The season of RuPaul’s Drag Race gave us some truly memorable moments.

This season featured a two part introduction where we meet 8 queens in the first episode and the other 8 in the second.

• Irene DuBois: Irene is a self proclaimed alien queen, and a drag sister to Bosco from Season 14. She is confident, kooky, and more than a little bit shady. She looks like if Bosco was kidnapped by E.T., and I’m kind of living for it. 
• Luxx Noir London: She is so confident that, on anyone else, it would seem delusional, but she sells it. She immediately gets into a fight with Irene over whether her wig was 40 inches or not. All and all, she is stunning, endearing, and that wig was not 40 inches.
• Aura Mayari: Aura seemed okay coming in; her outfit was fine and her makeup was on point, but her wig was so far off the point it looked like she’d never even seen hair before. It is both too far back and too far forward at the same time and I’m not sure how that is possible. Her wig was not 40 inches long, but it was 40 inches down her forehead.
• Marcia Marcia Marcia: Marcia Marcia Marcia is cute. She looks like drag Barbie. Her face is not quite stamped for the gods; it’s more stamped for going to Starbucks on a Wednesday. She basically had on chapstick, eyeliner, and nothing else. Despite that, she seemed sweet, and managed to not start wig-gate within the first five seconds of the show.
• Anetra: She didn’t have the strongest personality coming in, but she did have a strong look. She wore a bright yellow helmet-headdress covered in spikes that could easily take out someone’s eye, but we’re glad she didn’t because they wouldn’t have seen her look.
• Malaysia Babydoll Foxx: Her entrance look is a cute, fox inspired beaded gown, the first of MANY beaded gowns to come. She is definitely a pageant girl at heart, and she looks like it. She does fade into the background, and that almost nullifies all her talent because we barely notice it.
• Princess Poppy: Her entrance look was fine, but it was nothing to remember. Her entrance line was “I’m homo…phobic.”. It was funny enough, it had been done before, but I geuss he was the first to say it on Drag Race, so that’s something.
• Sasha Colby: Sasha was already an established queen before coming to drag race, so everyone had high expectations. I have to admit given what happened to Joe Black, I was on the edge of my seat for Sasha. She was talented, funny, and drama free, and the Werk Room would have been so shady without her.

In walks Ornacia, who sadly is not a queen on the season, but she is Ariana Granda and the guest judge for this episode. She comes in, confusing all of the queens, unzips her jacket-mask, and announces that the mini challenge is a redo of the “Wet and Wild” photoshoot from season one, which Irene wins.

After the queens get dried off and back in the Werk Room, it is announced that the maxi challenge is a talent show with a choreographed dance number. They then de-drag and go to plan the opening number, and free up the Werk Room for the next 8 queens.

• Salina: Her personality is loud, her looks are loud, her voice is loud, and I live for it. Her looks could use some significant polish, but she is funny and she better get some good screen time this season, because it would be so boring without her.
• Amethyst: She is the self proclaimed “resident meme queen,” and she’s funny enough. She’s not Bianca Del Rio levels of funny, but she probably wouldn’t have to lip sync in a comedy challenge, that is if she makes it far enough to do a comedy challenge.
• Jax: She is a competitive little ball of backflips and handstands. She was a competitive cheerleader, gymnast, and diver, so she has a lot of stunts up her very brightly colored sleeves.
• Loosey LaDuca: She is stunning, vintage inspired, and so cinched I’m not sure how she can inhale. Just based on first impressions, she definitely looks like she could make it far. All and all, I love Loosey.
• Mistress Isabelle Brooks: Mistress is shady. She is incredibly talented and funny, her makeup is always on point, and her heels are never taller than an inch and a half. She is stunning and is definitely top 3 material.
• Robin Fierce: Her face is stamped for the gods. Marcia should take notes. She is a total pageant queen, and it shows. Her outfits are almost always stunning.
• Sugar and Spice: Sugar and Spice are identical Twin-Tok-ers (twin Tik-Tok-ers). They come in having almost never done a live show, but they have a defined aesthetic and they stick to it (maybe to a fault). If Marcia is a Barbie, Sugar and Spice are twin Bratz dolls.

