RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars

This week on RuPaul’s Drag Race, the queens tackled sequels of three famous camp films and brought their best two-fashions-in-one reveals to the runway.

As with last episode’s lip sync extravaganza, this episode is a greatest hits of queen performances – the weakest pair of acting jobs are still hilarious and the worst runway is gag-worthy. Uneven (some would say unfair) judging casts a pall over affairs and makes the obvious winner of the week look messy as a result.

However, none of that compares to the reveal of the final frames of the episode, which found the four eliminated queens staring back at the five remaining queens through one of their workroom mirrors. The eliminated girls are back and ready for their revenge!

And now, on to the rankings!

1. Alaska Thunderfuck 5000

Runner-Up, Season 5. Pre-Season Rank: 1. To date: 2, 1, 1. Average: 1

An acting challenge is the perfect bounceback for Alaska after a week where she would have been in the bottom if not for her shrieking alien runway outfit.

While her results were bit mixed, the show’s reflexive applause for her efforts prove that this season was designed for Alaska to win in the same way All Stars 1 was Chad’s game to lose.

Be warned, fair readers: I’m about to drag this beloved drag queen a bit despite her top ranking.

Alaska was gifted with the most gag-worthy, meme-generating character in the trio of acting scenes, Bette Davis’s legendary Baby Jane. I have to believe that this script was destined for Alaska no matter what, just like the script with the “tired old showgirl” joke was going to be Phi Phi’s (who knows what would’ve happened if they paired up).

Alaska slayed in her uncanny Baby Jane impression, which proves she could have easily done Bette Davis for Snatch Game (a Jinkx favorite on the Best of the Seasons tour). However, all the mugging as her impressive caricature made her scene also feel like the Snatch Game – it was joke-to-joke instead of moving smoothly through a story as the other two did.

While you could blame the script for the herky-jerky quality of the scene, it didn’t help that every one of Alyssa’s interjections felt like a full stop in the action. Alaska was a clear winner, but she doomed Alyssa in the process.

As for the runway, this was one of Alaska’s weakest of all time yet she got a pass for being Alaska when Alyssa got a fail for being Alyssa. The runway theme was a dual-fashion reveal, but Alaska’s lumpy trash bag burqa didn’t qualify as fashion. Beneath, she presented a decidedly inelegant take on her legendarily foul mini-challenge creation, Lil’ Poundcake. It was shabby when it should have been stunning, which would have only further sold her petulant mugging as Poundcake.

(Non-fan E caught a glimpse and said, “Well, that was pathetic.”)

Luckily, the judges love in-jokes (as do fans) so they ate it up. However, it’s insulting to see such applause for Alaska in joke-mode when everyone else in the field smoked her on reveals and were all considerably more elegant. She then delivered a lackluster, unserious lip sync on one of the best lip sync songs of all time – “Got Be Real” by Cheryl Lynn – all while Phi Phi destroyed it with perhaps the best sync of the season.

We get it Alaska – you’re a skilled impersonator, even of your own characters (including yourself). I came into this season rooting for Alaska, but after four weeks of All Stars I’m looking for something a little bit more. Hopefully Alaska delivers in spades for next week’s comedy challenge to keep some semblance of objectivity going in this race since it’s not destined to be suspenseful.

Otherwise, I’m hoping for an upset by the queen who has Charisma Uniqueness Nerve and Talent right in her name… [Read more…] about RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Power Rankings, S2E04 – “Drag Movie Shequels”

The third week of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars brought us a lip sync extravaganza, with each queen playing a famous woman of history – Eve, Helen of Troy, Marie Antoinette, Catherine the Great, Annie Oakley, Eva Perón, and Princess Diana. (Cleopatra, Joan of Arc, and Frida Kahlo were earmarked for the departed girls.)

These group lip syncs are some of the most scripted performances on the show – each queen needs to hit a set of pre-determined lyrics with a dictated look and choreographed dance steps.

That leaves limited room for creativity (unless they’re choreographing themselves), but a whole lot of opportunity to mess up on execution.

How did our queens fare in this cooperative endeavor after the ultimate in “every girl for herself” last week in Snatch Game?

1. Alaska Thunderfuck 5000

Runner-Up, Season 5. Pre-Season Rank: 1. To date: 2, 1

This was an average showing for Alaska – maybe even an off week? Yet, it’s still clear she inhabits a different plain than the majority of her opponents.

