So we had our first episode of the season. We've caught up with the players that are back for another shot at $1,000,000 and we get a taste of what's to come in the next few episodes. Now we get down to business and the pace picks up just a little more. And when you have a cast consisting of these 13 remaining players, you know this'll be a reasonably unpredictable season. You know, when obnoxious Cartoon Network commercials don't reveal too much, which is not often enough.
After last episode, Lindsay was the first contestant voted off. Considering how cool of a character she is, I don't think many people thought we'd ever say that about her. That means three members of Team Victory have been the first contestant voted off of a season (Bridgette in TDA, Ezekiel in TDI and TDWT, and Lindsay in TDAS) further contributing to that shameful team's unfortunate reputation). Despite Courtney's attitude, her skills may be able to help the Heroic Hamsters get even. Gwen's relationships with Duncan and Courtney are at awkward stages and Alejandro's surprise appearance is probably still annoying Heather. So with that we head into episode numero dos.
We get our first real glimpse of Mike's personalities of the season while Mike is asleep. Just because Mike is in control of them doesn't mean they're gone. I wonder if they know they're competing in another season? Meanwhile a mosquito gets way too close for comfort to Sam, sucking a lot of his blood. Sierra rudely (but since it's Courtney, I don't care) wakes Courtney up by taking a picture of her which pisses Courtney off. First of all I love Sierra's wallpaper of Cody in the shower. Notice Cody's surprised/horrified expression. On one hand, it could mean things haven't changed that much and the Sierra-Cody relationship could be one-sided on Sierra's side, but then again Cody is usually shy and might still want privacy. I wonder how we would've reacted if Gwen walked in on him. But anyway back to Sierra, who explains that she had no choice but to defy God, I mean Chris, and sneak her cellphone in (Dakota tried and failed to do that but Sierra's had better luck so far) to prevent her from suffering through internet withdrawal.
"ROOM SERVICE SUCKAZ!!!! HERE'S BREAKFAST!!!!!"-Chef Hatchet. Sierra doesn't seem phazed by Chef's surprise breakfast visit but Courtney and Zoey are definitely not happy about it. Courtney lets the whole world know that she's desperate to win the next challenge to get into the Spa Hotel. Normally I'd call Courtney out on being uber competitive, but considering how nice the hotel is, who can blame her? And I'm sure her team would agree with her.
And now we see the Villains enjoying the good life. Scott the chatterbox can't stop talking about how in love he is with this place and how beautiful the releasing of the doves is, likely annoying Gwen. Duncan joins in and agrees with Scott and proposes a toast to villainy. Now would be a good time to remind Duncan about the time he found a new rabbit for DJ. Gwen doesn't seem excited to be a Villainous Vulture even though they won, and she awkwardly changes the subject to how Lightning must be doing on Boney Island. We see Lightning taking a fish from a bird like a boss but then feeling woozy upon eating the fish and then hurls behind a rock. Back to the hotel dining room, Jo predictably hopes Lightning doesn't find the Invincibility Statue so he can be voted off right away at the first opportunity, claiming he is too tough to let him get far. And Scott agrees and then suggests they throw the next challenge (some things never change), but Jo wouldn't purposely lose. EVER. Scott goes on about how much he likes the fact that his pillow has feathers in it instead of live animals and then we catch up with the dynamic duo of Alejandro and Heather. Alejandro's enjoying the masseuse despite his legs still being numb and then they get into an argument about why they never texted each other and how impossible it was for Alejandro to do that when in a robot suit. Heather doesn't take his crap and takes the wax off his eyebrows, causing him to shriek. Heather thinks Alejandro's leg situation is a trick to gain sympathy while Alejandro compliments Heather's radiance in the confessional. So clearly there's still some chemistry between them despite their climax in the TDWT finale. I'm glad thanks to them, Courtney-Duncan-Gwen hopefully won't steal too much of the spotlight. And then it's challenge time! And Alejandro walks with his hands to annoy Heather. And possibly Bridgette; looks like she has some hand-standing competition.
So the teams meet up by the beach. Gwen doesn't care about Duncan trying to flirt with her and Lightning rejoins the group who is quickly and predictably interrogated by Scott as to if he found the Invincibility Statue. Lightning replies with a smooth comeback: "No need because I AM an invincibility statue!". Just wow, Lightning. Thank you for being you. Speaking of people being themselves, Alejandro can't understand Lightning's arrogance because he doesn't have a face like Alejandro's. Lightning sees Alejandro's arrogance and raises him some flexing of muscles. Yeah there's not one spotlight big enough for any two villains on this show. The challenge is based on the statue building challenge from "Can't Help Falling in Louvre" (Season 3, Episode 9) where they must retrieve seven puzzles pieces scattered across the beach and reassemble them on the platform to make it look like a monument found at some point in Total Drama World Tour. Villains get shovels for winning the next challenge. Lightning tries to keep two shovels for himself but silly Lightning. Whatever Heather wants, Heather gets. So she snatches on away from him. Meanwhile Sam is not feeling so good due to the mosquito bite, which no one, not even himself, was aware of. Also, both platforms are surrounded by moats for added difficulty. And better watch out for booby traps too!
