Saturday
Mar172018
RPDR All Stars 3: Finale - Everybody Say Love! Please!
Saturday, March 17, 2018 at 3:20PM by Chris Feil
RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars has brought one of its most embattled seasons to an appropriately controversial conclusion. This season has been rife with drama onscreen and off that has made championing the show come with several asterisks and addendums. The show has dug itself into a hole of too many twists, an overestimation of its need for drama to excite us, and a mounting disinterest in the art of drag itself. And yet it remains one of the biggest platforms to showcase the glorious breadth of the queer experience, blessed with an audience that demands it approaches its own shortcomings.
And this week’s finale brought a twist that may have broken the fandom’s resolve in how much they can accept: the final four would be whittled down to 2 by a deciding vote of a jury of the eliminated queens. Once again, subjectivity became the season’s foremost battleground and unsurprisingly this makes for frustrating television when a competition is involved. How would a consensus shake out when every queen has already shown a different perspective on what makes a competitor worthy of the crown?
Luckily, we were blessed with an all-timer of a challenge, a joyful pinnacle of the season that finally delivered the kind of delight we come to Drag Race for. The queens were tasked with a single-take, heavily choreographed music video and original rap to RuPaul’s “Kitty Girl.” It was like “Read U, Wrote U” on steroids and a case of Red Bull, and a bigger budget. And most importantly, it was the first time this season delivered on the queer empowerment that has become one of its touchstone elements. Even if this All Stars has felt like Drag Race has been stuck in its petulant teenage years, this moment felt like the show was all grown up. Reader, I cried.
On the runway the finale tradition of Best Drag returned to strong results, minus Bebe’s solid but Clearly Not Best animal look (though we love the RuAnimale by Coco cosplay). Shangie brought streamlined glamour that was a nice alternative to her cheekier looks from the season. Trixie Mattel served Limited Edition Christmas Barbie poodle and made us desperate for her to return to more doll-inspired aesthetics.
But it was Kennedy Davenport that continued to pull the heartstrings. Her rainbow acid queen look was a riff on her previous season seven Best Drag look but dialed up to eleven, a nod to her emotional journey all season long: she’s still the same old loveable-grouch-sweetheart she has always been, but packing more punch to steal our hearts. She had already slayed the music video and was quickly running away with the episode, not to mention sprinting ahead to the finish line.
And that love was felt deeply by the eliminated queens waiting to decide her fate. A lot of credit was given to Kennedy’s pageant experience with this kind of situation, but her appeal to win was far more personal than that. It helps when you’re coming off your biggest success in the competition, but what set Kennedy aside was her clear communication of her past, present, and future journey and what it all meant to her. Something for everyone to connect with somewhere, and a warm honesty missing elsewhere in the season.
Shangela was equally emotional, but the immediate impression was that the queens weren’t as convinced despite being the strongest overall competitor of the final four. What registered most from Trixie’s presentation was the evident impression left by her success off the show and her ability to learn from her mistakes and quickly. Meanwhile Bebe frankly never stood a chance in this format, with the queens unwilling to afford her another crown and her reserved nature not helping her to make her case. The episode also knew as much by barely featuring her. What was about to come was pretty evident in the water in hindsight...
A jury sounds like a logical next step when the show has repeatedly been so eager to brew drama and anticipation by bringing queens back, but maybe one return was enough this season. The queens ultimately chose Kennedy and Trixie, decisions led by heart and admiration rather than statistics. And sadly, it wasn’t even close:
The episode failed to show the voting breakdown, but it quickly became available online. And just like an Oscar preferential ballot this voting structure favored passion and goodwill, sending home the queen that received milder responses to rallying queens around her journey. I don’t think anyone expected the voting to be quite so shockingly decisive, and the jawdroppingly low turnout for Shangela reinforces the notion of unfairness in the show’s ever-changing criteria. In fairness, I suspect more queens would have pulled for her had they decided as a group rather than voting through their individual emotion-led tallies.
