REVIEW: RuPaul's Drag Race UK - Series 3, Episode 1 "The Return of Royalty"

 A triumphant return. A very British royal laugh, even with some questionable judging. 

P.S. A little foreword: 

All comments are just my basic opinions and thoughts, and I am in no way a professional, nor should my comments be taken as such. Every Queen deserves endless love and support for the ART that they produce every single day. Even if I hated a look, it is not a comment on the Queen and their potential, as we all know Drag Race is reality TV and not a true reflection of a Queen's skillset. I support them all, and if any ever read this... You're stunning! Period. Head over and show these Queen's the love they deserve! Thank you so much, and enjoy! <3 

Having left our screens only six months ago, Series 2 Winner, Lawrence Chaney, has barely had time to bask in the glory before another set of Queens enter the famous Work Room. Some may argue that it's too soon, and I can sympathise with those, but the World has gone through so much change in such a short period, life is beginning to open itself up again, and I think the UK (and the World) are ready for some more UK Queens to hit the scene.

As it's a Drag Race Review, it only makes sense to rank the looks rather than just comment on the opening segment. There were some interesting choices, and some iconic entrance lines that will likely go down in Drag Race history. This entrance is a Queen's first opportunity to make an impression, show their brand, and make their name known. I definitely think some understood the assignment more than others. Let's get to it.

Instead of touching on all the looks, I'll just mention my top three, and bottom two. First of all, the best entrance line came from Choriza May with her "Don't hate me because I'm beautiful, hate me because I'm an immigrant." If that isn't the biggest punch in the face to a Bizarre Brexit Britain, I don't know what is. She continued her charm with "My favourite thing about Newcastle is my boyfriend's D**k." We can tell Choriza May is going to be a charmer, that's for sure. Born in Valencia, she moved to the UK to be with her partner who has since moved to Spain to teach English leaving Choriza alone during lockdown, something she mentions later on, in a rather emotional admittance of her struggles with being so alone. It's something that can definitely hit home for a lot of viewers, myself included. 

Moving on, let's get back to the entrance looks. I'll begin with my bottom two. First up, I'm going to have to put Elektra Fence in there. She had the weakest look upon entering. It was a flattering bodysuit, but had no charm, and no character. A feisty and electric person is who I expected, especially after her stunning Promo look, but this didn't quite hit the mark. Second on the list for this would have to be Scarlett Harlett for me (the left look). I thought it was a rather basic look, and the hair being brushed to the side almost made her look like she had to constantly hold her neck forward. It just wasn't the most satisfyingly put together look, although I did enjoy her using a Catherine Tate line as her entrance quote. So, it's between these two.

Yes, the black bodysuit just wasn't enough. However, we did have some standouts during the entrance presentation. It was hard to pick a favourite two, but one of them definitely has to be Victoria Scone. Her look was simply beautiful. She immediately presented herself highly, and showed that she is a threat. Scone is the second AFAB (assigned female at Birth) to ever enter the Drag Race workroom, and she's letting these Queens have it! My second choice would have to be Krystal Versace. It was just powerful, and looked so good. For nineteen, she presented something rather brilliant. 

And with that, that's our twelve Series 3 Queens ready to go. I won't go into the mini-challenge as such, but some highlights were definitely Choriza May and Victoria Scone. They played a rather peculiar game of 'Dirty Charades' and it wasn't the photoshoot I was expecting, but it was a nice little laugh, and some fun little games to keep us going. 

Before I get into the actual main challenge, some really shocking moments were brought up, one of which being River Medway's loss. She spoke of losing her mum two weeks prior to receiving the call for Drag Race. I didn't expect to feel tears behind my eyes in the first episode, but it was a really reflective moment for me. COVID has been an awful situation for everyone, but I know I'm lucky to have lost nobody, or know of anyone who has lost someone throughout the pandemic. My thoughts go out to anyone who's had to suffer at its hands. 

THE MAIN CHALLENGE

In Drag Race UK tradition, the first challenge is to present two looks on the runway. This time around, one of them is a hometown look, something inspired by where you're from or where you associate. The other is inspired by one of your favourite things. I'll do a top and bottom two for each look, and round off with my overall thoughts on the runway, the judging, and the outcome of the episode. 

