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jamieaholding
Reviews
RuPaul's Drag Race Global All Stars: Boobie: The Shequels (2024)
Feeling bad for the top 3
This favouritism works for nobody.
Coming out of this season Kween, Kitty, and Alyssa are not going to be as well-liked as they could have been had it been fairly judged, and that's not their fault.
Alyssa's performance was bottom 2 worthy, and the critique of "basic" for 2 queens when Kitty and Kween have done several very basic looks was unwarranted.
We've never had a season pushing queens so hard, and I feel bad for the other queens who can see it too, and know their days are numbered simply because they aren't in the favoured 3.
Couple that with short episodes and it's a total waste of talent.
RuPaul's Drag Race: Blame It on the Edit (2023)
Meh
The biggest issue with this episode was the lack of pay-off. They absolutely should have done a top 3, but teasing it then doing a lip sync which made it clear there would be a top 4, despite being a very average lip sync was so forced.
The song itself is so uncomfortable. Blame It on the Edit is lyrically a song about how context doesn't matter, I'd struggle to come up with a song with a worse message.
Further, the shorter episodes running up to this just meant I had very little investment in the queens. Since episode one it's looked like it was Anetra vs Sasha and so everyone else has effectively been filler.
Overall season 15 has been pretty low, and it's a shame to see talented queens mistreated by production.
RuPaul's Drag Race: House of Fashion (2023)
It's Rotting
From here it is quite clear just how much of an impact the 40m run-time is having on the show. The producers are working damn hard to try and throw something together when ultimately they know it'll never be as good as the original 60m.
We finally got a mini-challenge this week, but don't worry, almost all the queens only had time for one, yes, one, read.
It's sad to see such a promising season being cut at the knees and left for dead. The run-time issues are present in every single part of the show and it's rotting away at the potential.
There is very little positive to say here. The judging was fair (not that we get to see deliberation) and the designs were pretty good.
I just hope they get back to 60m as soon as possible, because I'm now struggling to watch such an amazing show being mutilated into a rushed 40m mess.
RuPaul's Drag Race: Supersized Snatch Game (2023)
Best of a bad situation
Going into this episode everyone expected it to be a struggle. 40m to fit in 14 queens runways, 2 snatch games, and everything else.
The episode gets to the snatch game very very quickly and the editing suggests the snatch game itself was potentially not cut very much at all. This was a good decision and deserves recognition.
However, this leaves almost no time for workroom drama, deliberation, mini-challenge, or simply getting to know the queens.
Until there are fewer than 10 queens left, the episodes will continue to feel rushed, shallow, and somewhat soulless, but for the situation they were put in, this was a respectable 40m of tv.
Canada's Drag Race: Canada vs the World: Grand Finale (2022)
It's hard to make a finale good
The finale is a notoriously difficult episode to nail and most of them end up flopping, feeling far less climatic than they should. This, however, succeeded.
- Monet interviewing the queens was a clever choice and really puts into perspective how awful the Ru/Michelle interviews are.
- The photo shoot was fun and it was much better than talking to photos of kids.
- The eliminated queens got to do a full runway.
- The lip syncs were good, not sure about the song choices for the first two but still worked.
Overall, it felt organic and as though anyone could win. This effect what finales should aim to recreate.
The Mole: Who Is The Mole? (2022)
A disappointing conclusion
Pros:
They brought back the eliminated contestants, which wasn't too forced so felt right.
A reel is shown of the Mole throughout the competition which I was hoping for.
Cons:
This is the big one. The Mole. It turns out the only things the Mole did that another player would not do was ignore the key in the prison, drop some money on the train, and be stupid with names in the bank. Not only was I expecting to see some sabotaging that was way more subtle and unaired but they didn't do much sabotaging AT ALL. I'm pretty sure other players sabotaged more whilst trying to look like the mole. I wanted to see the mole subtlely sabotaging every single challenge in some way, if not for audiences but because for the benefit of the other players. It's essentially impossible to guess who the mole is if they aren't doing much, in fact the only reason I guessed them correctly was because their confessionals felt least genuine by far.
