RECAP: RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 17, Episode 4 (Music Videos)
OK, now we’re getting somewhere. I had been relatively unimpressed by the performance level of the Season 17 cast — loving their dramatics, though — but this episode proved me wrong. A chaotic challenge that incorporated singing, comedy, and direction made for an overwhelmingly delightful result. We got a runway prompt with some notable looks (although not all of them fully fit the prompt). And we got some absolutely iconic meme-able moments from our Bottom 2 queens. While watching the episode, I found myself repeatedly thinking:
Below find my thoughts on RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 17 Episode 4, the spoof music-video challenge. SPOILERS AHEAD!
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Since we are now 25 percent of the way through the season — seriously! — I think I’ve formed enough of an opinion on all these queens to give out rankings on how I think they’re doing this season. I’ll list them from most impressive to least, focusing on overall Season 17 performance (thus far), but specifically analyzing their performance in this challenge and the Quilted For Your Pleasure runway. I thought both were wildly successful. (We haven’t had a challenge like this, since, I think, Season 4, and this was WAY better than that.)
I highly recommend checking out the songs created for this challenge, which extrapolated on iconic meme moments from the show. If WoW posts the official videos I’ll gladly put those up too, because they were a hoot.
The Frontrunners
Suzie Toot: Suzie hasn’t won since Episode 1, but she’s been doing a great job in this competition. I don’t think she’s had a misstep yet, which makes sense, given that she’s a tap dancer. Suzie was super smart this episode, giving a completely different aesthetic and mug for her punk-rock interpretation of the Aja rant song, “You’re Perfect.” That continued on the quilted runway, with a softer, modern make-up and contemporary styling that showed she is listening to critiques and capable of range. Suzie is a real threat in this competition, and when the safe gals speculated she could be in the Bottom in Untucked, it was clearly wishful thinking. They have to know she is one to beat at this point.
Onya Nurve: Also emerging as a real player is this week’s winner, Onya, who gave a delightful cabaret performance bringing to life Laganja Estranja’s legendary Season 6 stand-up flop. Onya has been living up to her name with several of these girls, while also delighting RuPaul week after week. Everything aligned for Onya this episode, including that beautiful African quilt-inspired gown. Onya should also teach classes on how to work a runway — a skill many of the queens this season need to develop. It’s clear that RuPaul is smitten with this queen, and I totally get why. The Glodean White reference is spot on.
Lexi Love: Lexi has not been a main character in the past two episodes, but I personally thought she could have been Top 3 for this one. Her ballad version of Jasmine Kennedie’s Season 14 Untucked explosion was probably the most memorable song of the bunch, and while her performance wasn’t the most inventive, it was effective. Her runway was spectacular — something that felt wholly original to me — although I’m not sure it read quilt aside from the long skirt. Still, Lexi is one of the breakout stars of the season thus far, and she’s doing well in this competition even if she’s not racking up top placements.
Sam Star: Sam was one of the weaker queens in this week’s challenge — her Kandy Muse/Tamisha Iman number with Acacia could have easily landed one or both of the Bottom 2 — but she gave us a divine runway. I like Sam much more when she’s interacting with the other queens or with the judges. I think the energy in her talking heads remains Team Too Much, and I thought it was funny that the girls dragged her for her aggressive enthusiasm at the beginning of the episode. Her track record is wildly uneven, but I do think Sam has star quality. (No pun intended.)
Crystal Envy: Crystal is emerging as a dark horse. She was Top 2 in the Talent Show (I still think that wig and talent outfit were appalling), and she looked stunning in the Monopoly design challenge. This week she took control of her team’s production, really leading the charge, even as she nailed her own number based around Latrice Royale’s post-Season 4 Snatch Game smackdown. She had one of THE runway looks of the night (although I liked it better without the bodysuit reveal). One of the funniest moments of the episode was this bitch pretending to be a tumbleweed. Hysterical! She realistically could have been Top 3 every episode she has competed on.
The Wild Cards
Arrietty: First let me say, it was horseshit that Arrietty was Bottom 2 in this challenge. I thought she was perfectly good in the challenge, channeling the Alyssa Edwards/Jade Jolie fight in S5 alongside Jewels Sparkles. Jewels had more energy, but Arrietty held her own. Her runway look was one of the coolest looks I’ve seen on this show in a while, but I do understand the note that it did not read “quilted.” Still, Arrietty may be THE runway queen of the season, and she’s not bombing the challenges. This Bottom 3 placement felt engineered to kick up emotions, and I suspect this bomb is about to explode.
Jewels Sparkles: I loved Jewels in the challenge, and she did have more presence in that duo. But in fairness, so did Alyssa in the initial fight. It just makes sense. Jewels’ runway was beautiful, but again, did not really read “quilted” to me, probably because of the dark, saturated color. I think Jewels is in this for the long haul, but I do repeatedly find myself irritated by some of her shitty little comments. There’s an element of brat to this one underneath the sunny exterior, and with respect to Charli XCX, that is not a compliment.
