RuPaul's Drag Race Season 18, Episode 2
"Q-Pop Girl Groups"
Host: RuPaul
Cast: Athena Dion, Briar Blush, Ciara Myst, Darlene Mitchell, DD Fuego, Discord Addams, Jane Don't, Juicy Love Dion, Kenya Pleaser, Mandy Mango, Mia Starr, Myki Meeks, Nini Coco, Vita VonTesse Starr
It turns out there's an added bonus to casting queens who are, on the whole, slightly more experienced than previous groups of girls. Not only do you get queens who've cultivated experiences and skillsets that lend themselves well to drag, you also get a group of queens who know how to make good TV. I mean, when half of the cast was growing up, there were only three channels to choose from! All in black and white! Black and white! They're all so old! (They are not that old.)
But the viewing audience for Drag Race is apparently not that old. They grew up with an MTV that just played Ridiculousness, not TRL. Or at least that's the demographic that MTV wants to attract, and that's the Most Online demo, most likely. So Drag Race, as has long been the case, takes on the role of custodian of queer history, passing down the culture by way of Maxi Challenges. For the most part, I am absolutely fine with this. Although ... let's get into it, a girl group challenge in Episode 2.
This week, the queens are tasked with creating Q-Pop groups, which stands for queer, queeny excellence or something (it didn't make my notes). Honestly gagged that the show missed the opportunity to brand the challenge as "Ru-Pop," which is absolutely something they could capitalize on. But whatever — the three groups will tackle three different genres: disco, punk, and pop. These are the genres that we see repeated over and over again in challenges, and all three examples — Sylvester, Wham!, and The Runaways — come from one very small window in time: 1976 to 1984. I love any time personal faves of mine like Sylvester and The Runaways get name-checked, but wow, music does exist outside of what was popular during Ru's personal heyday. But, it's her show — !
It's also, possibly more so than in previous seasons, also the queens' show. The girls all gamely take the bait when tasked with choosing teams and genres, creating a nice amount of tension. The first gag: Athena Dion, the season's (emotionally distant, kinda demanding) mother figure, being relegated to the leftovers group after not getting picked by Nini Coco or Vita VonTesse Starr. The next gag: Vita fighting hard for the disco track, apparently just to piss Athena off. When Vita reveals that she wanted the punk track, it makes so much sense considering she chose the three most pierced and tatted-up girls — Briar Blush, Discord Addams, and Jane Don't — for her group! As Myki Meeks clocks, Vita's playing chess over here, and this plan to rattle Athena absolutely works (more on that, well, now).
The Disco Team
Studio 50-Whores (DD Fuego, Darlene Mitchell, Mandy Mango, Athena Dion)
Athena is getting what I'm going to call the Dark Sasha Colby Saga edit. Both queens entered the show with plenty of polish, a thriving career, and a rep impressive enough to give every other queen pause. But whereas Sasha remained cool, calm, and collected the entire season — never in a panic, never cocky, always the exact right amount of confident with the skills to more than back it all up — Athena's in a spiral. Already. After not making the cut, she gets in a sourpuss mood and infects her entire team — which feels hard to do, because DD, Darlene, and Mandy otherwise seem downright bubbly. Imagine if Sasha Colby was in this predicament. I think she'd lock in, do the job, and prove everyone wrong without letting anyone see her sweat. Meanwhile, Athena grits her teeth through the lyric sesh and falls asleep during vocal sessions!
The standout of the team is undoubtedly Darlene Mitchell, but not because of her talent, per se. Rather, the way she works her lack of talent is a winning moment (even if she ends up in the bottom). Giving herself that high-pitched Sylvester moment when she absolutely can't pull it off, and turning it into a gag, one that she pushes from cute to hilarious? Genius. And her performance look gave Pinky Tuscadero meets Peg Bundy (I don't really get where Michelle Visage saw Shari Lewis; give the baby gays a reason to google "Pinky Tuscadero," not "Shari Lewis"!). If Ru's reaction to Darlene Mitchell's "stupid" drag name is any indication (and it very likely is), Darlene is sticking around.
Unfortunately for Mandy and DD, they end up in the bottom — with reason. Eager to prove herself after last week's flop, Mandy crams twice as many words and moves into her verse, giving Studio 54 full cocaine frenzy. And DD was also there.
The Pop Team
Glam! (Nini Coco, Mia Starr, Ciara Myst, Myki Meeks, Kenya Pleaser)
Last week's winner Nini Coco gets the red herring edit this week when her botched voice derails her recording session. She tells Michelle that she strained her voice during last week's "screaming challenge," to which I have to point out: that wasn't a challenge. They just made the girls ... stand and scream while hunky menseses squirmed around them wearing phallic Greek masks. It wasn't a photo shoot. There was no edict other than "scream." Jamal Sims was just there for some reason. The prize was $2,500 and no advantage in the Maxi Challenge. Nini Coco flirted with the bottom this week because she lost her voice for ... what? Madness. It all works out, though; Nini's vocal is rough but salvaged and she turns it in the performance.
