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| All photos courtesy Syfy. |
Last time we bid farewell to Katie for the epic fail of her cowl and paint job, while Robert's 'Hans the Brain Worm' lived to see another day. Rob came away with his second straight win and the Mels continue to put forward strong make-ups. The competition and skill level required to stay in the game is heating up so it's time to see what new twist McKenzie and crew have in store for our intrepid contestants today. Everyone ready? Let's do this.
Walking into a printing press, they're given their Spotlight Challenge: to take inspiration from an obituary and create a whimsical ghost that reflects how they died that would be appropriate for "Beetlejuice 2: Back to the Afterlife." Get going guys and have some fun with death!
Design
Mel - Sally Slopes, While slaloming she twisted around and died from front butt.
Robert - Thomas Watts. His character was electrocuted in the bathtub so you know this will go down the rabbit hole.
Rob - Wendy Wand. As a magician's assistant, she was cut in half but in grayscale because art.
Anna - Rose Mary. A culinary catastrophe that she based off the Italian ladies in her family. She might want to hide now as a good Italian would never blow up pasta.
Yvonne - Jerry Rig. DIY is DOA.
Kaleb - Finn Waters, scuba diver. Sleeping with the fishes and if he doesn't go for a Sharknado tie-in then he's clearly not even trying.
Johnny - Sara N. Geti. While on an African safari she was trampled by a stampede then stabbed by a a porcupine. This is why you keep your hands and feet inside the car at all times.
Melissa - Suzanne Stitches. Her love of quilting and sewing grew to consume her.
Walter - Seymour Sharp, the juggling clown. The nickname 'Butterfingers' sadly proved to be prophetic.
Mr. Westmore likes Melissa's design of the stitches with the pins coming out and helps Mel refine her concept. Kaleb's concept of a fish eating the head is solid but Walter isn't sold on his advice. Walter. Son. You always listen to Mr. Westmore. Johnny finds the funny and no one is freaking out about the 'whimsical' aspect. Mel's never done a sculpt this big before (Drink) but feels that her earlier success gives her leave to take some risks. Mel, I *might* be speaking from experience when I say that risk taking is highly overrated.
Robert decides to step away from 'cartoony' and keep it more 'skeletal' but don't worry, the whimsy resides in the electrocuted rubber duck. He's made quite the menagerie this season. This is clearly why hair dryers have those warning labels on them. Rob is feeling better about his concept and design as is Kaleb. Yvonne fine-tunes her face sculpt to make it a hair less scary which is a good call on a whimsical challenge. She was in the bottom looks the first whimsical time around and is out to prove that she's learned and matured as an artist since then. Mel's front butt is huge and nerve-wracking as she fears she may have overcommitted to the gag. Front butt success! Anna's wig has a nifty explosion effect but there's not much else going on with it right now. Johnny's spent so much time on his animal tracks that he's behind on the face which is never a good place to be but he's not worried as application is his strong suit. Mel too needs to work on her face and the stated goal of doing enough to be safe is rarely a good strategy.
Application Day
Front butt is waiting for Mel in all its glory. Kaleb's fish-cowl is too heavy but by scraping out some for a bitter fit, he rips part of the sculpt. Oops. Walter's knives are too heavy so the fix is to remove the handles to have the blades stuck in the face. Johnny's dabbing the paint on but it's very pink and taking a super long time while Mel's make-up just looks muddy and zombie-like. Yvonne reaches for the yellow and we all cringe because that has not been a forgiving color this season.
Last Looks
Kaleb's Scuba Steve is blue and Mel has a lot to do. This is why no butt obsession, front or otherwise, is worth it. Rob sponges on the layers of gray and it looks really, really good. We get a look at Yvonne's mostly finished face with the drill in place and it's fantastic; subtly bringing the twisted face up moved it from 'scary' to 'whimsical' and even yellow it is a strong look. Robert philosophizes that even if he goes home, he has the satisfaction of knowing that he made a great duck. We should all strive to have Robert's outlook on life.
Reveal Stage
Yvonne - A PSA for the dangers of drunk drilling.
Johnny - Jem goes on safari
Kaleb - One fish, two fish, it-eats-you fish
Melissa- Revenge of the pin cushion
Rob - Charlie Chaplin's voodoo doll
Mel- Shiny purple pants don't do anyone any favors
Robert - At least he had his rubber ducky.
Walter - Even in death the clown is happy
Anna - Death by pasta
Judges
They really liked Yvonne's but did not understand the stampeding porcupine in Johnny's. Kaleb's concept was good but the execution just wasn't there. Rob brought his 'A' game again but Glenn was not impressed with Mel's twisted body gag. They were a little disappointed that Robert didn't utilize a glaze to read 'wet' though Ve was enchanted by Dieter the Ducky. Walter's decision to use only the knife blades probably saved him and Anna's kitchen catastrophe was very plain with not much singling out an explosion as the cause of death.
Safe
Melissa, Anna, Walter, Robert
Top
Yvonne - It was creepy and funny and perfectly captured the moment of time as well as the sense of movement. The choice of a single color was a good one and was well executed all around.
Rob - The forms were pretty and he was successful within the challenge but they wished for slightly more gore as it read a shade too subtle.
Bottom
Mel - Poor time investment for something that was barely visible at the expense of the face.
Johnny - It was boring and flat and missed the opportunity to tear her up in a funny way.
Kaleb - It didn't read 'fish' but more of an 'orange elf hat with feathers.' The starting idea was strong but the entire concept didn't come together.
Winner
Yvonne - It was a clean make up that embraced the theme.
Eliminated
Johnny - It didn't tell story that you intended and boring Glenn is a huge no-no.
Another week passes without the special 'judges' save' being played and not only that, Johnny received no words of farewell or encouragement which is not cool guys seeing as he had grown as an artist and as a person.
We're down to the Elite Eight and next week is the return of the gauntlet! Abandon all hope ye who design here. Join us on Syfy next Wednesday, February 24 at 9 p.m. ET for 'The Gauntlet II.'