‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ Season 17 in Review: Hit or Miss?

RuPaul's Drag Race Season 17, Episode 16
"Grand Finale"
Director: Nick Murray
Cast: Acacia Forgot, Arrietty, Crystal Envy, Hormona Lisa, Jewels Sparkles, Joella, Kori King, Lana Ja'Rae, Lexi Love, Lucky Starzzz, Lydia Butthole Kollins, Onya Nurve, Sam Star, Suzie Toot

And just as winter gives way to spring, another season of RuPaul's Drag Race evaporates into memory. No, seriously — ever since Drag Race started premiering new seasons on the very first Friday of the new year back in 2021, the turning of seasons has been linked with a new crowned queen in my mind. I like that. Maybe this ties Drag Race to nature or something, making it feel like a part of the order of things ... Whatever! I had to write an intro for this article, and this is what you're getting. No rewrites!

As I noted in Episode 14's recap, Season 17 really took a dive after the roast episode. That episode was so chaotic, there was no way the rest of the season was going to live up to that. And aside from maybe the best makeover episode we've seen in years (like, legit Emmy bait), the last stretch of episodes were really weird. A Truman Capote acting challenge, monologues with seemingly intentionally vague metrics of success, a final challenge(s?) that broke with tradition and common sense — it's been a weird ride here at the end.

Still, as inevitable as the changing of the seasons (at least until climate change makes life an eternal summer), we have a new crowned queen in [drumroll] Onya Nurve. More on that later. First, I want to check in on Pop Heist's first-ever Drag Race Cast Ruveal Group Text Kiki and just wallow in how terribly we did in predicting the elimination order.

Okay — we got two of them right! Arrietty and Suzie Toot both went home when we said they would — and considering that Suzie's elimination was controversial, we should get a lot of credit for clocking that tea early (lol we took a blind guess). The embarrassment, though, it is strong. We whiffed on all of the top four, including some spectacular miscalculations when it came to Hormona, Lucky, Lexi, and Jewels.

Shout out to April for pegging Lucky as an early out (11th); and to my husband Sebastian — who put Hormona out at 9th — for being the only one of us not swayed by Hormona's fantastic Meet the Queens video. He did not watch the MtQ videos, which were highly misleading this year!

No one clocked Jewels as being a final four-level talent; April and Nicole ranked her highest at 7th. Ditto for Lexi; Manley ranked her highest at 7th. Manley was the only one to rank Onya in the final four (at 4th) and I was the only person to put Sam Star in the finale (also at 4th). In the end, using this probably mathematically questionable scoring system, April's ranking came closest (while still being a few miles off; we all biffed this).

Because I can't get enough stats, I'm now going to score the season using Hallmark Hit or Mess methodology. Listen: We are a young site and this is the first complete season of Drag Race that we've covered from beginning to end. I'm trying all this out, so bear with me. Trust: You aren't getting coverage as confidently haphazard as this anywhere else.

The Queens

I can't drag the casting. For most of the season, this cast made remarkable television together by embodying all the best of new school Drag Race (high-end polish) and old school Drag Race (messy behavior and rampant delusion). With Trim-gate, Spray Paint-gate, and Stolen Jokes-gate, this season gave us the most no-holds-barred fights since Season 10. Add in a some simmering rivalries (Hormona vs. Kori, Lexi vs. Suzie), a romance (Kori and Lydia), an explosive exit (Arrietty) and one unforgettable Slaysian Diva (you know who) and this season really kept us on our toes ... at least until Hormona, Kori, Lydia, Arrietty, and Joella were sent home.

I also need to point out the number of absolutely bonkers backstory reveals this season, because these girls kept my jaw on the floor.

• Onya's dad went to prison for robbing four banks.
• Jewels has a bionic spine.
• Lexi was a homeless meth addict who was almost trafficked but now has a corporate gig with a 401k where she still presents as male???
• Sam Star's godfather is Charles Barkley.
• Suzie Toot literally took her mother's full, maiden name as made it her drag name — yet her relationship with her mother is notably icy.
• Acacia has cystic fibrosis and was a literal, actual, honest-to-god Make-a-Wish kid.
• Hormona's mom cut her fingers off with a table saw.
• Joella is a Katy Perry superfan, and Katy Perry recognized Joella on sight.
• Lucky's dad lost a hand in a fireworks accident.

God bless these girls.

On the double-edged-sword front, it was very hard to clock a frontrunner all the way up until Suzie Toot's elimination. That's better than having a queen emerge as the likely winner upon entering the Werk Room (The Sasha Colby Effect) — but I think the season kinda suffered from not having a consistently sickening superstar in the cast. Like, no one in this cast will probably crack the top ten of any comedy or fashion lists. Everyone was evenly matched, which made the competition feel entertainingly tight, but not particularly gag-worthy.

