After discussing congeniality versus "cunteniality," RuPaul comes in for a mini-challenge. Inspired by comedian Danny Thomas, RuPaul gives a mini history lesson before the queens perform a spit take. It's one of the more arbitrary mini-challenges of the season, but it establishes some important points. RuPaul is aware of Plane Jane's reputation in the Werk Room. Mhi'ya is taking the judges' notes and ensuring she leaves an impression. Finally, RuPaul intensely hated Nymphia's Snatch Game performance. Despite RuPaul's animosity, Nymphia gets the win, suggesting that she's forgiven for her Jane Goodall.
Goth With a Twist
RuPaul's announcement that this week's maxi challenge will be design-based makes this a season in which a third of the challenges require the queens to conceive of and construct original looks. It is welcomed by queens such as Q, Dawn, Nymphia, Sapphira, and Plane Jane but dreaded by Morphine, Plasma, and especially Mhi'ya. The twist with this challenge is that the queens have a limited color palette of black, white, and gray to construct a "neo-goth" look. While RuPaul cites a couple of examples, it's a vague description that confuses some queens like Plasma and Sapphira, who are decidedly not goth. One might ask what goth girl, however neo, would ever incorporate white into their look. What separates this design challenge from those before is the restricted fabrics and the number of queens competing; in both cases, no one will be able to hide from the judges' eyes.The challenge allows each queen to show what they have learned from each design challenge. Morphine realizes she needs to up her construction level to make it through another episode. After stumbling in the second design challenge, Plasma feels like she needs to show something new to the judges. Mhi'ya applies lessons she learned from Sapphira to create a pattern and carefully select fabrics. Q, Dawn, and Plane Jane stick with the model if it isn't broken, don't fix it. Q and Dawn are confident seamstresses, while Plane Jane has done well with precise construction and careful embellishments.
On the other hand, some queens seem to be repeating bad patterns. Nymphia, for one, seems to be doing nothing much at all, but it seems to be her process until inspiration strikes. Perhaps the first queen who might need to worry is Sapphira, who gets sucked into helping Mhi'ya once again instead of solely focusing on her look. This strategy did not help her on the last design challenge. Another queen who probably thinks she is being helpful is Dawn with her advice to Plasma. However, it has the opposite effect and takes Plasma so far out of her comfort zone that she gets lost. There is a growing sense of competition amongst the queens now that only eight are left. Sapphira shows her design to Q, who isn't that impressed, but Dawn says she will not even show it to Q. Likewise, Q later suggests that Plasma is going in a similar direction to Plane Jane regarding design. Plane asks what Plasma is doing but will not show her designs. The Plasma-Plane dispute is all the funnier because, in the last challenge, Plane took Plasma's fabric in the first place.
See You Next Wednesday Runway and Judging
Plane Jane and Morphine both deliver a simple but serviceable look. The embellishments of Plane's look add texture and interest, while her delivery is punk instead of goth. Morphine's sleek body-hugging gown is complemented by her exquisite makeup that stands out even more against a white canvas. Respectively, they earn a high safe and low safe placement. Sapphira is above safe but not in the top two with a glamorous take on goth. It's her Lydia Deetz wig that takes it into goth, but it's the impeccable execution that earns Sapphira praise. It feels like any of the top three – Dawn, Nymphia, or Q – could win this episode. Dawn uses her engineering degree to create a compelling construction from top to bottom. Likewise, Nymphia employs her educational background with a draped Fellini-esque look. The only misstep is that her face is so obstructed. Like the previous design challenge, Q separates herself from the group by using a different color. While the runway was a sea of black, Q opted for platform white fabrics with black detailing. Ultimately, it was exactly goth, but the judges wanted dramatic looks with excellent construction. Q delivered that.With most queens delivering solid neo-goth looks, two queens are left to sacrifice. Mhi'ya is cursed with help from Sapphira, and Plasma is cursed with help from Dawn. The judges had some nice things to say about Mhi'ya's look but penalized her for getting help from Sapphira. Plasma's look mostly confuses the judges. Her quizzical take on seemingly 1970s goth has some interesting pieces, but none of them work well together. Despite the best intentions, it seems like Dawn's advice to diversify took her too far out of her comfort zone that she ended up completely lost.
TikTok for Your Life
It's the fourth week in a row with Miami's hometown queens in the bottom two, but they keep surviving. It's a testament to the strong performance talents of the city's drag community. The worst part of this lip-synch is the song selection. Mhi'ya and Plasma must perform to Lady Gaga's "Bloody Mary," but it is the "Wednesday Dance TikTok Version." A spoken monologue, à la All Stars 7 of Wednesday's (Christina Ricci) Thanksgiving diatribe, would have been more interesting. Instead, an annoying attempt to cater to trends found the two queens struggling to match the sped-up beat.Mhi'ya scores laughs with a reference to Sasha Velour and gasps at her ability to flip in a floor-length gown. Even as she flaunts the unwritten rules of a lip-synch — no shoes, no wigs — Mhi'ya keeps winning them. Plasma does her best with material not suited to her performance style. Like the challenge, the song is so far out of Plasma's comfort zone that the entire episode feels like a master plan to eliminate the queen. Plasma says she's unafraid, but earlier, she spoke of the "terror in the room" after Mhi'ya's first lip-synch.
