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
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