RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 7 — Episode 4 – Results and Recap (VIDEO)

RuPaul’s Drag Race – Episode 4 – Video Vamps

Previously on RuPaul’s Drag Race: Pearl was told to wake up, and RuPaul delivered an epic rant to Kennedy Davis’s team.

In the Werk Room, the queens are already missing Jasmine’s energy and catch phrases. “Pop the corn and feed the children!” Kennedy quotes as she wipes away Jasmine’s mirror message. Miss Fame comments for our benefit that the image of feeding children with foot corns is disgusting. Meanwhile, Pearl is bewildered by her critique. They called me sleepy, she mopes. I thought I had bedroom eyes. We see her falling asleep in a confessional (ala Jinkx Monsoon). One of the producers throws a glass of water in her face to wake her up.

The next day, the queens are ready to pick up and move on. RuPaul delivers a video message filled with music puns. Ginger claps her hands, delighted to be doing a singing challenge.

Boy RuPaul entered to explain the challenge. They will break into three teams, and each team will write and perform a video parodying one of RuPaul’s songs. Instead of a schoolyard pick, they need to just break into teams on their own. Trixie immediately gets grabbed by her cuddle-buddy Miss Fame, Katya, and Pearl. Kennedy and Ginger team up with Kandy and Kasha. The left-overs are Max, Jaidynn, and — inevitably — Violet. But Max embraces her teammates like they were her first choices.

In the writing seasons, Max emphasizes that she doesn’t want to do anything raunchy or gross. Meanwhile, Miss Fame is urging her team mates to be more raunchy and gross. Good thing they ended up on different teams.

The only problem Ginger’s team has is that Kasha fails to impress RuPaul with her Rihanna parody. Trixie’s team has an interesting moment when Pearl credits Trixie for the concept of the video. It seems like she’s doing that thing on Celebrity Apprentice, where an underling throws the project manager under the bus. But that seems a little too cunning for Pearl.

Now it’s time for the awkward Lucian Piane recording session! Katya is doing a drunk character, and Lucian tells her to pull it back a little. Miss Fame has trouble hitting the high notes, while Trixie doesn’t even try. Pearl has what Miss Fame calls “white boy timing.” Lucian tells her to put more energy into it.

On Team Max, Jaidynn sounds great. Violet is unable to accept constructive criticism without biting back. On Team Ginger, Kasha sounds like the lovechild of Ethel Merman and Paul Lynde.

We see a bit of Miss Fame choreographing her team in the Werkroom, then it’s on to the filming.

There’s not much drama. Max isn’t quite as campy as her teammates. RuPaul seems offended when Ginger’s team makes fun of Drag U (one of RuPaul’s canceled shows). Trixie’s team is disorganized, and Katya calls it “a disaster.” But it doesn’t seem that bad. It’s certainly not “ShakesQueer” bad.

On Elimination Day, Kennedy shares her photos of Sahara Davenport (from Season Two). Sahara died suddenly in 2012. They were drag sisters in Texas, But Sahara died in New York, and Kennedy couldn’t afford to attend the funeral.

The theme for the runway is “All Green.” Which explains why RuPaul appears in a gown with not a stitch of green in it. It’s a Barbie-licious Easter Bunny gown, with pink, yellow, and blue. Michelle is wearing white, with a hint of green in her hairpiece. When RuPaul announces the theme, Michelle pretends to be horrified. Ross Mathews is in the not-Santino chair, while Lucian Piane takes one of the guest judge spots. The other guest is Jessica Alba, here to promote her Honest Company.

Pearl interprets the green theme by embodying a snake, complete with a tongue flicker. Miss Fame is like a starlet from the 1930s — in a long satin gown with a train. Trixie is the green version of Manila Luzon’s Dragon Lady. Katya is wearing a green gown with an Angelina Jolie thigh slit. Max is a nearly naked Marie Antoinette, with green triangles covering her tits. Jaidynn has on a Jaidynn Diore Fierce dress. In green. She does look hot.

Violet comes out in one of Joslyn Fox’s trademark bikini-thingies. But it’s a couture version, with a lovely diamond chain that doesn’t cover her butt. Kandy is blonde and pretty in a long gown. Kasha is camped out in a Mae West look, with green dollar signs all over it. Kennedy is wearing a very pageant, very sequined dress with perfectly coifed hair. Ginger looks sweet, but unimpressive with a knee-length party dress. She looks like Tracy Turnblad.

