"The Mole" Season 1 - Recap and Analysis

"The Mole" Season 1 - Recap and Analysis

(Warning: This post spoils the entire show, including who the mole is.)

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Here's an old show that I loved. I decided to watch it again and do a little recap, with some analysis. It's on DVD (for cheap), if you want to watch it again, or experience it for the first time.

Episode 1

What reality show would open with a dictionary definition?

Well, The Mole does. Between that introduction, the cheesy road sign that simply says, “The Mole”, and the intriguing, seductive soundtrack that you hear through the series…it’s all about the atmosphere. If there’s one thing that this show does right, it’s the fact that it easily puts you into this adventure and espionage story. The European setting (with the castles, churches, elaborate hotels, even the simple town streets) is a definite draw. Although for this first part, we begin in the Mojave Desert.

We get a few shots of some players arriving – and already we have our first mole “clue”, if you can call it that, but I’ll talk about that in a bit. We get introductions to our players, with a little profile of who they are and what they do, as well as a five- to ten-second clip of them at a later point in the game. Most of these clips are simple and merely show a funny or interesting side of their personality. Charlie’s clip, for example, shows him describing how a Mole would keep their cover. The one exception here is Kathryn (who, as I hope you all know, actually IS the saboteur). Her clip is of a later game, where she has an argument with somebody about who to put the blame on for a loss. First of all: it’s kind of a spoiler, as it shows her in a game that doesn’t take place for a while so viewers shouldn’t have to worry for her safety. But secondly, it contrasts with the other mini-clips in that it seems to portray her as the drama queen of the group, and one who will get into a lot of arguments. It might be a trick to throw the viewer off her trail: she can’t be the mole, she’s too obvious and in-your-face.

At the road sign, all ten players spend a few minutes mingling and getting to know each other. The one interesting thing here (in retrospect, of course) is that almost everyone seems to be talking and laughing with others, waving their hands and showing great enthusiasm…….everyone except for Kathryn. She’s just standing back with her hands in her pockets (though Steven is doing this too), a complete opposite of what her previous clip just showed. She seems shy and timid. And knowing what we know now, it makes sense. Everyone else is here to play a game and have fun. But she is here to slit their throats, cause mayhem, and prevent them from winning the money. She’s very conscious that she is going to be analyzed by all of the other players and she’s keeping a low profile – probably for fear of letting something slip in the first five freakin’ minutes. She’s actually doing exactly what Charlie said in his clip: “You train them to blend into the background, don’t stand out; be a part of the woodwork.”

Anyway, they are all whisked away in helicopters and the first test begins: they must all parachute out of a plane and earn $75,000. It’s a simple test, and one that the mole (wisely) does not tamper with. It’s an easy way to earn a base number for the group pot and begin the game on a high note. There are really only two things of note in this game: first is that Manuel shows some concern about the jump and you can see him muttering “I love you [various family members’ names]” right before he jumps. It’s sort of heart-warming and paints him as an underdog, one of two that the season will have, with the other being Kate. But he enjoys the plunge and ends it by telling the camera, “If I walk away from it now, it was worth it.” Ouch. Foreshadowing, if I ever saw it. There will in fact be a few instances of foreshadowing Manuel’s immediate departure.

The other interesting point is that the tension-moment comes when Charlie and Jennifer take forever to come down. Did they chicken out? Are they fucking with us? Do we have our first mole activity? The others see a parachute landing off in the distance, way off from the target. Then in an oddly-edited moment we see the two of them emerge and reunite with the other eight. They ask what happened and Jennifer says, “They said go, and we went, but it was too soon.” Anderson kind of cuts them off by saying they still got the money. I’m still not exactly sure what happened. It sounded like they jumped out too soon and missed the target but no one really mentions it again or finds it suspicious. So, whatever.

The gang heads to the airport. They see that the flight info board reads just: “The Mole - Destination: Unknown”. Again, kind of cheesy but it keeps the mystery in the forefront.

In this intermission period, we get a few insights into some of the contestants. Jim is built up as the goofball that keeps people laughing but he also shows cunning and intelligence in his confessionals. Afi has a very fun and energetic personality. She resembles a kid in a toy store when she spots the Mole departure time at the airport, jumping up and down and pointing at it. And while in Paris, the group is allowed to meander through town as long as they stick together and are back before midnight, or else they lose $10,000. Manuel dresses up for the occasion and insists that they forego the 10k for a once-in-a-lifetime night out in Paris. The group shoots it down though, and it’s actually kind of sad. Between this and the parachute jump, Manuel is shown as the guy who doesn’t care so much about winning, he would rather have fun and enjoy the experience. It’s probably what costs him at the end of the episode.

There’s also a weird diversion where half of the group must repack everyone’s belongings into an official Mole bag. Henry and Jennifer come across Afi’s notebook and do a little snooping. This is mildly surprising since in season 2 there is a penalty for going through another person’s diary without permission. Although in that case it was after they had switched diaries with another person, and Patrick went back to his old one and tore out some pages that he thought could compromise his suspicions. But there doesn’t seem to be blowback for Henry and Jennifer. And in a comical moment, Charlie tries to help out fellow detective Steven by economizing the space; and that involves packing only one shoe. Ha! At the end, there’s a shot of Steven looking confused as he holds one shoe, looking for the other as it fades to commercial.

