RUPAUL’S DRAG RACE S13E14 “Gettin’ Lucky”: At Least We’re One Week Closer To The Crowning

The Top Four episode, the one that determines who makes it to the very end of the show, the one that determines which 3 or 4 queens actually have a shot at the crown – this week’s episode – is in major need of an overhaul. After an entire season of twists and turns and four – no! FIVE episodes where absolutely nobody was sent home, RuPaul’s Drag Race should have kept the twists a-comin’ and done something that was actually gag-worthy this episode. That would have been iconic. But instead, we were given all of these hollow pleas of “I have no idea what’s going to happen, I hope I’m not eliminated from this competition right before the end” and, while we the audience see these queens experience this anxiety, it holds little weight when we know that every Finale since season 9 has had a “twist” where RuPaul just can’t eliminate anyone, and then four queens are lip syncing for the crown (save for season 12, which had only three queens after one was disqualified from the show).

Drag Race has wedged itself into a corner that seems absurdly impossible for production to break away from – but why? Is there really no other way that the show can actually give the audience some stakes in the episode before the Finale? This week had so little in terms of risk that this review could have easily been outlined like a 6^th grader learning how to write a proper essay over a week ago and then the minute details could have been added in the second after the episode aired. And honestly, that’s what should have been done but apparently, this writer has too much faith in this reality competition television show.

The moments that made this episode worthy of a watch – the queens’ interviews with RuPaul and Michelle Visage and the actual Top Four performance – were the only segments of the week worth mentioning.

Interview With The Drag Queen

First up for the interview segment is Gottmik who, according to RuPaul‘s uproarious and neverending laughter, is the funniest queen to ever grace the show and, while it may seem like overcompensation for Ru‘s insensitive and transphobic comments in the past to more cynical viewers, it really does seem like RuPaul just adores Gottmik. The conversation turns to Gottmik’s transition and the reveal that Gottmik’s chosen legal name, Kade, comes from an actual pornstar and the moment is really fun and sweet as RuPaul and Gottmik laugh so hard together.

Next up is Rosé and the conversation goes into their theater background and Rosé talks about being six years old and getting the lead solo. Michelle brings up that Rosé is actually fairly new to drag (three, now four, years) and it’s made out to be kind of like a, “so is drag really what you want to be doing?” moment and thankfully, Rosé has the best answer to counter it; talking about how performing in drag helped her really get in touch with just how queer Rosé is. RuPaul brings up Rosé’s “perfectionism” and they all start talking about Rosé’s drag girl group with season 12’s scorned queen Jan. Michelle asks if there’s any competition between the two since Rosé has made it a lot farther in Drag Race than Jan (ooh, ouch) and Rosé insists that they’re very supportive of each other.

After Rosé is Kandy and the interview kicks off with how Kandy really went through it last week, resulting in a panic attack during Untucked and Kandy having to lip-sync against Olivia Lux. RuPaul asks how Kandy has changed throughout the season and what she says is factual: Kandy came in ready to start drama and prove to everyone that she’s the best, but has since become a more vulnerable and affectionate Kandy Muse. Kandy has both Ru and Michelle laughing, especially as they shit all over Kandy’s dreadful runway look from the previous week.

Last is Symone and they get into talking about Symone’s drag family and Symone’s brilliance, which is not a word that RuPaul just throws out willy-nilly. It definitely put this interview a notch above the others as it seems like both Ru and Michelle behave as if Symone has already been crowned. However, Ru brings up the “inner saboteur” thing that has become intrinsic in the brand that is RuPaul, and one can’t help but roll their eyes, like seriously Ru? YOU were the one that put this perfect queen in the bottom two TWICE, are you really going to try and elicit vulnerability from Symone? If anything, it means that RuPaul wants to make sure production has a lot of vulnerability footage to choose from for Symone’s narrative.

