Project Runway Junior: S1 E8 "Make a Statement"

Late doesn't even begin to cover it with this one. So I really dropped the ball, I know it, and trust me no one can feel worse about it than I do. But for the sake of my sanity, let's just jump in. I'll write up this episode quickly, and then try to get on to the most recent episode before this weekend is over. Two for the price of one. The price being free of course since I'm still trying to be the hardest working man in unpaid, Project Runway blogging. But still. It's easy to wrap up "Make a Statement" quickly because it's honestly a pretty stock episode of the show up until the end. An end that wasn't anywhere near as shocking as the previous double elimination, but an ending that at least releases the episode from it's rather humdrum opening moments and makes it into something interesting.

The episode before the finale starts can often seem a bit preliminary. Sometimes, as I honestly think is the case here, you end up with four or five designers who all honestly deserve to go to NYFW, and that can make the final cut into something of a nail biter. But most of the time, there's only three or four people who truly deserve to go and the final cut is pretty obvious going into the episode. And in this place on Project Runway, when there's only four contestants left to begin with, the writing tends to be on the wall that no one is going home. PR has (unfortunately) had four contestants in the finale for how many seasons now? It's why no one was really worried about Edmond at the end of last season. Of course he was going to be saved and the four of them would compete at NYFW.

PR JR, however, doesn't necessarily have that going for it. This is the first season. And in a lot of ways it's similar to it's adult predecessor, but in a lot of ways, it's also different. So when two people are rushed home in the seventh episode, and the eighth episode rolls around with yet another elimination challenge, there's a very real possibility that someone could be leaving and we'd end up with a top three. PR JR is a smaller show and a younger show in more ways than one; a smaller finale would make sense and go a long way towards establishing this show on its own without much reference to its predecessor. Yes walking into this we all know Tim Gunn still hasn't used his save, but that doesn't necessarily have to mean anything, right? OK, we'll circle back around to all of this towards the end. For now, let's start at the beginning.

There's something powerful, but also a bit desolate, about the shot of the four remaining designers sitting at the runway to open this episode. It's empowering to think of all it took to get here, and sad to think of everyone lost in the process. But then there were four, and it's time to move it along. The designers are told that their last challenge before the finale is to use themselves as inspiration and to create a look that is uniquely them. They've got $400 and only one day to do this. There's something simple and elegant about this challenge that I love a lot. While I don't think any of the challenges were quite as wacky or out there as some of the PR challenges have been in the past, I think there's something to be said about reaching this moment and asking the contestants to remind us about who they are deep down, and perhaps even show us who they've become in the wake of the competition. Peytie in particular is someone who's aesthetic seems to have openly changed over the course of the competition, so her ability to create something unexpected is considerable.

There's some aspect of the challenge that has to do with irons and iron on prints or something, but beyond the good looking guy introducing it to us, I wasn't paying much attention. What follows is a long line of the kids talking about who they are, what their aesthetic is, and what they want to accomplish with this look. It's all rather interesting and engaging, but I wouldn't go so far as to call any of it drastically important. Everyone has an idea and a way forward except for Zachary who seems to be lost for inspiration or direction at the most important moment. It's not something we haven't seen before, but it's rather distressing to see here from someone so capable and talented.

The meetings with Tim are stock standard and straight forward. Everyone's on a good path except for Zachary. Tim meets with him and spends a lot of time talking him up and making suggesting to get him headed where he needs to go. But I never quiet got the impression that he left that interaction feeling all that confident about what he was doing. On to the runway.

The Runway:

Peytie: The fringe looks like an after thought. I like the movement it adds, but I also think the piece moves well without it. So I’d be find if that were taken away. Other than that, this look is really a wow. The shape of it is fascinating, and when it turned the corner, something about ti screamed Peytie to me. That’s not even to mention the brilliant color. Great job. 

Samantha: Listen, this girl has a point of view that is all her own, and I respect her for it so very much. But for this to be the look she sends down the challenge before Fashion Week makes me think she should go home. Another (well-made) oversized jacket? It swallows the dress whole, and the sad part is I’m not totally sure that that isn’t a bad thing. From what I can see of the dress itself, I’m far more impressed with the idea of it than the execution. Her play on gender is a lot of fun and I want to see more of it in the world, but I do not like this outfit at all. 

Maya: The openness in the back and the clasp in the front take my breath away. Which isn’t to take away from the rest of the look which I love too. Maya uses words like strength, power, and confidence to describe what she’s going for here, and I think she captures all of that. In no small part because some aspect of this feels like a super hero costume or something. But that’s not a bad thing here because I think she knew just where to pull back and where to go big on it to make that apparent but not overpowering. 

Zachary: I think the back is way better than the front. In the front, it feels like he’s letting the fabric do most of the hard work. The true design of it is found in the back, and that’s breathtaking. It’s good, but I’m not ready to say it’s the best we’ve ever seen from him. 

The judges like Samantha's look more than I do, but we're in agreement that Zachary's look isn't strong enough. Kelly points out the fact that it’s impressive that Zach added these details to his look, but none of them shine through on the runway. I like Christian’s point about flipping the fabrics of the skirt so the one inside ended up outside. But I also like Aya’s point that he’s got the best use of the iron-on things. 

I don’t know that I agree with Hannah calling for something more feminine in Samantha’s look, but I also don’t agree with the judges overall praise of the outfit. I will say that I like the dress more when the jacket comes off of it, so I’ll retract my prior statement that the look being swallowed by the jacket is a good thing, but I’m still not impressed with it. I will also say I’d like it if the belt end looked more like dress shirt sleeves. But that could also be one element too many. 

Maya and Peytie's looks are loved universally. So they end up going straight through to the finale. Samantha and Zachary are the last two left, but as Zachary noted in the greenroom, his look was pretty much the only one they didn't really have positive things to say about. So Samantha gets the go ahead and Zachary gets a very teary good bye. 

But back in the greenroom, with everyone hugging and saying good bye, Tim comes in and uses the save. It's a complete repeat of what we saw with Edmund last season and the save being used in the final moments of the competition. One the one hand, I'm a bit disappointed that the show isn't going with a top three instead of a top four, but on the other hand, these four kids truly do all deserve to show at NYFW. Zachary truly stumbled here, but does that mean he should be out of the competition? I think there are people who might say yes, but I'm not really in that camp. I'm OK with this outcome, though I also recognize that it robs the end of the episode of much of its inherent drama. But so long as the outcome is right, it shouldn't matter. And Peytie, Maya, Samantha, and Zachary going to the finale is the right way to go. 

Loose Threads:

--Apparently the finale is going to be just what it is on PR. Tim gets home visits, there's a last notes runway, and then NYFW. I'll get on covering that episode as soon as I can.

--Sorry for the delay, but I was having work stuff, and lots of distractions and stress. It's all worked out, but it was a crazy couple of weeks. Should be pretty back on track now. 

Project Runway Junior: S1 E7 "#OOTD"

I complained last week that PR JR chose the wrong episode to air after a hiatus. I stand by that observation more than ever after this week's episode. Because this week epitomizes what I think is brilliant about this show while also serving to raise the stakes even higher. It's those stakes, honestly high already, that have been the main selling point for PR JR thus far. I've mentioned multiple times before that the biggest difference between this show and it's adult predecessor is the manner in which everything feels heightened. We can feel more astutely for these kids than we tend to for the more jaded and cynical adults on the other show. Someone goes home here each week, and each week there are tears both by the person going home and by those they're leaving behind. This is because this competition just seems to matter more and to carry so much more weight than the other one.