In the next game, they must memorize info about the players, and Kathryn and Afi have to solve equations to get a PIN code that works at a certain ATM. There’s nothing super interesting about the info presented, except that Charlie and Kate are the only two people who haven’t had their heart broken. I’m thinking it could be a generational thing, where being in a partnership was a lot more respected or cherished in previous decades than it is now, where couples fall in love and break-up on the fly. But anyway, it’s not particularly game-relevant.

Kathryn suggests Jim accompany Afi to the ATM. She probably thinks two heads will be pulled in different directions, thus slowing them down. She was sort of correct although they still get there in time with the right code. In the seclusion room, the other players are chatting and Charlie gives his “blend into the woodwork” speech, claiming Wendi is the perfect candidate for that job, and (kind of condescendingly)  adding, “As cute as you are!” It’s not going to be the last time he speaks before thinking. Back at the ATM, Jim hatches a great plan: they hold the money hostage in exchange for an exemption for the three of them. This is a bit odd as well. Obviously they were told about exemptions pre-game and Jim pipes in that there is no rule saying you can’t negotiate. What this tells me is that Jim is really playing this game hard. He’s always thinking and trying to find flaws in the system that will help his game. Apparently it works because he made it to the final three.

They return to the group and Anderson says there were some complications, asking Jim to elaborate. It’s funny trying to watch him back-peddle. “There were no complications……I mean, I don’t know what you’re talking about.” It’s clear he doesn’t want to reveal to the others that he tried to screw them and show his hand so early. But he fesses up to it and says, “but we decided against it.” Yeah, right. I’m pretty sure production told them they couldn’t just ask for exemptions willy-nilly. Nice try though. Then they get some REAL bad news when they reveal a camera monitoring the seclusion room once the crew had left. Wendi broke the rules by discussing the information on the screen and asking Charlie about never heaving his heart broken (hey, I guess it WAS game-relevant after all!). The group tries to determine who asked the question, and Kate has a funny little moment when she jerks her thumb at Wendi sitting next to her, and Wendi, looking embarrassed, says, “I think I said it…” It’s a “BUSTED!” face for the record books. In confessional, Henry also points out that Charlie actually answered the question when he didn’t have to.

So even though it seems Kathryn tried (and failed) to sabotage the ATM game, the damage was done on its own. I also like these hidden-camera tests. For one, it’s an extra way of showing sabotage, but it also works to help curb contestant tampering, which the crew was probably worried about. They got this out in the open early on to prevent it from happening again.

Before the quiz, the players sit down to dinner and Steven finds a note from the mole wrapped in his napkin. He tries to quietly pass it off to Kathryn next to him but is forced to read it. One of them will leave tonight. Manuel begins to sing, “And now, the end is near…”, another moment foreshadowing his exit.

It’s quiz time. Charlie notes Kathryn’s status as a lawyer. Manuel tells us his top suspects are Kathryn, Steven, Jim, and Charlie, who all happen to make it to the final four. But he probably spilt his answers up to cover all those bases and it ends up hurting him. He is the first player executed, and the mole finally shows some emotion as she starts to cry. Kathryn later said she really did feel bad for playing a part in Manuel’s departure.

As the credits begin to roll, there is a message that says the order of skydiving was changed for dramatic effect and one test segment was eliminated from the show, and neither of them affected the outcome of the game. I’m curious as to what the lost segment was. But I appreciate the production crew went with full disclosure as to how the show was edited.

In the finale they revealed two clues in this episode. The first is that Kathryn was the fourth player to be seen arriving (without a vehicle) and there are four letters in “mole”. It’s probably the most vague and circumstantial clue the show could give out. Charlie is the fourth player to be shown during the intro sequence, why couldn’t HE be the mole? How about Jennifer? She’s the fourth one, alphabetically! The other clue is when Anderson holds up the new Mole bags, he’s holding up Kathryn’s as an example. This one is better, I guess, but still very random and it’s only a clue because they told us it is. Season 2 is a lot better at giving these hints, and they do more of them.

Episode 2

As usual, the episode opens with confessionals. Jim shows his funny side again by pretending he’s confessing to a priest. Jennifer lets us know that Jim is her “buddy”, and “…it’s not because we’re both gay but you can go ahead and think that.” This is the first mention that either of them are gay. I actually forgot about this line, which led to some confusion in a later episode.

Side note: Afi is listed as “the future doctor”. A little presumptive, but funny.

The next game begins in the middle of the night, when some really creepy dudes in ski masks enter Steven’s room and kidnap him. It’s kind of horrifying, when you think about it. Imagine waking up in the middle of the night to see masked strangers break into your room and say you’re being kidnapped. I forgot exactly why Steven was chosen but I think it had to do with the note he received in his napkin the previous week, the same one he tried to pass off to Kathryn under the table. But regardless, his absence is noted the next morning and Jim reveals yet another creepy nugget for us: that he heard noise outside his room, peeked under his door crack, and saw someone put tape over it. I’m a little unsure why this was necessary. It doesn’t really matter if someone heard footsteps or saw feet, they were going to find out anyway. But it contributes to the “horror movie” atmosphere in this episode.

