Drag Race S10E9
Sunday, May 20, 2018 at 10:40AM by Nathaniel R
A very very quick runthrough this week as we were busy with Cannes mania and Drag Race basically tread water with no one drowning this week. The episode peaked early with a mini-challenge involving a supersized Pit Crew and lots of ass. RuPaul was right when she suggested it should be its own spin-off. In this matching underwear game, Aquaria proved the most adept at remembering butts. Hmmmm...
You're a winner, baby
Asia O'Hara won this week's competition but in truth no one really nailed both challenge and runway in which the Queens had to imagine themselves as old ladies. Asia may have been the most consistently decent at both challenges but a win? Aquaria was much stronger in the actual acting challenge.
Why does Kameron have so much self doubt?
Sashay away
And no one sashayed away after a very spirited lipsynch from both Eureka and Kameron. Was this a filler episode? The script for Breastworld was hatefully bad despite a promisingly goofy concept. And that wasn't the Queens fault!
Name dropping
Guest judges: Abbi and Ilana from Broad City with a special appearance by Steve Colbert; Pop culture references this episode: Nicole Kidman (bless you Asia for bringing her up!), The Love Boat, Michigan J Frog, Sarah Palin, Michele Lamy, Westworld, The Devil Wears Prada, The Brady Bunch, Gone With the Wind, Mother May I Sleep With Danger.
Rankings
Shifts from last week indicated with arrows...
| PREDICTION | PREFERENCE |
 |
 |
| Subject to change as we get to know them | |
| 1. 🔺 Asia O'Hara |
1. Monét X Change |
| 2. Aquaria | 2. Eureka |
| 3. 🔻Eureka | 3. Monique Heart OUT |
| 4. Kameron Michaels | 4. 🔺Kameron Michaels |
| 5. Monét X Change | 5. Miz Cracker |
| 6. Miz Cracker | 6. Asia O'Hara |
| 7. The Vixen OUT | 7. Aquaria |
| 8. Monique Heart OUT | 8. Dusty Ray Bottoms OUT |
| 9. Blair St Clair OUT | 9. The Vixen OUT |
| 10. Mayhem Miller OUT | 10. Yuhua Hamasaki OUT |
| 11. Dusty Ray Bottoms OUT | 11. Blair St Clair OUT |
| 12. Yuhua Hamasaki OUT | 12. Mayhem Miller OUT |
| 13. Kalorie Karbdashian Williams OUT | 13. Kalorie Karbdashian Williams OUT |
| 14. Vanessa Vanjie Mateo OUT | 14. Vanessa Vanjie Mateo OUT |
Until next week...
Reader Comments (18)
Yeah Asia was like third best this episode. Both Monet and Aquaria were better in the acting challenge. I would have given Aquaria the win. I also think Cracker should have been in the bottom two with Kameron as she was stiff in the challenge and also didn’t look old on the runway.
Is it just me, or did RuPaul's and the other judges' comments (both in the workroom and after the runway) telegraph heavily that Asia and Eureka are their favorites, and the rest of the queens have no shot at winning this thing?
On a related note: Double Shantays tend to fall into two categories: There are those in which both queen do stunning things and deserve to save themselves for it (as in Alyssa Edwards vs. Roxxxy Andrews, or Alyssa Edwards vs. Tatianna; also Sharon Needles vs. Phi Phi O'Hara, which might have been a Double Shantay even without the Willam situation), and there are those where one queen clearly outperforms the other, but Ru just doesn't want to eliminate the losing queen yet, because it's just too early for her to go (Darienne Lake vs. BenDelaCreme, Carmen Carrera vs. Yara Sofia). With apologies to Eureka, this Double Shantay clearly falls into the latter category.
(Farrah vs. Cynthia Lee doesn't belong in either category, as Eureka's medical elimination clearly forced that one; and Raven vs. Jujubee is an odd beast that defies any such categorization.)
Also: Monet was robbed. She totally should have won. She was the best in the challenge, and her runway look was hilarious.
And was that Stephen Colbert cameo the most puzzling non sequitur ever to happen on this show? (And yeah, I know, there is some stiff competition. But still...)
It seems weird that Miz Cracker hasn’t lip-synced yet when Eureka and Monét both have done it twice. Aquaria has the strongest track record overall with 2 wins and no lip syncs. Kameron is proving to be a firece contender. This seems like a solid group for a lip sync battle finale. Aquaria seems like the most likely to get “screwed” by that format because I have a hard time imagining her beating Eureka or Kameron or Asia or (especially) Monét in a lip sync. It seems like an Aquaria/Cracker lip sync is inevitable—just not sure if it would be pre-finale. In that showdown my guess is that Cracker would take it and Aauaria would get a Katya-esque “ROBBED!” narrative. I don’t necessarily want her to win the whole thing but I think she definitely deserves a place in the finale over Cracker and probably Asia, even though she has a lot of growing up to do (like Vixen).
Number 5 for me, please!
If you've seen Aquaria lipsync, you know that she can turn it out. Hoping Asia wins, though.
The show should just be about the pit crew
Weird episode, to say the least.
Cracker is coasting and she needs to be punished. I thought she deserved bottom two this episode for sure. At least Kameron gave a real effort in the acting challenge and the runway. Cracker is on snooze-cruise.
John -LOL. I'll take #2. Love a good ginger.
I don't get why Awuaria is so low on your personal rankings? She is far and away the most talented queen. Her looks are outstanding, she's got acting chops, a unique off kilter sense of humour and can definitely lip sync. Easily my pick for the win, as much as I love Monet and the oh ah ah sensation Monique.