Once the second group of queens finish their introductions, Ornacia comes in again, but this time it’s actually Vivacious. She announces that the mini challenge is a photoshoot based off of season two’s Gone with the Wind shoot. They get on a motorcycle with a member of the pit crew and have to serve faces with leaves, flowers, and feathers being blown into their eyes. Loosey won. They then head to the rehearsal area and meet the first 8 queens, and immediately start drama. It wouldn’t be Drag Race without it.

They manage to get their dance choreographed despite 16 overconfident drag queens all fighting to be the leader. Then after what feels like 5 seconds (probably because it was edited to be 5 seconds), they are on the runway.

The runway theme is Signature Drag, and everyone does just that. Sasha Colby serves body, Sugar and Spice serve their signature trot, and Mistress serves a kitten heel.

The talent show also goes well, with Jax doing Kerri Colby-esque jump rope routine, and Anetra doing a sickening duck walking, death dropping routine. Two queens who did not do so well are Irene DuBois who did a “how to make ice water” routine similar to Trinity the Tuck’s season All Stars “tucking tutorial.” Worse, however, was Amethyst who attempted a funny take on the song “All Around the World” by Lisa Stansfield and failed miserably. They both lip sync for their lives to “7 rings” by Ariana Grande (who guest judged), and Amethyst wins.

This is the first episode of the season to suffer time cuts so MTV could air The Real Friends of Weho!, but sadly not the last. The rhythm in this episode is a bit off, with shortened scenes and less time to get to know the queens.

The maxi challenge is to make an ad advertising for a vacation to Gay Heaven, complete with drag angels. They separate into teams of five.

• Team Anetra: Anetra, Luxx, Sasha, Salina, and Marcia
• Team Amethyst: Amethyst, Loosey, Aura, Spice, and Poppy
• Team Leftovers: Mistress, Malaysia, Jax, Robin, and Sugar

Team Anetra’s gay heaven features Sasha Colby as God who gives her iconic line, “They say god is a woman, and I am, and I’m also a drag queen.” The commercial features Sasha leading Salina, who took a death drop too literally, through all of the amenities gay heaven, which is actually Palm Springs “where drag queens go to die,” has to offer. 

Team Amethyst’s gay heaven is a luxury resort with anything a queen could need for a comfortable afterlife, and a meet and greet with God, who in this case is Dolly Parton.

Team leftovers starts with a dead Spice who “tried to death drop, but just dropped dead,” lying at the gates of heaven surrounded by drag queens. Their drag heaven could be best summed up by their line, “This could be heaven for you, and hell for us!”

The runway theme is Metallics, everyone does pretty well, Selina has a lamp on her head and street signs all over her, so do with that what you will. Marcia gets read for her makeup again.

The queens are judged individually this time and Sasha, deservedly, wins. Amethyst and Poppy are in the bottom, and lip sync to “Ain’t no Mountain High Enough.” Amethyst shantays and Poppy sashays.

Sasha’s runway lewk

Luxx and Loosey fight over who was runner up last episode. Both were in the top, and neither of them have time to win because Ru walks in and announces that they are doing a two round snatch game this season. All of the queens are baffled that Snatch Games were this early, but they all went to work planning their looks.

The runway theme is “Beautiful Nightmare” and Sugar and Spice were, unsurprisingly, in the bottom while Loosey won.

Loosey’s runway lewk

Sugar and Spice lip synced for their lives to “You Better Run” and they had a pre-choreographed dance. It was funny and sweet, but in the end Spice shantayed and Sugar sashayed.

The episode opens with Spice tearfully wiping away Sugar’s lipstick message. No time to dwell on that, though, because one cut scene later they’re doing a reading challenge because reading is what? Fundamental! Loosey, fittingly, wins. She is entering her Regina George era, and it was entertaining.

