‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ Season 18, Episode 12 recap: Metamorpho, sis

The RuPaul’s Drag Race makeover challenge has built a reputation over the years for being a heartwarming challenge, one in which outsiders are welcomed into the world of drag, bonds between queen and partner are formed and nurtured and everyone generally has a great time.

It also has built a reputation for some truly bullshit judging.

Queens like Loosey LaDuca, Cheryl (formerly Cheryl Hole) and Dakota Schiffer have been sent home on makeovers while turning in great looks. Others, like Shannel, Vanessa Vanjie Mateo and Crystal Methyd have been kept from possible wins for no clear reason. This is all because the makeover challenge’s criteria are, one could argue purposefully, oblique. As much as Ru and Michelle Visage may scream “family resemblance!”, they have never made explicit what that means. If you compare one makeover challenge’s judging to another, the decisions made by even the same judges can seem wildly contradictory.

The conspiracy theory about all of this, as well as the makeover challenge’s usual placement near the end of a season, is that this challenge is basically a free space for the show to boost and eliminate whoever they please. A queen needs another win to bolster their track record? Ru and Michelle totally see the family resemblance! What about one who doesn’t quite have a shot at the crown? Hmm, just can’t quite see the resemblance—into the bottom two you go. The challenge’s reputation has gotten so bad that the best most fans can hope for is a double shantay, as happened in Seasons 12 and 17, to spare the queens from potential unfair eliminations.

You can almost feel the judges trying to respond to this criticism in real time in this episode. Not only does Ru basically make Michelle the “family resemblance” villain in his werk room warnings to the queens, they also define it the most clearly they have so far—though that isn’t saying much in the grand scheme of things. Basically, Ru and Michelle want the queens and their partners to look almost exactly alike, with outfits that either are perfect matches in print/colour or style, if not both. The mugs and wigs should not just suggest a relationship, but yell it loudly. I personally think this is a reductive way to judge a makeover, and still manages to be implemented in some dumb ways, but at least they’re trying to be a bit clearer.

The folks getting made over this week are queer cowboys, most of whom are involved with the gay rodeo. It’s a cute idea, taking guys who perform a kind of masculinity and having them instead perform femininity. (“These are men,” Myki Meeks exclaims in confessional when they walk in.) There are a lot of interesting conversations in this episode about the intersection of masculinity and femininity, and how you can embrace one without losing touch of the other. It’s maybe not the most heartwarming makeover challenge we’ve ever seen—that still goes to the Season 9 crew makeover, in my book—but the guys are all game and lovely, and the queens have a lot of fun with them.

After Discord Addams wins a “hot-to-trot race” in lady cowboy quick drag for the mini-challenge, she gets to assign the makeover partners. Jane Don’t is nervous about Discord picking strategically, thanks to all the other queens saying her name a couple weeks ago during “Who Should Go Home Tonight and Why?” But besides giving Jane the oldest cowboy—Terry from Milburn, Oklahoma, a delight of a man—she mostly seems to play it as fair as possible. Discord picks Colton from Mannford, Oklahoma for herself, gives Juicy Love Dion the Phoenix-based Greg, pairs Myki with Denver’s own Michael (appropriately enough) and gives Colorado queen Nini Coco a fellow Coloradan, Jason from Keenesburg. The last is Chris from Yale, Oklahoma, who reveals himself to be a delightfully shady bitch, working with Darlene Mitchell.

Michael is maybe the most interesting makeover subject of them all—he’s actually a former drag queen. Initially he sells this short by saying he just hosted drag bingo, but we learn later he was actually a title-holder. Jane seems annoyed about this in confessional, noting it’s a bit of an advantage for Myki. But the more we learn about Michael and his relationship with drag, the thornier it gets: he last did drag five years ago, after a three year hiatus, and it was a bad experience. Michael struggles with losing touch with his masculinity while he’s in drag. Later, on the runway, he says this experience helps him feel comfortable embracing his femininity without losing touch with his masculinity. It’s a really nice moment!

