‘Ru Paul’s Drag Race 14×08’ Review
I think that the creators of last week’s acting challenge on Ru Paul’s Drag Race deserve a raise for how well both the script itself and the performance went. I think this is one of the best acting challenges we have seen on the show in a very long time! The story of the performance focussed on three legendary drag dynasties (the O’Hara, the Michaels and the Davenports) who are spun into a Romeo and Juliet style situation after discovering two star crossed lovers in their ranks. As the story is based on iconic drag race girls from previous seasons it made it accessible to both long-term and relatively new fans, which is fantastic! The almost comical overacting / telenovela style performance of drag-based drama made for some hilarious moments which I have to admit was dampened by the very strange audio inclusion. The only thing that brought the episode down in my eyes was the childish farting noises that were added into the scene post-production. The way the writers were able to fit the noises to the script without the queens realising was clever at first but after a while, I thought it become very repetitive.
Due to how good the challenge and performance was, last week’s episode did not have a bottom two but instead a top two who lip-synced to be crowned the winner of the episode. After her theatrical performance on the runway, Lady Camden beat Daya Betty in the lip-sync and so was declared the winner, which marks her first win this season! I am glad Lady Camden is finally getting the appreciation she deserves but it is also clear that Daya Betty is beginning a rise up the ranks of this season! This week’s episode began with many people’s favourite mini-challenge – the reading challenge, where the queens had to throw hilarious insults at each other. Yet again I thought this was one of the best reading challenges I can remember, with no one majorly struggling! If I had to pick the worst performer it would be Jasmine Kennedy but she would easily be in the top in a different season. I was really impressed by Jorgeous whose reads were surprisingly clever and had everyone laughing throughout. I also loved both Lady Camden’s and Bosco’s performance in this iconic mini-challenge, with the latter’s whole cast read involving Ru Pauls will be one of my favourite jokes I have heard across the many seasons of Drag Race!
The main challenge this week had the girls writing and performing an original verse as a part of three separate sixties girl groups. This episode followed the structure of every musical episode on Drag Race, with the queens spending some time writing, then recording their parts, creating choreography and then performing it on the main stage. For the recording section, I was very impressed by Angeria who is constantly effortlessly charismatic and entertaining and so it came as no surprise when she told everyone that she does Diana Ross as a part of her performance back at home. While being an amazing dancer, it was clear that Jasmin Kennedy struggled with her vocals during the recording sessions. If you remember two weeks ago there was some drama between Daya Betty and Jorgeous after the latter was controversially declared as the winner of the ‘Glamazon Prime’ design challenge and the former did not think she should have won. This week’s episode saw the return of Daya’s negative attitude where she was being very stubborn while fighting for the role in the musical challenge that she really wanted. After recording each of their individual parts the queens had to create choreography to match each of their trios. I thought it was convenient that each group had at least one person who is a choreographer back at home. I was really surprised by Willow Pill this week, as she not only took charge of going up with the dance but also looked great doing it! It seems like every episode we learn about another layer of Willow’s skill set and in my opinion, she is destined to at least be top three!
A highlight of this challenge was the fact that the creative team working on this episode decided to really highlight the production value. During a recent review of Ru Paul’s Drag Race UK, I talked about how the west end Wendy’s lip-sync musical challenge was really overshadowed by the half-time performance challenge the season before. I think the inclusion of set, dancers, costumes and graphics truly helps the challenges seem very elevated and so I was very excited when season fourteen’s musical challenge contained all these exciting elements! Every trio had matching outfits that fit their different group inspirations. I thought that Lady Camden, Keri Colbi and Angeria all looked incredible in their matching pink, Supremes inspired, looks! I really enjoyed the performance of the trio of Willow Pill, Daya Betty and Bosco (who have formed a sort of click which began last week in their performance in the acting challenge) who sang about a stalker who is eventually hit by a bus. Willow’s choreography really helped to highlight the comedy elements of the performance, which worked perfectly with the lyrics that the queens had created themselves.
The runway category this week was “Heart On” which would have been great last week as Valentine’s Day was on the fourteenth! I thought that Daya Betty’s cyber punk-inspired look with neon hearts all over was a great choice for this queen as it allowed her to stand out amongst the rest of her peers! The viewers can always rely on the fact that Willow is going to walk the runway in something very unique and creative, with this week being no exception. She decided to wear incredibly tight trousers that were made entirely of thongs, which was very sensual but also stayed in the artistic sphere that Willow has become known for. At first glance I thought that Keri Colbi’s almost naked look was very clever. She pretty much just wore a red net over her body which was intended to represent arteries and blood vessels. She also decided to wear a rather spooky red wig with horns that made the look rather monstrous! I thought that this was a very sexy look with some creative inspiration that stood out amongst her competitors but on closer inspection, it is clear that some of the finer details had been ignored. Her undergarments (which were clearly visible in this look) were very distracting and in the grand scheme of things the look was rather simple. Lady Camden’s look in this episode has to be my favourite look I have seen from her this entire season! The base of the outfit was clearly Greek goddess inspired with the classic white and gold motif throughout. Her hair and makeup looked incredible and worked perfectly with the rest of the look! She had added a rather oversized heart that had been pierced with arrows to fit the category of the runway and like the judges pointed out if the heart was a little smaller the focus would have been on how amazing she looked rather than the heart.
It was declared that Daya Betty was the winner of this week’s episode and in the bottom two were Jasmin Kennedy and Keri Colbi. I have to say I was very disappointed by this week’s lip-sync as Jasmin did the whole number in one shoe after the other had gone flying earlier in the performance and it did not match the sensuality Jasmin showed in her lip-sync earlier this season against Maddy. She did however match to sneak in some splits which meant that she narrowly defeated her competitor Keri but I wouldn’t have been surprised if Ru had sent both queens home! However Keri had to reveal if she had in fact selected her golden chocolate bar, unfortunately, she did not and so was told to sashay away!
Overall, I really enjoyed the production value of this week’s musical challenge with the majority of queens looking and doing very well. I thought that the mini-challenge was one of the better reading challenges and the runway allowed the queens to show both their personality and creativity which is exactly what the queens are there to do! I did think that the lip sync was rather disappointing though…
