• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Crushing Krisis

Comic Books, Drag Race, & Life in New Zealand

  • DC Guides
    • DC Events
    • DC New 52
    • DC Rebirth
    • Batman Guide
    • The Sandman Universe
  • Marvel Guides
    • Marvel Events
    • Captain America Guide
    • Iron Man Guide
    • Spider-Man Guide (1963-2018)
    • Spider-Man Guide (2018-Present)
    • Thor Guide
    • X-Men Reading Order
  • Indie & Licensed Comics
    • Spawn
    • Star Wars Guide
      • Expanded Universe Comics (2015 – present)
      • Legends Comics (1977 – 2014)
    • Valiant Guides
  • Drag
    • Canada’s Drag Race
    • Drag Race Belgique
    • Drag Race Down Under
    • Drag Race Sverige (Sweden)
    • Drag Race France
    • Drag Race Philippines
    • Dragula
    • RuPaul’s Drag Race
    • RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars
  • Contact!

Acting Challenge

Drag Race Belgique Season 2, Episode 6 – Le Crime du Drag Express Power Rankings

March 8, 2024 by krisis

Bon retour, mes chers lecteurs, dans plus de classements! Drag Race Belgique Season 2 Episode 6 was Le Crime du Drag Express, a murder mystery acting challenge in the style of Agatha Christa paired with a “Tenues Saxy” saxophone runway.

Drag Race Belgique Season 2 Episode 06 - Le Crime du Drag Express acting challenge - Full Cast

I think this was one of the strongest episodes of the season. That’s not only because we are now down to a smaller group of queens. I think this is a cast that benefits from attacking structured material rather than writing, constructing, and choreographing it all themselves. This was a well-written acting challenge by Drag Race standards and it had incredibly high production value compared to the green screen affairs of the American franchise.

Also, the subject matter was especially appealing to me because I got my start as a performer acting in Agatha Christie plays! My high school produced an Agatha Christie play every other year, and I went from being a bitchy butler with one scene as a Sophomore to the lead investigator with 115 pages of dialog as a senior! That made it fun to see how these queens dealt with roles of different sizes and differing levels of plot intrigue.

Of note, one of Christie’s main recurring characters was mustachioed investigator Hercule Poirot – a former Belgian police officer.

(Sometimes it seems like I’ve got a personal backstory for every kind of Drag Race challenge! I swear, this is just my actual life! I think I just grew up in the perfect period to catch many of the campy references that Ru and the producers still bring to the show, and I’ve now spent decades in both the performing arts and in marketing. That’s why I love this show so damn much – it really does draw directly from my life experiences all the time.)

With just one more week before the finale, our Power Rankings have gotten incredibly tight compared to last week’s Snatch Game power ranking. I think we have an obvious winner, but there is still tight competition for the 2nd and 3rd spots – and one queen could wind up playing a major spoiler next week

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

Lecteurs, start your engines. Et, que la meilleure Drag Queen gagne!

[Read more…] about Drag Race Belgique Season 2, Episode 6 – Le Crime du Drag Express Power Rankings

Filed Under: teevee Tagged With: Acting Challenge, drag, Drag Race, Drag Race Belgique, Drag Race Belgique Season 2

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! 

[Read more…] about Drag Race Sverige Season 1, Episode 7 – “Diva Assoluta” acting challenge Review & Power Rankings

Filed Under: teevee Tagged With: Acting Challenge, drag, Drag Race, Drag Race Sverige, Drag Race Sverige Season 1

Drag Race Belgique Season 1, Episode 4 – “L’émission qui vous déshabille” acting challenge & “Ceci n’est pas un look!” runway Review & Power Ranking

March 12, 2023 by krisis

Welcome to my review, recap, and power rankings of the fourth episode of Drag Race Belgique Season 1 – “L’émission qui vous déshabille,” a scripted acting challenge spoofing real-life documentary Ni juge, ni soumise. It was paired with a “Ceci n’est pas un look!” runway celebrating surrealist painter René Magritte – plus, the library was open for a reading challenge.

If that sounds like a brainy episode, it was! But, it also showed how prepared the top group of queens remaining on this season are when it comes to surmounting any challenge thrown their way… except, perhaps, a reading challenge.

These Belgian queens seemed to be literally shaking in their boots when Rita Baga opened the library for the reading mini-challenge. Several of them seemed to be too nervous to even hold their prop glasses up to their eyes.

That made me wonder to what extent reading is baked into the culture of Belgian drag. Of course, there is a certain playful cattiness to most drag queens and drag scenes, and we’ve seen that on display in the workroom and in confessionals. Yet, reading tends to be a very direct, confrontational version of that cattiness. I get the sense that doesn’t come as naturally in Belgium as it does for queens other countries – like, for instance, New Zealand.

That stands in contrast to the acting challenge and the runway, which both seemed to capitalize on the cerebral qualities of the queens and Belgium’s appreciation for the arts. I wasn’t expecting much from a spoof of a documentary or a modern art runway theme, but this cast of queens came ready to impress.

