1 year ago
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Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast / MTVYou may be surprised to know that the start of a new season of RuPaul’s Drag Race and the insurrection actually have so much in common. Now, stay with me here: Both events have made straight, white conservatives spiral into a rage; both instances have happened in January; and both have seen Lady Gaga use her deductive sleuthing powers to get to the bottom of things. I’m only inclined to make this comparison because Season 16 of Drag Race airs January 5 on MTV, just one day before the third anniversary of the insurrection. Unfortunately, that means that we can’t hear RuPaul say the pun that we all deserve to hear: “This season, we’re doing a major overhaul. That’s right ladies, it’s time for a drag InsurRUction!”
And a revamp is exactly what Season 16 is aiming for. After a fabulous Season 15, which boasted one of the most consistently entertaining casts in years and ended with a history-making winner, Season 16 was facing a bar set sky-high. And while it’s still a bit too early to tell whether this new cast will be able to reach those heights, Drag Race itself is up to the challenge, throwing new season-long twists and gameplay changes into the mix for an electrifying premiere.
The premiere episode—or the “big opening,” as I still like to call it, but apparently didn’t make the cut this year—is split into two parts, the second of which will air next week. I’m typically not a fan of these split premieres, mostly because I like to be drowned in drag, suffocating in sequins, bathed in breastplates, and other quasi-annoying gay alliterations. Drag Race works best when all of its queens are at each other’s throats from the start; everyone has to scramble to get to know each other while memorizing a boatload of drag names and contending with a room full of shady personalities. But on the other hand, splitting the premiere makes my job trying to do these same things a little bit easier, so I can’t fault it entirely.
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