The Challenges

Appropriately for Season 17, this season felt a lot like Season 7 in that the cast frequently felt mismatched with the challenges. For a season with so few dominant comedy queens and master seamstresses, they sure had to endure a lot of sewing and comedy challenges.

As is almost always the case, the opening two-part talent show relied heavily on performance — lip syncing and dancing. Then after that we got comedy challenges ("Bitch, I'm a Drag Queen!", "RDR Live!", "Snatch Game", "The Villains Roast", "Ross Mathews vs. The Ducks") and sewing challenges ("Monopulence!", "Let's Get Sea Sickening Ball", "Heavens to Betsey!"). The Rusical (the fantastic "Wicked Wiz of Oz") and makeover challenge also kinda slot into those two categories, as does "Charisma, Uniqueness, Nerve & Talent Monologues." This lineup of challenges really favored the few queens who could land a joke and construct a wearable garment — like Suzie Toot, Sam Star, Jewels Sparkles, and Onya Nurve (well, iffy on the sewing part, but she was in the top for "Monopulence!").

What I'm getting at is this is a season that really, really could have used a girl group challenge — and I know that Crystal, Kori, Arrietty, and Lana were probably hungry for one (and Joella too, if she made it that deep into the season).

This is where I question ask the question: Which comes first, the queens or the challenge lineup? For example, it made a lot of sense to throw a lot of design challenges at the Season 16 girls, since Nymphia Wind, Sapphira Cristál, Plane Jane, Q, Dawn, and Megami all knew their way around a sewing machine. That resulted in a lot of sickening, "I can't believe they made that yesterday" moments. Season 17, though? Y'all, you gotta set the cast up for success, because that makes for good television. Don't worry: A queen will still flop!

The Judges

The list of guest judges remains testament to Drag Race's enduring placement in the upper echelon of pop culture. And I have to do that hand-raised-and-middle-finger-clacking-against-thumb thing to the producers for matching the A-list guest judges with appropriate challenges: Doechii and the talent show, Paul W. Downs and "RDR Live!", Hunter Schafer and the ball, Quinta Brunson and Snatch Game, Adam Lambert and the Rusical, Jerrod Carmichael and the one-woman show. For the most part, these judges gave critiques that actually felt critical and constructive, like they really thought what they had to say could influence the outcome of the episode. I appreciate that! It's better than just having a judge sit there and smile!

While they weren't paired with particularly perfect challenges, I have to give love to Sam Smith, June Diane Raphael, and Tracee Ellis Ross. And devoting a whole episode to the iconic and kooky Betsey Johnson was also a winning move.

The Alessandra Torresani Award for confusing appearance on a Drag Race judges' panel goes to Julia Schlaepfer, an actor on Paramount+'s 1923 (a.k.a. a show straight people watch).

And I have to straight-up applaud the addition of Law Roach as a rotating judge. Law Roach is not particularly funny, not like Ts Madison, but he is chaotic. It feels clear that no one on production can predict nor control what he says, and they sure couldn't stop him from aggressively hitting on Onya Nurve's father. I mean, this is a queen who nearly got into a physical altercation with a competitor on HBO Max's Legendary, so ... I respect Law's ability to remain messy while not challenging queens to meet him at the Porkchop Loading Dock after critiques. My major concern for Season 18? Will Law Roach's spot as a judge on the newly refurbished Project Runway preclude him from rotating in on Drag Race???

As for the actual judging, I'm going to give this season an overall pass. There was the usual confusion around what actually does and does not matter on this show, and the makeover challenge had the usual "their wig color is different so there's no family resemblance" nonsense. But, overall, the season ended with what felt like a correct final four, exclusion of Suzie Toot being a point of contention. However, I don't know who you swap out for Suzie, which is a sign that the final four is solid. And Suzie coming back and surprisingly dominating the LaLaPaRuza Smackdown was incredibly satisfying.

The Twists

No ma'am. Okay, yes, I was obsessed with the idea of the Badonka Dunk Tank when it was announced, but ... I don't know. Like "it's chocolate," the addition of having a queen pull a lever just messes up the momentum of the elimination. I do think it's likely that the levers weren't chosen at random ("1" and "7" does make sense for Season 17, so I buy that those levers were predetermined), and I think Arrietty's save and subsequent win in the ball was hella compelling.

However, the twists on this season and Season 16 feel superfluous — and they don't have to. The Immunity Potions last season had no effect on the game, and the show keeps nixing the Rate-a-Queen gimmick after the talent show. It's frustrating, because other shows — I'm thinking Top Chef, Survivor, hell, Ink Master — routinely implement twists that actually impact the game. When Drag Race does, it only goes to highlight how highly produced everything feels, because even the "twists" can't derail the (purportedly) predetermined elimination order.