Yeah, people are really underrating/underestimating Aquaria. I went into the season as skeptical as anyone. To rate her below Cracker at this point is just unfair.
Hayden/Andrew -- i will admit she is growing on me. We'll see how it goes next week ;)
I am continuously perplexed by Eureka's attitude that she just can't go home and that she just absolutely needs to stay and that her elimination would have been monumentally shocking and devastating. She's been funny in challengers and some of the runways have been turned out, but I still don't see her as the A+ queen she seems to think she is.
Kameron's lip sync was better and didn't deserve to be asterisked with not sending Eureka home with her skills. Oh well.
One pop culture reference you left off: Academy Award nominated screenwriter and Emmy-nominated supporting star of THE NANNY, Renee Taylor!
AQUARIA is the only CHOICE to win at this Point! The other one is Miz Cracker, but she lost her way. But maybe its the Jurys fault, because their dont let her win, when it was clearly her time to shine (Drag Con Panel and maybe drag on a dime runway). Also great is Kameron Michaels, but when she is the second time in th ebuttom her chances to win are limitated. Eureka and Asia are always top or buttom, not consistent enough to win this. Hopefully. I find both really overrated. Monet is growing on me, but she is not winner material with this kind of runways. AQUARIA must and will be Nr. #1. Other than that the Season starts great as "All Stars 3" and gets a shitty ending.
Later today I am on !Werq the World" for the third time. Time to show Shangela and Kim Chi some justice. ;-) Hopefully Valentina is not the count I think she becomes. Sadly Bianca would not be there. Last time she was clearly THE Highlight of the show, although Latrice, Alyssa and Detox were great, too.
TBH, i know that you guys are doing all this math about how many wins and bottoms leads to the crown but for me, winning a shitty pre-cooked ambiguous challenge like this (and we had others in the season) is not as impressive as winning a really competitive lipsync battle.
So, for me is Kameron for the win, I hope she makes the top 4 and slay.
I have to say I'm really enjoying the season a lot. I consider Monae & Aquaria to be the top contenders and that yeah, much as I like them, Eureka & Asia are fine B-listers at this point. Cracker & Kameron are also good, with several strengths and weaknesses. It's a fine final 6, I only hope they avoid the off-the-rails ending of All-Stars 3. That was the worst.
In other seasons of Drag Race we would get to this point and I’d still have queens I didn’t like and would happy to see certain ones Sashay Away. The six left on this season I actually genuinely enjoy and would miss once they got kicked off.
Monet is funny, and probably my favorite at this point, but she feels like a poor version of Bob, the Drag Queen. That is funny for the Sponge Bob, the Drag Queen, memes and jokes, but not enough to make her a winner, especially in a season as strong as this one.
Eureka's personality is very grating, and she did come off ridiculously entitled in the end of Untucked, but I have to admit she is growing on me with her performances in the challenges. This week was not her best, but she was definitely not bottom 2, challenge-wise (Kameron and Cracker were).
And as much as I like Cracker, I do feel like she is clearly the only queen left that is on steady decline. Most queens have ups and downs, except Aquaria, who has been steadily stellar, even in challenges that are a clearly a stretch to her talents (Bossy Rossy, Snatch Game, this week with only few lines of dialogue), and Miz Cracker, who has, for weeks now, been underwhelming. At this point I do feel like the Judges personally like her because she's had A-level rapport with them from the get-go, so they are willing to overlook her poor performances. On the Drag Con panel she was shielded from lip-syncing by the judges unfairly placing The Vixen in the Bottom 2. She also escaped Bottom 3 placement for the Cher Rusical, when Aquaria was clearly better than her. Now she dodged the bottom 2 again (it should have been her x Kameron, by peformance on the maxi challenge, or her x Eureka, if you thought Kameron's runway should have warranted her a save from lipsyncing).
I also don't quite know what to make of Asia's win. Monet's performance on the maxi challenge was better than anyone else's. I also felt like Aquaria was as good as her, and she had less lines to work with (but maybe that was an advantage, considering how atrociously bad the writing was on that thing), and when it came for the runway, only Kameron nailed it. And Monet, at least, was really working the comedy angle. Asia's look was not particularly glamourous, or funny, or well executed. She deserved top two placement, surely, but the win should have been Monet's.
The double shantay was fine by me. I felt like Kameron had a slight edge, but it was razor thin and both queens brought it. Eureka's season haul also warranted her staying over Kameron, so it did not feel unbalanced.
I also had mixed feelings regarding Untucked. It clearly was weak, if compared to when we had stronger personalities (Like Monique and The Vixen), but it was interesting to see how Kameron's inability to show emotion stems from some deeply rooted unresolved family issues. It was also interesting to see how she actively rejected every word of advice, to the point of walking out on Asia mid-sentence. She's a much less mature queen than I had originally thought.
I really hope the season does not lose steam going forward. I am sad to say, but Miz Cracker, though a favorite of mine, is the weak link at this point and should be next to go, unless she slays a challenge or a lip-sync.
I hope we'd all be fine with a line up of female models being used to play match-the-underwear. I know there's something about knowing exploitation, but still. Just because we're redressing the gender balance after decades of exploitation, I'm not sure that we shouldn't be aiming to be better all round.
Whilst I'm enjoying this season as a return to form after All Stars, and Ru's interest seems reenergised rather than phoned in, I don't especially rate any of the queens as winner material, and that's a real shame by this point. "Make a bad show from this bad script" challenges are always my least favourite - and nothing beats Snatch Game - but this still seemed like a real disappointment after the Cher Rusical triumph of last week.