‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ Season 15, Episode 10 recap: Women in news

We’ve made it, y’all: we are headed back to the land of 90-minute RuPaul’s Drag Race episodes. Tonight marks the last hour-long instalment, and next week will bring back the length of episodes that became standard during the VH1 era. While I remain somewhat frustrated that the run-time became a scapegoat for the other issues this season (mostly in story editing), I do think the rest of this season having more time to breathe will give us a better overall endgame. We’re down to a pretty tight final seven, and if the final four turn out to be the frontrunners I’m expecting, we’ll need all the time we can get with them before that.

Before we launch into the future, though, we have this episode to get through. And unlike recent instalments, which I thought represented something of a return to form for the show, this episode falls short of expectations. Part of the problem is a vaguely defined challenge: the queens must interview a celebrity guest on the parody newsmagazine show 50/50. I typically really enjoy the news show improv challenges: QNN back in Season 3 was a favourite, as were the morning show challenges in Season 9 and UK Season 2.

Unfortunately, the “ask” for each queen is slightly different, as they get served variables in both their guest (someone like Frankie Grande, for all his self-grandeur, is not going to be as difficult a challenge as a wild card like Charo) and in what interview “segment” they get. A sit-down interview presents an entirely different challenge than a walk-and-talk, or doing an activity together. The results are pretty mediocre across the board, with the one queen Ru declares a “natural” at TV hosting becoming the one who takes the win.

Owing to needing to share three celebrities among eight queens, this solo interview challenge becomes a bit of a group task. Marcia Marcia Marcia and Sasha Colby get the pleasure of interviewing the biggest star of the bunch, Charo, but must contend with her high-energy antics and thick accent. Anetra, Loosey LaDuca and Malaysia Babydoll Foxx get the aforementioned Frankie Grande, making his second appearance on the show (after Season 10’s makeover challenge). Luxx Noir London, Mistress Isabelle Brooks and Salina EsTitties get a Ru and World of Wonder fave, Love Connie, who really throws a bunch of wrenches in the works for her queens.

The Love Connie group is first, and Salina gets the sit-down interview. She makes a key error in interrupting Connie, trying to take control of the flow of the conversation because of Connie’s tangents. I understand the impulse, but it’s a pretty obvious pitfall, and Salina falls right into it. Still, on the whole, she’s not bad—certainly not worse than Mistress is. During their activity interview, she immediately stumbles over her words, and proceeds to never get in a good flow with Connie. Hell, Connie basically ignores her for the back half of their time together. It’s a real misstep from a frontrunner in this competition, and it lands her in the bottom three alongside Salina.

You know who doesn’t stumble with Love Connie? Luxx! Luxx is terrific during their drive-and-talk interview, throwing out questions that will get a big reaction out of Connie. My personal favourite is when she refers to Connie’s work on Legally Blonde (she was the head of the salon during the bend-and-snap scene!), which served the dual purpose of getting a fun anecdote out of Connie and teaching me something I didn’t know about her. Luxx is in contention for the win this week, particularly after she pulls out a Bob Mackie-reminiscent look for the Night of 1000 Beyoncés runway that Ru himself wore the original of once upon a time.

Team Charo ultimately produces our winner, though, as Sasha earns her third victory of the season over Luxx. I’ve started to see some quibbling online that Sasha’s track record is inflated, or that she’s being overrated by the show. To those who believe that, I ask: have you had your vision checked recently? Because I’m concerned if you can’t see a superstar before you. Sasha is a natural on camera, understanding that going with Charo’s flow without letting her utterly dominate is what’s going to win this challenge. She is generous in their conversation, hilarious off the cuff (throwing the cards away!) and it’s no wonder Ru calls her “a natural” at hosting. No, my dears, with love to Luxx, Sasha earns this third win—just as she’s earned all her high-scoring placements this season.

I do think, for whatever reason, the Drag Race fandom has a hard time co-signing obvious frontrunners. I’ve done this a few times myself, typically when the frontrunner is a bit too much of a technician for me (think Brooke Lynn Hytes in Season 11). But when someone just oozes star power, performs like a legend and dominates the competition and runway, how can you deny them? I feel about Sasha the way I did about Symone: it’s just obvious they’re what this show is made for.

Compare how Sasha handles Charo to how Marcia does. Surely they both have trouble comprehending her; Sasha even notes that it’ll be difficult when she and Marcia are talking before the challenge. But while Sasha goes with the flow, Marcia lets her utter confusion show on her face. She barely gets a word in edgewise, and when she does, it’s not a conversation. She’s very lucky to avoid the bottom, thanks mostly to the failings of the non-Luxx Team Love Connie queens.

Also in the bottom is Malaysia, who struggles while interviewing Frankie Grande. The two make pizzas together, but Malaysia seems unenthusiastic throughout. Anetra is much more lively during her walk-and-talk with Frankie, and Loosey is pretty great in their sit-down. Honestly, I think Frankie makes for the easiest task, because he’s someone who doesn’t want to throw a spanner in the works like Connie, nor is he as energetic as Charo. It’s no surprise to me that Anetra and Loosey do well, with Loosey coming close to the win (though ultimately losing out to Sasha). It’s very surprising to me that Malaysia fails, because she’s charismatic enough that I figured she’d be able to carry herself through this.

Mistress’s Beyoncé runway, which includes puppet versions of Michelle Williams and Kelly Rowland, is great enough to keep her out of the bottom two, so Salina winds up there once again. She and Malaysia face off to “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” by Beyoncé, and if you think you know what this lip sync looks like before you even watch it: indeed you do.

Songs with such iconic dance moves like “Single Ladies” make for poor lip sync song choices, because they present a dilemma: either do the expected choreography and risk looking unoriginal, or do something else and have your moves compared to the choreography. Salina and Malaysia both go for the choreo, and it just becomes a competition of who does it better. Salina is undoubtedly superior in that regard, so she wins her fourth lip sync of the season. Malaysia sashays away, a quiet end for someone who was a major part of the first half of the season.

All right, Drag Race: 90-minute episodes are back. If the rest of the season doesn’t absolutely slap, there will be no excuses about time left to rely on. This cast is absolutely terrific, and the top seven we’ve come down to are a fascinating group. There’s plenty of material here to build a fantastic endgame. Now is the time to bring it home.

Untucking our final thoughts

✨ In the cold open, Mistress says she’ll miss her new daughter, but believes that it was indeed Spice’s time to go. Mistress is not aligned with most of the internet on that one, but I stand by her!

✨ Loosey has decided she won three challenges because she’s won two mini-challenges. The fandom’s collective response to this has been laughter, but I think Maddy Morphosis’s response was my favourite of all.

✨ Mistress openly laughs at Loosey’s delusion these days, because, as she puts it, “I know she’s being fake.” There’s something interesting to be said for the ways in which Mistress is not just bringing back the dishy bitchery of Old Drag Race in her own appearance on the show, but is also pushing the other girls to react in kind. One queen alone can’t undo the overly saccharine vibes of New Drag Race!

✨ Ts Madison is back this week—she’s called a “guest judge” in the intro, but she’s in the rotating judge’s spot, with no Ross Mathews or Carson Kressley on the panel. She also gets no real introduction at the panel (nor does Michelle Visage, for that matter—cut for time?), and there’s no other guest judge. Bit of a weird setup, all told, but very happy to have Ts back.

✨ Next week is a comedy challenge, and in an All Stars 2-esque twist, it looks like they’re performing in pairs. But there are seven queens left, which is an odd number. Will one queen take up Tasha Salad’s mantle as the hostess? 

The next episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race will air Friday, March 10, 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 Tuesday afternoon.