The Scholar, Episode 4: Teenage Drama

We begin this week with a look at last week’s ratings. Once again, The Scholar came in fourth place behind reruns of Still Standing on first place CBS, Nanny 911 on second place Fox, and Fear Factor on NBC. I’m a bit depressed by the show’s poor ratings, but I’m still convinced that part of it is due to lack of advertising. I encourage any of you who have not yet done so to throw some emails in ABC’s direction (netaudr@abc.com) and encourage them to up the promos for the show.

The show opens with some mutual flirting between Liz and Davis. He likes her, but she has a boyfriend. Liz lets us know that she’s been nothing but loyal to her boyfriend and that Davis has been nothing but courteous to their situation. However, in the very next scene we learn that Liz’s relationship with her boyfriend is rocky at best. They’ve already broken up and gotten back together five times. Davis encourages Liz to get out of Buhl, Idaho, but she’s still uncertain about her future.

This leads into our first flashback, starring Liz, who, according to the pattern set in our previous three episodes, is likely the first of our finalists this week (although, I’ll admit that we are to a point where things may change, and they may be detailing her just to fit everybody’s profile into the show). We see a few shots of Buhl, and it has a nice small-town charm to it. Liz’s math teacher shares with us that Liz is one of the best students he’s had in his 32 years of teaching. She’s taken all the math courses offered at her school, so she’s now studying discrete math (i.e. statistics, number theory, etc.) on her own.

We’re then treated to Liz’s audition tape (I wonder why they didn’t do this with any of the others so far). She sings about all of her accomplishments to the tune of “The 12 Days of Christmas,” while in voiceover Liz tells us what a dork she is. She’s involved in theater but realizes that avenues towards a steady, well-paying job in theater can be difficult to find (especially for a person that lives outside of any major cities), so she also pursues a future in math. Her father shares that he doesn’t think the bar has ever been set high enough for her.

Before the Captain’s Quiz, Alyssa, Davis, and Jeremy share their concern on the confessional cams that there are only two spots left.

Rob Nelson introduces the next Captain’s Challenge, a puzzle map of the United States. However, not every state has a puzzle piece representing it, so it will all come down to who can arrange the existing pieces the fastest. Davis is excited by the format and quickly assembles his map, clocking in first at just over five minutes. And I may be wrong, but it sure looks like the existing pieces correlate with the red states from the 2004 Presidential Election.

Davis, who thinks he’s smoked everyone, suddenly looks down and notices South Carolina sitting off to the side of the puzzle. Shortly after that, Liz clocks in. Davis starts to panic until he notices Liz laughing. Looking at her map, he realizes that she’s missing Utah. Rob calls time and points out the mistakes they both made.

Scot was the next to buzz in, but he’s “all over the map,” according to Rob. Not really, Rob. Everything is pretty much in the right place. He just needs to push Indiana, Idaho, and Montana a tiny bit to the right. Amari was next, but she left out Georgia. Did they just drop their pieces on the ground, or what? Rob says that nobody completed the puzzle correctly, so Davis and Liz are the captains, I guess because they buzzed in first with only one error.

Later, Davis shares with Liz that there is legislation and there’s law enforcement, and that he’s more of an executive than a legislator. What about the judicial, Davis? Last I checked there were three branches to our government. Apparently he wants Liz to be his press secretary. Sounds kind of condescending to me. “I’ll be president, and you can be the person who tells everyone how great I am.” She suggests being his vice president instead, and he replies, “we’ll talk about it.”

It’s time for Davis’ background sequence. He wants to make it to the White House and feels that if he is not in political office in 15 years, then his future plans would have changed drastically. His English teacher describes him as a Renaissance Man, describing his involvement in National Honor Society, the Beta Club, the National Honorary Math Society, and theater.

Davis doesn’t like to be described as cocky. He feels that is an unfair assessment and that it’s actually confidence that people notice in him. He simply knows what he’s capable of doing. I disagree. I think it is cockiness. Let’s think back to an exchange that was made in the first episode. Somebody asked him if he thought that he was better than everybody else. He responded, “I know I am.” That’s the difference between cockiness and confidence. Confidence is being aware of one’s abilities and being able to act on them. Cockiness is announcing that confidence to everybody else and claiming superiority. Admit it, Davis – you’re cocky. Nonetheless, you also had the second background sequence, which means you’re apparently going to the finals again this round.

It’s time for the Team Challenge, and the scholars enter the Robert Zemeckis Center for Digital Arts. Run, Forrest, run! Sorry, couldn’t resist. Anyway, they discover that today the Team Challenge will be for them to become moviemakers. Both teams will write, shoot, and edit a two-minute short film based on one of three provided quotes:

1) “To be or not to be, that is the question,” from Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

2) “Those who dare to fail miserably can achieve greatly,” from JFK.

3) “You can discover more about a person in an hour of play that in a year of conversation,” from Plato.

Personally, I would choose the second or third quote, since the first one is overused in the media almost to the point of cliché.

The Scholarship Committee’s Peter is excited for the chance to see the team dynamics during this challenge, since filmmaking can really try a person’s patience. He feels that it will be a real challenge and that it will be interesting to see the teams pull it off.

Each team will receive a film editor and technical advisor, and their films will be shown to USC students and faculty. The competition will be judged by veteran producer Bruce Block, the producer of such hits as Father of the Bride and As Good as it Gets.

In addition, each student on the winning team will receive a 20-day trip to Europe compliments of S-T-A Travel, including airfare, accommodations, and a first class EuroRail train pass. Wow! I’ve got to admit that I’m pretty jealous right now. 20 days in Europe sounds like such a blast! I wonder if they get to travel together.

The teams are now picked. Team Gold consists of Captain Davis, Melissa, Max, Alyssa, and Gerald. Team Red consists of Captain Liz, Jeremy, Milana, Scot, and Amari. Things are looking up for Jeremy, who goes from being picked last and second-to-last for the previous challenges to one of the first picked in this round. On the other end of the spectrum, Amari is rather frustrated at being picked last again, but she doesn’t feel as bad this time because the S.C. has already taken her to the Final Challenge before.

I see potential trouble in the makeup of Team Gold, since Max and his two “girlfriends,” Melissa and Alyssa, are both on the same team. Forget the movie, now it’s time for some real drama.

Bruce explains why the script has so much importance. It doesn’t matte how good the actors are or how well it’s shot; if they have a bad script then they’ll have a bad movie. This is significant, and I think the winning team will likely be defined by the quality of its script.