...Superhero - Episode 3

[packbat]

Sadly, no more free ride. This one I spent the $2 on iTunes. It was a whopper, though, with four being put on the cutting block - Mr. Mitzvah, Basura, Ms. Limelight, and Hyper-Strike - and two eliminated - Mr. Mitzvah and Ms. Limelight.

And, though I know the episodes are cut to highlight the points Stan Lee wants to make, I think in this episode he did wrong. He should not have cut Mr. Mitzvah.

It's weird of me to say this because I have not been a big fan of Mr. Mitzvah and I have of Ms. Limelight, but it's true. Mr. Mitzvah definitely deserved to be put up there, I will say it unquestionably. If you've got two guys, one riding a roller coaster and one running, then the guy with the strained hamstring should be on the coaster.* (This is half of Mr. Lee's mistake - mistaking of motives.) But Mr. Mitzvah was doing this episode what Whip-Snap did Episode 1 - taking the hits and still going. Further, the denunciation of Mr. Mitzvah's reticence has been from the start misguided - he's intense, has no interest in wasting time, and isn't exactly eloquent, which makes him pretty much right not to intrude overmuch on the conversations. Put these things together, and I can see why he'd be canned - but not why he'd be canned too. Can him by himself, yes, if no-one else is worth nominating, but Ms. Limelight was.

And Ms. Limelight deserved to be canned, no question. She basically confirmed glitchphil's diagnosis - she's just not together enough, not self-confident enough, to do this. I do hope she learned from the experience, though, and I'm glad to see that she could make friends on the show.

Anyway, I'm not going to go through the whole ranking thing, but I do think we can point out a few key points that might change the odds.

Challenge: The Roller Coaster.

This one deservedly put Basura, Mr. Mitzvah, and Ms. Limelight on the chopping block, and Parthenon was spared only because he was shining later on. You'd think after Braid got taken down in the warehouse for it people would know that you're not supposed to dilly-dally with your fans (Basura/Parthenon), and it should be obvious that part of being a superhero is, y'know, doing the task right.

Incidentally, about 'shining later on'? Not much later on that was - at the end of the very same challenge, standing at the combination locks, Parthenon was the one who twigged to the trick: all of them had permutations of 4-5-7-8, the same numbers. Which was essential, because Ms. Limelight/Hygena didn't have but three of the four.

Personality Test: 'The Mole'

This killed Defuser for the favorite. (He wasn't my favorite anyway, but still. Killed.) I know Hygena was the only one to say, "Hey, consider the source", but the Defuser not only immediately had everyone justifying their presence, but he was the one who started the conversation about Mr. Mitzvah behind his back.

By the way? Parthenon was the one who said "Shouldn't he be here for this". I told you he was shining.

Also, in general, Whip-Snap was not showing much. Not good.

So, my updated predictions: Hygena and Parthenon will both be in the final three. Basura - likely to be eliminated.

* This leaves aside the fact that he's got sharper eyes than everyone else on the show - cf. the warehouse - and therefore would have done a pretty good job seeing the cards on the ride. (Granted, Hyper-Strike, his partner, was among the best as well.)

Edit: Eeenteresting. Mr. Mitzvah named Hyper-Strike as his favorite for the win and Basura for elimination, and Ms. Limelight The Defuser and Hygena. Maybe Hyper-Strike has better odds than I suspected.