RuPaul's Drag Race Episode 2: Doechii Guests, Michelle Visage Gets Dunked

Editor's note: Before you dive into episode 2, read last week's recap of the season 17 premiere of RuPaul's Drag Race.

After celebrating Suzie Toot's wins and lamenting Acacia Forgot's fate, the queens geared up for the second half of the season 17 premiere. Drag Race UK winner Lawrence Chaney made an appearance and reinforced the episode's reality show theme with cheeky mentions of Alan Cumming and The Traitors. Both were loaded references — the Peacock reality competition and its host recently ended the Emmy-winning streaks of Drag Race and RuPaul herself.

As the queens prepped for the talent show, some new storylines emerged. Jewels Sparkles emerged as this year’s Morphine, firmly taking the lead as the charming narrator. Potential romances also arose between Kori King and Lydia B Kollins, as well as Arrietty and Miami's own Lucky Starzzz. Lexi Love's age continued to be a hot topic, with the disproportionately young queens calling the 33-year-old contestant “Auntie Grandma.” Finally, Acacia got abundant screentime owing to her unique predicament — never in the show’s history has a queen gone through an entire episode knowing for sure that in the end, they'd have to lip sync for their life.

Last week’s runway was a face reveal, but this week’s “Is it Cake?” challenge focused on an ass reveal. Sam Star embraced the double entendre with a clean wedding look, while Hormona Lisa resembled a sweet treat in her whipped-cream Marie Antoinette ensemble. Joella opted for a BDSM theme while Acacia, Lana Ja'Rae, and Lydia embraced the secondary meaning of the word "cake." Lana’s green leopard corset gown felt more finished than Lydia’s ruched red dress, which felt rushed. Arrietty and Lexi cemented their personal aesthetics with a futuristic elven appearance and a television-inspired static test pattern costume. Crystal furthered her intriguing blend of peculiar comedic pageantry, going from cracked doll last week to a muscled, overgrown Coppertone girl this week.

On the weaker end of the spectrum, Jewels' heritage-inspired jumpsuit was clean but (ironically) uninspired, and Onya Nurve’s nod to the peach emoji was not a fresh take. Strangely, the week’s flattest look came from Kori, despite some exceptional padding.

The South Florida queens, Lucky Starzzz of Miami and Suzie Toot of Fort Lauderdale, presented the most out-of-the-box outfits this week. Lucky came out with a sponge look, but it required an explanation from RuPaul to connect to the theme (not a good sign). The ass of the costume was also much less impactful than, say, her lemon look last week. But the getup was still captivating enough to differentiate her from the others. Meanwhile, Suzie took on a different interpretation of the word "ass" — she theatrically transformed from a Shakespearean maiden into a donkey, evoking A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Both did South Florida proud this week, but it’s reasonable to anticipate the judges will challenge them to present more traditionally glamorous looks in the coming weeks.

Like last week, the talent show was full of professionally produced lip sync tracks to introduce the queens to a new global audience. Sam’s pop-country mix was catchy but not exactly memorable. Onya stood out for her lack of a set or props — she relied solely on her charisma, and it worked. Likewise, Kori’s song about iced coffee was elevated by her high-energy performance, whereas Lana's stage presence was unconvincing. Crystal distinguished herself with both an enthusiastic performance and multiple reveals.

This week’s standout, however, was Lexi. Where Suzie differentiated herself with tap shoes, Lexi did so with roller skates. She outstunted every single queen on wheels.

The lowlight of the week? Hormona’s ill-conceived and lethargic comedy routine. A nice break from the lip sync numbers in theory, the talent show's one-minute time limit does not lend itself to the pacing of stand-up comedy. Perhaps if Hormona had leaned into her somewhat deadpan delivery it could have worked, but it only produced some uncomfortable laughs.

The lip sync for the win between Lexi and Crystal — to the wonderful guest judge Doechii’s “Alter Ego,” featuring JT — was one of the best in recent memory. An intimidating song with fast-paced lyrics and sonic variety, both queens handled it with command and assertiveness. Lexi’s confident swagger edged out Crystal’s more frenetic and over-eager performance. The lip sync for your life between Acacia and Hormona — to Ariana Grande’s “Yes, And?” — was predictably less impactful.

After being hand-selected for the show by RuPaul, Hormona was understandably distraught over being eliminated first. But she got another chance from the fickle Fates when RuPaul revealed the twist of the season. The water-themed promo for the season hinted at a dunk tank that will give the queens two chances to remain on the show. While it seemed unlikely that producers would use this gimmick during the first elimination of the season, Hormona dunked judge Michelle Visage into the water and floated back into the competition.