Boxxa Vine

Staff

Writer

@BoxxaVine

It was double trouble for the top eight this week, with two episodes in one night!

A post Milk Drag Race continues this week with a little less lactose but a lot more drama. We’re down to the top eight now (BenDeLaCreme, Darienne Lake, Adore Delano, Laganja Estranja, Joslyn Fox, Trinity K. Bonet, and Bianca Del Rio) and people’s personalities really start blossoming, or in some cases, wilting.

First we have a mini challenge of donning and decorating some extra long nails and stroking fruits and vegetables for Michelle Obama. Today I learned peanuts are fruits. That’s all I got out of the mini because of course Alyssa Edwards’ drag daughter (Laganja) would win a challenge about nails.

Main challenge time and this week it’s a commercial for RuPaul’s new line of makeup with Color Evolution called Glamazon. The girls are split into duos chosen by Ru.

Team Mean Gurls: Adore and Laganja

Adore goes right into her work on the commercial and seems to be held back by Laganja straight away. Cue the water works…oh wait not yet, but there will be tears eventually. On set Adore excels and pulls Laganja along as she keeps getting read by the judges for her voice, lines, and general lack of star quality this week.

Team MILFs: Courtney and Joslyn

Drama alert: Courtney starts to show some new colors as she constantly reads Joslyn the house down. If this were a movie Courtney would be the house in The Wizard of Oz squashing the witch aka Joslyn’s hopes and dreams. Some missed comedy gold and lots of disconnection make up their performance this week. The synergy is dead between them, as Courtney gets shadier and shadier towards Joslyn.

Team Old Bitter Bettys: Darienne and Ben

Someone needs a trip to the chiropractor because shit is getting tense up in here. Right off we get Darienne all but throwing Ben under the bus as they talk to Ru in the workroom. The girls go for comedy, but in the end, the only punch lines that land are the ones Darienne says about how she feels Ben is inadequate.

Team Werking Girlz: Bianca and Trinity

What is this? Trinity feels out of her element, that’s a shocker. But the real shocker is that she pulls through and really nails the performance. They have the comedy at the same time they sell the product. I can smell a win, or a bitter defeat in the air. Or it may just be RuPaul’s new fragrance Glamazon, now available in stores.

Runway: Black and White

Bianca and Trinity work swimmingly together and they float down the runway with style, grace, and good hair. Ranking: High.

Adore and Laganja walk the runway and Adore gives us teen Cruella De Vil going to the pet store while Laganja serves messy undead mime. Ranking: Winner.

Courtney and Joslyn have tension on the runway with Joslyn brining up how Courtney likes to refer to her as the “low rent version of Courtney Act” as they both serve some tuxedo realness. Ranking: Low.

Darienna and Ben are decent on the runway but their lack of team work shows in their performance and leave them fighting to keep their spot in the competition. Ranking: Bottom Two.

After a grueling and stunning performance Ru decides that Darienne and Ben will both stay in the competition.

Winner, winner, no elimination for dinner… but there’s still another episode to go.

Episode 8

After non-elimination in episode 7, we have the girls getting right back into the shade of it all. Courtney voices that if BenDeLaCreme had been sent home, she would have thought it was the wrong decision, and that Laganja Estranja and Adore Delano’s win wasn’t correct either. Laganja Estranja right off calls Adore Delano out on her “80s sweater and a skirt from Forever 21” and how much she put into her look. Girl, I would put that look in the top 5 worst looks on the runway ever if not the worst overall. Joslyn Fox lets out her emotions about Courtney Act treating her badly and Courtney comes back with back handed compliments and a feeling that she’s better then everyone.

The mini challenge has the girls dragging up their chins and lip-syncing upside down and on their backs, with Joslyn winning.

#DragQueensOfComedy is the name of the game this week and Joslyn gets to pick the order everyone gets to go in. Surprise, the audience will be mainly filled with senior citizens. Dun, dun, dun. Cue the buffet and bad driving jokes.

The shade is so strong in the workroom now that I’m pretty sure it may have caused Darienne’s white hair, so little light it sucked out all the color. Most of the girls voice, especially Joslyn, that this challenge is not their “cup of soup” and make it seem like this whole challenge may flat line… except Bianca Del Rio, who was, of course, born for this challenge. 

Darienne

: Does a damn good job but goes with the old faithful big girl jokes; I especially hated the “round is a shape” generic pun. But she has a great stage presence and comic timing in the challenge. Ranking: High.

Courtney

: Another queen who goes straight for the obvious jokes; Australia, being fish, and she sings a song about mean gays in CA. Hopefully the song won’t hit iTunes. Ranking: Safe.

Adore

: Much like Detox’s roast performance, Adore relies too much on her foul mouth instead of her normal charismatic and funny self. Easy Hispanic jokes, and an “it’s my first time” cop out leave me thinking Adore is A-bore this week. Ranking: Safe

Ben

: It’s like the energizer bunny did about an eight ball of coke and went on a rant. Someone in the crowd says exactly what everyone is thinking but no one should ever do, loudly heckle a life performer. Cue the hook. Ranking: Low.

Laganja

: “Yas mama werk it while you slay it mama”. That’s about all I understood of Laganja’s performance this week. Who would have guessed she would have gone right for the pot puns. Cue the forced applause. Ranking: Bottom Two.

Trinity

: We have officially watched a phoenix rise from the ashes these past two episodes. Trinity has finally come into her own and proven she deserves to be in this competition. A strong running story and stream of jokes have me wondering why she wasn’t like this from the start. Ranking: High.

Joslyn:

A great entrance joke and then downhill from there. Not much to say besides that. As the person that picked the line up, she should have put Laganja before her because anyone could have topped Laganja’s performance. Not that I believe Joslyn is usually the one topping anyone.

Bianca

: She came, she saw, she conquered. Time after time Bianca has proven just how much of a master comedienne she really is. Not a dull moment, a missed joke, or a single bad joke. Ranking: Winner.

Main Stage Critiques:

Adore sheds a tear or two because she feels she’s letting down the judges, but I think she’s just staging vulnerability to make sure they see is really trying. Ben gets read for his style from Santino and her constant wall that is her character holding her back from being seen truly by Michelle. Laganja gets read the house down in any and every way possible. Guess what? Laganja cries once again, then goes into the Untucked Lounge and cries even more as she has a breakdown and sobs until she storms out of the room to calm herself down. Ru talks about how when you put on a character in drag there becomes a disconnect between genuine emotion and a sense of presentation. Trinity gets the praise she deserves, Joslyn gets read for the running order she made and her lack of comedy, and Bianca gets told what we’re all thinking, that she killed it.

Joslyn and Laganja bring the heat in the lip sync with a jaw dropping synchronized jumping split and Joslyn ends up making Laganja become LaGONEja and Joslyn lives to see another week.

Catch RuPaul’s Drag Race Mondays at 10/9c on Logo, and  make sure you keep fully up to date with PopWrapped’s weekly recaps.

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