RuPaul's Drag Race: Big Opening No. 1

January 9, 2022 9:34 PM - Season 14, Episode 1

A new cast of queens, competing for $100,000, must show off their performance skills in a talent show. Superstar singer Lizzo guest judges.

7 of the eventual 14 queens enter the competition.

TLo
AVClub

posted by supercres (11 comments total)

Assorted quick thoughts:

Lizzo is an amazing guest judge as always

I get a kick out of Willow Pill so I hope she sticks around, but man Ru’s take on her name is going to get old fast.

What an bummer of a performance out of Alyssa Hunter. At least the two girls on the bottom tried something interesting

June Jambalaya’s West African dancing was a great idea, and I was looking forward to it, but it’s an art form that just doesn’t work with recorded music. Badly needs interplay between musicians and dancers. She was… okay, to my amateur eye. There were noticeably better dancers in the student group i drummed for in college. Outfit choice was fairly traditional but there would be better choices for hiding pads, shapewear, etc that would be in use in drag.

I find Kornbread to be immediately charismatic. Comparisons with Silky abound (for fairly reductive surface-level reasons), but I find myself enjoying her so much more than even reformed AS6 Silky.

Otherwise, pulling for Bosco (Seattle! Hair!)
posted by supercres at 9:51 PM on January 9, 2022 [1 favorite]

I was interested in Bosco and Willow Pill before the episode aired. I though Bosco's runway outifit was perfect for the challenge and the talent outfit was great, but we've seen better burlesque performances. Willow Pill's talent was phenomenal, but the runway look didn't live up to promo outfits. Kornbread stole the show onstage, in the Werk Room, and in confessionals.

As for the bottoms, June Jambalaya's performance made me think of BeBe Zahara Benet's on AS3. I'm no fan of BeBe, but her's was definitely superior. Orion Story's talent could have been hilarious but wasn't. Orion Story had the better runway look, definitely reminded me of Lisa Marie's Martian Girl from Mars Attacks, but June Jambalaya's save was deserved.

This is a pretty impressive group already with only half the cast present. Here's hoping the season continues as strong as it has started.
posted by obol at 10:50 PM on January 9, 2022 [1 favorite]

I get a kick out of Willow Pill so I hope she sticks around, but man Ru’s take on her name is going to get old fast.

My theory is Ru does this when she doesn't like a Queen's name. See also: Heidi n' Closet.

I very much appreciate the split intro shows; gives us a chance to get to know the girls better. All reality shows should follow this format- the first few episodes where there's a huge mob are always the worst.

I neeeeed Kornbread to release her single ASAP, what a bop.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 12:10 PM on January 10, 2022

Totally agree that Ru in one episode killed any humor in Willow Pill's name, and honestly it was starting to sound disrespectful and not in the same way she plays with other contestant names.
posted by archimago at 12:14 PM on January 10, 2022

TIL that the fandom calls these "name yodels" (a sadly no longer extant page), e.g. The Reverend Doctor Silky, Albany Schenectady Utica, London Paris Milan, Ivyyyyyyyyyyy Winters. Usually they don't have some diminutive shit like that baked in. Maybe someone will remind him about Willow's chronic illness and cut it out.

I really like this season so far. Even Ru seems awake for it, even if that's partially just to promote his new single with a half-hearted lip sync number (and to call out Michelle's microaggression 😗👌 ). The show just seems slightly less like a parody of itself than it has recently.

I love RuPaul's sartorial homage to Interpol's Turn on the Bright Lights.
posted by supercres at 1:05 PM on January 10, 2022

My wife is SUPER excited for Bosco - she was his art teacher briefly when he was growing up here in Montana.
posted by davidmsc at 11:08 AM on January 11, 2022 [2 favorites]

Kornbread definitely stands out as an immediate frontrunner. I was as enamored with her runway look as the judges were, but she has personality is spades and I would be very surprised if she didn't make it to the finale.
posted by Julnyes at 12:40 PM on January 21, 2022

I lurrrve Orion, who is from my home town. (I don't live there anymore). I've had this vintage fabric and a 1970s hostess maxi dress lying around waiting for the right person, and I decided that was Orion. So I sent it to her, and now we message back and forth quite a bit! I happen to be going back to the hometown tomorrow, and we are probably going to meet up. I love this season so far.
posted by Stewriffic at 10:54 AM on January 24, 2022 [1 favorite]

Following up from that last comment--I did get to see Orion Story a couple times while I was in the same city. First, I brought her a million wigs I had been buying in some kind of pandemic frenzy, so she came to my parents' house to get them. Second, I took her out to lunch on Valentine's day. She is so sweet. We still message frequently, and she patiently answers some of my wig styling questions. <3 She hosted a viewing party on my birthday in town. I didn't go because Covid and aged parents. Not sure how this all developed, but I feel really fortunate to have this kind of deeper connection! These girls are so busy.
posted by Stewriffic at 6:04 AM on March 3, 2022

(oh, and she made the wig you see in this performance from combining a few of the wigs I gave her.)
posted by Stewriffic at 6:07 AM on March 3, 2022

Is anybody here still watching this season? It’s been…interesting.
posted by DiscourseMarker at 5:47 PM on March 19, 2022