There is some shade thrown by Spice who says Aura should have gone home instead of Sugar. Jax opens up about her struggles being raised as a person of color with white parents, and then before we have time let that settle in, it quickly cuts to Spice talking about her and Sugar playing with dolls in middle and high school.

RuPaul then announces that it is a team design challenge based on each of the judges (Michele, Carson, and Ross).

On the main stage each team models their looks.

• House of Visage: Amethyst, Spice, Aura, Luxx, and Mistress. The coordination was good, with the exception of Amethyst who had a gold bed sheet wrapped around her.
• House of Kressley: Anetra, Jax, Robin, and Salina. It was a lot of plaid and leather, but it was cohesive and everyone looked at least decent. Salina’s look had a lot going on, and none of it was that good.
• House of Mathews: Loosey, Sasha, Malaysia, and Marcia: Everyone was bright and floral, it looked like a suburban book club went to a beach resort, and it was stunning.

Luxx wins this challenge, while Amethyst, yet again, lip syncs for her life against Salina. Third time was not the charm for her, and this time she went home.

Luxx’s runway lewk

The show is finally finding a groove with the shortened episodes, though we still see less of the queens with more abrupt cuts. 

The maxi challenge is a senior girl group theme where the queens, in teams of 4, have to write and perform a nursing home themed song in either the genres metal, hip hop, or rock. This leads to the controversy known as “metalgate.” Luxx’s and Sasha’s team both want metal, and with the Regina George energy of Luxx and Mistress combined with the pure mother vibes of Sasha, it was entertaining. The fight went on for quite a while, but Sasha ends up drawing the metal card from the hat, and Luxx’s team ends up with country.

• Metal: Sasha, Aura, Malaysia, and Spice
• Hip-Hop: Anetra, Loosey, Jax, and Robin
• Country: Salina, Marcia, Mistress, and Luxx

Team Metal does very well in the recording part of the challenge, however everyone (except Sasha because obviously, it’s Sasha) is struggling with the choreo. Hip-Hop is mostly slaying the recording, but Robin struggled a bit. Team Country is doing quite well despite the less than ideal genre.

On elimination day, Sasha shares her story and struggles of growing up and living as a trans woman, and how she helped to blaze a trail for so many other trans performers to come after her. We then abruptly cut to Malaysia and Mistress having a fight about drag delusion vs drag confusion. It feels like, they could have put that somewhere else and not directly after a heartfelt story of overcoming transphobia and living as your authentic self.

The queens then perform their lip syncs to Ru and the judges. The first to go is the Country team, they are funny, witty, and their lip syncs are on pint. The next to go is the Metal team, and they seem to have figured out the choreo because they all slay. Last is the Hip Hop team, who mostly eat, but Robin seems to be allergic to whatever the rest of the team was serving because she was struggling.

The runway theme was “Tie Dye to Die For” and Jax and Robin are the bottom two while Aura wins. Robin sashays while Jax shantays.

Aura’s runway lewk

Despite it being a new week, the tensions of metalgate are still running high and Malaysia goes after Mistress and Luxx for an argument on Untucked. Sasha tried to calm the argument, but Mistress was salty, saying in her confessional, “I don’t appreciate Sasha trying to utilize every moment to be a ‘teaching’ moment for us as if she is Dumbledore or something.”

Everything pretty much settles down by the time Ru announces the maxi challenge, a sequel to Daytona Winds, but Malaysia is not giving up on the beef and the “Mal-istress” shade continues. 

They quickly start to divvy up the roles. Aura gets Fancy, a lead, but has trouble “connecting to the lines” and chooses to forfeit the role to Mistress. Malaysia gets the Reverend, which means Mistress and Malaysia have a bunch of scenes together. 

Mal-istress having to work together was a bit worrying in the beginning, but once they start rehearsing it’s clear that the anger is helping to fuel the performance. They are both serving Oscar nominees, but Jax, Spice, and Aura are having trouble.

The runway theme was “Puffer Please,” and everyone’s looks were pretty good, but Michelle came after Spice for her signature trot. We all knew it was coming, but it seemed especially harsh. Aura and Jax were in the bottom, and, unsurprisingly, Jax slayed the lip sync and sent Aura home. Mistress got her first win today, which was exceptionally deserved.

