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This week the world got flipped turned upside down in more than one way.

First, RuPaul made the unprecedented decision to go with a final four queens in the finale!

If you’ve been following my rankings, you’ll know I’m pretty pleased with the development, as I’ve been shuffling the same four queens back and fourth in the top four for weeks now.

However, the other thing that feels totally flipped tonight are the rankings themselves! I feel like we’re completely topsy turvy compared to what the queen’s average rankings from the season were telling us coming out of last week.

I got the distinct sense tonight that the queens are no longer competing against each other, but battling against themselves to turn the best version of their own take on drag. As such, I’ll be grading each queen individually in their own 50 point scale based on their original song verse, their choreography, their dance outfit, their final runway look, and their brief speeches.

No points will be awarded for the four-way lip sync because nobody cares. [Read more…] about RuPaul’s Drag Race Power Rankings, S09E12 – “Category Is”

It’s my favorite every-season episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race – the Drag Ball – and this year’s Gayest Ball Ever did not disappoint!

(How could anything be a disappointment when it involves sexy unicorns?)

Our consistent finale foursome absolutely delivered in every look without a single fail amongst them, and it made for some very interesting final jockeying in the rankings after last week and before the final elimination next week.

Because this episode was all about gag-worthy looks, I’m going to rank each of the three ball looks individually before recapping the queen’s overall power ranks! I won’t bother ranking our departed queen since she was the worst in every look.

(It’s not shady if it’s true.)

Look #1: Rainbow-She-Betta-Do

If this was any other group of queens we’d be at risk of being pounded over the head with the most rainbow-y rainbow looks that ever rainbowed, so it was a pleasant surprise to see all four of these brainy queens depart from the expected color spectrum in their own way.

1. Sasha Velour

I was living for Sasha’s deconstruction of the rainbow!

Sasha Velour’s color-blocking approach to wearing the rainbow was a genius turn, and her tailored skirt set with green leather gloves and Dorothy shoes was gorgeous. That she had a tiny rainbow house tucked beneath her red hat (wrapped with fabric from her cowgirl costume!) just sealed the deal of her outfit’s excellence.

2. Shea Couleé

Shea’s pastel graffiti rainbow dress might go down as the most controversial look of the entire season … at least, for me it will.

There’s no denying the cut and silhouette was high fashion, but was it rainbow bright? Honestly, I was getting “dirty sofa” from it way more than “rainbow,” especially from the structured top.

Yet, this is an instance where I can tell my read is a total mismatch with the judges – Shea’s desaturated take on rainbow was clearly a hit with the panel. [Read more…] about RuPaul’s Drag Race Power Rankings, S09E11 – “Gayest Ball Ever”

With only three episodes left until the finale of RuPaul’s Drag Race we’re down to the gauntlet of three major every-season challenges: a makeover this week, a ball next week, and presumably some form of RuPaul music video the week after that.

Will this trio of terrible challenges finally shake one queen out of our super-tight top four so we have a clear final three heading into the finale?

This makeover on the members of the Drag Race crew didn’t help much in that respect. We did see one queen take a minor plunge after last week’s standings, but when you see who it is you’ll understand when I say it changes nothing about who is making it to the finale.

[Read more…] about RuPaul’s Drag Race Power Rankings, S09E10 – “Makeovers: Crew Better Work”