‘RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 9’ Episode 10 recap: Lip service

One of the better advents of latter-day Drag Race has been the seasonal LaLaPaRuZa. Granted, it took them some time to figure out exactly what it should look like—remember the supposedly sudden death version from All Stars 4 that resulted in exactly no one going home?—but these days, it’s as much a staple challenge as something like Snatch Game or the ball. RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 9 uses their lip sync tournament as something of an intermission as we near the end of the season. The Ruby Snippers have been retired, but we’re not yet at the finale. Time for our eight queens to put on a show.

With not many chances for extra badges left, math is once again on the menu. (I’ve talked about math so much in these recaps, you’d think it was 2019 again and I’m recapping Are You the One? Come One, Come All.) Nina West thinks Shannel made the wrong choice last week by giving Jorgeous her second badge, bringing the Season 14 dancing diva to four total. This puts her in the same league as Roxxxy Andrews and Plastique Tiara, fully leapfrogging Angeria Paris VanMicheals. Nina’s argument is that she or one of the other two-badge queens should’ve gotten it.

I can get where Nina is coming from, but I honestly don’t know if I agree. Shannel’s still just at two badges, so she has a tall order no matter what. Elevating a fellow two-badge queen like Nina or Gottmik is a dangerous game, considering they’ve actually won the same number of challenges Jorgeous has. They could easily snatch another one this week or next. (The right answer, truthfully, was probably to gift Vanessa Vanjie the extra badge, since she only has one challenge win.)

But Ru keeps threatening to upend all this anyway, saying even by episode’s end that anyone can still win it all. My guess is that we’ve got another multi-badge challenge looming—truly wild considering how poorly the three-star talent show went over in All Stars 7—which basically means the queens are just competing to pad their totals this week. That’s okay, though: a LaLaPaRuZa is mostly just a chance for these queens to show their stuff, and entertain us all the way through.

There’s some chatter in the werk room before the queens hit the main stage—Plastique is nervous about her 0–4 record this season, while Jorgeous calls out Angie for blocking her during the “Million Dollar Bill” lip sync—but we’re basically right to the action in this episode. Seven lip syncs is a lot to get through, after all! Ru announces that all the songs are “lip sync fan favourites” (in other words, all reused songs, including one being used for the third time), and after the queens walk out in short runway introductions, we get things started.

Gottmik is chosen first, and she very strangely opts to face off against Angeria. She says something about wanting to pick someone who performs in an entirely different style, but Jorgeous notes that Angie makes Ru laugh so easily that there’s no winning with this choice. Indeed, on “My Lovin’ (You’re Never Gonna Get It),” first performed by Raven and Nicole Paige Brooks way back in Season 2, Angie easily dominates. Gottmik isn’t bad, but Angie’s just got a command of what Ru is looking for in these performances. Angie advances, and Gottmik is sent back to watch in Untucked.

Vanjie’s up next, picking Plastique with the hope that she’ll choose The Pussycat Dolls’ “When I Grow Up.” (Yes, that’s the song that’s been done twice, in Seasons 5 and 13.) It is hilariously predictable that Plastique goes for the song, to the point that Michelle Visage literally says “of course” in response. Note that this battle is actually a rematch: Vanjie sent Plastique home in a Lip Sync for Your Life way back in Season 11. She wins again here, although this is the one result in the episode I personally disagree with. Both queens are ferocious, with Plastique giving the most she has in any lip sync this season. Ru decides Vanjie wins, though, and poor Plastique’s loss record extends to five (six overall, with the six-way lip sync as her sole win).

The last two rounds see wins for Shannel and Roxxxy, making them our other two semifinalists. Nina is picked first and chooses Shannel as her opponent, perhaps expecting her fellow old-school queen to pick a song that’s a good fit for her. She indeed gets “You Spin Me Round (Like a Record),” which they both actually do well on, but Shannel just edges Nina out. Meanwhile, Roxxxy picks “Holding Out for a Hero” for herself and Jorgeous, so iconically performed by Aja in Season 9. I gotta say: this is Jorgeous’ worst lip sync performance ever on the show. She moves well, as always, but she is expressionless throughout the performance. Contrast this with Roxxxy’s passionate interpretation of the song—one of her drag mom and grandma’s favourites to perform—and there’s no contest. Nina and Jorgeous head backstage, and we’re onto Round 2.

