AntFTW

Exactly! The writers didn’t think the whole “Tejada powerful drug family” concept all the way through.

There was a guy who was in his car lighting up a blunt, I believe, and Tommy rolled up on him with a gun to his face... and eventually ran the guy over with his own car... in broad daylight. The guy said something like “get off my fucking leg” and Tommy said something like “not until you say please.” I wanna say that Tommy backed up and ran the guy over again.

LMAO! Well... I think that's Tommy's style only because Tommy is reckless. Tommy mowed down with their car in broad daylight. Also, the interaction between Tommy and Monet was kind of awkward to me. That just confirms for me that Monet and Lorenzo were small time distros, or at least smaller than Ghost and Tommy. What I thought they did well about that scene is having Tommy say "who has the balls to pull a gun on me" or something to that effect implying that if they're in the drug game, they should know who he is. Despite them trying to create the "aura" of big time well connected drug dealer around the Tejadas in the beginning, they slowly chipped away at that as the season progressed. I could have done without this an the car chase. I thought it was so lame. I thought he may have traveled outside the city for that. It does give a bayou or swamp kinda vibe. The phone started ringing as he disposed of the body. I'm no expert on telecommunications but I thought they could ping the phone's last location and therefore should hide the body somewhere else after tossing the phone and sim card. I'm not a fan of this character. I don't understand why they gave this character so much pull to where he can be the puppetmaster behind the entire legal drama with Tasha. It seems that they got rid of their primeras, which it only seems like they had one. Then they disowned Cane, and Cane took all the corner boys. I imagine that being out of necessity. This seems like her exit.

I agree with this position but as I thought about it, it can be a double edged sword. Suppose they keep certain people out of eliminations. They would either have to go against someone they like and would prefer to have a skull, or someone they dislike so they can hopefully get out the disliked individual and retain the ally who also gets a skull. To keep it simple without going through every possible scenario, let's suppose they keep the people they dislike out of eliminations. At the time where the "BB alliance" has all the skulls, nobody else is going to want to go in. At that point, how else do you keep everyone else out? I imagine that would be the point where the alliance would start to crumble. They would plot to make sure their skulls are safe and have skulls "stolen" from the people at the bottom of the alliance. Agreed! She's my favorite "new-ish" person.

I only remember that he did in Fresh Meat 2 because his alliances was so big that they came to a point where they had to start sacrificing their own.

I got a great chuckle out of that! - - So this great and powerful drug family only has like 8 people???? Without Cane it all falls apart?

..and I'm also thinking that when (or if) they've allocated all 10 skulls, the elimination winner gets to steal a skull from anyone that has a skull, much like The Island where they had a limited amount of keys and they got to take someone else's key.

This. When they introduced the skulls last year it bothered me that these idiots weren't trying to go into the elimination games. This year there are even fewer skulls (I think) so they should be trying hard to get in there so they can "run my final." I really hope that once the 10 skulls are given out the episodes end and it's time to "run my final" and so many of these idiots don't get to go to the final. I hope (unlike last year) that this year it really does penalize the heck out of them. I also hope that if they go up against someone with a skull already, and the person with the skull loses, that skull is now 'dead' and now there's only 9 skulls to go instead of 10. (If that makes sense, basically that a person losing who already had a skull doesn't put that skull back into contention and there really is a limit of only 10.) They don't seem to understand that surviving each day or week isn't advancing in the game. For now, they're trying to last rather than win. Advancement in the game only begins when you have skull. Without a skull, you stay in the same spot that you were in when the game started. Even though Kyle bitched about being thrown in, they really did him a favor. Kyle's game is purely politics now to stay out of elimination. Everyone else is scrambling to stay out of elimination while trying to figure out how to get into elimination at the same time.

I'm sure this is probably the case regarding the skulls (beating someone with a skull...). I'm guessing there are already plans to throw Devin back in because he's a "weak" competitor that every one thinks they can beat and take his skull. I also agree with you on Fessy. I think the same thing applies to CT as well, and also applied to Wes. No one wanted to go against Wes (other than the guy that lost to Kyle). If anything, people would have others do their dirty work like plotting an elimination with CT vs Fessy for example. I'm rooting for my old schoolers who haven't won yet. I'm rooting for Leroy, Nany and Aneesa to finally win one. I like that Leroy is taking charge for a change and that he's not being a passenger on someone else's bus. Leroy finally stopped playing a scared game. I dislike that he has to align with the idiots but I understand.

I thought this episode was pretty boring. The house going after Wes again is boring. It's like watching people kick an injured dog while it's down. I was waiting for a twist like Wes somehow finding a way to flip the house... but there was no twist; no surprise; no anything. Watching Leroy essentially side with Fessy, Corey and their gang of idiots just doesn't sit well with me even if it's just for a single common goal of getting Wes out.

Ain't that the truth! I spent all last season saying Nelson was an idiot. Every episode had a stupid moment from Nelson... except maybe one episode. I really think Nelson will never win. He sucks at this game.

None of them want to be the one to go against Natalie, with a very small number exceptions (maybe Kam or Tori would do it for the skull). Right before Devin said that, I was thinking to myself “what the fuck is Nicole saying?” that was probably the most hilarious moment of the episode for me.

