RuPaul's Drag Race celebrates its 200th episode by going back to basics

After 15 seasons, RuPaul’s Drag Race toasted its 200^th episode. And despite the abbreviated form, the installment managed to pack in a lot of material: a mini-challenge, a walkthrough, three emotional moments, two lip syncs, and a full ball. It also paid plenty of reverence to past iconic moments from the series. Even though it lasted a brisk 40 minutes, it worked.

With the unusual structure of the LaLaPaRUza, a lot of what fills the beginning of a standard episode was hashed out during last week’s Untucked. The queens already discussed Jax and their own performances during the lip syncs and, as there was no official winner from the last episode, they simply get to the business at hand. This truncated start allows us to actually get a better understanding of the queens and their relationships— finally. RuPaul is quick to enter and announce the monumental moment of celebrating both the 15^th season and the 200^th episode. To make the occasion, the queens will compete in The Crystal Ball by presenting three separate looks on the runway. A fixture since the first season, the ball allows for even more time for the runway and to see the queens interact and share their personal stories.

The werkroom

The queens warm up with a mini-challenge of photobombing iconic moments from past seasons. It affords the queens a little fun while competing, which has been sorely missing this season. (These are the sort of moments that can potentially produce new iconic moments.) Anetra, who has somewhat faded to the background since the talent show, wins the challenge. It creates a shift of focus to her throughout the episode and suggests she might be back in the spotlight moving forward.

After the queens learn of the ball challenge, they make a mad dash for materials. It’s another design challenge with somewhat conventional materials, which has been a failing of recent design challenges. It’s hard to tell what exactly each queen grabs as it all looks like a sea of glitter and crystal, and there’s a chaotic moment when someone breaks a container of pearl beads. Luxx seems to place the blame on Loosey, who is conveniently out of frame, but the real tragedy is that no one uses it as an opportunity to make a Showgirls reference. Luxx also gets into a semi tussle with Marcia over a piece of fabric. It’s a quick reminder that after the fun of a mini-challenge, the queens are still competitive. Luxx says she is here for a crown and some money.

The episode also finally includes a walkthrough with Carson and RuPaul. Like with the mini challenge, these are important moments to see the queens interact with the judges without the pressure of the stage lights. While only three queens are shown discussing their looks with the judges, it reveals a lot about each queen. Spice, for example, is met with critiques about repetitive silhouettes and a lack of personality in her looks. They encourage her to push further and convey a narrative in her runway presentations. Unfortunately, Spice interprets their words as simply lengthening her miniskirts. While Spice reasserted that she would be entering her top phase with this episode, her walkthrough does not bode well. Similarly, Mistress, who claimed to be more congenial in this episode, quickly starts reading the other queens for their “gaudy” looks. And RuPaul is loving it all. Their discussion also lays more of a foundation and understanding of the “big” personality Mistress has and how it may be rubbing some of the queens the wrong way, which has already been explored in the relationship between Mistress and Malaysia. The final walkthrough shows Salina, ever desperate to please, having an emotional breakthrough. She speaks of shrinking herself and losing her usual confidence since walking into the werkroom. It’s a powerful moment between Salina and RuPaul, who urges her to use and show this emotion to the judges.

After the judges exit, the queens return to their work and playfully tease one another. The major target is Loosey, who remains extremely competitive. It manages to slightly assuage the tension when Mistress asks if someone could help her dart and Sasha cracks that the person who can help is the one Mistress has been reading all day. The comic moment is coupled the next day with an emotional one from Anetra, who tells the story of her coming out, or rather founding out, to Salina. While the story of coming outs and familial rejection are sadly a substantial part of the Drag Race legacy, Anetra’s is particularly cruel. After her mother discovered her drag, Anetra lived a week feeling free before her family kicked her out of the home. A gut-wrenching story, Anetra manages to find a light at the end of the tunnel by celebrating her father and her contentment with her partner and career. Anetra briefly discussed this turmoil in an earlier Untucked, but the moment holds greater power in this episode, prompting the queens to recall some of their favorite instances from past seasons of Drag Race.

The Crystal Ball

The Ball opens with RuPaul greeting Michelle, Carson, and special guest Julia Garner in a cowgirl ensemble complete with red latex, golden studs, and plenty of fringe. They celebrate the milestone 200^th episode with some cake and candy in a short shimmy and shake performance from RuPaul to, yes, her song “Cake & Candy.” The number is punctuated in the presentation of what looks like a completely inedible glitter cake.

