Review: RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 9, Episode 12—”Category Is”

Heading into the finale of RuPaul’s Drag Race season 9, RuPaul does something she’s never done before, but will it pay off?

So no one went home. We don’t have a top three. Trinity Taylor, Shea Couleé, Sasha Velour, and Peppermint will all advance to the finale.

Is that a cheat? It’s technically happened before — RuPaul kept four queens for the finale of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars season 1, but in that case, the finale was just another episode, not a star-studded affair set in an auditorium somewhere in LA. Also, All Stars is by its nature a little quirky. This is the first time we’ve had four queens in the finale of a normal season, and it promises to throw a few interesting wrenches into the works.

Certainly there was justification for going off the beaten path. Before this episode, I think most fans assumed that the final three would be Shea, Sasha, and Trinity, but after a slow start, Peppermint has been making an excellent case for herself, and did well in the main challenge. This year, RuPaul took a page out of All Stars 2 and had the queens write, record, and perform their own verse to a song (in this case, a remix of RuPaul’s “Category Is”), a task that demands all their creative talents. Peppermint’s verse is sassy and easy to understand, and she performs it with the effortless likability she’s been growing into all season.

But was it enough to justify keeping her for the finale when the three other queens had won more challenges over the course of the season? After all, while Peppermint did well, she didn’t blow the other girls away. Even Trinity, who struggled with both the recording and the choreography for her verse (like Alaska before her, she’s rhythmically challenged), did a respectable job. She’s not much of a writer — You know a rap is in trouble when it starts with “My name is [blank], and…” — but she sold her part with gallons of face, and pulled off one of the more memorable dance moves of the program when she leapt onto the backs of three backup dancers. I was afraid that Trinity would come up short, but should have trusted her when she told guest choreographer Todrick Hall that she’d get it with practice. More than anything else, Trinity has proved she’s a workhorse, and that pulled her through.

That said, Shae and Sasha were again at the head of the pack. Sasha, always playing to her strengths, wrote a weirdly paced spoken word piece full of clever wordplay. (“Be the strange you want to see in the world.”) It wouldn’t have worked for any of the other girls, but it worked for her, and uniqueness is one of the qualities Ru looks for when crowning a winner. Meanwhile, Shae went for shock and awe with an ambitious, rapid-fire verse. She certainly packed the most content into her allotted time, and got in plenty of fun self-aggrandizement. (“Lemme rock this mic. Leave ’em in my dust like Tina did Ike.”) And it goes without saying that she’s the best dancer of the group. Between the bat prop, the leg convulsions, and the pirouettes, Shae set herself apart. If Ru judged this like a normal episode, I imagine she would have won again.

One of the only issues Shea had all night was on the runway. The category was “Final 4 Eleganza Extravaganza,” aka “Wear Whatever You Want.” She wore a glitzy, leotard-like outfit with thigh-high boots and a chuncky, geometric frontpiece. It made a statement — the only problem was that her boobs were a little off. It looked like there were flaps built into the top of the frontpiece that were supposed to serve as the top of Shae’s breasts, but they didn’t connect to the rest of the outfit, and we could see Shea’s natural skin tone underneath. But you see how specific I have to get to find a problem with a Shea tonight. There’s no question she deserved to be in the final 3.

Sasha’s look was distinctive, but distinctive in a way we’ve seen before, with her crown and her leather gloves. (And I kind of missed the extra bit of eyebrow she usually draws above her nose.) Her sparkly pink gown was pretty, but the proportions were boring. It fit her like a tube. Still, she deserved a spot in the final 3 based on her success in the challenge. Also, when asked to give an impromptu speech explaining why she should win the crown, she effectively mixed the personal with the political by claiming that she, with her offbeat aesthetic, was well-positioned to take drag into the future.

Peppermint gave a good speech, too. Like Sasha, she went broad, focusing on the need for the winner to be a representative for the gay community. I liked her and Sasha’s speeches more than Shea’s and Trinity’s, both of whom focused on why they specifically should win rather than tapping into any larger theme. Peppermint’s outfit was okay, too: a wide, blood-red Disney princess gown with sky-high, wavy pageant hair. It’s not the most impressive thing she’s worn, but the new silhouette was appreciated.

Although she pulled it off, Trinity was the weakest link in the main challenge. However, she made up for that by being best in show on the runway. Her gorgeous jeweled gown (deep blue slashed with gold) was dramatic and hugged her curves in all the right places. I also liked the asymmetrical blonde wig, tight above the forehead and poofy on the sides. The chains over the back cutout was a great touch, too. This was a wonderful “more is more” look.

If Ru was going to send someone home, it would probably be between Peppermint and Trinity. Given her consistency, Trinity deserved to stay. But Ru didn’t choose that. She kept everyone. Why?

Was it just to shake things up? If she wanted to do that, I’d prefer she do it in a way that didn’t lower the stakes so much. I want to feel tension when I watch this show, and getting rid of an elimination isn’t going to accomplish that. At this point, we expect the final four to lip sync against each other, and for the final verdict to be more about their performance over the course of the season than during the night’s challenge. How about putting two of the queens in the bottom 2 and seeing who comes out on top? Ru could surprise us by doing what she does every episode.

Or maybe Ru really thinks this is the final 4 we deserve. We’ll see if her experiment pays off in two weeks (next week is a more informal reunion episode). Good night, good luck, and #TeamTrinity.

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Random Ruflections

• Sasha has developed a reputation for being nice, so it’s a delight when she gets shady: “I will say I thought this was gonna be my week, because I actually did have a rainbow look.”
• It’s always weird when Michelle replaces Ru in the workroom at the top of the episode. I know everything Ru says is scripted, but he somehow manages to make me forget. With Michelle, I know.
• Notice that Ru didn’t give Peppermint or Trinity a Squatty Potty, not after their particularly heavy interview segments on the What’s the T podcast.
• The image of Trinity standing still and looking lost while dudes in tank tops strut and buck in unison behind her may be the thing I remember most about this episode when I look back.
• Regardless of how much trouble Trinity was having in rehearsal, I continue to love how cut-throat she is, particularly when she threatens to “do some Showgirls shit” when Shae is nailing her choreography. This is reality TV and a little acrimony is very welcome.
• RuPaul, proving she watches her show: “Back chains?”
• RuPaul on choosing which girl to send home: “Well, this isn’t going to be easy. Silence! I’ve made my decision.” I feel like that could have been edited better.
• Sasha never landed in the bottom two this season, but if she had, I feel like she would have killed in a lip sync. She pulls some highly entertaining faces during the four-way lip sync to “U Wear It Well.” It brought out a manic side of her I wish we’d seen more of this year — I was watching her more than any other queen up there.