If Drag Race wants to really gag audiences with a twist, howsabout re-introducing actual immunity for winning challenges? Or howsabout keeping Rate-a-Queen around for more than one challenge? Or why not just swallow pride and do what Canada's Drag Race does by implementing an American equivalent of the Golden Beaver? The best twist of all would be anything that actually shakes up the game.

Untucked

Perfect. No notes. The transformation that Untucked went through proves that Drag Race still has the ability to truly innovate. Expanding the Untucked set to include multiple spots to kiki and giving the queens their own cameras with which to do what they do best (make content on phones) was pure genius. This made Untucked can't miss TV, and — as the montage in the finale proved — gave us some absolutely memorable moments. Never forget Joella telling Lucky that she's going home, Suzie strutting in her clown look, Onya vs. Arrietty, and Lana Ja'Rae turning her back on Jewels.

The Finale

So close to perfect, TBH. While as a Season 9 devotee I will always love the lip sync tournament, I'm also at peace with the show moving past it. I mean, it's a shame that the best finale lip sync tourney was the very first one. It's been hard to top since day one. So letting the queens put together their own numbers (presumably) is a fine development, one that actually harkens back to the Logo years. And this season's numbers were all fantastic! The worst of the four rank among the best finale numbers we've ever seen, and I can't even determine which one was the worst. They were all good.

As for all the other stuff that pads out the finale, the continuation of the Giving Us Lifetime Award will always give me life. As the most prominent piece of queer pop culture, Drag Race actually has a responsibility to preserve and share queer history with its audience — because school's sure as hell aren't gonna. I love that the show recognizes and leans into this. And scoring Liza Minnelli? That's a headline-grabbing moment that really validates this cheekily named award.

There is, of course, one huge flaw in the ever-evolving finale format: the Lip Sync for the Crown.

If the finale lip sync is going to remain the final moment of the finale, then it — and it alone — has to determine the season's winner, full stop. The selection of the top two felt not only earned, but electric. Onya Nurve, winner of four challenges, was an obvious pick. But Jewels Sparkles, who just snagged her second challenge win, gave us the potential for an underdog upset — the likes of which we probably haven't seen since Sasha Velour. In retrospect, Jewels crushed this season, even if she didn't have the wins to back it up. These two felt correct as the top two, especially since they also had impeccable finale numbers.

And then comes the lip sync to Lady Gaga's "Abracadabra." Jewels ate it up. Reveals should not be a prerequisite to winning, but when they are executed as flawlessly as Jewels' and when they give an already captivating performance levels? Please, gimme reveals. Onya — who's displayed a more reserved lip sync style throughout the season, one that's more equipped for ballads — couldn't keep up with Jewels. She performed, she performed well, she looked great, but she didn't win the lip sync — and I think the editors couldn't even put together a version where she did. The cameras followed Jewels the entire time.

But Onya won.

Now, a Jewels upset would have been spectacular, but I also can't hate on an Onya Nurve crowning. I love Onya. Onya can do it all — and so can Jewels. Either one could have won the crown, legitimately, but crowning Onya after Jewels slayed a lip sync just felt off. But if the finale had, instead, played Jewels and Onya's finale numbers back-to-back in the last act of the finale, I absolutely would have felt an Onya win in my bones. Her number was sickening.

The wishy-washy nature of the finale lip sync is a major flaw in the show. Just look at Season 16's finale. A queen with 4 wins does a solid lip finale lip sync and loses (Sapphira Cristál) while a queen with 3 wins does a killer lip sync and wins (Nymphia Wind). The finale lip sync mattered. The opposite happens in Season 17, where a queen with 4 wins does a solid lip sync (Onya) and wins over a queen with 2 wins who murders the finale lip sync (Jewels). Make it make sense, etc.

It always feels like the producers edit the show around having options, which means that things like runway looks and finale lip syncs matter or don't depending on whichever way they want the season to go. I personally would love to see a season where everything actually matters, but ... not holding my breath, babe. But just for storytelling purposes — because reality TV tells stories, not truth — it would help the narrative to have the outcome of a season match what we just saw. Maybe that involves a quick supercut of the top two's best moments of the season right before the announcement, or maybe that involves taking the finale lip sync as deadly serious as the audience does. Either way, something's gotta change.

The Score

A miss — but just barely! It breaks my heart a little to declare the whole season a miss, but the numbers shake out that way. If any one individual category was one number higher, it would be a hit — but I can't see where I can add one more point. This season really hit with the queens and Untucked, and the judging and finale were on par with previous seasons (which means there were still the usual problems). But the continued inclusion of twists that go nowhere and challenges that didn't properly showcase these queens' strengths brought the season down a notch.

Still, a "MISS" season of Drag Race is one that I will rewatch for the rest of my life. So in a way, it's a "HIT" in my heart if not in my head.

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