Last season of RuPaul’s Drag Race, the show did away with the “reunion” conceit and replaced it with a LaLaPaRuza battle, which paid off gangbusters. It was a thrilling episode, serving as redemption for Megami and a capper on Morphine’s story line. A true five-star episode. One of the best parts of it was that the show realized one of the big strengths among the season 16 cast was their lip-syncing skill set. There were a lot of high-level lip-syncers in that cast, particularly among the girls who had been sent home.
This season, we learned what happens when you apply that concept to a season where lip-syncing is not the cast’s primary strength. I’m not saying that they’re bad, but I wouldn’t say that lip syncs are what I’ll remember this season for — the best of the season was Lexi vs. Crystal, and that was mostly for Lexi, who’s in the top four and thus not eligible to compete in the tournament. I’m remembering this season for the queens’ interpersonal dynamics.
So … does it work? I’d argue yes. Those interpersonal dynamics are still on full display, lending stakes to nearly all the lip syncs. Plus, the episode still effectively functions as a story-line-ender for a lot of the queens, offering them a form of redemption — how often tonight did we hear some version of “It feels so good to hear RuPaul say I’m a winner?” That’s good storytelling.
The episode opens on the queens all entering the Werk Room together, months after the initial filming. I think the show should have filmed the top four following Suzie’s elimination, but hey, whatever. It becomes clear very quickly who the show thinks are the eliminated stars of season 17: Kori, Lydia, Suzie, and Joella. That seems approximate to me. Kori, for all that she annoyed me on the show with her flippancy, remains a remarkably talented camera hog, and she manages to scrape out two separate segments (about her relationship with Lydia and about her Cameo appearances, specifically as “Kori Toot”) before the queens even leave the full-table talk. Now that’s talent. Not afforded any real updates are Crystal, Acacia, and Lana. Given the results, that makes sense, but also: None of these queens were that good at getting camera time anyway. Arrietty apologizes to Onya.
Okay, on to what everybody is here for: the lip syncs!
Hormona vs. Lydia: The twist this season is that the first girl gets to choose if she wants to pick the song or the opponent. Most girls choose to pick the song. I don’t much love this twist, since the second girl gets no choice in the matter, but whatever. Hormona picks the song and chooses “Say Liza (Liza With a ‘Z’),” and the random pick selects Lydia. Neither queen does great, but Lydia certainly does better. She has a wig reveal into a conehead (ridiculous) and, when Hormona disrobes, she plays with Hormona’s big ol’ cape herself. The show also inserts regular shots of Suzie (who really wanted this song, duh) lip-syncing the number herself while off to the side. Very funny! Lydia wins.
Suzie vs. Joella: Suzie gets her ball picked next and, figuring she should cut her losses sans Liza, chooses to go against Joella. It’s kind of mean, but also classic Suzie to just go for the easy target. Joella picks Dua Lipa’s “Training Season,” which is classic Joella because she loves flop pop stars (hi, Katy Perry). The story of the episode, it turns out, is about Suzie (as it was all season). In real time, the audience, the queens watching, and perhaps Suzie herself all learn that Suzie has a knack for sexiness onstage, even though she’s dressed as a clown. She honestly does a great job, and she easily does away with Jo “Don’t Forget the” Ella, whose performance style is a bit ChatGPT drag queen.
Lucky vs. Acacia: Lucky Starzzz gets picked next, and she chooses to pick her own song, which ends up being Whitney Houston’s “Step by Step.” Fate then kindly grants her Acacia, who we know is not a strong lip-syncer. Lucky, notably, is dressed as a sentient basketball with huge tits, and that was pretty much all she wrote for Acacia. Ms. Forgot attempts to win attention back by doing a delayed death drop (a classic), but, again, Lucky Starzzz has titties that are basketballs. Lucky winzzz, cementing the first true “redemption” of the episode.
Kori vs. Arrietty: The bingo gods then select Arrietty, who chooses to perform P!nk’s “Blow Me (One Last Kiss).” She then gets randomly paired up with Kori, which I think was just bad luck: I could have told you that Kori King is a P!nk fan. It’s the Boston in her. The girls all think Arrietty wins the lip sync, and I get it, she does a lot, but I’m partial to Kori. Arrietty’s lip-syncing style tends toward the frantic, and, it turns out, that’s not just when she’s fighting for her life in the bottom two. Kori, meanwhile, is much more grounded, and this ombre hair looks really great on her, as opposed to the bright blondes she wore on the show. Ru picks Kori, which the girls are gagged by, but I do think it’s the right pick. Sometimes, you just don’t want that level of mania.
Lana vs. Crystal: Finally, it’s a rematch between Lana and Crystal. A lot of people think Crystal won their original face-off (I think it was a bad song and neither did great), so there’s stakes for both queens. Lana picks “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real),” by Sylvester, because she wants to have fun. It’s definitely a better lip sync than their first matchup was, but I agree with Ru that Lana won it again. Crystal just has an eternal deadness behind the eyes, which is, admittedly, an occasional issue with Lana too, but she’s having a lot more fun onstage than Crystal is, and it makes her performance match the song. The moment when Crystal can’t say her exit line is funny.
Lucky vs. Suzie: On to the semifinals. The first matchup is Lucky vs. Suzie, and Lucky gets song choice, going with “We Found Love.” Jewels points out that Lucky’s performance is the one she’d tip in the bar, which is real, but that doesn’t mean it works on TV. Her outfit is built to win exactly one (1) lip sync, which it did, but she has nothing left to do after that, and she can’t exactly switch up her performance style, since she’s still a basketball with tits. Suzie, meanwhile, sticks to simply acting the song. Her stanky leg is stupid, though. Look: It’s not a great lip sync, but Suzie wins it.
Lana vs. Lydia vs. Kori: Ugh, this is where they kinda lose me. I hate three-way lip syncs. Last season had one too, but it was during the first round, and it didn’t feel that important. But to have the penultimate lip sync be a three-way … it’s tough. The song is Charli XCX’s “360,” making it the first of presumably many songs from Brat that will appear on this show. It’s really hard to get a handle on who wins it. Ru chooses Kori: Sure! She definitely does the most during the lip sync, which means she earns a higher share of the attention — basically the only thing you can do when there are three queens on the stage. Still, I think if it were a two-queen competition, Lydia could have taken it.
Suzie vs. Kori: Finally, Suzie and Kori face off to Rosé and Bruno Mars’s “APT.” Nobody, Suzie included, really expected Suzie to make it this far, but she did it fair and square (by beating the first two outs). It’s a good lip sync! Not great, not legendary, not Morphine and Megami’s “Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now),” but really enjoyable and fun. Lots of ponying! Ultimately, though, Kori makes the choice to finally pull out a boob reveal that leaves her with a breast plate hanging off her chest that she has to constantly hold in place. I think it loses her the lip sync — while Suzie bops around the stage having fun, Kori’s a little hampered by trying to make sure nothing budges.
And so, the winner of the LaLaPaRuza is … Suzie Toot? Who’da thunk? I’m happy for Suzie — the most notable queen of the entire season gets one more check on her résumé, and the other queens all get a chance to show their goods. Nice episode! Glad I watched it. On to the finale.
