“Beauty and the Geek” — Super Geek
Captain of waxed chests.
I had my own geek-out moment during this Comic-Con centered episode of Beauty and the Geek. The primary challenge for the beauties was to devise their own super-hero complete with backstory, special powers, arch enemy, etc. and then have the geeks actually design the costume which was then presented to a panel of comic book experts. On that panel was Eric Powell who writes and illustrates The Goon. I found this to be utterly awesome as he represents the type of comic book writer I most enjoy: those with little interest in classic super-heroes (I’m sure the more fanatical readers will tell me otherwise, but whatever… let a man dream). More after the leap…
That got me really excited, but as for the challenge itself, I have got to admit, the geeks really dropped the ball. C’mon dudes, this is your territory. Even if it involved excessive sewing, how could they all not knock this one out of the park? Outside of Sam’s character, who seemed to have been laced with way more irony than any “beauty” should really wield, there wasn’t a lot of inspiration in these new heroes. Though I do give props to the girl who opted to be a super-villain instead of a hero. What is especially sad is I wasn’t taking notes (as I frequently do) and therefore have no idea which contestant this was. It sounds awful, but 65% of these girls are completely interchangeable. Perhaps this speaks highly of Jasmine who actually has the most distinct personality (and is paired with the most curmudgeony of all the geeks with Dale).
The most drama of the episode came when Will and Jen finally butted heads. The best moment was when Will was working on Jen’s costume and talking shit about her to the other geeks. At one point he says, “I’m toying with the idea of making her look as fat as possible,” and then as if cued by Zues, Jen walks in right behind him and catches him red-handed (red-haireded?). The two duke it out a little and ultimately agree to disagree.
We’re kind of at the period in the series where things start being more about the competition than about the personal growth. This is problematic for the series as the competition aspect makes little sense to begin with. How exactly is getting a single question wrong about lip-gloss any real measure of achievement? It’s weird and creates interesting “strategy debates” amongst those picking couples for the elimination round.
This time around Sam and Nicole picked both couples (and happened to pick two groups that were extremely close in friendship) and more or less painted a giant target on their back for the next week, though this isn’t much different from things over the previous weeks. Natalie and John and Jesse and Erin were sent to square off with the latter group losing and and leaving the house.
There aren’t too many groups left. I’m curious if we’ll get some more interesting interpersonal drama during the coming weeks’ first acts or if the show will simply amp up the challenges to fill the time. Who wouldn’t want to see some geek/beauty screaming matches?
