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Canada’s Drag Race Season 3 Episode 2 – The Who-Knows: Review & Power Ranking

July 22, 2022 by krisis

Welcome to my review and power rankings of the second episode of Canada’s Drag Race Season 3 – The Who-Knows.

It’s an award-show presentation challenge whose title is a pun on Canada’s Juno Awards, widely referred to as “The Junos.” They’re the Canadian Grammy Awards, and if you live outside of Canada you’ve likely never heard of most of their winners or nominees.

One of the most consistent aspects of the first two seasons of Canada’s Drag Race has been the strength of their challenges. Even when they re-use a standard Drag Race challenge format, they’ve tended to do it with better music (“Sorry Aboot It” and “Under the Big Top”) or a better script (“Screech”) than we’ve seen on other franchises. They’ve also had fun ball concepts and two emotional makeover challenges that highlighted queer Canadians and their stories.

That’s why I was excited to see the show pick up this seemingly-forgotten Awards Show challenge theme from RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 7‘s “The Despy Awards” but a little dismayed in how it turned out.

This episode wisely broke the queens into small groups so we could focus on them as individual characters. However, in her kindness in pairing queens who would work well together, Chelazon Leroux somewhat sabotaged the episode. I’m not saying I wanted more drama (and we got plenty from one pairing, in particular), but pairing queens who know each other already and queens with similar vibes meant we didn’t get to learn much about the cast as they prepped for their presentations.

Was their group work really as dull as what we saw in this episode, or did the Kimmy Couture vs. Fiercalicious drama simply suck all of the air out of the edit? It’s hard to tell.

In fact, the queens not mixing it up with one another not only made for a dull episode, but it hurt them in the awards challenge. The cast has had only one episode to get to know each other and to throw shade. The best of their barbs felt surface-level.

Votes for categories like “Frostiest Queen” felt like they were based on preconceptions, and it was no coincidence that 4-out-of-5 week one tops and bottoms won awards. A segment about them talking about who they would vote for and why felt conspicuously absent.

All of that meant that the awards felt stilted, and not nearly as shady and fun as they felt back on Season 7 in the US. Luckily, the episode was saved from obscurity by a strong, vivid “Goddesses” runway and some sensible judging, which sent home an obvious bottom queen and gave an early front-runner her first speed bump.

The most memorable moment of this episode to me was Chelazon Leroux and Bombae discussing how colonization erased the celebration of queer people in both of their indigenous cultures – a practice and a safe space they are now fighting to reclaim. It was a fascinating lesson in queer history perfectly articulated, and one that might not be so obvious to those of us who are white and/or who tend to benefit from the ongoing effects of colonization.

We’re left with 10 queens where their power in the ranking feels more closely tied to their screen time in the edit than their powers of drag. Did that shake up the rankings from my Episode One ranking? Read on to find out!

If you want to watch Canada’s Drag Race Season 3 outside of Canada and the UK you can sign up for WowPresentsPlus to watch the many worldwide Drag Race franchises for $4.99 a month or $50 a year. I don’t get any kind of cut off of that – I just want you to watch Drag Race! (Note that if you’re in the US you will need to use a VPN to “visit” another country to see the US Franchise.)

Readers, start your engines! And, may the best Queen (of the North) win!

Drag Race France Season 1 Episode 4 – Snatch Game: Review & Power Ranking

July 17, 2022 by krisis

Welcome to my review and power rankings of the fourth episode of Drag Race France Season 1 – the inaugural Drag Race France Snatch Game!

There are a few elements of RuPaul’s Drag Race that get imported to every international franchise – including Snatch Game, “lip sync for your life,” the ball challenge, and the library mini-challenge.

Of those, Snatch Game can be the one that translates most awkwardly. Even countries that have their own history of drag queens impersonating celebrities do not necessarily have the same history of campy “fill in the blank” TV game shows.

Snatch Game is obvious enough that audiences can easily push past that unfamiliarity, but it puts queens at a disadvantage. If you’ve never seen your local celebrities in a purposefully-parodic setting like the original Match Game or Hollywood Squares, it can be hard to find the right rhythm and tone for impersonating them inside of it.

