S17.E04: Bitch, I'm a Drag Queen!

[davidcalgary29]

The queens' gather to mourn Lucky Starzzz' sad, sad departure from this season of Drag Race. As tears flow from an increasing number of heavily painted faces, an increasingly annoyed Joella speculates that she's not as well-liked as she thought she was. The harsh truth of discovering that she's merely tolerated leads to more griping and moaning, and then the anger of defiance. That's the spirit, Joella!

The next day, hurt feelings are (largely) forgotten as the queens gather round the Werkroom tables to hear Ru give them this week's challenge: they're going to be performing tracks to some of DR's most memorable moments! Personally, I'm all for mining the WoW IP treasure trove as long as it doesn't mean yet another "Rusical" featuring some of RuPaul's most treasured (translation: dated and stale) vocal stylings. 

As the queens prepare for their roles, there's the usual banter and insights, which transitions to a montage of red herrings and curveballs as we watch our beloved contestants rehearse their bits. Unfortunately, there's comparatively little to see during this stretch of the episode -- how many times do we need to have confessionals interspersed with random clips to get the idea that not everything's going well? -- but finally move on to Judging, and a glimpse at the Finished Product (translation: one minute segments with highly polished vocals). All of our regulars look good on the panel, and they're joined by someone named Julia Schlaepfer. Who? After reading her Wiki, I see that she's got quite a few televised acting credits, but still have no idea who she is. I do like the way she's lit up by stage lighting, though. Success!

The runway category is: "Quilted". Like so many runways over the past few seasons, the queens' attention to the stated category is variable at best, but most of them pull off looks that are at least interesting to look at. Surprisingly, the Judges actually appear to recognize the misfires, and the runway becomes an important factor in contestant placement for the first time (outside of a sewing challenge) in what feels like a decade. Do this more often! Arietty is dinged for trotting out an intriguing ensemble that completely misses the category; Acacia Forgot looks like a waitress at a Howard Johnson's Restaurant that a bunch of kids drew on while they waited for their deep fried clams. I miss you, HoJo!

And then, there is Joella. NO. 

The "commercials" air for the viewers, and they're all fun, and also mercifully short. They're set to different musical genres not of their choice, and it's clear that these queens have the most fun acting along to high-energy dance numbers. Suzie Toot, though, is a clear standout with a punk-inspired trash track, and "Back Rolls" is ably performed by a game Jewels and Arietty. The judges later claim that Arietty was "outperformed" by Jewels, but I don't see it, and think that it's just an excuse to ding her for an off-assignment runway look. The only miss for me is Lydia and Lana Ja'Rae's number to S2's iconic Morgan/Mystique fight, but the boring music is clearly not their fault. Ru annoyingly cackles through all of the performances, perhaps highlighting the fact that there really is little difference between the top and bottom acts here. 

Ru looks angry as she declares Lydia, Lana, Jewels, Hormona, Sam, and Lexi to be safe. Acacia is declared to be Basic. Okay, that one's mine, but I think it's more than fair.

Onya is thrown a win -- good for her! I didn't like her number that much, but she clearly did, so I'm okay with it. Ru turns to someone in a giant pink sneeze of fabric and immediately tells her that she's in the bottom, although it's hard to tell who that might be as the words echo down the giant glory hole in the front of the "outfit".  Oh, it's Joella! I think Joella looks sad at the news, although I can't really tell.  Well, if she's a bit teary she can just turn her head to wipe her face on her giant RuPaul-themed maxi pad of a runway costume. NO. Joella is joined by Kori, who had an underwhelming performance and is also wearing an ugly and unflattering outfit. I'm also entirely okay with that.

Joella and Kori lipsynch. Bizarrely, Joella wriggles in her giant mattress for a few seconds of the song, and it's a hilarious thought that she might not take it off for the entire lipsynch. Sadly, however, she strips, and is just as boring when you can see her in her boring pink bodysuit. She tries, and then fails, and Kori wins by default of having not sabotaged herself by walking the Main Stage in Serta Realness Cosplay. Joella is "invited" to "save herself" by pulling one of the remaining levers in the Grande Michelle Dunk Tank, but of course she doesn't get the right one. Ru nods sagely to herself as she yanks one last feeling of disappointment from Joella. There's no way she was going to press her Red Save Button under her desk for this queen. No one else looks particularly sad to see Joella go. I guess you were right, Joella! Self-awareness is key. I will say that I liked her spirit.

Next week: oh, lord, it's back to improv with "RDR Live". Let's just hope this is brief interlude before we head to more kinetic episodes. This one was better than I thought it would be.

Edited Saturday at 04:59 AM by davidcalgary29

[Madding crowd]

I had no idea what was going on when they were doing the rehearsals but most of the queens pulled it off considering it was a strange challenge. I also thought they all had some type of quilting on the runway so no one actually missed the challenge but nothing really wowed me. I like Suzie Toots and thought she looked great in the challenge and the runway; I would have given her the win.

