Drag Race RuCap: “Girl Groups”

For the next few months, Nick Taylor and Cláudio Alves will be following and recapping RuPaul’s Drag Race season sixteen…

Nymphia Wind introduces the latest innovation in Vajazzling.

CLÁUDIO: Welcome to another week of the Plane Jane show, where one of the most forced villains in Drag Race herstory continues to dominate the edit to such a degree it’s impossible to imagine the season without her. I’m almost certain she’ll make it to the finale, if nothing else, because the other candidate for season protagonist was just given the boot. Apologies, dear reader, for my grumpiness. I had high expectations for the episode airing on the franchise’s fifteenth anniversary, but what I got was pure disappointment. Thank heavens for the Banana Buddhah amid it all - vote yellow!

NICK: Plane’s trying so hard, and I’m very annoyed at how well it seems to be working. Frankly, I’m even more baffled at every decision that went into this week’s elimination . . . . 

As with last week, I was having a lot of fun with this episode, and the maxi challenge winner made me more confident than I should have in how the rest of the night would go. But damn did the judging behind putting one queen in the bottom seem like an enormous stretch. What the fuck?

Okay, before we bitch too much, let’s start from the top. The queens regroup in the werkroom after Mirage’s elimination. Eyes are still red from crying, and everyone gives her a proper eulogy before Geneva Karr erases her lipstick message from the mirror. The fact that we don’t immediately get a cutaway of Geneva expressing some kind of insecurity about no one being super happy she’s still there is enough to inform us this episode will not be about her.

Instead, we get a real moment to celebrate Plasma’s win, at least until sad, bald Q starts shedding a tear about being trapped in second place for the third week in a row. Everyone just stares at her, unsure how to intercede or respond to Q’s sincere, albeit narcissistic (tone deaf, even?) laments about feeling like she’s still fighting to prove herself despite getting on Drag Race. Only Plane Jane, challenge winner and immunity potion holder, is brave enough to say Q shouldn’t feel so bad about placing high. Plane didn’t win and she’s not crying about it.

CLÁUDIO: Plane is rude as all hell, but not necessarily wrong. She’s not good, she’s not nice, she’s just right. Sadly, she won’t vanish into the netherworld after a flurry of misplaced beans. More’s the pity.

Amanda gets to commiserate with the Bostonian’s latest target, establishing that, unlike Geneva, this episode will be about her. Gird your loins, people; it’s going to be a bumpy ride.

Next morning, the Meating vs. Jane tension still dominates the chit-chatter until RuPaul shows up with a silly mini-challenge to lighten the mood. Our beloved queens must get dolled up in quick drag, come up with a title and pitch for their memoirs. It’s an old-fashioned good time, reminiscent of early seasons, with a hot piece of beefcake as the “photographer.” They all look ridiculous, apart from Morphine who’s four-fiftths into a full beat, and every book cover is a hoot. In such cases, the winner feels arbitrary, but I can’t complain about Sapphira’s victory. I might have chosen Amanda or Q, though. What about you?

NICK: Sapphira’s win is fully deserving, though I agree Amanda would’ve been my runner-up, and basically everyone served. Ru then announces this week’s maxi challenge will be girl groups, with each team required to write lyrics, record them, and choreograph a dance routine to a different song from “Black Butta”, Ru’s newest album. The queens will be split into three teams, with mini-challenge winner Sapphira chosen as captain alongside last week’s maxi-challenge winner Plasma and lip sync survivor Geneva Karr. Ultimately, the three teams, listed in the order they were selected, are;

• Team Sapphira: Dawn, Q, Morphine Love Dion
• Team Plasma: Amanda Tori Meating, Xunami Muse, Plane Jane
• Team Geneva: Mhi’ya Iman Le’Paige, Nymphia Wind, Mirage

Geneva’s group, composed entirely of the season’s smallest personalities, is immediately pegged by the other teams as the runt of the litter. Megami is upset at being picked last, something that’s been happening to her all her life, except for the times she’s never been picked. Even so, she’s determined to channel this energy into killing the challenge, and unlike Q’s moaning about having to fight all her life, Megami’s determination means more from a queen who hasn’t been doing as well in the competition.