My French is not good enough to have perfectly understood the acting scenes without subtitles and translations, but I got the impression that two of them went off without a hitch and were thoroughly amusing. The script relied on the broad humor of badly-behaved citizens facing off against a dour but impulsive magistrate, which means the queens all had genuine characters to act rather than simply spouting catchlines or delivering physical humor.

The same is true for the Magritte-inspired “Ceci n’est pas un look!” runway theme. On other franchises I’d expect perhaps one or two queens who really understood the assignment of capturing the thematic qualities of a surrealist painter in their fashions. Here, no one missed the mark entirely. The same was true on their bande dessinée runway on episode two.

It seems clear that the average drag queen in Belgium is expected to know her cultural references and appreciate the country’s artistic heroes. I find it refreshing to be watching a version of Drag Race where the queen’s references are not simply drag, reality TV, and fashion. I don’t think any other franchise has seemed so enamored with connecting drag to the fine arts.

What does this cerebral episode mean for my Power Rankings compared to last week’s “Festival Realness” design challenge? One queen descended precipitously due to some factors out of her control, while a pair of winless queens jostled to secure a spot of runner-up to our clear front-runner.

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

Lecteurs, start your engines. Et, que la meilleure Drag Queen gagne!

[Read more…] about Drag Race Belgique Season 1, Episode 4 – “L’émission qui vous déshabille” acting challenge & “Ceci n’est pas un look!” runway Review & Power Ranking

Filed Under: teevee Tagged With: Acting Challenge, drag, Drag Race, Drag Race Belgique, Drag Race Belgique Season 1

RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 15, Episode 7 – “The Daytona Wind 2” acting challenge, Review & Power Ranking

February 11, 2023 by krisis

Welcome to my review, recap, and power rankings of the seventh episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 15 – “The Daytona Wind 2,” a sequel to last season’s surprisingly well-written melodramatic acting challenge. It was paired with a “Puffer Please” runway theme, where the queens were challenged with making puffer jacket elements look high fashion.

On Season 14, “The Daytona Wind” was a standout episode that helped to solidify the fact that we were watching a cast full of standout performers. However, that wasn’t just because the cast was so great. It was also because they were given a script that made sense and were allowed to act it in a straight-forward way – with jokes inserted later.

If Season 14 was an acting challenge high point, this Season 15 “Daytona Wind” redux was a low one. The queens were saddled with a script that was nothing but Drag Race references that left no room for character choices.

Though some of the humor was inserted later in the edit just like last season, it was the anti-humor of Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! I think it’s a tough prospect to deliver a standout performance for that sort of humor if you’re blithely unaware of the style while you are performing.

After Season 14 and All Winners, I think we can all agree that Drag Race is at its best when it sets its queens up for success with strong material and doesn’t try to squash them into obvious archetypes in the edit. Instead, this felt like return to the Drag Race riggory of seasons 11-13, where any challenge could be bent to create any result the producers wanted. That feels unwelcome after getting a breath of fresh air from the franchise in 2021.

Between the painfully awkward challenge and the continued short runtime, this wasn’t an enjoyable episode of Drag Race for me. It also didn’t do much to shake up the existing power ranking divide between the haves and have nots. (The “haves” in this instance are the all-too-obvious group of potential finalists). However, within those two halves of the cast, things did get shuffled a bit – both due to this week’s performances and the news of an impending Lalaparuza Lip Sync smackdown on the next episode.

Readers, start your engines! And, may the best drag queen win! [Read more…] about RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 15, Episode 7 – “The Daytona Wind 2” acting challenge, Review & Power Ranking

Filed Under: teevee Tagged With: Acting Challenge, drag, Drag Race, RuPaul's Drag Race, RuPaul's Drag Race Season 15

Primary Sidebar


Support Crushing Krisis on Patreon
Support CK
on Patreon


Follow me on BlueSky Follow me on Twitter Contact me Watch me on Youtube Subscribe to the CK RSS Feed

About CK

About Crushing Krisis
About My Music
About Your Author
Blog Archive
Comics Blogs Only
Contact Krisis
Terms & Conditions

