NICK TAYLOR: Well girl, it finally happened: Drag Race did a Golden Girls themed challenge! The Girl Group challenge - an infrequently repeated challenge that’s more of a fixture on All-Stars and the international spin-offs than the main stage - is the Golden Girls Group this year. It’s also the first challenge of season 15 where I find myself out of step with the judge’s decision-making on several fronts, even if I see why they made their choices. What do you think of the girl group challenge historically, and how does that stack up with today’s episode?
CLÁUDIO ALVES: I really love the girl group episodes, especially on international seasons. If you asked me to replace a mainstay maxi challenge, I’d probably erase the obligatory makeover/family resemblance nonsense with this musical trial. However, I can’t quite say “Old Friends Gold” ranks high amid its girl group sisters. Part of it is the rushed edit, but another big factor is, as you say, the judging. The judges and I were watching two different performances this week...
Before we get to that disagreement business, however, maybe we should consider all that happens prior to the panel’s ruling. Indeed, from a storyline perspective, this was a strong chapter that made it feel as if the filler is gone and the competition is finally, truly, on.
NICK: I guess we probably should start at the beginning! The girls reconvene after Amethyst’s elimination, and with almost no screentime for her heartfelt mirror message goodbye. Salina EsTitties, fresh off her first lip sync, vows the experience has lit a new fire under her ass. Miss EsTitties is hungry for a win. Meanwhile, the usual second place pow-wow is broken up by Mistress saying she would have put Malaysia in the bottom for her look. It’s the first real spark of animosity amongst the queens - give or take the trials Sugar and Spice endured just to be tolerated - and Malaysia takes this read personally.
The next day, Ru introduces the newest challenges. The twelve queens will be split into three groups of four, each representing their own genre of music (Country, Heavy Metal, and Hip-Hop) with the goal of writing and choreographing a set as older women. The queens pick their teams and are tasked to fight it out for which genre they want. Before decision-making starts, the queens also get a quick hello from The Old Gays, strutting into the Werkroom wearing only the pit crew’s finest thongs, pink sandals, and great big smiles.
CLÁUDIO: While I wish we had more time with the Old Gays - the poor men were all oiled up for a ‘blink and you’ll miss it’ cameo - one can’t fault the Drag Race editors for leaning on the drama the queens are serving. Soon, every person in the room realizes Hip-Hop and Heavy Metal represent the biggest contrasts between the musical genre and the aged up cast, with two teams pouncing on the latter. Luxx and Mistress are on full brat mode, acting as if everything is decided the minute they make up their mind and that Metal belongs to them. Mother Colby isn’t putting up with the infantile shit, however, and neither is Malaysia. In the end, the groups pick their music out of a hat, with Sasha triumphing over the children. The final groups are:
- Country - Luxx Noir London, Marcia Marcia Marcia, Mistress Isabelle Brooks, and Salina EsTitties.
- Heavy Metal - Aura Mayari, Malaysia Babydoll Foxx, Sasha Colby, and Spice.
- Hip-Hop - Anetra, Jax, Loosey LaDuca, and Robin Fierce.
What did you think of the drama? I found it delicious, but I can see why some would be annoyed.
NICK: It’s good drama! I personally can’t stand the bratty attitudes Luxx and Mistress were using to hold court, stonewalling the other girls and trying to play it off as a joke soon as they lost. Very Heathers. But I can’t pretend their bitchiness wasn’t entertaining, especially since they were matching the complete intolerance of their brattiness from everyone else. It made for good TV, and it revealed a fierceness in Malaysia and Sasha that I hadn’t yet seen. All these queens know how to hold their own! I have no doubt they would still be arguing about it if it wasn’t for the hat trick.
