RuPaul's Drag Race Season 16 Episode 15: LaLaPaRuza Smackdown

The LaLaPaRuza Smackdown is a relatively new twist to RuPaul's Drag Race. It began in All Stars 4 before becoming part of the regular series in season 13. During this time, its purpose has shifted from a way back into the competition, a Stanford prison experiment-esque premiere, a punishment for a bad Snatch Game, and a regular elimination challenge, which was an antithesis to its origin. It's become a fan favorite, and by the looks of tonight's episode, it is not going anywhere. This season feels like the producers have mastered the recipe by giving eliminated queens a chance to come back for either redemption or revenge.

The episode commences with all the queens reunited in the Werk Room. They reminisce, joke, and celebrate the unique experience they shared this season before moving to the competition. It becomes clear who is looking for redemption (Hershii and Mirage), who is looking for revenge (Megami and Plasma), and who is looking to have a good time (Dawn). There is an excitement around the impending challenge. With lip-synch assassins like Morphine and Mhi'ya and underdogs like Amanda and Megmai, it has the potential of an epic smackdown.

The show really begins with the 11 returning queens — Amanda, Dawn, Geneva, Hershii, Megami, Mhi'ya, Mirage, Morphine, Plasma, Q, and Xunami — on a brand new stage and in front of a live audience. The setting is the grandest of any smackdown, and the introduction of spectators is terrific, but it felt like the camera people and editors needed to adjust to the new space. RuPaul explains the rules, and there is a brief glimpse of a March Madness-style bracket that suggests gays may be equally inept at math and sports. It seems bizarre not to have ended the season with a top four or gone down to a top two to have an even number in a series of lip-synch faceoffs.

Dawn vs. Amanda - "Damaged" by Danity Kane

Dawn takes a Willow Pill strategy and picks Amanda, assuming she knows the song Amanda will select. The gamble pays off, but we can collectively hope that the FBI has siphoned off any royalties going to Diddy. In her commentary, it feels like Dawn is overintellectualizing the song in the face of Amanda's powerhouse number of frenzied classic drag moves. In the end, as is often the case on Drag Race, the bigger performance wins, and Amanda advances.

Q vs. Megami - "What About" by Janet Jackson

Taking a cue from Dawn, Q opts to compete with Megami, known as the Eeyore of Drag. It appears the queens regard Megami as one of the weakest links on the stage, probably next to Q. Morphine interprets Megami's song choice as brilliant, considering everyone, including Q, knows Q is not a great mover. When the slow tempo explodes into a high-energy number, Megami shocks everyone with a stupendous performance next to Q's expected rigid movements. The contrast between Megami's command of the entire stage and Q's mostly stationary position secures Megami the win. Q exits with a breast reveal that she might have tried to incorporate into the number, but maybe she had it saved for a different song.

Morphine vs. Geneva - "Million Dollar Baby" by Ava Max

The match-up between Morphine and Geneva is interesting because both had a substantial amount of lip-synchs during the season, but never against each other. Geneva picks an uptempo song that suits Morphine as well. Geneva does her standard, slightly rote, drag queen staples. Morphine proves her lip-synch assassin title and neutralizes Geneva quickly when she imitates Geneva's moves while blankly looking at her nails. Throwing shade during a lip-synch is one of Morphine's special talents. While both started with clear outfit reveals, Morphine added an element with a wig reveal. There was a visible red line beneath her blonde hair halfway through the moment, but the way she whipped it off and caught the wig earned applause. Morphine clearly wins, to the point that you wonder if she should not have used both reveals in the first round.

Mirage vs. Hershii - "Alone 2.0" by Kim Petras and Nicki Minaj

In one of the most anticipated lip-synchs, Mirage selects Hershii. Mirage won over fans with an electric talent show performance before stumbling dramatically during a lip-synch for your life. As the first two contestants eliminated this season, both have a lot to prove. It feels like Hershii made a mistake by not forcing Mirage to lip-synch to another Cher number. There is some hesitation in Mirage's face that she might not have the rap lyrics down, but she gets through it, and her fluid, mesmerizing movements hypnotize. Hershii holds her own with a comedic performance, but the way Mirage slithers around the stage is undeniable.

Mhi'ya vs. Plasma vs. Xunami - "Milkshake" by Kelis

The odd women out — Mhi'ya, Plasma, and Xunami — take the stage. Mhi'ya selects the song. It almost feels unnecessary for Mhi'ya to have that advantage, given her already-proven lip-synch assassin bona fides. Considering it is a rematch between Mhi'ya and Plasma's previous chaotic TikTok lip-synch, Xunami feels like a bystander from the start. However, and this may be personal bias, three-way lip-synchs are usually so chaotic that Xunami's calm and controlled performance is refreshing. Mhi'ya and Plasma have a more frenzied approach that is both impressive and messy. To the credit of both, Mhi'ya manages never to flip the same way twice, and Plasma gives a funny performance contrasting her theater kid persona with Kelis' song. Mhi'ya gets the win, but RuPaul remarks it's a close one. Mhi'ya seems less than pleased but is catapulted into the semifinals.

Amanda vs. Megami - "The Shoop Shoop Song" by Cher

It's the showdown of the season 16 underdogs when Amanda selects Megami. Despite this, both have proven to be terrific performers and do so again. However, Megami knows exactly what RuPaul wants when it comes to Cher. The combination of Megami's Cher impersonation and some blue humor miming tickles RuPaul. Amanda performs well, but the key to surviving all the way through a LaLaPaRuza is variety, which Megami masters. It's slightly disappointing when Amanda enters the Werk Room, and there is no interaction with Plane Jane after both continue talking about their rivalry throughout the episode.

Morphine vs. Mirage - "This Time I Know It's For Real" by Donna Summer

One of the night's most exciting permutations, Morphine and Mirage are both superb performers. Just as Morphine dissected Megami's song selection, Mirage thinks Morphine's choice is twofold. First, it limits dancing in the lip-synch — even though both are terrific dancers — and forces Mhi'ya to perform to "We've Got the Beat," which apparently Mhi'ya is against. The Machiavellian machinations of Drag Race are so fascinating. As expected, it is a close one. Morphine eventually edges out, but Mirage leaves the stage vindicated from her "Dark Lady" fiasco.

Megami vs. Mhi'ya - "We've Got the Beat" by the Go-Gos

Megami has a Sophie's choice to make between Mhi'ya and Morphine. She must lip-synch against one and send the other to the finale. It must be daunting for Megami, as it means her best-case scenario is that she will have to lip-synch against both of the season's lip-synch assassins, one after the other. Megami chooses revenge with a Mhi'ya rematch after their "Flowers" lip-synch. The queens in the Werk Room think she's made a mistake and should have taken advantage of Morphine being tired from her lip-synch with Mirage. Mhi'ya and Megami deliver bouncy '80s performances, but there is a sense that Mhi'ya is not as enthused with the song. Mhi'ya misses a great opportunity to back-flip around at the "jump back" line. It's another close call, but it is still a shock to almost everyone when Megami wins. It's not at all undeserved, but the entire episode was operating under the assumption that there would be a "Miami rematch" in the finale.

Megami vs. Morphine - "Gonna Make You Sweat" by C+C Music Factory

Comically, Megami and Morphine meet to win $50,000 more than second or third place this season. Losing is truly the new winning. As the only two queens to have defeated Mhi'ya in a lip-synch, it promises to be good. Drag Race saves the best song for last, and it is a high-energy performance. Megami seems to have the advantage when she pulls out a pair of eyes and uses her hand as a puppet to hand-synch a verse, but later, she turns her head for a suspicious amount of time. It suggests that Megami might not have all the words down. Considering the queens have a potential nine songs to master, it's forgivable. Morphine never misses a beat as usual and secures the ultimate win.

The Miami Moment

Again, Morphine proved what the city of Miami already knows: She's a fantastic performer. She may not have won the official crown, but she won this title, became a fan favorite, and will undoubtedly be on an upcoming All Stars edition. It felt that Mhi'ya was a little shafted in this episode, perhaps because of such high expectations, but she, along with Morphine, has proudly shown Miami drag. Hopefully, there will be even more queens on season 17.