Previously on They're All So Childish, Let's Give Them An Act-Like-A-Child Challenge, Ryan was eliminated for not being childish enough -- and we were finally sad to see someone go. After eight weeks, and nine eliminations. Peregrine won. There's still a solo show at the Brooklyn Museum on the line, and $100,000.
Mark wakes up the morning, unsettled that his last roommate, Ryan, is finally gone. In the other room, Jaclyn's proud of Peregrine because now they've all won. She must mean everyone in their room, because Mark still hasn't won. Abdi gives himself a morning pep talk, and says he hasn't felt good about anything he's done since the challenge he won. But anything short of winning scares him, "for real." Simon and China greet them in the workroom that morning to tell them there are only two more challenges until the finale. This week's challenge: They'll work in teams to create pieces with opposing themes. Peregrine chooses a paint tube first: It says "heaven and hell." Abdi's says "order and chaos." Jaclyn's says "male and female." Mark assumes she'll do something undressed, "but once you've seen 'em, big deal." Nicole gets paired with Abdi, Miles with Jaclyn and Peregrine with Mark. The pairs will decide who gets to depict which word, and their pieces must work together. One team will win, but only one artist will go home.
Thirty minutes of planning. Nicole and Abdi discuss how similar order and chaos really are. Nicole's going to do something with a screwdriver, and Abdi has no idea what to do. Miles is excited to work with Jaclyn, because he thinks she'll come up with something pretty "saucy" given her past pieces. He wants to depict a man losing control, so she'll depict a woman gaining it. He wants to punch a hole in a wall, and she wants to do a painting. Jaclyn's excited to be paired with him, since he's a good technician, but is a little concerned because of how good he is at convincing people (read: her) to follow along with his ideas. Mark and Peregrine discuss heaven and hell, which mean a lot to Mark since he's Catholic. He has definite ideas of lightness for heaven and darkness for hell. Peregrine thinks that's too literal and that she has a better sense of conceptual art. He wonders what she'd want to do, personally, and she's like, "I don't know." He thinks she's defensive, which isn't good for a group challenge. I think she's disappointed to be with him. He asks her if she can be nude for the piece, and she isn't sure. Then she asks him about his scar (apparently he didn't treat a stomach condition as a kid and has a scar from where it exploded). He thinks, since this means nothing to him, it isn't really hell, but she thinks it would be interesting to do two photos of him. He agrees to be the subject, and he takes heaven. She takes hell.
Shopping -- first at an art store, and then a hardware store. Abdi, as usual, doesn't know what he'll do, but is buying a bunch of stuff and planning to build his own canvas. Jaclyn can't figure out what to do, so Miles tells her to use her body. He interviews that he just wanted her to be nude. She agrees. Miles: "Win-win."
Peregrine explains that she and Mark have heaven and hell, and Mark will make a photograph of himself, then she'll make a drawing from his photograph. Mark tells us that, as a big guy, he's not really comfortable getting nude for art, but he respects Peregrine as an artist, so he's trusting her and is going to do it. On the roof. He says he's being a team player, but is definitely not comfortable. Nicole has the order side of order-chaos, so she's making a social order that's basically a shop project. She says it's referencing terms like getting engaged and married. Abdi's just carving some stuff out of clay. He's just praying he gets inspiration. Miles is convincing Jaclyn to masturbate for her piece, because that's control. He tells her he's excited to see it, but not like that. But he's a liar. Mark thinks it's ridiculous that she's falling back on her ways of using her body as an idealized form. Miles punches holes in a wall because he used to hit himself in the head as a child. Which explains a lot, actually.
