Episode Recap: Mortal Sins

After last week's grueling elimination round, many artists have a new perspective on the competition. Laney found herself not only on the bottom for the first time, but also lost perhaps her closest friend on the show. Roy, who was also on bottom looks, is full of fire to impress the living heck out of the judges this week. Eddie, who was in top looks with Miranda, is hungry for that feeling to return and decides to let his imagination fly in the next challenge.

McKenzie and Glenn meet the contestants in St. Brendan's Cathedral, an apt setting for immersing themselves in the world of the Seven Deadly Sins. Each artist chooses one of the seven apples in front of them, painted with the color traditionally associated with its sin, but don't find out until after they choose what that sin will be. Glenn advises that they find the essence of the sin before they start designing, and tells them the judges will be looking for a concept that is not the obvious choice.

Eddie chooses the green apple and discovers it represents Envy. He blends the divine punishment for Envy - having one's eyes wired shut - with the ornate stained glass windows of the cathedral to create broken panes of green glass for eyes. Tate, who has a fanatic love of Dante's Inferno, also draws inspiration from the church, and uses the gothic crown floating above the crucifix in his makeup, representing the eye of God watching the slothful character wrapped in a pit of snakes. He feels confident about winning already.

Less confident is Miranda, who draws a royal blue apple representing Lust. The punishment for that sin was to be swept up in an eternal whirlwind, so she makes a sweeping head piece, but has no idea how to incorporate such a muted color into her sexy makeup. Roy chooses to use Pride's alternate interpretation, Vanity, to create a bruised, scarred plastic surgery addict who has turned herself into a monster through her sin. He incorporates his color, purple, in the bruises and dress of the woman. Laura's color, red, is an intuitive match with her sin, Rage, and she uses the blood of a woman tearing off her own face to incorporate the color in her makeup.

Frank is very excited to be working on Gluttony and decides to create a fat suit that's so off-the-charts huge that it clears the "obvious choice" clause. The other artists aren't sure he's on the right track, but Michael Westmore seems to have no issue with the concept when he does his walk-through. Moreover, Frank molds a piece that weighs hundreds of pounds with lightning speed, and when it pops away from the clay as smooth as a baby's bottom, well - paint all the other artists green with envy! Soon after, when Miranda calls to him for help changing the head of the power washer - the hose that they use to clean molds - he turns her down, saying he has his own work to do. She begs for help and finally turns to Tate, who can't say no to a friend in need, and he solves her problem in an instant. Later that night, Roy has a tough love talk with Tate, reminding him that this is a competition and he can't sacrifice his own work to help someone else.

On application day, Tate sees this lesson in action as he has a ton of work to do and not nearly enough time to do it. He struggles to get all the pieces - a face, cowl, snake coiled around the body, another around the neck, and spiral staircase leading up to the crown of God - set and ready to paint. He manages it all, but finds he hasn't incorporated his color of baby blue into the piece. He prays that the touches he gives the makeup in last looks will be enough.

Indeed it is, for on judgment day (aka the reveal stage), the three judges and special guest judge Bryan Fuller (creative force on Pushing Daisies and Hannibal), love the amount of work and visual storytelling he was able to accomplish. He is in top looks along with Miranda, whose Lust demon features an impeccable application and startlingly beautiful paint job. Tate wins the challenge for choosing an alternate concept for the sin that nonetheless conveys Sloth, while Miranda's makeup lacked a little va-va-voom for a lusty wench.

On bottom looks are Frank, who, despite his intentions, chose the well-trod path to Gluttony and only incorporated his color, orange, by having the fat man hold the orange apple from the lineup in the cathedral. Roy joins him on the elimination platform for a messy application and avoidance of the clear markers of plastic surgery addiction: Grotesquely raised eyebrows, oversized cheekbones, fat lips, and the like. Although the judges were impressed by the amount of work Frank did, and the verisimilitude he produced in the paint job for the skin, they felt he didn't stretch his imagination for the concept, and he is sent home. He's glad he had a chance to right some past wrongs, and goes home with a sense of relief.