Recap will be posted on Thursday

Okay guys, no recap until Thursday. I have a huge case study to write up for this week and now I've had some other unfortunate circumstances come up, so there's no way I can put a post up until Thursday at the earliest.

I do have to say I'm pissed about the exemption. Also, this changes the outlook of the finals possibly, since Mark is supposedly this "good" guy in the show. I'll have to think about it, but the previews still make me think Nicole wins.

Episode 7 Recap NOW

Okay, so I got yelled at in the comments section of my previous post. And I love it. First of all, the majority of the comments I've gotten on this blog have been on the clues posts, so I never really realized people enjoyed my commentary. So thanks for letting me know that you actually come to read my commentary and are actually pissed when you don't get to read it. Also, I love that I got yelled at in my own blog. I don't know how you knew I'd respond positively to this, because I really think most people would be offended and would delete the comment or whatever, but I love it. Is that you, Al?

So I know this post might still piss you off because I'm not actually writing the recap right now. It's 7am and I have to go teach. I'll be back around 1pm and I promise I will rewatch the episode this afternoon and then put up an awesome recap. I will say that assuming the finale is in two weeks, my work load gets significantly lighter after next Thursday, so I hope to be able to put out some final speculation posts before we actually find out who the Mole is.

Clay: Does this mean he actually voted for Nicole like they made it seem? So when he couldn't do math, I was like, hmmm maybe Clay is the Mole. But then he got the pattern in the answers and I decided there was no way. Being that I'm currently preparing to be a math teacher, I can see where Clay went wrong in his calculations earlier. This would actually be an interesting question to pose to my students because it makes sense that if you added eight, you'd have to subtract it later, but by adding eight to the number being subtracted, you're actually making the difference smaller, so you have to add that eight back to the difference later. This would actually be a very interesting question to pose to students. Anyway, Clay's discussion with Mark was suspect too. Are they really still voting for Nicole? Really, guys? I think we've all figured out by now that it's not her. But I wonder, because it does seem Clay knew her the best, so I'm surprised he left before Mark. But who knows. Mark is like Al. He won't go away. I have to say I have a lot of respect for Clay for thinking through patterns with the numbers, though. There are always patterns in the Mole. Always. Good job figuring it out. That was tough.

Mark: Let's not pretend that Nicole tied with Clay. It was Mark. He should be gone next. Why do people think it's Mark? He's has way too much of a hero/leader complex. I don't ever see him think to do something to sabotage. I don't think it ever comes to mind that he should do something suspicious to look like the Mole. Anything he does to cost the group money is purely by chance, I think. Mark, the fact that Nicole counted wrong with the tiles is not a "little clue." A little clue is when someone says something that maybe they shouldn't have known. Or if they break a small rule that could easily be overlooked. And yes, Clay, some people are just that paranoid. I can think of one named Al. Mark is so much like Al. You know what I can say about Mark, though? I know I've been harsh about how he is as a player in the game. However, I can definitely tell through his interactions with his wife that he's a great husband and father. He really seems to adore his family and that's just a great thing.

Paul: Do we think Paul misled the group on purpose? Probably. Does this mean he's the Mole? No. It means he does what Mark doesn't do. He knows how to be suspicious without being overt. Also, it seemed like he was trying to sabotage his own chance at seeing his family. Although, who else thinks Paul is exactly the type of guy who would not know those certain things about his wife? Maybe they haven't been together for as long as Mark and his wife, but I can't say I'm surprised that Paul didn't know his wife's dream job or aspirations. His daughter is adorable! I loved when she told the door to open and it opened. She's such a cutie.

