Rupaul’s Drag Race (NEW SEASON!)

Big congrats to Char Margolis for making spookily accurate predictions like “Two drag queens fought each other”. Also, big congrats to RuPaul for stepping out of his comfort zone from doing armchair psychology to do armchair race science by diagnosing Mik as “Black Irish”. Also also, lmao @ Michelle saying that Tina has a “questionable aesthetic”.

They looked hilariously bad! And oof they were complimenting Tina in Rose's makeup, but it did not suit her imo.

Them learning how to impersonate each other cracked me up so much though. Makes me wish this was the makeover challenge from her on out lol

In some ways, I felt this was an awkward episode. It felt like everyone had a one sided feud against Utica that only came out this episode, with Utica believing (rightfully, IMO) that a roast is a time to really go for it with your humor and somehow abandoning any woke principles along the way. And even though I agree Kandy deserved the win tonight, she also came across as super unnecessarily bitchy in her confessionals, also out of nowhere! Everything was lopsided all around. At least the roast itself was honestly the best since season 5. Almost everyone got in a good zinger: Mik's "All of your hit song", Olivia's "She signed the Declaration of Independence where it said parent/guardian", and of course Nina's "from the Bronx...Zoo". I do think Symone did the worst; unfortunately, I think more than her jokes not delivering on the punchlines, her vocal affectations work better when they just come naturally and not in a structured setting. But she did look stunning tonight as always. And, honestly, so did the fracking queen herself; I think tonight was one of RuPaul's best looks on the main stage. Anyway, I do feel kind of sad that our time with this cast is almost done, but I *am* glad that this season is almost over, that's for sure.

Kandy's "act her age" line made me laugh way too hard lol. It was a good roast for sure. I think Utica should've taken the criticism from Michelle and Loni onboard, the fact that she just doubled down after Michelle told her what she said was mean and not funny was sooooooooooo cringe. Like, is she a robot? Extremely sheltered? The jokes just came across very strange rather than funny, and I can't quite put my finger on it. I was glad to see her go. And seeing Ru give the double deuce over the "stand up" comment was the funniest part of the whole set (apparently Ru wears sweats when sitting behind the judges panel).

On the other side was Gottmik, who took 100% of the advice and killed it. Glad to see a bounceback after the cringey soda commercial bombing.

I was also surprised at how poorly Symone did, I think it was a classic case of overthinking because she is naturally very funny!

Pulling for Symone or Gottmik to win. I felt so bad for Symone with that deep cry moment this episode and hope she can finish the season strong.

I have a feeling they'll do the goofy 4 person finale thing lol. I really like Rose but I think Ru overlooks her for some reason.

YES. I'm still very bitter about Denali going home so early. Hoping she gets a AS redemption someday.

I mean, I can't think of a single top 4 episode that hasn't been anticlimactic in some way, so of course this episode played out exactly the same way it has for, almost unbelievably, four years now. I guess I just have a few thoughts on the top 4:

-Mik almost feels like a proto-Alaska: a queen with an immediately obvious deep affinity for drag and Drag Race whose looks have an oddball sense of humor and who can make RuPaul laugh uncontrollably just by breathing, who refines their sense of humor over the course of a season.....and, well, I guess we'll see how well Mik does in this season and/or a future All Stars season. Also, on a show where everyone hams it up way too much for the reaction shots, Mik genuinely does feel like the one person who would be excited to see Jamal Sims again.

-I feel really endeared to Kandy after this episode. Maybe it's because there's less pressure now in the competition, maybe it's because this episode is basically an excuse for everyone to try and look as good as possible, but Kandy came across a lot more genuine and endearing than ever before. And while we could debate forever on which of these contestants was the best at Drag Race, at the end of the day it feels like if you were actually going to see a show at a club, you'd want to see Kandy perform.

-Unfortunately, on the other hand, while I felt like I was really warming up to Rosé over the past few episodes, weaponized BFA and all, she came across as insanely rehearsed tonight, which is a shame because she's become more off the cuff funny in more candid situations. That being said, I did love that tartan look tonight; it felt like a classier version of what Morgan McMichaels did a while back.

-God, it's no wonder that Symone could perfectly channel the energy of a Whitney Houston song like that, right? I feel like she came out in an extremely good position tonight - she finally overcame her inner saboteur, she was the only one who understood that the best way to approach that song wasn't to sing/rap as fast as possible over it, and that lipsync! I just wanted more.

Anyway, I guess that's that. My guess is they already filmed the finale months ago and did a small affair with just the other queens present, but time will tell.