User blog:Jam7/Welp... this episode blew.



This is more of a rant than a review. I personally thought this episode was terrible. Like, flat-out the worst one of the season.

First off, we start the episode with a brain scene. Granted, it featured the only Mike personality I actually like (Vito, who really should have been Mike's default and ONLY personality imo), but it was still, like all his brain scenes, ridiculous beyond belief.

Second, the lack of continuity in this season has been annoying as hell. After spending much of the season building up the Gwentney friendship, it suddenly comes crashing down within one episode. Yeah, I get that the show is called "Total Drama", but having Courtney renege on her desire to have Gwen and herself face off in the final two was out of the blue and completely unnecessary. As fun as it was to briefly see a glimpse of the old TDA Courtney again, it simply wasn't worth it, especially given what ended up happening later in the episode.

Third, how did Mal end up getting a hold of Courtney's chart? More importantly, why would someone as carefully organized as Courtney leave it lying around for someone like him to find? That was never explained, and it seems very OOC for someone like Courtney. This is actually one of the biggest gripes I have about this season; THEY'RE DUMBING THE CHARACTERS DOWN TO PASS MAL OFF AS A BIGGER THREAT THAN HE ACTUALLY IS. The most annoying thing about this is that Mal has the potential to be a decent antagonist if written correctly, but that hasn't happened this season. Instead, Mal only seems like a threat because the other characters have been made to look dumber, weaker, or more gullible than they have been in the past. Ugh.

Fourth, WHY DID COURTNEY NOT EAT THE SUNDAE?! This is the same girl who ate a lot of disgusting crap for Alejandro in Chinese Fake-Out, the very same episode in which she bragged about her strong stomach. Yeah, I get that random/contrived bird poop isn't exactly food, but Courtney has been shown to do whatever it takes to win. Hell, she was acting like that earlier in the episode. Why the sudden change in character? The lack of continuity in this scene in particular was really pathetic, and I was just shaking my head as I watched it. Like, what the hell, writers.

Fifth, WHAT THE HELL WENT ON WITH THE VOTES?! Okay, so Gwen told Courtney that she wouldn't vote for her if Courtney voted for herself. That was actually a good set-up to a potentially dramatic elimination ceremony. Instead... nope. Nada. NOTHING was revealed about how the votes went down. Courtney's elimination was very anticlimactic. They just cut straight to the scene of her in the Flush of Shame with Chris nonchalantly saying she was eliminated, and the other campers shrugging it off. That previous dialogue that Gwen said to Courtney about voting for herself? Never brought up again in this episode. As upset as I was about Courtney's elimination, I think I was more upset at how it was handled. Courtney and Gwen's friendship seemingly ended in the blink of an eye, much like Gwen's relationship with Duncan did. It's like these writers have no idea how to write for these two girls, or at least have no idea how to do it consistently.

And finally, why is it that whenever Zoey wins, it makes NO SENSE AT ALL? Every victory that Zoey achieves on this show is because the writers have simply handed it to her. I like Zoey, but the way the writers have made her their new pet is really, really annoying. There's no need to make her a godplaying character who just so happens to coast to the final four in every season she appears in, ESPECIALLY when it comes at the expense of a superior character like Courtney.

This episode was very, very disappointing. There's very few positive things I can say about it. At least the Scottney relationship (which I had grown tired of, now that it comes across as nothing but a cheap Duncney clone) is now over. And hopefully the writers have the common sense to maintain Courtney and Gwen's friendship alive by the end of the season. But overall, this episode really highlighted all the weaknesses of this season, and just how awful those weaknesses are.

On the bright side, at least this happened: