Late-stage capitalism and consumer culture heat up the competition on RuPaul’s Drag Race

Jasmine and Maddy wait to lip-sync for their lives. Screenshot: RuPaul’s Drag Race

After Orion’s exit, the queens seem more impressed with Jorgeous’ freshly confirmed lip-sync assassin status. While struggling to read Orion’s message, joking that she’s a high school drop-out, Jorgeous realizes that to succeed in the competition, she must eliminate her self-doubt. The group celebrates Bosco’s win, but more than in past episodes, there is a palpable sense that others feel like they might have or should have won. Lady Camden relishes in a second-place finish, but Daya seems more perturbed with her “safe” finish. DeJa brings the issue up, likely prompted by producers, to a less-than-friendly response from Daya. Their flare-up ends with DeJa promising to beat some ass if she’s yelled at again.

Thus far, the season has lacked feuds and drama, with the Alyssa-Willow or Kornbread-Jasmine kerfuffle being quickly resolved. The near-fight between DeJa and Daya is almost a welcome addition. As Kerri explains, the room is starting to feel a little smaller, and by extension the spotlight is narrowing, enhancing the competitive tension between queens. This is reinforced with a terrific montage of the queens violently de-dragging. The competition is heating up.

The next day in the workroom, Jasmine posits that there have been no bad looks on the runway, when Lady Camden responds “if you can’t see the booger.” All of this foreshadows another design challenge—and just like that, RuPaul enters the workroom to announce one. Jasmine is pleased. RuPaul reveals that Michelle Visage has an online shopping addiction and the queens must use items from her latest binge on Glamazon Prime to construct couture looks. The pit crew, in delivery uniforms, enters with dozens of boxes. While this kind of setup normally precipitates a mad dash toward the supplies, the queens take a more muted approach, probably cautious after Kornbread’s recent injury and medical elimination. Jasmine, on the other hand, in the most Jasmine way possible, makes a manic lunge toward the boxes capturing as many as humanly possible. Hoarding, in this pandemic climate? It all feels like a commentary on late-stage capitalism and insatiable consumer culture, but you also have to appreciate Jasmine’s tenacity to get what she wants.

Sorting through the boxes of unconventional materials, this modern update on the classic Design On A Dime challenge inspires some and intimidates others. Daya is supercharged, while Kerri bemoans the seemingly unusable materials. Lady Camden is pleased to have discovered a collection of pastel materials, but Willow, unable to open boxes, is forced to scavenge for items. The oddest item may be the inflatable doll Maddy discovers, but it gives the straight man on a queer show visual gag for the episode. There is also an odd product placement when Lady Camden discovers a box of Sunday Riley skincare, until the company is revealed to be the sponsor of this week’s cash prize.

With the items divided up, the queens start to conceptualize and construct their garments. Daya decides to do a baby-inspired look, which is quickly followed by Willow, independently, reaching the same conclusion. Daya approaches Willow to share her design. What first feels like Daya simply letting Willow know that they have similar ideas quickly turns into a tête-à-tête in which Daya warns Willow not to continue with the baby concept. Before another DeJa-Daya moment explodes, Willow relents.

RuPaul enters the room to do the standard one-on-ones, which become threeways when Carson enters the workroom. Though I only expected a series of sexualized puns, Carson provides impactful and thoughtful suggestions to each contestant. He mentions a slight fit issue that has been plaguing Jorgeous so far, but concedes that this “huge distraction” is an “easy fix.” Kerri’s consultation turns therapy session when the three suggest that the quest for perfection holding Kerri back is a response to past traumas. Maddy appears the most confused, and is encouraged to present with a strong point-of-view and a pussy on fire, which simply confuses her more. Angeria, who hasn’t faltered at all this season, is only worried about the intense microscope she’s now under.

Apparently, RuPaul has had a microscope on Lady Camden—he tells her she needs to enlarge her upper lip. Besides the lip critique, Lady Camden shows a careful and considerate process behind her look. In contrast, Jasmine’s appears to be overthinking, in addition to over-talking. She is advised to edit and keep things uncomplicated. Willow reveals a level of stress that is invading her sleep, which she needs to overcome. Daya, who seems confident in this challenge, asks for some critique and gets the dreaded comparison to her friend and drag compatriot Crystal Methyd.