This week, the kids meet Tim and Aya at Mood to get ready for the Seventeen Magazine challenge. They're tasked with going out into the streets of New York and talk to people whose outfit inspires them to create their own editorial look fit for a spread in Seventeen Magazine. Obviously, the winning look will be featured in the magazine at some point. The hard part, of course, is getting jaded New Yorkers to talk to you. There was something fun about seeing the kids run around the streets trying, failing, and succeeding at talking to people. It was also a lot of fun to listen to their line of questioning to people they talked to. Finding out what factors were considered in the making of the decision on what to wear, and drawing inspiration from that was really fun to watch.

Samantha and Maya show themselves as best prepared to handle that aspect of the challenge. The edit shows each of them finding someone who's look inspires them and who is willing to talk to them almost right off. For Samantha, it's this manual laborer who's wearing stained and well worn cargo pants. The pants are clearly utilitarian in nature with pockets all over them, but Samantha sees beauty in them, and I can't blame her. Maya talks to a couple women in multi-layered looks, each of whom is heading to work. She quickly decides on a kind of new style look dedicated to someone who works in a non-traditional kind of office.

Jaxson, with his adorable nerdish outlook and mannerisms, doesn't fare too well. He finds women with styles he's interested in, but the edit focuses on how many people ignore him and walk right by before he finally finds someone who will agree to stop and hear him out. When he does finally find someone, he's impressed by the sleeves of her jacket, but he doesn't seem to have the same kind of fire and passion as the others do.

Back at Mood, Jaxson picks a faux fur and a loud yellow neoprene fabric. When Tim sees the two of them together, he urges Jaxson to get a supplemental plain white fabric just to be on the safe side. Meanwhile, Zachary has this idea to use necktie fabric to make his top, and it's something that sounds bold and interesting.

The workroom goes about as you'd expect. Some of them know what they're doing and get right to work, a few people scratch looks and start all over. Jaxson sees that his fur simply doesn't want to cooperate with his ideas and is thanking the gods that Tim convinced him to get the other fabric.

Tim comes in and is concerned for Jaxson's ideas, Peytie's pants, Zach's entire look, and how mature Zachary's look is for what is meant to be the Seventeen Magazine challenge. He's not wrong about that, but that's also too bad because I thought Zachary's look on the dressform was truly breathtaking. After seeing just how much Peytie and Jaxson are struggling with their fabric selection, Tim decides to open up Mini Mood for 15 minutes for anyone who wants it. They're the only two that do, but it's still a great decision that's made in the interest of ensuring these kids get to find their best selves in all of this instead of simply focusing on the competition of it all. PR JR is about so much more than the competition.

Peytie grabs everything she can get her hands on in an effort to find something better for her pants, while Jaxson looks specifically for something that will go well with his yellow fabric. They both leave Mini Mood feeling confident in their selections.

The Runway:

Maya: Love love love this! It moves, it’s classy, but also urban and unconventional. I think it captured exactly what she was going for, and I find it wonderfully editorial. I haven’t looked at a Seventeen magazine in…oh….ever. But my gut says this is more Marie Claire than Seventeen. I’m willing to be wrong though, because I love it.

Zachary: I think he figured this out wonderfully well. The openness of the top and the peak at the sport’s bra underneath is youthful and sexy to me, but still sophisticated. And I find the skirt to be intelligent and innovative in a way that I come to expect from him. His first look was great, but it wasn’t young enough, and somehow he figured out how to lose the aged elements of it without losing himself. I love it. 

Jaxson: I do not dislike this. I would say, like we said about Maya’s look last week, that it’s fine. I find it simple and a bit easy, though I do see a bit of innovation in the shape and construction of the jacket. I want to see the dress without the jacket on. And I think that the colors aren’t a match made in heaven, but I do think they go together better than Jaxson feels as though they do. At least I don’t think they clash. But yeah, I think it’s a little too simple and muted for this stage of the competition. 

Peytie: I didn’t hate the pants until the model turned around and I saw how wrinkled and bunched up they were. Yikes. It is totally just a fabric fail on these because the cut and design of them really is nice. It’s a better look with a better fabric choice for the pants. I like the top. 

Zach: I don’t care for this and I’m not 100% sure why. The colors work, the outfit is simple enough, but there’s something about it that I just don’t care for. Something about the cut of it says Sailor Costume to me, and I’m not sure what. Either way, not my fav. 

Samantha: OK this is the first look from Samantha in a long time that I’ve been head over heels for. She had a plan and she executed it perfectly. It’s smart and edgy, and it’s totally her without having to create yet another oversized coat. I can see her inspiration, but she wasn’t trapped or too beholden to that inspiration, so she still created something all her own. I respect this a lot.

Maya and Samantha are in the top while Jaxson and Zach are in the bottom. The judges are pretty split on both Peytie and Zachary, making the two of them safe in my mind. Aya points out that Jaxson tends to have a lot of ideas, but rarely does he execute them well. His dress is plain, and no one really seems to think it goes well with his dress. Hannah goes so far as to say that he appears to have dressed two different girls, and Christian says his girl looks like she might have gotten dressed in the dark. 

With Zach, they simply don't seem to think he maximized his potential with this challenge. They can't seem to place who his girl is or where she's going. And when Christian questions whether or not he thinks this is his best work, Zach seems to crumple and admits that it's not and apologizes for it. It's a moment made all the more touching when you remember that he's the guy who was dancing with his model on the runway in just the last challenge. Zach admits that he thought too much about trying to make the look young and lost himself in the process. Aya points out that his looks already have a youthfulness to them and all he needed to do was put his best self forward in the looks. 

On the other side of things,  both Maya and Samantha are praised for how well thought out their looks are. Maya's story about women going to work resonates with the judges a lot, while Samantha's ability to feminize cargo shorts is universally appreciated. Christian does, however, echo my sentiments towards Samantha when he says that he wants to see something like a dress from her so as to know that she can do more as well. At least she didn't do another oversized-coat this time around, but he still wants to know that she can do more too. 

It's the result that makes this episode such a standout moment in the season. The judges' closer looks and deliberation makes it clear that the winner is between Samantha and Maya and the choice of who's going home is between Jaxson and Zach. So when it's announced that both Maya and Samantha are getting the win, I think it should have been obvious that both Jaxson and Zach were going home. And yet somehow, I was still surprised by it. It's not the way these things ever really tend to happen. And given how hard it is each time they have to say good bye to someone, you never expect them to compound the issue by sending two people home when they don't have to. 

I thought at first that it might be a ploy to get Tim to save one of them, but then I thought about how horribly awkward it might be for Tim to go into the greenroom and tell one of these two that he was using his save on him while the other went home. And if there's one thing PR JR has excelled at, it's not putting these kids in horribly awkward situations. So indeed both Jaxson and Zach go home. And it's a strange choice when you think about it. Maya and Samantha both winning makes sense, they both deserved it. But Zach won the previous challenge while Zach saw his second consecutive challenge in the bottom. But on the other hand, in the face of Samantha, Maya and Zachary, do I think Zach had what it takes to win it all? Of course not. So in that sense, how upset can I be that Zach got sent home maybe one week earlier than he otherwise might have? The results of this episode are shocking, but I don't know that I disagree with them. There's a kind of cruel efficiency here, but one thing is for sure, the emotions of the good byes were well earned and strongly felt all around. And then there were four. 

Loose Threads:

--Hannah mentions in this episode that they'd two challenges away from choosing who will be in the finale. I think, if my math is right, that that should have meant they were planning on having 4 people show at NYFW. But I'm wondering if this seemingly unplanned double elimination means they'll just have three kids in the finale? Though that also could have been the plan all along, so who knows. 

--I like Peytie, and I especially enjoyed her critique this episode when the judges acknowledged that her aesthetic seems to have matured over the course of the competition. But with the consistent strength of Zachary and Maya, and Samantha's recent resurgence, it's hard for me to imagine she'll make it past this up coming week. 

