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| Courtesy Syfy |
An out-of-this-world circus performance was at the heart of this “Face Off” episode, and the remaining eight artists provided the aliens for the galactic gig.
As they entered the dark lab, they were introduced to Suzanne Bernel, the the co-owner of the sexy and dark Cirque Berzerk, and she gave the inspiration for the Spotlight Challenge. Their challenge was to create a dark and sexy alien that could withstand the rigors of a Cirque Berzerk performance.
Lab Work
The artists worked in teams of two and immediately got to work on their designs. They all worked well at first but things got a bit stressful for Team Laney/Alana thanks to their womanizing ringmaster. Oh and the fact that Laney doesn't like aliens and she's been dreading this competition.
Roy and Laura started with an “alien animal trainer” design. Eddie and Miranda went with a space contortionist who lures other aliens into her circus. Tate and Frank went the rock-n-roll route with a punk rocker from one of Neptune’s moons.
Michael Westmore did his walk through on their first day in the lab and offered his expert advice. He encouraged more softening and rounding of features to insure a sexy look. This was especially true with Laura and Roy’s “too busy” reptilian sculpt. They decided to reshape the head/face and felt more confident about their design.
Miranda was worried her sculpt looked too much like a character from “Hellboy” and decided to modify the cowl instead of totally changing the look. She seemed a bit more confident in this episode but occasionally, insecurities crept in. Apparently this is working for her though.
Alana and Laney really struggled with their design concept. At first, they didn’t know what to do with the hair, then they worried about the cohesiveness of the scales, then Alana questioned Laney’s sculpt. The page they were on was clearly not the same and it lead to a lot stress.
I guess I should mention Roy’s struggle with the polyfoam ... again. When opening his mold, he found a “gobby mess.” Of course they worked it out but let’s hope Roy reconsiders using this product for future challenges.
Frank and Tate were right on schedule and had no major concerns despite Tate’s bum finger thanks to last week’s challenge. Frank is really behaving this season, don’t you agree? Every once in a while I spot glimmers of the old Frank and then he reels it in. There are still four more episodes left, so we shall see.
Overall, the looks were really cool and I even thought Laney and Alana’s attempt at an alien ringmaster was interesting. Unfortunately, the judges didn’t think so.
Reveal
Immediately after introducing each look, the Cirque Berzerk performance began. They tumbled and dove and did all these cool circus-y moves and it looked like the makeups held up. The judges did their closer look after the performance so they could determine the stamina of the application.
The judges chose only one top and one bottom look for this challenge. It seemed obvious that they liked Frank and Tate’s “Dumpster Duck” from Neptune thanks to their comments on the “awesome paint job” and “clean execution of the head.” They were on the fence about Roy and Laura’s “Creature Tamer” which left Glenn confused and Ve not digging the “boring” paint job.
The head’s symmetry on Miranda and Eddie’s “Galactic Contortionist” really blew them away and Glenn pointed out that symmetry equals beauty. Ve loved the paint job and considered the look “regal.” These factors lead the judges to choose this as the only top look. Thanks to the sculpting and her brilliant application, Miranda was chosen as the winner. This was her fourth win this season.
Thanks to many missed opportunities and the fact that their design was neither dark nor sexy nor alien-esque, Alana and Laney’s design was the bottom look. Despite the fact that Laney’s cowl piece was removed from the design, Alana’s main work on the non-alien-looking face, resulted in her elimination. I can’t remember a more tearful one to date and Laney was downright bawling. She clearly felt some guilt. Alana is damn talented and we’ll be seeing her again.
Next Tuesday, the lucky seven will have to create a character that represents one of the seven deadly sins. Watch “Mortal Sins” at 9 p.m. on Syfy.