RPDR All Stars 3: E5 - Can-aroon!
Saturday, February 24, 2018 at 10:00AM by Chris Feil
Drag Race fans got a mega-serving of the ever popular show this week with an All Stars design challenge followed immediately by the announcement of the season 10 cast. The big tenth season will be following the ongoing All Stars season without a break, so in 2018 the Race is a marathon. We’ll briefly look at the new contestants, but first we have to unpack (oops) the season’s first dud episode.
Last week Shangela played up the drama for a middling Snatch Game and gave once expected frontrunner Trixie Mattel a major fakeout, ultimating sending the beloved but stuck-in-first-gear Chi Chi DeVayne. The first agenda once back in the workroom was to lay the Notegate drama to rest...
Dela’a watchful eye here may have been strictly for the cameras, but this image is like a gay Vermeer. As if Shangela’s effusiveness and genuine affection for Trixie in this moment doesn’t further show how last episode’s drama was for the audience’s benefit, it also showed her at her most genuine. Trixie’s gratitude was also undercut by a real respect for Shangela as well, and strangely this felt like one of the most connected moments between queens all season.
And a new power couple was born!?
Am I crazy to think that this could be the potential alliance to catch up to BenDeLaCreme’s winning streak? Trixie could definitely use the push at this point and Shangela has been aiming for allies.
The next morning, the queens returned to a mini-challenge surprise (remember those?): a photo shoot inspired by Andy Warhol’s notorious Polaroid portraits. The queens brisk through their looks and cool cucumber fashion fish Aja wins the advantageless mini (maybe it’s fine to let the minis go...). Suddenly Amy Adams swoops into workroom and snatches the win from Ajas hands.
We have been craving a design challenge and this week we finally have one. The Warhol theme keeps running with the queens charged to create looks inspired by Studio 54 and show their branding expertise by creating their own wearable version of Warhol’s Campbell’s soup cans. “... Like a big can?” Lineysha Sparx asks, still in her Celia Cruz outfit. Yes, Lineysha, exactly that. The queens are wearing soup cans.
Reader, this is a bizarre challenge. While some queens take this part of the challenge to its silly extreme, some of the girls just end up walking the runway in an oversized tube. Branding is a crucial element to a queens success after Drag Race. That the show has grown increasingly aware of this is reflected in their challenges, but this one mostly underserves its purpose. And eventually is mostly ignored in critique - with the exception of the queen who most misses the mark.
Helpful Fish. Generous Fish. If My Sister’s In Trouble, I Will Always Help Her Out Fish.
It wouldn’t be a design challenge without queens helping queens. Aja helps out a surprising clueless Bebe, while Trixie and Shangela get adorable over Shangie’s continued construction issues.
Poor Shangela has taken two whole months of sewing classes to still have the same issues that sent her home on on season 2 (and almost on season 3). Luckily she has the smarts to keep it simple, even if she goes a bit literal with the disco theming. Hey Mr. DJ, put a record on your body.
Before the runway, the queens discuss how they think they will move forward with eliminations considering everyone’s very different performance record thus farn. Dela becomes a walking version of the Math Lady meme, and claims trying to find a mathematical formula to help keep things fair. Of course Kennedy doesn’t want it decided off track record (she currently has the most trips to the bottom despite a win). And yet her theory of not overthinking the decision is wise. Notions of potential alliances with certain queens are still conditional, poor performance and critique is still subject to perception, and a minor misstep that landed a queen in the bottom doesn’t equate a major screwup. Following your gut will keep you out of your head (just look at how it’s weighing on Dela).
The runway was similarly underwhelming, with the queens serving simple looks except for Aja’s beaded vest and opaque jumpsuit. Bebe’s glorious sequined dream and Trixie’s disco Barbie were the most transportive to the Studio 54 era, but suddenly Amy Adams returns on the runway in a fur coat and deep cut dress and screams on a toilet.
The Dela is growing restless. Not only did her soup can dourly joke “winner of literally everything” but her success was used against her. Granted while she served one of the weakest looks, it would be different for the judges to say that than what they did say: that she was a disappointment simply because she didn’t win. Doesn’t that brush aside the achievement of her four straight wins as if they mean nothing? Her enthusiasm is waning with carrying the weight of having to send queens home, but this kind of critique can’t help either.
But Dela wasn’t the only one to be critiqued unfairly. With the soup cans, the judges turned Kennedy’s typically praised goofiness against her and dinged Shangela for an off-putting fish soup as if she had actually served it to them. It was Aja that took the full force of the judges. She didn’t present anything recognizably her in the branding exercise, and her lovely outfit was seen as a stretch for the era. It didn’t help that Aja gravely put her foot in her mouth with mispronounced icons and mismashed her references and showed her young age. A Mortal Kombat death blow was dealt when Ru hurled a gaspingly catastrophic read:
Obviously you weren’t here for a lot of the history of humans on this planet.
