User blog:StrangerAtaru/That's Off the Chain! - Where Lindsay Derails the Heather Bandwagon

-You can obviously tell from the start of this episode that something major is going to happen between Lindsay and Heather in this episode, considering how the two of them have been getting along worse and worse since after the merge. Lindsay probably realizes it herself but still has a strange way of being loyal to someone no matter how mean they've been...like a Golden Retriever with a short-term memory of what she did this morning.

-And Geoff...well, we get he misses Bridgette but to randomly lock himself in the bathroom and sing about her...that's probably about as desperate as someone is going to get about these sorts of things. Just as long as he screws up, he'll be taken away to "wherever she is" right now...especially considering Playa de Losers isn't that bad a place compared to...well, the island.

-I sort of thought that the cast knew about the arts-and-crafts shack before with a couple of things made there (like...Geoff's picture frame), but somehow they had to have some reason for the next challenge...though I don't quite get why Chef would want a dirt bike on this island.

-Izzy would like the handbook...well a handbook with green fuzz growing all over it.

-I never really got the whole aspect in this episode involving Heather's plot with Chef's bike anyway. I know Heather cheats and screws with people all the time, but to take this bike, dismantle it, use it for her (and probably Lindsay's) bike and get away with it without Chef complaining...that just never made sense. With as defensive and protective and militaristic as Chef is all series long, you'd expect him to go after and destroy whoever took his bike apart but this is one of those things he never actually does. It could have been maybe a set-up to allow for more "parts" by Chris, but he never even treated it as such. All we know is this pretty much explained why Heather and Lindsay got to where they did this episode...even though Lindsay did all the work.

-And here's where the aspect of "karma" begins to play out, introduced by Gwen regarding all Heather's been done. Gwen better keep karma on speed dial because TDA is going to force her to make a deal with it...a big one.

-Some people try to make dirt bikes, Geoff rather make Bridgette sketches...yeah, I know love matters have caused problems on the show now and into the future ("The Chefshank Redemption", "Sweden Sour"), but it's not like a random drawing of Bridgette for a bike is going to help just as much as...a Gwen Head that floats built out of IKEA parts. (then again that probably speaks about the mental differences between Geoff and Cody)

-And then there's Izzy's bike...well, it works, but never take an offer to ride it if made it...ever. Though think of it this way: if Izzy decided to not "demonstrate" it with Leshawna, then maybe somehow the end of the episode would have turned out differently. (I doubt it but Izzy just is so random that she ends up screwing around with all pre-arranged plans)

-When Lindsay makes a compliment, consider it as such cause it's going to make things screw up. Besides, her chihuahua does have a cute butt.

-I'm beginning to think that DJ's later season actions attempted to give more of a personality or a connection to what he does than merely just make him a pansy, considering that somehow he probably ends up riding outside with his mama in that outfit and just doesn't gripe about that unless it was next season.

-The results of the bikes built obviously showed the character's personality, from those that actually look similar to their rider (Lindsay's, Gwen's) to the practical ones (Duncan's, Owen's low-rider) to...whatever DJ built.

-It does seem rather ironic and rather stupid that Lindsay would end up with Heather's bike. She built it essentially herself so it's not like she didn't know what it was or how to use it. It was all essentially a means to get it into the finals with very minimal effort.

-Meanwhile, the race segment of the challenge essentially proved the obvious: never let DJ or Geoff have anything to do with this. Not only are their bikes essentially completely off, but they really have no idea how to ride either.

-Owen though got a really cool and unique bike thanks to Duncan...I still think he swiped some stuff from Heather and Lindsay behind their back to get the mechanics to have essentially a motor bike as opposed to a real one. Besides, it nearly went as crazy as Izzy's bike.

