‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ Season 13, Episode 6 recap: After the disco

For as excellent a season as it was, RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 5 had a few challenges that have never been replicated. The children’s show challenge, which is a bit more structured than your standard acting tasks, remains a one-off, as does the charity single singing challenge. Most egregiously, the truly excellent “Lip Sync Extravaganza” episode, in which queens were tasked with lip-syncing to iconic moments from Untucked, has never been done again. (And trust, there is plenty of material to work with. Let a queen do Aja’s “Linda Evangelista” rant!)

But maybe most surprising is that the Season 5 history-through-dance challenge has never been repeated. Dancing remains a vital part of Drag Race’s DNA, from Rumixes to Lip Sync for Your Life performances, Legacy, Crown, Win, and whatever else Ru will make his queens perform in. There have been other dance challenges in ensuing seasons, like the “Draglympics” episode from Season 11. But we’ve never again seen anything quite like “Black Swan: Why It Gotta Be Black?” in which Alyssa Edwards won her one and only Season 5 challenge. In that task, queens danced ballet—or a toned-down version of it, at least—to a pre-recorded track narrating Ru’s life.

It was a fun appreciation of queer history that also tapped into Drag Race’s love of making queens perform outside of their comfort zone. Only eight regular seasons later, however, are we getting another version: A disco-mentary challenge. Instead of pirouettes to RuPaul stories, the Season 13 queens are charged with boogying to the tunes and history of disco.

Though Ru’s frustrations with queens not knowing disco history are predictable, this episode concept is terrific for this moment in time. Disco has made a major comeback in modern pop music, with records like Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia, Jessie Ware’s What’s Your Pleasure? and Kylie Minogue’s very appropriately titled Disco. Hell, even Carly Rae Jepsen has a whole disco album buried in her backyard. Giving younger viewers a taste of disco history—even if it’s abbreviated—can hopefully shed some light on the origins of the genre, and even explain why it has lain dormant for so long.

We open the episode with a revisit of the drama from last week’s Untucked: Tamisha Iman let Kandy Muse know that she doesn’t like her, Kandy got very defensive and, as Utica Queen puts it, it all got blown out of proportion. A good bit of time is spent reflecting on this fight, in ways I think are quite healthy. Sure, Olivia Lux does a little bit of surreptitious shit-stirring (“How’s everyone feeling about… that now?” she asks), and Kandy and Tamisha exchange a fresh round of words. But it’s nowhere near as intense as the prior fight, and the situation seems to have diffused significantly.

During a later mirror conversation, Kandy opens up about having to defend herself growing up and how that’s conditioned her to act defensively. We also hear about Tamisha’s background in a separate conversation with Denali, the latest in what has been a tremendous storyline for Tamisha. Getting to hear both of them express themselves to each other, and also explain where their responses came from, is incredibly refreshing; Drag Race can be guilty of lighting a match and walking away while the house is on fire. Though I wish we’d had this context before last week’s fight, it goes a long way in helping to understand what the feud’s two participants were bringing to the table from their lived experiences.

Naturally, this all leads to a Lip Sync For Your Life between Kandy and Tamisha. Kandy is part of a trio with Gottmik and Tina Burner that calls themselves the “Mean Girls.” Couple of thoughts, chief among them that cliques are almost always edited badly on this show. Why would you want to be in one? Moreover, why would you name yourselves the Mean Girls? Tina makes a point in their defense, saying, “Drag queens are very loud, outspoken—we push buttons. You wanna call it mean? Call it mean.” Which, sure! I completely get that! But taking pride in being provocative is one thing. Literally labeling yourself “mean” on a TV show, when you know that show’s history of cliques, is another thing entirely.

Anyway, the whole package is a sign that Kandy is due for a reckoning, particularly when she’s the worst of her group in the challenge. (The format is a little wonky: Queens perform to certain sections of the “disco-mentary” in groups, but the whole thing is one long performance and queens are judged individually.) Meanwhile, Tamisha reveals in confessional—though notably not to the other queens or to the week’s choreographer—that she is currently wearing an ostomy bag, meaning she’s significantly limited in what she can do as a dancer. I admire what she says about not wanting special treatment, but I worry that she’s pushing herself beyond what she should be doing. Take care of yourself, Tamisha!

The two land in the bottom alongside Utica, who gets heavily dinged for going too far into camp in her performance, and for a kind of living earring runway look that the judges don’t understand until she explains it. But Utica never feels in any real danger. With Kandy and Tamisha in the bottom next to her, it’s obvious how this conflict is going to end. And for what it’s worth, Kandy and Tamisha are the worst of the week in the performance. Kandy misses some steps and gets called out for serving too much Kandy in a disco routine, while Tamisha is repeatedly off her mark in her routine with Elliott With Two Ts.

Elliott is in the top, by contrast, along with Kandy’s partner Tina. Both are somewhat dubious calls: I’d have put Rosé—who, alongside Denali, gets the hardest routine—and LaLa Ri, who makes a big comeback from last week’s bottom two placement, in the top instead. But the other member of the top group is Olivia, in her first high-scoring critique since the winner’s circle premiere. Once again, Olivia shines in a performance through natural charisma and talent. Ru notes that she radiates positivity, and it’s really true—she’s got an X-factor that makes her incredibly watchable. She snags the win, her first of the season.

