RECAP: RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 17, Episode 1
We are back for Season 17 of RuPaul’s Drag Race. Fourteen new queens. A whole new studio. Wild twists, including a spectacularly silly opening sequence inspired by Squid Game. For all the naysayers dismissing this franchise, you must acknowledge that the showrunners are constantly working to keep things fresh and exciting.
“Fresh” and “exciting” are two words I would use to describe the Season 17 premiere overall. The 90-minute episode moved quickly, going from expected segments (work-room entrances, getting-to-know-you mirror chats, the talent shows) and including enough twists to keep us — and the queens — on their toes. For much of the episode I found myself delighted, and remarking to my viewing party how I enjoyed this group of queens more than I expected to based on the Meet the Queens introductions.
I will say that, on the whole, there is a performative quality to many of these girls. That’s not necessarily a compliment. On numerous occasions I found interactions heightened or forced in a way that felt like behaviors learned from social media, specifically to pull focus. And, like, that is part of the assignment. I get it. But as guest judge Katy Perry noted, the trick to being a successful celebrity in the 2020s is to play with your alter-ego, but also be real. I felt a few of these queens were leaning too much into the former, and not giving nearly enough of the latter. But it’s early and I’m sure nerves were high. I did think that overall the cast gelled well, which is not always the case on Drag Race. A few seem left out, but by and large these girls seemed to bond quickly.
Read below for my take on the first 7 queens who performed this episode. While all 14 cast members were introduced in Episode 1 (same format as Global All Stars, and I think it’s the best approach to a split premiere), and all 14 walked the mainstage in the Masc for Masked Singer, I’ll be focusing on the girls who showed their stuff in the talent show. For what it’s worth, Group 2 actually has more of the queens I’m interested in (this is already a Lexi Love stan account), but I still found a lot to like in Group 1.
Before we get to that, please enjoy this ridiculous Squirrel Games segment that opened Season 17, featuring a slew of former Drag Race contestants as well as, I presume, queens who have not yet been cast on the show. Shout out to the clown who stood in for Bianca del Rio in the Season 8 premiere photo shoot. You will always be famous!
Below find my thoughts on the seven Season 17 queens who competed in the Episode 1 talent show, ranked in order from who most impressed me to the least impressive based on their entrance looks, talent-show performances, and runway presentations. The Group 2 queens will be covered in next week’s recap.
Lucky Starzzz: I thought this was a great premiere for Lucky. She pulled focus and interest with her outlandish, maximalist drag and put on I think the most memorable talent show out of the group. Was it essentially another bitch track with attention-grabbing props? Sure, but it really did grab my attention. You couldn’t help but be struck as her ripe lemon breasts squirted bright-yellow liquid all over the stage. Was the lipsynch the best? No. But this was a spectacle. This did a great job letting us know what to expect from a Lucky Starzzz show. It was memorable and unique. This, to me, was the more organic version of what Plane Jane was trying to achieve in S16 with “Burger Finger,” which seemed like a contrived Jimbo knockoff (please note I love Plane Jane, I just didn’t care for that talent number). I fully believe that Lucky would do this performance even if she wasn’t on national television trying to impress RuPaul. As for looks, the art-based entrance look was incredible, and the pizza runway on the mainstage was fucking cool. The mask part of it was an afterthought, but to me Lucky was one of the breakouts of this episode, even if her personality doesn’t pop quite as intensely as her drag. She should have been Top 2.
Suzie Toot: I think Suzie will be polarizing this season, from her aesthetic to her mug to her very specific interpretation of drag. Personally, I love it. Basing so much of her drag persona around performers and styles from literally a century ago feels, bizarrely, new and exciting to me. We’ve never had a queen this steeped in early 20th Century cinema and stage — the closest we’ve come is Jinkx Monsoon, who I’m sure Suzie will be compared to a LOT — and in a sea of Jorgeous clones, that makes Suzie stand out. But will younger fans of the show appreciate Suzie’s drag? Gen Z barely acknowledges that pop culture even existed prior to the year 2000. Will they embrace a queen who might as well have stepped out of the Ziegfeld Follies? I’m dubious. I enjoyed Suzie’s tap-dancing talent, specifically the humor of it, from the “nine toes” to the Gettysburg Address. Her personality and point of view immediately came through, and she gave us something novel. Like, who tap dances anymore? And does it well? I was not, however, thrilled by her runway looks — and neither was Michelle Visage. I get that the hair and make-up are straight out of the 1920s, and that’s exactly what Suzie is going for. But she is performing for a 2020s audience, and I don’t think it is going to appeal to a large chunk of contemporary viewers. I will be curious to see how — or even if — Suzie adapts her style as the season goes on. But I do like her quite a bit. I would have definitely put her in my Top 3, and I take no issue with her Top 2 placement this episode.
