S01.E10: Who is The Mole?

[jenrising]

Available 10/21

[Lady Calypso]

Oh, the Fortress mission as the final mission was fun. Drones plus complex challenges to get the money = easy win for the Mole.

The first cannister they were trying to grab, it's a shame they spoiled in previews that it wouldn't work with the exploding red dust. But also, Will's plan to throw now? Buddy, you're at F3. I get your plan, but it doesn't matter if you're ALSO equally wrong on who the Mole is. At this point, you just want to be right. Because either you're splitting your votes and hoping Joi isn't, or you're going all in on one person and hoping Joi does the same thing on you. In this stage, you almost WANT to be putting it all on one person because you can't predict what the other person is doing. And you can't afford to split with only one other person. 

So it shows how unconfident Will is about who the Mole is. 

Kesi failed the second part of the mission, which is good although I would have almost wanted her to succeed so it would throw suspicion off of her but then she could have thrown the mission anyway by getting caught by the drones.

But she did succeed on the last part of the mission, which is a good way to deflect as well, and probably a better plan. She got some money for them, but didn't make sure she didn't succeed on the second one (and Joi/Will failed the first one).

I was disappointed that Joi/Will chose different people, because that meant Will won for me, and he was NOT the one I wanted to win. I guess he was ultimately the best player, but damn, I was hoping Joi would have chosen right.

They showed some very obvious plays. I wish she had done some more subtle plays so we could have been surprised as the audience.

Well, congrats on Will for the win, and I love that I was right about Kesi.

[SourK]

I'm actually kind of confused about how Joi lasted this long if she's been voting for Will since the beginning, but maybe almost nobody picked Kesi, and it was a game of who spread their votes out the best?

I was also kind of hoping for more after material where they showed how Will figured out it was Kesi, or discussions people had about their suspicions behind the scene.

For me, the apex of this was season two of the original series, where the finale revealed how the two finalists had known who the mole was for several episodes and traded info -- how one of them had figured it out before the other and accidentally let it slip, because they assumed the other finalist already knew. And then it was a contest to see who did the best on the quiz.

In this case, though, it seems like everyone was kind of bad?

I still enjoyed watching it, and I like Kesi, so I'm glad she got to be the mole -- the ending just wasn't as suspenseful and revealing as I hoped it would be.

[Irlandesa]

4 hours ago, Lady Calypso said:

In this stage, you almost WANT to be putting it all on one person because you can't predict what the other person is doing. And you can't afford to split with only one other person. 

So it shows how unconfident Will is about who the Mole is. 

I get why he'd want to throw suspicion on himself because he wants to convince Joi to vote for him.  That way, even if he does poorly on the quiz, he'd ultimately win as the only one who chose the mole. I don't remember him saying he was going to split his votes for the final quiz. 

But I agree, I wish we had a longer "reunion."  The episode was just over 30 minutes.  Surely they could have taken the time to show all of the sabotages?  For instance, the art installation challenge combined with Greg's elimination made me realize she was the mole.  But it would have been nice hearing from Joi whether she ever suspected Kesi.  And if not, why not.  And I would have liked to hear from Will when he became certain it was her.  

In the past reunions, I also liked hearing about whether or not anyone had selected the mole but moved away from them.  Or who was tied and almost eliminated but saved by completing the quiz faster than someone else. 

I wonder if Will and Jacob's "friendship" survives the talking heads.

[Guest]

I wasn’t going to be happy with any outcome since Kesi was the only one in the final 3 I liked. Between Will and Joi, I guess I was rooting for Will. At least he played the best game even if he was really unpleasant. Joi was so bad at the game I couldn’t root for her. 

5 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

I get why he'd want to throw suspicion on himself because he wants to convince Joi to vote for him.  That way, even if he does poorly on the quiz, he'd ultimately win as the only one who chose the mole. I don't remember him saying he was going to split his votes for the final quiz. 

I think that was really good strategy since it was obvious Joi thought it was him. The only way he could lose was if Joi was actually the mole. 