Zoey comes up with a plan but Courtney has to butt in with her own plan that's exactly the same as Zoey's, as Cameron pointed out. But anyway their plan works. Courtney is also annoyed by the good natures of her teammates, saying that this is Total Drama, not "Total Friendship". Well that's what you get for undeservedly being on the Heroes team, Courtney. Live with it. Alejandro, Gwen, Scott, and Duncan are already digging while Heather and Jo argue about their teams' tactics. "Ain't nobody telling Lightning where to dig! I'm my own man" said Lightning as he started digging in the ocean. Even by Lightning's standards that's pretty dumb. But hilarious. In the confessional, Lightning says his brain isn't full when his stomach is empty. Lame excuse considering his brain never is full. Gwen questions how Lightning even got to the final 2 last season.
After Cameron sets off a booby trap that causes Chef's dirty laundry to land on him, he finds a hat and decides to activate Mike's Manitoba Smith persona since his treasure hunting skills can come in handy. It works as Manitoba quickly finds their first piece shortly before flirting with Zoey. Heather and Jo are still arguing which annoys Gwen and then Heather and Jo decide to let the team choose their leader. Before Gwen can ragequit, Alejandro comforts her saying he appreciates her efforts. And for the first time in 28 episodes that Alejandro competed in, he manages to charm Gwen but I wouldn't say she's completely under his spell like Bridgette and Leshawna were. Oh and Lightning throws up for like the third or fourth time this episode. Boney Island fish are no longer on the menu, I presume? As Heather and Jo try to lead the team, Heather finds the first puzzle piece and when she and Jo fight for it, Heather drops it on Jo's foot and Jo pushes Heather in the moat.
An hour has passed, it's tied 1-1, and Chris is getting very impatient. Cameron gets hit by a booby trap and is hurled towards Scott. The impact reveals another piece for the Villainous Vultures. Zoey finds another piece (after Courtney gets pushed into the moat by a booby trap) and Gwen finds one too. As Duncan tries to congratulate her, a bucket of sand is hurled at him, causing Gwen to giggle. Lightning steals Jo's piece and hurls a small puzzle piece at Jo to make her fall into the moat. Sam finds a piece but gets hit by a booby trap in the sensitive male region. Manitoba finds one but gets rejected by Zoey, saying she prefers Mike. Gwen is spray with water by a trap and Lightning finds more pieces and kisses his biceps. Scott finds one of the Heroic Hamsters' pieces and tries to bury it on his side to sabotage them, but Manitoba found him out and got the puzzle piece for his team. Scott activates a bee trap and by panicking, hits Mike's head with a shovel. So we see Vito, Chester, and Svetlana play go fish and Manitoba reunites with them. Manitoba warns the other personalities that "The Malevolent One" is coming, so that's a bit ominous. Zoey wakes him up and Mike goes back to doing the challenge but is unable to find Manitoba despite wearing the hat. Heather watches Alejandro as he finds a piece and sees hit feet moving, but once she sees it was because of a crab, she's bummed out and feels bad for suspecting Alejandro. However, Alejandro was just faking it just like Heather thought but he's a really good actor. If Alejandro keeps this up, he has a decent chance at longevity in this game. Cameron tells Sierra she's 20 feet deep and Sierra explains she thought she was digging for Cody. She jumps out of that hole like superman, hurls Cameron and his piece toward the platform, and Cameron says they just need one more piece. Zoey tells Cameron and Sierra to start working on the puzzle. Sam gets hurled towards the ocean and is hit by a boat. A jellyfish stings Sam and the villains and Mike laugh at him. Zoey asks Mike how could he laugh, to which Mike responds by saying the only cure for a jellyfish sting is pee. Sam pees on himself in the water and Zoey is grossed out. "But no one else was going to pee on me!". Hahaha Sam makes a pretty good point.
