“Tens, tens, tens across the board” has never been so apt. RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 7: All Winners has undoubtedly wiped the floor with any season ever created by the franchise.
I mean, are we shocked? We all knew it was going to be good but it’s still outdone itself. Convincing performances in acting challenges, top-tier fashion, and not one awkward silence in Snatch Game – “I live!”
For all of those who haven’t watched so far because it isn’t on Netflix (much to our pain), let me catch you up.
The cast consists of: Trinity The Tuck (All Stars 4), Raja (season three), The Vivienne (UK season one), Monét X Change (All Stars 4), Jinx Monsoon (season five), Shea Couleé (All Stars 5), Jaida Essence Hall (season 12), and Yvie Oddly (season 11).
The same premise of queens competing in maxi-challenges remains, however for our viewing pleasure ,no queens are eliminated. Instead, the All Stars fight to win ‘Legendary Legend Stars’ (not the most imaginative name in the game). The queen with the most LLS wins.
The top two queens both win the LLS stars, and compete in a good old fashioned lip-sync for your life to win $10,000. And, as if that wasn’t enough, the winner of the lip-sync also has the power to block one of the other queens with a literal platinum plunger. You can’t write it, can you?
The season is not yet over, with only a fortnight remaining and let me tell you – it’s a close race. And just when you think the queens couldn’t get any better, each and every one of them has stepped up in order to become the best of the best.
As well as in the challenges, the charisma, uniqueness, nerve, and talent expressed between the queens in the workroom has had me in stitches on numerous occasions.
There’s cheeky and tactical alliances being made, and a consistent back-and-forth where the queens just lovingly rip each other to shreds. There is a new running trope that being blocked by the plungers holds an abundance of secrets.
This results in the queens actually wanting to get blocked to find out secrets that don’t actually exist. I’ve been loving watching this element – it’s so refreshing!
However, I would be doing you all a disservice if I did not give a shout out to other stand-out moments of the season. We were given the absolute luxury of a snatch game where the queens had to become not one, but two, different characters!
The most recent lip-sync wasn’t to a song – oh no, it was to spoken word. I know you may be weary but it was so captivating. I was ready to throw the queens an Oscar.
The runway themes and main challenges themselves are iconic. My top being, the Ru-Veal runway (specifically Monét X Change’s look) and the ‘Jersey Justice’ acting challenge. But, what’s so annoying about it is that, because the talent bar for the queens is already so high, you genuinely cannot predict the top two.
It seems that the queens can’t either, and as the season progresses they can’t help but let their competitive drive take over the steering wheel.
If this is the first ever season of the franchise that you watch, you might as well not bother to watch any of the others, because after this season your standards will be so high that it will never be the same again. So, run, don’t walk, to stream this season, and thank me later.
Rachel volunteers with the LGBTQ+ young people’s charity, Just Like Us. They are looking for volunteers – sign up now.
More