We also get to know Jason, Nini’s partner, better, and his story gets Nini the most emotional we’ve seen her in this competition. Initially, Jason seems like he’ll be the most difficult partner, admitting that while he’s very comfortable being gay, he’s not at all comfortable with his femininity. However, that’s a fear rooted in his experience in the military. While serving, Jason was friends with Barry Winchell. For those who may not know the story, Winchell was murdered by one of his fellow soldiers because he was dating a trans woman, Calpernia Addams. Jason, then in the closet, felt fear even expressing sadness over Winchell’s death, concerned that it could lead to him being outed, and even killed himself. He felt immense pressure to fake it to survive.

So yeah, there are some heavy stories this week, but there’s also quite a bit of fun. The cowboys give the queens a roping lesson—Jane and Juicy are the best at it, from what we see—and there’s a generally fun, congenial vibe in the room. Jane is repeatedly gagged at how shady the cowboys are to each other, with the guys admitting that in the rodeo, they’re even more shady to each other. Overall, everyone seems to get a lot of positives out of the experience—but of course, we’re not yet at judging.

First up are Nini and Patsy Coco, and we’ve already lost the plot. Nini decides to go with a butterfly and caterpillar concept that is never going to please Ru and Michelle. And she should know that! More egregiously, she puts herself in the gorgeous butterfly look, while sticking James in an unattractive and confusing caterpillar costume. Nini herself looks great, but that’s hardly the point of a makeover. Also looking great is Myki, who goes for a much closer family resemblance with Morgan Meeks. While the outfits, wig and mugs are clearly a match, I don’t think Morgan’s beat is quite up to snuff. I don’t hate the high-femme take in theory, but it doesn’t feel like the best fit for Michael’s face. Plus, there are some fitting issues in the bust with Michael’s dress.

Things improve drastically when Juicy and Loosey Love Dion hit the stage. Holy shit, they look incredible. Loosey’s mug is stunning, and they really do look like mother and daughter. Most impressive to me is that Juicy had to pivot because her partner would not fit in her planned look. Instead of scrapping it, she re-made part of it to fit, and Loosey looks fantastic in it. I also think Jane and Maybe Don’t look great, with mugs and hair that clearly tie them together. Their dresses are a bit dissimilar in construction, but you can still clearly see the relationship between them.

In the werk room with Ru, the host sees what Discord is working on for herself and Harmony Addams, and warns that it’s clearly not going to work as a family resemblance for Michelle. However, Discord ignores this, and lo and behold, she is swiftly punished for it. Rotating judge Law Roach goes so far as to say he hates Discord and Harmony’s take on Clueless, and Michelle says they’re clearly giving best friend vibes, not sisters. Again, this is where the strict definition of family resemblance comes in: in at least some way, there needs to be a literal exact match across looks.

Darlene gets a bit chided for lack of family resemblance, but even Ru and Michelle can only raise it as a spectre of a critique. Because holy shit, this is amazing work from Darlene. She and Bonnie Mitchell look like a take on Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar, as two sisters tearing up the casinos in Vegas. Chris looks perfect as Bonnie, to the point that you actually could see him as a competitor in the season. I’ve said before that Darlene’s trashy vibe has gotten a bit one-note, but this is a real elevation of it for the challenge.

After deliberations, Myki wins the challenge, and I do a double-take. Look, Myki didn’t do bad by any measure, but Juicy and Darlene clearly beat her out. I would even argue Jane’s looks are better, even if Michelle has issues with their family resemblance. I do think Ru is really invested in Myki, so I can understand the win from a storytelling perspective. But I don’t think there’s any reasonable argument that she performs better here than either of the other top queens. (And judging by Darlene’s expression when Myki is called the winner, she agrees.)

