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It’s season’s bleedings for Portland contestants on The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula’s third episode, a holiday-themed floor show with a required filth factor, such as an homage to Divine in Pink Flamingos. The target on Asia Consent’s back gets bigger, while Majesty’s machinations crawl forth in the background.
Before Desiree Dik returns from the needle-based extermination challenge, Aurora Gozmic addresses the rumor-about-a-rumor Majesty brought to her in the last episode, without revealing who told her about it. Most of the contestants seem to not know what Aurora is talking about, though Jaharia and Auntie Heroine—drag mother to Aurora’s rival, Scylla—vouch for the rumor’s existence. Auntie might be trying to figure out who started the rumor, but confirms to the ghouls that she did not hear it from Scylla. Asia Consent half-apologizes to Pi for exposing their proposed alliance, but says she doesn’t trust them.
The Boulet Brothers introduce the open-ended holiday theme to their ho-ho-hoes, along with the mini-challenge: record a profile video for a sponsored dating app while eating “bon-bons” made of pig brains and fish sauce, thankfully not chocolate-covered. It’s a hard watch that might be worth skipping if you gag easily, but Asia wins the Mirror Mirror Curse, which she uses to reduce fellow top competitor Grey Matter’s prep mirror down to a handheld compact. Grey and the other artists realize Asia is a real threat to their chances to win $100,000 and avoid the competition’s nightmarish extermination challenges.
While getting ready for the floor show, four contestants including Majesty realize that they both chose the same holidays. The Boulets told contestants to figure out who’s switching instead of doing duplicate themes after too many clowns were sent in on the doll-themed show. Given that even the most made-up holidays could get a horror-fashion makeover, it seems easy enough to just pick something else. Majesty reasons that they don’t have to change since they were safe and not present when the Boulets gave their edict. It’s a risky move, but does it pay off?
While Pi and Asia try connecting again, and a second alliance talk brews between four contestants, the rest of the uglies comfort Majesty as they process some difficult times they’ve gone through, including the breakup they told WW about ahead of the season premiere, and the loss of another loved one. The moment feels like a real reaction to processing what Maj discussed in the dating app video challenge, instead of a dirty trick to distract the other contestants. It’s nice to see these monsters have hearts.
Tananarive Due, an award-winning author and horror historian familiar to Dragula’s repeat viewers, and actress Tatiana Maslany (She-Hulk, Orphan Black) guest judge the holiday gross-out show. The Boulet Brothers notice the repeat offenders, including Majesty, and their reactions are somehow less scary than running afoul of RuPaul. As for strong competitors, Asia’s look was downright dirty, filthy and nasty. The Boulet Brothers loved her for it, even if not everyone immediately understood what she had done. Without spoiling who scored highest or lowest, Portland doesn’t break its hot streak.
After rewatching the episode a few times, it’s not clear why there was a winner or loser in the skydive challenge. Both bottom fiends met the challenge’s requirements, so the choice may have come down to cast chemistry and production’s need for strong storylines as the season carries forth. But after a prop chicken carcass goes airborne, Asia delivers one of the episode’s funniest lines: “I guess chickens really can fly, quack quack!” Realizing her error, she corrects herself, laughing, “Or whatever noise they make, y’all. I’m not a botanist or a scientist or whatever.”