Drag Race RuCap: “The Wicked Wiz of Oz: The Rusical!”

THE WIZARD OF OZ looks...different.

NICK TAYLOR: Can you believe our luck, going from a disappointingly mid Snatch Game to a snappy, entertainingly performed, bizarrely conceived Rusical? With a fabulous runway and a lip sync for your life where both queens are actively serving? That’s just about everything one could ask for on this show, with my one caveat being the least deserving finalist got the win this week. Even so, I loved this episode of Drag Race, which threw so many portents and standbys at me that I somehow convinced myself this episode’s somewhat inevitable elimination could surprise us with an unexpected victory. There’s so much drama, all of which is organically felt and most of which is seamlessly edited into the rhythms of the episode. Were you as big a fan of this episode as I was? 

CLÁUDIO ALVES: The only thing that would make it better would have been Onya messing up another girl’s outfit. But I guess we need to wait ‘till next week for that…

I’m kidding, of course. Indeed, Onya Nurve seems poised to win this whole damn thing, excelling at a variety of skills. The bitch has Charisma, Uniqueness, Nerve, and Talent to spare. Moreover, she knows it and isn’t afraid to let her sisters know. Right after Crystal Envy’s elimination - a great competitor whose absence makes her sisters grateful for Lana, who’s gonna get a fruit basket for her services per Lexi - our current frontrunner states it wasn’t hard to beat them all at Snatch Game. Miss Sparkles might have something to say about that, but most of this episode’s first scenes are about Suzie’s feelings about having failed at a challenge she thought she’d win. Kori’s over it, and, for once, I agree with Mrs. King-Kollins. And for those getting tired of my marital nicknames, Kori and Lydia are official, and even the edit is finally showing us some of that chemistry. They’re adorable.

 

NICK: They’re so adorable! Watching them be cute on social media as the season has aired is about as essential a supplement to the main show as Untucked and The Pit Stop have been. The next day in the werkroom is mostly devoted to the queens cooing at the power couple after Kori wraps herself around Lydia the second they get to the gossip table. May cuteness reign supreme! Actually, Onya is already reigning supreme, with no signs of stopping, so maybe the King-Kollins household can be Magic Grand Viziers. My dear, my dear.

After this sickening display of public affection, Ru waltzes in to announce this week’s maxi challenge will be the latest Rusical production to grace the LA stages: "The Wicked Wiz of Oz," where the denizens of Oz have gathered to present their case to an unseen benefactor on why they deserve to go to Oz. The queens are hyped as fuck. Ru’s love for The Wizard of Oz is an enticing double-edged sword: nail the challenge and gain his eternal adoration, or flop and have your ashes salted from this Earth. Costumes and wigs will be provided, but the queens will have to record the vocal track they’ll be lip-syncing to. Suzie and Onya both smell another opportunity to win a challenge, having both cut their teeth in professional theatre for years. Miss Toot is especially keen to redeem herself after last week’s misfire, though whether history will repeat itself is not yet clear. 

The queens sit through the pre-recorded album before fighting for roles. Jewels immediately clocks the structure as riffing on A Chorus Line, which is just bizarre to me. There’s such an easy structure to adapt for The Wizard of Oz. Why make it a revue? I don’t understand it one bit. What I do understand is that these bitches are ready to fight for the roles they want. None of the smooth sailing from RDR Live! - there are two big fights, and the whole cast is involved in both of them. Suzie, Sam, and Acacia all want Kansas Dorothy, the nominal lead of the piece who closes the show with a heartfelt ballad. Sam is quickly persuaded to change gears, recognizing that a different part would fit the judge’s mandate to see her loosen up.

But neither Acacia and Suzie budge. Miss Toot argues Kansas Dorothy falls too close to the kind of earnest performance that Acacia fumbled on the talent show, and she should try something outside her comfort zone like the Broadway-belting Green Witch, while Acacia is steadfast that this is a chance for her to shine in her own wheelhouse. As she says, she’s either winning or going home. The other queens agree with her, but more pointedly, they disagree with Suzie, seeing her advice as mind games against Acacia. Lexi also adamantly refuses to let Suzie give herself any kind of advantage after RDR Live!, and basically says as much to her face. So the Toot is booted from Kansas Dorothy, and has the Green Witch foisted on her. Suzie’s put too much of a target on her own back for me to feel bad about her being railroaded, but even if she was being a little sneak (and I don’t totally believe she was), everything she told Acacia was accurate. If Suzie’s done one thing right all competition, it’s showing versatility with her schtick without making a big deal of it.

