by Chris Feil
RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars just refused to let up. After last week's twisty, drama-fueled Snatch Game episode, you'd maybe expect the show to pump the breaks on the intensity as it builds the season narrative and character arcs. But no, this week doubled down on making this the most brutal competition in the show's history with unexpected results from the queens.
What was missing from this week's episode was an underdog to root for - *tear* Tatianna's exit still stings a little.
This week's challenge was a musical parody of Bad Girls from Herstory...
Each queen was preassigned a woman to embody, and the episode dove right into challenge preparation without stopping for a mini-challenge. But this episode had little to do with the challenge itself, with its primary objective being building a particular story line: assigning the season villain.
Phi Phi O'Hara came into the competition wanting to show a less conniving side and it is no going well for her so far. While nowhere near the histrionics of her time on season four, her conniving attitude thus far isn't running parallel to that agenda (see: trying to convince queens to change Snatch Game characters). If anything, her plan should be simply to shine with gag-worthy looks and she'd be smooth sailing. Make no mistake: her warrior alien runway this week is an all-timer.
But the episode wasn't just dominated by Phi Phi's story, as we saw a major fall from grace for Katya. This challenge bears a striking resemblance to the season 7 challenge that resulted in her first lipsync, so maybe musical parody just isn't her gig and we should have expected this face plant.
Here's the thing about the character Katya was stuck with: Princess Diana simply isn't a funny character. Also (as Ru pointed out during critique) Katya was at a distinct disadvantage playing the one historical woman featured that lived during the judges lifetime, so the other queens had the liberty to interpret as inaccurately as needed for a laugh. Even the verse in the routine is quite antithetic to Princess Di's persona. Though Katya didn't do herself any favors with her C- effort on her outfit and hair.
Episode MVP: the sensational Alyssa Edwards. Alyssa completely dominated the challenge in her all too fitting assignment of Annie Oakley. You could see this win coming a mile away, but whenever Alyssa seizes her moment in the competition she's simply a force of nature.
Detox joined Alyssa in the top two after her funny Marie Antoinette, but perhaps earned that spot moreso for her pseudo-Fifth Element meets slutty Silver Surfer fantasy. After several seasons where runway performance has had little to no impact in wins and eliminations, it's quite exciting to see that part of the equation being given some weight again. It certainly played a major role in both this and last week's elimination, not to mention how it has helped save a queen or two from lower placement.
And what a flawless lipsync! Has the show had a more YAAAASSS-worthy song choice than Taylor Dayne's "Tell It To My Heart" in recent money? "No" is the only answer. I'd actually give the lipsync win to Detox, but Alyssa's challenge performance was truly too strong to deny a win here. Ginger Minj's average challenge performance and easily worst runway of the bunch meant she was sharing the bottom with Katya.
If the drama surrounding Alyssa's breaking of the girl code to eliminate a queen based off of the judge's harshest critiques is genuine, then this bunch of queens should hardly be surprised. Fairness is lovely, but the cliche of this not being RuPaul's Best Friend Race is quite true - especially when the imposed rule allows for interpretation by the winning queen. How long did the queens really think that this "fairness" would last?
And at the end of the day, Alyssa did make the right decision in keeping Katya. Punishing one week performance over a performer who didn't quite register over three weeks isn't exactly fair either. We're thoroughly rooting for Alyssa, but as a competitor who always struggled with challenges, we'll see how long she'll keep it up. It looks like Alyssa will suffer some wrath next week for her decision - has she placed a target on her back for this infraction? Bitches are sweatin'!
Current Ranking:
- Alyssa Edwards
- Detox
- Alaska
- Katya
- Roxxxy Andrews
- Tatianna OUT
- Ginger Minj OUT
- Coco Montrese OUT
- Phi Phi O'Hara
- Adore Delano QUIT
Gif as Episode Grade:
Was Alyssa being strategic or playing it fair? Can Katya bounce back?