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Krisis covers RuPaul's Drag Race, international Drag Race, Dragula, and more in their incredibly in-depth essays and recaps on Drag.

RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 15, Episode 16 – Season 15 Grande Finale review & season retrospective

April 15, 2023 by krisis Leave a Comment

Welcome to my review of the RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 15 Grande Finale! Plus, a retrospective on each queen and their performances this season.

RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 15 has a thrilling winner and many standout performances, but when it comes to the full season it felt a bit dull.

Some people might suggest that’s down to Sasha Colby’s dominance of the season, but I’d say it due to the entire Top 4. At no point after the first episode was anyone edited as serious competition for the crown outside of those four queens – even Loosey Laduca and her many mini-challenge wins never felt like a realistic contender.

Was that down to the editing being squeezed by the 60-minute on-air runtime, or was this season actually stacked with mostly weak queens too early in their development as sacrifices to the alter of Goddess Colby?

Similarly, the finale never felt like a real competition between the three non-Sasha queens as to who would attempt to take her down in the final lip sync. The lip sync performances and clip packages were all for naught, since it’s clear Anetra was pre-ordained for the spot.

I’m happy that the new Lalaparuza mid-season showcase has removed the somewhat arbitrary lip sync for the crown tournaments from the finale. However, I still think the show can do better than writing a 90-second song for each of its contestants. Especially on a season like this one full of dancers, songwriters, and martial artists, it feels like the finale ought to be a redux of the Talent Show – where the queens can show off anything they want.

Of course, the secret of this finale format is that you can show off anything you want during the lip sync, but only Sasha Colby with her 20 years of drag experience seemed to fully understand that assignment.

There is a lot to be said about the significance of having a trans woman win Drag Race at the peak of its popularity and pop cultural exposure at this moment in time. Right now, conservatives and trans-exclusionary feminists all around the world want to hate people like Sasha right out of existence.

I don’t think winning Drag Race means a queen must become a political activist. Being seen in drag is inherently political. Yet, it also feels like Sasha Colby is the right queen at the right time who is ready to be political in her words and her actions in addition to her drag. There are people in the world right now who know they want to love someone they aren’t supposed to love or be someone who they aren’t supposed to be. The world can feel like a small and dangerous place for them, and that’s literal in some places like Texas and Florida.

Sasha has the opportunity be a voice for those queer people who are under attack across America right now, but also to remind everyone that trans people are our siblings, our colleagues, our friends, and our loved ones. They are us and they deserve all the same rights and love that everyone does.

This is the end of Season 15 but not the end of my Drag Race coverage! There are still two more episodes of Drag Race Sverige to cover before their first winner is crowned, next week starts my Drag Race España Season 3 power rankings (did you read my pre-season post?), and we’ll have an announcement of our All Stars Season 8 contestants before the week is up!

Before we can enjoy all of that drag, it’s time to talk about our entire cast of Season 15 queens one last time, to compare their final placements and performance to my original pre-season rankings. Which prediction was my biggest miss? Which queens left exactly when I said they would? And, why do I think I should have been the winner of “Fantasy Drag Race” across everyone writing about the show on the entire internet?!

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

Drag Race Sverige Season 1, Episode 6 – “Dream Sisters” makeover challenge Review & Power Rankings

April 11, 2023 by krisis 1 Comment

Welcome to my review, recap, and power rankings of the sixth episode of Drag Race Sverige (AKA Drag Race Sweden) Season 1 – “Dream Sisters.” It’s the standard Drag Race makeover challenge with a substantially beefy set of sisters-to-be in the form of a pair of Swedish Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighters and their gym buddies.

The results were by far the most-hilarious episode of Drag Race we’ve had so far in 2023. Between Admira Thunderpussy’s constant deadpan antics and Fontana’s ongoing meltdown over whether her partner will shave his bushy eyebrows, you could find yourself laughing out loud through entire swaths of this episode’s workroom antics.

Admira was on fire this episode with a literal and metaphorical straight man to play off of. When her partner tries on corsets and pads and asks her “How do you put up with this?” she dryly replies “I usually think about my invoices when I do this.”

Later, while instructing her partner on his runway walk, she strikes a pose and exclaims, “Ah! I’m the world’s most beautiful! Everyone else can die! Ha ha ha!”

Every word out of her mouth is iconic. She is like a Disney cartoon villain come to life.

In the midst of all the comedy, Fontana has a surprisingly nuanced character arc as she gets to know her makeover partner. He confesses that he used to be that straight guy – who used “gay” and “homo” as slurs, who judged queer people, and didn’t understand why there ought to be a Pride parade.

As her partner shares his journey to acceptance, Fontana goes through her own journey both live with him in the workroom and in her confessionals. This is the sort of straight man who taught her to fear straight men! She can’t help but be triggered merely by his presence, and especially by his story You can see the panic of PTSD washing over her in her wide eyes and set jaw as he tells his story. She adds in voiceover, “In the real world, I’d never dare to hang out with a guy like that. I was so scared. Guys like him are always so mean to me.”

