“Bright lights, big city. Gone to mah bay-bee’s head”...

It’s the beginning of a blues song, the title of a bad novel, and of this episode of Project Runway, the hit TV fashion/game show. The episode begins at dusk - or dawn, hard to tell with all the smog - in New York City. So, big city but this morning, no bright lights.

The contestants’ moods seem to match the murky skyline outdoors. They groggily wake up, or roll over and beg for ‘ten more minutes’ sleep. One gamely puts on lipstick, already dressed. (And I’m betting she will make it to the finals, with that type of focus early in.) Stella Leathah is zonked out cold, looking every moment her age. I’m sure this show is exhausting. (It sometimes feels that way even to watch it. Well this season, anyway!) Kelli, all lipsticked and made up, interviews that she’s excited about the challenge and hopes it will show her “point of view”. Terri tries to zap Stellaleathah out of her funk with some funky dance moves. And, it’s off to Parsons for everyone.

Ms. Klum-Seal, clad in casual jeans and sweater, appears on the runway, velvet bag in hand. She brings out the winning and losing designers’ models from last week. Third Person Suede keeps his model. That means another model, Alyssa, is out. A shame because she really is lovely. We don’t even get to see her goodbyes backstage. So that is that - velvet bag gets no workout this week, and everyone else keeps the same models they had.

Heidi closes by saying they should go back to the Atlas (the apartments they are staying in while the show tapes) because Tim will come there later to take them all out for “a night on the town”. Back at the Atlas they all speculate what this could mean. Disneyland? A trip to Tim’s house? Stella thinks, “Maybe a bar or restaurant, one of his favorite places." (Maybe Red Lobster?) Tim rings a doorbell. It’s Blayne’s, and he tries to be funny by refusing to let Tim in without an appointment. Tim good-naturedly plays along and Blayne lets him in.

Tim’s clad in a navy pea coat and says they are all going out in the rain. So this is why the cast all wore rain ponchos in last week’s preview clip. And galoshes. The bright lights of the big city (see how I worked that in again?) look pretty reflected in the camera shots of the glistening sidewalks. I love rain anyway and there’s something so nice and unexpected about the show having to work with the weather. I wonder how it will impact the challenge.