Because time is now a thin current that slides away while only the reliable eternity of the Drag Race multiverse remains, a new season of RuPaul’s Drag Race will soon begin afresh, though the show’s reliable archetypes remain eternal.
Ru and company seem to have decided to rely heavily on the “ingenue who started doing drag roughly 30 minutes before filming began” that worked so well with Gigi Goode last season, with many of the queens saying this was their first or second audition for the show with drag experience that more or less also matches that brief timeline. But an interesting addition to a setup that could leave some contestants without the benefit of experience enjoyed by more seasoned performers is the fact that Ru has let one contestant, LaLa Ri, bring her drag mommy with her—to compete against. LaLa and Tanisha Iman are both performers from Atlanta, and while LaLa is just three years into her drag career, Tanisha said she had “at least 30 years on the girls” during the “Meet the Queens” announcement video on YouTube.
This mother/daughter juxtaposition, unfortunately, feels like one of the few fresh storylines on a series that is beginning to feel anchored by the weight of its own archetypes. An ice skater/martial arts queen, Denali, seems like an offering to the Jan Sport/Kameron Michaels-shaped hole in our hearts, and though I am sure that I will end up loving her more than most of my own family members Conway, Arkansas’s Symone seems hand-selected to appeal to my undying love for Heidi N. Closet and the irreplaceable Chi Chi Devayne, may she rest in peace. Symone and her glorious wig, apparently styled by none other than Gigi Goode obviously has my “country as a catfish sandwich” allegiance from the jump, as I grew up just a few hours away from her hometown of Conway, Arkansas, and have cousins there, obviously bringing Symone and I fairly close to becoming best friends.