35 thoughts I had watching Drag Race’s season 16’s ‘heartbreaking’ episode 4
Drag Race season 16 episode upped the stakes – and the drama. (MTV/WOW Presents)
RuPaul’s Drag Race season 16 is well underway and after the first elimination, a half improv, half acting challenge that’s basically SNL with drag queens causes tensions to rise.
Not to be blunt, but these girls are not here to play – and for some of them, that means with each other. In episode four we get the ongoing establishment of a Jan/Loosey arc for Q, Morphine and Jane proving that sisters do not always love each other and a stellar Barbra Streisand. Personally I’m still not over Nymphia’s design looks from last week.
Following the season’s first design challenge, the Maxi Challenge this week is an SNL spinoff with Buffy the Vampire Slayer legend and ‘mother’ Sarah Michelle Gellar as a guest judge. I personally don’t love when Drag Race just rips off a formula of another show – especially one that they ripped off so recently, and when not all of the queens are comedians – but there are some good moments.
And, if you were feeling too happy today, the pantheon of heartbreaking eliminations continues to grow!
Here are 35 thoughts I had while watching RuPaul’s Drag Race, Season 16, episode 4: “RDR Live!”.
- Dare I say it… this is the c*ntiest cast in recent Drag Race memory. As a wise woman once said on season 10, they just came to fight!
- The gworls have returned to the Werk Room following Hershii’s elimination, and Geneva (fresh from last week’s bottom two) saying that her outfit speaks for itself is certainly true, but not in the way she thinks.
- Q makes the worst possible mistake, which is vocalising how upset she was to “nearly” have won. Has she learned nothing from Jan? Production is rubbing their hands with glee.
- Plane Jane ‘apologises’ to Amanda Tori Meating for coming for her in Untucked last week. If you’ve not watched, Jane basically turned to Amanda and said: “You’re trash”, unprompted. and the best thing about it is that Amanda gobbled Jane right up!
- Anyway, the apology is faker than Kimora Blac’s cheekbones and Amanda Tori Mother does not accept.
- There is something so so so delicious about not a single one of Jane’s reads having landed so far. Not a single one. This plane does not have landing gear.
- The next day is a case and point: Jane says she’s here to shine like a star and Amanda immediately goes: “Well, stars are full of gas.” Oh, it’s fabulous.
- The Maxi Challenge is ‘RDR Live!’ – think SNL with drag queens. The girls only get one take for their performances.
- Crying that one of the roles is the first brick thrown at Stonewall. So unserious. Derrick Barry is gagged.
- Sapphira and Mirage both want the role of the host, until suddenly Sapphira doesn’t. And Mirage – who has said about seven words apart from her iconic talent show – doesn’t seem all that thrilled!
- Then there’s another clash, with Plasma pulling her theatre kid background and “sticking with anchor two” even though the roles were already decided.
- Plasma is so terminally theatre kid that she complains about impersonating Barbra Streisand and then goes on a full Rachel Berry tangent about her history. Like… come on.
- Mirage is sitting there by herself, and not saying anything that funny, and I’m a lickle bit stressed! I need her not to go home but I fear she may. This doesn’t fit with my fantasy.
- Dead at Morphine calling Jane a “fake f**cking c**t.” Don’t mince your words, sis.
- What possible relevance does Geneva being an ex-cashier have to memorising lines?
- Sapphira stitched Mirage up SO badly here with the host role. Love strategy but why Mirage!
- Amanda reveals her day job is “ghost writing for OnlyFans”. And I am HOWLING. She sits there, and pretends to be female OnlyFans stars talking to old straight men! Nah. Crown her. That’s f*cking iconic.
- RDR Live! Is underway. First, we’ve got Xunami and Morphine as Anderson Cooper/ Andy Cohen reporters. They’re fine – but they cut to Mhi’ya, who is absolutely hilarious!
- Mirage is, again, fine, as the host, it’s just all a bit stilted. Saying that “boom” is the sound Nymphia makes when she untucks is funny, though.
- Oh look, Plane is playing a blonde slut, just like Jimbo did on All Stars 8. Again. Call me a hater, but I don’t love this challenge. And I don’t love Jane.
- I do, however, love when we get a RuPaul performance! Like, mother really does the thing. Also, I am staring respectfully at the Pit Crew in their ass-less chaps. Politely.
- Dawn and Amanda are the news anchors conducting an interview with Q as the Stonewall brick and I actually cannot deal with the stupid. It’s good! But I can’t help but feel like the laugh track is trying to imply it’s funnier than it is.
- Plasma’s Barbra Streisand’s impression is so good, omg.
- Runway Category: Runway of 1000 Chers! Woah! These girls all look fantastic. Except for Serena.
- Jane not changing a single piece of her makeup to look like Cher certainly shows more of that… confidence.
- Q munched on the runway. So did Saphhira and Nymphia. I feel like I’m saying that a lot this season.
- Judging time – Sapphira and Jane both decline to use their immunity potion. Again, shock!
- Mhi’ya’s Cher impression on the runway should be charged as a federal crime, it’s that bad. She also gets confusing critiques because I thought she was great in the challenge.
- Heartbreakingly, they’re not sold on Ar Mirage’s performance. Or even her runway. I can’t see her go!
- Jane gets great critiques (eye roll), Q gets great critiques, Plasma gets great critiques! I can’t wait for them to not give Q the win to start the long process of production chipping away at her psyche.
- Right on cue, Plasma wins and – no shade – I really thought they were going to give it to Jane. Ready for Q to have a breakdown, though.
- Mhi’ya keeps being saved for some unknown reason? That does mean that Geneva and Mirage are in the bottom two? Surely this is a cut and dry, send Geneva home situation, as she was in the bottom two last week and Mirage will outperform her?
- No. My heart is breaking. Mirage doesn’t know the song. Michelle saying “not one word” to RuPaul is nasty!
- Let’s add this to the list of most heartbreaking eliminations. Mirage has a full on panic attack on stage. Why aren’t any of the queens getting up to help her!
- I really thought she’d go further. She came, she saw, she served c**t. I’m devo. This is like Valentina all over again. What a sad note to end this episode on! Someone do a death drop or something!
RuPaul’s Drag Race season 16 continues on Friday on MTV in the US and on Saturday on WOW Presents Plus internationally.
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