Cameron figures out that the Heroic Hamsters' puzzle pieces make the statue of liberty (New York, Season 3, Episode 5) and Lightning tells his team that they found all seven of their pieces. I personally enjoyed Alejandro being used as a staircase for his team to reach the platform. Heather and Duncan definitely didn't care about his well being. Sympathy only goes so far I guess. Heather urges her team to put the puzzle together faster and then everyone else contributes while Lightning is only thinking about himself and how the puzzles pieces probably make a statue of Lightning. Gwen figures out that it's Big Ben (London, Season 3, Episode 13). If you watched that episode, you knew that Gwen definitely knew a lot about London, so good to see that. The Heroic Hamsters suspect that the final piece (the torch) is in Sam's quadrant as Sam continues to struggle. Heather notices that there's a whole in their puzzle. Lightning decides to "fix it" with a crab, but it just causes the whole thing to collapse. Way to go, Lightning...and it turns out they only had six pieces. Lightning is not the sharpest tool in the shed but that definitely would be the case if the other tools in that shed were replaced with fuzzy bunnies. This is like 1st grade math Lightning is failing. Seriously. Both teams find their final pieces but Zoey throws the torch onto the statue first so the Heroic Hamsters win immunity! This is the first time the first two immunity challenges of a season were not lost by the same team. I was hoping this season would reverse the trend of one team blowing out the other(s) and it looks like that's what's going on. Sam volunteers to go to Exile on Boney Island since he was the weakest link in the challenge. That's proof right there that Sam is a hero. And I'm glad Sam was on this season because he definitely made this episode enjoyable. Gwen tries to congratulate Courtney on the victory but activates a booby trap. Gwen acts in self defense and uses the shovel to protect her from the falling garbage bag but accidentally flings the garbage towards Courtney. Chris applauds Gwen for her evilness and says she is on the right team. That's not being evil. That's called being unlucky. And Gwen isn't necessarily a hero or villain, more like just an unlucky person. Bummer. Sorry Gwen. At least someone knows how hard you try. Even if my eyes aren't as dreamy as Alejandro's.
Now for the Bonfire Ceremony. "One by one, they will all fall!". Zoey asks Mike if he said anything, but Mike says no. Mike is accidentally right. Mike didn't say that. The Malevolent One did. Let's hope this goes somewhere good in the future episodes. Now the Villains must vote. Duncan is torn between Jo and Lightning, making it a rare occasion where he gives both Alejandro and Heather a free pass. Gwen is torn because her entire team is evil. Thanks captain obvious. It's right in the name, sweetie. So Duncan, Gwen, Scott, Alejandro, and Heather get marshmallows. Jo and Lightning are left with one marshmallow remaining. This time Jo gets her way and Lightning is voted off. Lightning is infuriated for them voting off their strongest player and for Jo backstabbing him. First of all, Lightning should've seen that coming. But sometimes I wonder if he'd see a train coming if it was right about to hit him. Secondly strength wise against the Heroes, they will be fine and Lightning's brains and ego make him less helpful.
This is the first time Lightning is voted off since he won TDROTI in USA and lost to Cameron in the finale in TDROTI everywhere else. I'm just glad that Lightning went out the way he did, being a total doofus the entire episode before being voted off. I thought Sam was a goner but thankfully I was wrong. I can relate to Sam a lot more than I relate to Lightning. I think everyone voted Lightning off except for himself and Heather. I think Heather voted off Jo. Lightning either voted Jo off for their rivalry but since Lightning probably kept his promise made with Jo from last episode, it's possible he voted off Heather instead. And I don't need to make a list of reasons why Lightning (or anyone) would vote off Heather.
My predictions going into next episode
12.Jo
11.Gwen
10.Sam
9.Mike
8.Scott
7.Duncan
6.Sierra
5.Heather
4.Cameron
3.Alejandro
2.Courtney
1.Zoey
-Big Decline: If Jo continues to be in Heather's face, her time in the game could be shortlived
-Same Position: Gwen is an obvious outsider on her team and could be voted off in order to prevent her from helping the Heroes in the merge
-Slight Improvement: Sam currently appears to be at the bottom of the foodchain on this team, especially with Cameron, Mike, and Zoey's friendship and I think Courtney and Sierra could potentially be in another alliance together like in TDWT
-Looks Worse: I think the Malevolent One could potentially lead to Mike's downfall along with breaking up the "friendship alliance"
-Not Much Change: Scott can definitely float under the radar on his team, especially since he's not throwing challenges this season. But I don't see him getting that far.
-Maybe Some Improvement: I think everyone knows Duncan is a threat. Duncan isn't going anywhere soon but he probably won't get farther than he did in TDI or TDWT
-Improvement: Sierra is an underestimated player sometimes but an obvious threat in other times. She's a wildcard.
-Slight Improvement: Right now Heather seems to be playing her cards right and letting other contestants take heat but eventually her luck will run out.
-Reasonable Chance: I wouldn't be shocked if Cameron made another deep run in this season. He's a good guy.
-Same Position: Alejandro has proven to be a formidable player so far despite everyone knowing his true nature.
-Same Position: Courtney has a lot of drama and plot opportunities so unfortunately Courtney doesn't seem like she's going anytime soon. But if she loses to a player like Zoey in the finale, I won't care.
-Same Position: Zoey would make a good female winner. She's a sweet person and she can definitely float under the radar when she needs to but also kick some butt when necessary as well.
Alright so both teams are even once more. Bonds are building between members of each teams. Some for the better, some for the worse. And next challenge will hopefully be as funny as this one. Oh and one more thing, I hope Lightning's dad didn't bet anything on Lightning this season. Haha!
Monday, September 23, 2013
Friday, September 13, 2013
Total Drama All Stars Episode 1 Review: Heroes vs. Villains
14 Contestants, a familiar setting, the dream team of Chris and Chef being reunited after Chris gets out of jail, another millionaire to be announced: Another season of Total Drama! You bet I'm excited. I watched every season since the beginning, when I was 12 years old (my 13th birthday was the same day as when Basic Straining first aired in the USA) and now I'm 18, starting college in a few weeks, and my passion for this incredible TV series stays strong.