Nicole: I love that she chose Dumb to be with Craig. That's what I would've done. I think she's onto Craig and will probably win as long as she doesn't eliminate herself. As far Jon saying they should know by now that choosing Dumb means they'll have to do more, I disagree. Mole tasks traditionally don't relate in that sense. Something I would expect would be for Dumb contestants to have to outsmart the Smart players but beating them in something or doing something quicker. I think the tasks this season could've been more creative, but hey, I'll take what I can get. So who sabotaged the Dumb team? Well, the task was a little ridiculous, so I wouldn't be surprised if they counted wrong. I am impressed with how Nicole memorized all of Clay's answers. I have a feeling she was very adamant on doing the best she could for Clay and what she displayed here is very true to her real self. You know what I wonder? Was her plan to quit a ploy? Like either she felt threatened and wanted to make sure she had an out in case she was legitimately executed, or she wanted to throw off the other players. She's a tricky person, so I don't know.

Craig: Quiet sabotage is when you change a number slightly and make it look like you were just confused by the amount of different numbers being used. I'm impressed by how well he did on the questions about his girlfriend, considering they've known each other the shortest out of all of the people. Craig is the Mole guys. There was little sabotage in this episode because they won both tasks, and the tasks were kind of lame as far as Mole challenges go. Next week looks decent. We'll see how that goes.

Craig is the Mole. Nicole is the winner. Paul is the loser. Mark goes home next. How do you like that..

The Mole 5: Episode 7

HAHAHAHAHAHA this episode was amazing. Maybe it also helps if I explain what you would have witnessed if you just watched this episode with me. As soon as Nicole starts talking about throwing the quiz, even though I know by the way they were editing it that there was no way she'd be going home, here's my dialogue for the last part of the show: "No, you better not. Don't you dare. No! You are not quitting. No, you'd better not. Don't you.. don't you dare! Uh-uh. No!" This is me talking to the Nicole on TV. Yeah.. I knew she wouldn't be going home, whether it was because she failed at throwing the quiz or because she just couldn't do that to herself. I'm glad it was because she just could not bare making that decision based on emotions. She knew in her head when she thought it out that she could never do such a stupid thing.

Ledora: Let's talk about my favorite character on this show. Who the hell replaced Anderson Cooper with this current host and overlooked Ledora as a potential host. I loved seeing the relationship between mother and daughter and I loved how much of a riot she was. "Omarosa." HAHAHA.. except, no, Ledora, you understand all stories about Omarosa behind the scenes with no cameras paints her as an even more extreme version of how she's portrayed on camera. Nicole is no Omarosa, and she should be proud of that. She's a strong, intelligent, successful woman who is about to win this damn game. Anyway, back to Ledora. She was awesome from the moment she became a character on this show, muttering about the door not opening, to the time she left, calling her own daughter Omarosa.

I'm going to sleep. I do plan on finishing this recap because the episode was amazing. We'll see how that goes, with all the work I have this week, mostly due on Wednesday.

The Mole 5: Clues (Updated Episode 7)

Official Clues:

