Paul does terrible on the questionnaire, apparently not realizing that it doesn't matter how correct his answers are, just that he answer as many as he can. Or maybe Paul doesn't know anything about his wife Tori? No matter. She and their daughter, Alexa, arrive on the train, and boy. I know I hate Paul, but that is one adorable family. He starts making all sorts of cute faces at her, while I ready my child-stealing sack. She's reeeeally cute. But the best part is when they're all standing there and waiting for the doors to open, Paul says in voiceover that he will throw Jon through the window if he has to, in order to get to his family.
Now, the image of this happening is hilarious enough on its own, but even funnier is the fact that if this actually happened, you KNOW it will be calmly and smugly narrated by Jon himself. "Paul decides to hurl me through the window. I execute a graceful head-first dive, and as the glass shatters around my bloodied corpse, a happy reunion commences."
"Just watch the pants, Paul. They're Armani, and are worth more than your life."
Finally, after another Ice Age has come and gone, the doors open just as little Alexa does a little hand gesture and says "open sesame". A giant family hug follows, and dammit, it's friggin' adorable. Whatever hate I had for Paul lessens slightly, but ONLY because he's so cute with his daughter, who happily squeals that she lives in "Yonkas!" Aww.
"And daddy is what? An assclown, that's right!"
So the players earn $50,000 and their loved ones for an evening. Mark says that it's unthinkable for the Mole to have sabotaged this mission, and to do so would have been soulless. Which I more or less agree with, but two people - Paul and Craig - didn't even have a chance to sabotage. Maybe they would. Or maybe people would have gone crashing through subway windows. Who knows?
Meanwhile, Nicole is having a lot of key Dr. Phil time with her mom, who tells her that she should just forget about it all and leave the game. Nicole blames her ostracization on the fact that she's a black woman, leaving out the fact that she's also a crazy psycho bitch. But never mind that. Mom says that all this unhappiness is just not worth it, and Nicole plans to throw the quiz and self-execute. Because she is a lady, and a lady knows when to leave. Yeah well, a lady doesn't hand out death threats like tea doilies either.
At the pre-quiz dinner, little Alexa delights Jon with her pirate impression, which only endears them both to me even further. Cut in with the dinner is a series of interviews with the families about their Moley possibilities. Tori says that she thinks Paul could be the Mole, since he's always full of surprises. Hmm. Clay and Mark's wives don't think either one is the Mole. Craig's friend, Brendi, thinks he will either be the winner or the Mole. And then we get a hilarious exchange between Nicole and her mother, who is awesome. She says that if she were playing this game, she would inflict body harm. Nicole says she already did. Mom goes "You did WHAT?" and then they further discuss how Nicole would have the know-how to dispatch several bodies. Guess the apple doesn't fall far from the insanity tree. Though if I were a casting director, I'd have Nicole's mom on the phone within seconds of watching this.
"We're CRAZY!"
Anyway, quiz time. Nicole rationalizes her decision by saying that throwing the quiz is not really losing, because she is choosing to leave rather than get beaten by the guys. Whatever, idiot. A forfeit is still a loss. The quizmaster once again indulges his/her fashionista tendencies, asking whether the Mole wore a hat in the first mission. I hope next week it asks whether the Mole was wearing a fedora or a sombrero. I also hope that there will be absolutely no reason to wear either one, and that someone is just feeling really festive.
Results: there is a tie. Nicole mutters a curse under her breath. Paul is safe. Nicole, who fails at everything, also fails at quitting. She is safe. The one to go home is...Clay! NOOOO!
Farewell, Clay. We'll miss your Jesus talk and fancy lemon-hurling abilities.
As Clay leaves with his wife (who doesn't appear to know what the hell is going on), Nicole tells her mother that she knew as soon as she sat at the computer that she couldn't do it. And then her mom calls her Omarosa, which is hilarious because that's what I've been saying from the start. Leonora, call me! Let's do lunch!
