Tattoo Tag-Teams: An Ink Master Recap

This week on Spike TV’s Ink Master should have been re-slatted from “Tattoo Tag-Team” to “Everybody and their mother hates Gentle Jay.”  Hell even my mother hated Gentle Jay!  So, why do we all hate Jay?  Well quite frankly it’s his attitude.  Much like Josh from the previous season, Jay assaulted the viewers with his “mine’s bigger” persona and complete delusional approach to the competition.   For some reason, he has come to believe that the other artists are intimidated by him, and his body of work this season begs the question “WHY?!”

 

There was no flash challenge this week, so the remaining artists are shoved into the elimination challenge, working in teams of two they must create a piece that looks as if it were done by one individual.  That’s it, no specific style or theme, just you and your partner switching off every hour.  Right out of the gate, no one wants Jay.  This is where douche bag of the year jumps into his verbal and mental assault on the audience, I mean he attempts to mushroom stamp you with his arrogance disguised as delusional confidence.  Unfortunately, poor Melissa is linked to the boat anchor and it shows right on her face.  His reaction:  “She needs to clean the **** up and put a ****** smile on her face.”  Are you kidding?!  All you do is complain about everyone else?  What you think you’re a prize?  Come on man, we have all seen your work, your terrible!

 

So the artists break into their pairs and right away it seems like team Jay-lissa has completely ran aground.  Jay believes he is pulling the weight on their elephant tattoo and it’s clearly the opposite as he has abandoned her with 2/3rds of the tattoo.  As for team Scott/Halo, Scott has officially decided he is going to be the Dom around the shop and continuously pokes Halo with his opinion stick.  Halo is a champ for not stabbing him with the gun!  Still you know the piece is going to be top looks just based on the fact that the two have a great report and way to integrate their talents.  Sausage and Matti, well at this point at least we know they won’t be in the bottom but their Japanese inspired design is kind of letting them down.

 

Jay has taken it upon himself to blame everything bad in the tattoo on Melissa, who finished the whole tattoo.  If anything I want whatever drugs he’s on because his confidence and arrogance is off the charts.  Look man starting off a collaboration with “I acknowledge that she’s speaking but I’m not listening,” you are putting yourself in the bottom before ink ever touches the skin.  Consistently ignoring your team mate and then trying to tell her what to do doesn’t mean you’re a better artist, it means you are a dick.

 

When the tattoos are revealed, it’s clear who can work together and who should never speak to each other again.  So first was Scott and Halo’s beautiful Carousel horse with a tentacle mane giving the canvas both elements of the horse and the octopus that she was looking for.  I loved the color shading that Halo popped into this piece and it was clear that the team really shined together.  Good for them!

 

Next up was Sausage and Matti and their Hana mask, which looked more like a fat green Muppet dragon.  The design did not really ring through for me at all but, it was smooth, saturated, and full color showing contrast and dimension.  Ultimately, a great piece that just lacked a good design.

 

As for Melissa and Jay, the elephant was adorable!  However the added pieces just seemed to really detract from what could have been a great design.  It just seemed like they took a bunch of stickers and created a crappy collage.  So sad for Melissa, but what’s worse is that Jay decides to shove her far under the bus to save himself.

 

Thankfully it comes down to a tattoo face off as Melissa and Jay have to tattoo a Leopard and rose designed by guest judge Luke Westmond.  Man, I hate traditional!  So naturally Melissa finds herself being coached by Halo, Scott and Matti… Okay mainly Scott.  Yeah they became worse than helicopter parents at a kiddie park, but it pays off as Jay is cut loose.  What are his parting words?  “Fuck you Scott…”  Stay Classy Jay…