‘RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 7’ Episode 11 recap: The last song

My frustrations with this week’s RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 7 episode began before it even aired, as news broke that this week’s top two All Stars would each receive three Legendary Legend Stars. To say this development went over like a lead balloon in the fandom would be understating things. Immediately, accusations flew that production was attempting to salvage underperforming favourites, and fans wondered just what the point of this whole point system was. If Ru was always just going to put his thumb on the scale and decide the finalists at the last second, why did we bother with 10 previous weeks of Legendary Legend Star games?

Make no mistake: I am not a fan of this twist by any measure. The most positive thing I could say about it is that it isn’t even my least-favourite twist in this episode. But I do think the general backlash has been focused on the wrong elements—namely, who to blame. I put blame for this game-breaking, frustrating development solely on the shoulders of production, who cannot just let an All Stars season run without introducing some fuckery. In a series that’s supposed to be about the best of the best competing, All Stars is increasingly about keeping up with whatever shenanigans the show throws at the queens.

Among my many problems with this twist is the fact that it invites undue and undeserved backlash toward the queens it benefits. Shea Couleé has been a strong competitor all season—she’s actually been called out as a member of the high-scoring quartet the most of any queen throughout All Stars 7. Had she won other challenges she did well in (think the girl groups challenge, for instance), she could’ve still made the finale with a simple one-star final challenge. Instead, she’s making the finale on the back of an arbitrary star inflation. Visible production fuckery negatively affects queens most of all, and does the very talent that keeps this show going a tremendous disservice.

All that said, I’ll admit, this episode is more entertaining than I expected it to be going in. Both queens who win deliver in stellar fashion, one immediately launching into my all-time favourite variety show performances. But just as you take a beat to enjoy yourself and say, “Hey, they’re all winners at the end of the day,” the show throws one final twist at you that’s an absolute gut punch—and is deeply unfair to the queens. Truly, it seems Drag Race has become a show that cannot get out of its own way.

At the episode’s start, Shea is well aware that her odds are long to make it to the finale. While, yes, it is mathematically possible for her to still make it there (something I overlooked in my ranking last week), it’s incredibly unlikely. She would need to win this challenge next to Jinkx Monsoon, Jaida Essence Hall or Trinity the Tuck, and the five-way tie for the fourth spot would have to be broken in her favour. It’s a near-impossible predicament, and Shea seems over it, even jokingly asking if she can have the week off.

However, when Ru drops the bombshell that this week’s challenge will be worth three Legendary Legend Stars, Shea gets a new fire lit underneath her. Suddenly, she doesn’t have to rely on unrealistic math: she can beat this challenge and make the finale. That’s exactly what she does, turning out a Janet Jackson-inspired song-and-dance performance that is professional-tier. While Shea’s album may not yet be out (it’ll be released “when it’s finished,” she says to Ru), if this is what we can expect when it does come out, I’ll be bopping to it for weeks.

Because she ends her season so strong, and because she was a contender in so many other challenges, I ultimately am glad Shea makes the finale. I don’t love that it happened thanks to a challenge reward so broken that it would automatically catapult anyone to the finale. As I said, I think that does a disservice to Shea. But at the end of the day, Shea has worked hard this season, and I know she’ll kill it in the finale lip sync tournament. The twist may be broken, but I can’t fault a queen for taking it and running with it.

Joining Shea in the winner’s circle is Monét X Change, who scores her third challenge win at just the right time. She notes in the episode that her off-key All Stars 4 talent show performance was an infamous failure, and so she needs to redeem herself this time. And boy howdy, does she: Monét sings opera, and it is a stunning performance. There’s something so sublimely, subtly perfect about it—she doesn’t overexaggerate it to make it draggier, or dress in some absurd costume. She just stands there and delivers a gorgeous bass vocal. The fact that she does it in a corset is all the more impressive. Monét’s performance instantly vaults into my all-time favourites, and I’m thrilled for her that she secures the win.

What I am not thrilled by, however, is Ru’s final twist: after declaring that Monét, Jinkx and Shea have all made the finale, he notes that there’s a tie for the last slot. Both Trinity and Jaida have three stars, and someone must decide who goes through. In what can only be described as utter bullshit, this responsibility is placed on Monét’s shoulders as the queen with the most stars—five.

This is infuriating because it’s clear as day what Monét is going to do. Trinity has been her ally all season long, and their Drag Race journeys are inextricably linked. Trinity would also make for a far easier opponent in a Lip Sync for the Crown versus Jaida. This is production’s way of making the decision they want to make without getting any blood on their hands. Instead, it’s Monét who aces Jaida out of the finale, bringing Trinity along instead.

