Review: RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars season 3 episode 1: All-Star Variety Show

It’s not quite as exciting as the last go round, but RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars still has plenty to offer hardcore fans of the series.

RuPaul’s Drag Race is sometimes in danger of referencing itself into oblivion. The show has been on for nine seasons, with two All Stars seasons on top of that. All told, this is the 12th time we’ve seen a group of queens suit up and trot out their talents in a race for the crown. In that time, the show has built up a passionate fan community and a rich mythology — or maybe “background” is the better word. Catchphrases, inside jokes, relationships, iconic looks … they’re all part of an ever-expanding glossary, one the queens and the judges regularly consult. It can be a lot for new viewers.

The All Stars seasons are built with that glossary in mind. These are returning queens. The fans have seen them before, and they all know each other. You can feel the weight of that history while they talk in the workroom. Once upon a time, Drag Race queens didn’t concern themselves with their reputations. But in this episode, Kennedy Davenport is worried that she’ll be perceived as mean, like she was during her run on season 7. Morgan McMichaels, who was last seen way back in season 2, is concerned that she’s not a “fan favorite,” while season 6’s BenDeLaCreme agonizes over how best to succeed with “integrity.” Then there’s BeBe Zahara Benet, who won the first season of Drag Race back in 2009 but whom only the truly dedicated remember well. All Stars is made for those fans. It’s a celebration of drag in general, but of Drag Race specifically.

And if you’re one of those fans, this is great. You go into the episode already knowing the stakes. You get it when season 8’s Thorgy Thor throws shade at Bob the Drag Queen even though Bob’s not in the lineup, or when RuPaul asks long-time judge Michelle Visage if she’s “going to make someone quit again.” It gives the proceedings an extra charge; you get acclimated quicker.

But even if you don’t, this is still a show where seasoned performers put on shiny outfits and do spinning jump-splits while lip syncing to Nicki Minaj’s “Anaconda,” so it’s not like you can’t enjoy it without preparation. And the more the girls get acclimated to the game, the more interesting they’ll be to watch, and there are indications in “All-Star Variety Show” that things are gonna get very interesting indeed.

First of all, there’s the cast. All of the returning queens have proven themselves compelling, although I don’t think the bench is as deep here as it was in All Stars season 2. You see that during the titular variety show, where Aja, Kennedy, Morgan, Shangela, BeBe and Chi Chi DeVayne all do some kind of dance routine. Yes, Aja’s high-speed vogueing and Kennedy’s insane acrobatic ability help them stand out, but they’re all thinking inside the box. Remember in All Stars 2 when Katya did a gymnastics routine? Or when Detox splattered herself with paint? Or when Tatianna performed a spoken word piece about her genitalia? For heaven’s sake, Alyssa Edwards brought a puppet of herself onstage! There’s not as much variety here.

But seeing Kennedy twirl her hair like a helicopter before cartwheeling onto a raised platform is still damn entertaining, and there are a few queens who go for something different. I don’t know if she was playing it well, but hearing Thorgy Thor perform RuPaul’s “Sissy That Walk” on a violin gets her points for sheer ballsiness alone. Autoharp in hand, Trixie Mattel turns the mood with a somber folk song, and Milk … does a thing with prop dresses. I’m still not sure if it was clever or stupid, which sounds about right for Milk.

But the standout is BenDeLaCreme, who’s the only queen to go for pure comedy. She performs a high-energy burlesque number involving disappearing-reappearing pasties and about 30 bras stacked on top of each other. She sells it with exaggerated facial expressions and an unmistakable sense that she’s delighted to be up there looking ridiculous. It’s gold. She’s also terrific in the lip sync against Aja, mining Nicki Minaj’s bizarre rap/spoken word hit for comedy and not having to dig very far.

