S13.E15: Race to the Finish

[thewhiteowl]

In a 13 hour tattoo marathon, endurance and skill are tested.

[Princess Sparkle]

Based on this Instagram post, this will actually end up serving as the finale. Bummer for the contestants but also the right thing to do — most shows have a clause that they don’t pay out the winnings until the show airs, and who knows when that would be at this point  

 

 

[Inkmaster0345]

I'm disappointed for the artists for than anything. My gut reaction is why couldn't they just hold a de-facto finale at the start of the next season? But I understand that there are a lot of logistics and factors involved and that this is probably for the best. Oh well. 

Also bummed because I honestly don't know who I would have picked as the favorite. In most seasons, there is usually a clear frontrunner, whether or not that person ends up winning (hello Cleen vs Jason Clay Dunn and Tony vs Tiffer). My gut feeling tells me that Bob would have won, but I could honestly have seen that trio ending up any which way. 3 talented and incredibly likable artists in the finale.

Lastly, I must say farewell to Oliver. I have no interest in discussing his actions or the decision to let him go. But I know this--I have enjoyed his presence on the show the last 8 years and greatly appreciate everything he has done to make Ink Master what it is. Ultimately, I watch Ink Master because I enjoy it, and Oliver has been a part of that foundation. In a way it was fitting to have his final episode feature a "Friday the 13th" tattoo marathon that he has helped pioneer in real life. I wish him nothing but the best and will miss having him as a judge. Hopefully the show can adjust and continue going strong for more seasons to come. 

Cheers to season 13

[AppleCore]

Well Dang. I was really looking forward to the finale. I like all three artists and wanted to see how their final pieces came out. At least we get to see their work tomorrow. I bet they will have some special rematch in a year or two" to settle the matter once and for all". 

[lu1535]

The first of my fav shows to be affected by Covid 19.  Many more to come I'm sure. 😥

[Taeolas]

Hopefully they can arrange an Ink Master special episode to have those 3 artists face off to do their finale with an additional prize or something. 

As I was watching tonights ep, I was trying to figure out the logistics and when it was filmed vs when the lockdowns started and how 'live' the finale tattooing would be. Clearly it caught up to the pandemic and was affected. At least they basically finished the season, but some closure would have been nice. 

 

Anyone know when this ep would have been filmed? Since they need people to tattoo, it's not the sort of show that can film in isolation like Survivor or Big Brother. I thought the season (other than the finale) was in the can before it started airing (due to the comments about Oliver being let go).  I admittedly usually skim/skip the finale drama anyways. Could someone outline how that usually goes? Is it usually a few months break before the finale is aired? 

[RoxiP]

It would have to be long enough to allow for two 25-hour tattoos, simply because the canvas would be unable to sit for extended periods of time and would need a certain amount of recovery time in between sessions (or at least I would think they would), not to mention that tattooing seems to be hard on the artist's body and they too would need recovery time - not to mention they have to earn a living at the same time.  I would think this would be at a minimum at least two months, but someone who is more knowledgeable about tattoos could certain tell you in more detail.

Apparently a lot of people are upset that they didn't either vote on the master canvasses since they were obviously finished or allow for fan voting.  Personally I think they handled it the best way they could.  These are three undoubtedly talented artists and it is not a given that the best artist wins anyway (Cleen was robbed - LOL).

[Taeolas]

Let's see, as of Jan 7, the season was "already filmed" according to this article. 

I would assume by "already filmed" they mean everything up to what we saw last night. 

The 50 hours of tattooing for the chest and back pieces would have happened over the past 3 months as schedules permitted I'm sure. Of course COVID hit hard and interrupted everything.

 

Still, this was probably a good thing for Ink Master ultimately. Because they won't have a finale ep, they don't need to decide what to do with Oliver (if his contract forced him to be in the final ep or if he decided not to show up, his presence/absence would have been an elephant in the room.) Awarding the prize now instead of waiting lets the accountants close the books on this season and leave it as done. 

 

But I'm sure, as I mentioned above, they will have an Ink Master Unfinished Business special with the three artists coming back to do their final face off. Whether they will use the chest and back pieces already commissioned and done as part of it, or if they will get new pieces done will be interesting to see.  

[Princess Sparkle]

Jimmy mentioned on his Instagram that they didn’t finish their tattoos, so that’s why it had to be this way. 
 

