In the show's long history, there have been only three queens from South Florida. Latrice Royale and LaShawn Beyond of season four separated over a decade from last season's Miss Congeniality, Malaysia Baby Doll Foxx. However, in its 16th season, the tides may be turning for South Florida drag, with not one but two queens entering the competition.
This season, Miami will cheer on Morphine Love Dion and Mhi'ya Iman Le'Paige as they compete for the crown.
Entrances
The entrance into the Werk Room is a monumental moment for any queen competing on Drag Race. From your first look to your entrance line, these seconds mark the first impression on the audience and fellow queens, and will forever be associated with each queen. While it can be awkward to be the first queen entering an empty room, Q, from Kansas City, manages to fill the space with her dramatic green sequined and feathered costume matched with a theatrical personality. A self-proclaimed look queen, she smartly emphasizes that she constructs all her ensembles. A different kind of look queen, New York City's Xunami Muse, exudes modelesque confidence and claims to be a performer first and foremost. In contrast to the cool and calm demeanor of Xunami, Amanda Tori Meating, as her punny name suggests, radiates a chaotic comedic persona. From Los Angeles, Amanda is met with a lot of friendly shade from Q and Xunami while taking her own jabs from time to time.Finally, the moment Miami has been waiting for, Morphine Love Dion arrives and anoints herself "the beauty and the booty." It's a powerful first impression, as the other queens appear mesmerized by her body and nails, which she uses to great effect. While looking directly into the camera (winner behavior), she calls herself the "Latina goddess of Miami here to heat things up." Morphine lets her fellow contestants and offscreen friend Xunami know that she delivers with makeup and dancing, and based on her brief introduction, personality. Morphine also injects a much-needed shadiness that has been in short supply since earlier seasons of Drag Race when she comments on Amanda's breastplate.
Ghostly sounds follow before Sapphira Cristáll, from Philadelphia, enters, announcing the Werk Room is haunted. Calling her drag "bigger is better," Sapphira does not lie in a gargantuan blue feathered costume. She oozes the regalness of a seasoned queen. A trained opera singer, Sapphira lets the others know she can do it all. Mirage, the "legs of Las Vegas," befuddles the others with her trash talk before charming some (Xunami and Morphine) with admiration. Dawn, representing alternative Brooklyn drag, delivers a directional look and clever entrance line. Like Mirage, she is quick to compliment Q's drag and relishes the opportunity to compete alongside her. With only half the contestants in the room an alarm sounds, confirming the standard practice of a split season premiere. An unfortunate side effect of the split means that Miami's Mhi'ya Iman Le'Paige will have to wait another week for the spotlight.
Mini-Challenge
RuPaul enters with a conductor-inspired look and quickly mentions "running a train." It's great that despite its mainstream appeal, Drag Race maintains a queer edge from time to time. The host promises prizes and rewards but warns of many twists and turns before announcing the photoshoot mini-challenge. The front porch setup utilizes a Ring doorbell as the camera. This twist confirms that the actual quality of the photo is secondary. The real challenge is about entertaining RuPaul.Queens like Amanda and Mirage seemed most perplexed by the setup before slowly finding their footing or, in Mirage's case, Hula-Hoops. Xunami and Morphine rely on their strengths, with Xunami giving a series of fluid poses and Morphine using her butt, nails, and two successive splits to impress RuPaul. In terms of making RuPaul laugh, Q and Dawn set themselves apart. Q appealed to RuPaul's bawdy sense of humor by simply bending over when asked about her favorite body part. Dawn, on the other hand, made one of the night's best jokes with a clever and confrontational quip concerning RuPaul's seeming anti-vegan stance. Sapphira, the most confident from the start, immediately utilizes the walkway as a runway, giving strong poses as well as laughs, which earns her the win.
As the queens de-drag in the Werk Room, they have the standard discussion on who looks the most different out of drag and who is hot and who is not. The most interesting part is the continual critiques and comments directed at Amanda by the other queens. She has an underdog status of which she is well aware. However, she maintains an impressive inner confidence and affable demeanor in the face of a shady reception.
Main Challenge
As soon as the mini-challenge concludes, RuPaul announces a maxi challenge loosely inspired by MTV's seminal Spring Break. The queens must compete in a talent show. After a dig at Florida and its recent anti-drag and LGBTQ political rhetoric, RuPaul lays out the competition's parameters and multiple twists. First, immunity returns for the first time since season five, with an important distinction that it is for a "future elimination" rather than simply the next episode that was past practice. The second twist is that, like the All-Stars format, the queens will have to judge one another this week in a "Rate-a-Queen" gimmick.Fast-forward to elimination day, and the queens get ready while debating the criteria they will use to judge. While Dawn overthinks the process, Sapphira has a simplified "good is good" approach. The queens get to know each other anatomically as they discuss cosmetic surgery, which centers on the three queens who dominate screentime in this episode: Morphine, Sapphira, and Amanda. A doorbell fills the queens with dread as they anticipate another twist but are pleasantly surprised by Oscar-winner Charlize Theron offering baked goods and encouraging words. Later, this leads to a more introspective and less surface discussion between the queens about growing up queer in a small town. Q shares her experience in Kansas, but it quickly becomes evident that queer people all over endure some form of closeting. Even Morphine, who lives in a major metropolitan city, conceals a huge part of her life from her family. The moment exposes a softer side of Morphine and shows off her determination in the competition.
