‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ recap: ‘Lalaparuza Smackdown’ features 8 lip syncs including ‘The Butthole vs. the Bob’
For the 15th episode of RuPaul's Drag Race, RuPaul Charles brought the 10 eliminated queens of Season 17 back, back, back again to compete head-to-head in an eight lip sync "Smackdown." Along with the title of "Queen of She Done Already Had Herses," held by Morphine Love Dion since last season, the winner would take home $50,000. Not competing, but watching from the Werk Room was this season's top four: Jewels Sparkles, Lexi Love, Onya Nurve, and Sam Star.
The queens competing in the Lalaparuza were: Lucky Starzzz, Joella, Hormona Lisa, Crystal Envy, Acacia Forgot, Kori King, Arrietty, Lydia B Kollins, Lana Ja'Rae, and Suzie Toot. Read on for our recap of RuPaul's Drag Race Season 17, Episode 15, titled "Lip Sync Lalaparuza Smackdown" which aired Friday, April 11 on MTV.
SEE ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ winners list: Every season, plus ‘All Stars’
"You guys are just as ugly as I remember" — Onya Nurve
Having not seem some of the eliminated girls for weeks, there was a bit of catching up to do before the "Smackdown" began. Arrietty declared that she's in her angelic era now after atoning for her villainous ways, but a side eye from Onya and insistence from Jewels that her "chismosa sister is now [her] chismosa neighbor" hinted that the water hasn't passed under the bridge for them quite yet. In the spirit of atonement, Arrietty pulled Onya aside to apologize for the mirror message she left following her elimination, calling the dig she took at Onya "unacceptable behavior." Onya believed in and accepted the apology, understanding that Arrietty reflected on the moment and was able to grow from it in a positive direction.
On another positive note, Kori and Lydia made things official and announced that they are in a relationship after spending more time with each other outside of the competition. In addition to putting a ring on it, Kori and Lydia each found surprising popularity among the fandom. Kori has gone viral doing online Cameos as other characters, including the infamous spoof of Suzie, Kori Toot, and Lydia has been lauded for slaying the stage in her handful of lip syncs during the season. While the kiss moment she shared in one with Kori became instantly iconic in a good way, the scissor mishap in the lip sync that sent her home was the moment she hoped to find redemption in during the "Lalaparuza."
"Honey, it is the movie y'all been waiting for: The Butthole vs. the Bob" — Kori King
Sitting at the judges' dais with Ru was Michelle Visage and Ts Madison, as well as Pit Crew member Bruno who also drew names from the golden hopper. In the first round of the competition, each queen faced off one v. one against a sister, resulting in the elimination of five queens. In the second round, the first lip sync featured two of the winners and the second lip sync featured three. The two queens that were best in show in the second round advanced to the final to lip sync for the win.
The first ball drawn from the hopper was Hormona's, giving her the chance to pick her opponent or her song. Feeling like her best chance to advancing was performing a song in her wheelhouse, she decided to lip sync to "Say Liza (Liza with a 'Z')" by Liza Minnelli and then left it up to chance that she'd compete against Lydia. Despite not feeling strong with the musical theater-ness of the selection, Lydia brought her own "flare" to the song and defeated Hormona. They were followed by matchups between Suzie and Joella to "Training Season" by Dua Lipa in which Suzie came out on top, Lucky and Acacia to "Step by Step" by Whitney Houston in which Lucky won, Arrietty and Kori to "Blow Me (One Last Kiss)" by P!nk in which Kori was the champ, and Crystal and Lana to "You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)" by Sylvester in which Lana defeated Crystal for the second time.
"The lesbos are gonna live for this, honey. Can I say that?" — Jewels Sparkles
In Round 2, Lucky chose to perform to "We Found Love" by Rihanna and was randomly paired with Suzie in a "Florida girls" head-to-head. Having already showed their big costume reveals in Round 1, both Suzie and Lucky had to rely on dynamism in their performance in order to stand out, but luckily for Suzie, Lucky faltered by bringing back the same basketball tiddies bounce and duck walking she did in her first battle. For that reason, Suzie was an easy win to call and advanced to the final round. Pitted against each other for the second performance was Kori, Lydia and Lana to "360" by Charli xcx. Here both Lana and Lydia pulled out a new reveal to their costumes, including a scissor fake-out from Lydia, while Kori kept it straight-forward and dance heavy from beginning to end. Even without the added tricks, Kori came out on top and advanced to the final showdown.
In the final performance, Suzie and Kori battled to the hit song "APT." by Rosé and Bruno Mars for the ultimate lip sync assassin bragging rights. By using the tassels on her jacket sleeves, Suzie was able to embody the cheerleader vibe of the song to perfection, but Kori managed to make the most of the Bruno verse and finally ripped off the obvious breast plate covers of her outfit to bounce her tiddies around in the final moments of the song. With plenty of reasons to choose either queen as the winner, Ru announced the crown in Suzie's favor and awarded her the ultimate consolation prize of the season.
Next week in the "Grand Finale," one of Jewels, Lexi, Onya or Sam will be named "America's Next Drag Superstar" and another girl will be named Miss Congeniality.
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