After the judges exit, the contestants attempt to comprehend and apply their advice. Daya seems most on edge as she attempts and fails to explain how she is different from Crystal. It must be a frustrating experience to have something positive like your drag family turned against you in the competition. It’s a dramatic narrative that the season has been building from the start, and is unlikely to climax anytime soon. The negative energy can be felt in the room. Kerri labels it as anger and desperation, which infuses the entire episode. Meanwhile, Jorgeous struggles with her materials and has to abandon her original concept. Luckily, Angeria provides some extra fabric that Jorgeous fashions into a new look.

On elimination day, discussions about how people will do give way to traumatic coming-out stories. Kerri discloses that a horrid relationship with her father led her to leave home at 15 years old. While her father is okay with her being gay, Jasmine revealed that their relationship was stained by her pursuit of drag. The relationship has been mended by a third party, luckily. But the juxtaposition of Kerri’s and Jasmine’s stories show that while some relationships can be repaired, others are so toxic that the correct decision is to leave. Maddy reveals that she has an absent mother, demonstrating that straight people aren’t immune from family trauma. The theme concludes with Lady Camden confessing her own coming-out on the way to ballet boarding school. Bosco quickly retorts that it probably wasn’t a total shock to her parents. This mélange of trauma, healing, and humor might win Drag Race another Emmy.

RuPaul enters the runway in one of her most interesting looks yet, a sort of cropped Chanel-inspired ball look that is reminiscent of Manila’s Curves and Swerves look from All Stars 4. She is joined by Michelle, Carson, and special guest judge Oscar and Emmy nominee Taraji P. Hensen. It feels like an oversight that she hasn’t been a judge before. Luckily this absence has been rectified and she is terrific in the role.

The runway commences with Lady Camden presenting a pastel fairy angel look, complete with a plump upper lip. Jasmine follows in a sheer, yet cluttered, gown in red, purple, and yellow. After the tense discussion with Willow, Daya comes out in a look more Muppet than baby. It’s a highly detailed pink and yellow look with unforgettable eyewear and make-up. Maddy continues the theme of colorful and campy with a country twist. Unfortunately, the look is also horrendous. Despite, or because of, Daya’s warning, Willow diverted from baby to monster in a conceptual and crafty look that screams Where the Wild Things Are streetwalker. It’s tremendous.

In the end, Daya’s and Willow’s concepts feel like they came from the same thought and both were different and great. The electric blue punk pant look from Bosco is one of the few looks to embrace unconventional material, making it even more impressive. DeJa, on the other hand, presents a pink Grecian design accompanied with gold accessories. The fact that the garment was constructed from sheets and table cloths, also known as fabric, makes it underwhelming. Angeria managed to tame some unwieldy materials in to a regal and structural look that would blend well into an episode of Dynasty. The look is not exactly exciting, but very well made.

Considering it was her second look and constructed from another contestant’s leftover material, Jorgeous pulled together a perfectly constructed dance costume enhanced, again, by a lively performance down the runway. Despite all her complaints about the materials, Kerri closes the runway in one of the few looks that used unconventional materials. While not the best look by far, it really shows Kerri’s ingenuity and her ability to operate outside her comfort zone.

The placements are a little wonky, but in service of constructing drama and a compelling narrative. Bosco, Willow, Daya, and Kerri are ruled safe. It’s confusing. I would have placed Bosco, Willow, and Daya in my top four looks, and Kerri gets extra points for using unconventional materials. This leaves Lady Camden, Jasmine, Maddy, DeJa, Angeria, and Jorgeous on stage for critiques. The top three is made up of Lady Camden, Angeria, and Jorgeous. While Lady Camden certainly belongs in the top this week, Angeria and Jorgeous felt more like safe looks. The bottom three comprising Jasmine, Maddy, and DeJa made sense. The judging boils down to those who presented well-made, clean, and simple designs: Lady Camden, Angeria, and Jorgeous. Overcomplicated and unedited looks make up the bottom: Jasmine, Maddy, and DeJa.

