Drag Race season 10 episode 9 review: ‘I can’t believe RuPaul would lie to me like this’ A newbie’s hot take

May 18 2018
Written by Max Benwell

Eureka O’Hara (Netflix)

It’s episode nine and I’ve been away for the last few weeks so I’ve got a lot to catch up on.

Back at Brooklyn’s finest gay bar Metropolitan (I don’t have a TV ), the crowd is out and drag racing to go.

There are only six contestants remaining, and things are getting serious. That’s the big thing this episode: the severity of the situation.

To quickly recap, The Vixen was eliminated last week following a Cher extravaganza that Kameron Michaels topped.

Before that Eureka somehow managed to have a self-titular moment not once but twice, winning episodes five and six in succession.

Eureka is killing it (VH1)

If you sashay your mind back to earlier episodes, you’ll remember Eureka struggled at the start.

After pulling out of season nine with a knee injury, her initial comeback was stifled by PTSD linked to the mishap.

She had to lip sync for her life at the end of episode two, and just about managed to scrape through.

Her subsequent resurgence makes you think that the show’s focus on her early struggle was likely very intentional, setting up both a red herring and redemptive narrative.

Eureka left the show last season when she broke her leg (VH1)

The tone of the show has definitely shifted now the contestants have been whittled down to an all-lip syncing, all-dancing sextet.

At the start every queen was fighting to stand out, but they’re now getting along and focused on winning.

For the mini-challenge Stephen Colbert makes an appearance. As the host of The Late Show, he appears alongside a slightly different host – a host of butts.

He’s here to introduce ‘Pants Down Bottoms Up’ to the queens via a pre-recorded video. It’s a challenging memory game featuring 20 topless men who pull down their trousers to reveal their pants at the contestants’ behest so they can find the matching ones and pair them off.

The theme that quickly emerges in the episode echoes Ru’s more imperative motto: “Don’t fuck it up.”

The show is keen for us to know that the stakes are now the highest they’ve been in the season. The contestants all seem very aware of this, and put all their shade to one side while they focus on themselves.

This is great for them but definitely makes for a less entertaining episode (I think I live for the drama now?).

For the runway the girls have to imagine what they’ll look like in 50 years, and the results are mostly hilarious. Monét X Change staggers in with an IV drip propping her up as she sucks from the bags.

Kameron Michaels plays a doddery old woman with big glasses and a shawl, who comes to life when she takes her medicine.

Meanwhile Eureka is the biggest flop and, as Ross Matthew says, looks like “Paula Deen dressed as a witch.”

For the main challenge the girls have to act in a Westworld parody called ‘Breastworld’. The premise is great, but the script they’re given is terrible, giving them little to work with.

Aquaria is responsible for handing out the roles, and frets after she decides to be nice and let people choose, landing her with a small role nobody wants.

During her interview she has to reassure Ru she’ll do a lot with the few lines she has… it doesn’t look good for her.

But lo and behold – she turns out to be the best!

She plays a fabulous malfunctioning robot in ‘Breastworld’s’ big gay saloon, and combines great comic timing with funny facial tics and convincingly mechanical movements.

This isn’t the only twist the episode has to offer. Eureka flops across all the challenges and finds herself in the bottom two with Kameron Michaels.

Kameron and Eureka wound up in the bottom (VH1)

Before they lip sync for their lives, the writing seems to be on the mirror – and its hers. However, they both deliver the best lip syncs of their lives, and of season 10 so far.

This causes a problem. Earlier in the episode we’ve seen Ru be quite clear: someone will have to be eliminated this week.

We’ve also been told that it won’t be easy to choose them. But as the show has been at pains to tell us, someone has to get the boot. That’s just what happens.

And it seems to be happening. Kameron Michaels is told she’s safe. So Eureka is gone, right? Despite her lip sync performance, it’s not surprising.

She looked like Paula Deen as a witch! But then… Ru says Eureka is also safe. What’s happening? She’s also safe?

*Does best Adore Delano shocked face* (VH1)

Yep, that’s what’s happening. No-one is going home this week. RuPaul is a liar! I can’t quite believe it. “That is what I call a lip sync for your life and that is why you stay,” she tells Eureka.

What a lovely surprise though. What’s more, that should mean there’s another episode in the season.

Unless two people get eliminated next week? This is all getting too much, but I’m still enjoying it very much.