Posted in: TV | Tagged: drag race, rupaul

RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars 11: Our Semi-Final & Disco Finale Rundown

RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars 11 comes disco dancing over the finish line in a stunning semi-final and finale lip sync extravaganza.

Welcome back again, RuPaul's Drag Race fans, for the semi-final and finale extravaganza! And, of course, it's a disco-themed product placement with a drag competition in there somewhere. Way better than season 18's finale though, ad-wise. Hey, gotta afford those dresses somehow, right, RuPaul? So, in a bit of a different format, here are my opinions on the episodes and queens left. Let's go in order of elimination for this "finale bracket":

Kennedy Davenport – Yes, the double Davenport alliance was short-lived, but it was a delight to see for the episode we got it. First things first, though, this week's challenge was an open mic story time, and it was bad. The instructions were unclear, and it just felt like the usual "rigmarole" they used to send through the judges' favorites. Sadly, Kennedy's story of growing up getting whooped didn't really land, but thanks to our old hated enemy, Rate-a-Queen, we got a double Davenport lip sync, and Kennedy was on the wrong end of RuPaul's decision. Kennedy is a classy person, and it's always fun to see an old school pageant diva do her thing. It's just a shame we didn't see her lip sync more, because she's great.

Sam Star – She went home on a talent show, which was judged via rate-a-queen, and it was the last elimination before the finale disco lip sync, and I'm absolutely gutted for her. My Alabama queen deserved better, especially being voted off in a rate-a-queen stunt where it was clear the other queens voted her in the bottom just because they didn't want to have her mop the floor with them. I hate that this was the outcome of that stunt for two episodes – it feels so rigged. But alas, at least she made it this far and stayed classy and fabulous. Her elimination confessional just made me want to give her a massive hug and punt all the other queens into the sun, though.

Dawn – Yawn. She was the first out in the disco lip sync finale, and rightly so. Fashion? Sure. Annoying? You bet. Not as bad as some of the other queens she's up against, but she still feels a little too scheming for ethical consumption. Her general drag vibe is also not my cup of tea, but a lot of people enjoy it, so who am I to hate on it? At least it's creative and, you know, drag.

A'keria C. Davenport did alright in the competition; it felt like everyone was against her, and she wasn't standing out, but that could very well be a shady edit from production. There's also tea that she and Silky have some pretty hefty unsettled beef, but they didn't go into it on the show, and it seems like they refused to, so it couldn't be that big of a plot point. Nevertheless, she did okay – were both her lip syncs good enough to send home the other queens? Meh. But in the disco finale, her elimination order felt correct.

Silky Nutmeg Ganache – Honestly, her talent show number should have sent her home. That said, in this semi and final bracket, she's become less insufferable, which I'm grateful for. Has her performance stood out? Not really, but it's stayed relatively solid, nothing amazing, but not bombing. Her lip-syncs do feel a little low-energy, but honestly, they're still entertaining. But do we need to see her on another Drag Race season for the 800,000th time? Absolutely not.

Jasmine "The Mouth Almighty" Kennedie is absolutely rotted, and I would love to tell you exactly how I feel about how this bitch has chosen to present herself on a worldwide television program…but I'm going to listen to my mother's advice, which is "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all." So, I will not be saying that she is doing a great job of coming across as a horrible cunt that I hope to never have the displeasure of ever sharing air with. I get that it's a reality TV show, but for real, being a manipulating, devious, annoying AF mean gay just for the sake of the plot is an awful look that's best left kicked to the curb. Didn't we learn this from last season's Mistress fiasco? So why aren't we kicking that behavior to the curb already, RuPaul? Why are we still lifting up conniving bitches who are, quite frankly, just plain ugly in attitude in the drag community? Yes, not everything is rainbows and sunshine, but in the queer community, we have it hard enough from everyone else and should at the very least not be wasting our energy making life harder for each other. But some people just aren't very nice, no matter what community they're a part of.

For as much as I criticize Silky for much of the same behavior, she's never gotten that bad. She's there for good TV, yes, but she's not stooping to crocodile tears and then gloating about how she conned everyone into voting for her first and keeping her in the competition. Do I like her now? No, but by comparison? She's tolerable. She at least has remorse when she acts shady.

All I'll say here is that I'm very glad I didn't have to watch Jasmine lip-sync more than once. This isn't RuPaul's Stripper Race, it's RuPaul's DRAG Race, and Jasmine has routinely forgotten the drag joy in her performances, if it was ever there to begin with. This elimination was a mercy kill; it's just a shame it didn't come sooner.

The final lip-sync for the crown comes down to Joey Jay vs Crystal Methyd, which, honestly, was a delight either way it went. Joey's glow up on this season has been hard-earned and long overdue, and it's super fun to see how far she's come (as the first gay contestant on RuPaul's Drag Race), and it's going to be even more delightful watching where she goes from here.

In an act of well-deserved karma, Crystal finally won, as she should have in her first season. Don't get me wrong, all finalists in season 12 were fantastic and well-deserving, but it's so nice to see a weird and unique queen get her flowers (and crown). Her farting confetti piñata performance during her season should have won her the crown the first time, but better late than never. Plus, we got her fantastic "banana split surprise" video, which makes the world a better place.

RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars 11 is streaming in its entirety on Paramount+.

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