Posts Tagged The Mole

The Mole Recap (5×06)

July 19, 2008 at 1:44 pm · Filed under Television ·Tagged ,

Alex, my prime suspect for the mole, was executed. Oops. Photo from ABC.

Alex, my prime suspect for the mole, was executed. Oops. Photo from ABC.

There’s not to much to mention about the sixth episode. No big clues about the mole’s identity were revealed, and none of the games were exciting. The problem this season has been that all of the players are just too good at sabotaging themselves. I’ll give a player-to-player breakdown of the episode, but you can get the general facts here.

Mark: He was chosen to be a runner for the vineyard challenge, and not only did he run on a treadmill for 53 minutes, he answered most of the puzzles. Mark was a machine, and he performed beyond what was expected of him. In the bungee challenge, he went first and missed, but it looked difficult. I have no doubt that Mark is not the mole. He tries so hard in the challenges, and it looks like he honestly really, really, really wants to win.

Paul: He did a god job on relaying the coordinates as the communicator, except for one time in which he misread the coordinates and then proceeded to blame it on the puzzle people. A little suspicious, no? And he said that he was the best communicator, practically demanding that position. It was a very powerful role in that game, one which the mole would have aptly used for sabotage. On the bungee game, he messed up. No big shock. It looked like he tried though. Paul could quite possibly be the mole. We shall see.

Craig: It would be perfect if Craig is the mole. He is absolutely lovable, and as other players contest, people will cheer him on even when he fails. His falling ill in the mountains could have been him hamming it up with help from the producers, but I doubt it. Craig did okay on the puzzles in the vineyard game, and he miraculously jumped in the bungee game despite his vertigo. Was his jump graceful? No, but people were still amazed just because he built up the courage. If Craig were the mole, I bet people would be upset at him for his betrayal.

Craig: This guy has been lurking in the shadows the whole game. He probably is not the mole because he has not made much of an impact. He has not made any big big mistakes, or done anything amazing. I tend to forget about him, and forgetability is not a typical characteristic of a mole.

Nicole: Nicole, Nicole, Nicole, cannot be the mole, unless the producers believe that the audience is a bunch of idiots. It would just be too obvious. I think she’s genuinely sabotaging some of the games so people think she’s the mole. She’s goes about doing it in such an obvious manner that it’s hard to believe that she actually is the mole. This week, she did a terrible job at the puzzles even though she’s an ob/gyn, as the shows often reminds us repetitively. I hope she goes next week because she is absolutely annoying.

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The Mole Recap (5×05)

July 3, 2008 at 7:00 am · Filed under Television ·Tagged ,

Kristen was executed. Photo from abc.com.

I haven’t blogged about “The Mole” in a couple of weeks because I got lazy and stopped taking notes. In honor of the contestants who lost their journals, I also stopped writing this week. All I’m left with now is my intuition, and that’s turned out to be enough.

The fifth episode started out with a game in which the contestants were chained together and had to cooperate to release individuals. If you want the full challenge details, go here.

All of the contestants behaved properly, except for Mark. He said he couldn’t trust himself to not take the exemption, and he was the last man chained up. This was suspicious, but I’m onto Mark. He’s one of the best contestants ever, but he can’t possibly be the mole. That would be too easy. I would despise the show for believing that the audience was a group of idiots.

In the second challenge, Craig got to make the decisions because he said a certain word during breakfast. A little suspicious on Craig’s part, no? Still, I don’t think the Craig is the mole- well, actually, he’s my second choice. Anyway, Mark had a fit and said he wouldn’t do it. All of the others quickly agreed, especially Kristen. This turned out to be irrelevant because she left. Alex was dressed in his outfit and ready to go. All of this made Mark look even shadier, and made Alex look like just a contestant. However, I think Alex is the mole.

Here is my reasoning:

1) He doesn’t appear all that smart, but he’s stayed in the game for a long time.

2) He didn’t get a bag of money in the waterall game of Episode 1.

3) He was terrible at soccer and broke off from the group when they were trying to reach the cable cars in the race to the summit game in Episode 2.

4) He broke a lot of pigs with his inaccurate launching in the when pigs fly game of Episode 2.

5) He only got 1/7 in the fruit of the luge game of Episode 3.

6) He got to keep his journal in Epsidoe 4.

7) Alex went second to last in the chained game only after Mark said he wanted to go last in Episode 5.

More rationale to follow in next week’s recap.

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The Mole Episode 2 Recap (5×02)

June 11, 2008 at 9:43 pm · Filed under Television ·Tagged , ,

Liz was eliminated. Picture from abc.com.

The second episode was definitely more entertaining than the first, and it made a return to typical “Mole” form. The only problem? The game got a whole lot more confusing.

The first game was Race to the Summit, and two players were supposed to be chosen for an uphill battle, while the others would engage in a soccer game with some professional kiddies. The thing I noticed was that Craig and Liz were the only ones arguing against the endurance athletes Mark and Kristen being chosen. Liz obviously had no clue about the challenge; this was emphasized by her failure to acquire exemption at the second challenge and her later ouster. But why did Craig believe he should be going up the hill? That’s just silly- and very suspicious.

