S06.E10: Hell on Wheels

[ElectricBoogaloo]

The artists have to paint their most valuable canvas yet. One of the artist's tricks cause suspicions.

[HunterHunted]

As speculated by everyone with working eyes and ears, Chris began turning on his cabal. Unfortunately for his lackeys, they were too stupid to notice it until they were underneath the tire treads.

I didn't think Chris' tattoo was such a clear cut winner. It was super saturated and I liked how the grenade texture faded into the heart, but his had a bi-lobed grenade. I just thought it looked weird. Compositionally, I loved Craig's. And because every other "heart morph" tattoo looked weird except for the grenade, I think they reverse engineered this challenge to try to find things that wouldn't look too bizarre when morphed with a heart.

Edited September 3, 2015 by HunterHunted

[phoenix780]

I would love for the guest judge to become permanent.  She's blunt without being rude, her comments seemed really perceptive and relevant, and she called something out on Dave's I'd never really thought of (how it would look with a certain kind of clothing).  

 

On the flipside of that, I'm ready for Nunez to go.  I think he makes up his mind and looks to confirm his opinion.  Dave's was terrible, but to say that he's consistently hated Dave's drawings the most seemed unnecessary, as was his comment about how the real competition starts now as opposed to what feels like months ago.

 

I was glad to see Katie pull it out.  She reminds me of the Tootsie Pop owl, which is probably part of why I like her.

[Rancide]

Wait.  There's someone named Eric on this show?  

[Demented Daisy]

Where was the "suspicion" bit?  I must have missed part of the episode.

 

In any case, what a terrible hour of television.  At the end, it was like a pack of hyenas taking down its weakest member.  So many suppressed smiles -- Katie, I am really disappointed in you -- and barely reined in glee.  It was disgusting.  I may not have liked Dave's work, but he didn't deserve that.

 

Speaking of not deserved, at least two women were called bitches.  One in anger, one in admiration.  Also disgusting.  

 

As I said a few weeks back, Chris is a stereotype of a Marine.  The Marines I know have compassion for their fellow soldiers, sailors, Airmen, and Marines.  His behavior towards Dave was revolting.  I've never seen anyone break down a fellow military member like that.  I don't care if it's a game.  You're supposed to have each others backs.

 

I miss Best Ink.

[OakGoblinFly]

Where was the "suspicion" bit?  I must have missed part of the episode.

 

In any case, what a terrible hour of television.  At the end, it was like a pack of hyenas taking down its weakest member.  So many suppressed smiles -- Katie, I am really disappointed in you -- and barely reined in glee.  It was disgusting.  I may not have liked Dave's work, but he didn't deserve that.

 

Speaking of not deserved, at least two women were called bitches.  One in anger, one in admiration.  Also disgusting.  

 

As I said a few weeks back, Chris is a stereotype of a Marine.  The Marines I know have compassion for their fellow soldiers, sailors, Airmen, and Marines.  His behavior towards Dave was revolting.  I've never seen anyone break down a fellow military member like that.  I don't care if it's a game.  You're supposed to have each others backs.

 

I miss Best Ink.

 

 

So do I, so do I.  

 

This show is like a terrible car accident; I know I shouldn't look, yet I find I can't help myself.  I don't think the work has been that fantastic, the contestants for the most part are pretty reprehensible, the clients moronic, and the judges unreasonable.

Wait.  There's someone named Eric on this show?  

 

 

That was my reaction too ----- I do like his idea of letting the others take themselves out and 'quietly' produce ----- that seems like a smart move, especially with the egos left.

[Luciano]

Nuñez genuinely smiled when he voted for Katie as the winner of her group. I felt like a Camp Chippewa camper looking at Wednesday Addams smiling.

[BigBlueMastiff]

 

I was glad to see Katie pull it out.  She reminds me of the Tootsie Pop owl, which is probably part of why I like her.

One...two...three, ha, ha, you nailed it.

 

I didn't think Dave's was worse than Eric's, too bad he blindly trusted Chris, huge mistake, but dude had no backbone.

[hkit]

I was glad to see Katie pull it out.  She reminds me of the Tootsie Pop owl, which is probably part of why I like her.

 

I know Katie's doppleganger, down to the mannerisms and the bright red lipstick. For no other reason, that has endeared Katie to me and I really like her.

 

I thought her tattoo was way better than Chris's. The flames around the tattoo looked a little off to me.

[psychoticstate]

Damn it, I was hoping that Dave would last longer.  At least he competed honorably, which is more than some of these chucklefucks can say.

 

Chris, you can take your "we're a team" b.s. and blow it up your own ass.  Craig, you can shove it too.  What happened to Chris being the puppetmaster?

 

Maybe I just don't understand how to play the game properly but if you were Craig, wouldn't you be gunning for someone you consider your competition, like Matt or Kruseman?  Obviously he couldn't go for Chris or Erik, since they were all picking skulls.  Wouldn't it make more sense to get the perceived greater threats out of the way now and let someone like Dave (who Craig considered subpar) coast toward the finale and therefore ostensibly hand Craig the win?

 

I liked Katie until last night.  Like Demented Daisy, there was no reason for the gang up on Dave.  Unless there is footage unaired, he was never nasty to anyone.  He seemed to keep his head down and go to work.  I'm not understanding the glee in the harsh criticism given to him.  Speaking of, Nunez was off base.  You can say you don't like the tattoo but there is no reason to say you have hated his artwork from day one.  Funny how it was just mentioned last night.  Did Nunez forget that he should be gunning for Tyler?

 

I relish the thought of Chris and Craig getting their asses handed to them.  I am going to root for Erik now (and he does have the right idea to stay as neutral as possible for as long as possible.) 

 

I'm still missing Josh.

[Hana Chan]

*sigh* - Another week of subpar tattoos. Who's brilliant idea was it that the best way to show artistry is by doing a heart-morph image? Even the best tattoos (low bar) were pretty unappealing.

 

I have no argument with Chris having the best tattoo of the night (again, low bar) and Matt coming a rather close second, but the rest? Varying degrees of meh to awful. And I hate to say it, but Duffy's tattoo was the absolute worst of a bad lot to me. Dave's might have (as accurately described by the guest judge) looked like his lion was being dissected and it wasn't a very pleasant image, but at least I could tell what the hell it was. Duffy's heart/grenade thing with the piddling little "pop" was a blurry mess. I can't say anything at all positive about it. I'm glad the canvas liked it, but she's probably the only one. And of the two, I believe that she should have been the one going home. That will probably be next week because she, like others, have done absolutely nothing this season that's impressed me. And don't get me started on Kruseman's mess... if he hadn't done previously some very strong work, he would have been a reasonable candidate to go home and I was surprised not to see him in the bottom because he deserved to be there. And damn it Craig, but it's possible to tattoo color onto darker skin! We've seen it before. Don't blame the canvas because you can't saturate your colors (or pick good colors that will show) appropriately.

 

As for Dave... I felt for him. He basically got thrown to the wolves and I'm sure that it's probably something of a relief at this stage for him to get out of there. He just lost his will to fight and that's never nice to see. In a way, I can understand why everyone was turning on him - he'd totally lost his backbone and in a hyper-competitive situation like this, the others saw weakness and attacked. No one in that scene came out looking good..

 

I'm still missing Josh.

 

Seconded....

[TattleTeeny]

I did not love Dave's tattoo. But I thought it was much better than Duffy's. And despite his worry, I think the color turned out pretty good. I really didn't love love any of them but I am a big fat sucker for color and, in the context of this challenge, I dug Chris's and Katie's. 

 

That reminds me: Katie's so inconsistent! I recall really liking some stuff she did early on (though maybe it was the "real-life" work they show us during the first episode), and I remember telling my BF, who hadn't seen the first couple of shows, that I thought she'd be a contender. Then, it seemed like in every subsequent one he watched with me, she was kind of blah. 

 

I too miss Best Ink, man. So much less "fluff" and drama.

Edited September 2, 2015 by TattleTeeny

[Hana Chan]

I miss things like the pinup challenge. Or portrait week. Can very much do without hearts morphing into things that have nothing to do with hearts and make no sense whatsoever...

[cpcathy]

Pinup and portraits are my two favorite weeks! (even though we have seem some pinups on crack!)

It's because I only draw people, not good at anything else. I hope they don't skip them altogether. I remember when Craig did a pinup who looked like she was sitting on a toilet!

[qtpye]

The pinups challenges are infamous to me in "so horrible you can not look away" manner.  It is during these challenges that you realize most of these artists have no idea what a woman is or supposed to look like.  I never thought it was a good idea to sign up for this show as a canvas, but if you find out that they are doing a pinup challenge, run and never look back.

[LoneHaranguer]

For the flash challenge, I liked the more aggressive design better, but the judges had a point in that it didn't really suit the Dodge. Somebody should tell the designers that a muscle car should look the part. Who was the sponsor last time around? I'm fairly certain the artists had more cars to work with that time and didn't have to triple-up.

[BigBlueMastiff]

 

The pinups challenges are infamous to me in "so horrible you can not look away" manner.  It is during these challenges that you realize most of these artists have no idea what a woman is or supposed to look like.  I never thought it was a good idea to sign up for this show as a canvas, but if you find out that they are doing a pinup challenge, run and never look back.

See I feel the same way about the portraits. I would never trust these contestants to do one.

[WickedTuna]

Is there anything Chris hasn't done? It seems like on every challenge he's been doing it since birth. I bet if next week's challenge is to tattoo kids' names on moms he'll say he knows what the moms want because he's given birth. I wonder if he believes all the bullshit he's spewing. He is such an asshole and I thought the military stuff was below the belt.

I loved Tyler's car a ton more than the others. The stitching look was so cool. I thought Chris' flames on the other car sucked. They looked blurry to me.

[Charlesman]

Way to foreshadow Dave's exit with suddenly dropping the PTSD stuff in the middle of the episode. As soon as that started... "Well, he's going home."

[PepperMonkey]

Chris, who I refuse to call a Marine because he gives Marine a bad name, and Tyler are AWFUL. Chris is a talented, sadly, tattoo-er who will likely win this whole thing, but Tyler sucks. His artwork sucks and they keep talking about how technically proficient he is, but I haven't liked any of his designs so screw technical, he sucks. I hate those huge gauges that he and Craig are sporting, so I can't wait until he's off my screen completely. I'm wondering when Chris will turn on him.

 

I really liked Craig his first go-round on the show, but I have not been impressed at all with him, especially on the past two outings. The colours are so blah. And if he is using dark skin as an excuse, shame on him. Neither of those two canvasses had skin so dark that colour saturation should be a problem. He'll go far, though, so I'm resigned to watching him waste an opportunity to take out a strong competitor so he can have his petty little vengeance against people like Dave.

 

I don't care for Katie at all. She enjoys other contestants' misfortune a bit too much for my taste. Especially when her reaction to Dave's critique had NOTHING to do with her and as far as I can see, Dave has never said anything bad about anyone in the house. The only thing he ever said about Craig was that Craig didn't respect him. And he was smart, playing the game well, when he gave Craig a tough canvas. That's what most people with half a brain would do, Craig.

 

Dave was never going to win, but it was a little tough to see his little heart broken when he realized Chris had backstabbed him. And then for Chris to talk about being a soldier, I mean, oh my gods. THEN Tyler has to chime in and say something about Dave being done. I hate Tyler's personality to the point of wanting to throw stuff at my teevee when he's talking.

 

I don't really care who wins this whole thing, they are all so meh or douchebaggy. Josh Hibbard FTW!!!!!!

Edited September 2, 2015 by PepperMonkey

[Nutjob]

Dave.

 

DAVE.

 

This is exactly what I was talking about last week. Alliances are STUPID in this context unless you are working with everyone else to give the hardest canvases to the strongest artists. Otherwise you are just handing the win to someone like Chris. Dave might be a nice guy, but he was too dumb to stay in the competition.

 

Matt FTW.

[LoneHaranguer]

 

I don't care for Katie at all. She enjoys other contestants' misfortune a bit too much for my taste. Especially when her reaction to Dave's critique had NOTHING to do with her and as far as I can see, Dave has never said anything bad about anyone in the house.

You can't trust any of the reaction shots. If it's a wide shot where you can see both the judge speaking and the reaction, fine, Otherwise, it's likely you're seeing something recorded at another time and spliced in. You can sometimes see the disparity between the wide shot and the "reaction" when they focus on the contestant, and it looks like they're reusing the reaction shots. I'm sure they're filming some TH's in advance too.

[iLoveNny]

Jeez-ow,

Now I have seen almost all every episode of this show and last night was the most brutal gang up i have ever seen. I literally went and checked his facebook page to see if Dave had gone and killed himself. That was the height of bullying and it was so gross. The thing is Dave was at best a middle of the road tattoo artist and he really seemed to be a quiet keep to himself guy, much like Erik honestly.

 

Additionally, on said facebook page he said he has received a bunch of flak, some from vets, about him using his PTSD as an excuse or straight up not believing he has it. WTF people? 

[Demented Daisy]

Watched again because my husband fell asleep during the show last night (lucky guy) and realized that Krusman did it again.  Instead of doing what the challenge called for, he did what he wanted to do.  And he got away with it.

 

Sheesh.  This show.  And I say that without an ounce of affection.

[themiki]

Dave reminded me so much of Napoleon Dynamite's brother. It's hard to picture that guy in battle. He didn't deserve the asshole bully crew coming after him, but I feel like this show tries to weed out contestants who aren't complete sociopaths. Remember how on Best Ink we could root FOR people instead of just rooting against the ones we hate? Ink Master makes the entire tattoo world look bad. It sucks. 

 

I hate Wreck-It Ralph or Chris or whatever that douchebag's name is. He makes good tattoos though, and this is a contest for tattoo artists. Too bad it's not a contest for dressing like a six-year-old and name-dropping the Marine Corps. He'd have won it all already. 

