S01.E05: Human Lie Detector

[jenrising]

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If three teams can move fast, a mail delivery mission could boost the prize pot. Lunch puts one player in the hot seat.

Available on 10/7

[SourK]

Oh no -- I didn't realize we only got five episodes this week. It was slow to get going, but that's kind of how I remember The Mole being. I'm fully into it now and suspicious of everyone.

[Lady Calypso]

So, Sandy was on my peripheral but, similar to Samara, she only became suspicious right before she was eliminated.

The Mail Train stuff was fun. 

Train Team had a good strategy. Have them all spread out so Casey can call out when the bag is coming, and then Greg/Kesi giving them two chances. Yes, Kesi messed up but I also think it was unintentional. Grabbing mail like that can't be easy so even if Kesi is the Mole, it's probably one of the easiest ways to throw it.

Foot Team seems like the worst team to be on. I would definitely dislike being part of it because running isn't my thing. I don't blame Avori for not doing that well; there wasn't many options for the Foot Team and it's not easy for anyone. This is probably the only task where I could see unintentional sabotage because endurance is genuinely hard. I think taking the bikes at the end were smart because, regardless if Avori was sabotaging, it was clear she wasn't making it without those bikes.

Joi, once again, messes up with her horrid navigation skills. Even if she IS the Mole, I would call her one of the worst Moles. Or maybe she's one of the best by being so obvious, people thought she was too obvious. Honestly, I would have told Joi "hey, you're driving, I'm navigating." But if Jacob is the Mole, letting her take the blame makes it easier for him to fly under the radar.

At least they got money to their pot, regardless if the Car Team finished or not.

As for the Bomb twist, it seems like fun. Of course Joi/Will make it to the end; they seem to get the most confessionals out of everyone. And of course it's Joi who has the decision. This woman has cost the team so much money, not just in that one mission, but in team missions, and she's "lost" at which option to choose on the exemption or the money? As she said, she's greedy and wants to win, but man, will everyone hate her by the end, especially if she's not the Mole. 

[SourK]

55 minutes ago, Lady Calypso said:

Joi, once again, messes up with her horrid navigation skills. Even if she IS the Mole, I would call her one of the worst Moles. Or maybe she's one of the best by being so obvious, people thought she was too obvious. Honestly, I would have told Joi "hey, you're driving, I'm navigating." But if Jacob is the Mole, letting her take the blame makes it easier for him to fly under the radar.

Jacob is at the top of my suspect list, partly because he was happy that Joi was his navigator. It also makes me laugh to think that maybe the mole's strategy this season is to just let the contestants play to their weaknesses and mess up the tasks on their own.

55 minutes ago, Lady Calypso said:

As for the Bomb twist, it seems like fun. Of course Joi/Will make it to the end; they seem to get the most confessionals out of everyone. And of course it's Joi who has the decision. This woman has cost the team so much money, not just in that one mission, but in team missions, and she's "lost" at which option to choose on the exemption or the money? As she said, she's greedy and wants to win, but man, will everyone hate her by the end, especially if she's not the Mole. 

If Joi isn't the mole, I think it's hilarious that she's doing more than the mole to sabotage their pot. She definitely seems like she'd be okay with winning a $0 pot just to get there. But she also seems to think her best chance to win is to continually skip the quiz, which makes me doubt how well she'd do in the final. (FWIW, I understand wanting to skip the early quizzes because you're just guessing at that point, but the farther you go in the game the more you should hope to do well).

I'll really, really laugh if Joi gets to the end with another contestant, that person wins, and then there's like $15.50 in the pot because of Joi.

[LakeGal]

I kept forgetting Sandy.  She was so under the radar for me that I was surprised every time I saw or heard her.

Jacob just got more suspicious.  He was happy to have Joi in the car with him.  He was also the one to say that they should just put 2 in the car.  Why didn't Avori go in the car?  It made no sense to have 3 people running and only 2 in the car.  Avori just slowed the guys down.  They would not have had to rent the bikes if Avori was not with them.  Avori would have been another set of eyes in the car.  I was also wondering why Joi sat in the back seat.  She could have seen a lot better in the passenger seat.  She sat in the back with the map wide open and could not see a thing at times.  Jacob just had to slowly drive around and everything went wrong for him.  Very Molish.

Kesi should have had her hook out before she got to the mail bag.  She shoved it out when she got there and knocked it off so even Greg could not reach it.  Another molish action.  

I have noticed that William is often the one that jumps in to pick out the groups.  That is something the mole would do.  

Obviously Kesi and William were sitting on the bomb switches.  Jacob pointed out Kesi had watery eyes so they voted for her.  I did not see her eyes water.  But it hurt them that she was voted out.  Jacob struck again.  

