RuPaul drag race recap, season 13, episode 13

Ladies, we almost made it. We are at the end of season 13 and nothing can stop us from crawling over the finish line for the grand finale. No, not even Colin Jost. Although this week’s performance challenge is about shrinking, the episode itself is, ironically, all about growth. (Also, don’t tell me that irony isn’t that. I don’t care!) Without further ado, let’s talk about each of our five adorable queens.

On the one hand, we have the producers of the season: Gottmik and Rosé. Gottmik entered this season, as she herself admitted, hiding behind her characteristic makeup. A few weeks ago, Gottmik explained that while drag was a powerful creative outlet for her, the idea of ​​making a “female personification” caused her a considerable amount of dysphoria. So, to combat this feeling, she adopted her characteristic white clown face. But over the course of the season, Gottmik realized that her drag had much more depth than she allowed herself to explore. She arrived as a fashion girl and, over 13 episodes, she became a baked girl, an improv girl, a snatch game girl and even a Russian bot dancer. The competition has allowed Gottmik to thrive and is a real pleasure to watch. Gottmik has not yet accumulated the trophies that Symone has this season, but she is still a force and this episode is no exception. Gottmik exposes his Paris Hilton vocal fry for a last breath and uses it to serve a totally fun performance in this long acting skit. His Oscar-worthy scene comes from his painful but sexy tickle fight with a fake giant cat’s paw. (I love it when I can type phrases like that.) But her most iconic moment in this episode is her ode to the sundial guy from the Hercules movie on the catwalk. It is exaggerated, well executed and, as always, impressive. Judges love her, we love her, and Gottmik makes it to the top four in an enviable position.

Then we have Rosé, who also had great weeks. When she first entered this competition, the Drag Race the fan base seemed to think that Rosé was all bravado and unbalanced pirouettes (which can be bizarre for New York drag fans, who know her as the silly drunk queen with unbalanced pirouettes). Rosé attributes this mentality to the fear of being seen by fans online. (Why ?? We are so kind!) But as soon as she started to get rid of anxiety and destroy that perfectionist exterior, we started to see a softer Rosé. As she says so eloquently: “Bitch! I’m just having fun right now. ”In a way, this episode is the culmination of that journey. It is notoriously easy to lose the plot in these long Drag Race performance challenges. Between complicated and high-concept scripts and a cast full of drag queens trying to outshine each other, the entertainment value of the play as a whole tends to suffer. For this reason, it is refreshing to see Rosé armoring this BFA by the forces of good, choosing not to be a scene stealer or chew the scenery, and act in the service of the outline itself. It is worth it for her, of course, and she claims her second win of the season, entering the episode of the first four with perhaps the greatest momentum of any other queen.

If Rosé and Gottmik are the producers of the season, that makes Symone and Kandy … the showers. (I’m sorry.) Kandy entered this season as a hilarious, confident and chatty diva, and Kandy ends this season … a hilarious, confident and chatty diva. But this is not necessarily a bad thing! Kandy’s reputation as the charismatic incendiary of Season 13 earned him praise for his comedy, for his ability to interpret Olivia and Denali as dirt on the catwalk, and even earned him a victory in the challenge. But as much fun as it was, this consistency is a double-edged sword. Just like most swords. When a challenge does not require Kandy Muse personality or the judges are simply not vibrating with it, Kandy falls and falls Difficult. Unfortunately, today’s episode falls into the latter category. Kandy historically is not afraid to push to the part she wants in a challenge, and she usually has a good eye for it. But in today’s challenge, Kandy pushes for the manic villain. It is a heavy plot role, and it does not play Kandy’s strengths at all as an improvised scene thief. The judges are disappointed and drag her with special ferocity to her track (which I didn’t mind so much, just for the record). Of course, a little criticism doesn’t even come close to breaking Kandy’s spirit, and she claims a decisive victory in her third lip sync of the season, officially earning a place in the top four.

Next up, Symone, another queen who hasn’t seen much growth this season. So, again, where is there to “grow” when she started the season with two victories in challenges and clues that made headlines? However, Symone’s Achilles’ heel remains his “internal saboteur” (a French term that, of course, means “broken carb”). Symone rarely falters, but when she does, it is always the result of growing negative self-talk that causes her to get in her way. Humor! So tonight’s episode was completely untrue. Before the catwalk, Symone has a truly painful and vulnerable moment in the confessional chair, where she explains how much she wants to do well and make the House of Avalon proud. As he moves, he also awakens unpleasant flashbacks from the last episode, where a similar breakdown resulted in Symone’s lip sync to save his life. Fortunately, Symone’s talent won this week’s day (as it usually does), and she really ended up with some of the evening’s biggest accolades. My blood pressure has not yet recovered, but I can say that I am relieved!

And finally, Olivia. Not a producer, not exactly a shower, but more like … an effervescent. On the catwalk, Symone exposes the narrative as clear as the day: “Olivia has more growth to do”. Olivia peaked at the beginning when she voiced Rosé at the premiere, then claiming two consecutive wins for the discomentary and the restart of Bossy Rossy. (I still disagree with the latter, but I digress.) Since then, it has been downhill for Olivia. She has had negative reviews in almost every episode since her last victory, and tonight marks her second foray into the last two places in three weeks. Drag Race it’s a marathon, not a sprint, and it seems that Olivia didn’t have the stamina or experience to keep up with the pace when the competition was reduced to that group of veteran queens. The judges are starting to sound like a broken record when it comes to Olivia, explaining that her positivity shtick isn’t really giving her what she thinks it is, and it’s time to get out of that box. But this time it is too late. Olivia gives an admirable lip sync this week in Cher’s “Strong Enough”, but she was overtaken by Kandy, and so her journey to the crown ends here.

First four! First four! After three consecutive months Drag Race, finally we have a well-formed queen quartet. Personally, I will be shouting #TeamSymone from the rooftops for the next two weeks and I encourage you all to join me. See you soon!