Now the eight players have to find him. This is one of my favorite games because it involves separate groups having to work together, using clues around them, and with multiple routes to success. The boat has binoculars but is the most limited of the three vehicles (and ultimately sort of pointless since the helicopter can cover the same ground, and then some). In the van crew, Kathryn can do some damage by splitting people up and insist that they’re in the right location. Eventually the individual vehicles put their clues together and determine where Steven is located. Although Steve himself is suspect when he claims he hears a helicopter even though it was 25 miles away. I’m still not sure if he really heard one or if he was deliberately trying to throw them off.

Henry and Jennifer find Steven’s location but need the others together before they can open it. Jennifer runs off in the wrong direction. Then comes one of my favorite parts of the challenge when Henry connects to the other group on the talkie and says, “Look to your left, I’m waving wildly.” Then he just moves his hand in a slow motion, the complete opposite of “wildly”. Then he tells them: “Please wave to confirm. Perfect, I see the wave.” He’s very professional and specific about the whole thing which I find hilarious. He even refers to the helicopter as “Dragonfly” and the van as “Road Runner”. I like to imagine he just made these nicknames up and everyone else rolled their eyes at him.

When time runs out and Jennifer is still gone, the game is lost and for some reason they toss their keys randomly on the ground! Did you guys forget Steven is still locked in that mask? They could totally lose the keys, and no one seems to try and get Steven out – they just complain about Jennifer. She returns four and a half minutes late and has a blowout with Henry. When they finally do open the door up, Steven has a great one-liner: “Would everybody shut up and get me out of here?”  He did not seem amused by their quarreling while he was locked up in a closet two feet away.

The next game is the Cartier watch game. It’s fairly simple and is dotted with great Anderson Cooper moments that solidify him as a great host. One minute he’s sitting on some steps, mocking them by saying “Took you guys long enough,” and the next minute he’s eating a sandwich and muttering, “Makes you wish you had studied French.” But the mole is in this game, and Kathryn tries to stall by making useless phone calls. Surprisingly, the motherly Kate basically puts her foot down and says “no”, claiming she needs time to climb back up to the starting point. As I alluded to before, this establishes her as an underdog and she has to stop multiple times to catch her breath. Even with that, they make it up and correctly deduce the fake watch. Kathryn lets slip that she knows more about the game than she’s supposed to by saying, “I think we should just pull the trigger.” They hadn’t been told the watch would be destroyed by a sniper. But neither Kate nor Henry picks up on it.

There’s a quick scene of Charlie snooping around production vans, and a hidden cameraman peeks out from the balcony and says, “I wouldn’t get in there if I were you.” Charlie gets a well-deserved slap on the wrist.

The third game is the maze run but none of them make it to the end. It feels like a horror movie with the slow-motion running and seemed doomed to fail from the start. That’s probably why Kathryn jumped on the watch game. For the first-time viewer, Wendi looks shady here when she claims she can’t hear Afi in her headset and then when the game is over, “Now I can hear just fine.” Shady. But this challenge does succeed in weakening some strong friendships, albeit just slightly. Steven & Charlie, Jim & Jennifer, and Wendi & Afi all experience some communication issues and wonder if their new best friends are possibly the mole.

In the end, Afi is executed. It was a shame, since she had a lot of energy and seemed to really enjoy the game. Wendi laments that the two people she connected with most (Afi and Manuel) were the first to go. The girl has the kiss of death, apparently. Production once again lets us know that due to technical difficulties time was added to a test and an additional trial was allowed, but not shown, on another test. The maze game was the only one with “trials”, but I’m not sure which of the others had time added. My guess would be the watch game.

Episode 3

We once again open with confessionals. It’s your standard fare, with people talking about strategy, suspicions, and their mental state. The private confessionals are one of the pillars of reality TV as we get to see the spinning gears in the contestant’s mind, and it’s a place for them to be completely candid with us. And what intriguing psychological insight does Steven wish to share with us today?......”What do I know? I’m just a simpleton here, trying to get through. One round at a time.” Steven is such a chill guy, it’s almost scary. He says stuff like this from time to time.

In the van, Charlie is getting cranky and fed up with these people. It will be a running theme, especially this episode. Currently he’s complaining about – of all things – the lack of air conditioning in the van. He’s sandwiched between Wendi and Kate, leaning back in his seat like a child. Kate doesn’t want the air on at the moment. Which leads to one of my favorite Charlie quotes: “Obviously we’re at diverse ends of the air spectrum.” And he does it with a straight face. This is planting the seed for his big blow-up coming soon.

During a group meal, Anderson probes the group to see how they feel about friendships and how you can’t be truly trusting of them in this game. Jim once again shows how game-savvy he is by rationalizing lying to people because they all came here expecting it. He comes off as a very “I’m in it for myself” player and this once again is a seed that will come into play next episode.

