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

RuPaul's Drag Race Season 18 Ep. 5: The (Lack of) Talent Show Begins!

The first part of RuPaul's Drag Race's annual "rate-a-queen" talent show has hit Season 18, and it's full of... talent? At least, we think...

MTV's RuPaul's Drag Race fans, we've finally reached the talent-show couplet of episodes for season 18. Welcome back, you know the drill – there are spoilers, but of course you knew that, you clicked on this little ru-view, and I'm giving you more credit than some of these queens deserve for their runways. So let's get into it, 'kay queens?

The queens not only get to decide who's performing on which night, but they also get to decide the order. No mini-challenge, no leader, just pure democracy – er, drama. Kind of. There are a lot of alliances, and for the most part, everyone wants to play nice at this point and not quibble over little things like order. Valid, but does this mean we have to sit through 11 lip sync numbers?

In this episode, the queens performing are: Ciara Myst (spoken word performance), Juicy Love Dion (original song), Nini Coco (lip sync), Vita VonTesse Starr (original song), Darlene Mitchell (original song), and Mia Starr (original song).

Zara Larsson is the guest judge, and the runway (which everyone is involved in) is "not today, satin," which tbh is a really clever name for a boring choice of theme. Satin, really? Of all the fabrics, why not choose organza or velvet or taffeta would at least be more interesting, you can do 80s, you can do ruffles for days, it has a fascinating drape – but satin…cool, a gown. And another gown. And ooh, this queen did a short cocktail dress! Please, take me away from this hellscape, satin.

That said, the SINGULAR runway standout this week was Myki Meeks – she looks amazing and like a fashion doll come to life. Groundbreaking? No, but she looks gorgeous, and she's literally wrapped in satin without doing too much. I swear, season 18 has such a problem with runway looks – I get it's hard out here and pulling together a runway package is expensive, especially as we've seen basically every look before, but this season's looks are just bleak.

Juicy's is gorge, but doesn't scream satin – at best she looks like a flower. Ciara went satanic with hers and looks straight out of hell (with a nod to Prada, very nice), and it's great. Again, does it really showcase the satin? Meh. Kenya Pleaser apparently borrowed a look from Jane Don't, and it's boring but leaps and bounds better than whatever the hell Jane had on. Yikes. Another in the "meh to okay" camp is Discord Addams. She was going for a spooky 1930s-esque starlet in the headlines kind of vibe, but it just doesn't quite get there, execution wise. It's good, but firmly in the okay camp this week.

Nini looks like a cursed aquarium touch pool come to life, and it's confusing at best, hideous at worst. Vita's look did not give me life – it doesn't really say satin, it looks like it's organza, but at least it showcases the fabric. Darlene, baby, why? There's so much happening here, and it's giving confused 80s Barbie. Mia looks like the giant bow on a holiday car commercial came to life and ate her, but this look does not eat. Speaking of being eaten by fabric, Athena Dion missed the mark. I take back any good things I said about her at the beginning of the season – she is just not it, mama. Speaking of not it, Jane looked like she walked into a kindergarten class and came out wearing their bulletin board (okay, Bianca had that read, but it's too accurate not to steal). Can we eliminate her right now on account of this disaster?

There is no elimination this episode, just a very lame double win (that Mia really did not deserve to be in at all), but yay for Juicy and Mia, I guess. Ciara will be lip-syncing next week against the other bottom-rated queen. At least with the rate-a-queen system, any shadiness is a little disguised, but Ciara does not really deserve to be at the bottom – she presented ART. Plus? Her costume was exquisite. At least it's a bit more interesting than hearing RuPaul and Michelle Visage contradict themselves as to what this competition is about.

Tune in next week for part two of the RuPaul's Drag Race "Rate-a-Queen Talent Show," and we'll find out if literally everyone is doing a lip sync number! Plus, we get an actual elimination lip-sync next week, and hopefully we can get back to some interesting challenges.

RuPaul's Drag Race season 18 airs on MTV in the Americas and is streaming on WOW Presents Plus in all other markets.

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