The Magic Critique: 'It Takes Two' by RuPaul's All Stars Drag Race

'It Takes Two' by RuPaul's All Stars Drag Race

RuPaul's Drag Race Season 4 only ended back in May and over the summer we had RuPaul's Drag U, and only two months later we are being treated to yet another competition show that is sure to have the world on the edge of their seats and gagging on the eleganza of it all. RuPaul's All Stars Drag Race is bringing back the best of the best from previous seasons who just failed to win the crown. Twelve all stars are back to compete for $100,000 and the inauguration into the Drag Race Hall of Fame, but they will have to put up with the pressures of a completely redesigned format. This week's ru-persized premiere was a whirlwind, and the Untucked episode brought the much needed drama and shade. Ready to dig into it?

The episode started off with the entrances of all the returning Queens. We get a quick bio from each of them and why they are back to compete. Some of the standouts for me were Pandora Boxx, Manila Luzon, Mimi Imfurst and Nina Flowers. Pandora and Mimi seemed the most improved (I absolutely adored Pandora's outfit!), while Manila served one of the best outfits she has ever worn (that hat is perfection) and Nina was her usual edgy self but this time decked out in my favorite color, lime green. Seeing all my favorite Queens back in the same room was such a cool thing. Right away, Ru sends the girls some She Mail with some hilarious cackling, and then Ru arrives and drops one of the biggest bombshells in all of Drag Race herstory: the girls will be competing in pairs, and each week one pair will be eliminated. It's then time to choose teams which the girls do themselves through a matching game. For the most part the pairs were perfect (Raven and Jujubee obviously, Shannel and Chad, and Alexis and Yara). Latrice and Manila was one I wouldn't have guessed, but I predict they could go all the way. I was surprised that Nina picked Tammie Brown, but now that I see them together I totally understand why they're together. The biggest shocker for me was Pandora and Mimi. I'll get to this later on, but I despise Mimi and I knew from the moment they were paired together that it would be Mimi's doing that would get Pandora sent home too early. After the girls were paired they were given their assignment: a half-baked photo shoot where they had to do each other's make-up, and then an opposites attract high fashion photo.

In preparation for the photo shoots, the producers made sure to hone in on the fact that Pandora was visibly upset with being paired with Mimi. She seemed to check-out of the competition as soon as the teams were picked, but Pandora has refuted on Twitter that this was not the case, and it was the editing of the show that made her look so bad. Pandora is one of my Top 3 favorite Queens so it was upsetting to see her acting like this. When it came time to do the photo shoots, it seemed to me that Latrila and Rujubee were most on point. The problem with Shad is that you have two perfectionists together who are high-concept characters, and so they got lost in translation. The photo shoot is a Week 1 Drag Race tradition, and this week was just as fun as the others with two challenges instead of one that really showed us our first glimpse at how the competition will play out. My only criticism was that there wasn't much time spent in the workroom seeing the Queens interact. Now on to the runway!

"Gentlemen, start your engines, and may the best woman win!"

First up is Team Yarlexis. I love each Queen individually, but I think they're so different that they haven't figured out how to blend well together yet. Yara was as stunning as ever and I thought she had one of the better outfits this week, but Alexis (who has been one of my favorites since day 1) was so bland and boring. Their high fashion photo shoot was a complete dud with switching personalities, and their half-baked photo I don't even remember. They'll be in trouble next week if they don't step it up.

Team Latrila followed, dressed as Tinky Winky and Po from the Teletubbies. Manila was complete with an iPad on her stomach playing her video 'Best XXXcessory'. I thought their runway presentation was the second best of the night, but their photo shoots were equally amazing. Their high fashion photo was by far the best, and Manila looked sickening in it. These girls are in it for the long haul!

