Project Runway: S14E12 "Roll Out the Red Carpet"

Not gonna lie, Runaways, I had a lot of thoughts ranging all over the place during this episode last night and I'm hoping that over the course of my tedious day I didn't lose all of them, but it's highly possible. In the interim, I'm left thinking that the fact that this episode had me kind of buzzing and inquisitive while it was on has to be a good thing right? I think this season has been a roller coaster ride for us fans, but not because of the fireworks on screen. Instead, we, or more particularly I, have felt pushed and pulled in all different directions by the inconsistent quality of this season. Remember back around the first episode when I triumphantly, and prematurely, declared that PR was back and probably better than ever? How quick did that devolve into questions about direction, editorial choices, and the overall talent and personality level of the contestants? But then those questions could just as easily be blasted away with another strong outing. This season of Project Runway has felt more like a scripted TV show than any season before it in the way that it's been able to vary in quality from episode to episode. Not only in quality, but also in certain "artistic" flourishes. For example, remember the unconventional materials challenge that had the designers rummaging through outdated electronics trash to get materials to make their looks? I made mention of the batman-like flashes of words on the screen denoting what each contestant was looking at in the dump. Guess what's back this week! Seriously, were these two episodes directed by the same person? And if so, how problematic is that? Should we ever be able to see the hand of any particular director on any particular episode of a reality show? My gut says no, but I'm not an authority on such matters.

Either way, the 12th episode of this season has us gearing up for the finale with one more challenge to whittle it down from four to three finalists. To make that call, the producers bring in the time tested "Red Carpet" challenge. The contestants are heading out to LA in order to be inspired by...well LA basically, and create a Red Carpet ready look. They've got, dare I even say it, $400 and two days to get it done. But since all of their work and construction is being done in LA, they don't have the benefit of a model fitting before the runway. So I guess there's that. I'm torn about something here: I'm pretty sure that in PR history, the challenges tended to go from more time and more money in the beginning to less time and money as the season went on. In other words, the challenges got harder instead of easier. Going from one day to two day challenges feels like the opposite of that and it bugs me. But on the other hand, the early one day challenges do a good job of culling dead weight and exposing some of the less capable designers quickly. So maybe that's a good thing? Furthermore, the fact of the matter is to make a solid Avant Garde or Red Carpet ready look, you need at least two days in PR time. But still, it feels backwards to me.

Everyone arrives in LA to be told that the winner of this challenge will also be rewarded with 100 free nights at any Best Western in the entire world. If you've ever stayed in a Best Western, then chances are, like me, you were wondering if this was a reward or a punishment. But everyone at least seems to be rather excited for it, so good for them, I guess.

There's a trip to LA's Mood where the camera was very fond of cutting to shots of their own dog who clearly was not Swatch and therefor not at all worthy of screen time. At Mood, Edmond comes across a very....let's say busy fabric that he likes but isn't sure he should take a chance on. Tim tells him to go for it because now isn't the time to play it safe. Last episode, I mentioned that I thought Ashley was getting a little extra help and attention from Tim. This week, I'm following that thought up by saying that I actively think Tim is trying to sabotage other contestants. This is more of a conspiracy theory than an actual belief, but hear me out.

So the designers get to their LA workrooms, and get to work. Kelly's got this brilliant and elaborate idea to create her own textile by cutting her fabric into triangles and then layer some other fabric on top of it, and just doing all this work that is clearly ambitious and stands to be a knockout if successful. Ashley's also got a shiny shimmering fabric and plans to push herself with this cool asymmetrical dress. Candice is doing this standard black dress (surprise surprise) that stands to be gorgeous anyway. And Edmond is doing nothing. Literally, he spends the entire first day staring at the crazy fabric Tim told him to buy and does nothing with it because he feels like it doesn't speak to him as a designer. With the day pretty much fully gone, he uses some of the supplemental fabric he's bought to start making a different dress.

Edmond works on said dress for pretty much all of the second day until Tim comes in for visits with around seven hours left before their work time is up. He offers very solid guidance to Candice. Actually, he does little more than stand there and allow her to say what they're both thinking and make the decisions she should have been making all along. It's a pretty wonderful moment if I'm being honest. But it's followed up by him meeting with Ashley and giving her so much advice that it almost feels like he's designing her dress for her. He also says, and I quote, “I don’t want you to be the one to not make it." He's referring to the fact that a slip up at this point in the competition after putting in so much hard work will be enough to keep her out of the finale. But my question is, if you don't want Ashley to not make the cut, then who is it that you honestly wouldn't mind being left behind at this point? As Mentor, shouldn't Tim be at the point where he's rooting for them all? Was that a bit of a slip up on his part admitting that Ashley's his favorite?

Well he moves on to Kelly who's doing that great stuff with creating her own textile and trying to work it into the dress part of her Red Carpet dress, but Tim asks her if she wouldn't rather be doing pants... Listen, there's no "dress" or "gown" type of requirement for a Red Carpet look. Indeed, a quick Google search returns a load of results of actual celebrities wearing pants on the Red Carpet. And if Kelly pulls it off, it has the ability to be a stunning and bold choice that will wow people, right? But when this happened in the moment, I was left thinking that this is not sound advice from the group's mentor. I can't say that I felt totally confident that Nina and Heidi, purists that they tend to be a lot of the time, would really go for a jumper on the Red Carpet.

Then it's back to Edmond who has the makings of a fine, albeit boring, dress in his simple supplemental fabric and a full untouched few yards of the more extreme fabric that Tim liked. And of course Tim tells him he's going to be so much better off using the crazy fabric than the other. A crazy fabric that he might have liked a little in Mood but that seriously is not inspiring him as a designer at all. And Tim's big advice is "Fuck it, use that fabric anyway, your intuition and inspiration be damned!" Again, I couldn't help but to wonder if this was good advice. Or at the very least, is it advice on par with what he's given Ashley?

This is all just speculation, so it's fine if no one agrees with it. To his credit, Tim does tell Edmond that his best bet with that fabric is to create something simple and form fitting and let the fabric itself be the wow factor the look needs. So in theory, all Edmond has to do is follow that advice and he'd be pretty good. But of course after a full day of no ideas, he finds himself a bit panicked and perhaps with too many ideas on the second day and he can't help but to continue hacking away at the perfectly suitable dress he made at first. He makes it shorter and shorter until it resembles nothing of its former shelf and also nothing anyone would ever want to wear. Or at least that was my thought in the workroom. I held out hope for the possibility that the dress would be better on the model and on the runway.