Peregrine gets Mark's photo of himself (it's a close-up of just the middle section of his body from his neck down to about mid-thigh). She realizes she doesn't have time to draw, so she'll just react to this instead of making something new. Which may have been her plan all along, but she doesn't let on, so we'll never know. Peregrine cut her thumb, so she's being terse with Mark. He's still uncomfortable with seeing himself like that, but he wants to get along. He's using himself with a blue sky for his part of the project. Abdi's still not coming up with ideas, so Nicole rambles on and on about explosions and energy and caves. He says he likes it, but I don't know that she's actually said anything at all. He decides to make a painting of his weird cavelike structure: an exterior of Socrates's cave.
Simon shows up, and starts with Miles and Jaclyn. Miles explains they have male/female, but are exploring control. So he's punching holes in walls, and she's showing her painting in a corner, which will be presented in the gallery distorted in a mirror. He asks what she's doing in the work, and she says it's a private sexual act. He seems sort of speechless, which Miles thinks is good. up: Nicole and Abdi. Nicole explains her order side of the project, which is all about being in control. She's created a system that's controlled by an upper hand that turns the crank on the piece. Abdi shows Simon his sculpture, but Simon's not sure how that's going to translate into the painting Abdi says he's doing. Abdi wants to finally make something Simon likes. Mark and Peregrine explain their heaven and hell. Simon doesn't get her grommets on Mark's stomach. He doesn't think they depict hell, and he thinks Mark's is too literal.
Abdi's happy that Nicole's piece is so great, but that he's not helping her out at all. He calls Miles over to look at his painting. Miles gives him some input, but ultimately likes it. Jaclyn thinks it's stuck between figuration and abstraction. She thinks hers is better, because she's like an idol. Not that she's obsessed with herself or anything. Miles tells Jaclyn that the mirror thing might not work for hers, and he's going to use some tar that Ryan apparently bought during a previously challenge. He admits that he told Ryan it was hard to work with so he didn't use all of it. Sneaky! Apparently, they can use stuff from challenges? What's the point of the money limit, then? Nicole talks about what she has left to do the day. And in her interviews this episode, she has red spots all over her face. Maybe she's allergic to woodshop. Or working with Abdi.
Back at home that night, Miles is super-happy about living with Abdi, but isn't sure how Mark will fit in now that he's moving in. Abdi greets him warmly and then interviews that he hopes Mark realizes he has a friend in him at least, since he knows Mark feels ostracized. Awww. Abdi's a good egg. The morning, Peregrine calls her husband because she's feeling freaked out. She doesn't want to go home on this piece. Mark and Miles hate each other over breakfast, and Abdi's nice to everyone. Miles is super-excited to see how the tar reacted to the acrylic resin. Jaclyn hates the tar idea, because her piece was supposed to resonate with his piece because he was incorporating a mirror. Peregrine decides to fill the grommeted holes with cigarettes, so she and Miles walk the streets and collect them. She's drawn on his face and put paint and glitter on everything. It looks very immature. She should have made this one last week, probably. Mark also hates it. Because, you know, it's a giant picture basically making fun of him. Or that's how it reads.
Simon warns them that time's almost up, so they're all scrambling and pushing it down to the wire. Time's up, so they head to the show. Abdi looks at his piece, and wonders why he would decide to do something he's never done before in the second-to-last challenge. Um, maybe because he's completely indecisive? Then there's a commercial followed by everyone talking about what art means to them. It's pretty pointless and stupid with words like, "ephemeral moment" and "moral ambiguity," but without a single discernible thought.
Gallery. China, in a tiny dress covered in giant sequins, introduces Bill, Jerry, and "art-world sensation" Ryan McGinness (Jeanne's still in Europe). Miles loves him, making me immediately skeptical. Miles says, "I adore your blacklight installations." That's right: Blacklight. Installations. They open the gallery to the judges and "public." Terence Koh is at the show. So's Samantha Mathis. Miles loves his own piece, and is proud of Jaclyn, even though he reminds us that he talked her into this. She's also proud of it. Kyra Sedgwick is checking out Nicole's piece, and tells her she loves that you can touch art, for a change. They can't figure out what Abdi's piece is, and wouldn't have expected this from chaos and order. Mark and Peregrine are sort of happy with theirs, but it really isn't good. It looks like something I could make, and I don't even know anything about art.
