Drag Race

Drag Race Belgique Season 2, Episode 4 – “Masquerade” & Mille et Une Belgiques à l’Eurovision runway Power Rankings

February 23, 2024 by krisis

Bon retour, mes chers lecteurs, dans plus de classements! Drag Race Belgique Season 2 Episode 4 was titled “Masquerade,” which gave the queens a chance to propose a law as a part of Belgium’s first Drag Government. It was followed by Mille et Une Belgiques à l’Eurovision as the runway theme (“1,001 Belgiums at Eurovision”) – a chance to pay tribute to iconic Eurovision looks.

This is the first episode that allowed the cast to fully show off their intelligence and personality in a challenge. That created a night-and-day difference compared to the Girl Groups challenge last week. These queens are clearly more cerebral than they are choreographers – even the weakest speeches of this challenges were better than the safe verses from last week!

This episode also had a brief moment of controversy, with Star and Gabanna walking onto set before the judges arrived to peak at their notes behind the desk. Despite the campy “security footage” confirming their snooping, it did not seem like a very serious offense to me. Unusual and certainly inappropriate, yes – but, I question how a pair of queens in the middle of getting into drag even walked behind the judge’s table without a producer or director stopping them!

I know international seasons often have their workrooms and runways on the same set, sometimes even facing each other, but… this was in the middle of the full camera coverage of the queens getting ready. Heaven only knows how it happened, but I do think it’s funny that this supposed crime was perpetrated by both the oldest and the most youthful contestant (if not the youngest).

Aussi… mes amis, je dois être honnête avec vous: writing about Belgique this year has not resulted in much ongoing readership after the first episode. Of course, if you are reading this, you’re part of the solution, not the problem! And, it could simply be that this season isn’t very popular – it is one of the least-seen franchises. However, unless things change, this might be the only non-English franchise I cover this year. As much as I love to write about Drag Race, I could use this same time to write about comic books!

If you’re enjoying my writing (either during the run of the season or after the fact), please share this post on social media or in your favorite Drag Race communities or group chats! I’d love to have a reason to continue to cover every franchise of Drag Race.

An intellectual episode evened out our powers rankings a bit compared to last week’s disastrous Girl Groups challenge and its big power rankings shakeup. I think we now have a clear-eyed look at how this season might progress from here.

(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!

RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 16, Episode 7 – The Sound of Rusic Rusical Power Rankings

February 18, 2024 by krisis

RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 16, Episode 7 was our annual Rusical! “The Sound of Rusic” recast familiar tropes from The Sound of Music as a pop music musical set in a high stakes pageant in a remote town.

It was paired with a “I Can Buy Myself Flowers” runway themed to match the lip sync tune “Flowers,” Miley Cyrus’s recent Grammy-winner for Record of the Year

We’re at a point in the evolution of Drag Race where not only every contestant comes ready to smash the Rusical, but the show itself has a vested interest in the Rusical looking amazing. Even though this was unseen to us, it’s a virtual guarantee that the queens had an extra 1-2 days to rehearse this show “off camera” between when we saw them go home on Day 1 and when they hit the runway on “Day 2.”

As with “Wigloose” last year, that resulted in a musical with no obvious worst performance, unless we’re going to get nitpicky about a wardrobe malfunction. That means we do have to get nitpicky, not only about that, but about whether people looked alive behind the eyes or made the most out of their little bits of business.

That lead to a cutthroat and somewhat hard to predict set of bottom queens. However, it was the runway that confirmed our top queens, as three of our drag artists had the objective best looks of the night (and a fourth queen’s fashionable runway may have saved her from the bottom).

What does that mean for our Power Rankings compared to last week’s “Welcome to the DollHouse”? One queen fights her way back into the Top 3 while another queen falls out of the Top 4 for the first time, and the four queens marooned outside of the Top 5 are going to have to get serious about their game theory to see if they can last long enough to play spoiler against a frontrunner.

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

RuPaul’s Drag Race UK vs. The World Season 2, Episode 2 – The Happy Ending Ball Power Rankings

February 17, 2024 by krisis

It’s another week of the Olympics of Drag Race! RuPaul’s Drag Race UK vs. The World Season 2 Episode 2 brought us “The Happy Ending Ball,” a fairytale-themed ball challenge with three looks – including a design challenge with conventional materials.

I am always a fan of Ball challenges being earlier in the season. Instead of being a final gauntlet for a slim group of exhausted queens as they near the finale, it becomes a chance for a much bigger pack to jostle for attention.

That makes sense to me, as it gives almost the entire cast a chance to have multiple runway walks and lets the judges make early eliminate decisions based on a wider sampling of each queen’s fashion sense.

Ball challenges on All Stars seasons bring an additional layer of complexity. They function as a proving grounds for who has had the biggest glow-up (and, who has taken the time to learn how to sew). Almost every queen in the RuPaul’s Drag Race UK vs. The World Season 2 cast outperformed their original season design challenge looks in this episode, but they were doing that alongside a firm top group of fashionable heavy hitters who were not afraid to go full camp to command Ru’s attention.

