Episode Report Card Jeff Long: B+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT A Fashionable Slide Down the Metaphorical Shower Wall
By Jeff Long | Season 8 | Episode 13 | Aired on 10.21.2010
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.So, Tim visits all of the designers in their homes. Andy gets a safe and cautious evaluation. He tells Other Michael that he needs to stop designing and start to edit one of the 700 pieces that he designed. We also meet his PARTNER, Richard. But, it makes sense when you find out that OM's family hasn't been very supportive of him being gay or being a designer. He was hiding for a long time.
Mondo's inspiration is Day of the Dead imagery and it's pretty remarkable. There's a ton of stuff and a lot of fun ideas. Tim poses the possibility that maybe he's trying to hard, but Mondo assures him that he isn't. Tim visits his family, where his mom says that she tried really hard to make Mondo into a macho guy. Instead, he became very good at the piano.
Gretchen's having to move at the same time that Tim visits. Her relationship fell apart while she was away, and she's broke. Poor fucking Gretchen. Seriously. She says that she's embarrassed that Tim is visiting at this time, but she's proud of her collection. Tim tells her that, had he not had a serious relationship fall apart, he would never have moved to New York. Bless his heart. She interviews that she'd really missed him and is glad to share this with him. Her stuff is a little too hippie for me, but it's direct. He has brunch with her and her mother and they discuss Gretchen's control-freak ways, but she takes it all in stride.
They get back to New York and start preparing for Fashion Week. They are required to make an extra look to go with their collection. Other Michael has a problem. On the runway, they like Mondo's stuff. They feel like Andy didn't show them his best stuff. No one likes that Other Michael only had one color in the stuff he showed. And, Gretchen is told that she's too crunchy. Mondo and Gretchen make it through, so it is down to Other Michael and Andy. Andy makes it. And, Other Michael freaks out in a way that I have never seen on this show, ever ever. A. Mazing.
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Want more? The full recap starts right below!Previously: The designers had to create a look inspired by New York. Mondo, Andy, Other Michael and Gretchen made it through to Fashion Week, while April was sadly sent home. But, it's not over yet. They're all going home to create their collections and only tree will get to show at Lincoln Center.
Heidi greets the designers. She tells them that they will get nine grand and six weeks at home to create their collections. Gretchen grasps her heart with relief? Probably a little anxiety too. Tim comes out onstage to tell them that he will be visiting them at home as they're working. Gretchen interviews that she was actually feeling exhaustion. It's tough knowing that she has to bust her ass at home.
As they're packing up at the Atlas Building, Mondo remembers that he felt like the odd man out at the beginning of the show. Now, though, he knows that he has a greater purpose and will make it with or without this opportunity. I believe him that he's gone through a change. He totally seems like a different person. Gretchen interviews that she knows that she has what it takes to show at Fashion Week. As they're leaving, Andy says that he has some beaches to go to (Hawaii). Other Michael interviews that he doesn't want to say that he's going to have the last laugh, then he laughs. It's not the last yet, OM. There's still more things to laugh at. Andy interviews that he knows that he can make a collection that is him, yet still surprising. The mannequins are like, "Is this week 2? No? The finale? Oh, he's still just saying the same thing over and over again. Got it. Could someone stick some pins in us? We need to feel again." Andy, while talented, seems awfully full of rhetoric. I guess that's what you do when you're young and want to be taken seriously. Luckily, that last part was never a big concern of mine. Luckily or unfortunately. Thanks for the self-doubt, Andrew.
A month later, Tim visits Andy in Waianae, Hawaii. Andy shows Tim around their vast farm. He shows Tim their catfish breeding place. Tim is terrified of catfish, which Andy compares in appearance to Chinese men. Andy tells us that his parents are from Laos and he had a different upbringing (lots of chores) that the other kids didn't have and for which he is grateful. He says that, hands-down, his mother is his greatest supporter. We see Andy's mother, who Tim greets exuberantly. We also see Andy's lovely friend Jill. There's a spread of food that Tim says smells terrific. Andy says that his mother sometimes leaves him breathless with the extent to which she will sacrifice for him. That's a really wonderful sentiment and kudos to him for realizing that at his young age.