That was … positive! This episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race seemed to have one rule — good vibes only. Usually, when they bring the queens back on All Stars, it’s with the pretension that there will be some drama. These queens sent each other home, they fought, they tussled, they competed, and only some of them were successful. It’s a recipe for fighting! Not here. No, the “Fame Games” episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race came and went without so much as a lick of drama. The only beef mentioned was quickly squashed, and, by the end, everybody was happy, everybody got good critiques, and then two people won. Hooray!
Except, not really. Sorry, but I like drama. This show is about drag queens. When Drag Race descends into “Life Is Good” territory, I tend to glaze over. The All-Winners season, which was pretty much all positive all the time, only really worked because the queens were so next level that they made it worthwhile to just watch them do a drag revue show each week. And, even then, I got pretty bored by the end. Here, the lack of conflict settled into a malaise that nobody really managed to break through. The stakes weren’t that high (a queen could still win the Fame Games without winning this episode), and the talent show performances, despite what the judges were saying, definitely weren’t good enough to make up for the fact that they had no stakes. Even seeing the queens walk back into the Werk Room at the beginning just reminded me that I spent most of the season bored. No slight to these queens, but when an episode is this stakeless, it’s just not a good episode of TV. And when it’s just a relentless showing of positivity for a group of queens with no chance to win the competition, it honestly starts to feel a little condescending. No critiques sometimes means that they don’t think it’s worth giving you critiques.
I did enjoy the return of the reading challenge. After years of the reading challenge being the first challenge out of the gate on All Stars, it was nice to see the girls be able to read each other for things that actually happened in the competition. The reads overall? Pretty good. Alexis’s reading voice was strange, but that’s Alexis. Plus, “Jimbo: Lip sync. That’s the read” was cute. I don’t necessarily think anyone stood out so tremendously that they had to win, though Darienne had the best delivery on her Kandy read, and Jaymes had my favorite read of the night when she said that Kasha had the only drag queen story hour that kids were protesting. But the editors gave Mrs. Kasha Davis four reads while most other queens got two, so I figured out pretty quickly that it was hers. (Yes, Jimbo did do the best, but they were never going to let her win this.)
I’m going to skip right past the Werk Room segments because nothing notable happened other than Alexis apologizing to Lala and Lala accepting the apology. Not thrilling TV.
The queens performed in the talent show in the order they went home in, with Jimbo and Kandy nominally hosting, which amounted to a few jokes at the beginning and then just saying the names of each queen. Sure! Monica Beverly Hillz went first, doing an original song. The judges only said positive things this week, but I shan’t be taking that path. Unfortunately, Monica still has an issue punching through on the stage and would have been in the bottom if it was a typical episode. The overwhelming praise for her was one of the times when I felt like the show was handling the contestants with kid gloves to the point of rudeness.
Next was Naysha, who did a flamenco number. While it was nice to have someone take away from the typical monotony of “original song after original song” that can sometimes overwhelm these affairs, Naysha has an issue where you can always see her thinking of the dance moves ahead in her head instead of performing.
Mrs. Kasha Davis did a very upbeat number about social justice that I was … perhaps slightly confused by the tone of, given the rock track, the mom-rapping about social justice, the bright outfit, the wig changes, and the transition into storytime. Despite this, I was delightfully confused. This was simply not a number I had ever seen anything like before, and if I saw it at the club, I would certainly tip her. Original! A little manic!
Darienne did some stand-up that was good, then ended it with a positive message that made me say, “I kinda wish she just did stand-up.” With the very short amount of time that they give you, I just don’t think you have enough time to get through a bunch of jokes and deliver an inspirational message that feels complete.
Jaymes does a very cute number about having boobs. When she was one of the winners, I was a little uninspired, perhaps. When you measure this up to previous talent show winners, I think it becomes clear that this extravaganza was not particularly inspirational. Still, I’m being bitchy. She did a good job, especially for a queen who, it is documented, cannot dance. Good work, Jaymes Mansfield.
Kahanna has a very good cheerleader number. I will say it was a little poorly paced, given that she does one stunt, and it happens halfway through the song. You want your number to build, not peak in the middle.
Lala Ri, quite clearly, is a star. Her number is by far the strongest of the eliminated girls — she’s funny, she’s fierce, she’s sexy. This is her comfort zone, and none of them come close to catching her. She’s charismatic, a great dancer, and in complete control of her body and her face. Easy winner.
Alexis maybe should have done something to a prerecorded track instead of doing her Gypsy-inspired song live. Has any girl ever won the talent show on live vocals? I don’t think so. It always serves to make you sound a bit … meh in comparison to the other girls’ mixes, and it hampers your movement. Ru simply doesn’t care about whether or not you can sing live (she can’t!); she cares about if you can make your performance as entertaining as possible.
Jessica does an original song and a lot of hair flips. Ru tells her, “You could step into any show on tour tonight and people would fall over,” which means, I, for one, am excited to see Jessica Wild on Work the World.
Jimbo and Kandy do their talent show numbers as well. Based on Ru’s laughter, Jimbo probably would have won the challenge with her banana split routine. It’s very stupid (compliment). Kandy does a prerecorded track and it’s good enough. Next!
After the compliment session masquerading as a judging panel, Lala and Jaymes win the challenge lip sync to “Rain on Me.” At one point, they engage in lesbian sex on stage. Good! Make Alexis jealous, Lala! Then they both win the lip sync, which I was not thrilled with. In my mind, Lala won. They spin the wheel, and Lala gets to multiply her Fame Game votes by three and Jaymes by two. Sure. So Lala is the likely winner of our Fame Games? Fine by me. I’m technically rooting for Jessica because I think she was a bit shafted by the whole “Top Two” situation, but Lala is a good second choice.
