Wednesday, February 6, 2013

RuPaul's Drag Race Recap: Lip Synchs and Secrets

RuPaul's Drag Race, Episode 2: "Lip Synch Eleganza Extravaganza"


Poor little Serena Cha Cha.  I think the last contestant of Drag Race that was almost immediately detested was Mimi Imfurst.  So, congratulations Serena.  That is some distinguished company you are keeping.  After being pretty much the only queen who didn't score one laugh during the episode's main challenge, Serena lip synced for her life against Monica Beverly Hillz and was forced to sashay away, much to the delight of every. single. other. contestant.  

Let's go back in time a bit.  After Penny Tration left the work room and walked into the loving arms of all her adoring fans (I'm speculating here, but that must be what happened.  I mean, they voted her on the show, dont'cha know?), the other queens came in.  They immediately began spouting bs about how much they all loved Penny and were so sad to see her go.  It was all such a crock.  Anyone watching knew that they just hated Serena and wanted her to go.  Even Little Miss Art School herself knew it.  During this fake, vaguely mean girlish convo, you started to get the feeling that something was a bit off about the oddly named Monica Beverly Hillz.  During her interviews, she kept mentioning that she had a secret and it was souring her time in the competition?  What could said secret be?  We'll come back to that.

For the mini challenge, the dolls had to pay lip service to Ru.  The pit crew brought out a cardboard sign that had four portraits of the queen of all queens painted on it.  Each picture of Ru had the mouth carved out.  In groups of four, the ladies had to lip sync to one of her songs, either "Tranny Chaser", "Ladyboy" or "Peanut Butter."  All available on iTunes, of course.  The three mini challenge winners were Serena Cha Cha, Detox, and Ivy Winters.

The main challenge was a team challenge.  The ladies divided into groups and they were tasked with recreating famous scenes from Untucked.  The three teams were Team Ivy Winters, which consisted of, Ivy, Lineysha Sparx, Vivienne Pinay, and Honey Mahogany.  Team Detox was Detox, Alaska, Coco Montrese, and Monica Beverly Hillz.  Finally there was Team Serena, which also had Jinkx Monsoon, Jade Jolie, Roxxxy Andrews, and Alyssa Edwards.  I think this challenge really showed how strong this season's crop of queens are.  I guffawed pretty loudly during each segment, especially during Alaska and Detox's impersonations of Phi Phi and Sharon respectively.  Their bloody kiss at the end gave me life.  There was also the winner of the challenge the gorge Lineysha Sparx.  There were concerns at first, the language barrier, her head banging during the parts of the scene that she wasn't integral to, but when it came time for her part Lineysha turned it out as Ivy so astutely pointed out.  Her Tyra was on point from look to demeanor.  For a minute, I thought Tyra had snuck back onto the show.  Coupled with her sickening bathing suit runway presentation, Lineysha has quickly established herself as one to watch.

In a sea of strong performances, the weak ones were easy to spot.  Serena portrayed season 3 winner, Raja, as a narcoleptic who had never done her own makeup before.  Monica was so tuned out during her performance as toothless Jiggly Caliente I thought she was asleep at one point.  When she was getting her critique on the main stage, Monica finally dropped her bombshell.  She is transitioning.  It explains a lot.  Monica looks like a lady, even out of drag.  I was pleased with how this was handled.  Ru let Monica know that she was there because she was fierce and deserved it.  Monica's transformation after she finally let the cat out of the bag was marked.  She became a whole different person.

In the end, Monica and Serena had to lip sync for their lives and Serena was told to sashay away.  No one was upset.  I'm pretty sure that Monica's main stage reveal helped keep her in the competition and I hope now that she is "in it to win it" as the Dawg would say.

What did you guys think?  Are you happy that Serena's pretentious ass was sent home, or were you wanting her to stick around longer to stir the pot?  Let me know in the comments.

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