Yep, Here's Your Problem: Someone Set This Thing To 'Evil'

Spotlight Challenge Announcement

The facetestants meet McKenzie at the Bob Baker Marionette Theater, where -- after McKenzie fluffs the late Baker for having created marionettes for Close Encounters Of The Third Kind and Addams Family Values -- she tells them that this "enchanted setting" was chosen because this week they'll be creating characters based on classic dolls. Behind her, the curtains part to reveal this creeptastic tableau.

"I'm pretty positive this is going to be another whimsical challenge," Julian THes bitterly, because he is not very perceptive. What the hell kind of whimsy does he think is inherent in a voodoo doll? "This week, you won't be creating something happy or pretty," says McKenzie. "Thank God," mutters Julian. Okay, dude, first of all? The bulk of this season's challenges have been monster makeup, like always. And second, on at least one where you and your colleagues WEREN'T supposed to be making demons or whatever, you did anyway, so quit acting so hard done by.

Long story short: the challenge is to pick one of the dolls on the stage and use it as the basis for an evil doll character à la The Conjuring or Child's Play. Once again, Emily way overacts her response to the announcement, chirping "It's so scary!" when the spotlights on the dolls change to put them in menacing shadows, and skipping back to her spot with her totally benign rag doll moaning, "This is so creepy." Lady, you're already getting 20% of the available contestant screen time; quit mugging for more.

Meanwhile, can I point out that one of the doll options is a matryoshka and no one picked it? Maybe if Adam had gone with that one and explored the possibilities of a doll character spewing out its insides, he wouldn't run into the problems he has later.

Design Phase

There's a lot of technique stuff here that's very specific and not that cinematic, from Michael Westmore telling Darla how to execute the cracks in her porcelain doll character to Emily creating a braided effect for her rag doll character's chest by molding crepe wool from a wig rather than sculpting it from scratch. Later, she also has some fake drama when the mold for her chest piece falls apart and she thinks half of it shattered on the floor and then we come back from commercial and it's obviously fine.

The only thing that's SLIGHTLY interesting here is Rayce getting involved with his two remaining team members, Logan and Adam. Logan picked a voodoo doll, and while he'd planned to sculpt a burlap effect on his face prosthetic, Rayce thinks he should integrate real burlap pieces instead. Logan's not so sure, and tells us that even though Rayce is his coach, it's Logan's project, and maybe it's not best for him to start over from scratch when he's so close to the end of his first day, adding, "He's been right repeatedly, so this is challenging." Wisely, though, he listens to Rayce and starts over.

Adam, meanwhile, picked a baby doll, and this is his concept: "My character is used for religious practice." Okay, with you. "When a human touches the baby doll, that human's life force is sucked into the doll." Oh, just like real babies. Good idea!

Oh boy, dude. No. As my esteemed colleague/spouse notes, that idea of evil pouring out is not going to work if it's not animated. Even in the sketch, it looks like he hasn't thought it through at all. On the first day, Michael tells Adam not to lose the doll in his design. On the second day, Rayce checks in on the progress Adam's made on the face and is justly concerned.

"He could save this in the paint, but I'm really worried," says Rayce in a TH; to Adam, he cautions, "You just want to be careful with going too extreme." Adam THes that Rayce thinks he's "sidestepping the challenge and not going doll enough." Well...yeah? Adam also says what he's trying to avoid is just putting a big baby out on the stage, but like...does that not sound super-creepy in and of itself? If you think not, look at this. I rest my case. Ultimately, Adam hears Rayce but decides to steer into the skid and do something he likes rather than what he was actually asked to do, and I guess we'll just see how that works out for him.

Anyway, skip all this unless you're interested in hearing Laura say "It's so creepy" approximately five hundred times.

Application Day

Mostly, this is the usual, but it's worth watching for (a) Logan getting kind of testy when Rayce does a terrible job explaining what he thinks Logan should do with his paint job, and (b) this seconds-long preview of Adam's failure.

"It looks like Baby Borg!" - Dave.

Reveal Stage

Honestly, once you've seen that flash of Adam's misbegotten creature, you can skip the rest of the reveal stage because it's really pretty blah. Guest-judging this week is Don Mancini, creator of Chucky from Child's Play. Emily, considering it's her, does only a C+ job of acting like she cares. McKenzie asks what Don thinks is the reason Chucky has been such an enduringly effective villain, and Don says, "There's something almost primal about a creature that looks human, but is not quite? I think that's the essence of it." Just a reminder: he's talking about CHUCKY. Get over yourself, Pretensioncini.

The judges call on Logan first. He kind of lacks conviction in his description of his character's backstory, I assume because Rayce psyched him out so much with his last-minute painting "advice," but the judges love it: Ve thinks it's good even if it's a pretty literal interpretation of the inspiration; Neville calls it a solid character from head to toe. Don says the stitching reminds him of Chucky because he can't stand for us to forget his legacy for a second.

Emily is also praised for her rag doll, which Ve pronounces "terrific," correctly guessing what Emily did to create the braided effect on her model's face and chest. Don says the lack of expression on the face paradoxically makes it expressive -- it has pathos as well as creepiness. And Glenn singles out how the long, long dreadlocks contribute to the overall silhouette and help define the character.

Guys, here's Julian's take on a ventriloquist's dummy.

I assume Julian directed his model to do it, but why would he think a ventriloquist's dummy would skip? Part of what makes them so creepy is their jerky motions! He had such an easy job: as the editor told us all by putting the ventriloquist's dummy Julian used for his model in every bit of b-roll, his was intrinsically the creepiest doll.

Seeing it close-up just raises more questions. He explains to the judges that it's supposed to be centuries old, but centuries ago people did have plane technology to remove that knot from its forehead. Julian had told us through the episode that he'd never sculpted wood grain or hair before, and it sure shows: Laura had cautioned him against doing too much woodiness because his character would just look like a tree creature, and apparently he didn't listen. Don actually thinks it reads more like a zombie from far away, and Glenn says that his paint job should have drawn more of a contrast between the face and the hair. But this is Julian's lucky day because his character's going to look pretty fucking great compared to the next one!

Oh God, Adam. When it first comes out, he voiceovers that he loves it, but he's definitely the only one. When the judges come in for a closer look, they can't even parse what they're looking at, and his explanation doesn't help. "It's just too big conceptually," says Glenn, adding that it's not appropriate for this challenge. Adam genially agrees, so I guess he's already resigned to going out in a blaze of...not glory, so whatever this is.

Darla goes last, and this week she's been paired with that one model with the narrow face and the dark wavy hair who's such a ham all the time.

COOL IT, YOU GOT THE JOB. Darla's lavishly praised for, basically, everything she did: the proportions, the paint job, even the sheen on the "skin." I feel like not enough is made of the head since it looks human-esque, but it really transforms her model. It might not be an unexpected take on an evil porcelain doll, but it's definitely executed well.

Winner And Loser

Obviously, Darla wins; obviously, Adam loses. Neville promises that he's "a very employable guy," and Adam leaves without seeming terribly upset. And now we're down to three Laura people and one for Rayce, though I'm pretty sure Julian's skated his last challenge and can't possibly make it to the final with his track record.

Verdict

"Evil dolls" is about as big a cliché these days as "evil clowns." Other than Adam's completely wrong take on the challenge brief, there's nothing here you wouldn't expect to see.