This episode confirmed my concerns I've had ever since meet the queens: this season might suck. This episode was not great - Ru looked the worst I've ever seen her, poor editing choices resulted in really only 5 queens being shown the entire episode, the challenge had promise but was met with mostly lacklustre performances, and the top 3 and bottom 2 didn't contain the right queens.
Let's start from the beginning. The queens walk in after Jaymes' elimination, Kimora is confused about why she was in the bottom, and Trinity is gunning for Valentina to win this week's challenge (immediately revealing that she will either win or be in the bottom 2). After Ru announces the week's challenge, it is soon clear that the bottom 3 and winner will consist of Aja, Farrah, Kimora and Trinity.
We have some irrelevant moments (Valentina's eyebrows, Trinity's chocolate starfish and Cynthia's cucu explanation) that only make the episode feel like a slog to get through (which is impressive, considering it is under 40 minutes). It isn't until the discussion about Pulse that it feels like something important is finally happening. It is a very frank and genuine moment that doesn't feel manipulated by the producers in any way. Given that Drag Race is now on VH1, this discussion could really open the eyes of some people who may have underestimated the significance of the massacre to the LGBT+ community.
Okay so the runway.
Good
Passable
Bad
You know it's not a great episode when one of the most interesting things is the judges. I loved the judges this episode. From their reactions:
To their critiques:
"Every year, Ru and Michelle tell people 'you cannot come out here with a piece of fabric wrapped around your waist', and I'm no seamstress, but that looks like a piece of fabric wrapped around your waist." Where was THIS Todrick on All Stars?
But easily the best part of the entire episode was when Michelle CAME for Kimora.
(By the way, what on earth was Kimora talking about with her padding?)
The second best part was when no one laughed at Ru's joke.
After the deliberation, we find out that Aja and Kimora are in the bottom 2 (it should have been Farrah and Kimora, with Farrah going home), and Trinity is declared the winner (which is definitely well-deserved). I thought Nina and Shea should have been in the top as well, but I understand there can only be a few.
Aja completely slayed the lip sync while Kimora awkwardly stumbled around on stage and fumbled words. In the end, it was the end for Kimora, who left pretty gracefully for someone who was considered before the season started to be the villain.
So that's it for a pretty lacklustre episode. We can only hope that the season gets more interesting than this.
Ranking
By default, the eliminated queen is last on the ranking. Ranking is based upon consideration of a holistic view of previous performance and the way they are presented in the storyline and editing.
13. Kimora Blac
12. Farrah Moan - I'm sick of Farrah. I was never a fan of her but now she's grating on me. She absolutely should have been in the bottom 2 this episode. If she doesn't go home next I'm going to be shocked. I'm sick of the way she whines and complains her way through each episode, and the more I see her, the less beautiful I think she is. She's got to go.
11. Cynthia Lee Fontaine - Like I've said before, if you get brought back, you need to prove why you deserve to be back, and I'm just not seeing it with her.
10. Aja - I didn't realise Aja was wearing chaps until the judges said so, I thought she was wearing a bodysuit with a bizarre lopsided pattern on the front. Her look was bad, her makeup is consistently rough, and her attitude in Untucked was not good. She's a fierce lipsyncher, but she's going to need to step up her game if she wants to make it farther.
9. Sasha Velour - Sasha's look was fine, but you've got a problem if I think your sidekick is more interesting than your runway look. She has faded into the background after her strong opening in episode 1. I understand we're only on episode 3, but if she doesn't step it up and show why she's here, she may be in danger of going home.
8. Charlie Hides - Charlie did a good job this episode, I wouldn't have been surprised to see her in the top. She was one of the only people who actually looked like a princess, and her sidekick was enjoyable. She moves up a few rankings for me for her performance this episode, but based on an overall view of performance this season, she's still far from the best.
7. Eureka - Eureka has consistently done reasonably well so far, but tonight she wasn't great, so that knocks her down a few places. Again, I have to give her credit for helping out Farrah with her outfit.
6. Alexis Michelle - Alexis is still kind of middle-of-the-road. She's done well but not great so far. I really enjoyed her outfit and sidekick this episode, but I don't see her as one of the strongest contenders, at least not yet.
5. Nina Bo'Nina Brown - Like I said before, I thought Nina deserved to be in the top (I'd probably swap her out for Peppermint). Last episode and this one, she faded into the background during most of the episode but once she hits that runway, she's such a presence, you have to pay attention to her. It'll be interesting to see how she can handle (in fact, how all of them can handle) an acting challenge, which I really hope is coming up, because so far, we haven't seen much that shows their talent other than runway.
4. Shea Coulee - Shea had my absolute favourite look this episode. I thought her dress was gorgeous, I loved the huge mermaid tail at the bottom, I don't think I've seen one that wide before. I didn't really understand what was going on with the midsection but that's fine. Unless she really slips up one episode, I'll be surprised if she's not in the top 3 (even though I put her at number 4 this episode).
3. Peppermint - I read weeks ago that Peppermint was going to be the first to go home. As soon as she walked into the work room the first episode I thought that was impossible, and here we are at episode 3 with her shaping up to be a strong contender for top 3. Her runway look wasn't my favourite and I didn't necessarily think she should have been in the top, but she still did well.
2. Valentina - I didn't care for Valentina's outfit, but I LOVED her makeup, she looked so beautiful. With the way she's being edited, she's either going to make top 3 or royally screw something up and go home. There's something about her that I still can't connect to, I feel like she hides behind a facade, and there's something about her that scares me a little, especially with her villain look this episode.
1. Trinity Taylor - If you had told me after I saw meet the queens that Trinity was going to make the top of my list on episode 3, I would have said you were crazy. She has been my biggest turn around this season. I started off disliking her, but now I'm rooting for her. I like her, she seems genuine and fun, and I love how all the fans (including me) underestimated her and now she's one of the strongest contenders. I still don't think she'll win, but I also thought she'd go home first, so you never know.
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