I always like first episodes. In Seasons 1 and 4, you are introduced to an entirely new cast and you have a bit of time to get to know them and start forming opinions about them before we get down to business, as in the challenges and the eliminations. In Seasons 2 and 3 which had mostly returning players (aside from 3 exceptions in season 3), you get a hint as to where the players left off. Some players like Owen and Harold don't change much at the start of each season, while others such as Geoff, Bridgette, and Trent change quite a bit. Also, the same players may not approach different seasons the same way each time. In TDA, Justin and Leshawna had moments of playing a little bit more dirty than we expected from them in TDI. Also instead of Heather making life hell for her team like she did in the first two seasons, in TDWT she tried to get off on the right foot and earn her team's trust, which in her case was going to be easier said than done until the boyfriend kisser, I mean Gwen, started taking more heat.
This is the 2nd season of Total Drama where the ENTIRE cast is returning for another season. This will be Alejandro, Cameron, Jo, Lightning, Mike, Sam, Scott, Sierra, and Zoey's second season while Courtney, Duncan, Gwen, Heather, and Lindsay appear for their fourth season. Interestingly no player who competed in just two seasons previously (such as Beth, Cody, Geoff, or Justin) is in this season. Courtney is the only member of the original 22 to compete in this season that didn't cameo in Season 4 aside from when everyone appeared in the yacht in the first episode. Heather and Sierra have grown more hair back, Scott is fully recovered, and so is Alejandro, to an extent. Sam also reveals Dakota is still mutated. Ezekiel is still feral.
So let's get on with what happened in Episode 1: Heroes vs. Villains
Chef visits Chris at jail while Chris is having an imaginary season of Total Drama in his cell. Chris is pissed that Chef hasn't visited him in a year, but Chef tells Chris that the producers approved of another season, and Chris accepts. Chris seems pretty happy to be back at Camp Wawanakwa, in its original non-toxic state. Chris introduces the players in the following order: Mike, Zoey, Lightning, Cameron, Sam, Scott, Jo, Courtney, Gwen, Duncan, Heather, Lindsay, and "Total Drama's biggest stalker, I mean blogger" Sierra. Chris also announces Ezekiel which seems to worry the other contestants, but it was just a prank. Ok we get it. Home-Schooled got voted off first twice and he's practically an animal now, he was never high on the list of players most likely to compete this season, give the kid a break (eh). But it was kind of funny.
It doesn't take long for Courtney to complain, not being happy about getting wet. Sam isn't happy that the camp isn't toxic anymore since he wanted to become a mutant like Dakota. Similar to in Total Drama World Tour, the losers stay in the normal cabins while the winners get a luxury hotel. I guess that's the least he could do since he already put these guys through at least one season of hell. He also announces they'll be split in two teams based off of whether they are Heroes or Villains. Heather knows she's a villains and thinks she'll run the team by lunch. It's never really gonna be that easy for Heather at this point in my opinion but since she's on a team full of villains like Scott and Lightning, it won't be too hard for her to dodge some bullets at elimination. Gwen thinks she and Duncan would end up on different teams, like most of the audience would expect too. However, the Villainous Vultures consists of Heather, Duncan, Gwen, Lightning, Jo, and Scott. Gwen is shocked and asks why she was put on this team, and who do you think is going to remind her why? Courtney, who calls her a boyfriend kisser and the new Heather for the 20th time ever. Gwen is annoyed but Duncan tries to cheer her up. Honestly Gwen should be happy because her last relationship failed because she was on the opposite team as her boyfriend. That leaves Mike, Zoey, Courtney, Cameron, Lindsay, Sam, and Sierra to be the Heroic Hamsters. Courtney complains (yeah, she's back) about the team name but since it's either that or Heroic Hippos, Courtney decides the team name is good.
Jo complains that the Heroes have 1 extra player (interesting; Jo didn't seem to care about the numbers advantage in Total Drama Revenge of the Island, but who could blame her considering she was on the dominant team for most of the pre-merge phase of that season) and Chris explained he needed a spot for the Ezekiel prank and then decides to give them his robot which looks like the exact same robot we saw Alejandro put into at the end of his season. Heather senses she doesn't like the robot for some reason. I wonder why? Like in Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains, the challenges will originate from previous seasons of Total Drama. The first challenge starts with Cliff Diving into shark infested waters (Season 1, Episode 2), finding the right key to the hotel (finding something in the water similar to in Season 3, Episode 11), and racing to the hotel using baby strollers (Season 3, Episode 5). Due to the events of his first season, Scott is not really digging the challenge involving sharks. The challenge start immediately and Chris doesn't let them change into their swimsuits. "There's no time". What the heck? You got all day, dude. Whatever.