« So You Think You Can Dance: When Basil Goes Plastic | Main | Living Lohan: Coming Soon to a DVD Near You! »
Comments (5)
Great recap. I picked Craig from the very first episode, solely on the first impression rule. First season, as offensive as it is, pick a meek girl, no one suspects it. Second season, pick the older man, who would suspect it. Furthermore, double model seasons. (Although, I'm not quite sure I count those seasons yet.) My friends now tell me that I'm wrong because everyone is suspecting Craig so it can't be right. Honestly, if I'm wrong I'd be thrilled, it'd be exactly what I love about this show. But I wouldn't be surprised if I was right.
As for you, classic shoutout to the original show I would have to give it to viewing party post Laser Tag.
1 of 5 | Posted by bentley1101 | Posted on July 28, 2008 11:48 PM
Here is a recap of my major clues that point to Craig
In episode 1 The #11 journal is spotlighted. The 11th person in the introductions was Craig.
There was a mobile clue of NIC @ IT translated to NICATIT. "TITANIC"? maybe??? On the boat to the scavenger game Craig is standing in front with his arms out like in the movie
Then in episode 3 it was Craig who suggested Bobby ride in the wheelbarrow. What better way for a mole to slow down his team and yet it all falls on Bobby's shoulders for being a whimp.
In the episode with the Nic@It clue, they referred to the dinner as the Last dinner. Connect Leonardo DaVinci to Leonardo Di Caprio from Titanic and it still points to Titanic and Craig.
JAIME on the side of a building:
Jaime is a variant of James and means "supplanter". Supplant means: to supersede (another) especially by force or treachery. Treachery, much like a mole would do. In Spanish, Jaime and James are both variants of the name Diego. As in San Diego where Craig is from.
On the waterfall challenge: Is when Craig says "dude, one thing at a time who cares if we're staying here or not we're jumping over a frickin waterfall, god! ********WHO CARES WHERE YOU'RE SLEEPING****************" Why would he mention where they were sleeping BEFORE Jon Kelley told them that Marcie had to choose where they slept?
During the scavenger hunt game, the host mentioned that Robinson Crusoe was based on Alexander Selkirk. If you google that name you will find that his name at birth was Alexander Selcraig. Pretty big coincidence there.
Episode one internet clue: E_E_E_
After going over the waterfall Craig said: "the rope just goes taut and chokes me like a hanged man. E_E_E_ = hangman
Craig has been constantly wearing his glasses, but he did not have them when they arrived for the pig challenge and did not have them the entire time. He did have them back on later though. Maybe they are just clear lenses and doesn't really need them? This could be lying with his eyes (another internet clue).
The text clue of "heart" is mentioned in Craig's bio on the website. It says, "He is a lovable prankster with a big heart, and his magnetic personality has gotten him through life."
There might be another clue that points to Craig. In the first episode intro Craig is the only one without any type of graphics(the circly things) next to his name or hometown. The text doesn't change either. Plus he's a graphic artist. That might be something that's not so obvious so maybe that's a clue. In all subsequnet episodes, it is back to normal.
On the Laundry challenge I also picked up on something that I thought might have been a clue. Craig was wearing a skeleton key around his neck at the spa. The lockers had combinations and I'm sure the hotel doesn't use skeleton keys. When he "discovered" the Dry Cleaners it was right next door to a Locksmith
HEre is a photo from Episode Two. The picture clearly says MOLE and the number above the calculator is the year Craig is born.
Someone said the Mole's color is red. Is this true? I don't know being that this is the first time I've watched the show. Craig is always wearing red, from his tennies, to his tie, to the upcoming episode and the ski beanie. Wouldn't that be a little too obvious if the other players know this tidbit?
Episode 2 Text Clue: cf(11)8 = See if 11 ate.