 

CLÁUDIO: After Acacia vs Suzie, it’s time for Kori vs Jewels. These winless babes both want the Good Witch role and, like their sisters, neither is willing to budge. The King’s argument is that the part’s bootyliciousness fits her drag better than Miss Sparkles. After all, hasn’t Ru already complimented Kori’s figure? Her padding is the best thing the bitch has done all season long. But, after last week, Jewels is thirsty for a win and she rightfully sees the part for the showcase it is. And anyway, production is providing costumes - including a breastplate? - so Kori’s argument is immaterial. In the end, Lydia’s sister-wife backs down into the flying monkey roll that’ll have her share the stage with her best Judy, and Trinity’s granddaughter gets the last laugh: “I can a buy a body, you can’t buy comedy.” 

I’m surprised there wasn’t more fight over the Harlem Dorothy role when everything is said and done. As in RDR Live!, these girls are just handing Onya a perfect part practically bespoke to her talents and drag persona. They’re so busy bitching about Suzie that they’ve somehow missed the fact she’s not the frontrunner anymore. Onya is, and nobody’s in any state to oppose her when the gal excels at everything. I said earlier that she’s not afraid to let the other girls know she’s got the C.U.N.T. to be the last one standing, but her companions aren’t getting the message. At the very least, they’re not acting on it as much as one would expect from a bunch of crafty, messy, ambitious drag queens.

Before we get to the recording session, let’s go over the roles, shall we? 

Acacia as Kansas Dorothy
Arrietty as the Sacercrow
Lana as the Tinwoman
Lexi Love as the Lioness
Suzie as the Green Witch
Jewels as the Good Witch
Kori and Lydia as Flying Monkeys
Sam as a Cher-inspired Wicked Witch
Onya as Harlem Dorothy

Michelle Visage helps this musical ensemble to get the right vocals, even complementing Lana along the way and welcoming Luxx’s daughter to the competition. It only took eight episodes for her to arrive, but better late than never. Lydia does alright and Kori is very proud of her wife, but then it’s her turn to sing and… Well, my ears aren’t bleeding but it’s a close call.

NICK: It’s kinda funny no one pushed Kori to be purposefully atonal, as befitting of the A Chorus Line song she and Lydia are given to riff on. It’s more surprising they just let her sound bad in the final audio. They didn’t even autotune her, poor thing.

Kori is also the only sore spot in a pretty musically gifted cast. Pretty much everyone looks good in rehearsals, excluding Kori and Acacia, the latter seemingly falling into the exact trap Suzie predicted she would/cursed her into. Meanwhile, Onya is just tremendous in rehearsals. Michelle is nearly thrown from her chair by the power of Onya’s belting. Suzie can’t even be mad about being threatened by Onya, the bitch is simply too talented - not being threatened would be disrespectful. Sam goes big on the Cher impression, and Michelle nods sagely at this twink for following her advice.

More tension - and thus, more comedy - comes from rehearsing choreo with Jamal Sims. I’m convinced the funniest shade on each season of Drag Race comes from the peanut gallery of queens judging whichever poor soul is learning to dance. Arrietty, Lana, and Lexi refer to their little trio as “the Bottoms” because the fashion twinks keep lip syncing and Lexi’s very worried about her safe streak. It’s not a sex joke, y’all. Obviously. Kori and Lydia are once again a highlight while trying on their monkey moves, not least because Lydia takes to the choreo much faster than Kori. White girl’s got rhythm! Jewels and Onya struggle to pick up their moves as soon as Jamal puts them down. Where Jewels gets some breathing room on her cleavage-forward choreo, Jamal decides the best way to encourage Onya is to put a lot of pressure on her and really, truly emphasize about how important it is to him and Ru as human beings that she get this Diana Ross number down exactly right. Do you think someone will come to help her rehearse instead of psyching her out?