Everyone flies back to New York where they have limited time to have a quick fitting, get their models all done up and pretty and accessorized, and then rushed off to the runway. Seeing his look on his model, Edmond decides that it needs to be even shorter, which is the opposite of true, and Kelly has moment where she doesn't think she'll be able to zip her model up into the pants, but she does and it's no big deal. Off to the runway where Christian Siriano is our guest judge, and how great was it to see him again? He and Kelly Osbourne are easily the best guest judges we've had this season.

The Runway:

Ashley: I like it. I wish she could have got the fit right without needing the strap, but I like the concept a lot and I think it’s pretty well executed honestly. I think the asymmetry and the split between the corset and the other side of the top is sexy and smart. I like the split in the skirt too. I think she's show the right amount of skin to be sexy without being trashy at all. I don’t know that it would make any best dressed lists, but I like it.

Kelly: The first moment that it turns the corner and she just stands there for a second, I love it! I think it looks chic, well made, it fits wonderfully, and she looks powerful. Kelly thought about this and that thought and planning shines through in something that I think is a bit of a wow moment. I do not, however, see Red Carpet anywhere on this look at all, and I can’t help but to think that a jumpsuit was the wrong way to go. She took a chance, and I respect that, but even though they look well made, I’m not feeling the pants. There's also a weird thing the top is doing when she walks where it peels away from her body in a stiff and flat movement that makes me think it's made of plastic or something. 

Candice: This is beautiful, and lovely, and elegant, and chic, and yet still feels horribly safe to me. It’s not edgy, or horribly innovative. It’s black, which I’m sick of seeing from Candice at this point, and it feels like a silhouette we’ve seen on the runway a million times before. But nothing detracts from how beautiful and well made and generally breathtaking I think it is. I think this could be on the Red Carpet right now and it would turn heads and make lists in all the best ways, but I don’t think we’d be talking about it so much as a day later. And all I keep thinking is how much better it would be if it were a shiny silver color instead of black. That train is fabulous though!

Edmond: I fucking hate this. I hate it so fucking much. Kill it with fire! It wouldn’t surprise me if Heidi likes it, sadly, but I fucking hate it. The sleeves are hideous, it’s way too short, and the darts in the front are so fucking distracting and sloppy looking. What Tim wanted him to do with this fabric was make a simple gown and let the fabric do all of the heavy lifting and make the statement. And he just couldn’t do that. I think what he had on the dress form at first just needed an open back and it would have been perfect. But this thing is the worst thing I think I’ve ever seen.

The judges like Kelly's look more than I expected, but more important than that, she does something on the runway that totally changes everything: When she's talking about her look she says "Katy Perry" and "The VMA's," and as if those are the magic words, my entire interaction with this look changed. It's another moment where you can see how much she thought about this look and made a plan and then executed it perfectly. It also makes a point that I had been thinking for most of the episode: Red Carpet is not some catchall term that is universally applicable. The Grammy's, Emmy's, and Oscar's all are different award shows with different requirements and expectations on what is acceptable to wear. How many times have you seen something make a worst dressed list for the Oscar's that would have been best dressed on the Grammy's? In specifying which carpet she was designing for, as well as which celebrity she had in him, Kelly made her entire look make a level of sense that I didn't think it had before. If I liked her look before she talked about it, I loved it afterwards!

The judges make mention of how safe Candice's dress is, so we're on the same page on that one. Heidi and Christian like Ashley's dress a bit more than Nina and Zac do. And one thing I thought about Ashley dress was what if she had purposely moved the fabric on the sleeveless side of the top so that it had that cool silver effect that the fabric was capable of having while trying to keep the rest of the dress in that gold color? I don't know if I'm explaining this well, but in my head, she had a way to make it at least seem like those two portions of the top were made of two different fabrics, which is what she wanted to begin with, without actually having to make it out of two different fabrics. I don't know if it would have held up in the long run, but it was an idea that I kept coming to. 

They hate Edmond's look though they're at least polite enough not to suggest taking it out back and burning it like I would have. Everyone acknowledges how much of a disappointment it is from him since they all know he's better than that, but it's clear that they really hate the look. 

After that rundown, the moment we all knew was coming arrives and the designers are asked why they should go to NYFW and who'd they take with them. In truth, I cringed when this came around because I was so ready for everyone to throw Ashley under the bus and have her be left as the only person no one thought should move forward. Luckily, Edmond saves us all from the latest version of Ashley and the Mean Girls by acknowledging he'd take her with him. So Kelly and Candice leave Ashley out of their own personal top three, and Edmond and Ashley leave Candice out, making Kelly and Edmond the only universally chosen designers. 

But of course, Edmond loses the challenge and is sent home. I mean, it's almost like the judges weren't even listening to the designers on this one. Kelly wins which makes this her third win in a row. if there's any such thing as momentum in Project Runway, Kelly has all of it and she's the designer Ashley and Candice have to beat. Or is she the designer Ashley, Candice, and Edmond have to beat? The show makes a big deal of Heidi talking to Edmond and explaining how disappointed they all are in him before she kisses him off. And then he goes back to the greenroom to say his goodbyes and the episode cuts out. The preview for next week is just about the three girls and Tim's standard home visits and such, there's no sign of Edmond in them, but the lack of Edmond feels too forced and purposeful. Tim doesn't send Edmond to clean out his space as is customary for the end of the episode, and we know he hasn't used his save yet, which I think can only mean that Edmond gets saved at the beginning of next week's episode and no amount of attempted misdirection can convince me otherwise. 

There's no rule that says Tim has to use his save if he doesn't want to. But the obvious break in tradition from a show that's as clearly steeped in their catch phrases and sayings as this one is too much of a red flag to be ignored. At this point, I'm hoping Tim doesn't save him and it's all just one big Gotcha! from the producers. It would be refreshing to be wrong in this case. But PR has had four final contestants for a long time now and I can't imagine they'd go back to three now. And I can't be upset by the probability of Tim using his save here either. The fact is all four of these designers are equally matched. All four of them would create unique and interesting collections for NYFW, and thusly all four of them honestly deserve to be there. Or at least, they deserve to be there in as much as contestants on the show deserve to be there. We've already covered how I don't think calling them all equally talented is necessarily a compliment. But if Tim does indeed use his save here, I think it's the right call all around. The judges are right to send Edmond home for what he put down the runway this week, and Tim would be right to save him given what we've seen him do over the course of the season. Also, given how Tim clearly sabotaged his efforts at every turn this week, saving him is the least the old man can do. 