--I've got to say, I'm very curious to see what the finale on this show looks like. I can't imagine they're going to send these kids home to make collections. But I wouldn't be surprised if they stuck around and maybe gave them a few days to make a collection. I'm guessing not a full ten looks, but who knows. 

--Kelly about Zachary's look: “You looked at the modern day business man and turned that into a chic beautiful woman.” I'm surprised the judges still didn't think this look was young enough. I guess some part of that is that they didn't see the first look he'd created; because with that in mind, I can't see how anyone would think this look was too old. 

Project Runway Junior: S1 E6 "Superstar Clients"

PR JR must have known it's season would take them into the holidays. They must have known that
they would be contending with a two-week long hiatus in the middle of their first season. So then why didn't they try to create a better episode for that return? Don't get me wrong, as I discussed so many times during the last season of PR, you can only ever work with what the contestants and judges give you to work with. But that's not to say that they're totally helpless. They can't control who's going home when, and they can't control what the designer's create on an episode to episode basis, but what they could have done was make sure that the challenge for their sixth episode was better and more entertaining than this one turned out to be. The last time we saw this show, they were giving the contestants, in teams of two, five hours to make an elegant red carpet gown, and they were bringing in past contestants to help with the time crunch. There were tears, some sage wisdom from the grownups who'd been here before, genuine excitement from the contestants over being able to work with PR alums, and a collection of great (or at least interesting) looks. Now we're back two weeks later and PR JR doesn't build on that episode at all; instead, they return from a hiatus and take a step backwards.

The doom of the episode is clear from the opening moments when Hannah announces that the Knicks City Dancers would be the kids' clients for this episode and each and every single one of their faces fell in despair. Granted, the fear was that they'd have to create a dancing/performance outfit. There's a sigh of relief when they're told they're actually just designing whatever the client wants, but their obvious lack of interest in working with these women wasn't overlooked.

The sad thing is putting every contestant out of their comfort zone by having them design some kind of activewear--dance uniform might have produced a more interesting episode. Instead, most of the clients want something more akin to ready-wear. They each have a special story about where they're going and what they're doing, but ultimately it all boils down to normal activities performed by normal people who want normal clothes. It's not that this can't be interesting, indeed the streetwear episodes, and "real women" episodes have long been great; designers having to tone down their high fashion sensibilities while still creating something that you couldn't buy on a table at Old Navy is interesting. Moreover, the client-based challenges are an important PR staple. But this episode needed something to push it over the edge. More difficult clients would have been nice, but I can understand not wanting to put the kids in that kind of acidic position. Excepting that, I'd have saved the client episode for somewhere later in the season and put another unconventional material challenge in this spot.

If the confines of the challenge aren't willing to bring the drama, then you've got to hope that the consistently high talent level of these kids will help to elevate the hour. But by the time Tim's coming in to visit, everyone is doubting themselves, feel out of their comfort zones, and nothing is really standing out as being great. Tim is worried about the construction of Jaxson's top, so he goes with him to Mini Mood and finds a better fabric in the same color as the first. He points out multiple construction issues with the designers and a couple of looks are boring. He's impressed with Samantha's look, but I certainly wasn't. Or to be more specific, the fact that she's making yet another oversized coat left me felling flat. I loved Samantha at first, but she's quickly become horribly one note to me, and I won't really be able to sing her praises until she can prove that she's able to do something else.

Nothing more happens before the runway except that there's a weird kind of pre-runway Q&A session between Hannah and the contestants. I can imagine that this is something that happens each challenge, but given the show's hour long runtime and their constantly being pressed for time, perhaps we just haven't seen it prior to this point. With that being said, this being cut from each episode is the way to go. There's more time available the fewer contestants we have left, and I would hate to see that time being occupied by this uselessness. Nothing is earned, learned, or gained by the conversation.

The Runway:

Samantha: I could take this time to continue complaining about her seeming inability to create a new or different silhouette, but the fact of the matter is this isn’t horrible. The skirt is a simple and boring, and even poorly constructed denim skirt, but the colors go well together, and the fabric choice on the jacket is bold and new. So I like it in spite of myself, but I don’t want her winning challenges until she can prove to me that she can do something else. 

Maya: There’s no hiding that Maya is one of my favs, but this is pretty off-the-rack simple. It’s adorable, and I love the corset laces on the back of the top, and the pants fit wonderfully well, but other than that it’s a pretty boring look. 

Zach: Nice open back, and I think adding the dark fabric to the hemline was smart. I like it. I don’t think it’ll turn heads, but it’s nice. 

Jaxson: I hate the fabric of the skirt. I didn’t hate it in the workroom, but there’s something about the shine to it on the runway that I hate. And the movement of it is stiff and unforgiving. But the back is gorgeous, and the top as a whole is really nice. So no complaints there, and since she did want a summer dress, I do like the color. 

Bridget: I hate this. It’s boring and uninspired, and the kimono doesn’t look like any kimono I’ve ever seen. I can see how this robe like thing could be considered to be inspired by a kimono, but capturing the sleeve shape isn’t all that’s needed to consider this to be an actual kimono. Which is too bad to me because I do think putting a full kimono over that boring ass thing she designed would have saved this look. 

Zachary: Another nice open back. I think the hemline still looks a bit messy and is way too high, but I do like this look. I agree with his points about the flowy nature of the pants matched with the structured nature of the top. The colors feel a bit muted to me, but that’s a small quibble. 

Peytie: Messy is the first word that comes to mind. I love the color and I love the movement of it, but the proportions on the back (where that razorback design meets the rest of the fabric) is all off, and the hem looks messy and haphazard. I think that was purposeful, but it doesn’t feel as purposeful as it should. And the back just looks like a mistake. It’s a shame because that fabric in a better constructed dress could have been a wow moment. 

Samantha, Zach, and Zachary are in the top, Bridget, Maya, and Jaxson are in the bottom. This is where I'd like to see the show slow down and take it's time. I don't need pre-runway Q&As, but more time with the judges would be highly appreciated. Zach is praised for understanding and thinking about his client's body in an impressive way. It's clearly the best thing we've seen from him thus far in the competition. 

It's said, multiple times, that "Samantha is back!" with this look, but Kelly is at least willing to admit that the skirt is a problem. But that doesn't stop her from loving the rest of the look and acknowledging that Samantha pulls those fabrics and those colors together in a way that she wouldn't expect anyone to be capable of. 

Zachary is commended for his continued elegance and intelligence when it comes to dressing a woman's body. The hemline is all wrong on his pants, and everyone knows it, but it's the only real complaint about the otherwise stellar look. Kelly commends him for using the olive color on the pants (which I initially didn't love) and he points out that it's the same color as his model's eyes and I fell a bit more in love with him. This kid is smart and talented and he knows what he's doing. 

On another show, or maybe just another version of this show, Aya's question to Maya about whether she thinks this is some of her best work or not might seem a bit rude. But there's something about the way Aya asks, and about the way their complaints about Maya's look are all couched in the fact that they have such high expectations for her that makes it feel more kindly prodding. But the fact of the matter is Maya's look isn't bad, it's just not strong enough. The judges keep using the word "fine" to describe it, and never has that felt more like a slap in the face than it does when they say it. 

Jaxson and Bridget are in way more trouble than Maya is and I think they know it. The judges have nothing positive to say about Bridget's look, and they like Jaxson's top but hate the stiffness of the fabric he choose for the skirt. Christian makes a great point about the skirt wanting to be "sexy but still covered," and the discordant note that causes. 