International Snatch Games also pose a challenge for audiences watching from abroad! So much of Snatch Game involves cultural references and double entendres that even with the best set of captions a lot can be lost in translation. There were points in this episode where even after I read the English and French captions I still wasn’t in on the joke.

That means that international viewers can sometimes have a very different take on Snatch Game than local ones, and in these cases we should always defer to the opinions of the local viewers on who produced the best and funniest impersonation. I took a shot at digging into them by watching videos of all of the people the queens parodied this episode, but my French skills just aren’t strong enough to render any definitive opinions on their performances.

What I can render definitively is that there is a certain streak of aloofness to Drag Race France that is culturally French but casually cruel. Between Lolita Banana’s breakdown, La Big Bertha’s obvious frustrations, and the exclusion of Elips, the lack of a warm heart to this franchise became obvious in this episode.

Sometimes that can be down to the scrappy nature of Season 1 – we also saw Canada struggle with metaphorical warmth in its first season. Yet, for other franchises it has become a theme, as with the helter-skelter quality of Drag Race Holland.

That made for a strong challenge and runway, but an episode that left me feeling sad for several queens who are giving this their all.

If you want to watch Drag Race France you can sign up for WowPresentsPlus to watch the many worldwide Drag Race franchises for $4.99 a month or $50 a year. (Note that if you’re in the US you will need to use a VPN to “visit” another country to see the US Franchise.)

With my somewhat somber first impressions out of the way, let’s get to my Power Rankings for the first Drag Race France Snatch Game! This episode seemed to emphasize a specific top three that is different from my my week three power rankings, as a clear divide emerged between the finalists and every one else.

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

RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Season 7, Episode 10 –The Kennedy Davenport Center Honors Hall of Shade recap & power ranking!

July 16, 2022 by krisis

Welcome to my recap of the tenth episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Season 7 – The Kennedy Davenport Center Honors Hall of Shade, a roast where the comedy barbs are directed at the rest of the cast, plus an unusual light-up runway.

One of the first things I ever wanted to be as a child was a comedian, long before I ever set foot on stage to discover my love of performing.

Mostly I think I appreciated it when adults were laughing with me instead of laughing at me because I loved watching stand-up specials from all-time greats like Robin Williams and George Carlin.

Later, I realized that being intentionally funny is an incredibly hard task – much too difficult and unpredictable to pin career aspirations upon.

Many drag queens have a similar realization during their runs on Drag Race.

While a sense of humor is essential for almost any queen to survive her early days performing for tips in local bars, that off-the-cuff self-deprecation isn’t the same as the improv and roasting required to make it through a season of Drag Race. We’ve seen many a queen arrive on the show assuming they are hilarious who then fall flat in comedy challenges.

If you’ve ever thought that queens tend to be funnier when they return for All Stars, that’s because they are cheating. It’s an open secret that while queens are prepping outfits for their return runs, they are also turning to their funnier peers and to actual career comedians to supply them with a stock of jokes about other queens most-likely to return to the show. Many queens who have cleaned up in an All Stars library session or roast challenge were working entirely from pre-written material.

That’s why I’m not surprised that this challenge is not about roasting a random honoree, like Lady Bunny or even the titular Kennedy Davenport. This season has taken every opportunity to let its winners be well-prepared for the challenges, and this is no exception. Even if the queens didn’t have a single back-channel source on which other winners to expect, the pool of possible queens was small and mostly full of friendly faces.

Did Monét workshop her set with Bob? Absolutely. Did Shea ring up Peppermint or Miss Cracker? I wouldn’t be surprised. Even a powerhouse like Jinkx might’ve ran some lines with Ben de la Creme.

That means I went into this episode with incredibly high expectations. An All-Winners roast should be all hits, and no Farrah Moans. Did every queen rise to the challenge? Find out in my full-episode recap, below. Plus, at the end of the recap I have a deep game theory update to my Episode 9 rankings to explain who can make it into the finale and how. (Want to skip right to the power rankings? Go for it!)