So they're walking to the cliff, Heather is annoyed by the robot, and Sierra tells Sam that she wants to win for Cody and that it would've been too dangerous for him to come back (who can blame her? Cody put up with a lot of crap ranging from a dodgeball to the kiwis, being mauled by a bear, and being shoved into shark-infested waters by Alejandro). Gwen tries to get her team to get along, but has Gwen seen these guys? Not gonna happen. They then say
Heather: I
Jo: Don't trust
Duncan: Anyone
Scott: On this
Robot: Beep Beep (we all know what word he meant)
Lightning: Team
That's followed by some Duncan-Gwen-Courtney hostility. Courtney chooses to ignore Duncan as opposed to the usual yelling and stuff Duncan is used to, saying it isn't worth it and she's disappointed in Gwen. I honestly kind of respect Courtney for that. Her previous two seasons (TDA and TDWT) she came off as more of a B-I-T-C-Heather's first letter than a C-I-T, but I must say she wasn't so bad in this first episode.
The teams have to select their drivers. Scott immediately volunteers due to his fear of sharks but Lightning and Jo fight him for the position. Jo tricks Lightning by saying she's the "Shopping Cart Racing Champion", and since Lightning's "gotta respect championship status", Lightning pulls Scott away and Jo gets her way, despite Gwen suggesting she would make a better diver. Jo tells Gwen to shut up and to not kiss her. Gwen is upset because after "three seasons of kindness", no one can forget her kissing Duncan. Ok let's not take it too far, goth girl. You're definitely not the meanest person out there, but you've insulted players like Owen, Lindsay, Harold, and Cody a few times. Remember your rant in the Total Drama Island finale towards everyone besides Owen, Leshawna, DJ, Bridgette, and Cody? That's not really heroic either. As Cameron, Zoey, and Mike try to decide who drives, Courtney forces Lindsay to do it.
The challenge begins and Scott, Mike, and Zoey aren't happy to see Fang again. Lightning and Courtney are the first divers. Lightning knocks out Fang and takes an early lead. Lindsay forgets where the hotel is and how to push, and the only think that pisses Courtney off even more is Chris saying they can't switch drivers. Jo tries to get Lightning into an alliance with her despite how well their last one worked out, and Lightning agrees to let it happen until the merge. Both Lightning and Courtney picked the wrong keys. Next is Sierra and Duncan. Sierra kicks some shark butt as she finds a Cody-shaped key and jumps into the stroller before Courtney can get out which eventually takes it toll on Lindsay. Duncan avoids the sharks as he retrieves a key. Jo tells Duncan that she's in charge but Duncan doesn't care. Sierra is sad when her key doesn't fit and when Duncan's doesn't fit, Jo calls her "Dudcan" to which Duncan replies positively. Jo is glad someone appreciates her "zingers", although it was likely just a symptom of Courtney nagging withdrawal. Next up are Mike and Gwen. Zoey impresses the others by using her necklace Mike gave her as a slingshot to repel the sharks. A tired out Lindsay makes a slow return as Jo and Gwen increase their lead. Using a pole, Mike makes it back on its own but it's the wrong key. Jo is annoyed when Gwen's key is wrong and Gwen reminds Jo that she should've been a diver. Classic case of a veteran like Gwen owning a newbie. Classic. Sam and Heather are next. Even though Heather's not that mean as she used to be, it's definitely not above her to enjoy Sam's pain as he has the worst luck out of anyone else with the sharks. Both Heather and Sam picked incorrect keys. Zoey dives next and the Heroes finally take the lead since Scott is too afraid to dive. Lightning pulls him hard enough for Scott to release the grip of the rock but he pushes the robot off the cliff Between the contact with the cliff and the shark attacks, that's enough force for Alejandro to be released from the robot suit, surprising the contestants and ticking off Heather. As much as I don't like Alejandro, I appreciate him having this cool entrance. And it's funny how his feet are so asleep after all the time in the robot. However a key manages to land in Alejandro's hand so Jo and Alejandro continue the challenge. Zoey's key is wrong and Lindsay is confused as to when "Jalapeno" showed up (I think Lindsay was accidentally racist there with that comment haha). Alejandro replies, "Silly Lindsay, I was here the whole time". Alejandro puts in the key and finalmente the Villainous Vultures win the challenge.
