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Score to Settle - July 21

Well, I was sort of right.

This is the last episode of the show, and we will be cutting it down from 6 people to the final two. What I didn't know was that NBC was going to pull what they did with "Lost" and just eliminate the second to last episode. So for all of you who don't have ESP and can't use osmosis to say what happened in the last episode (that you're not going to see)?

Well, the screen play had the team split into 2 - again. Jared's ego and hot and cold performances don't doom him, but his relationship with Melisande is doomed as she gets eliminated. John's fears get to him as he is the male casualty of the show. We are down to Jeanne Vs. Corinne for the lady's role and Sean Vs. Jared for the men's role. Melisande convinces her love to Jared as she walks out. AwwwwBarf.

My prediction is that the producers have said since day 1 that Sean and Corinne are the people who they see as the best in those roles. I don't see any reason for them to change their mind now.

The final scene? 'Score To Settle'. It will take teamwork for the agents to get out alive - and maybe teamwork for Jared to win the role. No one who is left likes Jared - and unfortunately for the women, one of them has to be stuck with Jared, who is honored to be one of the people left standing.

This challenge is different. There is an obstacle course that has to be done. Whoever gets it done the quickest gets a power lunch with Louis Morneau the director. Corinne sets the bar at 29 seconds. Jeanne hits it a 39 seconds, and she admits that she is burnt out. That's not a good attitude to have in the finals. Sean sneaks it in 28 seconds, and Jared is amazed at what Sean can do. Jared's time? 26 seconds. He gets the Power Lunch. and Sean says that he can take notes from it. Jared: "I don't like to take second. Ever." Foreshadowing?

Louis and Alan Schechter talk to the guys about the movie - and they tell him that it's about a smooth operator who plays in the casino. Louis and Alan say that they are impressed with him - but they ask him what he will do if he wins it. His response is that he works hard for everything, adding jokingly that he will be a jerk on the set if he wins. Well, most of the people left think he's a jerk now, so what's the difference?

After dinner, Jared plays ping pong - and Sean nails him with a football in the family jewels. "There's a difference between getting kicked in the nuts and being nailed in the groin." Someone will get nailed in the groin professionally as Howard takes all of them and plays mix and match. Corinne is convinced that she and Sean are the best group - but they won't know who gets the casting call because Howard says that he hasn't figured it out. He'll let Tina decide who gets the card.

Howard may want to get a mediator, as the women blow up at each other in the car. What about? The fact that they both want Sean - and neither of them wants Jared. Ouch. Jared finally realizes that no one wants to work with him, and he is hurt. Jared's Dogma just got run over by everyone else's karma.

Back at the mansion, Tina has the Casting Card - and that card goes to... Corinne, because she has confronted and moved with her fears. She thanks G-d, and we all know that she wants - and gets - Sean. Jeanne, who despises Jared, gets stuck with him. To add to it, they both want the same role. Jared gives Jeanne the part, and Jeanne is already dreading working with Jared - so much that she decides to take choreography lessons from Sean instead. Chemistry? What chemistry?

The four of them get all puffed up and have a mini-interview with Access Hollywood. Jeanne says that this may be small taste of what happens in the future. Based on the ratings so far, that doesn't seem too likely.

Jared decides to play the peacemaker and makes a cake for Sean's birthday. Jared, who is convinced that he is friends with Sean, makes a cake with pink icing and a Barbie doll on top. Sean sees it and says that he's touched. Sean also gets a card signed by many of the cast that was there - including some booted players. He says that he's grateful and hugs are exchanged. AwwwwBarf.

Enough with the smooshy stuff, it's time for the final scene. Everything comes together from wire scenes to acting to stunt lessons. The key is style and expressing everything through emotions. Corinne has to remind Sean that you have to work as a team, and she tells him to slow down. Sean gets a touch of arrogance and says that he will not be directed around by a fellow contestant. Neither of them was happy about the scene. Sean says that it was weak, while Corinne reminds him that she's short and that he's not paying attention to them as a team. Tensions explode as tempers flare and Sean curses Corinne out. Sean storms off and Corinne was wondering if maybe that Jared wasn't the better choice.

