And yet, the shot of her face when she isn’t in the top two of the week is as strong a moment of catharsis as we’ve gotten yet. I have no doubt, honestly, that Ru sees star power in Nymphia and will reward it later on, but I was sad to see her not earn that coveted first-episode win. 1, can acknowledge that it’s great storytelling - from the viewer’s vantage point, Jane halts a potential runaway success in its tracks, pushing herself into the winning position for the episode and delaying Nymphia’s success for a bit. I’m not sure how the math works out, but the story that the show tells is that, by strategically playing her way through the Rate-a-Queen portion of the challenge, Jane knocks Nymphia out of the top spot. Nymphia does a water-sleeve dance that is totally original in the context of Drag Race, and through makeup, she makes it into not only a beautiful dance but fascinating drag. In the talent show, I’ll make no bones about it: She eats. In this week’s photo-shoot challenge, set at the DMV, she excels at making Ru laugh and ultimately wins, garnering a front-runner position. She walks into the Werk Room in what is clearly the most exciting entrance outfit of the season, a fact underlined by the fact that she walks in last, then promptly slips on her banana peel before getting up and revealing a very stupid banana penis costume. The producers shape Nymphia’s arc smartly, and she helps them out by being sickening. For the first part of the episode, I assumed that, following Sapphira’s domination in the premiere, that would also be the case for Nymphia. The other was Nymphia, and that star quality immediately comes into view on the show as well. I mentioned last week that, at the premiere party, Sapphira and one other queen were particularly good at grabbing the audience’s attention and exhibited an innate star quality. She’s a total original and a wackadoo, a hyperstylish and hyperstylized queen with killer skills and a massive personality.

Nymphia is, from my vantage point, the most exciting queen of the season. If she ate, she’d be locked in for the season.įortunately for the show, she won, and the season is looking better for it.īut to be a perfect episode, we also need a hero, and ideally one whom Jane can antagonize in some way. Essentially: If she flopped, she’d just be a cocky girl who the show could eliminate for the quick high of a downfall arc. In order to have a viable arc, Jane needs to not only relish being mean, which technically anyone can do (although she does it with particular vigor), but also win the challenge.

Roxxxy Andrews on season five was compelling specifically because she raised the stakes by being a world-class drag queen. However, by being this much of a Charisma-Uniqueness-Nerve-Talent right out of the gate, Jane’s play secures herself screentime and a story, and, I’d imagine, gets the producers on her side they’re not going to eliminate the biggest catalyst for conflict right out of the gate.Īlso risky is that, to ensure her villainy is compelling, she needs to be an actual threat. Violet Chachki is the only queen since King Tyra (neé Tyra Sanchez) who’s won the show while being something resembling a villain, and her edit was a “growth” story line, not the story of a villain. If she keeps it up, Jane cuts her chances at actually winning the crown down to near zero. Nobody walks onto Drag Race not knowing that if she spews out rudeness, that rudeness will be televised. Jane’s gambit is an interesting one - and it is an intentional gambit, even if how she’s acting is a version of her real personality.

But I’m not in the business of fairness, I’m in the business of watching compelling TV, and if some queens are ready to walk into the Werk Room and snatch the eye of the camera with all their might, then who am I to deny it? It does this by essentially giving itself over to two queens, with the others mostly functioning as side characters ready to be filled in at a later date. This week’s episode is a mini-saga, with both a fallen hero and a villain, and it sets up storylines for the season ahead with wild abandon. In the process, she helps Drag Race create one of its most well-produced premieres in a long time. It’s a clear ploy, perhaps even a contrived one, but certainly not an unworthy one. She reads the other queens at every chance she gets then votes strategically, not fairly, in the Rate-a-Queen segment. She comes into the Werk Room with a mission - villainy - then promptly steals the episode by accomplishing it. This week on RuPaul’s Drag Race, we meet Plane Jane.

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