Forever and a day ago, I did elaborate, photo-driven, cartoon-styled recaps of RuPaul's Drag Race. I really enjoyed the result, but it was very labor intensive. It required watching the episodes multiple times each just in the hopes that the buffer for HD would load in time for a clear screen grab to work from. Doing those recaps meant less time writing, more time screaming that everything wasn't going right. This season, I'm covering the show again, though I'm doing it in a different way. I toyed with a Project Runway recap a couple seasons ago that just didn't go anywhere. However, the format was good: a quick recap of the episode, followed by a ranked list of the contestants' performance on the show. That'll work much better on a show where you can still care about who is competing.
Let's get to it.
Recap
Season 6 of RuPaul's Drag Race started with one of the better twists I've seen in all my years of watching reality TV. Instead of holding one premiere episode introducing all 14 contestants, Ru announced that the field will be split in half. Seven competed this week so the judges could see their personalities and skills on the runway instead of half the field getting a pass. There's no more flying under the radar. Everyone has to make a strong first impression to survive.
The photo challenge comes straight from America's Next Top Model years ago. The queens were put on a high ledge and had to be high fashion while jumping into a foam pit. Everyone except for Laganja, a really trained dancer, struggled to get height, distance, and a safe landing, so she won by default.
From there, Laganja got to assign everyone a box of materials to work with inspired by popular TV shows: Duck Dynasty, Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, Game of Thrones, Golden Girls, Dancing with the Stars, Keeping Up with the Kardashians, and Downton Abbey. The girls had to make a couture outfit inspired by the show. Each box contained real materials, like fabric and clothing to alter, and gag materials, like sketties and butter and a Godzilla toy.
The List
1. BenDeLaCreme
Give me a good comedy queen any day on Drag Race. BenDeLaCreme ("DeLa for short, Duh for shorter, Ms. Creme if you're nasty") has a character and she's sticking to it. She's the eternal optimist, so much smarter than everyone else that they don't realize she is tearing them to shreds with a wink and a smile. Her entrance was one of the best in the history of the show. Her photo was okay, but her hot glue gun Golden Girls couture outfit was a riot. Bonus points for literally serving cheesecake and then eating it at the end. Not even the judges have caught how subversive BenDeLaCreme really is.
2. April Carrion
April Carrion is the Puerto Rican queen this season and she claims she has a huge advantage over past contestants: she speaks English. She came out with a very dramatic drag look, but that gave her fellow contestants the wrong impression of her. The photo challenge was weak, but her quick turn around on a second look inspired by Duck Dynasty was excellent. She can take a critique from Ru and not crumble to pieces. Another smart queen setting herself up for a good long run on the show.
3. Vivacious
Bias. That's all I have to say about this placement. I'm in NJ. I lived in NYC for a few years. This is what drag looks like around here. It's either high camp or ballroom and Vivacious is the first real NYC ballroom queen we've had on the show (Mariah from Season 3 was the first ball queen, but from Atlanta). Milan from Season 4 was trying to do the same kind of thing, but Vivacious is living it. Forget the failed zipper on the entrance outfit. Forget falling like a sack of potatoes into the foam pit. Forget the would have been great with enough fabric Game of Thrones look. It's about the personality, the lip sync, and the runway walk with this one. I don't know how long Vivacious can last on the show, but she's sure going to entertain us while she's here.
4. Laganja Estranja
Alyssa Edwards has now been represented on the show four seasons by three contestants: Shangela (drag daughter), Shangela again, Alyssa herself, and now Laganja Estranja. You can tell. Just look at the makeup and dance moves. Laganja is coming off a little too strong with the personality, but she has the goods to back it up. The three death drops in a row on that workroom floor will not be forgotten. The photo was excellent and the runway look would have worked perfectly if the train were just a little shorter; she slipped in front of the judges just a little bit and they read her for it.
5. Adore Delano
Bias again. Adore Delano first entered the world of reality TV as Danny Noriega, the super sassy bane of American Idol's existence in Season 7. He quickly became a Vote for the Worst favorite (he was so funny and entertaining and clearly did not care what the show wanted him to do) and we damn near got him into the finals. Then, he took up drag and started trying to get on Drag Race. We know Adore won the preliminary viewer's choice vote every time they published the scores because we kept close tabs. Based on that alone, she should have competed on Season 4.
I digress. Adore was funny this episode, but screwed up both of the challenges. Personality alone saved her from the bottom 2. I'm big on her 80s Lisa Frank-colored mermaid aesthetic and hope she goes far. Another sewing challenge will probably send her home.
6TIE: 5 (see update below). Kelly Mantle
Kelly Mantle tried her best. Everything just fell a little flat. The photo was ok. She got some good lines in during the confessionals but kind of let the nastier contestants get away with a lot of reading in the workroom. I didn't mind the runway look at all, but the judges weren't having it. Kelly came a bit too subdued for the first episode and didn't even ramp it up in the lip sync.
UPDATE: Dead.
Well-played, Kelly Mantle. And you're friends with Tammie Brown, the greatest contestant in the history of the show? Bonus points duly awarded.
7. Gia Gunn
I don't like Gia so far. The best thing she did, as far as I'm concerned, is walk through the workroom door with hula hoop as a purse. That shows she has some understanding of comedy/showmanship and might have a character hidden in there somewhere. The dull drone of "Absolutely" after (or during) every comment from the judges drove me insane. She's also trying way too hard to read and coming across as nasty and bitter, not funny. I hope she has more than a nasty attitude and some fancy clothes to work with.
Elimination
Ultimately, Vivacious and Kelly Mantle wound up in the bottom two and Vivacious was victorious. Kelly Mantle, always the professional, took her defeat in stride and even made jokes about her elimination in the workroom.
What did you think of the premiere? If you know about the other half of the playing field, you're going to really wonder why this half went first. You are not ready for Courtney Act, Milk, Magnolia Crawford, Bianca Del Rio, and Darienne Lake. There are no guarantees on Drag Race, but I hope Joslyn Fox and Trinity K. Bonet are ready to lip sync on their first episode.