SPOILER ALERT: This article contains details about episode 14 of RuPaul’s Drag Race.
If you thought Salina was pressed and plucked about being eliminated, then you didn’t see the extravaganza of self-pitiness that Loosey had when she was to sashay away last week.
Life moves on and we are down to only four queens! It seems that it was just yesterday we were complaining about those one-hour episodes and worrying about Amethyst being in the bottom yet again.
Even though she seemed irate during her exit interview last week, her lipstick message seems supportive of her sisters. Luxx really doesn’t have remorse about sending her home as she says, “When you play a dirty game sometimes you get dirty results” adding that Loosey’s strategy for throwing Luxx off last week with the makeover competition didn’t work out.” (Reminder: Luxx thinks that Loosey didn’t give her the only Black teacher to makeover as a way to make her lose. During Untucked, Loosey more or less confirmed this).
The queens kiki and squeal as they realize they are the top four – but with the excitement, the claws come out because each and every one of these queens are ravenous for the crown.
The next day in the Werk Room, the queens enter and do a Charlie’s Angels pose as the top four. During Mistress’s confessional, she gets the signature line we hear every season: “I think the top four is exactly what I envisioned from the jump.”
Ru pops up on the screen to give a cryptic message about the finale before he walks in to let the queens know this week’s maxi-challenge: a collaboration on a remix of Ru’s song “Blame It On The Edit” as well as a music video.
I already know Sasha is going to serve because as she says in her confessional, “This is what I do!”
Ru also let’s them know that each queen will have a signature Tic-Tac conversation with him and Michelle Visage.
But wait… there’s one more gag: Ru says that only three of the queens will move on to the finale. Not four, not five, not six – but three. Luxx reminds us that there hasn’t been a final three since season 8.
I can’t wait to see how this turns out.
The queens sit down to write their own lyrics to Ru’s “Blame It On The Edit”. Sasha and Luxx feel very comfortable with writing their lyrics. Anetra is going to lean into her vogueing skills when it comes to her lyrics and Mistress says she is “Ready to cut up”… whatever that means.
As the queens work away, it’s clear that Luxx is confident in her Video Vixen skills as well as her songwriting skills. So much that she finds time to take a nap a la Tyra Sanchez. In Mistress’s confessional, says that Luxx’s overconfidence can be good and bad. “All it takes is one slip-up and you’re gone!”
It’s Tic-Tac Chat time! First up is Sasha.
“Welcome to the Sasha Colby meet and greet!” Michelle Visage says as Sasha walks in.
Ru and Michelle talk to Sasha about her incredible journey as a drag queen and how much she worked to get where she is today. She worked with some of the most iconic queens in the game.
The conversation turns to Sasha talking about her own inner-struggle during the competition. She felt that as she won challenges, she felt like the other queens wouldn’t like her. She felt guilty for winning and was willing to “let go of her personal triumphs” just so she could be liked by everyone.
As Sasha wondered why she was like this, she finally realized that it was because she was always looking for acceptance – specifically from her mother. Sasha says approval is something that her mother will never give her. In turn, thhe validation is something that she seeks with pageants and even her maxi-challenge wins.
Sasha got emotional when she further dove into this saying a lot it came to light when her father, at 80 hung himself. “He was such a good man,” Sasha said in tears during the confessional. “He was my biggest ally. That was the hardest thing I had to deal with.”
Her father ended up leaving her everything. Sasha said as the queer or “mahu” of generational land, she felt that it was her father’s seal of approval. It made her focus on this “what is the meaning of life?” journey.
Anetra is up next and from the jump, we learn that she is a little reserved outside of drag because of her Mormon upbringing. As a result, she created Anetra to help her express herself.
Michelle immediately shifts gears to Anetra’s already iconic lip sync against Marcia. They gush and Michelle admits that it was her favorite lip sync of all time.
Before Anetra leaves, Ru and Michelle praise her dancing, vogueing skills, and “resting bitch face” fierceness. But most of all, they love how Anetra has come out of her shell.
Mistress takes the hot seat and Michelle immediately asks her why she is so outspoken. We learn that Mistress wasn’t allowed to be so outspoken when she was younger. Now that she’s older she doesn’t like holding things in because it’s healthier for her to get things out in the open.
We’ve definitely learned that lots of people were not fond of Mistress’s outspokenness. Mainly Loosey. Mistress admits this to Ru and Michelle and points out that Loosey would say the same kind of things that she would say but behind the cameras, but wouldn’t get as much hate as Mistress. This is why Mistress called her out for being fake. “If you’re gonna be a bitch, just be a bitch!” declares Mistress.
We get to share a non-shady moment with Mistress. She shares her hopes, her dreams, and her love for her drag mom Chevelle Brooks. like vulnerable Mistress, who tells Ru and Michelle she’s in her “Top 3 Era.”
As Luxx walks in, Michelle and Ru love her denim number, which is one of the many planned outfits she had for her time on Drag Race. Yes, you heard that right. Luxx tells Ru that all her outfits are planned.
“Any opportunity to be on the grand stage of the world, you want to look your best,” Luxx says as if she is about to give another TED talk.
“That’s absolutely right!” agrees Ru.
