teevee

RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 16, Episode 1 – “Rate-a-Queen” Power Rankings

January 7, 2024 by krisis

RuPaul’s Drag Race is back with the first episode of Season 16, Rate-A-Queen – complete with an MTV Spring Break Talent show and a “RuVeal Yourself” runway! When I saw the episode title I couldn’t resist making my return to do the same thing, rating and power ranking the amazing drag artists featured on the show!

Drag Race officially got out of control in 2023, with more franchises than I could even keep up with! In addition to the US flagship and its All Stars edition, in 2023 there was also UK, Canada, Down Under, España, France, Philippines, Belgique, Sverige, Germany, Mexico, & Brazil – plus Queen of the Universe. That’s over a dozen winners in a single year!

All but two of those franchises are expected to return in 2024 (sorry Sverige and Queen of the Universe), plus we have another season of UK vs. The World incoming, a new España All-Stars, the return of Drag Race Thailand, and another new Ru-hosted series.

There isn’t even enough time in my day to watch all of these incredible drag artists from around the world, let alone rank and recap them all! But, when it comes to meeting the new American queens and watching them battle to be America’s Next Drag Superstar, I can always find a little time in my schedule.

With so many drag artist finding their way onto our screens every year, it’s starting to feel like Drag Race has become a game of archetypes. As a dozen dozen queens walk through the workroom doors each year, it’s more important than every to have a defined brand without being stuck in a box.

A successful drag artist needs to know the mold they fit into best and also must understand how to shatter the weight of those expectations. Looking at this past year of winners, we’ve had beauty queens who can do it all, dancers who are funny, and experienced showgirls with a youthful attitude.

This week we had the first part of a split premiere, with seven queens showing off their entrance looks, talent show, and a “Ruveal Yourself” runway before doing their own power rankings with a special Rate-a-Queen gimmick. How did they stack up? Keep reading for my totally personal, totally subjective power rankings of this first half of the cast.

Readers, start your engines. And, may the best drag queen win!

Drag Race España Season 3, Episode 2 – “Drag Vision” Review & Power Rankings

April 27, 2023 by krisis

Welcome to my review and power rankings for Drag Race España Season 3 Episode Two – “Drag Vision.” It’s a Eurovision-themed group choreography challenge to “SloMo” by Chanel where no one came out on top after the queens were thoroughly chastised for their messy performance by the judges.

They weren’t angry, just disappointed.

Seriously – you think RuPaul screaming about H&M is scary? Try watching all five España judges very calmly read their contestants for filth for their lumpy pads, ill-considered tights, clockable wig lines, and approximate dancing in the “Drag Vision” choreography challenge.

I didn’t need the disappointed judges to inform me that this was a lackluster maxi-challenge performance. It was obvious to see that nearly all of the queens were out of sync with each other and struggling with their wigs.

However, I was surprised to hear the judges reading the queens for their looks (and lumpy pads), considering all of the “Drag Vision” dance costumes were obviously supplied by the show. I suppose the message was, “every detail matters.” Supremme and the other judges don’t want the queens resting on their laurels when production hands them something to use in a challenge.

Of course, that begs the question of how much production had a hand in the outcome of an under-rehearsed dance routine and rushed dance costumes. On an American season I’d immediately assume that the drama was manufactured. On España, I’m more willing to believe it happened organically.

Between the wobbly maxi-challenge and an “España en Eurovisión” runway that invited imitation over haute couture, there’s not much to discuss about individual queen placements this week, though it did introduce some major shakeups compared to the premiere episode Power Rankings. I did correctly call our second elimination, and I suspect I have the next one right… but the rest of the ranking feels uncertain. Are a few favored queens and potential front-runners beginning to emerge?

(Want to watch Drag Race España outside of Spain? For most of the world, it’s available as part with a Wow Presents Plus subscription as soon as the episode is done airing.)

Lectores, start your engines. Y que gane la mejor drag queen!
[Read more…] about Drag Race España Season 3, Episode 2 – “Drag Vision” Review & Power Rankings

Drag Race Sverige Season 1, Episode 8 – Sweden Grand Finale, “Queen Delicious” runway, & season retrospective

April 25, 2023 by krisis

Welcome to my review, recap, and power rankings of the eighth episode of Drag Race Sverige Season 1 – the Drag Race Sweden Grand Finale!

Drag Race Sverige Season 1 was a unique season with many high points but several unavoidable lows – including a last-minute lack of nerve in the finale.

Let’s start with the highest of highs: Sverige crowned not only the most-deserving queen, but a queen with one of the most entertaining personalities in the history of Drag Race.