[PurpleTentacle]

Am I really supposed to believe that these people were flown home to the US, hadn't seen each other in the meantime and weren't sequestered together? Yeah sure, that is just as believable as the remaining contestants exiting the abandoned military base exactly when the timer hit 0. Come on.

I call deceptive editing. Kesi was basically a non-entity in the first half of the season. It's cheap to just totally hide the mole. Of course she was super suspicious in the second half, but if you don't have any opportunity to figure out who the mole is from the beginning, what's the point of this show?

Also when they showed her sabotage at the end, doesn't really seem like she did too much. The first "sobotage" they showed didn't even work. I guess if you are playing with a bunch of dumbasses who do your job for you, you don't have to.

This was fun overall, but that's mainly due to the concept. The execution could have been much, much better and has been in previous seasons. They seriously need to cast a better variety of people and get rid of the "if one person takes the exemption, all the money is lost"-tasks.

Edited October 22, 2022 by PurpleTentacle

[PurpleTentacle]

17 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

Surely they could have taken the time to show all of the sabotages? 

If there were even many more sabotages. She did try to sabotage the dove task pretty blatently and tried to pick the wrong liar. But that was about it.

These people just very efficiently sabotaged their own game. If it wasn't for Will there would be like $10k in that price pot. He really earned that money.

[SourK]

1 hour ago, PurpleTentacle said:

I call deceptive editing. Kesi was basically a non-entity in the first half of the season. It's cheap to just totally hide the mole. Of course she was super suspicious in the second half, but if you don't have any opportunity to figure out who the mole is from the beginning, what's the point of this show?

I rewatched some the earlier episodes, focusing on the finalists and, if your attention is only on them, then she starts to look more suspect. In the prison task, I actually think she did a really good job -- Joi was placed in a cell that had a worse view of Kesi's door than the other contestants had (and I was curious about whether that was on purpose -- exactly the kind of thing I wish they had explained or recapped during the finale) -- and the Kesi's strategy was to keep yelling instructions to Joi that took her away from the door and got her to focus on the key she couldn't reach instead. It sounded like she was trying to help, but it really dragged out how long it took them to do the task, while also making it look like Joi's fault.

There's always been a tension on this show, though, where it's more fun for the players than the viewers, partly because we don't have the same opportunity to gather information on the mole.

[PurpleTentacle]

Of course you can find things with hindsight, but she wasn't given nearly as much screentime as the other finalists. So we had no opportunity to clock her early. That is just no fun.

Most people clocked her in the second half (I'll be honest, I didn't, though of course she was a top suspect) but there was just no opportunity earlier.

And yes, we are always going to be at a disadvantage as TPTB don't want to make it too obvious for us, but at least give us equal times with the mole as with other contestants.

[Lady Calypso]

I do wholeheartedly blame the editing. I don't blame Kesi, who did the best job she could have, but the editing certainly failed her.

I had my suspicions on Kesi from the start, but not from anything the editing did in her favour. If anything, I had to use knowledge of other deceptive reality shows like this to think of how the editing may portray the Mole. Which is why I had written off anyone with too MUCH screentime in the first half, coupled with anyone who did something major (both deceptive or helpful). 

I shouldn't need to look at the editing and be like "these people aren't doing a whole lot onscreen, they're probably the best suspects for the Mole" and be right. It made me write off people like Avori the moment she got substantially more confessionals. 

I think what would have helped Kesi, especially, but also others to be suspects as the Mole better than they had is if they gave the Mole more opportunities to secretly sabotage. Allow them to have chances to sneak off alone and sabotage, for example. Imagine in the Final Mission if all three started off in different areas of the fortress and their goal was to find each other, but allowing Kesi to start sabotaging without the other two in sight and allowing Joi/William to question each other more. 

[Meedis]

Sigh.  I was really hoping Joi would pull the win.    I didn't realize that they had to get the primary question of "Who Is The Mole" correct and if they're the only one, that they automatically win.   I don't remember that being the case in the other versions.   But then again maybe that never came into play as the remaining two had no doubt who the Mole was.

