‘Canada’s Drag Race’ Season 5 premiere recap: Return to the North

Our long international nightmare is over: RuPaul’s Drag Race Global All Stars has come to an end. It wasn’t a season without its pleasures (Global Lip Sync Assassin Soa de Muse! Nehellenia’s makeover win!), but they were few and far between—and the disappointments relative to our expectations were sky-high.

One of the true highlights of the season, however, was Pythia, the Canada’s Drag Race Season 2 alumna. She won one challenge, could’ve won a couple more (including with a delightful and inventive Snatch Game performance) and overall could rightfully be called the robbed queen of the season. But what more could we expect from our Canadian representative? Those who have read my recaps for years know well just how much I appreciate the inventive, clever and ambitious spirit of this franchise. Even when a season of CDR disappoints, it does so by swinging too big and missing, not by failing to live up to expectations.

So it’s with great enthusiasm that I hop back into CDR for its fifth season. Fifth seasons have generally been a good harbinger for Drag Race: Season 5 of the OG franchise remains one of the all-time best runs, while UK Season 5 was a massive return to form for the British series. (We’re going to politely ignore All Stars 5 out of respect for Shea Couleé.) This season also comes in with a lot of hopes riding on it, after the absolutely electric Season 4 brought a lot more attention to the Queens of the North. 

Who will stun on the runway like Aurora Matrix? Who will entertain us in Mini-Untucked like Melinda Verga? Who will slay lip syncs like Nearah Nuff? And who will follow in Venus’ footsteps as Canada’s Next Drag Superstar?

This premiere once again brings us a ball challenge, with three categories: entrance looks, a performance aspect (this year a full music video for new song “Go Off Queen”—with pre-written verses!) and a very best drag runway category. But unlike last season, when our three judges Brooke Lynn Hytes, Brad Goreski and Traci Melchor each gave out a “first impression rosebud” after just the entrance looks, there’s a twist to make them much more valuable. 

After each category, the judges will assign one queen a rosebud for their performance, placing them automatically in the top three for the week. Conversely, they’ll also assign the worst-performing in the category a “thorn,” placing them in the bottom three. But the queens won’t know who has received rosebuds and thorns until the challenge is complete. It’s a very clever idea, and while it’s somewhat undone by the ultimate choice to not eliminate anyone, I still like it as a way to clearly identify strong performers and those who need to step it up from the word “go.”

The entrances are once again filmed individually, with the queens all coming in together after everyone has had their moment. I know why CDR does this this way—it would be unfair to have everyone who comes in judged by their fellow queens when this is a category for the challenge—but you lose something by not having the group dynamic build up over time. It shouldn’t take 10 minutes for us to see the cast of queens interacting. Maybe there’s a way to do entrances traditionally but still give us a different third category for the ball? Something for Season 6, perhaps!

Anyway, there are a lot of queens, and Drag Race Power Rankings are back for this season, so I won’t dive too deep into the full group’s performances. But in the entrance look category, Jaylene Tyme immediately stands out as a star. The 32-year veteran of drag counts Canada’s Drag Race alumna Gia Metric, Kendall Gender, Chelazon Leroux and Venus among her drag children and grandchildren, and she’s a proud trans, Two-Spirit queen who was inspired by Kitten Kaboodle and The Girlfriend Experience’s casting last season to give it a shot. Her entrance look is a stunning red ensemble, and she earns the first impression rosebud for the category.

Faring less well, both in the entrance look category and overall in the episode, is Tara Nova. The young Newfie queen clearly has a lot of enthusiasm, and proudly declares that she sews her own looks. However, the look that she presents is very simple, with devil horns stuck on her head in a way that detracts, rather than elevates, her presentation. Making matters worse is that once she’s in the werk room, she very quickly turns to shit-talking her competitors in a one-sided gossip session with Makayla Couture, who notes in confessional that Tara might want to worry about her own look before coming for others.

Speaking of Makayla: yes, this is indeed Icesis Couture’s makeover partner-turned-drag daughter competing this season! The 21-year-old queen is one of three trans contestants in this cast (alongside Jaylene and Bollywood queen Sanjina Dabish Queen), and she proudly shows off her transformation from her one episode appearance in Season 2. Makayla is so clearly a star, as she demonstrates in the music video section of the challenge. Her verse is the best by a mile—the asthma part? genius—and her looks throughout the episode are stunning. She also earns a first impression rosebud, and there’s a very good argument for her to win it all.

Beyond Makayla’s, though, a lot of the “Go Off Queen” verses are pretty rough, either in writing, delivery or both. Sanjina’s is another solid one, while The Virgo Queen—already a standout for her Y2K-inspired entrance look—delivers the second best of the lot in my book, with impressive flow and tone. But there’s a small mountain of bad performances: Tara’s, Minhi Wang’s, Tiffany Ann Co.’s and especially Perla’s. The fashion queen demonstrates a very limited range as a performer, and while her personality shines through later during the runway banter, she’s very likely to be tripped up on any future musical performance challenges. She earns the second thorn of the night.