Crushing Comics

Marvel Comics

Marvel Events Guide

Spider-Man Guide

DC Comics

  • Tigereyes Most Wanted DC Omnibus 2nd Annual Poll
    The Tigereyes Most Wanted DC Omnibus 2nd Annual Poll […]
  • Tigereyes Most Wanted Marvel Omnibus 2025 Avengers Omnibus MappingTIME TO VOTE – 13th Annual Tigereyes Most-Wanted Marvel Omnibus Poll
    It's time to vote in the 13th Annual Tigereyes Most-Wanted Marvel Omnibus Poll! […]
  • Tigereyes Most Wanted Marvel Omnibus 2025 Marvels Anthology Omnibus MappingEvery Missing Marvel Anthology Omnibus, Mapped | 13th Annual Tigereyes Most-Wanted Marvel Omnibus Poll
    Marvel Magazine & Anthology omnibus mapping for books that don't yet exist - all options on the Tigereyes Most Wanted Marvel Omnibus 13th Annual Secret Ballot […]
  • Tigereyes Most Wanted Marvel Omnibus 2025 My Love Silver Age Omnibus MappingEvery Missing Non-Superhero Silver Age Omnibus, Mapped | 13th Annual Tigereyes Most-Wanted Marvel Omnibus Poll
    Marvel Non-Superhero Silver Age omnibus mapping for books that don't yet exist - all options on the Tigereyes Most Wanted Marvel Omnibus 13th Annual Secret Ballot […]
  • Tigereyes Most Wanted Marvel Omnibus 2025 Alf Marvel License Omnibus MappingEvery Missing Marvel License Omnibus (+ Indiana Jones), Mapped | 13th Annual Tigereyes Most-Wanted Marvel Omnibus Poll
    Marvel's License Omnibus mapping for non-Marvel IP books that don't exist - all options on the Tigereyes Most Wanted Marvel Omnibus 13th Annual Secret Ballot […]
  • Tigereyes Most Wanted Marvel Omnibus 2025 X-Files FOX Omnibus MappingEvery Missing Marvel 20th Century FOX Omnibus (+ Indiana Jones), Mapped | 13th Annual Tigereyes Most-Wanted Marvel Omnibus Poll
    20th Century FOX omnibus mapping for books that don't yet exist - all options on the Tigereyes Most Wanted Marvel Omnibus 13th Annual Secret Ballot […]
  • Tigereyes Most Wanted Marvel Omnibus 2025 Darth Vader Star Wars Omnibus MappingEvery Missing Marvel Star Wars Omnibus, Mapped | 13th Annual Tigereyes Most-Wanted Marvel Omnibus Poll
    Star Wars omnibus mapping for books that don't yet exist - all options on the Tigereyes Most Wanted Marvel Omnibus 13th Annual Secret Ballot […]
  • Image Comics April 30 2025 New ReleasesNew Comics & Collected Editions Releases: Image Comics – April 30 2025
    This week in Image Comics: Copra dies, Wes Craig draws a silent Duke, DWJ's Transformers gets deluxed, Feral wraps its first year, a new fantasy from Curt Pires, conflict finds the Rocketfellers, life after a death in We're Taking Everyone Down with Us, and more! […]
  • Tigereyes Most Wanted Marvel Omnibus 2025 Marvel Imprints Alternate Realities Demon Days Omnibus MappingEvery Missing Marvel Imprint & Alternate Reality Omnibus, Mapped | 13th Annual Tigereyes Most-Wanted Marvel Omnibus Poll
    Marvel Imprint & Alternate Reality omnibus mapping for books that don't yet exist - all options on the Tigereyes Most Wanted Marvel Omnibus 13th Annual Secret Ballot […]
  • Tigereyes Most Wanted Marvel Omnibus 2025 Marvel UK Omnibus MappingEvery Missing Marvel UK Omnibus, Mapped | 13th Annual Tigereyes Most-Wanted Marvel Omnibus Poll
    Marvel UK omnibus mapping for books that don't yet exist - all options on the Tigereyes Most Wanted Marvel Omnibus 13th Annual Secret Ballot […]
  • Tigereyes Most Wanted Marvel Omnibus 2025 Ultimate Marvel Omnibus MappingEvery Missing Ultimate Marvel Omnibus, Mapped | 13th Annual Tigereyes Most-Wanted Marvel Omnibus Poll
    Ultimate Marvel omnibus mapping for books that don't yet exist from its debut to the present day - all options on the Tigereyes Most Wanted Marvel Omnibus 13th Annual Secret Ballot […]
  • Tigereyes Most Wanted Marvel Omnibus 2025 Fear Itself Omnibus MappingEvery Missing Marvel Event Omnibus, Mapped | 13th Annual Tigereyes Most-Wanted Marvel Omnibus Poll
    Marvel Event omnibus mapping for books that don't yet exist - all options on the Tigereyes Most Wanted Marvel Omnibus 13th Annual Secret Ballot […]
  • DC Comics April 30 2025 New ReleasesNew Comics & Collected Editions Releases: DC Comics – April 30 2025
    This week in DC Comics: Ewing does Detective, Grodd's reign continues in Waid's League, All-In Special hits paperback, Power Company recharges, a Silver Lantern omnibus, and more! […]
  • Tigereyes Most Wanted Marvel Omnibus 2025 Namor Omnibus MappingEvery Missing Marvel Solo Hero Omnibus from N to Z, Mapped – Namor, Scarlet Witch, Thanos & more! | 13th Annual Tigereyes Most-Wanted Marvel Omnibus Poll
    Marvel Solo Heroes omnibus mapping from N to Z for books that don't yet exist - all options on the Tigereyes Most Wanted Marvel Omnibus 13th Annual Secret Ballot […]

Content Copyright ©2000-2023 Krisis Productions

Crushing Krisis participates in affiliate programs including (but not limited to): Amazon Services LLC Associates Program (in the US, UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain), eBay Partner Network, and iTunes Affiliate Program. If you make a qualifying purchase through an affiliate link I may receive a commission.