The first category of the Crystal Ball requires each queen to reimagine RuPaul’s iconic racing jumpsuit. Mistress is the first to put her own stamp on the outfit. In a vinyl red and white jumpsuit, she reinterprets the racing patch with memorable quotes from former big girl contestants like Eureka and Silky Nutmeg Ganache. It fits well with Mistress’ campaign to make Season 15 the first season with a plus-sized winner. It also doesn’t hurt that her use of past catchphrases parallels the episode’s nostalgic tone. Mistress is followed by Spice who also reworks the red and white suit by turning it into a signature Spice minidress. The checkered platforms and the branded flag give it a personalized touch. Luxx breaks with the red in favor of a pink motocross-inspired two-piece set. Marcia’s color-blocked pastel interpretation feels like the freshest take so far and the volumized hair makes it feel like she is listening to the judges. Similarly, Salina’s blue, black, and white baggy approach is a departure from the standard RuPaul look but is fitting with her personal street aesthetic. Malaysia’s soft pink ensemble is perfectly fitted to her body and a welcome deviation from the gowns she typically wears on the runway. Loosey’s video-game, quasi-cartoon approach, while well-made, feels like it went a little off the track of the prompt. In a two-piece gown version similar to Luxx’s look, Sasha delivers a simple and impactful interpretation of the iconic outfit complete with pink and the racing checker pattern. Finally, Anetra closes the category with an acidic neon jumpsuit accented with flags representing her heritage like a walking 23andMe report.

For the second look, each queen must pay homage to one of the previous 16 balls. (Seasons 3 and 14 technically contained two balls.) Despite the ample material, as the ball challenge has been a part of Drag Race since its inception, the queens of Season 15 only managed to represent five separate balls. Again, Mistress leads the category with a striking look made of deconstructed beach balls. The full ensemble recalls the aesthetic of Leigh Bowery or ’90s club-kid culture. It was a smart choice that reveals an unexpected layer to Mistress. In a change of the initial order, Marcia comes out sporting a look inspired by the Bag Ball. Her milk-maid look is hampered by the fact that she made her choice based on using conventional materials and that it is yet again another white and unembellished costume. Malaysia presents her take on Cruella De Vil in a graphic black and white look inspired by season three’s Hair Ball. While the cape feels a little distracting, it’s a well-constructed look that fits the brief well. Like Mistress, Spice chose to recreate the Ball Ball, but it had less of an impact based on her more conventional material choice. While the color-blocked waves of purple and black are solid, she didn’t think about it from a full 360-degree perspective by leaving the back unadorned. It feels like another issue of someone who is used to performing from the fixed, frontal for a cell-phone camera.

While Salina’s decision to represent the Money Ball feels fresh, the look itself is another example of her convoluted runway storytelling. The nod to being on food stamps and the detail of adding her face to the money is inspired. However, the attention to detail is completely lost in the sloppy execution and perplexing palm-tree design. In another repeat, Loosey choses the Bag Ball. While she might get extra points for incorporating doggy poop bags in a possible nod to season four’s Bitch Ball, the fact that it is a sloppy copy of Gigi Goode’s winning Ball Ball look from season 12 is disappointing. Luxx, like Malaysia, recreates the Hair Ball in a strong black look that references ’90s Mugler. She looks fierce and intimidating like the models from that decade who she admires. While Sasha’s dime bag look recalls Jorgeous confusing Holy Couture runway from season 14, it is so well constructed and detail-oriented that it eclipses the previous blunt on the runway. Inspired by the “most unique” of the balls, the season five Sugar Ball, Anetra’s look is unfortunately not that unique. Instead, it feels like she has simply glued on candy onto a bedazzled body suit she already had in her closet.

The ball ends with Crystalized Eleganza, which requires each queen to design and construct their own unique looks from scratch in the werkroom. Mistress stuns again in a beautifully fitted white gown that mixes her pageant background with old Hollywood glamour, like a modern-day Mae West. A majority of the queens also take on a pageant influence as the “eleganza” prompt suggested. As with the last design challenge, Malaysia manages to work well beyond her sewing skills for a dress ready for the runway. Likewise, Sasha manages to cover up a lack of construction chops by assembling a bedazzled bib out of appliques and draping a languid glitter fabric into a skirt. As she had said in the werkroom, she knows her body. Loosey attempts to make pageantry into a joke by walking down the runway as third runner-up. It’s a well-fitted dress but it lacks vision or ambition for someone with Loosey’s technical skills. After a Gigi-inspired second look, the other issue is that Trixie Mattel executed this concept much better back in season seven. Perhaps the best pageant look of the night is Anetra’s, who manages to subvert glittery glamour with jagged shards of crystal, which convey an alluring sense of danger.

