Previously on The Real World, Justin told Annoying that he didn't want her sleeping in his bedroom anymore. I remember this clip. Then Annoying cried. Yep, remember that too. Then Colin said that Justin was vindictive and that he got really happy after being mean to Annoying. I don't remember that clip! Have they showed that one before? Anyway, they are also off to India. So we know that the gang (minus Ruthie) is going to India and that Justin is going to be vindictive and happy about it.
They all arrive in India and I'm not going to make fun of how they look or what they say because they're coming off a twenty-four-hour plane trip, and God knows I would not be at my best under those circumstances. They all get some sort of Indian lei as they arrive. Wonder Bread tells us that Annoying and Colin have been very affectionate thus far. They all get on a bus and Annoying says that she and Colin are "enjoying each other's company." Does anyone else think they joined the Mile-High Club? Although, if they had, the producers probably would have filmed it, right? An Indian woman gives Teck some sort of blessing on his forehead and he asks what that's called. She tells him it's an atika. He handled this really well, and I think, "Maybe Teck can be tolerant and not embarrass his country while traveling abroad." We'll see what happens.
The group meets Ramish, their guide for the trip. He tells them they are going on a train trip for seven days. They will spend each day in a different place doing tours, and then sleep on the train at night. Colin says that this is the biggest and best trip ever in his life. What's weird is that the captioning identifies Colin as Trevor. What was that about? I mean, I know Trevor is Colin's best friend, and was on the casting special, but there is no one on the show named Trevor.
Annoying is giving out Blow Pops ™ to all the children in India. Is it some sort of custom to give the children in India little treats and such? I profess ignorance in such matters. I guess Blow Pops ™ are fun and all, but I think I would have bought some little trinkets or something. Or I would just not give them anything, which is what the rest of the roommates appear to be doing. Justin tells us in an interview that he finds Annoying to be conventional and shallow. Tell me something I don't know.
Justin says that Annoying makes him sick. He tells his new best friend Tetanus Girl -- the innoculation shot last week appears to have failed; she still talks with clenched jaw -- that he can't take it anymore. About Annoying, he says, "You're that lame, and it's not even interesting," which is funny. At this point in the episode, I think it's all harmless, and that if this is what they meant by Justin's true colors, bring it on. So he bitches about how annoying everyone is. Isn't that what I do every week? Anyway, he goes on to say that he wants to make it more interesting by trying to manipulate Colin and Amaya's relationship.
All the men in the cast are wearing these bizarre, gigantic turbans as they approach the train. Teck takes the opportunity to talk in a faux-Indian accent even as Colin and I both ask him to stop. So much for the new, respectful-of-other-cultures Teck. Justin says that they are in for an intense experience on a small train. Justin and Kaia share a room, and Colin and Annoying share a room. Annoying says they're rooming together because they didn't want to room with anyone else. I'm not fooled. I think they're having S-E-X. You can't put anything past me. The train leaves the station, and we are treated to both Justin and Colin saying, "It's moving!" Why?
The morning, Teck is ready to explore, and he even got up before noon to do so. I would make fun of him, but people in glass beds shouldn't throw stone pillows, or something. Colin talks about how they rode elephants and says it was more scary than fun because it was swaying from side to side and they felt like they were going to fall over a ledge. Annoying apparently thought "elephant" meant "roller coaster" because she screams. If your survival was dependent on a large animal, would you scream and possibly spook it? I don't know if elephants are spookable, but I wouldn't take chances. I would speak in a low voice and not make any sudden movements. But that's me.
Teck makes some friends via rapping; he is in a crowd of young Indian men doing a "beat box" and sounding funky fresh. If it were 1982, that is. The Indian men are enjoying it, though. Teck tells us that, being black, he feels at home in India. Then he teaches the group to say, "Peace out." Teck's contribution to fostering cross-cultural communication, apparently, is to teach the folks he meets two-year-old urban slang.
Justin says he doesn't respect the people in the house, so he distances himself. I find it easier to write snarky episode summaries, but to each his own.
Colin says he is glad Annoying is on the trip because he likes spending time with her, and that the other people he's with are freaks. Or they won't have sex with him. One or the other. They hug as they walk through a garden, and he tells her that he wishes she weren't on the trip. We assume that's sarcastic, but if that's how the boy I cared about told me he cared, I would kick him to the curb.
