Surgery is the theme for this week, and the cold open is a morbid one for sure. In the boudoir, the remaining contestants discuss the roach tube extermination, and how they are more or less all convinced, save for Priscilla, that Hollow Eve went home. In discussing the latest exterminee, Dollya points out that Hollow has a way of making people feel stupid or less than, how she talks down to people. While Landon stands up for her and her activism, he does concede that Hollow does not take criticism well, and that is ultimately what cost her. Louisianna turns the conversation in a more positive direction, pointing out that her taking the judges’ critiques has helped her succeed thus far.
The main challenge for the week involves a haunted hospital and Alternative Press Magazine. The monsters must bring to life looks inspired by medical mishaps for a photo shoot. The winning photo will gain the model a spread in AP Magazine, while the bottom performers will be in for something shocking.
Back in the boudoir, the surgical six read the letters penned by the Boulets, which were published in the magazine. They hit home for many of the cast. Louisianna talks about her mother, and how she was nearly thrown out by her homophobic mother. While Louisianna’s family has still not come around to her identity, Dollya’s biological family has been supportive of her.
A few of the performers talk about their inspirations for the looks. Maddelynn is going for classic beauty mixed with modern gore, while Landon is playing with the medical world’s idea of chasing knowledge as opposed to helping people for his look. Priscilla is taking her inspiration from the classic Eraserhead, while Evah is drawing from her love of horror video games. When the discussion changes to the scoreboard thus far, Louisianna warns that she is not to be underestimated, despite her winless record thus far.
The floor show begins with guest judges Paige Owens of AP Magazine and Milly Shapiro of Hereditary fame. To sum up the looks, my top two at this point are Priscilla’s disgusting monstrosity and Louisianna’s deranged cuteness. The middle of the road for me is Dollya and Priscilla, while Landon and Evah aren’t cutting it for me on the looks alone. When the photo shoot portion takes off, Landon’s brain slime earns major points for its disgustingness, while Louisianna looks too good for words. Evah’s brain prosthetic works on so many levels, with her Silent Hill nurse moment. Out of all of the looks, Priscilla is the least human-appearing of the group, and Maddelynn is the prettiest, which would be no problem if this wasn’t an outright horror shoot. Dollya’s crawling earns points on characterization, and captivates Paige.
Judgment begins with a warning from Dracmorda Boulet: safe is not a thing anymore, if you’re not on top, you’re on the bottom. While Louisianna’s pink look was jarring in front of a surgical backdrop, her bit with the liver needed to go further. Landon’s character was fully realized, but then it comes out that “Intelligence” was missing an “L” on his book.
Oh, the juicy irony.
Priscilla’s calf prop was not a prop, but actually a stillborn fucking animal (she insists that it was ethically obtained, but I can still hear the PETA folks screaming from down the road). The blood on Evah’s tights is a point of contention for Milly, who reads her for absolute filth for it. While the brain prosthetic was awesome, it didn’t feel completely incorporated, and that hurt her in the long run. Maddelynn looked gorgeous, but the concept overall was weak and unfinished.
Landon scores the win with his Re-Animator moment, while scoring high are Louisianna and Dollya. Evah is let off the hook this time, leaving Priscilla and Maddelynn facing extermination. To make a long story short, the challenge is a life-size game of Operation, only missing a body part or hitting a boundary means 6,000 volts straight to the dog collar attached to the victim’s neck. It is absolutely tense, and while Maddelynn tries no-selling the zaps like they’re nothing, Priscilla makes it no secret that she feels every last volt. Line of the night again goes to Maddelynn, with the proclamation of “that’s a lot of wires, cunt!”
Maddelynn ends up being no stranger to large chunks of metal, as a joyride goes horribly wrong in her extermination, marking the end of one of my personal early favorites in the competition. That being said, she skated by for a couple of weeks, and I was wondering when it would finally catch up to her. It is a shame to see her get exterminated, but I also can’t say I’m shocked.
Ba dum tss.
