Total Drama Review Week 40: Million Dollar Babies

Poor Leshawna, that spa thing just keeps getting worse and worse for her. At least she was able to turn it around and stay in the game though. This was one of the few truly surprising eliminations of the season, and I think it shows the evolution of Duncan and Harold. We’ll get to all of that, but there’s a lot to unpack in this episode.

First off, this was a really solid episode. All the challenges felt fun and interesting, and the match ups were good, balancing character work and movie references. The boxing round gave us some great moments with the “Ms. Tyson” line being my favorite. My favorite moment of the entire episode though is the monologue from the badminton movie. The entire scene was just perfect, giving a look into Chris’s past, an explanation for the challenge, and a quote I use to this day. The other challenges were fine, but these were my favorites.

The true shining star though is the character work. The drama was already there from Duncan and Courtney as per usual, but Beth revealing Leshawna’s trash talking really amped it up, after she was just starting to earn back everyone’s trust. The best part is though, Beth is a nice girl, and probably would have kept quiet if not for Leshawna talking about her boyfriend during the badminton round. Duncan and Harold were actually impressed by her cheer though, which was the only thing that kept her in the game, and although Heather going home was shocking, it really shouldn’t have been. Gwen voted herself out, and DJ voted himself out. This was the first time the Gaffers truly had to vote someone out, and no one really ever liked Heather. With Heather finally gone though, the final three Gaffers have to decide who goes next.

The Grips finally caught a break this week, which is good considering the state of their team. Lindsey and Beth are still tight, but Courtney and Justin have no allies left. Their team is in bad state, but as long as they keep winning it won’t matter. Courtney got the best of Duncan for the second challenge in a row, and it looks like that might continue all season. It’s a really interesting setup, and makes for a good back half of the season.

All in all, I like the episode, and I give it an 8.5/10. See you all next week for “Dial M for Merger.”

PS- There is a badminton movie, Chris was right.

Tags: total drama