Season 17 - Episode 2 - Rupaul--39-s Drag Race

plays the harp while singing a parody of "Wrecking Ball." It’s beautiful but sleepy. Carson notes, "It’s elevator music for a haunted Macy’s." Safe. The High Performers (Top 3) 3. Lucky Starzzz (High Safe) Lucky does a "shadow puppetry" act projected onto a giant screen. Using only her hands and a few props, she tells the story of her coming out. It is avant-garde, silent, and emotionally devastating. Troye Sivan wipes away a tear. RuPaul calls it "authentic." The only critique? It felt short.

blames the audience for "not getting her ironic postmodern take on potty humor." Lydia B Kollins fires back, "Girl, there is nothing ironic about a fart. It just stinks." RuPaul--39-s Drag Race Season 17 - Episode 2

Here is a breakdown of the ten performances (not all 14 queens perform in this episode; the premiere’s rate-a-queen twist continues, but Episode 2 focuses on the remaining half). Hormona Lisa strips off her Victorian gown to reveal a body stocking covered in... pickles. She performs a striptease to "Raspberry Beret." It’s campy, weird, and slightly uncomfortable. Michelle Visage mouths, "I smell a dill-lemma." Safe. plays the harp while singing a parody of "Wrecking Ball

Jewels does a "broken doll" acrobatic routine. She enters on stilts, collapses, and then contorts her body into a human cube before springing back up to do a death drop from a ladder. It is physically impossible. It is dangerous. It is perfection. RuPaul declares, "You have raised the bar for the Variety Show." Jewels Sparkles wins the challenge and a cash tip of $5,000. The Bottom 3 (The Bloodbath) Joella (Low Safe) Joella attempts to sing a power ballad about her hometown of Los Angeles. She is flat. Not just a little flat—geologically flat. She forgets the second verse and yells, "WOO!" to cover it up. It doesn't work. She survives because two others were worse. Lucky Starzzz (High Safe) Lucky does a "shadow

A- (Minus for Kori King’s comedy; plus for Jewels’ stilt-walking and the wig-throwing.)

Drag Race Season 17 airs Fridays on MTV. Stay tuned.

Onya takes a huge risk: she raps live. No backing track lip-sync, no pre-recorded verse. Live. She spits bars about growing up Black and queer in Cleveland while twirling a basketball on one finger. Her breath control is perfect, her energy is volcanic. When she shouts, "I’m not just the trade of the season, I’m the whole damn mall!" the audience erupts. She is clearly headed for the top.