RECAP: Canada’s Drag Race All Stars Episode 2
I know we’re just 2 episodes in, but so far “Canada All Stars” is delivering the best “Drag Race” season of the year. The first episode was solid, but Episode 2 gave me everything I was looking for: a competitive challenge with some great performances, some bold runways, and a top-tier “Untucked” segment with every member of the cast activated and mixing it up. I love this whole cast and I wouldn’t change a thing. (But I still miss Jackie Cox.)
Read on for my take on Episode 2 of “Canada’s Drag Race All Stars,” as the competitors took on the DRCANAS girl-group challenge. SPOILERS AHEAD!
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I’ll go through each of the queens in alphabetical order, sharing my thoughts on their performance this episode. Also, Millennial pop-star icon Rebecca Black was a great guest judge. If you are not listening to her modern music, and are only familiar because of her 2011 viral cringe sensation “Friday,” you are missing out. She really has been churning out genuine bangers for years and is a legit queer icon. Get into it:
Aurora Matrix
In Season 4, I kept being told that Aurora was a star. I thought she had great potential, but it never felt quite there for me. This season, I see it all — especially this episode. While Nearah was the team captain, from my perspective Aurora was the de facto lead of her girl group, the Kitty Katz. That whole team performed brilliantly, like an actual girl group, but Aurora just seemed effortless and ravishing, plus fully dialed into the assignment. I thought her verse was one of the weaker ones, but she delivered it as though it was the best-written verse in the history of “Drag Race.” She also feels so much more present and focused this time around. If Aurora has nerves, they are nowhere to be seen on that stage. What is being seen: another excellent runway, this one an ornate lamp, complete with attached cord and lampshade reveal. It was one of my favorites of the whole CAMP! runway. Aurora won the episode, and it was deserved. I am all aboard the Aurora Train at this point.
Jada Shada Hudson
I enjoyed Jada quite a bit this episode. She has always been a great talking head, and that hasn’t changed here — she’s one of the best narrators from “Canada’s Drag Race.” I can’t speak to Jada’s role in the girl group, as much of the contested output wasn’t filmed. I do think she did well as a member of the Tea Bags, giving great energy in her performance. Jada has really stepped up her runway package, and even though I don’t know if her Big Black Cock look was a fit for the CAMP! prompt, it looked good and she served it right. Putting Jada in the top felt like a stretch to me — she was good, but better performers were in the Safe group — but it was all worth it for that outstanding “Untucked” segment between Jada and Makayla (more on her in a minute). Jada seemed genuinely hurt by that whole exchange, and I’m looking forward to how that plays out in future episodes. I also appreciated Jada speaking on people making fun of her ghost-sex story. I can see how she would be frustrated by everyone taking it as a joke, and I’m guilty of constantly bringing it up when I talk about Jada. I’ll try to do better in the future. The lights flickering every time she mentions her ghost lover in the confessional is a brilliant comic touch, so kudos whoever is producing that.
Juice Boxx
I wasn’t sold on Juice after Episode 1. I am all for bringing back first-outs, but it didn’t like she had much more to show with that flop of a talent show and weak runway. But I feel like Juice arrived this episode. I don’t think she’s going to be a real threat here, but she was in the mix, held her own in the Kitty Katz (even with some visible mistakes), and she looked great on the runway (although, again, not sure it fits the CAMP! prompt — it was bold and corny, but was it camp?). Where Juice Boxx truly shone this episode was in her interactions with the other queens. Her work room story about wanting to be a father was genuinely so charming and sweet, and her reactions when the other queens were going for the jugular in “Untucked” was deeply relatable. I find her so likable and I’m delighted they brought her back. Poor Juice was catching strays at judging, though, when Brooke Lynn Hytes made a comment along the lines of even Juice Boxx doing well in the challenge. MA’AM!
Makayla Couture
I thought Makayla got fucked over this episode, but boy did she swing right back. Makayla IS a star, you can’t deny it. She carries herself like a star, and she should. That can get her into trouble, as it did here, because I think she lacks the ability to check herself before she wrecks herself. It is consistent behavior for her — she was the same if not worse in Season 4. At least here, she’s doing a better job focusing her diva energy into more pointed attacks, instead of exploding like a land mine. So, growth! Kind of. I thought Makayla did well in the girl group, but I agreed with the judges’ comments that she didn’t do enough to highlight her individual strengths — I too didn’t realize when her verse had started and the person before her cut off. I loved her runway, and did not have the problems the judges did. I think they were looking for an excuse to put her in the bottom, in part so the tensions between her and Jada could be captured on camera. And god bless them for that, because Makayla was ruthless in “Untucked.” She was supposed to be pleading her case for votes but she just unloaded on Jada in a spectacular tour de force of passive aggression. I was gasping along with the other girls as she took shot after shot at Jada. Of course, this did not help Makayala a all, as — just as Nearah did in Episode 1 — she offended numerous potential allies, and sent herself straight to the Bottom 2. But damn it was good TV.
