I felt a little disconnected from this season finale since I missed the last two episodes of BATG but I know enough about this season and the show to feel confident in saying that Chris and Cara, Tommy and Amanda and Leticia and Matt made for a fairly dull top three. Each team had at least one likable person on it, but all the teams felt like they didn't come that far from where they started. I especially felt this way about Tommy and Amanda: Tommy's geekdom itself I felt was always in question. I liked Matt and Leticia but they seemed so close that it felt like the entire BATG dynamic was a little moot, unlike last season with, say, Dave and Jasmine, where the chemistry wasn't instant. Chris seemed almost a little cocky for a geek, but he and Cara appeared to have the most to learn from each other, at least. Cara had to drop her baby-voiced idiot act sometimes, and he, condescending as he was, had to learn how to slow down and talk Beauty. So I was rooting for them.
I liked the first elimination challenge wherein the teams were quizzed on how well they knew each other—after that, Matt and Leticia were given the immediate boot. Then, in a weak move I thought by the producers, the entire cast was brought back, ostensibly as a reunion, but mostly for the dramz. Jonathan turned up clean-shaven and cute (like I predicted), and Amber returned as well, just as snakey and fake as we last saw her. Another reason why it was hard for me to ever really like Tommy is that he seemed to fall for Amber's 'charms.' (Incidentally, if I were a gold-digger I'd go after someone more big-time than a guy with just $125,000 that he won from a reality TV show.) It took the manipulation of another woman, Tommy's partner Amanda, to get his head back in the game. In the meantime though, the girls clawed at each other, particularly Tara and Christina. I'm not sure what the point was in devoting time to "I'm prettier than you" "Oh PLEASE" on this show. To demonstrate how much those beauties didn't learn?
Allegedly this reunion was really to tie in the final challenge between Chris and Cara and Tommy and Amanda: a scavenger hunt in limos for random former housemates scattered throughout LA. It was a pretty stupid challenge, which seemed to have nothing to do with their experience on the show. Tommy and Amanda ultimately won by picking up more folks.
I'm actually glad for Tommy, though, because I actually do think he had the benefit of looking less geeky than he actually was, and he seems like a good guy, but in terms of the heartwarming moments of seeing two opposites come together, this season didn't offer too many that I saw (but like I said, I missed the last two). But on the other hand, I am still so glad that we are sans characters like Sam from last season that I'll consider this season a decent one: not anything amazing, by any stretch of the imagination—it's hard for any longrunning reality show to stay fresh, but I'll always have a special place in my heart for BATG.
Grade: B
Stray observations:
—Catty as it was, I loved Cara's line that "Tommy needs to go through a couple of Ambers before he can get to me."
—I really hate Tommy as a redhead. I also hated it when Amanda said how the two of them "literally bonded." With what kind of adhesive, Amanda?
—I'm a geek.
—Was Leticia wearing earrings made out of guitar picks? Rock.