Craig didn't eat due to being sick... and he is linked to "11"
Another Text Clue
just thinking that if you still use the numerical value then:
2 3 4
7 1 5
23-15 = 8
7 - 4 = 3
8 + 3 = 11 11+ Craig
Handwriting - In the Moles Journal, all of the handwriting uses a goofy little apostrophe mark that looks suspiciously like the number 11. Craig is journal 11 and one of the original journals that still exist.just thinking that if you still use the numerical value then:
In the first journal entry the passport in the upper left has many entries of travel... the only person that would need to travel that much is someone like Craig...... in his bio on ABC.com reads "Craig has traveled extensively and worked as a humanitarian disaster relief aide worker in Turkey and Thailand."
in the mole journal on the page with the grape stains, above his note, there is 3 $10 bills...10 + 10 + 10=30
craig is 30 years old
Have you noticed that they never show a result for Craig's quiz.
From Episode 5 This N20 couls stnad for November 20, which is Craigs Birthday
And of course, my most recent discovery. Last nights Widget clue was simply the number 495. If you take the first five numbers that Clay and Nicole entered into the computer on the counting mission, they come to 495. However, iit was Craing who came up with these numbers, Nicole had originally entered some other number and Craign had to correct her. This directly points to Craig.
You can see from this that Mark was meticulously keeping track of possible sabotage chances regarding each player. Up to that point in the show there had been 10 missions, and he recorded his thoughts of each player using a "1" if he thought they did something that could be considered sabotage, "0" if he thought they didn't, and a "?" if he wasn't sure.
You can see the players names at the left side of each line, and they are listed alphabetically. The totals from the 10 missions is listed in parenthases at the right side of each line.
Al = Alex (3-3-4)
Cl = Clay (6-3-1)
Cr = Craig (4-2-4)
Kr = Kristen gone
Ni = Nicole (2-4-4)
Paul = Paul (2-4-4)
One more thing...regarding the mole's journal for this week, notice that the journal says Favorite Band-?. Craig didn't know who his friend's favorite band was during that mission. Also, just to post a few things that make me think Craig is a good candidate for the mole because someone said no one has done anything mole-like. 1) As Mark frequently points out, Craig can fail and people will cheer, like in the waterfall mission. 2) In the Alexander Selkirk mission, he was a scavenger and could've easily ignored or kicked away one of the necessary items. 3) Craig talked to Victoria at the end of the fruit of the luge mission, discounting the money they earned. 4)Craig deliberately asked Nichole a question during the most recent mission in which Nichole had the camera and was not allowed to talk. Anyone who knows Nichole knows that she would answer without thinking. 5) Craig suggested that Bobby get in the wheelbarrow in the pigs mission. (His team earned no money). 6) Craig didn't even make it across the bridge to the chalkboard in the last mission, although I think he genuinely was scared. 7) The most suspicious thing to me is when Craig was the first one to say "Exemption" at the dinner table. It seemed odd to me that he would ask for an exemption for being sick. Sounds like the producers told him he had to say that so that he could control the Travelers mission, which he sabotaged, even leading Mark to give up. 8)I know there are others, but I haven't gone back to watch the episodes, so any other "Craig is the mole" fans feel free to chime in.
2 of 5 | Posted by 36474695 | Posted on July 29, 2008 10:57 AM
"The fun continues with Clay and Nicole, who memorizes Clay's answers like a machine and reads them back just as machine-like."
That's called going through medical school and being use to rote memorization.
IMO, Nicole for the win!
3 of 5 | Posted by asmaj | Posted on July 29, 2008 11:04 AM
I think Nicole for the win, and unpopular opinion, Mark is the Mole. Mark is a lunatic who is hell bent and determined to win money. I honestly think he would go for a guarteed payday and the only payday guranteed is that of the Mole. Otherwise, he left his pregnant wife in hopes of winning money on a reality show which just makes him look like a dillweed. Although fat funny guy who know one expects much from is the Mole is a pretty clever twist
4 of 5 | Posted by Fayellis1 | Posted on July 29, 2008 11:51 AM
I think Paul is the mole. He never looks worried at the execution ceremonies. His assinine behavior is his cover. When he was with his family, he was an entirely different person.
5 of 5 | Posted by trink621 | Posted on July 30, 2008 6:55 AM