CLÁUDIO: Like Willam once said, they’re all bottoms. But crude jokes aside, the rehearsal segment was lots of fun, especially regarding Jewels’ turkey realness. But speaking of her bird-like moves, why did Jamal only bring up Onya’s struggles to get the choreo later in the deliberations but not Jewels’? It’s a very odd critique, anyway, but I guess we’ll talk about it later in the RuCap. 

For now, it’s time to beat mugs and paint on tin tones, lion whiskers, and green, green, green. And, apparently, share traumas about being fat in one’s youth because that’s the theme of this episode’s Mirror Moments. As someone who did grow up fat and never lost that weight, I empathize with Arrietty and Kori’s words about feeling rejected and looked down upon, about struggling to be confident and find themselves worthy. But I also wish they didn’t couch that journey in the “success story” of becoming thin, even describing their fatter selves as ugly, piggy, whatever. I don’t want to police how anyone expresses their own truth, but I can’t help but think of a queer youth watching this and getting sent the message that everything will be better when they get skinny, almost giving reason to those who ostracize and regard bigger bodies with disgust. Because, even though I doubt that’s what these queens meant, their edited words impart those ideas just the same. Apologies if I’m being too sensitive about this.

Our next Mirror Moment concerns Acacia, who shares her struggles with cystic fibrosis, a harrowing tale that goes back to her youth and paints a sad yet inspiring picture of perseverance. It’s rare to see a person so young talk so frankly about mortality, about being aware of it and living with its certainty close to one’s heart. It moves me a great deal. It also made it all but sure that we’d be seeing the last of Miss Forgot by the end of the episode. Rarely have the show’s editors been so blatant at prefiguring to the audience who will be eliminated.

NICK: The sheer bullet-train momentum of all these origin stories piling up on each other genuinely made me wonder if the edit was playing 4-D chess and she was going to win the whole Rusical. At least she can claim the supreme gay victory of winning the trauma dump circle jerk contest. I won’t say it makes sense, but Acacia feels like maybe the only queen this season who the show’s barely feigned any interest in. Queens with less personality have come into focus as real characters even with fewer episodes to their name, like our recently departed Crystal. My honest thought was we were gearing up to really spend more time with Acacia, and I ultimately don’t think we even get that.

From this series of fraught confessionals comes the "Wicked Wiz of Oz," and it’s pretty damn good! As a show, it’s much better paced than last year’s Sound of Music riff, and the songs are catchy and fun. Whatever the Drag Race songwriters were cooking between this and the “Bitch I’m a Drag Queen” verses, they better save that fucking recipe. Suzie Toot’s Green Witch is the platonic ideal for how best to start the show, with her big voice and smart asides. Jewels might be even better, serving such a endearing, bubbly caricature along with all that body-ody-ody. I can’t believe the nip slip wasn’t scripted, and she played every beat of it perfectly. 

The Bottoms are next, playing their parts uniformly well in maybe my favorite song of the show. Arrietty’s dancing suggests her stiffness in her lipsync wasn’t just nerves, but she’s still looser and funnier than I’ve ever seen her on the main stage. I don’t even have any caveats for Lana, whose physical fluidity is given fun contrast to the Tinwoman’s oily rigidity. I almost wish they’d switched roles, but they’re solid. Lexi takes top honors for mimicking Bert Lahr’s Cowardly Lion vibrato, and for being so affecting in the show’s worst costume. 

CLÁUDIO: Suzie was unsurprising yet professional, perfectly modulated with a great set of pipes that have obviously seen some theater training. Pity about those awful costumes they were provided - the discrepancy between the fits and the custom wigs was gigantic this time around, and especially bad when compared to the messier but more interesting fits the Drag Race Philippines wore for their own Ozian musical challenge. You know who surprised me? Jewels! Bitch was amazing, taking to the bawdy number with such gusto one can’t help but be charmed and laugh like loons. I also loved the harmonies of the Bottoms - it helps they’re riffing on one of A Chorus Line’s best and most iconic tunes - though I found myself more drawn to Arrietty. I think her stiffness was deliberate, no? It felt like a gesture toward the kinds of choreo the Scarecrow usually gets in productions of The Wiz. In any case, I really like her voice and it’s nice to see the season’s premier fashion queen do well in a performance challenge. Same goes for Lana, though she really hasn’t been doing well in anything, performance, sewing, whatever.

