Ron Does Stuff

Okay, so I knew that this was airing on the 10th, but I was so busy and the time difference so large that I just could not stay awake enough to watch it. But I’m catching up now! Let’s go!

It’s the first ever All Stars edition for Drag Race France and the winner is going to be taking home €30,000! Definitely incentive to bring home that crown for these queens, which is a pretty good selection, I think! And it’s going to be voting off All Stars rules, not the tournament bracket of RuPaul’s Drag Race All stars Season 10.

First to enter the Werk Room is La Big Bertha from Season 1! She’s much more confident this time around and says she’s no longer just a funny big girl, but is now a glamorpuss as well. Let’s see!

Up next is Misty Phoenix from Season 3 and this time she’s coming back as a funny girl. She was more of a dancer and performer during her original run, so let’s see if she and La Big Bertha make successful transitions into their new personas.

Third to enter the Werk Room is Mami Watta from Season 2 and she’s got on more clothes this time around! Does this mean she’s taken the critiques from her original season to her or will we still get all that skin from her this All Stars season?

Kam Hugh from Season 1 is up next and I have a soft spot for her because I used her YouTube interviews with the eliminated queens from Season 1 when I was recapping Drag Race France Season 2. She’s looking gorgeous.

Fifth to enter is Punani from Season 3, another finalist like Mami Watta. I like the upper half of her outfit, I’ll say that. La Big Bertha doesn’t look like she’s a big fan, though.

Up next is Piche from Season 2 and boy there’s a lot of Season 2 queens. I feel like this is going to factor into the voting later on because the Season 2 queens will obviously have a bond of sorts already. Or maybe not, because Mami Watta doesn’t look like she’s that impressed with Piche’s entrance look. And Piche doesn’t look like she’ll be making a friend out of La Big Bertha because she immediately clocks Bertha’s beard not matching her hair. I yelped.

Elips is next to enter and girl. That outfit’s great but that entrance line? Brevity is the soul of wit, as they say, and you delivered a whole soliloquy. Keep it brief and snappy!

Magnetica enters the Werk Room next and boy does she make an entrance. Visually arresting and I think she stood out the most from the rest of the girls. Let’s hope she doesn’t get sent home early like the last time!

Soa de Muse from Season 1 and the disastrous Global All Stars is also back. Hopefully she wins a crown this time around.

OH AND TAKE A LOOK FROM THE PHOTOS I TOOK WHEN I WENT TO A VIEWING PARTY FOR GLOBAL ALL STARS.

Moon from Season 2 is back and hopefully, she doesn’t self-eliminate and that she’s got a stronger support system around her this time around. Because Kam sure as hell isn’t supportive of the look.

Nicky finally walks into the Werk Room and this is when I realize that there was no cash prize for the first three seasons of Drag Race France. I thought for sure there was! But there it is and the queens are extra motivated.

The first mini challenge is the Reading Challenge and I know that Mami Watta said that the jokes shouldn’t really hurt, but just bite, BUT all these reads sound really hurtful? I mean, I’m laughing, but the subtitles make it sound really harsh. Especially Kam Hugh’s reads? From that sweet face? Maybe it’s just the translation? Anyways, Magnetica wins and I agree because that symmetrical face Moon read? Devastating.

This week’s Maxi Challenge is the talent show BUT all the performances must have a magical twist to it. Now this is smart. Why doesn’t the original franchise do this? I don’t know if it’s going to be sleight of hand magic or the queens are free to interpret, but either way it’s going to be interesting to see.

Nicky then tells the girls that the winner of the Lip Sync for the Win will take home €2,500 — there are hilarious confessional shots of Misty and Bertha thinking it’s €25,000 — and decide which of the bottom two goes home. The queens are pretty good at acting surprised because there’s no way not one of them has seen the All Stars of the American version.

Already there are whispers as the queens start to de-drag. Piche is saying she can’t see anyone going home just yet, while sisters Soa de Muse and Mami Watta are already thinking that Piche is just being nice so people don’t think of her when it’s time to send people home.