The judges want to talk to all of the artists for the crit. Starting with Mark and Peregrine. She goes first and explains the concept, starting with the scar, that scared Peregrine when she saw it. They ask to see the scar, and while Mark shows it, Miles assholes by covering his eyes at Mark's belly fat. The judges don't want to discount the pain it took to make this, but they think this piece is very literal -- and is not like heaven or hell, but more like limbo. Whatever that means, JERRY. Mark says he gave himself to Peregrine's idea of the subject, and she says he could have given her more to work with. Miles says that Mark plays it safe and just stood there, like, "Here I am," while Peregrine inserted her materials into her piece. God, he makes everything personal. Because he doesn't like Mark, like with Erik before him, he pulls this crap with the judges (and we all know they adore him, so it probably spells doom for Mark).
Miles and Jaclyn are . He explains their concept to us for the hundredth time. They wonder how her piece is about control, and she says it's her masturbating. Bill FINALLY notices that she must have issues she's trying to sort out about herself, but he thinks these pieces worked great together. He likes that they're not literal, so they can contemplate what's going on here. They ask Miles if he punches walls and ask Jaclyn if she masturbates standing up. She's like, "I have. Yeah." But she'd also just say what they want to hear. So, whatever. They love it. Nicole explains how she took the social structure, and Abdi explains his painting. The judges don't get the correlation at all. Plus, they think Nicole's piece is "rinky-dink" and Abdi's isn't chaos and is unoriginal. Jerry's beginning not to trust Abdi's vision itself. Abdi asks what they'd like to see, and Ryan tells them that's the wrong approach: He should ask himself. China excuses them so the judges can discuss. And they do: They thought Mark and Peregrine both failed by going for the simple, obvious answer. They disliked Mark's work more than Peregrine's, but think both really sucked. Bill feels like Jaclyn's and Miles's pieces worked well together. Ryan thinks they are strong pieces, but actually don't work well together. Ryan thinks Nicole and Abdi had the most difficult topic: order and chaos. Ryan liked that you have to interact, but thinks it fell short in presentation, and that there was no chaos in the presentation. They also think his painting doesn't take you anywhere or tell you anything about anything. China wonders who they're sending home, and Bill says there are three people in deep trouble tonight, in his mind. Hey, I have an idea: Get rid of them all!
All six artists are back with the judges. To no one's surprise, Miles and Jaclyn are the winners. Jaclyn's so motivated to keep going and win. They leave. Peregrine's teary as they explain why none of their pieces worked. Jerry tells Abdi the failure of their presentation lies with him. Bill tells Mark and Peregrine that their pieces were uninspired, but they feel the fault lies with Mark. Peregrine cries. China tells Abdi and Mark one of them is going home, and then sends Mark home. She actually cries as she tells him his work of art didn't work for them. Abdi looks sad, too, and Peregrine continues crying. Mark realizes that he might not have listened to the judges and that might be why he's going home. He says some of the artists here really respect him, and others think he's a no-talent hack, but he's proud of what he's achieved and how far he's come. He hugs Abdi and Jaclyn on his way out.
week: They're going out of town for the final challenge. China tells them this will determine which three make it to the finale. Someone yells for a condom. Simon hopes Jaclyn won't talk to the judges like she's talking to him. Abdi can't figure out what do to. Shocking!
Watch scenes from the episode below, discuss them in our forums, then see other new summer shows!
Want to immediately access TWoP content no matter where you are online? Download the free TWoP toolbar for your web browser. Already have a customized toolbar? Then just add our free toolbar app to get updated on our content as soon it's published.
DeAnn, a writer and editor in Portland, Oregon, predicts Miles, Nicole and Jaclyn in the final three (though I really hope Abdi knocks out Jaclyn, he's been too unpredictable). You can contact her at twopmodmars@gmail.com.