We’re Up All Night to Get(tin’) Lucky

After rehearsals with returning choreographer and director Jamal Sims, the Top Four are getting ready for their final runway and their final performance in the competition. They all talk about how close they’ve become, their first impressions of each other, and their impressions of themselves throughout the competition; nobody liked Rosé all that much at first, Gottmik has discovered some new comedic talents thanks to the maxi challenges, and Symone feels comfortably saying that she loves herself.

As far as their live performance of RuPaul‘s new song, “Gettin’ Lucky”, Gottmik, Kandy, Rosé, and Symone go above and beyond. Most seasons that feature the contestants adding their own verses to a Ru song have made an emphasis on doing everything live and in real-time, but (presumably because of COVID-19 restrictions) this season brings some production value had clever editing. The song is peppy, vaguely 60s, and a totally fun jam that everyone – even Kandy and Symone – totally nail. The looks are retro and cute, the verses are sly, and it is such a gas that RuPaul expects us all to be like, “how will they choose to eliminate??” when they’re all so transparently going all the way to the Finale.

Next is the runway where the category is “Drag Excellence” and Gottmik wins by a mile; incorporating her signature clown-white makeup with her own natural skin tone, Gottmik creates a fashionable Dalmation-Poodle runway look that makes use of black dots in the gown, the hair, and the makeup which are mixed in with spots that reveal Gottmik’s own skin. The final product is highly unique, lovely to look at, and 100% Gottmik. Right behind Gottmik is Rosé in a deconstructed Scottish men’s Highland look where the red tartan is a gorgeous gown, the white sporran is a glamourous clutch, and the wig is an undeniably Scottish ginger-orange. Symone’s look is also beautiful, but the only thing grand about it are the amazing purple sleeves that are attached while little else (save for the fabulous wig) is exciting. Last is Kandy’s look which isn’t exactly terrible but just doesn’t scream “Drag Excellence” in any way.

The critiques are basically just a quick review of the season (hey, that’s my job!) and the accomplishments the queens have made, though the two biggest takeaways are RuPaul getting choked up talking to Gottmik and Symone crying on stage when talking about what she would say to her childhood self (a pre-Finale Drag Race tradition where Ru holds up a picture of the queens’ childhood photos and hopefully get some tears out with an “It Gets Better” speech). From here, the rest of the episode is just verbal filler since we already know that everyone is going through to the Finale, and not even RuPaul‘s “twist” of having everyone lip sync for their lives alone of the stage (so, like an audition?) can keep me from rolling my eyes and give my full attention since, to me, this is just another example of the show not wanting to risk getting rid of Gottmik by having her lose in a lip-sync against someone else, as there is no way Gottmik can go up against these other queens.

The song that they all lip sync is “I Learned from the Best (HQ2 Radio Mix)” by Whitney Houston and, while it’s a lame excuse at a twist, I still enjoyed seeing the queens essentially perform the song all on their own, which does show their individual talents and takes on the lyrics and music – Gottmik even does well out there on her own! And, just as predicted from the very beginning, RuPaul has every single one of them go through to the Finale.

Conclusion

Well, we’re in the Endgame now, and with the Finale being all about this Top Four, everyone can take a sigh of relief as next episode will be the Reunion episode (and will hopefully be way better and way juicier than last season’s wretched and forgettable Reunited episode) and then we will have our crowned winner just before the end of April. The final tally scores for the queens are thus: Symone has four wins, Rosé has three, Gottmik has two, and Kandy has one. It’s still basically Symone’s season to lose but with Rosé catching up with her and Gottmik’s storyline and overall performance throughout the season means that nothing is fully set in stone quite yet. Kandy maybe has a chance at the crown if the Finale comes up with an absolutely wild scenario that ends with Kandy being the last one standing – that’s the only way Kandy could win this. Overall, this was a fairly dull, below-average episode with some fresh music and fine moments here and there. Hopefully, something sensational and scandalous comes up in the reunion episode, as long as it isn’t RuPaul once again in that awful facekini.

Were you expecting someone to be eliminated this episode? If so, whom? Let us know in the comments below!

A new episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 13 can be seen every Friday at 8/7c on VH1.

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