RuPaul's Drag Race Season 14 Episode 7 Review
Welcome back to the 7th instalment of our weekly ruviews! I am so excited to talk about this episode as it was my favourite so far, in fact, it is possibly one of my favourite drag race episodes ever! There’s so much to unpack, from the spectacular acting challenge and emotional moments to the runway category and the surprise twist! Let’s go!
Starting the episode, Jasmine wipes away Maddy’s mirror message and cements herself as a lip-sync assassin. The queens already feared landing in the bottom with Jorgeous and now they’ve got Jasmine Kennedy to worry about... I wonder if we’re going to get a Jasmine vs Jorgeous battle.
On the sofa, the queens congratulated Jorgeous on her first win but Miss Daya Betty had some controversial thoughts about the whole situation. She begins a monologue explaining how she thought not everyone put the same amount of effort and hard work into their runways, specifically implying that Jorgeous shouldn’t won last week’s episode. I can tell that Daya is beginning to let her competitive nature take over, mixed with the frustration of always being safe. That being said, I must say that I agreed with what she was saying and did feel as though Jorgeous’ runways are becoming somewhat simple and predictable.
When RuPaul walks in, he announces that the main challenge this week is a novella-inspired acting performance titled ‘The Daytona Wind’. He gives Jorgeous the power to select the roles that each queen will have and she chooses to play it fair. Jorgeous allows each queen to read through the noticeably thick script and get a feel for what character suits them best. I think this gave the queens a good chance to excel in this challenge and produce an overall amazing piece of theatre! Everyone seems happy with the role that they are going to play, which foreshadows just how spectacular the end result was.
In rehearsals, RuPaul takes the role of the director and works with each set of queens. We had three drag families, the O’Hara’s, Davenport’s and Michaels who found themselves in novella-style marriage mix up. The queens had distinct characters that fulfilled a specific purpose within the story progression, and with so many actors in one production, the queens were really challenged to stand out!
The next day in the workroom, the girls appear confident and excited to see the end result of their performance. However, Angeria seems noticeably disheartened by what she produced which opens up a conversation about her performance in the competition so far. She is an uber-talented queen that has been consistently in the top or safe each week but the fact that she stumbled this week is not a bad thing in my eyes. A good drag race contestant is not simply someone who wins many challenges, because the higher they climb, the further they fall. Angeria needed to show us her vulnerable side, and this week’s challenge did just that.
We also see Daya personally apologise to Jorgeous for making her feel like she didn’t deserve her win. Bosco mentions that at the end of the day they are in a competition, and sometimes that environment can bring out negative emotions. I think this is precisely what happened with Daya, she was frustrated for continuously placing in the bottom and slightly took it out on Jorgeous who happened to snatch a win. I’m happy to see them make up and it just goes to show that sisters fight and argue all the time, but in the end they will always love one another! Also I just love Bosco’s vibe and words of wisdom!
This brings us to our favourite portion of my reviews, the runway! Once again, I’ve carefully ranked all the looks from my favourite and honourable mentions to the safe susans and bottom feeders!
Starting off with my two favourite looks, Willow Pill and Bosco! Ms Pill is constantly at the top of my lists because I’m convinced the girl doesn’t know how to flop! Honestly! This latest wedgie look was EVERYTHING. You don’t understand, I was and still am totally obsessed. The look was so conceptual and out of the box, we’ve never seen anything like it! Willow’s mind is so innovative, inventive and forward thinking. She IS the fashion queen of the season! Coming in the second place is the lovely Bosco, I just really enjoyed the feel and execution of this look. I will admit it was on the safer side but it was delivered and presented with so much ease and presence. I really enjoyed observing Bosco in a ‘natural’ form which proves that she is indeed an extremely versatile artist.
My honourable mentions this week go to Daya and Lady Camden. Daya’s look is the definition of my cup of tea, everything she wore I would wear, 24/7. However, there was something about the look that felt off to me, and I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. I wanted to like it more than I actually did, perhaps if she would have incorporated a corset into the look and had a cinched waist I would have gagged. That being said, I love the look as a whole! Lady Camden’s look is a tricky one because on the one hand she absolutely gooped me with the reveal, but on the other hand the outfit itself was extremely bland. The staged fall into Freddie Mercury inspired look was absolutely genius and possibly my favourite reveal of any runway look. I just wish the garment had a little bit more to it!
The safe susans this week were Jasmine, Kerri and Angeria. Ms Kennedy’s look was cute and inventive, but the colour scheme just wasn’t what I normally enjoy. Kerri looked immaculate, honestly there are no critiques, but I guess I just enjoyed other looks a whole lot more. Angeria’s ensemble felt very tame and uninspired for my liking, especially when she didn’t perform at her greatest level in the acting challenge.
Unfortunately, this means that Jorgeous and Deja had my least favourite looks. Jorgeous’ look reminded me of an elevated version of the look she revealed in her lip-sync. It’s a shame but I’m not as wowed as I want to be and it’s becoming a running theme throughout the competition. I think Jorgeous is facing a similar problem to Kerri in that the looks are far too simple when compared to the concepts that queens like Willow are bringing to the stage. However, my least favourite look was definitely Deja’s outfit. I mean.... it was an animal print bodysuit with matching chaps...ground-breaking! Hah! As a performance look it absolutely fits the brief, but I would expect a little bit more from Deja at this point in time.
The actual acting challenge this week was my favourite one of any Drag Race season...I know, a very bold statement. The roles were perfectly assigned to the queens and for that we must thank Jorgeous, she really wanted what was best for each performer. This not only meant that no queens landed in the bottom, but the performance overall was a work of art. When we watched the final edit, RuPaul surprised us with the inclusion of fart noises throughout the clip, much to the queens’ confusion of course! This was a hilarious moment that had everyone in stitches. It really showed that we shouldn’t necessarily take drag too seriously and that ultimately having fun is what it’s all about. All the queens got a good edit which meant that even the underwhelming performances cough Angeria and Deja cough seemed good! Very well done to all the queens!
RuPaul also revealed that since there would be no eliminations, the top 2 queens of the week would lip-sync for the win! The first queen to be announced as a top was Lady Camden, which I felt was very justified! The second queen was Daya, which perhaps was more to do with her narrative of being safe than her actual performance. The pair lipsynced to ‘One Way or Another’ by Blondie. This was such a fun and cute lip-sync, and I agree with the winner being Lady Camden. She definitely embodied the song and gave it her all! Well done to you! Hopefully Daya can rise again and win a challenge in the next episode or so! Here’s hoping!
Catch RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 14 exclusively in the UK via the streamer of all things drag, WOW Presents Plus every Saturday, subscribe now here!
