RuPaul’s Drag Race – Episode 8 – Double Divas
When Boy Ru enters this week, the queens brace themselves. They know someone is coming back and they ain’t happy about it. The queen who walks through the door is…. Latrice Royale! True drag royalty from Season Four. She’s here to help with the mini-challenge. Which turns out to be “Orange is the New Drag.” The contestants are given orange and grey prison uniforms and have 20 minutes to turn them into drag outfits. They each do a runway walk in front of the chain link fence from the Season Six. I’m feeling very nostalgic right now.
The winner is Kennedy, but the prize is unknown. They say goodbye to Latrice and wait again for the returning queen. This time, the person walking through the door is… Trixie Mattel. But wait. There’s more. Trixie is soon followed by Tempest DuJour, Kandy Ho, Sasha Belle, Jasmine Masters, Mrs. Kasha Davis, and Max! All seven eliminated queens are back!
The twist is, they have to earn their way back into the competition. Kennedy’s prize is to pair up sets of queens, for a “Conjoined Queens” runway challenge. Each pair will have to present as a pair of conjoined twins, so they will have to meld their drag styles together cohesively.
Kennedy choices Jasmine as her twin. They are good friends by now, and are all smile as they start planning their look. Kennedy takes it easy on Violet by pairing her with Max — they have similar builds, plus Max is about the only person who doesn’t mind working with Violet. Pearl also gets a pairing that makes her happy. She’s matched up with Trixie.
When RuPaul tours the Werk Room, things are humming along. Miss Fame declares that Kandy’s fearlessness is the perfect complement to her timidity. She babbles on for another hour, until Kandy starts hallucinating, and RuPaul begins to seriously question his career choices. RuPaul finally stops Miss Fame, and asks “How’s your head?” Fame still doesn’t get the joke. RuPaul explains that this is Miss Fame’s problem. She isn’t listening, and so she’s missed the punchline three times now. When he walks off, Miss Fame is still mystified. If you do nothing else on this show, Kandy, please explain the frigging joke to her! Please!
Ginger candidly explains to RuPaul that she finds the challenge “wacko.” The plan is for her and Sasha to be joined at the breast — an out-of-the-box idea that RuPaul does find startling. But Ginger is worried. Neither she nor Sasha sews, and this could land her in the bottom.
Katya and Jaidynn are also worried about their partners. Katya has been paired with Mrs. Kasha Davis. The last time that happened, Kasha went home. Jaidynn and Tempest could not be more different in look, so it’s going to be extra hard to look like twins.
Afterwards, we see Ginger having a meltdown because Sasha is too busy chatting with everyone to help with the dress Ginger is making. There’s a nice moment where Kasha tells Violet that she’s changed and is much nicer. Violet acknowledges that she’s made an effort. Another where Kennedy mentions that nobody ever told Jasmine to keep her head up, until Kennedy did.
We also hear Tempest talk about going through “conversion therapy,” which is consists of much prayer and awkward dates with girls. In Tempest’s case, it didn’t work. Trixie mentions that her stepdad used to call her “Trixie” as a taunt when she was a kid. Using the insult as her drag name is her way of reclaiming her pride.
On the runway, RuPaul is glowing in a sky blue dress with diamond earrings and combs. The guest judges are Nelsan Ellis and LeAnn Rimes. It seems like a random pairing of guests, and LeAnn doesn’t seem to know why she’s there. Still, she gives a few good notes, so kudos.
“Start your engines,” RuPaul commands. “And let the best twinsies, winsies!”
Miss Fame and Kandy Ho are the first pair. They are joined at the hip, prepped, and marked for extensive plastic surgery. Next, Jaidynn and Tempest are disco twins, joined front to back and looking like a glittery, afroed Hindu statue. Kennedy and Jasmine are pageant twins in pink. They glide gracefully across the runway, looking like they simply like to walk closely together.
Pearl and Trixie have a whole backstory. Pearl is the pretty twin, and Trixie has braces, freckles, and a goofy walk. She confesses that she’s trying to throw every comic bit she can into it. Max and Violet are sharing a single corset. They look like an arty poster for Chicago.
Ginger and Sasha are joined by a pair (or quartet?) of humungous breasts. It’s Peg Bundy X 2. Finally, Katya and Kasha are portraying Joan and Jackie Collins — joined at the vagina. Honestly, I think the judges have their work cut out for them tonight. Because nobody is bad.
During the critiques, Michelle Visage calls Miss Fame’s surgery old hat. Speaking of old hat, RuPaul asks, “How’s your head?” For a moment the birds stop singing, children still their laughter, and Mudville citizens hold their breath…
“I haven’t had any complaints,” Miss Fame replies. And finally, the world can go back to normal.
