‘Canada’s Drag Race’ Season 2, Episode 5 power ranking: Hey giddy girl, it’s your world

A critique resistant queen do-si-does away following a country pop challenge

Welcome to Canada’s Drag Race Power Rankings! Every Friday, we’ll debrief the week’s new episode of Canada’s Drag Race Season 2 to determine which queens are riding high, and which need she-mergency care. It’s Dosey-Hoes versus Giddy Girls in the girl group challenge this week. But which queen won out over all the others—and which queen went home?

8. Eve 6000 (last week: 8) — ELIMINATED

As I said in the recap, I’ll very much miss having Eve on my screen moving forward this season. She provided the right kind of low-stakes drama to keep things interesting, and added some fire to a cast that is pretty congenial with one another. Without taking things to a too-negative space, Eve kept the group vibe more dynamic. But it was crystal clear in critiques that the judges had nothing left for Eve. She showed promise in the acting challenge, but was either in the bottom three or two in every other episode. You can only give a queen so many chances—particularly when she’s resistant to critique—before it’s time to move on.

7. Kendall Gender (last week: 6)

While I loved Kendall’s verse on first listen for how well she performed it, I’ve gotta admit that her lyrics defy any kind of rhyme scheme or metre. As Kimora Amour said, “Kendall, you better lasso that goddamn beat!” What I give her immense credit for, and this was true in the Rusical as well, is for fully going for it. Her delivery of “NO! HO! MO!” at the end of her verse was one of my favourite parts of the whole performance. On the runway in the mono-Chromatica category, she got knocked for not going futuristic enough—and that’s one of a few times that Kendall’s runways have been slightly off the mark. She needs to be more consistent at hitting the category square-on, or else she’s going to find herself in the bottom.

6. Synthia Kiss (last week: 1)

Sorry, I think it’s absolutely silly that Synthia was made to lip sync this week. She was the team leader, sure, but most of her group did well! Eve was the only one really off the beat, and Synthia gave both Kendall and Kimora choreography they could handle. But Brooke Lynn Hytes and the panel very clearly wanted Eve out, and needed someone who could absolutely beat her in a lip sync. At least we got a really great Synthia lip sync out of it, but it’s a shame that she’s now had to fight for her life twice.

5. Kimora Amour (last week: 3)

We’re beginning to see the start of a scary plotline for Kimora: a narrative that she’s not standing out in the crowd. Especially in a top seven where most of those left either have a challenge win or some kind of investment from the judges, Kimora feels like the odd woman out. Her best bits are when she’s in the confessional room—which, of course, the judges cannot see. (The number of confessional queens who have gotten wholly different receptions on an All Stars season after the judges have gotten to see them in their element is a mile long. Katya and Monique Heart, anyone?) 

 

Additionally, while I thought she looked stunning at first blush on the runway this week, I do have to agree with the judges that her finishing on the back was a mess. She needs to focus on those details, especially if the new narrative means the judges will be looking for reasons to discount her. Heading into a ball challenge, I think it’s highly probable we will lose Kimora next week—and I’m definitely not ready for that.

4. Pythia (last week: 2)

Had the judging gone differently and the Dosey-Hoes won, I could very much have seen Pythia paying the price for her team. She had two of the most visible mistakes, flubbing a death drop near the end of the song and producing one of the clunkiest rhymes of the whole challenge (“horns” with “hoes”—what?). Considering Pythia is one of my favourite queens currently, I’d have hated to see her in danger. So maybe the wonky judging worked out for the best? But still, it was notable that Pythia didn’t hit her Rusical standard of performance this time around.

3. Icesis Couture (last week: 4)

It was fun to learn about Icesis’ drag family being her IRL family this week. Savannah Couture, her drag daughter, is her actual little brother. It’s those kinds of details that can really take a queen who largely seems like a pro and make her relatable. I enjoyed Icesis in the challenge, but I will admit her verse hasn’t stuck with me. More to the point, she had the misfortune of coming out in what was effectively a gold version of a Kita Mean look from Drag Race Down Under on the runway. The fact that that Down Under episode hadn’t aired yet when Icesis went away for filming makes me very curious as to what happened, though. From the same designer, I would assume?

2. Adriana (last week: 7)

I really enjoyed Adriana’s verse and performance, and probably would’ve given her the win if her team had emerged victorious. She took Bif Naked’s notes to adjust her lyrics, making for a stronger overall verse without losing the novelty of doing it in three languages. And in the actual performance, she lip-synced the hell out of her verse, and looked great doing it. I remain a huge Adriana fan, and I’m glad she recovered so well after last week. She really could make a run for the win with the way things are going now.

1. Gia Metric (last week: 5)

A huge congratulations to Gia, who finally won her first challenge this week! Considering her team won the challenge, I get why she earned the solo victory. Her verse wasn’t the best, but she did a great job of making sure her group was cohesive. And that was what the judges responded to best in the Giddy Girls’ work. Plus, after coming so close a couple of times, Gia finally winning was inevitable. Now that she’s won (and Brooke Lynn’s chided her in person for her lengthy speeches), can she keep the momentum up? Can she convert a story about her getting a win into a story about her getting the win?

Kevin O’Keeffe is a writer, host, instructor, and RuPaul’s Drag Race herstorian living in Los Angeles, California. His favourite pastime is watching a perfect lip sync.

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