RuPaul's Drag Race: Keeping it 100

March 7, 2016 7:35 PM - Season 8, Episode 1

In the 100th episode of RuPaul's Drag Race, former season champions return for a photo shoot with the new crop of queens. The runway challenge hearkens back to iconic challenges of seasons past.
posted by duffell (11 comments total)

• Love, love, LOVE the nerdy queens this season. Kim Chi and Dax Exclamationpoint (STORM!) make me so happy. However, much as I love Kim, I'm surprised the judges liked the hairball runway look so much! (I thought it a hot mess.)
• Bob the Drag Queen is so much damn fun. I want to hang out with Bob. We could go to the farmer's market and get kettle corn and people-watch. (Bob was SO MUCH FUN to watch on the runway, too. I love it when the contestants seem to just be enjoying the hell out of the competition.)
• Acid Betty just walked right in being passive-aggressive and shitty to everyone around her. I am not here for her. (But her runway outfit was incredible, I admit.)
• Chi Chi: I admit it, I am a sucker for a country bumpkin queen. She seems so nice! And I thought she looked great in her disco getup, too. Adorable.
• Cynthia Lee Fontaine seems... okay? But like, it's the same joke about her butt again and again and again. What else you got?
• Thorgy reminds me of Grease and Archie comics, but in a good way. Fun!
• Derrick Barry. I have the feeling every challenge will be a variation on a theme. The theme, obviously, is Britney Spears. Incredible likeness, but... Pass.
• Naomi Smalls, beautiful, great legs, ok. We'll see if there's anything else going on there.
• Robbie, Robbie, Robbie. As a Seattle native I'd like to be a supporter, but I'm honestly kind of meh. Eh. Meh. Although, I appreciated that Robbie didn't do anybody dirty when matching contestants up with challenges.
• I don't know if Laila's long for this competition, but I admit I was impressed and surprised by her runway look! Like a sexy gothic lady M. Bison. (Though apparently, the judges did not agree.) She fucking SLAYED IT in the lip sync.
• Naysha made very little impression on me tbh. She likes pageants and uh... I don't remember much else. Sorry, Naysha.
• You know, every season on the first or second episode there's a challenge involving sewing, and every season there are queens who are like "I don't know how to do this! Nobody told me we'd have to sew!" It's like, have you ever *watched* the show?

posted by duffell at 7:38 PM on March 7, 2016 [2 favorites]

It was a good first episode, I am hoping it's a RuTurn to form after the... questionable decisions made in Season 7. Untucked was alright, it's more drama-heavy straight out of the gate than last year, with a pair that's obviously going to have their differences and air them, loudly and repeatedly.
posted by the uncomplicated soups of my childhood at 8:36 PM on March 7, 2016 [2 favorites]

I am actually totally here for Acid Betty, rotted attitude and all. It's so over the top that I feel like it has to be partly a put-on, and her looks are amazing. In other news Bob and Kim Chi are fucking geniuses, I am slowly getting aboard the Thorgy love train, and Naomi is gorge.

Laila also fucking served it in the lip sync (though I am very slightly bummed she didn't do this trick when she went down for the head-bang (possible spoiler I guess if she LSFYL's again; it's a live performance of hers)). I also thought she got a little robbed (Robbie'd?) considering that she actually sewed a pretty dope jacket but I guess the photo brought her down.
posted by en forme de poire at 1:41 AM on March 8, 2016

The first episode is always interesting in that with so much competition for airtime, there's always some indelible character who initially doesn't really register. It took me most of the 90 minutes (!) (what is this, Project Runway?) to separate Thorgy and Robbie (a.k.a. "the annoying one from Brooklyn" and "the annoying one from Seattle"), but I do love Kim and Bob. Derrick kind of surprised me in the end, which is promising... maybe we'll see another Tatianna, where someone who initially comes across as a lightweight will end up have some good comedic chops.
posted by psoas at 8:54 AM on March 8, 2016

My friend and I were disappointed that Michelle didn't read Kim Chi for the lumpy flesh-toned boobs (and I was also a bit annoyed that Naomi didn't get read for boy-chest). Both of us remarked that Michelle seemed to be in a rather sunnier mood than usual. However, Derrick had better remember what Michelle said about not wanting to see Britney again, or she will get called out for it every episode.

So far, I'm somewhat #teamacidbetty (terrible cheekbone shading aside), but Bob is starting to win me over, even if her drag is a bit boring. Chi Chi really pulled it out with her silver disco look.

It always amazes me that when queens learn they are going to be on Drag Race, they don't go out and take a crash sewing course. Every season.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 10:06 AM on March 8, 2016

Actually, I just remember Derrick hinting that she will be doing not!Britney for Snatch Game, so I'm curious to see what that will be.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 10:10 AM on March 8, 2016

omg I just watched Untucked, Cynthia's bootie and opera singing... I lmao'd at Bob going,"oh, It just feels like a butt"
posted by en forme de poire at 11:26 AM on March 8, 2016 [1 favorite]

Poor Naysha though. It was an oversight not to learn how to at least wield a glue gun better before the show, but it was pretty heartbreaking to see her hold it together right until she got off stage and to hear her whole backstory. My stannish fanfictiony hope is that WoW eventually does a "redemption" season where they bring back a bunch of the more memorable early outs: Naysha, Kelly Mantle, Porkchop, Tempest, Lashauwn, ...
posted by en forme de poire at 11:36 AM on March 8, 2016

I just can't feel too badly for Naysha - you know there is going to be sewing, you know the first challenge is always a sewing challenge, you've got time to learn to sew!

Ruminds me of the Characters Wanted video here (NSFW, Loud)
posted by the uncomplicated soups of my childhood at 12:25 PM on March 8, 2016 [2 favorites]

Naysha should have learned to sew, but she seems so nice I still feel bad for her. I think Robbie should have LSFYL instead.

At the moment Bob the Drag Queen is my favorite, but who knows how that will change over the course of the season (hello Roxxxy Andrews)
posted by Julnyes at 12:13 PM on March 11, 2016

duffell: Love, love, LOVE the nerdy queens this season. Kim Chi and Dax Exclamationpoint (STORM!) make me so happy.
...
Bob the Drag Queen is so much damn fun. I want to hang out with Bob.

Agreed on all counts. Bob gives me some of the Bianca Del Rio vibe, with a bit less bite in the humor.

For the last few seasons, they've had 14 contestants, and before that there were 13. The last time they had 12 was Season 2, and Season 1 had 9. I think it gives more queens air time, but it still felt odd.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:15 PM on March 15, 2016