Review: RuPaul’s Drag Race (Season 12, Episode 10)

It has reached the point of the season where they do the season we all wait for… the makeover challenge. This challenge gives the queens a chance to drag up someone else into their drag daughter and this season’s challenge was extra special as they dragged up Drag Race superfans and it was so wholesome and amazing. The superfans were women from a variety of races, sizes and sexualities proofing drag is for everyone, it was a powerful episode as we saw these women embrace their femininity in this challenge.

The episode started with Jackie Cox describing her lip-sync experience, she lip-synced in a hijab and said she had never felt more alive and we were living for her gorgeous look. This season we have seen a variety of cultures embrace the RuPaul’s stage and it is beautiful to see, and Jackie is pure example of this. The start of this episode of so wholesome not just because of Jackie but we saw the 6 stunning women come into the werkroom after thinking they were taking part in the audience for a challenge, instead they were surprised with being involved in the challenge. Due to the intensity of the episode there was no mini challenge but as Jaida Essence Hall had won last week she was greeted with the gift of assigning the women to their queens.

Jaida paired everyone perfectly Jaida chose Bethany, a mum who takes her two young girls to drag con each year showing them they are free to express themselves anyway they please. Heidi Afrodite (yes she changed her name again) was paired with Nicole, a beautiful woman who started off on the show really insecure, delving into her story of being bullied for her size, this challenge brought out the fierce side of Nicole and she embraced her curves. Sherry Pie was paired with a woman called Janet, who legally changed her name to Janet the Planet. Gigi Goode was paired with Shea who called herself the stunning season 9 queen Shea Coulee. Jackie was paired with Tiffany (like the jewellery). Crystal Methyd was paired with fun and nerdy Grace who her and Crystal got along with like a house on fire.

The episode was so amazing as we saw the beautiful women dragged as the queens drag daughters, they were also made to lip-sync against each other to RuPaul’s U Wear It Well. The girls were living, and they are all winners baby. They all came out of their shells and it was so beautiful to see, drag really is an art form that can help you see aspects in yourself that you often neglect. Through this challenge we were able to see the powerful art of drag take place.
The category this week was Drag Family Resemblance, and everyone served the runway. No one was bad this week, but the competition this season is so strong that just being great isn’t good enough. Heidi transformed her drag daughter Honey Almighty giving full Donna Summer fantasy, however Heidi and Honey lacked any family resemblance and the lack of sequins on Honey’s outfit went against Heidi. Jackie and her daughter Lil’ Snacky Cox gave the 1970s version of Kris and Kim Kardashian, the resemblance was amazing, and they had a cute little routine on the runway. However, the outfits were relatively basic for the drag race stage.

Jaida and her drag daughter Jazz Essence Hall served the runway with a stunning red giraffe printed gown. There looked identical and stunning giving pure family resemblance. Crystal and her drag daughter Opal Methyd served a completely different look on the runway, it was in true drag form it was bizarre and colourful. They served muppet troll doll realness and was the epitome of everything that defines drag. There was a clear family resemblance despite the completely different looks, out of all the queens this is one of the standout outfits of the night. Gigi and her drag daughter Bebe Bad looked stunning on the runway serving mod realness, it was a fun dynamic between the pair, however it was a relatively basic look when comparing it to the rest of the queens.

The tops for this episode were Crystal and Jaida with Jaida taking the win for the third time this challenge, her and Gigi are now tied for the most wins this season. The bottoms this week were Jackie and Heidi and they lip-synced to Kill the Lights by Alex Newell. Heidi slayed the lip-sync and served the runway whilst Jackie slayed but using humour as her tool to wow the judges. RuPaul saved Heidi and in a shock twist of events also saved Jackie. The episode was full circle and wholesome and the outcome of the lip-sync was the perfect ending to this week’s episode.
Well done to all the fabulous ladies from this week’s challenge proving just like Beyoncé said that we rule the world, girls.

RuPaul’s Drag Race Series 12 is available now on Netflix, with new episodes weekly.