Loose Threads:

--What annoys me about the probability that Tim will save Edmond is that I think the judges are counting on it to a certain extent. He's the only person they talk about during their deliberation, and they know Tim still has his save, and all of their talk is really about how disappointed they all are. I think if Tim had used his save earlier, they would have gone with a cop out "We aren't sending anyone home this week, but you're on the bubble and if we don't like what we see from a selection of your collection when you get back, then we will send you home!" 

--Speaking of Tim's save, would it make sense if they forced him to use it at a certain point in time? Like if there was a stipulation that he had up until the top six to use it or it's taken off the table, would that be better? It's just something I was thinking about. 

--When asked about the difficulty of Edmond's look, Christian points out that he could make that dress in 10 minutes. Can you imagine how much Christian would have wiped the floor with these contestants if he'd been on this season? I've droned on and on about the talent level this year, but just seeing Christian again made me realize just how great he was in comparison to these jokers. I didn't even love Christian that much during his season, but he's a giant by comparison. 

--I mentioned that Christian and Kelly were the best guest judges this season, and going based on the previews, it seems the two of them will also be judges on Project Runway Juniors. You all know I don't watch the PR spinoffs as a general rule, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't thinking about tuning in to this this. It also looks like Tim will be there at least for an episode if not all season.

--In LA, Ashley and Edmond get their own rooms instead of bunking up. Can someone explain to me what PR has against co-ed rooming situations? In a show where 98% of the male contestants are all gay, would it really matter if they shared a room with the girls? Granted, I don't think Edmond is gay (though I could be wrong), but even so, would it really be a huge deal for him and Ashley to share a room for a night or so in LA?

Project Runway: S14 E11 "The Runway's in 3D"

I'm not going to lie, Runaways, I don't really know what to make of this. On the one hand, this has to
be the best episode we've had in quite some time, right? The challenge is engaging and inventive with unique elements added in to spice up something we've seen multiple times from the show. The looks are honestly all beautiful in their own way. And this is clearly the first challenge where you can see just how much dead weight has been cut from the show. There's no Swapnil here to pull focus, there's no out of left field type of edit. It's just an organic kind of episode that comes along in a drab season and reminds me of what I like about this show even after 14 long seasons. But on the other hand, there's the ending, and I honestly don't know if I want to commend them for it or chastise them. But I guess before I get to the end I should start with the beginning.

At the top five, we've finally come to the PR staple of the Avant Garde challenge. I know how this often leads to so much speculation about what Avant Garde actually means such as it relates to fashion, but let's shelve that discussion once and for all. Because after so many years, I think it's clear what Avant Garde means to Project Runway. But this is also a rather special Avant Garde challenge as it's incorporating 3D printing into the look and stealing from that other PR staple: the design your own textile challenge. So the designers are to be inspired by one of the three iconic bridges in New York to create an Avant Garde look while also creating 3D elements to be printed on fabric and incorporated into those looks. They have $200 for a trip to Mood, and two days for the challenge. It's a lot to take in, but I can't help but to think it's all the right choice. Avant Garde looks require money and time and a unique perspective, and to their credit the producers gave the designers all of those things.

At Mood, we see Kelly choosing horrible fabric, but with a clear cut reason behind it, Ashley choosing beautiful fabric for the first time in weeks, and Candice finally not choosing black. Although she goes back for a little black at the end, and who can blame her? The most interesting thing here is Tim seeming to stick close to Ashley and remark about how much he likes her fabric selection. Again it's possible that he does this for other designers too and it just doesn't make the edit, but I was left wondering if there isn't some clear cut favoritism happening on Tim's part for Ashley. She got the extra time with her client last challenge when Swapnil didn't, and after two challenges in a row of choosing horrible fabric, she gets him over her shoulder here pointing out that she's making a good choice? It's highly possible I'm reading too much into it, but these shouldn't even be questions we have at this point, so who's fault is that?

In the workroom, everyone pretty much just gets to work and seems to know what direction they're heading in. It's the most efficient we've seen the group and it left me wondering if Swapnil's lack of motivation wasn't dragging the other designers down too. I don't know if that's the case, but I do know that this is one moment where they all seem to be on point and have solid things created by the end of the first day. Also there's a visit by the person who runs the 3D printing place so they can all go over what the techs created based on their previous sketches for the textile. I don't know why that last minute consultation before things started being printed was important to me, but something about making sure the designers could give a final OK before everything was printed and couldn't be taken back was nice.

Day two is as seamless as day one was, and it's moments like these that make my job here really hard. There's nothing to say, nothing to really talk about, no drama to speak of. Tim comes in and has way more positive things to say than negative. Ashley needs to work on better combining her two pieces so they look like the same outfit, and it sounds to me like he's convincing himself to like Kelly's look more so than actually liking it, but still. The highlight of Tim's visit for me is the time he spends with Merline. It's no secret that this should be Merline's challenge in the same way the last week's should have been Ashley's. Being inspired by pieces of architecture to create an architectural dress has Merline written all over it. I think Merline's first word as a baby was architecture. So everyone judges her a little more harshly because the bar is a bit higher. But when Tim comes over, he doesn't throw her design under the bus because the basis of it really is solid. However he does draw her attention to certain construction based issues that she's clearly too close to the dress to be able to see on her own. He points out the thin line between purposefully messy and mistake level messy and says that the shapes on the bottom of her dress are more the former. It's really the reason Tim Gunn is there, and it all just works out really well.

Ashley decides that she needs another element to her look to add a kind of wow factor and push it into the Avant Garde realm. She decides a poncho is the way to go. My immediate thought was that she wanted to take her look to the next level and so she decided to cover most of it up... thats just weird. But the poncho/cape thing actually works, kind of, so there's that. The hardest decision she's left with is how to use her 3D printed materials. Back when Laurie was still with us, I said that her biggest downfall was that she tended to have one idea and then when that didn't work, she was left floundering and trying to just throw something together. That's what I feel about Ashley here too. Where Edmond says that he doesn't know how he'll use his 3D design until he has it in his hands and something will come to him, Ashley just never seems to have an idea. She has an idea for her overall look, but not for how to use the 3D aspect of the challenge. And so she's left just staring at them for awhile-ostensibly thinking about what to do next. It feels like a look into how brain power and fresh ideas can often be a limited resource, and maybe Ashley's exhausted her tank and is just running on empty now.

