RECAP: RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 18, Episode 16 (FINALE)
“RuPaul’s Drag Race” Season 18 had a challenging third act, as some of the season’s most popular — and best performing — queens were knocked out leading up to the big finale. But between last week’s excellent LaLaPaLuZa episode and tonight’s finale, I think it finished strong. Were the results what I expected? Not entirely. Do I think the right queens were picked for Miss Congeniality and the crown? Not sure. But I’m also not upset or disappointed by any of it. Overall, I thought the episode was exciting, satisfying, and most importantly uplifting, which I think is what the season was going for overall.
Read on for my take on RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 18, Episode 16, the season finale. SPOILERS AHEAD!
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Each of the eliminated queens walked the the runway in their finale eleganza, and most of them looked amazing. Special shout-outs to long-suffering Mandy Mango (I hope she gets cast on the potential second season of “Drag Race Philippines Slaysian Smackdown”), Briar Blush (I would not be at all mad to see Briar come back for another season), and especially Vita VonTesse Starr, who absolutely ate those children the fuck up in an outfit that could have been passable for a winner stepdown look. Kenya Pleaser went for maximalist and needed to remove about 20% of the accessories from her body, and I’m not entirely sure what Darlene Mitchell was going for here — was it a nod to multiple previous promo themes? — but it was…not to my taste. Let’s say that.
Speaking of, Darlene and the other two finalists had to perform original solo numbers written by Leland, get interviewed by RuPaul, have a chat bit with their loved ones in the audience, and endure the “What would you say to the childhood version of yourself?” Typically that last part is one of my least favorite elements of a finale, but I actually found all three finalists’ answers to be surprisingly compelling. Maybe I’m becoming a softie in my dotage, but I was moved more than once tonight.
Darlene Mitchell was the first finalist to perform, doing a number that leaned into her trashy roots, her tacky mall drag, and her corny demeanor. This was a perfectly adequate performance. The choreography demanded very little from Darlene, and the vocal was more spoken word than singing. It was on brand — or at least the brand the show has built around Darlene — and I thought she performed competently. But even when it ended I found myself whelmed, but uninspired. It aged progressively worse as the night wore on.
Second we got Myki Meeks, in a number that specifically referenced her niche as ingenue drag queen ready for her shot at the big time. Myki put her theater training to work here and sang and dance well, exhaustively working the stage and her dancers. This was immediately a stronger number than Darlene’s, and it underscored that Myki is a genuine talent with a great deal of ambition.
The surprise of the night for me was Nini Coco’s number. Nini has had a rough back half of the competition, and a particularly brutal Act 3, bottoming in the last several challenges (sometimes undeservedly, in my opinion). Nini was not just third in the fan vote, she was a distant third. It’s shocking, because in the first month of this season, she was dominating the competition, consistently turning out memorable performances and incredible looks. The Rate-a-Queen Talent Show — the two-part episodes on which I think this entire season hinged — ultimately exposed that Nini had a tendency to get into her head, second guess herself, and sometimes come across too cold and calculating to the other queens — all of which was reiterated tonight in her interview with RuPaul.
Nini’s number played off of that, addressing her precise, almost clinical approach to drag in a number that felt inspired by Eurythmics “Sweet Dreams” in parts, and Daya Betty’s “All Stars 11” talent show as well. I loved the performance, even if the song/vocals itself left me cold. The chair dance sequence was terrific, and I was reminded again how strong of a performer Nini is.
Before the queens could be cut from Final 3 to Final 2, Season 17’s Crystal Envy came out to crown this season’s Miss Congeniality. I went into this thinking it could be Mandy Mango, Vita VonTesse Starr, or Mia Starr, but I was genuinely surprised when the title went to Jane Don’t. Jane could be pretty acidic in her talking heads during this season, and more than once put a bitch on notice. But I remembered that this finale was filmed months before even a single moment of Season 18 had aired — the queens who voted for this hadn’t seen any of Jane’s confessionals — and Jane did help more than one queen, especially when it came to the sewing challenges. Personally I don’t think she was the most “congenial” queen of the season, but I also think she deserved to win something for slaying this competition as hard as she did. So…OK, I guess.
There was a brief but lovely segment in which Raja, Bob the Drag Queen, and Kim Chi revived their power-generating bike bit (still so strange), specifically to pay homage to famous drag queens in American history, including pioneer Flawless Sabrina. I love when the show does stuff like this.
