Well, it's nice to see them follow up a rather lackluster first episode with a really good one this week. We got to see a lot more of all of the queens, and I am a lot more excited for this season than I was a week ago. First of all, does anyone have a time machine so I can show 1979 Olivia Newton John a tape of this episode? "First, Olivia, the bad news, when people watch Grease in the future, they will mostly not be talking about your amazing voice or tremendous looks, but the ugly weird gay man that ate John Travolta and now ruins every Oscar ceremony. But the good news is that in 2015 there will be a long running show about drag queens on television, and you will still be beloved enough to be invited on as a guest judge. Your favorite will be the one named after a spiced vagina. Here, let's watch."
Second, I'm so happy with the way Carson is working out as a guest judge. He is so much better than Mumbles Santino, whose comedy repertoire consisted of a few bad puns. And was it me or was his outfit coordinated to the lighting scheme? I wouldn't put it past the Fashion Gay. Question: When all the Queer Eye guys put their rings together, who would they have summoned? Has to be Ru Paul, right? Has to be. Anyway, on to the rankings:
13) Sasha Belle (OUT)- The funniest part of her brief career on Drag Race was her statement at the end "I went for the win." That was going for the win? It looked like he stole his runway outfit from a Kristen Wiig character, and his performance in the flight attendant skit made it look like he was playing one. This was an easy call. Did anyone think Katya was going down to Sasha in Lip Sync For Your Life? Vegas had taken that one off the board. Good riddance.
12.) Kandy Ho-We didn't see much of anything from her this week and I have to think that's a bad sign. I would think they'd want to build her up a bit after a rough week, as it is, she's kind of bitchy and I wouldn't mind seeing the back of her, and not in a good way.
11.) Jadyn Diore Fierce (-2 from last week) Ginger Minj didn't seem to be a fan and now we know she's playing with a gimpy knee. The runway look was pretty terrible as well. I am not optimistic.
10.) Trixie Mattel (+1) I'm still not sold on Trixie, who seems a little blah for a comedy queen, and it astounds me how it looks like she just got hit by a truck when she's in drag. I know there may be a comedy angle to it, but it doesn't play as comedy on the stage, it plays as sloppy. Also, Ginger Minj was right about his choice of queens for the skit. Did he think it was Triumph of the Will week on Drag Race? I can't imagine either Ben Delacreme or Jinx Monsoon, his comedy queen predecessors, making such a mistake. And I think he paid for it with a lackluster wooden performance by the models.
He also might have a thing for Miss Fame, he got very touchy feely when he started to lay out his family photos. YOU'RE NOT HERE TO MAKE FRIENDS, TRIXIE.
9.) Jasmine Masters (-1) Reluctantly moving Jasmine down a peg here because of Kasha Davis' good performance this week, but I still think Jasmine could move up in a hurry for all the reasons I expressed last week.
8.) Kasha Davis (+1) I'm moving her up but I don't have a ton of confidence. That performance in the skit was pretty good, but I wasn't inspired by the runway. I'm happy to be proven wrong, but I think this is her high water mark.
7.) Katya (-1) I may be giving Katya too much credit here but the thing for which he was put up for elimination seems to be a one time deal: he forgot the words. It happens. He happened to nail both the outfit and the lip synch, which are much more indicative of his overall talent according to my metrics.
6.) Miss Fame (-3) Rough week for Miss Fame, who seemed to be a prime competitor in the Season 7 opener, but this week he revealed himself to be an airhead and performance averse. Also, way too early to bring up murdered father! Roxxy Andrews showed us the right way to bring up childhood traumas, right before you're about to be eliminated as the heat is turned on.
By the way, Miss Fame, thank you SO MUCH for igniting the great "Is Drag more about performance or looks?" debate which is a long running dispute back through the drag centuries. On it's face it sounds like a very simple question, but it's actually more like asking whether grapes or time are more important for wine or whether Jesus is more human or divine? The latter question sunk into the brains of the poor old Byzantines until they collectively went insane, came up with something called monothelitism, and had riots in Constantinople over whether Jesus had two persons and one nature or one nature and two persons.
So, Ru, if you're listening, my point is that I think after this season you need to call an ecumenical drag council like the Christian Emperors of old to sort this question out before we go through another season of pointless esoteric debate.
5.) Max (-1) Max didn't do much this episode but had a good runway look, so he treads water in the rankings this week.
4.) Violet Chachki (-2) It's very fluid at the top and while Violet is a strong contender, I do not think he's near the top in terms of talent. In fact he may find that his lane (bitchy skinny street-smart queen) is being taken by Pearl.
3.) Pearl (+1) Speaking of which Pearl had a great week this week. He showed my earlier diagnosis of "no personality" to be incorrect, he is bitchy and he doesn't take anyone's guff. Did you see him smack down Violet in rehearsals? Also he appears to be an early favorite of the community because he is the most attractive queen on the show since I have been watching.
2.) Kennedy Davenport (-1) Kennedy had a quiet week this week but I still think there a lot there. She had the 2nd best outfit (behind Katya) on the runway and she was solid, if not spectacular in the skit.
1.) Ginger Minj (+6) Ginger Minj had an absolute tour de force week, which earned him possibly the biggest jump in the rankings ever. I constantly found myself laughing at his comments and agreeing with his assessment of the progress of events. And his performance in the airline skit....if there is ever an all-drag Hairspray, he would be a more than serviceable as Tracy Turnblatt. He's not a watered down Darien Lake, has just has all of Darien's cutting wit with none of his insecure ugliness.
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