And perhaps that sealed what was to come, though Shangela was sweating her major miss of an outfit. This week the coasting queens Bebe and Trixie took their first win and delivered a purely delightful lipsync. This season has had a lipsync problem, never quite delivering the heights we want from what should be the competitive peak of each episode. But both queens were eager to change their trajectory and in doing so they turned the party to Diana Ross' "The Boss". Rejoice! A great lipsync has been given unto us!
Finally newbie audiences have been given the full Bebe Zahara Benet experience! The poise, the magnetism, the elegance, the damn good time. If the barometer of a good lipsync is “would/how much would you tip” a performance, then I just took out a second mortgage for Bebe. The deck was admittedly stacked against Trixie with the song choice, but she never showed it if she knew that. Trixie hasn’t ever been a strong lipsync artist (“I lost a lipsync to Pearl. Do you know what it’s like to lose a lipsync to a partially sedated twink from Brooklyn?”) but this was such a cathartic moment for her after last week’s stumble. We want to keep seeing Trixie having this much fun even if she doesn’t maintain this momentum.
Bebe however just proved herself in a big way and then sadly sent Aja home. At this point with Dela’s waning drive and Shangela’s stumble, it feels like the playing field could be leveling out... slightly. Drag Race has had its predictability issues, so it’s always welcome for the show to organically unfold. But shouldn’t this rapid shift also translate to a more exciting episode? Doesn’t it just feel like they wanted to get this episode over with to get to the Handmaid’s revenge twist? (We’ll find out next week what RuVenge is in store.)
But what an unfortunate end for Aja.
Rarely do redemption arcs pay off so well and triumphantly on Drag Race than what she was able to achieve. Did the show root for her as much as we did, I wonder. In my heart of hearts, Aja was the one I was truly rooting for from the second she stepped back into the workroom, the most lovable of all the queens and most audacious. It looks like Bebe is our last remaining nice girl. Unless Aja will be the won who makes it back into the competition next week.
How are the queens ranked before the RuVenge bell rings?
- BenDeLaCreme (please come back refreshed next week, though)
- Shangela
- Aja OUT
- 🔺Bebe Zahara Benet
- 🔺Trixie Mattel
- Kennedy Davenport
- Chi Chi DeVayne OUT
- Morgan McMichaels OUT
- Thorgy Thor OUT
- Milk OUT
Gif as Episode Grade:
BUT WAIT - THERE’S MORE!
We have our season 10 queens to dish over! I'll ignore my concern that these queens might be overshadowed by All Stars currently running, because this lineup is ferocious. Once again, you’ll see a strong sampling of New York queens and returning season 9 queen Eureka O’Hara. I'll try to not let my pre-season love cloud my judgment by I am most excited for the legendary Asia O'Hara and a former college pal Dusty Ray Bottoms. The best news is we have only a month before we get to know and adore each of these queens! Here is the cast of season 10:
- Aquaria - New York, NY
- Asia O'Hara - Dallas, TX
- Blair St. Clair - Indianapolis, IN
- Dusty Ray Bottoms - New York, NY
- Eureka O'Hara - Johnson City, TN
- Kalorie Karbdashian Williams - Albuquerque, NM
- Kameron Michaels - Nashville, TN
- Mayhem Miller - Riverside, CA
- Monique Heart - Kansas City, MO
- Miz Cracker - New York, NY
- Monét X Change - New York, NY
- The Vixen - Chicago, IL
- Vanessa Mateo - Tampa, FL
- Yuhua Hamasaki - New York, NY
Reader Comments (19)
FINALLY a gag-worthy lip sync. Bebe truly tickled me with those expressions and precise hand movements. I have a feeling it will be one for the ages.
I thought the first episode's Anaconda lip sync was gag-worthy, you guys! And definitely superior to this one...but maybe I just loved the delightful contrast between Dela's campy style (which had not yet been played out to death by episode 1) and Aja's killer dance moves. That to me is this season's lip sync high point.
Lindsay - I agree with you about Anaconda. Although I also enjoyed the 'I Kissed The Girl' lip sync. Funnily enough I hate both those songs.
I found this lip sync underwhelming. I would have preferred 'Upside Down' or 'I'm Coming Out.'
Don’t get me wrong, Trixie was awful, maybe making Anaconda a better all-round competition, but Bebe was just perfect.