So BenDeLa plays the short game very well, but it’s how she plays the long one where I see potential for things to get really riveting. As in All Stars 2, RuPaul isn’t eliminating the queens herself; all she does is decide who did best and who did worst. The top two lip sync against each other, and then the winner sends one of the bottom two home. It’s a brilliant system that lends itself perfectly to a reality TV competition, and frankly I wonder if they shouldn’t use it on the mainline seasons as well.

BenDeLa wins the lip sync, and has to choose between sending home Morgan or Chi Chi. She opts for Morgan, not because Morgan had the worst performance (Chi Chi’s baton-twirling routine was a little small for the room), but “in the interest of everyone moving forward,” on account of Morgan having said that, should she ever find herself in the top, she’d send the strongest competitor home.

The reason this is promising is because it’s in direct contradiction to what BenDeLa said about the elimination process earlier. “Playing fair does not involve eliminations that you think are just gonna help you personally.” Throughout the episode, she’s agonizing (that word just seems to leap out when talking about BenDeLa’s thought process) over the right way to decide who to eliminate, not just for herself but for the group. Whatever BenDeLa thinks, there’s clearly no consensus on the subject, not among the girls as a whole or even in her own head. There’s a lot of potential for conflict there, and conflict makes this show go round. Gimme gimme gimme.

It’s a shame to lose Morgan this early. Like BeBe, she’s a talented queen even longtime viewers of the show may not remember well, and I was looking forward to seeing more of what she could bring to the table. Her mirror ball bodysuit alone was enough reason to keep her around longer.

But all might be not be lost. “All-Star Variety Show” ended with Morgan leaving the stage, grabbing a participation trophy, and getting an unexpected message from RuPaul. We don’t know exactly what this means going forward, but we can be sure we haven’t seen the last of Morgan.

Only we do kind of know what this means going forward, because Drag Race pulled some version of this trick in All Stars season 2. That’s another advantage this season doesn’t have: the element of surprise. The templates introduced in All Stars 2 were fresh at the time, but fans know more of what to expect now. (Although as BeBe’s appearance proved, RuPaul is happy to throw monkey wrenches into the works, so I’m sure there will be a few things we don’t see coming.) Ultimately, it’ll be up to the cast to make this an All Stars season to remember.

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Random Ruflections

• Trixie: “There’s nobody in here. It’s like a Morgan McMichaels meet and greet.”
• Trixie: “Chi Chi’s here, and she wore garbage again. And also trash bags.”
• You gotta love Thorgy distracting her self with … what was that? An eyelash? Sleep in her eye? Nothing?
• On Kennedy’s outfit: “You better come through, Whoville.”
• Trixie: “I think Kennedy is Chi Chi from the future coming back to tell her she’s not gonna win All Stars.”
• RuPaul: “I have just one more queen I’d like to introduce into the competition.” Trixie: “Shangela’s right there.”

Things kicked off with the queens reading each other, always a pleasure. Some highlights:

• Milk: “Shangela. I always thought her name was Angela and people were just telling her to shut up.”
• Morgan: “Kennedy Davenport. You seem offended by our little jokes. We weren’t offended by your parents’ little joke.”
• Trixie: “Aja. You’re beautiful. You’re gorgeous. You look like Seal.”
• BenDeLa: “Shangela. You have come so far. Initially, your makeup was kinda busted and your outfits were a mess and your personality was super grating. But look at how far you’ve come now. You are much older.”

And then BenDeLa compared Thorgy to Pennywise from It and I laughed.

• Does anyone else crack up when Kennedy speaks? There’s someone about her word choices that gets to me. “There’s no set guideline, and then what if we set the guidelines, and then somebody steps outside of the guidelines?”
• BenDeLa’s vocal fry rivals Alaska’s. Why isn’t it famous yet?
• Chi Chi ate her earring! Why? Who cares? It was funny.
• I think Ben speaks for a lot of people when she said she expected Valentina to be here.
• Ross Matthews: “Anything less than 100 isn’t good enough.” RuPaul: “You heard it here: don’t take less than a hundred.”