‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ Season 14, Episode 7 recap: All toots, no boots

The parts of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 14 I’ve liked the most so far are the ones where the show acknowledges, yes, we are almost a decade and a half into this franchise. They’re small moments, like the queens in the first split premiere episode not feigning shock over there just being seven of them; they’ve seen Seasons 6 and 12, they know what this means. Similarly this week, no fake-out attempt is made when the worst-performing queens are sent to safety—those onstage know they did well in this week’s acting challenge, and Ru quickly announces that they’re all top-scorers this week.

I much prefer this approach than lengthening a season with chocolate bars and double shantays. Kornbread “The Snack” Jeté’s departure has left them with another episode to fill, and as Ru mentioned when he revealed the golden chocolate bar twist, he’s leaving queens’ safety up to luck this time around. (Nevermind Orion Story and Daya Betty coming back for no reason—the show clearly wants us to forget about that.) So instead of forcing a double save on a lip sync that may not deserve it, Ru and the producers instead build in a bye week. Next week’s girl group challenge likely requires teams of three, so a non-elimination in this episode makes more sense.

Still, if the challenge results weren’t up to snuff, I’d look askance at a week where Ru decides six queens did well enough to secure a top placement. But the queens themselves more than live up to the task, delivering some of the best acting challenge performances we’ve ever seen. Ru ups the comedy factor, too, by not telling the queens that “The Daytona Wind,” a soap opera parody, will actually be full of farts. The queens are properly gagged by what their challenge has turned into, and Bosco even notes that they probably should’ve figured it out sooner. Still, seeing how Ru cackles through the skit makes the payoff all the more enjoyable.

The execution of the prank is hit-and-miss—and as much of the internet has noted by now, including Rock M. Sakura herself, the queen has particular reason to feel aggrieved—as the gag basically falls away in the middle of the sketch. I’m ultimately fine with it, though: had it been too much, it might’ve distracted from some really great work by the queens this week. Season 14 may have gotten off to a rocky start but as the cast steps up en masse, the episodes themselves are getting better and better.

As last week’s maxi-challenge winner (no matter how much Daya, the fandom at large and I roll our eyes at Ru’s choice), Jorgeous gets to assign roles for this challenge. I give Jorgeous major props for taking the high road and not trying to screw anyone up with her casting choices. She would’ve been well within her right to throw a monkey wrench into Daya’s plans (even after Daya’s half-hearted apology), but she just let the drama go and focused on helping the queens thrive. 

Basically everyone gets the part they want, except for DeJa Skye, who wants Jorgeous’ own choice at first but then immediately pivots to another character (cough cough Baga Chipz), and Lady Camden. The latter doesn’t get a chance to read through everything before all the roles are taken, and she’s just hopeful the role of Leona Michaels does enough for her. (Delightfully, all the roles in this soap opera parody are named for one of three Drag Race dynasties: the Michaels, the Davenports and the O’Haras.)

The queens are directed on set by RuPaul, which is treated like a major event in both Ru’s announcement and the queens’ reactions. But Ru used to direct plenty of acting challenges; it’s only more recently that he’s stepped back from it. (Remember “ShakesQueer”?) He actually makes for the best possible director for this, though, because he has a very specific style he’s looking for from the girls’ performances (read: Joan Collins). By and large, the queens’ performances seem strong—only DeJa and, shockingly, Angeria Paris VanMicheals struggle.

It is weird to see Angeria fall apart this week because she’s been heroically consistent so far this season. She admitted to not being an actor in the super-tease maxi-challenge, but then proceeded to win that anyway. (That, of course, was self-written material, almost to the point of that being an improv challenge.) In this, with a script she didn’t pen, Angeria struggles. More worrying is that, once she gets in her head, she can’t seem to escape it. In a different episode, you could see an Inner Saboteur storyline coming for Angeria. (Thank goodness this is not that episode.)

In the final product, Angeria and DeJa are clearly the worst, while Kerri Colby just doesn’t get enough lines to stand out. But none is bad—in most acting challenges, they’d all be easily called safe over some weaker bottom-scorers. There are no bottoms this week, though, as everyone else is up for the win. Daya and Willow Pill play ditzy sisters who storm into a wedding to reveal a secret; Bosco plays their mother, Fancy Michaels, who is delightfully and absurdly based on the Reba McEntire song “Fancy.” (Somewhere, Kennedy Davenport just shuddered.) Bosco even dons Reba makeup and hair for it! That trio’s big scene is the denouement of the challenge, and they all knock it out of the park.

Jorgeous and Jasmine Kennedie, Ru’s favourite dancing divas, each surprise this week despite previous struggles in acting challenges. Jorgeous uses the telenovelas her mother watched as inspiration, nailing all the dramatic reaction shots Ru is looking for. Meanwhile, Jasmine embraces her inner (and outer, if that wig is any indication) Alyssa Edwards, turning in a performance featuring the most off-the-wall Southern accent you’ve ever heard. She delights Ru, and for a moment, it feels like she might be heading for the win.