Well if Joi takes that exemption she will have made even more enemies.  I hope she rethinks her selfish act.  Does she really want to get to the end and have no money in the pot?

[Guest]

44 minutes ago, LakeGal said:

I was also wondering why Joi sat in the back seat.  She could have seen a lot better in the passenger seat.  She sat in the back with the map wide open and could not see a thing at times.  Jacob just had to slowly drive around and everything went wrong for him.  Very Molish.

Joi being in the back seat would be out of their control. The camera has to be in the front passenger seat. 

[Lady Calypso]

1 hour ago, LakeGal said:

Why didn't Avori go in the car?  It made no sense to have 3 people running and only 2 in the car.  Avori just slowed the guys down.  They would not have had to rent the bikes if Avori was not with them.  Avori would have been another set of eyes in the car.

One of the men (I think Pranav) asked Avori if she was a good runner and she said yes. So she seemed to be the choice, although, yeah, choosing three people to run was probably not the best idea. You choose the two best runners; if you feel like you can't run, don't do it. Avori should have opted out of it, 100%. And yes, three should have been in the car...UNLESS it IS a camera operator situation and they HAD to have only two in the car. We've seen them have full cars and the camera attached to the dashboard/mirror before, so they should have just done that to have three in the car. Because clearly, only having one navigator and the only other person driving was a poor decision. Or Jacob should have had Joi drive and him navigate. But, depending on if he's the Mole or wants to throw more sus onto Joi in general, it was clear Joi's navigation skills were going to cost them. 

1 hour ago, LakeGal said:

I have noticed that William is often the one that jumps in to pick out the groups.  That is something the mole would do.  

On the other hand, he's the one that sabotages the least so that's why I don't think he's the Mole. 

[jenrising]

5 hours ago, LakeGal said:

I kept forgetting Sandy.  She was so under the radar for me that I was surprised every time I saw or heard her.

Same, and it's making me wonder if she's the mole.

For the first few episodes I was annoyed at how much everyone was trying to mole, but I kind of got used to it now and can just enjoy the show. 

I really liked the mail train task. Entertaining to watch and an interesting combination of skills to complete. 

[jabRI]

If I was still there, and Joi squanders all the money we just busted our * to get back, I'd say do the old fashioned Paper Chase and impose a 'shroud of silence' around her. If she is the mole, she doesn't need your information anyway, and if she's not, do everything you can to not let her advance.  No idea why people were even being cordial to her on this task.  They should have let Dom back in and added to the pot.

[LakeGal]

We are halfway in the season.  There are 8 contestants left.  I wonder if we will have a double eviction or if they are planning to have 4 in the final.  I really don't like them putting off the eliminations till the next episode.  

There are 4 males left.  Jacob is my top suspect of the men.  He plays the small town boy that everyone should be able to trust.  Yet he has done suspicious things.  Greg seems more like a drama queen that just wants attention.  I honestly don't think he is smart enough to be the mole.  He is more the villain of the game rather than the mole.  I am really sick of him and wish he would flunk the test and leave.  I wonder what he found out when he looked in the files.  I hope it wasn't enough to help him survive longer.

William and Pranav.  I don't really think it is Pranav.  William could be the mole but isn't my top suspect.  He likes to be in charge and he did get to do the plane robbery of the crate.  I could see the producers making the mole do that to take suspicion away from him when he turns into the hero and wins them money.  He also was sitting on one of the detonators.  I wish we knew if they were told where to sit or if they just sat where they wanted.  For that matter were the detonators really under those 2 chairs or did the producers pick which chairs once they sat down? 

I am more suspicious of the women.  Kesi is probably my top suspect of the females.  She does just enough to screw things up and make me wonder about her.  Casey is a sly one.  She doesn't really openly do anything but people close to her often seem to screw up.  Joi and Avori are both so obvious that it is hard to think that the show would want the mole to be that obvious.  I think Joi is just really bad at the game and doesn't make any money.  She is obviously scared to take the test.  Why would the mole be scared about failing the test?

I am looking forward to the next few episodes to see if my suspicions change.  The first 4 that went home were never my suspects.  I didn't learn anything from them leaving.  I want some of my suspects to leave so I can narrow down my suspicions.  

[Guest]

31 minutes ago, LakeGal said:

William could be the mole but isn't my top suspect.  He likes to be in charge and he did get to do the plane robbery of the crate.  I could see the producers making the mole do that to take suspicion away from him when he turns into the hero and wins them money.  He also was sitting on one of the detonators.

