Canada's Drag Race: All Stars Season 1, Episode 1
"Miss Charisma, Uniqueness, Nerve, and Talent Pageant"
Host: Brooke Lynn Hytes
Judges: Jimbo, Priyanka, Kathy Griffin (guest)
Cast: Aurora Matrix, Jackie Cox, Jada Shada Hudson, Juice Boxx, Makayla Couture, Nearah Nuff, Pythia, Sami Landri, Tiffany Ann Co.
The spectre of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars Season 2 looms over every All Stars season, be it Global, vs. the World, Royale, or regular flavor. Even with all the shenanigans that've been pulled over the past 10 years, nothing comes close to the stakes and stunts of All Stars 2. That's why it bodes very, very well for Canada's Drag Race: All Stars Season 1 that the vibes I'm getting from it are very AS2.
That all starts with the queens, duh. All Stars 2 pulled the best of the best, decorum be damned (five queens from Season 5? Pop off!). And Canada, too, is giving "spared no expense" with its cast. Let's break it down:
- There are four runner-ups: Pythia (Season 2), Jada Shada Hudson (Season 3), Aurora Matrix (Season 4), and Makayla Couture (Season 5). Mind you, there have only been six seasons! This is every runner-up except for Season 6's (Eboni La'Belle) and Season 1's (Rita Baga competed on vs. the World; Scarlett BoBo would've been a gag, but I truly can't see her being judged by her Season 1 sisters Priyanka and Jimbo).
- Two more finalists: Sami Landri (Season 6) and Nearah Nuff (Season 4). Sami is a runaway fan favorite from the most recent season (it's giving Katya) and Nearah is one of the best lip syncers in the franchise (and she will let you know it, show and tell).
- A now three-time competitor in Pythia, who stunned on Global All Stars and still went home halfway through, because that season was wild.
- Two early-out queens: Tiffany Ann Co. (10th place on Season 5) and — iconically — Juice Boxx, the very first queen ever eliminated on Canada's Drag Race. This is a gag of gags. Granted, she was beaten in that very first lip sync by Lemon, one of three ultimately crowned queens from that season. But — Juice Boxx's elimination has loomed large over the franchise, because it felt like so much dashed potential. Having her on All Stars feels like a cosmic, karmic course correction.
- And just for funsies, why not throw in a RPDR US queen, the Halifax-born Jackie Cox (RuPaul's Drag Race Season 12)? While Jackie never won a challenge, she did place in the top nearly every week and would've been a finalist if the season had stuck with a final four after XXXXX's disqualification.
There's another, larger reason why this episode feels like the start of something special. Canada's Drag Race is still, despite being the second-most award-winning series in the franchise, scrappy as fuck. Where success can breed complacency, it's instead pushed Canada's Drag Race to bolder extremes. That's evidenced by, well, everything in this episode.
First, the queens (see above).
Second: the judges. An all-drag-queen panel? Now? Eighteen years into the franchise? What took so long?! Adding Priyanka and Jimbo is such a genius move, one that honors the series' next-level legacy. Plus, it adds a new dimension to the proceedings: these all stars are being judged by people who have already done did this before. They're not going to be sent packing by a celebrity stylist and TV presenter.
Third: the challenge. All Stars 2 introduced the talent show concept into the Drag Race canon. Now, ten years later, Canada's All Stars tells the talent show to step its pussy up. The reveal that the queens were told that they can't just do a lip sync number for their talent is hilarious. It's such a read on the other talent shows, primarily the American ones, where queens use the talent show to debut an original track (well, 60 seconds of an original track).
This is, of course, madness. There's a reason a lot of queens do a lip sync number for their talent, and it's the same reason why the producers allow it to happen ad nauseam: it does make for fine TV. But Canada's Drag Race always reevaluates the traditions. Is "fine" enough? Why not take away the safety net, push the queens a little, and make some TV that isn't fine, but instead vacillates between extremes of "hell yes" and "hell no"?
So, the choices in this no-lip-sync-palooza are, therefore, insane. Juice Boxx coming out on stage in a basic sweat suit, no pads, and just deadlifting some rando, using up a fraction of her allotted time? Jawdropping. Nearah Nuff stacking cups, no added spectacle, and flubbing the ending?? Madness! I live! I'd also put Makayla Couture in the "choices" column. If you're going to do spoken word, you gotta top Tatianna's "Same Parts" (again, All Stars 2), and Makayla's ended right when it started to go somewhere. If the producers hadn't put the kibosh on lip syncs, I could easily see Juice, Nearah, and Makayla all doing flips and tricks to a track. That would've been entertaining ... but it wouldn't have been as memorable as deadlifting and stacking cups.
The standout queens took this directive and ran with it in deeply personal directions. Pythia, Aurora Matrix, and Sami Landri all looked to their cultural heritages and turned their folk history into drag: Pythia with the Zeibekiko, Sami with Acadian chair and step dancing, and Aurora's Chinese ribbon dance. Pardon any Wikipedia/Google search-induced mistakes.
Determining the top and bottom placements was, for the most part, easy. The tops were clearly the tops. The bottoms, though? This is where the other pageant categories, the throwaway swimsuit number and then the runway eleganza, actually factored in. Jackie Cox landing in the bottom was a bit of a shock. Was her cabaret number — which was all about tariffs — funny? About as funny as it sounds, sadly. But Jackie can sing! However, I did agree that while her eleganza was stunning, she just seemed to shrink on stage. Meanwhile, Tiffany Ann Co.'s runway was among the weakest. However, her talent — dancing with a seemingly floating light stick — was solid. Kind of unclockable. As a Jackie Cox fan, I say, "damn."
And now, the last All Stars 2 parallel: a major twist in how queens are eliminated. The Golden Beaver is back, its influence now having spread to France, the United Kingdom, and likely beyond. But instead of the challenge winner (Pythia in this case) getting to save one of the three bottom queens from lip syncing, it's now a group vote. And boy, do the queens really revel in this power. At least, that's what the string of to-camera jawdrops want us to think. It is a gag, though, because it means that all of the alliance talk that goes on in All Stars seasons (and usually goes nowhere) actually matters now. It actually really matters. And Nearah Nuff, in the first meme-able Untucked moment, said, "Fuck all the alliances." Her immediately spilling about all the alliances she's heard about, and then "apologizing" in advance to Juice Boxx and Jackie for sending one of them home? Well, that's one reason why Nearah Nuff was brought back for All Stars.
The other reason comes when, after Juice Boxx is gifted the Beaver, Nearah shows us how she does it to Raye's "WHERE IS MY HUSBAND!" I'm not going to count out Jackie Cox! Comedy lip syncs are her bread 'n' butter, and she really hammed it up to this song as only Jackie Cox could. There's big drunk-mom-at-the-wedding energy to Jackie's pop number lip syncs, and she always owns it. I applaud it. Maybe that routine could've stood up against what Juice Boxx would've brought.
But Nearah Nuff. Nearah's confidence comes across as so petulant that I really don't want to give her her flowers. But she's so good that, well, there's a damn bouquet behind my back. It takes a lot for a queen to surprise me after having watched hundreds of these, but Nearah's forward flip into the splits moment got me, gal. Nearah is just a top-tier lip syncer, able to meld choreo and improvised moves into an effortless flow of puss. She ate, and — somehow! — Jackie is the Juice Boxx of Canada's All Stars.
I really hate this, because Jackie's a personal fave of mine. Her entrance and runway looks were fantastic. She got to speak out against America's fascist regime, and she got to speak up for Iran. I guess she did kinda give all the Jackie Cox storylines that the producers likely wanted from her in one episode ... but I want more. I hope this doesn't deter Jackie from doing U.S. All Stars, because she's such an important queen. And Star Trek drag is valid!
And that's the premiere of Canada's Drag Race: All Stars, which was exactly as fierce and fun as I was hoping it would be. Here's hoping the season maintains its All Stars 2 trajectory.
Next week: Girl groups!
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