Drag Race RuCap: "The Rate-A-Queen Talent Show, Part 2"

The face of a proud Greek mother whose plans are falling into place.

CLÁUDIO ALVES: Those Emmy losses to The Traitors have really done a number on the Drag Race producers and editors. Because this week, the entire episode felt like it should have been unfolding in a Scottish Castle rather than the WOW studios. In other words, it was juicy reality TV, but perhaps a bit less rewarding as a RuPaul’s Drag Race episode. For those, like me, who feel the series is at its best when embracing the form of a drag variety showcase, an hour that felt more about alliances and internal cast politics than about talent or drag pageantry is bound to leave one a tiny bit dissatisfied. At the same time, a pretty shapeless season suddenly slotted into place, narratives writing themselves into existence, arcs, heroes and villains, underdogs and whatnot. 

NICK TAYLOR: It’s fabulous character drama, and a great bit of comeuppance for all my bitching about the alliance shenanigans or whether the talent show needed to be two episodes. The queen’s choices really mattered! We got some fun drag from the runways, and Nini Coco would have trounced this group pretty handily if she’d performed this week, but everything whack about the final ratings felt like the end of Act One in a major way...

We start the episode cheerily enough. Mia and Juicy are holding hands from the moment they re-enter the Werkroom, proud of their victory and prouder still to be sharing this moment with each other. Athena Dion is practically on Cloud 9 with them, every bit the matriarch cheering on her family’s success, but also the politician eager for her deal-making to reap its rewards. Did you know she’s Greek, by the way? Ciara’s understandably less excited, and trying not to fester with insecurities about whether she’s up for elimination on merit or because of backroom dealings, but she’s funneling that energy towards calculating her moves for next week. She’s also one of several queens getting tired of the Dion family’s open alliance kiki-ing through the competition together and scooping up challenge wins while other girls are being left in the dust. They’re happy for Juicy, but they want some money too, goddammit!!

Ru’s walk-on the next morning is pretty perfunctory. She’s there to announce week two of the Rate-A-Queen Talent Show, remind the rules, blah blah blah. As soon as she leaves, the group one divas immediately start discussing how they plan on judging their sisters. No one is pretending it’s solely about merit: Juicy and Mia are prioritizing family, and Ciara is thinking about who she could defeat in a lip sync battle. The talent show performances matter, sure, but these divas are being strategic. Meanwhile, Athena’s pissed about this “conspiracy”, in the exact same tenor of entitlement I associate with clients who interpret being told “no” in any context is proof of fascist hierarchies, while Jane Don’t is once again catastrophizing that any conversation in the Werkroom she can’t hear is obviously about plotting her untimely demise. I feel absolutely no sympathy for either of them, especially when the unfair riggory they’re imagining ends up falling upon a different queen entirely.

CLÁUDIO: I almost wonder if they gave the girls more makeup time this episode, because that segment went on forever, with so much happening that I was almost feeling dizzy. Kenya and Mia are over there, solidifying a pact forged on friendship and mutual respect. A pact that will probably explode on Mia’s face once the Greek one hears of it. Over there, Ciara is plotting against Discord, whom she sees as the one she’s likelier to beat in a lipsync. Initially, this Machiavellian scheming is limited to the week-one group, but poor baby Juicy can’t tolerate such shenanigans. She immediately snitches to Discord, who then proceeds to kiki with Vita and some other friends, devising a way to get Ciara off her back. So, as one does, she decides to put on the silliest campaign you ever did see, lying through her teeth that she’s a Britney Spears superfan, so she’ll rock the lip sync for your life if given a chance. Honestly, her whole act is so bad, it almost feels like a comedy bit. I fear for her the next time an acting challenge comes around.

Myki, who seems awfully confident and relaxed, is also providing some comedy with her Björk-like work-in-progress mug. It’s a funny bit of nonsense that precedes references to another songstress diva, as Jane mentions Bette Midler as the inspiration for the talent show act she’s about to make us suffer through. Also, Athena is Greek. Did you know that?

Perhaps Michelle needs a reminder, even though she’ll soon get a blast of Greekness on the main stage. Maybe that’s the reason she comes to the Werk Room, injecting some filler into the proceedings, as if the episode was getting ready to go to All Stars. and needed some fresh pump. The convo with last week’s six is perfunctory to the point of… nothingness? Literally, there’s nothing beyond platitudes and chatter to spend some time and justify the episode’s 60-minute duration. Her talk with the second group has more purpose, serving to scare Kenya shitless. Miss Visage has clocked that the queen didn’t know all the lyrics to her lip sync against Briar Blush, sending her into a tailspin of anxiety. While I get this warning, I also feel it should have been said to Vita, who didn’t know the lyrics to her own song on last week’s talent show.

