S05.E01: Inking With the Enemy

[thewhiteowl]

Rival Artists are forced to ink with their enemy; pressure is high and one rival gets sent packing

 

 

[MrsMoltisanti]

I actually liked Josh in this episode.  

[phoenix780]

The woman who dresses like a pin-up model from the 40s is already on my last nerve.  Always a smirk, actually saying something to another team during judging, randomly fighting with another contestant- it's so contrived. 

 

I need to hear from the canvasses who sign up for this.  It's setup to generate bad tattoos, there's not enough airtime to grab some fame/attention...I don't understand why anyone would offer up their body to this show.

[Kelda Feegle]

Looks as though it will be more about the personalities and the drama than the tattoos. The female contestant who continually derides everyone else can go, and go now. I'm fine with having a high opinion of your own work but the self-satisfied smirk and the attitude she displays are aggravating, and it is before she even sees their work. Fair enough she may know their work but not under the manufactured conditions of this show. 

I also don't understand if lettering is one of the first skills learned and Ty'eesha (sp) didn't do a good job of it why she wasn't the first one to go. Surely she should have a good handle on the basics?

[GreatKazu]

Pretty pathetic when I can't find anyone in this group to like. Usually I like someone off the bat, but not with this bunch. Is no one else watching this but us three? I need snark! I guess I am going to have to choose from the two returning artists as much as it pains me, because I sure as heck don't like anyone else.

 

I agree, the dark-haired pin-up-looking girl needs to already leave the show. NOW! Cannot stand her. The smirk, talking out loud, it just grates and she has no room to criticize.

 

I was glad to see rose-skull girl go. She thought so highly of herself, but her work was terrible.

 

I am getting a sense that this season is even more manufactured drama than before. People have been told to amp up the drama. It just reeks.

[Merneith]

It's so sad to watch this show on the same night as Face Off. I'm interested in seeing people do things I don't know how to do - like be a chef or groom dogs or do movie makeup or detail cars. I would be interested in watching a show about great tattoo artists doing great tattoos. It's sad that, with real artists on the staff, instead this wants to be a show about bullshit artists and their petty bickering.

Edited September 3, 2014 by Merneith

[CaptainCranky]

After watching the Scott debacle from last year and the manufactured personality conflicts of this year I'm going to pass. The show was good when it was about tattoos but the move to conflict and constant confrontation is a turnoff.

 

All I need to know about the show I can follow here on this comment forum.

[fifty8th]

Just watched, not liking the rivalry stuff, why did they have to change things up. The fighting/interaction has always been my least favorite part of the show it takes away from the tattoos.

[phoenix780]

I can probably deal with the amped-up drama quotient (probably), because it's so far beyond what's normal it's almost parody.  But it is really trying to get through.  And, they seem to have put more money into their sets- judging seemed to be in a creepy basement before, now there are levels!- which for some reason makes me think they should raise the quality overall.  

 

About watching it after Face Off- yeah, it so does not flow.  

 

Also, I know it's a show about tattooing...but the guy with the heart on his cheek, which appears to be some kind of brand with a piercing in the middle, creeps me out.  I hope he goes soon.

[leighdear]

I'm treating this show the way I treat "ANTM".  I keep my remote in my right hand and mute all of the conversation between the contestants during the challenges, in the waiting area and the talking heads.  

 

The only actual dialogue I listen to is from the judges during instruction, critique and deliberation.  I hear them say what's supposed to happen, see what happens, then hear what they say about what happened.  Then I see somebody leave the stage with a snarl on their face.  SO much easier than listening to the whining!  *LOL*

 

ETA: I'm a Josh fan too.  He was a bit of an ass on his season, but so many people piled on him for letting him get in their heads, I started to like him.  I want him to win this cycle.  

Edited September 4, 2014 by leighdear

[zxy556575]

Have tattoos ever been this uniformly bad before, even on the first episode? If that's indicative of the kind of quality we'll be getting this season, I'm not sure even FF'ing is worth my time.

[Katmai]

 

Just watched, not liking the rivalry stuff, why did they have to change things up. The fighting/interaction has always been my least favorite part of the show it takes away from the tattoos.

I totally agree. It's taken what I hated about this show and ramped it up.

 

I'm glad they only have one pair of returnees, I was afraid at the end of last season they would all be repeat offenders. Not sure I'll be hanging in here, watching it. The only thing I'll miss is Dave Navarro. (ducks head)

[honybr]

I totally agree. It's taken what I hated about this show and ramped it up.

 

I'm glad they only have one pair of returnees, I was afraid at the end of last season they would all be repeat offenders. Not sure I'll be hanging in here, watching it. The only thing I'll miss is Dave Navarro. (ducks head)

 

Yeah - I'm going to have to let this go this season.  Which is a shame because I love tattoo shows.  I'll miss Dave too.  

[ShadowSixx]

I will try to give it a shot but it will be hard. I like looking at artwork shows but Ink Master seems to be a never ending bitchfest. Scott & Halo are who kept me watching last year because they didn't complain if at all and welcomed all challenges when it came to actual tattooing. Sausage did to in the beginning then he became a whiny ass later in the season, so I'm hoping that there will be at least two inktestants that were like Scott & Halo, but right now doesn't seem to be. Maybe that girl who had to do the mechanics tattoo to stay in the competition, she doesn't seem all that bitchy and whiny.

