‘Canada’s Drag Race’ Recap: Canadians Can’t Help But Make Diss Track “…Very Nice!”

Canada’s Drag Race has a different crew of writers from All Stars 5, and you can tell. Where the latter holds redemption so highly that tears, conflama, and over-production have weighed down the season, Canada‘s severity is unleashed only during the judging — and boy, do they let loose on these queens. But the rest of it is so dumb and silly.

And this week was the dumbest (and funnest) episode yet, even if Starzi, who I thought was a front-runner, has left way too soon. As they say in Quebecqois, c’est la vie, non?

At the same time, this week’s main challenge was a bit of a mixed bag. The queens were put into girl groups to create ‘diss tracks’ against each other, and the performances were just a bit sloppy.

Most queens didn’t quite have the choreo or their words down and the song was edited really oddly (so many empty bars that could have been cut?). Maybe they weren’t given the extra off-screen practice that usually sees the so-so dances in rehearsal magically be perfect on-stage?

But here’s the thing: I don’t really care that the performances (or show) aren’t super polished? These queens are so endearing: I really hope it grabs everyone’s attention when All Stars ends next week. If you’re not watching CDR, you’re only getting 30 percent of the fun.

Drama, too — and nothing quite as frustrating as the Alexis elimination, either. Let’s get into it.

“That’s Actual Sad”

For some reason, the show decides to introduce yet another figure: TV personality Traci Melchor will be Canada‘s “squirrel friend”, a role which seems completely unnecessary. But here she is!

She’s there to guide/laugh at the queens during the mini-challenge, a re-tread of S1/S11’s news-prompter reading exercise.

Unlike S11’s challenge, which unfortunately became an excuse to laugh at the ‘uneducated’ queens tripping over ‘big’ words, this time we mostly side-step the class and racial dynamics at play.

Here, everyone struggles equally. Reading from a teleprompter is a particular skill as is, but the show throws in un peu Français into the mix alongside Anglais et some drag-lish, which I believe is the langue du jour of the most insufferable Drag Race fans.

(And why yes, I did study French in high school and remember un ou trois words!)

Jimbo also breaks out an accidental Australian accent, as her Nancy Grace impersonation runs so south of the border she ends up in Sydney.

It’s really hard to not exclusively use photos of Jimbo in these recaps, as, like Jujubee on All Stars, she makes the most of every single moment on screen. Instead, it’s just 90 percent.

Priyanka and Lemon are the mini-challenge winners, and get to create their girl groups. For the second week in a row, Ilona is picked last, which only cements her sad tumblr girl aesthetic. It’s surprising given she’s performed pretty well so far, but perhaps her Instagram presence is underselling her as just a look queen.

The queens are all pretty confident when it comes to rapping/singing save Starzi, who readily admits she wants to just get it over with. On Drag Race, that’s a death-knell statement. Judges always say you need to apply your uniqueness to every challenge, and while that’s easier said than done, she really stalls here.

Maybe Lemon stole Starzi’s confidence because she has enough for several people. She repeatedly calls herself a ‘rapstress’, backing up her props by saying she City Girls and Saweetie — aka she is a white gay man in his early 20s.

Lemon can be a little irritating, but, after the first episode has really stood tall among the competition. I think, for me at least, the mild disdain is because her basic white gay vibe is a little too close to home — her talking heads and quips feel a little generic, which is an easy thing to fall into when you’re trying to impress or connect. For now, she pulls off cocky well: she’s growing on me, and I’m curious to see where her arc goes on the show.

Lemon may be over-confident as ‘Drag Race‘s best dancer’, but a lot of the other queens struggle with the choreography.

Starzi and Ilona are super lost, and the Moose Knuckles group is overwhelmed. Jimbo, in particular,  is very frustrated. She gives off a real Taurus energy when she says she hates being bad at things — it’s perhaps the beginning of her own narrative, as the show kept returning to her irritated face.

The next day, BOA tries to address some tension with Scarlett, but is brushed aside until they untuck later on.

Their usual dynamic has shifted: in the outside world, Scarlett is a huge figure in Canada’s drag scene, and BOA is, well, a messy queen with a fair few enemies. But here, BOA’s excelling, and her mean banter to Scarlett isn’t landing as punching up anymore.

As conflict, it works because it feels pretty real:

who hasn’t had to tell their friends to be a bit nicer because the constant jokes are overstepping a line? It’s clearly getting to Scarlett even has a mini-Aja moment and rants about how the judges lap up BOA’s looks. As with Aja and Valentina, it’s clear Scarlett’s anger isn’t really about BOA as much as is it is herself, as she’s been safe until this week’s almost win.

The two kinda reconcile, but it’s clear BOA’s bandaid apology won’t fix things — especially if she keeps excelling.

In the werkroom, Priyanka shares that she hasn’t come out to her father as she’s scared he won’t accept her “actual truth”. On Twitter, she shared that she’s since come out to him, which was more or less greeted with no acknowledgment. Still, he’s helping Priyanka’s mother with Drag Race viewings and the like: it’s not perfect, but it’s better.

“Every parent handles this news differently and sometimes we don’t get that happy ending,” she writes. “I’m so lucky to have been able to share this story with you. I know many of you aren’t out but I want you to know that it takes time.”

Nikki Blonski From The Movie Hairspray (NBFTMH) And Nicole Paige Brooks From Atlanta, Georgia (NPBFAG) Walk Into A Bar…

This week’s runway theme is Que-Becky with the good hair, which is the exact sort of chaotic pun you would come up with at 3am while trying to finish a script. Like last week’s ‘first look recreated’ runway, it’s a simple directive that lets the queens really show off who they are.

Priyanka might’ve taken the win for letting the world know her name in her verse, but Scarlett follows suit on the runway and lets her hair spell it out. Given she just missed out on a win this week, it’s clear that saying your name is a solid strategy.

Lemon is very clearly one of the most well-connected queens: living in NYC, she likely has access to a lot of the designers that are no stranger to Drag Race.

This week’s lemon tree look is really elegant. Ilona also clearly has cash to burn/connections to pull from, as her blue poodle look is impeccable.

The judges are super harsh to Kiara, with Jeffrey calling her taste “questionable” — despite that excellent scarecrow look in the first episode. It’s yet another reminder to future contestants to never do a disco look, as it almost always sends you home. Luckily for Kiara, two worse looks save her for now.

Tynomi really misses the mark this week, unless she was aiming for a homage to Jade Jolie. Then she nailed it.

Starzi, meanwhile, goes for a Cousin IT and, uh, something look? It makes absolutely no sense, though it’s not necessarily bad. It’s a solid chaotic neutral.

Priyanka takes the win, and Starzi and Tynomi lip-sync to Deborah Cox in front of her. In my books, it was a double shantée, but the judges disagree.

It’s shocking to see Starzi go, but I’m glad Tynomi remains — hopefully she gets out of her head. Next week is another design challenge, which could mean a sour spot for Lemon.

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Canada’s Drag Racestreams on Stan, with episodes available each Friday at 12pm AEST. All Stars 5streams on Stan too, with episodes available each Saturday at 1pm AEST.

Jared Richards is Junkee’s Night Editor and Drag Race recapper. He’s on Twitter.