‘Ru Paul’s Secret Celebrity Drag Race 2×07’ Review
I could totally understand why people would have thought that last week’s episode of Ru Paul’s Secret Celebrity Drag Race was the final episode in the season. The whole point of this season was that all the celebrities are secret and so starting the episode with making the top five reveal themselves was a rather strange creative choice. On top of this, the queens had to not only perform a solo number (which was a rendition of one of Ru Paul’s songs) but also a group number which is usually reserved for the final episodes of regular Drag Race. This homage to Ru would have made sense as the season finale as every performer would have gone through the drag race journey and so would be able to relate to the songs more so than they could have before. After reaching what can only be described as the climax of a body positivity storyline, we sadly saw Donna Belisama (aka Daniel Franzese from Mean Girls) be told to sashay away after taking a creative gamble with a show reliant on being stationary and emoting. A common critique that Donna has had this season was that she relies very heavily on theatrics and props so to simply emote a number was a risk which clearly did not pay off. I was glad however that we saw her self-love narrative reach a positive and conclusive end before she left as this number had her in a revealing bodysuit with the message promoting self-love!
In last week’s episode the queens had to perform two separate musical numbers but this week they had to not only pay homage to Lady Gaga in their lip-syncs but also take part in the iconic snatch game. For this, each celebrity had to showcase their best celebrity impressions (which I suppose is kind of meta when you think about it) and take part in a game show similar to Blankety-Blank. On normal seasons of Drag Race, this challenge would take place with a large group of queens, usually around eight or ten, so the amount of screen time each performer gets is fairly limited but this time there were only four people to take part. Chic-Li-Fay (aka Kevin McHale) announced to their mentor Brook Lyn Hytes that she would be doing Celine Dion which is quite a shock as the latter also did on season eleven with disastrous results, leading to THAT iconic sorry not sorry lip-sync. I am not personally a big fan of Celine but I think Kevin was able to capture the cooky and eccentric nature of the Titanic singer while managing to make everyone laugh throughout! There was another instant of history repeating itself as Chakra Seven (also known as Tatyana Ali) told everyone that she would be playing Eartha Kitt who Jujubee (one of the other “queen supremes” this season) performed excellently as during her run on All-Stars six. Now while I don’t think Chakra managed to reach the incredibly high bar already set for this character, I did find that she managed to crack many brilliant jokes and stayed in character the entire challenge – which I think is more than many people could do! The pressure was on for Poppy Love (AJ McLean from the Backstreet Boys) as they are the only non-actor left in the competition in a challenge that relies heavily on your improvisational skills. They decided to portray the wonderfully iconic David Bowie and I have to admit that I really enjoyed the performance although it did feel quite “stop-starty” at times. However, Poppy was clearly not fazed with her lack of acting experience as she delivered a very entertaining portrayal that had people laughing throughout. This challenge however was all about Thirsty Von Trap (aka Mark Indelicato) who was by far the most talented at the game itself. She decided to portray Erika Jayne from the Real Housewives, who is not a character I am particularly familiar with, but her interpretation of a struggling reality TV star not only looked incredible but was extremely entertaining. She was the only one to flawlessly interact with the other competitors on the show and when she pulled out the tissue book stuffed with dollar bills, that were used to dry her tears, I personally broke out into hysterics. If the episode was based on this challenge alone then Thirsty would have been instantly declared as the winner!
The second challenge for the not-so-secret celebrities was an individual performance of a Lady Gaga song. If it was up to me, I think I would have opted for the emotionally powerful song “Always Remember Us This Way” from Gaga’s performance during A Star Is Born. Usually, I am a fan of over-the-top campy performances but I would have done this song as a powerful ballad, where emotion is the focus of the number! From doing “Peanut Butter” by Ru Paul and Big Freda last week, which perfectly captured the sexy and comedic energies of her newfound drag persona to this week doing “You and I “ which I have to admit is not a song I am particularly familiar with. I thought that the inclusion of a piano wrapped horizontally around Chic’s waist was really adorable but it seemed that her hair kept getting in her way by the end of the performance. It is no secret that I am a massive fan of Thirsty Von Trap and so I thought that her slightly political performance of “Sissy That Walk” with a heavy army influence was one of the greatest things I have seen from her so far and this week she even outperformed herself! She decided that in this episode she would perform the iconic “Bad Romance” where she seemed to really tap into newfound confidence, while at the same time capturing the frenzied energy Gaga has become synonymous with! Next up was Chakra Seven who delivered a rather unique rendition of “Cha Cha Bitch” where all the performers were dressed as dogs. This week she opted for “Paparazzi” where she wore a Marie Antionette-inspired outfit (with massive hair and regal dress) with matching regal choreography sprinkled throughout. As has become expected from Chakra her unique interpretation was incredibly entertaining with the end freeze frame not only looking amazing but also made sense through the idea of photography. Finally, Poppy’s love came from a very personal and powerful performance of the song “the devil made me do it” which was an emotional display of her journey with addiction in real life. This week however she opted for the queer anthem “Born This Way” where Poppy demonstrated the idea of a doll coming to life. I personally think that the opening sequence of Poppy showcasing a cross between the robot and a puppet (which Michelle commented was a nod to NSYNC, a rival boy band to the Backstreet Boys) was a highlight. As a number as it was not only performed excellently but also made sense narratively. I think it is brilliant that Poppy/AJ has tried to completely immerse themselves into all things drag, with one of the smoothest and most natural-looking wig reveals I have seen in a long long time. They also managed to throw in a cheeky skirt reveal as well for good measure!
Due to her excellent performance during the snatch game and incredible confidence during her lip-sync, I think it made total sense that Thirsty Von Trap was declared the winner this week! In a shocking twist, it was declared that Chic and Poppy would be the bottom two this week who had, until this point, been the two biggest front runners in the competition. It is especially spicy when you consider that both people behind the make-up (Kevin and AJ) are both professional performers and so we should be in for a very close battle. I think that the choice of “Edge of Glory” was the perfect choice for these two performers, as not only was it a Gaga song (which tied the episode together beautifully) but also gave both of them different opportunities to showcase their unique styles. Chic spent the beginning of the song beautifully and sensually rolling across the stage where Poppy used the structure of the stage to dangle directly into the audience which was incredible to watch! However, this was where for me things started to go wrong! I thought that there was an unwritten rule on Drag Race where the performers were not allowed to leave the stage and use the floor area as previous queens had mentioned this was discouraged. So you can imagine my surprise when Poppy joined the audience in the stalls to rile them up and showcase a much more entertainer-style performance, while Chic remained on stage showcasing a much more classical drag performance. At the end of the performance, it was announced that Poppy would be staying and unfortunately Chic was told to sashay away. I was really disappointed with this decision as Chic was a brilliant performer and I actually found her performance more of a spectacle to watch but I guess it is up to Ru Paul who stays and who goes!
Overall, I think the weird finale vibes of last week’s episode carried over a weird pace to this week’s episode. Having the snatch game performed by only four performers seemed like a strange choice with the performances being fun but (when compared to the most recent version of the challenge during All-Stars seven with that show-stopping performance by Jinkx) did feel a bit empty. I personally think we should have done the Gaga-inspired episode much earlier in the season (as she has the discography for a larger group) and really should have been done before the homage to Ru Paul.