-The EW clue: I LIE WITH MY EYES
Week 2: I'm still working on this one. It could be one of those arbitrary ones and not like a secret message or code or anything.
-ABC clue: NIC@IT
Week 2: NIC@IT = NICATIT. Unscramble it. TITANIC. In episode 1, Craig stands on the boat just like DiCaprio did in Titanic.
-ABC clue: E_E_E_
Week 2: Yes, it does conveniently spell out ELEVEN, but the clue is Hangman. This is a game of hangman. After Craig jumps off the waterfall in the first challenge, he says he feels like a hanged man.
-ABC clue: A B C B B
A C C B C A
Week 2: The way the clue was given was with the two lines center-aligned. So I immediately thought it was related to their seating arrangement in the execution, but I don't know what to make of the letters. Apparently people think it relates to grades people received on the quiz, which would make sense given that Liz was executed. However, this means Craig got a 'B' and then I'd be suspecting Clay as the Mole, who was one of the 'A' people. However, this also means Nicole got a 'C' and I'd have a hard time believing she's doing poorly on the quizzes.
-Text clue: Heart
Week 2: I don't know what this means. I tend to not prefer the clues where it's unclear whether or not there's a hidden meaning. Like the hangman one is one that interests me because it's clear there's something to figure out. Here, I don't know if it's literally referring to a heart or if I have to decode it or whatever. Liz had heart earrings. Bobby wrote that he <3's>-Text clue: Grapes
Week 3: Someone had a grape treatment at the spa. Really that obvious though? OH, it was Bobby. People have been suspecting the text clues refer to eliminated players. Liz with the heart earrings and now Bobby with the grape treatment. However, NIC@IT still points to Craig for me, so I don't know about that idea.
-Website clue: s666 - LIAr
Week 3: Fascinating. I'll work on this one.
-Text clue: cf(11)8
Week 4: See if '11' ate? Yeah, Craig wasn't at dinner when they did that challenge, thus costing the team a possible two thousand dollars and giving him the right to piss Mark off by continuing to be able to write meaningless things in his journal (assuming he's the Mole, of course).
-Website clue: EFG PQR ZOO
Week 4: It's actually written with the sets of letters stacked on top of each other. So I get these clues off of forums, by the way, and the ones I have looked to for reference are all in my links in the right column. If you write out the alphabet so that EFG is above PQR, and you decipher what ZOO refers to, you get ODD, which is interesting. There was an even/odd question this week, but I also remember the question of how many letters are in the Mole's name, and ODD would also apply there.
-Website clue: 234 715
Week 5: Where is number 6. Who is number 6? When? Paul was 6 in the first task, from left to right, but it's not him.
-Text clue: CHNO 111738
Week 5: Somebody pulled C11H17N3O8 out as some sort of chemical, which would go with neuroscientist, which would go with the theme of clues for eliminations.
-Website clue: 334 631 244
Week 6: Each set of numbers is on top of the other.. like many clues we've gotten. And they're all crossed out. Hmmm..
-Text clue: X13421
Week 7: This is a clue from last week I think. Apparently it points to Alex going home.
-Text clue: 1245
Week 7: I don't know. I'm tired. Maybe I'll think about it tomorrow.

Possible Clues:

Week 2:
-Journal #11: At this point, I think it refers to person #11 in the intro: Craig. It's not a very meaningful clue. Take it as you'd like.
-Green thumbprint helmet: I kept this one around because I could've sworn I saw that helmet again in some preview.
-Last Supper: Painted by Leonardo Da Vinci. LEONARDO. DiCaprio. It connects to the NIC@IT clue.
-Alexander Selkirk: He was born Alexander SelCRAIG. I think this is exactly the type of clue we should be expecting. It's easy to figure out if you think to google it. However, it's conveniently placed in the episode so that most people will overlook it. It's amazing to me that people completely disregard this. Everything is put in the show for a reason. They could've left the name out of the story, but they didn't. You could argue that it's a red herring, but I will not believe it was just a coincidence.
-Italia: Jon, the host, is wearing a shirt that says Italia on it. I tried to take notes this episode and that was the only halfway decent thing I wrote down. Like for example, I wrote down Liz = bunny when she tied that green bandanna around her head. Italia sticks out to me. It's odd that he was wearing it. It seemed out of place.
-Pisco Sours: Their second appearance. I don't know what I make of this clue, though. There is such a thing as a Pisco Italia, which would connect to the other arbitrary clue.
-Ransom Note: There are three missing letters on the random note: Y in 'your' U in 'throughout' and E in 'the.' Don't know what it means. (Note: I had it down as 'random' note but I mean 'ransom' and clearly the note was both.)
-All the religious references: People seem to think this refers to Victoria being from Bishop, Texas, but do you not all realize that Craig went to PLNU, a Christian school? While I tend to think blatant repeated symbolism is too excessive to be considered a reliable clue, if you do consider it a clue, then it points to Craig just as much as it points to Victoria, or a male with a Bible-name.
-JAIME on the side of a building: I don't know what it means. I'm tired. Post your thoughts if you want. I'll think about it when I'm less tired. So, like Friday, when I can finally sleep in.
-N 20 HL 70 on a label somewhere near the end of the episode?