That was a cool final mission with avoiding the drones for cash.   It gave Joi and Will final opportunities to try to fool each other.   I did enjoy seeing some of the behind the scenes with Kasi but....

I co-sign that it would've been nice to get more behind the scenes commentary from the other players.   At least go down the line from the first eliminated player to the last one and have them say who they think the Mole is and who they think won.   This should've been a 70 minute episode instead of 35.

If they do more seasons of this, this would be on my Wishlist of changes they should implement.

1) Bring back the introductory player bios w/ green or red stamps depending on who is still in the game and who's eliminated.

2) Have at least two missions per episode.   They did it right on all the locations used but there needed to be an extra mission and preferably when the group was larger separate missions where not all the players get to participate in the same mission.

3) I agree on having a more diverse cast in terms of age and physicality in particular.   Everyone does not need to look Instagram or Tik-Tok ready.

4) Bring back "player at home" clues per episode.   They were sometimes lame but they would've given aficionados the opportunity to deep dive into each episode of find clues.

5) Alex actually was a good host so wouldn't mind her returning. 

Edited October 22, 2022 by Meedis
typos

[LakeGal]

I was quite disappointed with the finale.  I wanted a big reunion and more talk of who the others were suspecting and what took them out.  They showed so little of what Kesi had done.  We picked out more things on these threads than they showed us.  Plus I expected more clues for the viewing audience.  But there seemed to be none.  We really did have to use their editing to guess.  It felt like this was a mild version of the show.  I am glad it is back and hope for another season. But I do hope they learn from this and improve it.

Interesting that Joi spent more time on challenges with Kesi and still did not know she was the mole.  Will never seemed to be with Kesi.  He wasn't on the train or with the pigeons or the ice blocks.  Yet Will figured it out when Joi had her right in front of her face and didn't.  I believe Will must have suspected Kesi early and once Casey left he went full on her.  At least that is what we can suspect since they didn't show enough in the final episode/reunion to let us know.  Joi bragged that she picked the mole on the first night.  I think that was her problem.  She came up with some reason she thought it was Will.  Then since he didn't go home she just had tunnel vision on him and never got to the correct mole.   

I wanted Will to say to Joi that she owed him $25K at the end.  She did say she would put it all back.  For that reason I was glad Joi didn't win.  Will deserved it.  He did put most of the money in the pot.  

I felt like Kesi did more mole things as the show went on.  The producers probably told her to do more.  She really didn't have to do anything to lose money from the pot.  The players were so bad at challenges and busy trying to pretend they were the mole.  They lost all the money without the mole doing a thing.  

[Lady Calypso]

6 minutes ago, LakeGal said:

I wanted Will to say to Joi that she owed him $25K at the end.  She did say she would put it all back.  For that reason I was glad Joi didn't win.  Will deserved it.  He did put most of the money in the pot.  

Technically, Joi did that. She added $15,000 to the pot single handedly (by not taking the exemption) and I swear she contributed to another $10,000 (I think the Mountaineering mission). 

But yeah, Kesi lucked out by not having to do as much as the Mole since people like Avori, Joi and even Jacob were doing it for her. 

[Guest]

3 hours ago, PurpleTentacle said:

I call deceptive editing. Kesi was basically a non-entity in the first half of the season. It's cheap to just totally hide the mole. Of course she was super suspicious in the second half, but if you don't have any opportunity to figure out who the mole is from the beginning, what's the point of this show?

They didn’t focus on her but I don’t think the hid her. At least not any more than several others like Casey and Jacob. Personally, I really liked how the edited it so that Kesi slowly emerged as the most obvious suspect. 

