RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 14: Moulin Ru: The Rusical
Power Rankings with P
Welcome to Power Rankings with P, a newsletter ranking cast members on the reality shows I subject myself to on a weekly basis. What can I say? I love slop.
Before we get into this week’s musical - err RUsical - challenge, I wanted to pour one out for Jasmine Kennedie, who was eliminated in last week’s lip sync smackdown. While it was her time to go, I’ll really miss seeing Jasmine Kennedie on my TV every week. When the season began, I never would have imagined enjoying her as much as I did, but she really came out of her shell and emerged as one of the more dynamic personalities of the season. She had feuds with Kornbread and Daya, emotionally came out as trans in Untucked, gave blunt opinions on her cast mates in confessionals, and was laugh out loud delusional. I can’t wait for her All Stars glow-up. But enough about Jasmine, here’s how the remaining queens ranked after the Moulin Rouge musical parody this week:
7. Bosco (golden chocolate bar, last week: 4th)
Moulin Ru character: Saltine
With only a few short weeks to go until the finale, the elusive golden chocolate bar has finally made her grand entrance. Even though Bosco was the only flop in the challenge this week, gave us the same silhouette on the runway for the fourth time, and lost the lip sync, I'm not mad that she was saved from elimination. Since the beginning, Bosco has been one of my favorites of the season; I love her drag, her dry sense of humor, and her confessionals. Now that she has emerged as a late season villain, I love her even more.
6. DeJa Skye (last week: 1st)
Moulin Ru character: Nerve
Other than Bosco, everybody was really strong this week, DeJa Skye included. Serving body-ody-ody was easily a highlight of the stacked challenge, but otherwise she was lost in the background. I wouldn't say this was necessarily DeJa’s fault as that’s always been an issue with the “chorus” roles in Rusicals. There’s just no way to win the episode with them.
5. Jorgeous (bottom 2, last week: 5th)
Moulin Ru character: Talent
Like DeJa, Jorgeous had a shining moment at the start of the Rusical, and then utterly vanished from the rest of the challenge. Once again, the curse of the chorus! Jorgeous ate the material she was given, not on her that her role was poorly written by the challenge producers. I don’t think she deserved to be in the bottom two necessarily, but thank GOD we got to watch her lip sync again.
4. Angeria Paris VanMichaels (last week 2nd)
Moulin Ru character: Charisma
Ross Mathews gave Angeria the critique that she was “keeping her head above the water” in the challenge, which struck me as it's something I totally agree with. Save for her “so bad it’s good” Tammie Brown, I ranked Angeria as 4th two weeks in a row, and before that, 7th. Maybe Angeria has been coasting in the back half of the season, but I’m still rooting for her to take the crown.
3. Daya Betty (last week: 6th)
Moulin Ru character: Uniqueness
After proving herself as a funny and serviceable character actress in The Daytona Winds, I’m not surprised that Daya Betty was a standout in Moulin Ru. Her theater kid roots were very apparent in this challenge, and helped her turn in a memorable performance as a dreaded chorus character. Receiving a HIGH placement for the Rusical chorus is rarely ever pulled off; Daya Betty should be proud!
2. Willow Pill (last week: 3rd)
Moulin Ru character: Green Fairy AKA Kylie Minogue
In her confessionals, statistics queen Willow Pill reminded us that she has been in the top seven times; she just wants to win again. A win wasn't deserved this week, but I too am anxious for her to receive another win; she'd have a stellar track record for the finale, just a few short weeks away. With the roast next week, I have high hopes she will *finally* cinch another win. One win at the top of the season and one at the end, with seven high placements sandwiched in-between would be an iconic, Jinkx Monsoon like run. If the crown isn't Angeria's, it's Willow's, and I would absolutely love to see it.
1. Lady Camden (challenge winner, last week: 7th)
Moulin Ru character: Mama Z
Lady Camden reemerges as a frontrunner! After a disappointing couple of episodes, Camden has reestablished herself as a threat for the crown. Following the drama with Bosco over the Saltine role, I’m glad Camden snatched the win as Mama Z. A very well-deserved win at that - Camden absolutely demolished this challenge. When she's good, she's GOOD. Let's hope she keeps this momentum going as we head into the final weeks of the competition.
THE GIRLS ARE FIGHTING: obsessed that the queens are consistently bringing us drama episode after episode. The stalemate between Bosco and Lady Camden was thrilling to witness, and it eventually came to a place of a group vote for the role of Saltine. Daya voting for Bosco so Willow would have to break the tie? Classic Daya. We love a shit-stirrer! Camden's "fuck you all" when Willow picked Bosco, then asking her to Venmo five thousand dollars was incredibly real and vulnerable. I could feel the thick tension in the werkroom and I was living, mawma.
But the drama didn't stop in the werkroom! On the main stage, we finally got the "who should go home tonight, and why?" question from RuPaul, and it was unanimous for Bosco. Well, other than Bosco picking Jorgeous, with her reasoning being Jorgeous's weak track record. A fatal mistake. Miss Jorgeous was having none of that, and clapped back with, "If you wanna talk about track record: she was in the bottom 3 times in one episode." An iconic read, one of the best of the season. This episode was nothing but catty perfection, and I loved every second of it. Now that's what I call Drag Race! Thanks for reading! :)