Drag Race Season 10 Episode 8 Review: Cher The Rusical!

11 May 2018, 17:56

Do you believe in life after this episode of Drag Race?

This week, attention turns to the gay icon to end all gay icons - but do the girls have what it takes to do Cher proud? Let's find out as we dive into RuPaul's Drag Race season 10 episode 8!

When Is The Next Episode Of Drag Race?

After Monique's elimination

The girls are back in the Werkroom after a tumultuous runway to decompress, and, inevitably, throw shade. The Vixen is still extremely pressed about everyone saying she should go home in last episode and is taking it out on the only person who didn't says she should go home - Eureka. At this point its clear that "the bear" is actually a bear costume with a very insecure and hurt queen inside, and the only person who thinks otherwise is The Vixen, who clearly believes the "tough girl" act is still washing with the girls.

Monét X Change tells last weeks winner Aquaria that she thought the Snatch Game victory would be between her or Eureka, which is pretty bold considering her mermaid dress looked more like Oprah in A Wrinkle In Time after being dragged backwards through a bush. Monét may have more experience and personality than Aquaria, but what she needs to learn from the young front-runner is attention to detail.

Slap out of it!

This is probably the best mini-challenge of the season, and I hope it becomes a mainstay like the reading challenge and Snatch Game. The queens get the rare opportunity to shade RuPaul in exchange for a comedy bitch slap, and for the most part they don't disappoint. Kameron's insult is the best, The Vixen's reaction is the best, but Asia end up winning - probably because RuPaul actually slapped her for real and didn't want the lawsuit.

Cher: The Rusical!

Nothing fills my little gay heart with dread more than the words "live singing" on Drag Race. It was awkward enough in season six with two bonafide, TV talent show co-signed, actual singers, and with all the remaining competitors bar Monét being more or less tone deaf, this Rusical promises to be even worse. And to make matters more stressful, the subject of this season's stage performance Cher - that's a whole lot of Charisma, Uniqueness, Nerve and Talent to channel.

Each queen is given a Cher to impersonate: Kameron is 60s Cher, Monét and The Vixen are two different 70s Variety show Chers, Aquaria is disco Cher, Asia is movie star Cher, Eureka is rockstar Cher, and Miz Cracker is comeback Cher. Eureka is given by far and away the easiest Cher, with the most iconic look providing a huge leg up in the challenge.

I won't lie to you, this challenge makes me extremely nervous. Cher is not only an intimidatingly talented Gay Icon, but a completely unique and nuanced personality that's very hard to pull off - remember Delta Work's Cher on the Snatch Game? Not cute. And if you can't do a Cher impression, you're pretty much f*cked as far as the challenge goes.

Ru enquires about the status of Eureka and The Vixen's relationship after the later threw the former well and truly under the bus in last week's episode. The Vixen behaves pretty unprofessionally, playing the air-violing as Eureka explains that the two haven't patched things up. It's ironic, considering how against unprofessionalism The Vixen was just last episode. But hey, that's none of my business.

Rehearsals with Todrick

After pep-talks with Ru, the girls are given a crash course in choreography by Todrick Hall, who appears to be upping his sass levels with every season. Often in these scenes you get a little flavour of who's going to rise to the challenge and who's in trouble, but by the end of this rehearsal, all I'm thinking is, "Lord Jesus don't let Cher herself be sat on that panel tomorrow because these girls aren't worthy."

Back in the Werkroom

The girls are getting ready for their Rusical, and by this point in the competition Aquaria and The Vixen have completely swapped places, socially. While Aquaria is beginning to open up, The Vixen has retreated to the corner to throw out insults from the shadows and it's a shame to see because the only thing getting in the way of The Vixen right now is her stank attitude. Thankfully, Asia gets her together and gets to the heart of The Vixen's eternal bad mood. Asia is 100% on the money in regards to The Vixen seeing Eureka as representation of lazy white queens who have been able to breeze through life lubricated by the privilege fair skin affords. But is Eureka really that girl? Yes, the more annoying aspects of her personality are probably tolerated more because she's white, but Eureka is also talented in her own right, don't step on toes or cultures in her drag, and has to work through being a plus-sized queen on a skinny bitch world. Hopefully she takes Asia's advice to heart, because being The Vixen doesn't seem like much fun at the moment.

Curtain up!

Gird your loins ladies, it's time for Cher: The Rusical! I'm just going to come out and say it - this was an absolute racket. Nobody was better than okay, and most of the girls were awful. At the top end we have Kameron, Monét and Eureka, who were also lucky enough to have the most iconic Cher looks. At the bottom end we have Asia, who couldn't remember her words and did such a bad job channel Cher that I confused her for Annalise Keating on more than one occasion. Frankly, I hated this challenge. Nobody should do Cher if they can't do Cher, and RuPaul should have known better than setting this impossible challenge. There I said it.

Bring it to the runway

After that abysmal cacophony, thank goodness the gay Gods delivered a runway that nobody can argue with - glitter! It's almost impossible to look bad when you're covered in sparkles, and the runway is pretty much a wall-to-wall gag fest. Kameron's white lady eleganza is the most beautiful it's been in a gorgeous Rose Gold jump suit and matching cape, while The Vixen is completely resplendent in her DIY glitter dress. Aquaria somehow manages to match the Met Gala theme despite the series being filmed last year, while Miz Cracker's golden skull takes the whole category in a dark and twisted direction. The best outfit by a very long way is Asia's, but after forgetting the words in the Rusical challenge that probably won't save her.

Kameron finally wins!

Kameron earns her first, long-awaited win this week. Kameron's been consistently great all season, but isn't necessarily a huge risk-taker which could be why she hasn't been able to make it over the finish line until now. Hopefully this win gives her the confidence boost needed to start getting really outlandish with the competition, because she definitely deserves a spot near or maybe even in the top three.

The bottom two

Asia and The Vixen are in the bottom two, proving that we're officially past the point where a good runway presentation can save you from a terrible challenge performance.

Lipsync for your life

It's sad to see Asia in the bottom two, but you're lying if you say you haven't been secretly hoping she'd lip-sync soon so you can watch her slay the house down boots. Deee-Lite's "Groove Is In The Heart" is the song de jour, and both girls do a really great job! As someone who doesn't think a death-drop or split is necessary in every lip sync for your life, it was refreshing to see Asia simply living the song without any tricks and stunts. The Vixen puts up a great fight, but having been in the bottom two twice before, her exit was inevitable.

Did the right girl go?

On track record yes, but Asia certainly had the worse performance out of the two during this challenge.

Final thoughts

While The Vixen has behaved like a brat over the past couple of weeks, that doesn't take away from the important points she made about white privilege and favouritism on Drag Race in earlier episodes. The Vixen is a polarising figure, but ultimately her impact on the show and the wider series was definitely positive, both because she brought important issues to the table, and because she reminded us that drag queens are people with passions, emotions and flaws - not objects to be praised or torn down online. It would have been interesting to see how she continued the conversation after Asia's words of wisdom, but sadly that wasn't in the tea leaves for The Vixen.