RECAP: “Drag Race Down Under” Season 4, Episode 2 (Girl Groups)
I was impressed with the cast of “Down Under” Season 4 after Episode 1. I fell in love with most of them in Episode 2. I’m sorry if this comes across as negative or rude to the cast of Season 3 — they’re all lovely, Isis Avis Loren is a great winner — but I honestly think almost every one of the S4 girls could have made Top 5 in that season. Even the girl who went home first this season probably would have lasted until mid-season on Season 3. It’s just a much stronger, more well-rounded group of girls this time out, and they’re a delight to watch.
That’s true even when they’re not in drag! I enjoyed the Work Room scenes nearly as much as the challenge and runway this episode, and that’s truly a rarity for me and “Drag Race.” So well done, casting!
Finally, the decision to bring in previous contestants/winners to mentor the S4 queens continues to pay big dividends. Isis was even better on the panel this week than she was last week, giving very good yet supportive critiques. She was joined by Season 2 and “Global All Stars” runner-up Kween Kong. It has been a rough few months for Kween, after being done incredibly dirty by the edit on “Global All Stars” and receiving a disgusting amount of online hate. The version of Kween we got on this episode is more consistent with the drag artist I have come to love — strong, but maternal, encouraging, and passionate. I will always welcome Kween Kong on my screen, and I hope this will be the first step in people getting over their issues with her post-“Global All Stars,” or as I’m referring to it, passing “GAS.”
Read on for my takes on “Drag Race Down Under” Season 4, Episode 2. SPOILERS AHEAD!
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Before we got to the challenge, a few narratives were established in the work room: Karna, Lucina, and Olivia all acknowledged they needed to step up their performances after being in the bottom last episode; Vybe was established as being loud and a pip; and Mandy was outed as being a massive whore. Love that for her. The most interesting exchange was between Olivia and Vybe, when Olivia asked the other queens generally to tone it down, because there are less boisterous queens in the competition. Vybe rightly shot that down — do not ever dim your shine to make other people more comfortable. If they want to sparkle, they need to turn up the wattage to meet your level. I’m sure Olivia did not mean anything negative by that comment, but I was so glad Vybe spoke the truth here. It’s a good message for all of us right now especially.
Girl Groups was the main challenge, with the queens being split in half and recording their own verses to two songs inspired by Aussie icon Olivia Newton-John in the movie Grease. The Good Sandys — Brenda Bressed, Lazy Susan, Olivia Dreams, Karna Ford, Max Drag Queen — got the song “Mr. Right,” while the Bad Sandys — Freya Armani, Nikita Iman, Lucina Innocence, Mandy Moobs, Vybe — got “Mr. Right Now.”
I thought there were some good verses in both songs, but the songs themselves were not great. We have had some super catchy “Drag Race” tracks by this point, but I thought the choruses on both of these lacked a truly great hook. Still, I enjoyed the overall performances, and there were some clear standouts in both groups. Nobody really flopped, but the bottom queens were also readily apparent. If you’re not confident, you’re going to stand out in these Girl Group challenges for all the wrong reasons.
On the runway, the theme was Sheer Genius, which logically should have meant outfits made with sheer fabrics. But that’s not what happened with like half of these queens. I think they overthought the prompt, and to a degree, I appreciate that — it would have gotten awfully dull to have 10 nude body stockings walking that runway. There’s a way to interpret the prompt more creatively, but still stick to the general point of the category. Several of these queens missed that.
The tops of the week were Vybe, who I honestly thought was going to win after a top-tier verse and an absolutely hilarious performance in the challenge; Brenda Bressed, who did a good job starting off the show but whose runway I didn’t find particularly successful; and Lazy Susan, who had a great verse, a great performance, and an absolutely crazy runway look that I’m still not sure I fully understand. That technology was WILD. I understood Mandy Moobs’ criticism that the overall fabric being clear plastic isn’t technically “sheer,” but again: the spirit of the challenge was a fabric choice that had some level of transparency. Susan’s did that for me. I suspect several of these queens are already sizing up Lazy Susan as a major threat, and angling to take her down.
And they should, because Susan won the challenge again, her second win in a row. She’s starting out as a real force in this competition, and given how strong this overall cast is, that’s really impressive. Again, Vybe could have won this week and it would have been totally justified, but I am not mad about another Susan win.
On the other hand, the Bottom 3 was largely a rehash of Week 1, but with Freya Armani joining Olivia Dreams and Lucina Innocence in the B3. Freya did do too much in the challenge, but I admired her gusto. I agreed completely that I had no idea what was going on with that runway look — it was wacky. (But she’s right, face card will never decline.) Still, it was clear to me that while Freya was technically in the bottom, the clear worst performers of the night were Olivia and Lucina. Neither one seemed comfortable or confident in the girl group, and the rest of the members outperformed both of them. That said: I already saw tremendous growth from both Olivia and Lucina over the course of these two episodes, and I think with more time either one of them would have continued to blossom. They are both beautiful queens. I admire Olivia’s heart and her story so much, while I am warming up to Lucina’s low-key sexiness. We started to see her learn how to harness that more deliberately in the lipsynch.
Speaking of that lipsynch, I thought both Lucina and Olivia gave it all they had as they performed “Freefallin’” by Zoe Badwi. I saw them both come alive at various points in this song, and I thought Lucina in particular seemed to connect with the judges and find strength in her playful approach. Again, I’m already seeing improvement there, and if Lucina can figure out how to harness her unique energy she could be very interesting to watch.
Because, sadly, it was Olivia who was our first eliminated queen this season. My heart breaks for her. All the things that were apparent last episode were made explicit this one: she got to the competition and immediately started doubting herself; she had tremendous concerns about letting down the people at home; etc. I don’t think Olivia let anyone down. This is a very competitive cast, and she did not do terribly in either challenge. We have seen queens truly bomb on “Drag Race.” I do not believe that was the case here. She’s a beautiful queen with a giant heart, and I hope Olivia has a wonderful career ahead of her.
Next: It’s Snatch Game, and the war of the…Mrs. Clauses?
What do you think of this premiere episode? Drop your thoughts in the comments.