It was baffling how little attention was paid to using unconventional materials, but perhaps that was simply due to the fact that only Bosco, Kerri, and Lady Camden utilized such materials. Jorgeous is declared the winner. This win felt like it might be more for producers to further a few narrative threads than for the actual look. First, it gives Jorgeous a bottom-to-top arc and also rewards her for overcoming her initial setback. People love an underdog. Secondly, it keeps Lady Camden hungry for a win after being so close last week. Her look really was the best of the night. Lastly, and perhaps most effectively, Jorgeous’ win drives Daya insane. This episode feels very constructed to either make Daya a villain or simply to make her break down and cry.

The bottom two are Jasmine and Maddy, leaving DeJa safe. Considering DeJa’s talents as a seamstress and the fact that she used such conventional materials, it made more sense for her to be in the bottom two than Jasmine. Maddy, sadly, deserves her bottom placement for that look.

Like Jorgeous’ win, the bottom two also feels like a producer’s choice. It becomes clear why the lip sync is between Jasmine and Maddy when a clip from Untucked is revealed. Though Untucked, where you get half the story, is shown after the elimination, it actually occurs before the winner and bottom two are revealed. I know, I have temporal confusion after writing that too. It is unique to have a clip of Untucked to be shown before the actual episode of Untucked has aired. This is surely to add a sense of drama to a lip sync between two contestants that, until this Untucked, have had little to no contact.

Beyonce’s “Suga Mama” is the chosen song. Similar to last week’s lip sync, it is pretty clear who the winner will be. The song perfectly showcases Jasmine’s dance skills. It feels like Jasmine is familiar with Beyonce’s choreography from the music video as well. Maddy attempts to give a comedic twist to the lip sync, what else can you do in that outfit? However, the comedic attempt isn’t strong enough and really doesn’t fit the tone of the song. Despite a fiery fight in Untucked, the mismatch of lip sync skills dampens the drama in the end. Jasmine proves that her pussy is on fire in this competition, so to speak. Maddy still doesn’t seem to understand the meaning of that saying, nor does she have a golden bar, and has to leave the competition.

Stray Observations

• I love design challenges. It’s such a great way to test the vision of each contestant. I could watch a season entirely of design challenges.
• Love an Acid Betty reference. All Stars 7? All Stars 8? Acid Betty vs. The World?
• I normally complain about contestants complaining, but Kerri managed to do it while being funny. She’s so charming. She also made it all work in the end.
• The show clearly has no interest in Maddy or her drag. It simply likes putting a heterosexual man in queer positions to see if they can make her uncomfortable and spark some sort of gay panic. Hence, the blowup doll.
• Were they not allowed to have scissors? Who is the sadist who likes to watch Willow struggle with her hands? I always use scissors to open a Glamazon package.
• Whoever withheld scissors is the same person who won’t open their beverage cans in Untucked.
• Willow must miss Kornbread. Why couldn’t they let Kornbread stay to provide commentary and help Willow open boxes?
• Willow comparing herself to a scavenging rat made me think of Templeton from Charlotte’s Web.
• Jorgeous’ win also proves what we already know: Angeria is an angel on earth.
• Loved the editing of Daya monologuing to a blank and unresponsive Maddy. This edit has it out for Daya, but I still like her.
• The baby conflict with Daya and Willow reminded me of Snatch Game in season seven, when Violet and Miss Fame both wanted to do Donatella Versace. I’m down for people doing the same concept and seeing who is best. It’s a competition show, after all.
• This was an interesting edit because the first act made it seem like it was going to be Kerri and Willow in the bottom and a win for Daya or Lady Camden. Jasmine could have gone either way.
• My top four looks are: 1. Bosco 2. Lady Camden 3. Willow 4. Daya
• The Sunday Riley product placement only confirms that this was Lady Camden’s episode to win and producers must have changed it at the last minute.
• Yes, I looked up Sunday Riley. I haven’t ordered yet because I’m trying to be above product placement and consumer culture. But I’ll probably give in tomorrow.
• My top four remain: Angeria, Bosco, Daya, and Willow.
• Unrelated/related note: Cheryl Hole should not have been eliminated for her design challenge because she used the best of her abilities and taste level to make her outfit in U.K. vs. The World.