The tenth episode of Season 16 was a “Rumix” challenge in which the queens wrote and performed verses for a song created by RuPaul. The entire episode was themed around the song “Power” by RuPaul, which pushes for self-advocacy. I think it’s super important for RuPaul’s Drag Race, one of the largest spaces for queer representation in America, to show the power of voting in upcoming elections. It means a lot that the show is advocating for the rights of drag queens and queer people. What I did not enjoy, however, is that the show pulled one of its oldest tricks for patriotic episodes, saying that America is a place for everyone and sending no one home this week. I think this was unfair, which will become clearer as I outline my top and bottom performers of the week.

My Top 3 of the Week:

1st place – Morphine Love Dion – The rap that Morphine provided this week is one for the history books. She truly killed it in every sense of the word, and her outfit and dance continued to let her brand herself as the fierce and fun Miami queen. Her runway was also stunning this week. Her purple take on the “True Colors” runway was gorgeous; I especially loved how she utilized rhinestones and dangling sparkles to accentuate her features. Her hat framed her ever-beautiful makeup extremely well, too. I wish this episode wasn’t set up for the top two competitors to lip-sync for the win so that Morphine could grab her first win of the season.

2nd place – Dawn – The verse that Dawn provided was unique in comparison to the rest of the cast. Her voice was dynamic throughout her rap, and she provided the second most memorable verse, only beaten out by Morphine. Furthermore, I went crazy for Dawn’s runway this week. Her makeup is so dynamic; she uses her entire face to tell the story of her runway performance. I love that she is bringing cosplay drag to the main stage on a show where it was previously unrepresented. It’s a full genre of drag that Dawn is bringing to the forefront of the minds of so many people.

3rd place – Sapphira Cristál – A funk-themed song catered to Sapphira this week. She performed the choreography the most accurately to the style of the song, and she served an amazing verse to match. Her beautifully regal blue dress and beehive hair crushed the runway, with a perfect body shape for drag. Her broad shoulders, cinched waist and wider set hips with tall hair emulated the iconic drag look while also allowing for a unique departure from norms. Overall, Sapphira did a great job, and the only thing that could help her take the top spot was a more memorable verse.

My Bottom 3 of the Week:

6th place – Plane Jane – With the theme of this week’s challenge focusing mainly on political advocacy, I felt that she veered off with her lyrics. Plane Jane tried to incorporate her promiscuous drag persona into the political episode, and the two did not mix well. While not deliberately awful, Plane Jane had an underwhelming runway that wasn’t dripping in her chosen color like the rest of the queens. In comparison to her competitors and her past performances, Plane Jane faltered this week, but I’m sure she will revitalize herself next week in a comedy-based challenge.

7th place – Mhi’ya Iman Le’Paige – This is yet another week when I am petitioning for Mhi’ya Iman Le’Paige to be removed from the competition. She has shown that her only talent in the challenges is her dancing and performance ability, so the fact that she flopped a performing dance challenge shows that there is truly no aspect of the competition that she excels at anymore. Her runway felt very reused; it was like she took the flowers off of her red floral design from a few weeks prior. Mhi’ya has now struggled in at least one iteration of each challenge, so it is absolutely time for her to go.

8th place – Q – Even Q would admit that she is not the strongest performer. Every challenge or lip sync she has participated in so far was a rough showing for her, and this week was no exception. While the judges complemented the outfit she wore during the performance, I’ll have to disagree. It did not save her abysmal performance this week. I usually weigh the runways heavily in my weekly judgments, but even though Q had a better runway than Mhi’ya, her verse and dance this week were so terrible that she had to take the bottom spot.

Make sure to return for the next episode of the Racer Ruview, breaking down more hot opinions on “RuPaul’s Drag Race: Season 16, Episode 11.”