‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ Season 17, Episode 15 recap: Work it out in the lip sync

There’s always anxiety in the air when RuPaul’s Drag Race repeats a hugely successful twist. Drag Race is ultimately responsive to itself, so when, say, Sasha Velour changes the game with a rose petal reveal for the ages, it’s unsurprising when Aquaria shows up looking like a Jiffy Pop bag in the next finale. And we won’t even get into Asia O’Hara’s butterflies. But rarely is the second act capable of living up to the first when the first was a hit; it’s far more frequent that a poorly introduced twist redeems itself on second go. (For example: the Lip Sync Assassin twist being far better in All Stars 6 than All Stars 5.)

So after Season 16’s smash reunion LaLaPaRuZa episode, the stakes are high for round two. (Technically, Global All Stars’ LaLaPaRuZa was round two, but I’m betting relatively few people stuck around until the end of that absurd season.) Last go-around with this format, we had Megami’s show-stopping run, Mirage’s redemption and Morphine Love Dion’s ultimate victory. Several of the lip syncs in that episode became instant classics, and the momentum from the episode carried through for a terrific finale the following week.

This season’s LaLaPaRuZa … is not quite at that level. It’s not bad! There are some genuinely fun lip sync battles from pairings you wouldn’t expect—who’d have guessed Lucky Starzzz and Acacia Forgot would deliver one of the best lip syncs of the episode?—and I think our ultimate victor fairly and clearly won all three of her matchups. But there’s an electricity missing from the room, an anything-can-happen unpredictability that drove the action in last season’s LaLaPaRuZa. Simply having the challenge on the regular main stage doesn’t help, nor does the lack of a live audience. (This also has me concerned for next week’s finale, but that’s a conversation for another recap.)

At the end of the day, this is still an episode of television with 10 drag queens performing the hell out of eight great songs, so I can hardly complain. It’s an incredibly fun viewing experience! It just can’t quite hit the same high notes as last season’s version of this challenge.

Before we get into the lip syncs themselves, we get a little mini-reunion of sorts in the werk room as all 14 queens come together on-camera for the first time since Episode 3. Blessedly, the show opts not to pretend like this was filmed with the rest of the season (it was actually only shot a couple weeks ago), and instead lets the girls talk about various events and ongoings since. Kori King and Lydia B Kollins are officially together! Kori is a Cameo queen, and she brings Kori Toot into the werk room! Lydia is emotional about the fan response to her lip syncing skills! Okay, it’s mostly Kori and Lydia updates, but for two non-finalists, they definitely have had the most going on off the show.

Someone who has had something going on off the show, but nonetheless brings it in front of the cameras anyway, is Arrietty. In general, Arrietty’s vibes with this group are off; considering all the  little digs Jewels Sparkles throws her way in this episode, it seems like they aren’t on good terms. But Arrietty’s most egregious offense in the fans’ eyes was her rude mirror message to Onya Nurve on her way out. Arrietty has said online that she and Onya already had an off-camera conversation about it. But in the werk room, she nonetheless approaches Onya to talk. The whole thing feels a bit perfunctory—Onya is clearly not affected by it one way or the other—but I can understand why Arrietty and/or the producers felt it important to wrap this one up for the less online fans.

Anyway, we’re back on the main stage, and Ru looks absolutely batshit in a gold bodysuit, dystopian movie villain wig and the most terrifying contact lenses you’ve ever seen. Seriously, every cut back to Ru in this episode is a jump scare. It’s incredible. He welcomes our judges—including the Pit Crew’s Bruno Alcantara, now the host of WOW Presents Plus’ Happy Endings, getting a whole intro!—and brings out the whole cast. Like last season, the finalists get into drag for one quick moment on the main stage, but are then immediately whisked to the werk room to watch it all go down on the TV screen.

