‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ Season 13, Episode 14 recap: One more song

No less than half a dozen times this week did someone ask me if this episode was going to be the finale of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 13. I’m not sure if that’s because we just finished RuPaul’s Drag Race UK Season 2, which had an in-studio finale as opposed to a grand, separately filmed one. Maybe the circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic made folks think we’d be getting a different kind of ending to this season, or it’s that the last two seasons’ top five episodes have been the last before the finale. Maybe it’s a muscle memory thing, considering in the last four seasons, the 14th episode of the season has been the last.

But no, this episode is definitely not the finale, which will take place in two weeks’ time (after next week’s reunion). This is a final four episode reminiscent of those in Seasons 9 and 10, with a RuMix challenge (this time to Ru’s new song “Lucky”) and no elimination at episode’s end. But, throughout this episode, there’s a genuine question at play about whether Ru will eliminate one more queen before the end. 

Last season’s top three finale (albeit only a top three because of Sherry Pie’s disqualification) was a surprising triumph. Shot remotely due to the pandemic with the finalists each in their own homes, the self-designed and personal lip sync numbers added a new dimension to the finale. So even though this season’s finale will be shooting in person, it’s enough to make you wonder: Maybe we might see a top three instead, with a modified version of last season’s finale format?

That’s the central tension in this episode, which teases a potential elimination but never pulls the trigger. To be honest, after an overly long season with four other non-elimination episodes before this one, it feels a bit egregious. I’d rather see someone go to give us a truly competitive and original top three finale. But the fact that all four move on is a sign that we’re headed back to the Lip Sync for the Crown tournament format. Bring on the reveals!

Before their Rumix performances, each of the queens gets a chance to sit down with RuPaul and Michelle Visage for “Inside Drag Race,” a riff on Inside the Actors Studio that replaces the What’s the Tee podcast recording framing that’s been standard since All Stars 2. Considering those podcast episodes never actually got released—a recurring source of frustration!—I’m deeply fine with this change. Plus, the Tic Tacs are back!

Gottmik and Kandy Muse have the most lighthearted kiki sessions with Ru and Michelle, with Gottmik in particular getting huge laughs out of Ru. Their runway banter has been great all season, but this is next-level, with Ru even telling Gottmik how charmed he is by her. Kandy’s interview is a lot of fun, but that’s because Kandy herself is fun—they don’t have the same rapport as Mik and Ru do. Rosé has a more formal conversation with Ru and Michelle: Not stilted, but just very professional and level-headed. Hilariously, she walks away talking about how casual the conversation is in a confessional. Rosé’s idea of casual may be different than mine!

Symone’s interview is the most emotional and serious, and it’s a theme that continues throughout the episode. Though we’ve seen Symone be funny, off-the-cuff and charming, much of her arc in the last few episodes has been primarily defined by her struggles with her dreaded “inner saboteur.” This kind of talk is catnip for GuRu author RuPaul Charles, while Symone’s openness to talk about it is admirable. But compared to Gottmik’s chat, this conversation can’t help but feel a bit heavier. In these two, you have one that Ru has off-the-charts chemistry with, and one whose journey Ru is really invested in seeing through. Which will win out at season’s end?

Both do well in the “Lucky” performance, bringing their personal style to it. But while Symone’s slow, sultry performance is reminiscent of her “Condragulations” verse, Gottmik’s is a major improvement. “Improvement” is the name of the game for Gottmik, honestly, as she emphasizes repeatedly how she wasn’t a performance queen coming into the season. She’s found herself as a performer during this process, and doesn’t want to leave that behind. While Symone has gone on a journey of learning to love herself this season, Gottmik’s journey has been more akin to the one Trinity the Tuck experienced in Season 9, when she was still Trinity Taylor. Like Trinity, she came in thinking she was one thing (a fashion queen for Mik; a pageant queen for Trinity), then learned to love performing, comedy and acting.

Rosé, on the other hand, has gotten the softening perfectionist edit, as a queen who can be a bit rigid but has let her guard down without losing her sense of professionalism. It’s an intriguing edit, but I’m not sure it’s one of a winner. Gottmik and Symone have both grown in some demonstrable way; Rosé has just adjusted what she was already doing to be more palatable to the judges. Her performance and verse are both great in “Lucky,” even adding in a surprise short rap in her part of the song. (“I’m a self-employed social media rap star,” she says in a confessional. Well all right, Rosé!) She can’t resist underlining that surprise, though, noting that she can rap in her lyrics. It feels like Rosé is presenting herself as a contender, rather than letting the parts of her that make her a contender shine through more naturally.

