As Episode 4 kicks off, Arrietty and Suzie Toot are both visibly upset to see Lucky Starzzz be the first eliminated from the competition, which instantly puts Joella (the queen who sent Starzzz home via their Lip Sync For Your Life) on her heels about her own place in the competition.
Both Onya Nurve and Sam Starr relish in their own victorious moments on the runway, while Arrietty is clearly distressed about their own placement on the Main Stage.
It’s a brand-new day in the Werk Room and RuPaul is giving the dolls a chance to take some of the most iconic “RuPaul’s Drag Race” moments and “put them to music.” The queens choose some instantly familiar and iconic moments (Toot chose the “You’re perfect, you’re beautiful, you look like Linda Evangelista” Season 9 moment between Aja and Valentina). Others chose moments that were a bit of a deeper cut but just as beloved (Joella ended up with Mariah Paris Balenciaga’s “We write the stories” monologue from Season 3). The queens are tasked with creating songs from these moments for Bitch I’m A Drag Queen Volumes 1 & 2, with a variety of musical styles being assigned to each of the two teams. Ru makes it clear-they are not looking for imitation, they are looking for the teams to “make the tracks their own.”
The queens then listen to their tracks and the styles of each teams’ music, garnering mixed results from the teams of queens. One puzzling moment comes when Jewels Sparkles and Arrietty decide that their interpretation of Alyssa Edwards’ famed Season 5 “Back Rolls” moment is going to include them “channelling” Alyssa, even though RuPaul was clear that the assignment did not necessary require “impressions.” Crystal Envy instantly takes the role of the leader for Team 1, while Kori King is looking to provide herself a “cheep cheep redemption moment” via this challenge (and recreating one of Kennedy Davenport’s familiarly fowl moments).
The queens dive into their challenge, with Envy showing on the fly ingenuity (rolling through the scene as tumbleweed) and Joella taking the children to church in her performance. Hormona Lisa seems to be under-emoting, and Arrietty and Jewels Sparkles are bouncing off each other. Envy remains the unofficial leader of her group, reigning over the group of duck walking queens while recreating one of Latrice Royale’s most legendary Season 4 lines.
Team 2 arrives to perform, with Toot brilliantly roaring through her performance, immediately standing out to her competitors in this challenge. Sam Starr and Acacia Forgot are an unexpected dynamic duo, while Nurve shows that she’s able to captivate the audience simply with her expressions. Lexi Love delivers a campy performance from the boudoir, while King’s decision to lean into the chicken of it all (complete with literal egg on her face) might not be the redemption she is looking to obtain with this challenge.
As the queens prepare to hit the Main Stage for this week’s runway the queens have an emotional and eye-opening discussion on why they each entered the world of drag. Jewels discussed that for her, it was “gender expression” while Lexi Love opens up about being thrown out of her home at 18 years old and details how she found her drag mother and how drag was simply, “to survive.”
The Main Stage runway theme is “Quilted For Her Pleasure” with Lana Ja’Rae offering a colorful kaleidoscope of quilting and Joella delivering one of the most iconic camp looks ever presented on the Drag Race runway. Arrietty offers a look filled with latex, draping, and red and white glory, Hormona Lisa pays homage to Dolly Parton’s “Coat of Many Colors,” and Envy presents a bold crimson look with a strong attention to detail. Toot continues to show that she is not afraid to step outside of her comfort zone, offering a Reinassance-style quilted patchwork style gown. The runways critiques favor Envy (commended her going the extra mile), Toot (receiving kudos from Michelle Visage for being a bit more daring with her makeup), and RuPaul compares Nurve to Glodean White of the famed Love Unlimited group from the 1970s. The judges remained perplexed by Kori King’s performance in the challenge, and we get a mention of Season 16 finalist Plane Jane (who along with Big Atlas crafted King’s much discussed extensive train garment on the main stage). The criticisms that Joella receives are equally firm, with her personality clearly being the standout during both her runway and challenge performance.
Nurve and her larger than life charisma snag her first win of the season, leaving Joella to battle it out with King, both landing in the bottom two. The queens lip sync to The Pussycat Dolls anthem “Buttons” with King dominating the entire stage and revealing an extensive braid during the lip sync. Joella does emerge from her quilted (and all encompassing) garment and while her knowledge of some of the lyrics is questionable, her passion to stay in the competition most definitely is not. In the end, Joella is eliminated and despite having one last chance at pulling a lever in the Badonka Dunk Tank to re-enter the competition, Joella is asked to Sasha Away, marking her as the second queen to depart “RuPaul’s Drag Race” Season 17.
Follow RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 17 on Instagram @rupaulsdragrace.