The LaLaPaRuZa has a new twist this season: once Bruno draws a queens’ ball from his hopper, she can either choose her opponent or the song. If she chooses her opponent, the opponent gets to pick the song. If she chooses the song, Bruno chooses her opponent by random draw. All but one of the queens opts to pick the song, which means this LaLaPaRuZa feels even more random than most. I’ll get more into the queens’ individual performances in this week’s power ranking, but for now, let’s break down the results and highlights.

Hormona Lisa is picked first, and she snatches up “Say Liza (Liza With a Z)” from right under Suzie Toot’s nose. The whole cast and judging panel is gagged by this, especially after Bruno spins the hopper and Lydia is chosen instead. Lydia survives Hormona’s rapid reveals with an on-point performance and advances. Suzie is immediately drawn next, and she’s the only one to pick her opponent instead of the song. She says in a confessional that the comfort of going against Joella is better than the security of picking the song, which is both a deeply out-of-pocket thing to say and also true. Joella goes with Dua Lipa’s “Training Season,” and mad props to Suzie here: she doesn’t tap her way through it or otherwise try to make it fit her style. She delivers sex appeal, with a couple of reveals into a punk rock look that is a great new direction for her drag. She wins, and Joella joins Hormona and the top four in the back.

Our first out, Lucky, is picked next, and she picks a remix of Whitney Houston’s “Step By Step.” Lucky is in one of her high-concept looks, complete with basketball mouse ears and breasts. She looks absurd, but in a very enjoyable, Lucky way. Acacia is her randomly drawn opponent, and this really is one hell of a battle. Lucky’s use of her basketball breasts is hilariously stupid, while Acacia brings out a slow dip joke that really tickles the judges. Also: props to Acacia for bringing out a very different look for her in this lip sync. She’s coming for Lana Ja’Rae’s gig, wearing something very unique for Acacia! Lucky ultimately wins out, and it’s a huge confidence boost for her.

“It’s tough competition left. And Arrietty,” Jewels snipes from the back as Arrietty’s ball is chosen next. She picks P!nk’s “Blow Me (One Last Kiss)”—LOVE P!nk—and gets Kori as her opponent. This is the one battle where I really disagree with the outcome. Arrietty is ferocious in this lip sync, bringing the mix of energy and coordination that was missing in her other battles (especially “Boogie Wonderland”). Kori is solid, but she gets credit from Sam Star for bringing “emotion” in a way I don’t totally get. Arrietty’s somewhat manic, furious energy feels like a better fit for the track than Kori’s almost pleading approach. Kori is declared the winner, but the werk room queens’ shock that Arrietty walks through the door is enough for the fashion queen to feel like a victor.

Our last Round 1 battle is also our only rematch: Crystal Envy vs. Lana. The two landed in the bottom after Snatch Game, and Ru’s decision to keep Lana was a controversial one, especially after Lana lost her wig in the lip sync. This time, there are no lost wigs, and both queens really bring it to Sylvester’s “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real).” At the home viewing I went to for this episode, the room was on Crystal’s side, but I agree with Ru here: Lana wins this for me. Any time you see a queen dominate her opponent like Lana does with Crystal here, it’s hard for the other queen to win. (As if to immediately vindicate Ru’s decision, Crystal repeatedly whiffs her exit line.)

The structure of the episode means Round 2 will be a traditional one-on-one, then a three-way battle. Lucky’s ball is drawn first, and she picks Rihanna’s “We Found Love” as the song. The hopper decides Suzie will be her opponent, meaning Lana is left to battle it out with the couple in the next match. Lucky vs. Suzie is a pretty easy victory for Suzie: unfortunately, Lucky only has one gag with her outfit, and she pulls it out way too early. Suzie is funny and on point during the performance, even pulling out the stanky leg at one point. I cannot believe I just wrote that 1920s-obsessed Suzie Toot does the stanky leg, but here we are. Meanwhile, in the three-way to Charli XCX’s “360,” all three queens go for very different approaches. As Sam puts it backstage, if Ru’s looking for dancing, it’ll go to Kori. If he’s looking for sex, it’ll go to Lana. And if he’s looking for eye contact, it’ll go to Lydia. Ultimately, Kori takes the victory, which means it’s Suzie Toot vs. Kori Toot in the last round.

