Rupaul’s Drag Race (NEW SEASON!)

what the fuck was that? I rewatched the informercials twice because I didn't laugh at all the first time...and I didn't laugh at all the second time. The runways being shortened and everyone deciding to go with a sci-fi outfit theme (except for Salina, who executed a mildly funny idea horribly) made everything blur. Nobody came across good when they showed them filming the challenge except, unbelievably, for Sugar. Maren Morris was basically not there and TS Madison seems incapable of saying anything constructive. uh, I guess I'm glad they told Amethyst to be proud of her nose and it was kind of funny watching RuPaul getting progressively more annoyed with Poppy as she showed more and more of her pussy in that lip sync?

the 14-person, 40-minute Snatch Game next week is going to be horrible. Can't wait!

I am shocked at how good this episode was, especially after last week's train wreck. First: this may have been one of the best Snatch Games on record?? I think much of that may have been a quirk of editing since so many people participating means there's 1) less time to fuck up and 2) only enough time to focus on everyone's highlights, but the only 3 people (out of 14!) who fucked up badly were Aura, Sugar, and Spice, and even then, Aura was pleasantly boring and you could see that Sugar and Spice had some concept for their characters that were just executed poorly. But the highlights were great: Loosey as Joan Rivers had an excellent parade of one liners, Mistress's overblown persona-shifting take on Rosie O'Donnell was delightfully goofy, and Amethyst shocked me with her overly bitchy version of a person I had never heard of but who had an instantly recognizable character. I disagree Marcia should've been in the top 3; her Tim Gunn was better as an impression than as a series of jokes. And I actually thought Salina was doing really well until she started screaming (note to other queens: it's almost never funny! don't do that!!). Everyone else was pleasant with some good moment (a particular highlight: Jax doing the Mona Lisa smile with her tongue out.)

The other highlight was, of course, that weird-ass joint lipsync between Sugar and Spice. We knew that was going to happen at some point (but it really was deserved) but the payoff was excellent: a completely choreographed routine to a fucking Pat Benatar song that nobody wanted to clap about! It was so fucking strange!! I loved it!!! Other than that, there's not much to say. The runway wasn't particularly inspiring but it was all right again. How weird was it that 3 separate queens picked spider themed outfits?

On a final note: one of the best qualities of RuPaul as a judge is that she has an encyclopedic knowledge of every pop culture reference from before the year 2000. One thing that I think gets underdiscussed is that Michelle Visage has an encyclopedic knowledge of every pop culture reference from after the year 2000. It doesn't matter the other judges' ages - she's usually the only one in the room who gets the more obscure YouTube/TikTok references (shit, and I don't even know them most of the time.)

Love that Spice made it out alive of this one, as she is my fave of the two, but... I'm going to need Spice to formally apologize to Miley Cyrus. That was embarrassing.

Seeing so many of the castmates do so well is always a plus. Loosey was a fn riot. Really enjoyed Amethyst as well. Idk what it is about Amethyst but I'm in her corner, bb... She's giving underdog. She's giving dark horse. I know she won't make it till the end, but I hope she continues to stick around for awhile.

We have already seen Hugo do Mona Lisa, we didn't need another visit to it. Jax's version felt like a rip off instead of a rework or redo. There was zero elevation.

This is one of those challenges that I think really benefited from the shorter runtime. That's probably not going to happen every time, but it was certainly the case here.

Michelle Visage's spot-on Miley impression was everything and much needed after Spice's abomination.

I guess this was another episode where for the back 2/3rds of it I didn't really mind the edit as much (idk, maybe I'm in the minority here but I don't think the segments where the judges repeat the same criticisms amongst themselves are super necessary) but god that reading challenge was painful. Everyone's one good read was shown so I guess everyone gets to feel good, but come on, we all know at least one person fucked that up badly. also jesus christ Loosey's Malaysian Airlines joke and "Yolanda shot the wrong Selena" were hateful lmao. 

Anyway, I thought I was going to hate the concept of a team design challenge but I actually thought it ended up being kind of clever, like an alternate (or accelerated) version of the 36-look ball challenges we've been getting in recent years? The decision of who was in the bottom felt really off to me though: there were sooooo many people in what were essentially crop tops [with Spice especially sucking shit in this department] and they put Jax in the bottom for a well-constructed look just because they didn't immediately pick up on the Heathers reference? I also felt the opposite of the judges: if they liked that giant blanket thing, I hated it but thought what she had on underneath it was all right. I think it was a well deserved win for Luxx though: making pants like that was kind of an insane decision but she pulled it off and really sold the look. I also appreciate Malaysia for blatantly lying to RuPaul about her sewing experience prior to judging lmao. Smart move!

And to close us off, we have Janelle Monáe almost crying because she loved two people doing a crazy-ass comedic routine to her song about black femininity after being incredibly serious during judging. this show blesses us with so, so many moments that are so dumb they're great. (of course though Salina's overly literal throwing her skirt on the ground was great.) Goodbye Amethyst, who I can see going far outside this competition especially if the Y2K trend sticks around for a while but was almost certainly cannon fodder for the competition from the get go.

It's never easy to hear that a queer person is completely cut off from their family... And on top of that, someone as remarkable as Anetra?!?! Her family is really missing tf out. On the flipside, when someone who is cut off from their family can speak so confidently about knowing what a pleasure it is for people to know their love and energy and look at it as a huge loss for their family, that's a huge testament to their character and their own journey of self-love. It's not an easy one, but it's possible... And there's a lot of comfort in hearing Miss Brooks speak like that.

Sad to see Amethyst go.

Luxx fucking ATE this week!

Naomi Smalls filling in for Bob on Sibling Watchery this week was the cherry on the top because Luxx said Naomi is her inspiration <3

I do appreciate a spicy Malaysia.

Uh....not really sure where to begin or, honestly, what to say with this one because everything was centered around that overlong, completely unfunny acting sketch in the middle. I get the whole surreal Tim & Eric thing it was going for but it was so slow and, as one Trinity "the Tuck" would say, "Where are the jokes?" I barely understood who the characters were or what the story was.

With something like that, it's hard to say who did badly, but as soon as they showed Aura not getting any of the references (to the own show she was on!) it was pretty clear she was going to bomb hard. I guess Spice did bad too but I don't remember anything she did other than doing the same, uh, frilly walk thing again after the judges told her not to do it. I have no idea why she thought the judges would think it was funny, but I don't care because I thought it was so poorly thought out it was hilarious! Mistress and Malaysia did obviously well in the challenge and I'm glad to see Mistress get a win and hopefully squash the drama behind them. that kind of beef only remains entertaining if there's multiple fights going on at the same time, and...there aren't lol. 

And then that lipsync. Jax obviously wiped the floor with Aura. I try really hard not to be mean in my commentary here, but Aura had multiple opportunities to show off her alleged dancing prowess and sucked every time; unfortunately for her, it seems her primary talent is "being able to carry heavy shit" and not much else besides that. oh well!