Wow, this was a powerhouse episode! I’m shook, slayed and gagged, but I’ll try to get through this recap!
First, we discover that the queens “anonymously*” voted 8-1 last week (Yara being 1 and Jan excluded) to send Yara home. (* Not to be confused with “unanimously,” which I confused with “Ru-nanimously”!). Jan, last week’s winner, made the gross miscalculation of being the only one to vote off A’Keria, which likely spells disaster down the line.
The maxi challenge this week is to produce and host a probing, confessional chat show called Pink Table Talk (which seems half Jada Pinkett Smith and half Jada Essence Hall). In teams of three, the queens are assigned the topics of body, motherhood and sex. After a brief kerfluffle over who gets to do motherhood, Scarlet and Ginger rock/paper/scissor it out.
The body team kikis over self image and standards of beauty, but the drama is over on the motherhood team. We learn that Scarlet Envy has two moms whom he loves deeply. Not so for Ra’Jah, whose mama was a pastor of a church and made him feel he was an embarrassment to her. The tears and emotions are raw and now we love and will protect Ra’Jah. As Kylie reminds him, “Don’t let that hurt child make your adult decisions.”
The sex chat show begins with Eureka proclaiming, “Opinions are like assholes and I have one.” (I’ll buy the t-shirt.) We learn that A’Keria spent years living as a transgender woman (Kiki) before re-transitioning back to a man, a good example of gender fluidity. Trinity discloses his HIV-positive status and provides an important service in explaining u=u/undetectable/untransmissable status. He also makes an interesting distinction between his boy self Josh and drag self Trinity: Josh is the manager and Trinity is the client. You betta work!
The runway theme is “Clash of the Patterns.” The lewks are a gorge color riot, with Scarlet opting for a monochromatic gown made from her grandparents’ old love letters. Eureka serves Honey Boo Boo at her Sweet 16 realness, Kylie has stolen Michelle Visage’s first communion dress and Pandora Boxx’s gown is totally versatile because it doesn’t go with anything!
Ginger Minj from the body team is chosen as the top All Star of the week. Jan takes some really tough hits over her over-energetic cheerleader personality, Scarlet is read for mugging it up too much, and they both wind up in the bottom with Kylie.
The lip sync assassin is none other than Palm Springs legend Bianca del Rio, who is not known for her lip-syncing. Bianca turns over her duties to another Palm Springs icon, Mayhem Miller, who competes against Ginger Minj to “Phone” by Lizzo. Ginger is extraordinary and wins the challenge, taking home a cash tip of $30K! Freaky money! She tips her teammates $2,500 each in a lovely gesture. With great power comes great responsibility and Ginger sends a clearly crushed Scarlet Envy home.
The competition is at the fierce stage with eight queens remaining and five queens waiting in the wings for the game within a game. Stay tuned for next week’s recaps and go out and over-tip our fabulous local drag queens!
Congrats to Drag Race for its 21 Emmy nominations! I’m here for it!
—-
Favorite comments:
“Sisters will come for you. Sisters will steal your boyfriend and your t-shirt.” – Kylie
“Is it a butt plug?” – Scarlet, being asked to identify a citrus reamer.