The show is no longer solely subjective based on viewer taste for differing drag styles but also what qualifies as a worthy winner or a satisfying season. I’d argue it’s not just Shangela’s track record that made her the worthy winner of many, but also what she represents: an indefatiguable drive to get back up time and time again, to be able to laugh at and even brand yourself through your mistakes, to be a true fighter. Sure, even her manipulative game-playing tactics have their admirers. This was another crushing blow to a queen forever underestimated - but the outpouring of love for her in recent days is her biggest win yet.
Kennedy, like Peppermint last season, was able to pull through poor stats partly by a change in format, but mostly by performing well when it mattered most. I’m starting to embrace the mindset that Kennedy put forth a few weeks ago: Drag Race isn’t a math problem, it’s a marathon. Sometimes that means a steady performance takes you to the crown, but a strong finish after some stumbles can get you there as well. It can be about how and when you cross the finish line, not just how you leave the starting gate. There’s something satisfyingly representative of queer folks in this idea, how no matter the setbacks we face we will end victorious.
None of this is to disregard Shangela’s performance or worthiness of the title, for I was rooting for her as well. Don’t forget the heartbreak of a deserving queen losing to tough competition is one of the heartbreaking staples of this show. Shangela finds herself in the adored company of Screwed Over Queens such as Katya and Raven, not to mention regular season losers like Manila Luzon, Nina Flowers, Shea Coulée, and Kim Chi. I suspect Shangie will do just fine and milk it for all its worth, and we’ll just keep on loving her even if they bring her back for All Stars 4.
Our eventual winner was Trixie Mattel, the one many expected would skate to a predicted win that actually became something of an underdog. While I think the jury vote shows that Trixie would have had to taken some harder knocks to ever truly become an underdog, I do think history will be kinder to her overall performance than the show wanted us to perceive it to be. As much as Kennedy showed it’s about how you cross the finish line, Trixie proved it just as well. Welcome to the Drag Race Hall of Fame, Tracy Martel!
Gif as Episode Grade:
Gif as Call For Peace as Fans Kill Eachother:
Reader Comments (41)
It was bullshit. I was so angry.
The main difference with the Katya or Raven comparisons is 1. Chad and Alaska were expected to win and they showed up to win and did the work. Trixie had a forgettable showing for the first half until the abomination that was her Snatch Game. From then on she recovered but even then I'd argue she was never truly sensational. Her performance was good but not spectacular, like in this final challenge. No episode belonged to her. Kennedy hit lows more often than she did, but none of her lows were as bad and she had higher peaks (Bitchelor, this episode).
2. Katya and Raven fought until the end. This was a cheap stunt to prevent Shangie from happening (whether that's true or not I don't know but it felt that way. It felt as if the show had to keep coming up with ways to make Trixie, the original frontrunner, happen. The crown was handed to her, not earned. And that's disappointing and infuriating.
People on the web complaining about this season - so tired - seem to have forgotten it’s a game show. It managed to captivate and draw in a bigger audience. Once Ben quit, I knew Trixie would be the winner. She is a great personality and performer, and that jury dumped Shangela and pushed Trixie through. Love the medley video.
This season was rubbish.
Worst winner since Tyra Sanchez, and by far the least deserving of all time.
Tyra actually had a strong season to back her win, even if, as Raven put it, she would never be a star. Trixie couldn't even beat Kennedy in the last lipsynch. She reached the finals having won no lipsynchs and having been top only twice, and only later in the season, after crashing and burning in the beginning. She was, at best, third on the actual challenge of the day (and that's because Bebe spent half of her verse sitting behind a sewing machine), had a terrible wig and very unimpressive look for the runway, and was outperformed in the final lipsynch. She looked like what a bro who's never seen a drag show thinks drag is: puts on clown make up, slaps on a horrible wig and a garish dress, and sings a Miley Cyrus song doing so many over the top theatrics to get laughs from his homophobic buddies.
A summary:
Best track record going into the finale: Shangela
Best performance on maxi-challenge (Kitty Girl video): Shangela (but I'll hear a case for Kennedy)
Best runway look: Shangela
Last effing place: Shangela
On a side note, I loved Ben's red look and giant hat.
