‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ Season 13, Episode 15 recap: Together, but apart

For the first seven seasons of RuPaul’s Drag Race, the week before the finale featured a special highlights episode. Later editions of this installment were called the “Countdown to the Crown,” and served as something of a recap of the season so far. They also often featured alumni from previous seasons, which was a fun way to check in on what your old favourites were up to. They could feel a bit like filler, though, which is likely why it was discarded for the shorter-than-usual Season 8. 

Then, in Season 9, the reunion became its own episode separate from the finale again (mirroring Seasons 1-3), and was moved to before the finale itself, taking over “Countdown to the Crown’s” old slot. Having a fun, feisty, in-person reunion trumped a highlight reel, and so “Countdown to the Crown” became a relic of Drag Race’s Logo past.

But this season’s reunion special, shot once again at a physical distance, is akin to “Countdown to the Crown Deluxe.” It’s largely filled with highlights, as the nine eliminated queens break down their own runs on the show—favourite moments, regrets, etc.—and answer fan questions. It also features the queens’ new, original music videos, shot specifically for this reunion. A couple queens go with original songs, while others lip sync to existing tracks, effectively giving them a chance to do what the top three queens did in last season’s finale.

So unlike “Countdown to the Crown,” the episode actually features a good bit of new content…but remarkably minimal interaction between the queens themselves. The top four at least reunite at the finale venue (after each enduring a parody of Vogue’s 73 Questions feature called “69 Questions”), but otherwise that’s it. This is a reunion insofar as the queens are all back on our TV screens, but they’re not together with each other. And so calling it a reunion—not a showcase, or something of that sort—feels like a misnomer.

The decision to hold this reunion from home is chalked up to a safety-first approach by Ru. Logistically, getting everyone to Los Angeles for the reunion was likely tricky, as the queens would all have to quarantine ahead of filming. Most of these dolls are back working once again, and after a year in physical isolation, even two weeks off could be a major hit to their income. 

Each queen gets an extended highlights package, which they narrate themselves from home, before debuting their music video. Surprisingly, there’s only one repeat lip sync song: Kahmora Hall’s pick, “Giving Him Something He Can Feel.” (Though when Jujubee and Tatianna lip-synced to the song in Season 2, they performed to the Aretha Franklin version; Kahmora chose the En Vogue one.) 

Tamisha Iman, LaLa Ri and Tina Burner all go with original songs, with Tamisha and Tina taking the traditional Drag Race approach of making the song reflective of their experience on the show. In LaLa’s case, she collaborates with Ocean Kelly on their song “Bad Bitch Tip,” and it might actually be my favourite of the three.

Everyone else picks existing songs new to Drag Race: Joey Jay goes full boy band on NSYNC’s “I Want You Back,” while Elliott With Two Ts picks a great song with Kiesza’s “Hideaway.” Denali does Blackpink’s “How You Like That” on ice skates, which is an excellent showcase of her skills. Utica’s performance of Halsey’s “You Should Be Sad” is perfectly Utica, with the queen silhouetted against a colourful light wall and trapped by a web she’s cutting herself out of. Olivia Lux goes with an “oldie but a goodie” in Mary J. Blige’s “I’m Goin’ Down,” leaning into the diva image with her moody music video.

All in all, it’s great to see the eliminated queens show us who they are one last time, but I do wonder how much time they were given to complete these. A couple of the queens clearly miss words in their performances, which strikes me as odd to leave in a pre-recorded segment. If they were short on time and scrambling to put these together, that makes more sense—and in truth, makes what they actually came up with all the more impressive. This is a creative bunch, and I’d love to see what they could do with more time.

What’s most frustrating about this episode is that very little of real consequence gets discussed. None of the controversy surrounding Elliott With Two Ts’ comments gets addressed, nor does Tamisha Iman and Kandy Muse’s fight in any substantial way. (Tamisha does note that they’ll never be friends, but they’re cool, and that’s it.) This happened last season as well, as the Sherry Pie controversy was only winked at in passing and nothing more. But the “slumber party” theme of that episode was a warning that nothing that serious would be discussed in the reunion.

It’s such a strange choice to not acknowledge any of the drama that happened this season, either on or off the show, except for a few asides by the queens themselves. Season 9’s reunion was successful because it dug deep into both the on-camera fights and the dynamics that developed while the season was airing. 

Who could forget Valentina feigning ignorance of her fans sending hateful messages to other queens when Alexis Michelle confessed that she FaceTimed Valentina in tears to ask for help with the hateful responses? Or Shea Couleé calling out Valentina for pretending to not care about social media, saying she saw Valentina paying close attention to her likes and follows while they were doing press? Or Aja and Farrah Moan calling out Valentina getting the Miss Congeniality prize, renaming it a fan favourite prize on the spot?