No time to change outfits means some of the queens who executed reveals in the first round (most notably Vanjie) are left in incomplete looks. This is interesting, since in many ways this round is the most important, as winning here guarantees you a Beautiful Benefactress Badge. When Canada’s Drag Race Season 4 did this version of a lip sync challenge, they let the queens change between Rounds 1 and 2, but not 2 and 3. Seeing it reversed here is a good argument that Canada’s order is better. But I digress.

Vanjie, with her reveals off and her ass out, picks Shannel as her opponent. (There’s a good bit in which Nina accurately predicts both who Vanjie will pick and what song Shannel will go for, in a nice demonstration of just how well these queens know each other.) Shannel is terrific here, eating up every word of “I’m Every Woman.” Shannel hasn’t always been my favourite lip syncer (I thought her performance in her battle against Jimbo as a Lip Sync Assassin was underwhelming, to say the least), but when she gets a song in her wheelhouse, she’s so precise and focused. She gives you old school in the best ways. Vanjie just can’t match her energy, and so Shannel advances, third badge in tow.

And now we come to the battle this season has been building up to for weeks: Roxxxy vs. Angeria. All that snipping back and forth may not have actually blocked either queen from winning a badge, but it created a true sense of rivalry between them that will resolve on the main stage. The song is “Groove Is in the Heart,” last seen in Season 10 (the dawn of the VH1 era!), and I actually can’t imagine two better performers for this song in this group. They both do very well, but Roxxxy just has a watchability that draws you to her. Angeria has improved as a lip sync artist since Season 14, but you can still see her grabbing for your attention in her movements. Roxxxy trusts that you’ll come to her, and stay with her.

So Roxxxy advances, earning her fifth Beautiful Benefactress Badge and, one would think, a guaranteed spot in the finale. If we’re looking at another three-badge twist, only two queens can win them—meaning even if she’s leapfrogged by both, Roxxxy will still be the third-placer. I’m not ready to confidently predict it just yet (I wrote that Jaida Essence Hall had made the finale a few too many times for my liking in my All Stars 7 recaps), but I’m very optimistic for her.

Final round! Roxxxy and Shannel get a chance to change, and it’s at this point that I start to wonder what tricks might be up their sleeves. Roxxxy is the progenitor of the wig-under-a-wig reveal on Drag Race, while Shannel’s “Greatest Love of All” lip sync way back in Season 1 featured an iconic moment in which her Medusa headpiece fell off—or, as we learned in that season’s reunion, she forced it off to give the judges a moment of vulnerability. Would either seek to reference or recreate one of those moments in this epic final lip sync?

Not quite: for their lip sync to Ariana Grande’s “Break Free,” both keep it simple. Roxxxy gives us a gorgeous bodysuit and some impressive hairography, while Shannel goes with a gorgeous black-and-white coat and bodysuit, paired with some big hair. She gives a focused, impressive performance that nonetheless can’t help but feel a little slow for this song. Funny enough, we’ve got the two Logo-era queens lip syncing to a song from one of the last Logo seasons here. Say what you will about these non-elimination seasons, but they do allow Ru to really respect the old guard when push comes to shove.

Roxxxy wins out, earning another cash tip for Miracle of Love. Ru brings all the queens back onstage, does a badge count, and promises big twists to come in the finale. At this point, I have my pick of who will win (Roxxxy), my preference on who should win (Angeria, but i wouldn’t be mad with a Roxxxy win at all), and a couple of dark horses who could take it all (Shannel especially after this late-game run). We’ll see it all play out over the next two weeks to determine which charity will earn the $200,000 grand prize donation—and which queen will join the Drag Race Hall of Fame.

Untucking our final thoughts

✨ While I like all the songs chosen for this LaLaPaRuZa “fan favourites” playlist, it’s frustrating that Drag Race insists on re-using songs that were previously performed well instead of pulling up some of the tunes that could really use a Rudemption. “I Will Survive”? “Oops!… I Did It Again”? “No Scrubs”? I would argue the only song on this list that needed Rudeeming was “You Spin Me Round (Like a Record),” since Trinity the Tuck and Latrice Royale’s original performance of it was so underwhelming. (And indeed, Shannel and Nina salvaged it!) Yes, queens often do the same songs as each other in the real world of drag, but the Drag Race fandom remembers great lip sync performances all too well, making it difficult for these queens to deliver a definitive new take on any of these tracks.

