Only one South Florida contestant remains on Drag Race after this week.
MTV photo
Editor’s note: This recap contains spoilers.
Lip syncs for your life are designed to be intense, but few reach the emotional heights of this week on RuPaul’s Drag Race. After Mia Starr’s somewhat contested elimination, the remaining South Florida queens, Athena Dion and Juicy Love Dion, delivered top-notch reality television, showing great vulnerability and strength. The episode began with Mia’s mirror message encouraging Athena and Juicy to bring the crown to South Florida, but by the end of the episode, only one of them was left in the running.
There was a mini-challenge to see who knew their fellow competitors best, but much of the episode was punctuated with glimpses into the deep friendship between Juicy and Athena. It was refreshing to see them share more about their private relationship before the cameras — they bravely discussed Juicy’s difficult recovery from drug abuse and Athena’s steadfast support. As Athena admitted, their relationship “has a lot of layers,” which puts Episode 4’s dispute with Briar Blush into context.
For the main challenge, the queens put on a new Rusical, Fanny: The Hard Knock Ball, a comical amalgamation of Annie and the underground documentary Paris is Burning. The combination of orphans and ball culture made for one of the best Rusicals in recent memory. Juicy and Athena both struggled in the recording session. In a sense, they had the same issue: emoting with their voice. Juicy’s vocal performance came off as one-note, while Athena remained stuck in a sing-song register that one queen compared to Dr. Seuss. While Juicy rebounded during the choreography rehearsal, Athena’s lack of rhythm carried over. Ultimately, surrounded by great performances, Juicy and Athena simply fell flat by comparison.
The “Beige Against the Machine” runway had the potential to be boring, but the basic color prompt forced each queen to focus on material, texture, and volume in fascinating ways. It was one of the season’s best runways, and Juicy and Athena delivered some of their greatest looks. Juicy took a diaphanous approach to Athena’s upcycling of burlap, but both looked regal. Unfortunately, their looks were not enough to outweigh their weaker performances.
Looking at Juicy and Athena’s faces during the critiques, it was clear they knew they would have to lip-sync against each other. In fact, any Drag Race herstorian understood from the moment the Dion-duo walked into the Werkroom that this face-off was inevitable.
The mid-tempo “Call Me When You Break Up” proved a great soundtrack for Juicy and Athena’s emotional catharsis. Juicy captured the energy through her movement sans stunts, and Athena’s typical composure in the face of an impossible situation was compelling. After joining hands, they arranged an Emmy-worthy moment as Juicy perched on Athena’s knee to close the song. As Juicy broke into tears, Athena mouthed, “I love you.” The performance demonstrated the depth of their drag family‘s bond — one that will remain even now, after Athena, Juicy Love’s drag grandmother, has sashayed away.