'Face Off' Recap: 'Deadly Dolls'

All photos courtesy Syfy.
BY DAWN FEAKES

With Ben's elimination last week for his kitchen sink imaginary friend, Coach Anthony is also out of the running for Supreme "Face Off" Champion of the World. Five artists remain so the pressure is ratcheted up. You ready to sleep with the lights on tonight? Let's do this.

We get a bit of Julian's back story; his brother has a rare neurological disease and by competing he hopes to raise awareness of it. After last week's brush with elimination he's refocused on bringing his 'A' game. Good call but it's field trip time to the Bob Baker Marionette Theater. Team "Face Off" - Eff Yeah! Their Spotlight Challenge is to create a character inspired by a classic doll but with a twist: it must be twisted and evil. The artists are advised to look to the colors, materials, and cultural touchstones for inspiration. Will any of them remember that? History tells us 'no.'

Logan -  Voodoo doll
Adam - Baby doll
Julian - Ventriloquist Dummy
Darla - Porcelain doll
Emily - Rag doll

Emily starts coating crepe wool fabric to form her chest piece. She didn't go straight for the wigs so we'll chalk it up to personal growth. The coaches arrive and with only two artists remaining, Rayce doesn't want Logan and Adam to lose their risk factors but they need to stay within the parameters of the challenge so...design casual then? Mr. Westmore arrives with some much needed advice that will be heeded by some (Logan), partially disregarded by some (Julian) and completely disregarded by others (Adam.) Gee, I wonder what will happen? Always listen to Mr. Westmore kids. Always. Meanwhile, Emily's chest mold falls but doesn't break so no drinks yet and Logan chafes under Rayce's suffocating attention. But Logan does realize that he doesn't like how his idea was executed so there's nothing for it but to start again. He's lost a full day in the lab though and will be hard pressed to make this work.

Day Two
Darla applies cracks to her facial sculpt but needs to watch her time to get into mold room. Rayce subtly gloats that Logan takes his advice but seems to have forgotten that Adam is also on his team. Play favorites much, Rayce? Julian is a novice at sculpting hair/texture and remind us again how exactly you made it on to "Face Off" because you don't seem to have done anything before. Oh hell, Emily has a wig. How unusual. Adam's lost with his concept which has become a sort of xenomorph-Borg hybrid. A xenoborg? Maybe you should have listened to Mr. Westmore yesterday Adam. Just saying. Emily's chest mold cracks so drink your drinks.

Application Day
Darla's facial prosthetic came out beautifully but how to really bring out the cracks? The characters are coming together nicely except for Logan who is doubting himself over Rayce's continuous interference coaching.

Last Looks
Emily has a lot to do in applying and finish the make up. She got around the cracked chest mold by having the stuffing come out of the chest which is a brilliant fix. Logan tries to fix the make up so it doesn't appear too muddy and Adam finally gets around to attaching the doll pieces. Darla's just doing detail work and gets a gold star for expert time management skills.

Reveal Stage
Guest judge is Don Mancini (creator of Chucky) and everyone fangirls accordingly.

Julian - Wooden monkey zombie
Logan - Burlap scarecrow Spartacus
Darla - Possessed doll is possessed. And creepy. And possessed.
Adam - Darth Xenomorph
Emily - Lady Scarecrow and I mean that in the creepiest way possible

Logan - They liked the overall concept. Even though it was a literal translation, the palette was good and it was a scary, solid character.


Emily - Ve loves the rag doll. Emily's idea of rolling out the crepe woold and molding it was original and clever. The simplicity of the face was augmented by the overly-long hair extensions.


Julian - It was not easy to read the character and it looks more like a zombie than a dummy. Using more angularity and highlighting would have sold it.

Adam - While creative it was too big conceptually for the challenge and not quite in the doll zone. it was missing the animated quality that would have tied it to the challenge.

Darla - She was able to capture the living doll concept in a fantastic way. The proportions were so doll-like it read creepy and disturbing and all of the judges loved it.



Top
Logan, Emily Darla

Bottom
Adam, Julian

Winner 
Darla

Eliminated
Adam

This leaves Rayce with one team member going into the penultimate episode. Hope you enjoyed all that attention from Rayce this week Logan; looks like you've got it all again next time.

Join us on Syfy next Tuesday when manatees chose the theme of Western Steampunk Cyborg in 'Full Steam Ahead' at 9 p.m. ET.