Another year, another season of RuPaul’s Drag Race (RPDR) sashays down from the Mt Ol-him-pus of drag gods and goddesses and shantays us into its bewitching clutches. This season has a lot to prove, hot on the stiletto heels of the series-defining RuPaul’s Drag Race: All Stars 2 that saw the mighty Alaska — heir to the RuPaul throne — crowned in the hall of fame.

Now, 13 (OR MORE) new queens have walked into the workroom. Let’s take a closer look at what went down in episode one-ty, hunty.

The Setup

The set-up for this week’s episode flowed like any other season opener: the queens arrive one by one in the work room and announce themselves, backed by a soundtrack of boings and record scratches — all the effects stolen from a drive-time radio show.

This is the part of the season where you first get to see them in the make-an-first-impression finery AND what they look like out of drag.

The outfit choice the queens make for their to-camera cutaway interviews is sometimes done in the heat of the moment, post-elimination or not long after. Some queens don’t really overthink what we’ll be looking at every episode. Some clearly do, like Valentina here. I love this, it’s so cute and also adorably crazy.

Then there’s that queen who walks in the workroom and does something quote-unquote CRAZY that sets them apart from the others. This can be a bold fashion move (Raja), an “I’m different” moment (Alaska, Sharon Needles), or a “Yes, that is another head on my head” moment (Vivacious).

However, this season’s Mimi Imfurst, Jaymes Maynsfield, chose to bring a puppet to a drag fight. Girl, no.

The final queen to enter the workroom is iconic pop star and reformed meat-fashion enthusiast, Lady Gaga. The queens think she is an on-point impersonator, and the producers play along with the set-up for half a second as Lady Gaga does her own to-camera cutaway as Ronnie, a riff on her boy drag character.

This sets the tone for Gaga’s appearance on the episode, which was incredibly hospitable, open, funny, and warm. The queens go bananas when they figure out it’s her, and you can tell it was a race to be the first one to break down and get an on-camera moment crying and opening up. Eureka won.

The Challenge

This week’s challenge is a generous nod to the world of drag pageants — somewhat overlooked in the show’s history. Often, pageant queens who enter the competition are the ones who come unstuck as comedy and club queens can respond better to the creative challenges thrown at them each week.

The queens had to present two looks as they competed in “The Miss Charisma, Uniqueness, Nerve and Talent Pageant”. One look was to be inspired by their hometowns/states and the other was their best Gaga-inspired looks, in honour of the iconic guest judge. Rolling with the episode’s sense of kindness and family, injected by Gaga, Ru revealed that no one was going home that week. Bummer.

Given that this week’s challenge was essentially “get dressed in the outfits we told you to bring”, there wasn’t a lot of workroom antics to film. In the suitcase melee, we did get an A+ pun from Shea Couleé about Las Vegas showgirl, ingenue, and potential ditz Farrah Moan, whom Couleé dubbed “Blonde Benet GLAMsy”. Classic.

The Runway

This week’s runway had 26 (WHAT) looks, and full credit to the editors who made it feel like each queen got their moment to shine. Keeping up with so many queens in all those outfits felt less like the first episode of RPDR and more like the first episode of Game of Thrones, where you have to remember all those characters and storylines you forgot.

Given this week’s challenge was purely based on the runway presentations (often there is a challenge plus the runway look), this week’s winner was easy to spot. Kudos to the judges for correctly picking Nina Bo’nina Brown as the winner for this buttsex emoji, Snapchat filter-inspired nod to her home state Georgia, the land of the peach.

PLUS this Gaga meets Nicki Minaj look.

SURPRISE!

The whispers in my head/on the internet (same thing, tbh) said that a queen from days of yore was returning to show. When Ru announced at the end of the episode that a 14th queen was coming “back” to compete this season, the other queens started FREAKING OUT. Then again, it is a known fact that if cast members don’t act surprised at every plot twist in a reality TV show, a production intern is forced to kill your pet or elderly relatives.

Up towards the stage skulked a queen, but her face will not be revealed until next week.

BUT WHO IS MYSTERY QUEEN NUMBER 14?

My bet and sincere hope is that it’s ChiChi DeVayne, who made it all the way to the top four last year on season eight. ChiChi went on a moving journey of self-acceptance that also saw her MURDER every lip sync for your life opponent.

Judging by the padding, swagger, turban, and these tweets, if it’s not Chi Chi then I will eat my lacefront.

@kimorablac likewise ???

— Chi Chi DeVayne (@ChiChiDeVayne) March 19, 2017

All will be revealed next week when we hopefully return to regular runways, and the reason we all get out bed every morning — LIP SYNCS FOR THEIR LIVES!

This Week’s Real Winner

Challenges aside, there is always one queen who really wins the episode. This week, we’re awarding that crown to RuPaul himself.

For those of us who have been watching RPDR for many years, I cannot underestimate the significance of them getting Lady Gaga on the show. A few seasons ago, they were dining out on internet-famous oddbodies like Phoebe Price. Over the years, the pedigree of celebrity guests has improved dramatically, but there is something about Gaga’s appearance (and the warmth and familiarity of said appearance) that signifies a shift in the show.

Having just won an Emmy, and completing a chapter-defining, never to be repeated season of All Stars, where RPDP goes from here is tricky territory. On one hand, it is moving on up in the world to a new network with a worldwide fanbase that is incredibly diverse. This season has the earmark of a great cast, but will the format sustain? Will the producers mess with it too much?

–

RuPaul’s Drag Race is fast-tracked from the US each Saturday on Stan.

–

Nic Holas has written for The Guardian, Archer Magazine, Hello Mr, and Star Observer. You can find him on Twitter @nicheholas, or in his role as co-founder of HIV social umbrella The Institute of Many.