Sasha’s runway lewk

Everyone enters the Werk Room a bit tense because as Aura walked off of the main stage, her final words were “my dead dad will haunt you all” (you could say she walked out of the club curse first). Back in the Werk Room, Spice claims to be entering her “top era,” Mistress claims drag delusion, and Loosey claims to be cursed (maybe by Aura) because she was, yet again, safe. Mistress uses Loosey’s frustration to keep on “Mistress-ing” and starts going after some of the girls.

Ru then comes in and announces that this episode is the Lalaparuza, which means we finally get to see what these queens can do. They walk onto the main stage and are met with the rules. If Bruno draws your name, you get to choose who you go against, and whomever is chosen gets to choose the song. If you win, you go back to the Werk Room to watch. If you loose, you lip sync again next round.

Anetra v Jax

“Finally” by Cece Peniston

Anetra chose to let Spice be safe and go back to the Werk Room and ended up defeating Jax. I am honestly gagged that Jax went home, Anetra is amazing, but Jax is a little ball of lip syncing fury. I am truly gutted that it wasn’t a double shantay, but who am I to question RuPaul.   

This was the 200th ever episode of RuPaul’s DragRace, and to commemorate it, this week was the ball!

The mini challenge was a photo-bomb photoshop challenge, where the queens had to photobomb famous drag race moments. The winner was Anetra, who photo-bombed Willow Pill’s toaster spaghetti bath.

The maxi challenge was the Crystal Ball, and it was a part runway, part design challenge. The first look is a “Start Your Engines” look in which the queens have to update RuPaul’s classic racing suit. The second one is “My favorite Ball.” They have to take an “eleganza lewk” based on a previous ball. The final challenge is a “Crystalized Eleganza.” The queens have to sew a look from scratch that is dripping in diamonds.

In the Werk Room, Loosey continues to her bloodthirsty fight for another win, and Mistress throws shade at the other queen’s looks for being “gluttonous and gaudy.” Spice tries to change up her look with a longer skirt to remain in her “top era,” while Salina is going for less after being repeatedly read for her loud looks. 

On elimination day, Anetra opens up about her childhood and being kicked out of her house after her family found her drag. It is a touching moment, and afterwards the queens discuss their favorite moments from previous seasons. 

On the main stage, Ru performs “Cake & Candy,” and then the queens begin to model their looks. After the last queen models, they all come back on stage for their criticism. Salina gets a pretty rough criticism, “You always get so close, and your personality is what I am love with, but I also want to be in love with your drag.” Anetra gets lovingly called out for her “RBF.” Sasha is, once again, the winner, and Salina and Spice are in the bottom. Spice is sent home, but she goes out, not with a bang, but with a trot, thus marking the end of Spice’s top era.

The episode begins with the queens praising Sasha for her second win, but then Luxx says something strange, “You literally peed on the stage.” This literally happened.

No time to dwell on that, though (even if I feel like that should be dwelled on) because Loosey is continuing her rabid quest for a win. Mistress is getting sick of Loosey pretending to be nice, and in her confessional encourages her to embrace her inner mean girl.

The maxi challenge is an interview challenge where the queens have to work in teams to interview either Love Connie, Frankie Grande, or Charo. While brainstorming questions with their teams, Mistress claims that Marcia is entering her villain era (which I am living for). 

Malaysia is struggling with interviewing Frankie Grande and Mistress totally lost control with Love Connie. Marcia was having trouble understanding Charo, but Sasha was hysterical with her. Anetra and Frankie Grande were amazing, same with Luxx and Love Connie. Salina, however, quickly unraveled 30 seconds after she began.

The runway theme is night of 100 Beyoncés, and Sasha says that she used to be friends with some of Beyonce’s backup dancers and that she thinks Sasha Fierce could have been inspired by her. Mistress, however, has some serious doubts.