So the groups march onwards into recording and choreographing their numbers. I did miss seeing them huddle up to figure out their concepts and write their lyrics. Watching a creative process come together is always so fun, but there’s still plenty of value in what we get to see. Almost every acquits themselves well in front of the mic - Aura and Robin are notably hesitant about pushing their voices and tripping over lyrics, and it’s not immediately clear if one or both of them are being set up for victory or having their demise foreshadowed. The choreography session doesn’t look quite as smooth for Team Hip Hop, who seem to do a lot of blocking and planning and not a lot of actual dancing. Team Country goes smoothly, while Team Heavy Metal quickly settle for a hand-banging, fist-bumping, crazy-posing approach that their competitors seem suspicious of but made perfect sense to me.
CLÁUDIO: I’m with you on that one. In any case, it’s remarkable how well the Country group adapts to their genre after all that nonsense, and how weirdly unprepared the Hip Hop crew reveal themselves to be. Also strange is how Loosey was the only queen who decided to do an old lady voice. Some, like Spice, basically just settled on doing their usual persona with painted on wrinkles.
Speaking of transformative cosmetics, while beating their mugs, the queens inevitably find themselves discussing heavy topics - the Tragedy Mirror™ is a staple of the show at this point. Sasha Colby takes the reins on the episode, leading a thoughtful conversation on the troubled history of LGBT+ rights in Hawaii, and her own identity as a trans woman. On the opposite end of the tonal spectrum, Mistress and Malaysia are proving themselves a chaotic duo, now arguing about eyeshadow and who’s copying who. I don’t know if this is producer-forced drama, but it makes me giggle.
NICK: Malaysia and Mistress’ little argument very much reads to me as two people throwing shade who have very different ideas about how seriously they want to come across. Malaysia doesn’t seem remotely happy to be around Mistress. Between Sasha Velour and Sasha Colby, the Sashas are doing a great job of providing thoughtful commentary on their own loved experience as queer people and the living history they’re part of. Beautiful stuff.
Then we shift to the runway, and RuPaul struts out in maybe the shortest skirt I’ve ever seen her wear. The whole garment looks so silver and shiny I nearly mistook it for chain mail, while the wig is a snow white cloud coiffed and pinned to her head. Our guest judge is Megan Statler, who is so earnestly happy to be there and who I’m not confident I’ve ever seen before seeing her judge. She quickly defined her tenure with some awkwardly delivered peanut gallery jokes - Loosey’s look of pained, almost sympathetic amusement at “Cruella de Chill” should have arguably scored her a win. And on we go to the challenge!
CLÁUDIO: First comes Country, delivering the episode’s most consistent team performance. All members shine individually, with Luxx’s vocals and Mistress’s sheer charisma marking them as the MVPs. Marcia tripled is good, as expected, capitalizing on that BFA and Broadway experience. Even Salina succeeds after much nervousness during recording and rehearsal. In the end, their resistance to the genre was much ado about nothing. Moreover, if the queens had been judged in groups, I’m quite certain the Country gals would have won the whole damned episode.
NICK: Consistency is the exact word I thought of watching them. As reticent as they were to take the genre, they fulfilled Country pretty effectively! They were probably the team that did the best job of delineating each of their characters.
That said, I think Heavy Metal would probably have won if it was a proper team challenge. Yes, heavy metal grannies is an easier joke than the warm sincerity of the previous group, but the sagging breast pieces, the black-on-black outfits, the mix of rockstar and arthritic physicality, and the committed performances all sell it. Then again, they arguably make a better collective impression than an individual one. Sasha Colby excels, reprising her neck-snap to open the show before screaming bigger and better than anyone else. Aura’s vocals sound a bit restrained, but her choreography and expressions do enough work to compensate. Malaysia does the damn thing with some great peacock feather accents on her bathrobe. Spice was a notable weak link, flubbing the lip sync repeatedly, but I thought she overwise did a solid job of keeping up with her teammates.
CLÁUDIO: Spice was so bad, she should have made her group ineligible for the win. At the same time, the real star of the hour belongs to the team and it would have been an injustice if she had been robbed of a victory because of a twink too stuck in their brand. I’m not talking about Aura, mind you, though we’ll get to the judges’ misjudgings soon enough.
