RECAP: “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 9" Episode 6
More "All Stars," more social-media controversy. Gotta love it. (Please note the sarcasm.) This week the queens were tasked with a roast, served up through a very loose, largely pointless electoral-convention backdrop. Overall it was terrific comedy challenge, as almost every single queen performed well.
Unfortunately, within hours of the episode being released, there was solid evidence circulating of one of the queens fully stealing jokes from an established comedian, PLUS criticisms leveled at the political history of the guest judge, AND the by-now-expected criticisms that judging was skewed to favor certain storylines instead of the actual merits of the challenge. Literally within hours of the episode being released this was all over the internet. Are you all tired? I'm tired.
Let's get into it.
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Before we got to the roast, the queens had a "straw poll" mini-challenge (confidential to the producers: nobody under the age of 45 knows what a straw poll is) in which the queens had to guess which of their fellow competitors would receive the most votes for various topics. This was cute, and did give us three important outcomes: 1) two very hot (new?) Pit Crew members, one with a VERY full basket; 2) Angeria being voted as most delusional, which seemingly set her off for the rest of the episode; 3) Jorgeous ultimately winning the most points in the challenge, netting her not only a Beautiful Benefactress Badge (she now has 2) but also $2,500 for her charity. I find the logic behind which mini-challenges give badges and which do not very confusing. Anyone else?
Then, the roast. As I said, almost everyone did well here, and multiple queens did VERY well. I'll go over each queen separately, commenting on their roast performance as well as their Atomic Blonde runway looks. BTW, this was another funky runway where I suspect the prompt was something else originally -- possibly something Tina Turner or Mad Max/Thunderdome themed -- because so many looks skewed in a bizarre way. And to be honest, I did not love almost any of these looks. Given the reported stipends they were given for runways, I honestly expect better.
Angeria Paris VanMichaels: Angeria had a great roast. She had some very funny jokes, but more importantly, her delivery was excellent. At this point it is clear that Angeria's primary strength -- though not her only one -- is her inherent folksy charm, and she's only gotten better at directing that into the challenges. She was certainly in the top half of the pack for me, though I'm not sure I would have put her in the Top 2, as the judges did. I did not care for her runway look at all -- the second boot in two weeks for Angeria, which is surprising to me. This was one of like four Tina Turner in "Mad Max" looks, and hers was possibly the most literal of the four. And I don't think she pulled it off.
Gottmik: So, Gottmik's roast was OK. Some funny jokes, and a decent delivery -- but nowhere close to as good as her Season 13 roast. It was a totally passable set. However, almost immediately upon the episode being released, I saw clips juxtaposing Gottmik's jokes here alongside jokes from Nikki Glaser on multiple televised roasts. When I tell you they were verbatim, with only the names of the targets being changed, I am not joking. Like literally word-for-word the exact same jokes. Gottmik has been drubbed online for this, and she responded almost dismissively that all the queens steal other people's material, and that's just the way it works. In Mik's defense, there is truth to that. At least one other queen in this roast -- was it Vanjie? Plastique? -- fully lifted that "so gay they can tell you what flavor a popsicle is just by sitting on it" joke from, I believe, the Comedy Central Roast of William Shatner, which is nearly 20 years old. How old was it? When I originally heard that joke, it was about Andy Dick. Back when he was relevant. The point is, comedians steal/launder other comics' jokes all the time. And it is a known fact that MANY "Drag Race" queens hire professional comedy writers to prepare jokes/reads for them before going on the show, ESPECIALLY when coming back for "All Stars." I think the issue here is that the joke stealing was so egregious, and centered around the work of one specific comedian, that the allegations of plagiarism have more teeth. I don't think Gottmik dismissing it online was the right move. I would love to see her take the situation more seriously, ideally even bringing Glaser into the conversation. The backlash is intense right now, and I'd hate to see her otherwise excellent "All Stars" run permanently tarnished over a bad reaction to legitimate criticisms. I will say, I did not understand her Atomic Blonde look at all. Blonde? Check. The rest of it? Gorgeous. Making a statement about her trans identity, which I love. But "atomic blonde"? I don't get it.
Jorgeous: You guys, Jorgeous was robbed on a comedy challenge. I'm as surprised as you are. Jorgeous took Ru's specific notes from last week -- flip her hyper-femme mannerisms on their head by presenting as butch -- and delivered a searing roast that had me absolutely cackling. She nailed joke after joke and seemed to be having a great time doing it. I thought her Atomic Blonde runway was one of the more successful looks, giving us the Thunderdome reference without being overly literal, and even incorporating some sparking mechanisms into the gauntlet. I was convinced she would be Top 2, and was stunned when she was passed over. In my mind, she was probably THE strongest this episode. I can only imagine that there were other narratives/track records production opted to push forward instead.
Roxxxy Andrews: Roxxxy was no slouch in the roast, either. In fact, she could have been Top 2 and I would have bought it. As Ru and the editors pointed out, Roxxxy has flopped on not one but TWO previous roasts on "Drag Race." She came out here looking arguably the best she has all season, and gave us a great set. There was an ease and a confidence to this that was great to see. I did not love Roxxxy's Atomic Blonde runway. She also did the Mad Max thing, but it was primarily in the accessories and styling -- the main garment underneath seemed fairly basic to me. I remain perplexed what is going on with Roxxxy and her visual presentation this season. She has ALWAYS given it to us aesthetically in past seasons, and this season the looks are very "mid," and the make-up is not where it historically has been. I commend her for making most if not all of her runway package, but if you're going to do that, it needs to live up to the other girls' bought-and-paid-for runways. I am not seeing it with Roxxxy this season. If you told me this was a workroom-designed look, I would believe you. And it would also be Safe at best.
