Nobody went home in the premiere episode of this season of Drag Race Philippines, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be sunshine and rainbows this episode. After all, they had Rate-A-Queen in the first episode. And also, if your Twitter algorithm is just like mine, you’ve all already seen that the girls are fighting even outside the television. Let’s get right into this second episode!
At the start of the episode, Katana and Manza are both screaming as they go back to the Werk Room, because they both just won the first episode. I personally thought Katana won that lip sync, but my opinion doesn’t really matter, does it? The group does the requisite recognition of the top queens before moving on to the bottom queens, which is really where the drama is.
Taylor Sheesh says she wasn’t really worried when she landed in the bottom, since she knew the words, she knew the song, she knew the songwriter, she knew the composer; she was really funny on this! Bhorj, on the other hand, feels like she’s misunderstood, and…let’s just say I don’t agree. I don’t even understand you in the confessionals, girl!
The part with Misua, though. How she says what she’s planning and then there’s just utter quiet? I don’t know how they’re going to deal with what we all know happened, but I hope it’s done respectfully.
In the Werk Room the next day, the girls get to see their final Rate-A-Queen rankings, as well as how the other queens rated them. Katana is feeling some type of way about how Bhorj rated her, Merckz and Maureen are feeling some type of way about how certain queens rated them, but it doesn’t blow up into a full-blown fight yet as RuMail arrives and the queens are told that it’s going to be the girl group challenge this episode.
Of course, we have a mini challenge first, and Mama Pao tells the queens to make two groups. They basically just need to be the quickest to pop balloons, but Bombalicious made me cackle after she said she always swallows. The Filipinos are going to get it. The team with Katana, Merckz, Misua, Maureen, Ghulli, and Valeria wins, and Maureen is the winner winner after she pops a balloon with a star plushie inside. She gets to be the team captain of the first group and pick her members first. Bhorj is named the team captain of the second group, and I worry for whoever ends up on that team. Sorry! There’s also Merckz being bitter in the confessionals, and if you know what’s been happening on Twitter, maybe this behavior isn’t so surprising!
The teams are Maureen, Manza, Valeria, Andy, Misua, and Ghulli, and Bhorj, Merckz, Katana, Dixxxy, Bombalicious, and Taylor. Interesting mix, and genuinely hard for me to guess which team might win if they’re being judged as a team. Maureen’s team does have the advantage of the people actually wanting to work with each other, because Katana and Merckz are already making things difficult for Bhorj right from the jump.
The recording starts, and Maureen’s group does well for the most part, until they get to Manza, who, as good as she is at staying on the beat when dancing, just can’t seem to translate it to rapping or singing. Meanwhile, Bhorj gets praised for his verse, while Taylor…does not.
When it comes to choreography, Bhorj looks like she’s the weak spot for her team, but that ends up not being important because after Maureen’s team’s rehearsals, we get text on the screen that tells us that Misua died in her sleep. We find out that production paused temporarily, and the production declares that the whole season is in honor of her. This was very somber and respectfully done, thankfully. I had this fear that it would become a spectacle. Even the queens talking about it in the Werk Room was so respectful and emotional, and I teared up a bit! When we get to the main stage, all the judges were all so respectful as well.
The runway presentation starts, and I like Manza, Bombalicious, Katana, Andy, and Merckz’ outfits. We then go to the performances, and even there, I thought they did a really respectful remembrance for Misua. And of course, the Filipino queens always perform. If I were made to choose, I think Maureen’s team did better because Bhorj and Bombalicious’ mistakes were just too obvious. And it pains me to say that because I like Bombalicious.
The queens are going to be judged individually this episode, and Bhorj, Ghulli, Andy, Taylor, and Maureen are safe. Bhorj, really? I know it sounds like I have it in for her, and maybe I do, but I thought she was a bottom queen for this episode, alongside Bombalicious.
And then we’re told that the remaining queens are the top queens of the week, since this is going to be a non-elimination episode for obvious reasons. Of the critiques, the ones for Katana were the most interesting to me. I liked Maki’s point that yes, Katana is an overwhelming presence, and she shouldn’t dim her star like Mama Pao was saying. Instead, she should use that presence to lift others up as well.
Katana and Merckz are the top two queens of this episode, and I agree. Katana is definitely looking like she’s going to be the one to beat this season, but then again, this is just the second episode. Still plenty of episodes left! They lip sync to Maki’s song “Dilaw” and I teared up when they brought out the dragon representing Misua.
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