Jewels Sparkles: Jewels surprised me this episode. I liked her Meet the Queens, even though she came off VERY young and overly enthusiastic. We definitely got that in Episode 1, but we also got a shocking story regarding a traumatic medical background from her youth, as well as a distinct shit-stirring quality. That will make for good TV, but I found it hard to reconcile who this queen is. I can tell you this though: she is stunning, and I’m glad she’s leaning into her resemblance to Ariana Grande because there were moments where I literally thought I was staring at Ari herself. I thought Jewels’ talent-show number, which she categorized as a “burlesque,” was polished and well delivered. I liked the song, the performance was strong, she had good energy — there is star quality there. But it was basically a lipsynch to an original bitch track with some stripping. We have seen so many of those, and I am begging queens to give us something different. Jewels looked stunning on the runway, one of the most beautiful looks of the night. In my opinion, Jewels should have been Safe this week, not Top 2. The runway possibly pushed her higher in the rankings, but the lack of originality in the act would have been hard to overcome (even though, again, it was well executed). This was a case of pre-show alliances dramatically impacting the Rate-a-Queen results, in Jewels’ favor.
Lydia Butthole Kollins: I like Lydia a lot. We’ve now had two queens give us intros that explicitly reference Beetlejuice; I’m not sure if I like Lydia’s more than Season 8’s Laila McQueen, but she definitely seems more confident in herself and her abilities. What I liked about Lydia this episode was her lack of polish. She’s a crafty queen, an alternative queen, and she has a lot of cool ideas. I don’t think she executes all of them to the level she should be, but the ideas are clearly there, and I find that exciting. I thought the puppet talent show was fucking crazy, and I loved it. I understand the queens and the judges both saying that they were disappointed with the ending of it. I can see where they were coming from. But I thought the audacity of the concept alone pushed it above several of the other queens, even if it wasn’t fully resolved. I thought Lydia’s masked runway was a missed opportunity. Again, big ideas, but she needs to learn how to pace and showcase reveals. That was true for many of the girls on this runway, but Lydia in particular seemed to have a whole story in hers that didn’t fully translate to the viewer (or, I suspect, the judges). Overall I am intrigued by Lydia and can’t wait to see more.
Acacia Forgot: Acacia is the queen who most seems to be struggling with this cast, and that bums me out. Her entrance look was definitely hokey-pokey compared to most of the others. I actually thought her snowman runway was successful, even if the base garments veered toward Leg Avenue. But beyond that, she took a big swing with her talent, singing live and playing guitar. Again: I will always award points for a queen doing something original over yet another lipsynch, and I don’t think Acacia did poorly. It wasn’t perfectly on pitch, I couldn’t make out all the words, but the song itself was not bad. She performed it decently — we have certainly had much worse live-singing talent numbers on this show, including some notable All Stars bombs (Phi Phi O’Hara, Monet X-Change). To me this was a solidly safe number, and the only reason Acacia ended up last in the Rate-A-Queen standings is because other queens who clearly did worse than her had allies who ranked them highly. There were several instances in both the main episode and Untucked that implied that the other queens are not connecting with Acacia, possibly deliberately. That bums me out. I get that she’s not the biggest personality and that her drag has a throwback element to it (can I say, I’m living for Acacia’s 90s mullet out of drag?), but I felt Acacia was done dirty this episode by her sisters and the editors alike.