Nina West: While Nina is a comedy queen, stand-up and roasting are two very different things. Nina is also not in any way a shady queen. She is the antithesis of shade. Nina herself acknowledged this challenge, but I think she did a solid job with the roast. It wasn't in the top of the pack, but she got in a few good jabs, and had only a few truly clunky moments. Nina continues to struggle on the runway. Whereas I don't see the stipend in Roxxxy's looks, I absolutely see the money spent in Nina's. Unfortunately, it is money spent without a balance of taste or restraint. At least her Atomic Blonde look made sense with the prompt -- she turned herself into a giant, crystal-encrusted atom bomb, complete with mushroom cloud. Unfortunately, that was tone deaf even before the Israel-Palestine war, and given how Nina has been dragged into that due to social-media interactions, a bomb-themed runway reads even worse now. I suspect the editors knew this, because the voiceover of her runway segment seemed hastily cut together.
Plastique Tiara: I'm so pleased to see queens who struggled with comedy in their original seasons -- specifically Jorgeous and Plastique -- find their way to success in those challenges this time around. You love to see the growth. That said, I did not think Plastique deserved her Top 2 spot this week. She decided to deliver her roast in a character. That's a smart move and has worked for numerous queens in the past -- Coco Montrese in Season 5 comes immediately to mind. But the character she picked, someone dressed as Sailor Moon who thought she was going to an anime convention instead of a political one, didn't really go anywhere after the intro joke. There was a prop cigarette that seemed completely pointless. There were some very good jokes, no doubt. Laughed out loud multiple times! But Plastique also relied on note cards and seemed less confident that several of the other girls, who ultimately did as well or possibly better. On the runway, Plastique gave us one of the biggest wow looks of the night, a combination hot-rod car and sexy body suit, with massive exhaust pipes out the back. Very cool, but...Atomic Blonde? I don't know. Also, I kept waiting for the exhaust pipes to start doing something, but they never did. Maybe I was expecting too much? Regardless, Plastique continues to deliver one of the very best runway packages we have ever seen on "Drag Race," and is emerging as a huge threat in this competition.
Shannel: I was really proud of Shannel this episode. She did well in her brief but funny roast segment, doing a great job hyping up the audience to open the show. I think all the judges made note that Shannel is a consummate professional who is going to reliably deliver every time you hand her the mic. Anyone who saw the final challenge in "All Stars 1" knows that's not entirely true, but she did well here and we love to see her get some flowers. Now if we could just get the poor queen a badge. Her runway also veered into Thunderdome, but paired with an immaculate giant blonde wig. I genuinely think something strange happened with this runway prompt. So many of these choices just did not make sense to me.
Vanessa Vanjie: Vanjie had one of the weakest roast sets, and although I thought her super-short blonde wig was striking, the odd wild-patterned-knit dress again seemed completely unconnected to the runway prompt. I recognize that Vanjie has two badges -- both of them given out the episode before last -- but I think she's routinely performing toward the bottom of the pack overall. She seems like she's having a great time being here, and that's wonderful to see. She's incredibly likable, moreso than she has ever been (and she was always highly magnetic). But is she pushing through the crowd? I don't see it. Like Snatch Game, it feels like she just checked out of this challenge and muddled through it. With only 8 queens, I want to see them giving their all, and that's not what I'm getting from Vanjie most episodes this season.
Ultimately the Top 2 of Plastique and Angeria lipsynched to "Be My Lover" by La Bouche. I cannot believe we have never had this song before. I thought Plastique had this in the bag within seconds. She was throwing down nothing but cunt on that stage, performing the hell out of the song. Angeria, meanwhile, was giving you "drunk auntie at a wedding" interpretation. But then two things happened that I think swung things: 1) at the point where the male performer comes in and lays down a rap, Plastique ceded control of the stage to Angeria, even literally pointing at Angeria hitting every single word of the rap while Plastique didn't even attempt it; and 2) at the very end of the song, Angeria hit a death drop in total synch with the song's button. I think those two things resulted in Angeria getting this win. Which is at least the second time, if not third, this season that Plastique has likely lost a lipsynch because she did not know the words. You guys. This is part of the deal. How do you not know the WORDS?!
When tasked with snipping one of her sisters, Angeria hemmed and hawed and said it was such a hard decision. But we all know that's bullshit. She was always going to block Roxxxy. Not only is Roxxxy currently in the lead with three badges, but Roxxxy also blocked Angeria the second time and flirted with blocking her AGAIN last week. I think this rivalry between the two of them is likely manufactured for the show, but at the same time, I fully believe the two do not like each other. I guess we'll see what happens.
Lastly, I'm seeing some online chatter about the historical political leanings of guest judge, Ruta Lee. Apparently she is a longtime Republican, but I'm seeing conflicting reports as to whether she's a more old-school fiscal Republican, or a more contemporary, deranged cult Republican. Regardless, it's a bummer to see, because I thought she was a delight in the episode. It would be deeply frustrating to find out that her political stance -- especially in an overtly political challenge -- is antithetical to the core values of the program on which she was guest judging, and to LGBTQ+ people in general. I hope that's not the case and that people are inferring or extrapolating past affiliations into something that is not an accurate reflection of what she actually believes.
NEXT: The queens act opposite RuPaul himself in a "Dynasty"-inspired soap challenge. Fucking inject it into my veins. This is what I told them to do...