The shade continues when RuPaul opens the library for the reading challenge. The most anticipated mini-challenge each season, this iteration fell a bit flat. Xunami quizzically wins. However, the reads weren't particularly artful or well-constructed. They mainly consist of calling people ugly. Perhaps she earned extra points for the boldness of attempting to read RuPaul. It felt like Q's read of Dawn, Dawn's read of Xunami, and Sapphira's read of Xunami were the best. Plasma also would have had a good showing if she simply slowed down her delivery. What is increasingly frustrating about boring reading challenges is that the queens know it is coming and can prepare accordingly. They should be hiring writers just like they do designers to come up with some joke structures that they can apply to the competition before they even leave. They might not know who they will be reading, but they can have a variety of reads tailored to the competitors.
Snatch Game
Like the reading challenge, every queen knows the Snatch Game is coming. It is something they must prepare for; in fact, they even include a character on audition tapes and have characters approved by production. More often than not, success in the Snatch Game translates to success in the overall competition. A great Snatch Game is the best way to impress the judge and the fandom. It is a test of wit, quickness, and agility. It requires impersonation and improvisation. You must be able to volley with RuPaul and, most importantly, make him laugh.When RuPaul announces Snatch Game each season, the Werk Room fills with excitement and trepidation. RuPaul brings Chad Michaels, the winner of season four's Snatch Game, to advise the queens. Hopefully, this cameo is also a sign that she would be interested in an All Winners 2 season. As the queens discuss their characters with RuPaul, Chad, and amongst themselves, a few Snatch Game strategies emerge.
You can portray someone you love or hate as a contestant, but you must know them well. Plasma decides on the former by playing Broadway legend Patti LuPone. Dawn goes with hate by impersonating Meghan McCain. In actual practice, their performances lack emotion and feel bland. Another approach involves finding a historical figure that everyone knows but doesn't really know, e.g., the name is famous, but perhaps their voice or actual appearance is not fresh in anyone's mind. It gives a foundation of information with the freedom to play with the impression. Q smartly selects pioneering aviator Amelia Earhart. It works well. She gives an amusing performance and gets a few laughs out of RuPaul. Like Plasma and Dawn, the performance earns her a safe ranking. Despite being safe, it is easy to rank Q as high safe, Plasma as middle safe, and Dawn as low safe if you want to split wig hairs.
Similar to the freedom of certain historical figures, some queens have ventured into creating their own characters for Snatch Game, such as Kim Chi in Season 8. Sometimes, this feels a bit like a cheat, as part of the challenge is often impersonation, not character creation. But funny is funny. Xunami decided to be the Gold Tooth Fairy, which was not funny. RuPaul and Chad marvel at the originality of the idea, which is strange because Shea Coulée was the Gold Tooth Fairy during an All-Stars 7 runway. As the judges discussed, it was a promising concept that had no point of view to hold it up. Mhi'ya made the dangerous decision to switch characters at the last minute. She went from Tiffany "New York" Pollard to Shaquita, Trina's Cousin. It's a fair question to ask: why not just be Trina? But at least Mhi'ya was funny. The judges fairly described it as one note, but seeing Mhi'ya not only broke out of her shell, she obliterated it. RuPaul telling her he is "proud" of her is a good sign of her progress on the show.
The most common method to Snatch Game is to select a well-known personality from pop culture, past or present. Sapphira upped the ante by picking someone RuPaul loves, leading to risk and reward. The gamble paid in dividends as Sapphira's James Brown was a much-needed shot of energy to the panel. The producers need to set up a Wow Presents show with Sapphira's James Brown Kennedy Davenport's Little Richard. Morphine decided to do the current pop culture phenomenon and scammer Ana Delvy. It was a great idea with lots of potential, but it didn't have enough fuel to lift off. From the start, it fell flat when she told the same joke she recited in the Werk Room.
Finally, you can use Snatch Game to portray niche celebrities or cultural figures. Plane Jane embraced her Slavic roots, and it was wonderful. She played Serbian pop star Jelena Karleuša, who the judges did not know. She was so tuned into the game and had a perfect answer for each question. It was the first time this season that Plane Jane's humor clicked, resulting in one of the best Snatch Game performances in recent memory and a much-deserved win. Nymphia also selected a niche figure: Jane Goodall. However, where Plane Janes' choice was rooted in her persona, it felt like Nymphia's choice was rooted in branding. As Nymphia's performance unfolded, it became clear that she had only chosen Goodall for her flimsy connection to bananas. That is not nearly enough to build a Snatch Game performance off, and it resulted in one of the most disappointing Snatch Game performances in recent memory.
The results leave Plane Jane and Sapphira feeling confident heading into the runway. The main difference between the two is that Plane Jane still has her immunity potion. Earlier in the episode, RuPaul warned her that it would soon expire, leading many of the girls — Nymphia and Morphine — to hope that Plane Jane might use it to save them. However, it's clear, and rightly so, that Plane Jane plans to hold on to it for the foreseeable future if she needs to save herself. On a more serious note, the queens continue to discuss queerness and its relationship both to their families and human rights. It's been a fascinating through-line this season in response to the current attacks on the LGBTQ community in the United States.
A Dancing Floor Runway
The "Dancing Queen" runway resulted in an interesting variety of looks that can sometimes be difficult to measure against one another. Each queen selected or was assigned a type of dance and needed to model an authentic look to that dance. The dances were both trends as well as cultural. Her commentary about her robotic rhythm charmingly enhanced Q's neon disco robot. Xunami performed a great salsa in a beautiful beaded lilac dance costume. Nymphia's portrayal of Japanese butah was arresting. Dawn's polka look was both authentic and unexpectedly fashionable. Sapphira was teased for sucking up to RuPaul by impersonating James Brown and continued by using her majorette look to pay homage to the fallen Drag U series. Plasma continued to play comfortably in her wheelhouse and showed off her MFA with a tap number and look. Morphine's flamenco look was dramatic and romantic at the same time. Mhi'ya's '90s-hip-hop-inspired look highlighted the Afrocentric trends of the decade with black, yellow, and red color blocking, but her wig was probably the best part. Plane Jane concluded the category with Latin Ballroom, which allowed her to highlight her childhood training while performing a gender reversal.Before the runway, the queens predicted that the runway category would decide who would lip-synch for their life this week. Nymphia's breathtaking look surely saved her from the bottom two, especially considering that RuPaul appeared to get hostile to her Snatch Game performance. It left Xunami and Morphine, despite good looks, in the bottom two. Xunami was not helped by the fact that Plane Jane had such a similar dance category. Likewise, Morphine's look was not aided by the Flamenco mini-challenge just a couple of episodes ago. More than anything to emerge from this runway was the strange trend of talking on the stage, which rarely happens. Both Sapphira and Plasma had a lot to say during their dancing and even had some interactions with the judges.
