When the Dolls Lead Diva Worship, The Audience Becomes Converts To the Church of Miss Vanjie

RuPaul's Drag Race, Episode 3: "Diva Worship"

I don't talk too much about "Untucked" because I feel like it is just a supplement for the main show. You should be able to watch "RuPaul's Drag Race" only and get the full experience no matter what Ru says in the intro. I feel like it's important to talk about this week's "Untucked" because it might help inform things in the future. It all goes back to this season's most polarizing dragtestant, Silky Nutmeg Ganache. Silky was part of the winning team and it feels all good, but she's upset. She claims that it's because she didn't feel comfortable as a woman of God, but in reality, it seems like she was pouting because the team didn't go with her choice of Whitney Houston. It seems that Yvie will be the whistleblower of this season and the fight that breaks out is really baffling. Why did Silky think she was going to have to lip sync? Why did she tear that away and then "perform?" For someone who prides herself on being real, the whole thing feels very produced and fake.

After a mini challenge designed for the sole purpose of mocking Michelle Visage during her Seduction days (seriously, can Michelle name more than one Seduction song), Ru gives the queens their next maxi challenge. They have to divide into two teams and in do their own live televangelical show where they try to convert the masses to worship a pop diva of their choice. The winners of the mini challenge, Nina West and Ra'jah O'Hara, are team captains.

Team Nina consist of Brooke Lynn Hytes, Yvie Oddly, Mercedes Iman Diamond, Vanessa Vanjie Mateo, Silky Nutmeg Ganache and Ariel Versace. They choose Britney Spears as the diva of choice and it's pretty clear they are on a path to victory. Especially when you compare them to Team Ra'Jah which consists of Scarlet Envy, Shuga Cain, Plastique Tiara, A'keria C. Davenport and Honey Davenport. They choose Mariah Carey as their diva even though none of them know anything about her. There's no explanation as to why they would choose her. Especially after Ru does her walkthrough and basically tells them to choose someone else. Normally editing plays coy as to who is going to do well but even the most creative editing couldn't cover up the train wreck happening here.

I thanked myself!

On set, Team Nina and IBBN (the It's Britney Bitch Network) slay. Nina and Brooke Lynn are great hosts, especially Nina who is serving the most personality we've seen from her in a challenge so far. Silky and Ariel put their differences aside for a musical moment that is pretty funny and on key. But it's Vanjie that steals the entire show. She is pitch perfect as she converts Yvie and Mercedes' non-believers into Britney worshipping Stans. Everything Vanjie does is gold. The hair flipping. The puns. She is so out of control that she thanks herself and acknowledges it. It's wonderful. Vanjie mentioned last week that she has this "bullshit energy" and she needs to find a way to channel it and she is definitely doing that.

Team Mariah and the "When You Believe" network is the giant dumpster fire you thought it was going to be. Scarlet is shimmying all the time, Shuga knows this is a disaster and it shows. They call Mariah's infamous stink bomb, "Glitter" Sparkle, even though they are using glitter. Plastique tries to convert Ariana Grande loving A'keria using a weird demon voice that has zero explanation. Honey and Ra'Jah forge the lyrics to a song they wrote! They are off key. It's so bad. Ross' only piece of advice is to bring it on the runway.

Prior to the runway, A'Keria and Silky trie to get Mercedes to open up to them about being a Muslim. She will not and I can't really blame her. Being a Muslim in America is dangerous business. Mercedes knows this first hand due to her time on the no flight list that resulted in her stroke. She doesn't owe anyone any explanations and if she doesn't want to talk about it, that's her right. It's not like "RuPaul's Drag Race" has a reputation for being sensitive to religion. Remember in season 9 when Valentina talked about lighting candles to the Virgin Guadalupe, something hundreds of thousands of Catholics do on a daily basis? They edited that with super offensive Mariachi music playing in the background and a cutaway to Trinity calling her crazy. Good choice Mercedes.

Yvie and some other chicks.

On the runway, category is fringe and it is not great. The issue with a runway dedicated to fringe is it doesn't really encourage creativity. For the most part, what we get are dance costumes. And it's really boring. A few of the queens do step it up. I love Shuga's Native American inspired look as a nod to her heritage. Brooke Lynn's daisy chain look is a twist, albeit not a hugely original one. I love Nina's fringe look with the mushroom cap, especially when it's in motion. I can't get behind those ankle boots that don't match. Come on! The star of the runway is Yvie's jelly fish look. It took my breath away. Yvie is beginning to be the queen who I can't wait to see step onto the runway. It's very impressive.

The stinkers for me where Mercedes. What is that camo lampshade fringe fantasy? She is very lucky to have been on the winning team. Ra'Jah's is very blah. It looks poorly made, the wig is awful. Silky says she made her outfit and it shows. It looks like she tossed a fringe poncho over herself. It has no shape. Not cute.

Surprise, Surprise, Team Nina is the winner. Nina wins the overall challenge and it makes sense, but I'm disappointed not too see Vanjie take it. It does feel like they are telling a story with Vanjie and it will be more impactful if she wins like the fourth or fifth challenge, so maybe next week. It could also have been her boring Cher-esque runway that kept her from winning.

Ru takes Team Ra'Jah to task in a way we haven't seen since the Shakesqueer challenge in season 7. They are full of excuses. Plastique learned about Beyoncé four years ago. Honey thought she did well. No one wants to place blame on anyone else which is admirable, but it also leads to a 6-way lip sync that is a giant mess. You can't focus on anyone. There's no space for the queens to really perform. So, Honey takes it to the floor in front of the judges and then proceeds to flop around with her face towards the ground. That basically seals Honey's death warrant and she sashays away. I was surprised that Honey didn't do better on Drag Race, but sometimes being a successful NYC drag queen doesn't translate to this larger platform.

So that was a lot, guys. Should Ru have had all 6 queens lip sync? Are you living for Vanjie? Who is your favorite so far? Let me know in the comments.