Meanwhile, Kenya gets her very own "doo-wah"/"rooting for you"/"sequins dress" moment in the recording session (that's gotta be on a drag queen's bucket list, right?), Ciara gets away with painting those egregiously oversized lips for one more week (you know Michelle is eager to smack those off her face), and Myki Meeks continues to look like Jersey Shore Meg White.
The standout this week, though, is Mia Starr who does something so completely thoughtful and professional — meaning it's the first time it's been done in the franchise's herstory: she writes out the choreo on paper. Notes! Mia is legit, and I love her for this.
The Punk Team
The Tucked Aways (Vita VonTesse Starr, Briar Blush, Juicy Love Dion, Discord Addams, Jane Don't)
This is where I get pedantic. Other gays get persnickety about fashion choices and designer references. I, personally, grind my teeth every time Drag Race conflates and confuses punk, metal, and rock. On Drag Race, there are two types of music: with and without guitars. All music with guitars is the same: it sounds the same and looks the same, and comes with plenty of air guitar-ing and those damned devil horns gestures. There's no reason to dig into the subgenres, like the show does with broader pop music ('60s girl groups, '70s disco, '90s R&B, '00s pop, etc.). Just dress up in black leather and studs, throw the horns, and air guitar. That's all that guitar music is, right?
I love pop music. I love pop music now. I did not grow up loving pop music. I grew up loving rock music — not in a cool way, at first. I'm talking Gin Blossoms and Hootie to Third Eye Blind and Everclear. But then I got into Dandy Warhols, then the Strokes and the White Stripes (where Myki Meeks' parents met), then Talking Heads and Roxy Music, and the Kinks, Spoon, The Go! Team. As much as I like pop music now, I was fully a college radio snob during the garage rock revival era of the early-to-mid aughts, all Elephant 6 and Nuggets box sets. I spent my 20s in NYC during peak "indie sleaze" era. Because of this, I have no nostalgia for late '90s boy bands, I still grit my teeth when I hear "Mr. Brightside," and I don't get My Chemical Romance.
This is why all attempts at what I will broadly call "guitar music" (because that's how Drag Race treats it) makes me wince and cringe, no matter how hard I try to be a good sport about it. But to me, rock, punk, and metal are all genres built upon a rock solid foundation of unclockable authenticity. No poseurs or sellouts allowed. So even when these songs are performed by queens who have rock cred — like almost all of The Tucked Aways! Jane Don't and I would have been friends in college! — it just comes across as fake [derogatory] because RuPaul's Drag Race doesn't care enough about this entire section of the record store to differentiate between rock genres. The Runaways were not punk. The Runaways were rock. The song was closer to glam rock (which is acceptable, as that's rock in drag). The looks were glam metal. Just don't call them the "punk" team.
To this date, the most authentic rock and roll moment in all of Drag Race herstory remains Bob the Drag Queen rightfully putting Luciane Piane in his place for completely misunderstanding The B-52's.
RANT OVER.
The "punk" team does indeed slay, with mega thanks to Jane Don't's hilarious lyrics and performance. Rightful winner of the week. Now, can we not do another rock song until the Drag Race writers want to introduce the Gen Z/Alpha queer kids to The B-52's, R.E.M., X-Ray Spex, Roxy Music, Of Montreal, Jobriath, or even just David fucking Bowie, please?
...
On the runway, category was — I cannot believe it — My Neck, My Back, My Pussy, and My Crack. To quote Jane Don't from earlier, "Maya Angelou wishes." The standouts for me were definitely Nini Coco's insane brain look, complete with wide-brim brain hat, rushed gown, and ornate, musculature gloves; and also Jane's big mouth. Mandy Mango's table look, while a cute idea, left a lot to be desired. The execution wasn't there — until the lip sync.
As I mentioned, Jane wins. Mandy and DD end up in the bottom and have to lip sync for their lives to Dove Cameron's single "Too Much." The outcome of this battle speaks to both how little of a fight DD put up and just how hard Mandy fought. The producers absolutely intended for Mandy to go home! After a bottom placement last week, Mandy's bags were metaphorically packed. And then she spends half of the first verse struggling to get out of that darn table gown? DD just needed to do anything and an edit wherein she won could be secured.
DD did not do that. DD did not do anything. DD spent the entire lip sync clinging to that huge-ass boa, totally constricting her ability to slay. Mandy, on the other hand, pulled off one of the most decisive victories we've seen, up there with Trinity the Tuck vs. Charlie Hides, or Denali vs. Kahmora Hall. Mandy talked a big game, re: her performance skills, and she stepped up, knowing every syllable and working in some effortless dips and some tassle-enhanced waaking. Mandy more than earned her place in next week's ... oh god ... return of RDR Live.
And you thought I was insufferable talking about rock music. Next week: sketch comedy. I'm so sorry.
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