RuPaul’s Drag Race kicks off season 13 with goops and gags, courtesy of “The Pork Chop”
TV Reviews Recap
13 seasons in, RuPaul’s Drag Race has established a firm formula. RuPaul and the producers have worked to keep things interesting, but the overall beats of the show have been more or less set for years. The last significant shakeup was the change to a lip-sync battle finale, back in season nine. Perhaps it’s fitting, then, that the biggest format change since is also lip-sync related. Instead of the traditional premiere structure of entrances, photo mini challenge, and design maxi challenge, season 13 throws the audience and the queens for a loop by surprising them with introductory lip-syncs for their lives.
What is lost in group dynamics and momentum is more than made up for by the delight of seeing the queens thrown completely off their game. At this point, everyone comes into Drag Race with certain expectations and some level of strategy. That preparation goes out the window when Ru and the rest of the judges ask for impromptu performances. Can this cast deliver at the drop of a hat? The queens are forced to hit the ground running, making for an undoubtedly stressful, but exciting start to the season.
Kandy Muse vs. Joey Jay: “Call Me Maybe” by Carley Rae Jepsen
The first pair to enter the workroom are New York queen Kandy Muse, of the Former Haus Of Aja, and Phoenix “filler queen” Joey Jay. Kandy’s in a denim body suit and gauntlets with sparkling pumps and jewelry and carrying a denim boom box. Joey’s in a red and black body suit and boots with shades and a red chicken feather coat. There’s some immediate tension as Kandy drills Joey on her background—Joey’s a part-time queen, with a day job at a software company, while Kandy is full-time—but that is quickly forgotten when the RuMail siren goes off. Both queens are thrown as they head over to watch Ru’s video. Gooped, they follow Ru’s summons and head to the main stage.
Ru looks great for her first entrance of the season, wearing a blonde wig and a pink and white gown to welcome the judges to season 13. It’s a far cry from Ru’s season 12 pandemic facekinis. The judges acknowledge the pandemic, commenting on their new plexiglass dividers, but quickly move on. Kandy and Joey come in and after a few getting to know you questions, Ru drops the hammer. Kandy and Joey will be lip-syncing for their lives. Visibly shaken, both queens try to center themselves. As Ru says, this is their first chance to impress her and avoid getting “The Pork Chop.” Both queens are immediately comfortable lip-syncing. They know the song and bring personality and humor to their performances. Ultimately, Kandy takes the lip-sync, making a bookending bit out of her boom box and completely undermining Joey’s big dip by doing her own fake-out at the same moment. It’s a solid start to the episode. If the rest of the lip-syncs match this one, it’ll be a fun premiere. Kandy breathes a sigh of relief and Joey plasters on a brave face and waves goodbye, heading backstage.
Denali vs. LaLa Ri: “When I Grow Up” by The Pussycat Dolls
Next into the workroom is Chicago queen Denali, who is a professional ice skater. She stomps in wearing ice skates, a white strapless feathered dress, and a long blonde braid. Denali’s quickly joined by Atlanta queen LaLa Ri, who’s also in white. She nods to the pandemic with a mesh face covering, which she quickly pulls down, a white sparkling body suit, blazer, and booties. Denali is not impressed, expecting more for season 13. She’s not wrong, but LaLa isn’t the first queen to stretch their wardrobe by going conservative with their entrance look. Like Kandy and Joey before them, they’re gagged by the RuMail reveal, but LaLa gets her game face on quickly and is ready to go. Denali apologizes to the floor she’s chipping with her skates and they head over to the main stage.