Finally, in the You Oughta Know Me runway category, Virgo stuns in a form-fitting jumpsuit that has a ton of style and flair to it. She gets the final first impression rosebud, while Tiffany gets the first thorn. While it never seems like Tiffany is in real danger—and as it turns out, no one is—I actually would’ve put Tiffany in the bottom two with Tara myself. Her looks and performance are all pretty one-note (that note being “pop star”), and while her mean girl link-up with drag sister Xana is promising narratively, I have to imagine only one of them will go the distance to become this season’s villain.

After an emotional Mini-Untucked for the queens and, sadly, no aired deliberations among the judges, Brooke declares all the bottom queens safe, while Makayla and Virgo are the top two. This is, in my opinion, the exact correct top two. Makayla’s “Go Off Queen” verse and performance is the best single part of the episode, while Virgo’s performance across all categories is remarkably well-rounded. Jaylene also did very well, though—don’t be surprised if we see her snatch a win sooner versus later.

The two top queens lip sync to guest judge Lu Kala’s song “Pretty Girl Era,” and it’s always so refreshing to be reminded of CDR’s long lip syncs. You really get a sense of how both of these queens are as performers. I feel like American Drag Race would either focus too heavily on the back half of Makayla’s performance (a much stronger segment) or cut around her entirely to favour Virgo’s more dynamic moves. Seen like this, it’s clear that it’s a battle, but that Virgo’s consistent performance throughout the lip sync earns her the win.

And that’s the premiere, folks! Gotta say, it feels so good to be back up north with this show. After such a strong start with Season 16, 2024 has been an inconsistent year for Drag Race, but many of the international seasons have made up for the underwhelming All Stars 9 and Global All Stars. It feels right that Canada’s Drag Race will wrap the year up in their typical fashion: with forward-thinking challenges, smart casting and storytelling that has us coming back for more.

Untucking our final thoughts

✨ Some notes on the queens I didn’t mention: Uma Gahd surprises me more and more as the episode goes on, while I’m intrigued by Helena Poison’s design prowess and aesthetic. The one storyline to really watch for, though, is Xana’s. She is ready to be the bitch this season in a way that rivals the queen Sanjina compares her to, Plane Jane. Interested to see how this approach works out for her! Definitely check out the power ranking this week on Xtra for more on all the queens.

✨ Maybe my favourite scene of the episode is ultra-sweetheart Minhi accidentally winding up in the mean girls alcove with Xana and Tiffany. It’s giving the one nice girl in the mean clique in a high school TV show. Pray for Minhi!

✨ Speaking of Minhi, she is the second former Pit Crew member to wind up as a Drag Race contestant, after Megui Yeillow on the currently airing fourth season of Drag Race España. Based on her phrasing in her introduction, it sounds like she was only in the Pit Crew for Canada’s first season—how will she fare with the overhauled production since then?

✨ Glad to see all our judges back, and Traci with bigger hair than ever! Their critiques are all pretty great in this episode, demonstrating that the growth in the panel we’ve seen over the past few years continues to pay off. I’m hopeful to see Traci continue to blossom—Brooke and Brad both had very strong performances in Season 4, while Traci took a bit of a step back after being the standout for me in Season 3. I’m a fan, so I’m eager to see her approach this season!

✨ Speaking of Brooke, she performs during “Go Off Queen,” and it’s always fun to see her dancing it out on the main stage. I’m a little confused why they leave her mealy-mouthing the lyrics in—couldn’t they have just rerecorded that segment?—but I love that they leave in her falling off the stage. Her Jennifer Lawrence era!

✨ Sanjina struggles with body dysmorphia, and Xana really triggers it during the werk room chatter on the day of the elimination. She finds solace in Virgo, Makayla and Jaylene, which gives us a lovely scene. I’m hopeful Sanjina can beat back this personal demon, because I think she’s fab—and her fully sprinting off the stage upon being called safe is one of the funniest moments of the episode.

✨ Lu Kala is our guest judge this week, and she’s terrific! Specific and on-point in her critiques, and she has a ball watching the queens lip sync to her song. I’d welcome her back any time, honestly.

✨ “Here at Canada’s Drag Race, we believe in first impressions, but we also believe in second chances.” I appreciate this from Brooke, and I generally like no one going home in the first episode. But I am excited to see the show get down to business next week. Until then!

The next episode of Canada’s Drag Race will be available to stream on Thursday, Nov. 28, at 9 p.m. EST on WOW Presents Plus in the U.S. and on Crave in Canada. You can subscribe to our drag newsletter, Wig!, for exclusive Drag Race content delivered straight to your inbox every month.