Immediately after, the show paid homage to another historical figure lost to time: Miley Cyrus, winner of the Giving Us Lifetime Achievement Award. Now-80-year-old Liza Minnelli won that honor in Season 17, so it makes total sense (please note sarcasm) that a 33-year-old would win it this year for her career spanning 20 years, starting when she was 11. Giving a lifetime achievement award to a 33-year-old is about the most Gen Z thing I can imagine. Listen, Miley is a fierce advocate for the LGBTQ and drag communities. She is a modern pop icon. It just felt a bit premature to me. But maybe I’m taking it too seriously.
When it came time for the final chop, it was Darlene Mitchell — the clear frontrunner in the fan vote — who was eliminated in third place, leaving Myki Meeks and Nini Coco lipsyncing for the win to Miley’s “Every Girl You’ve Ever Loved.”
I think this was the right choice. First, I don’t think we saw Darlene lipsync the entire season, and I’m not convinced she would be particularly good at it, given that she is a self-described bedroom queen (and there’s nothing wrong with that). Secondly, while Darlene is beloved and had a good run the back half of the competition, the fact that she was in this finale instead of any other member of the F6 NOT named Kenya Pleaser is genuinely kind of surprising. Several “Drag Race” alumni have spoken out on how Darlene’s success on this show is an anomaly, and many other queens — especially queens of color — could never get away with the kind of winking wing-and-a-prayer approach that got her to the top. Additionally, Darlene had easily the weakest solo number of the night. She is insanely likable and I’m excited to see what she does next, but had she won this season it would have been quite the coup.
Going into the lipsync, I assumed Nini would devour Myki. We’d seen Nini perform multiple times, and she was quite strong. Myki’s one previous lipsync, when she was unfairly dumped in the bottom for the Rate-a-Queen Talent Show (that episode again!) was not super exciting. This was a much closer match-up than I expected. Myki was serving WOMANA, tapped completely into the emotion of the song. Nini was dressed as a kind of devil, with a purse from which she pulled a cosmetic brush, and then later during the spoken-word part of the song, turned into a puppet. That was great. But Myki was consistently dialed into this number and emotionally was a better fit with the song. At least, based on what they showed us.
If I was judging based on the solo performances earlier in the night, I would put Nini first, Myki second. If I was basing it on performance through the season, I think they’re pretty even — Myki may have a better track record on paper, but Nini was killing it early season where Myki was lost in the shuffle until Talent Show. If I’m basing it on who would be a better fit for the Anastasia Beverly Hills make-up collab that is now part of the prize package, it goes to Nini. If I’m basing it on the lipsync, based on what we saw, I give it to Myki.
And indeed Myki Meeks was named the winner, and America’s Next Drag Superstar. I think Myki is certainly more sellable than Nini. She is a drag ingenue. She’s super likable. Her skillset can be used in any number of ways, especially now that “Drag Race” is starting its own cinematic universe. She’s young, and she had the crowd on her side more than Nini, that’s for sure.
But I do think we need to note that Nini was treated rather poorly by the edit, especially in the back half. The fans turned on her with a quickness, and I don’t get the negativity she was getting the last few weeks in particular. She is a fierce queen, with incredible and varied talents. Yes, she has sharp edges, but based on the social media votes, you would have thought she slapped somebody’s mother. I’m not sure why she ended this season perceived so poorly, but I have to assume that was a big factor in the ultimate outcome.
Overall I think Season 18 will be remembered as solid, with a wonderful cast that, for various reasons, was not served well by the show itself. I don’t even think the challenges were bad, I just think the decision-making on behalf of the judging panel was off, multiple times. I think as individual queens, this cast is among the strongest we have had in a while — probably since Season 14. But I can’t deny that there was a period toward the middle of the competition where even I started to get annoyed with the show. Again: that Talent Show really left a mark on this season in a way that I’m not sure I enjoyed, ultimately. (But I bet Myki does!)
Weirdly, though, it still was a positive season, which I think was always their intent. “Let There Be Light” was the theme, and one thing I noticed repeatedly both this episode and in the LaLaPaRuZa was how hard these competitors were all supporting and rooting for each other to succeed. That’s not always the case on a competition show, but it was heartwarming and affirming here and now. And we need community more than ever.
What did YOU think of the finale? What did you think of Season 18 altogether? Drop your comments below! Then join us in a few short weeks when “All Stars 11” drops on May 8!
