‘RuPaul’s Drag Race UK’ Season 2, Episode 5 recap: Back in the game

In the lead-up to this week’s RuPaul’s Drag Race UK installment, I was the most excited I’ve been for a Drag Race episode in years. This was “Revenge of the Queens”-level enthusiasm for me. Not only would we be seeing the queens leave for a COVID-19-prompted hiatus, then returning seven months later to resume the season, but we’d also get a Eurovision-style challenge that serves as a sequel to one of the series’ best episodes, “Girl Group Battle Royale.”

This episode is unprecedented. Never before have we seen such a long break in the middle of filming a Drag Race season. And the only comparable hiatus, a short period taken in Season 3, went unacknowledged on the show proper. The expectations are high for the UK Season 2 queens to step up their drag and show how they’ve responded to previous critiques. As we quickly find out, some queens have even taken the time to get work done while under lockdown. A’Whora and Bimini Bon Boulash compare this return to coming back for All Stars, demonstrating an understanding that the same old stuff will not fly.

What I didn’t expect from this episode, however, was an absolutely furious RuPaul. In the judges’ critiques, Ru unleashes on the queens who clearly didn’t update their wardrobes during quarantine. He calls out one for looking too regional, and another out for wearing something off-the-rack for her girl group performance. It culminates in what is sure to be yet another famous quote from the Drag Race empire: “I don’t wanna see any fucking H&M.”

Lockdown is over, and the queens are back in action. But woe to you if you haven’t leveled up in the meantime. Ru’s got new standards, inspired by the feeling that the world around him is falling apart. And he’s clearly not going to accept anything less than the best.

What’s interesting about the second half of this season is that Ru and Michelle Visage actually shot two whole other seasons before returning to the United Kingdom. The ongoing Season 13, as well as the upcoming All Stars 6, were both filmed in Los Angeles in late summer and early fall last year. By the time production on Drag Race UK restarted, Ru had been working for quite a while—though, as he notes in his apology to the queens for getting too heated, he had quarantined for two weeks upon returning to the country.

Still, it’s clear that Ru feels like it’s the end of the world as he knows it. He even says as much in his critiques of Tia Kofi: “The world’s about to end, by the way! The world’s about to end! If there were ever a time to do your thing, it’s now.” Michelle, Graham Norton, and guest judge MNEK laugh at the line, but Ru’s eyes give away that this seems like a very real fear to him. Which: Relatable! This was shot in the fall of 2020! In the U.S., we had a presidential election that scared us shitless, a fight for a seat on the Supreme Court and a rapidly worsening novel coronavirus pandemic. I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t feel a bit like the world was coming to an end.

Speaking of the novel coronavirus: Unfortunately, Veronica Green has tested positive for it, and will not be returning to the competition. This is sad news, particularly because Veronica’s last impression on the show wasn’t a great one. A poor challenge performance and lots of boasting about how she’ll prove herself once again didn’t properly reflect what a joy she’s been. She’s got an open invitation to come back for UK Season 3 though, so we’ll hopefully have her back on screen in short order. Tia is no less gutted, however, to lose her best friend in the competition.

But with Veronica’s departure and a girl group challenge that requires an even number of dolls on the agenda, someone does need to come back. First out Joe Black, adorable fashion queen Cherry Valentine and robbed icon Asttina Mandela all return—in mascot suits, no less—to plead their cases to the current queens as to why they deserve another chance. (Ginny Lemon gets no such chance, since she chose to quit the competition in last week’s episode.) While Asttina gets votes from Bimini and A’Whora, the rest of the cast votes Joe back in, citing that she didn’t get much time to show what she can do. Asttina and Cherry walk away with some lovely parting gifts.

Joe, along with previous maxi-challenge winner Lawrence Chaney, serve as the team captains for the group music challenge, appropriately called RuRuvision. (Why not “EuRuvision”? Who knows!) Joe picks Tia, Ellie Diamond and Sister Sister for her team, while Lawrence gets Bimini, Tayce, and A’Whora. A’Whora—now living in the same flat as Tayce, the scandal—is clearly pressed to be picked last, but she’s ultimately a good sport. She’s not much of a singer, but she raps with aplomb, getting through this challenge quite ably.

In fact, all of Lawrence’s group (the United KingDolls, or UKD) acquit themselves quite well. Bimini’s the clear standout, with a killer verse and a smashing bit of individual choreography, but Tayce is close behind her. Tayce also deserves major credit for coming up with the choreo for their performance of “UK Hun,” with a bending-on-each-other move that works as their version of the pumping arms in the Frock Destroyers’ choreo from last season. Lawrence and A’Whora both do well, but in a normal week, they’d just be safe; luckily for them, the win this week is as a group, and all four get RuPeter Badges. Lawrence is now on her third, while all the others get their first. (Good thing, too: With Asttina and Veronica gone, all the queens with RuPeter Badges besides Lawrence were out!)

In last season’s girl groups challenge, it wasn’t only that the Frock Destroyers succeeded: Filth Harmony also thoroughly flopped. Banana Drama, Joe’s group, isn’t that bad by comparison. Their choreography is weaker, and a couple of the verses are inferior—particularly Joe’s. Tia’s verse is actually singled out as one of the best of the challenge overall. But a lot comes down to styling and presentation. Tia’s runway look for the “Day at the Seaside” category is supposed to be an ice cream cone, but as MNEK notes, it doesn’t really give that impression. Ellie gets high marks for her looks, but Graham questions if her seagull runway outfit is drag enough. Sister Sister runs into a brick wall, as she turns out a bag of chips (not Baga Chipz) look that either accidentally or purposefully copies A’Whora’s own take on that joke.

