‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ season 16 episode 15 recap: ‘LipSync Lalaparuza Smackdown – Reunited’

John Benutty
·8 min read
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“RuPaul’s Drag Race” season 16 continued on April 12 with the fifteenth episode in RuPaul’s quest to find “America’s next drag superstar.” Previously in episode 14, the top four told stories of their own lives memoir style in podcast interviews. Plane Jane and Q found themselves vulnerable as the bottom two and Q was shocked to be sent home instead of marching on to the “Grand Finale” alongside her sisters.

This week, instead of the standard reunion episode, RuPaul Charles invites the eliminated queens back for a “LipSync Lalaparuza Smackdown” where one comes out on top of the tournament $50,000 richer. Seated at the judges’ dais this week to help decide the match-up winners were longtime bestie Michelle Visage and recurring judge Ts Madison.

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Check out our full recap of episode 15 below:

The morning after Q’s elimination, all 14 of the queens entered the Werk Room together for a “reunited” moment where only the three finalists truly knew what was in store for the eliminated queens. Because of their beef, Amanda Tori Meating was “not excited to see Miss Plane Jane” in the top three and surprisingly Q wasn’t too down about her own elimination.

When Ru arrived, he explained that this week “all eyes are on the 11 returning queens” because they’d be going head-to-head in the lip sync smackdown for the chance to be the “Queen of She Already Done Had Hereses” with a $50,000 cash prize. Ru gave them all two hours to get into “Lalaparuza drag” and prepare for the battles.

As the girls prepared, the confident ones were Geneva Karr and Mhi’ya Iman Le’Paige because of their strengths in lip syncs already in the season. Everyone knew that Mirage was a contender, but they were concerned that she was last seen in her loss because she didn’t know the words to a Cher song. Xunami Muse reminded everyone that “one moment does not define you” and Mirage or any of the queens eliminated early “should not be slept on.” Because she went home first and “America didn’t get to see much” of her, Hershii LiqCour-Jeté saw the smackdown as an opportunity to show more of herself.

Because Morphine Love Dion was the one that took out Mhi’ya in the main competition, Mhi’ya was ready to get her payback on her Miami sister. She said that she “let” Morphine win that battle by giving only 65% in the performance, but that “the queen of flips” will be here tonight to take Morphine out. Mhi’ya also confronted Megami because she heard that she thought she beat Mhi’ya, but both Megami and Plasma were ready to get their own payback on Mhi’ya.

On a “new and improved” Main Stage, the queens were greeted by a live audience and Michelle and Ts as the judges alongside Ru. It was explained that in the single-elimination tournament style smackdown there would be nine match-ups in total. In the first round, four pairs and one trio would compete in the first five. The winner of the triple header automatically advances to the semi-final. The winners of the four pairings, advance to round two for another direct match-up. The queen who is already in the semi-finals would decide between the two round two winners who to go against, sending the other to the final match-up.

To decide the matchups, Pit Crew member Bruno spun the golden hopper. First drawn was Dawn, giving her the decision to pick her opponent. In an effort to “do something fun” by picking the queen she felt she knew would pick the song she wanted to do: Amanda. For the song selection, Amanda chose “Damaged” by Danity Kane to have “a girl group moment” again, and it was the song that Dawn hoped she’d choose. In their battle, the queens looking on noticed that Dawn was trying to be emotional with the song while Amanda was hitting all of the beats. In the end, the judges agreed and chose Amanda as the winner.

The next ball that Bruno plucked from the golden hopper was Q. For her opponent, Q chose Megami who then selected the song “What About” by Janet Jackson. Megami felt like Q was underestimating her and the impression was that she chose the Janet song in order to “hinder” Q. The onlookers were shocked by how forceful Megami’s performance was and even though Jane was rooting for Q, she agreed with Nymphia Wind that Megami was giving. The winner as per the judges was Megami.

The third ball chosen from the golden hopper was Morphine. For her opponent, Morphine chose Geneva who then selected “Million Dollar Baby” by Ava Max as their song because it’s a dance-heavy song that they could both deliver on. Watching from the Werk Room, Dawn thought that Geneva did her costume reveal “too early” and that was confirmed when Morphine did one of her own timed perfectly at the second verse of the song. She then capped it off with a slick wig reveal as well. Ru’s decision was clear here, Morphine was the winner.

The fourth ball chosen by Bruno belonged to Mirage. With four other queens for options, Mirage chose Hershii who then selected the song “Alone 2.0” by Kim Petras and Nicki Minaj. Hershii chose the song hoping that Mirage would get tripped up on the words and the queens backstage agreed that it might be a concern. Mirage made it through the words just fine and with her tricks included, the judges decided that Mirage defeated Hershii.

The fifth match-up was left the last three standing, Plasma, Mhi’ya and Xunami. Bruno chose a ball from the golden hopper to decide who picks the song. Mhi’ya was selected and then confidently picked “Milkshake” by Kelis as their song. Xunami was proud of herself for “giving model” while Plasma and Mhi’ya were “throwing themselves on the floor giving Raggedy Ann on steroids,” but Mhi’ya’s antics proved unstoppable and she was able to knock out two New York-based queens in one swoop.

In the start of round two, Amanda’s ball was chosen and she selected Megami as her opponent. Megami chose “The Shoop Shoop Song” by Cher as their song. In this turn, Megami had the judges rolling with laughter by mimicking really obnoxious kisses and licking with her hand while Amanda attempted to rely on dance move moments like before. Sure enough, Megami was deemed the winner.

The stage was set for Mirage vs. Morphine, but the chosen ball by Bruno determined that Morphine got to choose the song “This Time I Know It’s for Real” by Donna Summer. Mirage clocked that Morphine used “double ended strategy” in choosing that song because it avoided doing something upbeat against Mirage and would force Mhi’ya to do the song they all knew she least wanted. In this head-to-head, Morphine wanted to give “beauty and grace” to match the song, but her sliding split just challenged Mirage to “go off, too, then.” It was a tough choice and the girls backstage were split in the decision, but Ru was clear on her’s that Morphine was the winner.

For the single semi-final match, Bruno chose a ball from the golden hopper to decide one of the two queens that would compete here. Bruno chose the ball belonging to Megami. Faced with having to pick one of two “poisons,” Megami chose Mhi’ya as her opponent, sending Morphine straight to the final round. The girls backstage thought Megami should pick Morphine because she was just performing, but instead Megami wanted redemption against Mhi’ya.

In the semi-final battle to “We Got the Beat” by The Go-Gos, Megami took quick control of the center stage and capitalized on the goodwill she had built up with the crowd to capture all the attention. The queens backstage were expecting Mhi’ya to dominate, but her performance amounted to prancing from side to side with a few tricks. The judges went with the crowd and against the eliminated queens in her decision that Megami was the winner.

For the final battle, Megami and Morphine were given the song “Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)” by C+C Music Factory with all of the queens returning to the stage to watch the performance. Megami’s plan was to “out stupid” Morphine because she knew she couldn’t “out dance” her so she brought out googly eyes on her hand to make a puppet that she played with. Morphine danced her ass off, literally, by using all of her body as an asset in every decision she made on stage and then capped it off in the final moment by mimicking knocking Megami out with that last thump of the beat. And just like that, Morphine was declared the Queen of She Already Done Had Herses and the recipient of the $50,000 cash tip.

NEXT TIME: The final three compete in the “Grand Finale” where “America’s next drag superstar” is crowned.

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