Canada's Drag Race Season 6, Episode 4
""Reading Battles Are Back Back Back Again"
Showrunner: Trevor Boris
Director: Shelagh O'Brien
Host: Brooke Lynn Hytes
Cast: Dulce, Eboni La'Belle, Hazel, Karamilk, Mya Foxx, PM, Saltina Shaker, Sami Landri, Van Goth, Velma Jones
Canada's Drag Race is in a streak unlike any we've seen since the heyday of the mother show. I'm not just talking episodes, I'm talking seasons of great TV, back to back to back. Like RuPaul's Drag Race, Seasons 1-6 of Canada's Drag Race get better and better. Barring some unforeseen train wreck, I could foresee Canada Season 6 becoming one of the best seasons in the franchise. From Mini through the Maxi and the lip sync, this episode delivered.
The long form storytelling here is the gag. Canada has specialized in this since the iconic Miss Fiercalicious "sabotage" montage in Season 3 (which you can read about the origins of here). Canada knows how to pull storylines out of reality television in a way that feels like it's coming from producers who are paying attention to what is happening in the Werk Room, and not adhering to what they planned out months before in a conference room. The PM vs. Hazel of it all is razor sharp reality TV — and the best thing about it is that the queens did all this themselves.
Or at least that's how it seems! That's great production! Obviously casting knew PM and Hazel knew each other. The two of them made that clear the moment they entered the Werk Room. But how could production have known that things would go so lopsided so quickly? That Hazel not choosing PM last week, thus marooning her in a design challenge, would cause so much drama?
This episode started with a Mini Challenge, one of those character-based improv challenges that Canada loves (never forget Vivian Vanderpuss telling Brooke that her eyes looked like water coolers). This was a "fashion consultation" with Carson Kressley, and Sami Landri killed it. Just effortlessly funny. I've gone from thinking she was an absolute nutjob to thinking she's the smartest person in the competition. I mean, Carson pointing out a couple having sex across the street and Sami's response being "I love love" is an all-timer for me.
The only impact the Mini has on the outcome is that sami gets to pick her opponent, and she picks PM. Sami is also the only queen who picks someone that could pose a threat to them. The rest of the choices feel more like a queen picking an easy target, either because they're quiet or have spent time in the bottom: Hazel chooses Karamilk, Dulce chooses Velma Jones, and Eboni chooses Mya Foxx. Van Goth and Saltina Shaker, two challenge winners, are stuck together.
The queens get coached by Alyssa Edwards who actually doesn't give terrible advice? It's not like Alyssa is particularly good at reading or roasting; she won a roast by having Alaska harness her power. What Alyssa seems to have perfected, though, is being a drag queen on Drag Race. All that vague, unhelpful advice she used to get about how she was naturally funny and "just do that," Alyssa has figured out how to just do that. So when she gives similar advice (telling Dulce that nerves means that she cares), it feels way more genuine because we all saw Alyssa's journey. We can compare how she was to how she is.
Also — Sami Landri teaching Alyssa Edwards how to pronounce her name, and Alyssa asking, "What does that mean?" and Sami replying, "It means my name" — took me out. Give these two a WOW Presents Plus show.
The reading battles were solid overall, which is high praise considering what we just endured in UK Season 7. The main problem is one we had the last time they did this in Canada vs. the World Season 2: don't critique the queens between sets! It ruins all the momentum! It's like asking the audience to go from laughing along to politely sitting while the judges hand out compliment sandwiches.
Van Goth vs. Saltina Shaker: Saltina lucked out. Her jokes were all solid, even the blobfish one, but her very together delivery could have been steamrolled by someone like Sami or Eboni. Van Goth fell into the very avoidable, yet very enticing trap of making punchlines about judges' comments, episode placements, and the competition. The audience in the room with you has not watched the show yet, Tamar!
