Posted in: TV | Tagged:

RuPaul's Drag Race Season 17 Ep. 1 Review/Thoughts: A Squirrely Start

RuPaul's Drag Race Season 17 sees 14 new queens competing for the crown, title, and cash prize of $200,000. Here's how things kicked off...

It's baaaackkk! RuPaul's Drag Race season 17 opens with a warehouse full of queens – 14 new and a whole lot of familiar faces – in a Squid Games tribute featuring the pit crew in masks and a giant Lil' Pound Cake: welcome to the Squirrel Games. The 14 queens who survived the games just so happen to be the queens announced competing this season; what a crazy coincidence! Luckily, this format did not continue past the teaser, thank goodness. RuPaul greets the queens as usual,l and we're back to the normal werk room entrances and subsequent two-group talent show format a few minutes in. Our season 17 queens (and some of my first opinions) are:

Acacia Forgot – Miss Mattel, is that you? No, not a nepo-queen (we'll get to those), but Acacia is a country music queen who plays guitar, piano, banjo, and ukulele and aspires to be on the Opry. I honestly can't wait to follow her career post-Drag Race.

Arriety – Dawn I mean Arriety is giving fantasy elf ears alien-makeup realness, which makes sense given her drag mother is Irene Dubois (who everyone totally remembers from last season…right?).

Crystal Envy – Continuing on in the family connections, Crystal's drag sister is s14 lip sync assassin Jasmine Kennedie, and just as fabulous (so far).

Hormona Lisa – Another Tennessee queen (shout out), and while she doesn't have a family connection, there is a certain viral video that is causing some contention due to her being hand-selected by RuPaul at a book signing and not traditionally cast from video like the other queens. We'll see where this storyline goes, but I'm hoping her quirky country charm really shows next week and proves the haters wrong.

Jewels Sparkles – Another legacy? Mama, this is the legacy of the house down. Miss Trinity THE Tuck has been busy, and Jewels is her granddaughter and every bit as fabulous as the house matriarch.

Joella – Joella, ella, ella, ey, ey, ey – she's funny right off the bat, and as a plus-size Chinese West Hollywood queen, she's got a lot to offer and a lot yet to come, I'm sure.

Kori King – Do you remember Plane Jane? We don't either (just kidding!), but yes, another family legacy here in the form of drag sisters. What do you suppose the odds are that they have a White Christmas number with the blue ostrich fans?

Lana Ja'Rae – Symone, Jaida, Luxx I mean, Lana is the drag daughter of Luxx Noir London, and the family resemblance says twins, not sisters, in the best possible way. She loves to live up to her namesake and wears very little in the best, most fabulous way, and we'll see if that trend continues as the competition progresses. If Luxx passed down any of her looks, the likelihood is high.

Lexi Love – Everybody say "Love"! Lexi's lips rival Kylie Jenner's and she uses them mostly for tea and southern sass, which is absolutely fiiiiiiine by me.

Lucky Starzzz – Lucky is the former (emancipated?) drag daughter of Nina Bo'nina Brown, and the style is absolutely there and unmistakable. I am OBSESSED already, though I do hope we see more branching out from her and she's not relying on the crazy headpieces and looks and wacky character makeup too much.

Lydia B. Kollins – Yes, the B stands for Butthole, and no, I'm not being shady. Naturally, you can't have "Butthole" in your drag name and have people say it with a straight face, which is probably the intention. As this season's resident quirky goth queen, I cannot wait to see more.

Onya Nurve – Ohio. Not my impression, she's actually from Ohio! We didn't get a lot of her, but I can't wait to see what she's got for the talent show and the rest of the season.

Sam Star – Miss Trinity the Tuck has been busy and certainly put her tuck to use and gave the world another fabulous drag daughter, the Star of Alabama, Miss Sam Star, who's southern bell and undeniably a pageant queen. That also makes her the drag auntie of fellow contestant Jewels Sparkles, hopefully that won't make the family BBQ too awkward.

Suzie Toot – Suzie "Downtown-Dietrich-Minnelli-Monsoon" Toot (no relation), is a vaudeville inspired vintage comedy queen from Florida, because of course all the snowbirds like to be reminded of their childhoods in the form of drag shows. Jokes and comparisons aside, she is entertaining and, of course, cracks up Ru, but I'd personally love to see a bit of branching out from her "old golden era" vibes and see what she's really capable of.

Miss Suzie got a toot and won the week with her vaudeville tap-dance morse code number, and Acacia was at the bottom, with next week's episode having her lip sync for her life, along with the bottom queen from the second batch of talent entries. Overall, it's a familiar feeling in format, contestants, and storylines, but hopefully, season 17 will come into its own and prove unique in challenges and looks very soon.

RuPaul's Drag Race season 17 airs on MTV on Friday nights.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!