The first game today is in the bull ring and it’s more of a “courage” game like skydiving as opposed to a strategic one, and nearly as dangerous. Kate, Jim, and Charlie all fall flat on their asses, with Charlie actually drawing blood. It’s almost comical how you see him get hit by the bull and it quickly cuts away to everyone looking freaked out, with dramatic music playing. If you didn’t know better, you’d think the guy just died. But everyone is okay in the end. My favorite line is Henry taunting the beast: “Come on wit cha bad SELF!” Jennifer becomes a badass by literally wrestling with the bull in order to perform the tienta, and Steven actually wants to do it TWICE. Although the bull is small, and the horns aren’t that big, it’s still too dangerous of a game for Kathryn to pull any shenanigans.

The group camps outside the bull-ring and things get tense when Charlie drinks too much and starts saying some very hurtful things about Kate: “I hate Kate. She’s an asshole. She was probably born in an asshole. She just has to be herself to be an asshole.” It’s extremely uncomfortable but to her credit she seems to take it like a champ, knowing he’s just a drunk guy who is spewing nonsense. But you feel bad for her. This is what I meant when I said Kate is set up as an underdog and there is going to be payoff for that at the end of the episode (although she loses all her stock again in episode four).

The next game is the laundry task, and nothing really interesting happens. I’m not usually a fan of the games where they must go around town looking for help (be it laundry, or making pizzas in season 2). Jennifer is stuck with Henry and Charlie, her two least favorite people, but no drama emerges. There’s an attempt at drama by revealing there were some unwashed socks in Charlie’s bag (and they have to go back to that house to clean them) but you don’t see them scrambling for it, so it’s no big deal. It’s really just an attempt to narrow it down to five players for the dice game.

The dice game is fun. Steven doesn’t want to pose nude (and apparently we learn from [Wendi?] that he talks about sex all the time, though we never see it). Jim doesn’t want to put two casts on his legs, which is probably the most suspicious thing in this game. The casts are only on for a few hours, and Jim is a goofy guy who is always up for something crazy, so I don’t see why he wouldn’t do that. If I was a newbie watching this that would definitely put him on my radar. Kathryn refuses to shave her head, and she conveniently has a good excuse: she’s getting married soon. A terrific alibi for the mole that nobody questions. Wendi is the only one of the first four who does her task: getting put in a stockade.

When everyone (except Kate) reunites and learns how their challenges went, there’s a weird moment when someone asks Kathryn if she won her money, and she kind of mumbles, “I have no idea”, before telling what happened. It’s a really weird thing to say. Why don’t you just say “no”? I think this is an instance where her paranoia of being discovered as the Mole went a little too far, an auto-reaction kicked in, and she felt she had to lie. But once again, no one really picks up on this. The high point of the evening comes when Kate appears with two casts, a ball-and-chain, green hair, and a nude portrait of herself. She saved the money for the group! Everyone is so ecstatic (Jennifer practically turns into a crazy lunatic), even Charlie is impressed. It’s a great turnaround from the camping scene, and Kate is now the hero. More than that, she got an exemption and Charlie says she deserves it. Score one for the underdog! For now.

Then Jennifer privately says about Kate: “Congratulations on being a hypochondriac.” I have no idea what she even means by that; it doesn’t seem relevant to the tasks. Oh well.

The players take their third quiz. They should now firmly have a top suspect for the mole. Hey Steven, would you like to give us some insight into your thinking process here?.......”Just practice my meditative breathing and I’ll be okay, I think.” Okay. Cool. Be that way.

Wendi is executed. It’s only fitting, since her two best friends already left. We’re now in the next phase of the competition.

Episode 4

In confessional, Steven says that someone is starting to get on his nerves a bit more. There is a slight implication that it’s Kate but he doesn’t outright state it. Jim, meanwhile, is getting all Machiavellian on us: “The rules entail duplicitousness, dishonesty, and above all: winning for yourself, not the team.” It falls in line with what he has told us previously but that is about to be tested.

The group chooses Kate as the person who could use some relaxation – so she’s still cashing in on all the goodwill from the dice game. Then Jim tells us that they should start seriously considering who they send off to do a different task, and he’s basically saying that he doesn’t have a lot of confidence in Kate. Despite her big win with the dice, she’s still in the underdog position. And she’s once again offered a possible exemption but this one would require betraying the group and forfeiting the money. It’s a real tough call, made even tougher by the fact that she has already gotten an exemption the episode before.

The laser tag game begins and Kathryn purposefully does little to help the team. It’s another easy sabotage and it was completely overshadowed by the arguments that arise later. And now I bring you back to Jim’s words about playing for yourself, and not the team. His pal Jennifer is trapped, and he decides to basically make a suicide play in order to free her; he runs out and gets hit by a commando in order to distract them from her. His sacrifice basically goes against his earlier statement. Granted, helping the team meant more money would be added but it’s an interesting look into his moral compass. It’s possible his bravado is all words and when it’s time to get into the action he can’t help but get his feelings involved.