We learn a lot about Luxx during this chat – and all of it makes sense. This Jersey girl went to the Cicely L. Tyson Community School of Performing and Fine Arts which explains Luxx’s performing arts school unapologetic and super-intentional demeanor and presentation. I love it – nay – I Luxx it!
It’s also very reassuring and absolutely incredible that Luxx’s parents taught her to be confident. Luxx are supportive of her and was raised to think highly of herself and tackle situations head first. “They would always taught me to be a leader, not a follower and you can be proud of yourself and your accomplishments,” Luxx says during her confessional.
“It’s very important for Black queer people to be very confident because there is always gonna be someone to say we shouldn’t be,” she adds.
It’s music video day! The queens are in full slutty space drag on what looks like the set of Michael and Janet Jackson’s “Scream” music video – but it’s the set for their “Blame It On The Edit” video.
Anetra is a red crystalline goddess while Luxx is giving XXXenomorph. Mistress is serving pageant space queen realness while Sasha is this elevated and somehow sexier version of Barb Wire.
Miguel Zarate is there to teach them the choreography while Michelle is there to make sure the queens are doing what they’re supposed to do. In this case, Miguel wants them to give “Sci-fi hood girl realness.”
From the jump, Mistress is struggling with the choreo. She said she is not making excuses but her outfit is restricting. Sasha points out during her confessional – with no shade intended – that Mistress is saying that so it can buy her some time to learn the choreo.
Sasha is eating this choreo up and looks unbelievably sexy and Luxx is slaying as well. It seems like Anetra is not on her game, but out of all of them, it feels like Mistress is on a downward spiral. She is not performing her best.
As they continue to rehearse, Michelle drops a bomb: they are about to shoot the video right NOW. The queens are gagged.
Up first to shoot their scenes are Anetra and Luxx – and Anetra is looking rough. Even in the confessional she admits that she doesn’t have the choreography down. Luxx is doing well as expected while Anetra is playing catch up.
After Luxx loses a white nail on an all white set (only to have it be found in her corset), they do another take and it seems like Anetra did good – not great – but good. Luxx is confident that she did well, obviously.
As Sasha and Mistress step on to set, we already know who’s in trouble. The pair perform and as Luxx and Anetra question if they are lesbians due to Sasha’s sexiness, we notice that Mistress is all up in her head.
During a break Michelle lights a fire underneath Mistress asking her, “Are you gonna give it to these bitches, or you gonna fight for it?”
Mistress’s performance is a massive improvement in the last take, but I think she’s still in trouble.
It’s elimination day! The queens are getting ready in the Werk Room for the last runway and sharing their first impressions of each other. It seriously feels like their entrance into the Werk Room was decades ago.
It actually becomes a lovefest between the last four queens. They admit some of their first impressions were a little skewed, but ultimately they said exactly what they have been portrayed as throughout the entire season. Mistress is shady, petty and keeps it 100 – but still has a heart. Sasha is a legendary icon with the utmost humility. Luxx is confident, fierce and has a clear vision of who she is and who she wants to be. Anetra is a silent assassin of a queen with skills to pay those bills.
Ru walks the runway in a devastatingly beautiful armored gown with a slit all the way up to there. She welcomes judges Michelle and Ross Mathews with no guest because as with all final mainstage, it’s just family.
Kicking off this week’s runway category of “Drag Excellence” is Anetra – and excellence it was indeed. This blue number is a gorgeous Flash Gordon intersection of glamor and anime – “glamine”! Luxx gives a classic, elegant look – the only way Luxx can do. It’s an exquisite white gown. Sasha is just breathtaking. The Hawaiian eleganza is out of control. Lastly, Mistress shows us her glamazon era – and the cheetah print beaded gown is a moment.
Now, it’s time for the premiere of their music video, “Blame It On The Edit”. In a word, it’s crystal clear who is going to be in the bottom two. Even so, all queens slayed – but two of them just did better. Luxx is a theater kid so she ate it all up – as did Sasha, who was otherworldly and utterly mesmerizing in the video. Anetra was good and as was Mistress… but good isn’t enough.
All the queens are praised for their performances and their looks this week. In addition, the queens get an overall season critique. Again, this is the time of the season when it’s more of a lovefest. As cheesy as it may sound, they’ve all proven themselves enough to all be winners.
Ru tells them that they are all “anointed” and to remember this moment on stage.
But alas, only three can move on to the finale. After the queens have the emotionally-driven signature “What would you say to your younger self?” moment, some tears… lots of tears… and the judges’ tough deliberation, we find out that Sasha is this week’s winner and the first to move on to the finale. The second person going to the finale is… Luxx which leaves Mistress and Anetra in the bottom two.
You can feel that intensity in the air because it really seems like Ru doesn’t want either of them to go home – but this is the game and it must be played just and fairly.
Mistress and Anetra lip sync to “When Love Takes Over” by David Guetta featuring Kelly Rowland and each of them do as expected. It’s not clear who will win this, but my guess is Anetra. When the lip sync is done, Ru says she has made a decision. As soon as the words, “For the first time this season…” I already knew that it was going to be a double shantay.
Yes, folks, we have ourselves a fablous top four: Sasha, Luxx, Mistress, and Anetra.
Loosey must be furious.