If you like messy reality television, look no further than Episode Four of RuPaul’s Drag Race. Simmering tensions between the queens progressed into finger-pointing and name-calling before the queens made-up in time for a bestie vs. bestie fashion mashup challenge. But the drama didn’t stop. A queen fainted on the main stage! And then we got a disrespectful camera op with a side of gaslighting!

It all left us with only one question: How many more episodes of Drag Race until ICE is abolished?

The Girls are Fighting

The episode picks up right where we left off: with the drama surrounding Briar Blush. First, the producers treated us to some unused footage from earlier episodes. Briar gives Mia Starr the cold shoulder after Mia teased Briar about a past breakup. But Briar spent much of last week poking at Athena. Mia, who was also upset that Mandy had just been sent home in favor of Briar, confronted Briar about her behavior, and several other queens chimed in with similar complaints. It all felt very middle school.

Later in the episode, Briar tearfully confessed to her bestie Juicy about feeling shaken by the argument and hurt by Mia’s suggestion that she should have gone home instead of Mandy. When it was time to get ready for the runway, Briar sat next to Mia to squash their beef. The producers squeezed as much as they could out of it: We learned about Briar’s childhood of feeling isolated and unloved, culminating in her leaving home at sixteen years old. Mia opened up about losing her brother to addiction in 2020 (I shed a genuine tear when I learned that her entrance look for Season 18 was made out of her late brother’s jeans). It pays to know what the people around you are going through, and Briar and Mia made up just in time.

We also got a touch of Kenya Pleaser’s backstory. She was born in a college dorm bathroom to a mother who didn’t know she was pregnant, and raised by her grandparents to allow her mother to finish school. One day during college gospel choir rehearsal, Kenya called her mother to come out to her, and was accepted without hesitation. “You won’t be the first, and you won’t be the last,” her mother said. Kenya’s choirmates then treated her to a loving rendition of “You’ve Got a Friend in Me.” More of these stories, please. Better yet, let’s make stories like this happen for our own friends and communities.

Red Carpet Mashups

Bring back the mini-challenges! Like the previous two episodes, Episode Four did not include a mini, and I miss them. They’re lighthearted, the queens are sillier and more relaxed, and it’s always fun to see the creative (and stupid) “quick drag” looks from the cast.

This week’s main challenge was the opposite of quick drag. After pairing up with their besties, the queens were given materials and two memorable red carpet looks to mash-up into a single look. The twist: each queen will be judged against their bestie in interpreting the same looks; in other words, “who wore it better!?”

Vita and Mia were paired together to combine Katy Perry’s chandelier outfit from the 2019 Met Gala and Lil Kim’s provocative one-boob-out 1999 VMAs look. Style icon and judge Law Roach fawned over her look: “if one of these queens don’t come out with a tit exposed with a pasty on it, I am getting up and walking the fuck out… this was incredible.”

Despite the praise, Mia was not breast in show. Vita’s career outside of Drag Race includes replicating celebrity looks from scratch, not to mention she placed in the top in Episode One’s design challenge. Her exquisite “high drag” mashup that perfectly balanced the two looks brought her the win for the week.

Wild Card Auntie Jane

After her string of successes in the last three challenges, Jane felt the pressure to keep up her game. For the Red Carpet Mashups challenge, she was paired with her bestie Discord Addams. 

The duo were given Cher’s black-feathered 1986 Oscars look, a Bob Mackie masterpiece, alongside the neon-green Prada fringe fantasy of Sarah Paulson from the 2018 premiere of Ocean’s 8. “I’m excited that we got this color combination,” Jane said to Discord. “I am a little irritated to be paired with you only because… we can both sew,” the two finished in unison.

The battle was on between two of our top design queens, but ultimately the fit of Discord’s creation was critiqued along with her stiff walk (the same walk RuPaul praised last week). She fell into the bottom three.

Jane brought Cher and Sarah together beautifully in an Auntie Mame-inspired look that paid homage to legendary actresses Angela Lansbury and Bea Arthur in a delicious black-and-neon gown, cape, and headpiece. Calling her season 18’s “wild card,” Michelle Visage praised her for bringing such different and exciting looks each week, and the rest of the judges agreed that Jane is a smart cookie. “Jane knows how to bring a little vintage into the now,” commented Broadway star and guest judge Annaleigh Ashford.

Briar’s Farewell

Ciara Myst of Indianapolis bested bestie Kenya Pleaser, who were assigned Lady Gaga’s 2010 VMAs meat dress alongside Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake’s denim duet at the 2001 AMAs. While her energy was winning, Kenya’s look landed her in the bottom two.

More dramatic were the critiques of besties Juicy and Briar, who were assigned Lil Nas X’s pink Versace suit from the 2020 Grammys and Rihanna’s breathtaking gold 2015 Met Gala dress. Juicy got positive reviews from the judges, but Briar wasn’t so lucky. “You look like a WWE wrestler,” Law Roach told Briar. Suddenly, she began to sway, fainting sideways into Juicy.

It was an uncomfortable moment. Medics arrived to check Briar, but the cameras continued to roll with an unceremonious angle on a rip in the crotch of her yellow jumpsuit that soon showed up all over the internet. The other queens standing onstage were stunned. “That better be real,” Mia whispered to Vita, who scathingly replied, “It’s not. It’s a show.” The entire sequence left me feeling deeply unsettled, and for good reason. The day after Episode Four aired, Entertainment Weekly reported that Briar had been hospitalized after her run on Drag Race for pneumonia that had progressed to sepsis.

Briar was taken offstage to receive a comprehensive checkup while the critiques progressed. After getting cleared by the medic, Briar returned to the mainstage where she ended up in the bottom two with Kenya. They battled it out to Kylie Minogue’s “Lights, Camera, Action.” but Briar (unsurprisingly, considering the sepsis) couldn’t match Kenya’s energy and was sent home.

We’ll be back next week for part one of the Rate-A-Queen Talent Show.