‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ Season 15, Episode 7 recap: A comedy Ru-boot

Did you expect to watch this week’s episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race and get a Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! tribute? If you did, go out and buy a lottery ticket.

The sitcom Ru-boot of The Daytona Wind, a flatulence-filled soap opera that delighted fans and Ru alike last season, is seemingly going to replace its fart sounds with laugh-track moments for comedy. That’s what we see in the recording of the acting challenge, with Ru directing the queens. But when the final product is shown on the main stage, the editing has taken a decided turn for the absurd. Surreal humour, like an ant saying “I feel very attacked!” and long holds after punchlines with no laugh track, make the whole thing quite offbeat. Is it funny? I laughed a lot, and I know others who did too—but I also know some for whom the whole thing failed to land.

Still, I admire Drag Race for taking a big swing, even if the choice utterly perplexes me. (Who in the Drag Race producers meeting suggested a Tim and Eric pastiche?) Having Anetra reference Latrice Royale’s iconic “Get those nuts away from my face!” line, then following it up with a haunting echo of Latrice’s laugh, is downright weird for Drag Race. And the challenge-ending cameo from Danny Trejo, of all people, is the kind of thing that you could explain until you’re blue in the face to a Drag Race fan circa a decade ago and they’d never believe it. It’s all just absurd, and for me, at least, it works.

The challenge is a highlight of one of the season’s strongest episodes yet, although the time crunch is still proving to be a real hurdle for Season 15 to overcome. At least 90-minute episodes are coming back next month … just in time for us to be down to a handful of queens, when the longer episodes tend to feel stretched too thin. MTV, please: reverse this plan next season.

The big development this week is actually a carry-over from last week’s Untucked: Malaysia Babydoll Foxx is upset with Mistress Isabelle Brooks and Luxx Noir London for how they attempted to stonewall her team during the song selection for the girl groups challenge. Before we get into any of who’s in the right or wrong, can I just say: it is so refreshing to have drama on Drag Race that isn’t swept aside for the sake of keeping everybody happy. This is like what would’ve happened if Bosco and Lady Camden’s role selection argument from the “Moulin Ru!” episode actually had ramifications. (Beyond Jorgeous’s iconic mainstage read, at least.)

Mistress hears from “a little birdie” (read: Luxx) that Malaysia expressed her displeasure in Untucked, to the point of even calling them bullies for their behaviour. Her main issues are that there was no negotiation on Mistress’s and Luxx’s end, just declarations that they would get metal, and Mistress was laughing inappropriately at points. Luxx counters that Malaysia’s group was offering just as much resistance, while Mistress chalks up her laughter to feeling like the drama was not that serious. Luxx and Spice (another member of the group) agree that they weren’t aware it was that serious, and Luxx says she would’ve reacted differently if she knew.

Malaysia doesn’t want to talk about this when it’s brought up, irritating Mistress, who wants her sister to say what she means to her face, not behind her back. Sasha Colby speaks up on her and Malaysia’s behalf, which triggers an interesting reaction from Mistress: “I don’t appreciate Sasha trying to utilize every moment as a teaching moment for us, as if she is fucking Dumbledore or something.” This is fascinating to see—especially in confessional, right after Mistress said she wanted Malaysia to bring up her issues to her face—because it’s the first speck of negativity we’ve seen any of the queens lob at Sasha. It goes largely unremarked upon here, with Mistress ultimately crediting Sasha for speaking up about her frustrations. But it’s potentially a seed for a future storyline.

Ultimately, Malaysia and Mistress do not make up in the moment, and instead must make it through acting together in the challenge while still quite frustrated with one another. But they do eventually make amends in a mirror moment—which doesn’t feel like too much or too forced. I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s some unresolved tension in the future, either. 

It looks like their personal problems might cause issues for The Daytona Wind at first, as previous maxi-challenge winner Aura Mayari (remember her win? the show doesn’t!) gets to assign roles—and she puts herself in a scene with Jax, Mistress and Malaysia. Aura actually picks the much-desired role of Fancy first, but it’s clear she gets none of the references that are all over Fancy’s lines. Mistress uses this to her advantage, convincing Aura to swap roles with her. (Luxx gives Mistress kudos for her gambit in a confessional.)

This means Mistress and Malaysia are even more interactive in the scene, but credit to these two pros: they’re so good together, they have Ru raving that the pair should get a spinoff. They really are quite excellent in the sketch, fully committed to the characters and comedy and not needing any of the absurdist editing to make their performances better. Either would be a worthy winner, but Ru decides to give Mistress her first win. “Finally,” Mistress says as she’s awarded the victory, and she’s right to say it! Mistress has been a star all season long, and it’s right that she finally gets a point on the board, to paraphrase Bosco.

