Review: The runways, rivalries and realness of RuPaul's Drag Race season 17

EDITOR'S NOTE: The "Finale" section of this review includes spoilers for who won season 17 of "RuPaul's Drag Race."

For 16 weeks, my best friend and I sat in our dorm lounge every Friday to watch the newest episode of season 17 of "RuPaul's Drag Race," during which we would vogue to "Cover Girl" by RuPaul at the beginning of each runway and recite RuPaul's motto at the same time as her: "If you can't love yourself, how in the hell are you going to love somebody else?"

After 16 weeks of this, I've acquired the drag race certificate needed to serve as interim Michelle Visage and review the season 17 eleganza extravaganza.

Lip-sync battles

There's not a more enjoyable moment in television for me than watching a lip-sync battle — each episode's challenges are just a build up of anticipation to see who's going to be the bottom two lip-syncing for their lives. 

For me, the best lip-sync battle this season was Lexi Love versus Crystal Envy to Doechii's "Alter Ego." It's already a perfect lip-sync battle song, but both queens fully delivered each beat and lyric. It was truly a battle rather than just an individual performance, and it was apparent that their energies were working in tandem, which I always appreciate in a lip-sync battle. 

I need to give out a few special mentions, too — my best friend and I talked about Kori King's dancing in her lip-sync battle versus Acacia Forgot for weeks, and even made some of our friends watch it when they joined us for an episode. Suzie Toot performed to "We Found Love" by Rihanna in her LaLaPaRuZa lip-sync battle versus Lucky Starzzz, which does not match her drag aesthetic at all but made her flourish.

Lastly, Jewels Sparkles' performance to Lady Gaga's "Abracadabra" in the final lip-sync battle versus Onya Nurve made for a weird, spooky and camp last hurrah and one of the best song interpretations all season.

Runways

Naturally, I have the most to say about this sector. Anyone who knows me can predict the runway I'm going to immediately mention: Jewels Sparkles' outfit for the Betsey Johnson design challenge. 

Not one other queen throughout the season embraced a design challenge as authentically and with as much attention as Jewels Sparkles did with this one, which included three of Johnson's style collections for the queens to choose from: punk grunge flapper, Betsey's prom and prenup. Of the three, punk grunge flapper is almost exactly the style I personally strive for, so I was already excited to see what the queens who chose this collection were going to do, and Jewels Sparkles knocked every other queen over.

First, the color palette she used was one of her most tactful decisions — magenta, purple and teal is the classic color trio for the crossover of an alternative and whimsical style, so she had already hit the mark with the basics. The fuzzy animal print shawl embodied the essence of Johnson's unconventional fashion, and her hairstyle and dress silhouette sold the flapper aspect of the collection.

If I'm going to talk about runways, I have to give Arrietty her flowers — she showed out in each and every design challenge while infusing her individuality into them. If any other queen wore one of Arrietty's outfits, I would still be able to tell that it was designed by her.

I also can't finish this discussion without diving into the design challenge categories. My favorites were Sea Creature Couture, Black & White Ball and Parasols: Shady Ladies. The queens' outfits for these categories were true to the theme and just overall beautiful, making for such satisfying, well-rounded runways.

Finale

Honestly, I didn't have a favorite queen until the week before the final four were decided. Watching Jewels Sparkles hug Onya Nurve once RuPaul let both of them stay another week after their lip-sync battle made me realize how supportive and kindhearted Jewels Sparkles had been throughout the entirety of the season.

While I would have loved to see her win, especially as a Latina, it was clear since the first few weeks that Onya Nurve stood out among the queens. She consistently went above and beyond each week no matter which challenges she had to do and carried herself with so much confidence that only a true reigning drag race queen would possess. 

Each of the final four queens' original songs were fantastic. While watching, my best friend and I kept thinking the next song couldn't possibly be as catchy and unique to each queen, and yet it was all four times. 

Lastly, shoutout to my best friend, Arwen Bella, for helping me write this review by debriefing four months of watching together and nitpicking each look, mug and read and remembering the times we held our hands over half of the screen to prevent spoilers from the subtitles. Ru Fridays are over, but we will keep sashaying away everyday!

@sophbgli

@dthlifestyle | lifestyle@dailytarheel.com

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