RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars Season 10, Episode 1
"Winner Winner Chicken Dinner"
Director: Nick Murray
Cast: Aja, Bosco, DeJa Skye, Irene the Alien, Olivia Lux, Phoenix
We made it! Through teams, a rhinestone tank top, the jury vote, a tie for the crown, malicious slander, "Rumerican Horror Story," all-winners, the Canadian invasion, and all charity — we are finally here. All Stars 10. A season of TV that wouldn't have aired until 2048 had the show maintained its initial release schedule. Good thing they picked up the pace, because drag may be a punishable offense by 2028 lol prison honey literally
But whatever — here we are, and this season's gaggable twist is the Tournament of All Stars (a.k.a. an excuse for a lot of gays to act really cute, like they don't understand how brackets work because sports). Eighteen queens, three groups of six, the top three from every group advance. Easy. After that, though, we can probably expect the stunts to commence. But for now, Bracket 1 is ready to rock this tournament — literally.
Before we start, let me lay out the ground rules for the recap. Picture me in sport coat, glasses, and a mustache — a.k.a. how I always look. Wait, uh, is RuPaul cosplaying as me? Every recap will be broken down into the five basic segments of a Drag Race episode: The Werk Room, The Maxi Challenge, The Runway, The Critiques, and The Lip Sync.
But first, entrances. The only thing that I truly hate about this format: the lack of entrance lines! Are you kidding? No new zingers on the level of Ginger Minj "Let's get ... this over with!" or Shea Couleé's "I'm blaaaack." Thankfully we do at least get Bosco's narration over her entrance, saying she is "God's favorite transsexual."
Of all the entrance lewks, though, Bosco takes the cake, hides in the utility closet, and scarfs the whole thing down while the birthday girl and the rest of the bitches from payroll stay hungry. She looks like The Flintstones by way of Tim Burton, or a crime boss from Æon Flux. Bosco is iconic for this 1989, R-rated animated business sexpot power suit.
The Werk Room
And now the storylines are kicking in. Right off the bat, Irene the Alien is serving a storyline that we still don't see all that often: the story of a Porkchop queen coming back in All Stars. Off the top of my head, at least Jaymes Mansfield (Season 9's Porkchop) got two Maxi Challenges and runways before getting cut and coming back for All Stars 8. So Irene really has everything to prove and nothing to lose.
Also Irene looks like Budnick from Salute Your Shorts and if you understand that reference, then you're also a millennial who spent childhood weekends bingeing cable TV. We are the same.
Then there's DeJa, who — she kids us not — went to Mexico and had 60 pounds surgically removed. Yeah, you know how drag queens joke about going to Mexico for shady procedures? DeJa did that, for real. And almost died. What. But what I applaud about this story is DeJa actually saying she regrets doing it. In the gay community, it does sound wild hearing a weight loss story that a gay regrets. Usually the tone is very "lose the pounds at all costs." Y'know, Tic Tac lunch, crash diets, tape worm jokes, Ozempic, shady procedure south of the border, etc.
I applaud DeJa for saying confidently that she regrets it. Normalize having regrets! The key here is, DeJa doesn't seem to be wallowing in the regret, nor is she letting the regret hold her back. It doesn't have to define her. It's a part of her, and she acknowledges that. As someone with plenty of regrets, I think that's fierce.
Lastly, Bosco. This doesn't seem like Bosco competing on All Stars so much as Bosco auditioning to be the host of her own TV show. Bosco is just on Ru's wavelength. She has the deadpan lunacy and self-aware sarcasm. that RuPaul so adores.
The Runway
While prepping for the runway, we get two major developments. First, Olivia and Aja solidify the first major alliance of the season in MiMu (a.k.a. Miyake-Mugler, the name of their ballroom house). And with four points up for grabs in every episode, this is actually a season where alliances might actually play a role in practice and not just in theory.
Aja also gets some attention in the other major part of the runway prep portion: a little "feud" moment with Irene. These two are perfect for TV together. Aja has always been incredibly talented, and she only gets more talented with every return. The thing is, she's always 10% more delusional than talented — which is just great because talent and delusion make for great television. Like, imagine if Joella remained Joella, but she actually packed Lexi Love's talent. That's Aja.
And Irene cannot help but call shit out. She's a Ghostbuster and delusions are her Slimer. She sees delusion and she busts it. Case in point: Aja making the absolutely wild claim that people saw her on Season 9 and said she looked perfect, when — as Irene clocks — Aja was famously read for using FaceTune. Then Aja says she doesn't use FaceTune anymore, which — to follow Aja on Instagram is to see her Stories wherein she looks like, I don't know, a cunty Chipette? I love this, so much.
On the runway, category is SLITS & TITS.
Bosco wins. Boobs for Queens found dead. The wig alone would be enough for Drag Race herstory and Bosco had to bust out those ta-tas too? Merciless.
Elsewhere, Olivia Lux is pandering to my aforementioned millennial ass with that Lil' Kim pantsuit. It's great. And Phoenix surprises me with a look that is super unexpected, edgy, and low-key giving Jimbo. The only problem is the boob reveal, where the bottom of the breast plate flops around.
The Maxi Challenge
Okay. Is it because I actually like rock and roll that I find every attempt to do a "rock" song so cringey? And it's not like rock and drag can't coexist! Little Richard, David Bowie, Jobriath, Brian Eno, Rocky Horror, KISS, Alice Cooper, The B-52's, Culture Club, Poison, The Darkness, Scissor Sisters, Gravy Train!!!!, Karen O — it werks!
But something about every single rock challenge on this show feels insincere in a way that the pop and hip hop challenges don't. Maybe it's because I assume that the people writing and the queens performing those songs actually like that genre, and I assume none like rock? And even the queens that do (Bosco's done an Of Montreal number — I love Bosco), they're still performing a showtunes version of rock and therefore can't really hit on anything genuine? Or they get gaslit by Lucian Piane, who told Bob the Drag Queen that the B-52's weren't camp. God.
Or maybe it's because the rock numbers always force the queens to mime playing instruments, which never looks cool, ever.
Anyway — Aja actually slays this challenge by throwing herself fully into the rock and roll attitude. It's commendable how hard Aja commits to the bit, and she actually makes rap verses flow in a rock way à la Black Crowes "Hard to Handle." It's very good!
The Critiques
On the whole, I think this judging was mostly correct. Aja in the top, right on. Then it really comes down to Irene or Bosco — and the only "negative" thing they could say about Bosco was that sometimes she was turned around in the video? Bosco's backside is as good as her frontside, so the problem is not there. But narrative-wise, sure, yes, Irene going from a first episode chop to a first episode top is compelling. But, my top two for the week would be Aja and Bosco.
The Lip Sync
Um ... I'm old because I don't ... get ... this song. I did love hearing RuPaul say, "Think U the Shit (Fart)." Overall, it was rad seeing Aja bring her years of ballroom to the Main Stage, and I think she ate this lip sync (even if I don't think it was a particularly filling meal)
And that's the premiere — a perfectly fine episode that sets up a lot of story (Irene's redemption, Aja and Olivia's alliance), as narrated by Bosco. The Maxi Challenge didn't result in any real meme-worthy moments, but hey — they can't all be winner winner chicken dinnerses.
Here's the score so far:
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