After the runway, the videos are shone. Trixie’s team turned “Dance with You” into “Tan With You.” They are all over-tanned cougars rolling on the beach and grinding with the pit crew. It might have been a disorganized shoot, but the final product looks just fine. It gets laughs.

Max’s team is up next with their parody of “Sissy that Walk.” Each of them imitates one of the Top Three from last year. Jaidynn is spot on as Bianca Del Rio. Violet is pretty great as Adore, channeling that punk edge that Adore has. Max has a harder time with Courtney, but Courtney is harder to caricature than the others.

Finally, we have Ginger’s team. “Let the Music Play.” They tell the story of RuPaul rising from poverty to her own shopping channel show. It seems to get the most laughs from the audience, but I find it a little hard to follow because they throw in every joke they can.

RuPaul pulls out Katya, Jaidynn, and Kennedy as the stars of each video. Kennedy wins the challenge. She gets stuff from Jessica Alba’s Honest Company. Which is fairly bizarre, because the Honest Company seems to sell mostly baby care products. I don’t know if Kennedy is going to find designer diapers all that useful in her life.

Two queens from each video are put into danger. Pearl is so laid-back that Michelle asks if she’s a stoner. Pearl says she feels picked on by the judges. Trixie is told that she isn’t standing out enough. Max is criticized for a lack of green in her outfit, and for not pushing her Courtney impression more. Michelle challenges Max to do a look without a grey wig. Violet is complemented on her (gorgeous) runway look. The only thing they fault her Adore for is not being more over-the-top. Kandy is told her runway look is just pretty, but that’s enough. Michelle asks Kasha why she didn’t sing in the video, and Kasha replies that her voice was possessed by Bea Arthur.

The bottom two end up being Pearl and Trixie. Who, we learned earlier, are good friends. Trixie glances sadly at Pearl, but is determined to go down “kicking and screaming.”

The song is “Dreaming,” by Blondie. Trixie acts out every line, miming a cup of tea, and so on. Pearl doesn’t do as much, but she almost goes into a trance state — there’s something going on with her that I cannot look away from. Even before RuPaul says it, I know that Trixie is going home.

It’s heartbreaking, because Trixie is so sweet and fun. So talented and creative. Pearl starts crying and tells RuPaul that she loves Trixie so much. But Trixie whispers to her as they hug, and slaps her on the butt as Pearl makes her way back safety. Miss Fame looks sad to lose her cuddle-buddy, and Max comforts Pearl, who is still crying after Trixie has left.

As she packs, Trixie admits that she’s bummed and embarrassed to leave on a comedy challenge. She’s eager, though, to meet new fans.

How do you feel to lose Trixie? Are you as bummed as I am? Who do you think will leave next?

Here are the music videos. I’ll be back with the episode and Untucked videos tomorrow.

Untucked

A couple mysteries get cleared up for me tonight, production-wise. The first is how, last week, the safe queens didn’t hear RuPaul’s epic rant. As it turns out, the lounge isn’t just behind the runway set. It’s in a different room. We see a crew member clap the film board, then open a door to let the queens in. I love this new format!

The safe queens this week are Kennedy, Katya, and Jaidynn (the “stars” of each video), plus Ginger and Miss Fame. They grab their cocktails and sit down to dish. Ginger notes that all the videos were good. She was expecting at least one to bomb. Kennedy compliments Jaidynn on her impression of Bianca Del Rio. Miss Fame talks about practicing singing before coming on the show, in order to get over her fear of “being hurt.” Katya was also afraid of this challenge.

Jaidynn was afraid that Violet’s attitude in the studio would hurt the team, and promises to talk to Violet about that. Ginger and Kennedy point out Kandy as the weakest link in their team. They knew what Kasha would deliver (the Cowardly Lion, Ginger tells us), but Kandy took a lot of time to warm up. Miss Fame worries that Trixie shrinks in the challenges.

Katya wishes that Pearl had gone bigger in the challenge. Miss Fame notes that Pearl is just slow. Kennedy’s problem with Pearl is that she doesn’t pad. Or wear pants. It’s not really clear. But I think she’s saying “pads.” Miss Fame’s critique is that Pearl’s personality doesn’t live up to her face. Kennedy counters that Pearl is beautiful. I think she’s mocking Pearl here, but again, I’m not sure.