Luxx and Marcia set themselves apart from the group with more costumey looks. While Marcia’s is well constructed and, thankfully, embellished, presenting another white outfit fails to wow. Luxx, on the other hand, does wow with unconventional material that screams crystal. Appearing like an ice fairy, Luxx’s only drawbacks are in the details. (For example, the waistline of the tights distracted from the overall impact.) The final issue with Luxx’s look is that she appears so uncomfortable in it. Two of the worst looks came from Salina and Spice. Salina’s look fails despite taking the judges’ sage advice, and Spice does the same because she misunderstood said advice. In the werkroom, Carson and RuPaul encouraged Salina to simplify. She manages to present a modern, streamlined look in concept, but the unforgivable puckering of the fabric betrays any attempt at sleekness. In a moment of mistranslation, Spice took Carson and RuPaul’s comments to simply mean a longer skirt, and she presents basically the same look she has on each runway just with a couple more feet of fabric.

The judging

Marcia, Luxx, and Malaysia advance after being called safe. While you can tell Marcia and Luxx are somewhat peeved by the result, Malaysia seems content to have made it through a second design challenge. The remaining six—Salina, Spice, Mistress, Loosey, Sasha, and Anetra—hold for critiques. Before the judges even start, there is a single shot of Loosey that shows all her confidence melting away.

Salina is praised for her first look, which matches her drag persona. Her second look, consistent with many of Salina’s runways, seems to perplex the judges who call it “messy.” Likewise, they are unimpressed by her final look but acknowledge the difficulty of working with that particular fabric. The critique is brutally ended by Michelle’s backhanded compliment that she loves Salina’s personality, but “wants” to love her drag. Spice manages to squeak by with her first two looks and the top of her third. However, Michelle lambasts the skirt that she made. It’s clear that Spice has reached the end of the line when Michelle praises her attempt to give up her signature trot but expresses disdain for the hackneyed hairball gag.

In contrast to Salina and Spice, the judge basically have no notes for Mistress. They love all of her looks and Michelle says that with each challenge Mistress becomes more impressive. Loosey receives a mixed bag during her critique. In particular, the judges hated her bag ball ensemble. Without mentioning the previous version, they consider it to be an underwhelming, even lazy, look. Sasha and Anetra, like Mistress, are mostly praised. Sasha receives no negative critiques and is able to share her personal history with the House of Colby, which serves as one of the episode’s emotional peaks. Enamored by the look Anetra constructed, especially its blend of glamour and danger, they seem willing to dismiss her rather incomplete second look. There is also an endearing exchange between Anetra and Michelle regarding their shared “resting bitch face.”

It feels as if Mistress, Sasha, or Anetra could win this week. The win ultimately goes to Sasha. Although it feels like if Anetra’s second look had been stronger or if Mistress had some sort of emotional breakthrough (like Anetra or Sasha) this week, the win could have gone to either one of them. Halfway through the season, it is clear that the judges are smitten with Mistress, Sasha, and Anetra. It’s already hard to imagine the three of them not making it into the top four this season. Of the bottom trio, RuPaul spares the strongest competitor Loosey, who already has a win on the board.

The lip sync

Salina’s emotional response to being in the bottom with Spice feels a tad overdramatic. Does she really have to “fight for her life,” considering that during the LaLaPaRUza she was only spared from a definite elimination after a last-minute twist? It is clear who will be winning this before it even starts. Despite the uneven face-off, Spice does allude to knowing the song from performing it during a TikTok with Sugar, which Lil Nas X shared himself. The trouble with that TikTok is that they do not actually lip sync to the song at all.

As they start to perform, Spice does earn a couple of laughs throughout the performance. Aside from not really knowing the lyrics, Spice never commits to it. Rather, she jumps from bit to bit offering quantity over quality. While her death drop was amusing, most of the performance is someone just sort of bopping along to a song. It’s the kind of thing you might do listening to music while cleaning your room.

Salina, on the other hand, is telling a story. She is leaning into what RuPaul told her in the werkroom. Salina is showing her emotions. She is lip syncing to the spotlight while saying “I want someone to love me, I want someone to need me.” It’s the perfect encapsulation of Salina’s journey on the show thus far. She is someone desperate for the spotlight and she finally gets it by putting her heart on the stage. Their performances echo RuPaul’s advice in the werkroom. She urged both of them to tell a story, to show personality and emotion. But only Salina got the message and the win.

Stray observations

• Marcia saying it was long time coming about Jax’s elimination felt a little mean.
• It feels like Salina, Spice, and Loosey all jinxed themselves early in the episode. Salina saying she wouldn’t be in the bottom for another design challenge. Spice saying she was now in a top era. Loosey mentioning her bottom three performance in the first episode.
• It’s hilarious how they are all covered in glitter in the werkroom.
• Sasha really didn’t get a good picture to photobomb at all.
• It would have been great if Aura had been there while they discussed past drag race moments. Just to see if she knew any.
• Luxx went from a 40 inch wig to a 20 inch waist.
• Where is TS Madison?!?!