‘Ru Paul’s Drag Race 15×05’ Review
I have to be honest last week’s episode of Ru Paul’s Drag Race was quite possibly one of the worst I have seen in a very long time! The overwhelming annoying of the queens and the short episode timings meant that some queens were only asked two or three questions with only three queens really shinning in the improvised, celebrity impersonation challenge. At the top of the challenge was Loosey LaDuca who the week before busted out an incredible Dolly Parton impersonation during the advert challenge and this week showcased an incredibly hilarious Joan Rivers! At the beginning of this season, I made the prediction that we would at some point have the twin’s Sugar and Spice lip-syncing against one another but I certainly did not expect it to happen so early in the season! The social media queens were very clearly the worst performers of the week with the Miley Cyrus performance going down in the history books as one of the worse impressions to ever appear on snatch game! After a very unique, almost duet style, lip-sync it was announced that Spice would be staying and Sugar was told to sashay away. This was particularly painful for Spice as this is not only her emotional support system but also the two queens who have Sugar do all the sewing in the design challenges but, conveniently, the week after she goes home we have said challenge!
The first thing we see in this episode however is the effects that Sugar leaving the competition had on her twin, which led to a very tense moment that Spice appeared to want to call out some of her competitors, claiming they should have gone home instead of her sister. However, this drama was very quickly dropped as we got into the challenges which was a very strange editing structure! Before we could get to the maxi challenge this week however we were gifted the return of the reading challenge. Generally speaking, the queens managed to regain some of the momentum they lost from the last week’s episode. Loosey LaDuca solidified her place as the comedy queen of the season when she turned to Malaysia Babydoll Fox and said they should be more like the plan and disappear only to follow it up by saying to Mistress Isabelle Brooks that it’s unfair that people are making fun of her kitty heels because they started off a stiletto before she put them on which was absolutely hilarious! I also really enjoyed Mistress’ read to Andrea when the former said I know you want to walk that fucking duck (which is yet another homage to the latter talent show performance) but she should take the beak off now. I do think that Jax really struggled with this mini-challenge, especially when she said Lux Noir London had three names like “shut the fuck up” which famously had four words in which the queens even challenged her on!
As I have already discussed this week’s episode of Ru Paul’s Drag Race saw the return of the design challenge but this challenge had a unique home decor twist added to it. The Queens were split into three separate groups with each being given a showroom inspired by one of the Drag Race judges (namely Ross Matthews, Karson Kresley and Michelle Visage) and then have to ravage that through the home decor for their materials. I am always a bit sceptical when Drag Race announces the teams have been randomly selected as there is no doubt that some producers have been meddling with the groups to encourage some drama to happen (although this episode was mostly drama free). What was particularly interesting about this challenge however was the fact that, just like a real fashion show, after every house had walked the runway they did a whole house runway that made it feel like an actual fashion show! I thought that this connection between the world of Drag Race to the fashion world was amazing, especially considering so many Drag Race alum have since become respected models in their own right.
I am beginning to think that everyone is sleeping on Mistress Isabella Brooks, as yet again she turned out an incredible outfit that really channelled her inspiration – Michelle Visage. Mistress walked the runway with massive breasts (akin to Michelle in the earlier seasons), black hair and a leopard print outfit complete with a matching purse. The judges commented on the quality of this outfit which meant it not only looked good but the craftsmanship was also of an incredible standard. I thought Lux Noir London looked absolutely amazing in her purple outfit with a matching purple turban. The choice to pair purple with golden accessories looked amazing on her skin tone and the wonderful drapery sleeves added the perfect amount of drama to the look! The highlight of this week’s episode would have to be Sasha Colbi which seems like something I am saying every review! She managed to create a J-Lo-inspired floral swimsuit that showcased her incredible body perfectly! If you remember on season fourteen, Sasha’s drag daughter Keri wore the actual J-Lo outfit but in my opinion, the version Sasha made in the werk-room looked so much better. Loosey LaDuca created a wonderful pair of fitter trousers but it was her character work that really helped to sell the look. The drunk Aunty of Holliday skit worked so well with the over-arching Palm Springs-inspired category but also worked with the actual look which was amazing.
Ru Paul announced that the winner of this week’s episode was none other than Lux Noir London but I have to say if it was up to me I would have given the win to Sasha but Lux did also look amazing! At the bottom this week were Amethyst (for the third time this season) and Selina Estities. Both queens started off the number by removing their respective jackets but the rest of their performances were a stark contrast. Selina decided to give pure sex throughout the number and even pulled out a cartwheel and jumping splits. I have to admit that thus far I have not been the biggest fan of Selina but it was very clear from this performance that she would not be going home. This did however mean that Amethyst would be gone but she did give put up an incredible fight across her three lip-sync battles.
Overall, after last week’s tragedy of an episode anything would have been an improvement! Unlike last week the queens had ample time to showcase what they had spent the episode creating with a solo and a whole house runway which was a very nice inclusion! The actual set-up of the challenge with the judge-themed showrooms was very interesting and the majority of queens did fairly well using home decor items that they had found.