I am automatically suspicious of anyone who ends up in a situation like that. It’s been a while since I’ve seen the original series but, from what I remember, the sabotage was often the producers giving inside information on where to be. Which is why William is still on my list of suspects. He probably wouldn’t be if some many others weren’t throwing money away. The mole doesn’t even have to do much with this group. 

31 minutes ago, LakeGal said:

Jacob is my top suspect of the men. 

31 minutes ago, LakeGal said:

Kesi is probably my top suspect of the females.  She does just enough to screw things up and make me wonder about her.  Casey is a sly one.  She doesn't really openly do anything but people close to her often seem to screw up.

Those are my top suspects also. 

I’m going to laugh if it is Joi, Avori or Greg. 

[LakeGal]

Joi was not sitting on a detonator.  She pretended and ate around the bad stuff and sipped the beer.  Kesi and William got the good food.

[Guest]

7 minutes ago, LakeGal said:

Joi was not sitting on a detonator.  She pretended and ate around the bad stuff and sipped the beer.  Kesi and William got the good food.

Yeah, I realized I was wrong just after I posted. Will finding himself in positions like that and the way he frequently takes charge to determine who is in each group means I wouldn’t be surprised if he was the mole. 

[Meedis]

After watching this episode, I may have to take back Joi being the Mole.   She does seem to be genuinely afraid of the quizzes and I don't think she's that great of an actress.   So that moves Kesi into my top suspect list...and I agree that Jacob seems very Molish as well so he'll be my new #2.    I do think Joi will make final 3....but will she win is the question...and will it be over $1000?   LOL

Can't wait till the next three drop tomorrow though I'll have to pace myself until the final two drop on the 21st!   Oh streaming...how you've changed my viewing habits.

[kassandra8286]

On 10/9/2022 at 5:53 PM, Lady Calypso said:

As for the Bomb twist, it seems like fun. Of course Joi/Will make it to the end; they seem to get the most confessionals out of everyone. And of course it's Joi who has the decision. This woman has cost the team so much money, not just in that one mission, but in team missions, and she's "lost" at which option to choose on the exemption or the money? As she said, she's greedy and wants to win, but man, will everyone hate her by the end, especially if she's not the Mole. 

The group (minus the Mole) should have voted her off the table first, no matter if they thought she had good or bad food. They should have anticipated there'd be an exemption and now the worst case scenario has come to pass, with Joy in the position to drain the puny pot and get yet another exemption.

On 10/13/2022 at 8:10 AM, Meedis said:

Can't wait till the next three drop tomorrow though I'll have to pace myself until the final two drop on the 21st!   Oh streaming...how you've changed my viewing habits.

Ordinarily I wouldn't mind waiting a week between episodes, as I still love my network once-a-week reality shows like Survivor and TAR, but Netflix has made it impossible not to binge this, the way each episode ends on a cliffhanger. One week seems like a month. Excruciating.

[PurpleTentacle]

Yeah, I think I'm on Jacob as the Mole now. My feeling in the first episode that he wasn't as desperate as all the others for the attention combined with that he did quite a bit of shady stuff this episode and used Joi as a shield every time, are pretty big indicators for me. Damn, why do the hot ones always have to be the bad boys. 😅

[Hanahope]

Yeah Joi is just a greedy idiot, not the mole, but she can’t win missions so there won’t be much money for her.  
 

Agree it’s either Kesi or Jacob.

[aradia22]

I enjoy a player like Sandy getting eliminated so you can confirm that no, it wasn't sabotage... just incompetence. It's tougher when the good players leave.

Oh my God. I would never volunteer for Team Foot but I would be FURIOUS if I were on that team and we didn't make any money from the challenge. Did they alter the rules? I could have sworn they said all the teams had to make it there for them to earn money. 

Team Foot's challenge was way more difficult than any other team's challenge. I don't even know why they volunteered Avori. If you don't have 3 runners, put someone else on Team Car with the two highly sus people. I don't even... why would you put three people on the endurance challenge? 

I liked the nasty food challenge. It kept things interesting and was a little silly but Christ, when it got down to Joi and William, I almost lost my mind. The prize pot is now $29,500. That's only $1000 more than when Joi lost them all that money. If she's not the Mole, I can't believe she even hesitated to get $15,000. Truly, if she's not the Mole, I will be speechless. If she's not the Mole, the people in casting need a real talking to.

[aradia22]

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On the other hand, he's the one that sabotages the least so that's why I don't think he's the Mole. 

I am convinced William is not the Mole. He's just a guy taking a leadership position who got injured during a task, lost his bromance, and who works SO HARD while other people sit by and lose money. I feel so bad for him.