On the main stage, RuPaul greets judges Michelle Visage, Carson Kressley, and Theron before introducing Derrick Berry as Britney Spears to emcee the talent show. Morphine kicks things off with a powerful and dramatic dance routine with multiple costume reveals. For a premiere episode, she smartly highlights her Hispanic culture, showcasing her unique perspective to the judges and audience for a strong start. In contrast, Amanda gives a comedic performance full of sexual innuendo and kitty references. It's a go-for-broke performance that verges on chaotic, which wins over the judges, if not her competitors. Dawn comes crashing onto the stage (literally) to deliver an autobiographical comedic fashion rap full of reveals that cements her alternative brand. Q also embraces the alternative with a puppet ballet show that shows off her comedic chops. The performance benefits from not being a standard lip sync-dance performance, which sets it apart from the pack. Mirage proves why she called the "Legs of Las Vegas" with a high-octane performance heavy on heel clacks to a literal "bitch" track. Xunami, more than anyone else, felt sabotaged by placement. Her song, perhaps the best sonically, lacked the punch of other performers. It feels like it would have been better received if she had performed first. Being sandwiched between Mirage's stunts and Sapphira's originality did Xunami no favors. Sapphira closed and stole the show with a wildly unique performance that blended live singing with great comedy. The mixture of high and low culture made for the night's most memorable performance. The contrast between opera and the translated trashy lyrics, even the opulent robe coupled with a subtle nip slip, was the perfect mélange that Drag Race demands.
Runway
The runway category, "RuVeal Yourself," suggests a costume reveal and a look that personifies a performer. Morphine cleverly embraces her hometown of Miami with a sleek yet simple towel look that somewhat smoothly unwraps into an electric blue swimsuit and a turban that releases long blonde locks. It combines body with Miami heat for a signature Morphine look. In contrast to the South Florida sun, Dawn descends the runway as the abominable snowwoman who reveals into a graphic and textured black and white jumpsuit and begs the question, what is black, white, and purple all over? True to Amanda's less polished brand, she starts with a wig malfunction but confidently starts over. Her Leigh Bowery housewife shedding her skin into an alien dominatrix purple people eater is one of those narratives that feels overcomplicated. The somewhat haphazard reveal was not aided by makeup and a wig fully encased in fabric beforehand. Matching her talent show performance, Xunami's runway was underwhelming. Despite a great walk, her three looks, each red and well-made, are hardly memorable.Like her entrance look, Q showcases another stunning look, this time all black. The color can often fall flat under the harsh television lights of the runway, but Q uses shape, texture, and sheen to entertain the eye. This is even before the technicolor reveal of the undercoat, which is the perfect contrast to the monochromatic look. Mirage, as her name would suggest, gives pure Vegas, even if Carson clocks Miami Dolphins. Her showgirl gown reveals multiple burlesque elements as feathers give way to a nearly bare chest and a skirt that strips away to showcase her legendary legs. Sapphira closes the category with another opulent opera coat that continually reveals more scandalous looks that echo the high/low of her talent show performance.
Judging
Despite delegating the actual judging to the queens in this episode, the judges provide critiques for consideration. The judges praise Morphine for her charisma, even if her swimwear underwhelmed. They are enamored with Dawn's kookiness, even comparing her with Lucille Ball. Amanda's energetic performance is complemented, but Michelle correctly identifies makeup as her weakness. While enamored by Xunami's beauty and poise, the judges urge her to amp up her future performances. Q is celebrated for both her performance and runway, with the judges emphasizing her impressive range. The judges enjoy both Mirage's look and performance but suggest that she make an effort to sharpen up both. Sapphira enjoys nothing but positive comments, with the exception of her breastplate.The queens return to the Werk Room to "Rate-a-Queen." It's an interesting twist to see how the queens perceive one another and how they strategize in a competitive pressure cooker, but it is so heavily compressed that it's difficult to discern what anyone truly thinks. By the end, a clear top two — Q and Sapphira — and a bottom two — Xunami and Amanda — emerge. What remains to be seen is whether the producers will reveal the rankings to the queens later in the season, which may increase the drama.
Lip-Synch
RuPaul announces that Sapphira and Q will lip-synch for the win, and there will be no elimination. As Beyoncé's "Break My Soul" starts, the camera quickly favors Sapphira. Q starts with more energy, quickly leaving her nowhere else to go. On the other hand, Sapphira takes a slow start that gives her room to crescendo. She combines expressive comedic expressions with stunts, like sliding splits and high kicks, all while truly embodying the song. It seems like the only thing that can beat Sapphira is her unruly breastplate, but that even turns into a strength as she does a series of floor-pounding splits, and the breasts bounce off the stage. The laughs from the judges, as well as the queens in the back, make it obvious that she wins the lip-synch.Despite Sapphira's dominance, winning the mini-challenge, maxi-challenge, and lip-synch, Morphine came through the episode with a main-character energy. She showcased strong personality and performance talents, which bode well for her future during the season. Early in the episode, RuPaul says, "The House of Love always wins," which may portend good things for Morphine Love Dion. She'll enjoy next week off as the Drag Race spotlight shifts to Miami's other contestant, Mhi'ya Iman Le'Paige.
