User blog:Gogogadget831/Every Episode of Total Drama Reviewed: Episode 69 - The Ex-Files

Episode 69: The Ex-Files

Premise: The contestants go to Area 51 to find alien artifacts. Meanwhile, Courtney is seeking revenge against Duncan and Gwen, who are officially a couple.

Location: Area 51/52, Nevada

Challenge: Break into Area 51 and find alien artifacts

Winner(s): Team Amazon

Eliminated: Tyler, because of Alejandro saving Duncan from elimination

My Favorite Part: Owen doing the running man while singing "Take Me Out To The Ball Game"

I found this episode to be worse than the last two episodes I reviewed. And I know several of you are upset with me that I didn't enjoy the former two episodes, but despite the love triangle content, I acknowledge that those episodes had at least some good going for it. This episode, on the other hand, does not have much. The majority of this episode is mainly love triangle drama. Firstly, we have the whole universe out to get Gwen yet again and I actually do feel a bit sorry for her, especially when she's referred to as the "new Heather". As I've said several times in my last review, although she deserves some of the blame, most of the blame goes to Duncan and even Chris. And no, Sierra. Boyfriend stealing's not wrong. CHEATING is wrong. Gwen had no intention of stealing Duncan from Courtney. After all, Duncan was the one who initiated the kiss and cheated on his girlfriend behind her back. But you know what, I already rambled about the whole kiss scene a lot. Let's get into the episode itself. In the beginning, the episode starts off okay, with Courtney breaking up with Duncan McCheaterPants and Courtney breaking down in the confessional. She does have the right to do so, considering she was hurtfully cheated on. Also, even though she tries to be controlling over Duncan, she actually does have a heart and feels concerned for him, as shown in the previous episode. She then decides to flirt with Tyler to make Duncan jealous. Okay Courtney...I know you're trying, but Duncan's probably not going to care if you do that. Kudos to Tyler for refusing to cheat on Lindsay. I will give this episode credit for displaying a great character trait for Tyler: integrity. Tyler definitely has a heart of gold and he cares about the people he loves, especially Lindsay. It's great seeing him refuse to cheat on his girlfriend and he actually acknowledges that what Duncan did to Courtney was horrible. And I do admire his attempts on contributing to the challenge. It was pretty funny seeing him get electrocuted by the electric fence at Area 51 and then get electrocuted by an alien in a clever E.T. reference. He actually does his best to be a strong contribution to his team and I applaud him for his efforts. Even though they ended up losing, he at least came back with something. Another thing that I found really frustrating about this episode was his elimination. I don't hate his elimination because he's one of my favorite characters nor because it's giving Duncan way too much screentime. If you look at his elimination, it doesn't even make sense. Tyler was actually trying throughout the challenge and he was doing his best to contribute to his team, as I said above. If anyone is to be eliminated, it's Owen. I think Owen being eliminated in this episode would make much more sense. Owen literally did nothing in this challenge, aside from doing the running man and singing "Take Me Out To The Ballgame", which I admit was really funny. But aside from that, he didn't contribute anything to his team. Some of you may disagree with me, but in my opinion, I think Owen getting eliminated in this episode would have made much more sense. I was seriously expecting Tyler to make it a bit further in the game (I would've done a revote if I were Chris!). I also find Courtney trying to throw the team's challenge to be very out of character for her, especially considering her "winning is everything" attitude last season. I do understand that she wants Gwen eliminated, but I think it would make more sense if she kept trying to win challenges for her team and then make a deal with Alejandro and his team to eliminate Duncan. OR supposing Team Amazon lost a challenge (not because of Courtney sabotaging it), Courtney convinced her other teammates to vote off Gwen. I think that would have made much more sense. By the end of the episode, she goes absolutely berserk, even after her break-up with Duncan, which makes it pretty hard to sympathize with her. Another thing that I didn't like about this episode was the location. Come on, this is supposed to be a parody of a reality show. This kind of sci-fi location seems very weird for a show like this and feels very unrealistic. We've had episodes like Hook, Line, and Screamer where there was a serial killer with a hook and a chainsaw ;) and Alien Resurr-eggtion where Chef dressed up as an alien. But those episodes managed to maintain a realistic tone without any over-the-top sci-fi stuff and things like that. This episode is over-the-top in sci-fi references in every way. They're not that clever and it's very distracting from the original tone of the show. Even ignoring all the love triangle material, this episode is uninvesting, boring, and not funny.