The queens introduce themselves—Denali’s a Tonya, not a Nancy, and LaLa is confident she can beat Denali in a lip-sync—and are immediately thrown into their battle. Denali may have been skeptical of LaLa’s choice of entrance look, but it’s Denali who’s in trouble. She insists she’s a lip-sync assassin. Just not in ice skates. There’s no time to unlace though, so she dives in. Again, both queens deliver. They serve face, they connect to the lyrics, and Denali gets points from this viewer for doing a cartwheel in skates. Ultimately, Denali spends a bit too much time struggling with her outfit while LaLa’s charisma shines through, giving her the win. Denali half-heartedly delivers her exit line and just as your heart tugs for her, she gets backstage and meets Joey. There’s a whole area set up for the eliminated queens, the Porkchop Loading Dock, complete with portraits of every first-eliminated queen, starting with season one’s Victoria “Porkchop” Parker. The plot thickens.
Symone vs. Tamisha Iman: “The Pleasure Principle” by Janet Jackson
L.A. queen Symone struts into the workroom in a fabulous dress made of Polaroids of herself, à la Gisele Bündchen’s October 2004 Esquire magazine look. It’s a confident, memorable choice. Atlanta queen Tamisha’s look is also striking, a red pantsuit with massive, pointed shoulders and plenty of décolletage. Like LaLa, she nods to the pandemic with a mask before dropping it for her entrance line. The suit is fun, an ’80s-inspired look that draws a clear distinction between Symone and herself. Par for the course, both queens are shocked at the RuMail siren, looking around before heading to the main stage.
The judges’ questions this round are more telling. Symone is from Arkansas originally and she banters well with Ru when prompted. Tamisha has been doing drag for 30 years and she acknowledges she’s not currently at her peak as a performer. Initially, this seems like a nod to her age, but then she reveals she’s recently recovered from cancer. Ru shares that Tamisha was cast for season 12 but had to pull out. Two days after her casting, Tamisha was diagnosed with stage three colon cancer and she had to immediately begin radiation and chemotherapy. After an incredibly difficult year, she’s back and able to compete. It’s remarkable.
For their song, Ru puts a thumb on the scale. They’re given Janet Jackson’s “The Pleasure Principle,” and Tamisha is immediately in her element, serving up Janet. She bursts out ahead of Symone but as the song continues, Tamisha stays locked into the same motions and energy. It gets repetitive. Symone, in contrast, keeps her body mostly still and uses subtler movements, finding points of humor and fun. This helps her pull ahead of Tamisha by the end of the song and she takes the battle. Backstage, Denali is increasingly confident they’re still in the mix, but Tamisha is resolute that they’re headed home.
Gottmik vs. Utica Queen: “Rumors” by Lindsay Lohan
L.A. queen and makeup artist to the stars Gottmik is the next contestant in. The first trans man to compete on the show, Gottmik’s drag is hyper feminine and fashionable, inspired by designers like Alexander McQueen and John Galliano. She’s sporting stark makeup—a white face with neon eye accents and black lips—and a jet black wig, quite a contrast with her colorful bodysuit, which uses tulle to create shape. She’s an icy and removed fashion queen, and the next contestant couldn’t be more different. Minnesotan Utica Queen is a tall and lanky comedy queen who comes in with an explosion of color and pattern. She’s in plaid pants, a flowery blazer, a blue and gold vest, and a green curly wig with a giant crafty strawberry in it. It’s a lot of look, but Utica pulls it off, with beautiful paint as well. One would think that by the fourth iteration, the RuMail surprise and summons would get old, but it really doesn’t. Gottmik shouts out the lighting and the pair excitedly head to the main stage.
Despite their aesthetic differences, it turns out Gottmik and Utica have something in common. Gottmik references Pierrot as a big inspiration, a pantomime and commedia dell’arte clown. She hedges about her lip-sync skills when asked by the judges, though, and Utica is a bundle of charming, but nervous energy. Their lip-sync should be interesting. As the start, the queens are neck-and-neck. Both handle the lyrics well, with Utica’s bright red lips and Gottmik’s black on white drawing the eye right to their mouths. Towards the end, however, Utica pivots to goofy with some of her movement and this doesn’t quite work with the song. Gottmik plays it safer and ultimately squeaks past Utica to take the win. This is the least interesting lip-sync of the episode, but both performers still come off well and if it weren’t apparent by now that the Porkchopped queens aren’t actually all being eliminated, it would be a real shame to see Utica eliminated so early.