The Mole 5: Episode 6

**I have to wake up in 6 hours, so it looks like this recap won't be finished and we'll have to just go with a recap of tomorrow's episode. I agree with someone who posted a comment that Mark's time is up. I've said for awhile that I see it being Craig, Nicole, and Paul in the finale and this week's episode just cemented for me the fact that it'll be Nicole and Paul battling it out in the final quiz. However, I would like to make one small modification to my previous prediction. I see it as being Nicole, Paul, and MOLE in the finale. Clay has been moving up there in my line of suspicion. I believed it was Bribs for the entire show in Season 2 until he was executed, even though a lot of suspicion was building for Bill. This next episode would be the time where Bribs was executed, and while I don't believe in deja vu necessarily, I do believe in patterns of character editing and consistency in my own behavior, so I can't say I'll be completely surprised if Craig ends up leaving tomorrow. However, I am very stubborn and still have a hard time believing he's not the Mole and I've been wrong the entire time. I will acknowledge the possibility of Clay, though, and I do believe I briefly addressed this possibility in the Episode 1 recap.**

So about halfway through the episode, my roommate's friend came over and they proceeded to sit at the dining table and play a game and talk kind of loudly. Well, any talking during the Mole is loud talking. It wouldn't have been a big deal, but considering the circumstances.. if you go out of your way to ask me to clean up a space that isn't even that messy, please don't disturb me during my important shows. It's a give and take thing. So I missed a bunch of dialogue during the bungee challenge.. which brings me to my first question:

What the hell was going on with that exemption challenge? Did they make their predictions all before anyone jumped, or are they all morons? I'll have to rewatch it later.. oh wait, I'll probably be too busy. Too bad my only quality relaxing time was interrupted. As you can see, I'll tired and cranky. Maybe I should write the rest of the recap tomorrow.

Okay, so it's now Wednesday and I haven't gotten around to watching the episode again, but I have more issues about my roommate and I wanted a place to put my thoughts and I didn't want to put them in my teaching blog. So here's the deal. She made this chores chart and we're supposed to take turns cleaning the apartment. I don't think our place has ever gotten even close to being dirty yet. Also, I wake up at 6am and get back home at 6pm. I do not have time in there to go get a vacuum from the housing office. And let's talk about our schedules. I get up really early. I only have an hour from when I get up to when I leave to shower and get ready. Please don't decide to take an HOUR-long shower during that exact time. Especially when you're about to go to sleep. I wouldn't mind if she was waking up and taking a shower, except what the hell, hour-long shower? I feel like people who enjoy keeping their place extremely clean would also enjoy not using up all of the world's clean water supply. Also, I don't appreciate being woken up when she gets home late and is talking really loudly. I feel like if a lot is being asked of me, a lot should be expected back. It's a give and take. I don't like confronting people, but the fact that she's felt comfortable forcing a cleaning schedule on me means I should start feeling comfortable airing out my issues too. Why can't I have my amazing roommate from fall quarter last year back?

The Mole 5: Clue (Updated Episode 6)

Official Clues:

