Well folks, we’ve made it to the finale of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 18. A new winner has been added to our pantheon of Drag Superstars. And Jane Don’t still managed to snatch a win.
The Final Three
The finale gave us recaps for our top three queens, Darlene Mitchell, Myki Meeks, and Nini Coco. The ante was upped beyond the $200,000 prize when they each got to design custom makeup palettes with cosmetics guru Norvina of Anastasia Beverly Hills. “Drag is the beacon of light amidst all this fuckery,” she said during the queens’ visits to her product lab. Amen, sister.
Back to the finale mainstage, Darlene Mitchell—Our Lady of Queer Joy and Tacky Outfits—brought her unique brand of trashy Midwestern charm for every look. We got problem patterns. We got camouflage. And we got loads of blue eyeshadow. I felt right at home.
At the onset of Season 18, Darlene got a modest “filler queen” edit, but her transcendent roast performance was a turning point, cementing her as a queen to watch for her endless charisma and adaptability. For the finale, Darlene performed her original song “Cooking with Gas,” a cute cuntry-gospel number that oozed camp (and reminded me of the significant overlap between drag culture and King of the Hill). Her guests, partner Brandon and BFF Molly, highlighted the critical place of chosen family in queer people’s artistic journey.
I won’t lie—I was Team Darlene not just for her magnetic charm, but her commitment to bring back “mall drag,” a mission near and dear to my heart. Drag Race runway packages today cost tens of thousands of dollars, a price tag that is unattainable and unrelatable to most queer artists and audiences. If you’re into the mall drag movement (you should be), go check out Lushious Massacr, Miss Ma’am She, or Seattle’s favorite snack, Pupusa.
For her finale looks, Myki Meeks leaned heavily into old Hollywood, expertly branding her Drag Race trajectory as “drag ingénue to leading lady.” Her early work wasn’t stellar, but after being put into the bottom two during Rate-A-Queen, our feisty little Arya Stark bounced back with fire and ice. After hitting a high note with the Rusical, Myki nailed challenge after challenge out of the park with her sharp wit and timeless glamour.
For her final performance, Myki showed off her vocal skills and lyrical savvy with “Versatile,” an innuendo-laden showtune that highlighted Myki’s branding genius. She gave a heartfelt thank-you to her parents in attendance for their unconditional support through her journey as a queer artist—a welcome sight these days. More public advocacy for queer kids, please.
Throughout the season, Nini Coco “turned the art of drag into a science” with her architectural looks and cerebral approach to the competition, though it took time for the rest of the cast to warm up to her brusque personality. Nini’s partner, in the audience for the finale, explained a lot about Nini—he was just as nerdy and awkward as she was during RuPaul’s casual interview. The cutest match ever.
Nini’s final performance of her song “Stimulate” was the consummate vehicle for her drag persona: meticulous technique meets Gaga-esque looks, lyrics, and choreography. The judges ate her up, and Nini shared that “her queerness is the greatest gift” and that her self-advice was to “be faggy every single day.” A queen after my very heart.
“This makes the Grammy look cheap”
Did you really think we were going to get to the crowning right away? Ha, not on Drag Race. We were next treated to a fabulous guest appearance by Miley Cyrus, who received the Giving Us Life(Time) Achievement Award for her iconic work in popular culture and unwavering support for the queer community. (We’re getting past her “You don’t have to be gay, there are good people with dicks out there, you just gotta find them” moment, it appears.) “This makes the Grammy look cheap,” Cyrus quipped to RuPaul after receiving the award.
And remember the premiere episode where Bob the Drag Queen, Kim Chi, and Raja were all pedaling to keep the studio lights on? We got a (late) callback to that storyline with a plug for the ACLU Drag Defense Fund, in which the three Drag Race legends highlighted the achievements of queer elders William Dorsey Swann, José Sarria, and Mother Flawless Sabrina (go look them up if you’re not familiar). The bit was corny but served as a timely reminder that maintaining queer culture requires constant work and knowing where we’ve been is a blueprint for navigating an uncertain future.
Next, we got the coveted Miss Congeniality Award, voted on by the queens and presented by Season 17’s congenial icon, Crystal Envy. As expected, Jane Don’t won the title along with a $10K cash prize thanks to a comically clunky product placement from Native deodorant. Jane accepted her well-deserved flowers, though she humbly conceded that “congeniality is not something women in my family aspire to.” Girl, we saw you selflessly help all your sisters succeed in Season 18, whether it was writing jokes, giving sewing lessons, or teaching them how to act. And Don’t worry, Jane, whatever you do next, you’re a superstar.
And the Winner Is…
Onya Nurve, reigning Drag Race Superstar of Season 17, returned to the mainstage in a massive ballgown and exquisite braids to cede the crown and scepter to the next winner. To the disappointment of you, me, and mall drag aficionados everywhere, Darlene Mitchell was eliminated before the top two. We never got to see her lip-sync. Maybe she and Jane will go on to create the next UNHhhh? Here’s hoping.
Top two Nini Coco and Myki Meeks performed the final lip-sync for Season 18 to Miley Cyrus’s “Every Girl You’ve Ever Loved.” It looked like Nini had the upper hand, literally—her lip-syncing handbag puppet was the sort of Drag Race gimmick that tips scales.
But the Meeks shall inherit the Earth, and RuPaul declared Myki as the winner of Season 18. America’s Next Drag Superstar had the right blend of charisma, uniqueness, nerve, talent, and vulnerability. Myki’s overall run on Drag Race may not have been as winning as Jane’s, but her modest start and unjust bottom placement during Rate-A-Queen brought the underdog story arc that Jane lacked. And Myki’s comedic supremacy in the latter half of the season was unparalleled. Congratulations to Myki Meeks for a well-deserved win! Jane—we can’t wait to see you crush an All Stars, and see you around Seattle in the meantime.
Thanks for reading! Now go touch grass and watch some mall drag.
xoxo Mike