He looked like Drag Eliza Doolitle.
So now it really is RuPaul's Best Friends Race, bitches. I, for one, think that's a huge step down. Maybe if the contestants had known from the beginning that the show had gone full-on Survival it would have been a little fairer. As it is, it's crap, just slightly better than AS1.
White (passing) mediocrity wins again!
I'm surprised people are bitching about some show that's on a shitty channel like VH1. Remember when that channel used to play awful adult contemporary music like that no-talent ass-clown Michael Bolton 24/7?
CONDRAGULATIONS TRIXIE MATTEL! ❤👏
These haters need to get a life. It's only a drag tv show.
Trixie won that lip sync fair and clear. Kennedy lost that shit when she flail around the stage like Kenya Michaels.
Don't delude yourself and stop reaching.
It won't change the fact that Trixie won.
Was Katya screwed over, though? Alaska was the clear leader that entire season. If we think Shangela deserved the AS3 win because she was the overall best throughout the season, then we can't say Alaska didn't deserve AS2 just because we prefer Katya.
I think Trixie was deserving of the win, but I hate that because it was Kennedy instead of Shangela, her win will have that asterisk next to it. And I hope future queens realize that a pity vote to the top 2 (which is what Kennedy got) will do more harm than good.
What’s the point for doing the best for the res of the season, if the winner is gonna be based on doing great outside Drag Race? That’s two seasons in a row where the best performers were passed over by mediocre performing queens. At least Shea Couleé got to lipsync (and lost due to not preparing it well). Trixie basically coasted along and did horrible in the Snatch Game (i think this is the first terrible Snatch Game performer to win?) before improving on a sewing challenge and acting challenge.
Anyway what’s done is done. Shangela is now the most robbed queen and earned the All Star title with the outcome.
So surprising that jury was so bitter. Out of all people, only Thorgy voted for Shangela. Even “Ms. Congeniality” Ben Delecreme didn’t vote for Shangela. So much for being fair. All talk, this one.
How the season should've gone down, IMO
1. Ben De La Creme (by far the most well-rounded, talented queen of the bunch.)
2. Shangela (pretty consistent all season, provided great television)
3. Aja (totally reconstructed the perception, consistently delivered)
4. Trixie Mattel (had some highs, and some lows, but never quite achieved what we'd all hoped)
5. Kennedy Davenport (loveable, passionate but inconsistent)
6. BeBe Zahara Benet (again - consistent, but just boring)
7. Thorgy Thor (great for drama tbh)
8. Chi Chi DeVayne (a divine human being, knew her time to go)
9. Milk (bye with that attitude. and just not that good at drag?)
10. Morgan McMichaels (zzzzzzz)
I’m sorry, but there’s a narrative developing about what happened in season 9 which is being used by people upset about Shangela’s loss. Shea won four challenges, but Sasha shared two of those wins, and was a very close second going into the finale. She won that fair and square with two iconic lip synchs, where she dominated the competition. That was an honourable twist - unlike the Shangela situation, who, shamefully wasn’t even allowed to compete in the final two.
Everyone is feeling raw and angry, but it doesn’t help anyone to start re-writing history. Unlike Shangela, nothing was ‘stolen’ from Shea, she just was just outperformed by her closest competitor on the night. Format experimentation should be encouraged (like the finale of season 9) and called out when it undermines the basis of the show (AS3)
Many thoughts:
--The season was messed up ever since Ben quit. The winner was going to be *at best* a second banana to Ben. It's why, despite me loving Ben, I'm pretty pissed at her for dropping out. By being "generous" and leaving, she screwed over the eventual winner, no matter who it would have been, whose crown will always have an asterisk next to it.
--The irony in the queens trying to gift Kennedy with a second place finish as a boost to her career is that it will only bring on more hate for her. That's sad because Kennedy does deserve more appreciation. I truly worry about how bitter she's sounding these days.