In other news, Discord is feeling mightily confused. On the one hand, Mama Ru loves her ridiculous walk and told her to keep it up. On the other hand, the remaining judges, led by the skunk-striped New Jersey queen, have had enough of her crotch-forward strut. What’s a stiff girl to do? Also, Athena is Greek.

NICK: It’s nasty work from Michelle, made even worse because literally none of the other queens clocked Kenya missing lyrics. Hell, I didn’t notice either (Tommy did, bless him), and any errors felt more endemic of how she and Briar looked exhausted during the number. It’s pre-emptive to call her out like it’s a trend, and as you point out, other queens have flubbed just as badly, if not worse. Vita last week, Briar against Mandy. Also, clearly Myki’s best path forward for Snatch Game is to just go out there with a rotating wig rack and just joke about how many different white women she looks like. Mikey Madison, Björk, Sylvia Sidney, Maisie Williams. By the way, did you know of Athena Dion’s Greek heritage?

One tick of a sundial later, it’s time to approach the main stage. Ru, perhaps suspecting this might be an underwhelming crowd, looks to be wearing some kind of white eiderdown blanket. Today’s runway category is about garments that move, shake, and shimmy all on their own. It’s a kinetic promise, the inverse of all that droopy satin last episode.

First up is Myki Meeks, reflecting her performance order in the show and her ranking in my heart. It’s not my favorite look, spiked up with rainbow twine like a cunty drain snake, but the construction is cool, and I love the chunky headphones with the insect antennae on them. You know Nini loved it. Sick braids, too. 

CLÁUDIO: She looks like she belongs in one of the hallucinatory interludes in Sia’s Music movie. I realize that sounds shadier than I intended, but that’s life. Sorry, Myki! I like the antenna best, too, though the wig is a bit of a needle scratch. As is the bikini bottom. Between this spiky ziptie crotch and Juicy’s yellow merkin a few episodes ago, these girls are trying to bring bush back. Good for them, I suppose.

Like a hideous Pokémon from Hades, Athena’s blue Nazar caftan has evolved into this bouncy, awkward thing. Part of me loves the silliness on display, as well as the geometric strangeness of the whole thing, the squid tentacle quality of the mittens. But the skirt is real ugly, the legs an unattractive dissonance in the monochrome of it all, the mug divorced from the outfit’s Power Rangers monster of the week vibe. A valiant effort, perfectly safe, which is more than I can say about some of this Greek matriarch’s past runways.

NICK: That skirt should absolutely be longer. It’s like she talked herself out of an octopus theme while she was making it. Or hell, Athena’s doing a regional variant of Plane Jane’s LaLaPaRuZa getup, goofier and glitzier but still not fully developed. I like what’s there, but it could be more.

Kenya Pleaser is dressed in a simple black corset, covering herself in monarch butterflies caught mid-flight. The Asia O’Hara callout is a fun gag, and I like how she accessorizes with the monarchs. Those little divas on her ankles are a great accent, almost as good as the wings framing her head. Again, this could be much draggier than it is, but what Kenya’s serving is effective. 

CLÁUDIO: Simple yet effective sums up this outfit rather well. Like last week, Kenya is surprisingly chic, if barebones, modelling the shit out of an ensemble that might have flopped on a less expressive wearer. The monarch-patterned nails are a cute touch, revealing an attention to detail I appreciate in a queen.

You know someone’s serving major fashion when verdigree hater extraordinaire Michelle Visage can’t bring herself to ding it, even though it’s rendered in such an unattractive shade of green. As ever, Jane Don’t rejects that apocryphal Chanel saying - indeed, this is a Galliano for Dior reference - going for maximalism and just piling nonsense on top of nonsense until one doesn’t know where to look or, really, what one’s looking at in the first place. The movement of this thing was hypnotizing, hitting the nail on the head as far as the category goes. But again, that’s an ugly green. 

NICK: She’s like the avant-garde tulpa of all the corn-themed runways in Drag Race herstory, or the final evolution of Lydia’s yellow Monopulence hat. It’s sort of hideous, but Jane knows how to wear it.

