“Free Willy!”
Free fuckin’ Willy. Holy shit, y’all. I’m sorry, I know we have other things to discuss in this (90-minute!) episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 15, and I promise we will get there. But we simply cannot progress without talking about that lip sync. Willy has been freed, my skin is clear, my bank account is full, the sun is shining—everything is good. And it’s all because of a lip sync that is already, correctly, being called an all-time great.
Let it be said that, although I have been a card-carrying Stanetra since Week 1, I would be rushing to the stan card vending machine for one after this week if I weren’t already. Anetra’s abilities in a lip sync are on a whole other level, and I say that as she is part of a cast that is full of great lip syncers. How she moves her body in a performance boggles my mind. She defies what I understand about gravity—and that, of course, hits its apex when she dives over a backbending Marcia Marcia Marcia in this week’s lip sync. It is the kind of move that you know we’ll be talking about for years. Thank god for Salina EsTitties (who has her absolute best episode this week, both in the challenge and out of it) dubbing it the “Free Willy,” because now we have a shorthand to refer to one of the coolest moments in a lip sync ever.
This is not to take anything away from Marcia, who is also terrific in hers and Anetra’s battle to Doja Cat’s “Boss Bitch.” As she says in the aftermath of the lip sync herself, Marcia puts up one hell of a fight against this season’s biggest lip sync threat (well, besides Sasha Colby, that is—damn, this cast is stacked with performers). She brings dance moves, attitude and a real go-for-broke attitude that challenges Anetra to do more and more. Their performance reminds me of another legendary lip sync: Brooke Lynn Hytes and Yvie Oddly to “Sorry Not Sorry.” That performance shares DNA with this one in how its performers make each other better, constantly one-upping each other.
Brooke Lynn vs. Yvie, of course, ended in a double shantay. Would Marcia and Anetra experience the same fate this week? And what landed them in the bottom after a bubly-sponsored stand-up challenge? Let’s flash back to the beginning and get into it, folks. There’s a lot to talk about on this one.
Salina kicks us off by wiping off Malaysia Babydoll Foxx’s mirror message, and admits that now that she’s been in the bottom for something other than a design challenge, she’s feeling pretty down. Salina unfortunately has joined Dida Ritz as the queen to last for the most episodes without at least a high-scoring placement in a maxi-challenge, and it generally feels like she doesn’t have momentum in the competition.
However, Salina is not the only show in town during the first act of this episode. Luxx Noir London and Loosey LaDuca are at odds both in the cold open and in the “it’s a new day in the werk room” segment, as Luxx calls Loosey out for not wearing a pregnant belly for her pregnancy-reveal Beyoncé look. Luxx is, of course, correct, but Loosey insists that Beyoncé wasn’t really showing at the time. (This reminds me: remember that absurd conspiracy theory that Bey wasn’t really pregnant? Early-2010s internet was wild.)
We get a “Harlem Vogue Ball” mini-challenge this week, and I am concerned for ballroom legend and Legendary judge Leiomy Maldonado. She hates noguing! It doesn’t help that Ru uses several ballroom-inaccurate terms in the intro (“shablam,” “death drop”) in a way that seems almost like waving a red flag in front of terminology sticklers. Still, the challenge must go on, and Sasha, Anetra and Mistress Isabelle Brooks are the standouts. I’m no ballroom expert (my experience is limited to being obsessed with Legendary—bring it back, HBO Max!), but I agree with Drag Race alum Aja, a ballroom girl herself, that Anetra does the best. Her moves best represent elements of vogue, and her playing to the crowd is terrific.
As one of her prizes for winning, Anetra gets to choose the order of performances for the bubly Comedy Festival, but not the pairings! Yes, this is a duo comedy challenge, reminiscent of All Stars 2’s “Revenge of the Queens,” and just like in that one, we’re doing this with an odd number of contestants. Queens pair up by drawing flavours of bubly sparkling water, with one queen—Salina—drawing the only can of her flavour. Instead of just making her work alone by chance, however, Ru presents Salina with a tantalizing choice: she can, if she’d like, steal a partner from one of the other duos.
Credit: Courtesy MTV
This is the kind of small gameplay element I love in Drag Race. While this show is not Survivor or Big Brother (tell that to the UK vs The World Season 1 cast), drag as an art form does welcome the idea of using the opportunities available to you. To give Salina a chance to choose her own destiny in this challenge, basically, is a fun twist. And boy, does Salina run with it: she makes the play of the game by stealing Mistress away from Marcia.
Not only is this incredibly smart for Salina, since not only will hers and Mistress’s comedy styles play well off one another, but it’s also a devastating blow to Marcia. The truth is, Marcia has done pretty well all season long, but her successes have often come while working with someone else. Whether it was her and Anetra playing well off one another in the Daytona Wind reboot, or shining against Malaysia in the LaLaPaRuZa, Marcia has benefited from both comparison and contrast. (This isn’t the case with all her performances, of course: both in the talent show and Snatch Game, she stood on her own and stood tall.)
Without a partner, and especially without one while everyone else has one, Marcia’s challenge will be far more difficult. And considering that Salina was dead last track-record-wise coming into this week, a big move like this is great for her. Indeed, Marcia struggles on her own, and in the show-opening spot Anetra gives her. Her set isn’t offensively bad or anything—she’s no Utica—but it’s perhaps even worse, as it’s dull. There’s nothing to hook into in any real way. And as foretold at the start of this recap, it lands her in the bottom two.