Anetra and Marcia Marcia Marcia also score high for a tight duo scene in The Daytona Wind that they both excel in. Neither of them feels like a real threat for the win, but I appreciate that the judges take the time to praise their performances. The panel does take yet another chance to swipe at Marcia for not wearing enough makeup, but Michelle Visage actually does note that she sees Marcia pushing herself. Progress!

On the bottom this week are Jax, Spice and Aura, who has a major fall from grace after her maxi-challenge win. They’re the exact correct bottom three based on the challenge: while everyone else has a few good moments at least, they’re the most disconnected and disengaged from their characters. Jax’s take on Jackson, the stoner, is particularly misguided, while Aura fails to deliver even her easiest punchlines well. Spice ultimately is called safe, while Jax and Aura are made to lip sync.

And holy hell, what a lip sync it is! The song is Dua Lipa and Megan Thee Stallion’s terrific collaboration, “Sweetest Pie,” and it starts strong, with both queens moving quick right out of the gate. Aura attempts to block Jax for the better part of the song, but that only motivates Jax to pull out increasingly dynamic dance moves. I am so impressed with the way Jax can manoeuvre from one big stunt into another so seamlessly—she moves like water. When she gets to taunting Aura (she really goes for it on “Cesar Millan/ I got his ass trained”), it’s all over. Jax stays, and Aura sashays away.

We’re down to the top 10—somehow just the top 10, yes—and it’s an interesting bunch. Marcia and Jax seem unable to appease Ru in different ways, but both have proven difficult to eliminate: Marcia for her strong challenge performances, and Jax for her lip-syncing skills. Mistress, Anetra, Sasha, Luxx and Loosey LaDuca all have a challenge win, while Spice has mostly been coasting after Sugar’s elimination. Malaysia has become a major character in recent weeks, while Salina EsTitties is fading into the background. It feels pretty certain who’s going to make it to the final five or so, but the order getting there is another question entirely.

Which is why it’s apparently time for a very unexpected twist: the LaLaPaRuZa is back! Unlike last season, when the lip sync tournament was a punishment of sorts for the queens for fucking up Snatch Game, on this go-around it’s just a regular maxi-challenge for the queens to survive. We’re going to get our first look at several of these queens’ lip-syncing abilities next week—who will shine? Who will become the Bosco: lucky enough to survive, but not enough to avoid lip syncing three times in one episode? And who will be sent home? To quote The Daytona Wind reboot, I can’t wait to see how this turns out. (Insert long pause here.)

Untucking our final thoughts

✨ Aura going straight from a maxi-challenge solo win to an elimination is a fate few queens on the main series have suffered before: just Ongina in Season 1, Jessica Wild in Season 2, Stacy Layne Matthews in Season 3, Miz Cracker in Season 10 and Nina West in Season 11. (If you include paired challenge winners, then Laganja Estranja in Season 6, Katya in Season 7 and Derrick Barry in Season 8 all qualify—but all their wins were when teamed up with someone who eventually made the finale.) It’s much more common on international seasons, though strangely, it’s only happened twice on All Stars: to both Tatianna and Phi Phi O’Hara in AS2.

✨ Everyone quickly tries to grab the role of Fancy during role selection. Anetra’s response? “I want Metal.” Callback queen!

✨ Speaking of Anetra, we have an 🚨Anetra Confessional Alert! 🚨 During her runway presentation, she begins in voiceover explaining that she’s dressed “representing the Las Vegas state bird …” The show then smash-cuts to her in the confessional: “… which is the prostitute.” Anetra is funny! Let Anetra be funny, Drag Race!

✨ Harvey Guillén from What We Do in the Shadows and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is our guest judge this week! He is very fun, and memorably describes Aura’s runway as being “Sandy at the end of Grease meets Memoirs of a Geisha.” He is exactly correct.

✨ Spice gets called out by Michelle for doing the same runway presentation week after week. When she does it again on her way to the back of the stage once she’s called safe, Michelle looks deeply displeased. Ru calls her out, though: “Cue the sniper!”

✨ “Well you have a blessed night, as will I.” Mistress truly is unbeatable when it comes to a quippy quote.

✨ I would watch an hour of those Danny Trejo outtakes.

The next episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race will air Friday, Feb. 17, at 8 p.m. EST on MTV in the U.S. and on Crave in Canada. Check back every Monday after new episodes for our recaps and power rankings, and subscribe to our drag newsletter Wig! for exclusive Drag Race content delivered straight to your inbox every Tuesday afternoon.