In the end, Zach wins and Bridget loses. The sheer fact that the judges couldn't find a single thing to compliment about Bridget's look while they liked Jaxson's top means this was an easy call to make. Some part of me wondered if Tim would save her since she'd shown her talent in the past and has won challenges before; maybe she shouldn't be so punished for what amounts to an off day. But Tim seems to agree with the judges' decision, and Bridget goes home. 

Loose Threads:

--So PR online doesn't have the final looks photo album up and running by the time I'm writing this, so I'll check back later and try to get the links up for the runway. But if you're wondering why they aren't there this time, it's PR's fault and not mine. 

--And then there were six. I'm guessing we're gearing down for the end here. Will ther ebe three or four people showing at NYFW?

--Tim says how much he loves this group of contestants a number of times this episode. It's cute and sweet, and I loved it. But it also could have been creepy. 

--I know you guys aren't really sports fans like I am, but dancers and cheerleaders are the lowest of the low to some of us who are. My good friend has been a football fan for a long time, and he went to a game with his young niece and some of his extended family before. And when the child (she couldn't have been more than five or so) said she might want to be a cheerleader, he told her "I'd rather you just be a stripper, that's way more noble." So you can imagine how I felt seeing the Knicks Dancers in this episode. 

--One of the things I did like about this challenge was the way that, even though they were all dressing the same kind of woman, they weren't all designing for the same situation. The ability to have that many varied types of outfits on the runway is better than a bunch of different dance uniforms.

Project Runway Junior: S1 E5 "Race to the Red Carpet"

Did I promise to stop comparing PR JR to its predecessor? I lied. Or well, at least in this instance I won't be comparing the two shows on a functional level but in more of an intangible way. You see, last season of PR found us questioning the overall talent level of the contestants chosen to be on the show. Each runway left us struggling to pick out a solid top three looks and hoping for multiple eliminations. On PR JR, however, I have to say the opposite is more true: it's hard to honestly pick three bottom looks from week to week. Last episode had Jaxson, Jesse and Victoria in the bottom, and even though I didn't think Victoria's look encompassed the challenge, I did like it. So judging based on one's personal aesthetic appreciation leaves us with two bottom looks, and that's pretty standard for these first five episodes. So what are some of the effects of having a solid group of talent on a season of PR? Well for starters you can trust the contestants to be able to pull out stellar looks in next to no time flat.

This week's episode sees the contestants being greeted by actors from Finding Neverland. If that sounds familiar to you, it's probably because PR did the same thing back in its eighth episode of last season. Though, unlike the adults, we don't get to see the kids spending anytime watching the show, so for all we know they weren't granted the full on special treatment of their adult counterparts. The challenge is to work in teams of two to create a look worthy of the red carpet on a Broadway premiere. Each team will produce one look and they only have five hours to do it.

It seems a bit overwhelming, but with two people working on just one aspect of a look a piece, five hours seems like a life time. But when you throw a third helper into the mix and when that third helper is a past PR contestant, things look a lot more manageable. And so we welcome Samantha Black to work with Zach and Samantha; Amanda Valentine to work with Zachary and Matt; Fabio Costa for Maya and Peytie, and Sonjia Williams for Bridget and Jaxson. The kid's seemingly genuine excitement when they see their helpers is one thing that makes this episode so much fun. You watch these kids on the show and get the strict impression that they understand that they're a part of something bigger than just themselves and they're knowledgable about what's come before them.

Tim makes it clear that the alumni are only here to basically be seamstresses and won't be helping with any of the design process. There's no trip to Mood this episode, but Mini Mood is available for them to select from. Everyone gets to work and seems to move smoothly. Everyone except Bridget and Jaxson as the case may be who don't work together very well combining their respective aesthetics. But the two of them also don't have the worst kind of toxic chemistry that we've seen in pairs in the past. But their poor communication and lack of compromise lead to them having the worst Tim critique.

The colors they chose were all wrong and it's a bit ridiculous that they didn't see that sooner. Meanwhile, Peytie and Maya aren't faring much better with their interesting idea failing to come to life due (I think) to the limited kinds of fabric they have access to. Both cases see the previous PR contestants swooping in to offer the kind of help and guidance that they're there for. Bridget has a meltdown when they go back to pick out new fabric (with only three hours left in the day one might add), and Sonjia takes her by the hand and just calms her down. Her words aren't exceptionally gentle, but it's exactly the kind of firm hand and weathered experience that Bridget needed to get passed her emotional moment. And for Peytie and Maya, once they decide to ditch their white see through skirt and start looking at the ornate black fabric they have, Fabio suggests they use the reverse side of it for the skirt and that gives Maya the idea to go with a solid black but more flowing material when the time comes.

The Runway:

Zachary and Matt: I wish it was in a color other than red and I wish they had a bustier model to fill it out more. It seems like there's a lot going on here, but it could truthfully be great on a model of different proportions. The cut outs are sexy, and the movement is eye catching.

Samantha and Zach: OK. Good, not great. I don’t think they avoided having the jumpsuit be boring the way Tim said they needed to. The cape is a wow, and I even like the boxiness of the shoulders, and I love the print. But I think something needed to be different about the jumpsuit which feels swallowed up by the cape. 

Maya and Peytie: This I love. It’s bold and makes quite a statement. Going with the flowing fabric for the skirt was exactly the right way to go. I wish the detailing on the top was more photographable as I couldn’t make it out from the walk on the runway, but up close this is great. The openness on the front to show off those shorts is really killer. 

Bridget and Jaxson: The fit is great, the faux leather is really great and catches the eye exceptionally well. I like the color a lot too. It’s something that I think looks muted, but would really turn heads on a red carpet. All the right amount of sexy too. 

So with four looks on the runway, you'd expect a top and bottom two looks, but the judges seem to like everything except Zachary and Matt's look. Admittedly, they like Samantha and Zach's outfit a lot more than I did, but I can at least understand what drove them to their compliments. Oddly enough, Zachary and Matt's look is touted as being too ambitious. So it seems like this is one moment when too many ideas is going to bite someone in the ass, and that's mostly because there isn't really a boring or bad look on the runway. Everything, at least according to the judges, is so good that we're left with the unenviable task of punishing someone for trying too hard. 

There's no secret in the deliberation that one of the two of them has to go home. Matt's been in the bottom before. Indeed, just a couple episodes ago he was spared from going home in favor of not sending anyone home and having a double elimination to follow. So the fact that he's down here again suggests he's the most logical choice to be sent packing. But then there's Christian's (somewhat harsh) points about Zachary being the one who's actually let them down since the expectations on what he's capable of achieving are so high. Matt is clearly something of a favorite, though the jury's still out on whether or not his designs have earned him such a position, so it seemed very possible that Zachary could be going home here. 

But in the end, the judges do the smart thing and send Matt on his way. Peytie and Maya both share a much deserved win, incidentally. Matt's send off seems to be the saddest one yet as Hannah and Kelly both tear up a bit and Hannah tells him he was a favorite of hers and she was the one who fought to keep him around so hard the last time. I know I said before that sending these kids home each week would be very difficult for a long list of reasons, and I don't want to contradict that at all, but I'm thinking the fact that everyone here is so talented plays a contributing factor as well. If the judges couldn't see fit to place two pairs in the bottom and deliberate over the fate of four contestants instead of just two, then how can they hope to make this easy going forward? These kids seem to be getting stronger as the competition goes on, and everyone left has a world of potential within them. The high level of talent here means we should get harder and more satisfying challenges, but that the decision on who to say goodbye to will get harder and harder. 

Loose Threads:

--Peytie won the last immunity with the previous challenge. Knowing about that before this episode would have been nice, but beyond that eliminating immunity at the top eight seems a bit early, doesn't it?

