The runway challenge was “Best Drag,” and if the looks presented were truly these queens’ best, then, well, I have some concerns. In nine seasons of this show, we’ve been brought to our knees over and over by the stunning, innovative creations of much lesser queens than those assembled on this runway. Are these queens more substance than style? Have we all now arrived at the anniversary after which we cheat and let ourselves go? Is this feminism?

The Vixen’s was, again inexplicably, declared the winning team, and in a shocking and senseless upset, she was named the singular winner of the maxi-challenge. I have to hand it to her: When she’s angry, she is keen and shrewd. And though her talent be but little, for some reason, RuPaul thinks she is fierce.

Eureka was scolded for her utter failure of a lip sync in the maxi challenge, and she wept as she confessed her fear and anxiety about her ability to make the most of her comeback opportunity. Mama Ru, in one of her Drag Oprah moments, said, “Eureka, I wish there was a pill to make you believe in yourself as much as we do,” as she sentenced both her and Kalorie to lip sync for their lives to “Best of My Love,” by the underrated Emotions.

Whatever pill Eureka took before pulling out her paroxysmic lip sync, she should do an actual ad for it — unless the vertigo that seems to keep knocking her off her feet is its side effect — because it reuptook her to safety. Kalorie’s lip sync was sweet, but comparatively empty, and she sashayed away to an unhappy ending.

Conflama may have financed Andy Cohen’s West Village condo expansion, but it is not what we love about this show. What we love about this show is its flashes of defiant beauty, its bruises of deep courage and self-discovery, and Ross Mathews. We don’t want to watch the kind of infighting among allies that infects our social media feeds, however telegenic the fighters. We don’t want the next drag superstar to be an angry, vengeful villain. We want the next drag superstar to be someone who can give us the best of their love. And it is frightening to think that they may not be out there.

But take it from a real-life Tinderella: Sometimes, to find out if one of your matches is that person, you have to pretend that the past was a dream, accept the apologies of the five o’clock shadows that have offended you, and give them your hands.

See you next week.