Season 4

[Ancaster]

Since no-one else has started a thread, I thought I would, even though I think the whole season may have aired already.

[Ancaster]

I'm still so enthralled by watching them do their stuff, and seeing the range of techniques some of them have.

I am not enjoying Karen or (older) Ryan.  I'm sure they're very talented and well known in the art, but they could both do with a little humility.

It must be so much fun for the judges and guests to stand above the shop floor and watch all the artists at work on their different pieces!

[LoveIsJoy]

Yes, I basically binged the series.  I got so tired and annoyed at all of the smug, self-satisfied trash talk (I’m a bad ass, I’m so creepy and creative, I’m here to win, blah, blah, blah) that I had a hard time rooting for anyone.  And of course, the person I disliked most ended up winning, though it was probably deserved.

But I will say that this group of artists have excellent skills.  I’m sure a lot of the talking heads were reality show tropes and producer-driven, but it didn’t make for an enjoyable viewing experience for me.  Frankly, I prefer the camaraderie, humor, and humility of shows like The Great Pottery Showdown and GBBO.

[RoxiP]

Oh that makes me sad because I have only watched the first two episodes and I fear the person who is the most smug and arrogant is the one who wins...and as you said - probably deserved but not enjoyable.

[dleighg]

As with other seasons, I wish they showed the technique more. And the "earth mother" person drives me batty. She's so over the top, and I also think her stuff is a bit "gift shop"-ish if you know what I mean.

[RoxiP]

I agree about that contestant (Karen?).  She definitely marches to the beat of a different drummer.

[dleighg]

That whole drawing on glass or the floor with chalk seems so fake. I guess it's like the illustrated drawings on the Great British Bake Off that shows what they are going to make, but I always think that this is NOT how glassblowers actually plan things.

Why is the floor always wet for the presentation?

[Shelbie]

Just finished watching the season. Found it to be meh.
Karen irritated the hell out of me and I was glad when she was eliminated.  Morgan was talented but she was so delighted with herself for being edgy and twisted that I rolled my eyes a lot. I preferred the black glass installation. 

[Fireball]

3 hours ago, Shelbie said:

  Morgan was talented but she was so delighted with herself for being edgy and twisted that I rolled my eyes a lot. I preferred the black glass installation. 

 

I also preferred the black glass installation!  

[dleighg]

Morgan didn't bother me that much, but I thought her finale was kind of disappointing.

[chaifan]

I enjoyed the season, but I will admit to not paying as much attention during the "creation" phases as I used to.  Maybe I'm just not as enthralled with the glass making process, having already watched 3 seasons.  But I still like seeing the results.

I would like to see the assembly portion occasionally.  Like for the episode with the glass panels, I would have loved to see how the glass was affixed to those panels. 

I hate not having a thread for each episode.  I really can't remember enough about earlier episodes to comment at this time.  I agree with some of the criticism on Karen.  I like her big personality, but yeah, I could see her being a bit much for a lot of people.  She is incredibly talented, and I liked that the younger contestants were a bit in awe of her.  But yeah, enough with the birds!  Morgan's dark side schtick got a bit old, but again, she is talented.  As an installation, I thought she deserved the win in the finale.  Ryan's all black display was stunning, but I didn't see much there from an installation standpoint.  It didn't say anything to me.

I really liked Gemma, and considering she's only been doing glass blowing for 5 years, compared to 4 or 5 or 6 times that for the other contestants, I thought she really held her own.  I'd love to see what she's doing in 10 years. 

[redpencil]

I don't know if other contestants did this as well and I just didn't notice, but I felt like there were multiple times where they were supposed to do a certain technique or whatever and Morgan talked about how she doesn't do that technique. That kind of annoyed me. Not that I thought she was complaining really, just that it felt like she kind of kept in her box a bit too much. I did think they were probably the correct two in the finals based on the work they did, they I preferred Ryan.

[Bruinsfan]

I think both the final three and the ultimate winner were the right choices on the part of the judges. So much creativity and skill were on display! In terms of the overall body of work I think Morgan had the advantage, and while her installation pieces might have lacked the impressive craftsmanship of Ryan T's I think they were (considered as a whole) more powerful conceptually.

I wish Ryan B., had gone earlier, like maybe even first, so I wouldn't have had to listen to him so much. Unlike Karen, his personality didn't seem to be balanced out by the actual glassblowing chops to back it up. Though I have to admit his kraken for the Dark Side challenge was as creepy as anything Morgan came up with, and arguably his best technical work.