Now we head to the Bonfire Ceremony, which has a few adjustments. The winning team gets to attend and one member of the winning team is sent to Exile Boney Island at a chance to find the Invincibility Statue. This season's got Survivor written all over it, which is pretty cool, even if Exile Island wasn't in play in Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains. Of course when Lightning gets to go, Scott is not happy since he one of only two players to go looking for it in his original season (the other being Dawn). I wonder if anyone will actually find it and what affect it'll have later on. Will it set up a blindside similar to one of the idol uses in Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains? Only time will tell. Also, Gwen tries to reconcile with Courtney by giving her flowers she happens to be allergic to, which pisses Courtney off. PAUSE PLEASE! First of all, I don't think Gwen has a list of everything Courtney is and isn't allergic to. And didn't you just see her try to make up for what she did? Courtney admitted that she and Duncan weren't meant to last forever and I'm pretty sure she's smart enough to know Gwen and Duncan have more in common so why can't she just move on? One of the things that annoy me about Courtney. I'm glad Gwen is trying to make this better but I know the writers can't help but let this love triangle go on at least a few more episodes. I mean it's not likely it'll be resolved until one of the three are voted off. This season the contestants vote by crossing out the 8x10 photo of the contestant they want to vote off. No one's votes are revealed aside from Courtney voting Lindsay off and Lindsay seemingly attempting to vote Courtney off. I don't think this came as a surprise since this is the only real conflict on the Heroic Hamsters, and they were the ones at fault in today's challenge. Lindsay gets eliminated and takes the flush of shame. I honestly don't care about how players exit the game: boat, limo, skydiving, catapult, toilet, whatever! I know people won't be quite happy about it and you can't really tell how Lindsay gets out of the toilet (I'm assuming there's an exit in the back and it isn't visible) but it's whatever. So Lindsay leaves the game. Lindsay's been a solid character throughout the series and she's had some good runs. From flipping Heather off, being the reason Heather had her head shaved, outsmarting Courtney in the Mystery movie challenge, to remembering Tyler in Germany, Lindsay's been awesome. However I don't see much plot opportunity lost with her eliminated. I think we would've gotten off too easy if Courtney was voted off first. She's going to be the main source of drama on her team and of course there's the love triangle.
I enjoyed this episode. I'm hoping the season continues to improve but I definitely see some good plots in the making with the way this season is starting out. I can only hope for the best. I guess if I was rooting for anyone, it would be Zoey, Sierra, and Mike. Cameron and Sam are ok, the rest are villains in some way shape or form. However just because they're villains doesn't mean I'm gonna lose any sleep if say Jo wins this season. I mean Duncan winning TDA, Heather winning TDWT, and Lightning winning TDROTI (USA endings) are stuff I could live with. But still. My predictions after taking into account Lindsay's elimination
13th: Sam 12th: Gwen 11th: Lightning 10th: Sierra 9th: Duncan 8th: Cameron 7th: Scott 6th: Heather 5th: Mike 4th: Jo 3rd: Alejandro 2nd: Courtney 1st: Zoey
So yeah, that's all I have to say about this episode. Worth the wait between seasons. Thank you for reading! I hope you read my other blogs and blog posts too! Let me know what your thoughts were in the comments below!
-Ivan Ornelas a.k.a. vaporterra
YouTube: www.youtube.com/vaporterra
Twitter: Personal @IvanOrnelas2 YouTube/Total Drama stuff @vaporterra
I always like first episodes. In Seasons 1 and 4, you are introduced to an entirely new cast and you have a bit of time to get to know them and start forming opinions about them before we get down to business, as in the challenges and the eliminations. In Seasons 2 and 3 which had mostly returning players (aside from 3 exceptions in season 3), you get a hint as to where the players left off. Some players like Owen and Harold don't change much at the start of each season, while others such as Geoff, Bridgette, and Trent change quite a bit. Also, the same players may not approach different seasons the same way each time. In TDA, Justin and Leshawna had moments of playing a little bit more dirty than we expected from them in TDI. Also instead of Heather making life hell for her team like she did in the first two seasons, in TDWT she tried to get off on the right foot and earn her team's trust, which in her case was going to be easier said than done until the boyfriend kisser, I mean Gwen, started taking more heat.
This is the 2nd season of Total Drama where the ENTIRE cast is returning for another season. This will be Alejandro, Cameron, Jo, Lightning, Mike, Sam, Scott, Sierra, and Zoey's second season while Courtney, Duncan, Gwen, Heather, and Lindsay appear for their fourth season. Interestingly no player who competed in just two seasons previously (such as Beth, Cody, Geoff, or Justin) is in this season. Courtney is the only member of the original 22 to compete in this season that didn't cameo in Season 4 aside from when everyone appeared in the yacht in the first episode. Heather and Sierra have grown more hair back, Scott is fully recovered, and so is Alejandro, to an extent. Sam also reveals Dakota is still mutated. Ezekiel is still feral.
So let's get on with what happened in Episode 1: Heroes vs. Villains
Chef visits Chris at jail while Chris is having an imaginary season of Total Drama in his cell. Chris is pissed that Chef hasn't visited him in a year, but Chef tells Chris that the producers approved of another season, and Chris accepts. Chris seems pretty happy to be back at Camp Wawanakwa, in its original non-toxic state. Chris introduces the players in the following order: Mike, Zoey, Lightning, Cameron, Sam, Scott, Jo, Courtney, Gwen, Duncan, Heather, Lindsay, and "Total Drama's biggest stalker, I mean blogger" Sierra. Chris also announces Ezekiel which seems to worry the other contestants, but it was just a prank. Ok we get it. Home-Schooled got voted off first twice and he's practically an animal now, he was never high on the list of players most likely to compete this season, give the kid a break (eh). But it was kind of funny.
