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. Snatch Game is a disappointing moment for the dolls, but we’ve got a better sense of who’s doing well in the competition after its conclusion.
9. Suki Doll (last week: 6) — ELIMINATED
Alas, poor Suki. Once she took the critiques so well and let them roll off her back in mini-Untucked, she was probably toast. Eve 6000 is just too big a character for the show to lose this early. And while Suki showed a lot of promise in the premiere, she largely faded into the background since. Her Yoko Ono was a fascinating idea, and I might’ve given her a pass for going so high-concept. But I could say the same about Eve’s Bernie Sanders, if not Adriana’s Sofia Vergara. Adriana has a win, though, and at that point we’re really splitting hairs. Still, despite her dropping words, I still think Suki won that lip sync.
8. Eve 6000 (last week: 3)
Look, I’ve had a ton of fun with Eve this season, and I think her particular brand of low-key villainy is perfect for a show like this. But I do think her delusions are hitting a problematic stage. She knew she botched the Snatch Game, and her runway wasn’t as impressive as some of the others. (Though I appreciated the Carrie-Anne Moss/Matrix reference.) Yet by the time she got to the lip sync, she was defending herself in confessional, saying she shouldn’t have been lip syncing. Well girl, if you didn’t do great in the challenge, and your runway didn’t get great reviews, you probably should expect to lip sync! Her performance was sloppy, and she should’ve gone home, but clearly the show wasn’t ready to lose her yet. Let’s hope she makes the most of the second chance.
7. Adriana (last week: 1)
This was a big fall for Adriana, who chose one of the simpler characters and still found a way to screw it up. Between this, Cynthia Lee Fontaine’s elimination-prompting performance, and Roxxxy Andrews’ DOA All Stars 2 portrayal that she abandoned before the game even began (“I love Ellen!”), is it safe to call Sofia Vergara a cursed character? Still, I’m glad Adriana didn’t have to lip sync; she may have messed up a pitch down home plate with her Colombian compatriot, but her take on Riverdale’s Vanessa Morgan was a clever twist on Morgan’s in-show character. She always looks so stunning on the runway, but that’s not always going to be enough to save her.
6. Kendall Gender (last week: 8)
Kendall should count herself lucky that the show kept it to a bottom three, because she easily could’ve gotten critiqued for this all-wrong take on Kris Jenner. Alexis Michelle got it right in Season 9’s Kardashian Rusical: the most interesting interpretation focuses on Kris as a hypercompetent, cutthroat businesswoman, not presenting her as some kind of wine-drunk mom. And while her Stacey McKenzie tribute was cute on the runway, Kendall didn’t manage an impressive enough presentation to wash away the memory of her Kris. I’m waiting on Kendall to deliver on the promise of that Rusical performance two weeks ago, because this isn’t at that level.
5. Gia Metric (last week: 2)
After a couple of weeks scoring in the top, Gia falls to the middle of the pack. It feels like Gia treated Snatch Game too casually. I really liked her Anna Faris voice in her chat with Brooke Lynn, but she went with a more manic, less funny character in Jim Carrey. Then on the runway, I thought her drag take on Mike Myers as Austin Powers was interesting, but not executed particularly well. (The hair felt most unresolved.) It’s a shame: had she figured out the runway more, or gone with Anna, this could’ve been Gia’s week.
4. Icesis Couture (last week: 4)
Look, I’m not going to argue that Icesis’ La Veneno was any great work of impersonation. But she made me laugh, both when she broke character (“My English is not very good, and neither is this accent”) and when she sexed up every line delivery. It was nonsensical, but I don’t mind some nonsense in my Snatch Games. Alexis Mateo as a pregnant, gay Alicia Keys, anyone? Where I had more problems with Icesis was on the runway: she framed her nurse look as a tribute to Sandra Oh in Grey’s Anatomy, but of course, Cristina Yang on that series is a doctor. Moreover , Icesis got away from the point when she said her look was actually for all the medical essential workers. Just a bit too far afield for my taste.
3. Kimora Amour (last week: 7)
As I said in the recap, I’m not sure Kimora’s Leslie Jones impersonation deserved a top slot. She was repetitive with her jokes, and none of them made me laugh particularly hard. But I do think her Deborah Cox/Josephine Baker runway was a triumph. She looked radiant, and as the judges noted, she took her time while walking the main stage. She understands how to present a look, not just wear it. After a couple of weeks of underwhelming runway looks, this was a really pleasant surprise from Kimora. I hope she keeps it up!
2. Pythia (last week: 5)
IWere I not so dazzled by how clever Synthia Kiss’ impersonation was, I’d go with Pythia for the win. I laughed more at her take on Grimes, and she was just as committed to the character (including fully powering down and rebooting) as Synthia was to Rachel Zoe. Additionally, I have to scoff at Brad Goreski’s insinuation that Synthia is getting too same-same on the runway. Yes, she has a tendency toward the weird, but her four runway looks so far tell entirely different stories. If anything, her crowed-out Moira Rose look this week was more reminiscent of her Hennywise performance in the Rusical—and that was written for her. I’m still entranced by Pythia, and I don’t think she’s been repetitive in the slightest.
1. Synthia Kiss (last week: 9)
If Ella Vaday’s Nigella Lawson had me cracking up, then Synthia’s Rachel Zoe had me slow-clapping. I wasn’t bowled over by the impersonation, but I was impressed with the thought behind it. Synthia strategized about the field of battle, and realized that with Brad on it, she’d have a natural board for her Rachel Zoe to bounce off of. Without Brad, I’m not sure if her performance would have worked. The robotic voice actually got a bit grating over time. But when you’ve got Brad himself saying he felt transported back to working with Rachel, how can you give the win to anyone else? Kudos to Synthia for finding such a smart way through this challenge. Again, it wasn’t the stiffest competition, but I fully understood her win.
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