I’d still put her closer in win threat level to Gottmik and Symone than to Kandy, however. Kandy’s performance is my least favourite this week, and I think there’s a fair argument that she should’ve been sent home to make way for a top three finale. Whereas the other three have clear, distinguishable story arcs and strong cases for the win, Kandy’s story lacks the hallmarks of a winner’s edit. By her own admission, she’s had to fight for her life in the competition multiple times. And to her credit, she’s made it through. But other than her winning roast performance and some strong runways here and there, her competition resumé just isn’t as strong as her fellow queens’.

I will say, as she shows in this episode’s final lip sync—more on that in a second—I wouldn’t bet against Kandy in a Lip Sync for the Crown finale. Though this season has had some really terrific lip sync performers, like LaLa Ri, Denali and even Utica, the final four are not a group known for their strength as lip-syncers. Even Symone, whose face-focused style I like a lot, has proven to be divisive among fans for her lack of major dance moves or stunts. Kandy can dance, she can emote and she knows how to turn out a great lip sync. Now that she’s in the finale, she may be able to make a big impression.

This season’s round of talking to the pictures of your younger self gets some nice adjustments: First off, Ru explains that Gottmik gave permission to show a picture of her two-year-old self, and I’m very glad they provide this disclaimer. Additionally, Ru doesn’t say the younger selves’ names, which is a very nice adjustment to both avoid deadnaming Gottmik and avoid making her stand out by being the only one not referred to by name. (This is what happened with Peppermint in Season 9’s top four episode.) All of the queens give lovely speeches, but Symone’s is particularly striking, as she powers through tears to give her younger self hope.

Then, in one final twist, Ru has each of the dolls lip sync separately, with the editors putting the various performances together. We haven’t seen Gottmik and Rosé lip sync since the premiere weeks of the competition—remember those, from what feels like years ago?—so this is an interesting test to see how everyone will do next week. (Though, notably, all of the queens but Kandy are in pretty restrictive gowns.) Kandy dances the best, while Symone once again goes for an emotive interpretation. 

The editing of Gottmik’s lip sync is a bit choppy, hinting that she may not be the best performer of this lot. (She may have won her premiere “Rumors” lip sync, but hers was probably the worst of the winning performances.) Meanwhile, Rosé goes for a mix of the sharp, theatrical arm movements she loves and a more dramatic interpretation in her facial expressions. It’s hard to call a winner based on the edit, but Symone seemed most impressive, even if we’ve seen her skills a few times at this point.

But as mentioned, the lip sync ultimately makes no real difference: All of the final four move on. At this point, I’d say it’s between Gottmik and Symone for the win, but a Lip Sync for the Crown finale means just about anything can happen. Before we get there, though, we’ve got a reunion to get through. Just two weeks until Season 13 is finally, completely, in the books.

Untucking our final thoughts

✨Funny bit of trivia that filming and broadcast timelines make into a mindfuck: The top four queens do a variation of the United Kingdolls’ signature bend move from “UK Hun” near the end of “Lucky.” But not only did this film first—Season 13 filmed during the mid-season hiatus of Drag Race UK Season 2—but the United Kingdolls came up with that move on their own! This reminds me of when both Widow Von’Du and Alexis Mateo coined “apolo-lie” in Season 12 and All Stars 5—even though the latter filmed first, the former aired first. Lots of groupthink in the Drag Race universe.

✨Gotta give a shout-out to Michelle, who has looked stunning all season long and has really made the grey streak in her hair a new signature. It fits with the elder stateswoman role of sorts that she’s been playing more and more on the show—gone are the hot takes and snap judgments of seasons’ past, as she works harder to understand each queen’s aesthetic and style on its own merits. The judging hasn’t been the best across the board this season, but Michelle herself has perhaps had one of her best seasons ever.

✨Speaking of personal best seasons: Though he’s been on and around Drag Race for years, this season was a real triumph for Jamal Sims, both as a guest judge and as a choreographer. Seeing him teach each queen differently because he’s worked with them enough to know their different learning styles? An educator! We stan! As does Gottmik, who worries America will judge her for loving Jamal so hard. Don’t worry, Mik, it’s a deeply relatable feeling.

✨When the queens talk about their first impressions of each other, Symone says she compared Rosé to an unseasoned chicken at first. “They had no salt, no damn pepper, no garlic, no nothing on her ass.”

✨Ru playfully calls out Gottmik for choosing “a porn star name” for her out-of-drag name, Kade. Gottmik immediately bursts out laughing and admits that’s exactly where it came from. Such a good moment, amid some terrific banter throughout.

✨Kandy wants to buy a boat! Why? She just wants a boat!

✨Can only imagine how triggering the flash of “PLEASE STAND BY” in the “Lucky” performance was to WandaVision fans.

Season’s almost over and missing Drag Race already? Join our livestream Kiki with Kevin Fridays at 4 p.m. EDT to chat with fellow fans. 

The reunion episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race airs Friday, Apr. 16, at 8 p.m. EDT on VH1 in the U.S. and on Crave and OUTtv in Canada.