--It's hard for me to believe that this is Maya's first win of the season, but there you have it. At this point, she's easily my favorite designer. (Jaxson is my favorite person, but that's another matter all together.) 

--Matt's the second person to go home and acknowledge that he's sad to leave the other contestants because he got closer to them quicker than he has anyone else from back home. Again I say this show stands to be really important. 

--Which only seven contestants left, who do you think deserves to make it to the top four? My money is on Maya, Zachary, Zach and Samantha. I think Jaxson isn't long for this world, sadly, and while I like Peytie and recognize she's the only one with double wins, I also think it would be easier for her to slip up one week and miss the cut given her particular aesthetic. Samantha has slipped from my good graces, but the judges still seem to love her, and she does have the most unique voice. I could be tempted to replace Zach with Bridget, but I'm wondering if we don't end up with an even split between the girls and the boys. 

Project Runway Junior: S1 E4 "OMG! That's Michelle Obama"

OK there's only one thing to say about this episode: SWATCH IS BACK AND HE'S OK!!!!!! Well looking a little old and sluggish, but alive and OK all the same! So there, we can all go to bed now and feel relaxed; all is right with the world. Or is it? Because given our "no one goes home" decision of last episode, we're left with two people going home this week as everyone is ready to remind us time and time again. This means either that the show is going to chicken out from this monumental moment either by not sending two people home or by letting Tim save one of them, or it means one designer who probably isn't so deserving, who probably would be safe in a regular week, is going home. So the stage is set for a naturally dramatic episode of PR JR; probably the most dramatic episode we've seen thus far, but will the challenge and everything else deliver?

Well the challenge starts things off in the right way. The designers are tasked with creating a modern look for a fashionable "girl on the go." To give them a jolt, Michelle Obama shows up on the screen and, not going to lie, I knew it was coming and I still screamed like a little girl with excitement when I saw her. Because she's Michelle fucking Obama! No shame!

The lovely and resplendent (angelic too much? No, I'm going with angelic) First Lady talks to the designers about Let Girls Learn, a White House initiative that is really exactly what it sounds like. She also tells them that the winning designer will be given the opportunity to partner with Lands' End to create a backpack the proceeds of which will go towards Let Girls Learn. So this brings me to something else I'm enjoying about PR JR thus far: the rewards beyond immunity simply feel bigger, more interesting, and more important that the rewards for that other show I can't remember the name of at the moment. This is because the rewards here are less about giving the designers stupid swag and more about giving them a way to leave a serious impact on the world or the world of fashion with their young brands. If your look is getting produced and photographed, or the pattern you use is being mass marketed online for other designers, or you're getting a hand in creating something for a good cause, that's so much cooler and more important than getting a 3D Printer for your own personal use.

But anyway, there's a big spinning gameshow wheel on the stage and the designers are spinning it to see what kind of girl they're designing for. Categories available are School, Work, Travel, and Party. And the breakdown of who gets what:

• Maya: Sporty
• Zachary: Party
• Jesse: School
• Victoria: School
• Matt: Travel
• Zach: Party
• Samantha: Work
• Peytie: Travel
• Bridget: School
• Jaxson: Sporty

First things first, "Travel" is a weird category. Or maybe it's just a weird one for young people to be given. Is there a specific look that you see someone wearing and say "Oh she must be traveling?" I know I don't, which makes me think from the start that Matt and Peytie are at an odd disadvantage here. Or maybe since they can literally interpret it to mean whatever they want it to, they have an advantage? We'll circle back around to this later.

Jaxson is the most worried about his category seeing as how he doesn't feel much like his design aesthetic is sporty in the slightest. He decides to do a kind of Jersey inspired dress which reminds me of something we've seen before but I don't feel like looking for it at the moment. At Mood he gets this stark white fabric the likes of which seems to be used on basketball jerseys. Sadly, he would have been better off with a kind of jersey knit fabric, but that's neither here nor there. Peytie finds a print that speaks to her typical hippie/tribal aesthetic. On the roll, this fabric is an eyesore and everything about it says stay away, but since it was Peytie grabbing it, I honestly didn't feel worried. 

Back in the workroom, Tim shows up with some chick from the Peace Corps, and I honestly have no idea why. She talks about the fact that there are girls working with the Peace Corps, which is a surprise to no one at all, and then she leaves. That's the kind of moment they should have had for the designers and then left on the cutting room floor since it adds nothing to our viewing experience. 

Early on in the design process, shots are fired from Zachary at Victoria when he comments that she constantly makes the same top over and over again. She takes offense and isn't shy about telling him he should worry about his own look and leave her's alone. Everything this season has been pretty copesetic between the designers often verging on lovey. And I've remarked multiple times that I like that about the show, but I'd be lying if I said this little exchange didn't make me giggle a bit. To his credit, I don't think Zachary's comments were meant to be mean-spirited so much as observant and maybe even constructive, but his statements lacked tact and hit at a worry Victoria was having anyway. 

Tim's visit a little bit later shows me what I've been missing in a Tim Gunn visit lately. He talks to Jaxson who is missing the mark, he tells him he's unimpressed, he questions why the look has to be a dress and Jaxson responds that he doesn't want it to be shorts. Tim returns with, "Are those the only two options?" at which point Jaxson's eyes light up and he says Romper like it's the magic word that will breath life into the entire look. Tim nods and points out that Jaxson was the one that said it as if to point out that the potential for the idea was there all along, and now he's got a road map going forward. And it's that back and forth that was missing last episode and from a lot of what we saw last season. "Mentor" is Tim's job title, and you can see him doing and being that most when we get to hear some of this back and forth. He's stern when he doesn't like something, but he sticks around and gently leads the designers to where they need to be. 

Or, as is the case with Victoria, maybe he does a bit too much and over plays his hand. Tim says, much like Zachary before him, that Victoria's becoming a bit of a One Way Money™ by making the same look over and over again. So the two of them stand there and he tells her to remove the skirt leaving the look with a pair of short shorts, and then tells her to use her other fabric on the top to make it pop. Zachery, away from Victoria's line of hearing, comments that Tim basically designed her look for her and now she's little more than a seamstress. I don't know why this intervention by Tim doesn't bother me, but it doesn't. I'm guessing if these weren't kids, it would bother me more, but in this situation, I'm honestly OK with it. Also, I don't feel like we've seen him doing this with only one designer in the way we saw him working with Ashley last season, so at least it's not favoritism. 

The only thing left is the model fitting and yet more of Jaxson working til the last minute to turn his look out and be runway ready. This portion of the show has become perfunctory and kind of pointless. Some contestants have looks to try on, some don't, and that's all there is to it. So I think from now on unless something important happens, I'll start to go right from Tim's critique to the runway. 

The Runway:

Samantha: I like it more on the runway than I did on the dressform. Does it scream “Work” to you? It says more “Travel” to me. It’s not professional attire, but it looks like the kind of perfect match for someone who might be traveling between two places with different weather. The looks underneath seem more warm/cool wear, and then you throw the coat on overtop of it all and you’re ready to go into somewhere a bit colder. It’s a long way of me saying that I like this look but I don’t know that it fits her category. 

Jesse: NO! I do think the skirt is too school uniform which can take this a bit costumey, except that those uniform skirts would never be paired with that top. I don’t like this, but I will say that I can see how someone might. To someone else, those two elements might not be as discordant as they are to me. But either way, I’m not a fan. 

Bridget: I love love love this. The fit is breathtaking, the flannel shirt tied around the waist is a kind of ingenious 90’s throwback but the fact that it isn’t actually just a shirt (or is it? I can’t fully tell) and is just a specially made tie is so smart and creative. I love the look and the styling so much. And it totally says “School” without being too obvious about it. 