The model fitting happens without a hitch, and you have to be a bit amazed by just how well everything fit. Considering how dependent on a tight fit Ashley, Edmond, and Candice's looks all are, it's wonderful that they hit that home run on the first time out. The model fitting is also the first time you can see the more sculpted aspect of Edmond's dress, and that's what takes it out of the realm of a simple black dress and puts it more into the Avant Garde. I wasn't in love with Edmond's look until I saw it in the model fitting, and then it took my breath away. But if I'm going to talk about the looks, we might as well head to the runway and get it over with.

The Runway:

Merline: I think it’s nice, but I also think it makes more sense in Merline’s head than it does in practice. I like the idea of shifting from two to three dimensions, but I think the presence of the 3d printed stuff on the top kind of negates that. I think if there could have been one portion of the dress that was totally 2d, it would have worked more. but the finished product is still nice. The color is great, I love the length of the skirt for some reason, and I think it looks well put together. I think some aspects of the skirt look more accidentally haphazard than purposeful, but still. 

Edmond: This is perfect on a level that’s just ridiculous. I think the smartest thing here is the fact that he doesn’t do the 3d printed aspects on both of the straps on the front. Putting them only on one was genius. And then all down the back was also genius. This dress fits her like it’s no one’s business, and the sculpted parts on the skirt are fantastic. And the vail he made is just to die for. You can always tell just how much he's thinking about his looks. I couldn’t love this more if I tried. 

Ashley: I think sticking with the 3d printed stuff on just the shoulders was the wrong way to go. If she could have brought them all the way around the back, that might have been better, but the placement is all wrong. I also think it would have been interesting to place them on the bottom of the poncho and give it a little more weight maybe. But other than that I like the look. I like the movement, and I think the two pieces under the poncho are great. I’d like to see her take it the poncho off while walking and let’s see the rest of the look, but still. 

Candice: Man oh man! The corset lacing in the back! The shine on that fabric! The fit of this dress! This is great! If I have a complaint, it’s that I’d like for the hem to maybe flair out more if possible into more of a firm hoop like shape, and I think the neck is odd. I know she planned on going with a more structured neckline, but I guess she tossed that idea for some reason. I love this so much!

Kelly: I like it. I’d like the 3d printed material to be a different color than the fabric she chose so it could stand out more. As is, I think those details get lost in the rest of the dress. But I think this is nice. She went literal, and it’s not the most overwhelming thing on the runway (which I think is saying something all things considered) but it also doesn’t feel like a costume to me. I like it. 

Nina's the harshest judge during the critiques, but it's pretty obvious the judges liked everything they saw tonight. Ashley's rightfully called out for the placement, as well as the design, of her 3D printed material. Heidi and Zac point out that Merline's look reminds them of Kini's umbrella dress from last year, and the look is a bit too safe for her, but it's still pretty. Nina doesn't care as much for Candice and Edmond's gowns as they don't scream Avant Garde to her, but the other's like them and they all agree that Candice has the best use of the 3D printed material out of everyone. Kelly's look pops for me on the runway when Nina gets the model to turn around and we see the lacing detail is on the side as well as the front. I hadn't noticed that before and it was a really nice surprise. 

Of course with Kelly taking the biggest risk and creating something that was so much more extreme than anyone else, she gets the win. Again, we know what Avant Garde means to Project Runway enough that anyone could have called that from a mile away. The slightly more surprising result is the decision to send Merline home. Not because her look wasn't the worst thing out there. Grading on the curve that is the overall brilliance of all the designs, I think it's fair to say that Merline's is the most underwhelming. And again, given who she's been all season long, the bar was maybe a bit higher for her this week. I'm honestly surprised that they sent anyone home at all. I'm equally surprised that Tim didn't use his save here. There's no talk of this being the episode that determines who's going to NYFW, so clearly they're ostensibly planning on a top three this year. It makes sense given how low the overall talent level was that you'd want to just bring three designers into the finale for the first time in a long long time. But this was also the first episode we've had where everything was honestly beautiful and worth sticking around over. 

This is a good thing for the show as it means we might finally be at a point where the remaining designers are taking this seriously and the talent level has finally been kicked up a notch. At this stage in the competition, everything we see should be great and the decision on who to send home should be harder and harder. That hasn't been the case until now. And so on the one hand, I want to commend the judges for doing their jobs and making the hard decision. On the other hand, as a fan of the show who has put up with the middling talent level of this season for 11 long episodes, I kind of want it to last a bit longer. So there was a part of me that was hoping the judges, or maybe just Tim Gunn, would say "You know what, you've all done too good a job to warrant sending anyone home today. Everyone's safe, and we'll go at it again next time." The interesting thing is that given Jake's choice to leave the competition a few episodes back, they should actually be ahead of schedule. That means they could afford to go one week without sending anyone home and it wouldn't be a big deal, right? But they don't do that here and it feels like another missed opportunity. Oh well, Merline is all smiles as she goes, and you can tell she was honestly fine with going home on something she truly believed in, and she was happy to have made it this far. And then there were four. It seems like next week will be for all the chips, I guess. 

Loose Threads:

--At the beginning of the episode, the designers talk about Swapnil going home and Candice and Kelly can't seem to fathom how someone could just give up like that. At each point that they make such a statement, the camera pans to Ashley for a reaction shot and I can't figure out why. She doesn't have any particular kind of expression on her face, and she's clearly not about to give up so there's no real subtext to it, so what the hell?

--When was the last time we saw Swatch? I'm getting worried!

--Did anyone else think they've been sitting on this 3D printing idea ever since Justin's final collection a couple years back?

--Candice points out that Kelly's really grown as a designer on this show, and I couldn't agree more. She didn't make any kind of impression on me at all until recently, and when she did, she started winning. It's a great transformation. And two wins back to back this close to the end bodes very well for her. 

--Speaking of Candice, guest judge Mel B asks if she can wear Candice's dress to an event she's got coming up. I mean, Kelly wins and gets a 3D printer (a 3d printer valued at $1000 I might add), but Candice gets her look worn by a celebrity on a red carpet somewhere! I don't know which is the bigger deal, but I'm leaning towards Candice. 

--There was a solid amount of time during the closer look where Zac just had his hand on Ashley's model's thigh. She's wearing very little fabric, and he's basically grouping her. Seriously, Zac, keep your hands to yourself. 

