Thursday, March 20, 2014

RuPaul's Drag Race Season 6: Shade - The Rusical

After Vivacious' sad but warranted elimination last week, the Top 11 queens are back at it to battle it out for another week. For the mini-challenge this week, the girls' celebrity knowledge is put to the test as they play Female or Shemale? with Us Weekly correspondent Ian Drew. The girls are shown an extreme close-up of a celebrity and have to decide if it's a biological woman or a psychological woman (aka a drag queen). It results in quite a lot of fun as Tyra Banks is mistaken for a drag queen and Courtney Act is confused whether or not one of the women is actually a woman after being given the answer. In the end, BenDeLaCreme and Adore Delano get the most questions right.

Ru then presents the queens with their main challenge. The girls will be performing in Shade: The Rusical, a musical written by the man behind RuPaul's incredible music, Lucian Piane. As team captains, DeLa and Adore pick their teams, obviously trying to pick the girls most suited to the challenge. With Adore and Courtney on opposing teams the challenge becomes Battle of the Idols as the girls are out to prove who's the better singer. But each team is plagued with challenges. Trinity causes the most disruptions as she complains the entire time and comes off pretty bitchy. She expects everyone to help her and move at her own pace instead of sucking it up and learning like the rest of the girls.

Bianca Del Rio
In Act 1, Bianca played one of the glamour queens, and while it wasn't a huge part, she stood out and was infinitely more polished than Trinity. Her runway look was once again perfect. Honestly, I'll be surprised when Ru throws her a challenge that she can't accomplish with flying colors. She's the one to beat at this point with her sharp wit, her polished aesthetic and her intelligence that shatters everyone else's.

Trinity K. Bonet
Trinity is doing nothing for me and is once again getting on my nerves. I didn't notice it until now but she is 100% Tyra from Season 2 reincarnated. Ugh, like we needed another one of her. If she has to do anything other than look beautiful she throws a fit. I hope Ru gets rid of her soon.

Darienne Lake
Darienne played one of the comedy queens in Act 1, and she surprisingly got lost. I was expecting her to camp it up and shine, but she faded away. I was really surprised to see that happen. However, on the runway she turned it out and once again had the best painted mug on the main stage.

Gia Gunn
Gia played a comedy queen alongside Darienne, and I hate to say it, but she was actually funny and stood out. I was surprised that she showed some diversity, even if her singing voice is like nails on a chalkboard. As always, on the runway she pulled out her fish look and didn't get read for it.

BenDeLaCreme
DeLa is proving to be a major player at this point, and I hope she can keep it up because I'm in love with her. She played that narrator character in Act 1 and was perfection. Her character was one of the most fully-realized ones on stage and her look was perfect. Her runway wasn't anything spectacular, but with a performance like that she didn't have anything to worry about.

Courtney Act
Playing Penny, the lead, was a lot of pressure but she owned it. Her voice may not be as strong as Adore's but she's well-rounded and polished which shows. She played up the camp and it looked like she'd been on Broadway for years. Her runway was of course gorgeous as she came out pretty in pink.

Laganja Estranja
Laganja's role was seriously underplayed again this week which was sad to see, but I think after this week's Untucked she'll be taking things up a notch and giving us what we've been waiting for. She unfortunately got lost in her role in the musical, but her runway was amazing. She gave us one of her more mature looks which was nice to see.

April Carrión
April is a doll and such a cute boy, but this week she let the challenge get to her. She played a big girl but simply padded herself instead of putting in the work to develop the big girl attitude. She was simply atrocious in the musical. Her runway was gorgeous and it was nice to finally get a chance to see her do glamour though.

Joslyn Fox
I have to admit that Joslyn actually made an impression on me this week. She's starting to develop a personality and be quite funny. Her role as the "butch queen" in the musical was just okay, but she got lost like Laganja. Her runway though was gorgeous in her purple gown. I might have gone with different hair but that's just my opinion.

Milk
Milk played the narrator in Act 2, and I quite enjoyed it. She didn't do it as good as DeLa, but she made it her own. She's still not committing 100% to every challenge which is what I think is missing from her. Hopefully Ru will light a fire under her to give her a firm nudge. I loved her runway though coming out with quite a large baby bump in her club kid aesthetic. Say what you will, but I thought it was fabulous.

Adore Delano
Adore almost stole the show as Penny-gone bad. Her voice is stellar and she has the stage presence, but she just isn't polished. She's rough around the edges which is something I think Ru likes about her because it means she can blossom throughout the competition and be the dark horse. Her runway I didn't like because once again it was a mermaid dress, and without being cinched it threw off the proportions. Step it up, Adore!
Courtney was the obvious winner of the challenge so when Ru called it it was no surprise. Rightfully, Trinity and April fell into the Bottom Two. I, personally, thought the Lip Sync for Your Life was too close to call just like last week, but in the end April was told to sashay away. Next week on Drag Race the girls will be competing in the legendary Snatch Game!
Untucked was full of tears and emotions. Laganja received a video message from her mother and father which was beautiful and a tear-jerker. But things got heated when Bianca and the other girls seized the opportunity to talk about themselves and make light of the situation. Laganja, understandably, got pissed off and went on a tirade which felt forced and melodramatic. But she made her point, and I think this is the kick in the butt she needed to up her competition and show the judges how sickening I know her to be.

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