[Eliza422]

Well that sucks. I was so excited to see how this challenge would have worked out. 
 

as for this episode, I was exasperated again when Oliver said they were finally competing now that they Got to choose for each other. The whole show was built around teams - of course up until this point they will help each other! If you don’t want any kind of cooperation absolutely everything has to be individual. No flash challenges to get skull picks, no skull picks (random only), no jury of peers, nothing.

Edited April 15, 2020 by Eliza422

[AppleCore]

I just watched the youtube video of the three finalists talking to each other and showing their chest and back pieces. It's a shame they didn't get to finish the third piece and compete, but what they did finish is amazing. I'm glad they shared them and we can enjoy the artwork without the nitpicking. It looks like these three will stay friends from this experience. I like the comradery so much better than the manufactured drama they lean on some seasons.

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[Wandering Snark]

Wow, another kick in the nuts from the Corona. Really a shame. But they should not have done anything reckless/jeopardizing the potential lives of artist or canvas... so it's the right call. It just sucks to end this way. It was a bit like the coyote running and running and running until he realized that he'd gone off the cliff and gravity catches up with him... POOF.  The ending in the terrible women's computerized voice though? WTF? That made it even worse.

[Eliza422]

I watched the video last night and saw the 6 pieces they had done. I think (obviously without knowing which of the two would get past the 6 hour live tattoo) it would have been a very tight race. 

Of the black and grey pieces, I think it would have been between Angel and Jimmy. I liked Bob's, but there were issues IMO with the arms/wings. I couldn't really parse them out. Angel's was pretty awesome, but some bits were "jacked". The hand at the top was crazy looking. I really loved Jimmy's super clean take on it - a very striking image.

Between the two biomech pieces, I think Bob's was better. I didn't actually really get Angel's, although I have to admit biomech is one of my least favorite styles/subjects (the other being traditional Japanese). It always looks kind of a mess. Bob's was a really unique take on it. Angel's didn't look as coherent.

Jimmy's American traditional looked amazing. 

So I think overall they were an evenly matched set of finalists. Since normally the live tattoo eliminates one of the contestants, it was risky for Bob and Angel to save the Amer traditional for that. Obviously they wanted the big pieces to show off their real strengths, but finalists have been eliminated before ever showing those big pieces.

Oh well....

[Inkmaster0345]

7 hours ago, Wandering Snark said:

The ending in the terrible women's computerized voice though? WTF? That made it even worse.

Fr, I know they had to adjust on short notice, but they couldn't have given us 60 seconds of Dave or the contestants on camera to explain the situation instead? It was a very cold and metallic send off. 

24 minutes ago, Eliza422 said:

I watched the video last night and saw the 6 pieces they had done. I think (obviously without knowing which of the two would get past the 6 hour live tattoo) it would have been a very tight race. 

Of the black and grey pieces, I think it would have been between Angel and Jimmy. I liked Bob's, but there were issues IMO with the arms/wings.

Between the two biomech pieces, I think Bob's was better. 

Jimmy's American traditional looked amazing. 

I tend to agree with everything you said here. I thought all 3 back pieces were really, really good. Angel's was laid out well--lot's of skin allowing the image to breathe and stand out. Jimmy's had the single most striking image (the woman's face was incredible), but I thought the snake was meh, and that he took a bit of a cop out by not doing the snake head. Bob's had the most elements, which probably makes it the most "difficult" of the three, but yeah, some of those elements didn't work out perfectly. It was nice to see Bob continue the trend of a finale tattoo with cockeyed fake breasts...the contestants really just can't resist themselves, can they? 

I liked Jimmy's american traditional. It was a bit busy for me, but I recgonize that that also seems to be a part of the style. Between the biomechs, I preferred Bob's. Angel's had a nice color palette but Bob's seemed to fit better, which is what biomech is all about imo. 

I think it's too close to call without knowing what the leg tattoos would have looked like. I'm inclined to think that Jimmy would have a slight lead prior to the live tattoo. But it was close enough for any of the three to win or lose still. 

 

[Princess Sparkle]

7 hours ago, Wandering Snark said:

The ending in the terrible women's computerized voice though? WTF? That made it even worse.

I can't believe they couldn't get Dave to record that and put it in. Or just put a black screen up with the info like they ended up doing for RuPauls Drag Race this season.