[BloggerAloud]

It was a weird challenge, mostly because it made me think of the infomercial challenge from season 4. I was thinking, I bet you almost all the girls on this show do not even know what they are parodying because these kind of album compilations and their commercials were so before their time. 

No shade to my girl Onya Nurve, but this is the second win in a row that felt driven by producers wanting to start drama among the girls. Last week with Sam over Ariety and this week with Onya instead of Crystal all seemed equal parts earned with a bonus of riling people up.

I know it's a running joke that nobody knows who the guest judge is but I truly had no clue and went to IMDB and they only have seven credits so it's wild that landed this gig.

[Red Bridey]

I don't know who the little blonde girl was either, but she looked great and is very pretty. Glad Basic Joella got bounced. I adored the comment from someone that "Joella does not know one word of the lipsync." If you watched Untucked you would see that neither queen was filmed rehearsing the song. Maybe they did, but there was zero evidence of it. And that's a clear road to failure, Joella!

I am again tired of Kori King's completely unwarranted self confidence, as are, apparently, her competitors. Her breast plate is completely plastic and her runway choices are questionable at best. But she's shady, oh yes, completely shady! Yawn...🤷🏼

I was underwhelmed by Onya Nerve (shouldn't she has the middle name Last?) at first, but she is clearly charming all the judges, so she must be doing something right. And she gives great talking heads, so I'm warming up to her.

Arrietty needs to change up the Elf Makeup, it's not as unique as she thinks. Stop being defensive and take Michelle's observation seriously. Hope Suzie Toots does too.

 

[SemiCharmedLife]

Unbelievably, I agreed with the judges this week.  I would have had Crystal edge out Onya, simply for the amazing runway, which blew everyone else away this week.  Suzie was my third place queen...a strong week for her, and I loved the change up in her look.  I like her 20's style, but there is something off-putting about the way she does her makeup.  I can' t put my finger on it, though.

Not sad to see Joella go, though she does bring drama to the werkroom.  Her self delusion coupled with her "honest" critiques were made for reality tv.

[threebluestars]

3 hours ago, SemiCharmedLife said:

 I like her 20's style, but there is something off-putting about the way she does her makeup.  I can' t put my finger on it, though.

 

I totally agree, and I think the biggest thing is that she looks the same out of drag - there isn't much dimensional change to her face in drag makeup so that you see someone different. The lips in particular bug me.

[davidcalgary29]

1 hour ago, threebluestars said:

I totally agree, and I think the biggest thing is that she looks the same out of drag - there isn't much dimensional change to her face in drag makeup so that you see someone different. The lips in particular bug me.

She did change it up without prompting, though, so I give her points for that. Or -- more likely -- they probably did tell her off camera. She has the edit of someone who's going to make it to the end, if not win it all.

[Red Bridey]

I didn't recognize most of those "iconic" moments they developed songs around, so "iconic"? Not so much 🤷🏼.

[Kaboom 2.0]

Wow an original challenge concept. See, producers, it CAN still be done. Shade aside, I did enjoy this challenge (I still have my Now That's What I Call Music CDs in the basement). I truly thought Susie was gonna get her second win, I like Onya but would've picked Susie for the win.

For me, Crystal's runway exceeded Onya's but I also liked Lexi's and Arrietty's. The less said about Joella's, the better.

As someone who chose to never watch Yellowstone the show or any show by its creator, I had to look up who the guest judge was. She seems nice?

I will not miss Joella, she got one Katy Perry mention out before she was shown the door. There's a fine line between confidence and delusion and for me she was Delusional.

[violet and green]

Aw, I am really going to miss Joella. I am glad we got that moment with Hormona showing kindness and empathy to her and a bit more of her story. I loved Joella's frank and forthright reads of the other queens' looks and performances - so funny to see their shocked faces. It was time to go, but she was a fun queen to watch. Her little anxious face peering out of that hole in her giant mattress!

Also really enjoyed the outrage from Arietty after her makeup critique - Cats! So spot on. And the steam coming out of Crystal Envy's nose and ears when Onya deservedly won. But the two highlights of the show for me were Hormona's quilted dressing gown with the lovely vintage colors, sewn by her one-handed mother, and Acacia being declared safe!

[bluvelvet]

I’m so glad Joella is gone, she really rubbed me the wrong way when she told Lucky in last weeks untucked essentially sorry but I’m going to be here next week. There was no reason for that. 

Onya or Crystal could’ve taken that win. I was good either way. 
 

Btw these girls are SHADY bootz 😆 I love it!! 

[Wonderlad71]

Ja Untucked is going to be a bit dull without Joella's brand of delulu. 

Crystal Envy is getting Q'ed. Her runway was spectacular though.