Her lip syncing as Eve was far and away the weakest of the entire bunch, despite a showy and altogether hilarious dance performance. There were clear missed and misaligned words if you watch closely, especially during her strut to center stage. That’s despite her Britney-knockoff tune having one of the most straightforward pop arrangements of all the songs. She also wasn’t especially noticeable in the background of the other girls’ performances, either.

Her saving grace was the runway, even though runway didn’t save a similarly weak performance for Detox last week. Alaska’s runway was an imaginative and complete alien vision that nods to Sharon Needles’ final runway of Season 4 with long tentacled fingers. She wasn’t headed to the bottom two with a look that on-theme that wisely broke out of the expected silver box the other girls were in.

With a dance challenge out of the way, can anything else possible derail Alaska? Only if some of the queens on her tail start delivering a string of flawless performances – particularly the next one… [Read more…] about RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Power Rankings, S2E03 – “HERstory Of The World”

The second season of RuPaul’s Drag Race All-Stars starts tonight on both Logo and VH1!

That means we all get a second glorious run of weekly drag queens this year, only this time its starring 10 seasoned queens we already know and who I largely love.

However, not ever All-Star can enter the Hall of Fame. How do I see things shaking out? Here’s my Power Rankings of these ten glittering queens heading into tonight’s premiere.

Here’s where I see their chances headed into tonight’s premiere. You can grab a season pass for all the eleganza in stunning streaming HD for $20 on Amazon.

1. Alaska Thunderfuck 5000

Runner-Up, Season 5

Pro: Alaska is the obvious heir apparent to the RuPaul crown in the same way Chad Michaels was at the start of the first season of All-Stars. She’s a multi-media superstar, she executes her twisted alien vision flawlessly, and Ru and World of Wonder come calling again and again for her to anchor tours, interview on red carpets, and pretend to be Anna Wintour on the S7 premiere.

Basically: she’s already treated like royalty. Her losing to Jinkx Monsoon was fair but it was a near thing that Ru can easily amend.

Con: Alaska isn’t the squeaky-clean queen that Chad was, both in presentation and reputation. There’s also her decidedly scatological sense of humor, which is riotous during a solo video or show but not as honed when competing for airtime with nine other girls. If Ru sees her fleet of Champions as the ultimate brand representatives, Alaska might not be the best choice to join them.

Plus, does she even need to the title to be more successful? In a way, she’s the next evolution of Raven – someone who will continue to endure and grow in popularity even as an eternal runner up. So, why waste a winner’s spot on her?

Ru-buttal: The Drag Race brand might need Alaska in the same way it needed Bob or Kim Chi in Season 8 – these girls represent a new generation of drag for an ever-widening group of mainstream fans who were born long after Ru stopped enjoying getting dragged up every day. Plus, Alaska is a trained actor – if Ru needs a spokesperson, she can nail it.

2. Yekaterina Petrovna Zamolodchikova AKA Katya

5th Place, Season 7

Pro: Katya’s insanity has eclipsed Season 7, some of Season 8, the entire schedule of World of Wonder web shows, and most other queens from recent seasons. What seems like non-sequitur, dadaist humor is the finest-honed, completely deadpan self-deprecation delivered with a natural sense of comedic timing.

Also? Her looks are frequently less man-in-wig and more actual woman on her commute to work realness.

Con: Katya’s not ready for this crown because her best feature is that she’s a compelling underdog. Even after her season, she continues to buckle under pressure when it’s time to impress, whether it’s her slo-mo dancing in big lip syncs or her bombing at a few high-profile gigs. She doesn’t vary her looks as much as her competition, and when she does it’s usually for determinedly fugly outfits – they’re on-brand for her, but not for Drag Race. Crowning her right after the similarly hilarious and salacious Bob seems redundant.

Plus, she’s still early in her recovery, and while that gives her a lot of manic energy, it’s also not the ideal story for Ru’s #1 brand representative. She needed another few years to bake, just like Alyssa and Alaska.

Ru-buttal: That’s all valid, but the fans have spoken on this one. If Ru wants to cross over into the mainstream with a modern update of her own outsized personality, Katya’s a fine choice. [Read more…] about RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Power Rankings, S2 Pre-Season