The Amanda vs Plane tension is still very present on Team Plasma, though for the most part it feels like Amanda is able to successfully keep swatting the bitch away while they work. Amanda, in fact, puts a lot of the choreography together, reading more as captain than Plasma ever does. Team Sapphira seems set up for smooth sailing, with their leader’s own experience in a girl group providing a steady hand. Morphine gets a lot of talking head duty while the teams assemble their sets, delivering what might be the best line of the episode when she mutters “the gringos are fighting!” in Spanish during one of Amanda and Plane’s spats. I still don’t quite love Morphine as a competitor, but if she’s gonna keep being this funny they need to keep her as long as possible. We’ve already lost too much personality from this cast.

CLÁUDIO: Why Plasma would choose to pair Amanda and Plane on the same team is beyond me. Such a bad decision could have set up a path to the bottom.

For now, we see writing sessions and dance rehearsals - shockingly, no footage of their recording work - and you’re right that Morphine’s a delightful narrator. However, it must be said that the hair growth between confessionals reveals how much the editors are making a collage of reactions that might be otherwise unrelated. Still, it’s good storytelling, hyping Team Sapphira and Plasma’s confidence, while Geneva’s girls are dismissed as bottom fodder. It’s the perfect underdog narrative, intensified by Nymphia’s weaponized kookiness. Even her teammates seem predisposed to think her a feckless clown until she takes charge of the rehearsal, revealing that, like Sapphira, our Queen of Yellow has girl group experience. More specifically, she’s a K-Pop girlie, and she’s here to kill the challenge, unhinge her jaw and eat it whole.

Indeed, Team Geneva - aka “Thicc & Stick” - is the only group functioning smoothly as a team, each member contributing to the final triumph. On social media, Megami revealed how the lyrics were a collective effort, the looks, the choreo, all their work pulling from each queen’s strong suits. Those other bitches have no idea what’s coming their way, even when signs of trouble appear, like Xunami’s inability to work with Plasma’s leadership or Q’s stiffness. Regarding the latter, Nymphia sums it up nicely: “I feel like Q can finally feel what it’s like to be in the bottom. She doesn’t have to feel so sad about being in the top so many weeks.”

NICK: Nymphia is a Swiss army queen, displaying new talents like “throwing shade” and “dancing” left and right. Q, on the other hand, is flailing badly, and before the challenge properly starts, she decides to talk to Plane about the comment she made about Q’s sulking. Plane simply cannot give a convincing apology, and Q doesn’t walk away from their talk with renewed feelings of warmth and trust.

The more noteworthy parts of this interaction actually have nothing to do with Q. As is the routine, Plane physically cannot stop herself from throwing a stray at Amanda, who instantly bites back, asking what the fuck Plane’s beef is. Rather than answering, Plane says she’s not talking to Amanda and finally gives Q her full attention, and Amanda decides to back off. After this, Sapphira steps in, gently but firmly telling Plane she needs to find a way to express her truth without pissing people off. Plane is the only one rocking the boat this badly, and Sapphira’s maternal instincts cannot help but tell this bitch to calm down before she starts punching above her weight class. Do you think she’ll heed this advice? I don’t. 

This is not an organic break in our RuCap at all, but on the subject of Amanda Tori Meating: we here at “Cláudio and Nick Hog the Mic”, a non-commercial share-alike 4.0 subsidiary of The Film Experience, are very fucking happy for Miss Meating for coming out as trans last week. As if I couldn’t love this queen enough. She’s gonna be serving so much cunt at the reunion, I can’t wait. Fuck yeah! Anyways, that’s the episode.

CLÁUDIO: What do you mean “that’s the episode?” Don’t go away! There’s still a lot to talk about!! Come back!!!

Moving on, right after those mirror moments, it’s time to hit the main stage, where Ru, Michelle, Goddess TS Madison, and the Swedish duo Icona Pop are waiting for the queen’s performances. First up, Team Sapphira aka “Q.D.S.M.” is here to perform “Star Baby,” and the first thing I noticed is that they do not look or sound like a girl group. Sonically, they’re all very similar in their approach, taking to the challenge as a bitchtrack type of deal. At the same time, their visual presentation is so disconnected, you would think this was a finale RuMix where everyone is trying to stand out individually and make a case for the crown. Morphine’s fine and sexy, Q is stiff and pedestrian, Sapphira serves star power, and Dawn has personality for days. Judging by TS Madison’s face, the Goddess is unimpressed. 

