Ron Does Stuff

We finally had our Porkchop in the previous episode with Lucky Starzzz getting sent home and I truly felt bad for her, especially with how she shared that she and her family weren’t in the best financial situation during the time of filming. But that’s the way the cookie crumbles, I guess.

The queens go back to the Werk Room with Joella obviously happy she gets to stay for another week. The rest of the queens, however, are more emotional about the fact that Lucky was sent home. Production is nasty but also correct in exposing Joella in the confessionals realizing that maybe the queens like Lucky more than her. It was hilarious.

The stage is also being set for maybe a future confrontation between Jewels and Onya, although Jewels insists that she needs to focus on more important things in the competition. Arrietty and Sam also look like there’s going to be a showdown between them further down the season.

Impressions are the topic of choice when the queens return to the Werk Room for the fourth week of the competition and Hormona seems to be okay with the rhinestone incident being treated humorously, which is a departure from how she’s reacted to it on Twitter since the previous episode aired. Also, Arrietty seems like she’s a lot more affected by jabs than Sam is but that could just be the editing!

There’s no mini challenge today but the queens are told that the Maxi Challenge will be them singing songs inspired by popular catchphrases from the show. Suzie Toot gets Aja’s “You’re perfect” rant, truly one of the most iconic rants on the show.

Listen to it on Spotify too!

Sam, on the other hand, gets the Tamisha half of the epic “Star quality” fight between Tamisha Iman and Kandy Muse. Acacia Forgot will be doing Kandy Muse and I kinda agree with Sam here. Will Acacia be able to match Kandy Muse’s original energy?

Meanwhile, Onya Nerve is doing Laganja Estranja’s comedy set from season six, which is iconic in its own way. Wonder how they’re going to turn it into a song though!

Lydia Butthole Kollins is doing yet another iconic fight, the one between Morgan McMichaels and Mystique from season 2. People still quote “BITCH I AM FROM CHICAGO” up to this day! Lydia is doing Mystique! Meanwhile, Lana is doing the Morgan half of the fight.

Lexi Love, as she points out, gets a moment involving a fellow trans sister, Jasmine Kennedie. So happy that Maddy and Jasmine now have a great relationship outside of the show!

Kori King gets to do another iconic speech (?) from the show, doing Kennedy Davenport’s unforgettable “Trade didn’t like the session” explanation for her Death Becomes Her outfit.

Joella does a lesser known but equally iconic speech from Mariah Balenciaga from season 2. Unfortunately, a lot of people mostly remember Shangela’s “Sugar Daddy” speech more because…well…that was very memorable. I couldn’t even find an isolated video showing only Mariah’s part! I think this may be a way to put Joella in the bottom.

Jewels Sparkles is for sure going to move on to the next round because she’s getting “Back rolls”, which really doesn’t need any more explanation. Jewels is doing Jade Jolie while Arrietty is doing Alyssa Edwards.

Hormona Lisa, meanwhile, gets Shannel’s “I nominate myself” which is ALSO an iconic line that doesn’t really get as much love as it deserves because it comes all the way from season 1.

Crystal Envy gets Latrice’s “unprofessional!” speech during season 4 and it’s so wild how long ago this was now because I remember watching this — after downloading it from a torrent site because streaming wasn’t a thing then thank you user fabutrash! — and thinking these other queens are in for it now because Latrice was such a mother hen and I didn’t think she could even get angry.

The queens start listening to the tracks and I gotta say I have no idea at all how they’re going to incorporate the catchphrases to the music at all. The Monique and Morgan fight to a country song? Jewel’s hilarious impression of Alyssa? Sam and Acacia’s tango interpretation that Suzie is worried about? I’m really curious how all of this will turn out!

We don’t get to see footage of them recording their songs but we do get to see them shoot their commercials and bitch, Crystal tumbling around like a tumbleweed? Hilarious. The faces Jewels pulls? Other than Hormona Lisa, the scenes they showed made it look like Volume 1 did good!

