S17.E02: Drag Queens Got Talent!

[davidcalgary29]

This week, we conclude the largely entertaining split premiere of Season 17...and end up exactly where we started. But more on that later!

The first group of queens return to The Werkroom and congratulate themselves on making it through the first challenge. Except for Acacia, who wears the glum expression of a Dead Queen Walking as she ruminates her last-place ranking. It's actually pretty mean, but it does give her an advantage of getting extra time to prepare for her pending lipsynch.

WoW wisely gives the queens time to introduce themselves to the audience, and we get several amusing exchanges as they prepare for the night's festivities. This is actually much more generous than what we've seen in the past, and a nice departure from the last few seasons.

Like last week, all of the queens walk the runway, and this week it's in a category themed to showcase their respective derrieres. Also like last week, the results are mixed, as we are threated to no fewer than three Marie Antoinettes and a whole lot of bodysuits. 

While I feel for contestants who have to bring something new and fresh to the stage after innumerable iconic looks, the reality is that most of the looks are just okay, and often serve as a reminder to superior originals. The Judges lavish praise on Lana Ja'Rae, and while there's no denying her beauty, her outfit just doesn't have the punch and wow factor of Detox's red lace fantasy. Plus, there's a whole bunch of bodysuits.

The talent show begins, and for once I'm glad that most of them have chosen fun, high-energy dance numbers that fit well within one minute segments. Hormona Lisa is an outlier and promises to wow her naysayers with a fun and sassy standup routine, and then boringly fails by throwing a few words around on stage. It looks like the standup comedy curse at the talent show remains unbroken!

The Judges yak and the queens rate. Despite promising to rate their friends highly, Lexi and Crystal land in the top, which feels correct. Hormona glares sullenly as she is announced as the bottom queen, a result I am also entirely okay with.

Lexi and Crystal swirl and twirl to "Alter Ego", a great lipsynch song, as Doechii looks on. Lexi wins! I'm gagged when she calls herself "an old lady". Girl, you're 33. Just stop.

Acacia, who did not particularly impress with her drag on the runway this week, joins a seething Hormona on stage. Their lipsynch is less successful, but Acacia is declared the winner of their battle, and that's probably true.

We prepare to send Hormona off the set, and if the other queens' reactions are to be believed, few of them will shed any tears at the thought. AND THEN, because she's apparently liked by no one and Ru wants to stir up drama, Ru saves her in an elaborate dog-and-pony act that takes up the rest of the episode! The entire thing is pure producer Riggory, of course, but the safe queens' incredulous looks at the audacity of the stunt did make me giggle. Hormona is gratefully emotional, etc., but she hasn't been shown to have much in her skillset to warrant the intervention. Whatever!

Next week: we're having a ball! WoW promises to send a number of queens to fashion Jail as they scramble to replicate LaLa Ri's bag ball look with monopoly money! WHO will end up buying Park Place, and WHO will end up with Baltic Avenue??

Edited January 11 by davidcalgary29

[violet and green]

4 hours ago, davidcalgary29 said:

Their lipsynch is less successful, but Acacia is declared the winner of their battle, and that's probably true.

Damned with faint praise! I like that both Acacia and Hormona survived. It breaks up the monotony of overly-confident sassy young queens to have some different energies in the cast. I especially enjoy Acacia's vintage Billy Ray Cyrus confessional look and gruff comments.

4 hours ago, davidcalgary29 said:

Lexi wins! I'm gagged when she calls herself "an old lady". Girl, you're 33. Just stop.

I've forgotten which sassy young queen referred to her as "Grandma"... I know it's just banter, but really.

[cpcathy]

What baloney. I’ll be looking forward to Hormona’s ultimate elimination, whenever that may be.

[Starchild]

14 hours ago, violet and green said:

I've forgotten which sassy young queen referred to her as "Grandma".

a significant number of them are interchangeable right now

[SemiCharmedLife]

I'm sure the judges are tired of seeing duplicate looks each season, but I just love the Marie Antoinette period and thought Nymphia did it justice last season.  This year I liked the creativity of Joelle's version, though it could have been finessed  a bit.  Was the other one Hormona Lisa?  That was a pretty look.  I'm sure it was tempting to tie in Marie Antoinette with the theme of "cake."  I don't consider Acacia's look Marie Antoinette.  Actually, I don't consider Acacia's look!😉

[Red Bridey]

I was bored stiff by the talent show. I don't think any of the routines were memorable except for the winning one with the roller skates. I am even tired of the death drop ending every.single.dance! Well, the death drop on roller skates was pretty impressive, I'll admit. But so many of these queens are just not that interesting at this point in their lives. 

