play into stereotypes and just make jokes about food.
It was announced that Angeria is the winner of this weeks challenge, with a lot of praise also going to Willow for how well she did in the challenge. On the bottom was Keri and Alyssa Hunter, who are two of the more fashion-oriented queens, who so far have pulled out incredible looks on the runway! The lip-sync song was “Play” by Jennifer Lopez which I thought was a nice inclusion that tied everything together with this weeks runway theme. I really enjoyed this more sensual lip-sync but it appears that many people online did not like it and in fact found it very boring. At one point Alyssa went to grab a note gun that stopped working which had major Asia O’Hara butterflies vibes to it! We were informed that Keri would be staying in the race which means that Alyssa is up for elimination if she does not have a golden chocolate bar. Unfortunately, it was just a regular chocolate bar which was a shame as I was really enjoying Alyssa fashion and was excited to see what she would bring week but week!
Overall, this weeks episode of Ru Paul’s Drag Race had a very unique challenge that is unlike anything that I can remember, which allowed the queens to showcase both writing and performance-based skills. The drama at the beginning of the episode (which was supposedly resolved by the end) was very uncomfortable to watch but I enjoyed how this was professionally used during the main challenge. As someone who is not a big fan of Jenifer Lopez, I didn’t particularly enjoy the runway theme but there were clearly some amazing looks!
