‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ S13E11 Recap: Finally, Some Furry And Ketamine Representation

Famed fracker RuPaul making a ‘Feel The Bern’ pun? Tina having her funniest moment as she leaves the main-stage for good? Symone wearing a furry suit and the judges have no qualms over whether it’s ‘drag’ or a ‘costume’? All this and plenty more confusion contained in this week’s Drag Race.

Our top seven were tasked with conceptualising and selling their own soda line with an infomercial and jingle, and without  Jeffrey Moran there to guide them, quite a few fizzled out. And the judges were interesting, their judgement was interesting (and it will be hell getting the bags home!): while Symone absolutely deserved to nab her fourth win, most of the other comments confused me.

‘Branding challenges’ are a Drag Race staple, and for good reason. A queen can sustain a couple of years of gigs off one catchphrase or ‘gaggy’ moment alone, and as the seasons progress, they’ve come prepared with entrance and exit lines, puns, reveals and pre-written rap verses.

But, and correct me if I’m wrong, this felt like one of the first times the show repeatedly called something a ‘branding challenge’ — I don’t remember the words being thrown around for, say, the boat decorations in S4 or even S12’s commercial. And as a result, it was confusing as to what the judges actually wanted: were the queens trying to make something entertaining, or were they really trying to sell a drink?

Utica’s ad and product made no sense, but it certainly made me laugh a lot more than Rosé’s, which, despite her tied win with Symone, also made no sense if you think about it for a second. The drink is a hangover remedy that also makes you super perfect and cocky confident, which is both the Rosé brand and a joke at Rosé’s delusional confidence, aka it’s not her brand?

I actually don’t care at all about poking holes in the ad’s logic if not for the judges caring, but Rosé’s drink was literally the same concept as Mik’s. Better executed, sure! But if that’s the judging metric, then Rosé’s drink kind of failed too, and Olivia’s incredibly boring, one-note ad actually was one of the better of the week.

The judging is always the most frustrating part of Drag Race, (probably by design, as it riles the audience up and makes for endless conversations). While I don’t disagree that it was Tina’s time to turn it back to New York, it was this week’s aggressive focus on branding with no real winking distance that rubbed me the wrong way. These challenges used to be about the jokes: no one’s going to buy Jinkx’s ‘Delusion’ perfume or Alaska’s ‘Fashion Tape’, but who cares?

In short, once again I am asking that the show just let the drag queens be dumb drag queens, rather than Shark Tank She-E-Os and influencers. At least we got a 45-second advertisement for ketamine.

I’m Not Brandishing The Gunn, I Am The Boom Boom Gunn

This week, Ru kick-starts the competition with a mini-challenge spoof of Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader? starring the pit crew, one of whom is a literal aerospace engineer when he’s not busy dancing in (or out) of his Andrew Christiansen underwear.

The queens answer some really simple Drag Race trivia. Utica’s lucky her God is forgiving because I’m certainly never going to forgive or forget that she couldn’t remember Alexis Mateo’s name.

One last point before I move on, but it’s funny these little dumb catchphrases and quotes were used to introduce the idea of ‘branding’, given most of the moments the show aired (Alyssa’s confessionals, Alexis’ ‘bam!’) weren’t carefully considered, but just the queens being themselves and the audience falling in love with them.

Anyway, after Kandy wins $2,500 for the mini-challenge (or is that $25,000?), they start storyboarding their commercials and ideating their drinks. Of the bat, Tina’s in trouble: Olivia can barely follow all the threads of the ad while she’s getting a run down, and it’s clear there’s both a bit too much and not enough going on.

Tina’s got a quick wit and has had some solid one-liners in the werkroom, but the judges’ critique this week that she’s stuck in a formula is pretty apt. Her performance isn’t bad and if it wasn’t the tail end of the competition she wouldn’t have been in the bottom, but her flame isn’t burning brightly on TV.

Speaking of gas, GottMik’s GottSexx Sex Juice is nowhere near as bad of an ad as the judges say. They don’t seem to get the concept — that the drink makes you feel sexy even when you’re not — and while it’s not complicated, it could’ve used an edit to be snappier/funnier. The name is also funny, shut the fuck up Santio with your no knowledge drag mouth!

Mik avoids the bottom because it’s Tina’s time to go and Utica’s lickable can lands somewhere between absurd and awkward. Symone made an astute point about Utica this week: she doesn’t quite harness her wackiness to its fullest and can lean a little too much on funny faces and weirdness as a crutch.

Why did she drink from a cow Udder? Why is the can lickable? Why not, I guess! It’s all very drama kid who tries to be the zaniest in the room, and it’s a shame she doesn’t go more intelligent sometimes — it’s clear from her runways and some funny lines that she’s a sharp, witty queen.