Jennifer finds Kate and they run for the end zone. There’s a communication breakdown (probably because Kate hasn’t had much experience in these types of situations and can’t voice her ideas clearly) and Jennifer is taken out. She screams once again. She does that a lot. Everyone gathers back together and the blame game starts. Not that it matters because Steven was still alive and the two women broke the rules by leaving the church before he was at the bell. And as if Kate couldn’t dig a deeper hole for herself, she sees Steven is still alive and tries to shoot him in hopes of an exemption DESPITE THE FACT THAT THE GAME IS ALREADY OVER! You can kind of see Steven go into cop mode by immediately pushing her gun away, saying “you shouldn’t play with guns”. I think it may have been an instinctive reaction from his job training. They all learn of the possible exemption and Jim defends Kate by saying anyone would have done it. But would he have done it to his friend Jennifer, despite sacrificing himself for her not five minutes ago? Guess we’ll never know.

Kate also tries to put blame on Jennifer by claiming she never saw the light go on when Jennifer was trying to communicate with Steven on the talkie. There’s more fallout from the challenge as Charlie calls Jennifer an ignorant broad. He insults her further by saying, “Good night, little girl” as he leaves. Jennifer shoots back that he needs some Viagra. And Kate, after riding high on her dice victory, is once again the low man on the totem pole. And now everyone is kind of pissed at everyone … except Kathryn, as luck would have it.

There’s a short scene of Henry predicting who the next victim will be, based on his dreams. Will he be right? (Hint: No!)

The next test is pretty fun. Group 1 answers brain teasers to earn money. Group 2 answers the same teasers and LOSES money. Group 1 must find the room again and stop them before they lose too much. The teasers themselves are pretty easy but that’s necessary in order to give the game some urgency. Jim is the one who races around the university to find the room but it takes some convincing to get Group 2 to stop. Anderson specifically stated beforehand that there is a trap in this game so if I were Group 2 I would be more inclined to trust Jim. Charlie is unsure though. The thought process being Jim (and maybe others) would get an exemption if they successfully curbed Group 2’s progress. It’s another great dilemma that the Mole producers were able to put together and it ends up being Steven who decides they stop. It really shows his trust in Jim, which is a friendship that is at the core of their success in the game.

The contestants get a phone call home and Charlie continues to be Mr. Cranky-Pants as he tells his wife he’s not happy and wished he never signed up for this. Although Kathryn is technically the villain of the show since she is trying to sabotage their efforts, Charlie is actually the most hostile of the group and the one doing the most complaining. Luckily he still makes a great character. Jim gets a voicemail on his call and he does a funny eye-roll and head-shake; classic Jim stuff. There’s another hidden camera test as a producer leaves a notebook alone with each person. Nobody takes the bait, except Kathryn, who was instructed to do so. The logic is that it diverts attention off of her (because why would the Mole need to sneak information themselves?), but I think if there was a penalty attached to it, it would make her seem MORE suspicious. When this is revealed to the group, they laugh it off, which surprises me. I’d have been pretty agitated with her trying to cheat.

At the execution, Henry is given the red thumb print. He wasn’t the most memorable character of the ten but he still had some moments. They look at his dream prediction, which listed Charlie. A little anti-climactic, I’d say. Would have been great if Henry had listed himself.

Episode 5

Anderson sets the scene for us (all of these were apparently filmed at the same time, since he wears the same outfit and is in the same location every episode) and gives us another hidden clue: “…and Henry paid the price. He was the mole’s fourth victim.” Again, the number four, and Kathryn’s last name is Pryce. This one is actually a pretty decent clue compared with the first two. The confessionals reveal that Jennifer is concerned that Jim and Steven are hanging out more. She’s discovering what the audience will later learn is a coalition. Everyone says they miss home and family…except Jim, who just misses flying. His head is totally in the game, and there’s little homesickness. Another mark of a good player.

The group splits up into Smart, Stupid, and Resourceful teams. Kathryn has a good sabotage for the Resourceful team by spending time working on the van, knowing it would break down. It’s not very suspicious, since repairing the van is what anyone would do. When it finally does clunk out, they hop on a bicycle and scooter the rest of the way. They randomly cut in a shot of a car screeching as it drives past them. It’s never explained what that is, so it’s always kind of funny when I watch it. Jim and Jennifer get in a Smart Car, which gets a few nice product placement shots along the way. You can tell this is from 2000-2001, as Anderson compares it to Mini-Me from Austin Powers, and tries a laughably bad Dr. Evil accent. Oh well, not even Anderson Cooper is perfect (though he’s close).

Kate and Charlie are told they could potentially double the pot if they steer the Smart team away, and have only the Resourceful team make it to the hotel in time. They try to keep Jim and Jennifer at bay for a while by sending them on a wild goose chase but when there is no sign of Resourceful team they abandon the idea. I have a feeling the producers knew that the Resourceful team wasn’t going to make it, especially with the mole in tow, so they threw in the twist in order to get Kate and Charlie to steer Smart team awry only to have them go back on it later, causing confusion for Jim and Jennifer. Did that sentence make sense?

