Nicole and her cyborg princess, courtesy Syfy |
Last week focused on the whimsical world of beloved author, Dr. Seuss and we lost the sweet-as-red-velvet-cake, and equally as colorful, Alana. This week, the final five head to a dirty, smelly junkyard to begin working on the "most rugged challenge yet." McKenzie reminds the contestants that some of the most iconic characters in film history were born out of merging man and machine. Their task is create a creative and original cyborg character. There is no immunity challenge so everyone is in danger of being "terminated" (couldn't resist). At least I skipped the poetry this week.
The finalists are given a shopping cart and 30 minutes in the junkyard to gather anything that inspires them. Derek seems worried but Roy (who digs big fabrications) is excited. Laura proclaims that Sarah Connor is her role model. Sarah's (not Connor) Mennonite background proves to be a detriment again since she has limited cyborg exposure. To directly quote one of Sarah's tweets during the episode, "Again with using that Mennonite quote!? Argh. I am not using it as an excuse." Will her upbringing impede her performance tonight?
Day one
Model selection, design, and sculpting is the focus of the first day. Roy wants to go big or go home with his C.O.R.E. zombie guy. Sarah and Laura are nervous. Basically, they're nervous throughout the whole show. Derek has a cool idea with his future soldier that's injured and burned and needs robot parts to survive. Nicole designs an amazing cyborg princess that she's really jazzed about despite her mold sticking. It's probably one of the noisiest challenges with all the sawing and vacu-forming.
Day two
Roy continues to make a giant creation that is quite elaborate and intimidating. Laura fluctuates on her design and heads towards a "Metropolis"-themed design where instead of tattoos, people get robot arms. She changes her mind at the end though. To what, we're not sure.
Glenn does his walk-through and is most excited about Nicole's fresh look and Derek's design. He's concerned about Sarah's form. Roy's cockiness probably went down a notch when Glenn said his design looked like one of those childhood box robots covered in aluminum foil.
The most drama probably came from Derek struggling with his cracking mold. However, he made it work for his design. There really hasn't been much drama this season, has there? Everyone seems to get along except for that first day with Tommy and Joe. They're all so damn likable!
Day three
The gorgeous models arrive and prepare to be transformed into deformed cyborgs. Unfortunately for Sarah, her model is one that eats food and has some boobage. She must adjust the chest piece and after making it work, shows a glimmer of confidence. Just a small glimmer though.
A big shake-up was when Laura's model feels faint and needs to excuse himself. He comes back when there is only 15 minutes left. Laura accomplishes a little something, but it was an incomplete piece. At least she has something to present to the judges despite the lack of cohesion.
Guest judge tonight was the award-winning producer of such films as Aliens and the Terminator franchise and Executive Producer of AMC's The Walking Dead, Gale Anne Hurd. She knows her stuff and admits to being blown away by a few of the pieces.
The judges' favorite looks tonight were Nicole's bad ass princess which, according to Glenn, was the "coolest thing you've done." Gayle even wants to take Nicole and her piece to Comic-Con! Derek's impressive soldier with the LED lights was a clever use of the objects he took from the junkyard and produced a "strong iconic look". The winner was Nicole though and this makes the second week in a row for the previously eliminated contestant.
Roy's look was impressive, and Ve liked the sculpt and make-up, but Glenn doesn't like how he always over-invests in fabrication. Laura's look lacked cohesiveness with the concept. Sarah's look however, was the only bottom look and she was eliminated. The judges said that her look was not fully realized and didn't really make good use of the junkyard pieces. She gave a tearful good bye to the judges and her peers and like the rest, has no regrets and learned a lot. Another red head eliminated? That scarf that Alana gave her last week may have been cursed.
Next week's episode is called "Scene of the Crime" and the challenge will be to create an original Wesen character based on the show Grimm. Yes way!! Guest judge will be Silas Weir Mitchell, aka "Monroe" from Grimm. Will you be watching? You know when and where - Tuesdays, 9 p.m. ET on Syfy.