‘Ru Paul’s Drag Race 14×15’ Review
I have been an avid follower of all things Ru Paul’s Drag Race for many years now, especially the music that goes out of the show. In fact, I have created the ultimate drag race playlist that contains music from some of the most iconic songs to come from Drag Race queens both during and after their appearance on the show. I have spent many an evening in the shower trying to workshop a verse to some of Drag Race‘s most iconic songs (such as “Category Is”, “UK Hun” and “Read Ya, Wrote Ya”) wherein the moment I think I would excel on the challenge whereas the truth is I would probably end up in the bottom! On top of this, if you are ever lucky enough to go on a night out with me, there will come to a point where I will request a Drag Race song from the DJ which has had various responses dependent on the club I am in. With all this considered, this is why the musical episode is always a highlight and a challenge I look forward to every season, so you can imagine my disappointment in the fact that I almost forgot we have a musical challenge last week! I have to admit that last week’s track was not one of my favourites and probably won’t be added to the famous playlist. While I thought that the staging and cinematography of the performance were incredible, I thought that it lacked the iconicness of some of the previous musical challenges. The verse felt extremely short which stopped the queens from being able to fully get into their lyrics and accurately portray the type of drag they represent!
This week was not your usual episode with all the queens taking part this year returning to discuss some of the most gag-worthy moments of this never-ending season. The whole episode was filmed in flamingos in Las Vegas which is the home of the Drag Race live show. Part of the episode was dedicated to promoting this live show with members of the cast (including Derrick Berry, Alexis Mateo and Kahanna Montrese) appearing to pose viewer questions to the queens of season fourteen. The episode allowed for eliminated queens from this latest season to return, walk the runway one last time and discuss some of the more controversial moments. I thought that Kornbread’s recreation of Willow Pills’ entrance look was brilliant, especially considering she had changed the graphic on the top from “angle” to “ankle,” which was a hilarious homage to both her closest friend in the race but also the injury that sent Kornbread home. I really enjoyed Orion Story’s return look where she wore an amazing pink suit with beautifully contrasting orange hair. The hair worked wonderfully with her make-up which helped created a very beautiful look from head to toe!
Jasmine Kennedy’s look for this episode was one of the favourite looks for her I have seen this entire season! She looked absolutely gorgeous, with the insane sculptured orange hair that caught the light and glistened flawlessly. Her pastel tulle dress was perfectly puffed in all the right places creating drama while also showcasing her incredible figure! I also think that Daya had cleverly chosen to showcase her best outfit for this week’s episode. I have to admit that I have not been the biggest fan of Daya this season but her incredible golden bodysuit that was half effortlessly flowy and the other had wonderfully sparkly rhinestone details that looked absolutely amazing on her! However, my favourite look from this episode would have to be Bosco! From the previews I have seen of this current episode I thought that her outfit looked very basic but it was only when I saw the look in its total presentation that I realised how incredible they actually looked! I have never seen anything like their outfit before with chains wrapping around her body that built up to a terrifying spikes collar that looked amazing.
While the reunion episode is something we have come to expect every season there was a new segment that I think worked very well to focus on some of the more dramatic moments of the series. Ru Paul introduced a “Clash of the Queens” segment that began with her talking about Kornbread shouting at Jasmin Kennedy after talking too much. I am really glad that this episode had an opportunity for the queens to discuss this moment as when it occurred earlier in the season, it did come across as very abrasive on Kornbread’s behalf. It became clear throughout the episode that the other queens had expressed some frustration with Jasmin and Kornbread was the only one to actually inform the former and work with her to overcome this issue. These two queens acknowledged that they hadn’t gone about the issue the best way and both have promised to try better in the future! However, the clash between Daya Betty and Jasmin was not so friendly and civil!
This fight began with Daya appreciating how her words could have affected Jasmin and Jorgeous but also added that she was not apologetic about what she had said. This led to a rather intense confrontation between these two queens which quickly simmered down after everything was said and done! On a lighter note, we also learnt about a secret flirtationship between Jorgeous and Orion Story that was not shown on air which came as a total surprise to me! It was also great to see the friendship between Kornbread and Willow Pill getting some more screen time after it was sadly cut short when the former had to leave the competition. We learnt that Kornbread had actually gotten a tattoo of her close friend on her leg which I thought was very touching! In the last season’s reunion episode we saw the first annual golden boot award that was given to Lala Ri after her infamous bag ball look. Lala was invited to present the award to a new queen this season which saw Maddie Morphosis get some appreciation for the worst look from a design challenge via a golden boot trophy.
Overall this episode of Ru Paul’s Drag Race had the viewers feeling every emotion possible with hilarious reads, touching homages to friendship and anger through the intense fights. We learnt things we didn’t know before and got to re-visit some of the more iconic moments from the season which essentially is the key function of these types of episodes… And it left me excited to see next week’s final which is hosted in front of a live audience!