Victoria: OK nothing at all about this says school. I don’t know what school Victoria is attending, but when I was a kid, this girl would have been sent home before she even got off the bus. With that being said, I like the look a lot. It fits like a glove, it’s super sexy, and it’s something different from her without feeling like she’s totally lost herself in the process. I like it, but it doesn’t fit all challenge parameters. 

Peytie: I like this a lot more from the back than I do the front which I find boring except for the print. And here we see the problem with the "Travel" category. Do you dress for where you’re going or where you’re leaving? It’s this weird liminal thing. But to those ends, Samantha’s look feels more like travel wear to me than this does. This feels more at home in “Party” if you ask me. It’s cute, but again not 100% what was asked for, but in this case I think that’s not her fault so much as the fault of the stupid category she had. 

Matt: Same thing here. This is beautiful beautiful beautiful. But no one is getting on a plane in a ball gown. I’m still blaming this on what is a stupid category, but I also don’t know which category this would go in. It can be “Party” if we’re talking about an after hours Oscar party. Maybe “Work” if you work as a fashion model for an elegant designer. But that’s it. I don’t want that to detract from what is easily the best thing we’ve seen from Matt thus far and totally serves as justification for keeping him around last week, but still. 

Jaxson: ……… I’m happy he likes it. I don’t hate it, but I can’t like it either. I do think there’s something “Sporty” about it in a lot of ways beyond just the type of fabric he used. But the cut of the neckline is really distracting, as are the seams in the romper. And the combination of the metallic fabric and the this spaghetti straps makes it almost look a little trashy. Maybe I do hate it a little bit.

Maya: Perfection! The top, the asymmetry, the zipper, the fit on the pants, all of it is just great. It does say “Sporty” and without screaming it in your face. My favorite so far. 

Zachary: Color and movement and the cut of the top and the train are gorgeous. This is a kid who really knows how to dress a woman’s body. I like the skin showing; it’s one of the only high waisted pants I’ve ever really liked. The neck reminds me a bit of Maya’s from last challenge in how stirking it is if not in the cut of it, but I like it all a lot. The seam on the back of the cape is a bit distracting, but that could be purposeful. “Party?” I guess…

Zach: I’ll praise the cut and the fit of this which I think works out well. That print is all wrong though. You walk into a party like that and you’ll get laughed out. The print is too busy for how designed the whole thing is. I don’t think he needed a flat color for it, but maybe two solid tones that complimented each other? Or at least just a quieter print or a simpler design.

The judges' critiques go quicker than last episode, but they're also highly informative. Zachery, Maya, and Peytie are in the top, Jesse, Jaxson, and Victoria are in the bottom. The key points I responded to were Aya's statement that Jaxson's look was more costume than fashion and Jesse's look was clothing and not fashion, and Kelly's point that seeing something different from Victoria almost exclusively means color at this point and not just the cut of an outfit. I thought, and still think, that the change in the cut of Victoria's outfit is enough to suggest the ability to present something else from her, and I liked that she was able to change that while at least keeping her usual (read: Black) aesthetic, but Kelly's point is valid too. 

Over on the top side, Christian has a lot of great things to say about Zachary's intelligence in creating something that could be either a cape or an overlay and yet it just works both ways. Kelly's compliment to Peytie that she chooses prints and works with them in a way that makes Kelly love her looks in spite of the fact that they go so much against her own typical tastes is really great. But the winner here for me is Maya since I didn't hear anything they said to her after I saw her zip up the zipper and transform her look into something else entirely. My jaw dropped at the turtleneck she created by zipping that zipper. They might as well have been two totally different outfits and both of them are breathtaking. 

And yet Peytie wins the challenge. I've been a bit more forgiving on the last three episodes' winners; I haven't agreed with many of them, but I've at least understood the decision. And to be honest, I love Peytie's look (from the back) and I can see how this would be a winning look in another challenge that doesn't feature Maya's outfit. The fact is that Maya's look is ready to be manufactured and sold right now. Girls everywhere would spend a lot of money on it, and rightfully so. Maybe the judges thought Peytie's backpack design for Lands' End would be stronger than Maya's were she to win, but getting to see the finished product of the bag at the end of the episode, I have to wonder at the wisdom behind that. Either way it's not the first time I've questioned the decision on the winning look, and I'm guessing it won't be the last. 

Meanwhile, Jesse and Victoria are the two designers sent home, and true to their word, the show allows them both to go. No backing out, no Tim Gunn save, just a quick and sad goodbye to them both. Jaxson gets the save because again bad ideas, or even good ideas executed poorly, are better than no ideas. And Victoria seems to only have one trick while Jesse decided to make clothes instead of fashion. I don't know how much I agree with this decision so I'll leave the conjecture on it to others. My biggest take away actually has more to do with the decision from last episode in connection to the decision from this week. 

Roll with me for a minute here; these were the looks that were in the bottom two but were saved from elimination last episode:

Now look again at Victoria and Jesse's looks from this week which were sent home. Now, I'm not saying that Jesse's look specifically isn't bad enough to be in the bottom and even sent home this week, but is it really worse than the two from last week? Couple that with Jesse's exceptional unconventional materials look and you've got one misstep in an otherwise strong body of work. Conversely, this week is the first time we've seen something "strong" from Matt, and yet it doesn't really fit in with the girl he was given and it was ultimately only safe--not in the top. And Samantha's look this week was a lot better than last week (in my opinion) but it's also not something that's wholly unique from her; certainly no moreso than Victoria's look is. So as much as I'd hate to bring up the "f" word, is it really fair that we lose Jesse and Victoria this week when we could have lost Matt and/or Samantha last week and avoided this? It was unavoidable that someone undeserving would be going home. Or at least someone who otherwise wouldn't have gone home had we just been getting rid of one contestant. But it's looking to me like we might have lost two contestants who may not have deserved to go. Couple that with the fact that I think Jaxson's look really is the worst of the three (impressive innovation not withstanding) and you've got a bit of a quagmire here. But I guess time will tell and that should be a conversation for another week. 

Loose Threads:

--So clearly these reviews are coming later than the regular PR reviews did, and I apologize for that, but this week there was at least a better reason for it than usual: I was all set to write the review on Friday after work, but my day at work ended with me losing my job along with a few of my friends in an unexpected layoff. So as you can imagine, my weekend was a lot more stressful and hectic than originally planned, and that's why I didn't get around to watching the episode and writing it up until tonight. My days for the foreseeable future will be spent applying for every job I can find in order to get back up on my feet as quickly as possible, but it's safe to assume that reviews will be late on a regular basis from now on. That's assuming my roommate and I don't have to cut out the cable all together and I start missing the episodes. Fingers crossed everything's OK soon. 

--This episode saw Maya's 14th birthday and that was cute and sweet. I was wondering if they didn't give her the win specifically to avoid looking like they were giving her a b-day gift in the form of immunity. Either way, wrong decision.

--I feel like this was the most colorful episode we've seen thus far, but I could be wrong about that. It felt like they ask them to design for a young girl and out comes the color. 

--Jaxson dominates this episode in a way that made me feel sure he was going home. Meanwhile, Jesse and Victoria are there but not as much focus as Jaxson got. It was a nice little misdirect on the part of the producers. 

--Seriously though, Sundaynightaddict, did you see Swatch was back?!?!?!! I literally screamed and cheered at that moment. 