The disco twins are deemed “basic.” The pageant girls are “expected.” Michelle Visage tells Pearl that the pretty/ugly twins are “magical,” but warns her that Trixie was the star of that show. Like Pearl gives a damn about that. Michelle also loves that Violet got Max to wearing a white wig instead of a gray one. Conveniently forgetting that Max wore black and red hair just a week earlier.
Ginger’s breast-joinage is praised, but execution is found lacking. Ross Mathews, however, calls it a “John Waters” concept, which is nice spin. I guess we can forgive him for that “other white leather” comment. Finally, Katya and Kasha made all that judges laugh.
The good news is that Pearl wins the challenge! Trixie gets back into the game, and Pearl gets a website from Squarespace and a trip to NYC to meet with the web designers. Pearl sums up the redemption arc by remarking that she took Trixie out in a lip-synch, and now she’s brought her back.
Jaidynn and Ginger go to the bottom. I suddenly wonder if they are going to have to do this connected to their twins, and they do! Jaidynn does what she can, and Tempest backs her up — literally. But having someone strapped to her like a giant teddy packback from a Miley Cyrus performance only weighs her down. Ginger, in the even more awkward position of having to face Sasha, turns the song into a duet. They end up rolling onto the floor together, then Sasha pulls out a pair of scissors and cuts Ginger free.
RuPaul chooses Ginger to stay. Jaidynn is sad, but not surprised. She gets a comforting shoulder rub from Tempest as she hears the bad news, and she doesn’t have to walk out alone.
Full Episode
Bonus Video Whatcha Packin’?
Bonus Video Beauty Is Pain
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It’s very awkward to leave the stage. The interns have to help each pair of twins down the steps. Pearl and Trixie side-kiss each other on the way back to the lounge. Ginger cracks jokes about her imminent departure from the contest. Tempest is sad. She knows that Jaidynn is in danger tonight.
Once in the lounge, most of the twins can’t wait to unhook from each other. Katya is so beat that she lies down on the floor and screams for Kasha to come massage her aching legs. Miss Fame sits next to Kandy and stares into the distance like Anne Boleyn, waiting for the executioner.
Kennedy complains about the judges calling her pageant look “expected.” She’s showed that she’s more than pageant! She’s won comedy challenges, damnit! But it makes no sense for her to present herself as a clown on the runway. “They want everybody to be everything!” she wails.
Miss Fame is especially annoyed to see Jasmine back. We flashback to Jasmine packing her bags before her last runway. Jasmine declares that she doesn’t give a damn how the other queens feel. “Yaaaaaas!” Tempest hoots. She laughs about how mad Ginger looked when all the returning queens arrived.
Ginger explains that she’s always been on top, but Kasha tells her that she gave up in that moment. “We were going to strike!” Violet spills. Flashback to Ginger singing “We will, we will, we will not do drag!” It’s shady, but fairly lighthearted. Kasha notes that they’re getting to have a mini-reunion right now, instead of having to wait until the finale.
Tempest asks Kennedy to explain her strategy in pairing up the twins. Kennedy has non-shady explanations for making the pairs that she did. Mostly it was about putting similar facial or body types together. It’s unfortunate that her best friends left in the contest were given the biggest challenges. Ginger, because it turned out that Sasha doesn’t sew. And Jaidynn, because Tempest could not look more different. Violet praises Kennedy for being fair.
The conversation turns to a friendly direction. Violet tells Trixie that Pearl worked harder after Trixie left — to honor her fallen sister. Miss Fame spends a few moments rhapsodizing on how great Katya is. Tempest congratulates Katya and Kasha, certain that they’ve won the challenge. Kennedy gives Jaidynn the weekly pep talk.
Five minute warning is called. This show is worth watching just for the footage of Ginger and Sasha navigating the narrow hallway to the smoking area. They discuss a possible lip-synching move (which didn’t happen). Pearl and Trixie are playing around with their characters, even as they’re struggling back to the stage.
Afterwards, Jaidynn pulls off her top as soon as she leaves the runway. Tempest discarded, she heads to the Werk Room to pack up. She seems like a defeated little boy, but perks up later. She hugs everyone goodbye on the way out to the van. I think she must have been a crew favorite.
Backstage glimpses: The eliminated queens lounge in bathrobes in a different room. We see someone (it sounds like Michelle) giving direction to Katya and Kasha during the final celebration dance.
I don’t have the links yet, but I’ll have them in the morning. Have a great night, everyone! Oh, and do you think Trixie will last through the next challenge? If she does, she’ll make Drag Race Herstory!
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