Dulce vs. Velma Jones: This was a battle of confidence. Dulce's written jokes were good, especially the "hard ice" one (which on TV sets means "don't talk"), but the delivery wasn't polished. But Dulce repeatedly bringing up Velma's alcoholic mother? Yikes. Velma did what Alyssa said: she leaned into her uniqueness, played up her accent, and used her natural stage presence to turn fine jokes on paper into killers on stage, like saying Dulce was in their drag family, which explains her outfit ("... grandma?").
Sami Landri vs. PM: The battle of the weirdos! This was close. Sami's running "PM" bit, as well as her deep cut ode to Laganja Estranja, had me screaming. PM's reads were fine, if a little too pointed. That's the other mistake: you have to deliver reads like a spoonful of sugar, even it's really anthrax.
Hazel vs. Karamilk: A real mixed bag for both. Karamilk gets points for landing a few off-the-cuff zingers, which helped with an otherwise stiff delivery. I think Kara's win here had more to do with Hazel not meeting high expectations and Kara exceeding low expectations. Plus, like Dulce, Hazel had the clearest flub of the night. It probably isn't good that I can't recall a single joke from either?
Mya Foxx vs. Eboni La'Belle: Mya has the comedy chops, which we've seen in Snatch Game and in her quick wit — but she's so quiet. Eboni is a firehose of charisma, but she's so young and that charisma feels like it's in the fake it and not yet into the make it realm. Here's the tea: Mya needs to write jokes for Eboni. That's a winning combination. But as it stands, yeah, Eboni won this through star power alone.
Now, as for winning the whole thing? Hot take: This should have been Velma or Sami's first win. Both did great and Velma's story could've used this win (although she seemed over the moon to just have won her face-off). I also, hotter take, think Van Goth should've been in the bottom three instead of PM. The only crash and burn of the night was Dulce, and then maybe Hazel. And when it came to jokes and delivery, PM was more unique than Van Goth. And in a situation where Velma has a Beaver to give to Dulce, Van, or Hazel ... she gives it to Van, and Hazel likely sends Dulce home.
That's not what happens. Something better happens.
And even though I don't agree with how this story got there, I applaud the producers for tweaking things to ensure we got every bit of what these girls had to give. First, putting Hazel, PM, and Dulce in the bottom. In another spicy Untucked segment, Dulce, Hazel, and PM plead their cases and held nothing back. Obviously the real drama was between Hazel and PM, but let's not sleep on Dulce! Dulce is not quiet here, and calls out the situation: let Hazel and PM settle this beef on the Main Stage. What feels genuine is PM's continued shock over Hazel's behavior last week. This is the one Drag Race series where alliances actually matter, and PM can't get over the fact that Hazel did not look out for her and then didn't argue on PM's behalf when she ended up in the bottom. That's real. What's fake is, clearly, PM's promise to Eboni. Girl, the "scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" promise is never genuine, from anyone, to anyone, ever.
So obviously Eboni, who knows good television, makes the right choice and saves Dulce. Thus, we get to see Hazel and PM duke it out to Avril Lavigne and Nicki Minaj's "Dumb Blonde."
As with Perla and Sanjina's duel to "Bad Bitches Don't Cry" last year, Canada's Drag Race comes in at nearly the last second and gives us what has to be one of the best — if not the best — lip sync of the year, across the entire franchise. This was an extraordi-they/them-ary stunt-splosion pussy-tacular of the highest order. Two bad bitches with different skill sets outdoing each other, bodies launching themselves into orbit without even a flinch because every word of this damn song is encoded in their DNA. The fact that Canada's Drag Race can give us the crunchiest (Sami vs. Paolo) and the gaggiest lip syncs of the year, almost back-to-back, bitch, this series gives you what you want.
And PM stays. It's not like Hazel didn't give it her all. But the show didn't give us a double shantay, even if it was maybe deserved — even though they could have had Alyssa Edwards, a two-time participant in two of the greatest double shantays ever, bestow it upon Hazel and PM. Hazel goes home, presumably with a direct ticket to Australia or the UK to compete on behalf of "the world" in-hand.
What the hell is going to happen next?
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