‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ Season 18 finale recap: Rise of a new supreme

If RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 17 was a largely good season that ended badly—not for crowning Onya Nurve, but just for having a terrible finale—then Season 18 is a bad season that … is ending as well as it could. I imagine there will be a lot of feelings about which queen ultimately wins the crown, but I think this is a solid enough final episode to bring us to that result. You know the format by now: all finalists get an original track, once again a co-production between each queen and Leland, featuring the queens’ own vocals. They perform it on the main stage, followed by a quick chat with Ru. After all three have done so, Ru announces a top two who Lip Sync for the Crown, leaving us with one America’s Next Drag Superstar.

It’s a fine-enough finale format, and I do think the change last season to featuring the queens’ own vocals improves it a lot. But it also presents an interesting dilemma regarding this season’s final three. Darlene Mitchell and Myki Meeks, the two queens seemingly closest in contention for the crown (if edit and track record are anything to go by), are both primarily comedy queens. Myki’s an actress and a theatre kid, so she can at least move, but not in the way that these “drag song” performances typically require. 

Darlene, meanwhile, has largely forged her own path in the competition, using her charisma and charm to sell her talents even when not directly fulfilling the brief of a challenge. (For example, her winning the roast with a set that was many things, but was not a roast.) Notably, we have not seen her in a Lip Sync for Your Life or any variation thereof. Her performance skills in the Drag Race pressure cooker are, by and large, untested—save for the girl groups challenge, when she scored her one and only low placement of the season.

Meanwhile, Nini Coco, who seemed to be a distant third after the final challenge, is great with an original track number. Her praying mantis routine went viral online before the season, and her reworked version of it was a standout in the Rate-a-Queen Talent Show. She won four lip syncs during the season, three for her Life and one for the Win in the premiere. Her talents set her up nicely for success here—and she’s certainly seemed confident online in the days leading up to the finale. However, Nini’s edit has been abysmal, with some fans arguing she shouldn’t even have made it to the final three after hers and Juicy Love Dion’s “Super Graphic Ultra Modern Girl” lip sync. Even if she turns it out in this finale, short of serving a Sasha Velour “So Emotional”-level performance, she can’t win … right?

We start with Darlene’s number, “Cookin’ With Gas.” It is exactly what you are imagining in your head. It is country-fried, a little trashy and very Darlene. Unfortunately, while the song is catchy, the performance is lacklustre. Her choreography is a lot of walking back and forth across the stage. Her voice is also Decidedly Not Great, but I don’t know how much that matters; the judges seem to allow for different vocal qualities in these kinds of challenges. (It’s a drag competition, after all, not American Idol.) She’s charming in her chat after with RuPaul—during which Ru asks her to talk to “24-year-old Trash,” aka her former drag persona, before giving a message to her younger self—but Darlene is always charming. There’s nothing new on offer here, and it makes me think Darlene may have peaked too early.

Myki’s next up with “Versatile,” a showtune about being a performer with range. She does well, and sounds great, but it’s interesting to see her go so hard in the paint with “theatre kid” branding. (In her pre-performance package, she also emphasizes that the Rusical is her personal highlight of the competition.) First of all, I would not say that’s been Myki’s identity throughout the competition. Second, we know how Ru tends to feel about the BFA girlies, so it’s an odd attribute to boil yourself down to right before Ru decides who will win it all. I think Michelle Visage is right when she compliments Myki’s branding, but this particular brand feels a bit hastily applied to Myki.

Up last is Nini, and her song “Stimulate” is a goddamn banger. Her performance is the best, and it’s not particularly close. The concept is great, her choreography is the hardest by a mile (and she nails it) and the track is the only one that I would even consider listening to after the fact. In this moment, you can immediately imagine what a Nini Coco live show might look like, in a way that is not true of either of the other queens. Sure, not everyone needs to tour, or do RuPaul’s Drag Race Live! But those are things that the show and World of Wonder are interested in seeing their queens do, and Nini is the one who makes the case in this finale that she’s best-suited to do it.

