Viva Las Reunion! RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 14 Reunion Recap

After roughly 97 episodes, and what feels like the same amount of queens as when we started, we’re finally at the end… almost. Mama Ru brings all the girls to the Flamingo Hotel in glitzy Las Vegas for a wonderful, if not particularly low-key reunion. (The Flamingo is no stranger to hosting big Queer events, as it is the annual host of the Sin City Tournament, the mecca event for gay sports around the country.) Because this season has been a bit of an exhausting one, it actually was nice to see all the queens together again, ignoring for a minute that it felt like they were all there together as of like a week ago.

The reunion episode opened with a cavalcade of queens working the runway, which gave me a sense I was back in 1970s Vegas seeing all the glamorous showgirls work their magic. We see the previously eliminated queens at first, and finished with our current top 5. In terms of the eliminated queens, they all really brought their A-game. Not only did they bring their A-game in terms of lewks, but they also all really brought it in terms of personality and presence. Notable looks for me were Maddy, who was giving me Joan Jett meets a white Tina Turner, and Kornbread, who was in a gorgeous version of Willow's entrance look in a white dress complete with hearts over her nipples, no doubt a nod to her trans identity. In terms of trans representation this show has done a truly exceptional job of evolving. We’ve come a long way from “You’ve Got Shemale!” to having five trans— and one cis-hetero—queens performing. Any organism that isn’t growing is dying, and Drag Race is decidedly growing.

The most tran-tastic season in herstory iktr #DragRace pic.twitter.com/K5bQgjPN6h

— WOW Presents Plus (@wowpresentsplus) April 16, 2022

Following the eliminated queens, we got to see our Final Five (Battlestar Galactica could never! IYKYK). My three favorites of the Final Five were Angeria, who looked stunning, Bosco, who looked as on-brand as I could hope for in a really badass spiked outfit, and (no surprise here if you’ve been reading my articles) Willow Pill.

Bring back our girls! Whose reunion eleganza is your favorite? #DragRace pic.twitter.com/jI8Hh1wJeG

— RuPaul's Drag Race (@RuPaulsDragRace) April 16, 2022

I was really thrilled they re-opened the proverbial library, so we could see some queens deliver the burns we didn’t get to see because of when they were eliminated. None more so than Kornbread to Deja, “You and Jesus have something in common. You both have 12 followers!” I die (but likely won’t rise again on the third day in fulfillment of the scriptures).

Kornbread looks absolutely radiant, and provided non-stop hilarious reactions during the show, which always made me laugh—though at times, it felt like she was working overtime to become a GIF or meme. We also learned more about her relationship with her family and how, following her early departure, they even came around to see her perform. But home relationships weren’t the only ones explored. We also got more of the inevitable tea on who is fucking whom, and who is open to fucking each other. From the beginning of the season, Angeria and Lady Camden (“Camgeria”) had a notable spark, a fact that was explored on the panel. The two have no qualms about acknowledging their mutual attraction, although we didn’t get the definitive answer on their plans that we were hoping for. To quote Queer icon Bilbo Baggins (huh?): “Alright then. Keep your secrets.” Less exciting for me was the Jorgeous and Orion arc, which didn’t really even seem that definitive. Whatevs. Aside from fuck buddies and romance, a few friendships also developed, but none more so than my two favorite queens of the season, Kornbread and Willow. And the two aren’t just friends, but seem to have a profoundly deep connection and love for each other, even if that love doesn’t dip into the romantic.

 

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Every season has a villain edit, and it became clear early on that the villain of the season was Daya Betty. Whereas many villains of seasons past attack the queen’s art, Daya’s seemingly relentless shots at Jorgeous delved into the personal, a fact that was noted by everyone, but rejected by Daya. And she wasn’t the only person who thought she stayed within her competitive lane in how she attacked Jorgeous. Both Maddy and June defended her, with June saying, “Was it right? No, but that’s how she was handling the pressure she was under.” Fair enough. Daya offered a bit of an apology saying, “I’m sorry for the way I said things.” In terms of apologies I think that’s actually an acceptable one. It doesn’t breach into the annoyingly gaslighty, “sorry if you were offended by what I said” and instead takes ownership of her part. When the conversation remained laser-focused on Daya’s bullying, she eventually broke down worried that the girls all had the wrong impression of her. The bullies always end up breaking down don’t they? It’s giving Roxxy Andrews, but without the drama of being left at a bus stop. Another apology came in the form of Bosco, stating that she wasn’t the most pleasant of people when the battle for who would play Saltine. A Clash of the Queens worth watching for sure!

A few awards were given out at the Reunion. Maddy was presented with the Golden Boot Award by last year's winner LaLa Ri, during what Ru calls "the most prestigious moment in fashion history" for her homemade country dress from the Glamazon Prime challenge. Less prestigious acknowledgements came in the form of Kerri Kolby being titled “Narrator of the Season” and Alyssa Hunter being deemed the “Trade of the Season.”

We're tooting and booting the hits (and misses) of the season, and @MissLaLaRi gives out the prestigious ✨Golden Boot Award✨ #DragRace pic.twitter.com/gkmKfTB11P

— RuPaul's Drag Race (@RuPaulsDragRace) April 16, 2022

Three queens it was particularly wonderful to see weren’t even a part of this season! Alexis Mateo, Derrik Barry, and Kahanna Montrese, who stars of the Vegas-based RuPaul’s Drag Race: Vegas Revue, acted as surrogate audience of sorts, fielding questions from the online fans. Hosting the event in Vegas, as well as featuring these three Vegas queens was a great example of Ru being a smart businessman. One thing is for sure: RuPaul Charles knows how to brand himself and his drag empire. And the set design, in all its massive glory and featuring large portraits of Ru only added to the grandeur of it all. I always appreciate when Ru is out of drag on the shows, though. It allows for the queens to not be muted in her shadow. Even if they were beneath portraits of her, her high-budget looks are not the point of this competition. She’s already done won hers roughly 60 million times over (frack me, that’s a lot of dough!).

All-in-all I thoroughly enjoyed the reunion. It was low-key on drama, but gave me the rounding out of a season that I needed, particularly after THIS season. I didn’t see quite as much from Willow as I wanted, but that’s okay… she’s gonna win the whole goddamn thing IMHO.

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