I was worried it was being edited deceptively but didn’t think that went that route because no one but Will realized it was her. I followed the same path of suspicion as Will. She did small things in episode 2 & 3 that I noticed could be honest mistakes or flat out sabotage and filed it away. The other players mentioned what she did.
Episode 4 was the bank heist was when I really started to suspect and also when Will did. He called it out multiple times. Every episode after that she did something blatant and most of the time a player pointed it out. Kesi was a really good mole and I thought the editing reflected that. 

3 hours ago, PurpleTentacle said:

If there were even many more sabotages.

There was more than they showed. In the sunken treasure episode she didn’t spot the boat. Pranav mentions it but Avori was trying so hard to be suspicious. In the one with chair bombs she had the normal food, which is always a red flag in this game, and was voted out. This is the one time I had an issue with the editing because we didn’t see why the others voted her out (other than Pranav saying her eyes were watering). 

In the mountaineering challenge she volunteered to stay back immediately and she had money in her backpack. In the fake painting challenge she voted for the wrong person and in the briefcase one she switched the cases. 

3 hours ago, PurpleTentacle said:

The first "sobotage" they showed didn't even work.

It worked. They still got out but her stalling caused them to give up $6,000 buying a clue and more time. 

[PurpleTentacle]

4 hours ago, Dani said:

They didn’t focus on her but I don’t think the hid her. At least not any more than several others like Casey and Jacob. Personally, I really liked how the edited it so that Kesi slowly emerged as the most obvious suspect. 

They hid her muuuuuch more than Jacob. Casey sure, but she also didn't go nearly as far in the game.

4 hours ago, Dani said:

It worked. They still got out but her stalling caused them to give up $6,000 buying a clue and more time. 

There is really no way to tell if that was necessary, since they did the stupid "the team got there exactly when the timer hit 0", they also did in this episode. Yeah, that's clearly not how that happened. Might have still been half an hour left.

If they are doing another season, they got to cut that shit right out. It's infuriating.

Edited October 22, 2022 by PurpleTentacle

[Guest]

4 hours ago, PurpleTentacle said:

There is really no way to tell if that was necessary, since they did the stupid "the team got there exactly when the timer hit 0", they also did in this episode. Yeah, that's clearly not how that happened. Might have still been half an hour left.

I don’t think it matters how much time was left. She stalled long enough that the others thought they needed to sacrifice money to add time and give them a clue. 

[SnarkShark]

They had to imply the Mole did a lot... where in fact she didn't.  

But she didn't have to.   Various players intentionally cost the pot more than the actual Mole.

On 10/22/2022 at 10:18 AM, Lady Calypso said:

I do wholeheartedly blame the editing. I don't blame Kesi, who did the best job she could have, but the editing certainly failed her.

I had my suspicions on Kesi from the start, but not from anything the editing did in her favour. If anything, I had to use knowledge of other deceptive reality shows like this to think of how the editing may portray the Mole. Which is why I had written off anyone with too MUCH screentime in the first half, coupled with anyone who did something major (both deceptive or helpful). 

I don't know if it helped or hurt that I didn't even know her name for 4 episodes.  It DID make her more suspicious when they DID bother to give her actual screentime.  But it also arguably made her too obvious.

[Irlandesa]

6 hours ago, SnarkShark said:

They had to imply the Mole did a lot... where in fact she didn't.  

She did, or attempted to do, what the mole was designed to do--take off some money from each challenge.  But the producers don't want total destruction because no one is going to want to watch a show where no money is accumulated.  Sometimes the mole is positioned so none of the money makes it into the pot but other times, the mole can only affect some of the money.  And the sabotages are usually done in a way that can be overcome if others are on the ball. 

But she was upstaged by Joi's $25,000 bet. Nothing was going to take money from the pot on that level so her work was a little underwhelming.  But she did do lots of little things.

Edited October 25, 2022 by Irlandesa

[jenrising]

I don't think the producers factored in how much the actual players would be trying to look suspicious. Reality tv has changed a lot since the original was on here. It seems like Kesi did a good job of small sabotages and keeping herself hidden from the others, but it didn't translate the best for the viewers. I hope if they get another chance, they consider this stuff when planning the challenges. 