--People keep saying that Shangela was conniving this season and that hurt her in the end. I disagree. She certainly pretended to be devious with all the GoT metaphors, but the three people she sent home (Thorgy, ChiChi, Morgan) clearly deserved to go over their competition. And on an interpersonal basis, aside from maybe Trixie regarding Thorgy's note, nobody seemed to have a problem with her all season.
--Trixie clearly stunk up the Snatch Game. But those who think that she has no SG chops need only watch her audition video.
--That "episode as a gif" choice was spot on.
--I have never been a fan of these All-Stars seasons formats. Season 1 screwed over so many queens by tying their performance to that of others. And by allowing queens to eliminate queens, Seasons 2 and 3 prioritize friendships over performance. Kennedy being in the top 2 is inexcusable, as was the permitted dominance of Rolaskatox last year.
--Even if the producers thought that the jury twist would bring 'drama,' they clearly didn't think things through properly. All season, they've promoted a certain narrative with their critiques, their editing, etc. By interjecting the opinions of the seven queens at the very end, they mess with the arc that they had created for the season.
--To those telling others to chill out because it's only a game show, this is a show about *drag queens.* Of course the audience is going to get carried away!
Ben never would have made it past that tribal council either though.
Quite possible, though I suspect she might have. 1) The producers might have realized it was a risk and not kept the jury. 2) The jury would have been hard-pressed to deny the winningest queen in Drag Race herstory. 3) The jury might have been afraid that Ben’s fans would come after them.
If Ben had stayed and eliminated Kennedy, as she mentioned on the WOW video, the top four would have been Bebe, Trixie, Shangela and Ben. The jury would not put Bebe on the top 2, regardless, hence forcing either Ben or Shangela into the top 2. A lipsynch between Shangela and Trixie would have been Shangela's to lose, and one between Ben and Trixie would probably be a tie, as both are sh*t lipsynchers. I'm confident Ru would have the common sense to crown Shangela or Ben in either scenario.
Re: Season 9 - Yes, Sasha was running a strong second to Shea's first, and Sasha did beat Shea on the lipsynch with the petals stunt, but then again Peppermint went on to beat Sasha on the lipsynch... And we all had to pretend she didn't because handing over the crown to the queen was fourth place at best? Really?
@ beyaccount - It does startle that the Hall of Fame is Ru +3 white queens, especially in a show with so many fierce queens of color (6 out of 9 winners).
@ Craver - You can be a Trixie fan (like I am too) and not bury your head in the sand, you know? She did not deserve to win, by any basic standard of fairness. Tyra's win is just as much of a fact. How's that working out for her? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@ Glenn - Katya was screwed over in the sense that she won two lipsynchs, one against Alaska, one against Detox, and Ru did not pick her as the winner. Same for Phi Phi, who just obliterated Alaska on their lipsynch, but nobody likes Phi Phi, so it doesn't bother people as much. The ultimate win was a pretty fair and balanced dispute between Katya, Alaska and Detox. Any of the three would have a solid argument on their behalf. Only Roxxxy was dead weight in the finale.
Evan. I love Trixie but her audition video SG isn’t proof she’s good at SG since one is pre recorded and edited and for the show SG you have to be quick and think on your feet as the character in the moment.
Carmen. Ben won two lipsyncs (one against Aja) so I don’t think she’s a shit lip syncer.
Let’s be clear, Sasha won with a gimmick. No way she would have won in the traditional format. Same stands for AS3. Ru needs to get back to basics and again start rewarding talent over drama.
Bey -- Trixie mediocre? I see we're wantonly changing the meaning of adjectives now. Of the 112+* queens that have come through the show we've had a wide range from the terrible to the mediocre to the great (all three in all skin colors, too). Trixie is one of the most accomplished versatile successful and unique among all 112 + of them and thus about as far removed from mediocre as its possible to get. Calling Trixie mediocre is about as absurd as calling RuPaul, I dunno, a "generic" celebrity.
all that said, I dont think Trixie deserved to win this season but I'm just alarmed at the disregard for words and their meanings. This show makes people so crazy!
