RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 13 Episode 2: A Recap

DISCLAIMER: This post discusses potential spoilers for RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 13, Episode 2. Unless you want to know what happens, don’t continue reading. I warned ya, sis!

OPENING

This week on RuPaul’s Drag Race, we continue from the cliffhanger in the premiere, where the queens faced off in six rounds of lip syncs.

In case you need a reminder, the queens who won their lip sync were Kandy Muse, LaLa Ri, Symone, Gottmik, Olivia Lux, and Tina Burner. The queens who lost were Joey Jay, Denali Foxx, Tamisha Iman, Utica Queen, Rosé, Kahmora Hall, and Elliott with two Ts.

The “eliminated” queens remain in the Porkchop Loading Dock, where we learn that they must vote one of them out — WHAT?

We’ve never seen someone be voted out on a regular RuPaul’s Drag Race season, and let’s just say this was GAG WORTHY. After a tie break between Joey Jay and Elliott, Elliott sashays away.

BUT WAIT.

As the episode starts, the queens (as boys now) come into the werk room and RuPaul lets them know that he’s bringing back a queen who he believes “didn’t get a fair shot.”

And guess who walked through those doors?

ELLIOTT.

Yup, Elliott may have been “voted out,” but she didn’t actually sashay away!

Needless to say, the queens who won their lip syncs didn’t take well to this and assumed Elliott was there to spy on them. Because of this, Elliott wasn’t afraid to throw some shade to Kandy Muse, which made the queens even more suspicious.

Not a good move on Elliott’s part if you ask me.

MINI CHALLENGE

The first mini challenge of the season is a runway challenge where the queens must serve two looks: “Daytime Drama, Mama!” and “Nighttime Is The RIGHT Time!”

In Daytime Drama Mama, Gottmik wore a rainbow mini dress, Kandy worked a glamorous red wrap dress, LaLa Ri went with a simple southern style curtain dress that got caught in her heel, Olivia Lux was midcentury in a simple purple feathered dress, Symone presented a bare chest in a vibrant (and caped) business suit, Tina Burner glammed it up in a sequined red babydoll look, and Elliott capped it off in a long red dress and matching beret.

In Nighttime Is The RIGHT Time, Gottmik switched into a sexy black velvet dress with a pasty on one nipple, Kandy returned in red with a latex bodysuit and messy makeup, LaLa Ri came out in a dominatrix black and caged chest look, Olivia had a shiny burgundy dress and what she said is a “rare brunette wig,” Symone put on a mustard and orange wrap dress, Tina also came in latex in more red (and yellow and orange), and Elliott looked like a dark circus master with a whip and feathers.

MAXI CHALLENGE

For the first maxi challenge of the season, the queens must record and perform their own verse in a girl group to RuPaul’s new song, “Condragulations.”

I don’t know about you, but I love these kind of maxi challenges. I love being able to see what kind of verses the queens come up with — and if you ask me, it’s a big way to tell who knows their stuff, and who doesn’t.

The queens are tasked with also choreographing their own dance along with these verses – and when this happens, it’s usually a hit or miss.

No one wanted to step up to the plate and choreograph the dance, which was a little awkward, even though Elliott, who is a trained dancer, refused to do it. Yet later we see Elliott step in and start to direct the dance, which further ostracized her from the rest of the girls after being quiet for so long.. yikes.

The rehearsal had some tension due to Gottmik, as a transgender male, facing some gender dysmorphia and not being able to pick up the choreography.

However, she didn’t say anything about it until the next day to Olivia Lux in the werk room, who agreed that during rehearsal wasn’t the time to talk about it. She was so sweet and supportive of her – can you say Olivia Lux for Miss Congeniality?

As the queens get ready for their performance in the werk room, Elliott is still the center of attention, and the queens want to know what happened and why she was brought back.

Elliott reveals to them that all the losing queens are waiting in the Porkchop Loading Dock and that she was unanimously voted out. The queens are gagged, and they definitely feel a little better now knowing Elliott isn’t a double agent.

On the main stage, RuPaul is joined by judges Michelle Visage and Ross Matthews, and this week’s extra-special guest judge Jamal Sims (who typically choreographs for the queens).

The singing and raps? Not bad. The dancing? Well, it’s pretty half-assed to say the least. If we compare this performance to “I’m That Bitch” from last season, this one definitely lacked. Elliott and Symone really stood out for me.

RUNWAY

The runway theme this week is “Lamé, You Stay.” Gottmik was inspired by a sea dragon in tendrils of fabric, Kandy went pinup in lingerie, LaLa was wrapped in gold from head to toe, Olivia looked elegant in white and mint green, Symone took on a boxing theme in shorts and a robe, Tina finally dropped the red fabric for an all silver Tin Man fantasy, and Elliott had an Ariel wig and a sea green and blue dress.

CLOSING

Ross told Gottmik that her mini challenge looks earlier in the week were fun and together with the main stage look showed versatility, but Jamal and Michelle clocked her for overthinking the choreography, which “made her performance a letdown.”

Michelle liked Kandy’s look on the main stage, but asked her to explain her thought process behind the look (agreed). Kandy said it was a “medieval mother of the hookers.” LaLa got high marks for her gold look on the stage, and was told her confidence in the performance really shined through.

Ross called Olivia a joy to watch in the performance, and they all loved the looks that she presented in all the challenges. Symone also won over the judges in every moment and Michelle called her day look “hot,” while Ross and Ru were already saying she had star quality.

Michelle was happy to see that Tina was finally not wearing red, orange and yellow (yikes). Ross and Jamal really enjoyed her performance, but Michelle advised her to be more aware of performing for television and not like they would in a bar.

Michelle said Elliott’s night look was fantastic, and Jamal said that Elliott looked like she was waiting to show her stuff throughout the performance. Ross backed that up by saying that she proved she deserved to stay.

Olivia and Symone are the top two queens of the week (instead of the usual sole winner). The rest of the queens are safe, meaning this week, there are no “tops” or “bottoms,” aka no one is going home.

Olivia and Symone lip sync to Dua Lipa’s “Break My Heart” to be the sole winner this week, along with a $5,000 cash tip. Both queens used their garments to their advantage and delivered really strong performances. Symone’s use of her long braids was brilliant.

Symone is declared the first winner of the season, and I think this immediately sets her apart as a frontrunner.

NEXT WEEK: The queens in the Porkchop Loading Dock record and perform their own song and dance to another RuPaul song to get the chance at a second impression on the judges.

That’s it for this week! Let me know in the comments – what did you think of this week’s episode? What are your predictions for next week? Do you think anyone’s gonna go home?

Ta-ta for now!

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