The soccer game was just a hot mess. Nicole was a pathetic goalie, but no one was expecting her to rock at anything other than whining and doing her makeup. Craig accidentally scored on Bobby when trying to get the ball from a kid; that’s another cause for suspicion on Craig’s part, although Bobby always seems to be at the center of trouble every time. He claimed to play soccer back in school, but then the boy made of toothpicks wheezed and walked throughout the game. Hot-headed Paul was coughing up on the grass, and Alex, who also claimed to have soccer experience, was dreadful on a goal kick. Blond model Ali came in to save the day with a goal.

Alex and Victoria seemed to get separated from the group on the way back, causing them to lose valuable time. Alex acted very shifty as he tried to get them to not take a shortcut as pointed out by Bobby. Meanwhile, Mark psychotically pushed up the hill in an attempt to gain exemption and lose $35,000. Kristen took a low-key approach, and didn’t say very much until they were approached with the opportunity of taking a taxi to the top at the expense of some money. Kristen appeared to be tempted, but Mark aggressively expressed that nothing was going to stop him from reaching the top on his own. And with that they moved on and got their exemptions.

That night Victoria tried to get the team to unite so the mole would have a harder time breaking them down. Then came When Pigs Fly. Liz and Paul were chosen as the catchers, which I thought was a weird idea. Why would Paul choose a non-athletic role when he is clearly an athletic guy? The highlight of the entire episode was Kristen pushing Bobby around in a cart. Kristen’s determination has led me to believe she is not the mole. Alex helped a lot by speaking Spanish, but he was a controlling freak who lost a lot of piggies with his inaccurate tosses. Mark and Ali got lost and wasted a lot of time. Paul broke a pig to get exemption, but I believe it was genuine curiosity that made him do it. Craig stepped in to help with the sling, and he did a very good job. It was weird though how Mark wanted the pigs to be sent off as quickly as possible; it’s better to aim well than fire off tons of misses.

And then Alex left his journal behind on purpose; in it he called Nicole the mole. Bobby and Craig picked it up and looked at it, but nothing came from it. Bobby thought it was an honest mistake on Alex’s behalf.

In the quiz segment, Ali believed that Alex was the mole. Mark blamed the lack of direction on Ali. Alex thought Nicole was the mole. Nicole thought Bobby could be the mole. In the end, all of the above stayed, and poor Liz went home. Her determination during the first challenge in this episode was admirable and heartwarming.

Potential moles: Mark, Craig, Paul, Alex (I’m leaning towards Craig)

For the full episode and a sneak peak of next week’s episode (they walk through the streets in their underwear!), click here.

For a detailed technical summary, click here.

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The Mole Episode 1 Recap (5×01)

June 7, 2008 at 1:20 pm · Filed under Television ·Tagged , ,

    

My choice for the mole (Victoria) and who was executed (Marci). Photos from abc.com.

ABC’s “The Mole” premiered its fifth season last Monday at 10 pm. It is probably my favorite reality show of all time, so I had extremely high expectations. The celebrity editions were absolutely cheesy and dreadful, but the second season was delightfully entertaining, even though it got cancelled midway through. I was hoping that Anderson Cooper, whose hosting skills are on par with Jeff Probst’s and Phil Keoghan’s, would return, but alas he did not. He’s too busy having a valid newscasting career.

Wikipedia has a chart and other details available about the episode here- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mole_%28U.S._Season_5%29

Stay-at-home mom Marci was chosen by the players to be the potential mole, forcing her to set up the waterfall game. I knew Marci was not the mole just from looking at her, so I questioned their decision. The most shocking part of the game is when it appeared that Craig, the overweight  guy certain to become a fan fave, hung himself on the rope. Other than that, there were some suspicious moments right off the bat. Musician Alex was first to go, and he didn’t even try that hard to get the bag, which probably contained cash. The model, Ali, failed to hold on to the bag, which honestly could be an error. Hotheaded and scheming Paul also missed his bag, which most likely contained money, but he put in what seemed to be effort. Victoria was the worst offender. She just sat right down and went right over the waterfall- yet no one made a big deal about this.

The Robinson Crusoe game wasn’t very revelatory. It was quite questionable as to why Craig was chosen as a scavenger, why Mark the history teacher sucked at history, and why the guys were terribly slow at scavenging. I mean, what is wrong with Bobby? Other than the fact that he is a pathetic weakling and very feminine, if you get my drift.

 Nicole, the whiner and sure to be labeled villain, cannot possibly be the mole given her exaggerated behavior. It would just be too obvious. In other news, Paul and Alex have a pseudo-alliance, and they were both drivers; Paul is just using Alex. Paul and Marci had an alliance together, but that’s kaput now.

Marci believed that Bobby was probably the mole, based on his performance during the Robinson Crusoe game. I’m guessing it’s fair to say that Bobby is not the mole because of how Marci probably voted on the quiz.

ABC has full episodes, video clips, bios, and the weekly quiz that you can take at http://abc.go.com/primetime/themole/index?pn=index

My choice for the mole this week: Victoria

Not the mole: Nicole, Bobby

Potential winners: Kristen, Liz, Paul

Who do you think is the mole? Do you think the casting was stereotypical, i.e. Ali and Kristen? What is up with Bobby? And who do you think will be the winner ?

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