The latest episode of RuPaul's Drag Race Season 17 begins with the girls being shook — and rightly so. After approximately 159 days and nights in the competition, we're finally down to a [counts] final ten queens. Things are heating up. Slowly. Like the heated floor in my bathroom (I'm sure it's finally toasty overnight). Crystal Envy going home has injected a real "finalists vs. filler" attitude amongst the cast, and the delusion flows every which way. And once again, Kori King is all top-of-her-lungs about how poorly everyone else is doing when she has never placed above safe. You know she's the iced coffee queen because her confessionals — which are usually filmed first thing in the morning — are so damn loud. Kori runs on Dunkin Delusion.
This week's challenge is the Rusical — The Wicked Wiz of Oz, a Wizard of Oz/Wicked/The Wiz mashup filtered through A Chrous Line. This conceit actually makes sense compared to previous Rusicals.
Sidenote: I will never forget the time that I sat down at Chipotle and noticed that the very white/cis/hetero-presenting man sitting next to me was watching "Rats: The Rusical" on his iPhone while eating a burrito bowl. What a fucking trip that was.
With any Rusical, we get the duh-rama over who willst play whomst — and this one's pretty damn juicy. The girls deploy a lot of tried and true strategies to get what they want. Suzie Toot tries to take Kansas Dorothy by offering passive aggressive advice to Acacia Forgot, which the other queens call shade to. Lexi Love offers sincere advice to Sam Star about the judges wanting to see her grit, which Sam — in the most self-aware moment any queen has had this season — takes herself out of the running for Kansas Dorothy and turns to the Wicked Witch ... who is Cher. For some reason. Because Drag Race. Then Sam, through sheer force of will, gives Acacia Kansas Dorothy and leaves Suzie with the Green Witch. It's kind of a serve.
The other showdown is for the Good Witch, which Jewels Sparkles wants because it's a star-maker of a role, and Kori wants it because ... the song is about having a big ass. The Wicked Witch is Cher and the Good Witch is thicc and juicy. It's a Rusical, all right! As Jewels points out, she can buy body but Kori can't buy comedy. It's put up to a vote and everyone (except for Strategic Suzie) agrees that Jewels should add on the hip pads and serve Good Witch.
I get that I'm dragging Kori a lot, especially since (or actually because) I had such high hopes for her, but she — and self-styled singer/songwriter Acacia — both wander into foghorn/howling alley cat frequencies while recording. It really doesn't help that everyone else seems to be slaying. You know how every time we see one of these recording sessions, there's a queen who's like, "I am ready to give it my all," and then they mumble their lines into the mic with the enthusiasm of someone waiting in line at the post office? That actually doesn't happen here! Lana Ja'Rae serves the most personality we've seen since "RDR Live!", earning the standard "welcome to the competition" backhanded compliment from Michelle Visage. And you know if Suzie, Onya Nurve, or Sam sang one note off-key, the editors would have ran with it. But all three of them confidently squat at the trough and go to town like the little piggies they are and wow I really hate that Jewels started this damn "piggy of the week" metaphor.
The real misdirection begins when the queens get in front of Jamal Sims. The queens think it's Thanksgiving because Jewels is serving turkey on the runway. And sure enough — if there's a queen who hiccuped, who dropped a brush, or said "supposubly" instead of "supposedly," you know there is confessional footage of Kori King reading them down. Jewels is "flopping," according to Miss King. Cut to: Kori wearing those orange mesh booties that RuPaul personally marked for death last week. I'm here for any excuse to play that clip again.
The real suspicious business — or "susbus," if you will — comes with Onya. She admits in her confessional that it takes her a little bit to pick up choreo. Then we see Jamal Sims just ... teaching her the choreo, and her learning it. Then, out of nowhere, here's Jewels saying that Onya can come off like a "diva" sometimes — a statement backed up by footage of Onya just ... looking at Jamal. Not even in a rude way. Just in an "I'm listening" way. Absolutely bizarre, artificial, Final Cut Pro trickery.
This week's mirror chats are — okay, there's a little bit of define-the-relationship flirtation between Lydia Butthole Kollins and Kori. This is feeling more and more real, made even more real by Lydia and Kori still being close enough of a thing to be rooming and Cameo'ing in the latest Mistress Monday video. Also we learn about Arrietty's history with disordered eating, and how drag helped build her confidence. It's a really touching moment, and it was really lovely seeing Arrietty — a queen with a shady, tee-hee-hee affectation most of the time — be really direct, honest, and vulnerable, and therefore strong.