It doesn't take long for Courtney to complain, not being happy about getting wet. Sam isn't happy that the camp isn't toxic anymore since he wanted to become a mutant like Dakota. Similar to in Total Drama World Tour, the losers stay in the normal cabins while the winners get a luxury hotel. I guess that's the least he could do since he already put these guys through at least one season of hell. He also announces they'll be split in two teams based off of whether they are Heroes or Villains. Heather knows she's a villains and thinks she'll run the team by lunch. It's never really gonna be that easy for Heather at this point in my opinion but since she's on a team full of villains like Scott and Lightning, it won't be too hard for her to dodge some bullets at elimination. Gwen thinks she and Duncan would end up on different teams, like most of the audience would expect too. However, the Villainous Vultures consists of Heather, Duncan, Gwen, Lightning, Jo, and Scott. Gwen is shocked and asks why she was put on this team, and who do you think is going to remind her why? Courtney, who calls her a boyfriend kisser and the new Heather for the 20th time ever. Gwen is annoyed but Duncan tries to cheer her up. Honestly Gwen should be happy because her last relationship failed because she was on the opposite team as her boyfriend. That leaves Mike, Zoey, Courtney, Cameron, Lindsay, Sam, and Sierra to be the Heroic Hamsters. Courtney complains (yeah, she's back) about the team name but since it's either that or Heroic Hippos, Courtney decides the team name is good.
Jo complains that the Heroes have 1 extra player (interesting; Jo didn't seem to care about the numbers advantage in Total Drama Revenge of the Island, but who could blame her considering she was on the dominant team for most of the pre-merge phase of that season) and Chris explained he needed a spot for the Ezekiel prank and then decides to give them his robot which looks like the exact same robot we saw Alejandro put into at the end of his season. Heather senses she doesn't like the robot for some reason. I wonder why? Like in Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains, the challenges will originate from previous seasons of Total Drama. The first challenge starts with Cliff Diving into shark infested waters (Season 1, Episode 2), finding the right key to the hotel (finding something in the water similar to in Season 3, Episode 11), and racing to the hotel using baby strollers (Season 3, Episode 5). Due to the events of his first season, Scott is not really digging the challenge involving sharks. The challenge start immediately and Chris doesn't let them change into their swimsuits. "There's no time". What the heck? You got all day, dude. Whatever.
So they're walking to the cliff, Heather is annoyed by the robot, and Sierra tells Sam that she wants to win for Cody and that it would've been too dangerous for him to come back (who can blame her? Cody put up with a lot of crap ranging from a dodgeball to the kiwis, being mauled by a bear, and being shoved into shark-infested waters by Alejandro). Gwen tries to get her team to get along, but has Gwen seen these guys? Not gonna happen. They then say
Heather: I
Jo: Don't trust
Duncan: Anyone
Scott: On this
Robot: Beep Beep (we all know what word he meant)
Lightning: Team
That's followed by some Duncan-Gwen-Courtney hostility. Courtney chooses to ignore Duncan as opposed to the usual yelling and stuff Duncan is used to, saying it isn't worth it and she's disappointed in Gwen. I honestly kind of respect Courtney for that. Her previous two seasons (TDA and TDWT) she came off as more of a B-I-T-C-Heather's first letter than a C-I-T, but I must say she wasn't so bad in this first episode.
The teams have to select their drivers. Scott immediately volunteers due to his fear of sharks but Lightning and Jo fight him for the position. Jo tricks Lightning by saying she's the "Shopping Cart Racing Champion", and since Lightning's "gotta respect championship status", Lightning pulls Scott away and Jo gets her way, despite Gwen suggesting she would make a better diver. Jo tells Gwen to shut up and to not kiss her. Gwen is upset because after "three seasons of kindness", no one can forget her kissing Duncan. Ok let's not take it too far, goth girl. You're definitely not the meanest person out there, but you've insulted players like Owen, Lindsay, Harold, and Cody a few times. Remember your rant in the Total Drama Island finale towards everyone besides Owen, Leshawna, DJ, Bridgette, and Cody? That's not really heroic either. As Cameron, Zoey, and Mike try to decide who drives, Courtney forces Lindsay to do it.
