‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ Season 8 Premiere: There Could Be 100 Queens in a Room
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In 2016, 100 episodes of RuPaul’s Drag Race was a true milestone: an achievement for a little-show-that-could that made a name for itself on Logo. Season 8’s premiere, “Keeping It 100!”, rightfully makes a big damn deal of the achievement. There are just 12 queens in this cast, enough to take the number of queens across all seasons to exactly 100. (The 100th is Derrick Barry, Britney Spears impersonation extraordinaire.) The opening mini-challenge reunites all the winners for a photo shoot — well, almost all the winners.
Overall, it’s a triumphant episode, and one of the show’s best premieres ever (if not the best). But it does feel like an artifact; to think about a time when the show hitting 100 episodes was something that required the better part of a decade to accomplish. If you don’t count the various spinoffs, Drag Race will hit 200 episodes next year, doing it in just five years; if you do, Drag Race blew past that milestone a while ago. This year alone, if you count all the spin-offs, Drag Race aired 42 episodes.
It’s possible to have conflicting feelings about this speed-up in production: that it’s great to have more Drag Race to entertain us, but worry about the diluting of the brand, but rejoice in more chances to meet more queens, but grow fatigued of back-to-back seasons. These are subjects that largely feel talked-to-death at this point. I’d rather use this opportunity revisiting season 8 to just remember a different time for the show — an end of an era. This was the show’s final season to be broadcast just on Logo. After this, the international spinoffs came, the main series moved to VH1, All Stars came back in full force, and the Emmys started rolling in.
The game truly changed. But it couldn’t have changed without the season 8 girls.
Owing to both its size and the great mix of personalities, this is one of the most memorable Drag Race casts. You’ve got superstars like Bob the Drag Queen, Kim Chi, Naomi Smalls, and the late, great Chi Chi DeVayne. You’ve got controversial figures like Derrick Barry, Acid Betty, and Robbie Turner (she of the faked Uber driver death). You’ve got future All Star Thorgy Thor, fan favorite Laila McQueen, and a Miss Congeniality of our time in Cynthia Lee Fontaine. Add beauty queen Naysha Lopez and cosplay expert Dax Exclamationpoint into the mix, and that’s a well-rounded cast.
Not all of their initial impressions are created equal, though. Bob is clearly a pro, coming in with a witty “UNT” bodysuit that she completes by curving her arm into a C. She does all kinds of things that telegraph how on the ball she is all episode, from listening to the lip sync songs in the workroom on her iPod (my favorite sign of a prepared queen) to mentioning “What’s the Tee” in her very first meeting with RuPaul. The latter is unreal levels of good gameplay when Ru is the judge, jury, and executioner on this show.
But Bob is actually just safe this episode, which is a phrase I will not be saying a lot this season! Instead, this episode largely belongs to three queens at the top of the pack: Kim, Acid, and Derrick.
Each does well in the photo shoot mini-challenge, Acid perhaps standing out the least of the group. Carson Kressley says he wishes she’d been a bit more punk, but I appreciate her lighter touch while dressed up in her all-neon getup. Kim (who Chad Michaels unwisely calls “Jujubee on steroids”) fares even better, which seems to be a large part of why she ultimately wins the week. My pick for best photo goes to Derrick, though: As the judges note, she really does look like the winners are backup to her.
Derrick has become something of a meme and a joke in the years since this episode, which is both a reflection of her actual output (think about how the best thing she’s ever done was her drunk roast) and a bit of the audience’s backlash to her. But it must be said: Her appearance is treated as a big deal in this premiere. And rightfully so! Derrick is a top-tier queen in a very particular mode. Is that the right mode for Drag Race? Maybe not! But nevertheless, just like Chad, she is a huge casting get.
We do see the start of Derrick’s confusing storyline here, though, as Michelle Visage asks for her to deliver something other than Britney, and Ru immediately says he’s fine seeing more Britney. This will literally last across whole seasons of the show: Should Derrick stick to Britney or not? If Drag Race ever wants to cast a queen primarily known for her impersonations again, they may want to figure out exactly what they expect.
The main challenge tasks the girls with creating looks based on previous, iconic design challenges. Kim wins for a lioness Hair Ball look that I liked a lot at the time, but would probably come in around third for me now. While I do think Derrick’s Christmas Britney look is witty and fun — and I’ll give a shout-out to Thorgy’s Red Velvet Cake Ball look — it’s Acid Betty’s Money Ball look that wins the day for me. It’s an absolutely gorgeous dress, styled right and given all kinds of fun details. I can see an argument that it wasn’t different enough from the Money Ball looks from season 3, but there’s only so much to be done with these materials.
I’d say I’m much higher on Acid Betty than the average viewer, which is a shame. She may be difficult — clock her dismissive attitude toward the winners in her photo shoot — but she’s talented as hell, maybe one of the most talented to do as poorly as she does in the season. I’d put her in the same league as Max and Lineysha Sparx. (Ironically, all three went home on Snatch Game!)
The bottom queens are Robbie Turner, who is spared from the lip sync, Naysha Lopez, and Laila McQueen. Naysha absolutely deserves it for her look; Laila, on the other hand, turns out a perfectly solid garment that should’ve landed her in the safe group. Naomi’s look is a real nothing, and the pass she gets from the judges is kind of disappointing. Maybe they saw grand future potential in her.
Regardless, Robbie being safe means Laila has to be the one to rock the lip sync to Lady Gaga’s “Applause.” She really kills it, but I remembered it being more stunt-heavy than it actually was. She actually builds nicely to her biggest moves, and it looks all the more impressive next to Naysha’s clapping. Laila easily stays.
“Keeping It 100!” is what I’d like all Drag Race premieres to be: a celebration of the past while launching us forward into a bright future with this new cast. It’s boosted by a tremendous group of queens, a killer challenge, and some great pacing. If I recall, though, that challenge is about to be one-upped in major fashion…
I live for the Final Thoughts:
- One of the most interesting aspects of this episode is how differently Naomi Smalls’ segments play considering the legendary queen she has become since. There’s something almost novice about her — she’s got her signature confidence, but it’s not quite reinforced yet. It’ll be interesting to track her progress as we go through the season — she, more than anyone else here, has changed the most.
- “Good morning, I didn’t realize this was happening today” is truly a great entrance line. A shame someone more likable didn’t get it!
- I’m a sucker for the callback-heavy RuMail messages. Ru tends to pull them out for milestone episodes — this 100th episode, the season 10 premiere — and it’s always a little spot-the-reference game. How many can you find?
- A sight we very rarely see on the show: the main stage without the judging dais. All the more room on the main stage for Morgan McMichaels to do her Priscilla Queen of the Desert-inspired ping pong ball trick!
- Acid Betty says Brooklyn drag is “hairy .” Cue Sasha Velour’s “come up with a read that’s better than hairy” from “CLAT”!
- Never forget that Bob’s look in this episode is the birth of “Purse First.”
The next Drag Race Rewind recap, covering season 8, episode 2, will be available to Patreon subscribers next Thursday, October 1.
