When Drag Race decided to kick off season 13 with a lip-sync extravaganza, it was exciting and fun, subverting expectations and keeping the queens on their toes. When they decided to follow that up with a spotlight episode centering on the queens who won the opening lip-syncs—and Elliott—the energy dipped somewhat, but the queens’ personalities and fashion did a lot to keep things moving. With “Phenomenon,” the momentum stalls. While it’s an interesting counterpoint to “Condragulations,” with the two groups of queens serving in different areas, “Phenomenon” is the weakest of the three introductory episodes, only picking up at the end thanks to a strong maxi challenge performance. The actual start of the competition, complete with eliminations, cannot come soon enough.