NICK: You’re right about this looking and sounding more like a finale track, though even on those terms Q is pretty disastrous. Had she won immunity I have no doubt she’d have used it tonight. Everyone else is good, but again, they’re wildly dissonant from each other.

Team Plasma aka “Lovah Girls” is up next, performing “Courage to Love”. They’re slightly more color coordinated, with everyone wearing some amount of black and pink, but again, the outfits don’t really have any symmetry. Plasma and Amanda are the only two whose verses seem written for this specific song, going all out on self-love and the power to believe in yourself. Plasma’s singing voice and Amanda’s exuberant movements sell the number superbly. Xunami and Plane both go the route of RuMix verses, to much lesser effect. As with her talent show number, Xunami has minimal stage presence, only now other queens are onstage to overshadow her. I let out a lone cackle at one of Plane’s lyrics at the same time as Dawn, but I would like to know if she has anything in her toolbelt besides her bimbo schtick. I’m reminded of your complaints towards Spice during the Golden Girl Group challenge, where your biggest criticism was that she failed to make her persona fit into the prompt. 

CLÁUDIO: Honestly, I thought Amanda did the best out of this quartet, even if her wig kept hitting her in the face. I didn’t even notice her padding, because, in group shots, my eyes kept being drawn to Plane’s jaundiced legs. How can her drag be so much about nakedness, yet she couldn’t match her skin tones if her life depended on it? Plasma’s fine, but Xunami is a beautiful non-entity. Thank you, next.

“Thicc & Stick” is the last group, performing “ASMR Lover” in coordinated black and banana yellow. Mhi’ya opens with a dance-heavy segment, highlighting her singular talent for stunts and flips, while the other girls offer backup vocals for her to interact with - something no other group thought of doing. Geneva surprises with a fierce bitchtrack-like sound, followed by Megami switching things up with a winking hommage to Canada’s rapstress extraordinaire - Lemon. Finally, Nymphia is the closer, doing the most pop star-esque choreo while serving a cocktail of humor and CUNT. She promises to make us banana fever believers and that she does.

NICK: They’re unquestionably the best team. All of the razzing they got for their simple choreography and their introverted personas, yet “Thicc & Stick” does the best job of highlighting each member’s uniqueness while moving, looking, and sounding like an actual group. The backup vocals are even better for being whispered, leaning into the ASMR-stylings of the song. I’ve talked to a few folks who solely credit Nymphia for their success, and as much as her star power elevates the team, concluding the challenge on its highest note, it’s clear Geneva, Megami, and Mhi’ya are putting their whole pussies into this performance. The other queens are visibly impressed, even rattled, once the song ends, and they’re the only team who gets an insert shot of RuPaul lipsyncing to their song. They’ve got it in the bag.

After this; we move on to the runway portion of the evening. Category is: Faster Pussycat! Wig! Wig!, and where is Monet X Change to judge the runway? Scandalous. Anyways, onto the girls.

First up is Morphine Love Dion, rocking a red wig with stoned edges and a leather dress styled like Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman. I love her silhouette - a gigantic, heart-shaped hip situation curving into a mermaid’s tail, and the bloody, bedazzled scratch marks on her cheeks give it a nice pop. Hands down the best she’s looked on the runway so far, to include that fucking mug. You seeing this? Stamped to perfection.

CLÁUDIO: I’m not sure I’d recommend such an exaggerated skirt silhouette to a queen on the short side. I have other nitpicks like the “stitches” being painted rather than three-dimensional and that awkward insert of black mesh on the arms. Still, she looks good.

The judges were falling over themselves to praise Q’s runway, but I don’t see what’s so special about it. Instead of committing to an armored Joan of Arc look or an Old Hollywood Marcel-waved hommage, she searched for a middle ground without much success. It looks half-assed, especially when compared to similar outfits in the Drag Race canon. Remember Juriji’s winged fantasy in España 2? That was stunning. This is middling.

NICK: Even if Q’s other runways weren’t so astonishing, this one is definitely the least impressive she’s showcased so far. I like the movement of her sleeves and her cape, but it looks kinda cheap? Hilarious how she’s the one flaunting her ass on the runway rather than Morphine.