There’s a scene where Steven asked Kathryn if she were the mole (“hypothetically, of course”) how would she sabotage this? She is evasive and tries to turn it around back on him. I think Steven is fully onto her now and is baiting for clues. I think there’s also a chance that Kathryn knows that he knows. In the Smart Car we come to one of the funniest scenes of the season where Jim is getting bored of their driving and he starts to…well, he starts to go nuts. He starts singing “Bada bada boo! Bada bada boo!,” ripping food apart, rubbing the interior while muttering “Smart car…”, and just being downright weird. He’s normally so level-headed and calculating and this may be the only time we see him turn psycho. It’s probably due to being stuck in the car for so long. The guy needs stimulus, or else he turns into a crazy monkey. The Smart team ends up arriving in time, and Steven and Kathryn are forced to sleep in the car for the night. “This car sucks,” Steven says.

Then we have the loved ones challenge, which is another easy one simply designed to get the reunions. The only thing dramatic here is Jennifer and Kate switch their answers last minute…and of course, it turns out they were right originally. By Jennifer’s calculations, Kate didn’t want to be the “nagging” one, and I think it’s most likely due to the abuse she got from Charlie earlier about…well, nagging too much. But it costs them, and Kate saunters up to Jennifer looking completely downcast. There’s an awkward couple of seconds and Jennifer says, “We had it right the first time,” and walks away. Could Kate have ANY more bad luck? The sour feelings don’t stay long since they get to hang with their loved ones too, despite not winning money.

The loved ones stay the night and Charlie’s wife says he was replaced at home by a remote control. It feels oddly appropriate. And Charlie tells us he no longer wants to leave. He’s not totally out of the woods yet since he has one more blowup in episode six, but this at least is a step in the right direction. Jennifer fails the quiz and leaves. The beginning of next episode reveals her downfall was due to Steven and Jim’s coalition. It’s not shown – or really explained – but it’s safe to assume they were feeding her wrong information or otherwise pretending to have mole-ish behaviors around her.

Episode 6

The episode opens with a reveal that Jim and Steven are in a coalition. It’s actually the first time “coalition” is used in the show, and it’s something that will get a LOT more airtime in season 2. I actually like that word better than “alliance” that you see in Survivor. Coalition just sounds much more clandestine so it fits perfectly. They’re definitely targeting Kathryn and, in fact, they’re even all caught together after-hours, thus penalizing the group. This places Charlie and Kate in a rare moment of mutual understanding as Charlie chides the youngsters for being…well, youngsters instead of “wise old citizens.”

Then comes probably my second favorite game: the Fortress Defense. It’s a good mix of adventure and espionage, as well as strategy and communication. I’m not totally sure if it was smart to have only Kathryn on the inside, they probably should have had at least one other person. But then again, we learn in the finale that Jim and Steven were sure she was the mole so they purposely kept her alone in the middle even after urging for backup. The game begins and the commandos start their move. I’d like it if these were the same commandos from laser tag and when Steven was kidnapped. They were two for two!

Long story short: the game is lost. Kathryn totally screwed up (purposely, as we know) by keeping the safety on but, in a similar situation to laser tag, the blame was also placed elsewhere. Kate stirs the pot by passing the buck to the Charlie: “I pointed to [the commando] and Charlie ignored him.” And because Charlie is Charlie, he retorts by calling her a “fat fucker”. And this is where we get that insert of Kathryn arguing, from way back in the introductions. The “safety lock” is probably her most obvious sabotage yet, and it seems that Jim and Steven’s plan to isolate her was helpful in that it made her identity crystal clear.

Then we come to the library carriage. I’m always up for a game that involves literature! The carriage is a nice ticking time bomb that keeps the pace moving, though it’s a little shady that Charlie misses his mark the first time. After biffing the fortress test, the mole comes out as the hero in this game, and Jim is now the one who exhibits moleish behavior. We plainly see him grab the book in question, replace it, and mutter that it’s not there – and Kathryn immediately tells him it’s the right one. His only response is a weak “oh, cool.” He should definitely have been more excited. I’m fairly confident Jim avoided it on purpose in an effort to draw attention to himself. The four people make it to the carriage and now it’s up to Charlie, who must make it to stop #8 in time. On the street, he encounters one of the worst-sounding bands I’ve ever heard. But he makes it and the group adds to the pot.

Kate is finally sent packing that evening. She has probably the most interesting arc of the season, being the underdog as the older lady who has to keep up with the younger people. She gets harassed by Charlie, then saves the day with the dice game. She loses that clout with the laser tag, the loved ones game, and the fortress while still being picked on by the others. But she kept at it and you never see her complain. Hats off to her.