 

Booberella can exit stage left already. I hope she gets taken down really fast. Most of them are just nasty people though.

[TattleTeeny]

The woman who dresses like a pin-up model from the 40s is already on my last nerve.  Always a smirk, actually saying something to another team during judging, randomly fighting with another contestant- it's so contrived. 

Oh my goodness, and why, why, why does she talk like her jaw is wired shut? Is it sexy? Ugh. And I usually reserve judgment, knowing that most reality-show people are often only as horrid or as awesome as a show's story line wants them to be, but I did not like her at all. I see a bitter woman who was mocked by her peers throughout her formative years. And now she's an oh-so-alternative mean girl because she'll show them! (I get carried away sometimes with hypothetical back stories.)

Also, come on now--I want to see tattoo work. I don't want contestant fights and drama. Project Runway seems to be able to do that for the most part, and focus on the work; I wish this show would too.

Edited September 5, 2014 by TattleTeeny

[tv echo]

I stumbled across this show last year and started watching because I know nothing about the art of tattooing.  I found the critiques interesting and informative.  But this new episode was virtually unwatchable - it was like Jerry Springer drama ratched up to the nth degree.

[thewhiteowl]

I still enjoy the tattoo parts.

[OriginalCyn]

What happened to this show? FFS, if I wanted to watch a bunch of whiny, petty drama, I would tune into Bravo (or similar crap on WE or Lifetime) that churn out obnoxious "Reality TV" drama en masse. I expect(ed) better from Ink Master, but it's morphed into a show that spends the majority of the allotted time on all the bullshit drama between a bunch of contestants I couldn't care less about and minimal time on the process of creating and executing of a kickass tattoo.

 

It's a sad reflection on this SpikeTV when Oxygen (a women-centric network) has Face Off, a competitive show in the same vein as this one that focuses on the tattooing and artwork and keeps the petty dramatic to a minimum, whereas Ink Master is akin to a low-rent version of The Real Housewives franchise with the bickering and in-fighting as the primary focus and the aspects of artwork and tattooing as an afterthought given minimal time and attention.

 

What in Blue Fuck were they thinking?!?!

[Stimpson]

I felt really bad for the woman in the corset initially because her rival seemed liked such a jerk.  Then she started tormenting other contestants and I realized that they're both horrible.  :(

 

I agree with the other that said that they've amped up the parts of the show that are unappealing.  I wish Sausage and Joey were rivals.  :( 

[phoenix780]

What in Blue Fuck were they thinking?!?!

Spike is for dudes, bro.  Face Off is on the geek channel, SyFy, and it's a lame contest where a bunch of weirdos compete to see who can put on makeup the best.

 

This is a man's show, where alpha dogs brawl and sometimes get LOUD as they battle for dominance to prove...who can draw the best.  And yeah it may seem childish or obnoxious or petty or ridiculous or over-the-top but, bro, that's just how it has to be.  Because, y'know, it's for dudes.  

 

I think that's their working theory.

[qtpye]

Yeah, I love the way Spike thinks men are only interested in brawls and boobs.  It's not like anyone with a Y chromosome can appreciate skilled artists producing fantastic tattoos.  By the way, the supposedly "badass" intro looks ridiculous with the tattoo artists facing off like MMA fighters,  These are people that do tattoos for a living, not street brawlers.

 

Usually, there is one or two people with talent that you want to follow.  Here, everyone is so busy talking smack that the work is suffering.

 

"You know what would make Ink Master better... less skill and more fights", said no one ever.

[Kromm]

Lord, I hate the gutter trash nature of this show.  Why do I watch?  Why?

 

I mean everything I hate about shows pushing drama is embodied here.  The judges suck.  The contestants suck. The drama sucks.  And yet I find the actual tatooing contest interesting.

 

Worst of all is having those two assholes Joshua and Jason back.  These guys are utter scum.

Edited September 14, 2014 by Kromm

[Kromm]

Booberella can exit stage left already. I hope she gets taken down really fast. Most of them are just nasty people though.

The women in general aren't long for this season.  They always cast shit female artists, but they may have hit a new low this time. Is it just MAGIC that the other Tattoo shows somehow magically manage to get competent female artists?  Of course not.  This show is misogynistic to the bone, even down to the casting.

[candall]

I had to laugh at the guy who was up in everyone's face with "Don't be underestimatin' and disrespectin' me!"  but was crestfallen when forced to use. . . color? 

 

Whoa, who could've seen a curveball like that coming in a tattoo competition?!

 

(And imperfect as it was, I would take his "rival's" swirly writing over that limp, pathetic little flower any day of the week.)

 

 

[bilgistic]

I started watching this one night this week and fell asleep. I am loathe to try again because of the "rival" angle, at if the bitching and pissing as each other in previous seasons wasn't bad enough. Who decided more fighting was better? Did Spike hire someone from the Bad Girls Club staff?

Edited September 20, 2014 by bilgistic