Project Runway: S14 E10 "Crew's All In"

In it's 14th season, it's safe to say that the "real woman" challenge has become a PR staple. But I think the truth is that the show's pretty much never really done it "right." Or maybe right isn't the best term here; suffice it to say I can't think of a "real woman" challenge that hasn't been at least slightly off putting. Which on one hand really isn't PR's fault. By it's very nature, these makeover based challenges have to be a bit problematic. You're taking real live people and telling them they need a makeover by a (pseudo) professional designer. There's really no way to do that gracefully or tactfully. But maybe that very makeover aspect of the challenge is the problem?

What I mean by that is there's an entire industry within fashion that's dedicated to "plus-size" models. Granted, in the modeling industry, "plus-size" can often just mean anything above a size zero or so, but still. If the core of these challenges is about seeing if the designers can both design a flattering look for someone not of typical model proportions, and can keep their vision while still serving a client, then why not hire models from these agencies, tell them they're the clients, and let the designers design for them?

The more important question is why, after 14 seasons, do I still have to try and fix Project Runway? I guess that's neither here nor there. This year, the designers are told they'll be making over one of the PR crew members. On the one hand, I'd love to know how the selection process for who would be getting the makeovers went. Was the crew asked who'd want to be a part of it and then offer their consent, were people randomly selected, or was it just a backstage bitch fest about who needs the makeover the most? But on the other hand, I'm sure the answer would make me lose even more faith in everything, so I'm best not knowing.

Swapnil and Merline get the clearest loser edits of the episode as from the start their meetings with their clients go horribly. Merline's client starts off by saying how much she didn't want to be paired with Merline, and how uninterested in Merline's "architectural" design aesthetic she is. Merline suggests making a coat in her typical fashion, the client shoots that idea down, Merline makes it anyway. In other words, they're off to a great start. Swapnil's client explains how simple and paired down she likes her looks to be, Swapnil says she should be more of a bombshell. She says that's not her, but he puts his fingers in his ears and basically yells "Lalala, I'm not listening, I know you better than you know yourself," and goes on to sketch up and design something she could never be happy in.

For this challenge, everyone is given $200, a trip to Mood, and two days. The Project Runway producers spare no expense when it comes to trying to make their frumpy employees into people they can stand to look at everyday. And good for them. But of course, like clockwork, as soon as two days are mentioned for the challenge, cue Swapnil doing nothing for long stretches of time and taking multiple smoke breaks. He neither utilizes his time well, nor creates something his client would want. It's really obvious by this point that it's time for him to go.

As if to make it even more obvious, Tim visits and meets with everyone. Everything is horrible in one way or another, and no one's client is truly happy. I'm going to take this moment to remind everyone that this is the tenth episode of the season; the contestants left comprise this season's top six. Ostensibly, these are the six best designers that tried out for and made it on to Project Runway's 14th season. Let that sink in for a bit before you then remember/realize that NONE of them managed to create a look in over a day (in more time than they usually have for any given challenge) that could impress either Tim or their client.

But I was talking about Swapnil's loser edit for the episode, so let's get back to that. Tim saves Swapnil for last in his critiques, and wouldn't you know it, multiple times the camera cuts to Swapnil standing around, listening to the other designer's critiques, and waiting for Tim to get to him. Eventually, while he's meeting with someone else, Tim looks over to Swapnil and asks him WTF he thinks he's doing. Swapnil says he's waiting, Tim says he needs to be working, and that's that. By the time Tim finally gets there, we see that Swapnil has created the exact opposite of what his client wants, and he hasn't even crafted it to such a point that it's ready to be tried on by said client. So all they can do is look at it on the dress form and question what the hell is wrong with this man. And so arrives the fabled Tim Gunn F-bomb of season 14. It comes after he calls Swapnil's excuses "bullshit" and then proceeds to ask him "What's the fucking point?"

After Swapnil sputters out a little more bullshit, Tim takes his client and leaves without giving them the chance to chat and recenter Swapnil on the best course. So here's where things get a little bit dicey to me. Swapnil clearly wasn't communicating with his client, and there's a good chance that no matter what she said, he wouldn't have heard her and wouldn't have produced something to her liking anyway. However, not five minutes earlier, after Ashley had yet another breakdown and her client wasn't happy, Tim makes it a point to say he's going to step away and leave them alone to come up with a course of action that suits them both. Ashley and her client come up with a new outfit in that span of time. Swapnil has been screwing himself in this challenge and has no one else to blame, but in the interest of fairness, doesn't he deserve the same opportunity that Ashley (and presumably the other designers too) got? In short: is it actually fair that Tim Gunn, the man who is meant to be their mentor and their guide through the competition, ushers Swapnil's client from the workroom after his harsh critique and leaves Swapnil to figure it all out on his own? I've been questioning Tim's tactics all season long, and while I understand that he's frustrated with the effort and the talent level this season, I can't say that I agree with this move. It may not have made a damn bit of difference, but I think he has to leave Swapnil and his client alone to talk it out a bit more. I wouldn't be saying that if we hadn't seen him do so for Ashley.

Tim comes back in right after the meetings, explains why he's being so tough on them all, and then promises they'll have a second fitting towards the end of the day. This gives them their whole second day to, in most cases, make entirely new looks and then have time for another fitting and a few more hours for final touches. All told, it's still more time than they generally get for anything else, so everything should come off without a hitch.

Swapnil starts work on a new look, the late night fitting comes around, and his client hates the new look as well. You could argue that she was being a bit inflexible, but more importantly she told him specfically what she didn't want, she told him this multiple times, and he proceeded to give her what she didn't want with two outfits in a row. So really, who can blame her for being upset about it? There's something to be said for compromise, but there's also a big difference between an actual compromise (where both parties give up a little something) and sheer capitulation, which is what Swapnil wants. With two and a half hours left in the day, he has to make a third look in the hopes that it's closer to what she wants. Spoiler alert: it isn't.

The Runway:

Ashley: I haven't even mentioned Ashley yet as Swapnil kind of floored me this entire episode, but this is a challenge everyone thinks Ashley should have in the bag, and then she sends this down the runway... It was clear from the moment she left Mood that the fabric choice was 100% wrong (the second challenge in a row that she's made that mistake), but then on top of everything else, the fit is unflattering, and the design is old and boring. We all wanted to know what would happen when Ashley got a "real woman" challenge, and now we do and still wish we didn't.

Candice: Yeah that happened. I'm sorry, but I'm seriously flabbergasted by this. I can't even begin to know what to say. My initial intention was just to write "Sigh" here and move on, but is that even possible? How could she ever have thought that this was an acceptable thing to do? Her taste level has just flown away in the night, and this is astonishingly bad.