15 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

But she was upstaged by Joi's $25,000 bet. Nothing was going to take money from the pot on that level so her work was a little underwhelming.  But she did do lots of little things.

So much this. This absolutely bonkers decision could never have been matched. It's how I was certain Joi wasn't the mole, they'd never be so obvious to basically empty the entire pot!

[xfuse]

On 10/22/2022 at 1:51 PM, Dani said:

Personally, I really liked how the edited it so that Kesi slowly emerged as the most obvious suspect. 

I figured it out in ep 2 but I read alot of 'who done it' novels so it was pretty easy to figure out.

[mansonlamps]

I think the problem is they cast only model/actor wannabes, so winning the game was secondary to screen time.  

[Birnam Wood]

I assumed Kesi was the Mole when she was the first player introduced. The producers love to pull stunts like that. 🤷‍♀️

[xfuse]

A good fix for some of the problems with the show is to set an amount of money. So if 250,000 is up for grabs than every bit of money the group doesn't get the mole gets. In the end the mole can come out of it with more money than the winner. I think they might be more cut throat this way.

Also a larger age range of people will work better. Maybe people who doesn't use social media as a job.

[Irlandesa]

48 minutes ago, xfuse said:

In the end the mole can come out of it with more money than the winner. I think they might be more cut throat this way.

But why would the mole care to be subtle?  They'd just sabotage as much as possible and if the others know, they know.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Irlandesa said:

But why would the mole care to be subtle?  They'd just sabotage as much as possible and if the others know, they know.

Yeah. I can’t see the mole playing for money work because they are always safe from elimination. It would tip things to far in the mole’s favor. 

[Samwise979]

I decided to take a wild stab guess at who was the mole before the first challenge even happened and I went with Joi so pleasantly surprised she made it to the end at least. However, I knew as the show progressed by the way the editing was making her seem really guilty that it wasn't her. I started suspecting Kesi during the jail break challenge then really started to believe she was the mole during the bank heist episode. 

[mansonlamps]

On 10/27/2022 at 5:53 PM, xfuse said:

Also a larger age range of people will work better. Maybe people who doesn't use social media as a job.

I went back and forth with this.  I think casting young,  physically fit people allowed for more interesting and exciting challenges.  On the other hand, they may not have been as interested in playing the game as getting camera time for social media or acting/modeling gigs.

[SnideAsides]

On 10/30/2022 at 4:34 AM, mansonlamps said:

I went back and forth with this.  I think casting young,  physically fit people allowed for more interesting and exciting challenges.

Okay, so where were they?

[AncientNewbie]

I really enjoyed this season. I had my guesses over the course of it all, but being less eagle-eyed and astute than most of you, I was repeatedly wrong. Which is something I love about The Mole. 

I really enjoyed the fortress challenge at the end. I thought it was a good task that wasn't overwhelming (I'd still be on the icy mountain, frozen in terror) and showcased some gameplay. 

[blackwing]

Just finished the season, and it was enjoyable.  I do wish that Will had not won, I found his arrogance and meanness off-putting.  I liked Kesi, and I think she did a good job as the Mole.

On 10/24/2022 at 7:53 PM, SnarkShark said:

They had to imply the Mole did a lot... where in fact she didn't.  

But she didn't have to.   Various players intentionally cost the pot more than the actual Mole.

On 10/25/2022 at 3:22 PM, jenrising said:

I don't think the producers factored in how much the actual players would be trying to look suspicious. Reality tv has changed a lot since the original was on here. It seems like Kesi did a good job of small sabotages and keeping herself hidden from the others, but it didn't translate the best for the viewers. I hope if they get another chance, they consider this stuff when planning the challenges. 

This to me is the biggest failing of this season.  Everyone trying to look suspicious to get people to guess them as the Mole.  Did this happen in the previous incarnation?