Like the best punk rockers, Discord Addams is going all out on making a hard political statement with a somewhat tenuous connection to the main prompt. Dressed as a blood-soaked capitalist war profiteer, her kineticism is rooted in all those jangly chains and rivulets of blood flowing off her. I kinda love it? The headpiece is major, and trying to balance it properly is a great alibi for her customary stiffness. To Dragula-post real quick, go check out Abhora’s cartoonishly grotesque take on fat-cat capitalists in the Titans 2 finale.

CLÁUDIO: Most queens interpreted this prompt with a light touch, choosing looks that bounced around, almost weightlessly. Discord went the opposite route, walking in an ensemble that actively seems to be dragging her down. It’s a risk, yet it’s also the perfect way to contextualize her horrible walk within a runway presentation that benefits from it for storytelling purposes. My only issue is the sloppiness in parts, like the suit jacket’s bad fit, how the chains at the shoulders are making the collar gape out of shape, riding it up, and screwing with an already pretty non-existent waist. Still, a high point for Discord.

Mia Starr is playing with a similar heaviness. The issue here is a lack of coherence - the rich widow styling has nothing to do with that sad cassette tape fringe cape. Or should I say shroud? The skirt’s petalled construction is probably meant to flutter, yet it mostly sits there, dragging the drag into matronly somberness. I also can’t say I’m especially enthused about the Marcel wave epidemic that’s going on this year, especially within the Floridian contingent of the competition.

NICK: I get the concept, mourning the loss of cassette and VHS, but it definitely feels like a lot of parts stitched into an idea rather than a fully-formed concept. Surely a bigger wig would better serve this outfit? At least the mug is stamped.

Darlene Mitchell takes this to a conceptual extreme, a complete redemption from last week’s debacle. I love the combination of simplicity and excess. The giant gold jacket makes her practically geometric, with her asymmetric makeup and her crimson gams and gloves popping off in contrast to this giant hunk of fringe. I have to wonder if a different wig or darker lip wouldn’t make her head look quite so small, but I like the garishness of it, and watching her model it down that runway is so puss.

CLÁUDIO: This reminds me of early Drag Race, when the show was as much a parody as a celebration of fashion and reality TV competitions. In that vein, Darlene’s look feels like a joke about haute couture and that world’s self-seriousness, modelling this tinsel innanity as the cuntiest of designer fits. It’s a great bit and, honestly, every change I’d put in place to make it look better would probably detract from its delightful absurdity.

I suspect Vita did what I expected most girls would do for this week’s category: pulled a preexisting costume from her closet, one she probably uses to perform in clubs. And why not? This is perfectly serviceable if somewhat uninspired. That said, I must detract points for those awful shoes, which make Vita look a tad stumpy, shorter than she really is.

NICK: It’s serviceable! Mostly, it just reminded me of Morphine’s golden chainmail number, especially the headpiece. Vita’s zebra print is a nice touch, I’ll give her that.

Nini Coco’s look is perhaps too polished to be in exactly the same spirit Darlene’s operating in, but this reads equally as earnest high fashion and ridiculous parody. There’s also some nice visual symmetry to her ribbed outfit last week, as if she’s got an entire line of coral reef runways in the back, but I don’t know if that was planned! Excellent shoes, too. She’s like if a circus clown was a labia, or Bob Mackie doing Georgia O’Keefe. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the stage: Georgia O’Reef!

CLÁUDIO: I’m showing my theater school education too much, but I have to say this gave me nothing more than the Bauhaus Triadic Ballet. And I mean that as the highest form of compliment. As ever, Nini killed it, down to the smallest detail - those lashes - though what really sells the fantasy is the fantasy. It moves so gorgeously, each still frame a different soft sculpture. This is what Serena ChaCha was talking about, back on her original season, before she capitulated to AI slop.

Juicy is paying homage to Bob Mackie, though her look replaces feathers with strips of plastic in white and silver. It’s a nice lewk, fitting the brief, even though it doesn’t blow me away like some of baby Dion’s last few runways. Still, that’s mostly a question of personal taste. The only real quibble I have here is about that bustier, which seems weirdly proportioned, sitting too high and center on her chest. All in all, a good showgirl getup with a futuristic warrior-esque twist. 

NICK: She’s living her Tina Turner Thunderdome fantasy. As you said, it’s a slight letdown from her previous looks but still a chic addition to her portfolio.

