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Thursday, September 10, 2015

Steampunk'd Season 1 Episode 4 [Review]

If there is one reality show you watch this season, let it be this one. For a first season, it really knows what it's trying to do, and with this episode in particular, it captures that. It has the drama, of course, but here we finally get to see them actually making stuff, as well as a much broader peek into the lives of these people. If you aren't caring about them by now, I don't think you ever will. Here's to another great episode and sad departure of an incredibly talented steampunk maker!




I absolutely hated seeing James go. He was one of my favorites for the competition, and even though I know only one person can win, I still don't like having to see people go every week. It's getting harder to accept this every episode, and I can imagine it will only get worse from here.

To start things off this week, instead of taking a peek at the new room in the manor from last week, Kato and Jeanne drag the makers out into public to a thrift store to tell them their challenge. They tell them that they are going to be working on a closet, and all the clothes that go inside it. Miss Morgan immediately feels at home (to be fair she's pretty good at sewing), while others like Eddie and JW are put off quite a bit by this one. Kato warns the two of them to they need to be invoved in the costuming. Jeanne goes on to say they need to repurpous five full outfits, including shoes.

As usual, with the odd-numbered maker episodes, the winning maker from last week gets to choose if they want the fuller team or if they want the smaller team. After Tayliss picks Ave and JW, and Karianne picks Charles and Eddie, Miss Morgan is left for last. Tayliss decides to pass on Morgan, which might be a bit of a negative point even with the Ave/Morgan drama. It's a design challenge, and Karianne is more of a leather work/armor person. If Tayliss had taken all the seamstresses for herself, I think she might have fared better in the long run.

With 45 minutes and 250 dollars, the makers are let loose in the thrift store. The shopping montage was a crazy mess of them all running around in a very confused state. Everybody was grabbing everything in sight and moved right on back to the work room. The immediately get to work on the rooms. Before they can get anything accomplished, the judges check out what everyone is up to. They seemed very impressed with both teams, but they came in so early into the planning that it was pretty pointless in my opinion. Nothing had been actually done past the initial planning.

One really awesome thing is that we got to see a lot more of the "making" this episode than before. I guess there wasn't a lot of drama going on between the team members this week because we saw a lot of the actual sewing, crafting, and painting. I love the whole concept of Steampunk and re-purposing. I wish I could so stuff like this, so seeing these talented people go at it full force with all their heart really was inspiring. This is how the show should have been from day one.


But that's not to say there was zero drama. Karianne did start to feel like Miss Morgan was sabotaging her a bit. Morgan kept working on "grunt work" things, like painting hangers, instead of doing her costumes. She sat her down and had a heart to heart with her, which was very mature of her. Morgan, on the other hand, was very fake to her face. Queue the eye rolls once more. Team Tayliss was much less dramatic. Ave was upset a bit, but Tayliss was very comforting for her, and helped her keep her head up like a good friend should.

Speaking of Tayliss, we got a lot of back story with Tayliss. First off, that's not her real name (which I had guessed) but also that she hasn't been doing this as long as the others, as well as that she was bullied a bit as a kid for being a "nerd". She seems to have come a very long way with her confidence and mental state. Good for her.

We also get to see the relationship of Charles and Karianne. Both of them had lost their mothers through various circumstances. It was so hard to see Karianne tear up talking about her mother. I'm glad she has bonded with someone on the show and made a close connection with another person in a tough time like this. Unfortunately Miss Morgan and Eddie didn't see it that way. They both felt it was a distraction, and as far behind Karianne was, I think they might have been right (to an extent).

When it comes to the judges warnings for JW and Eddie, only JW really embraced it. He got on the sewing machine and was very involved in his costume's creation. Eddie, on the other hand, spent most of the episode on the vanity and spray painting boots. He did eventually sit down and try to work it. Miss Morgan showed him the basics, and once again I feel like Tayliss should have taken her on her team.


The teams scrambled together to put the finishing touches on their rooms, but before long, it was all over and time for the judges to do what they do best. They even had a special guest this week from Criminal Minds, Kristen Vangsness.

Team Karianne - The pirate ship theme really did it for them, in my opinion. The outfit Charles had on wasn't the most spectacular, but the winged outfit and the dress on either side of him were amazing. Karianne's jacket she was working on for so long turned out pretty decent. Eddie developed rotating hands which were a nice touch. Right at the end they showed off the kid-punk outfits, which were a great touch. This room really rocked it. Good job, Karianne.

Team Tayliss - JW looked amazing right off the bat. I love his outfit so, so much. His weapon and backpack were not as amazing as JW's stuff usually is, but the rest of the outfit was spot on. As for the other costumes, they seemed very under-done compared to the previous team. It really seemed like they weren't as together as the other team as well.

The judges were divided on almost every aspect, going back and forth with everything and anything about these two teams. The only thing they really agreed on is that Miss Morgan brought it this week. She may have an ego, but she definitely did a great job this week. After arguing and discussing, they brought the two teams back out to tell them the news. I thought it was pretty obvious who the winning team was going to be, and when they announced it was Karianne, I wasn't surprised in the least. It was the safer, more cohesive choice. Our second place maker for this week was Charles, leaving Miss Morgan to get top prize this week. For winning, she got three thousand dollars worth of sewing machines. Good for her!

This leaves my faves Ave and Tayliss, as well as JW (who's growing on me!) in the bottom. When asked who should go home, they all seemed to turn on Tayliss, even to the point that she nominates herself. In a depressing twist of events, Tayliss is the one sent home, crushing my hopes and dreams of her winning. With only my Ave and Karianne left that still have a piece of my heart, the competition is getting fierce.

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