We have to wait a beat to find out our top two, because there’s other business to take care of. First, Miley Cyrus is the guest of honour to receive the fourth Giving Us Lifetime Achievement Award. As you’ll recall, the other recipients of this award have been Bob Mackie (currently 87 years old), Cassandra “Elvira” Peterson (74) and Liza Minnelli (80). Miley may have been working since she was a preteen, but she is currently 33 years old. I’m older than her by a year! The fact that there’s no wink or nod at the idea that she is far too young to receive a lifetime achievement award seems like a missed opportunity—old school Drag Race absolutely would have. Anyway, she looks great, and she clearly has a ton of respect for Ru. I do wish we’d gotten an impromptu “Cattitude” performance from the two of them, though.

After an LGBTQ+ herstory segment featuring quick tributes to some underheralded drag legends—William Dorsey Swann, José Sarria and Mother Flawless Sabrina—there’s a plug for the ACLU Drag Defense Fund. While I appreciate that the show continues to promote this fund (it’s better than just twirling the old vote.gov signs), I think they could take things further in every finale. Why not pledge to match donations up to a certain dollar amount? Even if they can’t pony up the money themselves, though they really should be able to, I’m sure they could find a sponsor like the Palette Fund that funded the grand prize charity donation for All Stars 9.

Anyway, we’re onto the Miss Congeniality presentation, and I am reminded of a fact I often forget: Crystal Envy won Miss Congeniality last season! While it can be fun to try and predict who is going to win this prize every year, the fact that the queens vote on it—and the fact that we don’t see many of their behind-the-scenes interactions—makes it a crapshoot. For example, this year I’d have expected one of the Starrs (Vita VonTesse Starr or Mia Starr) to take the prize, but it instead goes to Jane Don’t! In my mind, this is at least partially the other queens making good for the fact that Jane’s elimination was such a poor decision. She earns $10,000, while all the other queens get $2,000, all from sponsor Native Deodorant. See you in the deodorant commercials next year, Jane!

Finally, Onya Nurve returns, and she looks spectacular. Ru says she’s had “quite a year,” and while it’s tempting to read that remark as a bit of shade—what with some of Onya’s issues during her reign—it’s important to remember that this episode was shot last year, not after a time jump like the Season 17 finale. (That’s why Darlene refers to her partner as her “fiancé,” when she has since gotten married.) Anyway, it’s good to see Onya, and her presence means it’s just about time to find our champion.

Ru doesn’t really try to hide the gag here, announcing Nini as having made the top two first. You can see Darlene’s expression, usually perpetually sunny, notably changed here. While Ru is a big fan of hers, Myki walked into this finale with four maxi-challenge wins. The writing is on the wall: Nini advances for her finale performance, and Myki advances for her season performance. You can tell Darlene is bummed, and she pulls a Lexi Love-esque speed-through of her various reveals before leaving the stage, but at least she gets $10,000 for her third-place finish. 

I feel for Darlene, who I personally was rooting for of this top three and who really seemed to have a chance based on the final four episode edit. Honestly, I have no idea why the show edited that episode the way they did if they already knew Darlene was not a contender for the crown. Was it a consolation edit? A setup for All Stars? Who knows, but I probably need to stop trying to parse this season’s edit. That way only lies madness.

The final showdown between Myki and Darlene is set to Miley’s song “Every Girl You’ve Ever Loved,” and it’s clear from just the edit of the lip sync who is winning. Nini’s got gags, and is a better dancer, but her moves are mostly in wide shot or cut at odd junctures. (In what would be a particularly egregious change if true, there’s a theory going around that Nini did a back tuck, but it was edited out.) Myki is actually pretty good, but I think she benefits from the edit that catches every one of her best moments. In the end, Myki is indeed declared the winner, and becomes the 18th queen to be named America’s Next Drag Superstar.

While this wasn’t the outcome I was rooting for, nor do I think the show did a great job of telling the story that got us here, I am thrilled for Myki! A lot of queens would’ve felt demoralized by the situation with the Rate-a-Queen Talent Show, but she kept her head down and did the work. She did really well in the back half of the season, and when Jane got eliminated, she became the clear frontrunner. It’s a shame that she didn’t get a stronger narrative leading up to her win, but I’m sure the title and cash prize more than make up for that. For now, I’m ready to turn the page from the lacklustre Season 18 to new horizons. All Stars, Latina Royale, Canada’s All Stars and more—here we come!

Untucking our final thoughts

✨ Real diminishing returns on the “Let there be light” theme from the premiere and promo, in my opinion. Having Bob the Drag Queen, Kim Chi and Raja come back for the LGBTQ+ history education bit is nice. Having them once again pedal on the bikes to turn the power on? For a roughly 30-second bit at the start of the episode? Not as fun!

✨ Unfortunately, I do think the final runway with the full cast is one of the worst we’ve seen in the herstory of Drag Race. I think this is a consequence of filming the finale before the season airs: the queens haven’t had the chance to make some extra coin on gigs after being announced as Ru Girls. So this is basically just one more look in their Drag Race package. But while the circumstances are understandable, I still really only like Briar Blush’s top hat look and Vita VonTesse Starr’s crystallized garment—complete with a huge fascinator—among the eliminated queens’ looks.

✨ I’m particularly underwhelmed with the top three’s garments on the runway, and I’m glad they quickly change into performance outfits. Darlene’s is a mess that betrays her usual fun, purposeful tacky-on-tacky aesthetic with something that is both costumey and aesthetically displeasing. Myki’s is okay, probably the best of the three, but I so desperately want to confiscate her supply of flimsy wires that she keeps using in her looks. Nini’s top half is good, but I hate the skirt. Really not a great final fashion showing for the finalists.

✨ We, of course, get a Ru musical performance at the start of the finale, this time to his song “Mother of the House.” It is much like every other Ru musical performance you’ve seen, but this time he incorporates some very purposeful noguing. I’m sure Aja will have thoughts!

✨ If we’re stuck with these main stage finales, we at least gotta figure out a solution for the audience. The setup remains terrible, with the eliminated queens stuck behind the normies. You can feel the camera practically craning its neck to get reaction shots from the cast. Please, let’s get a new layout for Season 19!

✨ Michelle Visage, Carson Kressley and Jamal Sims are the judges on hand for the finale, and while it’s a slightly random lineup—no The Hilarious Ross Mathews?—they do a solid job of giving the queens some final notes. It’s all positive, of course, but I think they adequately sell that what Nini does on the stage really is head-and-shoulders above the other two. That’s what is needed for Nini making the top two to feel like the fair decision that it really is.

✨ Most generous lie of the episode: Miley saying of the Giving Us Lifetime Achievement Award trophy, “This makes the Grammy look cheap!”

✨ Norvina, president of Anastasia Beverly Hills and potential robot living among us, appears in a pre-taped segment with each member of the top three to talk through what their makeup collaboration with ABH could look like. (As a reminder, that’s a new part of the grand prize this year.) In retrospect, the writing is on the wall for Darlene when you can see Norvina oh so subtly shift her look upon hearing that Darlene wants to lean into her trashy brand for the collab. Not quite the ABH vibe, I’d imagine.

✨ Nini gets $25,000 as the runner-up, bringing her total for the season to $35,000. This means she takes home the third-most of any queen this season, ahead of Jane in fourth with $25,000 and behind Juicy in second with $59,500. In first, of course, is our champion, with $222,500—and that actually makes her the queen with the highest total winnings in a regular season! She edges out Sasha Colby by just $500.

✨ I absolutely need to go to happy hour with Myki’s parents. They seem like a time.

✨ Thank you all for joining us this season! I wish I could say it’s been an enjoyable ride throughout, but there was definitely turbulence in the home stretch. Still, there were some real standout episodes, and even a below-average season can’t put a damper on my love for this series. All Stars 11 is next on the list—which returning queen will be our champion this go-around? (And will she have a closer relationship with the truth than our last All Stars winner?) I can’t wait to find out!

RuPaul’s Drag Race has come to an end for now, but All Stars is right around the corner! If you’re interested in getting our coverage throughout the upcoming season delivered straight to your inbox monthly, subscribe to our drag newsletter Wig!