Posted in: TV | Tagged: drag race, rupaul

RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars 10: Let's Look at Bracket 1, Shall We?

We have some thoughts on RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars 10 Bracket 1: Aja, Bosco, DeJa Skye, Irene the Alien, Olivia Lux, and Phoenix.

RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars 10: Tournament of All Stars is underway, and we've already completed our first bracket (along with the first set of eliminations). Bracket one, aka the orange bracket, just finished, and I have opinions. This season, we're doing things a bit differently by giving a recap bracket by bracket once each group's three episodes are over and half the queens have been cut.

Competing in the first bracket are: Aja (Season 9 and All Stars 3), Bosco (Season 14), DeJa Skye (Season 14), Irene the Alien (Season 15), Olivia Lux (Season 13), and Phoenix (Season 3). At the end of the third episode, per a convoluted points total system, Bosco and Irene advance while DeJa, Olivia, Aja, and Phoenix all give each other points to determine the last queen who advances. Alliances (and a first episode challenge win) seem to have paid off as Aja takes the final spot, moving on in the bracket.

Let's start with the positives in this bracket: Irene the Alien. I feel like Irene was robbed the first time around in season 15, and seeing her finally get an actual shot is so justifying. I liked her drag before, but now it feels even more polished and weird, and I'm so here for it. The makeover challenge was a particular highlight for me – they were serving Star Wars Holiday Special Circus Performer realness (which I swear is a good thing). So glad she advanced and basically won this bracket, I hope she takes this whole thing.

Okay, now that my positivity is locked back in its cage inside my cold, dead little heart, let's move on to all the parts of this bracket I liked…less. Buckle up, there's a lot of it. Spoiler: it's basically everything else.

Bosco, Bosco, Bosco. I lived for her when she was on season 14, despite delivering a very samey look week after week, but it was sickening. But something about this time around is just not giving me life. I'm going to say my brave opinion here: I don't like how her drag is now all about her tits. I don't like how the show is making things all about them either. It's just not my preference when it comes to drag to make it all about the performer's naked (or basically naked) body and not have any deeper point to it, no matter the gender, cosmetic surgeries, or confidence.

Good for you being comfortable showing and flaunting your body, but that's not what I tune into Drag Race for. Do I think it shouldn't exist – absolutely not! Burlesque is a wonderful community, but the queens are not competing for the title of America's Next Burlesque Superstar, and Dita Von Tease is not the host. This is a drag show, and for me, Bosco's giving burlesque, not drag. It's a little disappointing to see queens do very well in the competition by simply stripping and wearing jewels and chapstick, and see other queens who go more "classic drag" and give camp and effort do poorly.

Aja is fine, but honestly, I don't get all the hype. Like, at all. I didn't like her the first time around, or in All Stars 3. Olivia Lux should have taken that last spot in the top 3 over her – she's just not giving anything I'm interested in. Does this mean her drag is bad, or do I hate her as a person? No! Art is subjective. Aja just delivers a style of drag I happen to find incredibly boring, derivative at best, and not humorous, campy, or glamorous. So what is it? It feels like a phoned-in, lazy style of drag. At least we have Irene to liven up the party, plus whoever ends up advancing from the other brackets.

I really hate this production trend of bringing back like one or two queens from early seasons and pitting them against younger, more popular recent Drag Race queens who have a "new school" sense of drag, know what the judges want, and kiss ass to the judges with it. It feels like they're setting up the classic queens for failure and I would once again like to present the idea of a "classic queens" season of All Stars – up the age limit and even the playing field so it feels like we're actually giving the Phoenix and Nina Flowers and Shannel queens an immediate disadvantage in this competition.

This format already feels convoluted, but it's All Stars. Where would Drag Race be if not for making it needlessly complicated? Personally, I think the best format of All Stars is to have all the queens come in at once and basically speed run a "highlight reel" of the best challenges, like Snatch Game, design challenges, a Rusical, and a ball. Showcase what they didn't get to the first time around or knock it out of the park again and show how much they've grown as an artist and performer.

Case in point: All Stars 5. I think that's a fantastic example of how great the format can be, though the non-eliminations starting with All Stars 7 feels like they really perfected the format. We don't need more filler queens to get ignored by production for the known favorites; we need a format that feels even and gives all the queens space and time to shine.

Next week starts the pink bracket's run of three episodes, and the competing queens are: Jorgeous (Season 14, All Stars 9) Kerri Colby (Season 14) Lydia Butthole Kollins (Season 17) Mistress Isabelle Brooks (Season 15) Nicole Paige Brooks (Season 2), and Tina Burner (Season 13).

RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars 10: Tournament of All Stars drops new episodes every Friday on Paramount+.

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