‘The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula’ Recap: ‘Gods of Death (Part 1)’

11/22/2023

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Still of the Cast of Season 5 of ‘The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula’ Courtesy of Shudder.

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 504 of ‘The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula’. To revisit the previous episode, click here.

Thus far, the fifth season of the hit Shudder series, The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula, has been mostly devoid of a staple of the show. Specifically, hot tea and spicy drama and well, there’s good reason for that. Simply because the competitors this year, came to compete. They want that title, they want that prize money, they want to be the absolute best drag supermonster they can be. Which has prompted them to worry less about the insults and the infighting and just leave it all on the stage. But this is of course, a competition filled with people. People under pressure, people who are passionate and full of feels, and one can only keep that stuff at bay for so long before it catches up and spills over, as evidenced by this week’s epic episode.

For ‘Gods of Death (Part 1)’ brought forth some pivotal moments in the competition. For starters, this was the kickoff episode of the show’s annual Monsters of Rock segment. Which Drac and Swan love dearly since it really begins to show them what the contestants are made of and really leans into the wonder of drag and the performances that accompanies this art form. And well, they made sure to up the ante and the pressure by informing everyone that this year’s MOR battle would take place over two parts and part one… would involve creating that MOR character and a performance that would truly engage everyone in the mansion. But there was of course, one important caveat to this. In that, there would be no messing around regarding this competition. For the person that failed to deliver a great costume and a great performance, would be sent home on the spot.

Which brought about incredible pressure, and finally prompted the drama to appear. In part because this is where some of the combatants made it clear there were personality conflicts and bad behaviors that required some boundaries but also because… the stakes were super high. Which brought forth spicy critiques of the costumes, sass, battles royale and moments of levity and honesty since some of them just needed to vent and get their frustrations out as we are wont to do. But this definitely changed the dynamic of the competition a bit, and really reminded us of how raw and visceral this show can be, and how much every single person taking that stage wants the chance to be crowned as the best. And while there was indeed hard drama before us at last, it was productive in every single sense of the word.

Because it pushed everyone to truly be the best. To really deliver on their costumes and performances and that led to one stunning floor show. Where Throb Zombie straight up created a monstrous version of Elvis Presley, and where Blackberri offered up an amazing homage to the world of KISS. Which made life tough for the Boulet Brothers. Because they were genuinely impressed with the floor show and had to really dig deep to find bottom looks, but they were there. Since Jarvis Hammer’s David Bowie inspired look didn’t quite vibe, nor did Jay Kay’s throwback Emo piece. Which prompted one last round of competition to really decide who was moving forward to the group portion of this challenge. Specifically… an on the spot, improvised, lip sync showdown/performance. Which did indeed settle who was going home.

All of which made for one incredible episode. One that again featured some delightfully terrifying cinematic bumpers to remind us that this show will always find a way to showcase the majesty of horror, while at the same time, this episode provided us with a fresh twist on an important leg of the journey. Because normally the rock episode is a singular episode. Which means that what lies ahead can only be bigger and more impressive than what we saw here, and that’s saying something. Since this was one bombastic tale, and now sadly… we must wait impatiently to see how the group portion of this competition goes, and what kind of drama and tea that will generate, as these performers are pushed harder than ever before, all in the name of reaching the top. Until next time.

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