RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 10 Episode 9: A Funny Challenge with a Gag of an Ending

With a humorous challenge, appearances from some of television’s funniest comedians, a killer lip sync, and a stellar gag, this week’s Drag Race brought things back on track for Season 10. While one can debate if any of the remaining queens truly deserve the crown, it’s hard to deny that the Top 6 are, more or less, stiff competitors, and they helped make the episode an incredibly suspenseful two hours of television.

Between a guest appearance from Stephen Colbert and a campy runway theme, this week’s episode seemed to be all about comedy, which gave the queens a chance to show off their sense of humor, a major departure from last week’s musical. Ru challenged the girls to bring their comedic chops to “Breast World,” a sketch that parodied Westworld. But the jokes didn’t stop there: this week’s mini challenge found the queens playing a game of Concentration with the Pit Crew’s boxers and briefs, and the runway challenge tasked the Top 6 with dressing as old women. It was an episode filled with jokes and, shockingly, most of them landed.

As a whole, the “Breast World” segment worked, if only because the queens were constantly at odds with Michelle Visage and Ross Matthews, who directed the segment. The challenge forced many of the queens to confront their biggest flaws as queens, whether that be Kameron’s shyness or Eureka’s inability to take direction. While the sketch was undeniably campy, it worked, and the segment as a whole was fun – something that can’t always be said about a joke-fueled challenge on Drag Race.

But the jokes didn’t stop (or even start) there. The opening mini-challenge was campy, ridiculous, and exactly the sort of comedic content that helps separate RuPaul from other shows on TV. While having the pit crew drop-trou was an undeniably silly move, it was possibly the best use of product placement the show has had so far (their boxers and briefs all showcased gorgeous designs). Furthermore, it was just ridiculous enough to work. Additionally, making the queens dress as old ladies helped serve some unique looks, and whether the queens went for glamour (Mz. Cracker looked gorgeous) or humor, almost all their styles worked.

It is also worth noting that the episode contained one of the best lip syncs to date, resulting in a shocking finale that provided the gag of the season (so far…). Untucked was also surprisingly strong this week, with Kameron exploring why she’s so shy and quiet, and Mz. Cracker revealing some emotional facts about her home life. So, while Drag Race might be famous for its drama, this week proved that maybe – just maybe – relying on comedy could help make Season 10 finish strong.

Overall rating: 9 out of 10.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCDbxueqRVE