'The Mole': Mark wins, and Craig is the Mole
(Editor's note: Sorry for the delay. My workload got in the way of delivering John-John's recap!)
Twelve contestants, 10 weeks and I'm none the wiser. I'm still scratching my head over last night's season finale of The Mole.
Jon Kelley began the show saying that the winner would receive $420,000. Jon said it has been 12 weeks since Mark, Nicole, and Craig took the final test. He also announced that the entire cast has gathered to learn the identity of the Mole.
Jon then showed a series of clips that made each of the remaining contestants appear Mole-like. After more clips featuring eliminated contestants, Jon is ready to crown the winner -- Mark. He went into a speech about how much the cash will help his family. (Blah, blah, blah.)
Next, Jon revealed the Mole. To the surprise of many contestants, it was Craig!
Clips of Nicole's finest moments were then shown. During the recap the audience learned that Nicole beat her rival Paul by four seconds. (Paul, who was on to Craig from the beginning, said it was a dagger to the heart to know that he only lost to Nicole by four seconds.)
Next, we see how Mark won the game. (Was I suppose to root for a teacher/soccer coach who keeps on having children?) The clips also showed that Mark barely beat Victoria when she was eliminated. The two tied. Mark finished the quiz seconds before she did, which allowed him to advance. The same thing happened with Mark and Kristen. Mark also barely beat Clay. (Did this guy have nine lives?)
Next, Jon cuts to the final quiz between Mark and Nicole. Mark said he needed a perfect score to beat her. Nicole said she did not feel one hundred percent confident.
Mark scored 17 out of 20 questions correct to win. Nicole scored 13 out of 20 on the quiz. (There really wasn't much of a contest.)
Jon then focused on Craig, who said that his goal was to be the best friend of everyone. But it was clear that the contestants' low expectations for Craig allowed him to remain under the radar. (I seriously think that people equate lack of physical fitness with a lack of intelligence, which is very sad.)
The group's bias cost them well over $100,000. Craig really did work them over. He said he played into to stereotype, which was the perfect cover.
"Thanks for being good sports," Craig said. "I had an amazing time."
Mark said: "You just didn't want him to be the Mole."
One interesting note: Craig said he actually suffered from altitude sickness and hypothermia during the mission that he had to get into an ambulance. (I was surprised to learn that.)
Jon returned from the break with clues from the entire season that left me scratching my head. They were ridiculously obscure. One was when the producer's flashed the area codes of the three finalists into subliminal messages during episodes. (Seriously?) One of the most telling clues was that Jon never called Craig's name during any of the executions. (OK, that was a good one.) Overall, the clues were nearly impossible to pick up.
Once more, Mark ticked me off by saying that he won the money to give his wife the chance to stay home. I think its an antiquated Leave It To Beaver mindset. I would feel more of a rah-rah spirit for Mark if there was some type of hardship he hoped to overcome with the top prize. Keeping the "little woman" at home to raise the children -- Is that even a criteria to be on those home-makeover shows? Enough of my rants.
What did you think about Mark winning the competition and Craig being revealed as the Mole? Any final thought on Nicole?
Comments
Didn't watch a single second of The Mole but, um, maybe the little woman wants to stay home and procreate.
Posted by: Danielle | August 12, 2008 7:09 PM
I knew it! And while I agree that Mark's reasons for wanting to win were a little old fashioned, I'm glad that he won. He seemed genuinely happy...and he could probably use the money more than obgyn Nicole. Those secret clues hidden in the show were ridiculous!! Who could really have seen/heard any of them, let alone interpret them? The only good one was that Jon never called Craig's name. I'll have to keep that in mind if they do have another season of the show.
Do you think Craig walks away with any money or just the satisfaction of playing a good game?
Posted by: bigI | August 12, 2008 8:52 PM
First, thank you for blogging about the show. None of the other sites I visit even gave it mention (TVGuide, EW, I'm looking at you).
I think Paul may be the first player in the history of the game to know the mole from Day 1 and *still* not win. That has to hurt.
Mark being lucky, I thought, was hilarious.
The clues were both obvious and inane. The inane ones were for the crazy people who screen cap everything and over-analyze. However, all the audio sounds were caught by most people.
I do think it was funny that Mark was "underlining" the CRG in the prision, when I recall everyone was convinced Mark was the mole that episode as the chains spelled out an "M". Guess it was coincedence after all. :)
Here's hoping to renewal!
Posted by: bd | August 13, 2008 8:38 AM