Arrietty: After the Meet the Queens I was totally uninterested in Arrietty; I thought it was one of the most off-putting interviews I’ve ever watched with an incoming queen. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I actually enjoyed Arrietty this episode, especially in their talking heads. There is certainly an immature quality to this queen that I think will get exhausting super fast, especially for certified olds like myself. But overall I warmed to Arrietty much more than I expected. I thought her punk porcupine entrance look was excellent. I thought the masked runway look had some gorgeous elements to it — LOVED the shaping of that gown — even if I didn’t fully understand the story she was trying to tell with it. But that Mexican folkloric dancing talent show was a big whiff. I am all for cultural talent exhibitions. We’ve had several spectacular ones on this show, from Gia Gunn’s All Stars 4 kabuki number to Nymphia Wind’s dancing last season. But we have already seen this skirt-dancing bit via Geneva Karr last season. It was uninspiring then, and even less interesting now, seeing it again. I appreciated the energy that Arrietty brought to it, and the twirling was beautiful. But that cannot be it. That cannot be your introduction to the Drag Race fandom, and given everything else Arrietty has showed us this episode and the promos, it seems wholly disconnected to her weirdo fantasy drag. For the record, I do not think the answer was for her to go in some slutty direction, as other queens suggested. I just think she needed to do something more exciting, that gave insight into her unique drag.
Joella: First let me say, even from the Meet the Queens I got the sense that Joella has some emotional baggage, caused by unresolved trauma from her youth. That was further evidenced this episode. There were multiple references to bullying in school, dark times, etc., and a resulting tough exterior meant to weather that. I get it. Like, literally — I totally get it. I have empathy for Joella, and I want to root for her success. But I can’t root for you if you’re going to deliver at the level Joella gave this episode, and delude yourself into thinking that you’re doing amazing. Because…no. Not even close. Let’s start with the good: LOVED the entrance look. Loved it. The whole thing was terrific, especially that headpiece and gong. I love how seemingly effortlessly Joella integrated herself into this group. She was in the mix basically immediately, according to the edit. I love and admire her confidence so much, especially because my sense is it is largely there through sheer force of Joella’s will. But that talent act was easily the worst of the night. It wasn’t even close to me. First off, another bitch track lipsynch. Strike 1. The track itself was not great; I wouldn’t even call it “mid,” and every other original song of the evening stood out more, including Acacia’s. Strike 2. The lipsynch was barely there, and the performance lacked energy and panache. Strike 3. If you told me that was this person’s first time performing in drag, I would believe it. I have no idea what was going on with that masked runway look, and I don’t really care to know. What’s most worrisome is, Joella genuinely seemed to think she killed this episode. Again: love the confidence. But if this was considered potentially worthy of a Top 2 placement, I worry about what a flop is going to look like coming from her. I think it’s lovely that she had this moment in front of her idol Katy Perry, who genuinely seemed invested in Joella. That endeared me to BOTH of them. But even Katy was implying that Joella was not performing at an acceptable level, and Joella did not seem to be hearing that. That’s not good. And honestly, shame on the Group 2 queens for chucking Acacia in the B2 over this. They had to know this was not good, even if they like Joella more.
As mentioned, the Top 2 were Suzie Toot and Jewels Sparkles, who had to lipsynch to Perry’s “Woman’s World,” one of the most derided songs of 2024. At first Suzie seemed completely out of place as Jewels threw down a solid if not predictable lipsynch performance with lots of hair whips, rolling on the floor, and sudden splits. But then Suzie found her approach to the song, and by the middle of it I was living for her full-on tap interpretation. They both did well with a not-great song, and ultimately Ru gave the win to Suzie. I think this will be controversial, especially for the younger viewers of the show. But again: Suzie gave us something different, something unique. We have seen a million split drops at this point. What was once thrilling is now expected. I’m glad the show appears to be rewarding queens who take chances, and I hope that continues this season.
NEXT: Group 2 takes to the talent show, and Acacia Forgot lipsynchs for her life against whoever ends up in the Bottom 2. Will pre-show alliances swing the Rate-A-Queen results again? Who will go home first?
What did you think of of the Season 17 premiere? Drop your thoughts in the comments.