Rosé vs. Olivia Lux: “Ex’s & Oh’s” by Elle King
New York queen Rosé struts into the workroom in a bubblegum pink motorcycle jacket and body suit, a tall pink wig, and carrying her own jeweled wine glass. She’s drag sisters with season 12’s Jan—they’re groupmates in Stephanie’s Child—and she’s clearly been waiting and planning for her chance to tackle Drag Race. She’s surprised when fellow New York queen and relative newbie Olivia Lux is the next to enter, wearing a side-by-side ruched yellow and pink gown, statement jewelry, and carrying her own tiny purse. Olivia and Rosé know each other from the New York scene and Rosé is skeptical that Olivia is ready for Drag Race, as it wasn’t too long ago that Rosé was hosting pageants Olivia was competing in. They’re surprised, like everyone else, at the RuMail, but they gather themselves and head to see Ru.
After a little banter, they jump into the lip-sync. While Rosé is clearly an experienced, confident lip-syncer, her performance is very presentational. She goes into a series of fast twirls and a dip to show the judges what she can do, rather than because it’s the best fit with the song. Olivia, on the other hand, stays much more in the personality of the song. She’s playing to the judges while Rosé is playing to the back of the room and because of this, or maybe just to keep Rosé on her toes, Ru gives the win to Olivia. Like some of the other more experienced queens, Rosé is dazed by her seeming elimination, but plasters on a smile, says her exit line, and heads backstage.
Tina Burner vs. Kahmora Hall vs. Elliott with 2 Ts: “Lady Marmalade” by Christina Aguilera, Lil’ Kim, Mya & P!nk
Rounding out the entrances is a group of three. New York queen Tina Burner is the first in, wearing a campy yellow firefighter look, yellow and red boots, and bright red hair. Chicago queen Kahmora—not Kimora—Hall stirs the pot shortly after she enters, feigning confusion at Tina’s look. Kahmora, who is the drag sister of season 12 champion Jaida Essence Hall, looks fabulous in her sherbet orange Bob Mackie gown, but while Kahmora’s look is elegant, Tina’s has more personality. Last in is Las Vegas queen Elliott with 2 Ts, whose ’80s-inspired look is dinged by both Kahmora and Tina. She’s in bright red high-waisted pants, a red bandeau top, and a colorful jacket with shoulders that may not match Tamisha’s, but have padding to spare. Kahmora and Tina start throwing shade, but they’re interrupted by the final RuMail and the queens quickly hurry to the main stage.
Tina makes the strongest impression of the premiere, aside from Tamisha, as she interacts with the judges. She keeps right up with Ross as they trade puns, a fantastic sign for upcoming comedy challenges. Elliott introduces herself as a dancer, citing her ballet background, and Kahmora gets quite a reaction from Carson upon realizing her dress is a Mackie original. All three queens raise their hands when Ru asks who likes surprises, but their expressions change as they realize they’re headed into a lip-sync. They all have the song down and they go for it from the jump. Elliott pulls out some solid moves and Kahmora serves up attitude and face, but Tina runs away with this lip-sync. She gets the judges laughing early and keeps them in the palm of her very flexible hand. It’s not a surprise when Ru tells her to shantay.
Porkchop Loading Dock
After Tina’s win, the camera follows Kahmora and Elliott as they head back to the Porkchop Loading Dock. The “eliminated” queens commiserate, wondering what the winners are up to—cut to them cheerfully kiki-ing in the workroom—and what will happen next, when Ru comes in over the loudspeaker to tell them they’ll be headed back to the airport soon. Michelle gently reminds Ru that she’s just eliminated half of the queens and they do need to fill a season after all, so Ru changes her mind. Instead, Ru says over the intercom, only one queen will be eliminated, but the Porkchopped queens need to vote on who that will be. They immediately push back on this idea. They’ve just met each other. They haven’t seen any of the queens’ work and have nothing to base a vote on. As they struggle with this latest twist, the episode ends, leaving the drama to be resolved in the next episode.
