RuPaul's Drag Race: Grand Finale

May 18, 2016 8:31 AM - Season 8, Episode 10

The final three queens have a last heart-to-heart with Ru, and one of them becomes the 9th Next Drag Superstar. Unless you count the clown.

All 8 previous winners return for the season 8 finale, and Katya returns to crown this season's Miss Congeniality. Features video messages from 95-year-old Carol Channing, Lena "Cersei That Walk" Headey, and Margaret Cho.

posted by joan cusack the second (12 comments total)

My wife and I weren't sure who would win because 1) Bob is similar to Bianca Del Rio, and 2) she seemed ... overqualified? She's good at everything, and actually pretty nice (insert shady rattlesnake sound).

But the other judges pretty much announced her to be the winner in their reviews of the musical performances. Only Bob had really positive comments, the rest were kind of cute or funny.

And Derrick Barry's drag, bless her heart. Wasn't that just another Britney look?
posted by filthy light thief at 10:08 AM on May 18, 2016

Super happy about the result, a very well-deserved win... but Chi Chi DeVayne will always be first in my heart.

Also, I would watch the SHIT out of a variety show hosted by Chi Chi and Katya.
posted by duffell at 10:14 AM on May 18, 2016 [4 favorites]

Yuss! (And I didn't realize how much I missed Katya.)
posted by filthy light thief at 10:17 AM on May 18, 2016

I think if the musical numbers were truly the deciding factor, then it was 100% obvious who the winner was. Only Bob delivered an actual show. Naomi was close, but when Kim Chi performed, all my sadness about Chi Chi being cut returned. She would have slayed a performance, even if Bob was still going to win.

And can we talk about Violet and her crown of flesh? Oh my lord, I fell off my couch and died on the floor and then came back to life just for the chance die again I loved it so much.
posted by donnagirl at 10:25 AM on May 18, 2016

2nding wishing I could have seen a Chi Chi performance.

Even though I love Bob and couldn't see how anyone else was going to win, this video of the queens reacting to the finale still got me right in the feels. (I believe they film all three queens "winning" so no one knows who actually won until the episode airs.)
posted by joan cusack the second at 12:06 PM on May 18, 2016 [2 favorites]

I'm pretty sure Violet actually won - that dress, that makeup, that prosthetic? Yowza.

Overall I'm OK with Bob winning although it was pretty much The Bob The Drag Queen Show: Featuring Other Queens since about midseason. Glad for Cucu taking MC.

See you folks for All-Stars 2 in what is maybe August?
posted by the uncomplicated soups of my childhood at 12:12 PM on May 18, 2016 [1 favorite]

For all the editing and other behind-the-scenes manipulation they do to ratchet up the drama, sometimes there's no way that it could have gone any other way. In a group of talented queens, Bob was so obviously the best that the only reason anybody thought it would go anywhere differently, I think, is that we've been conditioned by reality shows to "expect the unexpected".

Since I was getting together to watch it with folks last night, I didn't watch it live and was afraid I'd spoil the outcome for myself. However, sometime yesterday, I realized when I didn't see anything that Bob must have won, because if Bob hadn't won, there would have been so much outrage that it would have been unavoidable.

And add me to the crowd applauding Violet. When she came out, our room of about 10 people went completely silent except for my big mouth, who just said "Jesus Christ..." in the way that someone in a movie about alien invasion looks up in the sky as the giant mothership zooms overhead.

And Derrick Barry's drag, bless her heart. Wasn't that just another Britney look?


In Derrick's 'defense', it almost looked like it was Derrick doing an Derrick Barry impression rather than Derrick doing a Britney impression... which... progress, I guess?
posted by MCMikeNamara at 1:21 PM on May 18, 2016 [1 favorite]

One more thing I forgot: #TeamNaomi'sMom
posted by MCMikeNamara at 1:32 PM on May 18, 2016 [4 favorites]

I forgot about everything else when I caught sight of Violet's jaw-dropping dress. A year ago, I wouldn't have given you two cents for Violet, but now all is forgiven. I read she actually co-designed The Dress. Kudos to her for showing something new (or at least new to me).
posted by S'Tella Fabula at 10:16 PM on May 18, 2016

See you folks for All-Stars 2 in what is maybe August?

I'm hoping for an in-between seasons mini-series or one-off episode where Ru and Kim go on that roadtrip to see Kim's mom (hoping it all goes well - I'm so sad that more people can't have mom's like Naomi's -- #TeamNaomi'sMom !).

(And in re-visiting Kim Chi's store, I see she has dipped into makeup with Kim Chi Electric Teal Eyeshadow by Sugarpill, so go Kim Chi!)
posted by filthy light thief at 7:11 AM on May 19, 2016

VIOLET'S FUCKING DRESS
posted by en forme de poire at 5:02 PM on May 19, 2016 [2 favorites]

Happy for a Bob win, I've made no secret of my rooting for him, though I really do love all three girls (but a Naomi or Kim Chi win would've felt like an "upset" given Bob's A+ performance through the competition). I'm almost more excited for #teamCUCU for Miss Congeniality. It was fun to see the other queens again in the flashback bits. The performances I thought were fine, but agreed that only Bob's really shone (he might've had the best song as well).
posted by Zephyrial at 8:45 PM on May 19, 2016