'America's Next Top Model' - "Patricia Field" Episode Review
[Season 15 - Episode 3]
When Tyra Banks said that America's Next Top Model was being elevated, I didn't realize she was going to put challenges involving the air. Last week with the four-story high runway walk, and now this week with the fallen angel photoshoot? What's next a parachute photo shoot or a zero gravity runway challenge? The fallen angel concept was a very interesting idea but only a small handful of contestants succeeded.
This episode also involved the makeovers and a post-makeover elimination. Luckily it got rid of one of the overly dramatic sisters, leaving the other to become more focused in the fear that she will be eliminated next.
After Ann gained a bit more confidence for winning the week one photoshoot, the girls learned more about each other. In the morning Tyra showed up at the house with their portfolios, which consisted of one photo and hinted to makeovers. She also showed the girls how models back in the 90s walked; apparently they walked like Victoria Secret models. Tyra wanted Chelsey to embrace the gap between her teeth. So somehow nine seasons pass and Danielle (winner of season six) gets criticized when she refused to fully get her gap between her teeth, but in this case, Chelsey not only got her teeth ground wider, Tyra produced a name of a famous gap-toothed model: Laura Hutton.
Lexie decided to play a trick on the girls and make a list of what the makeovers would be. While Ann and Rhianna were in the conversation, Lexie dramatically overacted about getting an afro. Sadly for Lexie, several of the predictions were close enough to be believed. Tyra did provide hints only a few hours before.
Most of the girls were excited to get a change in hair. Kacey gets contacts along with her hair makeover, and as mentioned above, Chelsey got her teeth shaved. Chelsey, after the makeover, looked very similar to Anna Paquin. Kayla gets fire truck red hair and the Saleshia haircut from season nine. I was hoping I'd never see that dreaded haircut again, but it doesn't look that bad on Kayla, and as long as the stylists understand how to fix her hair, Kayla should look beautiful. Sister Terra had a horrible time and because of a combination of her defeated attitude and her subpar post-makeover photoshoot, she was eliminated by the Jays. Kris took the elimination hard, but knew that she had a second chance.
The photoshoot forced the girls up on a rig to represent fallen angels. The girls were accompanied by good looking male models (one of which Kacey stalked), forced to pick an emotion to portray, and they where photographed by Anna Menke. Sadly, no one tried "Cha-Cha Diva" or "revolutionary." I liked Anna's directional skills and how she was trying her best to make the models look like models. Most of the girls struggled with pain issues and the harnesses. Liz compared it to metal adult diapers. My big gripe of the photoshoot was that it was an angel that left the skies for a man. Wouldn't that naturally mean she loved the man? Why would a model pick heartbreak if they want to produce love in the shot?
The girls arrived at the judging panel and along with Nigel and Andre, the guest judge was Patricia Field, stylist extraordinaire. Tyra struggled picking photos for this week because most of the girls didn't portray the word that the models chose themselves. The judges realized that there were four clear front-runners: Ann, Kayla, Chelsey, and Kris. They were called in that order, meaning Ann got a second first place finish. The four were followed by Rhianna, Liz, Jane, Kacey, Kendal, and Esther. The bottom two were Lexie and Sara. Sara was the next to get the boot. Sadly, like Terra, Sara's two photos looked exactly the same in the face.
I started to expect Lexie to get eliminated after she got in trouble for making the fake makeover list, but it really didn't matter. I thought the elimination was fair, but it has to be a bit disappointing when your eyebrows are bleached away.