If I were a superhero this evening, my name would be Conspira, and my superpower would be super-suspecting reality TV shows of helping certain teams stay on the program. My weakness is that my theories are not necessarily correct. My costume very closely resembles what you humans would call a sweatshirt and gym shorts.
But seriously. Sam and Nicole continue to steamroll through the competition, winning challenge after challenge. It wasn't clear how much input the geeks had on the beauties' superhero ideas, but I have a hard time believing that Sam came up with his cute George Hamilton spray-tan reference all on his own. Sure, he actually does sort of represent a plastic action figure, but his unwavering confidence in just about every challenge, to say nothing of his ability, is somewhat disconcerting. Meanwhile, one of the nice parts of Beauty and the Geek is that the couples who actually seem to get the point of the show tend to succeed. Just look at Dave (was he always "Dave" or did he get the nickname with his makeover?) and Jasmine. They were called out last week on their lack of chemistry and this week obviously put work into their partnership, with him opening up to her, putting lots of effort in her costume and his LARP-based advice to her (which seemed to work despite the judges needling her)–and thus, they did well in the competition. Sam and Nicole still are unconvincing as a team, let alone as individuals who really seem to be interested in getting something out of the experiment. They need to go already.
Well, them or William and Jen. They have what I call a brother/sister partnership in that it actually represents how I get along with my own brother at times: testily. It's sort of an interesting twist that William is being the jerk in the pair: typically on the show it's the beauties who are the dumb and cruel ones. He talked plenty of shit behind Jen's back and was immature when she tried to pep talk him into getting it together for the sake of the competition. And while this was one of the most fun challenges on the show, he clearly didn't get it as he pouted about not being able to pick the superhero himself. Meanwhile, William's near-pants-wetting enthusiasm for ComicCon seemed to embarrass even the other geeks.
However, the exit of Erin and Jesse, while bittersweet, was another example of a couple departing that clearly didn't need the competition. They got along great with each other and everyone else and Erin was definitely in touch with her geek side. You don't know what a Top Scale Dolphin is? She does, so shut up.
Grade: A-
Stray observations:
—I liked Sam's original Succubus superhero idea. He could have called himself "The Rapist!"
—I was glad that the challenge didn't turn into the creepy fetishization experiment that it could have become. Or was I?
—Did those two judges at the competition get their shirts at the same place, on purpose? And how does one get access to Kevin Smith's closet?