Drag Race RuCap: “Villains Roast”

Villains look good in red, don't you think?

NICK TAYLOR: What a maddening episode of television this was. Don’t get me wrong, I had a lot of fun with the Villains Roast. This cast continues to surprise me, for better and worse, and season 17 continues to give us sheer entertainment at a delicious pace. But the cast’s harkening to the shady charisma of OG Drag Race has now manifested some of the most unprompted fits of delusional sabotage we’ve seen in years. Arrietty and Lexi spin out hard over absolutely nothing, falling victim to their inner saboteurs at the earliest possible second, and tearing down Jewels with a petty nastiness that kept bringing me back to Phi Phi O’Hara. They overwhelm the underdog victories of Lana and Lydia, who finally and deservedly get their first stellar critiques of the season. It’s sour enough that I’m really reconsidering Lexi’s long-assumed placement in the final four. How do you feel?

CLÁUDIO ALVES: Oh honey, I have OPINIONS on these bitches…

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RuPaul’s Drag Race: “Heavens to Betsey!”

CLÁUDIO ALVES: Another week, another stellar episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race season 17. I’m really enjoying the show this year, even though I probably preferred the overall cast performance of seasons 15 and 16. Not sure if it’s a triumph of production or editing or the queens, mediocre though some of their work may be at times. It helps that they have great chemistry and a tendency for mess that’s more akin to the series’ origins than its later years. That said, “Heavens to Betsey!” featured a high level of craft from our contenders, with only two queens flopping. Moreover, the challenge was a delight, made even better by this week’s extra special guest judge, fashion designer Betsey Johnson. She was sweet and inspiring, she got emotional and did the splits as she always does. What’s not to love?

NICK TAYLOR: The sheer quality of the guest judges has been lovely this season. It’s not an essential component, but you can feel the lack of it when it’s missing...

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Drag Race RuCap: “Let’s Get Sea Sickening Ball”

This week, the role of Dakota Schiffer will be played by Hunter Schafer.

NICK TAYLOR: We’ve arrived at one of Drag Race’s mainstay challenges: The Ball. Do you think production expected there to be fewer girls by the time we reached this episode? Arrietty’s certainly lucky to be here, after being saved from going home by the second lever of the Badonkadunk Tank, but I think the show (and the audience) are even luckier for her to be here and give us such a complete package. Other queens delivered on drama and entertainment, and the judge’s panel delivered some of their most astute critiques of the season, even if I wasn’t expecting them to pick the tops and bottoms they did. But as a culmination of a six-episode arc for one queen, and the first challenge without a safety net, it’s a damn good episode of television. Were you as taken with this as I was?

CLÁUDIO ALVES: I loved this episode, from challenge performances to werk room drama, from guest judges to mini-challenge tomfoolery. Mama Ru is coming off that Emmy loss full of piss and vinegar, ready to prove Drag Race naysayers wrong. I know we’ve been saying this a lot, but season 17 feels like the old days of the show returned, with all the marvelous messiness that entails…

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Drag Race RuCap: "Monopulence!"

by Cláudio Alves

Monopoly sure looks different since last I played it.

If you only come to these RuCaps in search of Nick Taylor's dazzling wit, I'm sad to report that, this week, you'll have to settle for little old me. Our beloved co-Rucapper was busy with a trip to New York, so, like Elphaba, I'm flying solo. But only for this design challenge episode, where drag queens celebrated the most friendship-breaking tabletop game ever, giving us a flavor of Logo-style messiness. For a while, it felt like we were back in those early Drag Race seasons, when the claws came out and nobody left an episode unscathed. So, settle in for drama and some dubious fashions, as we dive headfirst into "Monopulence!"…

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Nicole Kidman Tribute: Chanel N°5: The Film (2004)

by Cláudio Alves

If someone asked me to come up with the definitive image of Nicole Kidman, I'm not sure I'd gravitate toward her work in movies or TV, nor even her red-carpet appearances. Instead, my mind would instinctually drift to that shot of industrial-grade glamour that once played at every primetime ad break. It's a Moulin Rouge! reunion and, in its way, a miniature remake with a contemporary twist. It's fashion distilled into a dream, a bespoke Lagerfeld-designed wardrobe, and a fragrance we can only imagine through the screen. It's Old Hollywood resurrected for 180 seconds of hyper-artifice and soft-focus glow, so beautiful it makes your heartache. It's Chanel N°5: The Film, of course…

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