“Beauty and the Geek” — It’s Not Rocket Science
Hey Rebecca, why don’t you try massaging it!
The writing was on the wall from the first shot in the episode that Will and Rebecca were in the crosshairs of most of the rest of the house. They basically painted themselves into a corner by 1) winning all of the challenges, 2) sending teams to the elimination room that probably shouldn’t have gone, 3) Will acting like a jackass and 4) Rebecca constantly sucking face with Oily Sam. That’s not how you make friends. Though it does raise an interesting question: if you’re trying to play this game to win (versus playing the game to become a better, more well-rounded, individual), how exactly does one do that? More after the jump…
First of all, you can’t actually do well in the challenges, because that makes you a target, and even if you win and have immunity it only makes everyone else hate you more. Likewise, you can’t really lose everything or you’ll appear as fodder for the elimination round — a way to send in a strong, likable couple who you know will come out victorious against the weekling, thus not hurting anyone’s feelings. It doesn’t really make any sense. I suppose you’re better off to just try and learn a thing or two before your inevitable demise.
Before the episode got too far into the “who should should be kicked out” arguments and maneuvers, there was this fascinating series of testimonials from Nicole, the resident girl-geek. The previous night idiot-Sam and the quite-attractive Rebecca went back to Sam’s room and started banging(?) on the top bunk while Nicole attempted to sleep on the bunk below. Rightfully frustrated she left the room and slept in the den. Then the next day tells the camera, with tears streaming down her face, that she’s so affraid of what people will think of her after this event, and that she can’t leave the house now and have this be everyone’s last memory of her. It struck me as odd that she would think this even reflected poorly on herself and not on, say, the two people banging in nightvision. Either way, more power to her as by episode’s end she gets the last laugh.
The challenges this week were picked online by the CW’s viewers (who I don’t entirely believe exist, but that’s for another post altogether) out of all of the challenges done in previous seasons. The geeks had to give the beauties massages, and the beauties had to build and launch a rocket.
Will was suppose to have the super-advantage in the massage challenge since his partner, the dreaded, though lovely, Rebecca was a professional masseuse. That little boost propelled him to second, but wasn’t enough to overcome for his cheesy (everything with Will is cheesy… especially his frequent desire to kiss Rebecca on the forehead) karate-chop action. Jesse ultimately wins, though not before we see Joshua tell the camera, “I bagan with a motion like this… and then went to a motion like this” all while looking like a chorus member from a region theater production of “Hair.”
As for the rocket challenge, everyone seemed to be on about the same playing field with a few acting a little faster and a few a little slower. Jasmine was a mess, but it doesn’t matter because everything she says is priceless. Sam came off to a huge lead but ultimately shot his wad a tad early. Still, he had enough supplies to try again and indeed ended up victorious. Here’s where things get awesome:
Sam is in love with Rebecca and since everyone was gunning for her and Will to be out of the house, knew she was going to be headed to elimination, so he wanted to pick someone he knew they could beat, but who also wouldn’t cause a rift that could potentially get him kicked out in a later round. Sam’s partner, the awesome and suspiciously ungeeky, Nicole hates Sam and hates Rebecca and is way smarter than he is and suggested they pick William and Jen because they’d be easy to defeat, while secretly knowing the two are quite clever and could easily mop the floor with Will and Rebecca. Sam takes the bait and the rest is history.
Will and Rebecca lose to another Will and this girl Jen who we rarely see, but probably because she’s not only completely void of personality, but has zero inflection in her voice when she speaks. It doesn’t matter though because they won.
The real winner: Nicole.
One more random thought before I wrap this up. Maybe it’s because I work in television production, but what was up with some of those interview clips not being miced? It literally sounded like those old Pixies songs where Frank Black would put the microphone on the other end of the room and then scream. C’mon people, this is suppose to be a network (kinda) production.
Oh, and “Final Countdown!” Awesome.