As I said on another episode thread, I really think there should be a mid-season vote-off where the players vote on who to drop.  The person who is determined to contribute the least or the one who sabotages the most would get voted out.  Or maybe some sort of system where people vote each episode for LVP ("least valuable player") and that person gets $10,000 subtracted from any winnings if they win the game.

There needs to be consequences for the people that purposely try and obviously look suspicious.  Kesi didn't have to do as much because everyone else was doing it for her.

I remember in the previous versions that there would be hints as to the Mole's identity for viewers at home.  Granted, some of the clues were REALLY stupid.  In particular, I remember the season where Anderson ate an apple because apples are from Washington, the home state of the Mole.  Or the one where if we enhanced the brightness on our TV screen, we would see the constellation in the sky which is the Mole's sign.

I really thought there would be clues this time around too.  Hence, I spent some time on the number on the train smokestack during the Train/Car/Run mission.  I think it was 976.  I was trying to figure out who was introduced 9th on the show, etc.  Or the numbers/letters on the dinghy in the water/sky mission.

I guess I shouldn't have assumed there would be clues since it was never mentioned hahaa.

[aradia22]

The finale was a little lame. Drones are scary when they're military drones. It was another good location but the actual challenges were meh... especially with them barely trying to secure the canisters.

I am truly baffled how the people who seemed to suspect Kesi the most (Greg, Pranav, and Avori) got eliminated. 

I am satisfied with Will winning. He was one of the contestants who worked the hardest at the challenges. He deserved it. At least it wasn't Joi. Though I call shenanigans on her making it to the end without producer intervention.

Noticing Greg in the dress in the finale, I think there's an advantage to casting a woman or someone who is genderfluid as the Mole for some of the clothing questions. You do want a range of contestants but it probably also helps to have some people who have things in common with the Mole. For example, maybe they all live in different states but a few are from the South and a few are from the Northeast. From what I could tell about the quiz, they were asking some narrow questions like what is the name of the Mole's childhood pet? 

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They showed some very obvious plays. I wish she had done some more subtle plays so we could have been surprised as the audience.

lol, she was not subtle. Maybe it's worse being in the audience because you can always see her reactions (which not all the other players can) but it's very obvious when she throws. Her "oops, ay yi yi" on the train and the "oh my God" during the suction cup task. TAKE ACTING LESSONS. Jesus.

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Of course you can find things with hindsight, but she wasn't given nearly as much screentime as the other finalists. So we had no opportunity to clock her early. That is just no fun.

I got her from the Bank Heist which is episode 4. You could have noticed her missing the dinghy with Avori in episode 3 or wasting time on the prison break in episode 2. Yes, it's harder but early on, I think you're trying to split your votes between a couple suspicious people anyway. From episode 4 onwards, she couldn't have been more obvious to me.

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Alex actually was a good host so wouldn't mind her returning. 

Solid host. She called them all "beautiful" a few too many times but otherwise, I think she struck a good balance of teacher energy and friend energy. Also she seemed to get into it making her voice kind of smoky at certain times when she had to read something out.

[aradia22]

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Interesting that Joi spent more time on challenges with Kesi and still did not know she was the mole.  Will never seemed to be with Kesi.  He wasn't on the train or with the pigeons or the ice blocks.  Yet Will figured it out when Joi had her right in front of her face and didn't.  I believe Will must have suspected Kesi early and once Casey left he went full on her.  At least that is what we can suspect since they didn't show enough in the final episode/reunion to let us know.  Joi bragged that she picked the mole on the first night.  I think that was her problem.  She came up with some reason she thought it was Will.  Then since he didn't go home she just had tunnel vision on him and never got to the correct mole.   

I wanted Will to say to Joi that she owed him $25K at the end.  She did say she would put it all back.  For that reason I was glad Joi didn't win.  Will deserved it.  He did put most of the money in the pot.  

With the way Will gets frustrated, I think he was lucky to get Kesi on the bank heist. No way he suffered through that for an hour without getting furious with her and it was the first task where her Mole behavior was BLATANT. I continue to be confused how Joi lasted until the end if she was convinced it was Will. Will and Kesi appear to have nothing in common besides maybe age. I agree on Will deserving it and being thankful Joi didn't win.

