This week on Project Runway: Joshua's seething resentments are scarier than his public blowups; the designers take a field trip to Governor's Island for inspiration; and surprise guests in the workroom! This week's guest judge is actress Zoe Saldana.
Taking the designers out of the workroom at this point in the competition seems like both an effort to recharge their creative batteries, and an attempt at letting them decompress. When the group reaches Governor's Island, Tim tells them to draw inspiration from the outdoor sculpture installations scattered around the island. The designers take off on golf carts to explore, and Josh immediately gravitates toward a church and an old, military cannon. (I have to rewind twice, but he does in fact call it "artillerary".) Those are not sculptures, Josh. I have the sneaking suspicion this group considers this a hearty outdoorsy adventure.
The designers have $500 to spend at MOOD, but when Laura reaches the register she realizes she has $700 worth of fabric. "She thought I said $5,000," quips Tim. Laura trims her budget and the designers return to the workroom, where they must create three distinct looks ("Not three dresses," warns Tim) to send down the runway. And then that pesky velvet bag comes out, and the designers are wary once again of a team challenge.
Never fear, egomaniacs--the producers are merely bringing back the last five eliminated designers to act as your seamstress/sounding board/slave. Kimberly picks Becky (the best sewer), Viktor chooses Olivier, Laura chooses Anthony Ryan (who had an off-camera falling out with Viktor, who openly snubs him), and Anya chooses Bert, which leaves Josh with Bryce. Hey! That's the first time Bert wasn't picked last.
The workroom drama is far more understated than in past challenges, as Josh keeps his anger at Anya for winning the last challenge, with the $20,000 prize, at a low, rolling boil. Bryce does an amazing job at keeping Josh focused, and helping him scale back ambitious, and ugly-sounding design ideas, like a plastic, stained-glass window effect garment. Anya notices Josh's attitude, but there are no direct confrontations. The designers plug away at their three-look lines, criticizing each other in confessional interviews but remaining largely quiet in the workroom. Olivier continues to struggle with the mere existence of breasts, but other than that it's a lot of sewing and nodding and sewing.