[hookedontv]

On 4/16/2020 at 10:55 AM, Princess Sparkle said:

I can't believe they couldn't get Dave to record that and put it in. Or just put a black screen up with the info like they ended up doing for RuPauls Drag Race this season.

Right? I  had recorded it and my friend didn't give away that the competition was stopped but told me to make sure to watch it through the very end because she almost turned it off. 

Dave or one of the judges just should have done the voiceover along with putting text up so people could really understand what was going on. I may have turned it off prior to that announcement if my friend hadn't said something.

I'm actually not a fan of the "live" finale -- I find that the audience is just screaming too much and I can't hear anything that's going on. That said, I still hoped for a finale. 

[dstann]

14 hours ago, hookedontv said:

I'm actually not a fan of the "live" finale -- I find that the audience is just screaming too much and I can't hear anything that's going on. That said, I still hoped for a finale. 

Have you checked out the 30 minute video of the 3 finalists showing off their back and chest pieces? 

On 4/17/2020 at 12:07 AM, Eliza422 said:

I watched the video last night and saw the 6 pieces they had done. I think (obviously without knowing which of the two would get past the 6 hour live tattoo) it would have been a very tight race. 

Of the black and grey pieces, I think it would have been between Angel and Jimmy. I liked Bob's, but there were issues IMO with the arms/wings. I couldn't really parse them out. Angel's was pretty awesome, but some bits were "jacked". The hand at the top was crazy looking. I really loved Jimmy's super clean take on it - a very striking image.

Between the two biomech pieces, I think Bob's was better. I didn't actually really get Angel's, although I have to admit biomech is one of my least favorite styles/subjects (the other being traditional Japanese). It always looks kind of a mess. Bob's was a really unique take on it. Angel's didn't look as coherent.

Jimmy's American traditional looked amazing. 

So I think overall they were an evenly matched set of finalists. Since normally the live tattoo eliminates one of the contestants, it was risky for Bob and Angel to save the Amer traditional for that. Obviously they wanted the big pieces to show off their real strengths, but finalists have been eliminated before ever showing those big pieces.

Oh well....

I am pretty sure Jimmy was scripted to win.  Remember last season when the judges kept saying to Laura all you do is aliens, show us something different, but no mention of that this season for Jimmy and his abundance of American Traditional.  I feel like he always seemed to get positive critiques even when his tattoo's had obvious flaws.  And then that second last challenge, Angel gets pulled up because her forest doesn't look realistic, Kelly gets pulled up for not attempting the morph, are you really going to tell me that Jimmy hit color realism for his jellyfish?  It wasn't realism and it was hard to tell it was a jellyfish.

Based on the two tattoo's Jimmy showed in the finale you could justify the him winning, though given the high standard you could justify any of them winning.

[Etta Place]

Well that was a strange end to the season. I did enjoy the 30 minute video of the three finalists showing off their work and talking about the show in general. In particular, I liked their positive comments on each others' work and the bits of a glimpse into life inside the house. It was also nice to hear Bob talk more.

As for the tattoos, I liked both Jimmy's and Angel's black and grey better than Bob's. I admit it's partially the subject matter doesn't interest me and partially those terrible boobs.

Bob's biomech was really good, in spite of not being at first glance what I would have expected. Taking into account the movement of the body and the view from different angles was awesome. I really enjoyed Jimmy's traditional piece - I feel like it finally showed something interesting that could be done with the traditional style. There was a lot to look at, it was cohesive, it was meaningful.

I also liked that Jimmy had his 6-hour piece drawing done. It shows he was working hard to produce the best work he could. I found Angel's comment that she had done six drawings for the traditional piece but she didn't like any of them kind of hilarious after her comment on the next to the last episode about how traditional was so easy.

[Eliza422]

On ‎4‎/‎18‎/‎2020 at 12:28 PM, Etta Place said:

 

I also liked that Jimmy had his 6-hour piece drawing done. It shows he was working hard to produce the best work he could. I found Angel's comment that she had done six drawings for the traditional piece but she didn't like any of them kind of hilarious after her comment on the next to the last episode about how traditional was so easy.

all along I've been rooting for Jimmy to win, and when they played that comment of Angel's I was hoping that was a foreshadowing of her blowing it. Many contestants over the years have said that, and yet most never even approach a good tattoo.