Justin and Tet Girl are talking about the other cast members. Justin says they have got to have some fun on this trip and Tet Girl says there are "so many ways to have fun and of skewing things." I'd like to point that out in light of later incidents. Justin gives us a little lecture on "Manipulating People: Or, How I Feel About Amaya." That's his title, not mine. He and Tet Girl discuss whether they should try to mess things up and with people's heads -- Annoying's in particular. Tet Girl says, "You're suggesting open fire in every way," and Justin says, "Yeah, it'd be fun." While that may be true, and I certainly can relate to Justin's being exasperated and annoyed by his fellows, I fail to see how this will be fun for Justin, unless he takes pleasure in others' pain. I thought he was smarter than that. In fact, I have to wonder if this whole plot was not part of Justin's ongoing experiment with the show: He knew how it would be portrayed by the producers; did he just want to stir up trouble to get camera time? Did he want to go out with a bang? Since he -- unlike, say, Colin -- he hasn't given any interviews post-taping, I have no idea what is going on. So at this point, I still like Justin, and can empathize with his plight, but I don't like the idea of messing with other people because HE'S bored.
Justin then gives a speech that pretty much sums up the season for me. He says, "True colors come clean when you're traveling. Matt, for all his kindness, is fundamentally weak," and they show Wonder Bread writing a letter to Ruthie. I tried to pause the tape and read it, but all I got was "Dearest Ruthie," and "I promise to think of you every day." What a lame-ass. Justin continues, "Amaya is pitiable and pathetic," as we see Annoying braying at a camel. "Colin maintains a consistent inconsequentialness," and I don't think inconsequentialness is a word, and I think he's been spending too much time with Tet Girl, because that doesn't really make sense, but anyway we see Colin handing out nutrition bars to the kids, because turn those kids' lives around. Justin goes on, "Kaia exhibits a certain kind of intense self-centeredness," as we see her try on piece of Indian jewelry and strike a pose for a photo. "Teck's shtick has become so tired, it's comatose," as Teck dances and generally acts idiotic. I find it amusing that the producers had no trouble finding video clips to illustrate Justin's points, and while I think he's right, I also think perhaps he might have turned his focus inward and realized that he is not better than anyone else. He concludes, "I've never been in forced confinement with a group of people that were [sic] as intensely self-centered and thoughtless as the group in our house." I think the problem is that Justin is a smart kid, and he has gone to a lot of schools with lots of other really smart people, and somewhere along the line he got the idea that this made him better than everyone else somehow. In some ways, maybe it does. But in other ways, he is a big, huge snob who needs to get off his high horse. Just because what he said about his castmates is true, it doesn't excuse his behavior. Then again, maybe the whole Ruthie incident just disgusted him -- remember when he told Matt the whole thing was just dirty? -- and he became completely disillusioned. But I think the right thing would have been either to ignore everyone completely, or to tell them how he felt. To sneak around behind their backs is not just wrong -- it's incredibly third grade.
Justin talks to Colin about Colin's relationship with Annoying. Colin says he's just having a good time on the trip. Justin says that they're dependent on one another and that Annoying is messed up in the head, and that she has repeatedly shown that she is a nester. He tells Colin that he doesn't have to confront her, but that he shouldn't be a part of that behavior, and should make a clean break. Colin says, "So I should expose her insecurity of being independent?" which is more syllables than Colin has ever attempted before. I purposely left out of this conversation the constant confessionals from Tet Girl that the producers throw in, because they totally alter the conversation. If you just read the above paragraph, you see Justin trying to tell Colin to get out of an unhealthy relationship. Interject after each sentence Tet Girl saying, "Justin likes to manipulate people. He is playing around. He doesn't care about Amaya's well-being," and it's a whole different conversation. I DO think that Justin was trying to be manipulative -- since he said so earlier -- but it's interesting how much editing can change things.
They're all on a boat, and suddenly Colin is being distant and rude to Annoying. Colin says he just needs a break for a while. I can't believe how easily he's manipulated! You have to believe that he was already thinking what Justin said in some way, to make such a quick change. Or that he has no mind of his own. One or the other.
In their room, Annoying whines that Colin is mad at her. Colin says he's collecting his thoughts, and he doesn't really want to talk about it. In a confessional, he says that it's easy to pretend you're the victim all the time -- which is what Annoying does -- instead of taking some of the blame. Annoying mugs for the camera by making faces at Colin. She says that Colin obviously has new feelings for her (and remember how last week the producers tried to make it look like she was saying this to Justin?). Colin replies that he just talked to other people and they helped him realize some things. Annoying continues to dig and Colin says sharply, "Don't put words in my mouth!" and leaves. Annoying continues to mug for the camera by saying, "Oh my god, you freak," like, ten minutes after Colin had already left.
