Maybe I’ve become tired of the format, but for me, this season of RuPaul’s Drag Race — which moved, inexplicably, to a Friday night on VH1, giving up the nothing-better-on catbird seat of Mondays on Logo — was the most boring ever, with queens who never really stood out. Was I the only one who quickly grew brain-dead to the constant self-confidence crises of Nina Brown? Did anyone else not have a favorite all season… including into the finale? Did anyone else find the cop-out of sending four queens to the finals, and then round-robin-ing them with lip-synch battles, a lazy abrogation of the entire purpose of developing the competition over 13 weeks?
When Sasha Velour was eventually declared this year’s winner, it was less a coronation than a resignation — she outlasted like a schemer on Survivor, rather than impressing with consistently outstanding performances. The good news was, Ru finally chose another conceptual winner — art drag, which brought Kim Chee close last season (only Sharon Needles arguably took the title for conceptual drag before).
Did you have a favorite? Think the right queen was chosen? Or were you too bored to make it through?
Hopefully next season will raise the stakes.