RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 14, Episode 8 Recap: Singing Hearts and Sweet Tarts

February 28, 2022
TOMMY

It’s Monday, which means one thing: RPDR recap!!! Anyone who knows me well-enough knows that I love all things that relate to being “an old soul.” I love Vaudeville, my favorite band of all time is Simon & Garfunkel, my entire apartment looks like it came out of an episode of Mad Men, etc. I also have an absolute love of the badass women who sang in the '60s: The Shirelles, The McGuire Sisters, Gladys Knight & the Pips, The Paris Sisters, Diana Ross and the Supremes—the list is seemingly never-ending. With that in mind, this week was a real delight for me.

The episode starts different than most weeks, in that we have the same amount of queens as we did the week before. Two of last week’s queens had to lip sync for the win, with Lady Camden taking home the W. But we also get something else that we’ve all been jonesing for: THE LIBRARY!!! This week, the Library was opennnnn and the girls left with quite a few paper cuts. Reading is fundamental, henny, and the best of the reads were fundamentally hilarious. Some of my favorites were, “Daya Betty! Condragulations, my dear: you are America’s next… Crystal Methyd" (we love a double zinger), and Jorgeous taking down Jasmine Kennedie with, “…why are you so young, but look so old? You are the definition of ‘White do crack.” Not to be missed: Jasmine and Daya Betty go IN on each other. Finally, my favorite burn: “I was walking around backstage and actually found RuPaul’s will… she wanted to be buried on the Catwalk and she wanted all of you to be her pallbearers. That way you could let her down on the runway one last time.” With the clever read, Bosco won herself $2,500 from Sweet Tarts™.

The S14 library is officially open! Who had the shadiest reads? @sweetartscandy #DragRace pic.twitter.com/Fh7LdrPVRi

— RuPaul's Drag Race (@RuPaulsDragRace) February 26, 2022

The gals are split into three groups: The Shang-Ru-Las (Bosco, Willow, and Daya), The Ru-Nettes (DeJa, Jasmine, and Jorgeous), and The Ru-Premes (Angeria, Kerri, and Lady Camden). Getting into these three groups proved to be a bit chaotic with the girls’ competitive stubbornness taking center stage. What better moment to showcase diva-ness, than a challenge that involves iconic divas?!

This was one of my favorite episodes, because it showcases anyone who is a triple threat: actor, dancer, singer. Not only that, but the queens have to write their own lyrics! Oooh, a full-service creative challenge! It also strengthened friendships, challenged competitors, and brought out the tension that is inevitable at this stage in the season.

The Shang-Ru-La’s had a bit of an advantage at the outset, because the three worked together during last week’s soap opera challenge, and the Ru-Premes are at a slight disadvantage because they have to honor Ru’s favorite girl group! Jasmine proves to be fairly tone-deaf, while DeJa was just the opposite. She sang great and also delivered a solid runway look channeling an anime badass, which, as the judges noted, is a good sign that she’s evolving with the competition the way a good competitor should! All three groups were on stage together, which I loved. It made the whole moment an event, and gave me a sense of what young homos in an alternate Universe may have gotten to watch in the 1960s (if you believe in the Multiverse, this is totally a legit possibility).

In terms of the runway looks, we saw a wide variety of styles. Angeria rocked a cool mod look, Bosco was a sexy vampire with an ass that I’d want to bite into (but no fangs), Willow Pill was covered head-to-toe in pink and red underwear, and Daya Betty really leaned in to her inner-cyber punk. This look was one of my favorites, because, as Ru says (and as I’ve quote before), “Drag is punk rock.” Daya leans into this, and also even stands aside from the rest because of it, with this week being the perfect example. She cut through the room with her look, and really made herself stand out against the others. It paid off in the end and, after a season of not winning a single week, Daya Lucci over here finally took home her first win of the season. Gays love a drama queen finally getting her due, so cheers to Daya Betty for rising to the literal and figurative challenge.

Jasmine and Kerri found themselves at the bottom, with Jasmine, once again, saving herself with her lip syncing skills. Don’t get wrong: being that amazing of a lip sync assassin is no doubt an amazing skill in this competition, but do you know what’s even more of a skill? Not being in the bottom two constantly (*sips tea*).

I will miss Kerri, because even though I’m gay as fuck, I’m still a sucker for a stunning woman. With only eight queens left going into next week, we are going to start seeing who rises to the moment, and who buckles under pressure, and the currently-brewing tensions coming to a boil, I’m now officially excited to see whose lid pops! Me thinks that next week Ru should send two queens home; that’ll spice up the cioppino!