The Norm Can Conform

The opinions you never asked for on the subjects you’re not bothered about.

TV Review: RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 4, Episode 6: LaLaPaRUza

Last episode’s twist had me gagged, but this week, that gag turned into a dry-heave. “Why Harry? What made you hate it so?” I’m glad you asked. The whole episode was made up of just three things; 1) A plug for RuPaul’s music 2) A reason to get Latrice Royale back in the competition 3) Really bloody boring. But that’s just me, I know some people liked it…

From the last episode, we saw the twist coming and I have to say, I was almost exactly what I thought would happen. However, the ‘big twist’ that was so promisingly hype seemed to underdeliver in my eyes – but I’ll get into that later.

As the last episode ended, this one began with the queens rushing over to hug and chat to the eliminated queens. They all decided to sit down, catch up and find out what went down in the last episode.

The remaining queens told the eliminated foursome that they had to do a comedy roast for Lady Bunny. Manila and Monique gagged the eliminated queens when they told them it was a double win and despite Valentina being truly awful, she still told the eliminated queens how funny and brilliant she was. Liza Minelli Lies!

But it wasn’t even necessarily that she was lying, Valentina truly believed her routine was stunning and that she nailed the performance. She couldn’t have been further from the truth. Not only that her comedy was bad but she wore the same wig in the challenge and the runway and she didn’t even do her eye makeup for the roast. It was a total disaster but she believed she killed it.

Of course, they all had something to say. Let’s be honest, we knew Gia would come back and try and stir the pot – that’s what she does best.

Farrah Moan also told Valentina that she was glad that her elimination gave her the telenovela ending after her Ariana Grande lipsync Ru-demption and the fact she sent home Farrah as her frenemy. It was sweet(ish) but you know full well she was still bitter.

Then Latrice decided to speak her peace which was still some serious levels of delusion. I think there must have been something in the water that day because the levels of denial and delusion were unreal. Latrice was one of my favourite queens of all time, not because she was necessarily good at anything, but because she was likeable. Unfortunately, she’s becoming really unlikeable with her “I am the most loved queen ever” attitude. It’s not playing well for her and she’s managing to lose her fanbase who’ve backed her for years.

Then Ru walked in and told them all about the twist

The eliminated queens would be competing against the bottom queens from last episode in a head-to-head lipsync to determine who comes back/stays in the competition. In reverse order of elimination, the queens chose who they wanted to lipsync against.

Because Manila and Monét won the lipsync last episode, both of them were immune from being chosen to lipsync. Latrice picked first and she had some unfinished business to attend to with Monique and so that’s who she chose because she still truly believed Monique did her the dutty.

After Latrice, it was Gia’s turn to pick and she opted for what she thought would be the easiest competitor – Naomi Smalls. Then Farrah Moan picked Valentina because she’s just not over that drama yet.

(And because who really would choose Trinity over Valentina.) Which, of course, means that Jasmine Masters was left to battle Trinity the Tuck Taylor.

But before the queens got to perform, we had to assess their runway outfits for the battles.

Category is ‘LaLaPaRUza Extravaganza’ – Toot or Boot

I’m pretty sure this category basically means where whatever fucking lipsync leotard you have and we’ll give it a title later in editing (or the queens just didn’t give too much of a shit).

Manila Luzon – Toot

Everybody 👏🏻 should 👏🏻 be 👏🏻 on 👏🏻 this 👏🏻 level 👏🏻 ! Yes, she was safe, but that doesn’t mean she’s going to turn up in a safe outfit. This was one of my favourite outfits of the season so far!

Monét X Change – Boot

The total contrast to Manila, Monét decided to wear the most generic safe outfit imaginable because why would she need to dress up if she’s already safe? 🤷🏻‍♂️

Monique Heart – Boot

I feel like I’ve seen this outfit before from Monique. The silhouette wasn’t very exciting and the wig looked a bit wonky (but the orange wig underneath looked great).

Naomi Smalls – Toot

Stunning. Her weave was wonderful, the outfit was sublime and her body looked lush – I just wish the shoes were a bit more exciting (or red).

Trinity The Tuck – Boot

This outfit is nice, it shows off her body beautifully and the shoes are fun. However, that cape was so disappointing. Like, all the sassy green colours were on the inside and when it came to the reveal, we barely saw it as she whipped it off pretty quickly.

If she’d have worn the cape the other way round, it could have been a toot. That cape was not an outfit, it was a basic blanket to show off your lipsync outfit.

Valentina – Toot

I think this is possibly my favourite outfit she’s worn this season. It’s not groundbreakingly interesting, it’s just beautiful. It fits her well, the colour is perfect on her skin and the wig is sculpted nicely – good job Val.

Jasmine Masters – Boot

I really wanted to like it but I just didn’t. It was like Ed Hardy started designing leotards. Now, if she’d have paired this with a Von Dutch cap and a side pony, it would have been a different story.

