RUPAUL’S DRAG RACE S13E2 “Condragulations”: You’re A Winner, Baby! A Sharp Turn Towards Gold Ru-demption

While episode two is a big upgrade from season 13 of RuPaul’s Drag Race’s premiere, there were really only three big takeaways: 1) Tina Burner has a copyright on the color combination of red, orange, and yellow; 2) Gottmik’s storyline is allowing the show to widen its scope in a positive way as drag becomes more and more mainstream and Drag Race becomes more inclusive – but is it enough to atone for Drag Race‘s problematic past when it came to transgender contestants? and 3) Elliott With 2 Ts had the expectations of all the “Pork Chop” queens on her shoulders as she brought her A-Game to the main stage, which probably gets last week’s winner queens worried about underestimating the other girls.

This isn’t to say that this week’s episode was boring, but that there was a lot going on and, like waking up from a dream you half-remember, you only recall the things that left a real impression. A lot happened in this episode and most of it was good but average.

Twists On Twists On Twists

In last week’s review, I was optimistic that this current format with fewer queens at a time would mean that they’d actually get to stick around for a little bit longer and that we’d get to know them better. I’m happy to report that with “Condragulations”, this may be the road that production is easin’ us on down.

Without skipping a beat, the “Pork Chop” queens (Denali, Elliott With 2 Ts, Joey Jay, Kahmora Hall, Rosé, Tamisha Iman, and Utica Queen) vote for who they think should get “the chop” and we’re only shown a few of their choices: Joey picks Elliott for not having a “wow factor” in her look; Denali picks Joey for wearing chicken feathers instead of ostrich feathers like her and Kahmora; Kahmora picks Utica for an unknown reason. The votes are cast and there’s a tie between Elliott and Utica, which means there needs to be a second vote. Ultimately, Elliott With 2 Ts is picked and she is close to tears, devastated.

From here, the winning queens enter the workroom and they are stoked for being the top of the season so quickly. RuPaul enters the room and brings – gasp! – Elliott With 2 Ts with her! The other queens are completely gagged, especially Tina Burner who had beat Elliott in their lip sync – she doesn’t trust anything about a “Pork Chop” queen being amongst the “Winner Circle” queens. Ru tells the group that Elliott is back “to prove that losing is the new winning (#DragRace)” and gives a small speech about how nobody is a loser on RuPaul’s Drag Race, and talks about queens who were eliminated first but went on to become living legends and big stars, like Victoria “Porkchop” Parker and Shangela, who not only appeared in A Star Is Born (2018) but also attended the Oscars in full drag!

And Ru is right; some of the biggest names in Drag Race her-story have been the bridesmaids and not the brides, who have used this platform to skyrocket their careers and names. And this is honestly so nice to hear our host say after putting we the viewers (and the queens!) through the shenanigans that were last week. Ru also tells the queens that they must never let anyone make them feel like a loser, which is a nice sentiment but not really the answer to this particular problem. It’s the toxic and racist parts of the fandom – not the queens and their emotions – that cause many problems surrounding the show. But I digress.

The Socially Distanced Mini-Challenge

Taking a cue from seasons 7 and 12, the episode’s mini-challenge is to “stomp the runway” in two different categories: “Day Time Drama Mama” and “Night Time Is The Right Time”, where they just have to dress in fabulous outfits for day and night. Most of the Day Time looks are really stunning but Kandy’s red look with the Katya-esque wig was an unfortunate miss. With the Night-Time runway looks, Gottmik, Olivia, and Elliott stood out from the rest in their dark and seductive takes on the category. The best parts of this mini-challenge are the jokes and puns made by RuPaul, Michelle Visage, and Ross Mathews as they observe the runway at a safe, social distance from each other.

The queens quickly de-drag to prepare for their maxi-challenge, which requires them to write their own verses for RuPaul‘s song “Condragulations” and then come up with choreography as a group for a performance of the song on the mainstage. Everyone sits down to write their lyrics and we learn that not only is Olivia an absolute doll and a musical artist, but Tina was actually in a boy band once upon a time. Elliott mentions that she feels like the “red-headed stepsister” and that she has a lot to prove to the girls, which carries over into the choreography rehearsal where Elliott – “a choreograph dancer” – doesn’t want to take over since she is the new girl. Rehearsal segments of Drag Race are always a Red Herring, but in this episode, we actually get some storyline with weight behind it.

