{"id":86337,"date":"2019-05-03T14:25:52","date_gmt":"2019-05-03T18:25:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/its-all-a-bunch-of-hocus-pocus-on-rupauls-drag-race-recap-and-rankings\/"},"modified":"2019-05-03T14:25:52","modified_gmt":"2019-05-03T18:25:52","slug":"its-all-a-bunch-of-hocus-pocus-on-rupauls-drag-race-recap-and-rankings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/its-all-a-bunch-of-hocus-pocus-on-rupauls-drag-race-recap-and-rankings\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s All a Bunch of Hocus Pocus on \u2018RuPaul\u2019s Drag Race\u2019 [RECAP and RANKINGS]"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s All a Bunch of Hocus Pocus on \u2018RuPaul\u2019s Drag Race\u2019 [RECAP and RANKINGS]<\/b><\/p>\n

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We all know are queer people are magic, right? I don\u2019t mean to generalize, but having heightened empathy, creative aptitude, connection to nature and enduring spirit does make me believe that queer people are basically witches. (Every time we take our PrEP with vodka-soda we grow stronger!)<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why I\u2019m surprised it\u2019s taken RuPaul\u2019s Drag Race<\/em> so long to do a straight-up magic show. Really, the line between a magic show and a drag show is already razor thin. It\u2019s a great medium to test the gals\u2019 showmanship, humor and discipline. Although last night\u2019s ep wasn\u2019t one of the series\u2019 strongest, the challenge was a perfect framework for the show.<\/p>\n

Gather round top hats and bottom hats alike, and let\u2019s abra cadabra ourselves back to the beginning of the episode for our recap.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fresh off last week\u2019s runway<\/a> (lol remember Plastique?), Nina is a little salty that she was such a generous partner for Brooke, but Brooke didn\u2019t even attempt to share the glory. It\u2019s not a story that goes particularly anywhere. #fakenews<\/p>\n

For this week\u2019s mini-challenge, the queens had to do a dirty Double Dare-<\/em>esque physical challenge pressing balls between themselves and the Pit Crew to drop in a basket. The highlight for me was Silky picking up Shawn Morales in a fireman\u2019s carry, but it\u2019s Vanjie that snags a much-needed win and the ability to split the queens into two teams.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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This is where things go south. Vanjie puts herself alongside big personalities Silky, Yvie and A\u2019Keria. I get the thinking here, but this is a team of charming entertainers whose oversized presences carry them through most of the time. These are not joke writers, and, unlike last week, this isn\u2019t technically an improv challenge.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Conversely, the team of Nina, Brooke and Shuga immediately click in and obviously understand the challenge. They quickly get to work strategizing, almost to a fault.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rehearsals with an actual magician somehow demonstrate both how involved this challenge is and also how easily executable magic is? Maybe they edited A LOT of rehearsal out, or maybe I too could swallow a whole super long balloon if I just BELIEVED.\u00a0<\/p>\n

(Though, just between us squirrels, I have a sneaking suspicion I\u2019d do just fine at that particular trick, athankyouverymuch.)<\/p>\n

Team Nina comes prepared with bits, and they seem totally ready to slay. The other team though is hoping to improv their way through it. Y\u2019all. Come on. You gotta know by now that \u201cwinging it\u201d is not gonna fly-fly-fly-fly, uh oh, uh uh oh.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a sort of unclear development overnight where Team Vanjie had to last minute change their show, because it was too hot for VH1.\u00a0Weird.<\/p>\n

