It’s time for the second episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race season 16! We met the first seven queens of this season in the previous episode and they were a pretty entertaining bunch, with a special shoutout to Q and Sapphira Cristal.
Will this second batch be better? Or do we already have the winning batch of queens from the first half? Let’s see!
First into the Werk Room is Hershii LiqCour-Jeté and boy was that difficult to type. And anyone who’s watched Drag Race knows that the Jeté name is from season 14’s Kornbread Jeté. Kornbread is her drag sister and she describes her drag as “glam camp auntie drag”. Looking forward to seeing more of it!
Up next is Plasma who, dare I say it, is Jinkx Monsoon but with a much more elevated fashion sense. But will she be as talented and just overall spectacular as Jinkx though? She can certainly verbally spar with the best of them!
Up next is Geneva Karr and if the Spanish wasn’t a big enough hint, her entrance look utilizing the Mexican flag should have been a dead giveaway. She says her drag has a lot of Mexican spice and if her runways are even just a bit like those of the queens of Drag Race Mexico then she is going to look fabulous.
Up next is Plane Jane, the “authentically Russian clown hooker from Boston”. Because of course, most people know that faux Russian clown hooker from Boston. She does come of as a little intense, so maybe the villain of the season? She’s also in the running for trade of the season too!
Up next is Megami, who shares that she started out as a cosplay queen. One of the photos shows her as Lilith from Diablo! And of course I gotta put the video down below.
I grew up playing the Diablo games so this is really exciting for me! She says she came into the Werk Room as the Antichrist and I am not mad at it at all!
Up next is Mhi’ya Iman LePaige and my golly that was a lot to type out again! My first impression of her entering the Werk Room is quite honestly banana powder because that is some mug. She says she is the Queen of Flips and from the videos show — she definitely is.
Finally, we have Nymphia Wind, who I don’t know if she planned this entrance with Plane Jane but ABSOLUTELY SMASHES IT. She’s so stupid in the best way I am already rooting for her. And I think she’s the only Asian queen this season? Also is she the first non-North American queen to compete in a regular season?
With all the queens for this batch now in the Werk Room, they’re now ushered into the SHE-MV, which is the drag DMV I guess. Gotta be honest and say I prefer when the photoshoots had actual photographers in them, but I guess they’re using this challenge to advertise the rest of the Drag Race-adjacent personalities like Love Connie and TS Madison. I love TS Madison but Love Connie is a hit or miss for me.
First up for the photoshoot is Plasma and she is quick with the quips AND takes direction well. The quality of the photo doesn’t look that hot but I think that’s because it’s supposed to be the DMV?
The other queens are pretty good with the banter too, especially compared to last week’s photoshoot, but this new batch of queens do have the advantage of actually having a face-to-face interaction with Ru.
The rest of the queens banter well with Ru, but it’s really Plasma and Nymphia who are the best at it. The prescription glasses quip? The bananas? Come on!
After the photoshoot, Plane Jane really is leaning into the shady bitchy role and I don’t know if this means she’s going to be an early out or she’s going to go all the way to the end with a whole redemption arc or something. Anyways, Nymphia wins the mini challenge and gets $2,500! Woot!
The queens are then told of this week’s Maxi Challenge — a Queens Choice Award-themed talent show. Gotta get that Viacom media synergy going! Ru then mentions the whole Rate A Queen thing and the immunity thing and of course there’s the requisite ~shocked~ reactions among the queens but it’s the discussion afterwards that is juicy.
Of course, the queens talk about how they’re going to judge each other but the prime television moments here are provided by Plane Jane, who seems to not have any self-preservation instinct and continues to be shady towards the girls. If this episode is anything like last week’s, nobody’s going home. But I do wonder how Plane Jane’s shadiness is going to affect her down the line — depending how far she gets in the competition.
In fact, just from this episode Plasma, Geneva Karr, and Hershii are already doubting Plane Jane and don’t trust her to vote “fairly”, whatever that means in Drag Race. It really feels like Plane Jane Morgan McMichaels-ed herself and we know what happened to Morga in All Stars 3.
As they prepare for the talent show, Nymphia gets the opportunity to talk about the Taiwan drag scene and I am happy she’s able to boast about how supportive the Taiwanese government is when it comes to gay rights. She does get a little of the Pangina Heals edit of having to represent a whole country but hopefully it doesn’t end as badly for her as it did for Pangina in UK vs the World.
Hershii also gets the chance to talk about her two kids and boy did I get a little heated when she talked about how her family members talk about how she’s raising her kids behind her back. Hershii stepped up to be a parent to those kids! If they think they can do a better job why didn’t they adopt those kids then?
Then Becky G walks in! And you should have expected this by now but of course I am going to put this in.
I do gotta say, her visit doesn’t seems as substantial as Charlize Theron’s was but ;et’s move on!
Derrick Barry is back as a host! I hope the future seasons get to utilize past queens more because they really are what keeps people watching the show.
So the talent show starts and maybe I’ve just watched too many seasons of Drag Race but they’re mostly very…okay. None of the performances were bad, but because audiences have seen so much drag now and so much good drag just being plain good isn’t going to excite them anymore? And as bitchy as Plane Jane is, she does have a point when it came to Megami’s talent show. You just held up posters, girl!
For me, the acts that really stood out were Plane Jane’s and Nymphia Wind’s. I feel like I would have also liked Plasma’s act if it was a little longer? Or if it had a better focus? It just felt like two different acts squished together and not in a completely satisfactory way.
Now we get to the runway! We already know that reveals are going to happen so what we’re going to be looking at is how the queens execute those reveals. Of the reveals, again it’s Nyphia Wind and Plane Jane who stand out because of how stupid it is. I mean I feel like campy is the better word to use I guess? But stupid — in a good way — also fits perfectly!
Now we get to Rate A Queen and once again Plane Jane is giving good TV because she is putting in first place the queens she thought were the worst. So it gets easier for her as the competition progresses because it’s only the weak queens — in her opinion — that she has to compete with. Fucking evil but it’s exciting television. I don’t know about her reputation once this thing ends though! Although she’s going to have fans she’s a hot white cis gay.
Because of Plane Jane’s machinations, what we get is a li[ sync for the win between Geneva Karr and her. And she ends up winning! My golly she is one to watch out for.
Ron Does Stuff 
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