Well it’s the fourth episode of season five. Project Runway has sent three designers home. So far, the rest have managed to bore or annoy viewers - or both at the same time. A neat trick but not what we’ve tuned in to this fashion competition hoping to see. Will this episode see designers substitute passion for pedantry, substance for schtick? We’ll see...
Morning brings golden, smoggy rays escaping through tall buildings - a newsstand, and that already ubiquitous Elle cover featuring an Olsen twin. I’m starting to believe there’s some sort of hidden message there. (Why does that particular shot appear in the opening of every episode this season?) Just what that message is, I don’t want to know. She vaguely looks like Blayne’s female twin; maybe it’s a subliminal ad suggestion — buy Trolli dolls. Who knows.
The usual scenes of contestants groggily rising and splashing water on their faces. Korto and Kenley interview something or other. Back at Parsons, again the usual: Heidi Klum brings out a velvet bag and two models. The winner’s and loser’s model from last week wait for the winning designer to choose between them or the entire group of models. Kenley sticks with her model Shannon, so Leslie goes home. She waves goodbye sweetly. Heidi sends the designers to Tim, who is waiting to take them on a field trip. Another one? They all pile into a grey van. It pulls onto the freeway. They are either going somewhere fun and inspirational, or will pull into an abandoned warehouse in Jersey somewhere and never be heard from again. I’m not saying which I’m secretly rooting for at this point.
Tim asks Blayne about his favorite topic: tanning. Blayne - who is beginning to lose his orange glow and look halfway normal - says he usually tans every other day. He laments that he hasn’t been able to do that here. Blayne obsesses more about tanning in his vlog segment - in the same tone that ‘Rainman’ talked about going to 400 Oak Street. Someone please, put Blayne in a tanning booth. Maybe the next ‘challenge’ can be how much Super Glue it needs to stick shut.
Tim leads the group into a place called The Armory. It is an Olympic training arena. They all notice a man speed skating around the track. He stops in front of them, and Tim introduces Olympic medalist (and Dancing with the Stars winner, but let’s not mention that - other network) Apolo Ohno. He explains their challenge: create the ‘look’ for the American Olympic team to wear during the opening ceremony of the upcoming Summer Olympics. The designers may still be half asleep, but they all definitely seem underwhelmed. Daniel vlogs that he has never watched that ceremony but he’s “guessing that someone holds a flame and runs around”. Sounds more like a rave to me, but okay.
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