But Lady Camden makes clear that there could be no other winner this week. Her performance as Leona Michaels has layers-upon-layers to it: genuine emotion flashes across her face at some points and she delivers campy lines with aplomb at others. She manages a rare Drag Race feat: a textured acting challenge performance.

Things only get better for her on the runway, where the category is chaps. A lot of the looks are strong—Jasmine’s graduation-themed look in particular has me in stitches—but Camden is the clear winner here as well. She comes out in one look, then dramatically trips and falls. “Oh, shoot,” Ru says, while the other judges gasp. But then, Camden  rises to reveal that—psych!—this is actually a reveal! She’s got a Freddie Mercury look on, and the transformation is an utter gag. If her maxi-challenge performance weren’t enough, the runway puts Camden firmly at the front of the pack this week.

Camden has to lip sync for the win against Daya. Both are hungry for a victory—Daya’s irritation at just being safe has been her driving storyline for the past several episodes. Camden, conversely, has gotten really close to a win twice now, and winning this would be a fitting first victory. The song is Blondie’s “One Way or Another,” which would seem to be more up Daya’s lane. But you can tell something good is coming when the usually quite modest Camden leans back in her confessional and just says, “I just know I’m gonna smoke her.”

And reader? Smoke her she does. If the rest of the episode was the entrée in a Camden feast, this lip sync is a succulent dessert. She uses her dance training to full effect, kicking, jumping and sliding all around the stage. At one point, she does perhaps the smoothest split we’ve ever seen on Drag Race. Jasmine and Jorgeous may have gotten the reputation for being this season’s dancing queens, but Camden more than demonstrates her strength here. I’d be very worried if I ever had to lip sync for my life against her.

The episode ends with a Camden victory, good vibes and a promise of a girl group challenge next week. If Season 14 can keep up this week’s quality, I think we’re in for a very exciting back half indeed. I’m still worried about the golden bar floating around, but I can’t imagine being mad about anyone sticking around an extra week at this point. This is a special cast, and the show seems to have learned that the best thing it can do is get out of their way and let them shine.

Untucking our final thoughts

✨In an absolutely incredible episode of Untucked, Ts Madison joins the queens to lift them up with a speech rivaling the one Taraji P. Henson delivered last week. It’s just so great to have guest judges back in Untucked. And then in a raw, powerful moment, Jasmine comes out as trans. She says that she was scared to start hormone therapy before the show, but seeing Kerri living her life has inspired her to come out. It’s a gorgeous, affirming scene, and the perfect capper to a great two hours of Drag Race. Alongside Kerri, Bosco and Kornbread, Jasmine joins Season 14’s history-making cadre of trans women. What a cast!

✨Cannot recommend this video of people reacting to Camden’s reveal at a watch party enough. The pivot from shock to absolutely losing it cheering is beautiful.

✨In praising Camden’s performance, Michelle gets a dig in at the usual acting challenge performances on Drag Race, calling them not quite believable. It’s funny: as the show has gone on, I would argue we’ve gotten more and more queens who know how to be as absurd as Ru wants them to be while also delivering a genuinely good performance. Symone did it last season, and now here’s Camden.

✨Michelle says Willow should do Moira Rose for Snatch Game, but of course she literally couldn’t—Moira is a copyrighted character. She’d have to do “Catherine O’Hara,” as Elektra Shock did on Drag Race Down Under. (And considering how that went for her, I’d encourage Willow to think twice about that suggestion.)

✨Angeria may have had an off week in the competition, but she more than made up for it in her reaction to the other queens talking about the Folsom Street Fair. “What’s happening at the fair?” she asks. After DeJa explains to her that people have sex out in the open, she responds: “At the fair? Bitch, I want to go to the fair!”

✨Not to restart the Kink at Pride discourse that took over the internet last year, but I love what Bosco has to say about Folsom: “I don’t necessarily think that every gay space needs to be family-friendly. There’s some grit there, and there needs to be space for grit to stay there.”

✨Love to see Ra’Jah O’Hara and Eureka! (née Eureka O’Hara) make cameos in the O’Hara Mansion via portraits of their All Stars 6 promo looks. Funny enough, AS6 hadn’t aired when this season filmed! These queens had not yet experienced one of the best Drag Race seasons of all time.

✨Whither mini-challenges? It feels like Reading Is Fundamental is the only one that regularly happens anymore, having just occurred on UK Versus The World. I’ve never been the biggest fan of minis, but I’ll admit the rhythm of the episodes feels off without them.

The next episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race will air Friday, Feb. 25, at 8 p.m. EST on VH1 in the U.S. and on Crave in Canada. Check back every Monday and Tuesday 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.