Annoying is feeling resentment towards Colin. Wonder Bread pops up for one of the few times this episode and says that he doesn't know what happened (for once), but the honeymoon is over. They all ride camels through the desert and Colin and Wonder Bread share a camel and make stupid jokes. Colin says that riding camels is the one thing he wanted to do in India. I'm thinking they probably have camel rides somewhere in Colin's home state of California, but whatever. The boys decide to have a "photo session" (they actually call it that), and Colin asks Annoying to go but she says she's just enjoying the sunset. Actually, she's pouting about how romantic it is and how ironic that is, given that Colin is being mean to her. For the umpteenth time, I wish Annoying would learn that she can be a whole person, and have fun, with or without a boyfriend. Justin, meanwhile, says that he looks for and creates distance between himself and people he loves, and that he thrives on it, and I feel kind of sad for him. Colin tells Teck to sit down and enjoy the sunset.
Annoying is feeling sick. I feel bad for her because I hate being sick and I would REALLY hate being sick in a foreign land, plus she is missing out on all the activities. She says that Colin told her he wanted to experience the end of India "on his own" (and we see him hanging out with Teck and Tet Girl, so he obviously really meant "without Amaya"). Tet Girl says that people are hurt by Justin, and that she wants no part of it. I'm getting a little sick of her preaching about how mean Justin is, and how she thinks it's just awful, when she participated in all of it. She encouraged him when he was planning it, and she sat there and watched while he talked to Colin, and not once did she tell Justin that she didn't think it was a good idea, or that he had taken it too far, or that people were getting hurt. So Tet Girl? Shut up.
Then I stop feeling sorry for Annoying (record time: thirty seconds) because she goes on and on in graphic detail to her Indian tour guide about EXACTLY how she feels and what parts are sick, and how many times she has tried to throw up and on and on. Annoying? Shut up. She does what she should have done in the first place -- goes back to the bus and sits down.
Annoying is on her bed, looking awful cute for someone who's so sick. I know that, when I'm sick, I frequently put my hair in cutesy pigtails. Anyway, Colin asks if she is going to throw up and she perks up because HE CARES but then he says, "Because my stuff is all over the bed". Ha ha. In a confessional, Colin tells us that there's reality and then there's Amaya's dramatic performance of reality. The two of them have a stupid fight and Colin asks her if she's going to make it a drama queen event, and she does. I just want to pull her aside and say, "You know, if you ignored him and didn't whine and complain all the time, he wouldn't be so mean." Then I remember giving that advice to someone when I was in, like, sixth grade.
They go to the Taj Mahal. Annoying says it's romantic and that it would've been nice to go with Colin. See above sunset description for how I feel on that issue. Colin, Teck and Wonder Bread hang out and Teck acts stupid and Colin and WB giggle and I flash back to every junior high school field trip EVER! Colin says he has fun with Teck because he doesn't make everything an issue. Annoying tells Justin that she wishes she could share this with someone special (AGAIN!) and Justin says, just enjoy it. Thank you.
Justin is in Annoying's room talking to her about Colin. She relates how Colin was being so nice and then suddenly changed. Justin is all, "I wonder why? Just like that?" as if he had nothing to do with it. This is all such a soap opera. Justin is obviously playing this up for the cameras. Again, I think he is too smart to let himself be portrayed like this, and wonder what his true intentions were. Regardless, this makes me feel a little sorry for Annoying again. Then I get distracted because Justin is eating something and his microphone is on SUPERSONIC volume and all I can hear are his smacking lips. Annoying says that Colin was a bad decision, but that's life. Justin says that life is rendering inconsequential what was a bad decision. I start thinking -- even if Justin's intentions were bad, if the end result is good, does that make it less evil? Like, if he gets Colin and Annoying to break up, and helps Annoying to see that she shouldn't depend on Colin so much, does that redeem him? I'm not sure, but it's interesting.
Bottom Line: I don't think Justin is evil. I think he was bored and fed up. He shouldn't have tried so blatantly to interfere in Colin and Amaya's relationship. I am disappointed, because I thought he was the one mature person on the show, and he has shown that he's not. And he has also shown that he is a snob. Is he still my favorite? Probably. Who else is there, really?
They all get off the train to head home. Annoying says that Colin told her he doesn't want to give her mixed signals, but that she couldn't possibly have feelings for him again after how he treated her. Tet Girl says that Justin taught her how to be manipulative and that's not how she wants to be. Justin says that he can't imagine living in that house for seven more weeks, and that he wants to go home.
Two weeks from now -- does anyone know why they aren't showing a new episode week? -- Fred and Daphne do some Scooby-Doo detective work and all fingers point to Justin.
During the credits, we learn that India has cows in the street.