The Starlet Finale: Your Name in Lights

So here we are.

Finale time.

By now you should have read the recap of last week’s episode and you’re ready to see which of three women remaining will take home the title of The Starlet, not to mention the huge contract to be on the WB’s One Tree Hill, a management deal, and all the works which I’m sure probably doesn’t include a Slurpee from the local 7-11. That, folks, would be a deal breaker for me.

So who is going to win this thing?

Will it be Mercedes, who came on strong in the first episode but has seen her value diminish through a series of self-conscious snafus on the commercial and comedy challenge? One reader told met that she thinks Mercedes reminds her of an Isabella Rosellini or Juliette Binoche type. I can kinda see it but hmmm. I dunno.

Will it be Michelynne, who is fresh off the bus from Minnesota with no training whatsoever but has been the judges’ darling week after week? The judges have always marveled at how inexperienced she is but love how she keeps giving it her all each week and in every competition. Oh and the girl has won two Diva Suite Challenges as well.

Will it be Katie (my pick and therefore guaranteed to lose), who has steadily grown through the competition but at the cost of friendships with the other women? She might not have won a Diva Suite Challenge like the other two women but she has excelled ever since the commercial competition. Yeah there was a bit a of a flub during the comedy challenge but I personally blame Cecile more than I blame Katie.

Well, it will all be revealed TONIGHT, people! TONIGHT! Are ya ready?

Now, since this is a Mike Fleiss show, we have to start off the finale with a HUGE ten-minute recap of the entire show. I’m not going to bore you with all of the details because you’re fabulous and you’ve read all of my recaps, right? Trust me folks, I’m saving you about ten minutes worth of show filler. You will thank me for this later.

Basically we’re just going to jump right into the actual Screen Test Challenge and not even worry about doing a Diva Challenge. Well, okay, there’s a little scene with Katie drying her hair in one bathroom while Mercedes and Michelynne do their hair in another. Or maybe it’s just the same bathroom but since they can’t stand Katie, they just decide not to share the bathroom with her.

This week’s screen test is from an actual scene from the WB show One Tree Hill where the winning Starlet will take their spot amongst the cast. This week’s scene involves Peyton having to perform a dare in the most sacrilegious of places – the confessional booth. We see the scene start off where she pulls out a card and reads that she is supposed to say that she is having impure thoughts about… are you ready for this…

Impure thoughts about her neighbor’s dog.

(Cue sounds of retching in the Devinney household.)

Of course she doesn’t actually say that as much as she just starts going on about how she wonders what her mother would think of her given all of the stuff that she has done from cocaine to probably cow tipping as well. Granted, she doesn’t say cow tipping but apparently this girl Peyton is one crazy chick. Quick note on cow tipping, just make sure the direction you push them in doesn’t have a big cow pattie on the other side and your friends aren’t standing on that side of the cow.

Michelynne is up first for her scene and we see her working to bring up the tears she’s going to need to do the scene. Of course we don’t see the full scene but from what I can tell, she breaks the first cardinal rule that we learned all the way back in Episode 1 when Andie and Andria got the cut – build up the crying, don’t just put it all out there. I’m assuming that since we only saw one take of this scene that she ultimately does it a few more times but from what we can see it’s okay.

Mercedes is up next and she stops the action even before it begins and takes a moment to get herself in the right mindset before she dives headfirst into her scene. We get to see a little more of her scene and know that she does at least two takes if not more before she’s finally satisfied with what she has done. What we get to see here that we didn’t see in Michelynne’s scene… okay it’s more like hear since we never see the person… but we do get to hear the director ask if she wants another take or if she’s okay with what’s been shot. Also, Merecedes is a little pouty in her scene as well. Her forehead always seems to be wrinkled or furrowed as if she’s really trying to either dig in deep and get the emotion out or she’s really trying to remember her lines.

Katie is second and she immediately flubs a line since she’s not supposed to read the part about having impure thoughts about her neighbor’s dog. We get to see a little more of her scene and the number of takes and mistakes that she makes along the way and it looks like an okay scene. Compared to Mercedes and Michelynne, her scene is pretty much tearless and more of a true deep reflection on the part of the character as she contemplates her prior actions. Katie tells us that she’s been listening to the criticism she’s been given and wants to make sure she puts it all to use.

And that, folks, is the entire competition!