‘Ru Paul’s Drag Race 15×04’ Review
After two very strangely edited hour-long premiere episode, the Drag Race fandom were excited to see the newest bunch of queens try and run the gauntlet. However, there was immense outrage when people realised that instead of the just over hour-long episodes we would simply getting forty-five-minute specials which for many did not satisfy the Drag Race hole in our hearts. The reason for this shorter episode format is due to the premier of the brand new reality TV show The Real Friends of We-Ho being shown after Drag Race but strangely before Untucked airs. The cast of this show is headlined by none other than occasional drag race choreographer, singer and queer icon Todrick Hall. Generally speaking, I would say that I am somewhat of a super fan of Todrick Hall and his flamboyant/club anthems (in fact if you ever go to a nightclub with me I will request “nails hair hips heels” at least once a night) but I do realise that he has come under fire recently for a series of controversial moments. From supposedly not paying backup dancers and Drag Race alumni Manila Luzon after the latter hosted a birthday party for him to outright telling Drag Race fans that it’s time for other stories to be told, he has very quickly become a very dissuasive person. So not only are people in arms because some new show had cut short their comfort series but it is led by someone who at the time of writing is an extremely controversial figure.
Last week’s episode saw the queens split into three separate groups to create an idea of what gay heaven would be like and create an advert selling this concept. The top of the episode saw Sasha claim her first (and no doubt it won’t be her last) win of the season after playing god with that hilarious neck snap teleported gag. On the other end of the completion, we saw Amethyst yet again land in the bottom for the second week in a row (despite only having two ranked episodes so far this season) where she bested Princess Poppy sending the latter home. This sets up a very interesting dynamic as every queen who has ended up in the bottom twice in a row, has been sent home the week after but (SPOILER ALERT) in a shocking turn of events Poppy broke this Drag Race curse! As if the outrage of the short episode wasn’t enough, however, this latest episode of Ru Paul’s Drag Race saw not one but two snatch games crammed into a tiny forty-minute episode! The celebrity impersonation/comedy has become a staple of any season of Drag Race and so people look forward to this challenge every season. They could have edited literally any other episode and people would have been fine with it but they had to do it to the ironically dubbed supercharged snatch game! Seeing this challenge not only be split across two separate performances but also squished into forty minutes was very disappointing! This meant that the always savage moment of Ru Paul telling queens they should think of a backup impression was entirely cut out and, due to the sheer volume of queens, very few had a prime opportunity to shine!
The highlight of this compressed snatch game would obviously have to be Loosey LaDuca, who took on the role of the iconic Joan Rivers. Now while we have seen this character portrayed a few times in this challenge previously, it was extremely entertaining and had everyone laughing throughout. I also throughout that Mistress Isabelle Brooks did surprisingly well as the American comedian Rosie O’Donald. If you remember all the way back in season ten, Ru Paul put on a Trump musical and in this, the character of Rosie was portrayed by Vanessa ‘Vangie’ Mateo who did a very disappointing job. However, Mistress did a very good job of rebuilding Rosie’s reputation on the show and had everyone laughing throughout. There was even a point where she managed to squeeze in a reference to “walking that duck” from the talent show episode earlier this season! However, I was really surprised when it was announced during the actual performance (as we didn’t get the walk-through with Ru) that Anetra would be playing a female version of one of the culinary world’s most recognisable chefs! I would have thought that playing Gordon Ramsey as himself would have been a great choice as he has so many iconic catchphrases and has a personality that is very easy to replicate so I don’t totally understand the idea to gender-bend the character. The worst performance this week, however, in my opinion, was a three-way tie between Salina Estities, Sugar and Spice. Salina made the bold choice of impersonating the Virgin Mary (with the intention of making her a sex-obsessed young girl) but instead overpowered the other contestants going as far as pretending to give birth throughout the challenge. Spice opted to play as the eccentric online YouTube personality Trisha Paytas that simply fell flat, with very few comedic moments and Sugar portrayed Miley Cyrus in an at times offensive caricature of the country artist. That was an extremely uncomfortable moment where Sugar decided to mime eating a sledgehammer, showcase a very irritating laughing and repetitively hitting herself over the head which made for very cringeworthy viewing.
The runway theme this week was “Beautiful Nightmare” based on the Beyoncé song, which had the queens doing a bit more spooky drag than we expected from the runway. I thought that Malaysia Babydoll Foxx looked absolutely stunning in her showgirl gown with the most wonderful feathers creating a beautiful backdrop as she walked the runway. While she looked absolutely amazing, I didn’t quite get the connection as to how this was a nightmare which did knock a few marks off her look. My favourite look from this week’s episode would have to be Sasha Kolbi who showcased an incredible Tim Burton-inspired, mesh gown with a fabulous mermaid tail. Not only did the outfit look beautiful in its own right but the mesh elements showcased Sasha’s insane body flawlessly, dancing the line between nightmare and fashion excellently! At first, I thought that the outfit Amythsis decided to wear was very simple and plain but I quickly learnt it was a re-creation of an iconic Lady Gaga look. I really enjoyed the theatrics of blood pouring down the outfit and the presentation on the runway helped to sell the outfit!
It came as no surprise when Loosey LaDuca was announced as the overall winner of the episode. I do think that Loosey is very slowly showing everyone that she had a secret talent for impersonations (Dolly Parton last week and Joan Rivers this week) but neither of which has truly had the spotlight shown on them due to the structure of the challenges. At the beginning of this season, I predicted that Ru Paul and the directors would find a way to have the twins in the bottom lip-syncing against one another, I did not however expect it to be this early in the competition! These two were very obviously the worst in the snatch game but I was expecting the show to amp up the drama for this sibling-against-sibling moment. Sugar and Spice used this opportunity to actually work together in the lip-sync via a series of pre-rehearsed skits and sequences which fitted their brand perfectly. I personally thought this would have a perfect time to send both of them home to really amp up the drama but it was announced that Spice would be staying and Sugar is going home!
Overall, this week’s episode of Ru Paul’s Drag Race was very disappointing, with what I believe is one of the worst snatch games to ever exist. While watching queens struggle in the celebrity impersonation challenge can be extremely entertaining for the audience, there seemed to be a much bigger focus on those failing than those succeeding. The likes of eventual winner Loosey, Marcia Marcia Marcia and Sashay getting very little time to showcase the impressions they have worked on. The runway was fun but nothing particularly stands out and I was expecting great things based on the nightmare inspiration.