Edmond: This is another case, for me, of two great pieces from Edmond that just don't go together. I'm upset that the photoset Lifetime has uploaded doesn't show the actual coat because without it on, it's impossible to see 1) how nice it is, and 2) just where this outfit fails, which is in the pairing of the two. There also appears to be some fit issues on the skirt, and the top doesn't photograph in a manner that shows off just how brilliant it is, but his client looks strong and capable and happy in her look, and I can see a real person being interested in buying that dress. I think fewer people would be interested in the coat by itself, but that's not to say that I don't like it.

Kelly: Kelly was lucky that the only real problem with her first look was a fit and tailoring problem. All she really had to do was lower the waist and create the vest and she was good to go, and good for her too as this finished product is pretty great. I don't know how much it embodies the makeover aspect of the challenge since it's pretty much just a higher end version of what her client would be wearing on her own, but the outfit is killer nonetheless. And it looks great on her.

Merline: This is my personal favorite look of the night. It's also the look the best embodies compromise. Her client specifically said she didn't want the jacket that Merline created at first, and so what does she do? She refashions it into a killer vest. Paired with the two pieces underneath it, which are both just smokin' hot and super sophisticated, and you've got a seriously winning combination. And her client fully owned it on the runway. This was a woman you could tell was happy and feeling sexy in her skin because of what Merline did for her. I love this to no end.

Swapnil: I honestly don't know what to say about this. I think the final piece that he sends down the runway is not the most horrible thing I've ever seen on the show, but I do think it's stupid conceptually, and a bit boring. Though I don't hate the skirt, and I probably wouldn't hate the top without that stupid cape attachment. The main problem with it is how unhappy his client is, and it's impossible to separate what I think about the overall design of the thing and what she clearly feels about it. He gets an F for working with his client, and a C- on construction and design.

Swapnil, Ashley and Candice are in the bottom, and as has been the case for awhile now, the judges have both good and bad, though perhaps more good than bad, things to say about Edmond, Kelly, and Merline'e looks. To his credit, Swapnil says all the right things on the runway yet again. He talks about his poor time management, and his inability to really deliver on what his client actually wanted. He doesn't come out and say that he was trying to get her to see something in herself that he saw in her, but that's probably for the best as no amount of seeming altruism could save him on that front. Zac, who's been over Swapnil for quite some time now, admits that he's bored with Swapnil's one trick pony routine, but they all believe in his talent level.

They also come down pretty hard on Ashley who should have rocked this and yet failed horribly. They're all a bit sick of the crying and the self doubt, and I honestly don't know what to say about all of it. I love Ashley, and I probably always will on some level, and I don't want to make light of how she's struggling to have the kind of confidence that her success on the show thus far demands of her. But I do also understand the desire to grab her by her shoulders and shake her a bit. She's won multiple challenges, she's made it to the top five, she's about a step away from making it to the finale, what on earth has to happen before she finally gets out of her own way and accepts that she's here because she deserves to be?

During the closer look at the designs, the judges tease the possibility of a double elimination, but it was obvious they wouldn't pull the trigger on it. First off, they've gone to that well too often for the threat to hold any real meaning; secondly, I can't imagine that this late in the competition they'd allow the top four to be decided with a swooping double elimination. However, there's a very simple reason why they should have gone with a double auf: The Tim Gunn save would have been put into play to save the second designer. Obviously Swapnil goes home here (Kelly wins incidentally), but that leaves Ashley and Candice both sweating it out on the runway in Swapnil's wake. Given what we've seen from her lately, it seems clear that Candice is a lock to make it to NYFW and she could even win the whole thing. Shocking since back when we were all calling for multiple eliminations to cull the dead weight, she was easily on my chopping block. Ashley has faltered a bit these last couple weeks, but the judges do believe in her and it's also clear she's set for the finale assuming she can right the ship and ride it out. So there's no way that Tim would let either of them go here. It's the most dramatic move possible, not because they'd send two people home, but because it would require Tim, after his profanity laden outburst from earlier, to stand in the greenroom and look Swapnil in the eye and tell him he's sending him to the workroom to clean up his space after he'd told either Candice or Ashley that he thought they were worth saving.

I don't generally argue for drama for drama's sake on this show, but this is one moment where it could have been worth it. Also, let's say Ashley was the designer they decided to send home with Swapnil. Maybe Tim using his save on her would have been just the jolt she needed to kick it in gear and really solidify her place amongst the designers. And if it had been Candice, I think it would have been the proper punishment for what she sent down the runway this week.

It doesn't happen, so it's a moot point either way, but what a missed opportunity. In any event, here we are. We've got our top five designers, and we should be about a week away from deciding who will be making collections to show at NYFW. After so many years of the top four all making it to the finale, I can't help but to assume four of these five people will be going as well. It's too bad because they really are all equally talented and by that logic should all make it to the finale. But even if they did, I can't think of a group of collections I'd be less excited for than these.

Loose Threads:

--There was an extended hair consultation for this challenge and I really couldn't tell you what was said in it. Not because I wasn't paying attention, as is my custom during these things, but just because I couldn't take my eyes off the hair guy (I learned here that his name is Greg). The dirty dirty things I'd like to do to that man.

--I think these last few episodes have solidified my thoughts about a general season long edit and how useful it could be. Swapnil's smoking habit and generally lax attitude towards work would have been seriously useful information to have earlier than we had it, and since it led to his ultimate downfall, it could have been a strong story to follow all the way through.

--There's a great, and obviously staged, shot in this episode of Swapnil re-sketching his look. He's sitting on the couch in the background, and a pack of cigarettes is sitting on the coffee table in the foreground. It's obvious and on the nose, but I loved it in spite of myself and wish I had had the presence of mind to screenshot it and use it as the image for this recap.

--Has Tim ever sent someone home in as chilly a manner as he did this week, or was it just me?

--Speaking of Tim, at this point, should we assume he just won't end up using the save at all? If he doesn't, would we consider that to be more of a good thing or a bad thing for the show?

--Merline seems like the odd woman out for the top four to me, but I also think she has the ability to turn it on at the right moment. I also think Ashley and Candice have the ability to slip up at the wrong moment and screw themselves out of a place in the top four. So I guess that means that Kelly and Edmond are the only two I think are a lock to move on. Though I think the most shocking thing that could happen at all would be Tim uses his save next week, and they somehow have to figure out a way to let five people show in the finale, or at least send them all off to make collections with the promise that one of them will go home before NYFW anyway.