✨ Beyond Shannel and Nina’s matchup, I think Raven remains the undisputed “My Lovin’ (You’re Never Gonna Get It)” champ, despite Angeria’s best efforts. Vanjie’s “When I Grow Up” performance is unfortunately beaten out twice over, by both Coco Montrese and LaLa Ri. (I’d argue even Denali did it better, even though she lost her Season 13 premiere battle with LaLa.) Roxxxy’s heartfelt, passionate performance at least delivers something different than Aja did on “Holding Out for a Hero”—both interpretations can stand alone. And while Shannel is very good on “I’m Every Woman,” she’s facing down a heavyweight champ in Trinity K. Bonet’s performance of the song. Though I like both Roxxxy and Angeria on “Groove Is in the Heart,” Asia O’Hara’s lip sync to the Deee-Lite track is an all-time favourite. Finally, while Roxxxy and Shannel do well, Jaidynn Diore Fierce and Kandy Ho both tore up “Break Free” back in the day in front of Ariana Grande herself. It’s hard to outdo the memory of that.

✨ Just family on the judging dais this week, including Bruno as he gets to watch the performances between pulling balls from the hopper. (I love when they let Bruno on the dais.) Michelle and Ross Mathews do a cute bit in which they lip sync each other’s intros. Love that!

✨ Roxxxy says her favourite lip sync of hers is actually her first ever: “Whip My Hair” with Alyssa Edwards. And I have to agree! The wig-under-a-wig reveal literally changed the game, and it was a highly entertaining battle throughout.

✨ Lip sync track record update! Counting all competitive lip sync performances (including Lip Sync Assassin stints, not including the occasional pre-finale, non-elimination group lip syncs), and rendering both wins and ties as “wins” for sake of clean records, Gottmik is now at 3–2, Plastique at 1–6 (yikes), Nina at 0–4 (yikes), Jorgeous at 5–4, Vanjie at 4–4, Angeria at 5–2, Shannel at 4–2 and Roxxxy at 9–0. The big surprises in there for me are Gottmik’s and Angeria’s surprisingly strong records, plus Jorgeous’ decidedly mixed one. Roxxxy’s win streak is nothing short of spectacular, and if she can wrap it up with a 10th win in the final Lip Sync for the Crown, she will have ended her Drag Race journey with both a crown and a truly untouchable record.

✨ With her additional $10,000 cash tip, Roxxxy is now at $37,500 donated for Miracle of Love. If she does indeed take home the crown, she will have “won” the most money of any queen to appear on Drag Race in a single season. (It’s a donation, of course, but it’s still prize money!)

✨ Just want to encourage U.S. Drag Race after they’ve used the advancement-based LaLaPaRuZa format twice now instead of the punishment-based one: this works! Keep it up, divas! Canada’s Drag Race Season 4 set the bar, and now these episodes are among my most anticipated of the season.

✨ Vanjie really has a thing for fellow queens! First Brooke Lynn Hytes in her season, then Gottmik and now we’re finding out she and Roxxxy had a sexting relationship at some point? Roxxxy calls herself “the original Brooke Lynn,” but clarifies that they never actually dated. Still: damn, Vanjie! No wonder the boys on Vanjie: 24 Hours of Love didn’t stand a chance. They needed Ru Girls in that mansion!

✨ We’re doing a two-part finale this year, with the finalists not chosen until the very end of the second episode. I’m guessing that means multiple chances for queens to bolster their badge totals? We get the #Team posts at the end of this episode, so I think Ru truly means it when he says anyone can win this one. Eager to see how it all turns out!

The next episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 9 will stream Friday, July 19, at 3 a.m. EST on Paramount+ in the U.S. and on Crave in Canada. We’ll be publishing recaps all season long, and you can also subscribe to our drag newsletter Wig! for exclusive Drag Race content delivered straight to your inbox every month.