31st Mar2023

‘Ru Paul’s Drag Race 15×13’ Review

by Rhys Payne

As someone who is obsessed with both the worlds of musical theatre and the art form of drag, it goes without saying that the musical episodes of Ru Paul’s Drag Race are always something I eagerly anticipate every season! This season’s musical challenge had the queens performing in the original production “Wig Loose” where the art form of drag was banned. Not only was this a clever interpretation of Footloose (where dancing is banned) but it also came at the perfect time as Tennessee have recently passed a bill that criminalises drag. I think for us in the UK, it is so easy for us to forget how political the art form of drag can be, so seeing a TV show tackle this devastating and real-world legislation is so powerful! Not only was this challenge cleverly political but the producers behind the episode pulled out all the stops (including staging, dancers, props etc) to make this an extremely high-quality show. The episode even received a supportive message after airing from none other than the icon that is Kevin Bacon who famously started in the original movie musical that this challenge was inspired by. On top of the beloved musical challenge, we also saw the return of the dreaded “who do you think should go home” question which forces the queens to select one of their peers that they think should be in the bottom. Usually, you see the queens shiver and cringe at having to call out one of their sisters but Lux Noir London made a point to compliment every one of her competitors except for Loosey who she labelled as basic! I thought that the way this was so was fairly uncalled for and did seem as if Lux was making a point to pick on her fellow competitor. The majority of the rest of the queens, however, voted for Selina Estities which led to her and Loosey in the bottom two this week with the former eventually being told to sashay away!

This week’s episode of Ru Paul’s Drag Race however started with the “spill the tea” mini-challenge where the queens had to vote for who they thought best fit a certain category and you would get points if your vote was the most popular. This is very similar to a drinking game that me and my friends frequent that involves us voting for each other in certain categories but the Drag Race version awards the voting queens points if they agree. It was announced that the last question in the challenge was worth five points and would be yet another opportunity for queens to vote on who should go home next. The twist in the results however was that the majority of queens voted for Loosey including Loosey herself! Now I’m not sure whether this was a clever piece of strategy used by Loosey (as she knew she would be voted for this category so voting for herself would allow her to gain an extra point and win the challenge) or if there was a sense of self-doubt in her but she did walk away with the victor of the challenge which meant she could allocate the pairs for the make-over maxi-challenge!

During the 2019 COVID lockdown, teachers were constantly praised for their quick thinking and flexibility to teaching online but also as parents were encouraged to home-school, there was a gained appreciation for what educators have to endure during normal teaching times. However, this praise and adoration were quickly dropped once in-person teaching resumed with many people going back to the idea that school is simply a childcare place and that’s it. As a teacher myself, I really appreciated the fact that this episode saw a group of educators grace the werk room for a drag family transformation. I just want to put it out there, if the show is ever looking for UK educators then I am more than happy to volunteer! Not only do the guests get to experience a make-over but they also had to lip-sync on the main stage which led to some hilarious training sequences after they were paired with their competing queens. We saw Anetra attempt to coach her teacher to duck walk and also learnt about the extremely relaxed teaching style Lux likes to employ.

The first transformation we got to see was Sasha Colbi and her brand new drag sister Synergy who clearly had the greatest family resemblance of everyone this week. They both looked absolutely amazing in their Hawaiian (the hometown of Sasha) inspired looked and her partner looked incredibly comfortable strutting across the stage! Next up was Mistress Isabelle Brooks and her partner Madama Thang who graced the stage with massive boas that added a wonderful sense of drama to the outfits.

Both looks were made backstage by Mistress, with the competing queen wearing a blue gown and her sister in a black version of the outfit. I have to admit that I personally found Madam Thang’s black gown fairly plain which is not something I usually associate with Mistress’s style of drag! My least favourite makeover transformations however would have to be Lux and her teacher Azule who did not look as if they belonged to the same family in the slightest! In fact, Azule looked more like a Jennifer College impersonator which was hilarious brought up on the runway only for the teacher to have no idea about the Oscar-winning actress! I really enjoyed the alternative graphic pink and black looks worn by Anetra and her partner Alektra this week but the highlight was by far the stunning hair and make-up job! They decided to channel their matching Asia heritage into their looks and also include matching scars that Anetra has become known for.

After an entertaining lip-sync between all the guests, it was announced that Anetra is the winner of this week’s challenge! Every teacher was gifted a three nights stay in a Palm Springs spa and Anetra receiving a special cash prize. At the bottom end of the completion, however, was Loosey and Lux which I have to admit I thought made total sense! However, that does not mean I am oblivious to the concept that Loosey and Lux have essentially had a season-long rivalry (with last week’s who should go home question adding fuel to the fire) and now they have to battle against one another to see who remains in the competition. Even during the battle itself, we saw Lux constantly jump in front of Loosey to regain the attention of the judges. It is very clear that Loosey is not an experienced dancer with Lux purposefully dancing circles around her with her high-energy dance talents! At the end of the lipsync, it was announced that Lux would be staying which means that sadly Loosey was told to sashay away! I think In terms of narrative storytelling it would have been nice to see Loosey overcome one of the so-called bullies this season and also Loosey’s transformation of her partner was significantly better but sadly it comes down to who performed better in the lip-sync and this was very clearly Lux!

Overall, the beginning of this episode did seem that a forced opportunity to introduce some more drama into the season and the inclusion of who should go home next (after posing this exact question last week) was clearly trying to force the queens to fight amongst themselves. In terms of the make-overs, I really enjoyed the fact that the show shone a light on the importance of quality educators while also gifting them some much need joyful experience!

****½  4.5/5

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