Sapphira’s up next, doing an absolutely divine bit by really leaning on the “Pussycat” part of the wig. She comes out with a powder blue dress carved in clean, villainous lines. The accentuated shoulders, the sleeves transforming into the cape, and then BAM. Kitty cat. Doctor Evil realness, sold with hysterical panache. Her wig is a domesticated long hair, with snow white fur and the most beautiful eyes, placed backwards so Sapphira walks her pussycat into the club butthole first. I could not stop screaming at her runway.

CLÁUDIO: Brilliant idea, it’s just a pity the pussy got stained by the makeup. As ever, she knows how to balance grand dame imperiousness with her silly side.

Now, does Dawn’s turret-topped bowl-cut count as a pussycat wig? She keeps coming close to skirting the runway prompt altogether while going full throttle into her aesthetic. I’ll say this: the outfit is tremendously fun, and I’m sure that, by the end, we’ll get to appreciate the sum total of her runways as a cohesive fashion collection. Hope she kept a wedding dress for last, just to keep with tradition. 

NICK: I appreciate the judges asking Dawn to stay a little closer to the prompts, though Michelle’s comment about less elf ears going forward is not how I’d drive that idea home. I don’t want to overlook that criticism, as it’s the second week in a row we’re saying it, but unlike her Cher runway, this is absolutely stunning. Can’t wait to see more of her.

Plasma’s next, also presenting a significant level up from last week’s runway. The makeup is divine, as is the peppering of baby blue amongst so much white and gold. The winged headphones alone are worth their weight in spray-painted gold. Admittedly, I got more Pit than Hermes from her runway, but maybe that’s me. If nothing else, Plasma’s performance this week has solidified her as a bitch to beat, rather than an uneven but entertaining broad who had a good week. 

CLÁUDIO: I enjoy the proportions of this look, its style and irreverence, though the frock’s finer details get lost in wide shot. The figurative appliqués look more like piss-yellow smudges when she’s moving around, and the way the golds are mismatched doesn’t help. While you love her mug, I’d like to see her try to differentiate her nose contour from the brows further. Again, it looks fine in close-up, but when you get further away, it’s like she’s got a brown “Y” stamped smack center on her face.

Next comes Amanda Tori Meating and I won’t lie - this needed fine-tuning. However, I don’t think it’s as far-fetched an idea as the judges made it out to be. She’s dressed as a nest of blue robin eggs - though the shade is wrong - serving Exeggcute realness if those bitches were actual eggs rather than egg-shaped coconut seeds. 

NICK: Would it be better if the extra heads weren’t blue? Or if Amanda didn’t have the five-o’-clock shadow? Either way, it’s a fun idea, and she’s having a hell of a good time strutting herself down the runway. The nest around her head is a hoot. A chirp? Even if I’m not sure Amanda explained it well when the judges asked her, it’s baffling that this concept was so difficult for them to wrap their heads around.

Xunami Muse is next, rocking a glam matador outfit with a sharp black wig. Love the rainbow pattern at the edge of the jacket, and the white fur is an elegant replacement for the usual muleta. I still want more from Xunami in the maxi challenges, but her runways have been consistently enjoyable. 

CLÁUDIO: Don’t take this the wrong way, but this look reminds me of a different time in Drag Race, when styling was an important skill and having designer parade floats prepared for each episode’s theme wasn’t standard. She’s serving early-season elegance (complimentary) with an androgynous twist that almost makes one think of Raja circa 2011. She looks hot and, sometimes, that’s enough.

Fair is fair: this is a good look from Plane Jane, riffing on the vacuum bed play in some BDSM circles. And she fixed her mismatching issues by covering nearly every inch of skin with latex, whether in fetish black or nude. My one complaint is that the wig comes off as a distracting afterthought. 

NICK: The wig absolutely comes off as an afterthought, which is sort of funny given how much the outfit itself is. Was there not a different category she could have saved this for? Still, she looks good!

Geneva Karr, however, does not look good. For the third week in a row she’s arguably wearing the worst runway. The colored leopard print looks like something happened to her dress in the wash, and that dress already looks asymmetrical and messy.

CLÁUDIO: I am confusion. The head’s giving Party City flapper, and then there’s a whole sheer bodysuit with feathered ankles. Then she thought it a good idea to top it all with a frisky black frock Frankenstein-stitched to a Lisa Frank fantasy. Just… why?

