RuPaul’s Drag Race Recap S16E13: Family (Resemblance) Matters

The Drag Race villain of the season, Dawn, has gotten the boot. Once “Body” began, her chances against the BBL of Miami in a lip sync battle dwindled. The Queens don’t spend that much time on my favorite couches, the beautiful red ones that help unfurl feelings, but it makes sense having only five left.

The next day, the Queens walk into the Werkroom and see a Drag Race Monopoly set on the table. This goes nowhere, which is hilarious and made me laugh more than most of the jokes from the judges. When Ru comes in, she brings in the Pit Crew from Drag Race Live! for the makeover challenge. Everyone gets paired up after the Queens make their picks, but what might be more important here is Sapphira’s outfit. She looks so good, and that hat is her version of unknowingly showing support for the release of Beyoncé’s new album today (I bet that Sapphira would body a performance with a “Daughter”/”Spaghetti” mash up). As always, a strong family resemblance is asked… and a dance number! These Queens are in basic training for gay people. It’s relieving to return to a challenge that has always been there and the competitors should know of its imminence. 

The Queens begin getting to know their partners, Q immediately being the most confident which shouldn’t surprise anyone at this point. What’s funny about this is that her partner can walk better in heels than Q, who famously sometimes walks down the runway like Creeper from the animated Scooby Doo series. On the other side of the room, Nymphia begins the most bizarre tucking tutorial known to man, an indescribable way that can only be understood by watching. A little confused, Morphine takes it upon herself to demonstrate the better way, which seems less damaging. Every member of the Pit Crew seems so thrilled to be on the show, a factor that always increases the dopamine rush of the makeover challenges. Q’s drag daughter, Luna, is extremely confused about the direction Q is taking the two of them with the mime makeup, hilariously commenting on it. The Pit Crew’s biggest hope should be that their Queen wins and eventually returns for an All Stars: All Winners where they bring them up during the Snatch Game. Plane makes Ru laugh harder than Utica did about not smoking weed when she reveals her partner’s drag name is Lazi Susan. 

It’s now time to rehearse the choreography for the upcoming recital for the mothers and daughters in a quick segment that sees the ladies coming up with moves for the stage. Sapphira walks on the runway to rehearse in a 60 pound dress before realizing it wasn’t conducive to dancing. The episode then shifts to the ladies getting ready, Nymphia opening up about the insecurities of being confident in oneself while talking to Juanita, her drag daughter. She’s clearly been keeping most of her emotions to herself for probably too long, masking her vulnerabilities in confidence brought out from doing drag. Plane and Lazi have a great conversation about coming out and feeling proud in queerness that goes by quickly before Morphine starts being read by Q’s drag daughter, Luna. After getting themselves and their drag daughters ready, the Queens hit the runway where TS Madison joins this week along with country singer Kelsea Ballerini, the theme of the runway being drag family resemblance. 

A quick rundown of the runway:

• Q and Luna both have on cool outfits, but the makeup didn’t work as well in the end as I would have hoped
• Morphine and La Tina have their faces beat harder than anyone else that hits the runway tonight, which isn’t too surprising knowing Morphine, but wonderful to see. Especially with Tina’s arms!
• Nymphia and Juantina give The Young Girls of Rochefort and it couldn’t get better
• Sapphira and Shakira’s orange works on them both so well
• Plane and Lazi give the most family resemblance

The Queens give a quick performance to Ru’s “Super Queen” before moving on to critiques. Plane Jane is announced the winner of the challenge, Sapphira and Morphine the bottom two. The two perform to Kelsea Ballerini’s “Miss Me More,” Sapphira confident going into the lip sync that she’ll take home the win. She gives an incredible performance that embodies humor and drag at its finest, allowing her to be the one to send Morphine home during her fourth lip sync. We have our top four, at long last.

Photo: MTV