That lead to a surprising queen leaping into a top power ranking compared to last week’s Queens’ Variety Show recap, while a previous potential finalist tumbled out of contention.

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

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

Drag Race Belgique Season 2, Episode 3 – “Jawadde Dadde” Girl Groups Power Rankings

February 16, 2024 by krisis

Bon retour, mes chers lecteurs, dans plus de classements! Drag Race Belgique Season 2 Episode 3 was titled “Jawadde Dadde,” which had nothing to do with its Girl Groups challenge and Art Nouveau runway theme.

(The internet is cagey on the literal meaning of the Flemish expression “Jawadde Dadde,” a phrase uttered by guest judge Gaëlle Garcia Diaz. As far as I can tell, it’s an idiomatic phrase of that can mean anything from an exclamation of surprise (“oh my god” or “no way!”) to an expression of incredulity or exasperation (“oh my” or “really?”). It doesn’t have a direct translation in part because it is written phonetically the way it is spoken in certain regions – the actual words would be “ja wat dat.” If you translated it directly you’d get something like “Yes-what, that?!” If any of you readers can offer a better explanation, please comment!)

Jawadde Dadde was a study in contrasts, with a disastrous main challenge and a runway that reminded me of the reasons I loved Drag Race Belgique Season 1.

This episode’s Girl Groups performance posed the question: What if a Drag Race cast completely failed at one of the show’s standard challenges? I’m not sure if Girl Groups simply aren’t all that revered in Belgium or if we have an entire cast of non-singing non-dancers. Whatever the reason, it resulted in some truly questionable vocals and what surely ranks amongst the worst choreography in the history of Drag Race.

It’s a pity it turned out that way, because – as the queens pointed out – the instrumental track they were handed was a perfect rip-off of Robin S.’s “Show Me Love.”

The results could not have been more different on an Art Nouveau runway, which showed off the intellectualism and obsession with art that was so proudly on display in Season 1. Every queen presented something with at least one magnificent detail, which caused the judges to briefly feud over what ought to be considered Art Nouveau or allowed on an Art Nouveau runway. We saw one truly stunning runway hit the bottom purely for mixing up its period references.

(Yes, we’ve seen RuPaul go nuclear over 60s bouffant hair on a 70s outfit, but none of those 70s outfits were as opulent as this one!)

I love that Drag Race Belgique can assign an entire art movement as a runway theme with confidence that its cast will think deeply about how to symbolize it. I don’t think many of the other franchises could get away with that. Imagine if American Drag Race assigned ” Art Nouveau” as a theme! I’m sure we wouldn’t see the same results.

To me, this episode makes a good argument that if Drag Race continues to appear around the globe that some of its staple challenges ought to be better localized. Yes, we’ll always want to see Snatch Game and a Ball Challenge, but I wish we could see a full main challenge on Drag Race Belgique that leans into the show’s obsession with fashion and art history rather than it being constrained only to the runway.

An uneven episode led to uneven power rankings, with a new queen surging to the top and a surprising queen in contention for the finale compared to last week’s “Drag-en-Ciel” design challenge recap.

(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!

RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 16, Episode 6 – Welcome to the DollHouse Power Rankings

February 11, 2024 by krisis

RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 16, Episode 6 was a two-for-one “Welcome to the DollHouse” challenge that tested the queens in both design and branding as they had to create an outfit for themselves and their own special edition dolls.

This was the first chance this season we’ve had to see the queens flex their intelligence and aptitude for marketing, and it yielded some interesting results.

Many RuPaul’s Drag Race veterans (including Trixie) love to say that the real race begins after the season ends. We’ve seen Drag Race finalists disappear from view and from fan conversation. We’ve also seen early outs lean into their personal brands to become cult favorites amongst the fandom – including Katya and Trixie trailblazing with YouTube content nearly a decade ago, Yuhua Hamasaki with Bootleg Opinions, and Maddy Morphosis with Give It To Me Straight.

That’s why I love it every time the queens are handed a challenge with a marketing element, and this one is one of the best. It’s not about designing an energy drink or making an inane commercial. It’s literally about the queens selling themselves in the form of their own dolls! We’ve seen RuPaul, Manilla Luzon, Alaska, and Trixie all sell their own dolls over the years

The secret to winning this challenge wasn’t just designing a gorgeous garment. The queens needed to figure out a way to create a “Special Edition” of themselves that felt both essential and toyetic. Even if none of them have the chance to create their own dolls, the ability to boil down their brand to a single image will serve them in all of their future merchandising endeavors.

I was delighted to discover that almost this entire cast of queens was up to the challenge, giving us a week with many strong contenders and only a few certified peg-warmers. OMG, get your mind out of the gutter! A “peg warmer” means the figure in a toyline that no one buys, though it stays “warming” the metal pegs that products hang from in a toy story.

So, which queens were a sell-out and which ones, um… got pegged? The results were interesting, and they caused some surprising shuffling compared to last week’s Girl Groups Power Rankings as the picture of our Top 6 becomes increasingly clear.

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