[howiveaddict]

4 hours ago, Red Bridey said:

I was bored stiff by the talent show. I don't think any of the routines were memorable except for the winning one with the roller skates. I am even tired of the death drop ending every.single.dance! Well, the death drop on roller skates was pretty impressive, I'll admit. But so many of these queens are just not that interesting at this point in their lives. 

Same here.  Too similar.  Don't care for their hoky lip sync songs they performed in the talent show.  

[Fake Jan Brady]

19 hours ago, violet and green said:

I've forgotten which sassy young queen referred to her as "Grandma"... I know it's just banter, but really.

It was Jewels, who made it worse by referring to Lexi as "Auntie Grandma".

[littlebennysmom]

So I'm not digging Kori King's air of superiority paired with the crunchiest wigline the show has seen in some time.  

And she's 24?!?  Whut?

[Kaboom 2.0]

The more I see of Lexi the more I love her, her reaction to her sisters' applause and cheers was heartwarming. So happy she won!

And THAT is how you lip sync, baby queens of the world! Lexi and Crystal gave one of the best performances, imho, of the last few seasons. I also loved Doechii's reactions and appreciation of how they slayed her song.

Whoever mentioned Hormona's resemblance to Sadness from Inside Out needs an award because that's all I see now. Her constant "RuPaul chose ME" mantra got stale during the first episode and it's beyond grating now. Just leave already.

Michelle looks GOOD. When the camera showed her sitting above the dunk tank my first thought was that water must be Perrier cause this queen will not be falling into tap water! 

[Salacious Kitty]

Hormona, Run chose you because she needs early season cannon fodder. Someone has to do it. 

Edited January 12 by Salacious Kitty
Autofill got me again! Added an L to Hormona. Lol

[SemiCharmedLife]

16 hours ago, littlebennysmom said:

So I'm not digging Kori King's air of superiority paired with the crunchiest wigline the show has seen in some time.  

And she's 24?!?  Whut?

Crystal Envy's wig was giving her a run for the money.  Wowsa!

The queens will continue to lip sync to their own songs as long as the judges (including Rate a Queen judges) keep giving these talents mid to high rankings.   It makes it harder for queens to take a chance on something different.

[littlebennysmom]

On 1/12/2025 at 4:22 PM, SemiCharmedLife said:

Crystal Envy's wig was giving her a run for the money.  Wowsa!

The queens will continue to lip sync to their own songs as long as the judges (including Rate a Queen judges) keep giving these talents mid to high rankings.   It makes it harder for queens to take a chance on something different.

Crystal, another one constantly singing her own praises while being mid af.

[bluvelvet]

On 1/12/2025 at 8:55 AM, Kaboom 2.0 said:

The more I see of Lexi the more I love her, her reaction to her sisters' applause and cheers was heartwarming. So happy she won!

And THAT is how you lip sync, baby queens of the world! Lexi and Crystal gave one of the best performances, imho, of the last few seasons. I also loved Doechii's reactions and appreciation of how they slayed her song.

Whoever mentioned Hormona's resemblance to Sadness from Inside Out needs an award because that's all I see now. Her constant "RuPaul chose ME" mantra got stale during the first episode and it's beyond grating now. Just leave already.

Michelle looks GOOD. When the camera showed her sitting above the dunk tank my first thought was that water must be Perrier cause this queen will not be falling into tap water! 

OMG, Harmona is definitely giving sadness from Inside Out 😂. Now I can’t unsee it. I wonder why she wears that wig in her confessionals.  Yeah, she was definitely cast as cannon fodder. 
 

The Lexi is old “grandma” got old yesterday 🙄. She’s not old and so far the most interesting of the whole bunch. Joella is already annoying me, she has a lot of opinions and her talent show was very mid. Hopefully I’ll never see another hairy behind on this show.