Was this truly their great plan for breaking a tie? What if this week’s challenge had gone differently and there were multiple queens tied for the most stars? Would they have had to come to a consensus on who to send home? Or what if the tie for the fourth slot was even bigger? This just seems like a rushed decision made to avoid accountability and still get their twinners-in-the-finale storyline. And it comes at the expense of the queen who has been such a fun, game delight all season long. I’m devastated for Jaida, and while she’s understanding of Monét’s decision, that doesn’t make the circumstances any less awful.

There is a small silver lining for Jaida: She, The Vivienne, Yvie Oddly and Raja will all get to compete in a lower-bracket tournament during the LaLaPaRuZa Lip Sync Smackdown for the Crown. Their battle is for the title of “Queen of SheDoneAlreadyDoneHadHerses,” as well as a $50,000 cash prize. Not bad at all! I’m glad the show at least does this—it softens the blow of this week’s super arbitrary decisions. And it helps cushion what would’ve been very abrupt endings to Yvie and Raja’s arcs in particular, as both have emotional storylines this week. (Viv, sadly, seems down-and-out this week, likely still smarting over her undeserved loss in the roast last week.)

That’s another part of what makes these twists so frustrating, though: This episode, left alone, could’ve been an all-time great for Drag Race. The performances in the variety show are across-the-board good, and we get great storylines with Yvie and Raja connected to their acts. Yvie pays tribute to the physical skills she feels herself losing, while Raja connects with family memories as she does a traditional Balinese dance. Combined with some insightful Tic Tac chats with all eight queens, as well as $100,000 total given out to a variety of great causes, and this episode has a lot to recommend it. Again, Drag Race fails to get out of its own way.

The lip sync between Monét and Shea is to Kylie Minogue’s “Supernova,” a song we just saw as the finale lip sync between Blu Hydrangea and Mo Heart on UK vs. The World. Not sure why we’re repeating so soon, especially considering how many bangers Kylie has on Disco, but hey. Can’t look a gift horse in the mouth, especially when the lip sync is this good. The pair who previously faced off to “Old McDonald” gets a much more traditional lip sync song, and they dance the hell out of it. I love the moment where they—in unison—get onto the ground to do floor work; they’re really in sync. I personally would’ve given Monét the win, but Ru goes with Shea.

As part of her victory package, Shea gets $30,000 donated to the charity of her choice, the Period Poverty Project. As a special bonus, however, all seven remaining queens each get $10,000 donated to their charity of choice. I would love to see Drag Race do this more: it’s an empire franchise at this point, and giving each queen the platform to both speak about and raise money for a cause they care about is a great use of their audience.

With that in mind, I can only be so mad about this episode—but I do still wish All Stars 7 was ending on a different note. Going into next week’s finale, I’m excited to see some (hopefully!) great lip syncs, and I want what’s been a very special season to end well. I just wish we could’ve found a different way to the finale.

Untucking our final thoughts

✨ Hannah Einbinder from Hacks is our guest judge—and I do wonder why she wasn’t the judge for the roast. Although imagining Ronan Farrow sitting through these variety acts is perhaps even harder to imagine. Regardless, Hannah is a delight, and seems to have a great time with the queens. Bring Jean Smart on next!

✨ Interesting to consider that this marks both Trinity and Shea’s third chat with Ru before a finale—Monét, the other queen to compete in three seasons, did not get to hers in Season 10. The VH1 era has been largely defined by queens like Trinity and Shea, as they’ve both racked up an incredibly high number of episodes of the series in just five years. I’m hopeful the next All Stars season sees more fresh blood added into the mix instead of familiar faces.

✨ Among the other charities the queens choose to raise money for, Trinity picks Planned Parenthood, Viv picks Trans Lifeline, Monét picks Color of Change, Yvie picks the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Raja picks the National Center for Trans Equality, Jinkx chooses the Black Visions Collective and Jaida chooses Free Black Therapy. All incredibly worthy causes, and I once again praise Drag Race for giving the time and space for these organizations to be featured.

✨ Raja shares that she still has her original Tic Tac from Season 3. “It’s now brown and stuck to the bottom,” she says, to Ru’s amusement.

✨ I gasped at the reveal that Diane Warren wrote Viv’s original song.

✨ So who’s winning this thing? The safest money would be on Jinkx, considering she’s been such a dominant force all season long. But I will say that Monét has a ton of momentum going into this finale—we’ll get into just how much that means in tomorrow’s power ranking. In the lower bracket, I’d put good money on Jaida or Yvie to win the $50,000, but it may all come down to song choice. Whatever the case, I’m glad we’re going to see six lip syncs next week!

The finale of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 7 will stream Friday, July 29, at 3 a.m. EDT on Paramount+ in the U.S. and on OUTtv and Crave in Canada. Check World of Wonder’s streaming guide for other countries’ release plans. You can subscribe to our drag newsletter, Wig!, for exclusive Drag Race content delivered straight to your inbox every Tuesday afternoon.