Next comes Sam as Cher’s character from The Witches of Eastwick. Well, it’s really just a basic drag parody of the Dark Lady, without much thought put into it. I had fun but can’t quite grasp the enthusiasm others showed for Miss Star’s performance. Her impersonation was good, though not Chad or even Kameron level, but I found the full-on singing bits needed a bit more of that Cher energy. Like, she sounds the part when talk-singing, but the more belting parts felt off to me. Still fun, and Ru was having a blast. Alas, I must also mention the costume was abysmal. Oh, but the dancers were super hot.

The less said about the Flying Monkeys, the better. They’re the only outright failure of this Rusical, though Lydia kind of delivers the best possible version of the concept they’ve been given. Kori is just a flop, however, seemingly having given up on the entire enterprise before she even started. It’s such an unenthusiastic performance that the comical contrast between the two monkeys just reads as two performers not meeting each other at the same wavelength or level. In other words, it detracts from the fun. 

NICK: Sam gets points for Going For It, albeit much more broadly than Jewels. I’d diagnose the problem with her performance being her choice to do the same Cher impression when she talks as when she sings. I did like the house on her wig, that was a fun bit of costuming. Otherwise, Megami’s cosplay last year absolutely clears this sad, sad outfit. I can’t imagine anyone cast as the monkeys winning this challenge, so within those confines, Lydia makes a very animated impression. She commits to the physicality even when she’s not front and center, making her one of the show’s best sight gags, and she doesn’t seem actively held back by Kori’s performance. Still, imagine if they were operating on the same level. Kori did not flop funny.

You know who doesn’t flop? Onya Nurve, who radiates joy like a sunbeam. She’s nailed the choreography since receiving Jamal’s ominous warning, and she sells her fabulous song with the biggest smile the main stage has ever seen. Even her run offstage registers as a character beat. As she did with Eddie Murphy last week, there’s a clear harnessing of Diana Ross’s energy that remains utterly in service to Onya’s own loose, exuberant spirit when she performs. I’d be interested to see her interpret sadness in a future challenge since it seems so far afield from her persona thus far. 

Acacia, on the other hand, is very acquainted with sadness. Apparently, this challenge fell on the one-year anniversary of her grandmother’s death, and those feelings shaped her take on Kansas Dorothy a great deal. Her ballad becomes mournful rather than melancholic or hopeful. Acacia doesn’t even smile during her performance. It’s a delicate, sad turn, and the judges seem moved without being entertained in the slightest, making it even more depressing in kind. The closing kick-line number almost salvages the mood. At least the queens and their Pit Crew backup dancers look good in emerald leotards.

CLÁUDIO: Onya’s performance is perfection, so what’s new? Seriously, hers is such a slamdunk take on Diana Ross’ Dorothy, I honestly think she’d do a better job in that Sidney Lumet movie than the Queen of Motown Records. It deserved a standing ovation. 

I wish I could say the same for Acacia, but, while her vocals are lovely, this was the wrong approach. Let’s be honest, the character of Cassie is a tough one in A Chorus Line, so this amalgamation of her, Diane from the same show, and Judy Garland’s Dorothy makes for a challenge and a half. The lyrics, too, with all their sense of yearning and loss, are antithetical to drag joy so I can’t entirely blame Acacia for failing at the gig. Because she sometimes gets the right tone, as with that plaintive “take me back to Oz.” It reminded me of nothing more than Kameron Michaels’ Breastworld flop, when it felt like we were watching a Ru Girl trying to deliver a straight-faced characterization from within a sketch that can’t sustain it. I’ve seen some people online speculate than any queen who landed this part would have been sent straight to the bottom, similar to Katya’s Princess Di from the AS2 Rusical. And while I get their point, I would argue someone like Anetra could have made this sing and taken the win as the episode’s emotional linchpin. 

Anyway, it’s time for the runway and, this week, category is "Shady Ladies,” for a parasol-themed show...

Suzie Toot is first on the runway with a Busby Berkeley-inspired number that could have come straight out of a Gold Diggers chorus line. I’m not the biggest fan of this sandy colors story though I’ve seen some people say she was trying to emulate sepia-toned footage. That doesn’t really make me like it more, but it does present a sense of purpose the ensemble is otherwise lacking. She looks good, though. Do we think this could have been a “Bathing Beauties” backup for the ball?

