S17.E12: The Rugina Monologues

[davidcalgary29]

As I was watching Cheap Trick strum listlessly through the millionth rendition of "The Flame" before an ecstatic audience in Edmonton tonight, I started to giggle, thinking how much the band must hate that song at this point. It's been 37 years since it hit the top of the charts, and yet their audience demands it at every tour stop! Gawd. Do you know who else has been trudging along for 37 years without respite? Why, our queens, of course. It's time for another episode of Drag Race!

In the Werkroom, copious tears flow in the wake of Lydia's departure. I'd like to think that everyone just liked her, but maybe everyone's just tired and cranky. But it's a good look for everyone! Talk turns surprisingly candid as many of the queens target Suzie because of her unflappable confidence and because Onya really is untouchable at this point. SPOILER: she's even more untouchable by the end of the episode.

Ru enters the Werkroom the next day to announce an increasingly rare occasion: we're being treated to a mini-challenge! And this one, in which the queens have to write fake "bios" for their paired competitor, is fresh and excellent. Jewels runs away with the challenge with sharp and cutting critiques of Suzie's foibles wrapped in a delicious layer of comedy, so no one can be upset. Brava! Jewels wins some cash and the picking order -- again -- of the pending maxi challenge. Nope, no sign of Production Riggory at all here. Look over there!

We segue into the onto the Main Stage, where Ru is the world's draggiest Troll Doll. Again: WHO is styling her? We then get to see the monologues, where one queen orates a personal story of growth, while her partner dances a "visual representation" of the story. This, my friends, is as weird as Drag Race gets. I like it.

Suzie and Jewels are first. They're earnest and dance well, and are dinged by the Judges for filling the brief, because really Ru just wants to laugh, and the brief is irrelevant. Onya drags Lexi into the top with an inspired comic turn, and Lana and Sam trail with a boring conclusion. Despite hopes from several queens, Suzie is safe. Onya wins! Ru also mentions that Lexi is a winner, too, but this is clearly Onya's season now and Lexi doesn't count. Huzzah!

Sam and Lana lipsynch and are nicely matched, but there's no way Ru would let Lana stick around at this point. She is, indeed, a goner. Sam stays!

 Next week: Family Makeovers! I hope Suzie gets to make her mother into a Flapperdog, or perhaps a Flapjack. 

EDIT: my laptop power died last night before I could edit this Weecap to talk about the runway, which for some reason was a throwback special to Season 7's "Ugliest Dress Ever" parade. Which made sense then, as it was paired with the John Waters challenge, but makes no sense now, and neither Demi Lovato nor John Waters makes makes an appearance on the panel, as WoW apparently blew its guest stipend bringing in Julia Schlaepfer. Alas, almost no one but Suzie -- who rolls down the runway in a Christmas tumbleweed of trash -- hits the brief, although the results are still a mess. Jewels gets Trixie's brief and trots an 80s prom look down the runway, claiming that her garment is a recreation of "her mother's prom dress...made by the only seamstress in Puerto Rico...". Really? There was only one seamstress in Puerto Rico in the 80s? -- but it's kind of stylish, and certainly not styled as memorably as Trixie's.  Onya trots out a complete Turkey costume saved from Thanksgiving, 2002. Sadly, it's one of the better runway showings from her this season. Lexi tries to replicate Violet's winning Rainbow Circus Clown Horror on the runway, and gives the Judges a multi-tier cake made out of layers of tulle. It's really not that ugly. And Sam actually goes full Fame, and presents an expensive, well-styled gown. Like Fame, she claims to have misunderstood the brief when she's told that it's not ugly enough, but this is clearly a calculated move; a Pageant Queen like Sam is not going to destroy her carefully curated brand for one ugly runway challenge. Lana closes the runway with another recycled Lewk from an actual runway, which this time is Kandy Muse's "pockets" look. Since that was one of Kandy's better runways, she fails. Couldn't she get Kandy to loan her the look from her "Beast!" fiasco?  Predictably, the runway makes no impact on judging. Huzzah!

 

Edited March 23 by davidcalgary29

[Starchild]

That mini-challenge really was great. And yeah, for sure Jewels won, no riggory there.

16 hours ago, davidcalgary29 said:

Onya wins! Ru also mentions that Lexi is a winner, too, but this is clearly Onya's season now and Lexi doesn't count.

Great interpretive dance, though, that's the most I've enjoyed Lexi all season.

I've seen people complaining that Lana won the lip synch but I disagree. Lana can move her body, but not her face. Her expression never changes and her lack of emoting is what lost her this one, IMO.

[Absurda]

I was surprised by Sam in the lip sync.  I really didn't think she had that in her.  If Sam can get a way from needing to be beautiful all the time, I think she could be a major threat on this show.

Susie takes herself waaay too seriously.  The judges never want a spot on impersonation of an obscure personality that only 3 people in the world know enough about to appreciate.  They don't want an artistic and precise interpretive dance worthy of any art house stage.  They just want a good fart joke.

By trying to brand her comedy as "intellectual" what she's really saying is "superior".  This is really preventing her from connecting with the audience and holding her back.  She needs to get over herself.

