RuPaul's Drag Race Season 10 Episode 11 Recap: Evil Twins

8 June 2018, 16:56

As the finale creeps closer and closer, the judge's decisions begin to get a little muddled.

Having been on hiatus for the past week, the RuPaul's Drag Race producers clearly felt that they needed to make things up to us by throwing absolutely everything at this episode. We've got cooking challenges, evil twins, American Horror Story's Chayenne Jackson, voice-overs and, just in case that wasn't enough, Ashanti and Lena Dunham guest judging. There's a lot going on this episode, but sadly the show's ambition did not always translate to entertainment.

One of the main issues with this episode is that the majority of queens left in the competition have pretty much run their course. I'm no longer excited to see what Eureka, Kameron or Miz Cracker bring each week because they've been bringing the same thing for quite a few episodes now. It really is a two-horse race at this point, no matter how hard the judges want to force Eureka down our throats (more on that later). Monét, The Vixen and Monique may have been a little crunchy at times, but at the start of each episode I was on the edge of my seat thinking about what they were going to bring to the episode. But anyway, let's get into this episode.

The mini-challenge

As we inch closer and closer towards crowning America's next drag superstar, now was the point in the competition deemed appropriate to test the contestants' ability to arrange breakfast. Yes, Drag Race needs that sweet sponsorship dollar (thank you Voss Events), but at this stage in the competition a mini-challenge that doesn't test any actual drag skills is a waste of time. Asia won, but I honestly couldn't tell you why.

The maxi-challenge: evil twins

From the moment RuPaul uttered the phrase "bi-polar express" on the werkroom TV, this challenge was doomed to be a mess. Not only do the girls have to present their good and dark sides with two different looks on the runway, they have to write and perform a voice-over that reveals their deepest, darkest insecurities.

This challenge gives RuPaul the chance to be the worst RuPaul: What's The Tea With Michelle Visage RuPaul. As RuPaul bounces around the werkroom pontificating about ego's and saboteurs, I'm transported to the corniest of self-help seminars, where one extremely lucky (albeit admittedly hardworking) success story extrapolates his own experience into a universal manual for success, and will absolutely not listen to anyone telling them that maybe it's not quite as simple as just loving yourself. It's a lot, and after 10 seasons I feel like we've well and truly exhausted RuPaul's rolodex of fortune-cookie guidance.

Just when you think you can't get more tired, RuPaul's evil twin arrives with a bucket full of pre-packaged sass and a Sue Sylvester shell suit to encourage the girls in their challenge. It's jarringly ironic, given that he'd just told every contestant to dig deeper, to see Ru's evil twin be so surface-level, especially in an episode that's set itself up to encourage raw emotion. Step it up, y'all.

Bring it to the runway

The one great thing about this challenge is that we get two looks from each queen, which can never be a bad thing. But Mother Ru giveth with one hand and taketh away with the other, and in exchange for double the fashion we have to endure the queens' dreadful fill-in-the-blank voiceovers, a lá season nine's fairytale princess challenge (a.k.a the worst drag race challenge of all time).

The only outfits I truly hated were Eureka's, despite the judges trying their darned hardest to convince me they were nice. Speaking of, let's get onto the most confusing part of this week's episode - the critiques.

While Kameron was critiqued for having two similar outfits, Eureka was praised for having two similar (and frumpy) outfits. While Miz Cracker was critiqued for having two different outfits, Aquaria's completely different outfits were praised. And despite Asia fulfilling the challenge's requirements better than anyone else, Aquaria inexplicably ends up winning.

WHAT?!

None of this makes any sense, unless the producers are actively trying to get Eureka and Aquaria to the final. If Eureka's acting performance was enough to save her from the bottom two, then Asia's acting performance should have carried her to a win. And if Kameron's lack of depth was enough to put her in the bottom two, then Aquaria's lack of depth should have stopped her from snatching the win. I smell a drag conspiracy.

Either way Kameron and Miz Cracker end up having to lip sync to Vanity 6’s “Nasty Girl.” The song doesn't really suit either of them, but Kameron is admittedly more engaging. However, the real tea is that Kameron and Eureka should have been in the bottom two, so the fact that Cracker ends up sashaying away still stings, even if she was the weaker performer.

So here we have it. Eureka, Aquaria, Asia and Kameron are your top four, and it's a group that very much echoes the final top 4 of season 9. Aquaria and Asia are your clear contenders, much like Sasha and Shea were last year. Then you have Eureka as the impressive but not necessarily boundary pushing third option, a la Trinity Taylor. And finally you have the sweet but probably undeserving fourth contender, Kameron, who fills the role Peppermint took in season nine. Whether or not Ru decides to take them all to the finale remains to be seen. But if it's anything like season nine, you'll know that there is still everything to play for.