Face Off: 07×07 – Judge Match

SPOILERS

Okay, so Tuesday night’s episode was a special one.  First off, I’m in Canada, and Space (Canada’s version of SyFy) didn’t air this episode, but aired NEXT week’s episode, so I guess I’m a week ahead.  I’m not going to talk about that episode, titled Killer Instinct, because it wouldn’t really be fair in terms of spoilers.  So, I had to wind up downloading Judge Match.

The premise of this week’s episode is that Neville, Glenn, and Ve are competing against each other for charities.  Glenn’s charity is an animal rescue for stray and companion animals who need rehab (aww – he also mentions that he has two cats who are his entire life.  Glenn’s heart grew three sizes that day). Ve’s is a charity for women and children who have been victims of trauma and violence, and it helps them through art.  Neville’s charity is an Orangutan rescue to keep their habitat and their wild numbers.

The judges also have some help.  We get some All-Stars coming back.  Glenn’s team consists of Laura (Season 5 champ and Season 3 finalist), and Wayne (Season 4 finalist).  Ve gets Conor (Season 1 champ), and Roy (Season 3 semi-finalist, and Season 5 finalist).  Neville chooses Miranda (Season 2 contestant and Season 5 semi-finalist), and Anthony (Season 4 champ).  McKenzie then gives them their theme for this contest – a living chess board.  They each have to choose two chess piece characters.  Glenn goes with the Knight and King.  Ve has the Queen and the Rook, and Neville has the Bishop and a Pawn.  But, OF COURSE there’s a twist, and the judges aren’t immune to McKenzie messing with their minds.  One character has to be pristine, and one has to be evil.

Right off the bat, Neville’s kind of the strongest coming out of the gate, since his expertise is conceptual design.  However, he has pretty much zero shop experience, so he’s going to rely on Anthony and Miranda to handle blocking out sculpture.  Ve also hasn’t sculpted in years, so she tasks the main sculpting out to Conor, and has Roy working on the fabrication for the rook (of course.  Who else is going to do the fabrication?  The only person who’s ever come close to Roy in all the seasons of Face Off is Season 6 winner Rashaad)

Glenn is managing his time the best, since he still works in a shop on a regular basis, but the judges are all kind of feeling how fast that time really goes.  They’re also having a great time ribbing each other about having to present stuff in front of ‘themselves’.  This is definitely the most levity that’s been shown in the shop during a challenge.  And then Neville realizes that he can’t keep sculpting on his pawn face, and he falls into the ‘cleaning out the mold at the very last second’ trap.

Application day goes pretty smoothly compared to other days, though Neville’s team is really far behind on paint and such.  McKenzie comes into the lab to tell them it’s Last Looks, but nobody pays attention to her, so she has to yell at them all, and even then, she has to go up to Neville and pretty much yell in his face.  They don’t go to the Face Off stage, but rather stay in the lab.

Things are set up a little differently for the reveal, and all the chess pieces stand together on a set, and they look pretty awesome all as a group.  McKenzie’s there with Lois and Mr. Westmore, and each judge has to describe their thought process.  It would have been kind of funny if Lois and Mr. Westmore ripped them a new asshole like what happens usually during the reveals.  But there isn’t much to rip apart.  All of them look great.

The way they have to vote on things is a little different.  The judges actually have to vote on things themselves, but it’s done in a secret ballot, and they can’t vote for themselves.  The judges, and each of the all-stars, go behind one of the hedges, and put chess pieces into a box to vote for their faves.

Glenn’s Evil King

Glenn’s Pure Knight

Neville’s Evil Bishop and Pure Altar Boy

Ve’s Evil Queen

Ve’s Pure Rook

It turns out that Neville gets the most votes, and $5000 goes to the Orangutan charity.  Miranda and Anthony also get $5000 each, which isn’t bad for one challenge’s work.  There’s no sad goodbyes, and it was a pretty fun episode.  I’m not going to talk about next week’s episode for SyFy viewers, but it’s pretty fun.  That’s all I’ll say…..