‘Ru Paul’s Drag Race All-Stars 7×08’ Review
In my review of Ru Paul’s Drag Race All-Stars episode four I talked about how this season has proven the expression “expectation usually leads to disappointment” wrong. We have been waiting for years for the show to create a season entirely made up of queens who overcame their competitors. The queens have had time since their initial appearance to hone their craft, tour the world, collaborate with designers etc and so the standard of drag we have seen in this season has been some of the greatest we have seen across any franchise of the show! However, another extremely common adage states that “all good things must come to an end” and unfortunately in my opinion this week’s episode seems to be the early stages of the show losing its magic! We are only eight episodes in and so far we have had two design challenges and while they have showcased some of the queen’s incredible talents, the show’s point is to find the most well-rounded queen, not the best designer. Nothing proved this repetition was unnecessary more than the fact that, when being tasked with reimagining some of Ru Pauls’s most iconic looks throughout the years, both Jaida and Trinity ended lip-syncing against one another for the second time this season (which happened in the other design challenge).
This minor blip meant that the pressure was on for this week’s episode to get the season back on track and (SPOILER ALERT) I personally don’t think it was able to. The queens were informed that they were going to start in the Christmas/horror movie titled “Santa’s School for Girls” with each performer taking in a different role. I think that it made total sense that Trinity the Tuck was in charge of allocating the roles for this challenge, as she was the winner of the previous episode and in my head winning should come with some form of advantage (and not just one of the legendary legends stars.) The queens were sat deciding what roles they would like when both Monet and Jinkx decided they wanted the same role and so they were forced to audition in front of their peers. I really enjoy the precedent set during season thirteen, where if two queens want the same role they have to convince everyone else why there are better than the other person. What we have not seen on Drag Race before however, is this process backfiring after Trinity considered her ‘not-so-secret’ alliance with Monet. From the queen’s reactions, it was clear that Jinkx was better in the audition but Trinity used her power to make a controversial choice to cast her co-winner from All-Stars season four. However corrupt the audition process was, I do think the best decision was made as Monet was incredible in the challenge as the wonderfully eccentric and almost free-spirited art teacher! The scene in which she revolves that her full name is in fact camel toe (and not mistletoe as expected) was hilarious and was delivered perfectly!
The premise of this play is the idea that a new girl has joined a Christmas-obsessed school that I run by a rather eccentric headteacher. Not long after the new student arrives, the school discovers a series of murders that must be solved before everyone is killed. The show was an homage to Mean Girls and specifically that iconic “Jingle Bell Rock” moment but this time it was accompanied by Ru Paul’s Christmas song “Hey Sis It’s Christmas!” This challenge was absolutely dominated by Vivienne who continues her run as one of the greatest acting juggernauts to ever appear on Drag Race. She was given the role of the headmaster of the festive obsessed school where she gave a wonderful blend of Faye Dunaway’s infamous portrayal of Joan Crawford, mixed with a sprinkle of Donald Trump and Kim Woodburn. This unique concoction worked beautifully with the unhinged head teacher with a secret, murderous side! We have come to expect that Viv will excel in an acting challenge but the person who surprised me most was actually Raja as the rebellious, gothic character Scrooge! I did not expect Raja to be such a captivating and hilarious performer as she called upon her own experience seeing these types of people throughout her own educational journey. The most enjoyable performance to watch however would have to be Trinity the Tuck who really leaned into her stupid character role. There was a particular moment when the innermost thoughts of each character were being vocalised but for Trinity’s character, it was just her singing “Tis the season” which I personally found hilarious! It was clear that Trinity was having fun with this role and so the audience also had fun with her!
I am not sure if it was the festive season at the time of filming this episode but the Christmas element of this challenge did feel a bit random especially as they transitioned from this to a knitted runway category. If it was supposed to be a festive episode I think the fashion theme needed to be more directly festive and it wouldn’t have taken too long to come up with a non-denomination-based theme such as having the queens show off a sexy Santa-inspired look and calling it “Hoe, Hoe, Hoe.” We instead choose “Knitty Knitty Bang Bang” which is probably one of my least favourite titles of a runway I have ever heard. Despite my hesitations, however, I thought that overall the queens did very well in this runway category and some of them looked absolutely insane! The Vivienne graced the stage in an incredible white knitted ball gown complete with knitting needles in her hair. I thought she looked so elegant in this look with her make-up always being extremely polished. This outfit was one of my favourites of the week but I reckon it would have been extremely hot under all that knitted fabric! Shea, however, decided to showcase a much more African-infused look that had a fabulous headpiece, and knitted rainbow leg warmers and cleverly she decided to go bald which made for a very powerful look on the runway. I really enjoyed the vibrancy of this look which went in a totally different direction than I personally would have come up with which is great to see! However, my favourite look from this episode would have to be Eyvie Oddly you did a much more space-inspired look. She wore this wonderful, hand-dyed shaggy jacket with amazing match fringe trousers with nothing underneath the jacket but two knitted nipple covers. She also wore this incredible headpiece that was made up of more knitted needles and yarn with her make-up being some of the best we have ever seen from her! This look was so uniquely Eyvie yet still fitted the category and was very fashion-forward which is what every queen should be aiming for! Jinkx decided to showcase a much more classic Hollywood-inspired look with an extremely glamorous gold outfit that sparkles perfectly under the lights of the stage. Jinkx shared with the audience that this look was inspired by the iconic German actress Marlene Dietrich (who was impersonated by Sasha Velour during season nine) and she used every moment on the stage to showcase a much-for glamour based presentation of her outfit that I thought was brilliant. This would have to be one of my favourite looks I have ever seen for Jinkx! I was also in awe of Raja’s look this week as she did something that I personally would have never thought of! She used this knitted runway category to showcase an almost futuristic warrior look with the yarn being used to create a sort of armour on her body. The contradiction of armour being made of such a soft material was a beautiful contrast that was only added to with the matching gold thigh-high boots and a fantastic visor!
I think it made total sense when Viv and Raja were announced as the top two queens of this week’s episode as they both did fantastic in the acting challenge and showcased wonderfully unique and exciting looks on the runway. Initially, I thought that “Super freak” by Rick was a rather strange choice for a lip-sync but I was proven wrong. From The Vivienne doing an on-stage wet t-shirt competition and pulling out a dodgy cartwheel to raja doing a much more retro-inspired performance, these two proved that a good lip-sync can perform to any song with ease! It was then announced that Raja is the top All-Star of the week and so is granted the power of the magic plunger and can block whichever queen she would like. She took every moment possible while deciding to really amp up the drama and after a few moments decided that she would be blocking Jaida which is the first time she has received the plunger this season!
Overall, this was a very entertaining episode of Ru Paul’s Drag Race All-Stars but the challenge and runway seemed to have very little connection to one another. However, the top two queens of the episode were the clear front runners in both the runway and the challenge which helped for a very coherent viewing experience for the audience.
