‘Canada’s Drag Race’ Recap: Goodbye, Sweet, Sexy Clown
JIMBOOOOOOOOO.
The quiet secret about Drag Race is that the final episodes of each season are usually a little obligatory: stretched out, the show pulls hard at the queens’ emotions to try and get as many cathartic moments as possible out.
Canada’s Drag Race is no exception, with this week’s top four Snow Ball being the most obviously produced episode yet. It’s not necessarily a bad thing — I feel like I finally got to know Scarlett this episode — but it was all very slow.
Sometimes that’s because these eps are procedural, as by this point, we know Jackie Cox or Blair St. Clair won’t make top 3. Maybe Jimbo’s exit wasn’t terribly surprising because he’s been continually undervalued by the judging, so it makes sense she’d end up in the bottom for faltering a little.
And she faltered a lot — so much so that her promo look was essentially a Rudemption for her final ball look.
Pictured: how I imagined my 2020 (left); how my 2020 has been (right).
Jimbo also didn’t have much interest in playing the game as the producers wanted, spending most of this episode side-stepping any personal sob stories. When the queens discuss in the werkroom who’s rooting for them back home, Jimbo jokes that the whole world is.
Which is true: like I said last week, her and Lemon are this season’s true winners, beloved by the masses. Best to be ‘robbed’ than overstay your welcome. But it’s impressive that Jimbo hasn’t really revealed much of herself this competition and we’ve still fallen in love — she’s a true clown, a performer who is interested in making you laugh above all.
She is the mother I never had, she is the sister everybody would want. She is the friend that everybody deserves. I don’t know a better person.
It sucked to see her go, but as with Lemon, it was clear she couldn’t win the competition. Too weird and hypersexual to represent an entire country on S1 — meanwhile, Rita carries herself with the regality the show tends to love for a S1 winner.
The show’s really pushed her forward throughout, giving her a heap of camera time and a win or two she maybe didn’t deserve (justice 4 Anastarzia’s ruched jacket in E1), but they also love Priyanka a lot. Who can blame them?
Wouldn’t be mad at a surprise Priyanka win.
The Elusive Songtruese
This week, we get an extended mini-challenge where the queens sing the national anthem as a screen-test.
It was better than 90 percent of the All Stars 5 challenges, relying on the queens rather than the scenario to create jokes and make it entertaining. Drag queens know how to entertain, and the show’s best when it just lets them do the job.
Literally Vox Lux.
Both Rita and Jimbo go all-in with their performances, but it’s the Quebecois queen who takes the win. We’re then straight into the maxi, a Snow Ball featuring two looks brought from home — the CE-Ho and the ‘after the afterparty feat. Lil Yachty’ aprés aprés ski look — as well as a queenly snow eleganza look made from scratch.
Off the bat, it looks like Priyanka and Scarlett will struggle, as neither can really sew. Priyanka decides to stick shit on a corset and hope for the best, while Scarlett asks Jimbo for help in creating a cape.
She gets there in the end, but Scarlett really struggles to listen to what Jimbo’s telling her, and might be the secret whiner of the season. Just like when she didn’t get Ilona describing camera cuts, she doesn’t understand what it means to cut one piece of fabric into four parts — it feels like she’s being difficult on person, but maybe she’s just so flustered she can barely think. To be fair, there’s a lot of pressure.
It could be the edit, but it’s a bit disheartening that during the critiques later she doesn’t give Jimbo props for helping her out. Still, it’s a real break-through episode with her — it’s a shame the show didn’t share her story a little earlier, as it gave me a lot of context for her snappiness on the show. It’s a good week for her, and she deserves her first win: she looks radiant on-stage.
Stunning.
Even with that final look, it’s a good week for Priyanka, too. Her advice to her younger self — “just be gay!” — was incredibly touching. There’s a lot in those three words, even if I’m not generally a fan of the ‘make the queens talk to a childhood photo of themselves’ segment the show dredges up each top 4.
It usually feels pretty cheap, but sometimes there are moments like Priyanka’s, which aren’t, seemingly, just a force of hand to get the queens to be emotional for the cameras. She feels really in control of the moment.
The other most revealing moment of the show wasn’t in a mirror chat or on the runway, but came when Jimbo was talking up how perfect aprés ski parties are. It’s quite funny to see him talk about how liberating these gay parties are when they’re mostly for rich gays who ski — as Priyanka says, “that’s white people behaviour!”.
