By Jeff Long
Raul loves Christopher? I don't know. Raul's talking about a connection and it just seems like that. Who cares though, because Nina shows up on the runway and all love scatters. She tells the designers that two teams will be creating collections that are supposed to be editorial and right for a working woman. The winning look will be featured in Marie Claire. Christopher doesn't choose Raul for his team and it causes drama. Then, Raul is super-defensive with his team and worried from the start about being eliminated.
The other team hates Gunnar, which I understand. Mood is very stressful because these people do not know how to work together, especially Raul. Once they're back at Parsons, Elena realizes that she left a bag of fabric at Mood. From that point on, she's bat shit. Raul cannot work on a team. He's so worried about being eliminated that he can't think for a second about the team's collection and it's cohesion. Sonjia's team starts calling the other team the Silk Chiffonies, because Christopher, Nathan and Ven all use a lot of silk chiffon. Jokes! Can you even take it? Hysterical.
They have a photo shoot and Elena is an absolute nightmare. I mean, seriously. It's like she's Jason Bourne or that movie Hanna. She seems like a trained assassin sent to off Dmitry because he left the Russian ballroom dancing team. Or something similar. Joanna Coles is the guest judge for this challenge. Nathan's team got along really well but they used this print that's gross. Heidi calls Gunnar's look "floating souffle boobs" while the girl is still on the runway. Sonjia's team? Not so bad. I really liked a lot of the stuff that's happening. Raul is so unhappy the entire time, though. That said, it appears that he may have been right to insist upon asserting his aesthetic. Nothing he does is so crazy, but I imagine that if he'd bent to the will of the others his work would have come off a little wonky.
After the runway show, Heidi tells everyone that the teams earned the same score, so everyone is eligible to win and everyone could potentially be sent home. Nathan has to defend his skants (pants that are also a skirt?) and Gunnar gets smacked for his dress. All of his teammates other than sweet sweet Fabio choose Gunnar as the weakest link on their team. Melissa's dress, resplendent in an electric blue, gets huge kudos. They also really like Dmitry's look. Raul and Elena both get in trouble for their work. Michael doesn't think the entire thing was very cohesive. When it comes time to choose the weakest link, Sonjia chooses Raul, Raul chooses Elena, Melissa chooses Raul, Alicia chooses Raul, Dmitry chooses Elena. Wow. I'm glad they all didn't choose Raul, just for dignity's sake.
Sonjia's team wins the challenge! But, I think that still means everyone can die. Melissa wins the challenge! Yay. Also, Fabio was essentially second place, which means my two faves were tops. Happy me. It comes down to Raul and Gunnar. And, Raul is...out. That's sad for him. He goes backstage and tells Elena that he hates her, which is sort of refreshing.