Episode Report Card Jeff Long: D+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Fashion Rocks!
By Jeff Long | Season 5 | Episode 11 | Aired on 09.24.2008
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.You know, putting aside the accuracy of judging (because you could make the argument that the judgments have been correct), I can't really stress enough how unsatisfying I have found this season to be. Let me tell you a little story -- the designers have to design for each other. It's all randomly drawn. Then, each designer is assigned a style of music that the designer creating a look for that person has to keep in mind. I know, it's a little dense.
So Korto has to design a punk look for Rayon, Rayon creates a rock and roll look for Jerell, Jerell creates a pop look for Kenley, Kenley creates a hip-hop look for Leanne, and Leanne creates a country look for Korto. Aside from Jerell, everyone has to step pretty far outside of their comfort zone. It's starting to get really tense and the designers are getting particularly snippy. Jerell considers sabotaging Rayon (and I think he actually attempts it). Everybody seems to really be over Kenley and it's easy to see why. She is so loud and whiny. And, she talks to Tim Gunn like he's some sort of asshole. And, she backs up in her interview that she does in fact believe that he's some sort of asshole. On the runway, Korto and Jerell really shine. The others get mixed reviews. Well, Kenley just gets bad reviews. They seem to hate her look -- and she's gross and defensive about it. LL Cool J is the guest judge, which is pretty awesome. Korto wins the challenge. And, Kenley loses, right? Wrong. Rayon loses. Five weeks too late and at the exact moment when I was READY for Kenley to leave.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Previously: The designers had to create looks for college graduates, with the moms of their clients around as an extra obstacle. Nothing spectacular occurred-- with the exception of the Kenley-as-total-asshole reveal. So, yeah, Kenley's that girl you totally hate. The one you see annually at that peripheral friend's birthday party. She's that mixture of conceited and defensive that makes every conversation with her a total nightmare. You walk away from her feeling as if she's turned you into your own gross mixture of stiff church lady and ranting Philip Roth. Thanks for that, Kenley. Joe created a pretty boring and unflattering skirt suit for his client. The judges, including Cynthia Rowley, gave him the big ole' boot. Jerell won his second challenge in a row, which he mostly deserved. I don't know if anyone else is surprised by Jerell's late-season surge -- I'm having a hard time processing it.
It's morning at the Atlas Building and Leanne says, as she and Korto are putting on their faces, that she wasn't surprised to see Joe be eliminated. Korto says that she has been seeing his elimination coming for weeks. That's true, but it makes me a little sad for Joe. Korto says that she is so close to Bryant Park, she can smell it. (I think that's the subway station next to it that she's smelling.)
Jerell tells Rayon that they're down to the final 5. Rayon interviews that, since Rayon has been in the bottom 3 for the past three challenges, Rayon needs to step it up or Rayon will most certainly be going back to Rayon's home. Leanne says that she would love for the finale to be all women, but she thinks that Jerell is really talented. So, he'll have to wear a wig! Har! I wonder if that was a little dig at Kenley, since we already have enough girls for a finale. I'd like to think that was a dig. We're off to Parson's.
Heidi greets the designers on the runway. She's carrying the black velvet button bag and tells the designers that they will "re-pick" their models. The girls come onstage. Since two designers were eliminated two challenges ago and the models weren't used in the last challenge, there are 8 models and only 5 designers. Jerell chooses first because he won the last challenge and he stays with Nicole. Kenley's button is drawn from the bag first. She tells Germaine that she really enjoyed working with her, and she's very "cute" but she's going to work with Topacio (she was Joe's model). Kenley interviews that Topacio is going to look really good in her dresses. Leanne is drawn next -- she tells Karalynn that it has been great working with her, but she's going to work with Tia. That's Rayon's model. He interviews that he's going to have to kill Leanne. He likens her to a kid in a candy store -- she wants what everyone else has and it's childish. Korto whispers, "You're a heartbreaker, Leanne." Leanne just kind of makes a face like, "Come on, it's just business, don't try to make me feel bad." It's kind of annoying. She interviews that she loved working with Karalynn, but she feels like Rayon had an unfair advantage with Tia. Rayon chooses Savara. Korto chooses Katarina. That means Karalynn is going home, along with Germaine (for the second time) and Paulina. Karalynn looks devastated. That is sad and unexpected. Good luck, Karalynn!