I know, I know, I wasn’t able to post this as soon as the show ended, and it’s because I was sick the night before and just had to sleep it off. Honestly, I wouldn’t even say I’m 100 percent okay today, but I gotta do what I gotta do. These blogs won’t write themselves!
First things first, the queens pay tribute to Bomba after she was eliminated in the previous episode, with all of the queens praising her positivity. The queens also celebrate Bhorj’s win, although Merckz has something to say about it in her confessional. Meanwhile, we find out that Taylor and Andy were close friends before, and the show has let them catch up with each other ever since they drifted apart during the pandemic.
Back in the Werk Room the next day, Merckz starts some shit when she brings up Bhorj being better than Yudi, since she’s brought a RuBadge to Bacolod, and if anybody was on Twitter during the Meet the Queens for this season, you know the drama between those two. She also gets in this confrontation with Maureen that I initially had a hard time following because I thought Merckz was talking about Valeria, but it turns out she was talking about Maureen. On the one hand, Maureen did ask for honest feedback, but on the other hand, Merckz didn’t have to repeat it to the rest of the group the day after.
I do have to give props to Taylor for that whole Maureen Biology > Zoology quip because I laughed.
That fight is cut short by Mama Pao coming in to tell them that this episode’s mini challenge is luksong bakla, with the queens dressed in batang kalye drag. Bhorj isn’t taking part in it because of a sprain — that Andy doubts is real — but she can bet on one of the queens and if that queen wins, so does she. Unfortunately, her pick, Manza, doesn’t make it, so no money for her and Manza.
Merckz wins the challenge and gets money and decision-making powers for the next challenge, which is a live newscasting parody like QNN way back in the olden days of RuPaul’s Drag Race.
For the main challenge, Merckz is asked to pair up the queens. She pairs herself with Taylor, ostensibly to challenge herself. Bhorj mentions in her confessional that she thinks it’s because Merckz feels Taylor will help her get a safe placement, and I can’t wait to see how this turns into a fight on Twitter. I probably won’t be able to see it because I’ve been trying to wean myself off that hellsite, but still. Katana and Andy, Bhorj and Manza, and Maureen and Valeria make up the rest of the pairs.
Merckz also gets to pick which segments the queens are going to do, and she picks showbiz for her and Taylor. Weather and traffic go to Valeria and Maureen, Manza and Bhorj do the headlines, and Katana and Andy do the field reports.
When the queens start preparing and rehearsing for their reports, Valeria and Maureen look like they’re the ones who are going to be in trouble once it starts, and Maureen continues to voice that apprehension the next day. Merckz takes it as an opportunity to be shady to Maureen again, and this is where I kinda wish there was still Untucked for Drag Race Philippines because this could blow up big.
We then get our ~Now You Know~ moment for the episode, and it starts out shaky, to be honest. While what is happening in the United States is horrible, the queens on RuPaul’s Drag Race are already having that discussion. I did like how they tie it to the influence the West has on us, and how the country that colonized us and taught us homophobia now has gay marriage and we don’t. Marina Summers really did have the correct battle cry with chopping up those colonizers.
The Beking News challenge starts, and I generally found most of the queens funny, although if I were to pick a winner, it would be Taylor and her flying shoe. It looks like Kara David did not like Maureen’s bit, so she might just be the one sent to the bottom this episode. Bhorj was also another queen that Kara dinged, so it could also be her in the bottom. When it comes to the runway, I really liked Manza and Andy’s outfits, but honestly, there wasn’t anything jaw-dropping, especially when this is really the theme where you could do that.
Katana and Valeria are both declared safe, and that has to be because of their performance and not their outfits, because they were just okay. We go to the judges’ critiques, and it looks like the win is going to be between Taylor and Andy, BUT the star of the critiques is the climax of the Merckz and Maureen conflict earlier in the episode, as Maureen brings up Merckz cutting her down in front of the judges. She doesn’t say Merckz’s name, but the viewers know who she’s talking about.
Back in the Werk Room, Maureen just flat-out tells Merckz that she wrecked her confidence the day before, and Merckz apologizes but does make it clear that she did not do that intentionally. They make up, but then we get a bit of Taylor and Manza arguing? I don’t know if that was play-arguing or an actual argument.
Once the queens return to the Werk Room, Taylor is declared this episode’s winner, while Bhorj and Maureen are declared the bottom queens. If I was surprised at Bhorj’s win in the previous episode, I’m surprised she’s lip-syncing in this one. I thought it was going to be a Merckz and Maureen confrontation!
And again, I have to commend Drag Race Philippines for not only using a song by a local artist, but one that uses Bisaya! Or at least I think it’s Bisaya! Let’s keep this up because I really like it! As for the actual performance, I thought Maureen won it, and the judges agree.
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