The queens come back to the main stage to watch the final battle, which is set to ROSÉ and Bruno Mars’ “APT.” I’m not sure if anyone expected a Kori vs. Suzie finale—Lana and Lydia were most heavily favoured coming into the episode—but it does make sense considering the time gap since filming. Kori has become the most recognized queen of the season online thanks to her buzzing Cameo business, while Suzie is a fan favourite whose elimination caused a major stir. I think Ru and the show were ready to embrace them, and for the most part I think they rose to the challenge. Suzie takes the critiques from the season and really applies them, going out of her comfort zone and meeting songs not in her usual wheelhouse where they were at. Kori’s performance is less impressive to me, mostly because I wouldn’t have advanced her out of Round 1, but I’m happy for her that Ru embraces her in this way. I know it means a lot to her after a season where she was never quite understood.

The final battle is a wild one, with Suzie pulling out all kinds of Peanuts-ass moves and Kori doing a breastplate reveal that she seems immediately uncomfortable with afterward. While neither does their best in this matchup, I think it’s an easy victory for Suzie. Across all three lip syncs, Suzie demonstrates her range, confidence and growth since the season. Kori’s redemption is in Ru finally recognizing her potential. Suzie’s redemption is reaching that potential.

Suzie wins, earning $50,000 and the title of She Done Already Done Had Herses. She inherits it from her Floridian fifth-place sister, Morphine. The two of them plus Raja being the only ones with this title—quite a group! And this is quite an episode, even if it doesn’t fully reach the heights of last season’s LaLaPaRuZa. Overall, it’s a fun time with a fun cast, and what more could you want? But this week, we get down to business—see you next time, when we crown America’s Next Drag Superstar XVII!

Untucking our final thoughts

I need to state one more time for the record just how absurd Ru looks this week. I didn’t even mention the random red coat he walks out in initially then immediately discards. It’s a wild fashion moment—but it is memorable! And I love that he does the Blair St. Clair shiver and shimmy after he drops his coat.

Ts Madison is here again! She was also on the judging dais for the LaLaPaRuZa last season, and although she doesn’t do any actual judging, it must just be fun to watch the queens battle it out like this. (She technically takes the lead in number of panel appearances with this, but if the pattern matches last season, Ross Mathews and Carson Kressley will be there for the finale, so Ts and Ross will likely just wind up tied again after that.)

I love that the top four bring such elaborate looks to sit on the couch. Onya is best-in-show for me for her Doechii drag, but I love Lexi Love’s hair as well.

The Kori vs. Arrietty battle is full of funny moments outside of the lip sync itself. “I do love P!nk,” Kori says in a reference to Thorgy Thor’s iconic Pit Stop moment. “Kinda sad that Kori isn’t dressed up like Michael Jackson for this, not gonna lie,” Michelle Visage mutters to Ru on the panel. “Or Suzie Toot.” But my favourite is what Ru says to Kori after she wins: “Kori Scott King, I loved your march on Washington.”

Only one repeat song this week! That’s pretty rare for these kinds of episodes. Back in Season 8, Bob the Drag Queen faced off against Derrick Barry to “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)” at the final five. It’s a great battle!

Hormona and Arrietty are now both 0-3 in lip syncs, which is close but not the record for most losses without a win in a single season. Who has the record? Why, that’s still Plastique Tiara from All Stars 9, who incredibly went 0-5.

After her Round 2 victory, Ru tells Suzie to go to the winners’ box, “where there is one motherfucking chair.” Honestly, scary contacts aside, Ru is very funny in this episode.

I didn’t mention that Starbucks is the sponsor for the $50,000 prize, did I? Huh. Anyway, like Kori, I love Dunkin.
The finale of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 17 will air Friday, April 18, 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 month.