Readers, start your engines! And, may the best drag queen… win! [Read more…] about RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Season 7, Episode 10 –The Kennedy Davenport Center Honors Hall of Shade recap & power ranking!

Canada’s Drag Race Season 3 Episode 1 – Sidewalk to Catwalk: Review & Power Ranking

July 15, 2022 by krisis

Welcome to my review and power rankings of the first episode of Canada’s Drag Race Season 3 – “Sidewalk to Catwalk”!

Canada’s Drag Race often feels a little more real than the American edition. It could be the editing style. It might also be that Canada’s queens come from a smaller pool of performers and have fewer expectations of fame and fortune from being on the show.

This debut of Season 3 kept this feeling of realness, but it also compressed a lot of action into one hour. We had entrances, a runway mini-challenge, the ritual “first de-dragging,” a full-on design challenge, mirror chats, a final runway and judges critiques, and miniature Untucked segment back in the workroom.

While this isn’t radically different than the tight schedule of debut episodes from RuPaul’s Drag Race Seasons 3-5, here it felt rushed. It’s not unusual for the safe queens in a debut to get very little camera time, but it felt as though we didn’t even get to know two of the queens in the top three!

Adding to that lack of balance, it felt like two of the safe queens were dominant narrators despite not being featured outside of confessional, and one of the bottom queens wound up the star of the episode despite having the least to offer.

That made this episode feel unsatisfying, even if this cast of queens are all distinct characters with memorable personalities. I’m not sure I’ve ever committed everyone in a cast to memory so quickly! It’s a group of artists heavy with talent and, past a handful of struggling queens, light on obvious weak spots.

What does that mean for the eleven surviving queens’ chances for winning the crown? Below I break down my reaction to their initial challenge performance and re-rank them from my Canada’s Drag Race Season 3 Pre-Season Power Rankings from earlier this week.

Readers, start your engines! And, may the best Queen (of the North) win!

Canada’s Drag Race Season 3 – Pre-Season “Meet The Queens” Power Rankings

July 13, 2022 by krisis

Welcome to my pre-season Power Rankings of the queens of Canada’s Drag Race, Season 3!

Canada’s Drag Race kicks off with a first episode tomorrow, which means now is the time to cement our first impressions of their cast of 12 drag artists.

If you’ve never watched Canada’s Drag Race, both of the first two seasons have been high quality, delivering some of the franchises most memorable challenges and lip syncs and a pair of iconic winners.

In fact, both prior casts were thoroughly memorable, and it didn’t take long for their Canadian kindness to give way to serious competitive streaks. If Jimbo is the only Canadian export you know so far, you’re in for a treat!

RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 11 runner-up Brooke Lynn Hytes is the dragged up face of the show, but in practice she shares the spotlight and the hosting duties with other hosts each season – which had included supermodel Stacey McKenzie, actors Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman and Amanda Brugel, sassy stylist Brad Goreski, and TV presenter Traci Melchor. Having a team of talented coaches gives the franchise a decidedly Canadian flair unique from the other Ru-hosted English-language editions.

Canada’s Drag Race Season 3 released a colorful promo trailer that shows off its dozen queens much better than prior promos, which have been slightly drab. Alongside the promo trailer, they also produced a series of 90-second “Meet The Queens” interviews with the cast.

For this initial Power Ranking, I’m only going by what I can see in those 90-second interviews plus the queens’ social media accounts. I’m not even going to review the trailer a second time, since it might make obvious some of the queen’s placements based on how many outfits appear. (Nancy Drews on Reddit are already on top of that, but I’ve abstained from their detective work.)

Remember: this is all in good fun. If I had Power Ranked last season’s queens, I doubt I would’ve picked our top three! These are all outstanding drag artists, but being a great drag artist doesn’t always translate to doing well on Drag Race.

Readers, start your engines! And, may the best Queen (of the North) win! [Read more…] about Canada’s Drag Race Season 3 – Pre-Season “Meet The Queens” Power Rankings