Ciara Myst has posted about switching in this showgirl number as a lip sync outfit, opting out of the bouncier but much heavier ensemble she’d originally packed for this runway. I completely get it, and won’t fault a bitch for looking out. She looks good, though this is at about the same level of colorful and competent as Vita’s runway. Did Dawn wear something similar to this? Did I hallucinate that? Or is Ciara just giving similar energy?

CLÁUDIO: I fault her for it, because this is awful. She does not look good, starting with the complete discrepancy between her clown mug and the basic showgirl costume below the neck. The lack of padding is criminal with an ensemble like this, and, if possible, the placement of the fringe makes her waist look broader, her ass flatter than they really are. For me, this is a complete miscalculation whose color story is its only saving grace.

But enough about fashion fiascos. It’s time for the Talent Show!

And what a lackluster affair it turned out to be, paling in comparison to last week’s sextet even if there were no outright disasters in sight. Mostly, everyone did fine, the dictionary definition of mediocre. Well, that’s a tad of me since, truth be told, we started on a pretty high note with Myki Meeks reinventing the tried-and-true burlesque routine by turning it into a Bride of Frankenstein spoof. Instead of disrobing fancy lingerie, she’s dismembering and vivisecting herself, timing every torn flesh tug and bloody reveal in sync with the track’s wet sound effects. It’s super fun, plenty entertaining, and unusual enough to stand out from similar showcases in Drag Race herstory. It’s also unexpected from a queen that, so far in the competition, hasn’t really branded herself as a horror aficionado.

Athena Dion, by contrast, is all about hitting the same piano key, again and again, reminding us, ONCE AGAIN, that she has Greek heritage and has made a name for herself in Mykonos. Look, I get it, but it’s getting tiresome. I assume this would have gone down better if it had come in the premiere rather than one-third of the way through the season. As it stands, it feels expected, not a surprise in sight, with a rather badly produced backing track detracting from the experience. The best element is surely Athena’s high energy, a sort of Hugh Jackman-style desperation to provide her audience with a good time. I also liked the look, fiddler string gag and all.

But I’m no expert on Greece beyond a middle school obsession with classical mythology and, later in life, a love for the Weird Wave and the cinema of Theo Angelopoulos. Am I being too critical of your fellow Greek diva? Did she deliver, or was it the second-rate Epcot revue I saw it as?

NICK: From one Greek to another, I appreciate her relentlessness. Her little one-two-three was cute! Your Hugh Jackman comparison is amazing, and I think her ridiculous energy is the right way to sell the song and the outfit. Her track is terrible, maybe the worst we’ve heard this entire talent show, but do the gays in Tarpan Springs mind? Almost certainly not! Myki Meeks is the easy high point of this group, from the look itself to her silly-sexy execution. I’d like to think Elsa Lanchester and Madeline Kahn would’ve laughed their asses off, and Myki’s bride would’ve probably lost her own ass in the process. Such an inspired gag from a diva in danger of getting lost in the competition.

Kenya Pleaser goes next, performing an original track in a bodysuit and ponytail eerily reminiscent of Sasha Colby’s LaLaPaRuZa fit from season 15. We can wonder if Kenya would’ve done better had Michelle not rattled her so badly, but unfortunately, she squabbles the lip sync. Fighting against her ponytail doesn’t help, nor does lip syncing the chorus instead of the lead vocals, but I’m amazed the flag twirling bit ends before she can properly show off. It’s giving “we have Latrice Royale’s AS4 Talent Show at home.” Jane Don’t is inevitably more entertaining, doing a razzle-dazzle comedy track about her big ass and bigger mouth that’s every bit the crowd-pleasing showcase a traumatized Seattle diva would pick. I’m not familiar with the Middler number she’s riffing on, but even without that context, I had a good time! Fabulous lyrics, good delivery and performance. I continue to not love Jane to the degree everyone else on the stage clearly adores her, but it’s not undeserving. 

Last but not least is Discord Addams, performing an original punk song that's my very favorite vocal track and talent show story of this group. Starting off by announcing she’s not going to do one of those basic-ass Drag Race songs, she ends up singing so many tropes she realizes it’s turned into a basic-ass track and commits to it. It’s a great skewering of basically every talent show/songwriting challenge in herstory. Discord’s jumping between three different instruments is an additional bit of business that, like her ongoing stiffness, serves the number as a send-up of other bitches, even if one might question if the set actually needs it. I’m 100% down for her crimson ensemble and the color-coordinated instruments. If Myki’s the clear winner of this group for me, I’m perversely tempted to give Discord second place. If nothing else, this should have single-handedly made everyone too embarrassed to give Athena any kind of flowers. 

