Sorry again for the late recap but a couple of bitches had to do their taxes this weekend! Let’s get into this!
Say what you will about Drag Race – God knows we have – but in almost every season’s final stretch, when we look at the queens left standing after half of them were sent home, we think it feels about right, in terms of who should still be in the running. Sure, maybe there were more polished queens than some of them, but these seven queens have been legitimately the most entertaining to watch this season.
There’s no way in hell these bitches were cheering spontaneously for another sketch comedy challenge. Ru probably told them Chappell Roan was stopping by or something.
There was surprisingly little stress in divvying up the roles. Once again, Suzie gave up a role to which she was well suited, which speaks of her own confidence. It’s paying off for her.
We might normally roll our eyes at a Truman Capote sketch because the show has a long history of forcing Millennial and younger queens to constantly have to deal with Ru’s Boomer obsessions, but this was clearly shot not long after Ryan Murphy’s Feud: Capote vs. The Swans aired, which means it was at least dealing with a current pop culture moment. They also cleverly seeded the script with a bunch of reality TV references that almost all of the queens got. The result was pretty much the funniest sketch the show has pulled off in years.
There was a point at which we felt the judging was being unfair to Lana. She did her best work of the season and showed a lot of growth as a performer. Granted, we’re in the final stretch, where every performance has to be flawless in order to advance, but we honestly felt a little bad for her because absolutely no one was going to be able to outshine her scene partner. Onya is the real deal. We don’t think we’ve seen a queen take control of a comedy sketch with such confidence since Bob the Drag Queen. The look was flawless and the delivery was impossible to beat. Everyone knew she won this challenge from the minute she opened her mouth.
We can’t think of a better compliment to pay Sam than noting that we actually forgot who she was for a minute during this sketch. By that we mean we literally forgot we were looking at a drag queen doing amateur comedy and just vibed on the natural comedienne slaying it in front of us. She was smooth and hilarious. We don’t want to be mean about Lydia because she’s sweet and funny, but her approach to everything is to shrug and say “I think buttholes are funny” and, well, that’s not a game plan, sis. She looked great, though.
Lexi is a silly drama queen and it’s to Suzie’s credit that she doesn’t take Lexi’s obsession with her remotely seriously, although she was clearly thrilled by it. Who knows what goes on inside of someone’s head, but it seemed strange to us that Lexi is so obsessed with Suzie when Onya is clearly acing the competition over everyone. It’s perhaps too simple to see it this way, but we think it’s likely that the weird energy of this pairing actually fueled it to their advantage. It’s almost a shame that Onya came on so strong because that ASMR bit was legitimately funny and could’ve secured them a double-win in a different season.
As soon as she said she’s had the original New York monologue down cold since grade school, we were a little concerned. If anything, having the original so ingrained in your memory would be considered a problem in a situation like this, where you’re meant to memorize a parody version. Sure enough, it tripped her up. Still, even if we ignore the memory issues, it seemed like her whole take on the character – this prissy, clipped way of speaking coupled with good girl drag – didn’t really fit what she was saying.
Category Is: Black & White Ball Which lewk is the belle of the ball? #DragRace pic.twitter.com/QKqcpZEgsF
— RuPaul’s Drag Race (@RuPaulsDragRace) March 15, 2025
We’re in the endgame now and the queens are all unveiling their best looks of the season. That is absolutely the best, most interesting look Lana’s sported all season (and it helped her out tremendously in the lip sync). Onya’s black swan look was gorgeous and shows that she’s bringing specific costumes designed for each runway category rather than taking existing ones and making them work.
You just can’t beat Sam Star on the runway. Almost all of her costumes have been amazing, but this is the best one yet. Standing next to Sam, Lydia’s look comes off like a poor attempt at the same style. As usual with her drag, it’s all very obtuse and hard to parse. There are all kinds of ways to do drag, but on this show, the judges expect a certain clarity of concept in the final looks. It should be immediately obvious what each queen is trying to do with her drag and Lydia consistently fails at that aspect of it.
Suzie’s look was gorgeous and surprisingly unusual, from the headpiece to the paintjob to the construction of the dress. She’s so much more interesting when she’s not doing her Betty Boop thing. It’s clear that the judges are in love with Lexi because they would have read any other queen for filth for showing up in such a half-assed look and once again dragging it behind her. Jewels’ look is stunning, but as soon as she appeared, we blurted out “THIS BITCH DID BIG FOOT FOR THE SNATCH GAME?!?” Gwen Stefani was right there, girl; literally staring you in the face.
Everyone needs to stop obsessing over Suzie and deal with the real threat in the room. Granted, when most of them chose Onya to go home, it seemed like they were all suddenly realizing it at the same time.
Not to kick a queen while she’s down and struggling, but there was something poetic about Lydia getting literally tripped up by her own costume in her final lip synch. That’s been our issue with her drag all along: it never seems to be devised for the stage – or for performing, or for an audience, or for anyone who’s not in Lydia’s head with her.
We’ve been struggling all season trying to articulate what’s not working about her drag and it took a singer to figure it out. When Sam Smith said she “needed to find the resonance in her voice,” it clicked for us. She’s talented and funny, but she’s young and unformed as an artist. She needs some seasoning.
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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