After the rocker chicks, come our silver-haired Hip Hop vixens. By far, they’re the worst group, serving incoherent performance styles and sloppy lipsynching. Anetra skips around half of her words, while neither Robin or Jax seem interested in meeting the challenge’s Golden Girls specificity. Still, there’s grace to their moves and an athleticism that makes the choreo enjoyable. The best of the bunch is Loosey, switching between dotty grandma stylings and a rougher, more masculine directness. It’s a brilliant touch and should have made her the runner-up in a season bizarrely obsessed with asserting who deserves second place honors.
NICK: I so appreciate Loosey for being the only queen to do an old lady voice. She was the best of her team by a good margin, but I think the broader issue with the Hip Hop is that the queens seem out of sync with each other in concept and choreography. Everyone who wasn’t Loosey served Funky Grandma with very similar seasonings, and the team choreography wasn’t super synched. Anetra seemed the most lost; on the flip side, I thought this was a pretty decent showing for Robin. Her asking “did you eat today?” apropos of nothing before doing a split got the only laugh out of me from her team other than Loosey’s performance.
After the Hip Hop group presents, we move onto the runway! It’s Tie Dye to Die For, and the presentation - clocking in at barely over a fucking minute - is by far the most truncated edit in the whole season. It’s such a standout bad moment, with only the judge’s catcalls making the audio edit as the queens strut and twirl their outfits for less than ten seconds apiece. And the outfits were mostly really good! I hated this.
CLÁUDIO: Screencaping this mess of a runway presentation was hell, I can tell you that. Still, I did my best and hope the readers will forgive these subpar images.
;)
Anyway, first up is Anetra, whose style is starting to show its limits. Not everything needs to be a fierce showgirl-like bodysuit with nude illusion! Sure, this is a fine lewk, especially from the waist down. However, the top half feels unresolved.
NICK: This is mostly bringing back our critiques of her previous runway. I don’t like the patches over her chest, and the raggedness of the fabric just adds to the sense that this is incomplete.
;)
Next is Jax, serving another bodysuit with some patches of - denim? Are the curves of the fabric supposed to mimic tie-dye waviness? I’m not sure what material that is, and I can’t say I care for any of the color combinations or shapes going on. I like that it’s a turtleneck, but the orange clashes quite badly with the washed-out blue and green, and the blue patches look more like acid-washed jeans than tie dye. Love Jax, and at least she’s vaguely on prompt, but this was a wild misfire.
CLÁUDIO: I don’t think Jax’s performance warranted a bottom two placement, but this look might do the trick. Her worst of the season, so far.
;)
Loosey presents her usual ladylike drag which, in this case, results in an interesting juxtaposition. The ‘ladies who lunch’ vibe of the ensemble feel at odds with the textures and materials, evoking a tension that makes it all more interesting than it logically should. Also, the bitch is serving RuPaul realness with that wig.
NICK: I must give it to Megan Statler: Cruella de Chille made me giggle, even if she tripped over herself to say it. Her complete transformation of the tie-dye to a wintery aesthetic does a great job of flexing of her persona to fit the challenge requirement. Full points for Miss La Duca.
;)
After her is Robin, wearing my favorite outfit I’ve seen her in this whole season. She looks fucking good blonde, and the flowing pink tie-dye compliments her beautifully. Is it fundamentally a safe look? Sure, but it’s elegant and youthful in a way I hadn’t seen from her til now. I really thought it’d be enough to keep her safe.
CLÁUDIO: It’s a bit basic but her movements worked that skirt to its full potential, radiating elegance like a dancer turned model. Knowing this had to be altered in the hotel room because her designer delivered a subpar piece only makes the frock more impressive.
;)
Mistress Isabelle Brooks’s flouncing fabric reads more as brocade than tie-dye, but it looks magnificent nevertheless. As ever, she’s a vision of drag finesse, glowing with amethyst sparkle as if in accidental homage to her fallen sister. My only critique is that I would have liked more sparkle on the shoe, to better unify the outfit.