Pronouns On The Show

Generally speaking, the pronouns used on RuPaul’s Drag Race tend to lean towards she/her/hers, and most often, everyone refers to each other in this way, even when they’re not in drag; including when they’re referring to Gottmik, the show’s first trans man. And when the focus of the episode shifts to Gottmik’s pronouns, it’s made clear that she wants to be treated like the rest of the men on the show, which means being referred to as she/her/hers when in her drag persona (which the queens almost never come out of when they’re on the show) and being referred to as he/him/his when out of the Gottmik drag persona.

“I feel like people are trying to overthink it and they call me ‘he’ in drag, I’m like, ‘bitch, you’re just clocking me and making me feel like so weird.’ We’re all guys here so like, if you’re going to call them ‘she,’ do not try it with me,” Gottmik says in the workroom.

This comes up after the choreography rehearsal when each queen has to figure out their solo dance to go with their part of the song in the Maxi challenge. And for Gottmik, that becomes a bit of a problem because the very first words of the song are “Gottmik was born a girl, baby” which immediately makes her uncomfortable. In the confessional, Gottmik says that she hasn’t told the other queens about being assigned female at birth and didn’t know that those lyrics would be heard by everyone before there was a chance for the topic to brought up. This has completely thrown Gottmik off and she says that it’s triggered some gender dysphoria that she wasn’t expecting. After talking with Olivia about what she’s feeling, Gottmik seems to be in a better place, but will it show in her performance on the mainstage?

Condragulations, You’re #1 Maxi-Challenge

On the judging panel, RuPaul, Michelle, and Ross are joined by director and choreographer Jamal Sims as they assess the queens’ song-and-dance performance and the runway category, “Lamé you Stay.” The song kicks off and most everyone does an amazing job, especially Olivia, Symone, and Elliott who bring their talents and star power to the stage. The song itself isn’t anything special but that won’t stop me from singing it to myself all week, except for maybe Kandy Muse’s part, since her annunciation is a little garbled.

As for the runway, the best looks BY FAR were from Symone in a lamé boxer outfit, complete with long dutch braids and boxing gloves; Gottmik’s sea dragon-inspired look (even though she completely missed the opportunity to describe herself as a “lamélien” instead of “lamé alien”); and Olivia’s classic Hollywood gown, though I personally wasn’t a fan of her wig. During the critiques, everyone is given good feedback and the only queens to receive any negative critiques are Gottmik, whose dancing was apprehensive, and Kandy who was figuratively docked points for some of her runway looks and for messing up her choreography in the performance. Backstage in Untucked, Kandy and Gottmik are down on themselves and get emotional thinking about their negative critiques and just knowing that they will be the ones in the Bottom Two and, let’s be honest, if Gottmik were to lip sync against Kandy, Gottmik would go straight home.

However, RuPaul decides to be a benevolent goddess and not only name Olivia and Symone as the top two queens of the week, but also declares everyone else safe. No eliminations this week! And, going off of the precedent set by season 12’s split premiere, Ru has the top two queens lip-sync against each other for a $5,000 tip. The song is “Break My Heart” by Dua Lipa and the two queens absolutely shine as they give their own interpretations of the music and lyrics. In the end, Symone is declared a winner, baby, and receives the very first cash tip and win of the season, which is much deserved.

Conclusion: “Condragulations”

The sneak peek of next week’s episode shows the other half of the cast – Denali, Joey Jay, Kahmora Hall, Rosé, Tamisha Iman, and Utica Queen – will get the chance to put on their own double runway min-challenge and a maxi challenge that includes writing verses for RuPaul‘s song “Phenomenon.” It’s hard to tell if all of these queens will ever come together or when anyone will be eliminated (the fact that there are 16 episodes this season means that it’s possible there will be few eliminations) but this extended split shake-up is much more exciting and raises much more tension than what was presented in the premiere – yes! Put the queens under a bigger microscope! Not make us all feel bad for half of them all at once! – and as for this episode, it’s good and hopefully, the quality will only build off of what these queens have given us.

What did you think of this week’s episode? What do you think of the current format? 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.