You know what? For an endgame acting challenge on RuPaul’s Drag Race, “Honey, I Shrunk the Drag Queens” is pretty fun! Granted, I’m setting a low bar here. Other late-in-the-season acting challenges include All Stars 3’s absolutely dire “My Best Squirrelfriend’s Dragsmaids Wedding Trip,” All Stars 4’s clunky “Sex and the Kitty Girl” and most recently, the fun but overlong EastEnders parody on RuPaul’s Drag Race UK Season 2. Being the best of this lot is not a Herculean task.
But I’d stack this one up against most of the acting challenges we’ve seen on Drag Race. The skit features three very strong performances, one that could be better but isn’t terrible and only one that is actively bad. The script is also very cute, casting the top five dolls as archetypes of Drag Race contestants and including all kinds of in-jokes about the series’ herstory. (“Thank god we landed on India Ferrah’s old breastplate” is a scream of a line.) And a final five episode in which the majority of the queens—Symone, Gottmik and winner Rosé—get strong critiques makes for a great start to the final leg of the season.
In fact, this episode is so strong that I’d argue three of the remaining four queens are walking out of it with strong, organic winners’ edits, while the fourth is coming off of a fun, high-energy lip sync win. More than anything, this episode makes me feel really good about this final four. It took a long time to get here, and the length will probably always be an anchor on the overall quality of this season, but I think we are in for one hell of a finale at this point.
Credit: Courtesy of VH1
No mini-challenge this week means we dive straight into the casting for the maxi-challenge. Gottmik, Rosé and Olivia Lux all pick the correct parts for their skill sets, though Gottmik notes Olivia is playing to her type once again. Kandy Muse and Symone, meanwhile, are torn over who gets to play the villainous Dominique Perignon. (All the parts are queens named after cocktails and drinks: Brandy, Margarita, etc.)
Kandy wants Symone to take Margarita instead of Dominique. “Margarita is the sexy, logical, smart one—a natural-born leader. I’m like, work, that’s very Symone!” she says in a confessional. “Dominique is the villain, crazy, delusional. That’s me! Dominique is mine.” It’s a moment of delightful self-awareness, and Kandy’s push pays off—in the moment, at least.
Then comes another video chat workroom visit, this time from Scarlett Johansson. Like with Anne Hathaway earlier in the season, Scarlett professes herself a fan of the show and offers acting advice. Because a lot of this challenge takes place against a green screen (thanks to the shrinking effect), and ScarJo has played Black Widow in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the queens ask about fighting against things that they can’t actually see. This leads to ScarJo saying the name “Thanos” on RuPaul’s Drag Race, and truly, I never thought I’d see the day. Thanos for Season 14 guest judge, please.
After ScarJo logs off the Zoom, the queens record their scenes with Michelle Visage and Carson Kressley. Symone starts slow, missing some lines and not delivering them confidently. Kandy also gets pushed to deliver more and more—ironic, considering once upon a time she got the critique to do less. Gottmik and Rosé are the clear stand-outs, with Gottmik really going there in a bit about being attacked by a cat and Rosé earning Carson’s plaudits for her technical prowess as an actor.
If anyone’s a clear dud from the start, it’s Olivia. Gottmik is right: Olivia plays too much towards her own type, doing the kind of breathy, ditzy performance she’s done for most of the season. It’s fair to call Olivia’s performance this season disappointing. After showing so much potential—to the point of being a frontrunner in the first half of the season—she’s really dropped off since Snatch Game. The other queens seem very aware of Olivia’s limitations, too, and some even seem frustrated with her lack of growth.
Credit: Courtesy of VH1
The runway category is Haute Pocket, which is a fun way of saying “put some pockets on your dress.” Olivia once again underwhelms, coming out in a lovely dress that just has pockets. Comparatively, Gottmik comes out in a highly detailed flasher look, Rosé hits the runway in a mod-inspired dress and cape full of pockets and Symoné dresses up as a literal pocket, complete with zipper. It’s another sign that Olivia just isn’t working on the same level as the rest of these girls. She’s taking the runway prompts literally, rather than delivering an interpretation of them.
Kandy also gets harsh critiques on the runway, but not for a failure of imagination. If anything, there’s a bit too much: Her look features so many details that it’s hard to know where your eye should go. She doesn’t help her cause with an asymmetrical wig and some colourful, mismatched makeup. It’s all just too much—and as extra special guest judge Cynthia Erivo puts it, it’s just a sad moment.