NICK: It’s a noteworthy critique, but scaled to everything that’s so perfect about this runway, it’s not too hard of a sticking point. The crystals popping out of her shoulder are probably my favorite touch, but she’s pulling so completely from my favorite parts of the color wheel that I’m just gagged. What an outfit.
;)
I also adore Luxx’s color scheme. The wig almost looks like it’s connected to the scarf (?), creating the illusion that she’s finally wearing a 40-inch wig. Compared to Anetra, Luxx showed how to strut a tie-dye design without using a ton of actual tie-dye and showing off a lot of skin.
CLÁUDIO: I’ve really come to appreciate how Luxx seems to create her runway looks around an idea of kinetic presentation, maybe more than any other queen in the franchise. In other words, the stills don’t do the fashions justice. You need to watch them fly over her body as she stomps the catwalk.
;)
Salina is next and, as ever, her good ideas are undercut by bad styling. While I appreciate how the wet hair seems to pick up on the undersea life vibe of the dress, it looks proportionally wrong, throwing the look into imbalance. Even so, I really love that weird costume, ripe to the point of rotten, fluttering on the edge of ugliness but somehow ending up on the side of beauty.
NICK: I really like this look! I agree completely on its rotted, undersea glamour, like she was the goddess of some coral reef who got her shit fucked by an oil spill. Love that she incorporated her wig into the tie-dye theme, too.
;)
Up next is Marcia Marcia Marcia, in a look I believe fully cost her a top placement for this episode. There’s an interesting idea here, in the tension of using tie-dye to dramatize a bloody nose, but the red barely passes for tie-dye. It’s a solid visual that misfires the runway theme almost completely. I don’t even like the nose things, and the hair clips by her temples just read as devil horns. At least she put on a drag brow faster than Derrick Berry, but I really do think my comment about her flexibility last week has been proven . . . . pre-emptive.
CLÁUDIO: Thanks, I hate it. Marcia is calcified in her own brand, unwilling to bend it any which way, regardless of the challenges demands. Her inflexibility is starting to get annoying, especially when paired with her Instagram clap back at fans, including polite ones who were defending her from harsher criticism. If you don’t think an artist’s work should ever be judged by others, why would you go on Drag Race?
;)
From vexing frustration to divine perfection, Sasha Colby continues to dazzle. Like Mistress, she renders tie-dye without actually using the textile technique, making herself look as if she’s in the process of drying, the tinctures still dripping around her. It’s a fun, slightly psychedelic twist on the prompt that worked like gangbusters for me. Is there anything Sasha can’t do?
NICK: It’s so gorgeous. I also love that, counter to basically everyone else, her bodysuit is skin tight, rather than having the flow and movement of the other queens. It’s smart, sexy, creative - in other words, perfect for Sasha.
;)
Next is Aura, rocking a black, rockstar outfit with chains across her nipples, cool black frames, and a palm tree on her head. It’s cool as fuck - Aura really does look good in black - and it feels of a piece with her Heavy Metal performance, like she’s strutting down the runway as the woman who’ll grow up to be that granny singing about the devil and accident pissing herself. A massive step up from last week, and the best she’s looked on this stage.
CLÁUDIO: I can’t quite believe myself, but I think Aura’s look is my favorite of the week. Bitch really stepped her pussy up. Also, I love your idea about this being the young version of her rockstar - makes total sense with my fantasy.
;)
Spice comes next, serving what she serves every week. Like with Marcia, I’m growing a bit tired of this twink’s refusal to transform her look past a very rigid aesthetic. It’s welll executed and I love the very literal take on butterfly clips, but it leaves a stale aftertaste.
