RECAP: RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 18, Episode 2
The competition really started for the queens of Season 18 this week, as we got our first performance challenge, the first brought-from-home runway, and of course our first elimination. After being delighted by the premiere, I found myself feeling slightly let down by this episode. Maybe my expectations were too high, because I really like this cast. I am already falling in love with a few of these queens, specifically Kenya Pleaser, Darlene Mitchell, and Jane Don’t all rose in my estimations this episode, even if they didn’t all perform well in the challenge or runway. And possibly unpopular opinions, but Athena Dion and DIscord Addams also worked their ways into my heart by being, respectively, ridiculously petty and charmingly cringe. I just wish I liked the RuMixes and the runway looks more.
Check out the first 10 minutes here:
Read on for my thoughts on “RuPaul’s Drag Race” Season 18, Episode 2, “Q-Pop Girl Groups.” SPOILERS, SWEETIE!
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The episode started with the Top 2 from last week, Nini Coco and Vita VonTesse Starr, doing a schoolyard pick to determine for this week’s challenge, girl groups. In keeping with the positivity theme of the season, the songs were broadly related to important queer musicians from the late 20th Century. The disco track was supposed to be a nod to Sylvester, one of the first out gender-fluid performers in pop music (you likely know “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real),” but also check out “Do You Wanna Funk,” “Over and Over,” “Dance (Disco Heat),” and “Stars”). The 80s pop track was a reference to WHAM! and its lead singer, the eventually openly gay George Michael (everyone knows “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” and “Last Christmas,” but real ones will appreciate “I’m Your Man,” “Club Tropicana,” “Everything She Wants,” the original “Freedom” – different song from George’s “Freedom ‘90” – “The Edge of Heaven.” While the punk song was a reference to 80s punk girl group The Runaways (which gave us Joan Jett and Lita Ford), it could also have been a reference to the punk scenes of the 70s and 80s, which tended to be more accepting of alternative sexualities. Hell, RuPaul’s music career started in the alt-punk band, “Wee Wee Pole.”
The team picks produced the desire drama, as four queens were left out of Nini and Vita’s teams: DD Fuego, Darlene Mitchell, Mandy Mango, and, surprisingly, Athena Dion. The other three didn’t make a huge impression in Episode 1, or in the case of Mandy, failed to impress. But Athena is clearly viewed as competition by most of the queens, having a long and storied drag career and a big reputation. But that reputation preceded her, as Nini said explicitly: this was a team challenge, and there was no room for diva behavior. Valid point! Athena was rattled by not being picked and it seemingly threw her off the entire challenge.
There was drama over the song picks, the most notable elements being that everyone wanted disco, and Vita admitting that she was manipulating the conversation to get the song she really wanted, which was punk. Vita is a huge threat in this game. She is smart, she is polished, she is poised. I need to see a little more of her personality come through, but I already respect the hell out of her as a queen and a competitor.
I’ll go over each song and teams in order of performance:
The Studio 50 Whores (Athena Dion, DD Fuego, Mandy Mango, Darlene Mitchell) “Funk Almighty”
First, love the name. Hilarious. Second: flop. A few things went wrong here. First, there was a disconnect – to me – between the song allegedly being a nod to Sylvester, and the actual music they were given. It did not hit the Sylvester vibe to me, at all. The judges said they wanted something funkier, but that also wasn’t the backing track. Funk has soul, and this was soulless. Second, the verses were almost universally bland. I’m not expecting Grammy-caliber songwriting from these queens, but the only who gave me any personality or wit in her lyrics was Mandy. The rest was Mad Lib-level random pap.Darlene’s sustained/interrupted high note was indeed the camp highlight, and I thought Mandy’s verse and performance were easily the best of the group. The note that she needed to match the energy of the other mid girls was, to be blunt, bullshit. She was the only one who felt alive during their group, she should have been celebrate, not denigrated. I love Athena, but I was shocked at how bad she whiffed this.
Glam! (Ciara Myst, Kenya Pleaser, Mia Starr, Myki Meeks, Nini Coco) “Go Go Go!”
