'Face Off' Recap: 'Open Sesame'

BY LARISSA MRYKALO
Courtesy Syfy 

The race to win "Face Off" is getting tighter so throwing a little magic into the mix is wise, right? Only nine artists remain and the three women and six men head to Hollywood for a visit to the exclusive Magic Castle. They enter the club and, surprise! they have to utter the magic words ("Open Sesame"...duh!) to get into the inner sanctum. McKenzie appears and reveals that their Spotlight Challenge focuses on wizards. Wizards are armed with wit, wisdom, wonder and of course, a magic wand. Their task was to select a wand and use it as inspiration for an original wizard.

Corinne's wand was tribal in nature; Tyler's had an organic, natural feel; Niko's futuristic-looking wand inspired him to sketch a robot-like design; and, Cat's lovely floral wand inspired her to design a female wizard. After taking some time to gather some inspiration for their surroundings, they head to the lab to start their challenge.

Lab Work
Several of the artists, including Tyler, Daran and Rashaad, had confidence in their designs while others just struggled. Niko's robot wizard idea yielded concern from Michael Westmore when he said its features were too round and human. Niko eventually redesigned his wizard to look like he was wearing a helmut. He still seemed to have trouble up until Last Looks though. Mr. Westmore advised Cat on her facial sculpt but she went with her original concept despite his advice. Not wise. Chloe worked filigree into her design but it became overwhelming and ate up a lot of her time. She just wasn't in love with what she was creating.

Tyler, on the other hand, was practically giddy and it was fun watching him design Woody the Wizard (sorry, that's what I've deemed him). The amount of work and passion that ol' Woody got, showed what an enthusiastic and talented guy Tyler really is. Daran was also pretty excited about designing his creepy blind witch and accomplished a lot of work during lab time. Some were ahead of the game, some were really scrambling, especially Chloe and Niko. Luckily there were no major breaks or snafus (yes, snafus...it's a good word!) and no drama. I kind of wish we saw a little more relationship stuff with Cat and Niko. Maybe next week? Maybe not.

Judgement Day
The parade of wizards showcased the talents of the artists and despite the judges referring to Cat's female wizard, Flora, as a craft show nightmare, I thought it was pretty. Anyway, Daran's eyeball-toting witch, Graham's voodoo skull dude, and Rashaad's design were all safe.

Top looks included: George's "possessed by metal" gear-infused wizard; Corinne's dark shaman with the cool feathered headdress; and Tyler's Wizard of the Woods (aka Woody). I really thought Woody would win but the judges chose George for his beautiful paint job and great concept.

Bottom looks included: Cat's Flora (aka "Refugee from a craft store."-Ve); Chloe's heavy-handed filigree beauty; and, Niko's Mr. Roboto that lacked a good sculpt and paint job. Sadly, Niko and Cat were split apart thanks to the judges. Cat's wizard caused her to be eliminated. This made me extra sad because after the judging, McKenzie went backstage (much to the dismay of Chloe...sheesh!) and revealed that in the morning, they were headed to... dun dun dun... Japan! I'm sure Cat and Niko would have enjoyed the trip together but alas, life isn't fair.

Next week, the remaining eight will create an original anime character in Japan. Tune in for "Ego Trip Abroad" next Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET on Syfy.