BY Eric Rezsnyak
FINALLY. That was what I had been waiting for. In the penultimate episode of “UK vs. the World” Season 2, we got the level of performances from some of these queens that I’d been waiting on all season. I knew they were there! I knew they were absolutely capable of it! But for some reason, the majority of this cast — except Marina, and earlier on, La Grand Dame — just weren’t delivering at the level we have seen them deliver before. But in last night’s roast, everyone showed up. Even the roasters that struggled weren’t fully terrible. And we got a gorgeous bridal runway.
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After a weird dancing minichallenge, the queens got to work on the main challenge, writing wedding roasts for the impending nuptials of Michelle Visage and Graham Norton. If your immediate reaction was, “The jokes write themselves,” you’re not wrong. Hannah, who won the mini-challenge, was given the power to assign the roast order, and it all seemed to go smoothly.
It’s worth noting that at Top 5, we have five queens representing different franchises: US, UK, Down Under, France, and Philippines. That’s awesome, honestly. Additionally, not one of these queens had ever performed a roast in their original season, which is also quite interesting.
I’ll go over each queen in order of most impressive to least. I’ll discuss my thoughts on their roasts as well as their bridal runways.
Tia Kofi: THIS was the Tia I was waiting for all season. This was an absolute grand-slam challenge for Tia. She chose to go last, which is a ballsy move. Once it was her turn, she help up the dossier from her Episode 1 runway — which the judges mentioned at least one other time since — removed her cue cards and just fucking nailed it. The jokes were funny. The attitude was cool and confident. The delivery was breezy and charming. This is what I have known Tia to be capable of even since “UK2,” and to see her fully blossom in this challenge was SO satisfying. On the runway she wore a surprising sci-fi number with a visible fetus growing in her abdomen, with some cool facial prosthetic applications. It was a big swing and I think it connected. (Why do I keep using sports metaphors?) Tia nailed this week and fully deserved her Top 2 spot.
Hannah Conda: Hannah also had a great week. She was a riot in the dancing mini-challenge, and her roast was very funny. Hannah’s physical comedy and delivery were basically perfection. There was perhaps a little too much reliance on the cue cards, but the jokes were pointed but charming. And she was such a good sport when the other girls were roasting her. On the runway she was perhaps the most beautiful I’ve ever seen her. Hannah was also Top 2, and rightfully so.
Marina Summers: Marina thought she was screwed when the challenge was announced, but I thought she did quite well. It has to be hard to perform a challenge that is not a “thing” in your culture, and to do it in your non-native language (this was also the case for La Grand Dame as well). Marina had several funny jokes, and if she was nervous, you could have fooled me. She was smart to bring out the pageant-girl gaze whenever she felt she was losing the room. Her bridal runway was an absolute stunning garment made by Filipino tribe. This was so beautiful — the individual handwoven fabrics were so vibrant — and the accessories and the make-up with seemingly little stamps across her face…what a moment. While Marina was technically Bottom 3, because if you weren’t in the Top, you were in the Bottom, I think it’s fair to say she was really Safe here. That performance was not Bottom worthy. In deliberations, the Top 2 did at least consider removing Marina, the obvious frontrunner, right before the finale (AKA “Pulling a Blu”).
La Grand Dame: Like Marina, La Grand Dame had several significant hurdle in this challenge. They don’t do roasts in France, because their everyday life consists of politely telling everyone what a piece of shit they are. And also being funny in another language — this was a very stiff challenge for the ESL queens, honestly. LGD had a few decent jokes, but visibly struggled in the challenge. You could tell she tried her best, but it just wasn’t working out for her. On the runway she wore an eye-popping haute couture garment with the coolest headpiece I’ve ever seen. Even when she’s struggling with the challenges, LGD’s runway package this season is one for the record books. This is drag excellence.
Scarlet Envy: This was a struggle. Scarlet had a bunch of jokes that she thought were hilarious, and which may have been funny — but the delivery was off. I thought Ru’s critique to her was spot on, when she said that Scarlet basically telegraphs that a joke is coming rather than just deliver the joke. I’ve noticed that in her talking heads this season too. It’s like she’s setting you up for the spike, but the spike never actually comes. It’s fascinating. Also fascinating: Scarlet also genuinely seemed to believe that she had the strongest challenge performance of the Bottom 3. Not based on what we saw, sorry. I think she probably did better than LGD in the roast, but LGD was dealing with a much higher degree of difficulty. Marina I thought outperformed both of them pretty handily. On the runway, Scarlet gave us an Elvis bridal look that I absolutely adored. It’s so kitschy yet stunning. Honestly, nobody looked bad on that runway.
Hannah and Tia lipsynched to “Euphoria” by Loreen. Tia had a lovely idea to pay homage to all the eliminated queens by taking scraps of their drag out during the performance, but I don’t think it read to the judges. Graham seemed visibly confused about what she was trying to do there. Meanwhile, Hannah produced two fans with flowy silks attached, and she commanded that stage with really lovely movements. This was one of the most successful prop deployments in a lipsynch in recent memory.
It was a conclusive victory for Hannah, who finally got her RuPeter badge going into the finale, and who used her power to give Scarlet the chop. I like Scarlet quite a bit. I’m glad she got this chance. I think it was her best “Drag Race” run, and she showed why she’s a terrific queen. I thought it was funny that Hannah had planned to eliminate her LAST episode, and she finally got her chance this time. But I do think it was the correct choice regardless. Had someone taken out Marina this week, I think the viewers would have been absolutely furious.
So we have a Final 4 of Hannah Conda, Tia Kofi, Marina Summers, and La Grand Dame. I think it is the correct F4 for this season. Marina has been the breakout star of the season, no question. La Grand Dame owned the first quarter of the run before hitting her struggle period. Hannah and Tia have both been solid performers, and this week we got to see flashes of brilliance from both of them.
Next week it’s the big finale! A reunion! A lipsynch for the crown! Who do you think will win? Who do you WANT to win? Drop your thoughts in the comments!
Did you miss our previous recaps? Find them here:
We’re also recapping U.S. Season 16 and “Espana All Stars.” You can find those recaps by clicking here!
As a Scarlet stan, I hated to see her go – but in my heart of hearts, I know it was the correct call. If not her, I guess LGD? But even that doesn’t feel right. Both had about the same track record, it could have gone either way. Hannah just seemed to really not care for Scarlet. I do think Scarlet is probably a better lipsync performer than LGD, but I hope LGD proves me wrong next week.
I hate the season is nearly over. Here’s hoping we get another UKvTW season much sooner next time.