By comparison, the abject simplicity of Mhi'ya Iman LePaige is preferable. It’s a perfectly fine performance getup, mayhap for a Beyoncé or Lady Gaga night at the local bar, the sort of thing that looks pedestrian on the Drag Race runway but is otherwise inoffensive. On an added note that I hope doesn’t sound too bitchy - we short-necked folk should steer clear of long dangly earrings like these.

NICK: It’s wild how three outta four members of the best girl group had runways bad/mediocre enough to conceivably land them in the bottom. Offensive is the wrong word, but the angles and shapes here are all off.

Megami, again, comes down the runway with an idea I kinda like executed in a way I want way more from. In motion, I enjoyed her look, but these stills are not flattering, even as I admire her willingness to show her body and the Hot Topic purple of the wig.

CLÁUDIO: I feel like coming to Megami’s defense. We rarely see a big girl so boldly displaying her body on the runway, and she deserves kudos for that if nothing else. But I also think the look has more to it than that. Playing on the idea of a pixie cut, she devised a fun pun twisted with punk irreverence and a Deena Jones approach to wig styling. The bruises and tattoos make for an exciting contrast with the dainty lace and fairy fantasy, weaponizing her default somberness to read more edgy than Eeyore-y.

Like an Anna May Wong doll dipped in scarlet sparkle, Nymphia Wind exemplifies the idea of “save the best for last.” At first, it looks like a standard take on the cheongsam, split to the armpit for extra salaciousness, with matching accessories in lucky red. But then, she takes the hat off, exposing a wig styled like a resting kitty, only to show a cap-like wig made of sculpted curls underneath. When you think it’s over, the bitch goes bald, RuVealing bedazzled genitalia on the back of her head. And, of course, she fingers her glitter clit.

NICK: She’s wearing a cat on her head, Sapphira’s wearing a cat on her head . . . . just give them both the crown now. Every single reveal is stylish and funny. The different fabrics and textures on each part of her outfit are eye-catching on their own, and it all adds up to a complete look. Love love love.

After this, the queens are assembled on the main stage. Ru announces that all four members of “Thicc & Stick” have won the challenge, and will be splitting the $5000 prize. I am so thrilled for this team, all of whom nailed the challenge to a T, and I’m trying to be thrilled enough to retroactively convince Ru to give wins to more group challenges like the Proportionizing trio from season 10. In no way do I think this means Geneva is suddenly a queen to watch out for, but I’m happy to see Nymphia rack up a second win alongside three queens who many viewers (including myself) probably did not expect to ever see win a challenge.

The winning team leaves the stage, and the remaining queens are told they are all up for elimination. Even so, the judge’s comments leave no mystery about the bottom two: Q is roundly criticized for her stiff moments and shitty bodysuit in the challenge, while the judges criticize everything about Amanda’s runway and padding while giving perfunctory praise for her performance. I am amazed the hammer comes down so hard on Amanda, especially since the edit makes it seem like the judges don’t ask who choreographed the sets, who wrote the lyrics, what did the captain do, typical questions for these sorts of challenges that can really swing the needle on who they put up for elimination. Would choreographing her team’s set have saved Amanda from the bottom? I think it should have! Especially when Xunami was so dull.

CLÁUDIO: Winners aside, this judging was a mess, top to bottom. I’m almost relieved they had the bravery to throw Q into the bottom two, even if, in the end, it was just a way to expedite Amanda’s elimination. The way Plane Jane hasn’t yet received a single negative critique is driving me up the wall - even Nymphia got more notes when she won the Ball!

After the judges have their say, Mama Ru asks the terrible question: “Who should go home and why?” It feels awfully early for it, but here we are. Sapphira picks Amanda, justifying her choice by saying Drag Race is not a place to grow, which makes no sense to me. Tamar, have you ever watched the show? The queen who grows, adapts to the competition and evolves their drag throughout the season has been a mainstay narrative since the early days, giving us finalists like Crystal Methyd and winners like Jinkx Monsoon. At least Morphine blames it all on the runway when saying Amanda’s name. Q is shadier, managing to go with two queens when only asked for one - Xunami and Amanda. 