It’s pretty clear the top three are Rosé, Symone and Kandy. Rosé’s is… fine, but I do think it ticked the box of showing the judges a ‘funny, self-deprecating side even if the jokes felt a little first draft; Symone just knows what to do and how to do it; and Kandy’s ad is just her demanding ketamine. Thank you Kandy, for validating my experiences.

I get the frustration over ‘Kandy favouritism’, but I also am surprised by how many people aren’t completely enamoured with her. She’s so funny, charming and has displayed a fuckload of maturity too.

Her werkroom discussion this week about how being gay bashed as a teen made her into an angry, occasionally aggressive person showed a lot of self-awareness, particularly when she talked about her Untucked fight with Tamisha Iman. Hurt people hurt people, and a lot of queer people’s quirks and personality traits are borne out of resilience: I have a feeling Kandy’s personality just rubs a lot of people the wrong way because her experiences and the way they’ve affected who she is looks very different to theirs.

“Phi Phi O’Hara, Beast!”

Inspired in joint by Alyssa’s impressive read of Phi Phi in All Stars 2 and Crystal Methyd’s purple people eater look, this week the queens walk the runway as beauty and beast in one.

Symone comes out looking like Crash Bandicoot‘s sexy girlfriend, and while I love the idea, I’m a little surprised the show claims it’s incredibly elevated or polished. Then again, maybe my brain is addled, as I kind of agree with the furries on Reddit arguing about how it’s not even that good of a furry costume. It’s funny that the word Furry wasn’t mentioned once on the episode: guess Drag Race decided that’s not their brand.

Now we’re in the tail-end, Olivia’s mash-up of Mike and Sully from Monster’s Inc. feels a little simplistic, even if it’s anything but. I’ve lost a little enthusiasm for Olivia in the past few weeks, as I think the natural charisma and undeniable star quality that won me over at first can’t quite cover her inexperience in drag.

The lip-sync a few weeks back was technically good but lacked personality/uniqueness, and between last week’s makeover and this week’s challenge, it’s clear she hasn’t quite worked out who she is as a queen yet. I know I say this a lot, but she’s a real All Stars contender — just needs a little more time to become unstoppable.

One person who needs no help standing out is Kandy, who arrives in ode to Kahmora’s padded-out green-screen tree. This look is a mess, makes no sense for the theme, and is laughably ugly. I regret to say I completely and utterly love it.

Rosé uses the runway to stay booked and blessed, doubling her screentime as an audition for the role of HIM in the upcoming Powerpuff Girls live-action film.

If we ignore the makeup (and that’s a big if), Tina actually has one of the best looks of the night, a nightmarish Hannibal teddy-bear sewn together from the fur of its victims. Unfortunately make up is a big part of Drag Race, and the decision to use a top lash as a bottom lash, which truly never looks good, does not help.

GottMik and Utica are both stunning: Utica goes for a surprisingly elegant take on the theme, going for a Maleficent-esque horned queen of darkness, while Mik is a Zelda boss.

no one:

the Zelda boss revealing its weak point: pic.twitter.com/oF1WMgnJgc

— garlic bread blink 182 (@AndyRockCandy) March 20, 2021

I’m not mad at the double win between Symone and Rosé, as it levels out the competition. With Olivia sliding a little, Mik and Rosé could potentially snatch the crown. The question is who will join them in the top four, Olivia or Kandy.

This week’s lip-sync track is ‘My Humps’ by the Black Eyed Peas, and while it seems at first like Tina has it, watching it back, it’s pretty clear she didn’t know the lyrics as, unlike some of us, she wasn’t listening to Monkey Business on repeat when she was 11 years old. Utica had a challenge making the song work while looking like the sexy boss in an JRPG, but really makes it work. Who would have thought, given that ‘Rumours’ lip-sync in the first ep?

Next week, the top six roast Miss Congenialities of past seasons Heidi, Nina and Valentina. Lets get this roast a’cooking. In the meantime, I’m delighted to see that Aquaria is a Little Angel, aka what I prefer to call a Celestial, aka a fan of Vox Lux popstar Celeste. Join us, won’t you?

to all the Little Private Girls out there, yes, of course, my hair for my performances in LA is absolutely a humble salute to the greatest pop star to ever exist pic.twitter.com/ggXoTj16Y1

— Aquaria ?? (@aquariaofficial) March 20, 2021

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RuPaul’s Drag Race S13 is available on Stan, with episodes dropping 3PM AEDT each Saturday.

Jared Richards is Junkee’s Drag Race recapper and a freelancer who has written for The Guardian, The Big Issue and more. He’s on Twitter.