But there’s also less shady conversations happening, like when Magnetica admits that the critiques she received on her talent show truly made her want to quit drag. Elips agrees that sometimes they don’t get as much out of drag as drag takes out from them, which is such a valid thing to bring up, especially when you look at queens like Trixie Mattel having to take a hiatus because of everything.

Moon also talks about her decision to leave during her original season, and I really like how she articulated the reasons behind it. It is a little trippy to be telling the whole world something so personal about yourself even before you tell the people closest to you. She also talks about how the decision to come on All Stars was a conscious decision on her part because it’s now more important than ever for trans people to take up space.

The talent show starts and Piche is up first. I like the performance as a whole but there’s something about her secondary red outfit that just put me off. Maybe it was the visible underwear? And I guess the magical element was the costume change? But it happened behind a screen and not quick enough.

Punani is up next, and I think I would have got it if I spoke French? Unfortunately, her soliloquy wasn’t subtitled, so I have no idea what she said. People were laughing, though, so I guess it was funny!

Elips’ performance was maybe moving but, again, the lyrics weren’t translated and I could only get a general idea of what it is she was trying to say. It looked great, though! Same goes with Bertha’s performance. A lot of the nuance is lost on uncultured me.

Magnetica…looks set to go home again because of the talent show. My goodness, don’t give her additional trauma! Her bad performance stands out even more because Kam Hugh is next after her and she does great.

Moon does…okay, but is overshadowed by Mami Watta, who leans into the comedy and with the subtitles I also get the jokes, even if I don’t know the context with the Shy’m ones. Soa’s performance…does not have subtitles, so I am once again not as wowed as I feel I should have been? There were a lot of close-ups, though!

Misty Phoenix closes the show with an actual magic trick, turning into last season’s winner, Le Filip!

This week’s runway is gold-themed and Piche’s outfit definitely grabs attention. Magnetica is looking sleek. The judges are impressed, but will it be enough to salvage her talent show performance? Soa also looks great, but the look Moon came out with after her got my attention more because why wouldn’t a gold-themed look reference a blonde bombshell? Alos whoever made that Sailor Moon pun in French? Congratulations.

Mami Watta’s look grabs attention only because it’s an actual look and not just her in her underwear, basically. Outside of that, though? I thought it was only okay, like Bertha’s outfit.

Moon, Piche, Elips, and Soa are declared safe and I know that Magnetica is going to be one of the bottom queens. This is going to be another traumatic episode for her, I’m sure.

Kam and Misty get props for both their looks and performances, while Magnetica gets props for her look — deservedly so! — but I do agree with the critiques on her act. Punani gets similar critiques, though, so I guess the performance wasn’t as good as it looked to me! Bertha’s act also gets critiqued for being too dramatic, which…I mean they’re drag queens. But whatever.

Mami Watta and Misty Phoenix are the top two for this episode, while Bertha and Magnetica are in the bottom. And since we see Bertha in the opening scene in a look that’s different from what she has now, I think we know that Magnetica’s going home.

During the talk back in the Werk Room, Magnetica argues that Bertha already has an established career and even her own restaurant, while she hasn’t been able to get any of her projects off the ground. Mami is open to the idea of her and Magnetica working together so she might keep her around, but Misty has a friendship with Bertha and if she wins this lip sync, it’s Magnetica going home.

The lip sync starts and that shot of Mami Watta’s ass? Pure cinema.

The way its shot, you really can’t see the queens lip syncing as much but at least the energy was there. Better than some of the lip sync on the other All Stars season airing, that’s for sure.

Mami wins and the confessional where she says she’s richer than all the past three winners combined just from the €2,500 lip sync tip? Hilarious. I know there weren’t any cash prizes for the mini challenges and episode wins in the previous seasons but why did I forget that the final winner didn’t get any cash either?

Mami wins the lip sync and she eliminates Bertha but SOA’S FUCKING FACE IN THE BACKGROUND?

Oh now that I know I can screen cap from Wowpresentsplus this feature is going to be abused. So, Bertha starts to walk out but then Nicky does a Ru and tells her that she’s not ready to see one of her All Stars go home yet so no one’s going home!

They are for sure going to send Magnetica home the second episode like they did during her original run.