I know Drag Race isn’t perfect. I understand that sometimes it gets it very wrong – fat suits, dubious slang, controversial hot takes on trans issues – there aren’t excuses for these things. However, I am slowly working my way through the show on Netflix and I keep falling in love with contestants, again and again. New problematic fave it is then.
I’m sickeningly behind and only started at Season six so I better #werk to get it all in – but woah, how much fun?! I’m currently on Season eight – the Kim Chi Season – which friends have said is one of the weaker runs but I’ve been thoroughly enjoying it.
Here are my highlights:
*minor spoilers*
God, Kim Chi is so bloody relateable. Clumsy, lumbering, gentle – and insanely, magically talented – Kim Chi broke my heart more than once as she revealed that her family don’t know she’s a drag artist yet, and that as a child she always struggled to fit in. Although I can’t imagine what she’s been through obviously, a little bit of me can identify with the feelings of awkwardness and the inability to move that body without falling down a lot. I cried and cried in the episode where she broke down in front of the panel talking about how she’d finally found her place in the world. Damn, girl.
Kim can’t dance and she’s not the best actor but she is head and shoulders above the rest in the costuming/make-up stakes – and my favourite contestant to date. LOVE LOVE LOVE.
Best Looks
Kim’s signature look is massive manga eyes, cartoon silhouettes and bold colour everywhere. Let’s not forget her music video look:
Best Quotes
“I came to DESTROY EVERYONE, with my make-up.”
“Donut come for me!”
“I came to chop suey the competition!”
As far as I’m concerned, the show doesn’t get any better than this. I’m sure it does really and I will eat my words but of what I have so far witnessed in this Season, between Acid B and Kim Chi, I’ve never seen such creativity. It’s next level theatre and probably the main reason I’m here. I might stay for the shade and the character growth but I’m here for the looks – and Betty serves it up like a queen.
I’m was very disappointed when Betty was eliminated so early in the show. She was a stone cold bitch but I loved that about her and I also loved that she’d just started to open up about how little she fit into the NYC scene. She had so much more to bring to the table – luckily for me she’s prolific on social media so I can always get myself a fix when I need one.
Best Looks
Betty’s Season eight finale look was FIYRE while her unique take on the Madonna theme, based on the Bedtime Stories video may have fallen flat with the judges, I was a fan of its dreamy Marie Antoinette vibe.
Best Quotes
“No need to adjust your TV sets. This acid trip is all real!”
“I do freaky drag… the drag scene should not be homogenized, and not everyone should look the same.”
“Acid Betty, out!”
Team New York
In Season eight, Team NY was comprised of the aforementioned Acid Betty, Bob the Drag Queen and Thorgy Thor – a formidable threesome who may have loved each other but also knew exactly how to wind each other right up.
At the beginning of the episode, in which Team NY band together on a challenge, the trio strive to plant doubt in the minds of the other teams. But things take a hilarious turn when Bob and Thorgy rub each other up the wrong way and almost implode with their bickering.
Thorgy is a unique and interesting queen who I also enjoyed watching every episode – and I liked that she was neurotic and anal about the challenges she faced. I think the competition was a little poorer after she left too. Of all the queens in Season eight she was most like a character that could fit into Rent – and I loved that.
Thorgy’s Best Looks
Lichtenstein meets Studio 54 by way of a Crayola box – Thorg wasn’t scared of being ugly at times and there must be such a lot of freedom in that. Especially in contrast to all that sterile perfection…
Thorgy’s Best Quotes
“Don’t borrow anything from Thorgy, because it has voodoo. You will go home, or lipsync for your life if you borrow something from me.”
“Witty catchphrase, you know what I mean?”
Bob the Drag Queen
I can’t not mention BTDQ in her own right because I really enjoyed her turn on this season. The comedy element could grow tired at times but in general I love it when a contestant brings something else to the table and humour is a big thing in a sea of similarly glamorous drag artists, some of whom could be D-U-L-L af. (Looking at you Derrick Barry).
Bob of course had her own story and the humour hid a lot of his pain but I’m so glad he saw it through to the end *spoiler*.
Best Looks
Rocking Madonna’s boy scout look from the 2013 GLAAD Awards, bringing Orange is the New Black realness to the Snatch Game and blinging it up. Fun all the way!
Best Quotes
“Purse first! Purse first! Walk into the room purse first! Clack!”
“Why y’all gagging, I bring it to you every episode!”
“Find something about you that you like and focus on that. If I don’t like my face, if I don’t like my skin, if I don’t like my weight. I think to myself ‘I have a nice teeth.’ And it may just start with that one tooth. Look at that tooth. That’s a nice tooth, man. And then once you can accept that little thing about yourself, you can just accept you for who you are.”
So those are my standout observations about Season eight. I can’t promise this will be a regular thing, these are just some of my thoughts on something I’m currently digging.
What are you watching/loving – thoughts on Drag Race?
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A Voluptuous Mind 