Greetings, Drag Race fans! We’re back with another episode from the season that’s lasted longer than our hopes for a sequel to First Wives Club.

This week, the queens (well, 7 of the 8) must face off in an epic lip sync smackdown and…gasp…Ru promises one queen will be sent home (unless she’s got the golden ticket in her chocolate bar.)

As we open, the queens return to the werk room after they all received the news that besides DeJa Skye, they are all up for elimination. They’re reeling from embarrassment about how bad the Snatch Game turned out. While DeJa engaged in some subtle gloating over her victory, Daya Betty was salty about the fact that Jasmine Kennedie and Jorgeous are still around – especially because they’ve been in the bottom before and she hasn’t. And, yes, Daya’s cranky, but I don’t think she’s deserving of this season’s “villain edit”, as you can tell she gets along just fine with Jasmine.

The next day, the dolls get into their battle gear. Lady Camden admits she’s fueled by embarrassment”, Willow Pill admits she’s “spooked” about performing to a club song and Angeria Paris Van Micheals says she’s more of a “park and bark” queen and is more apt to perform a ballad. Bosco took last week’s loss personally and was angry at herself and nervous about the lip sync. Daya, who admits she’s not a dancer, doesn’t want to face Jasmine or Jorgeous on stage – especially after Jorgeous demonstrates her signature move, “punching the ghost.”

And now…It’s time for “The Lip Sync Lalaparuza Smackdown.” The queens take the stage in their finest leotards and dance costumes (they all look fierce), ready to face off. DeJa got to leave the runway and watch the carnage from the werk room. Let the games begin! Ru says that the queens are going to face off in pairs (and one threesome) with the winner lives to slay another day and the loser moves onto the second round. After those two performances, the last two queens will compete to see who will sashay away. Ru reminds the queens to “leave it all on the runway” and (spoiler) they do deliver.

With the help of Pit Crew member Calyx (I think?) and a bingo ball spinner, we have our first competitor, Jasmine Kennedie. She gets to pick her opponent and (not surprisingly) she picks her “friendemy” Daya. Daya, then, got to pick the song from five selections. She chose “R.E.S.P.E.C.T.” by Aretha Franklin. Daya did a little upstaging, but she really seemed to understand the assignment, giving the proper amount of diva energy and sass. Jasmine brought out the moves and death drops that kept her safe two weeks ago, but Ru decided that Daya earned the win.

Next up is Willow, who picks Bosco as her opponent. She picks “Never Too Much” by Luther Vandross, much to the delight of Ru (and Willow, who was secretly hoping for that pick.) I loved both of them here…Bosco was doing her signature sexy moves while Willow was really telling the story of the song (which, while incessantly listenable, I still contend is a hard song to lip sync to.) Willow gets the win.

Next up, a three-way with Angeria, Jorgeous and Lady Camden. Jorgeous gets to pick the song and, surprisingly, she passes on Jennifer Lopez’s “Love Don’t Cost a Thing” and goes instead with  “Radio” by Beyoncé. It’s an all-out brawl on the stage, with death drops a-plenty from Angeria and Jorgeous and lovely moves from Lady Camden, but once again, Jorgeous demonstrated why she will be on the next season of All Stars as a lipsync assassin because she makes it look so easy…and gets the win. 

Round four pit Lady Camden against Bosco to “Don’t Let Go” by En Vogue. Lady Camden, looking (as she put it) like “Sonic the Hedgehog’s bitch girlfriend” eschews splits and stunts and puts her dance training to work, eliciting kudos from the werk room girls. Daya admitted in the moment that she was lesbian for Camden and Willow said she was flowing…spreading…(?)…like butter. Lady Camden wins.

Angeria and Jasmine lip sync to the J-Lo tune and Jasmine is not happy about having to compete against her BFF in the competition (and yes, there are tears.) Angeria was nervous going in, as she had never performed that song on stage (as it doesn’t fit her old school drag persona) but her fears were unfounded, as she obviously learned all of the words and turned out a fabulous, winning performance.

So we are now down to Bosco and Jasmine. They face off to “Swept Away” by Miss Diana Ross and both queens leave us just that…Jasmine goes more “campy and fun” than usual and Bosco brings out her “stripper moves” and both of them kind of kill it. I wouldn’t have to choose here, but Ru has to and, in the end, she sends Jasmine home – and the chocolate bar doesn’t save her.

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