NICK: Ohhhh, I like that possibility. Agreed that the colors work against her here, falling into the Hormona Lisa trap of flattening herself visually when she should be popping off. But the garment looks well constructed, yeah?

Jewels Sparkles takes a more familiar route of the black widow in her funeral best, and she sells the drama fabulously. It’s a great contrast from her bawdiness in the challenge, and she plays it just as effectively. I love the asymmetrical bunching of fabric on the bodice, and how big the dress looks on her, as she stalks up and down the catwalk. It’s a great silhouette.

CLÁUDIO: I know this is a pet peeve of mine, but I don’t like that textile. All in all, it’s a pretty, if unexciting look. You’re right about the contrast to her main challenge performance, though. See, judges? Bitch has range. Now give her a win!

Arrietty looks fabulous, what a surprise. Not sure satin and velvet are my favorite combination, but there’s no denying the drama of this ensemble, which could have been something modeled by Marlene Dietrich in The Devil Was a Woman. Love how small the parasol looks next to her grandiose couture. 

NICK: Miss Arrietty looks divine, as always. I bet you could curl up in all the velvet to take a fabulous nap, once you’re done waving those humongous sleeves around. Isn’t it great not to hear dumb comments about her fawn makeup from the judges?

Lexi Love continues to catch me off guard with the severity of her serves. The parasol-as-hat is an inspired twist on the runway, so smoothly executed the chic cane almost feels like a bonus. There’s such great use of color to draw the eye to her hair, her mug, her big brass knockers with the nipples on them. And how gorgeous is the parasol itself? Each element is so simply designed, with further treasures to be found if you really look at the garment.

CLÁUDIO: I wasn’t expecting a Schiaparelli reference on the Drag Race runway, but I’m so happy to see it I could burst. Indeed, this is a good candidate for my favorite outfit of the entire season so far. Amazing, the best Lexi has ever looked on that catwalk and a glorious send-up of every brat who dares to call her auntie grandma.

Sam Star borrowed a dress from her mother and styled it with a matching parasol, plus some delicate butterflies flying through her signature wig. Am I getting a bit tired of that swoopy unit? Yes, I am, but one can’t deny how beautiful she looks in this ensemble. Also, that textile looks expensive as fuck. Collector Edition Barbie realness.

NICK: Sam looks expensive, I’ll give her that. The rigid professionalism the judges poked at last week could certainly apply to her business relationship with that wig. Her schtick works better for me when she’s being a little silly with it, so as good as she looks I’m not wildly excited by her blue butterflies.

If Sam is a Barbie, then Lydia is a proud Bratz doll. If Lexi has savvily and unconventionally used her parasol as a hat, Lydia hunted down and taxidermied a parasol into the odd design sitting on her noggin. Even if I question the execution of her runways, I continue to love the ideas Lydia brings to the main, how she blends very unusual shapes and lines with a pathological desire to show as much skin as she can manage within those designs. Hiding her eyes behind the hat is so sexy. 

CLÁUDIO: The hat is major, even if I can’t quite make heads or tails of it, but the dress is a big ol’ nothing. It’s a basic long-sleeved design with minimal shaping, relying entirely on the drama of that floral sheerness. And yet, I’m not mad at it, even if the black panty underneath and the black pumps contradict the oddity a tad. That pearl trim was unneeded on the chapeau.

Kori needs to get some fashion advice from her wife because this runway package isn’t giving. Nevertheless, this is a cute look, and the head-styling is rather lovely - great wig, a pity it wasn't glued down. She wins the prize for worst parasol, though that’s more of an umbrella with a sunshine satin lining haphazardly fixed to its bottom. Quite the coincidence that she planned a Dorothy look for the Rusical challenge runway.

NICK: It’s a great bit of serendipity. Kori looks good, the parasol looks bad, and I’m glad Ru shouted out how well the wig compliments her skin. Girl needed to hear something nice. Shame she couldn’t cram Lydia into her picnic basket for the bit.

