And here it is... the Finale. This year, there were four final contestants instead of three. The judges just could not send Kenley home...er, I mean, Jerell won the last challenge so they could not send him home. There was no clear winner in the season’s final challenge, all were equally mediocre. So all four were asked to present a complete collection to the judges. Of those four, three will be chosen to actually compete at Bryant Park during New York’s Fashion Week.

Of course, by now we all know the truth. Because it was just past mid-season when Fashion Week occurred, in order to keep the suspense going as to the actual finalists, not four, not five, but six designers were allowed to show a collection at Bryant Park. Suede and Joe were eliminated by the time Fashion Week occurred in real time, but in TV time, the episodes in which they were sent home had not aired yet. And although only three of the remaining four were vying for the season’s big prize, the fourth also showed. Who was the fourth? Well, we’ll find out at the end of this episode. Based upon the collections they bring to New York at the end of two months and $8000, three will stay in the running and one will be cast onto the scrap heap.

As part one of the season five finale begins, the four exhausted-looking designers have just heard that they will each be allowed to make a collection. They seem passive (almost catatonic) until Heidi tells them they will also be expected to design a wedding dress as part of their collection. Korto groans in her vlog about it: “I thought we were finally gonna be freee,” she says. Perhaps she is assuming that wedding dress will figure in some sort of final challenge. Who can forget the infamous “thirteenth piece” challenge sprung on the finalists in season two? After Heidi lays out the parameters for their upcoming work, Tim Gunn escorts her off the runway. “Let’s walk into the sunset,” Heidi says, which reminds me of an old Hollywood film. More accurately, they’re walking into the Lifetime Network, but that doesn’t sound nearly as sentimental.

As Kenley Collins tows (hee) her large suitcase out of the Atlas apartment building, the other three designers ignore her completely. She doesn’t seem to bat an eye as she tugs (hee) her luggage past them in the lobby. The three other finalists do seem a bit schoolyard as they pull faces and snicker about her. However, Korto also has a point when she describes Kenley’s past behavior: “Rude as hell.” Since the verbal sparring of the last episode, it seems like whenever these three huddle they’re planning a meeting of the “He-Man Kenley Haters Club.” They all leave for home — to build their clubhouse. No, not really. To design the club T-shirt. No, not really. To create and construct their competing fashion collections. And Kenley tows her luggage behind her all the way to Brooklyn, bemoaning her outcast status.