--Back to my thoughts about the elimination this week: I feel like I should say that I don't think given everything we've seen that Jesse or Victoria honestly had a shot to win the whole thing, so I don't think losing them but keeping Samantha and Matt is a huge loss for the show as a whole. But on the other hand, I don't think Matt realistically has a shot to win either and the more I see from Samantha, the more one note I find her to be. She plays her note well, but it's still the same note over and over again and I'm bored with it. I don't want her to lose her aesthetic as I think it's beautiful and important in a world with complicated gender politics to begin with, but I do want to know that she can do something other than questionably made oversized coats. And if she can't, I'm going to get more and more upset over the fact that she didn't go home last week. </rant>

Project Runway Junior: S1 E3 "Teamwork is Hard"

Is PR JR getting better with each passing episode? I ask this honestly, because I can hardly express how good I thought this episode was. We'll talk extensively about the ending and how that's either a mark against the hour or a point in its favor depending on where you stand, but everything prior to that felt like a kind of culmination of three episodes worth of toil. The progress of this season isn't surprising to anyone who watches PR on a regular basis. There's been an introductory episode, an unconventional materials challenge, and now a team challenge. Honestly, if we got a Heidi as client episode and a Real Woman episode in the next two, I'd say we'd have hit all of the PR staples in the first four hours. But there's something special here that we just don't get from PR anymore. And I'm sure everyone's tired of hearing me say this by now, so I promise I'll try and make the next review less about comparing this show to its predecessor, but it still rings true. These challenges are smarter, simpler, and thusly more entertaining than what we see on the other show. The quality of the finished designs might not be on the same level, but that's a given and a small enough consideration when you're dealing with contestants in their teens.

Take this week's challenge. The first thing we find out is that it's a team challenge. Fair enough. Hannah comes out with the button-bag-o-doom. She tells everyone Zachery has immunity for this challenge, but stops there because his win last challenge doesn't give him any other kind of leg up in this one. He doesn't get to pick a team, or start off a school-yard pick. No, PR JR is actually concerned enough for the mental wellbeing of its contestants that it doesn't put them through the potential hurt and embarrassment of a school-yard pick. Gone is also the "Who should win? Who should go home?" questioning we usually see on the runway, but we'll get there.

From the early going, it looks like one team is stacked and the other is the underdog. A team that features Matt, Samantha, Maya, Jesse, and Peytie simply feels stronger than one featuring Zach, Zachary, Bridget, Victoria, and Jaxson. Not horribly stronger, but the trio of Samantha, Jesse, and Maya sees contestants who have been consistently great to this point. Whereas Zachary and Jaxson are probably the strongest on their team with the others having been mostly safe, or even in the bottom as was the case with Zach in the first episode. But the picking was totally random, so there's no complaints to be made.

From there, it's off to see Tim where the designers are told that their being given three fashion eras to choose from (the 40s, 50s, or 60s, though I don't see why you don't replace the 40s with the flappers in the roaring 20s, but that's just me), and they're to be inspired by those eras to create a five piece cohesive collection. They're also told that only two people from each team will be going to Mood so the other three can stay behind and get to work. They'll be in communication with the workroom through FaceTime. I have to say, I like this as well. It shows a dedication to making sure there's time enough to get to work on the product, and also gets into the core of teamwork: having to trust members of your team to have your back and not screw you over when you aren't there to guide their hand.

One team picks the 40s, the other the 60s, and it's off the sketch and come up with a plan. From the start, it looks like Team 1940s has stronger communication and a more democratic kind of leadership while on Team 1960s, Samantha steps up and takes the leadership role almost by force. Matt comments that her consistent spot in the top three makes him confident in her abilities as a leader, so they're in good hands. The team seems to go through the motions of gaining consent, but there's something in the way that Samantha kind of (I say kind of because we've seen much worse) steam rolls people, and makes a "suggestion" and asks if everyone agrees that suggests she's not really looking for consent so much as expecting the others to just agree with her superior idea. Either way, everyone knows what they want to do, Maya is pretty set on her idea to make a vest, and it's off to Mood. Samantha and Peytie are going for Team 1960s and Zachary and Bridget head out for the 40s.

If Samantha's steps toward leadership in the workroom were tentative (and I'm not even sure that they were), then her actions in Mood are nothing but overt. It becomes clear that this is the Samantha show and everyone else on her team is just going to have to get in line. While she and Peytie are looking for fabric for Maya's vest, she blatantly says "I don't think we really need the vest, right? She can do something else." and after something of a beat, Peytie agrees. She either agrees or capitulates, I'm not certain which, but it's a problem either way. They have phones, they have the ability to call in to their team and check with them about these things instead of making unilateral decisions and declarations about what the people back at the workroom will do.

This isn't without its pratfalls, of course. Zachary FaceTimes his team and has a great conversation with Jaxson without a problem. But when Peytie tries to contact Jesse, they have a bad connection and lose the call. One of the things I loved about the idea of having the kids call back to the workroom to communicate fabric choices was that it seemed to fit in perfectly with this our 2015 world. These kids are probably on their phones constantly anyway (as are the rest of us to be fair), so this felt like a way to get at them on their own level to a certain extent. But of course when you rely on technology to such an extent, the option for that tech to crap out on you is always there looming over everything you do. Who hasn't had a meeting or an interview scheduled over Skype just to have your internet go down or Skype decide it just doesn't want to work today? But even so, I can't be the only one to think that Peytie could have tried a little harder. If Zachary can have a clear conversation with his team, there's clearly a sweet spot in Mood that she could have gotten to and got stronger reception.

Everyone gets back to the workroom and, surprise surprise, Team 1940s is happy with the fabric choice and already had a considerable amount marked out with muslin. Conversely, Samantha walks into the workroom and starts everything off with a "Here's how's it's going to go down" pronouncement, and everyone's miserable, Maya is especially upset about having to come up with an entirely different design since her vest was the focal point of what she was doing before and that idea got scraped without her knowledge. So when they do finally get fabric, almost everyone on the 60s team has to start their designs over from scratch because none of them got what they wanted.

Tim comes in and has one of the least effective visits of this short season. Gone is the harsh-but-ultimately-helpful Tim Gunn we've been seeing so far, and back is the mostly condescending and insulting Tim Gunn we saw in last season of Project Runway. He doesn't like much of what's happening with any of Team 1940s looks, or at least not the ones we hear him talking about. He thinks Jaxson's stark white top is horribly discordant to the rest of the collection, but he doesn't remark on the cut of it, so there's no telling if simply changing the color would be the way to go. He doesn't have anything overly negative to say about Zachary's look except that using the zippers as the hem of the pants is the wrong idea. And this is where I was most confused. While I agree with him about not using the zippers, where was the compliment to how great the top was on its own? Probably left on the cutting room floor, but still.

But that's nothing compared to Team 1960s critique. He likes Maya's dress, but hates the neckline of it and then spends all of his time talking about that one element. He's also not a fan of Matt's hunter green look, which I thought was the best thing the team had created. And he hates the tope colored fabric most of the looks are using. He also doesn't like Samantha's jacket, but it's the sole piece she's got going for her, and she likes it so she isn't changing it. Everyone else, however, scraps their looks and starts over yet again! Everyone except Maya who just reworks her neckline. I don't think we've ever seen this many start overs bode well for someone, and there's no reason to assume it'll all work out here.

The Runway:

Peytie: I’m not so concerned with how short it is, minus the fact that this is the 60s and there should be a little more modesty, but I am concerned with the way the print seems to carry the dress more so than anything else. It doesn’t look innovatively designed so much as just a simple dress with a cool print. I’m not impressed. 

Jesse: Not a fan of this either. The color blocking at least feels 60s inspired, but the dress is simple, and the cut of the hem looks sloppy and uneven to me. The addition of the pink at least pops and doing it in black and white would have been a massive failure, but I’m still not impressed. 