Nearah Nuff
Speaking of, Nearah was once again great this episode. She came in and did damage control after alienating all of her allies in “Untucked” last week, and then killed the soccer mini-challenge (bravo to whoever timed this to coincide with the World Cup finale — the gay interns are working HARD over at Stan). Nearah was built for girl groups, delivered a great verse and performance, and I think should have been in the top instead of probably Jada. But I think they want to keep Nearah pressed so she stays on edge — they don’t need to worry about that, I don’t think. As she said in Episode 1, I heard you ordered a fucking bitch. We did. And Nearah is delivering, as she did in her talking head during “Untucked.” Nearah understands how to play this game, and soon as there was an opportunity to put two heavy hitters in the Bottom 2, she did her part to make it happen. I will say, I didn’t think her flower runway really fit the CAMP prompt, but it was colorful and loud and a concept. But it was among my least-favorite outfits of the night.
Pythia
Poor Pythia. After winning last week’s episode, she was thrown a curveball with two things she simply is not good at: sports and girl groups. Pythia is one of the strongest concept and aesthetic queens of any “Drag Race” franchises, but her dump stat is definitely cunty dancing. That’s just not part of her skill set. I think Pythia did as well as she probably could have as a member of the Tea Bags, but she was visibly off in multiple parts, and looked tentative or uncomfortable in others. I can only imagine how badly she must have been brickin’ it watching the Kitty Katz perform, because she had to know in that moment that there was a very good chance she would be in the bottom. I enjoyed her mummy look for the runway, especially the massive sarcophagus prop and the unraveling gimmick. I think Brooke may have been a little overly generous with her praise (the banter between them about this being Brooke’s favorite look of the night, versus ever, was hilarious), but it was a good look for sure. It unfortunately did not help her at all when it came to the lipsync, because she looked fully crazy in mummy face and that “Finding Nemo” hellscape of a lipsync look.
Sami Landri
Good episode for Sami, who is gelling with this crew of girls surprisingly well. I thought she did well in her girl group — also not in her wheelhouse — and I thought her runway was totally successful, in addition to being fucking hideous (deliberately). I do worry that Sami is not understanding how she needs to play this game. She had numerous talking heads this episode about how she knows she needs to start looking out for herself, and yet she once again voted to save the biggest competition of the Bottom 3 (Pythia). I don’t think she quite understands how this all works yet.
Tiffany Ann Co.
This was the challenge at which Tiffany should have excelled. While she was solid as a member of the Kitty Katz, she did not serve it as hard as I expected. Especially toward the end of the routine, you could see her getting gassed. I am a Tiffany fan and I want to see her succeed — I think she wants that, too. But it isn’t quite clicking, at least not yet. I think her runways have improved, but agreed with the judges that her outfit did not give CAMP, at all. It was a reference to her 101 bodysuits in her original season, but that doesn’t make it campy. Also, I say this as respectfully as I possibly can, but I would like to encourage Tiffany and several of the other queens this season to consider some kind of body padding. They are doing themselves no favors by going out there with relatively unaltered boy bodies. This was especially noticeable for Tiffany in her lipsync outfit, which blessedly she did not need, as she was gifted the Golden Beaver. Her speech in “Untucked” — basically, “Keep me because I’m literally not a threat to win” — was both strategically shrewd, and also made me a little sad. Do not count yourself out, Tiffany. You have the goods, you just need to push yourself and commit.
With Tiffany getting the Beaver, that left a Bottom 2 of Makayla Couture and Pythia lipsyncing to “TRUST” by Rebecca Black. Even the judges muttered that they were gagged by this result. Indeed, these are two of the biggest threats in the competition, and one of them was about to get cut. That’s a testament to the wildcard queens playing this game intelligently, and also a condemnation of Makayla and, to an extent, Pythia failing to advocate for themselves effectively.
This was not really a contest. I love Pythia, but again, she can’t really pull off cunty, and this song is very that. Pythia relied primarily on her costume, which had two reveals: fish titties and a big sea-cucumber dong. Funny! Not nearly enough. And you knew she knew. Makayla gave us sex and longing, but I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that the lipsync itself was not particularly tight. Makayla was lucky she was up against someone who struggles with lipsyncs, because if she had been up against Nearah or Aurora here, she likely would have gone home.
Instead, it was poor Pythia who was our second eliminee. That’s two fan favorites out back to back, and I know the fadom will be furious at this outcome. But there were no shenanigans that I saw. Pythia deserved to be in the bottom for the challenge, the other queens smartly did not save her when they could have (thereby costing themselves $200K), and she lost the lipsync, fair and square. I worried that Pythia was going to be super upset at being an early out, but she had a great attitude about it. She is already an icon, she already has a fabulous life and career, and these other queens genuinely need the screen time more than she does (she actually said that!). Plus, she gets to go home to her 6’5” boyfriend, and I’m going to need to see pics of that Pythia. Or better yet, videos. I’ll pay!
What do YOU think of “Canada’s Drag Race All Stars”? Which queens are you rooting for? Drop your comments below!
