Thursday night's episode of RuPaul's Drag Race was 90 minutes long, yet seemed like it was the same amount of time as a showing of Titanic with the previews before it given the amount of ensembles and drama that was featured throughout.
This week's episode relied heavily on the queen's fashion abilities, as they had to create three separate looks for the runway portion of the show. The "ball" episode usually doesn't air until there are five queens left or so, so the fact that we had 33 different outfits come down the runway (which is more than I have in my closet) was a blessing to see but also something that I had to watch three times just so I could really take it all in in terms of what the queens were serving.
Each week, we are doing a power ranking of who is on the top, the middle and the bottom. In week three, Asia O' Hara found her way to the top of the list whereas NYC queen Aquaria was at the bottom (IMHO at that point). Has much changed though? Take a look at where I think the final ten stand (Spoiler alert: if you don't know who went home, then stop reading). Let us know if you agree or disagree.
1. Asia O' Hara (Last Week: #1): Yes, she was in the bottom three this week, but that doesn't excuse the fact that Asia's charisma, uniqueness, nerve and talent are blossoming as each episode airs. The fact that she went out of her way to help craft 10 other outfits in spite of the fact that hers didn't look as good as the others proves what a good-hearted individual she is, and a bottom three appearance isn't going to change that. Expect to see this Texas queen coast her way to the top four at this point.
2. Miz Cracker (Last Week: #6). Cracker has a charm and funniness about her that Aquaria thinks she has but she doesn't. She's been at the top in three of the four challenges, and hasn't been anywhere near close to the bottom yet. Even though the preview shows differently, it looks like her humor will work wonders during the talk show challenge with Ross Matthews, and that should segue into a hopeful top 9 Snatch Game appearance where she will (once again hopefully) slay this group.
3. Blair St. Clair (Last Week: #2). I love Blair, and still think she has that something special that will help her go far in this game, but she's not getting a major edit in a sea of queens that are extremely alpha this time around. I hope at some point that they give her something to work with from a personal POV outside of her comedy and aesthetic, because she has it, it just hasn't been shown yet.
4. Monet X Change (Last Week: #5). Monet ended up in the bottom two and quite frankly slayed the f***ng house down with her hilarious rendition of Nicki Minaj's "Pound the Alarm." I'm trying not to be biased here, as she's from NYC and I've seen in person just how talented she is, but I truly believe this week was simply a blip and she'll coast her way to the end just like Asia will. Hang tight, y'all.
5. Mayhem Miller (Last Week: #7). Mayhem started this season so strongly, then she faltered big time last week, and now she's safe. Hmm. Here's what's concerning: the upcoming challenges will more than likely show each queen's comedy side, and based on how she was last week, it makes me wonder if she will fall on her own sword again and not do well as she's become more of a "look" queen at this point in the competition. I'm still holding out hopes for her, however.
6. Aquaria (Last Week: #11). You won a main challenge by looking like Lady Gaga ten year later… great.
7. Kameron Michaels (Last Week: #9). Kameron really stepped it up this week with her fashion game, but I have truly yet to see anything out of the ordinary to propel her any higher than this ranking right now. This can easily change, of course, next week.
8. The Vixen (Last Week: #3). Here's where I support Vixen: she was justified both episodes in her flipping out on Eureka and Aquaria. I understood it, as she was somewhat provoked by the latter, and definitely provoked by the former. However, this is becoming her storyline, and that has to be frustrating for her as she's a very talented queen outside of these fights she's involved in. I hope to god there aren't anymore, so RPDR fans can focus on what got her on the show in the first place.
9. Eureka O' Hara (Last Week: #4). We are four episodes in, and Eureka has been safe for two, high for one, and bottom two for the other. Given that this is her second time doing this, you think she would've figured out a formula to at least win one and make the other queens realize why she was brought back again. She also dropped in the rankings this week because it was very evident that she provoked Vixen on Untucked, and that kind of behavior really was disgusting and was mimicked how she behaved on her original season. Tsk, tsk.
10. Monique Heart (Last Week: #10). There's really nothing wrong with Monique, but she's been nothing but a middle of the road queen to this point and I don't see that changing in the near future. She's next to go, IMHO, unless something drastic happens on Thursday.
This was created by one of our Contributing Writers and does not reflect the opinion of Instinct Magazine or the other Contributing Writers when it comes to this subject.