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Top Model: The Girls Who Go to Prom
By Edie Rowland
Thursday, March 08, 2007
The promos for this episode show the girls modeling some pretty grotesque-looking formalwear, so it will be interesting to see what this is all about.
The episode begins by showing the girls chilling out at the house and Jaslene talking on the phone to her mom about all the positive feedback she’s getting. (She’ll have a very different phone call to mom later, but we’ll get to that then.) Samantha talks about how she is a country girl and the rest of the girls are crazy and calls her dad to cry. She feels she’s different from the other girls. (She’ll be crying later, too, but we’ll get to that then.)
The first Tyra Mail of the night says, “Babies learn how to do it. Can you?” So they all assume this means walking. They are taken out to a high school football field, all wondering what is going on, when Miss J comes out as a drum major leading a marching band. He remarks about their “timing, precision, and choreography” and compares it to modeling. Then the girls are taken to the track around the field and told to show him their walk. He tells Felicia she looks like she’s carrying two bags of groceries. (I wish I could look like that just carrying groceries.) He comments on how Samantha’s right arm stays still while she’s walking, which she readily admits. He tells Natasha that he can’t tell if she’s walking or marching. Of course, she says that he called her “martian,” and takes that to mean she’s doing great. Renee is told that she walks on her heels and he tells Jaslene to take longer steps. That doesn’t discourage her. She says she found his suggestions helpful but that it’s who she is and she stands out on the runway. I’m thinking there is going to be a rivalry between Renee and Jaslene when Renee calls her “Little Miss Cha Cha Diva.”
After a group of jets fly overhead, Miss J uses it as an example of how they need to learn to walk in groups. He splits them up and wackiness ensues. Renee believes she did really well, but her team - not so much. Sarah remarks about how much easier it is to walk in heels and then proceeds to lose her shoe and look foolish. Jaslene doesn’t believe she needs to practice because she is the best, but she thinks it’s funny to watch the other girls walk. I didn’t know until now how arrogant Jaslene is - but don’t worry, she’ll get hers later.
The next stop is the high school gym where the girls meet fashion show producer Roy Campbell. He tells the girls that they are going to walk in a fashion show in the gym in front of the students modeling prom dresses. Natasha isn’t so sure about it because they don’t have proms in Russia, but she has no problem telling Jael how she should be walking in the show. If there is a girl who should be doling out advice to the other girls, Natasha is not that girl. Cassandra tries to talk to Jaslene about walking in groups - just having conversation - and even asks her advice about where she should put her arms. Jaslene is pretty nasty about it and answers her in Spanish. Whatever, Jaslene.
The three themes of the prom dresses are modern contemporary, ‘80s, and ghetto fabulous. (Huh?) The show itself is pretty comical, with girls bumping into each other, not knowing where to go, and looking ridiculous much of the time. Some of Roy’s comments were that Sarah is very poised, Natasha is not in sync with the other girls, Renee is bland (haha!), Brittany has a strong walk, and Jaslene didn’t get it and didn’t care (haha again!). The 80’s dresses were pretty horrible. They reminded me of those really sickening bridesmaids dresses. The ghetto dresses were pretty hoochie, but the worst was when Sarah came out and her dress flew open in front, exposing the twins. Roy commented at the time that it wasn’t sex education and then told her later that she should’ve found a way to fix it because it was in front of students. (I’ll bet there were some upset parents later!) Brittany won the challenge and was in shock just like when she was named a finalist. She won this cheese-awful trophy. If I was her, I’d be ticked, because usually challenge winners win great stuff like fancy dinners, jewelry, spa days, and the like.
Back at the house it seems everybody is pretty fed up with Jaslene’s superior attitude. Renee calls her self-centered and cocky. (Uh, hi pot. This is kettle.) Felicia talks about Jaslene behind her back/in front of her, and it really upsets Jaslene, so they get into it a bit. (Reow!! Hiss!) Later, Jaslene is back on the phone with her mom in tears because she feels ganged up on. Well, Jaslene, people who put themselves on pedestals usually find themselves alone up there.
The girls end up back at the high school for their photo shoot, which they find out will be high school cliches. (“This photo shoot is brought to you by Clairol Herbal Essence.”) The girls demonstrated different types of people in high school such as bad girl, class flirt, bookworm, student body president, class clown, etc. Most of the shoots were pretty good. Renee was the class clown and pretty much complained the whole time. She didn’t like that Jael and Sarah were in the room. She felt like she was given something that set her up for failure. She felt like the other girls got assignments that they were better suited for. She complained during Samantha’s shoot. She complained during Jaslene’s shoot. WAH! Who knew she was such a crybaby? Jaslene was the “weirdo” and got all these heaps of praise from Jay Manuel. Please don’t feed the ego, Jay. Jael made a great nerd and Diana looked amazing as the president. Felicia looked like a real jock and Dionne did a great job as the bad girl. Cassandra was the worst cheerleader ever. Brittany was the class valedictorian and had a great shoot. Samantha was the “girl with the bad reputation” and was clearly out of her element. (“Last week I’m a lesbian and now I’m a ho,” she said.) The one I felt sorry for was Natasha. She was given the role as teacher’s pet. She obviously didn’t understand the concept of teacher’s pet, being from Russia, and everyone seemed to recognize this, but nobody took the time to explain to her what a teacher’s pet is. I’m sure there are the same types of people in Russia with different terms for them, but nobody tried to break that language barrier. After the shoots were over, she said she felt like she was failing. Awww…
Back at the house, Renee is still whining about the shoot and Jael is running around almost naked as she reads the Tyra Mail, making some of the girls uncomfortable. They, of course, are told that they will appear before panel. When they do, most of the girls get very positive feedback, with the exception of Cassandra, Samantha, Whitney, and Natasha. During her individual evaluation, Jaslene basically rats out the other girls for being on her and calls them fake, getting emotional in the process - while Renee laughs behind her. When Natasha is up, they tell her that her shoot was one of the worst - worse than an infamous bikini shoot with Ann from a few cycles back. “I remember Ann and she was one of the most beautiful girls,” Natasha says. Hey, Natasha, ever hear of Pollyanna?
The panel deliberates, with some amusing comments, especially when Tyra goes on and on about Felicia and how great she is…“but she don’t look like me.” (She really does!) The girls are called back in and the pictures are given out one by one until it comes down to Samantha and Natasha. I really like Samantha better, but I feel bad for Natasha after the lack of help she received during her photo shoot. But she’ll get another chance because Samantha will be sent home because the judges feel she’s just not ready for Top Model. She gets a little teary, but it seems she’s okay with it because she misses her family.
Tune in next week to see if the fight escalates between Jaslene and Renee…or Jaslene and Felicia…or Jaslene and anybody else! Visit the Top Model page on http://www.cwtv.com to see photos, a recap, or even watch the episode in its entirety. Till then…be FIERCE!
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