“RuPaul’s Drag Race” Episode 1509 Recap: Spine-Tingling

This is a recap of RuPaul’s Drag Race episode 1509. Spoilers below.

The last TikTok queen has left the building. It was never about millennials vs. Gen Z — Luxx is 22 and Mistress is 24 — but it was a bit about queens from drag communities vs. queens who had gone viral on TikTok. And the drag queens classique have won.

We begin in the wake of Jax’s untimely exit. Marcia is being cunty and saying it was time Jax leave — as if most of her times in the bottom weren’t totally unearned. Sure, we saw Jax lip sync five times. I’d have been happy to watch her lip sync five more. We saw Spice lip sync four times and my soul will never recover.

It’s a new day in the work room and we’re celebrating an actually monumental moment in Drag Race herstory. It’s the show’s 200th episode! We’ve come such a long way since Shannel’s wig fell off while she sang “The Greatest Love of All” in a vaseline filter.

To celebrate, we have one of our first mini challenges of the Real Friends of WeHo season! And, to be honest, it reminded me why initially I didn’t mind the shorter episodes. The queens are photobombing “iconic” Drag Race moments and Anetra wins by jumping in Willow’s bathtub from the classic season of… last year. If the moment happened in the last three years since I’ve been doing recaps, sorry, it’s not an iconic moment.

Making up for this shrug of a mini challenge, the maxi challenge this week is a ball! A Crystal Ball! There are three looks: 1) a riff on Ru’s classic racing suit, 2) a take on the eleganza looks from past balls, and 3) crystal eleganza, outfits made from scratch involving crystal.

Loosey says she’s been waiting for the ball, because her drag delusion is a permanent condition. Marcia is salty because Luxx is taking stuff she wants. And Sasha, my perfect genius, notes that everyone is taking silver so she goes for gold. The metaphor writes itself.

Carson comes to the work room, and he and Ru give advice to the queens as they work on their looks. Now, this is the part where I miss the longer episodes. I would’ve liked more time spent on these feedback sessions. But we do get them encouraging Spice not to do the same silhouette and EsTitties to keep things simpler. EsTitties cries as she talks about struggling emotionally and Ru, the one note therapist, brings up her inner saboteur.

We do have some time for the queens to partake in a bit of RuPaul’s Trauma Race. EsTitties says she has a gay brother which prompts Anetra to talk about how her mom doesn’t speak to her. She was kicked out of her house and never got to say goodbye to her siblings. But she then reconnected with her biological father and he’s been her biggest supporter.

The guest judge this week is Julia Garner, someone I’ve been a fan of since Electrick Children (2012). She’s, unfortunately, kind of a nothing judge! I don’t know if it’s because of the tight editing for three runway looks or what, but she barely says anything! I guess being a talented actor and being a talented Drag Race judge require different skills.

The first runway looks are also the weakest. It’s a narrow prompt, but no one really does anything that impressive with it. Mistress’ look with sayings from different big girls of Drag Race past was my favorite.

The next group of looks is much better — even if once again Mistress has my favorite. She goes with a beach ball look and it’s fun and fashion and I’m obsessed. Close runner ups are Luxx doing a Thierry Mugler inspired hair ball look and Sasha’s bag of weed look. Anetra’s candy look is simple, but hot, and, if there’s one thing I’m going to do it’s take time to be horny.

The crystal looks are a mix of boring and overwhelmingly gobsmackingly gorgeous. My faves will not surprise. Mistress’ dress with fringe crystals on the arms is beautiful. Luxx is barely covered by her ice crystals but it works great. Sasha is a golden coral goddess. And Anetra has one of my favorite ball looks in Drag Race herstory. It’s a tight dress with a low v-cut and a crystal spinal column. It’s stunning and dangerous and everything I love about Anetra’s fashion.

Marcia, Malaysia, and Luxx are safe. At first, I thought, Luxx safe?? But then Mistress, Sasha, and Anetra were announced in the top and I thought, well, okay, that’s correct. EsTitties, Spice, and Loosey are in the bottom.

The edit feels super weird as they skip the judges deliberating. Sasha wins, something I will not complain about since she hasn’t won many weeks where she deserved it. But, personally, I would’ve either given it to Mistress for consistency across the three looks or Anetra for that final look.

Loosey is safe. (Boooo.) Spice and EsTitties are lip syncing to Lil Nas X’s “That’s What I Want.” Does Spice know that lip syncing means actually mouthing the lyrics to the song? Does she just think it’s dancing around being silly and occasionally singing the chorus? Luckily, this is no longer my problem, because EsTitties easily wins and Spice sashays away.

I know some of you loved Spice, so for everyone out there with bad taste, I’m sorry for your loss.

Teleport Us to Mars!! Here Are Some Random Thoughts:

+ I went to Bosco’s face reveal party last week and Sasha performed “Misery Business.” It was transcendent and it’s made me a full Sasha devotee. No more “she’s so good, she doesn’t need my support.” She may not need it, but she has it. Like, I love you Anetra, but Sasha needs to win this. And then marry me.

+ Mistress was poking Loosey all episode. I loved Mistress so much.

+ Ru debuts her new song, but the less said about that the better. She’s earned the right to force us to sit through anything, and you know what? She sure did that.

+ Queen I’m rooting for: my wife, Sasha Colby

+ Queen I’m horniest for: Anetra

+ Queen I want to sashay: Loosey

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Drew Burnett Gregory

Drew is a Brooklyn-based writer, filmmaker, and theatremaker. She is a Senior Editor at Autostraddle with a focus in film and television, sex and dating, and politics. Her writing can also be found at Bright Wall/Dark Room, Cosmopolitan UK, Refinery29, Into, them, and Knock LA. She was a 2022 Outfest Screenwriting Lab Notable Writer and a 2023 Lambda Literary Screenwriting Fellow. She is currently working on a million film and TV projects mostly about queer trans women. Find her on Twitter and Instagram.

Drew Burnett has written 499 articles for us.

5 Comments

  1. “ I went to Bosco’s face reveal party last week and Sasha performed “Misery Business.”

    Firstly okay what a flex and secondly lorde I’m jealous! Bosco? Paramore? Sasha? Sign me up.

  2. I was rooting for Mistress to win the challenge too. I love how every time the judges talk to Mistress and Sasha, they’re just like ‘it’s an honour to have you here, thanks for wowing us again, please teach the others how to do their makeup.’

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