But because Season 17 loves shocking reveals, like Lexi Love being corporate or Sam Star's godfather being Charles f'ing Barkley, this week we find out that Acacia Forgot was an actual, literal, honest-to-God Make-a-Wish kid. Acacia was born with cystic fibrosis and not expected to live past high school. And, as Acacia says, her parents were up front about all of this, she grew up very aware of her mortality, and her parents strived to provide their kids with a lifetime of love in 15-ish years.
Like. I can't imagine. And now here she is, 27 years old, on Drag Race. I ... just ... it's so rare that Drag Race really gets into mortality. And drag as an art form is very much about celebrating life, and it's also just so stupid, so intentionally frivolous and fleeting at times (and I say this as a drag queen). It's never not a shock when drag crashes into death — actual death. Not, like, Dragula vibes. Actual death. But death is a part of life, just like drag, and death is a part of drag, and mortality is what makes all of this, how we spend our time, worthwhile. So ... shit, I don't know. Werk, Acacia.
Time for The Wicked Wiz of Oz — and this worked. I think the streak of good-to-great Rusicals remains unbroken! The melodies were melodic, the hooks were hooking, the queens were moving and the lyrics were clever! I do think Rusicals are more impressive when they also pull a narrative together, like Season 15's high water mark Wigloose. But that's a nitpick — and also, I know nothing about musical theater.
The standouts were clearly Onya Nurve and Sam Star, who lucked out with great numbers paired with perfect characterization. Like, Suzie was great too (she is an anthropomorphic Disney Sing-Along Songs VHS tape) but her number was fine at best. And Jewels had gusto galore, and a wardrobe malfunction that was totally on-theme.
The bottoms — the actual bottoms — were harder to place. While I still assert that Acacia's talent show performance was good, I do think her performance lacked a spark. Kori was also overshadowed by Lydia, who was in character even when she wasn't the focus (a.k.a. the compliment judges always pay queens as if that's not what acting is at a bare minimum). But for the third bottom? Lana, Arrietty, and Lexi were all very safe, especially considering how horribly all three of them flopped last week.
I could look to the runways for clues as to placements, but the runways famously don't matter (sigh). Again, another week where Arrietty and Suzie (of all people!) are duking it out for best look of the week. Sam also delivered a killer look, while Jewels and Lana were twinning a bit. Kori and Acacia's parasol moments aren't gonna be enough to block out shade from judges. It's a fine runway but no one other than Arrietty is really bringing it every week. I'm now wondering, if this cast's legacy isn't comedy or fashion, then what is it? ... Delusion?
Also, Lydia: stop putting stuff on your head!!! Like you're always grabbing a centerpiece and sticking it all over your noggin!
As for the judging — all correct, except ... what the hell were Onya's critiques? I know that we had four tops this week and only two bottoms, because in no world was Onya in the bottom. Her performance wouldn't justify it, her runway wouldn't, the judges' response during the Rusical wouldn't, and the critiques wouldn't. The only negative thing they had to say was that she ... didn't learn the choreography top to bottom during the 15 minutes that they filmed her with Jamal Sims? Which, by the way, the editing didn't even convey that to us. We had to be told by Jewels! I flat-out don't understand why they'd go into judging with it being glaringly obvious that the bottoms are Kori and Acacia. Like, Onya and Sam were the clear tops. Gag either Suzie or Jewels by making one of them safe. And put Lydia in the bottom! Sure! She needs to stop putting random junk on her head!
Things start to make sense when the judges immediately announce Jewels and Onya as safe, which demarcates a Top 4/Bottom 2 split (for all those Drag Race Wiki editors out there). The bottoms were clearly, rightfully, Kori King and Acacia Forgot.
And, unfortunately for Acacia, we finally see Kori King excel at something: lip syncing to Adam Lambert's "Wet Dreams." She busts out every drag dance move in the rolodex — but, because fate ain't letting Kori get through a moment of Drag Race without a little bit of a wincey moment, she does lose the wig. Two weeks in a row, two wigs undone, and two wins despite such. This is setting a dangerous precedent. Milan help us if queens start tearing off their drag during lip syncs next season.
And that's it for Acacia Forgot, who plugs her new single upon her exit (which ain't hit her YouTube yet). I liked Acacia, and not just because she's a cute boy with hairy legs and a drawer full of short shorts. I mean, okay, maybe mostly because of that. But still — I think there's a lot more Acacia could show us eventually, but her time was up this season. Somehow, nine queens remain. This season will end before Christmas, I hope.