Matt: That head scarf has got to go. I don’t see Jackie O in that at all. There’s no way in hell this simple and basic look is better than the green dress we saw during Tim’s visit. All in all, this collection looks like exactly what it is: looks thrown together at the last minute. 

Maya: This is the best look so far. The color is perfect, the shine and the movement of the fabric is great, and the details along the neckline are fabulous. Does it say 60s to you, though? I’m still unsure. I love the swooping open back, and it’s pretty sexy, but there’s something about it all that I feel is a bit too edgy for the 60s. Still, this is great!

Samantha: The white dress gathers and bunches up in a way that’s horribly distracting, the coat still has those eyesore flyaway threads that makes it look messy and unfinished, and on top of all of that, it’s all horribly boring too. This is a massive failure from Samantha. 

Victoria: I’m going to say that I’d like to see something from her in colors other than blue and black. But with that being said, I still like this a lot. I think the pop of blue catches you off guard when you do see it. I think the peak-a-boo slit in the back of the top is really striking. And I think it’s all very tastefully done. 

Zachary: I love love love love this. The slits in the front showing off those spectacular pants! Another keyhole open back! The cut of the neckline! It’s all so sexy and sophisticated, and I like it that he says it’s modern because that’s what I think of it too. Idk that it screams 40s, but I also don’t know enough about the fashion of the 40s to be able to say one way or the other. What I do know is that it’s a great look!

Jaxson: I like this look. My complaints are in the messy construction of the top, and in the fact that the ribbon detailing on the top is black instead of in the same navy color of the dress. But other than that, it’s OK. His back isn’t open in the same way as the first two, which I think throws off that one element of cohesion, but we’ll see about the rest of the collection. 

Zach: I echo Kelly’s WOW on this one. That jacket is crazy great. The whole thing is streamlined and elegant and professional looking. It looks expensive. The neckline is sexy as hell too. I’m a fan of this!

Bridget: OK I like this a lot, I honestly do, but does it look a bit bath robe, or like a nightgown to you? Something about it takes it out of the glam I think she was going for and puts it more in the bedroom. It’s still nice, and the fabric and movement are great. I just don’t know that she achieved what she was specifically going for. 

No one's surprised to find that Team 1940s is in the top and Team 1960s is in the bottom, though Hannah is quick to point out that it's not that the 60s looks are bad so much as the 40s looks are really great. She can play lip-service to that idea all she likes, those 60s looks are pretty horrible. They talk to the 40s team first, and spend most of their time focused on Zach and Bridget. I love it that Aya is so quick to point out the evening gown quality of Bridget's look that I thought I might be alone in noticing. But as they point out, the collection goes from day to night, so Bridget's look works even better than I think she actually anticipated. But Zach's look is my favorite. They compliment the fit of the pants, and the impeccable tailoring of the whole thing. I think Zachary is short served with no one pointing out how great his look is and how impressive it is that he could pull this out even when he already had immunity. 

Maya gets the lions share of the compliments for the 60s team as her neckline and the open back are stellar aspects of the look. For some reason I simply don't understand, they seem to like Samantha's jacket (though I don't think we really hear from Aya about it), and then when she's asked to take the jacket off, everyone collectively gasps at the sight of the horrible and unfinished dress underneath. Kelly seems to like the frayed edges of the jacket itself, but to me it makes Samantha's clothes look cheap and it never feels purposeful or strategic. So when you couple that with the cheap and unfinished aspect of the dress she paired it with, you've got this consistent problem of Samantha putting cheap and unfinished looks down the runway. I forgave it in the first challenge since it was the first challenge and I figured they'd all need some time to adjust. Plus the design of that first look was strong enough to surpass any construction issues. That's not the case here though, and I find everything about this outfit to be a horrible problem. 

We don't get a closer look at the dresses in this challenge, but we do get a fairly extended conversation between the judges about who should win and who should go, and I honestly would love to see more of this in the future. It's clear that the decision on who to lose is between Samantha and Matt, and if you're anything like me, you assumed it was time for Matt to go since he's been safe-bottom-bottom through the first three challenges while Samantha has been win-top-bottom. But the judges explanation for each were really fascinating. Hearing Christian almost excuse Samantha's crappy dress in favor of the jacket they all like, and the intelligence to at least leave the jacket on to hide the horrible dress is fascinating. Couple that with Kelly's vehement anger over the state of Samantha's dress, and you can see that there's a really solid case for sending this girl home. 

Bridget wins which I can't be upset over though I like Zach's look more. Everyone is dismissed from the runway except for Samantha and Matt, and the looks on their faces say it all. Samantha is told that she's in, and she breaths a clear sigh of relief and starts to walk off the stage before anyone tells her to. Hannah stops her and sends her back to her spot before saying that Matt is safe too. No one is going home, but there will be a double elimination next week. 

Here's why I think this decision doesn't work so well: a lot of what we've been noticing thus far has seemed to be in favor of coddling these kids to an extent. A lot of what I pointed out in this episode alone suggests they're playing with kid gloves in certain places. One place where I'd like to see them not really do that is in the eliminations. I know I complain each week that these eliminations are harder to watch than the eliminations on PR, but they're still needed both to keep things moving and to perhaps teach these designers something. You can't have an off week and still be successful here. Plus, while I like Matt a lot, I don't think we've seen anything from him yet that automatically suggests we need him to stick around. Not sending anyone home here feels like a bit of a cop out. 

Here's why I think this decision works perfectly: if we take Hannah's statement that they really did like both teams looks, and didn't feel as though either team truly deserved to be in the bottom, and the arguing back and forth through the judging certainly seems to suggest that was the case, then why should anyone have to go home? I don't think they should make a habit of this by any means, but if there was ever a moment when it makes a level of sense, it's this one. Also, the conversation between the judges seems to suggest the biggest problem for the 60s team was a lack of inspiration. They bring up multiple times that it's odd that they didn't go psychedelic, Woodstock, hippy wear for this one. And while I can understand wanting to, I don't know that you can fully justify sending one person home for what is ultimately a failure on the part of the whole team. 

Either way, whether you agree with the decision or not, this is where we are. No one goes home, and yet we have a double elimination next week meaning no one except Bridget is safe. If they cop out again and only send home one person, or if they send home two and Tim saves one, that could be a problem and shed an even more negative light on this development. But if they stick with it, it could be the most stressful and dramatic episode thus far. 

Loose Threads:

--I forgot to mention that the winning look with have its pattern produced on Simplicity.com which is a site I'd never heard of before. It's for this reason that I certainly think Zach should have won since I thought his design had a little more thought and complexity to it than Bridget's did and fit in with that aspect of the challenge more. 

--Once again Zach is the only person upset by the outcome of no one going home. He seems to be the only person going hard on the competition aspect of the show. He's not wrong, but I maintain that he makes for a blight on the otherwise cute and friendly nature of the show that I've enjoyed so much. 

--With that being said, it's to his credit that he doesn't complain about not getting the win that I think he deserved. Even Bridget on the runway said she thought Zach was going to win, and he just holds his tongue. Gotta respect that. 

--Tim tell Jaxson that he doesn't like his top, and that leads to him changing it, but once again we see Jaxson's time management issue come up. Even when the team was talking about going to Mood, it was pointed out that Jaxson needed to stay in the workroom because he's constantly pressed for time. I'm happy to see them acknowledging this, but I'd like to see him get better. I'm hoping Jaxson sticks around for a long time. 

--Christian seems to be the main judge taking these kids to task on the runway. he doesn't seem to hold back much in his comments. There's one moment here where he says something and we catch the briefest shot of Kelly's "OMG! I can't believe you said that!" face before the show moves on. Kelly is quick to point out that Samantha's dress looks like shit, but she waits until everyone's in the greenroom before saying so. I've been fascinated with the judging thus far.