The unsafe six join them. Kasha grabs onto her cocktail for dear life. Trixie sits and mopes. Not being safe is the worst. Max notes, in her detached fashion, that she blended into the background while imitating Courtney Act. “But that’s Courtney,” she shrugs. Meanwhile Pearl takes her drink into the corner to brood.

Trixie explains that the judges liked her look, but they don’t think she’s bringing enough comedy. They did give her props for spearheading the video and the lyrics… “Did they give you props?” Kasha interrupts. “Or did you give yourself props?” Trixie thinks about that, but Kasha says she’s just joking. Trixie admits she told the judges so they’d at least know she was working, even if it didn’t show onscreen.

Violet says that she got only one negative note. They wanted her to push her Adore impression even harder. But everything else was good. Jaidynn tells Violet that she gives off a “mean vibe,” and it made her nervous for the team when Violet was negative in the studio. Violet blinks twice. “All I can do is be honest with my feelings, ” she says. The conversation moves on, but Max gives Jaidynn a supportive shoulder touch.

Kandy’s critique was that, although she looks pretty, she doesn’t stand out. Trixie notes that the other outfits were more conceptual. Kandy agrees, but she says she doesn’t do themes. Her focus in drag is to look as pretty as she can.

The queens turn to Pearl, who shrugs. “The usual,” she says. The judges had nothing good to say to her. Kasha says there were fragments of good in their critique, but she doesn’t clarify what the good was. Pearl knows she’s lip-synching. She doesn’t know who the other one is. (“It’s me,” Trixie says.) Pearl thinks it might be Kandy.

Max complains about her critique of not wearing enough green on the runway. She wore as much as Violet. Kennedy jokes that Max’s green “is ugly.”

We see Ginger, Kasha, and Max freshening up their faces at a mirror. Ginger is annoyed that Kennedy won. She decides she needs to help herself more and others less. Max agrees that Kennedy wasn’t the best.

Pearl stops to make a little speech. She wants to win, but she wants everyone to know — if she goes home — that she loves them. And that she’s different out in the real world. Trixie reminds Pearl that she’s a star. Ginger comments to us that Pearl has made a lot of progress, but not enough. She’s not long for the competition. Pearl drifts off into the shadows.

Trixie is asked if she’s doomed to lip-synch. She doesn’t think it’s as probable as Pearl and Kandy. She might be lying, because later she says that she knew she’d be set against Pearl.

Meanwhile, Pearl is outside smoking. Miss Fame goes out to comfort her. Max also leaves the lounge, but she doesn’t show up outside, so that’s the second mystery. Ginger and Katya do show up. Katya tells Pearl not to give up before the lip-synch.

Inside, Violet asks Jaidynn to explain what she meant by saying Violet was mean. Kasha provides an example: The first thing Violet said to her was about Kasha’s “man arms.” Violet explains that she has to claw her way, where she comes from. “You have a lot to learn, ” Kennedy tells her.

Pearl and Trixie spend the entire five-minute warning hugging each other. They both love each other. Trixie makes a joke, asking Pearl to just lie down on the floor during the lip-synch. “That would really help me out.” Pearl interviews that Trixie is better than all the other bitches in the competition.

We see their lip-synch in slow motion. Or maybe it’s just in Pearl time. Pearl cries, and they hug again. “It’s okay,” Trixie whispers to her. There’s very little applause when Trixie leaves — I think that’s because the others are so sad to lose her.

As she packs, Trixie is bummed to leave before the Snatch Game. She finds notes from Max and Pearl. Aha! That’s where Max went! To put the notes into the Werk Room. I am the Nancy Drew of Drag!

Max’s note says she’s going to avenge Trixie by winning the competition. Trixie smiles at that. “She won’t win,” she assures the camera. Pearl’s note reiterates her love for Trixie and her hope that Trixie won’t hate her.

We hear Michelle speaking to Trixie, who shows off one of the outfits she didn’t get to wear. Then Trixie waves good-bye from the van, asking if she can get a ride back to Milwaukee.

Bonus Video
Trixie’s good-bye to her fans: