Face Off Season 11 Episode 7 Recap: Puppet Masters
Welcome to the Face Off All Stars episode 7 recap. For this week’s challenge, Puppet Masters, the artist will create skilled trade-inspired marionettes.
Welcome back to your favorite Face Off recap! This week’s episode is all about puppets. But first, we need to find out who’s going home from last week’s challenge.
Last Week’s Losing Team
At the end of last week’s Wasteland Warriors challenge, the three teams with the bottom looks didn’t go home. The judges gave them one more hour to make suggested improvements. Gage and Rachael, Logan and Adam, and Keaghlan and Melissa went right to work. They all tried their best to respond to the judge’s comments in the allotted hour.
Check out their improved makeups:
The judges thought Gage and Rachael didn’t do enough to elevate them above the other teams, so they’re going home. And it was their first time in bottom looks! But Glenn reminds them that this is Face Off All-Stars and the competition was tough, so they shouldn’t feel bad.
This Week’s Challenge
The remaining artists head back to the lab, which is full of rusty old tools of all kinds. McKenzie asks what would have happened if Geppetto weren’t a wood carver, but a blacksmith or stonemason. Pinocchio would have been a whole different marionette. The teams need to pick a group of tools to represent a different type of trade that they will use to design their puppets.
FACE OFF — “Puppet Masters” Episode 1107 — Pictured: (l-r) Keaghlan Ashley, Melissa Ebbe — (Photo by: Jordin Althaus/Syfy)
- Cig and George: Goldsmith
George explains that he has a ton of puppet experience, so I’m expecting a lot from him this week. - Emily and Tyler: Tailor
Tyler and Emily and doing a marionette ballerina that the puppet master designed to dance for him for eternity. But she’s old and beginning to break down, and literally come apart at the seams. Emily is really excited because this challenge allows her to be whimsical and still stay true to the assignment. - Logan and Adam: Stonemason
Their idea is a stone sailor made by a guy who does counter tops, whose wife left him. They’re super amused by their own idea. - Keaghlan and Melissa: Blacksmith
Keaghlan’s dad is a welder so she knows how metal works. She’s pretty excited about their choice. Their puppet will be a blacksmith’s apprentice. - Ben and Evan: Tanner
Uh oh, they are feeling uninspired. These two are just sitting there feeling dejected. Ben and Evan have been on the bottom a lot and they’re second guessing themselves. They finally settle on an idea that they’re not excited about. They’re ALSO doing a golden ballerina. Their goldsmith puppet maker made her to replace his daughter.
FACE OFF — “Puppet Masters” Episode 1107 — Pictured: (l-r) George Troester III, Cig Neutron — (Photo by: Jordin Althaus/Syfy)
Lab Work
Everyone gets to work, and Michael keeps mentoring time brief. He suggests that Ben and Evan expand their color palette beyond just gold. Lab day ends with no more major mishaps, although everyone is slap-happy with exhaustion.
FACE OFF — “Puppet Masters” Episode 1107 — Pictured: Cig Neutron — (Photo by: Jordin Althaus/Syfy)
At the start of application day, Cig and George find that their extra thin foam piece is raggedy, but they patch it right up. Emily and Tyler are gluing latex to their model to make her look stitched together. The contestants are on to painting in no time.
FACE OFF — “Puppet Masters” Episode 1107 — Pictured: Melissa Ebbe — (Photo by: Jordin Althaus/Syfy)
Ben and Evan start spraying their model gold, but they’re having some problems with their prosthetic transitions. Emily makes a fuzzy face from mole skin and a disposable razor. Keaghlan and Melissa run into a problem when Keaghlan “dusts” over Melissa’s paintwork, and they have a disagreement about whether or not it looks like metal. Melissa feels like Keaghlan is obliterating her work, so when Keaghlan is done, Melissa goes back and repaints it again to make it look what she considers more authentic. This is not teamwork, you guys.
FACE OFF — “Puppet Masters” Episode 1107 — Pictured: (l-r) Logan Long, Adam Milicevic — (Photo by: Jordin Althaus/Syfy)
Last Looks
In last looks, Ben and Evan are still down. They think their paint job looks flat and they know the appliances really stand out from the model’s painted skin. Cig and George, although they are going for a silly look, realize it didn’t turn out that way at all. They decide their giant cowboy hat with steer horns is just too ridiculous and don’t include it in the makeup. So Cig wears it instead, of course. They get rid of a bunch of the other silly appliances they’d made, too.
FACE OFF — “Puppet Masters” Episode 1107 — Pictured: Benjamin “Ben” Ploughman — (Photo by: Jordin Althaus/Syfy)
Face Off has a special guest judge for this episode. Suzanne Todd is the award-winning producer of the Austin Powers movies and Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland. Let’s see if Cig and George made the right call with those props, and if Ben and Evan manage to stay out of bottom looks for a week.
Top Looks
Cig and George: The judges all think their tanner clown is fun. Glenn loves the tiny details. Suzanne loves the 3D effect and Neville says leather work on the latex is so good it makes the real leather look bad. They explain to the judges that the took of their goofy elements and Ve says she’s really happy about that. She says it looks like a dirty old toy, and she loves the touches of color. Neville is impressed with the precise resolution of the details and says it looks genuine. Suzanne agrees and says it’s beautiful. The details and the texture are accurate and exciting.
FACE OFF — “Puppet Masters” Episode 1107 — Pictured: Makeup by Cig Neutron and George Troester III — (Photo by: Jordin Althaus/Syfy)
Emily and Tyler: Their tailor-made ballerina is amazing. The judges are just knocked out by how, as Neville puts it, “they basically flocked the face.” Suzanne just loves it and calls it a triumph. She asks Emily how she got the texture on the face. When Emily tells them, Glenn says “Are you serious? That’s unbelievable!” Glenn says it’s the details that overwhelm him. It’s gorgeous weathered and perfectly balanced. Ve calls it exquisite and says you could put it right in front of the camera, right now. Suzanne wants to see a whole movie of that character and Ve cannot say enough about the delicately hued palette. It’s a full character that feels like it has a background story.
FACE OFF — “Puppet Masters” Episode 1107 — Pictured: Makeup by Emily Serpico and Tyler Green — (Photo by: Jordin Althaus/Syfy)
Keaghlan and Melissa: The robot is a lot of really nice work. They even worked in a “gag,” as Ve calls it, with a little smoking chimney pipe for their robot’s exhaust. And the light-up elements, including a furnace on the back, are just beautiful. Glenn likes their intelligent concept but thinks there’s something missing in the face. Ve’s favorite part is the fabrication and all the little details. Suzanne agrees. She also likes the patina painting and the rivets. But their sculpture didn’t quite nail it.
FACE OFF — “Puppet Masters” Episode 1107 — Pictured: Makeup by Keaghlan Ashley and Melissa Ebbe — (Photo by: Jordin Althaus/Syfy)
Bottom Looks
Logan and Adam: Adam has a very fun and detailed backstory about the puppet maker accidentally buying magic building materials at “The Philosopher’s Stones,” but Glenn is not impressed. He says it’s exceedingly problematic, uneven and wonky, although they did do a ton of work. Ve says it doesn’t resemble stone, and except for some strings on his arms, there’s no nod to the puppet element. Neville doesn’t think it’s actually visually funny at all, and not well-crafted. He says it feels remedial. Glenn tells Logan and Adam that they can be silly, but they have to take the work more seriously.
FACE OFF — “Puppet Masters” Episode 1107 — Pictured: Makeup by Adam Milicevic and Logan Long — (Photo by: Jordin Althaus/Syfy)
Ben and Evan: Their golden ballerina’s mask stops at the hairline, which makes no sense, although Suzanne points out that the 3D joint work is nice. But the blending isn’t smooth because human skin has hair on it (thanks for pointing that out, Ve). Evan and Ben admit they had a tough time; Neville says he can tell. He says they did use the touches a goldsmith would have used on his work, and it’s a missed opportunity. Suzanne notes the uneven paint job between the skin and the appliances. Glenn says their decision to make the head like it’s wobbling on a ball joint was a huge mistake. The neck joint disrupts the flow of the whole design, and he says they should have used hinges there, like on her joints. Nothing about it really says goldsmith.
FACE OFF — “Puppet Masters” Episode 1107 — Pictured: Makeup by Benjamin “Ben” Ploughman and Evan Hedges — (Photo by: Jordin Althaus/Syfy)
This week’s winning team is, totally not to my surprise, Emily and Tyler. Glenn calls it an absolute coup for them. They have immunity for next week’s elimination challenge and my continuing admiration. There are no losers this week, so Ben and Evan are safe.
Next: Face Off Season 11 Episode 6 Recap: Wasteland Warriors
Ben and Evan know they’re in trouble if they don’t get their act together. Evan hopes they can find a winning formula. Time for some positive affirmations, guys! Believing in yourselves is half the battle.