Project Runway: S14 E7 "Haute Tech Couture"

I said last week that I thought Project Runway was in the midst of a change or some kind of identity
crisis. This is mostly due to the odd choices they are making on a week to week basis. It's not that the show is bad, and at a certain point in time, I should probably stop pointing that out. It seems like I might be trying to convince myself of this truth more so than convince the rest of you, but I also think it's true. In the past, we've seen this show be really bad, and it looks very different from this when it is. The right people are still going home from week to week, and there's no Sandy here racking up unearned wins. The judging's been consistent, and the fact that they've locked in Zac and Nina on each week is for the better. But there's seriously something odd about the small things they're doing here, or is it just me?

For example: this week the designers wake up and find an old school boombox in their rooms with a cassette tape from Heidi featuring a recorded message. The message is basically congratulating them on figuring out how to work this ancient machine, and then dropping a cryptic hint about what their challenge is. Why? What purpose does this serve? What follows is a short moment of speculation from the designers about what their challenge might be, but then they all just leave and immediately head out to find out what their challenge is.

Allow me to digress here for a bit onto one of my very very favorite topics ever. In the fourth Harry Potter book, Harry and the other Champions in the Triwizard Tournament are given golden eggs which contain hints about their second task in the tournament. The champions are tasked with figuring out the clue, solving the riddle, and then creating a plan of attack for the next task. They have months to do so, and presumably the quicker you can figure out what the next challenge is, the more prepared and better served you'll be to tackle it. So in this case you can see how the early cryptic clue is meant to work: it challenges the Champions' mental faculties to figure out what it means in the first place, and then gives them time to come up with a plan of action. To get back onto the topic of Project Runway, when have we ever seen the cryptic message from Heidi prior to a challenge have that kind of effect? The contestants get it, and then moments later are told outright what their challenge is. So what's the point of it at all? At this point the show is just doing it because they've always done it, and that's not a reason to do anything.

So they all meet at the dump and Tim tells them they're going to use outdated technology from the dumpster to create a modern and fashionable look. It's simple and straight forward and everything before this moment was a waste of time. I know that PR doesn't think time is valuable, but I certainly think that my time is valuable, so maybe don't waste it?

Added into the odd, but maybe not detrimental, choices is that while everyone's running around to get their supplies, the producers decided it'd be cute to put up these odd and ugly 90s inspired flash words naming the outdated supplies they were rifling through. Words like "Floppy Disk!" and "Vinyl Records!" It's like the "Bam!" and "Pow!" flashes from an old Batman show, and it serves no purpose. Is it the worst thing ever? No. But what purpose does it serve other than being an ugly distraction?

The overall feeling of these last two episodes in one of the producers being out of ideas. They're trying to throw stuff at the wall to see what sticks, and they're failing. Last week, it seemed like they thought asking the designers to create a bra and panty set would be just the most scandalous and dramatic thing ever in and of itself, but when they didn't get the desired effect they kind of said, Oh shit, and then panicked a bit. The sad thing about it this week is that the episode actually opens with a nice bit of natural drama. The team wakes up and debriefs about Blake leaving, and Jake is conspicuously absent. It's a prime moment for a sit down about how he feels having made it through the cut while Blake didn't, but we don't hear from or see him at all. He's there when they head to get their supplies, but he's in the background mostly and seems a bit despondent, but while everyone else gets confessional moments about where they are and what they're doing, the man from the bottom two last week doesn't get a moment.

The designers get back to the workroom and spend what seems like an inordinate amount of time working before Tim comes in to just remind them of the rules, and remind them of what's expected from an unconventional materials challenge, and that's when Jake speaks up for the first time and asks Tim for meeting. Turns out his dog is in bad shape and will need to be put down. As a result of that, he feels the need to go home and spend these last moments with him. I might be biased as a serious dog lover, but I think this is totally the right choice to make. Project Runway is a big deal and a great opportunity, but it's not worth missing last moments with a loved one. Had Jake come out and been like "I miss my boyfriend, and want to go home!" I would have rolled my eyes and moved on. This is a perfectly reasonable reason to back out of the competition to me, and it's a very emotional and important moment with grander implications for the competition. This is the better and more naturally dramatic point of the episode, and could have created a bit more of an emotional center for things if they'd used it as such.

But the thing is it's fleeting at best. It's one quick moment and then it's done, it's not touched on or talked about again until we get to the runway. On the one hand, the editors and producers of this show have to work with what they're given. Jake's exit comes at a moment when everyone's too focused on the challenge to really engage with it, and perhaps he wasn't the most loved contestant to begin with, so even if he had left after finishing half of a look, they still wouldn't have talked about it too much. Either way, I was left thinking it didn't get the attention it deserved.

Tim comes in and is mostly impressed with where everyone's going. Ashley spends time talking about what she's done to the pictures she found and what she's thinking about doing with them, and I was left thinking that she might honestly be a genius. The closest thing to this that I think we've seen in awhile was Sean's rainway dress from last season. It was well thought out and if it's as well executed, it could be a wow moment. It won't be quite the jaw drop that Sean's look was, but it bespeaks the same level of thought, innovation, and creativity that that look did.

The interesting thing about Tim Gunn visits on unconventional challenges is that so much of what's going on will depend on final execution. He tells Lindsey that he likes the fact that they can see the type on the keyboard buttons she's using for her top, but that's not an early critique on her look, just this one aspect of it because that's all he's got so far. When you look at something like what Joseph and Candice are doing, it's easy to say you're impressed with their ideas and the direction they're going in, but it all will depend on the final execution. We'll circle back around to that.

It's at this point that the episode takes an odd turn though as Swapnil gets the strangest edit we've seen in awhile. After he finally figures out how to make his cord and wire do what he wants it to do, he doesn't do a damn thing for the rest of the episode. He takes a bunch of smoke breaks, dance breaks, food breaks, and just generally spends time goofing off, but he doesn't do anything at all in an effort to create a skirt. It doesn't seem like he's lacking for ideas on a skirt, but it seems like he's lacking for any desire to go about creating one at all. He mentions to one of the other contestants that his strategy thus far has been to just be safe each week, then get into the top, and then end out on a string of wins. There's two ways to look at this: 1) if he hasn't been giving his top effort in hopes of just being safe lately, and yet he's been in the top so many weeks in a row, just imagine how great he'll be when he really turns it on! 2) If he hasn't been giving his top effort so far, then is he actually taking any of this seriously, and if not then why should he stick around?

