Hannah reviews/recaps Episode #3 of 'King of the Nerds!'

I had every intention to watch and write about last week's episode before tonight's episode aired.  Every intention.  Long story short:  It didn't happen.  However, I will get that post up this weekend.  Since I feel quite guilty about this delay, I've decided to rank the nerds remaining after tonight's episode on their chances of winning at this point (something decided by myself based on the show's edit and my own opinions.)

This week's episode brought us the LARPing challenge that happened around this time last season.  If you don't know what LARPing is, that's okay.  I don't know too much about it either.  Essentially, LARPers dress up in full costume and adopt the persona of the character they're portraying and the whole thing revolves around a main storyline.  For this challenge, each team was given the same four characters, but had free reign over the story, costumes, etc.

I gained enough from this episode to know that some real drama went down last week between the Midas Touch Attack and Zack when they voted Zack into the Nerd-Off.  In true reality television fashion, Zack won the Nerd-Off.  His win was great for the Titans of Rigel because it created havoc for the Midas Touch Attack while they continued to sit pretty on their side.  It was clear from this point that the Titans of Rigel's main focus from there on out would be to do whatever was necessary to keep Zack in the game.

The teams were given time to work on their performances, costumes, etc. and of course drama ensued for the Midas Touch Attack.  Zack felt that his team was pushing him away and he threatened to systematically destroy the whole team.  Nicole took the opportunity to play some mind games on Zack and praise his writing abilities so that he would put his best foot forward in the competition.  It seemed to work and their performance was not too bad despite everything.  (Side note:  Jack felt the need to do something drastic to give his the Midas Touch Attack a better chance of winning.  He shaved his head and revealed himself to be bald at the beginning of their performance.  Sadly, this didn't quite pay off.)

The guest judges enjoyed both of the performances, but in the end, they awarded the win to the Titans of Rigel.  As a reward, the Titans of Rigel got to attend one of those pirate dinner theater shows.  (Fun fact:  I attended something very similar while in Florida for my high school senior trip.)  They even got to go on the ship/stage after the show and sword fight!

When it came time to vote two from the Midas Touch Attack into the Nerd-Off, it was obvious that Zack would be sent in by his own team.  The Titans of Rigel sent in Mary Kate against him because they felt she was the weakest one and would give Zack a better chance of remaining in Nerdvana.  This episode's Nerd-Off was, I believe, a board game called Warhammer.  The game was a lot like Battleship, except that you had the choice to attack or defend when it was your turn.  Attacking was a lot like Battleship, but with defending, you could move a piece along the x- or y-axis.  Jack was Mary Kate's advisor and proved to be a huge help to her game with his knowledge of probability.  Chris served as Zack's advisor, but never played a role because Zack didn't ask for any advice during the game.  Mary Kate once had a considerable lead in the game, but her lack of skill in rolling the dice lost her the lead and the game.  Zack remains in Nerdvana where we can expect more drama to ensue next week.

Mary Kate becomes the third nerd eliminated from the competition.  Only eight
nerds remain!  Who has what it takes to become King of the Nerds?

Mary Kate was alright, but she's not on my draft team, so I don't feel too bad about this elimination.  #TeamHannah was already on the Struggle Bus, a Zack-loss would have not sat well with me.

Other things you might want to know about this episode:

• Jack can only sing "It's getting hot in here." 
• The awkward Little Caesars advertisements that I loved (and made fun of) last season are back!
• Kevin Sorbo, Yaya Han, and Jon Heder (Napoleon Dynamite) were the guest judges on this week's episode.
• Statistically speaking, Nicole gave the Midas Touch Attack a 64-36 chance of winning this week.  However, the odds were not in their favor!
• Zack dished out the best insult I've ever heard and I have now adopted it for all future fights/disagreements.  "I'm in the fourth dimension and you're still in the third!"

My favorite moment from tonight's episode was when.. Zack felt unwanted when no one would help him practice for the Nerd-Off and gave a huge speech to the group.  In it, he stated that nerds are "the greatest people in society," but at the same time, they are "the people that no one wants."  If you are a nerd, like myself, I'm sure you've been able to relate to what Zack said tonight at one point or another.  I do feel for the guy, but he does need to lighten up or he has zero chance of winning.

So there are my rankings of the final 8 nerds.  Agree?  Disagree?  Tell me on Twitter @theonlytrace or in the comments below!  Make sure to tune into the fourth episode of King of the Nerds when it airs next Thursday night on TBS at 10pm!