Posted in: MTV, TV | Tagged: drag race, rupaul

RuPaul's Drag Race Season 17 Ep. 13 Thoughts: Drag in the Family

MTV's RuPaul's Drag Race Season 17 makeover challenge brought parents into the "werk room" for a drag makeover by their kids - our queens!

MTV's RuPaul's Drag Race is nearing the finish line, but before we're at the finale, the makeover challenge is here. Emotions are high this week as the queens have their parents walk into the werkroom for fabulous drag makeovers. The task? Drag family resemblance, of course.

Sam Star and her mama, Sassy Star, absolutely CRUSHED the runway this week. They gave a reveal; Sam let her mama have the spotlight, and of course, the resemblance and attitude were 100% there. They were the complete package, and they gave me life. It was also heartwarming and so endearing to hear her talk about how she makes it out to Sam's shows at least once every weekend, and it feels like she's everyone's mom. In the South, especially among the religious crowd, a lot of parents are hard-pressed to go to bars and/or accept their queer kids, so seeing such a wholesome mom at the bar being supportive is healing to a lot of people, and she's doing the Lord's work being everyone's mama. You go, Mama Star!

Suzie Toot and her mom Queenie Toot (who's real maiden name is…Susan Toot!) did so wonderfully this week, it's so wholesome to see Suzie get a redemption edit and have the other girls see a softer side to her. Meeting her mom and seeing the dynamic there explains a lot, and it was nice to get to see that. Their black and white old cartoon Betty Boop style runway this week was très chic and gave the children (and judges) life.

Lexi Love and her mom, Mimi Lovely, are healing all the trans kids who have broken relationships with their parents, and it's super affirming. Their looks on the runway were adorable and love-themed, ala Valentine's Day boudoir, and they slayed. The judges did point out the lack of family resemblance and attitude, but it wasn't anything major, as Lexi was assuredly safe this week.

Onya Nurve and her dad, Nunya Bidness, brought the attitude and (according to Law Roach) the trade, but that's about it this week. It's pretty clear she didn't really have much prepared for makeover week, and it was pretty far outside the realm of her normal drag. It's not surprising she was at the bottom this week, but you know they couldn't let the front-runner with four wins go down like this.

Jewels Sparkles' dad, Salchicha Sparkles, was one-thousand percent the most into this, and it is absolutely wonderful to see. The less wonderful part of this is their looks – girl, it just ain't right. It reminded me of GiGi Goode's fur coat makeover look, but far less chic and coherent. I wonder if there was some kind of a failed reveal that never made it to the runway because, in the lip sync, Jewels threw off that coat and had the most sickening lingerie on, along with inches under that pussycat wig.

Overall, this week felt more like an emotional catharsis for viewers, between seeing different parental dynamics and the struggles their relationships have overcome. Luckily, we're all spared the trauma of seeing a queen eliminated in front of her parent and it's a double shantay with Onya and Jewels both winning the lip sync.

Next week's episode is the RuPaul's Drag Race Live Vegas episode, and RuPaul states that "at least one" queen will go home. At least? After this week's double shanty and non-elimination, it only makes sense that we could see a double chassé elimination, but the top five queens are so strong—the only one I can see not advancing to the finale is Jewels, and even then, she's proved she's a fierce competitor.

RuPaul's Drag Race season 17 airs on MTV on Friday nights.

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