Hormona Lisa: Hormona is actually trending up for me, after a fairly awful start to the competition. Even taking into account RhinestoneGate, I thought her look last week was beautiful, and this week she turned in a good performance in the challenge and a lovely look on the runway that absolutely fit the brief. She also has been showing herself as one of the more empathetic queens. What I find interesting is the edit. The editors seemed to imply that Hormona was flopping this challenge with the footage they showed us, but the finished product was completely fine. It feels like the edit is going out of its way to paint her as poorly as possible, and we should all be taking note of that, and questioning why.
Lana Ja’Rae: Lana is doing fine in this competition. I thought her Talent Show was awful, but her Monopoly look was competent, and her performance this week was adequate — one of the more forgettable ones, which is crazy given that it referenced the electrifying Morgan McMichaels v. Mystique Summers Madison fight from Season 2. (PS please bring Mystique back for All Stars already.) Lana has a problem with her energy level, and she lacks “pop.” Where she comes alive is the runway, and I personally loved her colorful interpretation of quilted this week. She’s getting annoyed at being given no attention by the judges, but be careful what you wish for…
Is the Bus Still Running?
Lydia Butthole Kollins: I’m still waiting for Lydia to make a real impression on me. I don’t dislike her, but I barely feel like I’ve gotten to see much of anything from her. One thing I can say, four episodes in, is that I do not care for her style. I appreciate that she makes her own garments. The concepts are interesting, but the execution reads messy and unfinished to me. And that’s fine! This is her art, and I’m sure there are people who will love it. I’m just not one of them. Personality wise, there’s nothing to grab onto yet.
Kori King: I’m fascinated to know what is going on in Kori’s head, because it feels like she’s overthinking so much of this show, and it’s all coming out a mess. Based on what they’re showing us, Kori seems to have too many ideas, and isn’t capable of refining them. That, or Kori has no sense of what people actually want to see. The runways that keep referring to past Drag Race queens instead of relating to the category, this baffling interpretation of Kennedy Davenport’s “trade didn’t like the session” speech, a genuinely ugly runway this episode…simply put, I question Kori’s taste level and thought process. That said, she is a great lipsyncher, and I like her personality. I’m rooting for her.
Acacia Forgot: I’ve been an Acacia defender since she was steamrolled by Rate-a-Queen in E1, but I do think she is probably the weakest queen left. I like her very much, I do think she’s the trade of the season, and I loved that doily wig she wore on the quilted runway. She just doesn’t pop on TV, or the edit is making her look forgettable (either option is possible). In my opinion, Acacia was the weakest in the challenge; she looked dazed and uncomfortable in that dance sequence with Sam Star. She should have been Bottom 3 this week, but I think the Powers That Be wanted to critique Arrietty to send her into a spiral. I don’t see Acacia lasting much longer.
Joella: This week we bid goodbye to THEE Slaysian Diva of Los Angeles. I thought Joella was fine in the challenge video — that wig was a crime, and agreed with the queens in Untucked that her energy was one note. (Side note: the Mariah speech she was given was the LEAST iconic thing about that Season 3 Untucked fight, but I suspect the show had to pivot after a certain shablamming someone had a brutal expose published about her in Rolling Stone shortly before this season filmed last year.) But then we had that runway, in which Joella came out as a giant, rectangular pink quilt with a massive airbrushed RuPaul portrait on the back, and only Joella’s face visible via a gloryhole nightmare. This look is a cringe buffet; it’s a cultural reset.
That runway alone would have been justification for Bottom 2. And so she had to lipsynch against Kori to “Buttons” by the Pussycat Dolls and Snoop Dogg, to which she spent the first verse with her back facing the judges to, I am guessing, mimic the RuPaul portrait lipsynching? It was wild. When she removed the giant quilt look, she delivered a barely there lipsynch, notably not knowing any of the words to the Snoop rap. I choose to believe that Joella can see the future and knew that Sellout Dogg would perform at the Trump Inauguration, and she chose not to learn his rap as an act of protest. Political queen!
And thus, Joella was eliminated. Real talk: in four episodes, Joella has won the hearts of this nation. Just as the Drag Race fandom came to genuinely embrace cringe icon Melinda Verga on Canada’s Drag Race Season 4, they are now embracing J-O-E and don’t forget the “Ella” (which by the way would spell Joeella, which is…not the intended result). Personally I went from finding her delusion exasperating in Episode 1, to completely falling in love with her by Episode 4. Joella will leave Drag Race as one of the most-memorable second outs in the series, and I suspect the fandom will continue to support her enthusiastically long after this season ends. She is now a beloved meme queen. I hope she continues to lean into this aspect of her character, because she really is a star. Maybe just not the kind of star she thought she was.
What do you think of Season 17? Drop your thoughts in the comments.