Episode 7

We have two more simultaneous games: the sheep-herding and the art gallery. The “Can Count to 751” group is Steven and Charlie but Kathryn originally wants to get in there. Was she planning on sabotaging the sheep? She can’t convince them to switch so she goes to the gallery with Jim. The sheep-herders have the unpleasant task of moving all the sheep into the pen, and Charlie is absolutely CONVINCED that shouting “Hee-che! Hee-che!” at them does any kind of good. Someday I have to count how many times you hear him say it. It’s gotta be near fifty. When that’s done, they have to count the sheep for extra money. Now…I can totally buy that Charlie doesn’t remember the number 751 being brought up earlier. He’s not the sharpest tool in the shed. But Steven seems like a guy who should remember that. Granted, it was like a few hours ago but I would have been tossing the number 751 in my mind the entire time I was herding since it was obviously significant. Charlie eventually gives up and gives us some words of wisdom: “A bird in the hand…or a sheep in the corral, is worth two in the bush.” He’s a regular philosopher, that Charlie.

In fact, when Jim enters the art gallery he points to a piece and says, “751, we’re done, right?” Oh well. They must now make a piece that will fool an art critic and the mole tries to throw as much crap in it as possible, including the game-clinching jewels. Jim is an artsy guy, so this is a good task for him. “Box is box, don’t you see!?” And Anderson replies, “I believe it was Jim who said…’box is box.’” I love that he’s a host who can goof around with the players and have fun. The art critic correctly guesses their piece, so they lose money. A nice parallel to their creation, as the jewels (money) is just barely out of reach.

Then Steven and Charlie come to make their own guess (Charlie has a kind-funny-maybe-inappropriate line when he points to the lemon heart and says, “This one is kinda fruity”, cut to a shot of Jim (playfully?) cursing him out). But they fail to pick the right one. Even though the gloves clearly have CHARLIE written on them. Also possible foreshadowing since we end the episode with Charlie coming up just short. As a final opportunity, the herders have a chance to guess their number, but it’s too low. You then see Jim and Kathryn give each other a look that says both of them know what the trick was. They definitely remembered 751. In fact, I think they’d have gotten more money if the roles were switched. Jim and Kathryn would have gotten the extra for counting, and I think Steven and Charlie’s art piece would have been so obvious to the other pair that they would have caught it immediately.

In the Trust game, Steven is chosen to assign obstacles. As a refresher: if all three people do their task, they get money plus Steven gets an exemption. If two of them do it, they get money but there are no exemptions. If one person does it, there is no money but that one person gets an exemption. If nobody does their task, there’s no money but Steven gets the exemption. It’s another great game since there are so many possibilities and so many pros and cons to balance. Kathryn is up first for the knife-throwing and apparently she was chosen because she had a fourth grade teacher who threw darts at her. (WTF?) But Kathryn was not told of this task by the producers and she literally passes out. Not that she had to worry, because the knife “thrower” actually just walks up and chops it into the wood.

If you stop and think about it, there’s no way that a TV show would let someone really throw a knife at a contestant like that. The legal department would deem it too risky, no matter how skilled the guy is. Not that I blame Kathryn for being scared. But the task is completed regardless. (There’s also an extended look at this sequence on the DVD deleted scenes).

Now here’s the dilemma for Steven: Kathryn was successful, which means the only way he gets an exemption is if both of the guys are also successful. The tough one is out of the way first, so now he has to go all-out. As Jim is led away, Kathryn meets up with Charlie and tells him she did it. This fact SHOULD impact how Charlie handles his own task later. They also deduce Jim is probably going to do his task, which (even if the coals were hot) is probably easier than being the target of a knife-thrower. He does it successfully. Now the group has earned money. The only thing left at stake is Steven’s exemption.

Charlie is last up for the Walk the Plank task. He knows Kathryn completed hers, but doesn’t know for sure if Jim did. At this point, money isn’t nearly as important as exemptions. There are only 4 possible outcomes here:

If Jim didn’t do it and Charlie doesn’t do it- Kathryn gets an exemption

If Jim didn’t do it and Charlie does it- no exemptions

If Jim did it and Charlie does it- Steven gets the exemption

If Jim did it and Charlie doesn’t do it- no exemptions

With only four people left, it’s in Charlie’s best interest to not let anyone have exemptions. So right now it’s a 50-50 shot. And he already established with Kathryn that it’s very likely that Jim did his task. So that narrows it down to: walk the plank and Steven gets the exemption, or, don’t walk the plank and no one gets an exemption. Obviously, if they assume Jim was successful, Charlie’s choice is clear: don’t walk. That also means they’d still get the money.

But nope. He does it. I don’t think Charlie is the person would play out those scenarios in his head, blind-folded, standing over a cliff. But it would still be the best choice for him if he forfeited. In the end, Steven gets the exemption and it probably still doesn’t matter since Charlie would have probably had a low score anyway. He is the next one executed and we are down to the “Unholy Trinity”, as he so eloquently described them.

The one other thing of note in this episode is Jim gets a haircut and keeps a bag of his hair with him. They make the obvious reference to Samson of the Bible. Kathryn chimes in: “Samson and Delilah.” Although it’s not an official clue, Wikipedia pointed it out as such: in the story, Delilah was a MOLE for the Philistines. I highly doubt Kathryn was conscious of that when she made the reference. But it’s a fun little tidbit.