-The EW clue: I LIE WITH MY EYES
Week 2: I'm still working on this one. It could be one of those arbitrary ones and not like a secret message or code or anything.
-ABC clue: NIC@IT
Week 2: NIC@IT = NICATIT. Unscramble it. TITANIC. In episode 1, Craig stands on the boat just like DiCaprio did in Titanic.
-ABC clue: E_E_E_
Week 2: Yes, it does conveniently spell out ELEVEN, but the clue is Hangman. This is a game of hangman. After Craig jumps off the waterfall in the first challenge, he says he feels like a hanged man.
-ABC clue: A B C B B
A C C B C A
Week 2: The way the clue was given was with the two lines center-aligned. So I immediately thought it was related to their seating arrangement in the execution, but I don't know what to make of the letters. Apparently people think it relates to grades people received on the quiz, which would make sense given that Liz was executed. However, this means Craig got a 'B' and then I'd be suspecting Clay as the Mole, who was one of the 'A' people. However, this also means Nicole got a 'C' and I'd have a hard time believing she's doing poorly on the quizzes.
-Text clue: Heart
Week 2: I don't know what this means. I tend to not prefer the clues where it's unclear whether or not there's a hidden meaning. Like the hangman one is one that interests me because it's clear there's something to figure out. Here, I don't know if it's literally referring to a heart or if I have to decode it or whatever. Liz had heart earrings. Bobby wrote that he <3's>-Text clue: Grapes
Week 3: Someone had a grape treatment at the spa. Really that obvious though? OH, it was Bobby. People have been suspecting the text clues refer to eliminated players. Liz with the heart earrings and now Bobby with the grape treatment. However, NIC@IT still points to Craig for me, so I don't know about that idea.
-Website clue: s666 - LIAr
Week 3: Fascinating. I'll work on this one.
-Text clue: cf(11)8
Week 4: See if '11' ate? Yeah, Craig wasn't at dinner when they did that challenge, thus costing the team a possible two thousand dollars and giving him the right to piss Mark off by continuing to be able to write meaningless things in his journal (assuming he's the Mole, of course).
-Website clue: EFG PQR ZOO
Week 4: It's actually written with the sets of letters stacked on top of each other. So I get these clues off of forums, by the way, and the ones I have looked to for reference are all in my links in the right column. If you write out the alphabet so that EFG is above PQR, and you decipher what ZOO refers to, you get ODD, which is interesting. There was an even/odd question this week, but I also remember the question of how many letters are in the Mole's name, and ODD would also apply there.
-Website clue: 234 715
Week 5: Where is number 6. Who is number 6? When? Paul was 6 in the first task, from left to right, but it's not him.
-Text clue: CHNO 111738
Week 5: Somebody pulled C11H17N3O8 out as some sort of chemical, which would go with neuroscientist, which would go with the theme of clues for eliminations.
-Website clue: 334 631 244
Week 6: Each set of numbers is on top of the other.. like many clues we've gotten. And they're all crossed out. Hmmm..

Possible Clues:

Week 2:
-Journal #11: At this point, I think it refers to person #11 in the intro: Craig. It's not a very meaningful clue. Take it as you'd like.
-Green thumbprint helmet: I kept this one around because I could've sworn I saw that helmet again in some preview.
-Last Supper: Painted by Leonardo Da Vinci. LEONARDO. DiCaprio. It connects to the NIC@IT clue.
-Alexander Selkirk: He was born Alexander SelCRAIG. I think this is exactly the type of clue we should be expecting. It's easy to figure out if you think to google it. However, it's conveniently placed in the episode so that most people will overlook it. It's amazing to me that people completely disregard this. Everything is put in the show for a reason. They could've left the name out of the story, but they didn't. You could argue that it's a red herring, but I will not believe it was just a coincidence.
-Italia: Jon, the host, is wearing a shirt that says Italia on it. I tried to take notes this episode and that was the only halfway decent thing I wrote down. Like for example, I wrote down Liz = bunny when she tied that green bandanna around her head. Italia sticks out to me. It's odd that he was wearing it. It seemed out of place.
-Pisco Sours: Their second appearance. I don't know what I make of this clue, though. There is such a thing as a Pisco Italia, which would connect to the other arbitrary clue.
-Ransom Note: There are three missing letters on the random note: Y in 'your' U in 'throughout' and E in 'the.' Don't know what it means. (Note: I had it down as 'random' note but I mean 'ransom' and clearly the note was both.)
-All the religious references: People seem to think this refers to Victoria being from Bishop, Texas, but do you not all realize that Craig went to PLNU, a Christian school? While I tend to think blatant repeated symbolism is too excessive to be considered a reliable clue, if you do consider it a clue, then it points to Craig just as much as it points to Victoria, or a male with a Bible-name.
-JAIME on the side of a building: I don't know what it means. I'm tired. Post your thoughts if you want. I'll think about it when I'm less tired. So, like Friday, when I can finally sleep in.
-N 20 HL 70 on a label somewhere near the end of the episode?

No Mole this week?

What the hell.. no Mole? I personally would rather not see what happens after the rose ceremony, but maybe that's just me..