Speaking of Jared, he is intently studying the scene. Jeanne is... nowhere to be found and is in her trailer. She says that she couldn't see what they were doing - so Jared will have to go through everything with her. This immediately gets Jared very nervous, as he says "Uh-oh." It gets worse for Jeanne, who can't manage any of the wire stunts. She says that she hopes that people could see that she could do it if required, but the fact that she was not prepared for this at all could be a very fatal move for her.

Jared and Jeanne struggle through their scene. The restriction of movement in terms of wearing leather was tighter than what Jared originally thought. "The movement is different when you are wearing cow." They get through it - but not before at least 10 tries and they still don't get Jeanne's stunts correctly.

Sean realizes that the whole ball of was is at stake - so he has to make up with Corinne. He does and they give a stress-releasing hug. Sean says that they are about to embark a journey that's going to be big.

NetZero Recap - They don't like Corinne and Sean's chemistry, while they don't think Sean has a good emotional range. They like Jared's style and they like Corinne's kick boxing, while they don't like Jeanne's style. They want an extra week of shooting - but we already did that once this series and I don't think NBC needs to be any more masochistic then they already are.

Sean thinks that he's learned a lot and that he's had a lot of fun. Corinne thinks that she'll miss everybody (even Jared?), Jeanne thinks that she's had ups and downs, and she'd love to win this to see what she is capable of, while Jared says that the experience has changed the way that he has looked at everything.

Each of the people get to be called into a mini-theater as they sit down in the front row. Tina shows up and tells them and starts it up by telling them that they will see their latest screen test on the silver screen. She then invites all of the 20 finalists back to see it. House wants to see Corinne win, while Melisande, of course, wants to see Jared win - just simply because if he doesn't, he'll be devastated.

They saw the full scenes, and everyone was impressed. Mae says that there was a reason why they are up there - any one of them can win it and they should have four seats up there, not two. Mark said that he would like Corinne and Sean while House says that he'd give them all $7.00 before he left. Heh.

Louis, Victoria and Alan are all invited, and they hope that they could work with them someday. Victoria tells them all to rock on, while Alan says that it was a tough decision.

Enough with the jabber, here are your winners. The first script goes to... Corinne! The second script goes to... Sean! Jared is a good sport and hugs Sean and Melisande better be hiding all of the sharp objects. Corinne is thrilled, and it hasn't hit her yet. Jared says that he has to take rejection well, and that he learned a lot. Sean can't believe that he won it and he feels like the luckiest guy in the world. He can't wait to rock the movie - a movie that we'll be seeing in 7 days. Fade to black. End of series.

My take? Well, the show itself wasn't that bad. The first 'pre-audition' episode, though was dreadful, and it gave me second thoughts about wanting to cover this series. It gave the audience second thoughts too, as they all ran away from this in droves and didn't even give this a second chance. That's too bad, since the show itself wasn't that horrible.

The show, however, did suffer from the anti-contestant disease. What is that? The show never went through the qualities of the good stuff that they were doing - instead, they harped on why people were eliminated or why they weren't good enough. Part of getting an audience is to find good qualities in people and having a rooting interest in the show, but quite frankly, there wasn't any in terms of talent. That's too bad, because I am sure they are all very talented, but you didn't feel it in the show.

To top it all, the show, for the most part, was the Jared show, and he doesn't win it. Sean does, but we don't really know that much about him, and there's no reason why we'd be attached to him to actually see the movie. Corinne has a nice storyline to her, and she is very charismatic, but you need 2 people to carry the show, not one. For that, the show gets a C-, and the Next Action Star, in this one, will most likely be the last.

But we're not done with this one. I get to come back next week with a movie review as we get to see if these stars are actually worth the film they are being printed on.