CLÁUDIO: Discord’s song is the best of the lot. Hell, it’s the best of the whole season, even besting Jane’s comedy routine. Honestly, I’m right there with you when it comes to Miss Addams this week. As much as Jane hit it out of the park, performance-wise and Discord’s stiffness reared its ugly head as it always does, the latter had a chutzpah and degree of self-aware (un)originality that made me suddenly stand up and pay attention to a queen I’ve been mostly dismissing. It helped that the look was fabulous, while I have some notes for Jane, whose feather trim obscured her backdoor assets in a way that seemed to undercut the song and studied choreography. Am I too mean for counting the Don’t gal as part of the general mediocrity of this week’s offerings? A perfectly executed “meh” is still a “meh.”

Then again, better to perfectly execute a “meh” than flub it altogether, which is what my beloved Kenya Pleaser did. Her number felt oddly paced, her lip syncing was sloppy, and it felt like the girl didn’t rehearse enough with her chosen hair since it kept interfering with the moves. At a certain point, I was afraid the ponytail was about to rip one of her lashes off.

Which is why the Rate-a-Queen results baffled me. For once, the judges seem to be in agreement and in their right minds, assessing that Jane, Myki and Discord deserved praise for their work. Athena was more polarizing, getting cited as both a top and a bottom of the week, while Kenya was unanimously dinged for her technical fumbles. So how on earth did Myki end up at the bottom of the aggregated ratings? I guess Mia’s top vote for Kenya made all the difference, while Athena’s political scheming got her ahead of everyone else. At the end of the day, the only person who seemed to outright dislike the Bride of Frankenstein schtick was Darlene, which made the final results a surprise to everyone involved. You could tell some of those bitches were gagged and gooped, Myki most of all. 

But before Myki “Maisie Madison” Meeks gets the horrible news, the tops are announced. And they don’t look surprised at all. If anything, Jane seems proudly dejected yet focused - her general vibe - while Athena is merely enjoying the fruits of her labor, an empress accepting the spoils of war. What do you make of these results? Isn’t it wild that the queens, not the producers, were responsible for the rigga moris on display? 

NICK: Rigga morris, yes, but also baffling taste. Even after all the scheming, it’s shocking Myki’s talent couldn’t outrank Kenya’s in the voting. I can understand the top two intellectually if not artistically, and at least the queens upholding their deals and showing their asses over the past two weeks is a more organic, free-range drama than Michelle psyching out Kenya. I’m honestly surprised we didn’t get more of Ciara’s deliberations, seeing as she almost got her way with Discord.

Is it vindicating or disappointing that Jane and Athena’s lip sync for the win is about as mediocre as their talents? The song is “Jerkin” by Amyl and the Sniffers, and you know this shit haunted Discord as painfully as Suzie Toot missing on “Liza with a Z” last year. Athena cuts loose in a way that only a Floridian uncle can, clearly enjoying herself in a way that fits the number even though her entire vibe should be antithetical to punk anything. Jane’s clearly more of a punk girlie, but she’s too in her head to actually Let Loose. Mama Dion’s win here is more justifiable than her top two placement. Neutral statement. 

The lip sync for your life has more fire to it, specifically from Miss Meeks. Myki is in full Bride drag and pissed as hell about being in the bottom. Ciara’s ready and willing, even in that showgirl outfit. We get our first geriatrics song reprisal of the season, with the Britney Spears hit “Toxic” returning to the main stage for the first time since Jiggly Caliente won her lip sync so hard she was given the season 4 crown then and there. Loved when Ru got choked up mentioning Jiggly. Myki didn’t go down the same road of kicks and choreography, yet I’m amazed to see her manage such a controlled, sultry performance despite being just as pissed and desperate as Jiggly was. Myki used her burlesque routine to great effect, the undead showgirl of your sexiest nightmares. After all her talk, I’m surprised Ciara doesn’t do more. Myki trounced her completely. 

CLÁUDIO: The lip sync for the win was a sad disappointment. So much so that I wouldn’t have minded if no victor was declared. Sure, Athena had more energy, more tricks, more frantic maniacal moves, but her energy is wrong for the song on such an essential level that nothing she did was able to overcome it. Doesn’t help that she was dressed like a yassified Donald Duck. Jane got into the spirit of the tune well enough, but then… did nothing with it. The way each of them mostly stayed in the same place, pitter-pattering around the same zone of the stage throughout, made the whole thing feel rigid, contained in a way no punk smackdown should be. This was the time to let loose, ladies.