From worst of the night to one of the very best, Onya Nurve continues to harness the very Sun itself. I’m just in awe of the sheer daffodil fabric, with such a captivating structure to keep it together and draw the eye all over her body. There’s such great symmetry to the cinched neck, the tight corset, the hard yellows of the garters, and the body of the garment just tightens and releases across her whole beautiful body. Her wig is fantastic. It’s like her Bathing Beauties look was reincarnated, stripped of its most matronly qualities and brought back as the MILF she was meant to be.

CLÁUDIO: She looks unique among the crowd, so she definitely deserves points for that. Not sure I love the balloon-like quality of those sheer shorts tucked into the boots, but the sleeves’s volume is to my liking. I know we’re not exactly judging the parasols out of context, but Onya’s got my favorite of the lot.

Acacia Forgot mentioned classic Dior as her primary source of inspiration for this lewk, but I’m not sure I see it. The bodice looks more saloon or can-can girl than midcentury high fashion, and the wig is very poodle couture. Nevertheless, I like it. The whole is better than its parts.

NICK: The wig is a phenomenal achievement. I’d be much higher on the overall outfit if there was more volume to the dress so we couldn’t really see the outline of her legs, but it’s a solid achievement nonetheless.

Lana Ja’Rae closes out the runway, serving her best look of the season by far. She takes the widow character farther than Jewels, elevating it with a demure pair of vampire fangs. I’m not sure the dress and parasol outserve Jewels, but it’s a very classical design executed to a T. The fit is right, the hair is superb, the cheekbones look even sharper than the canines. Lana looks like a mysterious out-of-towner ghosting into Acacia’s saloon. This might be my favorite runway category of the season yet.

CLÁUDIO: This is not Lana’s fault, but this new stage is really bad for all-black ensembles like this, eating up all the detail into a dark void. I confess I wanted a bit more opulence, perhaps a beaded or embroidered glove, some cascading lace, maybe more bling. That said, it’s a good runway offering and I appreciate Lana for stepping so far out of her comfort zone. Attagirl.

Still, that’s not enough to get Luxx’s daughter some good feedback from the judges. All the Bottoms are declared safe, as is Lydia, sent backstage to do some tomfoolery on Untucked - a breezy, fun episode after a couple of tense ones. This leaves Suzie, Jewels, Sam, and Onya in the top, while the low queens are just two, leaving us no doubt about who will be lip-syncing tonight. Not sure how fair that is to Kori and Acacia, while, at the same time, I can’t really object to any of the critiques they received. There were really only two options for the bottom after a smashing Rusical. Then again, someone might argue that Onya was low, which I find preposterous, though not entirely out of pocket, considering Jamal Sims’ critiques. 

Am I crazy, or were those comments insane? Onya struggled in rehearsal but so did Jewels. That’s what rehearsal is for! When it came time to perform, she was perfect, as all judges admit, even Sims. It felt like personal beef or the producers trying to knock the frontrunner down a peg, forced and nonsensical. In contrast, Sam was rewarded for responding well to the judges and producing team, loosening up and striking a charming rapport with this week’s extra special judge Adam Lambert. I don’t want to be dismissive, but I feel like Miss Star earned her second win of the season during critiques rather than the challenge, and I don’t like that, as much as I understand these are standard reality TV strategies. So, for the first time this year, I can’t cosign on the judges’ pick. To me, this was between Jewels and Onya (again), and even Suzie would have made a better victor. What do you think?

NICK: Agreed agreed agreed. Onya’s negative critiques are insane - how many queens have won a challenge with “struggled in rehearsals” as a key part of their narrative!!

Sam’s win feels more like rewarding a frontrunner for listening to critiques and making herself more palatable to the winner’s circle. The decision to reward her also reminds me of Q winning the Neo-Gothic runway last year, insofar as it primarily resonates as the judges consecrating a favorite in the competition, at the cost of a queen with a similar talent pool who still hasn’t won a challenge. I feel bad for Jewels getting runner-up status for the third time now, without a win to show for a damn good run on Drag Race. Much like Dawn, I can’t help but take this loss as a sign that, whatever her talents, the judges just aren’t excited by Jewels enough to put her in the finale.