If this season was being viewed by as many fans as an American franchise, Admira Thunderpussy would’ve coined more memes than Alyssa Edward herself. She never wasted a single second of camera time, either on stage or in her confessionals.

The second high point of the season was host Robert Fux. Everything about Fux was entertaining and heartfelt, from his too-earnest rhyming video messages to his audacious runway package.

Fux had perhaps the best season of runways we’ve seen on a host since Mathu Andersen used to do RuPaul’s styling. Even then, Ru was never as avant garde as Fux.

The high point of Fux as a host was highlighted in this Sweden Grand Finale episode, which repurposed the standard “tic tac lunch” with the host into a full-on out-of-drag meeting with the judges panel in the workroom. Though brief, the segment felt surprisingly revealing and personal compared to the curated version of final out-of-drag interviews we get from Ru-hosted seasons.

The third high point of the season was the quality of the challenges. From an absurd opening mini-challenge photo-shot to a pair of slickly-produced songs to an acting challenge with an actual script, Sverige always gave its queens solid material to work with (which I’m sure was in no small part due to Fux himself and his experience as a playwright and producer).

The final high point is that the show never played it safe with bottom placements. If a queen was obviously the worst in the challenge or the runway, she was headed for a lip sync even if her narrative would suggest she was due a questionable safe placement.

That led to a number of shocking eliminations and improbable survivals. As much as we’ll likely always complain about Antonina Nutshell outlasting Imaa Queen and Santana Sexmachine, that same ruthless fairmindedness gave us Fontana in the Sweden Grand Finale, where she proved she really had been one of the top queens all season long.

However, the biggest low point could sometimes eclipse the many positives: it didn’t feel like most of this cast was ready for the global primetime the way we’ve seen from other new franchises like Belgique, France, and Philippines. There were several queens who simply weren’t at the level of polish and experience that Drag Race demands, not to mention one queen drag who seemed to be opposed the show’s entire concept.

In retrospect, it feels as though producers they weren’t even able to fill out a full cast of 10 from Sweden’s drag scene for their episode order, which is why they had nine queens that included a pair of “bedroom queens” and an early comeback challenge when none of the eliminated queens deserved to come back.

As a result, sometimes the lines felt blurred between the race being fixed for our winner versus her being the only queen who arrived ready to compete at RuPaul’s Drag Race standards (even when she was handily beaten in the finale).

My takeaway from this season is that Sweden’s drag has a very different aesthetic than we’ve seen on any other country. Other than Admira Thunderpussy (and occasionally Fontana), none of them delivered looks that were anything like American drag race looks all season.

For Imaa, that meant repurposed recycled materials into signature couture unlike anything else we’ve ever seen from the show. For Santana that meant a blend of sex, camp, and a dash of danger. Elecktra delivered a small, surprisingly unglitzy version of “showgirl” that felt like it could’ve traveled in time from RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 2. Similarly, Vanity basically did bar drag in a way we haven’t seen on Drag Race for over a decade.

All of their aesthetics would have looked out of place on any other Drag Race franchise, but even with the wild differences between the four of them they all fit together in an odd way here on Sverige. I got the impression that Sweden’s drag has no pageant influence on it whatsoever, nor does it obsess over high fashion. That meant the queen didn’t automatically lean into wearing ballgowns, nor did they feel the need to stone every inch of their outfits.

That led to some looks that seemed deglammed compared to other franchises, but it also felt like a level playing field in a way that no Drag Race season has felt in a long time.

I started this season of Power Rankings at a significant deficit – there were no Meet The Queens interviews with this cast! Not even a promo video! All we had to go by were single photos and the queens’ social media presence. Yet, I still managed to predict 3 out of the top 4 queens correctly as well as the first two outs in my Pre-Season ranking, including our winner! (I also got all of the final three Sweden Grand Finale placements right in my final Power Ranking, last week.)

Keep reading for a quick retrospective on each queen of Sverige. Then, come back later this week for my recap of the second episode of Drag Race España Season 3! That will be our only franchise for another week while we await the kickoff of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Season 8 on May 12.

(Want to watch Drag Race Sverige outside of Sweden? For most of the world, it’s available as part with a Wow Presents Plus subscription as soon as the episode is done airing.)

Läsare, start your engines. Och må den bästa Drag Queen vinna!

Drag Race España Season 3, Episode 1 – “Spain is Different” Review & Power Rankings

April 19, 2023 by krisis

Welcome to my review and power rankings of the first episode of Drag Race España Season 3 – “Spain Is Different.” This tourism slogan title applied to all three aspects of this episode – a farmyard mini-challenge, a talent show, and a runway meant to show off an aspect of Spanish cultural identity.

