The remaining queens give their best business seminars (with a comedy twist) to a live audience. Comedian Joel Kim Booster is a guest judge…
Last week we luckily didn’t have to say goodbye to any of our queens after a music challenge. In a change of events the top two queens lip synced for the win, so Morphine and Sapphira took to the stage and gave us a stunning performance to a Meghan Trainor song. In another twist, this season’s HBIC Plane Jane elected to give her immunity potion to Nymphia Wind instead of using it on herself before it expired. This week the queens will have to dust off their comedy hats once again when they give funny business seminars that I’m sure won’t lack a number of innuendos and double entendres. Let’s get into it!
This week’s episode begins in the werk room following the winner’s lip sync. Although the queens are feeling relieved none of them were on the chopping block for the week, they can’t help but feel like the werk room is feeling a bit crowded. Over on the couches the queens congratulate Sapphira on her second win and Morphine jokingly picks a fight with Sapphira but in confessionals she does say she’s disappointed that she didn’t get a win. Plane explains she gave it to Nymphia because she genuinely enjoys her drag and her friendship. Dawn and Q bring up that Plane was in fact in the bottom three last week which Plane is arguing with. As they continue to egg Plane on she unleashes on Dawn and reads her to filth. They want to see Plane flop… but will that happen in the competition? Tensions are getting high in the werk room as the finale gets closer, who will soar to new heights this week?
It’s a new day in the werk room and there are still seven of them but the queens are feeling ready to take on another challenge. Nymphia and Mhi’ya throw shade in a literal whisper before Ru interrupts the kiki. He tells them that drag is a sisterhood and he wants to see how well they know each other and themselves. For this week’s mini challenge they’ll be playing Spill the Tea. Ru will ask a simple question about the group and they’ll get to cast their vote. The queens with the majority of the votes will win $100 per question. After some funny questions Ru announces that the winner of the challenge is Sapphira but everybody will get to keep the cash they won. Ru then tells the queens that this week is drag awareness month. They’ll need to come up with silly and sickening drag employee seminars. They’ll be working in teams. Q and Plane are the first, Mhi’ya and Dawn are the second, Nymphia, Sapphira, and Morphine are the final group.
They split up into their groups and start workshopping ideas for their presentations. Dawn is concerned Mhi’ya’s delivery will be too quiet to get the jokes across to the audience. Morphine, Sapphira, and Nymphia are off to a good start even though Morphine has no idea what a seminar is and to absolutely nobody’s surprise, Nymphia is having a nervous breakdown over presenting in front of an audience. Plane and Q are feeling confident about their abilities to present, mainly because Plane has experience on trying to sell drag in a PowerPoint presentation. Michelle enters the room to check on the girls and she’s brought comedian/actor Joel Kim Booster! They workshop their ideas and jokes with Michelle and Joel. Q and Plane are both feeling good about their jokes and chemistry and are going into this challenge with high hopes and a lot of delusion. Mhi’ya and Dawn have a solid idea but there’s a lot of room for it to go south. The trio is last and they have a good foundation but with an extra person in their group, it’ll be easy for one of them to get lost in the background. Michelle then tells the group that they’ll be making their presentation in front of a live audience. On the runway the category will be “Flashback: DragCon 1980”.
It’s elimination day and some of the queens are feeling extra nervous about their presentations but Q and Plane are calm, cool, and collected. Nymphia is trying her best to be excited and ready but she’s having a hard time getting her head in the game. Mhi’ya is also feeling nervous about getting on stage. Dawn knows her stuff but she’s worried Mhi’ya’s nerves will pull her down. Q reveals her runway look is a tribute to the generation of queer people lost to the AIDS Epidemic in the ‘80s. Q also reveals she’s HIV positive and Plane comforts her through a tearful speech about her experiences. Out on the runway Ru introduces this week’s judges Michelle, Ross, and this week’s extra special guest, Joel Kim Booster. The first group to present is Plane Jane and Q. Their presentation on Drag Herstory. It starts with a smart gag that loosens everyone up and gets them to laugh immediately. They get a lot of laughs from the judges and audience and they’ll be a tough act to follow. Dawn and Mhi’ya are next with their presentation on how to protect yourself from drag queens at the office and it starts strong but Mhi’ya is reading her cards a lot and stumbling over her lines which starts to derail the performance at the midway point. It still gets some laughs from the audience and judges. The trio is the final group to go and their presentation on how to identify if you’re a drag queen starts strong with Sapphira taking the spotlight and even though slips up and stumbles over a few of her lines, she recovers and gets a laugh. Nymphia also does a solid job with her part. Morphine has the spirit but she’s definitely the weakest of the group.
Following the presentation the queens step onto the runway in their best ‘80’s lewks. After the runway, Ru tells them they’ll be judged individually. Critiques start with Plane and Michelle loves her runway look. Joel really enjoyed their presentation and said it had the most jokes of all of them. Ross commends them on reeling their energy back together. Ross loves Q’s jokes and Joel said her timing was fantastic. Michelle loves her runway and Ru even comments on how much she loves it. Q tells the judges about her HIV diagnosis and hopes to be inspiring with her truth. Michelle tells Dawn she doesn’t think her outfit is ‘80s enough but Ru disagrees and says she loves it. Ross and Joel tell her they could tell she was doing the heavy lifting in her presentation. Michelle likes Mhi’ya’s hair and makeup but says she should have corseted. Ross told her the presentation was a stumble for her. Michelle loves Sapphira’s runway and Ru says it’s “fucking everything”. Ross tells her she had the goods to deliver but the presentation wasn’t as strong as it could be but they all compliment her on her stage presence and recovery. Michelle calls Morphine’s look “deflated Dolly Parton” and tells her she was struggling to keep up with her group members and her calling out her own flub was a major misstep. Finally, all of the judges love Nymphia’s look, Joel thanks her for bringing Asian excellence to the show. All of the judges also liked her role in the presentation and say she took a risk with the accent but it really paid off for her.
Following the deliberation Ru announces Sapphira is the winner of this week’s challenge (with Nymphia coming in second). Q, Plane, and Dawn are all safe for the week. That means that Mhi’ya and Morphine are the bottom two of the week and both up for elimination. It’s the battle of the Miami queens and they’re lip syncing for their lives to Dim All the Lights by Donna Summer. Both of them are giving passion and Mhi’ya throws the train of her dress over Morphine’s face. This is Mhi’ya’s fourth time in the bottom and she’s serving the flips that have managed to save her in the past but Morphine is giving her a run for her money.
After a high-energy performance Ru decides Morphine will get to stay in the competition which means it’s unfortunately the end of the line for Miss Mhi’ya Iman Le’Paige.
Next week on Drag Race: The final six take on an interior design challenge, a strong queen doesn’t serve hard enough, and Q takes her complaints on losing the maxi right to Sapphira.
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