‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ season 16 episode 9 recap: ‘See You Next Wednesday’
“RuPaul’s Drag Race” season 16 continued on March 1 with the ninth episode in RuPaul’s quest to find “America’s next drag superstar.” Previously in episode eight, Plane Jane joined Nymphia Wind and Plasma at the top of the tracking board with her second maxi challenge win in the iconic “Snatch Game.” At the bottom was Morphine Love Dion who sadly had to send her sister Xunami Muse home in the Lip Sync for Your Life.
This week, the remaining 8 queens get behind the sewing machine again for a Neo-Goth design challenge. Seated at the judges’ dais for episode 9 titled “See You Next Wednesday” was Emmy winning host RuPaul Charles, longtime bestie Michelle Visage, recurring judge Carson Kressley, and Kaia Gerber as the extra special guest.
The queens still vying for the crown are: Dawn, Mhi’ya Iman Le’Paige, Morphine Love Dion, Nymphia Wind, Plane Jane, Plasma, Q, and Sapphira Cristál.
Check out our full recap of episode 9 below:
It was tough for Morphine to wipe Xunami’s lipstick message off the mirror because of how close they were before and during the filming of the show. She said that it feels like “part of [her] is gone,” but Jane was also feeling touched by the new bond that she had built with Xunami. Jane felt like it was a “shocking elimination” and that it in part “overshadowed” her win, but Sapphira and Mhi’ya were confused that Jane even won when they both expected Sapphira to be declared the champ of “Snatch Game” for her James Brown impersonation. Looking around the room, everyone believed that they’re all tough competition and so at this point it will only take a small failure for any of them to be asked to pack their bags.
The next day, Ru had another mini challenge for the girls to partake in. For this one she wanted them to “spit take” with the one making her laugh the most getting the win. After getting in to “quick comedy drag,” the girls had to hold a mouthful of water while Ru delivered a quick joke at them, at which point they’d splash the room with their “spit take.” Ru was able to catch Q by joking that Jane is Miss Congeniality, telling Morphine she’s pregnant, and Nymphia that they’re redoing the “Snatch Game.” Likely because she was actually caught off guard by Ru’s joke, the winner of the mini challenge was Nymphia.
For their next maxi challenge, Ru “scared” the queens with yet another design challenge where they’d have to create a Neo-Goth look from scratch for the runway. Available for their creations was a selection of black, white and grey fabrics in order to underscore that the focus is a goth fashion look. News of a third design challenge was music to the ears of seamstresses Nymphia, Q and Dawn, but frightening for Mhi’ya and Sapphira. Plane thought that Plasma should also be intimidated because goth is a style so far outside of her comfort zone, but Plasma was confident she could pull something off.
Both Mhi’ya and Sapphira were planning to use silhouettes from existing garments in order to stay in their lane, but Q was worried that Sapphira was attempting to recreate something she’s already done on the runway. Dawn and Q were getting competitive about their ideas for the challenge because they understood how within reach a win would be and so it was important to keep their cards close to their chests.
Dawn noticed that Plasma was going back to what she’s used to and advised her to make “smart decisions” by “diversifying.” That thought sent Plasma on spiral to think about something completely different, but her idea to show more skin and do some shredded pieces began to feel very similar to what Jane was already creating for herself. Jane was concerned that in the last design challenge Plasma used the same fabric as her and it didn’t turn out well for her so she should be concerned with repeating that situation.
With half the day gone, Nymphia had focused all of her attention on creating a headpiece, but her mock-ups of a garment were not inspiring her. Jane was putting in a lot of work on her own idea only to realize that she might have bitten off more than she can chew with the amount of detailing she had incorporated. Sapphira took some time away from her work in order to give Plasma a pep talk because she could sense that she was getting in her head and the other girls’ commentary was making it worse. Sapphira also made her rounds over to Mhi’ya’s station to help her cut out the pattern for what she thought was a simple concept to execute. Dawn, Jane and Plasma were not pleased to see so much assistance going around the Werk Room, believing that at this stage of the competition everyone should be putting in their own work.
The next day, Mhi’ya’s energy and confidence was high, which struck most of the girls as odd because they all knew how much work Sapphira put in to Mhi’ya’s garment. The other confident girls were Q, Nymphia and Dawn, but Nymphia didn’t think that Q’s look was goth enough despite being a beautiful piece.
When they finally hit the runway on the Main Stage in the “See You Next Wednesday” category, the standouts were Jane’s highly detailed strappy dominatrix-adjacent look, Morphine’s velvet mermaid gown with spikes, Sapphira’s presentation of her bored widow in a gown, Nymphia’s oversized veil and lace dress, and Q’s polka dot dress coat with a massive train. Plasma, Mhi’ya and Dawn’s looks were a cut below the rest.
After the presentations, Jane decided to hold on to her Immunity Potion for one more week before it expires. Ru accepted that and then announced that they’d all be critiqued this week. Carson thought Jane’s look had “great movement” and Kaia appreciated that she “sold the character,” but Michelle thought it was “not on [Jane’s] same level.” Michelle questioned how Mhi’ya was able to make her tight-fitted dress without knowing how to sew, but it was unclear if anyone was buying it when she made it seem like she did most of it with minimal help from Sapphira. Michelle thought Dawn’s dress was “executed beautifully” and Kaia was reminded of McQueen. The judges thought that Morphine’s dead look makeup was beautiful, but Michelle thought her dress was “basic” and she wasn’t “blown away.” Michelle was also “let down” by Plasma’s “70s vibe” look and was overall confused by what was going on. Ru agreed that it didn’t read as goth. Carson called Sapphira’s construction “incredible” and Ru appreciated the choice of fabric that she chose. Michelle called Nymphia’s look “a production of the most beautiful caliber” and Kaia wanted it for herself. Carson called Q’s look “everything” and “more than enough.” Michelle and Kaia were impressed at how fashionable her look was and Ru called the construction “exquisite.”
Following further deliberation, Ru announced that Q was a cut above the rest as this week’s winner. Jane, Dawn, Sapphira and Nymphia were all declared safe, leaving Mhi’ya, Plasma and Morphine among the bottoms of the week. In the three, Morphine was given safety and so Mhi’ya and Plasma had to face off in the LSFYL to “Bloody Mary (Wednesday Dance TikTok Version).” Mhi’ya jumped out of the gate quick with a surprise black petals wig reveal (to a cap!) and then produced two backflips down the runway in succession. Plasma did her best to keep up, but Mhi’ya kept turning tricks fluidly in beat with the music and stole the show start to finish. From the back, Jane thought that Plasma “looked frazzled and frantic.” Once again, Mhi’ya confirmed the rumor that she’s the lip sync assassin in the group and sent two-time challenge winner Plasma home with Ru’s “sashay away.”
NEXT TIME: The girls add their own original verse to Ru’s anthem “Power.”
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