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Regardless, it would be tough to best Nina, Brooke and Shuga as The Mighty Tucks. From start to finish, this is a delight. It feels like a real magic show and a real drag show and a real comedy show. Nina is 100 percent the star, and she gives her strongest performance yet. Brooke is once again excellent. She\u2019s silly and sexy, and she lights up the stage. Shuga is fine! There isn\u2019t a moment during their whole act when all three ladies<\/a> aren\u2019t giving us SOMETHING. They\u2019re even mugging and dancing in the background. Tour this show, please! I\u2019d order two ticket today.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Team Black Magic isn\u2019t a disaster by any stretch. It\u2019s just a lot of Silky being Silky, A\u2019Keria being A\u2019Keria, Yvie being Yvie and especially Vanjie being Vanjie. Everything feels half a beat off, and it feels much more like four separate performance happening in sequence rather than a cohesive team performance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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The runway theme calls<\/a> for caftans-tans-tans across the board, and the ladies<\/a> mostly nail it. A\u2019Keria\u2019s pantsuit with butterfly wings is not a caftan, per se, and Shuga\u2019s overly-ambitious double reveal merely uncovered increasingly disappointing lewks, like some kind of Russian doll from T.J. Maxx.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The judges clearly favored The Mighty Tucks over the Team Black Magic. Silky gets dinged for some unflattering choices for her body, and Ross is unrelenting in his disapproval of A\u2019Keria\u2019s non-caftan. Although the judges (and Michelle in particular) love Vanjie\u2019s caftan, all they got in the challenge was more Miss Vanjie. They want more character development.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Mighty Tucks receive nearly universal praise, save for Shuga. The judges feel Shuga didn\u2019t rise to meet Nina and Brooke at their level, and her second and third caftans were misses.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nina rightfully earns the win here. Vanjie lands in the bottom two, as does Shuga. It\u2019s a surprise, because she was not one of the two weakest players in this challenge, but she is the remaining queen with the most middling performances overall for the season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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The lip sync is to the classic Mary J. Blige anthem, \u201cNo More Drama.\u201d Numbers like this are tough for a sync, because they don\u2019t lend themselves to stunts, tricks, deathdrops, shablams, etc. It\u2019s all about emotion, and, boy<\/a> does Vanjie deliver. She removes jewelry piece by dramatic piece. She tosses her head around with abandon. She sells every single beat. Shuga is no slouch, but the judges and cameras<\/a> can\u2019t take their eyes off Vanjie. Shantay she stays, and Shuga sashays away.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Where does that leave us? Check out our rankings below, and leave yours in the comments.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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1. Standing strong again this week is Brooke<\/strong>. She is really just crushing this competition to such an extent, it is shocking she came so unprepapred for Snatch Game, one of the few challenges you always know is coming. Her runways are flawless, and she\u2019s so far ahead, I can\u2019t imagine how she could fumble it this close to the net, or whatever. (Look, I recap Drag Race<\/em> for a living, go get your sports metaphors from Bleacher Report if you need them right.)<\/p>\n

2. Yvie<\/strong> was a real stinker in the main challenge this week. While the rest of her team compensated for a lack of preparation with an abundance of confidence, Yvie seemed the most tentative in her every moment. Luckily, the ripped-up yellow caftan gave me sort of Grizabella glam, which I am incredibly here for. Her runway story put a spiritual spin on the theme, and her backward prayer hands were quite memorable.\u00a0<\/p>\n

3. A\u2019Keria<\/strong> got the best trick of the night, and she sold it well. I\u2019m afraid she squandered whatever goodwill she got from the judges last week when she ignored this week\u2019s runway requirements. Anyone would agree that was NOT a caftan. She should know better.\u00a0<\/p>\n

4. Silky<\/strong> is very good at what she does \u2026 and she doesn\u2019t care to try anything else. Personally, I love her big, loud presence, but I do NOT love her dismissive attitude toward anything outside her comfort zone. Her hair-ball wig was a refreshing, artsy edge to her typical pageant glam, but the whole lewk just felt slightly off. In the magic show, Silky commanded the stage and kept the crowd on her side, even when she didn\u2019t have much content to offer. Compared to beautiful Brooke, innovative Yvie and A\u2019Keria\u2019s edge, though, Silky needs to serve more to prove she\u2019s a superstar.\u00a0<\/p>\n

5. Man, I love Nina West<\/strong>. She\u2019s adorable, hilarious and seems genuinely sweet. This was her week to shine, and she was incredible. I could watch her magic show for hours. I sincerely hope she integrates some of this into her regular routine. Her caftan was also her best runway thus far. Unfortunately, I don\u2019t think her best is going to be enough to best the frontrunners.\u00a0<\/p>\n

6. Watching Vanjie<\/strong> has been heartbreaking. She knows she\u2019s beat. She only has swimsuits in that workroom, and she knows it. She only has Vanjie inside her, and she knows it. She\u2019s on borrowed time, and she knows it. The good news is she\u2019s primed to be a breakout on All Stars<\/em> 5, and regardless of ever snatching a crown, she\u2019s got legions of new Fanjies (?) all over the world.\u00a0<\/p>\n

7. It\u2019s a little bittersweet to see Shuga<\/strong> go this week. Not because she wasn\u2019t the least likely winner remaining (she was), but because she really wasn\u2019t bad in this challenge. I\u2019d even go so far as to say this was her BEST week in terms of challenge performances. I think the runway really hurt her, but, regardless, if it wasn\u2019t this week, it\u2019d be next week or the week after, let\u2019s be honest.\u00a0<\/p>\n

How would you rank the queens?<\/p>\n

The post It\u2019s All a Bunch of Hocus Pocus on \u2018RuPaul\u2019s Drag Race\u2019 [RECAP and RANKINGS]<\/a> appeared first on Towleroad Gay News<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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It’s All a Bunch of Hocus Pocus on ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ [RECAP and RANKINGS]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n