RUPAUL’S DRAG RACE S13E16 “Grand Finale”: The Ebony Enchantress Symone Is The Winner, Baby!

“I told y’all not to let the smooth taste fool you.” Those are the words of a winner, baby. Symone of the House of Avalon, the queen with four wins and some of the best runway looks in RuPaul’s Drag Race her-story is America’s Next Drag Superstar and the winner of season 13. It is a joyous day to crown this queen whose lowest lows showed just as much of her talent and lip syncing charisma as her highest highs and her (MANY) wins. Symone is everything and long may she reign!

It all was coming down to this moment and the rest was some fabulous filler. From a bombastic opening performance by RuPaul to the Top Four queens coming out in a Ball to a tribute to those who have died from AIDs, there was a lot going on in this finale and it ended the best way possible.

The Finale Is Finally Here!

The show immediately kicks off with an amazing opening number by RuPaul, singing her song “New Friends Silver, Old Friends Gold” and rocking the same look she wore for the holiday 2019/2020 cover of Vanity Fair. RuPaul is 60-years-old now and isn’t about to go out there and do some crazy dance moves, but she still gave some fantastic choreography that took me back to her work on the show that never should have been canceled, Netflix’s AJ and the Queen. 

From here, the Top Four queens partake in a Ball unlike any the show has ever seen as it’s extremely brief and each outfit (12 in total) are given just enough airtime for the audience to take them in, but not fully enjoy their beauty. With the three categories of “Black and White”, “Red All Over”, and “Grand Finale Eleganza”, the looks are heightened, breathtaking and EXPENSIVE, though none of the queens could hold a candle to Gottmik, who opened the ball in a complete drag version of Pinhead from the Hellraiser franchise – Pandora’s Box purse included! – and then brought the house down with the most “gorge” gown to ever clothe that tiny body. Gottmik’s “Grand Finale Eleganza” look is reminiscent of an evil queen from a Disney movie combined with a femme Gene Simmons from KISS. Just about everyone else’s looks were fabulous but Gottmik really, truly smoked them all with these two looks.

As quickly as it came, the Ball was over and we cut to the winner of Drag Race season 12, Jaida Essense Hall at a socially distanced drive-in audience who are watching the Finale from a parking lot (or so the editing would have us believe). Jaida is among the fans and is acting as a correspondent to help bridge the gap between the performers and the stage.  From here, each queen gets her own spotlight with yet another clip show of their best moments from the show (just like last week’s episode). We see Gottmik becoming a comedy queen and, during her sitdown interview with Ru, Gottmik’s incredible Snatch Game character Paris Hilton sends the queen a personal message – in the immortal words of Gottmik, “gagatrondra!”

In Kandy’s interview, we see how fun and charismatic she is, along with her saying that she hasn’t talked with Tamisha Iman since the show ended and that she doesn’t care about their fight at all (a noticeably more unbothered take on the situation than Tamisha herself). We also get to meet Kandy’s mom via a video message and learn that Kandy actually has two moms! Kandy talks about having two moms and it’s a little wild that we are learning this in the 11th hour – it would have truly been wonderful to see this side of Kandy during the season.

Rosé is next, and we learn that she had sprained her ankle which, ooh, doesn’t bode well for her in the upcoming lip sync. Rosé makes RuPaul laugh throughout the interview and we even get to see a message from Rosé’s Scottish family and their thick-ass accents. Last, and most certainly not least, is Symone in her interview. It’s almost halfway through the episode and seeing Symone’s clip show just makes it so obvious! Crown her now! We know she’s going to win whatever’s thrown at her! Just crown Symone already!! But even when RuPaul brings up the fact that Symone got the attention of Rihanna on social media, there’s no crowning at that moment (which would have been totally valid) but I guess I can wait a little longer to see Symone’s win.

“But Yah Got To Have Friends…”

After the interviews, RuPaul talks about how 2021 marks the 40th anniversary of the very first reported case of AIDS and how the song “Friends” by Bette Midler “took on a whole new meaning” once the virus became more widespread. A clip from the 1991 AIDS Project Los Angeles Commitment to Life Fundraiser is played, showing Bette perform the song. RuPaul talks about how living through another pandemic has shown folks the important things in life like “love, kindness, and friends.” It’s a beautiful sentiment and a sobering reminder of the devastation that these brutal illnesses have wrought. However, the tone shifts as we see the Top Four perform the song in a pre-recording and it’s a little odd to see these queens look so campy and goofy after Ru‘s harrowing reminder of the impact of AIDs and COVID-19. It is… something. But at least the Top Four look cute in their best Bette Midler wigs.