Luxx, Loosey, and Sasha were in the top, while Malaysia and Salina had to lip sync. Sasha gets her third win of the season, and Salina gets her third shantay, while Malaysia gets her first, and last sashay away.

Episode 11: Two Queens, One Joke

Loosey once again thinks she should have won, and Mistress is getting sick of it. Luxx calls Loosey out for not being pregnant enough in her runway look, and this leads to “Beyoncé’s-baby-bump-gate.” Ru then comes in and announces the mini challenge, a Harlem Vogue Ball!

This was one of my favorite mini challenges this season, and it gave us a chance to see Anetra vogue. She can truly work it and, unsurprisingly, wins.

Ru announces that this week is the comedy challenge, but with a twist. This will be a duo comedy set, but because there’s an uneven number, one queen will have to work alone. Because Anetra won the mini challenge, she gets to chose the order.

• Marcia (lonely)
• Luxx and Loosey (shady)
• Sasha and Anetra (fierce)
• Mistress and Salina (shady x2)

Luxx and Loosey are an interesting pairing; the frenemies team can go really well, or really badly. Both Luxx and Loosey are incredibly talented and sickening queens, so I have faith in them. Marcia is kind of panicking because she’s on her own. Anetra is having a migraine, which puts a lot of strain on both her and Sasha. 

It’s elimination day, and Mistress and Salina are bonding. Mistress talks about her rocky relationship with her mother, and how they haven’t talked since her mother saw her in drag at the hospital, insulted her, and stormed out. This is a side of Mistress we don’t often see. Behind all the shade and the reads, she is a human being with her own struggles and life.

On the main stage, the runway theme is Rip her to Shreds, but before we see that, the queens have to do their standup.

Marcia’s set goes okay. She lands some jokes, but most of them fall flat. Loosey and Luxx are hysterical; they have amazing chemistry and all of their jokes land. Sasha and Anetra are rough; they went for a “stoner” comedy route, but just ended up freezing. One or two jokes landed, but besides that it was all pity laughs. Salina and Mistress are funny; their set is a bit long winded, but they both have good chemistry and most of their jokes landed well.

The runway is great! Luxx does an ode to RuPaul’s “Wee Wee Pole” punk rock band days, and Loosey really steps out of her comfort zone. Marcia is read pretty badly for her performance, but Loosey gets the validation from the judges she has been rabid for since day one. Loosey and Luxx are both winners, which was particularly thrilling for Loosey, but Marcia and Anetra are in the bottom.

This lip sync was FIERCE. At one point Marcia goes into a backbend, and Anetra jumps over her and does a tuck and roll. They are duck walking and death dropping FOR THE GODS! This is definitely the best lip sync of the season, and possibly one of the best of the show. The twist is, it’s not a double shantay! I was fully ready to hear, “Shantay you both stay,” but no, Anetra shantays, while Marcia sashays without a single win the entire show.

This was an episode of eras. Salina takes over being in her “top era” after Spice left, Mistress is in her (debatable) “angel era,” and Loosey is in her “rotten era,” which is fitting. About five minutes later, Mistress says her “congenial era” (I guess she changed it without telling us) is over, and she is now in her “chaotic era,” which seems less like an era and more like state of Being for Mistress.

Before Mistress has time to enter another era, Ru walks in and announces that this week is the Rusical. It’s a bittersweet moment. On one hand I’m thrilled that it’s the Rusical, but the week after Marcia, who was on Broadway, had a Bachelor of Fine Arts, and was possibly the biggest theater kid ever, went home. It would have been amazing to see what she could have done, but nonetheless, it was exciting to see what the other queens could do. 

This year’s Rusicle is Wigloose, a Footloose inspired musical that hits all too close to home about a small town where drag is banned by the priest/ mayor/ authoritarian ruler of this town. We’re also given quite the characters for our cast to play.