And People --- Sasha won S9 fair and square. Come on. I wasn't rooting for her myself until those iconic lipsynchs but Ru had no choice but to crown her because she basically wiped the floor with her competition at the finish line. Everyone after has to perform in the shadow of that and are likely to come up short as finale performances go.
Evan -- i think we can't know how Shangela was perceived. I see what you're saying but the show so obviously preferenced Shangela and let her control her own narrative -- all that camera time! -- and you have to wonder if the race would have felt more competitive all along and less of a shock at the end if the editing had given us ANY clues that Shangela wasn't going over well in the room itself because all we ever got was Shangela herself talking about Shangela. I sometimes wish the show's editing team wouldn't try so hard to create or sustain or manufacture narratives. Just let us watch it develop!
* I lost count but I think it's slightly over this number now.
By the same token, Peppermwnt was somehow second in S9. Fair and square, right?
The biggest disappointment of AS3 was the distinctive lack of joy from episode to episode. I'm not saying it wasn't fun—it was just the show's most unpleasant season to date.
The AS2 girls approached their season like a company of performers there to entertain us—whatever came of the competition. Maybe that's because Alaska's win was a foregone conclusion so even the strongest queens weren't literally *there to win*.
On paper, Alyssa's elimination was an outrage but it didn't sting because the season had a "well, that's showbusiness!" quality to it.
The AS3 atmosphere put ego, venality and insecurity ahead of great entertainment. I blame the mismatch of personalities, the format changes, and generally bad challenges.
Hayden -- weirdly i blame Ben de la Creme for setting that tone. For such a funny performer on stage she seems so deathly dully serious offstage which was such a downer -- all that constant handwringing about eliminating competitors as if she was sending them to the guillotine or something. Relax and have fun! They're all going to be okay. The show has already proven that air time makes for very successful careers thereafter, regardless of "wins"
Another congenital problem with AS3 is simply the calibre of queens who were available to cast.
By and large, the *true* Drag Race All-Stars have already won a crown or competed on a season of All Stars. There are very few exceptions.
It's not an infinite bench. You'll never get A-list television with a B-list cast.
Nat—
I agree. I even think Milk's "catty snob" persona would have played better if this season didn't kill irony on sight. Not saying he landed it perfectly, because he didn't.
If Coco Montrese had a bad day and designed a goth fish Spice Girl character to exorcise her depressive episode it would have ten levels of humor, pathos and schadenfreude. Because that is an overdramatic, ridiculous, embarrassing thing to do. And if she slayed it it would be accidental genius!
At every turn this season gave us ONE level at a time. Ben is talented and Ben is also sad today. Here is Ben being talented and sad.
Hayden -- good point about the available queens. They should probably wait a few years before All Stars S4.
Hayden totally agree.
I like Morgan, Milk and Thorgy just fine, but in no universe are they 'All Stars'. But it's also what you make of it too, Aja was not all-star caliber for me before the season but she turned it around and made the most of her time from episode 1 onwards. Chi Chi was All-Star caliber (top 4 in her season) and she floundered in AS3.
Saying Sasha Velour won S9 with a "gimmick" is just ludicrous. Sasha won with great creativity and verve, giving the audience something completely different and fresh. All of Shea Coulee's gymnastics couldn't help but look same old same old next to Sasha's rose petals (though Peppermint acquitted herself quite well next to Sasha).
I think this season's wrap-up was pretty unsatisfying. Ben inadvertently spoiled it by dropping out. I honestly thought that Shangela had the overall best performance through the season.
Sasha didn't win because of a gimmick. Shea could've still lost in the end to Sasha. That gimmick made it possible for Peppermint to be there, become 2nd place, and screw both Shea and even Trinity out of her deserving 3rd place
This twist isn't as bad, the result looked real at least. That spinning wheel was a mess and looked fake and forced.
Trixie deserves her win. Specially if they're going to place her with Kennedy on the top, which wasn't Trixie's fault. Once Ben went home, no matter how predictable, Shangela deserved her win. She could've also won over Ben had they gone to the final two together. Who knows what would've happened or how Ben would've performed in the Kitty Girl challenge against Shangela. Once Ben left, the only other choice was Trixie for that top 2.
