There’s a roteness to RuPaul’s Drag Race: All Stars 8. A malaise. It’s just not punching through. If we’re looking at it thematically, the season has largely been about what the girls will or won’t do to win: What does this mean to them, and how far are they willing to go? Heidi’s quit was one answer to that query, while the question of Kandy’s willingness to send Jimbo home is another. Kasha showed weakness on that front and was promptly sent home, while Darienne, who’d been doing worse, got to stay. That’s fine as a theme. But the thing is it’s been the story of most of the All-Stars seasons since All Stars 2, when Adore quit, Alaska threw a temper tantrum, and Detox sent home Alyssa over Roxxxy. It was also the story of All Stars 3 (culminating in Dela’s quit), All Stars 4 (Naomi eliminating Manila), and All Stars 5 (Mayhem and Mariah self-eliminating, India attempting to play mind games). If there’s any season All Stars 8 feels similar to, it’s All Stars 5, one of the franchise’s most languid, uninteresting outings. I don’t think this season has ever reached those pits, but it has a similar “going through the motions†sense. None of the episodes have been truly terrible, but since the premiere, which I truly thought was great, nothing has really punched through.
Part of that seems like a format issue. The girls voting one another out is a great catalyst for drama, but it’s also a great way to get the same plot points over and over, season after season. You can squeeze a lot of drama out of girls having to vote against their friends, but I don’t think you can get that many different types of drama. When it gets down to the voting each week, I already know why someone might vote for one person over the other, to the point where it’s hard for me to care. Any show on its eighth season is going to have these issues, but I’d argue that the main Drag Race has managed to keep things a little fresher through clever casting (how could you be bored when Sasha Colby shows up?) and a format that allows for new and interesting story lines. The All Stars format doesn’t permit much differentiation between seasons, and I’m getting bored. I wouldn’t say it’s the queens’ fault, though the strong casting of hungry girls on All Stars 6 was what kept it from having the same issue. But this season isn’t engaging enough to be worth the energy.
Anyway, let’s get into the episode, which, like so many things this season, is fine. It begins with the unsurprising news that Kahanna would have been sent home last week if it weren’t for Heidi’s quit. The fact that she ends up in the bottom again by the end of the episode (and the fact that next week is an improv challenge, which surely means she’ll be back there for an 82nd time) means that I think keeping her around again was a production mistake. I don’t dislike her presence, but it does feel like we’re just biding our time, and she might be better used as a presence who could shake up the Fame Games, which I haven’t been covering because, let me tell you, this is not a season of looks.
Jimbo is pretty embarrassed by her lack of lip-syncing abilities, which I understand and would cite as yet another reason that the format needs a shake-up. If Jimbo can make it through the season without falling into the bottom, then I don’t think she needs to be forced to lip sync. Would Bianca win season six if they’d forced her to lip sync every time she won? I doubt it, and we’d all be worse off for it.
The challenge this week is a Joan Crawford Rusical, which is part Joan Crawford Rusical and part just a Rusical adaptation of Mommie Dearest, which I’m pretty sure they couldn’t get the rights to. Note: If you’re not a Joan Crawford fan, I’d recommend (a) Watching some Joan Crawford movies (Mildred Pierce and What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? are probably the most essential for camp history) and (b) Watching some Be Kind Rewind videos on Crawford’s legacy, like this one or this one.
I was a bit surprised that this Rusical didn’t delve into Crawford’s feud with Bette Davis at all, which is one of the campiest parts of Crawford’s legacy, as proven by the fact that Ryan Murphy made a show about it. I also think it’s worth noting that Crawford and Mommie Dearest are pretty well-trod territory at this point, with multiple Joan Crawford Snatch Games over the show’s history and a What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? sketch in All Stars 2. It’s worth asking whether this wouldn’t have felt fresher if the reference points were updated, especially since it seems like the vast majority of the girls are not Joan Crawford superfans. I like that the show teaches about queer history, but I think you’d get better results if you gave the queens challenges they have a natural reference point for.
One thing I do appreciate about this challenge is the format, in which the girls have to assign the parts among themselves then record their own vocals and lip sync to them. The Rusicals where they lip sync to prerecorded tracks often don’t give the judges enough performance to go off of, and the doling out of roles by the girls is fairest: If your part sucks, you have nobody to blame but yourself.
As usual, the casting is low-key except for when two queens argue over the same part: Jessica and Kandy both want the wire-hanger song. They each audition, and you quickly see how this will go since Jessica simply cannot sing. Ultimately she ends up with a rock track, which she should have gone with anyway since she won the rock-singing challenge back in season two.
The vocal recording goes pretty smoothly from what we see. Nothing much there. The Rusical is directed and choreographed by Adam Shankman, who most famously directed the Hairspray remake, and it’s a great pull for this challenge. It’s nice to see a true professional working with the girls, and he seemed like a positive collaborator. Do I still miss Jamal Sims? I do.