NICK: Spice’s outfit was the look I had the hardest time remembering after the show. This feels so mean to say, but as much as I was hoping Spice’s specific tastes would shine without her sister to compare her to, I feel like I’m realizing how little flavor she has even by herself. I agree it’s not a bad look at all, but even her wig looks like a color-changed version of what she wore for the Beautiful Nightmare doll look.
;)
CLÁUDIO: Last, but not least, Malaysia Babydoll Foxx delivers a feather-trimmed gown that tries to negotiate between kitsch and pageant elegance. The result is odd, full of wacky proportions, but not necessarily bad. Indeed, the only element I think outright doesn’t work is the tight sleeve coming from underneath the blowsy bust.
NICK: As with Aura’s punk rock chic, Malaysia’s feathers read to me as a connective thread between the old lady character she did for the challenge. I would’ve liked different sleeves too, but the explicitly floral bent to the tie-dye is a nice touch. She’s got such a fun sense of fashion, and she knows how to own that stage.
Ru announces that although the queens competed as a team, they will be judged separately. Mistress Isabelle Brooks, Sasha Colby, and Aura Mayari are the tops of the week, while Anetra, Jax, and Robin Fierce are the bottoms. I support this top three, even if Loosey La Duca’s absence is very confusing if the queens were going to be taken individually - she’s the clear peak in her group, and the runway was fantastic. Aura Mayari is declared the winner, which I feel pretty good about even if Sasha would’ve been my pick. It’s a clear peak for Aura, one that I hope will lead to the hot streak we’ve been waiting for, and Sasha looked so goddamn happy for her. How long will it take til Mistress wins tho?
There’s no room for me to defend Anetra’s performance or my beloved Jax’s runway, but I thought Robin’s placement was a bit frustrating. Her critiques, mainly revolving around her playing way too safe, would’ve been ideally delivered two or three challenges ago when she had more time to use that advice. I wouldn’t have made her lipsync, and I know you would have swapped her out completely with someone else.
CLÁUDIO: I am baffled by Loosey’s absence from the top and think Sasha should have won over Aura. Moreover, I don’t think either Robin or Jax belonged in the bottom two. Spice and Anetra were the clear worst of the week in my eyes, and I’m getting seriously concerned by how hostile the panel feels toward Jax. Both of us obviously love her more than any of the regular judges, Ru included.
Perceived misjudgings aside, it’s hard to complain about the bottom placements when the queens delivered the best lipsync of the season. Honestly, looking at Robin’s performance, I wonder if she could have become an assassin had she been up for elimination before. Jax won, no doubt about that, but Miss Fierce put up a good fight to the sound of The Bangles’ “In Your Room.” What did you think of their battle?
NICK: I agree completely. My main impression of Robin was that we were losing out on a Trinity K Bonet type arc where a good lipsync awakens a queen’s untapped potential, which have been facilitated earlier if she had to lipsync against Princess Poppy for the second challenge. She delivered such an emotive, physically expressive performance - I do agree that Jax’s sunniness and acrobatic agility won, but this was close enough that I’ve gone back and forth when rewatching this lipsync. I’ll be happy to spend as much time with Jax as the judges will tolerate, but it’s a bummer to suddenly see so much promise in Robin as she sashays away.
The episode ends. Eleven queens remain, five of whom have challenge wins under the belt. Next week’s episode is another scripted acting challenge, with the teaser portending struggles for Aura. Who knows if this is a fake-out or not, but what’s your sense of these queens now that we’re approaching a more manageable number of competitors? I for one feel pretty excited about what they have in store for us going forward.
CLÁUDIO: I have high hopes and great expectations, as it feels like the filler has been mostly filtered out and what remains is a roster of promising queens. Storylines are consolidating, and hopefully the edit will be less frantic as fewer contestants remain. With 90-minute episodes coming back in March, I think we can look forward to the season getting better on its second half.
Previous RuCaps:
- Episodes 1 & 2: "One Night Only"
- Episode 3: "All Queens Go to Heaven"
- Episode 4: "Snatch Game"
- Episode 5: "House of Fashion"