Starting the season with this kind of structural twist is an entertaining and fun shakeup. Ru shirking the responsibility of the first elimination and forcing half of the queens into a blind elimination is not. Hopefully the next episode will reveal this as a fake-out, a different play on the non-elimination premiere Drag Race has opted for in the past. Fans will have to wait and see. Until then, there’s plenty to enjoy revisiting the queens’ introductory lip-syncs and pondering what other tricks Ru and the producers have planned for this season. It will be interesting to see just how much filming during the pandemic impacts the season, but for now, “The Pork Chop” gets things off to a promising start. Here’s hoping they can keep it up.
Stray observations
- Drag Race has contestants refer to each other by their drag names and personas regardless of whether they’re in or out of drag. In previous seasons, I’ve matched this, using she/her pronouns for everyone whether they’re in or out of drag. This season, I plan to use each queen’s preferred pronouns to the best of my knowledge, both their pronouns for their drag personas (when they’re in drag), and their pronouns for themselves (when they’re out of drag).
- I’m curious how this season will handle guest judges and coaches, due to filming during the pandemic. The queens all had to quarantine before filming began. Maybe there are guests who were willing to do the same in order to come on the show. I certainly expect more judge and coach overlaps this season. We’ll have to wait to see.
- I’m legitimately impressed with the song choices for these lip-syncs. Hopefully there’s more where that came from and they didn’t blow their entire song budget on the premiere.
- Rosé’s blackened tooth didn’t work for me, but I liked her decision to wipe it off when she thought she was the first in. The producers are already building the Tina and Rosé storyline, so she’s not going anywhere soon.
- Favorite entrance line: Utica’s sneeze and, “She’s sickening.”
- I don’t have any rooting interests quite yet, but this seems like a talented and rather polished set of queens. Sound off with your favorites in the comments below.
44 Comments
Wow, kicking off a new year with drag race is certainly exciting! It seems both not so long ago and so long ago we were chatting about S12. Time is meaningless. Anyways, on the format, the only saving graces were excellent song choices (imagine if that was only Ru songs) and an honest chance for the queens to get an equal introduction to the judges of what their drag is. I’m already warming up to most of this cast, a lot of charismatic queens both young and…experienced.That said, there is no reason to have to try to one-up the twists on a regular season. Make them walk the runway showing off a couple looks. Throw a sowing challenge at them. However authentic this twist really is, on its face, making the “losing” queens pick a person to go home after just being introduced together on-screen is so dumb, arbitrary, and frankly, boring!Lastly, if Tamisha—who is a literal legend—gets sent home first after disclosing that she was cast last season but had to wait because of fucking stage-3 cancer, this season will have a major hole to dig out of.
It was great getting so many well known and fun lip sync songs. The only weird choice was the Lindsay Lohan one (lol) I hope they didn’t use the whole season’s music licensing budget!
no es mi problema anymore. shower and rebalance from this. emotional budget is not for you.
This might be me overthinking it, but is the whole reason we’re splitting up the teams to essentially make 2 cohorts? You could have different queens in on different days. Fewer people in the workroom. Fewer people to potentially get each other sick in a worst case scenario. It makes sense to me from that perspective. They made a point of not saying “Eliminated.” They said “porkchopped.” Something’s up.
Yes, I agree that makes sense logistically. I’m not against a split premiere. Both S6 and S12 did them well, in my opinion.But I think we also lost the charm that comes from the workroom banter and snap judgements we usually get with a larger group getting introduced to each other. Instead, that was pushed into Untucked. And there’s just something off about having the queens put on the spot to lip sync, some clearly not ready for a performance (e.g. Kahmora doing her best in a Bob Mackie dress).Ultimately I don’t think there will be an elimination next episode, which means this whole shakeup had no stakes to begin with.
I didn’t just mean a split premiere, though – I think this was a ploy to break them into two groups until the girls are cut in half. That said – there would be something fascinating to suddenly have two groups of 3 that don’t really know one another suddenly thrown together. I agree on no elimination, though.
I’m afraid that you’re going to have to factor in the show’s age bias, which is likely to take out both Tamisha and Tina Burner halfway through the season, not matter how beloved they are. The odds of a queen over the age of thirty taking this season is very slim. Not impossible, but slim. And I’ll add Rose to that list, too.
For Tina and Rose, there’s clearly some sort of storyline as experienced NYC queens vs. Olivia, the upstart queen. I think that will carry one or both of them as far as Olivia goes, at the very least. And that’s not a judgement of her talent as she actually seems primed for that “newer queen” run on the show.For Tamisha, I more or less agree. I’d be very happy if she made it to halfway, but always afraid older, pageant queens don’t translate well on the current version of the show.
I am so tired of the show giving it more value to queens showing flesh (the, sorry, awful Gigi Goode Michelle Visage costume on the previous seasons) or extreme physical exercise than idk something more … gay? queer?
Just when RPDR gets it’s formula too well oiled they manage to twist it interestingly! LOLI think my favorite all around LipSync was Olivia vs. Rose – they were the strongest equal energy as far as stage use, edging out Symone & Tamisha, and I think it highlighted them both accurately. Rose pulling out all the stops definitely reminded me a lot of Jan in that she started strong but the moment that showcase started it fell apart. Favorite queens so far are Symone, Tamisha, Olivia, Kandy, Lala and Utica but so far I like this cast a lot as a whole. I do wonder if they’ll actually make the cast eliminate someone themselves and will be pouring over that season trailer from twitter to figure out just who it could be.
I found the judges decisions on who won the lip syncs to be so inscrutable they just about appeared random to meI still found the new format interesting though
I mostly agreed with their picks, but also I think they just always gave the win to the queen on stage right?
Lots of it felt arbitrary to me, too, but everyone did well, so I don’t think it was anything other than stoking the egos of some queens, gaslighting some others, and setting up underdog stories from the jump for some potential winners.
The second that Kandy won, I was suspicious, but then when they started overplaying the ‘Denali’s outfit is going to screw her over’ thing a couple of times to justify what was coming, it became super obvious.
I missed the work room banter but I still found this new format interestingBut I will be disappointed if the losing queens really are forced to send someone home based on some form of deliberations or voting. I’m not completely against that kind of thing but it’s just too early for something like that to be happeningThis is an unusually polished and experienced group of queens, not even one really rough or naive one in the bunch
They can always draw straws. That’s the only fair way to go about it.
I’m guessing that the voted queen will then join the winners’ circle for…teams! At least for the first few episodes, in any case.
It bugged me in the past how you were introduced to this great group of people and by the time you figured out who they even were a couple of episodes had gone by and some bad gone already. I think this is a better way of introducing everyone , two by two. Splitting them in half is a good way to deal with covid crowds. Maybe they will do alternate weeks, with the first elimination coming from the pork group. “If life hands you a pork chop, make bacon”, or something.
The covid twist is my thought – Not least of all because the work room needs to be distanced, I assuming, and in the past early on in the season, queens are on top of each other.
I actually remembered who Kate was talking about! Usually I’m struggling to remember some of the girls until a few episodes in.