I loved Lexi's interpretive dance, I thought it was better than Onya's dance.  But, Onya's story was better than Lexi's.  Regardless they were far and away better than the other two pairs. 

Can we just give Onya her own comedy special?  Or maybe a regular tv show?  I could watch her for hours.

I really liked that the mini and main challenges were brand new.  The mini challenge was a lot of fun.

[Kaboom 2.0]

I'm glad Jewels won the mini challenge, for me she had the funniest bio. The main challenge had a good premise, Onya cemented herself as the clear front runner with that win while Suzie continues to live rent free in some of the other queens' heads for reasons. Also good for Lexi for another win. Now just calm down already. 

Suzie's Christmas tree monstrosity will no doubt be present in my nightmares. I was hoping one of the queens would attempt La La Ri's infamous bag dress from her season's Bag Ball! 

I felt for Lana but girl, fourth time in the bottom? Her number was up with this latest bottom placement. She's still so young though, I hope she continues to mature and excel, maybe not rely on the body so much? Naomi Smalls has a similar body but doesn't totally rely on it, she's funny & shady & smart. 

[SemiCharmedLife]

I loved Lexi's interpretive dance- so fun!  Onya, Jewels and Lana did well with their dances, too.  Lana seemed to be reading or reciting her story, though, which didn't come across as well as others.  It was a fun challenge, though.  Hopefully they will keep it as a regular challenge in future seasons.

[hatchetgirl]

On 3/23/2025 at 11:38 AM, Absurda said:

Susie takes herself waaay too seriously.  The judges never want a spot on impersonation of an obscure personality that only 3 people in the world know enough about to appreciate.  They don't want an artistic and precise interpretive dance worthy of any art house stage.  They just want a good fart joke.

Exactly.  Poor Suzie.  It's what will make her not win.  I think she's too young and hasn't gotten that confidence that comes with age, yet.  But she will.  I loved that she added to Jewel's win when she was reading the bio and she said stuff like "cerebral - misspelled mind you."  I died laughing over that.  Like Hello Suzie - we love you, it's ok - you are not better than everyone because you can't laugh at yourself!  Once you have that, come on back. 

[Red Bridey]

Oh, I like Suzie. Her self-confidence is such a relief when compared to Lexi's neuroses. Bye, Lana, you have been circling the drain for just too long.

I was actually offended by Onya's runway outfit. In no way shape or form was that an ugly dress. It was a turkey costume. NOT.A.DRESS. She definitely won the monologues but she should have been read for filth for that get-up.

[Madding crowd]

I really like Suzie and Jewels monologue was so serious I don’t know how a goofy dance would even fit . I hated this challenge because it was dig deep and tell us your darkest fears but make it funny! I didn’t like any of the monologues. Last time they did ugly dresses they wanted actual dresses not costumes but these were all costumes except for Jewels.  It makes me a little sad that Ru and Michelle don’t seem to like Suzie, she’s my favorite. 

[davidcalgary29]

2 hours ago, Madding crowd said:

I really like Suzie and Jewels monologue was so serious I don’t know how a goofy dance would even fit . I hated this challenge because it was dig deep and tell us your darkest fears but make it funny! I didn’t like any of the monologues. Last time they did ugly dresses they wanted actual dresses not costumes but these were all costumes except for Jewels.  It makes me a little sad that Ru and Michelle don’t seem to like Suzie, she’s my favorite. 

Theatre queens have limited marketability for WoW, and Ru always follows the money. I'm sure it's nothing personal to her. And before you can shout "but Jinkx!" to me, I'll remind everyone what a true outlier Jinkx truly was and, as much as I enjoy Suzie, how much more well-rounded as a performer Jinkx was on both of her seasons. 

[Madding crowd]

Jinkx is my all time favorite so I agree with you there. But Ru took a liking to Jinkx early on despite Michelle not liking her at all. I think Suzie seems too confident which doesn’t appeal to Ru. I think different types of queens are marketable for WOW-Suzie is more like Katya and Alaska than some of the other queens left .

[Absurda]

I just don't see Suzie winning this as she is.  She could do with a little pinch of self-doubt.  Just enough for her to stop and rethink some of her choices to see if they really are on track.  If she's 100% convinced that every performance is a home run and doesn't take on any feedback she won't be able to grow as a performer and her future options will be limited.  I think she could take the world by storm if she were willing to grow and expand her repertoire to match her audience better.

 

[TiffanyNichelle]

On 3/25/2025 at 5:00 PM, Madding crowd said:

I think Suzie seems too confident which doesn’t appeal to Ru.

Ru doesn't really like a young queen that comes on too confident. He wants to make sure he's a part of them growing and discovering who they are on his show. If you're an older queen who's more established and confident, it's fine. But you also better make sure there's a good story arc that he can play a part in. Like the pageant queens discovering how they can be funny, or the clown queens discovering they can do glam.

[Madding crowd]

True, except for Bianca Del Rio, Bob the Drag Queen, Chad Michaels and Sasha Colby who all had a ton of confidence. Ru and Michelle usually have favorites and it’s not easy to predict who Ru will like. Michelle favors glamorous queens but she hasn’t been as opinionated in the last few years. Suzie won’t win, I’m guessing Onya or Sam but we could be surprised.