Posted in: MTV, Review, TV | Tagged: drag race, rupaul

RuPaul's Drag Race Season 17 Intros Roll On: Ep. 2 Review/Thoughts

RuPaul's Drag Race Season 17 returns with the second half of the annual talent show, showcasing our remaining queens' various "talents."

RuPaul's Drag Race season 17 premiered last week with the first part of the annual Drag Queen's Got Talent show, seeing 7 queens showcase their talents and be rated by the other queens via rate-a-queen. Now it's time for the rest of the queens to show us what they've got, and it was…whelming. Here's the tea on who did what:

Crystal Envy – I've already forgotten who she is and what she did for her talent. I know it's a lip sync to an original song, but I literally can't recall anything else about it, and tbh I'm just not sure her style is for me. I dislike the term filler queen, but she just feels generic and kinda forgettable. Something about it just feels dated, like we saw this a decade ago and then have not stopped seeing it since. Even Jan stood out more in her season than Crystal Envy is right now.

Hormona Lisa – Girl, no. Unless your name is Bianca Del Rio, stand-up comedy is not your talent – and you best believe she's not even psychotic enough to do stand-up for her talent; she would speed sew a dress! Can we please be done with her gloating at every second in the werk room as well? "I have a friend who's related to Dolly Parton. You can't vote me bottom, because Ru personally chose me to be here and that's disrespecting Ru." I'm so over the entitlement and her running her mouth – she already has the villain edit, yes, but I personally have to wonder if maybe she's just this annoying girl. At least in the past, the "villains" of the season actually had the talent to justify them being cast. Thank u, next.

Kori King—Lip sync and an original song—how original. To be fair, though, leave it to the Boston queen to make loving iced coffee her thing. Talent number aside, I am living for her confessionals. She's giving realness and shade, and I'm here for it.

Lana Ja'Rae – Luxx Noir London is your drag mother; we get it. No need to write and perform a song about it, but here we are. She's giving Luxx, she's giving Jaida Essence Hall, she's giving….seen it before. Not to say I'm bored with her, but it feels like we've seen it before, even though I'm enjoying it no matter how many times I see it. Side note: her "Is it cake" runway look was gaggy, and I'm still here for it.

Lexi Love – Another lip sync to an original song? Ordinarily, I would roll my eyes, but she beat me to it, and this b*tch literally rolled in and performed her number roller disco style (Robbie Turner, that you?). Okay, I'm in, Miss Love, and not just because she won the week. I could do slightly less with everyone treating her like she's ancient, though – she is 33; I get drag years are like dog years, but come ON.

Onya Nurve – Original song? Check. Lip sync? Check. Rap? You betcha. Am I bored? Unbelievably. Nothing against her; it was a catchy hook; it just feels like a "talent show" falls flat when literally everyone shows up with a song perfectly mixed and crafted to introduce themselves in some catchy way that they can use to sell merch (burger fingers, anyone?). At least if it weren't masquerading as a talent show and the main challenge was "you were tasked with bringing an original number, show us who you are," it would be at least a little bit better, but as it is now, it feels like the queens who step outside the lip sync format with something original are ranked low because of it.

Sam Star – It's another lip sync to an original song, this time with country flavor! Have your "Hannah Montana" moment; it's cute, though not the most stand-out or amazing thing. It's enough to be safe, but I love her personality and runway looks, which is enough to make me not hate her talent this week.

I am begging queens at this point to please be original. The runway had far too many Marie Antoinette looks. Yes, the theme is cake, but please do more than just a campy cake-themed costume with your booty out. Even the more creative looks seemed a little off for the theme or just lackluster. Maybe it was just a hard theme for the queens, but it seemed like a throwaway runway this week.

Last week's bottom Acacia Forgot went against Hormona Lisa for the bottom two lip sync (to Ari's iconic "Yes, and?"), and it was clear Miss Hormona Lisa is a little out of her depth, so naturally, Acacia won. But wait, there's more! This season's twist is finally revealed: before the eliminated queen stands 10 levers – eight do nothing, and the queen is sent home, but two trigger the Badonka Dunk and drop Michelle Visage into the dunk tank, meaning the queen is safe to slay another day after all.

In the world's most "this feels rigged" moment ever, Hormona Lisa pulls one of the two magic levers, sending Michelle to a splashdown, and we have a total non-elimination in this episode. I have no idea what deity is to blame for this outcome, but I am not living. Nobody wants a repeat of how slow season 14 felt, but at least next week is a design challenge, which is the bread and butter of RuPaul's Drag Race. I'm sure things will pick up and get messy with not only the Rate-a-Queen results being revealed, but everyone being annoyed that Hormona Lisa is STILL HERE and gloating about Ru personally loving her so much. Girl, get over yourself – everyone else is already over you.

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

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