Netflix needs someone to actually be a mole if they do another season, not just play the easy route to ensure they would never be rumbled. Heck, I'd do it if it meant a satisfying ending.
The Mole: Are You The Mole? (2022)
Interesting but flawed
Spoilers about format, not about players or the mole identity.
This show has a lot going for it. It's effectively a series of escape room style challenges to collect money but with a mole in the group trying to reduce that money. There are also several scenarios where players are given the opportunity for an advantage at the expense of the group.
The issues are:
- Players are eliminated via a quiz where the person who scores the lowest leaves. This means some players work out that the MOST important part of the game is to not finish bottom I.e. Spread your answers around and hope that someone else focussed on a player and was wrong. One step further players then realise that if people suspect them to potentially be the mole - and they know that they aren't the mole - then those other players will answer questions wrongly and in turn get a low score. This isn't necessarily a bad thing but ties in with the below.
- The mole is safe every week, it's a little strange that even if the whole group suspect one person there's not really anything they can do about it. The mole is always safe.
- Footage is shown of players making decisions to the other players. This was a huge mistake by production. If you're on a show like this then all trust between you and production is lost and suddenly you're better off keeping your game to yourself and not even sharing it in confessionals. The result of this (if any players did this) is that we lose insight into their state of mind because why would they risk sharing that information?
- The intentions of the mole are not made clear. We don't know what they stand to gain. Is it more important that they burn as much money as possible or that they aren't found out? We have no idea and because of that there's a disconnect as we can't understand how important it is for the mole to screw over the team.
- The fact that players have opportunities to be selfish AND that players have a vested interest in getting others to think they could be the mole means the mole actually has not much to do. They could quite easily blend in by not doing anything wrong because they always have immunity and other players will naturally screw the group either on purpose or by accident.
On one hand all of this means the mole is not going to break their cover and if they did the person who knew would have an advantage in not spreading with the group (this is a good thing as it ensures the show doesn't end abruptly as the mole is rumbled). On the other hand it means the whole show feels a little bit like the mole is much less important than the selfish opportunities, plus players don't have the ability to remove other players either because of playing selfishly or being heavily suspected as the mole.
The result is a show which starts on a strong footing but fades into a far more generic gameshow as the identity of the mole becomes almost irrelevant.
RuPaul's Drag Race UK: Bing-oh No She Better Do! (2022)
Everything about this is great... except the rigging
This whole episode felt like a massive set up so it was no surprise that copper went home:
- Copper gets voted Background Queen indicating that she is neither competition nor providing good tv
- Copper gets a HUGE amount of air time in the work room and confessionals which typically happens before a queen wins or leaves
- Top 2 judged as a team but bottom 2 are singled out - this one felt particularly rough as there were 2 teams worse than orange (purple and green)
- Put Copper against BP because JB wouldn't be able to send her home, in fact Copper may have even sent home either of team purple
What's worse is that Copper would likely excel in the challenge next week but as she was marked as a filler (as the previous 2 queens, JB and Pixie are) I guess they didn't want to have her for another 2+ episodes
Copper actually provided something we don't see too often, a queen who is incredibly confident in drag but doesn't push that out of drag. I found them rather refreshing but I think production are expecting Cheddar to carry that mantle now especially given the format of this episode.
Insert Rigga Morris gif.
Canada's Drag Race: Bitch Stole My Look (2022)
So good
The level of drama is second only to the mobile phone episode from Drag Race Holland. This episode has a good twist and amazing lip sync, my only issue is that since week 1 they've been sending home the queens that provide the less drama. On one hand it's making for great content, on the other hand I can be confident I know who's going to leave for the next two weeks.
Canada's Drag Race: The Who-Knows (2022)
A struggle
It was really difficult to enjoy the last part of the episode because the judging was based on storyline not on performance in the challenge. However I do appreciate the editing of the lip syncs this season, it looks really good.
RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars: Total Ru-quest Live (2022)
Not a 1/10, not a 10/10
Reviews for this episode are absolutely misguided.
Was it a 1/10? Absolutely not. Was it a 10/10? I don't think so.
The challenge was good, although it rather obviously set up the "underdog" team to win as we've seen this 100 times before. Both teams were strong and it was great to see everyone do well, this was maybe the first time the "everyone gets positive critiques" was justified.
I'll admit I was a little surprised to see Yvie in the top 2 this week as I thought a couple of girls executed their performances a little better, so this felt like quite clear rigging. I'm not mad about it because Yvie has been hanging around the top 3-4 for a while.
This episode had a fair amount of laughs too, but it also gave me fear that this series will be rigged to the point of almost anyone being able to make the top 4 even up to the episode before.
RuPaul's Drag Race UK: Grand Finale (2021)
A very average episode
My rating is not for the winner. I actually think Ella was the clear loser of the lip sync so was half glad she didn't win although she probably deserved to up until that point.
I am concerned that this is simply an Americanisation of british drag, so would have preferred Kitty to win given the above.
My rating is because this episode had very little going for it - the song was mediocre, with verses that will likely be forgotten, and it wasn't even Christmassy. Returning queens was like UK2 and I'm fine with that, it works, but the song didn't work with so many people lip syncing.
RuPaul's Drag Race UK: Miss Fugly Beauty Pageant (2021)
Drag Race UK Returns for One Episode
British Challenge - Check
Fair judging - Check
No forced emotional moments - Check
Strong lip sync - Check
Bonus points for Alesha living for the lip sync, Charity Shop Sue, and a new challenge.
RuPaul's Drag Race UK: The Snatch Game (2021)
Weird
I really wanted to like this episode but just couldn't.
Firstly the reading challenge was really good and fairly judged based on the edit. This is when the episode starts to go downhill.
Ru tells almost all of the queens to not do their first choice and either throws a name at them or tells them to do their second. This is really unkind as historically the ones that change recurve favourable treatment even if they perform worse.
The snatch game itself had a clear winner. But I was kind of shocked the bottom 4 weren't Krystal, River, Scarlett and Vanity. Then we get to the judging and this was all over the place, the critiques weren't backed up so the bottom 2 feels very wrong.
Then a double sashay? None of the last 3 lip syncs have been double sashay or double shantay worthy. Bit annoyed that UK3 is going to fall to the depths of AS1 and DU1.
RuPaul's Drag Race UK: Dragoton (2021)
Bit of a let down
Not really a fan of the challenge, the runway or the judging here.
The challenge was a bit disappointment and felt like a wasted week for 11 really good queens. The runway was vague. The judging wasn't too far off but unsure how vanity was in the bottom save for her wig. But then I don't think vanity won the lipsync either, and don't think Crystal should've won.
Clinging on to this episode being a blip rather than the standard.
RuPaul's Drag Race UK: The Return of Royalty (2021)
Amazing start
An overall outstanding episode with a wonderful cast.
My one criticism though is that the judging felt very intentional. I do not think Elektra deserved to be in the bottom (I think Kitty probably did) but they wanted to see Elektra lip sync, knowing what she can do. And hey, it was a fantastic lip sync so I can't really complain about the riggory.
Drag Race Holland: Whodunnit (2021)
What the f was that?
It wasn't a bad episode up until the judging. Sending home the front runner and keeping the only person who literally CANNOT legitimately win is the strangest decision I've ever seen on this show. Well can't wait to see which of the other 2 win...
Drag Race Holland: Spill the Coffee (2021)
Unique
The first 15 minutes of this episode were dull and nothing special. And then it kicked off. I'm not sure there has been an episode like it. It was pretty great to be quite honest. The runway was also good. I don't quite agree with the final decision though - would probably have been best to not keep someone who broke the rules and who clearly shouldn't win the whole competition.
RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars: This Is Our Country (2021)
Not bad... for a finale
Pros:
Unpredictable winner
No baby photos
Decent challenge
Cons:
No negative critiques (as always)
Questionable winner, simple because Giner and Raja had better track records and I think Kylies runway was really weak
Overall a good conclusion to a strong season, I'm not at all mad at the winner, and hope all stars 7 follows a similar format.
Drag Race Holland: Cinderella in Mokum (2021)
Rigging undermines it
The queens are entertaining but I was really pissed off with the lip sync.
They sent Ivy home because she had been in the bottom three times even though she won the lip sync, that isn't how it should be played. Still love the countess though.
RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars: The Charisma, Uniqueness, Nerve and Talent Monologues (2021)
Production playing hard
The challenge was fairly original which is rare these days so props for that, it wasn't my favourite but it was no flop.
Things I agree with:
Eureka coming back - as much as I would've loved for Silky to return, she did not win the last lip sync so it would have not felt right.
Eureka winning the challenge - I'm not at all a Eureka Stan but I think she did the best.
Things I disagree with:
Voting Trinity out - she had two wins and Kylie had one, not even Eureka voted for Kylie.
Only voting one queen out - at this point it feels soooo predictable that if it's a double win, then the lip sticks will be the same. I was really hoping they would send home two queens.
RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars: Rudemption Lip-Sync Smackdown (2021)
Strong pay-off
Several clever things happened here which showed up why S13E1 was a mess.
Firstly they kept the 4 queens to react to each lip-sync, this gave an audience and commentary (although I don't think they actually watched The final lip sync because Eureka would've literally just come off stage).
The revealing to each queen who was the reigning champion was cool. Building up to them was also nicer than some quarterfinal/semifinal knockout.
I'm not 100% sold on the outcome of each lip sync. E.g. Jan destroyed the song and it seemed like she only lost because she didn't bring a guitar, also Eureka performed predictably (same old stunts) but I think did a better performance, although I'd prefer silky to return.
Overall, this really made all those "bring back X queen for literally no reason, she's walking into the workroom now" moments look like bs.
RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars: Show Up Queen (2021)
Another strong episode
I'll make no secret of the fact that the eliminated Queen is my all-time favourite. But that doesn't mean I give this a 1 star review just because I'm salty.
The challenge splits the girls into teams although this was one of those weeks where actually it's more like a team of 7 than a team of 3 and 4.
The performance is pretty cool and one of the better original songs, with each queen getting enough bars to actually put some decent lyrics in.
I was pleasantly surprised by Ginger - the lyrics and performance were hot. However the clear bottom of the week was Pandora, who struggled with the lyrics, performance, and lip sync.
This is the unfortunate thing in drag race, sometimes there's a clear bottom 1, but you need a second person for the bottom 2. Do I get why they chose Jan? Kind of, they certainly weren't the top this week. But personally I enjoyed their performance more than Kylie and Eurekas.
Most people had suspected that if votes tie (as they did a few weeks ago) that the power would return to the top all-star. This makes sense as a rule and it was pretty cool to watch it come into play.
Overall All-Stars 6 ranks as the second best All-Stars behind 2 - I just hope the second half of the season doesn't rank like All-Stars 4 did.
Game of Thrones: The Bells (2019)
Ruined a franchise
It would not be wrong of me to say that this season ruined the entire franchise for me. I wish it had ended with season 7. I know that sounds dramatic but I loved Game of Throne but now I can't bring myself to rewatch even the good seasons.
RuPaul's Drag Race Down Under: Down Under Grand Finale (2021)
Tainted
It's so hard to look past the misgivings of the season prior to this and to assess it as a stand-alone episode. Two of the queens in the final four did not deserve to be there - or at the very least had been favoured so much that it was hard to tell if they would have made it.
The song and choreo was decent - Karen's verse was almost as iconic as Roxxxys for the wrong reasons. Final looks were great and the critiques were, as expected, only positive since this was the finale.
The winner was much deserved it's just a shame we didn't have a proper competition this season as that took a little bit away from the crown.