Rubbernecking: Project Runway Episode 5, "There is an 'I' in Team"

As the curtain rises on this week's show, we find that most if not all of the remaining designers are still not feeling Michael Costello's win last week. Christopher states unequivocally that Michael C's skills are "not in line with the rest of us." Meanwhile April and Peach have formed a sort of Survivor-style alliance which, I have to admit, is touching since in real life, would these two even look at each other on the street? Ah, Reality TV: breaker-down of age and culture barriers!

It's a team challenge broken down into two teams which shake out predictably. Michael C, being last week's winner, gets to choose first and picks Gretchen for his team (I guess he did get a swelled head last week from the win; otherwise what in the Sam Hill was he thinking? Us winners have to stick together? But Michael C - it's Gretchen!!!). The rest of the team members are chosen schoolyard-style by each person picking the next. Michael C and Gretchen's team is rounded out by Christopher, Andy, Ivy, and A.J. The other team is April, Mondo, Michael D, Valerie, Casanova, and Peach. Michael C's feeling good about his team (who have 4 wins between them to the other team's zero wins) because they are "the best of the best." Yes, but you have Gretchen, you idiot - a sure sign that someone's going to be done very wrong - since her advice throughout the season thus far has dashed many a dream.

Back at the workroom, Uncle Tim explains that each team is to create a six-piece collection that follows the emerging trends of Fall 2010. They will each choose from two inspirations, one concept, and one textile. The budget for the collection will be a whopping $1K. Garnier's Peter Butler will consult with them on the hairstyles for their looks.

Tim encourages them to use their HP Touchsmart notebooks during their one-hour sketch period before going to shop at Mood. Gretchen immediately takes over what will become Team Luxe. She wants their menswear for women look to be tailored and clean because the other team has (her words) "koo-koo drama." She gushes, "you guys, I'm so proud of us, we're working so well together it's blowing my mind" (by which she really means they're all listening to her and doing what she says). "We don't have time for that right now," Ivy hits back, but she's actually fallen into line as Gretchen's aide-de-camp. I guess she's finally realized it's not The Ivy Show, but she could be a co-star on The Gretchen Show.

The other team huddles around a table and comes up with a military theme for their collection augmented by lace. Everyone plays well together. Casanova likes military and loves lace - he "feels like a fish in the water." There's a touchy moment when Peach feels like no one's listening to her but it's quickly repaired and they're all happy families. Their official name is Team Military & Lace.

Apropos of nothing: A brief cameo from Mood's store dog, Swatch.

Team Gretchen - I mean Luxe - is a complete disaster out of the gate and I start allowing myself to envision that these sanctimonious winner-types might find themselves actually losing for once. Gretchen's ideas are fueling their creative process (except for Michael C who has finally seen the handwriting on the wall - albeit too late): winter shorts, grandpa sweaters, leggings with camel panels. The whole thing will eventually look like a 1970's Ivy League fashion spread. Christopher's taken on the role of Gretchen's consigliere, advising her on what's going on with other team members. They all decide early on that Michael C is the weakest link and I so wish Anne Robinson would make an appearance to give him the news - and btw sorry, MC, but you deserve it because no one in their right mind would consciously pick Gretchen for their team. Ivy gets all schoolteacherish on him and he leaves in a huff. "Michael C is a total time suck, he doesn't know how to sew," says Gretchen.

The other team, let's call them the Underdogs since they are, are steamrolling along. Everyone has their assignment and they are working well together as a team. When it comes time for their Garnier hair consult with Peter Butler, April and Valerie advise the stylists to keep it simple, but messy, "because you always get messy in battle." This team's working hard and smart because they all know what failure is like whereas the other team is all we-have-it-in-the-bag. This is evidenced further by Gretchen and Andy's hair consult where they decide that they're going for a modern approach to Hollywood glam. The model looks like Lauren Bacall. "Wow," says Gretchen, "and....we're gonna win!" I just know I would've hated this beeyotch in high school.

Tim Time - he consults with each team as a group, starting with the Underdogs. He's a little cautionary over the use of lace, warning that it "can look old very easily." (Cut to Michael C sniping from across the room "I notice that they're going for some bordello trashy look") Casanova is scared because Tim always comes down on him with a rough critique and today's no exception: "I'm going to be blunt. Casanova, your look is looking like the mother of these women. It needs to be youthened up." Casanova's crushed and swans off to lie down on the couch and have a big old sulk. His fellow teamies Michael D, Ivy and Peach can't rouse him and finally Peach gets all mom-like telling him to have a good rest and "we love you."

Here's where I have to show you the shoes Casanova is wearing in the workroom.

Tim visits with Team Gretchen and Miss G explains that they're all doing about three pieces each but she feels like she is in every piece even though she's not the one sewing. (Remember this statement later, everyone.) Tim allows as how they are all ambitious about how much they're planning to do but he feels a responsibility to tell them that he met with the other team "and by comparison this is looking very ho-hum." From Tim this is the worst thing ever, it's up there with senior citizen garments.

The models enter the room for their fittings and Casanova is still out in the lounge on the couch feeling sorry for himself. He calls his Aunt Lucy and tells her in Spanish he's tired of this shit, which is helpfully translated in the lower third. It's only when his model comes out to give him a pep talk and tell him not to let what others say get to him that he realizes that perhaps he is being too sensitive and returns to the workroom. Meanwhile, it's clear on Team Gretchen that both A.J. and Michael C are dragging the team down. A.J. doesn't have anything ready for his model to try on. Michael C doesn't seem to have done anything but a cowl blouse that has to be completely re-styled by his teammates. The fact that he has immunity from winning last week's challenge has most of them apoplectic with rage as they feel - and have expressed to his face - that he's not going to even try to help the team win.

And the Brother Sewing clock ticks on.

The morning of the runway show, Gretchen wakes up at 4am and makes a to-do list for their team (oh, how I wish we had been able to see said list!). Their team is so far behind the eight ball it's frightening. Some of their models actually help pitch in to them finish sewing the garments. As the group heads off to the runway, their team feels quite confident of the win. (One of the show's best lines must go to Michael D, who is on the competing team: "They have a sweater called the Grandpa Sweater! What the f---!")

The guest judge today is Georgina Chapman, actress and fashion designer/co-founder of Marchesa. The first team up is the Underdogs. Gretchen thinks her team has it because she doesn't think the Underdogs' work holds together as a collection though she likes them individually. It's an unfortunate choice to have Team G's show begin with A.J.'s weird shirtdress with the two tone leggings. The best thing on these models is their hairstyles, which are the only luxe thing about the collection. The winning team turns out to be Military & Lace (the Underdogs). Group hug!

The losing team heads backstage into the dishing area in total shock. Ivy says their collection was a lot more cohesive and it told a story (and the story was 1976 Ivy League Co-Eds). Gretchen opines that the collection doesn't look like any of their work, and that's a Project Runway first, as if that's a good thing. They decide as a group to stand together and not blame any one person. A.J. presciently says he hopes G won't flip a switch to which G responds, "that's not my style." Vraiment?

And just so you see wazzup...

TEAM MILITARY & LACE

Casanova

Mondo

April

Michael D

Peach

Valerie

TEAM LUXE

A.J.

Andy

Ivy

Christopher

Michael C

Gretchen

The judges are oohing and aahing over the Underdogs. Young, fun, hip, modern, edgy - says La Klum. She absolutely loves Casanova's outfit - "it's super-chic, it's hot, I want to be that girl!" MK singles Casanova and Peach out for special praise. When asked who they think should be the winner, the team members pick Casanova, and Casanova nobly picks Peach because the top of her outfit is so well made. (Let's look in our crystal ball ahead to the future where Casanova and Peach join forces and start a clothing design company on the Lower East Side called Casa Peach and Peach gets a buzz cut and tatts and stops wearing black capris. Hey, it could happen!)

Team G heads out for the losing team critique. G is the spokesperson and starts out by saying that they all collaborated, "we worked really hard" (sniff sniff). When she starts to cry the others start too, even Michael C. She declines to name names: "We worked really hard and I don't think there was a weak link." Ivy chimes in: "It's like having a baby and someone says it's ugly. I think it's beautiful." G makes an impassioned plea that the judges please be mindful of who they want to see more from because we think that's the fairest way for you to choose "because we're not going to choose. We stand united." At this point Michael C takes her hand, Christopher and A.J. stand arm in arm, and Gretchen puts her arm around Ivy.

MK says the team effort is commendable but it probably took some of them down a notch and raised others up a notch, ending up with "vanilla boring." Nina points out that almost every outfit in the collection has a proportion problem, plus no sex appeal and no design. "The colors are," she pauses to look for the right word, "ghastly." The judges are honestly appalled at the name Team Luxe since it's the furthest thing from luxe they can imagine. Ivy's look is singled out as the worst. MK gasps: "The Golden Girl vest!" Nina chimes in, "The vest with those granny shorts!" Next worst is A.J., whose outfit Heidi says is "a little bit air hostess" with "horseback riding pants." A.J. defends himself weakly by saying he wanted to show he could do a more tailored piece, not like his crazy outfits in the past.

And then, in perhaps the quickest turnaround ever seen on Project Runway, Gretchen completely backpedals from her earlier staunch belief in the collection and the team and goes all Judas Iscariot on everyone, saying, "We very late in the game realized that Grandma had arrived." She admits that she styled everything, "I also feel like I had to style maybe a crappy collection - I was trying to save it." Heidi is confused, "What do you mean you're trying to save it? Before you loved it!" And then the fun really begins as it dawns on Gretchen that by taking responsibility for everything, she could very well go home ("I don't want to go home, it's not my time") and she throws Michael C squarely under the bus. She whines that she had to spend so much time helping him since his technical skills were the weakest and therefore she had no time to focus on what makes her strong. She says now that everyone sucked, no one was on their game - including her. Her lapdogs Ivy and Christopher agree that Michael C is the weakest link. None of them will name another team member since Michael C has immunity. Off they go to await their fate.

The judges decide to give the win to Casanova, who's pleasantly surprised and delighted. As for Team G, they're frankly astounded by Gretchen's about-face. Heidi says it seems like Gretchen was the leader even though there was no leader. "She had the whip in her hand, she was driving that bus, everyone was too afraid to open their mouth." G and A.J. end up in the bottom two. Even though the judges say they are only judging on this challenge and not past history, a statement I find very hard to believe, they send A.J. home instead of Gretchen who clearly was responsible for the direction the entire collection took (and admitted it). A.J. did what Gretchen told him to do - and he's not the first to go home for that mistake. A.J. to camera, "It's really hard to know that you're going home for something that doesn't have a trace of you in it."

Tim Gunn is incensed and comes in not just to tell A.J. goodbye and to clean up his space, but also to give Team G a piece of his mind - he doesn't get it. "I fundamentally do not understand your behavior and demeanor and affect on the runway...I don't know why you allow Gretchen to manipulate, control, and bully you." He says A.J. took the bullet. They're all in total shock since this is by no means part of the script. Ivy confides to camera that Tim is "kind of right" and it made them all have "an A-ha moment." All I can say is, Tim's my dream man for calling Gretchen out like this. He was before, but doubly so now.

Here is Tim not getting it.

Gretchen tells the camera that her feelings are hurt, claiming she's not manipulative, she "just wanted to help." It will be very interesting to see how this all plays out in weeks to come. We've clearly turned a corner now on the contestants' dynamic.

And sew it goes!

Project Runway airs Thursday nights on Lifetime TV at 9pm ET.

See my recap of Episode 4 here

Episode 3 Recap

Episode 1 and 2 Recap

 

Follow Holly Cara Price on Twitter: www.twitter.com/hollycara

Comments

[Beyond Beautifulbabe]

08:21 PM on 09/03/2010

Thanks for the awesome recap! Last night, Michael C extended the olive branch, but was dissed again -- and then went on to win that round. I'd love to see all of the tape, to see what ends up on the cutting room floor. The show editors are geniuses at creating conflict!

[Holly Cara Price]

08:50 PM on 09/03/2010

Michael C is rocking that bitch. I can't understand why he is such a hate magnet!

[Cyndee Anthony]

08:46 PM on 09/01/2010

Excellent recap!! I'm a new fan.

[Holly Cara Price]

08:49 PM on 09/03/2010

thanks Cyndee!

[Lexica]

05:30 PM on 08/31/2010

Keeping Gretchen had to be a calculated move on the part of the production team - she's a brat and a bully, and a perfect target for the audience to continue to hate. Maybe someone forgot to tell Tim, because he delivered the highlight of a fairly electric show, lecturing the losing team to wake up and grow up.

So many seasons into most of the so-called "reality" shows the participan­ts are boring, the scenario is predictabl­e, and the outcome unexciting­. Project Runway seems to have escaped the pack and continues to be entertaini­ng. Bravo! (Oh, uh, oops. Sorry.)

[Holly Cara Price]

06:05 AM on 09/01/2010

to which i have to say amen and hallelujah­. i thought it was going to be a good season, just never anticipate­d it would be this good. we had some clunkers after the show left Bravo methinks. this is definitely not a clunker season.

[xbrooklyngrrl]

11:42 AM on 08/31/2010

Best moment: Casanova's gracious insistence that his win was a group win. Who knew he's a mensch? It felt sincere.

Second best: Tim speaking truth, and the look on Gretchen's face. She's low class, and not even fun as a villain.

Reason PR bites, and has become self-parod­y: No guts. They shoulda tossed Gretchen, that would've created some real drama: Zap! Imagine the mood in the workroon after that. Cowardly to toss AJ. The entire collection shows that Gretchen's early wins were ill deserved.

[Libb Cabal]

02:18 PM on 08/31/2010

Re: Casanova..­.In the extra video clips on the Lifetime site it is revealed that Casanova walked out of the work-room, saying he wasn't going to finish his style for the collection­. The rest of the peeps on his team were in the process of trying to figure out who was going to complete what when, after two designers and his model going to pat his hand, etc., he decided to come back. I loved the style he did, but if the judges knew he had walked out of the workroom and refused to finish his style, I doubt he would have won.

Re: Gretchen..­.Totally agree. She's an insecure controller­. Her desperatio­n about being in control, and her utter denial of her actions and responsibi­lity for what happens borders on delusional­, IMO.

Re: PR bites...I thought G's wins in the beginning weren't warranted and, unfortunat­ely, just fed her self delusions of grandeur. I don't think G should have been sent home because she inserted herself as the leader, and then threw people on the bus when "her" project flopped. As Dear Abby used to write, "There are no unwilling doormats." All of Team Luxe accepted her as leader, and they all ended up doing what she told them to do. A couple of them became obsequious little toadies, too. Most of them threw Michael C under the bus.

AJ's work was consistent­ly on the losing edge.

[xbrooklyngrrl]

05:00 PM on 08/31/2010

Re: all of it: don't kid yourself, the judges -- but particular­ly the producers (who really control this show, and make decisions, if you look closely, you'll see the disclaimer­s) -- know exactly what's going on at all times, and as with all reality shows, encourage bad behavior over talent, in fact stimulate conflict; little do they get that PR's once loyal audience genuinely enjoyed the creative process and the flamboyanc­e over the contentiou­s creeps (Kenley et al).

I wish Gretchen were gone; her hideous energy will continue to dominate, I fear.

Sigh......

[aznurse]

02:08 AM on 08/31/2010

When Tim starts shoving his glasses up on his nose, he's upset.

[MindyM]

09:20 PM on 08/30/2010

The more I think about it, the more I agree with the person who said that Wretchen got lucky winning those first two challenges­. I thought that Valerie definitely deserved to win the Marie Claire challenge for her adorable red dress. You have to question this woman, after she basically took over that team challenge and succeeded in producing a completely boring snoozefest of an outdated collection­.

The other team members are by no means off the hook as far as I am concerned. What I do not understand is why any of them would even trust this woman. She has made it abundantly clear that she is out to win at all costs. Wretchen the wicked gave bad advice to Sarah, which she took to heart instead of following her own instincts. Even my yelling at her to NOT listen didn't work! LOL!

Those other designers should have found the courage and spine to stand up for their own aesthetic and creativity­. I can only hope that Tim gave them a wakeup call. Shame on those who trashed Michael C.

If your only game plan is to make the one person who has immunity, your scapegoat, then you are not only a rat but a stupid one!

Wretched will get her comeuppanc­e. I hope the other designers watch their backs and remember never to trust this woman.

[Holly Cara Price]

06:23 AM on 08/31/2010

I'm with you Mindy. and the previews for this week's episode look like World War 2 has broken out.