Farrah Moan – Toot

It’s a very safe toot. The boots are nice (and virtually the same as Trinity’s but in gold), the ribbons on the sleeves look great and the colours are lovely but the wig is just a bit dull. I wish this was a really slick, long high ponytail. That’s what the performance needed, a good hairstyle out of her face to let her do her thing.

Gia Gunn – Toot

A great outfit and her hair looks right. I don’t think she needed the reveal but at least it had more about it than Trinity’s did.

Come through Mildred Hubble ‘The Worst Witch‘ realness!

Latrice Royale – Boot

This wasn’t great. I did like the shade of blue, let’s start with a positive, but the nude bit wasn’t her shade and she decided to bring back the gross hooker boots that she got slated for on Season 4!

The Lipsyncs

This was the chance for all the eliminated queens to get back into the competition. But let’s be real… we all know that only Latrice was ever going to get back into the competition.

Not because the others are bad at lipsyncing (well, maybe Farrah) but because the show had no real intention of ever swapping out the likes of Jasmine for Trinity for example. This whole episode was a big plot to get Latrice back and I’m not mad about it, just don’t pretend it was anything more.

I’m not going to go into much detail because quite honestly, I was bored listening to RuPaul’s music throughout this entire episode.

First up was Jasmine Masters vs Trinity The Tuck and they were performing Peanut Butter. Come on now, Peanut Butter is one of the worst songs imaginable! Stop trying to make it happen Ru. Jasmine wasn’t actually that bad, but it would have helped if she had learnt the words. Not only that, but I couldn’t stand her on Season 7 because she seemed permanently angry and stern but she laughed at herself throughout the lipsync and that really made me smile. Jasmine showed her softer side and it was a treat.

Next up was Farrah Moan vs Valentina and they were performing Kitty Girl (this is probably the song I would have most liked to lipsync to for this challenge. It’s fair to say that Valentina absolutely pissed all over Farrah in the lip sync – and I wasn’t even that wowed by what she was doing. Although, when I watched it back for a second time, I had to give Valentina credit as she did do a pretty good job.

Then it was time for Gia Gunn vs Naomi Smalls. These two performed to Adrenaline and honestly, this was the lipsync of the season so far! Gia Gunn was voguing the house down and Naomi Smalls was serving you supermodel sass. Both queens were phenomenal and if there was ever a moment for a double save in this challenge – it should have been this one. It was also the first time we saw Naomi fully shine in this episode and I’m glad we did.

And finally, it was time for Latrice Royale vs Monique Heart and they were performing to Sissy That Walk (the other song I would want out of the 4). I’ve got to admit, Monique was turning it out, the wig reveal of the bright orange contrasted beautifully with the purple makeup and attire and Latrice did some hilarious headbangs and stomps around the stage. It could be anybody’s game.


And then Ru tells Latrice she’s safe. I have to admit, Monique’s was a marginally better lipsync but I guess they wanted the legend back and it would have been a waste of an episode if nobody swapped out.

And guess what – it was a waste of an episode because they kept Monique as well!

Don’t create a competition twist and then basically ignore the rules you have created. This episode was the equivelant of when a film ends with “and it was all a dream” – no, I can’t get invested in the drama when it’s a slap in the face for nothing.

That’s right, Latrice came back and nobody went home. They may as well have just told Monique that she wasn’t allowed to get rid of Latrice and then we could have said goodbye to Valentina last week.

I guess RuPaul stitched us up with his shitty twist this week. Oh well, at least we saw Naomi serve a sickening lip sync, that’s got to count for something, right?

How has that affected the scores?

I didn’t quite know how to score this episode. I guess because Latrice was the only queen to return, she’s the winner of the episode. Manila and Monét were safe and Trinity, Valentina and Naomi were the tops as they got to stay in the competition. I put Monique as safe as Latrice technically won the challenge but Monique didn’t go home. I think that’s a fair way of doing it. And because Jasmine, Farrah and Gia had already gone home, they were just marked as ‘bottoms’ instead of ‘eliminated’.

Winner: Latrice – 5 Points
Top : Trinity, Valentina, Naomi – 3 Points
Safe: Manila, Monét, Monique – 1 Point
Bottom : Jasmine, Farrah, Gia – 0 Points

It was a bit of a bumpy ride. Annoyingly, because Manila and Monét were safe this week, I only got 2 points out of them and 5 points from Latrice. Tom is still killing it in the competition with 10 points from his queens.

That means I’ve ended episode 6 with a total score of 28 points while Tom storms ahead with a whopping 37 points! Just as I thought I had begun to close the gap.

Harry J Bartlett

Digital Content Creator, lover of fashion, drag queen connoisseur and all around phenomenal human being. If I had to describe myself in 3 words I would say; Gorgeous, Talented and Humble.

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