‘Canada’s Drag Race’ Season 2, Episode 4 recap: Fading stars

Hmmmmmm.

That’s the biggest thought in my head as I sit down to write this Canada’s Drag Race recap. It’s not annoyance, as it was when I had to recap RuPaul’s Drag Race UK’s Snatch Game episode last week. But it’s not the exhilaration I felt after I watched Priyanka and Kiara slay Celine Dion’s “I Drove All Night” in their post-Snatch Game lip sync last season. Instead, I’m just kinda puzzled. Hmmmmmm, indeed.

This is a talented, funny group of girls who have great chemistry together. Their choices of characters for Snatch Game range from the unique (Yoko Ono, Bernie Sanders) to the intriguing (La Veneno, Jim Carrey) to the familiar-but-fun (Kris Jenner, Leslie Jones). Even the two choices that have been poorly done before—Rachel Zoe, which nearly got Laganja Estranja eliminated in Season 6, and Sofia Vergara, which did get Cynthia Lee Fontaine eliminated in Season 9—offer a lot of room for growth.

So why is this Snatch Game… dare I say, a flop? There are some funny moments, but the biggest laugh I get out of the entire thing is Icesis Couture making fun of her own accent as La Veneno. The winner gives a technically impressive performance, but it’s more notable for how she plays into her character’s relationship with a judge than for its own comedic value. Most of all, the energy throughout is really off, and the editing doesn’t help. 

For a season that’s been quite strong, this episode is the first major speed bump. But there are still pleasures to be enjoyed and treasures to be mined, especially as we consider how this will affect the rest of the season.

We start with a round of Reading Is Fundamental, which is a risky choice for a mini-challenge at this point in the competition. The cast is gelling right now, which could lead to some genuine friction when they have to read each other, or it could lead to largely tame, inoffensive reads. Unfortunately, this group largely produces the latter. Even the eternally emotive Eve 6000 doesn’t seem to take offense to Icesis’ best read of the game: “Eve 6000: Sister to sister, let me give you some advice. Don’t ever be ashamed of who you are. That’s your parents’ job.”

Icesis takes the win, and a $2,000 prize to boot. But that’s just the warm-up: Snatch Game, much like it was in the UK edition of this episode, is the headliner to Reading Is Fundamental’s opening act. Refreshingly, unlike RuPaul in the UK installment, Brooke Lynn Hytes accepts every character as the queens pitch them, largely staying out of the group’s way. (Of course, considering BLH’s own Snatch Game performance, one might choose to take any advice from her as a motivation to do the opposite—but I digress!)

Once we get to set, after another red carpet segment pre-show with Traci Melchor (do we like these?), it’s clear that everyone has chosen characters they can impersonate well, but not all have chosen characters they can make funny. Take Eve as Bernie, who she imitates pretty flawlessly, but doesn’t have enough jokes to sustain. Suki similarly seems to have a really specific idea of Yoko Ono as a character, but none of her jokes come anywhere close to landing. They are our bottom two, just barely edging out Adriana’s too sexual, not sexy—a great critique from Traci—Sofia Vergara.

On the brighter side, Kimora Amour finally gets some feedback! After three weeks scoring safe, she makes her way into the high group after impersonating Leslie Jones. I’m a little perplexed by her high placement, particularly after guest judge Connor Jessup calls her performance “one-note.” (BLH agrees, so he’s not out on a limb or anything.) I may have put Icesis’ La Veneno in the top instead of Kimora; though it wasn’t particularly accurate, it was hilariously over-the top.

But Kimora seems to land in the top because of her runway, and it’s here that I want to compliment both cast and production. The runway looks this season have been impressive, without just being a parade of money in the way the U.S. series has become. Moreover, the judging panel is still emphasizing runway as they did in Season 1, but without letting it fully drive their decisions off a cliff. Someone with a not-so-great runway but a killer challenge performance can still score in the top, but a better runway presentation might be enough to edge someone like Kimora into the third-place slot despite a just okay challenge run.

The runway this week is “Made in Canada,” a tribute to Canadian icons. Kimora stuns in a take on Josephine Baker by way of Deborah Cox, who starred as the icon on stage. She really gives us pageant glamour in this look, and it’s well worth the top spot to properly praise her for this. Pythia also impresses once again in a Moira Rose-inspired crow garment, paying tribute to Catherine O’Hara. Alongside a pretty funny, committed Snatch Game as Grimes, it’s very reasonable to think Pythia might win her second challenge.

But Synthia Kiss does something very clever in this episode: she leans into the meta. As Rachel Zoe, she is a hit with Zoe’s former assistant Brad Goreski, who is one of the game’s two contestants. Synthia leans into this and milks it for all its worth. She acknowledges him immediately by saying they have to address “the big pink elephant in the room.” She repeatedly talks directly to him, to Brooke Lynn’s delight (and, seemingly, Brad’s slight annoyance). Later on the main stage, Brad admits he basically got swept back in time to when he worked with Rachel—the performance is that eerily accurate.