I enjoy the idea of a structural change and the beginning kept me guessing but by the third duo I was already kind of bored of the schtick. But it was certainly not boring for the queens and I like that we’ve already seen all of them lipsynching (an interesting contrast to last season when we saw so many looks in the first episode. Two different ways of getting to know them). BUT I’m still not overly in love with any of them, contrary to last season when so many girls picked my curiosity. But this first shake up might mean other great things might happen. God knows we need that after a very unsurprising All Stars (Shea won as soon as she was announced)
Fun fact: the queen who replaced Tamisha after she pulled out of Season 12 was none other than eventual winner Jaida Essence Hall.
Jaw drop.
Gigi is shook.
They could have figured out a way to cut the rule explanations for every round and just stick to reactions and performances. By the third time Ru was delivering the speech about lip syncing I was tuned out. Keep it tight.
yes, it was a very odd choice to keep repeating it which resulted in lots of phone scrolling and missing shit
She’s an icy and removed fashion queenDid we watch the same premiere? I found Gottmik to be very charming and game, both in and out of drag. Maybe if you only went by her look alone you could come to that weird conclusion, idk.
Overall I enjoyed this premiere a lot. The songs were great (halleloo), we got to spend more time with everyone it felt like, and I’m actually OK with the possible conflict created at the end. Conflict makes for good TV!
My thoughts on queens themselves. Denali was the weakest to me. Her beat was just . . . bad (Light face, dark plum contouring? No.) and the costume was just that: a costume. It looked Halloweeny. I also just felt her lipsync was the weakest. I remember almost nothing about her, tbh.
Also wasn’t feeling LaLaRi. Her opening outfit was just BAD. Not memorable, cheap, unfinished looking. (Was that shit even hemmed on the bottom?) It didn’t seem to even fit all that well and I agreed with the read: her wig was tragic. She was personable though in a way I did not find Denali. I found her words memorable.
I also do not get Kahmora at ALL. She seemed incredibly out of place. No one else was shady, no one else cared about designers in that name-droppy way (fashion =/= designer labels), and she was boring. (Yes, Carson cared about the label, but he is known to be the WORST, so who cares.) To be honest, I found her to be a pretty blank slate in the online lip-syncs I found of her also. Thoroughly personality-less. “KAHmora” vs. “KImora” is NOT as interesting or creative as she seems to think it is.
My favorite is Symone so far. AR girls represent!! She was everything I’d hoped: funny, smart, and talented. Her outfit was FIRE. She is a stunning queen, just gorgeous, and I enjoyed her easy charm. I liked that she just let her background stand and didn’t feel the need to corn pone it up or fake naivety. She’s in LA now, no need to fake it.
I’m also rooting for “Fat Aja”. Lol, the internet is so mean. Everything about Kandy Muse makes me laugh though. She is a living meme already, but I do think she is interesting and unique and I do have major respect for someone who just keeps going no matter how shitty the people around her can be. AND I was really impressed with her tonight. She was funny and a touch messy, sure, but also polished and focused. They aren’t mutually exclusive traits!
I want to like Utica Queen, but that annoying theater kid vibe is hard to pull off with grace. I cringed whenever she opened her mouth. Tina was OK, though I’m just overall wary of that type of queen after both Sherry Vine and Nina West turned out to be shitty, though in very different ways.
Also, I hope someone talks to Tanisha about her neck. Her boy self has one! Why not her drag persona? Where’s your neck, girl?
Take away Denali’s skates and you wouldn’t know that she was dress as a skater. She looked like a cheap looking ballerina. She didn’t even bother making the top fit properly it kept coming off during that lip sing. Even if she didn’t know about having to lip sing it’s just lazy not having your outfit fit properly. Also why didn’t she put those plastic guards on her blades. Actually now that I think of it alot of the looks were pretty sloppy.
Sloppy and the first two lipsyncs were brining as hell. Thank god for Symone. She got me excited again.
Sherry Vine, tho?
What did Nina do? The Megan McCain thing?
Denali’s contour made me think of early Trixie Mattel.. doing her make up in the dark.. while drunk.
Denali’s mug reminds me of Trixie Mattel. Early Trixie Mattel. Doing her makeup while drunk. In the dark.
