Canada vs. the World 2
A short season told a satisfying story — though you already knew the ending.
Can a season of Drag Race be satisfying if there’s absolutely no question as to the outcome? Like a few other seasons before it, Canada vs. The World Season 2 had a preordained winner in its cast: Lemon, the favored daughter of Canada’s Drag Race Season 1 who got kicked off of UK vs. The World first. This season is set up as her homecoming and redemption, and to her credit, she more than measures up as a satisfying winner. However, the cast around her is a mix of too talented to be relegated to an also-ran (Kennedy Davenport, Alexis Mateo), disappointing relative to previous runs (Eureka, Miss Fiercealicious), and just a strange casting choice overall (Le Fil, Tynomi Banks, and Drag Race France Porkchop queen Kahena). Strangely, the most compelling presence may have been another UK vs. The World early out: Cheryl, turning in by far her best performance in her Drag Race career — and ignored for most of the season in favor of Lemon’s coronation arc.