The Mole, Week 5

I'd say that tonight was a fairly tame episode of The Mole... except then there was that ending in which Kristen, basically my one and only candidate, was executed! Now I'm back to square one. But let's take things in order.

The first challenge, All For One, was an intriguing setup. This game was more about trust than any that's come before, and it comes deep enough into the game that trust is at an all time low. Basically, I think it was another game in which the Mole didn't have to lift a finger. I would have bet money that there was no way all seven players would escape without someone taking the exemption. And so all the Mole had to do was take the key and walk away when his or her turn came, resting confident that the remaining players would screw each other after you left them.

Except they didn't! So that was my first shock of the evening. And I suspect it came as quite a shock to the Mole as well.

Then there came a long chunk of interpersonal drama. This was much more normal "reality show" fare, and wasn't about the gameplay that The Mole delivers so well. But I can't say I was disappointed by it, because it culminated in that hilarious impromptu song by "Van #2" about being "Paul free." That was just awesome.

Of course, it turned out there was a very good reason so much of the episode was devoted to drama outside of a mission: the last mission ended practically before it began. Everybody banded together and quit, giving Craig the exemption. Color me floored for the second time tonight that not a single one of the players was willing to even attempt the task assigned to them. Everything I said two weeks ago, about how coming on this show means checking your dignity at the door, still applies. I can't understand not even attempting the task, even if you're the Mole.

But again, it means that the Mole didn't have to do anything in this mission -- just go along with the crowd. So to sum up, I think it would be virtually impossible to look at either of these two missions and form suspicions about who the Mole is.

Except that I think I'm now bound to try, because Kristen's gone! So let's face it -- I'd be out of this game now, having completely frakked up last week "taking my quiz" with the assumption it's her, and having had the odds go against me on that on almost every question. (Oh, as a side note, I found it very gratifying to hear not one but two players talk about the strategy of "playing the odds" tonight.) But let's pretend that somehow, I'm still in the game. Time to get me a new candidate.

The strongest evidence I think you could use at this point would be to know that both last week with Victoria's execution and this week with Kristen's, the results came down to a tie. If you knew who either of them thought was the Mole, you could absolutely eliminate that person as a suspect. Of course, the show was edited too carefully to give us that information outright.

It turns out that the Mole is off next week, returning July 14th with a "recap with new footage" and the 6th installment. So I think I'll plan on reviewing "where I went wrong" and coming up with a new theory during the missing week.

Until then, I'd love to hear what you handful of Mole watchers are thinking now.