Drag Race gets a little political (but not really) and the queens are tasked with making issue-oriented politics ads — without anything approaching an actual real-world issue. To be fair, as much as we might want to argue that the times call for a more direct approach from the queerest show on mainstream cable in tackling all the ways the LGBTQ community is under threat, we don’t think it would have been a good idea to hand the queens actual, important issues to debate. No shade, but the majority of Drag Race queens would not make effective political pundits, in terms of having a grasp of the issues. Imagine if they’d been tasked with debating the existence of drag brunches or trans women competing in sports. But before we get into all of that…
… a little drama was on order. We’ve been recapping reality television for a very long time so it’s pretty difficult for us to treat any of it as real anymore, which is why we tended to be bored with the whole thing. The Rate A Queen challenge is designed to provide drama and it did so in a fairly entertaining way this time around, but the whole “I can’t believe you rated me so low” thing because is boring because it’s all so interchangeable. Queens get mad that someone rated them low in one breath, and in the next, they’re defending why they placed another queen so low. It does no one any good to opt out of this manufactured drama, so everybody has to play along with it.
The one queen who had every reason to make her feelings everyone else’s problem was Myki, but it was to her credit that she mostly let it slide.
Hello, Bruno.
We missed you.
Then there was the required drama surrounding who gets to pick which part to play. Sorry, but all of this feels so rote by now. The queens are all well aware of how these scenes play out and so we must sit through them playing them out. At this stage in the franchise history, the likelihood of anyone having a real meltdown or nasty argument over this is almost non-existent. Having said that, the Florida queens are pretty obnoxious at this point and we feel like if there’s going to be any sort of epic confrontation this season, it’ll be over them.
This was adorable and it makes us think these queens enjoy each other too much to get into it over silly stuff. They all know it’s a game. The show is better when it makes room for moments like this instead of plopping everyone on a big couch and telling them they have to argue over something. As for the challenge performances, we have to admit we were pleasantly surprised by how un-disastrous the majority of them turned out to be.
Jane was fantastic, of course. It’s unfortunate, but she’s been placed in the “Of course” category, where her consistent good work keeps getting nods of approval while other queens take the win. But queens like that tend to make it to the finals, so she just needs to keep her head down and keep doing what she’s doing.
Kenya was also pretty great – she’s naturally funny, but we think Jane’s presence as her opponent caused her to up her game. She looked gorgeous.
Terrible. She’s going to make it to the finals because she’s pretty, has great costumes, and she can dance, which means she’ll likely never lose a lip sync — which is nothing new for this show, of course. Long line of girls who won with the same skillset.
She was fine. We think her drag is starting to look very samey.
TERRIBLE. It was actually painful to watch. Her whole thing about being too chill for this challenge was totally self-defeating. This competition has never rewarded “chill.” It specifically rewards queens who have the nerve to look stupid. Not understanding that was fatal for her.
Pretty good, considering her lack of performing experience. She’s unpolished, but Darlene knows that she’s supposed to try hard and not be afraid of looking stupid.
Professional, polished, expected in every way. Nothing against Athena, who really is one of the top queens of the season in terms of polish and skill level, but we think she’s heading for a major disappointment if she doesn’t break out in a way that surprises the judges.
Like so. Myki stood out this week partially because the storyline demanded her redemption and partially because she really did break out of the box by delivering a funny performance of exactly the kind of character that delights Ru the most.
Discord also acquitted herself nicely. It was never likely that she’d win a challenge like this one, but she really gave it her all and landed a few laughs.
She’s another one who really needs to figure out how to break out of the box. If you’re not dominating this competition, you’re slowly losing it.
Category Is: I Can See Right Through Her! 🫧 Which lewk is sheer excellence? #DragRace pic.twitter.com/NLrdOxgNA5
— RuPaul’s Drag Race (@RuPaulsDragRace) February 14, 2026
We put Leigh Bowery on the cover of our book, so we were thrilled by Jane’s fabulous homage. Kenya’s look was cute, but came off a little craftsy. Juicy served up pure couture. Mia’s skeleton dress was clever but the prop shades looked bad. Darlene’s idea was also clever, but the drag itself was kind of generic. Vita’s look is gorgeous but it’s the second white sparkly bodysuit she’s worn. It always cracks us up when some queen says she’s serving “executive realness” and inadvertently reveals they’ve clearly never been inside an office. Athena’s look was fabulous, but it didn’t exactly have the corporate vibe she was trying to sell. Myki’s plastic suit might have come off craftsy, but she served flawless body under it. Discord’s angel look was beautifully executed, but her drag suffers from this heavy and obscure quality. It could use some editing for the runway. Nini’s candy wrapper was clever and had that clarity of concept thing that Discord’s drag lacks.
So condragulations to Myki, who did the thing most of the rest of these queens still need to do: catapulted herself from the middle of the pack to contender status. Too many of these girls are playing it safe.
We can’t argue with the choice to put Vita and Juicy in the bottom, but we were pretty sad about it because it was obvious how it was going to shake out. Vita’s gorgeous and highly polished, but her chill attitude was never going to dominate the stage against a powerhouse like Juicy. Having said that, it was a closer matchup than we thought it would be. Vita held her own for about half of it and then deflated.
Sorry to see her go, but she was the first in a line of queens this season who need to have the lesson reiterated to them: you don’t coast here. If you’re not hitting every challenge like your mother’s house was on the line, Ru and Michelle are gonna sniff it out and the rest of the producers are going to want to see you go so the high-energy girls can keep the audience engaged.
Girl, if you ever thought we were going to stop plugging our book, you weren’t paying attention: 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 (like at this link)! It’s also available in Italian and Spanish language editions, darlings! Because we’re fabulous on an INTERNATIONAL level.
[Still Credit: MTV]
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