The challenge begins and Scott, Mike, and Zoey aren't happy to see Fang again. Lightning and Courtney are the first divers. Lightning knocks out Fang and takes an early lead. Lindsay forgets where the hotel is and how to push, and the only think that pisses Courtney off even more is Chris saying they can't switch drivers. Jo tries to get Lightning into an alliance with her despite how well their last one worked out, and Lightning agrees to let it happen until the merge. Both Lightning and Courtney picked the wrong keys. Next is Sierra and Duncan. Sierra kicks some shark butt as she finds a Cody-shaped key and jumps into the stroller before Courtney can get out which eventually takes it toll on Lindsay. Duncan avoids the sharks as he retrieves a key. Jo tells Duncan that she's in charge but Duncan doesn't care. Sierra is sad when her key doesn't fit and when Duncan's doesn't fit, Jo calls her "Dudcan" to which Duncan replies positively. Jo is glad someone appreciates her "zingers", although it was likely just a symptom of Courtney nagging withdrawal. Next up are Mike and Gwen. Zoey impresses the others by using her necklace Mike gave her as a slingshot to repel the sharks. A tired out Lindsay makes a slow return as Jo and Gwen increase their lead. Using a pole, Mike makes it back on its own but it's the wrong key. Jo is annoyed when Gwen's key is wrong and Gwen reminds Jo that she should've been a diver. Classic case of a veteran like Gwen owning a newbie. Classic. Sam and Heather are next. Even though Heather's not that mean as she used to be, it's definitely not above her to enjoy Sam's pain as he has the worst luck out of anyone else with the sharks. Both Heather and Sam picked incorrect keys. Zoey dives next and the Heroes finally take the lead since Scott is too afraid to dive. Lightning pulls him hard enough for Scott to release the grip of the rock but he pushes the robot off the cliff Between the contact with the cliff and the shark attacks, that's enough force for Alejandro to be released from the robot suit, surprising the contestants and ticking off Heather. As much as I don't like Alejandro, I appreciate him having this cool entrance. And it's funny how his feet are so asleep after all the time in the robot. However a key manages to land in Alejandro's hand so Jo and Alejandro continue the challenge. Zoey's key is wrong and Lindsay is confused as to when "Jalapeno" showed up (I think Lindsay was accidentally racist there with that comment haha). Alejandro replies, "Silly Lindsay, I was here the whole time". Alejandro puts in the key and finalmente the Villainous Vultures win the challenge.
Now we head to the Bonfire Ceremony, which has a few adjustments. The winning team gets to attend and one member of the winning team is sent to Exile Boney Island at a chance to find the Invincibility Statue. This season's got Survivor written all over it, which is pretty cool, even if Exile Island wasn't in play in Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains. Of course when Lightning gets to go, Scott is not happy since he one of only two players to go looking for it in his original season (the other being Dawn). I wonder if anyone will actually find it and what affect it'll have later on. Will it set up a blindside similar to one of the idol uses in Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains? Only time will tell. Also, Gwen tries to reconcile with Courtney by giving her flowers she happens to be allergic to, which pisses Courtney off. PAUSE PLEASE! First of all, I don't think Gwen has a list of everything Courtney is and isn't allergic to. And didn't you just see her try to make up for what she did? Courtney admitted that she and Duncan weren't meant to last forever and I'm pretty sure she's smart enough to know Gwen and Duncan have more in common so why can't she just move on? One of the things that annoy me about Courtney. I'm glad Gwen is trying to make this better but I know the writers can't help but let this love triangle go on at least a few more episodes. I mean it's not likely it'll be resolved until one of the three are voted off. This season the contestants vote by crossing out the 8x10 photo of the contestant they want to vote off. No one's votes are revealed aside from Courtney voting Lindsay off and Lindsay seemingly attempting to vote Courtney off. I don't think this came as a surprise since this is the only real conflict on the Heroic Hamsters, and they were the ones at fault in today's challenge. Lindsay gets eliminated and takes the flush of shame. I honestly don't care about how players exit the game: boat, limo, skydiving, catapult, toilet, whatever! I know people won't be quite happy about it and you can't really tell how Lindsay gets out of the toilet (I'm assuming there's an exit in the back and it isn't visible) but it's whatever. So Lindsay leaves the game. Lindsay's been a solid character throughout the series and she's had some good runs. From flipping Heather off, being the reason Heather had her head shaved, outsmarting Courtney in the Mystery movie challenge, to remembering Tyler in Germany, Lindsay's been awesome. However I don't see much plot opportunity lost with her eliminated. I think we would've gotten off too easy if Courtney was voted off first. She's going to be the main source of drama on her team and of course there's the love triangle.
I enjoyed this episode. I'm hoping the season continues to improve but I definitely see some good plots in the making with the way this season is starting out. I can only hope for the best. I guess if I was rooting for anyone, it would be Zoey, Sierra, and Mike. Cameron and Sam are ok, the rest are villains in some way shape or form. However just because they're villains doesn't mean I'm gonna lose any sleep if say Jo wins this season. I mean Duncan winning TDA, Heather winning TDWT, and Lightning winning TDROTI (USA endings) are stuff I could live with. But still. My predictions after taking into account Lindsay's elimination
13th: Sam 12th: Gwen 11th: Lightning 10th: Sierra 9th: Duncan 8th: Cameron 7th: Scott 6th: Heather 5th: Mike 4th: Jo 3rd: Alejandro 2nd: Courtney 1st: Zoey
So yeah, that's all I have to say about this episode. Worth the wait between seasons. Thank you for reading! I hope you read my other blogs and blog posts too! Let me know what your thoughts were in the comments below!
-Ivan Ornelas a.k.a. vaporterra
YouTube: www.youtube.com/vaporterra
Twitter: Personal @IvanOrnelas2 YouTube/Total Drama stuff @vaporterra
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