I was underwhelmed by the lip sync myself (and the episode). Still struggling to see what Chris (and others) sees in Shangela who just reads as so basic to me in her drag, and so forced in her personality FOR the camera.
that said, and knowing the episode was the worst of the season thus far, I still thought the Warhol challenge was a really fun idea and I do wish the show would keep challenging itself to come up with new challenges rather than reiterating old ones all the time (let Snatch Game die!)
"Last nice girl?" DeLa might get on people's nerves but precisely because she's also too nice. Nothing she has done has been fishy or mean.
Worst episode of the season, just messy all around. Sad it was here when Bebe finally shined, but I'm happy she has a win.
Nat your obsession with Shangela at this point is like markgordonuk’s obsession with Tiffany Haddish.
This post was sprayed with Jinkx's Delusion perfume if you thought this was the great lip sync of the season when Anaconda is right there.
I Kissed a Girl was also better than this.
Kennedy should have been in the bottom and they REALLY went in on Aja sadly. I feel terrible for Bebe though, the fickle fandom is tearing her to shreds and the racism is running rampant.
@beyaccount
1000% agreed. And pure hatin'.
i was super annoyed by ru's condescending attitude to aja's mispronunciation - maybe she'd just read the name? at least she was aware. plus she served up a stunning recreation of crystal labeija just. last. week! don't be hating on a girl who doesn't know all of human herstory at 23.
"It looks like Bebe is our last remaining nice girl."
first of all, bebe sent aja home after aja helped her make the winning look. secondly, dela is still terminally delightful. don't be drinking from the darienne lake!
Let's be real, this entire All Stars season is a snooze. Don't get me wrong, I will still thirstily tune in for an underwhelming Drag Race season - but I worry about VH1 overdoing it. All Stars 2 was such a monumental season, and All Stars 3 just seems like a move to capitalize on the show's popularity and less of an "event". Pretty much all of the challenges are a replication of the AS2 formula. As much as I love some of the queens, most of this AS3 cast seem like they should be competing against / losing to the likes of Valentina / Kim Chi / Trinity Taylor / Shea Coulée - none of the cast feel like truly worthy winners. Aja of all queens being the only Season 9 representation kind of shows that this season is a filler one and that producers are holding out for a more star-packed AS4.
As much as I'm all for a marathon of back-to-back Drag Race seasons - I would also not mind waiting a little longer for a new All Stars season that is huge and packed as much of a punch as AS2.
As for S10 - I too am stoked to see what Asia is going to bring. I'm also rooting for Mayhem, whom I've been waiting to see on the show since Season 5.
Trixie SHOULD have won that lip sync.
I am so bored and tired of Bebe, the fake snake of this season.
Kennedy must go home next.
Re: "nice girl" - I guess I wasn't clear here, but I meant that as a lovability factor relating specifically to what a sweetheart she is. Dela has definitely been very kind during deliberations, but that's not one of the primary reasons we're rooting for her.
I'm shocked so many of you didn't respond to the lipsync! Other responses I've seen elsewhere have me concerned that the audience is losing appreciation for lipsyncs without stunts or heavy choreo or comedy. Bebe was so authentically the mood of that song and made me feel joy down to my toes!
Chris - Thank you. Unfortunately the new fandom is populated by white twinks and teenage girls who don’t understand drag beyond Instagram.
Chris -- even though I was underwhelmed by the lipsync I totally agree that Bebe was great at a classic old school lipsync. She has such joy as a drag queen. Loved her on her season and was happy to see her back.
As for the new queens.... I'm excited like crazy because I did not get enough Eureka O'Hara last season and I am dying to see how thirsty the queers get over Kameron Michaels who looks like this under the drag.
Chris I loved Bebe’s lip sync also. Trixie’s performance seemed desperate for a win which seems to be her whole arc this season (I love Trixie off the show but she is certainly not the greatest competitior in the drag race setting)
As for the racist hate Bebe is getting online it’s so depressing to see but at least Aja and the others are having none of it and are telling those people off in strong terms on social media.
I 'll bet half of them didn't know who Ru was impersonating.
This is one of the worst Drag Race episodes I can remember.
The soup can challenge could not have been dumber.
The looks could not have been more uniformly underwhelming.
The queen who won should not have been in the top.
The queen who went home should not have been in the bottom.
If this is the start of Trixie Mattel's comeback narrative then god help her—what an empty victory in this episode.
During the critiques it felt like the judges were gaslighting me...surely we weren't looking at the same runway.
the review literally just explains the episode, no actual point of view on things.bad episode, good for nothing rigged lipsync.