Project Runway: Road Trip

The first half of every “Project Runway” season finale is always one of my least favorite episodes.

There’s hardly any sewing or workroom drama and, obviously, there’s no runway show or elimination. On top of that, we know there’s a “To Be Continued” coming, so it’s hard to get totally invested in this hour without looking ahead.

Fortunately, what these episodes DO have is a healthy dose of Tim Gunn. We watched the beloved mentor visit each of the three finalists 10 weeks after the last challenge.

First up was a trip to snowy Huntington, N.Y. (seriously, I’m pretty sure Tim needed a snowmobile to get to her yard) where Carol-Hannah had moved from Charleston. Her collection was inspired by the Duke University campus she visited on her trip up to New York mixed in with a dash of fairy tales and general willowy-ness. Carol-Hannah displayed her amazing versatility by showing Tim that she’d made pants!

Honestly, the highlight of this trip was Tim slapping on an apron (that didn’t cover his white shirt) and helping make biscuits for a meal with Carol-Hannah’s family.

Up next, Tim went to Irina’s NYC apartment which was as tiny and cramped as Carol-Hannah’s house was lush and open. Irina’s inspiration came from Brooklyn’s Coney Island, the borough she moved to when her family relocated from the republic of Georgia.

This visit seemed to show off a soft(er) side of Irina. I also got the distinct impression that her mom is considerably more supportive than her dad, who was giving off “I wish my daughter would get a REAL job” or “I wish she would marry a responsible man and settle down” vibes from his seat at the table

The last stop was a trip to Dayton, Ohio, home of Althea and (apparently) shoddy elevators. (Egads!) Althea said her collection was inspired by strong women in sci-fi. While I thought her pieces stood out the most and her collection is probably the funkiest out of the three finalists, I really don’t see it. In a semi-related story, hers was also the collection Tim seemed most concerned about.

With the visits done, the show still had half an hour to fill, so the producers did their best to manufacture some drama.

Irina was informed that she could not use the copyrighted images of Coney Island in her collection which bummed her out, but ultimately proved to be a non-issue. Carol-Hannah contracted a nasty (contagious!) stomach virus that forced Irina and Althea to share the same physical space for a prolonged period of time. (Awkward!) Sorry, but as sick as Carol-Hannah looked in the second half of the episode, I never believed for a second that she wasn’t going to show up or drop out of the competition.

After a surprise visit/pep talk from Michael Kors and Nina Garcia (you guys can show up to the workroom, but you can’t be bothered to attend judging?!) the twist we all knew was coming was revealed: the designers would have to create a 13th look for their collection.

The designers would also have help from previous contestants. Althea went first and picked Logan (much to Carol-Hannah’s chagrin), who I guess she forgave for the zippered collar fiasco. Irina selected BFF Gordana and Carol-Hannah was stuck with Christopher. As bad as Christopher and Logan were toward the end of their run, I don’t think they’ll have much of a (negative) effect on the finalists — their problems were more conceptual than anything, and I doubt they’ll be asked to do anything more than sew like crazy.

We ended the episode with a trip to Mood 1.0 and with Carol-Hannah barfing her guts up in the toilet.

From what we saw in this episode, it seems like Althea has the most divisive collection, while Irina’s doesn’t appear to have too much variety (all black, all the time). As a result, I’m predicting a Carol-Hannah victory (assuming she survives).

Sorry if I don’t sound terribly excited. I like Carol Hannah, and I’ll be happy if she wins.

It’s just that this season has been more about rewarding the people who screwed up the least rather than rewarding excellence. To her credit, Carol-Hannah has screwed up the least throughout the season and will probably win.

So what’d you think of this episode? Were you as annoyed as I was when Irina’s parents were subtitled, even though we could pretty much understand everything they were saying? Finally, who do you think should and will win?