Even as he gradually reveals how he discovered his own version of being an ally, Fontana can’t decide how she feels about it. She’s not wrong to be hesitant. Her partner’s story essentially centers his observation of queer trauma as the turning point to acceptance. It’s nice to acknowledge someone else is a human being when you see them be hurt, but it would be even better to accept their humanity without having to see them in pain.

Yet, this story does have a happy ending, with Fontana’s partner forcefully proclaiming, “I want to leave behind the person I was and grow to become someone better!” In that moment, you can see Fontana find some joy but also some steely resolve to make this partnership work – not just to win the challenge, but to show people watching the power of embracing allyship.

I don’t think her partner wasn’t trying to center himself and his feelings in the story of his journey. His whole point is that he wants to learn and transform, and in sharing his story he wants to help other people get to that place without needing to wait to be inspired by a queer person’s trauma like he was.

Fontana channels her newfound kinship into a surprising performance while Admira can’t translate her humor onto the runway, which leaves our power rankings severely shaken compared to last week’s “Dragodi Festival” Girl Groups episode. What does that mean with just one more episode before the finale? It feels like we have our winner locked in, but there might be a shocking entrant in the runner up position!

(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 Belgique Season 1, Episode 8 – Grand Finale “Eleganza Extravanganza” runway Review and Power Rankings

April 9, 2023 by krisis Leave a Comment

Welcome to my review, recap, and power rankings of the eighth and final episode of Drag Race Belgique Season 1! The Drag Race Belgique Grand Finale and its “Eleganza Extravaganza” theme that brought bought all ten queens of the season for a final walk down the runway!

SPOILERS AHEAD for the winner of Drag Race Belgique! Consider yourself warned!

This final episode stuck to the familiar Drag Race finale format. The queens had to pen a verse to a song, though it was an original called “Fierce” rather than an anonymous RuPaul remix. They all had out-of-drag sit-downs with Rita Baga, who was charming-as-always in her out of drag appearances.

And the queens had to deliver an elegant final runway and make some commentary to their younger selves (a cringe-inducing import from the US show that I hoped Rita would jettison as Canada’s Drag Race has done).

The format turned out to be a terrific showcase for the final three, even if it also confirmed that two of them had already already fully ceded their chances of winning to the third.

Susan was crisp and powerful in her choreography, showing off a muscular quality to her drag we hadn’t had the chance to see since the Talent Show. Athena regained a steely, fierce quality that had been eroded over the course of the season, delivering the most-convincing fierce drag performance of the trio.

Yet, there was no denying that this episode, and this entire season, belonged to Drag Couenne. We have rarely seen a queen represent herself and her runway package so meticulously and with such confidence across all of the many Drag Race franchises. I place Couenne’s powerful full-season performance alongside the greats like Bob The Drag Queen, Envy Peru, and Carmen Farala.

I think it is incredibly exciting that Rita Baga and the rest of the judging panel rewarded Drag Couenne’s singular take on drag with a Drag Race crown. I feel like on many franchises that a queen as weird as Couenne would be patronized and cut just short of the finale. That the judges gave Couenne the space to show of the fullness of her powers speaks to their taste in consistency in judging this entire season.

I loved Drag Race Belgique Season 1 from beginning to end. Even if I thought Rita Baga’s drag fashions were often forgettable and Lufy’s judging was often wrong-headed, this was a tremendously talented cast who were all treated fairly by the show.

This week’s final placements shook out exactly as I ranked them last week after the “Discour de Reine” challenge. What’s left to power rank? I’m not going to be ranking the queen’s final “Eleganza Extravaganza” runways, which were universally lovely. Instead, this final ranking is a retrospective of each queen’s placement, and how that compares to my pre-season predictions.

(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!

RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 15, Episode 15 – “Reunited” fashion power rankings

April 8, 2023 by krisis Leave a Comment

Welcome to my power rankings of the fashion from the fifteenth episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 15 – “Reunited.” It’s a Season 15 reunion to bring the queens back together to reawaken their conflicts, hammer home the plot point you need to remember for the finale, and give early out queens one last crack at proving they are worth bringing back for All Stars.

I’ll be honest: reunion episodes hold little allure for me as a viewer. I’m into Drag Race for the artistry rather than the reality show trappings, and Reunion specials are all about reliving the drama.

If there’s one point with the Venn Diagram of my interests and the Reunions goals overlap, it’s the fashion! The reunion is one of two last chances for each queen to sell their visual brand to an audience who might quickly forget them once the season ends. While queens are stuck doing eleganza drag for the actual finale, the reunion allows them a free play to wear anything they want.

For some queens, that means getting redemption for their fashion fails from the season. For others, it means hewing close to their established brand. And, sometimes it means wearing something completely outlandish just for the sheer chaos of it!