Jake leaves this episode because of some serious personal trauma he has to deal with, but the whole time you can see how tough it is for him to choose to leave this great opportunity. Meantime, Swpnil seems to think this is all fun and games. It's an odd disconnect for a contestant to have, and it left me wondering if he wasn't getting a loser's edit early on. In the end, he paints some stuff on a piece of muslin for the skirt and rests on his well constructed top to carry the look.

The day ends with no one really having anything finished, and then the morning of the runway sees a lot of people working to finish, but without the usual frantic energy that comes from this point in the challenge. Everyone's just kind of walking around languidly, and for all of their talk about how unfinished they are, no one at all seems to have a fire under their ass to complete their looks. It added to the odd discordant note of the entire episode. I don't know who to blame for this, but it all just felt off. On to the runway.

The Runway:

Swapnil: Is it pretty? Sure. But does the skirt look like he haphazardly painted all over some muslin? Yes. Does that detract from the entire look? I’m not sure. There’s so much work that went into the top that I think you can give him a pass on the bottom, but still. It’s a nearly perfect look if only he could have dedicated enough time and attention to both pieces.

Edmond: Not going to lie: I love it. I really like how controlled but random the keys on the bottom are. For it to look more thought out and symmetrical on top and then just go into that pattern on the skirt is pretty brilliant. And that plunging neck is super sexy. 

Lindsey: Boring, and the skirt is hideous.

Candice: I question the construction. And the hardest thing for these unconventional material challenges is to get any kind of movement whatsoever, and she fails in that. But are the cords or whatever she used well placed? Yes. And that creates a look and a textile that really works and I appreciate. It’s not great, but it certainly looks like her, and it’s not boring, so that’s good. 

Laurie: I want to like this so much, and there’s a lot about it that I do like. I like the top, and I like the little peak of skin between the top and the skirt, but that cummerbund looking waistline is horrible and I hate it so very much that it makes me hate the entire look. I don’t know what she should have done differently with that, but she seriously should have done something different! Yikes!

Kelly: Love it! This is wearable right now, and I can see a real life woman who'd love to wear it. The way she put those pieces together to give that look such a texture is really amazing. It's not just the metallic sheen of it all, which is also great, it's really the texture of it that makes it look really well thought out and wonderfully executed.

Merline: This is another one that I want to like more than I actually do. I think it’s honestly just the flat color that I don’t care for. The shape of it I’m ok with, but I think the flat black of it all just doesn’t really work for me. I think the color scheme of the runway so far has been a lot of blue and black, and this is a look that also could have used a bit of the blue as accents. 

Joseph: My initial thought was that it’s the youngest and sexist thing he’s done so far, but the skirt was too long. But then I looked closer and saw where it fell on the model and I realized it isn’t too long, it’s that it makes her body look weird. I think maybe in separates or with some way to break it up around her tummy instead of just that one long piece would have been better? Or maybe just break up the pattern around there somehow. Either way, the continuous kind of just blue and black stripe all the way down made it look oddly proportioned to me. 

Ashley: I don’t want to downplay this at all. I think she did a great job of creating a print out of the pictures. And I certainly think that it’s cute and fun and kind of flirty, so I like all of that. But I also think it looks like she just glued a bunch of  pictures onto a muslin base. She thought a lot about where and how to glue them, so that’s good, but in the face of what Edmond or Laurie or even Joseph did in creating an actual dress out of their materials, it doesn't stand out quiet as much as it could. I love it, and I think it shows her brilliance and proves just how much she deserves to be here, but I'd like to see her push herself in the construction of it all just a bit more. 

Ashley, Kelly, and Edmond are tops, Joseph, Lindsey, and Swapnil are bottoms. Joseph and Lindsey are ripped for being boring while Swapnil is ripped for being lazy and not putting forth any effort. During the closer look at the clothes, Zac goes on and on about how upset Swapnil's lack of effort makes him. He sounds almost offended that he's here if he isn't even going to try. No mention about the multiple top three appearances aside from the judges talking about this being the reason why he hasn't won one yet. To his credit, when he's criticized and asked if he didn't have enough time to finish the skirt, he owns up to the fact that everyone had the same amount of time and put down some great looking outfits, so he won't make that excuse. While his lack of effort annoys me as well, his lack of making excuses and his ability to still say all the right things is something I continue to appreciate about him. He's got to step it up if he's going to stick around though; he's been exposed and he's on the judge's radar for the wrong reasons now. 

Ashley, Kelly, and Edmond are all praised for the reasons you'd assume. Ashley is brought to tears on the runway, which is moving but also kind of her go to at this point so it might not have the full effect it could have. Kelly is really the standout from this week. I've said before that I don't think she has what it takes to win, but I'm now starting to think I might have been a bit hasty. She might be the kind of dark horse contestant that peaks at the right time and goes all the way to the end. The oddest comment comes during the closer look at the dresses when the judges start to see that Edmond's dress is glued together and falling apart. What the fuck did they expect it to look like? He glued a bunch of keyboard keys onto mouse pads, what else can it look like close up?

In the end, Kelly gets a well deserved win and Joseph gets a well deserved Auf. The place where I think they dropped the ball a bit is when Heidi tells Swapnil he's safe, she didn't add that they're very disappointed in him and if he doesn't step up his game, he might not make it through the next challenge. It's probably implied by their critique, but in much the same way that they aren't shy about telling a safe designer with immunity that they were only safe because they had immunity, this could have been an opportunity for that as well. But oh well, hopefully he gets the hint and comes out stronger for it next week. 

Loose Threads:

--I don't know if we've got any younger readers, but if so, I've made sure to include wiki links for the outdated tech from the start of the episode. You're welcome. 

--Because Jake left on his own, it seemed that certain people thought maybe there wouldn't be an elimination this week. When Joseph comes back form the runway, Edmond asks him if he's safe too. No buddy, that's not how it works. Looks like we finally got our double elimination though. 

--Swapnil's edit this episode comes so far out of left field. Did we even know he smokes before this episode? This is my ultimate point about trying to form some kind of season long edit for the characters. If we'd known about the smoke breaks, or just knew about his smoking a bit before now, this episode might have felt like a more organic episode. 

--I got home late and missed the beginning of the episode and it wasn't until the runway that I realized someone was missing and had no clue what that was about. So I had to watch the beginning of the episode on the encore showing that happened immediately afterwards. Which is just my way of saying that I'm really surprised by the editing of this episode and the fact that someone leaving didn't have any kind of lasting impact whatsoever.