‘Ru Paul’s Drag Race UK 4×05’ Review
Last week’s episode of Ru Paul’s Drag Race UK marked the third time in a row that the queens were grouped together for the main challenge. I can totally appreciate the frustration that these group challenges cause as it takes a lot more for a queen to stand out in a group than on their own. We have already seen this season how a few bad performances in a group can bring down the whole group during the girl group challenge and so obviously the fear is this could easily happen again. However, it seemed like during last week’s episode each group was fairly matched, with the top group being miles above the rest. The improvised chat show gave Danny Beard an opportunity to really showcase his acting talents and pretty much blow everyone else out of the water! On the other end of the competition, we sadly had to say goodbye to my pick to win the entire season Sminty Drop. When the season was announced my top two were Sminty and Starlet both of which have gone home fairly early in the competition suggesting I am clearly not the most gifted picker. Although these two have had some of the most iconic exits on Drag Race with the latter essentially storming off and the former performing that iconic sad twerk moment that everyone is talking about online!
The episode started with a bit of drama as Pixie Polite explained how she was upset because she feels like she is being overlooked. I have to admit that she did win the maxi challenge (my favourite of the season so far), she had everyone laughing in the maxi challenge and looked incredibly beautiful on the runway and so if it was only down to me, she would have won but sadly it is not! I do also appreciate however that her role in the improv talk show segment was a lot smaller than Danny’s so it would be very hard to compare the two performances. I do think however this jealousy was amplified for the purposes of television as she quickly got over it and became a close friend of Danny to begin the episode. This week’s episode began with one of the most highly anticipated mini-challenges… the reading challenge, where the queens must demonstrate hilarious insults to their peers. Cheddar decided to go a rather unique route with her wonderfully rhythmic and mesmerising voice. She got the challenge off to a great start with many funny jokes about her fellow contestants. There was no doubt that Danny would do very well in this challenge due to their incredible wit and brash confidence they’ve shown thus far in the competition. They delivered many brilliant jokes about their newly found ‘sisters’ and there was not a lull at any point during the routine. However, Dakota Schifer seemed to really struggle in this challenge with her stumbling over words and when she managed to complete jokes the majority of them instantly fell flat. The winner of this mini-challenge was yet again Pixie Polite which I think only builds on the sort of Danny vs Pixie rivalry the season seems to be building towards.
For those who don’t already know alongside reviewing Netflix/Drag content, I also review musicals from all over the world so when it was announced that this week would be the long-awaited Ru-sical then I became instantly excited! Also, those who have been following Danny Beard before her time on drag race then you will know that a few years ago Danny appeared on Britain’s Got Talent where they performed the wonderfully camp “Sweet Transvestite” from the cult classic Rocky Horror Picture Horror Show which showcased both her incredible vocals and love of musical theatre! This entire show was a wonderfully dark parody of Mary Poppins titled “Lairy Poppins” and when this was explained to the queens, the creative team behind Ru Paul’s Drag Race UK decided to use Sims-like background music which was a very strange choice. As the winner of the mini challenge Pixie gets to allocate all of the roles and she made Dakota and Cheddar battle against each other to see who could do the best French accent (which was dominated by Cheddar) but Dakota was clearly very upset that she did not like the role she was given. After giving everyone their roles, Pixie quickly realised she had not given herself a role so she was left with the lead character of the show; a few moments later however she suddenly swapped roles with Danny which is not something I have seen on the show before. While preparing to tread the boards, the queens were given a surprise choreography session with Giovanni Pernice from Strictly Come Dancing where he seemed to tease a flirtationship with Danny Beard.