Kori and Acacia are somewhat inevitable as this week’s bottom two. They know it the second they’re told to stay onstage for critiques. I can’t think of who else could’ve bottomed - maybe Lydia, for the drama of it all? But this isn’t that episode, so instead Kori and Acacia duke it out to Adam Lambert’s “Wet Dream”, a kicky, sexy beat that’s even more welcome after two weeks of khia asylum pop. The music’s good, and the queens rise marvelously to the occasion. For me, this is the first lip sync of the season where both girls turn it out completely. Acacia’s mix of sultriness and camp fits the song nicely, though what the fuck was she doing taking her shoes off near the end?! She serves face and narrative so well that I initially took Kori’s athleticism for granted. She’s doing a whole cheer routine to get that dick, recovering quickly from her wig mishap and ending on a high note by taking tips from the crowd. It feels like we see Kori lip sync the lyrics less than we do Acacia, but on rewatch I kinda wonder if it’s because Miss Kollins-King was tearing it up during the instrumentals in a way her sister wasn’t able to match. Either way, it’s a fierce battle, and Kori lives to slay another day.

CLÁUDIO: Who are you calling Miss? Kori is wifed up already and you better put some respect on the Kollins-King household. But yes, she wins this one quite fairly, and prompts the most adorable confessional of the season as Lydia despairs that her beloved never listens to her, not gluing that unit tightly to her noggin. Honestly, is there a wig glue shortage? What’s with these girls losing their hair on stage? If not for Acacia’s inexplicable decision to take her shows off, I almost wonder if Ru wouldn’t have booted Kori to send a message like in season 4 or AS3. And I guess I’m saying this because I liked Acacia and felt for her as the one queen the editors just didn’t give a fuck about - she deserved better.

But of course, the producers wouldn’t allow that, and Mama Ru is part of that crowd. I’m telling it now. The next time Kori lands on the bottom, Lydia will eliminate her. There’s no way the showrunners can resist the prospect of pitting the lovebirds against each other. Get ready for some of the wackiest judging imaginable as they try to force the drama. In other words, I’m fearing for our girls next episode, when Betsey Johnson comes a-knocking with a themed design challenge in tow. Will Kori’s miniskirts be her downfall? Will the judges finally comment on Lydia’s craftiness and take issue with the mess? I think so. And maybe we’ll finally see Jewels nab a win, or Lexi, since the brand is so in line with her own style, or Arrietty because you can never count her out when fashion’s on the table. We’ll have to wait and see.

Previous RuCaps:

• Episode 1: “Squirrel Games”
• Episode 2: "Drag Queens Got Talent"
• Episode 3: "Monopulence!"
• Episode 4: "Bitch, I'm a Drag Queen!"
• Episode 5: "RDR Live!"
• Episode 6: "Let's Get Sea Sickening Ball"
• Episode 7: "Snatch Game"

Comments

[Philip H.]

For the second week in a row, I was rooting for Jewels and am bummed she didn't win.

I'm totally confused by the way they're pushing Sam other than her being Trinity's daughter. She is beyond boring to me. Winning for that? Absolutely not. She gave a safe performance. She shouldn't have even been in the top tbh.

I hate that I've been waiting for Acacia to go and the first episode I was endeared to her, she goes. I actually thought she gave a better lip sync. There was more nuance in the performance--Kori was actually doing way too much for me. It felt like a lot of athletics for the sake of doing more. I'm glad she was finally in the bottom though.

"I’m telling it now. The next time Kori lands on the bottom, Lydia will eliminate her."

^ Yup, totally. Honestly, it could've happened this episode if Acacia had actually delivered.

I agree that Lexi serves LEWKS more often than not.

Lydia's concepts are cute but the exection is... Bad. Really bad. I'd say almost every week.

My top four at this point are...

Lexi Love
Onya Nurve
Jewels Sparkles

...and honeslty no one else. Arrietty serves amazing looks, but is generally bad at everything else (I enjoyed seeing her and Lana excel in the performance this week).

Suzie Toot is skilled but annoying af to the point where I actively dislike her, lol. She gives drama club president.

Sam Starr bores me to tears.

And the others are obviously fillers.

I pray what you said about them not wanting to take Jewels to the finale is untrue because she's easily my fav, even if I wish her fashions--although polished--were more interesting, bold, daring.

For instance, Onya's look last week was not as elevated as I think it could've been, but it was still bold and memorable, and I honestly think if Jewels had delivered a stronger runway, she could've won.