Miss Meating’s bestie, Dawn, goes with Q as expected. So does Plasma, but the BFA bitch bases it solely on critiques, while our elvish twink claims to want Q out since she’s her biggest competition. Amanda and Xunami go with Q, as well, but Plane Jane can’t let go of any opportunity to shit all over her girl group partner, so that’s another vote for Amanda. 

NICK: I am shocked we got this question so early, which the show used to do on occasion. Wouldn’t  it have been fun to hear what the queens would have said if they were asked before critiques were delivered? Q being the only one to name Xunami is another curveball - the judges really loved her look, but it feels like a bigger issue that she got swallowed up by her team as badly as Q did.

In the end, Amanda and Q are asked to lip sync for their lives. Prior to tonight, they were asked to prepare a lip sync to Icona Pop’s “Emergency”, and it is something. Amanda dances up a storm, keeping up with the song’s high energy without being repetitive or relentless. Is Q trying to play her stiffness for comedy? Sometimes it looks that way,  like when she’s whistling at the end, but that crawling backward on the floor bit . . . . diva, no. There’s perhaps more modulations to Q’s efforts, but for my money Amanda shows her up pretty well.

Unfortunately, this isn’t Naomi Smalls annihilating Acid Betty, and Q is saved to live out her bridesmaid fantasy for another week. I am devastated - Amanda’s a complete ray of light in the werkroom, glimpsing into the camera whenever she’s fed up with some bullshit like she knows the audience is on her side and is fed up with the bullshit just as much as she is. We’ve lost another big personality with a lot of rough edges, and I am very sad we won’t get to see her skills grow the rest of the season. Even if I don’t think Amanda would’ve won the season, the way cutting out Q now would be removing a frontrunner absurdly early, she’s the queen I’m most besotted with, and I’m going to miss her.

CLÁUDIO: So will I, even if I’m not nearly as besotted by Miss Meating as you are. And I will go even further, not mincing words: Amanda won that lipsync. Rigga Morris and all that, going forward, season sixteen will be a little less enjoyable to watch without her presence. For what it’s worth, Ru does let her go with a beautiful send-off and grace. Paraphrasing our host, meeting Amanda wasn’t just mandatory, it has been a joy.

Next week, we’re getting another design challenge, so Q will probably have a nice rebound from this bottom placement. Only, there’s a twist. The queens will be creating a look for themselves and a matching doll. I can’t wait to see these OOAK creations.

Previous RuCaps: 

• Episode 1: “Rate-a-Queen”
• Episode 2: "Queen Choice Awards"
• Episode 3: "The Mother of All Balls"
• Episode 4: "RDR Live!"

Comments

[MJC]

Honestly, I love Plane's cuntiness. It's fun. She's great and I adore her.

I liked Amanda, but girl was too sophmoric.

I was over Morphine when she stepped into the room. Next!

Nymphia is the standout. Humour, skill, and class.

[DK]

Pssst. Just a suggestion from the peanut gallery—more “What’s on your cinematic mind?” or “What’d you see this weekend?” (even without box office analysis) posts would do gangbusters with us commenters. You can literally just post a pic of Michelle Pfeiffer under the headline “discuss” and we’ll eat it up. Appreciate the hard work keeping TFE alive always!

[nore]

I know it makes sense because Q is the more polished queen and more talented seamstress (and the judges want to see the outfits she has in store), but based purely on the lip sync, Amanda was ROBBED. Great episode overall though - I had an absolute blast beginning to end.

DK-agreed!

[alexdounce]

I wonder how much the season would actually miss out on by having a contestant like Q be out this early.

I'm pretty confident Q isn't winning (I'm not even certain she's a finalist) so my chaotic side is like sure, why not. In my alternate timeline I do think it'd make for quite a moment of television and raise the stakes to have her out. She was not only clearly the worst in the challenge but also in the lip-sync! Two strikes in one episode. Maybe if it was 1-2 episodes down the line and not the third elimination. Some drag race seasons have lost major contenders early on and not lost the punch of the season, while adding a sense of danger to the whole season (Asttina in UK2, Lady Boom Boom in Canada S3, etc.).

Sad for Amanda as she made for a great personality. But her drag needed a lot of work still. And I admit I'm not as broken over her bottom placement since I think other than Q most of them did well enough. Amanda and Geneva rank last in the runway, and when you consider Geneva's fine if weakest in her group performance, I do think ultimately her bottom placement is fair.