Things quickly become sad again as the next segment is a tribute to a beloved drag queen and Drag Race alumna that we had all lost this last year: Chi Chi DeVayne. Chi Chi was Top Four back in season 8 and she was quite literally one of the best queens to come out of the show; one of the best dancers, best personalities, and best lip-syncers. Chi Chi was 34 when she had passed away in August of 2020 and her tribute in the finale brought more than just a few tears to this writer’s eyes.

“She’s Beauty & She’s Grace…”

Symone wasn’t the only winner during this finale; even though everyone from early on in the season predicted that Miss Congeniality would go to either Utica or Olivia, the end of both queens’ runs on the show essentially eviscerated those prospects since Utica had rubbed queens the wrong way with her “unused shady reads” (i.e. binder of insults over dinner) and Olivia had worked way too hard to make everyone know that she was the “Polite Diva”.

The show used to have Miss Congeniality be up to a fan vote up until season 9’s Valentina won the coveted award, prompting her castmates to rename the award “Fan Favorite” as they felt that Valentina was NOT congenial with them and that she only won the award because she was the most popular. Since season 10, it was changed so that the title of Miss Congeniality was voted on by the other contestants and is no longer in the hands of the fans.

And for this season, her fellow drag queens voted to crown LaLa Ri as Miss Congeniality, and honestly, after completely stealing the show last week in the Reunion with her good humor and contagious excitement, it is what she deserves. Along with the title, LaLa receives $10,000 and all of the other nine semi-finalist queens will receive $2,000 (courtesy of Olay Body) since it’s still a pandemic and, you know, drag queens can’t do live performances (along with that fact that competing on Drag Race is obscenely expensive) so they need all the money they can get.

“It’s Britney, Bitch”

For this finale, there are three rounds of lip-syncs and they’re all from the princess of pop herself, Britney Spears. After a spin of the wheel, the first round is Kandy Muse vs. Rosé, which means Gottmik and Symone will be in round two. Kandy and Rosé lip sync to Britney Spears’ “Work Bitch” and… it’s not a great lip-sync, but Kandy still does a slightly better job than Rosé, earning her a chance in the final round. It’s sad that Rosé is the 2nd/3rd alternate as she had an amazing run on the show and became a favorite amongst fans, but there are always All Stars. 

Gottmik and Symone get Britney‘s “Gimme More” and, since Gottmik is not known as a lip-sync queen, I fully expected Symone to wipe the floor with her… and that expectation was correct. Symone very, VERY easily wins round two and Gottmik doesn’t make it to the final two. But don’t worry gorge, she’ll be back for All-Stars. Round three is between Symone, the queen I expected to win from very early on, and Kandy, the queen I did not expect to make it into the Top Four. This one is for the crown and the song is Britney‘s “Till the World Ends”; both of these queens are fantastic lip-syncers but, and they both bring out the stunts.

Kandy pulls out the Dominican Republic flag to wave around, as she is of Dominican descent, and while it’s a really cool moment, Symone owned the entire stage. While Kandy is a better dancer, Symone just has a magical confidence that makes her instantly connect to the music and to the audience. Drag queens kind of have a series of dance moves in their repertoire that Kandy pulls out over and over, but Symone’s lack of technical skill ultimately gives her an edge because the way she moves with the music makes it feel more organic. But, not to be out-gagged, Symone’s big reveal towards the end of the song is turning her enormous tower of hair into a propeller with golden confetti hanging from it that resembles the fringe on her dress; it’s totally random, delightful and, while her entire run on the show won her the crown, it’s this moment that won her the lip sync.

Conclusion

After the longest season in Drag Race history (we started way back in January!!) we finally have our winner and this writer is unbelievably happy that it’s Symone aka “The Ebony Enchantress.” Symone, from the very beginning, proved what a star and what an amazing person she is, how she felt intense pressure to do extremely well because she wanted to make her House proud and the fashion – baby! the fashion! Symone’s drag is all about celebrating Black American culture and she brought that every time she strutted that runway. Who can forget her durag-train look or her African-inspired bead look or her “Say Their Names” look that pays tribute to those who’ve lost their lives to police brutality and white supremacy? Symone is a complete star and a joy to watch (check out her live reaction to her win in the video below) and Symone is now our reigning queen. Long may she reign!

Do you believe that Symone deserved the crown? Who was your pick? Let us know in the comments below!

RuPaul’s Drag Race can be purchased or re-watched on VH1.com, Apple TV, Hulu, iTunes, Amazon Prime, and, if you live outside of the U.S., WOWPresentsPlus.

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