 

I'm rooting for Matt and Eric. Not because I like them, but because I don't actively hate them. Katie is tolerable, but I feel like she's one of those bullied kids that would flip sides and join the bullies if given half a chance. She's got the soul of a mean girl, even if she was too weird to actually become one. Duffy is out of her league, but at least she's a decent seeming human. Craig is mediocre with occasional moments of glory. I feel like he'd produce really nice work if allowed to work is his own style, but he is not versatile enough to win this competition. And I keep forgetting Tyler exists the way you all do with Eric. He's just such a caricature of an ego maniac tattoo artist pretty boy. It's like my eyes glide right over him when he's on stage. 

[azshadowwalker]

I liked Katie until last night.  Like Demented Daisy, there was no reason for the gang up on Dave.  Unless there is footage unaired, he was never nasty to anyone.  He seemed to keep his head down and go to work.  I'm not understanding the glee in the harsh criticism given to him. 

 

Dave has his spent his time there crawling up Chris's ass and being part of a stupid "alliance" meant to target other artists. And Matt and Katie (because she's Matt's apprentice) have been targets of that. So, no, I don't agree that he's kept his head down and worked. He has been a stooge for Chris for weeks now, and I can see Katie being pleased with him or any other of that group getting sent packing. Of course, that's taking the "reaction" shots at face value, as mentioned above.

Edited September 3, 2015 by azshadowwalker

[HaymakerHattie]

I think I'm in the minority here when I say that I find Chris's strategy totally fascinating. The show's gone from "remember it's on my DVR on, like, Saturday afternoon" to "must watch live" in just a couple of episodes. I think the producers had a pretty clear idea of where the season was going to go and who was going to get eliminated when, and Chris has come in playing a totally different game and is starting to screw that up. Personally, I love it when a savvy reality contestant breaks the game. And I don't think he's going to win -- I think he's being set up for a huge fall, which is yet another reason to keep tuning in. 

[TattleTeeny]

I don't feel like his strategy is ultimately going to make a difference but it does seem like he is putting some thought into skull picks beyond "let me give that jerk a hard one"; he's also thinking about how to make others feel indebted to him. Not really what I'm looking for on a show like this (it's more appropriate for Survivor, I think) but it's kind of interesting. 

[Monty]

"Artistry" is the vaguest, dumbest theme they've come up with in six seasons of this show.

[qtpye]

Dave reminded me so much of Napoleon Dynamite's brother. It's hard to picture that guy in battle. He didn't deserve the asshole bully crew coming after him, but I feel like this show tries to weed out contestants who aren't complete sociopaths. Remember how on Best Ink we could root FOR people instead of just rooting against the ones we hate? Ink Master makes the entire tattoo world look bad. It sucks.

 

 

You hit the nail on the head.  It was killing me trying to figure out who the heck he reminded me of.  He is like Napoleon Dynamite's brother with a Salvador Dali mustache.

[Ciarrai]

Really Chris? You managed to get rid of St. Marq and now you're stepping in his jerk role? You're not the godfather of tattooing.

[90PercentGravity]

Wait.  There's someone named Eric on this show?  

I had the exact same reaction. Who the heck is this guy? Did he sneak over from the Face Off set?

[azshadowwalker]

Really Chris? You managed to get rid of St. Marq and now you're stepping in his jerk role? You're not the godfather of tattooing.

 

I think it's a matter of dueling assholes, but we weren't supposed to know that until after Marq left. Chris got some kind editing early on is what I'm saying.

[AnnieBananie]

I had the exact same reaction. Who the heck is this guy? Did he sneak over from the Face Off set?

 

I could have sworn I'd NEVER seen this guy before. As in, this was his first episode.

Edited September 8, 2015 by AnnieBananie

[ShadowSixx]

Hulu is so slow at updating this season. This episode is the most updated one and I decided to hold off on saying things about previous episodes because I wanted to get a feel for the artists and quite frankly they all suck with the exception of Dave and Eric with their personalities. The tats have been subpar at best and maybe if they concentrate on producing good work instead of gunning for whoever, they will be better off. 

 

I don't understand this show with it's contestants wanting to purposely have a contestant put bad artwork on a canvas even if it's free. I would avoid all these artist's shop because of their work and personality. 

 

I noticed Eric, he's just a silent assassin I believe who isn't too warped up in all the drama and rather do work. Eric did stand out in the beginning of the season but dropped down to the middle of the pack because of his work and not being heavily featured. I guess he's not giving douchebag jackassery in his TH. I liked Dave as well because he wasn't about the drama and didn't berate his fellow contestants.

 

Chris, Tyler, and Craig are just unbearable to watch and they can't exit fast enough. 

 

I agree that the female guest judge should be a permanent one and replace Nunez. She knows how to give out critiques without sounding like a jackass, but of course no jackassery no show.