‘Ru Paul’s Drag Race 15×12’ Review
It has been said many times that the fan base of Ru Paul’s Drag Race can be extremely toxic to both performers and fellow fans. The annoying number of posts I see in so-called “fan pages” that contain some form of racist/transphobic rhetoric, are purposefully vile towards queens from the show or even end in intense verbal fights between fans is ridiculous when really all I personally want to do is talk to people about how much I love the show! As fans, we also always seem to think that we could (if we wanted to) dominate any season of Drag Race and talk about how we would have done the challenge differently to win. I did exactly this a few episodes ago when talking about how I would have excelled in the interview challenge but personally, I think this week would have been extremely tough! I don’t think people are truly aware of how difficult it is to write and perform an original comedy set, and these challenges always appear to clearly divide the top and bottom queens. In a shocking turn of events we saw the pairing of Sasha and Anetra, really struggling, with the latter ending up in the bottom two for the episode. However, this battle between Anetra and Marcia, Marcia, Marcia was quite possibly one of the greatest lip-syncs we have ever seen! The later queen was then told to sashay away which is particularly upsetting when you realise that she is known for her musical expertise and yet was eliminated the episode before the Ru-sical!
Those who have been following LGBT affairs around the world will be aware that Tennessee has recently passed a law that makes drag illegal in public space. We personally believe that this is a horrifying step backwards for the queer community! This is why I thought that it was incredibly timely and important that this week’s episode was inspired by the 80’s classic movie Footloose. Instead of dancing being banned (as it is in the original 80s movie musical), the team behind this episode created it as a ban on drag which reflects the recent events currently going on. I think that people (like myself) in the UK are not able to fully comprehend how political the art form of drag is in America and so seeing the queens address controversial events through the medium of song and dance allows us to see how important the fusion of drag and protests can be! Before actually getting to the performance however the queens sat down to decide amongst themselves who would be playing each of the roles which almost always creates some form of drama. This time it was the winning pair from last week’s episode (Lux Noir London and Loosey LaDuca) who got into it with each other after both wanted the lead role. This intense war of words was discussed later in the episode during Ru’s walkthrough as Loosey explained why she became so defensive so quickly. I do have to admit that at this point in the episode, I did feel extremely sorry for Loosey as she talked about not being taken seriously throughout her life and I do think that Lux and Mistress Isabelle Brooks are trying to see how far they can push Loosey before she loses it. While I know the edit of the show only allows us to see a small section of what is going on, I can totally understand how the pressure of competing and the teasing from these queens could easily overwhelm someone leading to this outburst! Later in the episode, the queens also discussed the current craze of people protesting drag queen-led storytelling sessions for young children as it is unsafe for the kids. Can I just say, I know many performers who love hosting these types of story times for kids and these are some of the safest places to ever exist. Sharing stories of self-love and acceptance is not going to hurt these young people but storming these events and hurling abuse at said performers (oftentimes while in the presence of young viewers) is clearly going to affect them!
Aside from the political influences on the challenge, what I found particularly interesting was the fact that some of the performers would be gracing the main stage in both male and female drag. Lux, Selina Estities, Sasha and Loosey all portrayed male characters on stage and later on the musical showcased a brand new drag persona which is not something we see enough on the runway! I also really enjoyed the fact that the production value of the challenge was really focussed on as we saw a gaggle of trained dancers, and wonderful staging/props joining the queens throughout the show. This challenge overall was probably one of my favourite musical challenges, not only for the message behind it but also for how high quality it was! I have to admit that my favourite casting choice in this episode would have to be Sasha as the submissive, old man Carl who is married to the villain of the story. Sasha decided that this was a role she wanted to play from the moment everyone sat down and managed to showcase an incredible transformation into her male persona. When we finally see the queen inside Carl’s alter in the show, we were also treated to a wonderful Patti Lapone/Frank N Furter-style performance that was extremely entertaining to watch! Despite having very limited musical theatre training, I thought that Mistress Isabella Brooks was a highlight of the episode where she played the villainous teacher. She is clearly not a talented dancer but the entire time she was on the stage she snatched my attention and was constantly in character as the panto-esque villain! She owned every inch of the stage and the over-the-topness of the role managed to tread the line between real-world events and musical theatre which is not an easy thing to do! In terms of the number of steps and direction, no one had a harder job than Loosey who played the role of the energetic newcomer inspired by the role originated by Kevin Bacon in the original movie! I thought that she looked totally at ease and absolutely amazing throughout. Their mother in this musical was interestingly played by Antrea who gave one of the lip-sync performances of the entire show. She was given the emotional ballad of the show, which at first was surprising considering how much of a talented dancer she is, but Anetra managed to perfectly capture every moment in the show and deliver a highly emotional love song to the art form of drag. I talked a few episodes ago about how some of her stunts are becoming somewhat tiresome (after seeing them so many times this season) but this performance showed every she doesn’t need all those tricks and stunts to steal the show!
The runway category of this week’s episode was “everybody say gloves” and had I taken part in the challenge I would have opted for something similar to the black leather glove outfit worn by Mayhem Miller on season ten during the design challenge! I have to say that I really enjoyed Loosey LaDuca’s fifties-inspired latex swimsuit from the waist up! In a homage to the creature from the blue lagoon, this outfit had webbed hands and gills running down the sleeves but the bottom half was very plain. I also thought that Anetra’s raver-inspired look did lose some of the impact it need due to the lights of the main stage. One of the main selling points of this look was the fact that there were numerous lasers (which was its own category during all winners) but I don’t think they worked as well as this queen would have hoped. I have to admit that I didn’t really understand what Selina was trying to do this week with an extremely busy pink jumpsuit and oversized red gloves. I didn’t get what she was going for which led to a very chaotic final look! My favourite look for this week (and quite possibly this season) however would have to be Mistress’ incredible sunshine yellow gown that was simply perfection! Her hair and make-up were stunning! The massive ruffled gloves looked absolutely amazing and the dripping jewels caught the light flawlessly! Sasha showcased an incredible baseball-inspired look that was made entirely of baseball gloves which were positioned to showcase her incredible body. It goes without saying that she looked absolutely amazing!
Before it was announced who would be in the top and bottom this week, the queens were asked who they thought should go home this week. Many of the queens voted for Selina but it was Lux’s response that had the whole world shocked! She delivered a lengthy speech about how incredible each queen was and what unique talent they brought to the show but when she finally got to Loosey she said her drag was basic! This question always forces drama but for Lux to really amplify this idea was really shocking to see! Personally, I thought this was rather unnecessary and supports my idea that Loosey is being purposefully antagonised. It was announced that Anetra is the overall winner of the episode and to be honest if it was up to me this would have gone to Mistress. While Anetra’s song was extremely powerful and emotionally driven, in terms of contribution to the musical challenge and that phenomenal runway presentation, I thought Mistress was more of a highlight. In the bottom, however, were Selina and Loosey (who had an emotional conversation earlier in the episode) and sadly at the end of the battle Selina was told to sashay away!
Overall, this was one of the most polished and impactful musical challenges we have ever seen on Drag Race with my only criticism being the storyline’s conclusion at the end of the show. I thought every queen did extremely well with the subject matter being delivered in an extremely powerful yet entertaining way! I thought that Mistress really dominated the runway section of the episode with Sasha being a close second with the other queens showcasing glove-centric look.
