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‘All Stars’ Episode Four Recap: Halftime divas, shade and questionable writing

WARNING: If you haven’t seen episode four of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 6, there are major spoilers ahead!

Ok, so where did we leave off last week? Oh yea, we STILL DON’T KNOW WHAT THIS GAME IS. 

But I’m not even going to focus on that too much, because the anticipation is actually kind of painful at this point. So, I just have to let it go until all those queens who were eliminated come walking back into the Werk Room and gag the rest of the cast. This is all pure speculation, of course. Such drama is definitely possible because… This is RuPaul’s Drag Race, after all. 

Let’s talk about the shade that happened as soon as the group walked into the Werk Room at the top of this week’s episode and found out that half of the group actually voted for A’Keria. There was definitely shade on that panel. I still think A’Keria is a strong contender, even if this past week wasn’t her strongest. It’s quite clear most of the time that the strategy is called “Eliminate the Strong Queens.” A’Keria didn’t seem too bothered though. I kind of like it that way. Everyone knows that, at the end of the day, you have to vote for someone

But the challenge this week: All Stars Hall of Fame HalfTime Show, where the queens had to impersonate their favorite Super Bowl Halftime Show diva. I actually thought it was pretty good. I didn’t think anyone was bad, but some were obviously better than others. Let’s talk about them, shall we?

So, we started with Ginger’s Fergie — Meh. I mean, I like Ginger, don’t get me wrong. But I just feel like Fergie — though she had some bops in the early 2000s, is a really hard person to emulate because she’s not a big character. Ginger did her best, and it was great. But it just didn’t feel exciting enough for me. 

Eureka did Madonna, and this one also got a bit of a “meh” from me. Madonna has a pretty distinct personality, and I just didn’t feel like I saw a lot of Madonna. It was great, but was it “Madonna HalfTime Show” great? I don’t know. 

Ra’Jah did her best Diana Ross, which was a huge risk because everyone knows how Mama Ru feels about Miss Ross. I thought this was pretty decent. Some of the well known mannerisms were there, and I would definitely call this a “safe” one. That’s fine, since Ra’Jah definitely has been killing it the past few weeks. 

Kyle decided to do the opposite from everyone else and impersonate a man for this challenge. Smart move! Drag is sort of bending binary gender ruleslately, and we love to see it! And I was pleased with Kylie’s Steven Tyler. I just wish she would have done more with the mouth. Everyone knows about that Steve Tyler mouth. 

A’Keria is another who took the risk to perform as a man, and she chose one of the prettiest ever — Prince! I mean, yes Prince is a “man”, but honestly Prince existed outside of the gender binary during the androgynous wave of the 80s. As a Prince fan, I think A’Keria did a great job, and the assless pants at the end was a great way to channel Prince while also making sure a little A’Keria cake got some attention. 

Scarlet’s Katy Perry was… Very “Katy Perry, if you get my drift. I’m just going to leave it at that. However, I do kind of like Scarlet sometimes, so I won’t say too much more. 

Yara as Shakira… Of course. I honestly thought it could have been Shakira or Jennifer Lopez. 

Pandora Boxx as Carol Channing… Of course. Pandora Box IS Carol Channing. 

Jan, who ended up winning the challenge in the end, did Lady Gaga. And if I said she didn’t do an awesome job of impersonating Lady Gaga, I’d be lying. Complete with the foot stampin down on the piano keys number, she also really sold it with her choreography. Jan needed this win, so I was happy for her. 

However, the one who really stole the show in my opinion, was Trinity. That Beyonce was EVERYTHING! And I’m no Beyonce stan. She literally LOOKED just like Beyonce, and her choreo was on point. I even saw a post on Facebook where Bianca Del Rio took back her shady “Calm down, Beyonce” line from she and Trinity’s season. 

https://twitter.com/RuPaulsDragRace/status/1413295195450454018
https://twitter.com/RuPaulsDragRace/status/1413295794359349249

All in all, the performances were great. Some better than others, of course. And all of the runway presentations were stunning to me. Seriously, not one of them was bad in my opinion.

As I mentioned earlier, Jan won the challenge, but Trinity sold it for me. 

What I REALLY didn’t understand was the bottoms of the week. Not those, kinds of bottoms, but the two queens who landed in the bottom spot — A’Keria and Yara. 

I will admit, A’Keria’s Prince was not the best, but it certainly wasn’t the worst. And Yara’s Shakira was also passable. They were both very passable performances — who’s doing the writing this time around? They should have both been safe, in my opinion. 

I honestly think the bottom two should have been Ginger and Eureka, based on performances alone. But I feel as if the writers may be pushing Eureka through so that she can be in the Top 4. Oops, did I say “writers?” *blink, blink*

Jan lip synced to “Womanizer” against season two lip sync diva Jessica Wild. Jessica won, which sent Yara home. Really?! Yara? I didn’t really agree at all. Yes, Yara is wacky, but she really didn’t deserve to be in the bottom twice already. 

But anyway, as it is written, so shall it be. Yes, I said it. 

Speaking of which, can the writers hurry up and give us the twist? I’m seriously dying inside, even though I said I’d stop thinking about it.

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Kyle Jackson

Kyle Jackson (He/Him) is Senior Staff Writer at Gray Jones Media, and additionally works as a writer, editor and theatre artist/actor. A native of New Orleans, Louisiana, he studied at Dillard University, received a BA in Theatre from Morgan State University, an MS in Arts Administration from Drexel University, and completed the British American Drama Academy’s Midsummer in Oxford Programme in 2017. Having lived in Baltimore, the Washington, DC area, Philadelphia and New York City, he now resides and works in London, United Kingdom.

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