Since that season, the reunion episodes have felt lackluster, either because they’ve gotten too serious (Season 10, with The Vixen’s walk-out and Asia O’Hara’s tearful attempts to stand up for her sister to an angry RuPaul) or haven’t delved into anything real (like Season 12 and this season). It’s like Drag Race can’t quite find the balance between tones, and the results are increasingly off the mark.

Hope for a superior reunion (or even just an in-person reunion) will have to wait for next season; for now, we must crown a winner. Next week’s Lip Sync for the Crown battle should be an interesting one, with two queens who lip-synced repeatedly all season (Kandy and Symone), one who won her first lip sync but never had to again until the final four (Gottmik) and one who lip-synced twice and lost twice (Rosé). Finales are a different beast, since the queens have more time to prepare, but we at least have a baseline understanding of how they’ll do.

To send us off, we get one more bit from last week’s top four episode, as each of the queens answers Ru’s question: “Why do you deserve to be America’s Next Drag Superstar?” Gottmik says she’s grown up with the show, and every person who’s won has opened her mind. She wants to be the representation for others that she didn’t get herself when she was younger. Kandy also talks about representation in her speech, for young Afro-Latino boys who can look up to her. She ends her speech with a simple “Crown it.” Rosé cites her strong performance across the board all season long, and flatters Ru as someone she’s looked up to as a role model.

But it’s Symone who has the most emotional speech, citing how inspirational her own drag is and how the process of Drag Race has helped her take down her own walls. She calls herself a beautiful person in her speech, and it feels like the culmination of her arc on the show. I said last week that I am fully on board with either a Gottmik or Symone win, and I remain true to that. (Go Team Los Angeles!) But in many ways, I think this season was the story of Symone—and I would be enchanted to see the Ebony Enchantress win the crown.

Untucking our final thoughts

✨All due respect, there is absolutely no reason for this reunion episode to be two full hours, and I am now concerned that next week’s finale will be that long as well. Is it the case that the lack of Untucked means Drag Race has to fill the 30 minutes on VH1’s schedule somehow? Because I’d truly rather just get to whatever movie is airing afterward half an hour earlier. (This week, it’s Miss Congeniality!)

✨For having the worst look of the season (her look made out of bags for the ball) LaLa Ri gets the Golden Boot Award. She gives an absolutely delightful speech, and in fact, her entire presence in this reunion is a reminder of how much I love and miss her. Get her back on my TV screen as soon as possible!

✨I’ll give Tina Burner credit for actually getting into some real issues during her segment. While her attitude towards Tamisha is a little brusque, she acknowledges the critiques of her, Gottmik and Kandy Muse calling themselves “Mean Girls” while standing by it. Tina wasn’t my favourite this season, but I do appreciate that she stands up for the side of drag that’s not so sweet and can be a little bitchy and fun.

✨As much as I love seeing the final four reunite before the finale, I do not love that their reunion—the only actual, in-person reunion of the episode!—turns into Bubly sponcon.

✨For being the season’s two Lip Sync Assassins (as chosen by Ru), Denali and LaLa get a chance to Lip Sync For Your Charity and win a $10,000 donation to the organization of their choice. After lip-syncing to La Bouche’s “Be My Lover,” Denali wins the prize for the National Center for Transgender Equality, while LaLa wins a $5,000 consolation prize for the National Black Justice Coalition. It’s a lovely, charitable interlude, and a nice way to set up a rematch of the closest lip sync battle from the premiere.

✨On next week’s episode of Kiki With Kevin on Xtra’s Facebook page, we’ll have a very special guest: Writer and editor Mathew Rodriguez, a.k.a. my former co-host of The Kiki YouTube series! We’ll be chatting ahead of the finale, and it’s gonna be a gay ol’ time. Come on by next Friday at 4 p.m. EDT/1 p.m. PDT to chat!

✨Speaking of—next week may be the season finale, but we’re just getting started on Drag Race coverage at Xtra! We’ll be recapping RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under next, as well as All Stars 6 later this year. And don’t forget that there are new seasons of Canada’s Drag Race and RuPaul’s Drag Race UK set to premiere this year, too! Season 13 may be (finally!) coming to an end, but Drag Race as a franchise keeps on chugging.

The season finale of RuPaul’s Drag Race airs Friday, Apr. 23, at 8 p.m. EDT on VH1 in the U.S. and on Crave and OUTtv in Canada.