The backing track for this was appalling. Kidz Bop is looking down upon it with a sneer. It matched the WHAM! vibe better than the Sylvester song matched Sylvester, but the actual instrumentation here was almost repellant to me – I longed for it to end. Again, largely bad lyrics from the queens, and some tortured deliveries when it came to rhythms and rhyming. Kenya (love you) rhyming “ya” with “ya.” Ciara probably had the best lines, but the delivery was more Paul Lynde than George Michael. Nini was hobbled by laryngitis, which sucks, but the whole delivery was gone from my memory in seconds. Kenya and Myki can both clearly sing, and Mia is a performer who commands the stage. On the whole the group’s performance was better than the disco group, but the song was easily the worst of the night.
The Tucked Aways (Briar Blush, Discord Addams, Jane Don’t, Juicy Love Dion, Vita VonTesse Starr), “Cherries”
Easily the best song of the three, and a generally very good performance as well. The lyrics were the best of the three groups, and they actually seemed to be having fun on the stage. Stand-outs for me were Briar and Jane – great verses and strong performances – with a special nod to Jane, who worked in genuine comedy and personality. Discord is apparently involved in punk music, and delivered one of the least assured performances. Juicy gave a great vocal and some attention-grabbing dance moves, but she also forgot to lipsync more than once. But I am nitpicking. There was zero question that this was the winning group within 20 seconds of their track.
On the runway, the theme was “My Neck, My Back, My Pussy, My Crack” which was a variation on the “favorite body part” runway we’ve had several times before (notably on Season 5, after which I’m starting to think this season is deliberately patterned after). I was not a fan of many of these looks. Once again Jane Don’t was a stand out with a campy yet couture ensemble referencing her mouth. Nini Coco continues to serve, with a fashionable look and a cerebral – quite literally – nod to her brain. I also thought Juicy redeemed herself after last week with a chic runway that presented her left leg. The safety count is still at 0 Days since Discord Addams has terrorized us with her runway walk (but I *love* that about her – please don’t ever change, Discord).
The Studio 50 Whores were named the losing group, with all four “leftovers” – Athena, DD, Darlene, Mandy – in the Bottom, while Jane and Mia were named the best of their groups and Top 2. No disagreement here. Mia was dinged for a runway that completely covered her face, but after she got last in Episode 1, I was glad to see her praised here; she had one of my favorite Meet the Queens. Jane was named the winner of the challenge. So far Jane is killing this season, and maximizing her interactions with Ru specifically. She’s smart and knows exactly what to give Ru and the judges. She’s one to watch.
As for the Bottom 4, there was a bit of bus-throwing with DD laying the middling choreography at Athena’s feet. Athena seemed upset at being in this position so early. Mandy presented one of the wackiest runways of the night, dressed as a literal side table with a picture frame on it. Darlene gave RuPaul exactly what she wanted – tears – as she gave a recap of her journey in drag and feeling empowered by the sisterhood she has formed here. That’s how you play the game, folks.
The Bottom 2 were Mandy and DD battling it out to guest judge Dove Cameron’s genuinely great track, “Too Much.” Based on challenge performance, Mandy should not have been B2 – but factoring runway, I can see it. DD hasn’t really grabbed attention at all at this point (granted, could be the edit). Darlene was one of the few bright spots in their group, and frankly, Athena is part of this season’s stunt casting with her drag daughter. So it had to be these two. This was not a competition. Mandy absolutely destroyed DD in this lipsync, even when she still had a literal end table around her neck. Once that came off in an ungainly reveal that sent porcelain curios flying everywhere (oh, the humanity…), she really came on strong, giving us multiple flips and tricks. Not all were exactly graceful, but I appreciated her intensity and her musicality. DD largely moved back and forth carrying the giant loofah attached to her bodysuit. Party.
And so, Mandy Mango will have another week to ripen, and DD Fuego was the first queen eliminated this season. It is genuinely surprising that the only New York queen this season is our Porkchop, but…here we are. DD took it like a champ, and bowed out gracefully.
Next Week: The return of “RDR Live” (hey, I like it) and Juicy Love Dion is forced to confront the reality that she may not be funny.
What do you think of Season 18 so far? Which queens are you rooting for? Let us know in the comments.