• Heaven Bacon: The new queen in town, desperate to bring drag back into the lives of its citizens, played by Loosey
• Mama Bacon: Heaven’s drag mother, played by Anetra
• Preacher Teacher: The anti-drag town leader, played by Mistress
• Carl: Preacher Teacher’s shy husband, played by Sasha
• Christian and Tuck: Two local teens, who miss the days when they could do drag without being scared, played by Salina and Luxx

Both Loosey and Luxx both want Heaven so badly, and they get into yet another fight, Heaven-gate. Loosey insists that she is best for Heaven, while Luxx eventually allows Loosey to have it, saying that she doesn’t need a lead role to shine.

This Rusicle is close to home for Sasha because of her own religious mother who disaproves of both her trans identity and drag performance. We learn that she and her mother haven’t spoken since she came out.

We cut to Loosey on the verge of breaking down because Mistress and Luxx (The Heathers of the group) keep insisting she is fake. However, Salina is there for her, and calms her down. We also learn about Anetra and her journey with drag and how it helped her through a really dark time in her life.

It’s runway day, and Mistress is messing with Loosey again, but after Mistress gets bored of annoying Loosey, the conversation gets more serious. The queens start discussing the recent drag bans and the “protect the children” mindset around restricting and banning drag. It’s a meaningful conversation that ends in Luxx claiming she’s in her “politician era.”

The queens then walk onto the stage, set like a classroom with Loosey, Salina, and Luxx sitting in the chairs, all out of drag, and Mistress at the front of the stage with a chalkboard. The music starts to play and they all start dancing around the stage. It was a cute Rusicle that ended with a big, 80s musical runway.

The runway theme is Everybody Say Glove, and, because there are only 6 queens left, nobody is safe. They all stand on the main stage, and Ru asks the question they all knew was coming, “Who deserves to go home tonight?”

Loosey votes Salina, based on track record, which Salina is offended by because she was just Loosey’s shoulder to cry on. Anetra also votes Salina, but Mistress votes Sasha because she’s the biggest competition. At least she keeps it real. Luxx chooses Loosey because of her “generic drag,” and so does Salina. In the end, Anetra wins, and Loosey and Salina lip sync. Salina sashays.

We’re down to the final five, and it’s strange seeing the Werk Room without Salina; it’s too quiet. However, we still have Loosey and her delusional self, who immediately says that she was confused that she landed in the bottom. The Loosey and Luxx drama is still strong, and Luxx defends her decision to send Loosey home. Mistress is apparently also entering her top era, and promises that she will make it to the top three.

Ru then walks in with Norvina, the president of Anastasia Beverly Hills, to announce the mini challenge, which is a Who’s the ___ challenge. It’s a cute challenge and we get a chance to see how some of the queens interact when it’s not put in the show. Loosey wins the challenge, which she is thrilled about.

This week is a makeover challenge, and the queens have to makeover teachers this time! Because Loosey won the mini challenge, she gets to assign teachers to queens.

• Loosey and Mrs. Wallace, a middle school choir teacher
• Mistress and Ms. Tang, a high school art teacher
• Anetra and Mrs. Mahoney, a kindergarten teacher
• Sasha and Mrs. Mahoney, a middle school teacher
• Luxx and Ms. Reyes, a first grade teacher

Luxx thinks that Loosey is out to get her because she didn’t give her the black teacher, making the family reset balance part of the challenge harder for her. Everyone gets along with their teachers pretty well, and they all adjust to the Werk Room easily. Mistress and Loosey start a teacher strut-off, seeing which one can walk better in heels, Mrs. Tang or Mrs. Wallace. They don’t decide a clear winner, but it was totally Mrs. Wallace.

The queens and teachers then move to the main stage where they start to rehearse. All the queens and their teachers are bonding and walking the runway. Anetra tries to teach Mrs. Mahoney how to duck walk, but Luxx and Ms. Reyes are on the struggle bus.

It’s elimination day and there are some deep conversations going on. Anetra and Mrs. Mahoney are talking about internalized homophobia and how it can be unlearned, Luxx learns that Ms. Reyes has a “rainbow family” or all queer kids, and Mistress tries to bribe Ms. Tang to shave her eyebrows off.