Pixie ended up playing a version of the role played by Dick Van Dyke in the original movie and I thought she did a fantastic job. She got so into the extremely common and dirty character and stayed in character throughout the entire performance. This entire episode was dedicated to musicals and so I really enjoyed the nod to Beetlejuice (which is now a Broadway musical), with the characters having to say Lairy Poppins three times to make her appear only for her to continue to black/white and green motifs that Micheal Keaton made famous! It is very clear that Danny was very confident in this role and actually extremely comfortable being centre stage as she was hilarious and managed to steal focus even when she was not under the spotlight. The fact that yet again Pixie and Danny are naturally in competition with each other seems fairly convenient after last week’s drama, with both of them yet again receiving positive critiques from the judges. I was actually pleasantly surprised by Le Fil this week as she took on the role of the original Mary Poppins who takes a brief dive into the mysterious and dark world that has been created. Le Fil captured the uptightness of the character and nailed every one of the fast-paced lyrics she was given. I do have to say however that this role relies heavily on the same joke that BenDeLaCreme based her incredible Julie Andrews performance on during All-Stars season three.
Now if there was ever a runway category I was meant to do then it would be this week’s “West End Wonders” which beautifully tied the runway and the maxi challenge! If I was to ever take part in this category then I think I would have to do a homage to the iconic sea-witch Ursula because she is such a diva but also Pat Carol (who voiced the character in the original movie) recently died so it would be a tribute to the wonderfully talented actress! Pixie was first on the runway this week, where she wore a hairspray-inspired look complete with massive hair and a dress reveal. The second outfit was a black and white dress that was a clear homage to the “Checkerboard Chic” comment made by Penny in the movie. The last Tracey Turnblad outfit we saw on the runway was by Baga Chips during Drag Race UK vs The World and Pixie’s look was a massive improvement! I have to admit I really loved the concept of Jonbers Blonde avant-garde yellow raincoat dress but it did look slightly mismatched with one side covering a cage and the other having it exposed. This sort of waterproof look was done excellently by Divina De Campo during a design challenge all the way back in Ru Paul’s Drag Race UK season one but this time Divina wore it better! Cheddar decided to pay homage to Hedwig and the Angry Inch by recreating one of the most iconic outfits from the show in a denim jumpsuit, a blonde wig and wings. This musical has gained a new following recently as it was featured during the UK-based Netflix show Sex Education season one, where two of the main character dress up as the same character Cheddar is paying homage to. The highlight of the week however would have to go to Danny Beard who showcased possibly the most theatrical and over-the-top outfit to every appear in any Drag Race franchise. He decided to wear an eight-foot-tall man-eating plant costume from Little Shop of Horrors complete with a headpiece that contained a movable mouth. She still managed to keep it on brand with her as she also chose to include a tuft of purple hair on her chin which stuck to the first-ever bearded queen in drag race storyline she has this season. For the second week in a row, it was announced that Danny Beard would be the winner of the episode with Pixie being very high in the competition!
In the bottom this week was Baby and Dakota (the latter of which had repetitively expressed her hatred of musicals throughout the episode) who battled to “No Way” from the musical Six. It is no secret that I love when the show ties the maxi challenge, runway and lip-sync song via a cohesive theme; as it makes it so much more enjoyable for the audience to watch. At one point Dakota shockingly walked off the stage only to reappear moments later to fit with the lyrics of the song. Baby, however, showcased her dance skills with some wonderfully choreographed dance sections and insanely impressive jump splits. It was the decision process of this lip-sync that has left every gaged, as Baby interpreted the famous speech of Ru Paul to announce that she would like to go home to work on herself. While this did add a bit of excitement episode, it also raises a really important message about mental health. At the end of the day all of these queens are real people who suffer from mental health issues just like everyone else and sometimes they need to take a break to ensure they don’t begin to spiral. We obviously wish Baby all the best and hope she is able to get herself into a better mind space in the very near future!
Overall, as a musical theatre fan, this was like a dream come through for me with a live singing challenge and a west-end-inspired runway. This was an episode that I personally would have enjoyed being a part of never mind experience but I also think having a musical mini-challenge would have been the cherry on top of this musical cake! The creative team have found a way to clearly continue to plant seeds regarding a feud between Pixie and Danny while the latter also establishes her place at the top of the season!