Is it the funniest Snatch Game we’ve ever seen? Not even close. But I give Synthia a lot of props for figuring out a very unique, interesting way to make Snatch Game work for her. And her tribute to Canadian fashion reporter Jeanne Beker on the runway is pretty damn charming. Amid a weak pool, Synthia earns her win. But it’s worth noting that at least four, maybe five (depends on how much you liked Ilona Verley’s Rebecca More—personally I loved) of last season’s Snatch Game participants would’ve easily beaten Synthia here. It just isn’t a great showing by the cast.

That poor showing extends to the lip sync, which is bafflingly set to Alexis Jordan’s bop “Happiness” as covered by some singer named KAPRI. This is a weird one, y’all—as of me writing this, the cover isn’t even on KAPRI’s Spotify artist page. And I may be reading too much into it, but as someone who loves the original song, there seem to be moments where the queens are lip syncing to Alexis’ riffs and inflections, not KAPRI’s. Could this have been a last-minute substitution after a rights issue kept Alexis’ version from being aired? (Adding fuel to this conspiracy: Brad just says the queens were asked to prepare a lip sync of “Happiness.” No artist is named.)

God herself could’ve covered the song, though, and it wouldn’t have made the lip sync better. Eve is low energy throughout, and her reveal from her Carrie-Ann Moss Trinity coat is just into a basic black bra. Despite Suki missing some words, I think she delivers the far better performance of the two. And considering the judges are all but over Eve, while they seem genuinely enthralled by Suki, you’d think this would be an easy choice.

But alas, Suki is the kind of queen who takes bad news as it comes and as a chance to grow, while Eve is someone who lashes out at every perceived slight. Which do you think the reality competition show is more likely to keep in? Eve stays, and Suki sadly sashays away.

This is the first rough episode of the season, but I’m hesitating to sound the alarm. The strengths of this cast remain strong, and I don’t think keeping Eve over Suki is a grand robbery; just a clearly incorrect decision. My bigger concern is just that Canada’s Drag Race doesn’t go further down this road. It’s been such an improvement over Season 1 in the production process so far, and it’d be a shame to see that potential squandered. For now, though, I still believe—even if I turn out to be “bananas” for doing so.

Untucking our final thoughts

✨ I love that the girls are as scandalized by Synthia’s ball throw in the lip sync against Stephanie Prince last week as Amanda Brugel and the fans were. It really did come very close to hitting Stephanie! That’s a hazard!

✨On one hand, I don’t love comparing two judges directly if they serve different goals. (Michelle Visage couldn’t do what someone like Nicole Byer does, and vice versa.) On the other hand, Amanda and Traci are literally in the same slot, rotating between each other. It’s natural to compare their performances. And well, let’s just say that I audibly sighed upon seeing Traci’s back in next week’s preview instead of Amanda.

✨Speaking of judges: Connor Jessup is cute! He’s not particularly incisive as a judge, and I think calling him a “Hollywood heartthrob” as Brooke Lynn does is overstating the case a bit, but he’s dressed well and seems thrilled to be there. Eve gets pretty mad at him on the runway for calling her hair flat, though.

✨Eve brings up Connor’s comment in mini-Untucked, prompting a pretty annoyed reaction from Icesis Couture. Seems like Icesis is not all about Eve, to say the least.

✨Adriana has a cute moment at the start of the episode as she basks in her win. ​​“I am silent but I am coming for you,” she says. (Sadly, she does not prove this to be true in Snatch Game.)

✨Of the other queens’ reads in Reading Is Fundamental, Adriana has my favourite: “And Gia, or should I say, Gigi Not As Goode?” Interesting that they were making the same observation on set as the fans are now!

✨“Racers, start your engines, and may the least shitty one win!” See, I think this is my favourite setting of Brooke Lynn’s as a host. She’s not RuPaul, and it shouldn’t be her goal to be. She’s played this game before: she can poke a bit more fun, treat it all a bit more casually, and position herself as someone more willing to Go There with a joke about Drag Race.

✨As a non-Tik Tok individual, I will admit I do not know who “Bomanizer,” aka Boman Martinez-Reid, is. But he’s very cute, and he seems funny! I wonder why he doesn’t come back to judge on the main stage; his appearance feels a bit short without that return.

✨“Yoko, girl. She broke up The Beatles and now she’s breaking up Snatch Game!” Kimora remains my favourite confessional queen.

The next episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK will be available to stream Thursday, Nov. 11, at 9 p.m. EST on WOW Presents Plus in the U.S. and on Crave in Canada.