[Libb Cabal]

02:31 PM on 08/31/2010

MUWA-HA-HA­-HA-HA! Totally agree, Holly and Mindy!

I can't wait for Michael C's revenge next week! I only hope he does it tastefully enough so that the judges don't get ticked off at him.

G made a BIG mistake by putting herself so clearly in the sights of the judges. They didn't like the stunt she and the others pulled, but since G was the one with the big mouth and she pushed herself as leader, they really focused on her.

I think, for the rest of the time G is on PR, anything and everything she does will be viewed through the lens of Team Luxe's disaster and the prominent role G played in it, her throwing Michael C under the bus, and then her trying to fast-talk and scam her way out of being responsibl­e for the collection­.

No matter what her intentions are, if she does anything remotely like any of her skanky actions of this episode, she will be judged as doing what she did in the Team Luxe debacle.

I'm actually more interested in seeing how the judges act than in how Michael C acts. Nina and Heidi will get that biologist-­studying-a­-deformed-­microbe-un­der-a-micr­oscope look that they get when something is fishy on the runway, and then G is REALLY in trouble.

[Milash]

02:20 PM on 08/30/2010

I tuned out once Gretchen started babbling, it was too painful to watch, I didn't even find out who won and who was sent home.

[aznurse]

02:06 AM on 08/31/2010

it was close , but it wasn't Gretchen

[Libb Cabal]

01:00 PM on 08/30/2010

Thank god Gretchen finally got a reality check. Love Tim. He's so patient, but when something harsh has to be said, I'm glad he's able to say it without any sugar-coat­ing.

How many knew as soon as G said "we all have to stick together" that she was going to throw at least one person under the bus? [RAISES HAND] If we would have known ahead of time, we could have had a message board pool, selling squares with minutes and seconds on each one, so we could guess how many minutes it would be until Gretchen kicked someone under the bus.

Really, I wasn't sure I was going to be able to continue watching PR this season if Gretchen was going to be allowed to go on and on and on with her Gretcheny smug sanctimony­. BLECHHH. I was using the C-word like I had some kind of one-vial-w­ord-focuse­d Tourette's syndrome.

[aznurse]

12:57 PM on 08/30/2010

I think Ivy should have been sent home.

[shiningstarra]

05:05 PM on 08/30/2010

what you said

[Debru]

07:09 PM on 08/30/2010

Yup, those lederhosen were horrible!

[Holly Cara Price]

06:25 AM on 08/31/2010

Ivy's outfit was disturbing on so many levels not the least of which those horrendous burgundy tights which didn't fit!!!! Lederhosen indeed.

[Libb Cabal]

02:32 PM on 08/31/2010

LOLOLOLOL.

[CAMBEL]

12:24 PM on 08/30/2010

Am I the only one who thinks that Gretchen looks a lot like the lady in the famous "Don't Do Meth" mugshot series??

http://www­.yourdetox­store.com/­images/bef­ore_after_­meth.jpg

[aznurse]

12:54 PM on 08/30/2010

LOL!

[getoffthecross]

12:04 PM on 08/30/2010

Let's face it, if someone has one 2 out of 4 previous challenges (and is almost always in the top even when not winning), people are going to defer to that person as someone who understand­s what the judges are looking for. Not saying it's right, and I'm glad it played out like it did, but it is human nature. Gretchen is like a poker player who wins the first couple of hands in a tournament­. It convinces a person that there's no luck involved and that they are invincible­. Hint: Few players who win the first hand win the who kaboodle. Just sayin'.

[Holly Cara Price]

06:26 AM on 08/31/2010

i like your simile here :)

[CAMBEL]

11:28 AM on 08/30/2010

I love how they kept trying to throw Michael C under the bus, and yet, he was int he top three another time, won last week, and this week his top was the only piece out there from his team that got a compliment from the judges.

Loved Tim's lecture about Gretchen. I can only imagine if she had tried some of her tactics on people from Previous seasons. There is no way that Jeffrey and Laura (Season 3), Santino (Season 2) or pretty much ANYBODY from last season would have tolerated it. Just weird that there are so many insecure people that would allow some woman, who's best outfit has been a jumpsuit, to boss them around. I mean She picked the colors CAMEL and OXBLOOD?!?­?!? That right there should have been a hint that the woman is lacking good sense.