First off, the hometown looks were quite great. However, I think there's an obvious bottom two for me, and they are Anubis and Veronica Green. Let's begin with the former: It was just very ill-fitting. It was almost cylindrical, and it did nothing for her shape. Nor did I think it was a particularly interesting garment. It could have had lots of curves, like the thing she's referencing, and had some more splashes of colour. There was a big opportunity there. Veronica's look was just very dull. There were a few others that seemed quite demure, but this one just did nothing. The brown was too dark, and the cotton balls. It was questionable, and I didn't quite get it.

Anubis may have fallen into 12th place for this look, but some close calls were definitely Elektra Fence and her miners look, it was a little drab, as if it had all been pulled down. Moving on, we come to my Top Two! I'd say my favourite here would be Charity Kase and Victoria Scone. I wil lgive a shoutout to Krystal Versace and Vanity Milan however, because their looks were really quite strong. Versace's was very well constructed, but perhaps a little too bright underneath. Milan's looked stunning, but the dress underneath the tulle overcoat was perhaps a little lacking. My top two here both had some really huge looks. Charity Kase had a face of rose petals and the entire look was very eerily fun. Victoria came as a daffodil inspired by Wales & Cardiff and it looked great. It was DRAG to the maximum. Loved it.

I just loved where both of them went, but Charity just took it, for me. 

Now we can move on to their 'favourite thing' runway. This was an interesting one, and I feel the potential in this category was immense. A few didn't quite hit it out of the park, however. My least favourite looks include that of Anubis, Elektra Fence and Veronica Green. I can't decide between them who would be my bottom two, so I'll include all three. Anubis had a nice dress, but it just did nothing, there was a huge zip up the back, and it didn't scream 'sea creatures.' It was just a net over a dress. Elektra's look was cute and fun, but it just seemed a little odd, as if it didn't quite work. The colour was lovely, and the candy was quite nice, so it wasn't too bad at all. I wasn't keen on the shoes, or the petite nature of the look, however. Veronica's look was inspired by Video Games. The potential here was, wow, it was something, and she wore an awful snowsuit? Is that what it's called? It was just so bad. 

That look from Veronica is just unforgivable. Her favourite thing was video games. The potential with that category is absolutely huge, and this is what we got? Moving on, let's go to the better looks. I have a few tops here which include Victoria Scone, Krystal Versace and Choriza May. Victoria came out dressed as a Wetherspoon plate themed afternoon tea, and it was quite simply brilliant. Complete with finger sandwiches, it was a pantomime drag look, and I loved it. Krystal went with cats for her theme and came out in a very strong look. Her outfits are so well fitted and constructed. I just loved it. Choriza's was a hand-painted outfit that had lots of colour blocking, lots of nice features. It met the assignment really well. I do feel Victoria's was slightly below the others however. 

Now, that's my opinions. The judges did share some similar thoughts, but I was a little surprised that Charity Kase was not in the top three, and I was also a little shocked to see Veronica Green as safe. I do feel that River Medway was given a low placement a tad unnecessarily just so Veronica wasn't at risk in the first episode. The top two were declared as Victoria Scone and Krystal Versace and I would say I agree. Both Queens had looks that were always in my top three/four, so it makes sense that they were given the top two positions. I do find myself usually agreeing with the higher placements, rather than the lower ones. I don't think Elektra should've been in the bottom, I feel Veronica should've, but after all, it's not my show... I'm simply reviewing it based on my own unprofessional opinion.

Overall, my top two would've been the same, and my bottom two would've been Anubis and Veronica Green. However, we were given a pretty brilliant lip-sync from Elektra, one of the best Drag Race UK has seen so I'm not too mad at the outcome, just for that. All in all, this was a pretty great episode, and continues to show off the charm of Drag Race UK, and I didn't realise it had been missed quite so much. Some standouts in this episode are definitely Victoria Scone, Choriza May, and River Medway has now put Thomas Waghorn on the map for the entire nation! 

Kitty Scott-Claus also had some rather funny moments, and I picture her being a laugh riot as the series goes on. I'm very excited to see what comes next, and I'm looking forward to seeing what these Queens have to offer! It wouldn't be a complete review without a nice little grading to go with it. The opening episode to Series 3 was stellar; Drag Race UK is back on top form, and deserves a RuPeter Badge for itself!