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Drag Race Season 13 Review: Bossy Rossy Ruboot Proves Expected & Meh

This past week's episode of RuPaul's Drag Race sees the queens competing in both the annual reading mini-challenge and the improv challenge. Warning: there are spoilers ahead, though nothing really matters anymore since Tamisha Iman was sent home last week. Just end it already and crown Symone like everyone knows will happen. Shockingly, the reading challenge win went to GottMik (and not Tina Burner, despite some absolute roasts), though GottMik is starting to seem like this season's Alaska, just hopefully with fewer tantrums. As for the main improv challenge, the queens were assigned groups and segments for the talk show reboot, "Bossy Rossy: After Dark" hosted and facilitated of course by judge Ross Matthews.

The segments and group assignments were doled out personally by RuPaul himself. "I'm pregnant with my imaginary boyfriend's baby" went to Denali, Rose, and LaLa Ri; "Breaking my silence: escape from the cult of mime-ology" starred GottMik, Olivia Lux, and Utica; in a case of typecasting, Kandy Muse and her partner Symone were "Former teen queens: where are they now?" and last (and least, in Elliott with 2 Ts' case) is "My best friend's 600lb ass is killing our friendship" with Elliott and Tina Burner.

Now, there was some contention over roles, most notably between Olivia Lux and Utica, who both wanted the silent mime role, which was perfectly suited for Utica and her zany physical comedy style…but Olivia was adamant, which left her the winner of this week's challenge (again) and Utica's performance as the loudmouth mother was not suited to her style, experience, or personality. This is an annoying and recurring theme in improv and acting challenges: some parts are just "winning roles", meaning unless the queen in that role bombs it, they're almost guaranteed a standout performance. Making funny faces and gestures is low-hanging fruit as far as comedy goes, and that makes Olivia's win this week feel forced and cheap.

Unfortunately, this was LaLa Ri's week to leave the competition and not Elliott with 2 Ts, though Elliott did open up this week and gained Tina's respect by admitting she was diagnosed with depression at age 13. And so the world turns, and another episode of Drag Race is in the books. Next week's Rusical episode should prove to be a good one, with several singers, dancers, and musical theater kids in the competition this season, Social Media: the Rusical should be one to watch for sure. Drag Race airs Friday nights on VH1.

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