When it comes to the Rusical, I’m not as high on it as the judges are. Maybe it just played better in person, but it was pretty much just okay onscreen. Part of the issue is that it starts with what are, to me, the clear bottoms of the night. Kahanna’s head looks completely disconnected from her body, and she misses some words on the lip sync — it’s worth noting she’s the only girl who doesn’t switch up her makeup at all to play Joan. Especially combined with her runway this week, it’s becoming clear how little she has in her bag of tricks beyond showgirl. Jaymes is so incompetent at choreo that it appears Adam tailored the number for her to just be walking, and she can’t seem to get out of the “cute†thing that she naturally defaults to. The moments when she’s supposed to be yelling at Christina don’t land because she can’t bring the demented intensity that the moment needs to be a true Mommie Dearest reference. With Jaymes’s focus on old Hollywood innate to her drag persona, the fact that she cannot nail a Joan Crawford challenge is more than enough to stick her in the bottom.
Kandy does well, and it’s a significant step up from the previous two, but I wouldn’t give her the win this week. There were a few moments when her face dropped out of it, but she does great with the choreo. It seemed like a pretty obvious safe or high performance to me. Jessica does similarly well. She’s very committed, which is always her greatest strength, so that’s no surprise. She’s a great dancer, and the anger is palpable. Good stuff. I don’t fully understand why the Mildred Pierce number is a “Vogue†pastiche, but Lala does a great job with it. She gives what is probably the most polished performance of the night, in control of every inch of her body, and her face has levels to it, rather than just being “angry†the entire time. Based solely on performances, I’d have probably given her the win.
I’m confused about how Alexis doesn’t end up at the top this week. She seems to really understand Joan Crawford, is super on in the background shots, gives a clear vocal performance, and dances well while keeping her face in it the whole time. Seems like a slam dunk to me. Jimbo … well, this is not Jimbo’s category. She does okay by herself, with great Joan makeup and a vocal performance that’s pretty strong. But for a rocking Hagsploitation number, she never feels truly in control of the stage. If they had a low placement this week, it surely would have been her.
The runway category is Night of 1,000 Grace Jones. Kahanna is a mess; I’m sorry. To take a true fashion icon like Jones and turn her into yet another basic showgirl costume shows a serious lack of creativity and a severe limit in terms of what your drag can be. This was elimination worthy. Not that Jaymes’s is much better. There’s pulling in the wrong spots, as is often an issue for her. Still, in comparison to Kahanna, I’m glad it’s not something we’ve seen from her before. Kandy looks great, but it would have had more impact if we hadn’t seen a slew of bodysuits from her in previous weeks. Jessica also shines, and it’s nice to see her in a pure fashion look, which is not typically her thing, which is the point of the challenge. Lala is clearly the girl there with the most Grace Jones inspiration in her drag, and I agree with the judges that this is a little bit of a disappointment. Still, it’s one of the better Lala looks of the season. It’s a real stretch for Alexis to do Grace Jones, and I think she mostly manages it. Jimbo is stunning. With Jessica, this is probably the best of the night.
Kahanna and Jaymes end up in the bottom, as is right. Kandy ends up winning, which I’m not so sure about. I’m happy to see her win a challenge, but I’d honestly have ranked Jessica’s, Lala’s, and Alexis’s performances as equal or better. Still, what a relief it is to end the episode on a strong lip sync from one of the competitors. The lip sync assassin this week is Angeria Paris VanMichaels, which is odd because I remember her primarily as a park-and-bark girl. The song is Grace Jones’s “I’m Not Perfect But I’m Perfect for You,†which is a banger. Kandy eats Angeria right up. She’s a total sex pot in, yes, another bodysuit, but it’s clear how well Kandy knows how to command the stage. My eyes didn’t leave her the whole time. The song is great for her, and her heartbroken nipple pasties are hilarious. This lip sync might be the strongest Kandy’s been all season. She chooses to send Jaymes home, and I think the show wants me to be shocked by this, but unfortunately I can’t work up too much emotion about it. She was sent home first on her first season, so this is a big step up for her, and I didn’t think she was going to win. Kahanna is still a bit of a straggler, and seeing her limited showgirl drag in the top six is an odd sight, but I don’t think Jaymes was miles ahead of her.
Also on Untucked …
• Normal stuff: queens begging; other queens confused about who to send home. It doesn’t seem like Jaymes made a ton of friends there, which may have contributed to Kandy’s decision. I’ll be interested next week to see how the group voting went down.
• Alexis Michelle Watch: I was kind of surprised to see Alexis be mostly normal this week, both in the main episode and on Untucked, given that the challenge seemed directly within her wheelhouse and then she was promptly deemed safe. I suppose she’s learned her lesson from season nine about how to react when called safe, but I wanted histrionics.
• Predicted top four: Jimbo, Jessica, and Kandy for sure. Fourth is probably Alexis, but she’ll need to win a challenge soon.