‘Ru Paul’s Drag Race 14×14’ Review
In recent years there has been a sudden rise in popularity of the comedy format known as a roast. There is in fact a whole series on Comedy Central that is solely made up of this structure with one-off specials that have appeared on many different channels over the past couple of years and you only need to spend a few minutes with young people for them to mention them “roasting” one another. There have been many roast challenges in Drag Race and last week we saw the first-ever one with the designated victim for the night being none other than the hilarious Ross Matthew. The challenge led to the ever-surprising announcement of a three-way lip-sync where it was guaranteed by Ru Paul that two queens would be going home. It was in fact the “villain” of the season Daya Betty who emerged victoriously and toppled the two so-called lip-sync assassins of season fourteen, namely Jorgeous and Deja Skye. I think that it was clear that the former was extremely tired, which is totally understandable considering this was her fifth lip-sync this season. It was a shame to see these two queens go home, for me personally as I am a big fan of Deja and it appeared she was on an upwards trajectory in the race! It was a common complaint online that this is a never-ending season with numerous episodes where no queens go home. I always feel conflicted when discussing this idea as yes, there have been way too many miraculous saves, but as a fan of Drag Race, I never want it to end! It is clear that to combat this complaint Ru decided to send two queens home, which also gave Daya Betty a push going into the semi-final.
It was highlighted in this week’s episode how, of the top five queens, two had lost a lip-sync but had luckily managed to avoid elimination. Bosco was put in the bottom of the ‘Moulin Ru’ musical challenge (which was one of the best in Drag Race herstory!) where she was beaten in the lip-sync by Jorgeous but then discovered she had been in possession of the magic, golden chocolate bar that grants her one more chance in the competition. Daya Betty on the other hand also lost her lip-sync in episode two, against Deja Skye, who actually left and was invited back in the preceding episode. I think this is a very dangerous position to be in, especially when on Drag Race, as you have to constantly prove that you deserve the save and so the bar of expectation is set a lot higher! The main challenge for this week was to write, record and perform an original verse to Ru Paul’s original song “Catwalk.” On top of this, the queens were invited to appear on a podcast with Michelle Visage and Ru Paul, which allowed the audience to see a much more human sign to these fabulous performers. I thought it was very powerful that the queens were able to discuss illnesses that were not used as an excuse for poor performance but instead an added facet to these characters. Daya Betty talked with the two judges about how she is a type one diabetic and so has to ensure she monitors her blood sugar levels and always has to tuck away and hide an insulin pump in her outfits should the worst happen. Seeing diabetes discussed in a mainstream TV show is so important and can only have a positive effect on those watching. Willow was next to talk about Cystinosis which is something that I had heard about before. Earlier in this season, we saw Willow struggling with the design challenge where Kornbread had to give her a helping hand both literally and figuratively so it was good to hear how this disease affects her day to day life, which again can only have a positive effect on people who suffer this same illness! Interestingly the queens had to also design an outfit that would be made by a third-party designer which I don’t think I have ever seen on Drag Race before! They had to draw a design of what they would like and moments later they appeared in the workroom with the completed garments.
What was also interesting in this episode was the fact that the creation of their verse was not the main focus of the lesson. Usually, we see the queens creating lyrics and then recording into a microphone. Even within the song, the queen’s individual verses were extremely short but some queens were still able to capture their brand in these extremely brief lyrics. Generally speaking, this was not my favourite Drag Race song and to be honest, I most probably will not be adding it to my legendary Drag Race playlist. However, we didn’t see all that this week instead the focus was on the performance elements of the number. The queens were taught the group choreography on the runway and then were informed that they would be recording their performances right now! They went straight from rehearsing to recording, which must be extremely intense to be a part of! After this, each queen has to perform a freestyle solo dance that was heavily inspired by iconic supermodels. It is clear that dancing is where Lady Camden feels the most comfortable, as she is an incredible and flawless mover. She was wonderfully sensual and fluid which was incredible to watch! When it was Angeria’s moment to perform, Michelle gave her a fairly obvious hint to crawl across the runway which Angeria did not do! Instead, Daya Betty took it upon herself to use this prompt where she look amazing in her electric yellow and black outfit. I thought it was very interesting that Bosco mentioned, within her lyrics, the repetitive silhouette scandal. My favourite verse of the entire song however would have to be Angeria Paris Van Michaels, who did a wonderfully fun and extremely energetic spoken word piece. This verse perfectly fitted Angeria and her incredibly charismatic personality, which in my opinion is the fundamental purpose to these musical-inspired challenges. Lady Camden also managed to create a verse that captured her brand and touched on her love of dances. Willow continues to prove every week that she is a unique performer with her lyrics touching on her eccentricities which helped her verse really stand out amongst the other queens.
The runway theme this epsiode had the queens showcasing their best winning looks and I have to see Bosco’s outfit this week was absolutely amazing! She wore an incredible nude coloured outfit that was covered in stoned details, with the most fantastic blonde hair that worked beautifully together. After mentioning the repetition of her looks during her verse, I thought it was very clever that Bosco decided to do something we had not seen from her yet. The blue sash she wore complimented the outfit perfectly and the inclusion of the iconic Bosco eyebrows helped to create a memorable look in this queen’s catalogue! I love Lady Camden’s look this week as well which was a super sparkly outfit that looked amazing on her. The look was beauty in its purest form and as the judge commented on, it was absolutely breathtaking! Keeping on the storyline of Willow being a perfectly unique queen , she decided to walk the runway in a rat inspired look that while eccentric was still very beautiful to look at. It was declared that Lady Camden was the overall winner of this week’s episode with Angeria and Willow in the bottom. The later two queens did struggle a fair bit with the choreography, so I think made total sense as to why they were put into the lip-sync to see who would go home. Willow began this number by showcasing a wonderfully fun robot impression which worked beautifully with the iconic song “Telephone” by Lady Gaga and Beyonce. For the rest of the number these two fan favourite queens worked together to give a very entertaining performance. Going into the lip-sync , I found it hard to predict who would go home as these are two of my favourite queens this season and so was overjoyed when it was announced that they would both be moving on in the competition.
Overall , this was a rather interesting episode that twisted the expected structure we have come to expect from a Drag Race semi-final which still being recognisable to casual viewers. The focus was was much more on dance than singing which may have been due to the queens left in the race!