Gottmik is my early favourite both for her drag and the fact that she looks suspiciously like k.d. lang’s younger sibling when she’s out of it. Although I do have to say that I loved Utica Queen’s look as well. Love the nerds!
The lipsync faceoffs you know you wanted to see:-Utica Queen vs. Ma’ma Queen-Denali vs. Robbie Turner (on skates) OR Denali vs. Tonya Harding -Kandy Muse vs. Kandy Ho (and please, Aja would send both to the Emergency Room)-Gottmik vs. k.d. lang-Rose vs. Scarlett Envy (out of drag). Seriously, someone has to make this happen.-Tina Burner vs. Nina WestQueen most likely to get slapped at some point this season by another contestant: I’m going with Rose, although Kandy is giving her a serious run for the money there.
Miss Kandy was awful shady about Joey’s chicken feathers. “The cheapest feathers” or whatever. I’m surprised Kate mentioned Denali’s outfit issues and not Kandy’s. Even when she wasn’t performing it looked like she had to keep holding it up. What’s the tea with Nina? I can’t find anything online.
My early pick from the promo vids was Symone and she didn’t disappoint. Just the queen of my dreams. I’m all the way team Symone. I didn’t find any queen to be annoying or weak except for maybe LaLaRi. She just didn’t vibe with me at first sight. Overall i’m excited about this cast and the lip synch right off the gate was an interesting introduction. We now know what everyone is capable of when it comes to ‘sing for your lives’. It’s gonna be a good season.
Glad to be back in the drag race headspace and excited to get to know these girls. I really love the idea of forcing these girls to put themselves out there on the first episode and not be able to count on playing it safe. That said, the whole twist does feel a little mean, especially during coronavirus with the quarantina turner necessary. I hope the vote elimination isn’t blind, because I do like when the show is more merit based. Unlike all stars gags, this is these girls chance to really make it big, so the stakes really are much higher.Tamisha Iman really, really surprised me this episode. She was hilarious, and my favorite part of the episode was after the voting twist was revealed when she said, “well, I’m the only Black girl here, so…” It’s a strong group of girls, and I hope we soon get to see them not looking so nervous. I like my drag queens confident and nervy.
It’s interesting that in the context of the premiere some of the queens came off a lot better than in the Meet the Queens previews from a couple of weeks ago imo. Kandy Muse especially, went from being TOO MUCH to warm and funny and engaging. I found many of the premiere looks to be kinda… blah.Denali having to lip synch in ice skates really hurt, but not as much as seeing her leave scars all over the Work Room floors.Symone and Olivia just seem like the type of people you’d like to hang out with. Or marry.Rosé is the Trade of the Season.Gottmik and Uttica had really nice paint.
I’m going to give Kandy Muse the benefit of the doubt at this point, but she’s equally charming and obnoxious for me at this point.
I need to meet a person around 4 or 5 times to really remember them, and I need 4 or 5 episodes to actually be able to remember the queens, but in any case, as usual, I have a thing for the clown, Utica. The group is really strong though. Anything goes. Yay, RPDR for the lockdown!
Utica’s exit line was one for the books. “I’ll get you for this, RuPaul!”
I actually often skip through the lip syncs unless I can tell they are going to be good, so wasn’t a great premier for me and was an odd episode to introduce my parents to the show lol. But excited for a new season!
the worst season premiere ever. i wish they’d focus on writing good challenges and drop the gimmicky twists. 6 back to back lipsyncs was patience testing, when the queens have barely opened their mouths after stepping into the workroom, it made no sense, as there was nothing at stake. we don’t know anything about them yet. last year’s format was so much better.
I do believe that Denali perpetuated the popular misquote in the lyrics to “When I Grow Up”…deliberately or not. The lyric is “groupies”, and not “boobies”, although you wouldn’t know that by the way she kept touching her chest.