I’m aware. I was referring to RW and RR people as well as Challengers from Fresh Meat seasons. I was saying that I only tolerated people from RW/RR and Fresh Meat including Paula as an example of the fuckery I loved seeing season after season.

Nany does look different. She looks more mature (not like she's aged a lot but like she put on her grown woman face). With regard to the new people, they've started dipping into cast members from more and more shows. There was a time where I only wanted to see the RW or RR people, and only tolerated new people from Fresh Meat seasons. I loved seeing all the shenanigans from Paula, Kenny, Evan and the rest. They are introducing more and more new people that now outnumber the returning Challengers and the returning Challengers can't come in and dominate like they used to. Also, as a sidenote, I'm rooting for the oldschool nonwinners. It's time that Leroy, Aneesa, and Nany go home with a win.

I agree! Kam is a good player but her plays only last one round rather than an entire game. Usually she has her plans and strategies but they only get her past one elimination or one challenge rather than to the end. However, I will also say about Ashley that she has been playing from the bottom in seasons 35 and in this one. She's a walking target much like Wes. There's no such thing as playing a "quiet game" for them anymore. - - - Outside of all of that, I guess Kam is letting rookies slide this season. I recall her having this attitude of not letting rookies skate by and having them "earn their stripes."

I agree about the power alliances. I like the skull concept because it really takes an axe to the “power alliance” dynamic. In past seasons, the goal is to stay out of the eliminations, which is the reason for the power alliance. That doesn’t really apply so much anymore. It’s the reason why there weren’t any power alliances last season. Also, last season was very “diplomatic.” There wasn’t much fighting over who goes in to get the skulls. They were letting each other take their turns and being civil about it. That has also changed with the limited number of skulls this season. Now, you may have to turn against someone to get your shot at a skull because there is a limited number of them. Now, they have more incentive for keeping people out of eliminations who don’t have skulls. The only use for power alliances this season is to decide when you wanna go into elimination and to insulate yourself if you have a skull but either way, you have to risk possibly going home. You have to risk losing numbers on your side... and maybe Josh can win his first elimination ever. ...and I’m also shocked that more people didn’t go for Lolo, and that Kam struggled to find a partner.

Watching Wes getting hit in the face was the most fun I've had since March. I saw it in the trailer multiple times and cracked up. I saw it in the episode and cried. It was even funnier the second time I watched that part of the episode.

I. CANT. WAIT!

Wow! I didn’t think we were gonna get another season this year.

They gave these characters no type of common sense this episode. Shockingly the only common sense came from the crooked defense attorney and the fuck-up prosecutor.

I don’t think it's Monet wanting to keep her down but they have different visions of Diana's life. Monet seems to want Diana to not just be apart of the family business, but Monet wants Diana to run it, to be the queenpin. Monet seems determined for that to happen despite Diana's, and probably Lorenzo's, objections. Diana doesn't seem to want that.

I feel like they are building Cane and Drew up to be a Ghost and Tommy 2.0. One is unpredictable and reckless like Tommy. The other one is calm and cautious like Ghost. They're really showing us that Professor (Jabari???) has a type... but in the office? On campus though? I like Tamika humbled Tasha and I was really hoping that she would join the team when Method Man asked. ..so... umm... I'm not sure how I feel about MJB's acting in this episode. For example, that scene where she goes through her daughters purse and pockets to find the extra burner phone the daughter has... I feel like she rushes into the room and searches the daughter's purse like a crack addict looking for things to pawn. I feel like there's a way she could have acted that out and maintained her character's intimidation factor.

Agreed! She makes her character look intimidating like a drug queenpin should be.

This episode is something... 1) I don't get the whole "rich kids wanna sell drugs" thing. Tariq's from Choate wants to sell drugs... again... while being rich. 2) The storyline about teachers on and off relationship. I don't need it. It seems to be such an irrelevant part of the episode. 3) Tariq is taking a supposedly rigorous course to graduate early so that we can get his inheritance so that we can take care of his mother. He's also cheating for someone so that he can stay in school so that he can get his inheritance so that he can take care of his mother. He's willing to sell drugs again to pay for his mother's lawyer. However, he's okay with her snitching on him to save herself. ...so he's willing to do just about anything to take care of his mom (including taking the blame) except confess. 4) Tasha wants Tariq to inherit his portion of Ghost's estate and Tariq also wants his inheritance but they're willing to put all that at risk by admitting Ghost was a drug dealer. Once they admit it, Ghost's estate is gone. The Feds will seize it... meaning that everything they're doing to get it would be for nothing. It seems like they're setting it up where Tasha or Tariq won't admit thee drug dealing aspects but Tasha's getting off because Saxe will fuck up somehow. 5) Tariq's friend from Choate, whose name I do not remember, is annoying. 6) Tariq's supposedly super rigorous class seems like high school rather than college. 7) The memorial/vigil for Ghost... weird.

I think the Challenge is not mature enough for Natalie Anderson. I don't watch TAR and I can't judge the maturity of the people on that show but I think Survivor is a much more mature game than The Challenge. Watching these seasons of the Challenge, you'd assume these people were in college or college-aged if it was your first time watching.