Joe gets the most brutal reception. While her runway look gets high marks, her free admission that her performance outfit was bought from H&M earns a cold glare from Ru. This inspires Ru to blow up on them, saying he’s flown across the pond and wants to see more from them. There’s a bit of hypocrisy going on here, as Ru had previously given a challenge win to Asttina when she was wearing an ASOS jacket. But I think Ru’s fury is very minimally related to where the look actually came from—despite the instantly meme-able line he delivers about H&M.

We’ve all responded to quarantine and lockdown in different ways. Some of us have taken up new hobbies. Some have struggled to stay connected with friends. Some have moved to new homes, desperately seeking more space both indoors and outdoors. Some have paid less attention to quarantine rules than they should have. But for Ru, it seems like lockdown has resulted in him upping his standards. The basic and the regular will no longer cut it. If the world is coming to an end, as he says, then time is short. And there’s no time for anything less than the best.

An ASOS jacket was acceptable on the Drag Race runway in a world before lockdown. Now, Ru is making his expectations clear. It’s a lot to handle, and I’m still processing the depth of Ru’s fury. I will never love the optics of someone in his position yelling at those who look up to him and his career. But on some deep, psychological level, I get it. What we accepted before our lives were upended is not what we’ll accept now. And there’s something almost cathartic in hearing him drop a few F-bombs about it along the way.

Tia and Joe land in the bottom two, and honestly, there’s not much suspense about how this is going to go. Ru loves Tia, and wants to see more from her. Joe was first out, then voted back in by her fellow contestants. She does fine in the lip sync, but Ru is never going to keep her over an also-strong Tia. Joe sashays away once more, unlikely to be shopping at H&M again any time soon.

“Girl Groups Battle Royale” is Drag Race UK’s greatest episode. This one had big shoes to fill, especially with all the external factors around it. Moving it to top eight makes it a bit busier as a challenge, and “UK Hun” is fun, but no “Break Up (Bye Bye).” Still, this is a more than worthy follow-up episode. It’s an absolutely seismic installment of Drag Race as a franchise, and feels like a point of potential real change for the series. I had no idea what to expect coming into this unprecedented episode, but Ru made clear what I should expect from now on: Nothing but the best.

Untucking our final thoughts

✨Up and Down: A’Whora, Bimini and Tayce scoring their first wins is a good sign that they’re rising in the competition. Bimini and Tayce in particular stand out this week, for their verses and choreography, respectively. Lawrence remains at the top of the pack, while a newly-remodeled Sister Sister is a bit more interesting as a character than she was before the break. I think, unfortunately, Tia is likely next to go, unless she can pull out some really impressive new drag and fast.

✨The confessional style has updated slightly for the back half of this season. While everyone is still wearing the same garb for continuity (hilarious, considering the time jump), they’re shot from a closer camera angle, one that’s much more reminiscent of the American series.

✨Speaking of continuity, Tia says she’s kept her hair the same for that very reason. Sister Sister, on the other hand? There’s truly no question about which of her confessionals are before or after the break. Lovely new teeth, Sister!

✨Lawrence gets a pretty amazing two-for-one dig on Tayce’s workroom return look and her new roommate situation: “Tayce looks a bit like Spider-Man. Fair game! I’m sure you’ve shot all your webs over A’Whora.”

✨My beloved MNEK is back! I adored him so much last season, and am thrilled he returns both as vocal coach and guest judge this season. He remains as joyful, sharp and excellent as ever. Bring him onto the American series!

✨Bimini calls herself Tayce’s “sous choreographer,” which is delightful. I’ve really come to love Bimini. She’s probably second only to Tayce among my favourites. (Tia’s up there, too, with the understanding that I don’t think she’ll last to the end of the season.)

✨The barriers are up on the main stage and the gray streak is here in Michelle’s hair! The Drag Race house style thus is fully updated to be consistent with the American series.

✨Ru says if Tia had his team working on her, she’d look a lot like him. “Can I borrow them for the next runway?” Tia asks. “Fuck no,” Ru responds.

✨So there is a scandal in Mini-Untucked over Sister and A’Whora both wearing bag of chips-inspired runway looks, but I’m not much invested in it. Sister was apparently planning on wearing something else for this category before the break, but time and money led to her doing this look. She’s very offended by A’Whora’s suggestion that she took direct inspiration from A’Whora’s own bag of chips look—which was in the room prior to the filming break—but as the judges note, A’Whora’s version of the look is better. So if Sister did plagiarize, she didn’t do a great job of it. I’m guessing she had a faint memory of it, but didn’t realize from where, and got it made during quarantine based on that. Regardless, A’Whora gets the satisfaction of having the better of the two looks.

✨Ru with this yellow hair in the workroom… A choice. (Thank god the look on the main stage is much better.)

Every Friday at 4 p.m. EST, join Xtra’s Kiki with Kevin live on Facebook, where he’ll be talking  about RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 13 and RuPaul’s Drag Race UK Season 2. And hold on to your crumpets, because Kevin will be spilling the tea!

The next episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK will be available to stream Thursday, Feb. 18, at 2 p.m. EST on WOW Presents Plus in the U.S. and OUTtv in Canada, as well as on BBC Three and the BBC’s iPlayer in the United Kingdom. Additionally, episodes are available the same day on Crave in Canada, and Fridays the week following at 8 p.m. EST on Logo in the U.S. For other countries, check World of Wonder’s streaming guide.