I’m sure it is liberating — having fun with a group of queers almost always is, but it’s a bit of an insight into where Jimbo comes from. He gives off a real Burner energy, and that’s not a bad thing, per se, but it is a piece of the Jimbo puzzle. No judgment, but one of those moments CDR does so well, lingering without being a huge deal.
Everyone Say “I Hate Hate Hate Your Makeup!”
This week’s guest host is Michelle Visage, and God it’s nice to see her.
A lot’s been said about the judges’ critiques this season (especially now that Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman deleted his Twitter after receiving so much hate), and Visage’s presence really did confirm that something’s been off.
She can be harsh, but she also has the knowledge and ability to give constructive feedback, which has been missing from the show (or, at least from what we’ve seen). Still, it’s a shame the annoyance at the critiques (valid, entirely fair) has turned into sending JBC hate (ridiculous, shut the fuck up).
He’s playing a role, and while it hasn’t been a particularly well-thought-out one, it’s clearly something they couldn’t course correct now the show’s been filmed. Being the mean judge is a hard but necessary job, and I’m certain he’ll rein it in next season — if he even wants to do the show.
Meanwhile, S12 queens Brita and Widow Von’Du are still getting hate for being mean on the show, prompting our currently reigning to ask the fans to chill the fuck out.
(2/2) y’all give out because y’all are going to be I’m a terrible place. If you’re upset with your life, fix it don’t bring that mess to people who are just trying to live there best life and have given so much last year it this year. My heart is breaking for my sisters smh
— Jaida Essence Hall (@jaidaehall) August 30, 2020
I think about this a lot as someone who is paid to have an opinion on this show, but I think there’s a big difference between enjoying the show’s drama and continually sending a queen hate.
Sure, chat about how Brita was mean to Aiden — reality TV is only good because we get to dissect human interactions within whatever ridiculous parameters the show gives — but keep in mind the immense pressure of the show and that these are simply one small, tiny moment of someone’s life.
Me, who has easily written ~500,000 words on this show, telling people that it’s just a TV show.
The version we see of these queens on the show condenses them into plotlines and minutes of screen-time, often carried by a few glances or shady music which adds a lot more weight to their actions. Queens can come off badly, but they shouldn’t be held to it forever.
This show is so important as a massive cultural phenomenon and, for so many, watching it and obsessing over it offers an easy, instant connection to queer culture and identity. But God, it really is just a show — nobody deserves death threats or cruel comments from a few dumb moments on TV. Critique away, sure, but question whether you need to @ a queen or leave the comment at all.
Reality TV isn’t well-known for respecting its stars’ mental health, and even for all its merits, Drag Race is still within the machine. Maybe it’s naive to expect more from queer audiences, but a nicer environment still feels possible.
Snow Snow Snow
Runways! Despite being set up to struggle, Priyanka and Scarlett shine bright.
Well, Priyanka’s designed look really is just a corset with things glued on, but her other looks (and Jimbo’s make-up) save her. She’s an excellent actress, and is just a joy to watch stumble around pretending to be drunk.
Imagine cleaning vomit out of this jacket, all stuck in the bristles.
Of the night, my favourite look is Scarlett’s CEO. It’s is a simple white newspaper-print suit, but she sells it really well.
Darling!
Rita has the most misses of the night, between a too-simplistic CEO look and her eleganza creation, which she can barely walk in. Jimbo has a similar problem with his final look: it’s like both queens overdid it in an attempt to showboat.
Nobody make a stalagmite/stalactite joke, or Carson Kressley will appear to say “I haven’t stalactited since ’78! In case you don’t follow, I prefer to bottom when having male-male intercourse. Bottom. Bottom. Bottom! BOTTOM”
With Scarlett winning and Priyanka safe, Rita and Jimbo lip-sync to Tegan And Sara’s ‘Closer’, which is a bit of a bummer. If we’re going there, let’s GO there: I want a full The Con medley, or even just a ‘Nineteen’ moment.
But Jimbo clearly wasn’t prepared to go anywhere. She doesn’t know the words and is stuck holding up her headpiece for most of the lip-sync: unfortunately, there’s no question she’s going home.
jimbo just missing out on top 3: https://t.co/E0wWQdKXA0
— jared richards (@jrdjms) August 30, 2020
Next week is the finale, where the queens will trawl through the internet to find as many photos of Justin Trudeau in blackface as possible — the episode will go for four hours, and will be quite depressing. See you then!
Canada’s Drag Race streams on Stan, with episodes available each Friday at 12pm AEST.
Jared Richards is a staff writer at Junkee and Drag Race recapper. He’s on Twitter.