RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars

RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Season 3 Power Rankings S03E03 – The Bitchelor

February 10, 2018 by krisis

This week’s episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race All-Stars sounded like it might be a trainwreck, but it turned out to be one of the most consistently hilarious episodes of all time.

And also a trainwreck. But, an intentional one!

RuPaul assigns the eight remaining queens characters to improv through an episode of The Bitchelor, a straight-up copy of The Batchelor where all of the women are horrible people.

The queens of most seasons would likely flounder in a totally free-form acting challenge, but The Bitchelor has a secret weapon – the preternaturally handsome Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman, from Unreal, who plays a very convincing (not so) straight man to the various hilarity that the queens bring on their dates.

With a “wigs on wigs on wigs” runway that nods to Roxxxy’s Andrews’ iconic “Whip My Hair” wig reveal and an elimination that plays up some of the biggest tension in the cast, this episode was a deliciously nasty surprise from start to finish.

RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Season 3 Power Rankings S03E02 – Divas Lip Sync Live

February 3, 2018 by krisis

This week on RuPaul’s Drag Race, the show sinks to new depths of low-effort self-promotion with a VH1 Divas Live impersonation concert where every one of nine famous divas are singing RuPaul songs.

This was an episode full of buffoonery, riggery, and straight up tomfoolery.

It could have been a truly iconic and hilarious event, as shown by BenDeLaCreme’s instantly-memorable performance lip syncing to RuPauls’ “Mother” as recorded in the style of Julie Andrews by actress/impersonator Christina Bianco.

Why was that performance so incredibly memorable, and all the others much less so? Two reasons.

First, “Mother” was sung in Andrews’ style but over what essentially sounded like original RuPaul backing track. It doesn’t stand up to a direct comparison, but it was a simulacrum of what you’d expect from Ru and nothing like a Julie Andrews song. BenDeLa benefited from the dissonance because she could play up the element of frantic, held-hostage nervousness in her performance. All of the other divas essentially sang an unrecognizable RuPaul song in their own style, which was less funny and gave many of them much less to do.

The second reason connects to that last bit. Essentially, Todrick Hall done fucked up drag race. He went totally ham on the choreography of Ben’s track because there was a lot for her to do. He also went ham on Janet Jackson and Mariah Carey, but barely touched the six other routines. Note his uncontained glee on the judges’ panel as the girls perform his super basic voguing during BenDeLa’s song, while he basically left the capable Thorgy (and, let’s be honest, Trixie) out to dangle.

Where does that leave our rankings? They’re not too shook compared to last week, though one queen is making her own case for an advance on the final three.

RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Power Rankings, S03E01 – All-Star Variety Show

January 27, 2018 by krisis

Are you ready to get All-Started?! The time has come for the third season of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars.

A normal season of Drag Race plucks a dozen drag queens from semi-obscurity to compete on a nationally televised stage in front of RuPaul Charles (“supermodel of the world!”) to prove they have the charisma, uniqueness, nerve, and talent to be America’s Next Drag Superstar.

All Stars is a little bit different. It features ten queens returning from previous seasons to vie for a spot in the Drag Race Hall of Fame. In the past it tended to focus on high-placing queens, but this time around the cast are all competitors who just missed the finals or got stuck in the middle of the pack … with the exception of one.

This series of weekly posts will rank the house down, looking at who is surging in the competition versus who is going a bit limp.

Every post in this series comes with a big disclaimer: Drag is hard, and these girls are all consummate professionals. I’m ranking them from the comfortable position of a critic and fan who has only done drag a handful of times in my life, sews slowly, and can barely apply eyeliner. I just happen to have a lot of stage experience and a life-long love of drag, which makes me want to give each of these queens the same kind of serious critical attention I’d give to a rock star or famous actor.

Want to get to know this cast before we get started? Check out my pre-season rankings, and then keep reading to find out who came out on top in the premiere Variety Show! [Read more…] about RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Power Rankings, S03E01 – All-Star Variety Show

Fan-Casting RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Season 4

October 28, 2017 by krisis

Last week, RuPaul announced nine of the ten queens for Season 3 of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars, but the season itself is still months away.

What to do in all that unfabulous down-time?

Your first impulse might be to speculate on that final, unannounced queen. I’m already thoroughly spoiled, but here’s a non-spoiler post if you want the odds on who that missing queen might be (plus, thoughts on who’ll sashay away first and who could win it all).

With that mystery already considered, the next most-obvious is, “Who could wind up on All Stars Season 4?”

These queens are not only some of the fiercest we still haven’t seen back for a repeat engagement, but also some of the most-deserving of the major profile- and fandom-boost queens get when they return for a turn on All Stars.

Plus, many of them complement each other’s stories despite being wildly different queens from different seasons.

Are you ready? Let’s get All-Started! [Read more…] about Fan-Casting RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Season 4

RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Power Rankings, Season 3 Pre-Season RuVeal!

October 21, 2017 by krisis

It’s time… time for more fabulous drag queens!

That’s right, last night RuPaul took the to the airwaves to announce an all-new cast of nine queens for RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Season 3, which is set to debut in January.

While the past two seasons of All Stars heavily featured queens that reached the finals, this cast doesn’t have a single Final Three competitor in its rank.

If these aren’t the most glittering of all-time drag stars, then what is the unifying theme of this season of All Stars? It could be “Ru-Grets.” In the case of over half of these queens, RuPaul could credibly claim that she has since had second thoughts about the “Sashay Away” that lead these queens to make their exits the first (or, in two cases, second) time around.

How well will these return queens fare in glamorous combat based on what we’ve seen of them in past seasons and in their brand new video packages? Keep reading for as I rank the house down to assess the chances of each of these queens to strut into the Hall of Fame alongside Chad Michaels and Alaska Thunderfuck 5000.