We’re going to switch things up a bit after mostly bitching about the show’s shortcomings all season and focus on the positives in this latest RuPaul’s Drag Race Global All-Stars. Let’s see how long we can keep it up! So to speak.
For instance, we kind of loved Alyssa’s offstage outfit! That’s positive! We’ve long held that the show should have stricter rules about how the queens choose to present themselves quote-unquote “out of drag.” For us, no matter who’s doing it or how they approach it, drag is essentially an art of transformation. Personally, we like it much better when the queens go from looking like shit to looking like goddesses in front of our eyes, but we can’t fault Alyssa for working a cute look.
This week’s challenge tasked the queens with producing tourism videos for their home countries, which was a really cute idea that utilized the international cast well (positive!), but it’s another comedy and writing challenge that pitted native English speakers against ESL speakers in front of an entirely English-speaking judges’ panel (kinda negative, sorry!).
When the cast gets this small, we really can’t complain too much about filler scenes. A full third of the episode was simply queens talking about stuff, and while the “being queer is hard” discussions have become just a bit rote and expected, it’s genuinely interesting to hear the perspectives of various queens from around the world regarding various questions and issues surrounding queer life; in this case, the question of starting families of their own. As the OG recappers, we can tell you that this was not the kind of thing the queens were concerned with fifteen or so years ago; a testament to where we are and how far we’ve come.
Okay, now comes the negativity. We can only keep the positivity up for so long. First, we really wish someone would criticize Kitty for her relentlessly repetitive dolly bird drag. While she gets points for keeping so much of her drag on this show Brit-specific, it would be nice to see her switch up the look a little more. Having said that, her piece was very polished and to our eyes, easily the funniest.
We have absolutely no problem with shady queens who own their cuntiness, but we don’t think it makes the best approach for a challenge like this one. Kween got a couple of funny moments – especially the one with the Koala – but there was something off about his overly aggressive approach. The production made a lot of her 27-page script, but we honestly have no idea what an acceptable length is supposed to be for this kind of challenge, but it definitely felt like she stuffed too many ideas and inside references for it to work as well as it could have.
Alyssa knows exactly what the judges want to see from her. She’s been in the Drag Race machine for so long that it tends to make her the most careerist and ass-kissy of the group. She literally thanked the episode’s sponsor for her cash prize; that’s how much this queen is making sure to dot her i’s and cross her t’s. We can’t say we laughed all that much through her piece, but like most of what Alyssa does on stage, it was stupidly entertaining.
There were one or two cute ideas in Tessa’s Switzerland video, but dressing as a cow wasn’t among them. Once you come out in the cow costume, you’re not leaving yourself anywhere to go. The jokes weren’t great and the delivery was erratic.
Nehellania continues to test our complaint about forcing non-native speakers to write and perform in English because she’s legitimately funny and she has the least facility with the language of any of the queens. Like Alyssa, she pays attention to what the judges like about her and keeps giving them that, over and over again. We’d have liked it if she leaned a little more into the Mario impression, but she did really well for herself.
Category Is: Queens In Outer Space! #GlobalAllStars
In honor of the final season of Star Trek: Discovery (@StarTrekOnPPlus) the queens served intergalactic lewks on the runway. Who had your fave?! pic.twitter.com/SKuhWIoEcr
— RuPaul’s Drag Race (@RuPaulsDragRace) October 11, 2024
We had to work in that dolly bird drag complaint because she negated it with this look. Granted, we’d have loved a wig in a darker color, just to take it further from her usual drag, but this is gorgeous and unexpected coming from her. Between this look and the video, she was our choice for the win this week.
Kween looked stunning – from the neck up. We realize that a massive wig and head piece might make one think that the dress should be simple, but this isn’t fashion, it’s drag. The dress lets the look down.
The judges were being extra nice in their commentary this week, so this look didn’t quite get the critique we felt it deserved. The stars are a little too craftsy and putting them on her knees was a poor design choice that forced her into an awkward walk. Wearing a nude illusion catsuit doesn’t strike us as the best way to show them off or to embody the concept of a space queen. A black, stoned catsuit would have made more sense to us. The stripper heels don’t work with this at all.
She over-relies on her legs, which isn’t the worst crime in the world, but this costume is a pure stunner with a proportional problem because the skirt is simply too short. It’s amazing from the waist up.
Hilarious, unexpected, and campy as fuck. While the costume itself gets a little busy, we love the ’40s pinup wig.
Alyssa won it and we can’t really get all that mad about it because our choice would have been Kitty, another native English speaker with an established queen’s costume budget.
Kween and Tessa faced off for the lip sync and that seems correct to us, although it would have been an upset if Kween somehow lost the lip sync. She probably connected to “Don’t Leave Me This Way” better than Tessa did, but we honestly think this was a contest of costumes. Tessa’s were ugly as hell and that yellow smock she wore for too long was completely unsuited to the song. Kween looked like a disco diva and she sold it better.
She should be proud of how far she came in the competition against much more experienced queens. Her temper tantrum exit was hilarious.
Legendary Children: The First Decade of RuPaul’s Drag Race and the Last Century of Queer Life, a New York Times “New and Notable” pick, praised by The Washington Post “because the world needs authenticity in its stories,” and chosen as one of the Best Books of The Year by NPR is on sale wherever fine books are sold! It’s also available in Italian and Spanish language editions, darlings! Because we’re fabulous on an INTERNATIONAL level.
[Photo Credit: Paramount Plus via Tom and Lorenzo, World of Wonder Productions, Inc./Paramount+]
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