Be mad at the show. Leave Trixie alone, even if it's 100% true that it was Shangela's win. The girl is the perfect example of an All Star.
I thought the S9 finale was an elegant solution to a big problem—the winner selection had become too subjective and mysterious to be satisfying.
How do you win a season of Drag Race? You never lose a lip sync. That's been the show's bottom line since the beginning.
If they ran the top 4 through three more standard episodes it would come down to a lip sync every single time. Shea Coulee would have needed to beat Sasha Velour at some point or another. And maybe under different circumstances she would have.
And I'd add that the live audience holds Rupaul accountable to a fair outcome.
It's kind of fitting that this season of All Stars ended up being as big a dumpster truck fire as it was considering no one really NEEDED this season. The writing was on the wall from the get-go...
My perspective: if they have to bring back a former winner to "spice things up," that's indicative of a fundamentally lackluster cast. They'd never have brought back Bebe to AS2 - that cast was undeniably locked and loaded. They'd never have brought back Bebe if AS3 had been stacked with the likes of Kim Chi, Valentina, Trinity, Shea, etc. The overall cast was so lackluster that the undeniable frontrunner to take home the crown decided she didn't even want it.
Sidebar: I feel like Kennedy did better in the lip sync than Trixie did? How did we end up with an All Stars winner who has historically proven (and has admitted to being) so poor at lipsyncs? Is this not the literal antithesis to why Ru changed the S9 finale into a LSFYL sudden death battle? So many contradictions :\
Here's hoping an AS4 will be a long time from now, filled with superstars and truly fantastic like AS2.
The way Ben is being treated by some is unfair.
In season 6 he said he sufferers greatly from depression and low self confidence. The character of DeLa was a way for him to combat and balance himself.
As someone who also suffers from these mental health issues I recognized the internat battle he was having within himself on AS3. Being the judge jury and executioner must have played havoc on his well being. So he removed himself from the competition after winning a challenge where his mental state influenced his character.
Good for him I say.
As for the episode, well there needs to be a change up with the way AS uses it’s elimination process.
Can we please just bring back some of the contestants from AS1.....I rewatched it this weekend and it was so unfair. Pandora, Tammy, Nina, Manila, Yara were all given a shitty deal.
In seasons past, the final lip sync has been a three-way battle in order for Ru to safely choose the most fitting winner without actually having to consider the lip sync itself. In seasons before 9, it's worked. Back to basics, gurl.
Michael P -- agreed that at least half the AS1 contestants deserve a second shot..
Hayden - B I N G O on this season's lack of joy
If we're bringing back queens with multiple choices, my unpopular opinion is that Adore Delano should get another shot. She entered AS2 off her game but lately she's been stellar.
I didn't understand why ben left the competition cuz she was tired to judge her peers, and two weeks later she comes back and judge them a little more. Doesn't make any sense.
I think they should decide on a top 2 ‘in studio’ and then they lip sync in the finale that way it will go back to how it was decided on s1-s3
Golden: ‘(I think this is the first terrible Snatch Game performer to win)’ : Tyra Sanchez’s Beyoncé was pretty awful also.
If you want a different show, why don't you produce one yourself? I LOVE the Kitty Girl remix and listen to it constantly. They are all winners.
@Rami: Black Excellence Tyra Sanchez was the perfect foil for Tatianna's on that Snatch Game and actually landed jokes, unlike white mediocrity and supposedly funny Trixie Mattel.
RC - nice to see some positivity in here! I love this version of the song too and thought they all were fun in the finale, regardless of it being a weaker season than usual
@ Dan - Ben was contractually obligated to participate in that finale. The T is that Ben didn't want to participate but the producers reminded her of the contractual obligation and could resort to legal action if she did not comply.
Trixie is anything but mediocre in her performance in the real world, outside of the hermetically sealed rat race of reality TV. Being a genuinely talented queen does not automatically translate into being a good Drag Race competitor. Trixie excels at doing her own thing. There's a reason why she has a passionate fanbase.