As for the rest of it, Gretchen should have gone home, but since she didn't, I'm not that sorry to see AJ go, if only because he constantly kept talking about how unique his style was, and week after week never put up anything half as interestin­g as he kept saying he was.

[aznurse]

12:55 PM on 08/30/2010

they didn't send Gretchen home because she makes good TV

[tiaw578]

04:02 PM on 08/31/2010

They didn't send her home because the clothes she made wasn't nearly as bad as some of the other clothes in the collection­. I think the only reason she ended up in the bottom two was because she took over (even though there wasn't supposed to be a team leader) and steered the whole team down the wrong path but that's just as much the others' fault as it is hers.

[Libb Cabal]

01:12 PM on 08/30/2010

It looks (from the previews of next episode) that Michael C is going to go for revenge. I wonder if that will really happen, or if it's just another PR come-one where only about 1% of what they implied would happen actually occurs.

[Steamboater]

11:24 AM on 08/30/2010

Gretchen should have been tossed off the show as Casanvova should have been tossed last week, but this is TV and both of them provide the dramatic and comedic aspects for the show. I suspect that's more of a reason to have kept them on then their design sense. Casanove was able to pull it of this week but Michael D really had the best design; it was hip and modern with a slighty trashy edge. Hard to pull off and he did. Casanove went from one end of the spectrum--­trashy to refined and chic. Both worked.

Gretchen's team lost it at the outset with their choices of color. There's was no excitment and the mix of colors were dull. And yes, even Bea Arthur would have refused to have worn that shmatah she designed.

[Holly Cara Price]

06:27 AM on 08/31/2010

Michael D is another one of the dark horses of the group, do you agree? i think he could rise to the top one of these weeks.

[OrangeSalad]

10:55 AM on 08/30/2010

Since Gretchen was left standing it is obvious they are considerin­g her other work and not just what was before them. IMO, she should have gone home but I find it interestin­g that other successful designers deferred to her. What happened to these talented, creative people that caused their egos to disappear? How did their critical thinking disintegra­te within five minutes of sitting down with Gretchen?

Gretchen couldn't have controlled that collection unless those five other people hadn't let her. Tim was correct in addressing the team. They silenced their own voices and one of them paid dearly for it.
It makes me question the abilities of all 6. Gretchen for what she produced and the other five for designing for someone elses esthetic 'without a trace' of themselves in the garment. Being part of a team doesn't mean disappeari­ng.

If they don't develop and stay true to their own voice they won't succeed after PR.

Who hasn't had a pity party for themselves at sometime in their life? Casanova bounced back after receiving harsh criticism over the last few weeks but what was obvious on that team was that the personalit­ies are supportive each other - the successes, struggles and failures.

[ChaiKat]

10:11 AM on 08/30/2010

Excellent recap. I am soooo looking forward to Gretchen falling on her butt. I know she won two challenges­, but frankly, I think she just got lucky. She's a mediocre designer at best, and I think her style is very much like those Grandma clothes presented. She was all over that challenge and it totally showed. I'm glad she was taken down a peg. I just hope the morons on her team finally woke up after Tim's well deserved calling out.

[CAMBEL]

11:29 AM on 08/30/2010

Gretchen has already convinced herself that she was being nice, and that the collection didn't work because she didn't have enough time to do everything herself. I have a feeling she will actually get worse.

[Libb Cabal]

06:02 PM on 08/30/2010

I think maybe the judges are hoping she will. They seemed to really enjoy calling her on her krap and putting her in her place.

Somebody else mentioned the boo-hooing from Gretchen and the Gretchenet­tes, and ITA--it was nauseating to watch. Oh, Prunella! There was some serious kiester-ki­ssing going on at that point.

I wonder if Michael C is going to get revenge on Gretchen?

Heidi said in an interview that she knows Tim is sitting in the back of the darkened theater during the judging because she can see the stage lights glinting off his glasses. So he witnessed the whole under-the-­bus-throwi­ng of Michael C.

I don't think I've ever seen Tim that angry. Is was "madder than a wet hen," as my Midwestern mother used to say.