The runway is a mixed bag this week, as some of the queens take the Little Black Dress category too literally—LaLa’s is short—while others take it to a very fun place. Gottmik goes with another body-focused look, but the actual tiny black dress covering her crotch and behind is a very clever take on the prompt. Olivia’s look isn’t great, but the judges all but overlook it to focus on her wig instead. As for the safe queens: Rosé goes with tulle again, while Denali goes with a Black Widow look that seems to disarm Carson Kressley. My vote for the best runway would go to Symone, who uses the prompt as a chance to pull out a killer wig that references RuPaul’s “Back to My Roots” video. Very smart work on Symone’s part.

But, once again, Kandy and Tamisha falter most. Kandy takes a page out of former drag mother Aja’s book, pulling out a dress in a silhouette that evokes Lady Gaga’s iconic Comme des Garçons Met Ball look with a little black dress painted onto it. It’s an interesting idea, but the way she styles it clashes with the garment. Tamisha goes pretty simple with a well-made black dress, prompting Carson to question where the twist is.

Can you tell I’ve been avoiding actually talking about the end of the episode? But okay, brace yourself: The queens lip sync to Blu Cantrell’s absolute bop, “Hit ‘Em Up Style (Oops!),” and Kandy really goes for it emotionally. She’s a little sloppy, though, noticeably missing a few words. Tamisha is more reserved, but not bad at all. I’d probably give the win to Tamisha.

But Ru clearly sees more growth potential in Kandy, and she gets the shantay. I get it. I think Kandy has major star quality, as she said of herself last week, and still has a lot to offer in this competition. Keeping Kandy tracks with Ru’s overall trend toward queens who have room to show more, versus those who have been around for a while. There’s a reason veteran queens haven’t done well in this competition historically. (The veteran queens who found the most success in the competition are Chad Michaels, Bianca Del Rio and Peppermint—and only one of those three won on her first attempt. Peppermint hasn’t won at all yet; come back for All Stars, Pepp!)

There just doesn’t seem to be much room for a queen like Tamisha to succeed on Drag Race. But dammit, I think there should be! The fan response to her has been enormous, and I hope the production takes that into account when casting Season 14 and beyond. Experienced queens with tons of personal story to offer make both for terrific television and impressive competitors. Seeing Tamisha go out this early is a heartbreaker. I can’t argue for her performance this week or even last, but I absolutely think she should’ve gotten a top two slot in the Porkchop Queens’ premiere. And imagine her on All Stars! I think she’d slay.

Point being: I understand why Ru makes the decision he makes this week. And I’m even happier Kandy and Tamisha are able to find some resolution before the latter queen goes home. They’re much stronger as sisters than as adversaries. But I will be very sad to tune into a new episode of Drag Race next week without Tamisha Iman. She has been the star of the first part of this season, and the show has been better for having her. If networks and producers aren’t throwing offers at her by Monday, they’re losing out on working with a true legend.

Untucking our final thoughts

✨LaLa continues to be my favourite confessional queen this season. Watching her literally cry with laughter over Utica flopping in rehearsal—“Miss Utica and this little piece of fabric, girl”—just slays me. 

✨I regret to report that the lyric “Gucci, Pucci, Susan Lucci” from the disco-mentary will be stuck in my head for the foreseeable future.

✨One of my favourite moments of the episode is learning a bit more about the “Disco Sucks” movement, something most of the queens confess to knowing very little about. I hope it inspires even more research of the subject on viewers’ parts!

✨There’s a lot of dubbing in this episode, strangely. A huge chunk of Ru explaining the challenge at the start of the episode is replacement dialogue, as are a lot of his runway introductions of the queens. Notable in that unlike the reality shows of yesteryear (remember America’s Next Top Model’s egregious dubbing?), Drag Race doesn’t have much of it. Though I’m still haunted by Tatianna’s dubbed read from All Stars 2.

✨The mini-challenge is kind of a bizarre task in which the queens must model garments made out of one pattern in front of a wall with paper in the exact same pattern. Elliott and Tamisha win—which, sure! (Rosé and Denali’s mini-challenge character being named “Button Foster” is true musical theatre gay bullshit on their part, and I love it.)

✨Olivia really does stir the pot this episode, on multiple occasions. When Utica quietly reads Tina for wearing a wig that doesn’t make her look big, Olivia encourages her to say it straight to Tina. She lives for drama!

✨I’ll give the producers this: The split of the winners and the Porkchops really did produce drama. Kandy completely bought into the group dynamic, and the Mean Girls have sprung out of that. It may be production fuckery, but you can’t fault it when it works.

✨Ru asks the queens if they know who Charles Nelson Reilly is. None of them do. “Fuck all of you” he says, flipping them off. I like when the joke about a reference isn’t that the queens are dumb for not knowing it, but that Ru’s references are too old for them.

✨Loni Love is back! Always a delight, though I will note that, in contrast to Nicole Byer, she seems to struggle a bit more with being critical. Still, glad to see her and very excited we’re meeting our next rotating guest judge, Ts Madison, in next week’s episode.

✨An absolutely perfect moment from Carson: When Ru calls to “bring back my girls!” he responds by saying, “Where they at? Get ‘em back!” Quoting Ru’s own song to him. Delightful.

Want more Drag Race talk, henny? Untuck with us every Friday at 4 p.m. EST at our Facebook Live Kiki with Kevin.

The next episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race airs Friday, Feb. 12, at 8 p.m. EST on VH1 in the U.S. and on Crave and OUTtv in Canada.