Anyway, can’t begrudge Athena the win too much, all things considered. Congratulations to the Dion dynasty for winning the Talent Show.

You’re right that the lip sync for your life had more pep to it. Myki delivered in a manner I wasn’t quite expecting, especially in the downtrodden mental state she was likely in during this moment. Miss Meeks was lucky her Bride of Frankenstein wig fell apart in such an attractive way, it really lent itself to the sultriness she decided to embody in direct contrast to Ciara’s more comedic route. Well, it read comedic, but I’m not sure that was the intention. Like it or not, the combination of that sad showgirl fantasy, the clown makeup, and white girl moves resulted in a parody of sexiness. Which, truth be told, could be a novel way to approach “Toxic,” but not in such a setting. Not when Myki is performing sensuality so well, eye-fucking Ru like her life depends on it, while having that sort of dazed despair on her face that makes one’s mind wander to the days of Jujubee lip syncing drunk to “Black Velvet.”

But Myki won in more ways than one. I know we don’t tend to discuss Untucked on these RuCaps, but this week, it feels necessary. Because, on that other show, it becomes evident just how much of the Florida queen’s downfall was orchestrated by Vita, who spent the whole time discussing how much she disliked the Bride of Frankenstein routine. In the episode proper, the only person who seemed actively opposed to it was Darlene, but even that opinion seems influenced by Vita when contextualized in the Untucked episode. In recent years, it has felt as if the behind-the-scenes show is where producers and editors rehearse the narratives that will come to define the season and this was no different. After all, the injustice perpetrated against Myki gave a queen with no narrative momentum until now the perfect underdog storyline, complete with the potential for a rudemption cum vengeance against the bitches who underestimated her. Instead of filler, Myki Meeks is now a character with a purpose.

The same Untucked painted many of the older queens in a conspiratorial, not especially positive light that’s bound to bite them in the ass. The Dion dynasty is suddenly giving major Rolaskatox vibes, while Vita is emerging as a stealth candidate for reality TV villainy. It’s not just the campaign against Myki, but also the way she didn’t stay loyal to her supposed alliance with Discord, ranking her fourth overall. It also becomes pretty obvious that she’s part of the reason Kenya wasn’t even close to the bottom, her second-place ranking combining with Mia’s first-place vote to protect the Alabama diva from landing in the bottom. And I get it, because I, too, love Kenya. But these shenanigans undercut the very purpose of these Talent Show episodes and Drag Race’s appeal as a variety hour.

Back in the premiere, I felt Vita and Athena were headed for the season’s final top four. Now, with new narratives forming and the drama promised by next week’s preview - a return of season 8’s political campaign team challenge of all things - I feel they’ll be out soon or taken out just before the competition narrows down to five or so queens. They have made themselves narratively expendable while providing Myki with the opportunity to be the protagonist in season 18’s second act. In the end, not even their talent might be able to save them, especially when neither talent nor performance quality seemed to have much to do with how this week’s Drag Race turned out. Either that or they have awful taste and even worse strategic instincts.

In the middle of such hubbub, Ciara’s elimination didn’t even register, a bitter afterthought, even though Myki did seem sure her big-lipped showgirl sister was going to stay instead. The utter confusion, as Miss Meeks said her parting line, only to be reminded she survived the lip sync was a great laugh. Much better than the vocal stym nonsense the Mysty one pulled out for her own farewell.

NICK: Farewell Ciara, a queen whose striking concepts and maximalist runways were entertaining without really threatening to become a frontrunner. She came, she saw, and she served a lot of face. I’m tempted to agree with you on Athena and Vita’s longevity, though Ru has already invested a lot in them as competitors. Vita might very well be out next week with a comedy challenge she’ll also have to write. But I bet Athena’s going to stick around long enough to get struck down by one of her brood. God willing Myki will emerge as a legitimate contender next week. She has my vote!

Previous RuCaps:

• Episode 1: "You Can't Keep a Good Drag Queen Down!"
• Episode 2: "Q-Pop Girl Groups"
• Episode 3: "RDR Live Returns!"
• Episode 4: "Red Carpet Mash Up"
• Episode 5: "The Rate-A-Queen Talent Show, Part 1"