Volume 2 also has its good parts, like Onya and Suzie, but they’re really selling us the “bad” performances of Lexi and Kori here. Do we have this episode’s bottom two already? We shall see!

The next day in the Werk Room, we get to hear about Lexi Love’s drag origins and unfortunately, like a lot of LGBTQIA+ people in the United States and around the world, she was thrown out of her home because of her sexual orientation. And since she’s “old”, she didn’t start doing drag because she was inspired by Drag Race, she did it because otherwise she wouldn’t have been able to feed and clothe herself.

Onya and Joella also have a conversation about how their cultural heritage factors in or doesn’t factor in their drag. Onya does it a lot ever since she tapped into her African heritage when she was in college, while Joella has always tried to whitewash herself to avoid getting made fun of by her peers. I genuinely think this is the first time this conversation has been had on the main Drag Race franchise? And I know that Raja, Nymphia, and Gia have done cultural performances on their times on the show but to have an actual conversation in the Werk Room about their culture and how they’ve had to navigate that in America? I can’t recall them having that.

Before we get to see the commercials we get this week’s runway first, which is themed “Quilted for your Pleasure”. Lydia is up first and I’m starting to see a similarity in her looks in all four episodes. Which isn’t necessarily bad since Bianca won her season wearing the same dress each and every single time!

Lana’s outfit reminds me of Sailor Moon, while Joella’s look…well. It’s a big quilted comforter. I guess it’s campy? But you immediately forget about it because Arrietty is up next and she delivers once again. I also like Jewels look but I wish queens started wearing breastplates again because I just don’t like the look of those empty chests, if that’s the right term?

Hormona Lisa’s outfit is okay, but it doesn’t really stand out especially when placed besides Arrietty and Jewels work. And then Crystal walks the runway after Hormona making it even more evident that Hormona’s outfit is only safe, at best. Suzie’s outfit looks okay, but is immediately overshadowed by Sam’s outfit. Damn that outfit was so good. Did she make that or was that a Trinity creation?

Acacia, Onya, and Lexi are up next and between the three of them it’s Lexi that eats. The rhinestones? The quilting? Whatever it was that was on her face? Exquisite. Kori is the final queen on the runway and…well, she was the final queen on the runway, let’s say that.

We get to see the videos after the runway and for me, Volume 1’s weak queen was definitely Joella. I thought it was going to be Hormona but she actually did much better in the final product than I expected! The top performer is Crystal Envy because I would give that a budget so she can make it a full-blown music video and everything!

As for Volume 2, I think they did a better job overall! Onya was definitely the top performer for me in this group and I even liked Lexi and Kori’s performance even if production tried to make it look like they were going to flop. But let’s see what the judges think!

We get the first surprise of the night as Ru tells everyone that they’re going to be judged individually despite working as teams. Lydia, Lana, Jewels, Hormona, Sam Star, Acacia, and Lexi are all safe. The judges critiques start and Joella gets some praise for her performance in the video but Michelle did not like the comforter couture. Arrietty also gets called out for being outshined by Jewels which is fair, but I was surprised with the outfit and make-up critiques. But then again I am not a fashion or make-up person so maybe the judges are seeing something I’m not seeing.

Crystal Envy is definitely one of the top queens this episode because Michelle just called her delicious. Onya Nerve is also going to get another deserved top placement and now that I’ve googled it she does look like a young Glodean White! Kori is going to get a bottom placement but I think may be saved by how much she makes Ru laugh.

Onya wins this week which actually surprised me because I thought they were going to give it to Crystal but I’m not complaining! Onya will not be slandered on this blog! Crystal and Suzie are both safe while Joella is going to lip sync against Kori which is another surprise for me because I thought they were going to pit Joella against Arrietty!

They’re lip syncing to “Buttons” by the Pussycat Dolls and I’m sorry Joella, but you started out in a mattress and it just wasn’t going to happen for you. And the fact that you didn’t know the words to the Snoop verse? You knew you were going to be sent home.

Also did somebody say “Buttons” by the Pussycat Dolls?