Everyone in this final five has so much invested in Drag Race. Symone talks about feeling the weight of expectations as a member of the House of Avalon, particularly coming off of Gigi Goode’s sterling performance in Season 12. Rosé has high standards for herself, and got compared to her Stephanie’s Child bandmate Jan.
Olivia is newer to drag than any of her competition, and thus has more of a hurdle to compete on this level. Gottmik is a herstory-maker, being the first trans man to compete on Drag Race, and clearly takes that responsibility seriously. Similarly, Kandy seems to view the experience as climbing the Mt. Everest of drag. She says this week that she’s been told repeatedly she would go home first if she ever made it on the show—she clearly wants to prove her haters wrong and make the final four.
Unfortunately for Kandy, after watching the final version of “Honey, I Shrunk the Drag Queens,” there is no question that she’ll be lip-syncing. She’s not bad, really, but she’s nowhere near Gottmik, Rosé and Symone. All three are funny, over-the-top and demonstrate strong comedic timing. Rosé gets the win, but any of them could’ve taken it. So Kandy must lip sync alongside Olivia to Cher’s “Strong Enough,” and demonstrate that she is indeed strong enough to make it to the final four.
This is an absolute blast of a lip sync, owing to a high-energy, super fun song. Kandy and Olivia interact a lot, both playfully shading each other and dancing together. Cynthia gets super into it, lip-syncing from her spot on the judging dais. And it’s actually a pretty close performance. But then Kandy pulls out a glitter pop on the exact right beat of the song, and it’s clear who’s winning. Kandy is victorious, and Olivia sashays away.
So we have our final four! Gottmik, Kandy Muse, Rosé and Symone. We don’t quite know if these are our finalists, though, owing to one more competitive episode before the reunion and finale. My guess is that we’ll have no elimination next week and a final four, but who knows? Last season’s final three was very well-received, so don’t be shocked if someone goes home next week. At the top of this episode, the queens say they feel anything could happen—and going into the final weeks of this season, I have to say I agree. May the best queen win.
Untucking our final thoughts
✨During her video chat, Scarlett Johansson’s husband and Saturday Night Live star Colin Jost pops in. He makes a joke about the skit being called “Size Queens,” and then suddenly disappears. I wrote “not this” in my notes, and I think that’s all there is to say about that.
✨Among her many great confessionals this week is Gottmik’s flawless impersonation of Olivia asking too many questions. Since Tina Burner is gone, someone has to take up the mantle of calling Olivia a secret diva, and Gottmik is here to serve!
✨Cynthia Erivo is a terrific guest judge. She’s got great notes for the queens on their performances, and as mentioned above, she’s an absolute blast in the lip sync. All the guest judges this season—Cynthia, Loni Love, Jamal Sims, Ts Madison and the iconic Nicole Byer—have really nailed it (ha!). I hope they all return, either in guest or permanent capacities.
✨Other great bits from the “Honey, I Shrunk the Drag Queens” skit: Kandy-as-Dominique says she’s not a villain; her bad behaviour was actually “my inner saboteur.” At one point, the queens run by BenDeLaCreme’s infamous white-out lipstick from All Stars 3, and Olivia yells “Look over there!”—a reference to current reigning champion Jaida Essence Hall’s political challenge catchphrase. Like I said: A very cute, reference-heavy skit.
✨Symone says her red wig on the runway is a Hayley Williams reference, and the Paramore fan in me is delighted. And honestly, how dare Michelle say she borrowed it from Tina Burner. As Kandy said once upon a time, Tina doesn’t exclusively own the fiery colour palette. Justice for Hayley!
✨When Ru asks the girls who should go home tonight, all of them say Olivia, except, of course, for Olivia. Instead, she just freezes, unable to answer the question for a good minute or so before finally saying Kandy. Cynthia brings up the moment as a major reason why Olivia should be in the bottom this week—and she’s not wrong.
✨Kandy notes she’s the first member of the former House of Aja to win a challenge on her season—though Aja won one in All Stars 3. Maybe one day I’ll compile the stats of the various drag families to appear on the show to see how they stack up. I have to imagine Bob the Drag Queen’s family would do the best on average, but maybe I’d be surprised!
✨“You have it, honey. You got it. You Gottmik!” Symone’s praise of Gottmik’s roast is adorable. God, I know I’m an L.A. girl myself so I’m biased, but I really hope an Angeleno takes home the crown this time around. Season 3 was too, too long ago.
Party! Every Friday at 4 p.m. EDT wind down at Kiki with Kevin and chat with fellow Drag Race fans during the livestream.
The next episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race airs Friday, April 9, at 8 p.m. EDT on VH1 in the U.S. and on Crave and OUTtv in Canada.
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