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Technically, Joi did that. She added $15,000 to the pot single handedly (by not taking the exemption) and I swear she contributed to another $10,000 (I think the Mountaineering mission). 

But Will had to BEG her not to take the exemption. That doesn't count for me. I will give her credit for the $10,000 for Mountaineering especially since she said she has some fear of heights. 

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So much this. This absolutely bonkers decision could never have been matched. It's how I was certain Joi wasn't the mole, they'd never be so obvious to basically empty the entire pot!

Truly, what is wrong with her? If I look back at every decision Joi made (except for things like the pigeon task) I just... can't even... She was so bad at the game. 

I do think Kesi made a lot of obvious moves as the Mole but she rarely lost more money than was earned. With Mountaineering, she lost $10,000 but they still made $20,000. She did take the exemption and make them sleep on the floor but technically that wasn't losing money they already made. She was trying though like with the prison break, bank heist, 2 truths and a lie, pigeon task, etc. Other players were able to throw her off with the others but with bank heist she was totally in control and didn't even let them get one box. I'm not convinced that Netflix isn't cheap and perfectly happy to only give away $100,000.

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I remember in the previous versions that there would be hints as to the Mole's identity for viewers at home.  Granted, some of the clues were REALLY stupid.  In particular, I remember the season where Anderson ate an apple because apples are from Washington, the home state of the Mole.  Or the one where if we enhanced the brightness on our TV screen, we would see the constellation in the sky which is the Mole's sign.

I keep coming back to the quizzes but I feel like as an audience member, I know very little about the contestants. The questions meant almost nothing to me unless they were about clothing or which team the Mole was on during challenges. Like, I think Osei said he was from Brooklyn in episode 1 and Sandy mentions she's from Texas. No clue about the others. Who has children? Joi. Anyone else? I have no idea. Pets? No one said anything about pets. 

[paramitch]

I just binged this and while it wasn't "The Mole" of higher days, it was mildly fun.

I was disappointed overall -- I thought Kesi was terribly obvious, and her smugness and very mannered vocal fry got on my last nerve.

But I did laugh out loud during the last "cold hard cash" task, when she was blatantly throwing all the ice blocks off the sleigh, and Joi somehow remained oblivious and then just shook her head like, "Oh, that Kesi--?!" I mean, she even caught Kesi trying to dump the $6k! It was incredibly funny. And at that point it was so obvious! The day before, she'd watched Kesi try to go, "No, those aren't the pigeons we're looking for, they aren't actully flying in circles! No, that's not the pigeon she perfectly described, it's this other one that is dark not light and completely opposite!" I mean, it was EMBARRASSINGLY bad and blatant. And somehow Joi still had no idea?!

So, yeah, I didn't love Joi -- she was just so clueless and incompetent, a terrible player, cost them so much money repeatedly (and wasn't even the Mole!), etc.

I wish Will had been more likable. I do grant that he deserved the money the most. He earned it.

My main issue with this entire season was the stupidity of the Mactor cast (most were so in love with themselves it's no wonder they didn't identify the Mole -- Greg hilariously could not stop gazing at himself and pawing through his hair, etc.).

And then overall the overreliance of the show on outsized and repetitive physical challenges. That last mountain trek was just ridiculous and absolutely weighted against a team like Joi & Kesi. Six-foot-plus Will himself barely made it with 18 seconds to spare. That's just ridiculous.

I guess it's coming back, so if so, I wish it would go back to varied cast and challenges and more cerebral puzzles.

Edited June 23 by paramitch
missing word

[lilabennet]

Just binged this in one sitting. I pegged Kesi as the Mole as soon as she threw the gold mission. If she wasn't the Mole, then she would have had to be the ditziest engineer I had ever seen. I gave her the benefit of the doubt on that and just assumed she was the Mole.