On the main stage the queens and their drag teachers are:

• Sasha and Ferocity Colby: They both padded for the first time for this challenge, and it shows. They both put a lot of work into this and it paid off because they were both SERVING.
• Loosey and Lala LaDuca: They are identical; it’s kind of uncanny.
• Mistress Isabelle Brooks and Madam Thang: It’s very classy and pageant (very classic Mistress) and they are both stunning.
• Luxx Noir London and Asia Azul: They are cute. Ms. Reyes looked more like Jennifer Coolidge than Luxx, but they both do well.
• Anetra and Alektra: They are identical, but not as scary as Loosey and Lala. They definitely understood the assignment.

Sasha and Ferocity are praised for their resemblance, and so are Loosey and Lala. However, some of the judges are not so in love with Loosey and Lala’s runway performance, but others loved it so the jury is still out. The judges are living for Mistress and Madam, and we learn that Madam accepted the bribe and shaved her eyebrows. Ru tells Asia that she looks like Jenifer Coolidge, and it turns out Asia has no idea who that is, which is a shame for so many reasons. However, the judges only really see a family resemblance between Asia and Jenifer, not between Asia and Luxx. Anetra and Alektra’s looks and resemblance is exactly what the judges wanted, and she wins for it. That leaves Mistress and Sasha safe and Loosey and Luxx in the bottom. 

They both have an amazing lip sync, and in the end, Loosey sashays (she is not happy), and Luxx shantays (she is very happy). Loosey gets back and leaves her lipstick message, all while shading the other queens. Once a mean girl, always a mean girl. 

And just like that, the final four! This week is the music video, which is one of my personal favorites, and they are doing RuPaul’s song “Blame it on the Edit.” It wouldn’t be the last normal episode without a twist, though, because Ru reveals that it will actually be a final three this season, which hasn’t happened since season eight.

Not only is it music video time, it’s Tic Tac chat time! The first chat is with Sasha, who first talks about how much she’s achieved in her career (which is a lot), and then the conversation switches to how her inner saboteur has affected her in the competition. She admits that she was terrified that the other queens would be jealous of her or not like her, and she verbally realizes that this people pleasing tendency comes from her mother. She always sought out validation from her mother, validation that never came. She then talks about her father, her biggest ally, who died by suicide. In his will, he left her everything, which she felt was his stamp of approval of her and her identity.

Next is Anetra, who talks about her Mormon upbringing and how her life was very “sit still and shut up” for a while. She turned to drag to help her find herself. By creating Anetra, she helped inspire herself. They then talk about her iconic lip sync with Marcia, and Michele admits that it was her favorite lip sync from any season.

Mistress comes in after her, and without wasting a second, Michele asks her how she is so confident. Similarly to Anetra, she was forced to “sit still and shut up” for most of her childhood, so she is making up for lost time now and saying anything and everything on her mind. She recognizes that a lot of people weren’t so fond of her outspokenness (Loosey), and she reveals that Loosey was just as rude off camera, but did not have the guts to say it when they were filming. She ends the lunch with saying that she is now in her “Top Three Era,” which is far more believable than her congenial era.

Lastly, Luxx comes in, and we learn that all of her outfits were planned (Werk Room included), which is unsurprising given they were all amazing. We also learn that she went to the Cicely L. Tyson Community School of Performing and Fine Arts, which also explains a lot. In a season of found family, and a lot of people who were rejected by their first families, it is sweet to learn that Luxx has a super supportive family who raised her to be confident and know her worth. She says, “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.”

It’s music video day, and the queens are on the set of “Blame it on the Edit.” Mistress looks stunning, but she is struggling with the choreo quite a bit. She claims it’s because it’s hard to move her arms in the outfit, but Michelle is not buying it. Sasha and Luxx both nail the dance almost immediately, and Anetra is doing okay. Then Michelle drops the second twist of the episode, they are filming the video right then. The queens have to just pray to the drag gods that they get it right, because there’s no more time to werk on it. Luxx and Anetra are the first up, and Luxx slays it, while Anetra is clearly struggling. Sasha and Mistress are next, and Sasha is amazing, while Mistress has a good chance of lip syncing. Mistress gets better, but it might be too late v because the wrap filming soon after. 