This year’s reunion looks were all relatively tame compared to what we’ve seen in past years – everything from massive cartoon coats to burnt up horror prosthetics. There’s not a single boundary-pushing look in this bunch, and really only a pair that feel slightly subversive.

Did these queens get a note from producers to keep things simple and classy for the viewing audience on MTV given the climate around drag in America at the moment, or did they each come to that conclusion on their own?

Even in a crowd of unsurprising looks, a few queens managed to distinguish themselves – and several got their much-desired moment of fashion redemption.

I can’t say the same for the actual content of the reunion. Aside from running commentary from Irene Dubois and a pair of touching moments with Loosey LaDuca, the rest of the cast felt invisible up until the final chat with the finalists. RuPaul seemed intent to turn almost the entirety of the proceedings over to Mistress Isabelle Brooks to let her stir up drama.

It wasn’t a good look for either of them. It made Ru seem even more aloof and uninterested in his cast than usual.

Worse, to me it felt like it confirmed that Mistress Isabelle Brooks had been deliberate in pushing everyone’s buttons all season long. For a queen who talks a big talk about wanting to see other queens be their genuine selves, that behavior feels strangely out of sync with what she expects from others. It seems obvious that she wears her catty drag persona as armor to protect a lot of trauma and insecurities that lie beneath. Yet, if the case, why would she be so unkind to Loosey LaDuca for being the same?

I suppose it all works out in the end, since I’m sure Mistress Isabelle Brooks secured her future spot on All Stars with this showing if she doesn’t win next week. However, I feel like I’m less of a fan of her now after seeing this episode than I was during the season.

(By contrast, Luxx Noir London leaned hard into her persona of, “I’m just a girl who is obsessed with myself, is there anything wrong with that?” Even if she came off as an instigator at points in the season, here at the conclusion she comes off as cheerful, self-aware, and mostly-harmless.)

Read on for my countdown of the sixteen fashions of this episode and find out the surprising trio of queens who snagged the top spots! I’ll be back next week with a final retrospective on the season, looking at the queens final placements and performances compared to my initial pre-season predictions.

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

Drag Race España Season 3 – Pre-Season “Meet The Queens” Power Rankings

April 6, 2023 by krisis 1 Comment

Arranquen sus motores! Just as one of our Drag Race seasons draws to a close tomorrow with finale of Drag Race Belgique and another airs its penultimate episode with the RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 15 reunion, a new season looms on the horizon. It’s Drag Race España Season 3, which debuts on April 16! That means it’s time to meet a cast of 12 drag artists for my Pre-Season Power Rankings!

What is there to rank before we have seen a single second of this new season? Drag Race España released perhaps the most epic pre-season promo of all time, with a campy 60s sci-fi theme and two minutes for each queen to distinguish herself from her competitors.

These combination interview + fashion shoot videos are called “Meet The Queens,” a phrase which España didn’t even translate for these videos (perhaps in a nod to the fact that they are largely for consumption by global audiences rather than local ones).

In addition to trying to divine some hints at how each queen will perform based on their Meet The Queens segments, I also spend a few minutes perusing each of their social channels to scope out their makeup skills, fashion, and performance style.

Remember: I write these pre-season power rankings purely for fun, which is the same reason I recap all of the many Drag Race franchises week after week. If I make any critiques of these incredibly accomplished drag artists, those critiques are purely within the framework of what the show expects of them.

Being good at Drag Race is just one way to be good at the art of drag. The fun of writing these analyses is not to tear queens down, but to spend hours of time and thousands of words on an art form that needs celebration and support now more than ever.

In the case of Pre-Season power rankings, my rankings double as a placement prediction. I have a pretty good track record this past year, including predicting all 3 Français finalists (and the winner), 3 out of 4 American finalists, 2 out of 3 Belgique finalists. Will my psychic powers continue for this Drag Race España Season 3? I have my doubts.

España is revered by many fans as the best of the many global franchises of the show. A lot of that is down to the wildly over-the-top fashions brought by its competitors, which are consistently some of the most elaborate, glamourous, and high-impact looks across all of Drag Race. Yet, España can also be the most unpredictable franchise. It holds queens to an incredibly high standard, which can lead to heartbreaking and sometimes shocking eliminations without ever seeming to be unfair or rigged.

So far, two seasons of España have placed an emphasis on crowning professionals. Season 1 winner Carmen Farala was a nearly-flawless competitor with the poise and graciousness of a real-life monarch, and Season 2 champion Sharonne was a seasoned reality show competitor and talented singer. Will the show keep up that trend this year by crowning another peerless professional? Or is it finally time to get a little weirder to embrace the wildly creative art of Spain’s drag scene?

Lectores, start your engines. Y que gane la mejor drag queen! [Read more…] about Drag Race España Season 3 – Pre-Season “Meet The Queens” Power Rankings