RUPAUL’S DRAG RACE: Welcome to the DollHouse

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A very straight(you’ll pardon the term)forward episode of Drag Race! One fun mini-challenge, one basic but cute main design challenge, a decent enough lip sync (but just barely), and some minor shade and reading in the Werk Room. It’s all good and we can’t complain. It does, however, mean that this will be a pretty quick n’ dirty recap.

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Charo returned to the Werk Room and all of the Gen Z queens pretended to be excited to see her after being briefed on who she was. Snark aside, it was a cute challenge sponsored by Spain’s tourism board in which all of the queens had to get in quick flamenco drag (which they just happened to have packed with them) and try their hand at flamenco dancing.

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Perhaps not surprisingly, the latin queens did the best job and Xunami walked away with a righteous win.

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For the main challenge, the queens had to make an outfit for themselves and for their very own fashion doll, in a sort-of tie-in to the Barbie movie without actually making any Barbie references. There was almost no drama in the Werk Room this time around. Everyone is a little too aware of Jane’s rather tired “Sister, I’m just concerned about you” schtick and it was kind of fun to see everyone roll their eyes at Nymphia’s “I’m just a goofy clown” bit which is starting to become just a little insulting to her fellow queens. Play the game and stop pretending you’re not when everyone knows you are. We hope someone confronts her about this behavior soon.

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Starting with the safe queens, from the left: Xunami’s pants fit beautifully, but the rest of the outfit looked like a hit glue gun mess. Sapphira produced a perfectly lovely gown, but her plans for an opera coat evidently fell through. Nymphia’s look was just okay, but she needs to retire the banana thing soon. Morphine, also just okay, relying mostly on draping and booty to get the job done. Megami’s look was pretty fantastic and we might not have minded seeing her in the top three. We just didn’t like her props and accessories, which looked craftsy.

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Sapphira got spooked by some of the other efforts and her own lack of an opera coat, choosing somewhat impulsively to down her immunity potion. She immediately regretted it, as she should. Girl, you better have a world class snatch prepared for the Snatch Game. We’re gonna need to see some Leontyne Price turban action up in here.

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Much was made of the fact that three looks used the same fabric, although we think the judges were just trying to stir up some drama over it. Granted, it was puzzling why so many wound up using one of the uglier textiles available. Plasma did an okay job with here. It was striking and created a distinct character. We thought the embellishments on the purple were a little tacky and Law Roach was right: she should’ve pinned that scarf to her wig. While we’d like to suggest that the judges overpraised Jane’s work, it really was quite impressive. It was smart of her to lean into that ugly shade of blue by picking a wig in the same color.

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Mhi’ya was kind of a mess. The bodysuit wasn’t bad at all, but it was over-embellished and she should’ve ditched that half-assed cape. She could’ve saved the look with a much better wig. The doll looked terrible too.

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Geneva’s look was awkward, directionless and poorly put together. There was a time when we thought she might be one to watch, but there’s been a general failure to launch with her. The drag just isn’t dragging the way it should.

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Dawn’s face looked gorgeous. While we think the execution was seriously lacking, we agreed with the judges that she was giving high couture Balenciaga. It’ felt very fashion, unlike a lot of the looks.

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If we have anything bad to say about Q’s look it’s that it was probably just a little overdesigned, but she was clearly going to throw every trick in her arsenal at the judges. They danced around it like there was some question, but ultimately the judges did the only right thing and awarded her the long-awaited win. We’ve said it before: you just can’t come for this bitch’s runway. It’s going to be drop-dead every time.

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Geneva and Mhi’ya faced off in the lip sync and we honestly didn’t know which of these two low-energy, low-effort queens we were rooting for. Eventually, Mhi’ya took command of the stage and delivered the flips the judges asked for. It wasn’t quite the world-class lip sync we’ve been hoping for all season, but at least it felt like these girls were working for it.

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For all the talk of how Amanda Tori wasn’t ready for the world of Drag Race, this queen was clearly outside of her element and in over her head. She’s sweet, but she’s definitely not world class yet.

Legendary Children: The First Decade of RuPaul’s Drag Race and the Last Century of Queer Life, a New York Times “New and Notable” pick, praised by The Washington Post “because the world needs authenticity in its stories,” and chosen as one of the Best Books of The Year by NPR is on sale wherever fine books are sold!   It’s also available in Italian and Spanish language editions, darlings! Because we’re fabulous on an INTERNATIONAL level.

[Photo Credit: MTV via Tom and Lorenzo]

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