Drag Race Season 14 Recap: Big Opening No. 2, Bummed by Betty & The Maddy Of It All

January 19, 2022
TOMMY

(***SPOILERS AHEAD***)

Mom, Dad… I’m straight. Part 2 of the Season 14 premiere of Ru Paul’s Drag Race’s introduced us to seven new queens, most notably one of whom is straight and cis-gendered. There’s no need to start anywhere else, so let’s just dive in with the big straight elephant in the Werk Room.

Though not the first queen to enter the Werk Room, Maddy Mophosis certainly made the biggest splash in terms of RPDR news. Coming in the entrance looking like Gay Fieri, Maddy gave us a first showing that is actually quite brilliant for a number of reasons. Let’s start with her name: Maddy Mophosis. I love this for the inherent gender fluidity of the name Maddy, and how that then ties into his own metamorphosis. But Maddy’s transformation from cis-male into stunning queen isn’t the only change that’s occurring. We, the audience, have our own metamorphosis to grapple, with: do we accept a straight, cis-man as part of the drag community? The answer for me is a resounding yes. I also loved their choice to enter as Guy Fieri, who consistently gets shit from the zeitgeist for seemingly no apparent reasons other than being himself and doing his thing. Finally, adorning herself as the “Camp Queen” is extra brazen, but what could be more camp then a cis-straight dude slaying the drag floor? It’s gorgeous commentary on top of playful irony, wrapped in couture (read: Camp).

As much as I love the brazenness of Maddy calling herself the Camp Queen, I am (as mentioned in my Part 1 review) starting to tire of the constant branding right at the outset. Southern beauty Jorgeous enters the room and gives us her Real Housewives of Drag Race catchphrase: It’s gorgeous like Jorgeous. In her first episode, she brands herself as “the young dancing queen of Texas” as if she’s known to the world at large already. Following right behind her is DeJa Skye, who immediately brands herself as the thick girl of the competition, telling the audience the time of the “thickening” is upon us. That would prove to be some big talk, given that she was in the bottom two (though survived). I understand that everyone has to have their catchphrase and everyone needs to come to the Big Show with a strong sense of self. It just seems like many of them have a “Fierce Sense of Self™, brought to you by World of Wonder Productions” than a strong sense of self. I digress. The rest of the queens to enter were, Jasmine Kennnedie, Angeria Paris Van Michaels, Lady Camden, and Daya Betty

The talent portion of the show gave us some strong performances, and an actual showing of guitar skill (I’m side-eyeing you, Alyssa Hunter) from Maddy. Maybe she could’ve skipped the part where he ate the guitar out, but only because, as the judges pointed out, it blocked her face. No talent was more impressive in Ru’s done-up eyes than Angeria Paris Van Michaels. Her CNT performance was stunning, funny, and commanding in pageantry. After having also won the mini-challenge earlier in the episode, Angeria locked herself in as a force to be reckoned with and is now part of what Willam would call “the Mini-and-Main Club.”

Our power(less) bottoms of the Big Opening No. 2 were DeJa Skye and Daya Betty. DeJa’s amazing lip-syncing skills saved her in the end, sending home punk queen Daya. Alas, upon entrance, she informed the other six queens that they “Betty be ready!”, but unfortunately, it was Ms. Betty who wasn’t ready. I was hoping for more from Daya, because, as an '80s baby, I think there is so much to work with from her look. The colors, the hair, the glam camp of it all. (*Sighs and plays “I was rooting for you!” clip on repeat*)

Finally, a shoutout to the amazing Alicia Keys. She was our guest judge for Part 2 of the Season 14 premiere, and had some really beautiful words of encouragement she shared in her mirror moment. I also loved this moment, because it showed Alicia is probably a genuine fan of the series, since it’s a throwback to All Stars 2 of RPDR.

This episode felt like a bit of a step back from the first episode, although not by much. I do think that while Big Opening No. 2 had stronger talent for the maxi-challenge, Big Opening No. 1 had better queens in terms of overall quality. Both episodes gave news-worthy firsts, with two trans queens and a cis-gendered straight man. And we got to see Alicia Keys, who is just a goddamn national treasure. I’m excited for the rest of this season, and I’m so ready to see how the queens all mesh together.