One thing's for sure about the end of Capture's first season, it had better conclude with a big meal for the final three teams. After 18 days in the wilderness, everyone seems to have aged at least ten years, except for the twins because I don’t think medically, that twins age.
The Teal team was feeling hopeful at the start of the final hunt and I wanted to feel hopeful for them, but going against Green and Red with just smart ideas doesn’t seem like enough. The teams met with Luke, who told them that by the day, one team will have claimed $250,000. How can this final three hunt go on for two days? What could it be exactly?
Luke told the teams that this hunt would only last one day and that there would be an elimination that night. In order to guarantee a spot in the final two, the hunt team would have to capture both teams in one day. This worries the Teal team, who has a one in three chance (maybe one in two) of being the hunt team and is better at being a prey team.
But hunting two teams in one day isn’t enough for Luke Tipple. The insatiable host went on to tell the teams that either their eyes or ears would be taken away but that twist would be revealed at some point into the hunt. This is madness/Sparta.
And the selected hunt team was… the Green team. This was bad news for the prey teams, because the Green team is fast, and also because their alliance would finally be shattered if they were both caught. Regardless, Red and Teal bounded into the woods, with only two days to go of being tired and hungry.
"This is do or die," the Red team says, offering one of their many ultimate clichés from the season. But the Green team knows they have to capture both teams or they're done. Moments into the hunt, the Red team starts arguing again because someone had to with the White team gone. The Green team gets closer to Teal, who try to hide in the trees and ended up bleeding. Jade or Nikita look horrifying with blood streaming down her head. Head wounds tend to bleed an alarming amount, even if the scratch is small.
While bemoaning a head injury, the Teal team reveals their proximal location to the green team. They crouch like runners at the starting block until they see Teal, who tumble down some rocks and hills to escape. Disappointingly, Green catches Teal and has to escort them back to jail. Red gets a message that the first prey team has been captured and Jacob sighs dramatically, "We’re the only ones out here."
"It’s so hard," Rob complains, while trudging through the woods. They are trying to put themselves in Green’s mind, as Green is headed straight for them. Unaware of how loud they're being, Kareem and Antoine alerts the Red team to their presence. Red hides in the trees successfully for just under three minutes, like, seconds under.
With about 30 minutes remaining, Luke makes an announcement that he'd now take away one of the teams’ senses. Like a true Game Maker (how! How did they do that?) , Luke fills the forest with smoke. Kareem confirms that they can’t see two feet in front of them. Green and Red stumble through the brush, and the red team agrees to hide and run out the clock. The smoke made everything exciting and with the clock ticking down, I almost felt like this was the Hunger Games.
With 19 seconds left, the Green team charges their talons and chases after the Red team. They seem to outrun the smoke, but against all odds, with only three seconds left on the clock, Green catches up to Red and tags them.
After a celebratory hug, Kareem kneels down and thanks the Lord. The Lord smiles upon people who pray with oversize checks. I wouldn’t mind the Green team winning, because of Kareem’s mom. I don’t think we ever heard what the Teal team would do with the money, or what Red would do either.
The Teal team is sad to see the Red team joining them in jail, having hoped to finish the game together. Red makes a final ploy for having strong competitors in the finals. The Green team acknowledges that Red worked hard for everything they’ve achieved, and they wouldn’t want to be called homophobic in the final days. So, which team will get to eat a burger first?
"Honestly if we had to pick a team to go up against in the finals, it would be Teal," Antoine says, not realizing that's the exact choice they were making and that his preface was redundant and likely caused by hunger. "We feel we have the best shot at winning against Teal so we’re going to vote to eliminate Red." So the talon is placed and the bridges fall, but we all learned something about equality and that physically fit gay men can do everything breeders can and more.
They were proud for never giving up on themselves or losing hope. I’m proud of them, too.
The final two teams suit up and meet Luke Tipple at the launch pad or whatever. Luke told them he had a special surprise to motivate them and it's a garbled voice message from each competitors’ family members over the loud speaker. He couldn’t even get a video message to put on their GPS devices? Anyway, how cute is Jade and Nikita’s grandfather? I loved how he ended it with, “Alright… bye.”
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Luke reduces the size of the playing field to a narrow gauntlet for the final two squads to battle it out as both hunt and prey teams. Each team starts as prey, two sets of talons are hidden in the playing field, suspended from trees or something. The first team to find the talons will be the hunters. That hunt team will have fifteen minutes to make a capture, then the power reverses. This happens every fifteen minutes, which is a brilliant way to keep this finale exciting now that we’re all out of smoke.
The teams are placed in the gauntlet and directed toward their talons at the North and South ends of the corridor. The Teal team is counting on the Green team underestimating them. The Green team finds their talons right around the time Teal does, but Teal gets in ahead even though they're trying to be slow. They're sad to be the first hunt team, and the Green team isn’t happy either. Jade and Nikita quickly decide not to try to find them and wait their fifteen minutes out. Everyone's hiding, basically.
Teal stands in one place, having a calm discussion as the Green team comes to them. The frustrating thing would be not having the ability to keep track of time and not knowing how close to the switch they are. The Teal team still lies in wait with five minutes left in their hunt.
"We don’t want them to pop out of any bushes," Kareem notes, acknowledging this as a very real possibility. The Teal team attempts a chase, but stopped with three minutes left to escape the power shift. Luke announces the switch and the twins headed North, trying to stay covered. Green lumbers out in the open.
"I hate this feeling of, like, anxiety," Nikita says. Jade reminds her that it’s just a game, but it is a game worth $250,000. The Green team spots Teal and pursues them, but the twins manage to dart into the woods and hide before the teams switch. This is incredibly tense.
Jade and Nikita are treading so lightly until one of them falls down a hill and makes a big rustle. It reminds me of how well Pink would have done in this gauntlet challenge. Everyone's extremely quiet and waits with baited breath. Nobody wants to make the wrong choice, so everyone just sort of walks around whispering for awhile. With one minute left in Teal’s second hunt, Antoine and Kareem prepare their second hunt. Intelligently, Teal does not reveal their hiding spot.
The Teal twins sneak away but Green has a head start on running after them and with a final, “NIKITA RUUUNNN!” the Teal team is captured. Green wins, because God is on their side, I guess… and because they're super fast. Teal's just happy to have the experience and walks away with identical smiles on their faces. There's an awkward five minutes of hugging and congratulating each other as the Teal team sits idly by, but then Luke Tipple comes in to wrap things up.
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As a symbol of their victory, Luke awards Antoine and Kareem with golden talons and they're like, "Thank you?" And everyone congratulates everyone else forever.
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