Over the course of its first two season, Drag Race España distinguished itself as a fan-favorite franchise and a certified ratings hit in Spain. Part of that is down to the over-the-top performances of its competitors. We’ve seen some of the most glamourous drag out of all of Drag Race from España, but also some of the most fantastical costumes and jaw-dropping talents.

This Season 3 premiere felt a bit small compared to España’s well-earned reputation as the juggernaut of the international Drag Race franchises. I think that may have been an intentional – or, at least, the result of intentional choices in casting. The cast of queens this year is heavy with comedic queens. I’d say as many of nine of them have a comedic bent to their drag, even if they also serve fashion and face.

That was reflected in the interminably long barn animal mini-challenge that kicked off the episode. Between the selection of the animal identities and the subsequent photoshoot, it felt like it went on forever while producing only one memorable moment. Both the queens themselves and the editors seemed confused about if the challenge was about shooting the best photo or being the silliest queen on the farm.

Perhaps the show is chasing the idea of having someone like Season 2 competitor Samantha Ballentines as a winner since she plays well across other Spanish-language media. Ballentines had the star-power of a practiced comedian, but often proved ill-prepared for runways and lip syncs. Many of this year’s queens feel like they are in a similar mold, but with slightly stronger fashion instincts.

However, can a cast full of funny queens defeat a core of stunning fashion queens who are ready to make a statement with their drag? The Talent Show was a fascinating proving ground for this question. We saw several character queens stumble and several fashionable queens were fierce, but three queens in particular distinguished themselves as crossover talents who can compete on both sides.

Even if this episode didn’t feel as massive as prior España seasons, it maintained the show’s track record of incisive, fair-minded judging. Supremme De Luxe has a reputation with fans as the best of all the franchise hosts because she is warm and caring towards her contestants while remaining razor-sharp when it comes to her wit and her critiques. Her fellow judges Ana Locking, Javier Calvo, and Javier Ambrossi have similar temperaments, and that was on full display this episode.

There are several remarkable queens in this cast who surprised me with their talents and “Spain is Different” runways in this episode, which allowed a few of them to climb much higher than I had them in my pre-season Meet The Queens rankings. We also had a first elimination of a queen I thought might be a frontrunner, though clearly I had my signals crossed. I’m intensely curious to see if the crowd of early frontrunners who emerged from this talent show will maintain their dominance all season, as was the case on the just-concluded Season 15.

(Want to watch Drag Race España outside of Spain? For most of the world, it’s available as part with a Wow Presents Plus subscription as soon as the episode is done airing.)

Lectores, start your engines. Y que gane la mejor drag queen!
[Read more…] about Drag Race España Season 3, Episode 1 – “Spain is Different” Review & Power Rankings

Drag Race Sverige Season 1, Episode 7 – “Diva Assoluta” acting challenge Review & Power Rankings

April 18, 2023 by krisis

Welcome to my review, recap, and power rankings of the seventh episode of Drag Race Sverige (AKA Drag Race Sweden) Season 1 – “Diva Assoluta.” It’s a farcical whodunit acting challenge paired with a “Drama Queen” runway that invited the queens to present their most memorable outfits yet.

It’s always hard to appreciate a Drag Race scripted challenge in a foreign language, partly because you can’t catch all of the inflections and hesitations, but partly because the comedic moments are packed with rhythms and references that just don’t translate. However, even with the language barrier, the ranking of these four queens and their performances seemed obvious to me – I completely agreed with the judges.

I can’t say I was extremely entertained by this challenge, but the script seemed more coherent than the typical Drag Race standard. Maybe that’s down to Robert Fux being an actor and playwright. I’d bet anything he took a polish pass on the script before it was printed out for the queens!

I’ve been skeptical of some of the judging this season, but I was satisfied by how fairly things unfurled in this episode. I think RuPaul would’ve found a way to cut Fontana in favor of keeping the steady Elecktra, who seems like a more legitimate challenger to Admira Thunderpussy.

Yet, Fontana is on a late-season surge and showed nerves of steel throughout every element of this episode. She deserved to stay, and I’m happy that the show didn’t make up and excuse to eliminate her.

This episode’s results completely flipped my power rankings from last week’s makeover episode! I’m not sure that means much with such an obvious front-runner, but this season has surprised me many times over already. Who knows what next week holds in store!?

(Want to watch Drag Race Sverige outside of Sweden? For most of the world, it’s available as part with a Wow Presents Plus subscription as soon as the episode is done airing.)

Läsare, start your engines. Och må den bästa Drag Queen vinna!