RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 7 — Episode 9 – Results and Recap (VIDEO)

RuPaul’s Drag Race – Episode 9 – Divine Legacy

Unfortunately, I missed the first few minutes of the show, so I don’t know the reaction to Jaidynn’s elimination. I’m sure they were all devastated to see her go, happy to have one less competitor, and chagrined that they don’t have one less competitor because Trixie came back.

I’m going to predict that there’s a scene showing weird underlying tension between Pearl and Miss Fame.

The mini-challenge this week is the Reading Library. This is an audience favorite in which the queens are given a pair of glasses so that they can “read” the other contestants. It’s a chance to show wit, humor, and the ability to take an insult. It almost seems like the challenge was held back so that Trixie can participate. Fame does the worst, and Pearl scores 50 audacious points by starting to read RuPaul at the end.

Trixie is the winner, getting a $500 gift card from Sequin Queen.

Then RuPaul introduces John Waters, legendary director of films such as Pink Flamingoes, Hairspray, and Serial Mom. The main challenge this week is to create musical (or “rusical”) screen tests, based on different John Waters films. RuPaul educates us about Divine, the first Drag Superstar.

RuPaul instructs the dolls to break up into three teams. Ginger and Trixie grab each other, while Katy and Kennedy bond over their “K” initials. This leaves Violet, Fame, and Pearl to stare at each other uncomfortably.

As Katya and Kennedy read through their script, based on Female Troubles. Katya wants to play the lead part. Kennedy, however, notes that the part requires singing chops, which Katya doesn’t exactly have. RuPaul, on his walk-through, encourages Kennedy to take the lead and use it to break out of her comfort zone.

Meanwhile, Pearl, Violet, and Fame work on a scene based on “Pink Flamingos.” Fame is freaking out in her usual fashion: talking a mile-a-minute.

Ginger tells RuPaul that she convinced her mother that Pink Flamingos was a children’s film, so she could watch it. Both she and Trixie cite Divine’s films as huge inspirations for their drag.

During the rehearsals, Michelle is doing direction, while Lucian advises on the singing. Michelle tells Trixie that she needs to be more other the top to match Ginger’s performance. Meanwhile, Pearl, Violet, and Fame are shown to be messing up completely. Pearl isn’t giving enough energy, Violet is dropping lines, and Fame is just plain odd. Michelle finally dismisses them with the threat that John Waters will be watching the videos tomorrow.

The Runway Theme this week is “Ugliest Dress Ever.” In keeping with that, RuPaul arrives in a dress made from a RuPaul t-shirt, in the most egregious pink, blue, and white combination of colors ever seen since late sixties Hanna-Barbera cartoons.

But, before that, we get a few fun glimpses from the Werk Room. Ginger jokes that Katya has an entire rack of ugly dresses. Fame and Pearl throw weird subtextual shade at each other at the make-up mirror. Kennedy and Ginger talk about how little money they make doing drag full-time. Kennedy barely pays the bills, while Ginger has no retirement fund at all. But they all agree that drag is a passion that’s worth doing.

Back to RuPaul, she’s introducing the judges. Carson Kressley is the Ross Mathews today. John Waters is here to judge the parodies of his work, and Demi Lovato smiles that she’s wanted to come on the show “forever.”

“Start your engines,” RuPaul declaims. “And may the filthiest woman win!”

Kennedy is wearing a tacky church lady outfit. She’s gone the extra ugly step of tucking the hem into her panties. Katya goes mid-seventies in a yellow and brown crocheted dress. Ginger strolls the runway in a green dress with black polka-dots and fringe. She’s confident that Michelle will hate it.

Trixie’s wearing a dress that she thinks is hideous, but it kind of looks like it came from the Max collection. If Max would ever use pink accents. Violet is wearing a rainbow clown dress.

Pearl’s got on a black and white baby doll dress, with big googly-eyes tacked onto it. She’s wearing Trixie’s exaggerated doll face, and the effect is a Japanese anime character. Fame’s face is whitened with tears painted on her cheeks. The dress is bell-shaped brocade. It’s very elegant.

The judges laugh at all the videos. I know I say this every week, but none of them are bad. Pearl, Violet, and Fame’s video is the worst, but that’s only because the other two are excellent. Kennedy and Katya both push way beyond their comfort zones, but look incredibly comfortable doing it. Ginger is by far the best of anyone, and the only drawback is that Trixie gets overshadowed.

The judges make their usual critiques, and then RuPaul asks The Question: Who should go home? Almost all the queens say that it’s Fame’s time to leave. Fame, of course, can’t say herself, so she says Pearl, citing Pearl’s too cool for Season 7 attitude. Violet, being contrary and honest, says Trixie was overshadowed by Ginger.

Ginger wins, of course. A set of custom wigs from Weaven Steven, who is worth checking out. This is her third win for the season. The judges play with Violet a little, pretending that she might be in the bottom. But, the real bottom two are Pearl and Fame.

They face off to Demi Lovato’s “Really Don’t Care.” Both of them comment on how they’re going to beat the other, but Pearl is just better at this than Miss Fame. During the lip-sync, Pearl gives Fame the finger, just to rub it in a little.

“Your legend will live forever,” RuPaul assures Miss Fame. Fame pauses at the exit to say, “The Cosmic Queen departs!”

I wish she had gone out clucking.

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The queens march off the stage, still smarting from The Question. Pearl asks Fame to explain calling her out as the one to go home. Fame assures Pearl that she’s talented, but points out some negative things that she said.

Pearl argues that those quotes came from her crisis, which happened weeks earlier. The other queens agree that Pearl has “come out of her shell” since then. Pearl also points out that her “cool” attitude is praised outside of the show, because it helps calm people down in anxious situations. Katya later tells Pearl she wishes she could be as laid-back as Pearl.

Fame gets a little emotional, realizing that nearly everyone thinks she should go. She blots away her tears, trying to keep the painted tears on her face from running.

Trixie then asks Violet to explain her runway statement. Violet says that Trixie immediately chose Ginger for her challenge team, but should have chosen someone weaker. That way, she would have avoided being overshadowed. Trixie doesn’t see why she should be punished for being in a good scene.

The consensus of the group is that Ginger will win the challenge. Ginger hopes so, since John Waters has been such an inspiration. Trixie notes that the actors in his films all committ completely to ridiculous actions. But Ginger points out that they weren’t even actors — just people Waters knew.

The judging appears to take longer than usual. Katya amuses everyone by rolling around like a drunken lion. But, eventually, the queens get bored and split up.

Katya and Ginger smoke outside. They are soon followed by Pearl. Ginger complains that Violet threw her ugly dress together by stealing ideas from everyone else. Just as they planning to revolt if Fame doesn’t lip-synch, Fame comes out for a walk. “Everyone stop talking,” Fame sniffs.

Katya squats over a drain for some reason. Ginger flirts with a crew member. Kennedy takes a nap on the couch. Violet calls out for the crew to come and wake them all up.

After her elimination, Fame tries to maintain her elegance, but she’s crying, so she has to apologize for her nose “snotting out.” She comforts herself by saying she kept up her courage throughout the competition. She stayed a good long while, and that should serve her well in the future.

As she packs, we see John Waters visiting backstage with the other queens. He seems humble, and grateful that his films still have an impact so years after he made them.

She’s looking forward to hugging her loved ones, and getting to work on her art and creations. She leaves in the van with a sweet smile for the camera and crew.

Bonus Video Whatcha Packin’?