Elsewhere, after their tiff, Luxx and Loosey are paired together. (In another tremendous moment for Salina, she realizes mid-confessional that they’re forced to work together right after fighting. She can hardly contain her glee as she yells, “OH MY GOD! Weren’t they fighting this morning?”) However, this actually works out for Luxx and Loosey, as they’re able to play up a frenemy vibe in their set. They don’t have the best punchlines, but their delivery and banter are the best among the two of them. Considering partnership is part and parcel of the challenge, I understand why they ultimately take home the shared win.
Credit: Courtesy MTV
If the challenge were judged differently, I’d actually give the victory to Salina. In rehearsal, she struggles to tell an elaborate bad hookup story efficiently, while Mistress delivers hers much better. But on the day, the issue is actually reversed: Mistress is the one who struggles, while Salina’s is high-energy and hilarious. Were this a challenge judged individually, I could’ve seen Salina taking it—but I don’t think keeping the solo spot would’ve done it for her. Like Marcia in other challenges, I do think working with Mistress is what got Salina there this go-around.
And then we come to Anetra and Sasha. These two have become something of a favourite pairing among the fandom, thanks to their killer “I’m in Love with a Monster” lip sync during the LaLaPaRuZa and general excellence in the competition. The idea of these two flipping their hair and bodies around the stage during a Lip Sync for the Crown is a delicious one. But this week throws a major wrench into that fantasy, as the two really flop the challenge. The circumstances are unfortunate, as Anetra gets an ocular migraine that all but debilitates her during their prep time. (According to Marcia at Roscoe’s in Chicago on Friday night, Anetra was perhaps even more out of it than we see in the episode.) When they get out to rehearsal, they have a bunch of jokes that don’t land and are quickly thrown out.
Ultimately, they go with a stoner comic vibe that could work, but their timing is all off and their jokes don’t land. Sasha manages to pull out a couple of punchlines late in the set, abandoning the stoner schtick, as if she’s quickly making herself a life raft. But Anetra is the worst of the week in the challenge, no doubt. They both look great in distressed garments during the Rip Her to Shreds runway, but only Sasha’s is good enough to save her from lip syncing.
But luckily, we’re back where we started: Anetra and Marcia’s terrific lip sync. I have a feeling the debates will rage for some time about whether this should’ve been a double shantay. I myself have gone back and forth on it a couple of times. But ultimately, with great respect to Marcia, I’ve landed on the feeling that it was right for only Anetra to stay. It’s nice when both do well, but Anetra clearly one-upped Marcia on multiple occasions in the lip sync. When one queen clearly wins, one queen should actually win. And I admire the show’s commitment to actually doing an elimination a week this season—this is not Season 14.
Thank goodness, however, that like Season 14, the show finally has room to breathe again. I will never fully accept the premise that the issue was 60-minute episodes (I think the issue was post-production being asked to reverse-engineer 60-minute episodes), but I do think this is the right call to make sure the season ends on the right note. And if this episode is any indication, I’m very excited for what’s to come in these final few weeks.
Untucking our final thoughts
✨ Season 13 queen Joey Jay gets a shout-out in the werk room when Loosey removes her wig. “I’m a gay-ass bitch!” Loosey says, quoting her. “I am a gay-ass bitch,” she then repeats, realizing her truth.
✨ Ali Wong is our guest judge and comedy coach this week, and she is nothing short of spectacular. Best guest of the season, with only Ariana Grande in the same league. (Not exactly shocking that they both appeared on longer episodes!) In rehearsal, Ali works through the queens’ sets with them with specific, helpful feedback, and in critiques, she continues her on-point commentary. So many guest judges roll in with positive platitudes and excitement to be there, and Ali has those! But in stark contrast to even some of the regular judges these days (looking at you, The Hilarious Ross Mathews), Ali offers great criticism while not going needlessly negative. She knocks this out of the park.
✨ Ali is delighted when Anetra walks in (which is how I always feel when Anetra walks in), glad to finally see an Asian queen. “We had two, but …” Anetra responds. Poor Aura Mayari!
✨ Ts Madison is also back in the rotating guest judge chair, for what I fear might be (but hope is not!) her last time this season. She has quickly become indispensable on that panel, balancing being affirming and excited (she’s a blast during the lip sync) with really pushing the girls to do their best. I really think it’s beyond time for the show to move on from Ross and Carson Kressley being the more permanent residents of that chair, and make room for more appearances from judges who give real, constructive criticism, like Ts and Nicole Byer.
✨ Cannot tell you what a joy it is to have recurring bits like the RuMail message (which Ru looks fantastic in) and judges’ deliberations back this week. These never should’ve been what was sacrificed for the hour-long edits, and if going back to 90-minute episodes is what got them back, I’ll happily accept. Drag Race needs its formalities and structure, and I’d say these are two of the most crucial.
✨ Anetra’s little gasped “Oh no!” when she hits the mic after her mini-challenge win is so cute. For a queen who it took weeks to get confessionals out of, hers are quite often my favourites!
✨ There’s a hilarious moment when the other queens catch Marcia talking to herself as she preps alone. When they call her out, she says with the perfect mix of frustration and humour: “I have to!”
✨ “Forget the nose: ow, my heart.” Marcia really is such a sweetheart; sad to see her go, but happy she went out with such pride in herself.
The next episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race will air Friday, March 17, at 8 p.m. EDT 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.
Why you can trust Xtra