After Jane has her first brush with danger, landing in the low-placing spot, she’s sent back to safety, leaving Nini and Discord to fight it out in the Lip Sync for Your Life. It’s both of these queens’ first time in the bottom two, but we have seen Nini lip sync before in the premiere Lip Sync for the Win. Nini does okay here on Ariana Grande’s “we can’t be friends (wait for your love),” but like many songs this season, it’s an odd choice for a lip sync. It’s a bit too fast-paced for a full, dramatic ballad treatment like what Juicy did on “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” but it also lacks the peaks and valleys to bring out a dynamic dancing performance. Nini repeats a lot of the same moves, seemingly just unsure what to do with the song.

Meanwhile, Discord doesn’t even know the words. I don’t know why we’re in this absolute epidemic of queens not knowing their lyrics—honestly, you could even call it a pandemic, since it happened quite a bit on UK vs. The World this season as well—but it’s reaching an absurd point. We’ve been doing this for too many years for queens to forget a fundamental part of the whole process. Combined with an otherwise underwhelming lip sync, and it is finally Discord’s time to sashay away. She gets a lovely send-off, though, with Ru telling her to never “sissy that walk” and generally celebrating her on her way out. “See you on All Stars!” she says as she leaves the main stage. Something tells me we’ll be seeing her sooner versus later.

We’ve got two in-season episodes of Drag Race Season 18 left, but we’re already at top five. This leaves us with a couple of options: a top three a la Season 16, or a double shantay one of the next two weeks—most likely at final four, like we’ve seen in many other seasons. Personally, I always prefer a top four finale, but I don’t love wasting a week on a non-elimination. I guess we, like Ru with his opera glasses once upon a time, will just have to wait and see how this turns out.

Untucking our final thoughts

✨ Heartbreaking to see at episode’s end that Terry, Jane’s partner, passed away since this was filmed. Love to his family—he seemed like a true gentleman, and was a delight to watch in this episode. Unfortunately, because the Drag Race fandom cannot be fucking normal, after the episode, his obituary page was filled with hate comments posting rumoured spoilers and complaints that Discord was robbed. I know the show has basically given up on making its fandom act appropriately, but I’d really like to see them show some leadership on this one and call out how truly disgusting this behaviour is.

✨ Ru Rule #19: “I believe the children are our future. Teach them well, and they will steal your purse.” Sure.

✨ Lots of cute interactions in this episode, but my favourite is when Juicy’s partner hugs her after they’re assigned and Juicy jumps up and down saying “I love a hug!” Adorable!

✨ Darlene’s partner Chris is hilarious. He tells Ru that he walks around the house in stilettos, and also teaches the host about steer deco. When Ru asks if a steer is a cow, he clarifies that the steer has “no nuts.” Ru’s slight surprise is scored by Jason, watching from afar, letting out a whispered “RuPaul …”

✨ Jason offers Nini a steer-wrestling session, and Nini is ass-up in a heartbeat. You can tell the girls are in heat after so many weeks spent filming.

✨ Michelle’s judging in this episode may have pissed me off, but her look on the main stage sure doesn’t. Love the mod bob.

✨ In a bit of Paramount synergy, Ghosts star Danielle Pinnock is our guest judge, and she is a goddamn delight. She calls redheads “the DEIs of caucasians,” and I actually had to rewind. I was laughing so hard. My favourite bit from her, though, is her monologue critique of Darlene’s looks: “These are my kinda girls! I’m ready to go to the all-inclusive Holiday Inn with y’all, grab our Long Island iced teas, take them dice on your head and play craps with ’em! I’m obsessed! It’s such a storytelling moment, and I do believe y’all are siblings. And I do believe that there is also generational trauma there. And I am for it! I am into it!”

✨ For being the winning queen’s makeover partner, Michael gets $2,500, while all the cowboys get an Anastasia Beverly Hills makeup bag. I’m sure they’ll love bringing those around the rodeo!

✨ RU: “Michelle’s thing is what?”

NINI: “Family resemblance. And being a whore.”

The next episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race will air Friday, March 27, 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.