Episode 8

We’re at the last regular episode now. Jim, in confessional, says the mole will be more active now – which actually is wrong since they correctly find Kathryn in Three Questions, and she is TRYING to win in Three Rooms. Still, the pressure might be getting too great and she gets into the back of the van, wanting to lie down. Trying to distance herself as much as possible from her two friends?

In some banter with Anderson, the name Sherlock Holmes is mentioned. It made me think how Sherlock would fare in this game. Could he spot the mole in the first five minutes? Or how would he do as the saboteur? Just interesting things to think about. Steven is the first person in Three Questions that they need to find and one question is: Which person would you least trust with your secrets? At this point both guys are quite certain Kathryn is the mole. So Jim is probably confident that Steven put her as his answer. Luckily for him, Kathryn also gives herself for that question, citing the fact that she always mentions people in stories (like the dart-thrower). Not that it really matters since Steven answered randomly, going back and forth. Kind of a dumb idea at this point. Maybe he thought his answers would give something away or maybe he just didn’t want to hurt their feelings.

When it’s Kathryn’s turn, the boys would do well in figuring out what she answered and then doing the opposite. Try to catch the mole in her tracks. They don’t seem to go this route however, but it does get them the money in the end. Finally, the game ends in dramatic fashion as Kathryn takes the answers personally, not caring that they won some more money. We rarely see her get emotional over anything, except when it’s the mole secret getting the best of her, like when Manuel was executed. I don’t think it was an act, I think she truly thought it was personal.

In the last chance for money in the season, we get to my favorite Mole game ever: Three Rooms. It’s basically one giant puzzle where one element in someone’s room leads to another element in another room and it keeps going until all three are out. This is definitely a game I would have wanted to play. Kathryn was given the answers ahead of time and she decides to actively push Jim and Steven in the right direction in order to come off as the hero and potentially throw them off of her trail last-minute. Her exercise bike lights up Jim’s walls which has a bunch of graffiti and random crap on it (including “You are #8” which turns out to be all too true, he will be the eighth and final victim). Unfortunately, the guys don’t pick up on all of Kathryn’s clues and they spend too much time chatting on the phone. Jim discovered the “Mary Had a Little Lamb” song mere seconds after the game ended, and then all they had to do was get Steven out via the box at the front desk. It’s a fun game but they are unable to complete it.

The final pot is at $510,000. The players take the final quiz and we are left on a cliffhanger. I remember watching this when I was ten and being blind-sided by the “To be continued”, even though it was one more day instead of one more week. It was too long ago to remember who I thought the mole was at the time, not that my brain was as intuitive as it is now.

Episode 9- Reveal and Reunion

The cast reunites for the first time. Charlie finally apologies to Kate, tying up that lose thread. Anderson asks everybody who they think the mole and the winner is. The answers are varied and only Manuel and Charlie correctly guess Kathryn as the mole. And yet neither of them called Steven as the winner. The DVD still includes the results of the poll taken at abc.com back when this aired, and 37% thought the saboteur was Steven, 34% said Kathryn, 29% said Jim. So it was almost exactly split in thirds. Which I guess says a lot about Kathryn’s ability to keep her cover.

Finally, we reveal Jim as the final victim, Steven as the winner, and Kathryn as the mole. As a side-note, I know there was some chatter back in the day by people that it could all be a trick and Anderson was the mole. Obviously that doesn’t make sense, given the quizzes and the fact that he isn’t always present at the games. Some people are not very bright. We get some explanation on various plotlines in the season. Jim and Steven joined up early and shared info. Charlie was on to Kathryn early and he gave that idea to Steven. The two younger guys often split up in the tasks whenever possible in order to cover as much ground that they could and report back to each other later.

Although confident in his season-long coalition, Jim was perhaps a little TOO smart for his own good and began to second-guess himself, open to the outside possibility that Steven was the mole. Steven also told him he was going to go as fast possible on the final quiz and Jim knew he had to go faster. This over-thinking of things apparently cost him, and Steven won by only three questions. Speaking of: it’s never said what happens if there is a tie and both players answered in the same amount of time. In that instance, my guess would be that the Mole chooses who leaves. That would be wild.

DVD Extras

There’s a few interesting things on the DVD bonus features: deleted scenes, casting tapes and interviews, and post-execution reactions.

Among the notable things on deleted scenes: the group promising to let each other know when they have a booger hanging out, Jim telling everyone how he won the “prettiest penis” contest back home, Charlie revealing that he wears briefs only when playing golf to prevent “swinging”, Jim jumping into the pool after Henry’s execution (which includes a funny shot of a bored-looking Anderson in front of his execution computer), a discussion of what exactly a “Jayhawk” is, and an extended look at the knife-throwing scene, including the fainting.

Some of the contestants have their casting tapes – most of which are actually uninteresting. One cool part is in Jim’s casting interview when he tells a funny story about having the name Jim Morrison. In the post-execution videos, Steven talks about one instance when Manuel was not allowed to go to a bathroom so he had to pee in an empty water bottle. The cast laughs their butts off.