Just like that, it’s elimination day and the queens are getting ready in the Werk Room for the final time. They manage to make it through with no shade thrown, and they are actually super sweet. They talk about their first impressions of each other and how much they’ve grown throughout the competition.

All of the queen’s looks were STUNNING, and the praise they get is well deserved. Ru asks the question we’ve all been waiting for, “What would you say to your younger self?” They give their answers, and Ru announces that Mistress and Anetra are the bottom two, Sasha won, and Luxx is safe. Mistress and Anetra both slay the lip sync, and the second the music ends, it’s clear, we have a double shantay. So we are not breaking the top four streak just yet, and we will be seeing Sasha, Luxx, Mistress, and Anetra in the finale. I’m pretty sure Loosey was rolling in her grave.

We get to see everyone back together again, all sitting together on either side of RuPaul (Loosey is far away from Mistress and Luxx). Before they start the reads, shade, and kikis, they take the time to recognize the anti-drag bills that are being passed at an alarming rate in the US. After this serious moment happens, it’s back to classic drag race, and we get to see the top four’s incredible looks.

We learn that Sugar and Spice have stayed close to Mistress after filming, and that Mistress even “adopted” them, making her their drag mother. The twins still have their classic Sugar and Spice ditzy-ness, but they are more mature and a little bit shadier, no doubt thanks to Mistress. The conversation then shifts to Snatch Games, and then to more Luxx and Loosey fighting, which Sasha remarks is an awful lot like flirting. Loosey disagrees with that. As always, Mistress brings the conversation back to “drag delusion,” and says that Loosey is a definite sufferer from it, but then again, she says that she is too.

We then get a moment of praise for Loosey and her performance as Heaven Bacon, from Kevin Bacon himself. Next they discuss the iconic “I’m in Love with a Monster” lip sync between Anetra and Sasha, and then Marcia and Anetra’s “Boss B****” lip sync, as both were sickening.

We learn more about their personal lives, and romances off the show. Robin and Amethyst are broken up for good, but Aura had a crush on Poppy. However, that crush is over because Aura got engaged! Sugar and Spice continue their shady era, which I live for. They are almost as shady as Loosey, but their reads come from a place of love rather than delusion.

After a bit more Loosey drama, many of the queen’s mothers come on screen and comment on some of the drama of the season. 

They wrap up the episode by talking about some of the most sickening moments of season 15, and just like that, we’re onto the finale.

The episode starts with RuPaul saying “Drag is not a crime, but looking this sickening should be,” and listing funds to donate too, then we meet the queens for the last time. We are doing a traditional finale this time, with each queen performing an original lip sync. 

Anetra is up first performing her song “Lotus,” a flower themed lip sync chalked full of classic Anetra stunts. Up next is Luxx in a gorgeous bikini look performing her song “It’s Giving Fashion,” which is very similar to Naomi Smalls’ “Legs” from season eight. 

There is a break up next and they take time to honor Bob Mackie, who was the first ever guest judge on Drag Race.

Mistress is up next with “Drag Delusion,” which was a very mistress performance full of splits and shade. Last is Sasha performing “Goddess,” and she truly is a goddess serving a medic-inspired look.

We cut to commercial, and then the queens joined Ru on stage to learn their fate. After a tense moment, Ru says that Anetra and Sasha are moving on to the final lip sync. Willow Pill struts on stage while “I Have People” is playing, and gives her advice to whomever wins, “Only shoplift small things.” They then crown Mrs. Congeniality, which is Malaysia, and we get a surprise performance from Jinkx Monsoon.

Then it’s time for the lip sync. They both look gorgeous, and they are lip syncing to the song “Knock on Wood.” Anetra is Vougeing and Sasha has a big relay outfit, stepping out of her coat and revealing a gown underneath.

The song stops, and everybody waits with baited breath, and then we finally hear Ru say the words this entire season has been leading up to. 

“The winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race season 15 is…Sasha Colby!”