Team Mandora's runway presentation was nowhere near as good as they could have done. I understand they both had eerily similar outfits in their wardrobes, but I don't think they were the right choice. Pandora looked gorgeous but Mimi was a hot mess. It just wasn't flattering. On the other hand, their half-baked photo was amazing and by far the best out of everyone's. Their high fashion photo was probably just middle pack for me.

Team Rujubee is hard to fault. Raven is probably the one Queen who I feel was robbed the first go around (really though, how did Tyra ever win?). Both of them brought it this week on the runway. Their outfits were my favorite of the night as they were serving burlesque realness, and they pulled it off without a hitch. Their half-baked photo was extremely well-done, and was probably my second favorite. Their high fashion photo was daring with Raven going nude. It came out very well though.

Team Brown Flowers is an interesting one indeed. Although I hated her to begin with, Tammie Brown has really won me over and I now understand and "get" her quirkiness. If you watched the first episode of Untucked you'll see just how crazy she really is. And of course Nina is one of the fiercest Queens to have ever been on the show. Putting them together though is doing more harm than good. I feel like Nina is, like Ross Matthew's said, "dimming her own light." She got lost in the crowd this week, and I also thought their runway presentation was so bland and boring. Their half-baked photo was really boring as well. The high glam photo was definitely the highlight of their week.

Team Shad, like I said before, will be their own undoing because they are both too perfect. They basically have no flaws, but that will harm them in the end because they don't take risks. I loved their runway presentation as I love the showgirl/big costume extravagant type of drag. Shannel is just unbelievable. Their half-baked photo was horrible, and I would probably say it was the worst, tied with Brown Flowers. The high fashion photo I actually really liked, but Santino tore Shannel's outfit to shreds. I really like Santino, but this was one decision I did not agree with him about.

After the completion of the runway presentations, Ru conferred with the judges and Teams Mandora and Shad were up for elimination. I disagree with this decision and think that either Brown Flowers or Yarlexis should have taken Mandora's place. I really thought Mandora did much better than those two teams. The big twist for the Lip Sync for Your Lives this year is that only one team member does the lip sync, but there is a big red button that the other partner can hit and then switch with their partner to complete the lip sync. However, this can only be used once per team during the season. Mimi and Chad decided to lip sync which I think was a wise decision. Unbelievably, I thought Mimi brought it and left Chad in the dust. Mimi really worked that stage and my eyes went to her the whole time. Chad was just boring. Unfortunately, we saw Team Mandora sashay away. The decision I don't think was the right one. This was Pandora's time to shine and redeem herself, but she got the short end of the stick once again.

Now on to what is usually the more entertaining portion of the night: Untucked! Never in four seasons of Drag Race have I seen such an explosive episode of Untucked. The episode was insane as it was full of shade, shade, and more shade. First, Teams Latrila and Rujubee went to the newly redesigned All Stars Lounge where they chatted about the other four teams. Then Ru sent them over to the Gold Bar where they were surprised by Willam! Willam had them play "Fuck, Marry, Kill" with the other Queens and it was absolutely hilarious. Then everyone reconvened in the All Stars Lounge where all hell broke loose. It of course all centered around Mimi. What was shocking to find out was that Alexis actually lost her job because of Mimi. Mimi began fighting back and bringing out the claws, and soon it was all the girls viciously attacking Mimi. It was a whole lot of fun to watch (especially when Raven said Mimi had no fans), but at the same time I felt bad because it had become a bullying moment which is totally unacceptable. Watching the All Stars episode had me thinking that Mimi had turned a new leaf and I was actually starting to like her a bit. But then I watched Untucked and saw that she hasn't changed a bit. You could tell Pandora was pissed, and I don't blame her. Mimi's like a black hole of negativity. On another note, this episode let us see more of Tammie which was totally welcome. She is absolutely cuckoo and half the time I didn't even know what she was on about, but I loved every moment of it! All Stars is going to be a huge season full of everything imaginable, and just like this week, it's going to suck to see these Queens sashay away.

Half-Baked Photo Shoot: