RuPaul's Drag Race Season 16 Episode 5: Teamwork Makes the Dream Work

Last week's shocking and emotional elimination makes it concrete that anything could happen this season. From the queens' reaction to Mirage's elimination, it is clear that she was beloved. From social media reactions, it is also clear that Mirage was a fan favorite. This kind of turbulence is what makes RuPaul's Drag Race exciting after all these years.

Product Placements and Dodgeball Flashbacks

It's an episode designed for RuPaul to hawk her latest offerings, including an upcoming memoir and RuPaul's last album, 2023's Black Butta. For the mini-challenge, the queens are tasked with creating their own book title, cover, and bio in quick drag. The standard hijinks ensue, and RuPaul eventually selects a particularly arbitrary winner, Sapphira. The main challenge is the girl group challenge. The queens must divide into three teams and write individual verses, record their lyrics, and choreograph a performance to three RuPaul songs: "A.S.M.R Lover," "Courage to Love," and "Star Baby." The captains are Plasma, Sapphira, and Geneva. Trigger warning: The following is every queer kid's nightmare of being picked last for dodgeball. In the end, Megami is the last to be chosen, living up to the title of Brooklyn's "Eeyore of Drag." However, the most surprising result is Plasma picking mortal rivals Amanda and Plane Jane. It appears that everyone considers Geneva's team, with Nymphia, Mhi'ya, and Megami, to be the weakest.

Girl Groups

As the queens work, some trends emerge. Sapphira turns out to be an experienced veteran in the challenge. Nymphia is hiding her talents beneath a kooky exterior. Plasma is obsessed with showing her versatility. Surprisingly, Plane Jane compliments Amanda's lyrics before the two make Xunami feel like a child of divorce by giving her conflicting advice. Both Miami queens, Morphine and Mhi'ya, quickly take the lead in choreography. When the queens finally get to the stage, Plasma takes firm control of the session that you expected her to say, "Fame costs, and right here is where you start paying — in sweat." The other queens watching hype up the Plane Jane and Amanda tension when Amanda excels at the challenge. Mhi'ya's group is the next to practice, and she gives quiet instruction. Megami is struggling despite Mhi'ya making the moves as simple as possible. Nymphia, on the other hand, reveals that she's been in a group before and has dance experience in her confessional. Sapphira, watching Nymphia, is on to her game of underpromising and overdelivering in challenges. Morphine takes over choreography for the next group, which goes well except for Q. It's not so much that Q can't get the steps, and she certainly can't, but her movement has no fluidity, and the others call her Frankenstein.

As the queens prepare for the performance, Amanda feels confident that she could win. Less confident, Q focuses on resolving her drama with Plane Jane. However, as Q and Plane Jane find a resolution, the tension between Plane and Amanda only intensifies. Sapphira, clearly the maternal force of the group, tries to get to the root of the issue. Plane Jane presents some interesting arguments about the separation of art and artist and that once an artist presents their art, they are opening it up to criticism, but also recognizes Sapphira's point that it will have consequences.

After the performances, Dawn is utterly confused, saying it could go any way, and she's right. It's difficult to decide who really won this challenge. It is clear that Q is the weakest member of her team and that Amanda's wig is the weakest member of hers. The winning team seemed to be based on the fact that no one in the group really messed up and that they all did consistently well. It's also difficult to get too excited for the girl group challenge so close to the talent show since a majority of the girls did this exact kind of talent already. Thicc & Stick are declared the winners, leaving the members of QDSM and Lover Girlz on stage for critiques.

Russ Meyer Meets Monet on the Runway

This week's runway pays homage to Russ Meyer's 1965 film Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill! and winner Monét X Change's penchant for pussycat wigs. In season ten, Monét was criticized for her pussycat wigs, and in season 16, the queens must design a look around them. Morphine starts with a red pussycat wig adorned with blood crystals and a Catwoman-inspired gown. Q's look is a Camelot warrior but might have been more interesting taken in a Joan of Arc direction. Sapphira is the first to insert humor when her glamourous look turns out to be a reference to Dr. Evil from the Austin Powers movies. Dawn's look was one that only Dawn could pull off, but it didn't seem to bother the judges. Plasma presented a fever dream of Xanadu meets Y2K. In the night's most confusing look, Amanda came out as a bird's nest that was a mess conceptually and in execution. Xunami chose fashion and came down the runway looking like Omahyra Mota. Plane Jane was sadly the only one who had a slight Meyer reference with her latex scuba diver. Geneva's finger-wave evoked 1920s flapper while her dress was 1980s technicolor leopard print. Mhi'ya's look was relatively simple, but she looked good in the wig. It feels like she might have made a last-minute decision to swap out the Catwoman look she wore in the mini-challenge. Megami's Staten Island fairy had a characteristic rough around the edges punk edge to it. Finally, Nymphia, who had the night's best look, came out in a traditional gown with a sexy twist. Her wigs involved multiple layers and double entendres before a provocative final, literal reveal.

The Dreaded Question

After the judge's critiques, it's pretty clear that the bottom two are Q and Amanda. Then RuPaul asks the question dreaded each season, "Who should go home and why?" It's a question that feels too early in the season, as we are still getting to see the queens' charisma, uniqueness, nerve, and talents. Just as the judges' critiques establish the bottom two, the queens also settle on Amanda and Q, equally. Sapphira, Morphine, and Plane Jane feel that Amanda needs to work on her drag aesthetic. Dawn, in a Sophie's Choice-type situation, decided between two friends, takes the easy way out, saying Q because she's her biggest competition. Plasma picks Q based on this week's performance and to spare her teammate. Of course, Amanda and Q vote for each other. Finally, Xunami votes for Q. She claims it's for performance, but it's also in large part because Q, for some inexplicable reason, decided to pick two names when she was only asked for one.

A Predetermined Lip-Synch

Amanda and Q lip-synch to Icona Pop's "Emergency." It's as if Q is at the bottom as a comeuppance for complaining about being at the top without winning, and Amanda is there for continuing to fail in her looks. Q goes the comedic route, while Amanda is more dance and stunt-heavy. Aesthetics decides the win. Amanda immediately ditches the nest elements of her looks, but what is beneath is not much better looking. A brown look combined with an unstyled blue pussycat wig and a painted-on blue beard doesn't look good, no matter how well you might be dancing. After the surprise of Mirage's elimination, Amanda's is almost more perplexing from a producing point of view. Amanda has the class drag race narrative of the underdog who might overcome or the charming but unstylish go-getter. The biggest loss to the season is the tension between Amanda and Plane Jane, which is suddenly unresolved.

The State of the Race

Importantly, Mhi'ya secured her first win and showed that she's less quiet through performance. Likewise, Morphine showed that she shines on stage, receives more time in front of the judges, and is told she's much more than a BBL. Plasma continued an upward trajectory, and Geneva broke her lip-synching streak with a win. Nymphia, Plane Jane, and Sapphira continue to dominate, even if the latter finally showed the slightest bit of weakness this week.