‘Ru Paul’s Secret Celebrity Drag Race 2×08’ Review
The journey to this week’s final episode of Ru Paul’s Secret Celebrity Drag Race has been a rather unique one considering that the celebrities were forced to reveal themselves a few weeks ago. I don’t fully understand why this decision was made but I think that it sort of negates the inclusion of “secret” in the title so we spend three episodes knowing exactly who everyone is without this being used within a number. I personally think it is criminal that we did not get a rendition of “Proud Mary” by Chic-Li-Fay/Kevin McHale as this would have been a wonderful nod to his time on the hit musical TV show Glee (and is also one of my all-time favourite songs!) We could have also had a rendition of “It’s Not Unusual” by Tom Jones from Chakra Seven, as this song has become synonyms with Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and I thought the whole point of the performances each week was to reference the secret celebrities’ career to date but it seems I was under the wrong impression. After the fairly disappointing return of snatch game and then an unusual homage to Lady Gaga it was announced that the two front runners of the completion Chic-Li-Fay and Poppy Love would be lip-syncing against one another to see who would be told to sashay away. I am still frustrated by this battle as I could have sworn there was an unwritten rule about joining the audience during lip-syncs and I personally thought Chic did a much more drag-inspired performance yet she was the one told to sashay away!
We have finally made it to the finale episode of Ru Paul’s Secret Celebrity Drag Race season two so we were treated to a runway of all the queens this season, with some of them showing an incredible glow-up! I thought that Jackie Wood (Thom Felicia) looked absolutely gorgeous in a golden gown and looked as if he was having so much fun being back on the stage! I also thought that a highlight was Donna who wore a wonderfully sparkly red sequin gown with massive puffed shoulders and massive hair to complete to classically camp look. The top three queens also graced the runway but were quickly whisked away to prepare for their Tik Tok lunch/podcast moment with Michelle Visage and Ru Paul. I thought it was really powerful to see Poppy Love talking about how a few weeks ago she was announced as AJ McLean but this is in fact his stage name and this drag experience has allowed him to challenge “Alex” who is a lot more nerdy and quirky than his stage persona. The layers of identity here are incredibly complex as Alex is playing a character called AJ who is playing a character called Poppy Love, so it was nice to see this broken down and explained to confused audience members like myself! I just think that Chakra Seven/Tatyana Ali is just so incredibly wholesome as she spent her interview just informing everyone how grateful she is to have been a part of this experience in the most adorable, yet genuine, way possible!
As always the remaining three queens must perform a solo lip-sync that this week would revolve around the idea of love. As this is the final week, I would have chosen to perform the song “I Am What I Am” (which is currently my go-to karaoke number) as I have had this dream of performing this song for a long time. I would have crafted the number to start with me in the most sparkly suit sitting atop a piano, only to transform this outfit into a gown as the number progresses! Despite knowing exactly how and why I would choose this number, I do think the finale episode would have been a great opportunity for the (not-so) secret celebrities to write original verses to a Ru Paul song as this would have tied it in beautifully to normal seasons of Drag Race. However, Chakra opened up the performance with her rendition of “Better Be Good To Me” by Tina Turner, where she absolutely nailed every piece of the choreography and delivered one of the best lip-syncs we have seen all season. There were a few moments where she left the stage to join the audience which did make me audibly groan after the controversy of last week’s episode but apart from that this was a very enjoyable number. Poppy Love then graced the stage to perform the iconic “I Touch Myself” which I thought was the most thought-out performance of the night! She started the number in a bathtub (which made sense with the lyrics of this Divinyl hit song) and had bubbles scattered across her outfit accessories and hair. The number also included AJ’s own Instagram thirst traps which was a clever and hilarious inclusion. Poppy was then treated to a series of supportive messages from members of the Backstreet Boys which was a really nice inclusion to the episode! I think that Thirsty Von Trap comes into this episode with the most momentum as she appears to be on an upward trajectory over the past couple of weeks. This week she managed to top everything she has done so far and showcased her newfound confidence in a school band-inspired version of “Hollaback Girl” by Gwen Stefani, with the backing dancers dressed as American football players. This was an incredible performance and it’s fantastic to see how much Thirsty has grown throughout the course of this season! However, I thought the most disappointing performance this week was by the queen supremes who did a performance of “Blame it on the Edit.” Considering the fact that two of the three queens have been publicly praised as lip-sync assassins (namely Monet and Brook-Lyn) with Jujubee being a part of some of the most iconic performances to come out of Drag Race, I did think that the strange runway/lip-sync performance was not particularly befitting of the legacy these queens have created although they did each look absolutely incredible in their golden looks!
It was announced that Chakra Seven was crowned as Miss Congeniality this season and she joins her other top three finalists in a lip-sync for the crown. It was clear that Chakra knew every single word of the performance whereas Thirsty gave her classic flirty style of performance (with the most experience in the bottom two lip-syncs) and Poppy showcased how much of a talented performer she is but I do have to saw that trying to get the audience clapping felt a bit out of place. I think this had to be my favourite group lip-sync of the season as each queen brought their unique perspective to the number!
Overall, this episode of Ru Paul’s Secret Celebrity Drag Race was full of great performances but I do think it could have been better used for an original verse challenge that would be befitting of the finale. However, we need to congratulate the overall winner of season two of Ru Paul’s Secret Celebrity Drag Race, Poppy Love, who dominated the season since the back-to-back wins in the first two episodes! It was clear that Poppy was trying to get as involved in drag culture as possible with her performances including more and more drag-esque moments as the weeks progressed!