RuPaul’s Drag Race was back this week after last Friday’s double save between Heidi N Closet and Jackie Cox. More importantly, Heidi taught us we had been saying ‘epiphany’ wrong our whole lives in the opening minutes. It’s actually ‘hipiphany’. You’re welcome.
As always, the queens who were safe are not excited about the fact that it’s still the top six, not the top five. Everyone was happy when RuPaul entered the workroom to share it was time for everyone’s favorite mini-challenge, the bitch fest! Because, say it with me, everybody loves puppets! Gigi Goode may have had the worst puppet performance in the history of the mini-challenge. Jackie, however, did a great job with her Sherry Pie puppet. She won her third mini-challenge!
As for the maxi-challenge, the queens were putting on a one-woman show! Whoopi Goldberg was there to help the queens put together a funny performance. Since Jackie won the mini-challenge, she got to put the show in order. No one wanted to close the show, but Jaida Essence Hall took one for the team.
The queens got to run through their ideas with Whoopi and RuPaul. Can you believe Ru was there as a coach?! Crystal Methyd wanted to play a male exotic dancer and had no real plan for it, but the second she got on stage everyone started laughing and that’s exactly how to describe Crystal this season. She’s kind of a mess but in the absolute best way and everyone loves her. It was pretty rough watching everyone try to run through their ideas, but it was all worth it when Jaida got to have a heart-to-heart moment with Whoopi.
As everyone was getting ready for the runway, Jackie shared that she was going to change her initial idea and do impressions of her parents. Jackie has been open and honest about her problems with her mom. Maybe performing as her will be therapeutic for her. Heidi was also going to perform as her family, but she was excited about it. As she was going into a story from her past, Jackie commented that she was the Rose Nylund of the season. Jaida asked who Rose was. The response from her fellow queens was correct because it was an inappropriate question!
It was time for the queens to perform their one woman show! Jackie kicked off the show with a solid performance that was funny, cute, and had a great message. That warm performance was followed by Crystal, the exotic dance instructor, which was just as wonderful as you would expect it to be. Heidi looked great, but her performance was a bit rough. Gigi was next and she had some great jokes, but she tried too hard to stick to her outline. Sherry’s performance went on for far too long. Finally, Jaida closed the show with a chaotic story about peeing at a pageant.
On the runway, the category was the color purple. Jackie’s flying purple people eater look was incredible. Gigi’s Scooby-Doo inspired look was by far my favorite, though. It was so good! I find it a bit of a waste of time to talk about Sherry, but her cat look was deeply unsettling. I just wanted to share. Thank you for listening.
It was time for the judges’ critiques. Michelle Visage and Ross Matthews joined Ru and Whoopi on the panel. Jackie was given high praise for showing vulnerability and rightfully so. I loved that the first thing Michelle said to Crystal was that her performance was stupid because it was exactly that. So stupid it was incredible. Ross Matthews was obsessed with Heidi’s cousin Slick, but everyone agreed she struggled in the challenge. But, she looked incredible on the runway. The judges loved Gigi’s idea, but she struggled to get all the jokes she should have. Sherry was called out for taking 17 minutes for her performance and Jaida’s critiques went hand-in-hand with having to follow that. She was clearly flustered. She looked great on the runway, though.
In the end, Gigi, Jackie, and Sherry were safe. Sherry being safe was a bit questionable, but it is what is. Crystal took home her first win of the season! That left Heidi and Jaida to face off to 1999 by Prince. Jaida had me sold the second she took off her wig to reveal… another wig. She got to stay while the ever endearing Heidi sashayed away. Heidi truly is a star. I will miss seeing her on my tv every week!
Join me next week as we watch the queens fight for their place in the final four!
Don’t understand why Sherry wasn’t cast out. 5 mins was their slot! Ross should not have corrected Michelle for saying SP was self-centered. 10 mins is self-centered; 17 is absolute nuts.
Shocking they let her go that long. SP getting booted would have solved a LOT of problems for the show. Gonna miss Queen Heidi.
Thanks for your great rundowns! I look forward to them every way.
Thanks for reading UncleB!