-And now we reach the finals...or should I say "the infamous moment where we have to create technicalities in order to finally have Lindsay kicked off the show". There really is nothing wrong with the whole final concept of it: a race through a bunch of Chris-inspired hazards that are guaranteed blow-outs just so that the one who gets closest to winning will end up getting invincibility. And of course, with Heather and Lindsay in the race, both of them were obviously going to be a major factor in this. But the biggest problem with this is that it essentially was all based around the ending of the race as opposed to the race itself. Instead of allowing for Duncan and Owen to at least factor into the race, they both got blown away by a mine or stuck in an oil slick just so it could be Lindsay and Heather by the point of the pirhana pool. If you think about it, it was Owen who was the one who came in last, since even if his bike got blown up, he got the least far of the four in the race. Therefore, if you think about it prior to Chris' "technicality", Owen should have left the show after this episode. Heck, even DJ and Geoff were extremely easily able to be kicked off from this: one made a wimpy bike and it didn't ride at all, the other was too distracted by his kicked-off girlfriend and screwed up both making his bike and blew out Gwen's. There's even the Leshawna arguement of "she didn't even make a bike, she was trapped with Izzy the whole episode and thus was disqualified from the competition for doing nothing." But of course, the whole purpose of the episode is Lindsay's big exit so they made it the ridiculous "you have to finish the race, therefore only the last person to cross the finish line gets kicked out". What about, per-se, Heather won the race and no one else finished? If Heather is both invincible and yet the last one across, wouldn't it just cancel each other out and come down to a normal elimination? And it's not like Heather would get kicked out for essentially winning a race even if she was the last one to cross the finish line if Lindsay didn't follow behind her. This show always does seem to be obsessed with technicalities for Lindsay's elimination, whether it be this season, next (the "accidentally voting yourself off" bit) or the one after that (let's just do a stupid fashion show to find a way to keep torturing DJ for two more episodes) I guess that the technicalities are crucial because...well, without them, Lindsay would be unstoppable herself. But it just drives me mad that she ends up always getting screwed by some weird new twist Chris throws on the show.

-But while I get bugged by why Lindsay gets eliminated every time, the only good thing to come ot of it is she always seems to have an epic departure. Her first one this time is probably one of the most important, being a massive character development where she goes down swinging finally realizing that Heather's been using her all this time. Sure she didn't realize it sooner than Beth did, but in a weird way it is less how she did it and more her reaction in doing so. The explosion from the emotional blonde who finally realized she had been a tool for someone else for so long just erupts with her cursing and fingering Heather and doing anything possible to show how angry she is that everything was all for helping someone who didn't deserve it. While she probably forgets she did this explosion moments later, at least she doesn't ally with Heather ever again after this.

-Yet with Lindsay's departure because of Heather and exploding at her, she does leave on good terms with everyone else. But her final words to the queen bee...well, foreshadows something major for the end. Let's just say Lindsay's greatest phobia is about to be transferred to someone else...

-Before I go: I've noticed a weird pattern on this show that a character seems to be rather focused on in an episode before their elimination, doing something notable or infamous or having some bit of foreshadowing that would carry over. For the most part here's what I've seen: --Ezekiel: Nothing really but he was just being weird in the first "Not So Happy Campers" --Eva: Showing violent tendencies towards Ezekiel --Noah: The "kissing Cody" incident --Justin: Not very useful or good at Dodgeball --Katie: Well...she and Sadie did attempt to dance for the competition...maybe (yeah that doesn't make it work) --Tyler: (doesn't work either cause he didn't really do anything in "The Sucky Outdoor") --Izzy: Her beginning to get close to Owen with the plane fear --Cody: Hooking up Gwen and Trent on the canoe trip --Beth: Standing up to Heather finally --Sadie: Actually being useful in the cooking challenge even as Harold was in the midst of being pranked --Courtney: Just her whole aggrevation regarding Sadie and beginning to discover Duncan's heart --Harold: The "vote switching" to eliminate Courtney --Trent: (doesn't work really again: he didn't do anything of note I can think of in "No Pain, No Game") --Bridgette: Yeah, killer bunnies in the woods...it wasn't a focus but it wasn't one of her better performances --Lindsay: Terrible at hide-and-seek, plus she's starting to realize Heather is using her

And let's just remember DJ's little problems in riding bikes and over-security/fraidy-cat nature this time around...just to keep the pattern possibly going. (well it's him or Geoff's Bridgette problems)