Ink Master (2012–…): Season 13, Episode 3 - Teamwork Makes the Dream Work - full transcript

male announcer:
On the last episode

of "Ink Master"...

- At the end of the day,

it's every man and woman
for himself.

- You got one good critique,

and now you're back
to acting like an asshole.

announcer: Despite rifts
within the team...

- I just want to make sure
we're hitting that challenge

of fundamentals,
make sure it's--

- Okay, well, on my season,

every time I designed it,
I won it.



announcer:
The South fought back

in the first flash challenge.

- Know what I like
about those palm trees?

They look like money.

- The winner of this flash
challenge is...

the South.

- That's what I like to see.

announcer:
In the elimination tattoo...

- There's gonna be some
mad people today.

- There's gonna be some real
mad people.

- Just as I suspected,
Jason kicked all of us

right in the gut.

- Well, you know,
we're doing the best

pieces out here,
we shouldn't--



- Everybody is cruising
on our side.

[woman shrieks]

- I don't know what Emac did,

but we're gonna need
a miracle here.

announcer:
In the elimination,

Arlene, K, and Emac

were the bottom
three artists.

- I was actually
gonna nominate myself

to come down here.

- I mean,
you're sitting pretty.

- Not when your own teammate

throws you to the bottom.

- Can I just say something?

You know, I didn't come
all the way

the [bleep] over here
to go home.

- As far as the most
finished look overall,

I think Arlene has it.

As far as the most
solid foundation

of an idea and of a design,
I like K's.

- In Emac's tattoo,
there's areas

where your lines
don't connect.

- The technical issues
are the most challenging.

- Emac, you do not have what
it takes to be Ink Master.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

announcer:
17 artists remain,

but only one will earn
the $100,000 prize

and the title of Ink Master.

[rock music]

♪ ♪

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- The anticipation
is killing me.

- Yeah.

♪ ♪

- Yeah!

- I knew it. I knew it.

[bleep] solid.
Mm!

- So glad you're here.

- This is...

- Super stressful.

♪ ♪

- There she is.
- Miss me?

- Oh, yeah.
- Man.

- What a relief.

- It took a little
longer than normal.

- What happened?

- Well, I actually nominated
myself to the bottom.

- How does that work?

- I was just not
feeling it no more.

I think it was real shitty that
Jason threw me in the bottom.

- It's called having integrity.

- Opinions are like assholes;
everyone has one.

- What I saw downstairs
was three tattooers

fighting to stay here

and one person trying
to go home for no reason.

- It wasn't even about you.

You had a [bleep] comfy seat
right there, man.

- With how much
experience you have,

did you think
that you were gonna come here

and it was just gonna be easy?

- We all gonna be
in the bottom eventually.

You don't have to take it
personally.

- You're one of the best
tattooers in this room.

I want you
to make this a fight,

because if anybody out here
can take you out,

they know they earned it.

♪ ♪

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- Welcome.

To win this turf war,

you must fight for survival
alongside your team.

- We got this.

- But ultimately,
only one of you

will earn $100,000,

a feature in "Inked" magazine,

and the title of Ink Master.

- Cross that bridge
when we come to it, right?

- Today there is no
flash challenge.

- What?
- Curveball.

- We are moving directly
into a tattoo marathon.

- A marathon?

- Oh, shit.

- Oh, [bleep].
- It never stops.

- Here we go.

- In each round
of the marathon,

you must impress us
with creative tattoos

that prove you have what
it takes to get to the end.

- All right.

Creativity in tattooing

is what gives it
that wow factor.

If you don't have creativity,

then you're not going to stand
out in a crowd of tattooers.

- For the first round,
you can tattoo

any style or subject you want.

- I like that.

- I'm down with that.

- But...
- There's always a "but."

- You must collaborate
with your team.

- Oh, it's about to get real.

- Oh, no.
- God damn.

- Each team will create

one tattoo
on one human canvas.

- One canvas, one tattoo?

- That just got a lot harder.

- With everything
that's been going on,

collaboration is the furthest
thing from my mind.

It's like bad sushi
on a Tuesday.

You just don't want it.

- Now, how your team
works together

is completely up to you,
but know this.

You will win as a team,
or you will lose as a team.

- Oh.

- We are asking you
to collaborate.

Who tattoos
is your business.

If you all tattoo, if one
of you tattoos for the team,

but you will sink or swim
as a team on that tattoo.

- Yeah.
- We have to work together.

- Yeah.
- One well-oiled machine.

- The word of the day
is creativity.

That's what we're looking for.

Something unique,
something that's gonna

blow everybody else
out of the water.

- Creativity.
We got that.

- I know.

- This is your first chance

to secure safety
for your region.

Fail to stand united,

and one of you
could be going home.

- We can't afford that.

We need to win that safety,

'cause right now, we only have
three members on our team.

So we need to make sure
we nail this tattoo,

'cause we've got to get daddy
to the finale, baby.

- You have six hours
to show your creativity

with a team
collaboration tattoo.

Go get set up, and we'll
send in your canvases.

Good luck.

- All right. Let's do it.
- Let's go.

[indistinct chatter]

- Part of being creative
in this challenge

is gonna be listening
to everybody's ideas

and working together as a team

and putting the best idea
forward.

- I already have designs
made up that nobody's seen.

Like this guy right here.
- That's cool.

- That's cool.
- That's cool.

- Laid it all out.

- With five of us,

it's gonna be tough to all
get our hands on it.

- If I did the line work, it
would probably benefit better.

- I want to do the color.

- I have nothing to prove
at this moment.

Having just two minds
working on something

is better than having five.

So if the boys can handle it,
let them handle it.

- I think something
that screams cartoon,

something that tells a scene
would be awesome.

Being nominated for the bottom,
especially by a team member,

it just still feels like
digging yourself out of a hole.

This is one
of my favorite drawings.

I've been dying to do it,

and I've got a [bleep] ton
of ideas.

This is my first one.

- Well, I feel like
it needs to have

some play with the background.

- Yes, absolutely.

- I'm thinking
more of sort of, like,

surrealist, like,
getting [bleep] weird.

- I love stuff like that.

- A face, and there is a door
in the cheek,

and something
was coming out of it.

- I like where we're going.

- Yeah, it's weird.

- I want to support everyone
else in what they do well.

I see something like that,
and what is that?

Like, a pelican, a heron?

What's that one
over there of yours?

- It's a heron, yeah.
- Exactly.

I like the shapes and things
that are happening in that.

- I have that design
all ready to go.

- When it comes to you,
seeing your work, crystals.

- We can do some crystals.
- Geodes.

- I don't think that crystals
go with a heron.

That doesn't make sense to me.

- I don't see
an issue with that.

- I don't--I don't know why,
but when I think of

this bird in particular,
though, it just--

I guess I'd have to see it.
- I think--right.

- I know that Frank is kind of
automatically the team leader--

he's been here before--but
Frank, why won't you listen?

Why?

- Ca-caw!

♪ ♪

[rock music]

♪ ♪

- Okay, artists,
you have six hours to tattoo,

and your time starts now.

- All right, guys.

- Okay, let's do this.

- In the first part
of this tattoo marathon,

each team can all tattoo,

one of them can tattoo.

It'll be as they see fit.
- Dig it.

- Having this many different
cooks in the kitchen

could either be the amazing
meal of a lifetime,

or it could be the worst thing
you've ever tasted.

- Kaboom.

- There it is.

- All right, here we go.

[rock music]

♪ ♪

- So, Jason, you're
doing everything?

- No, I wish.

Jordy and Patrick
are gonna work on color.

Money Mike is going to--

I actually have no idea.

- You're gonna supervise, dude.
- Whatever he--

whatever he wants to do.

- Perception of our team

is that me and Jordy
are just, like,

the step-kids
left on the steps.

As long as I can keep
getting to the next challenge,

I really don't care.

♪ ♪

- Holy black, Batman.

- You know, dude?

- Just got to make sure all
the black is solid like that.

- That's the goal.

- We might be down a team
member here,

but that could work
to our advantage,

'cause now we only have
three artists,

three opinions,
where the other teams,

there might be too many cooks
in the kitchen.

♪ ♪

- Three hours left, everybody.
Three hours.

♪ ♪

- You guys, I'm having
so much fun right now.

♪ ♪

- Make sure that we, like,
punch that saturation in there.

- No, I don't--I don't want
to go too dark down there.

Trust me, man. Trust me.
I know what I'm doing.

- I like a dark value,
just 'cause

it'll make everything else
much brighter up top.

I'm second-guessing
what we've done,

and it's stressing me out.

Were we creative enough?

Did we really show ourselves
as artists collectively?

We need this win.

We can't afford to lose
anybody on our team.

♪ ♪

[tattoo machine buzzing]

- I'm slow,
but I'm not that slow.

- It's not gonna
be done in time.

He's making it beautiful
with all of the blending,

but it doesn't need
that much blending.

- Like, if we blend too much,
then it's gonna

not have as much of a punch.

He's going slow.

Like, really slow.

Like, I would've been
done with this tattoo by now.

- Let me do it then.
I'm not worried about time.

Let me just do it.
Let me just do it.

- Are you sure?
- Yeah, yeah, I'm good.

Let me just do it.
Let me just do it.

- Are you sure?
Are you sure?

- Yeah.
- Okay.

- I already have the machine
in my hands,

I already have
the color poured,

and I'm already doing this.

- You want me
to put the red in?

- No, man.
I want to do the color.

I want you guys
to leave me alone.

I really need them
to [bleep] off

and let me focus.

♪ ♪

- Final hour remaining.

♪ ♪

- So I just need your machine.

You're gonna blend a little
bit of grey out that way,

and a little grey up, and then
leave a highway, that's it.

Yeah.
Patrick's got me worried.

I'm gonna tag-team
this tattoo.

I want to make sure
that we get

all the rest
of the colors in there.

- Dude, knock the sun out.

- I'm almost done with the sun.

♪ ♪

- You know, like, if you're
ever in the hospital,

and there's that doctor that
just comes by and asks you,

like, you know,
to wiggle your fingers,

and then he, like, walks out
without really doing anything

and still makes like 300 bucks?

- Is that you right now?
- Yeah.

- It's like these moments
when you actually realize

that less of a team is more--
is--is better,

'cause there's not
so many pains.

- Yeah.
[laughs]

- Five, four, three, two, one.

That's it, machines down.

Time is up.
No more ink.

- That's it.
- Great.

- Hell, yeah.

- All right, dude.
You made it.

- Looks like a big sticker.

All right.
- Chillin' like a villain.

- Hell, yeah.

♪ ♪

- Right on.
- Good job, guys.

- You're all done.
- That's it.

- We did it together,
and we win it together.

- My work here is done.

- Damn.

You had me sweating
on the clock, Hiram,

but you guys [bleep]
pulled it out, dude.

- What do you think?

- I think I'm pretty
[bleep] excited.

- You're excited about what?

- Well, our good job,

and your future critique.

- They're gonna talk about
all the black in ours

and the lack of black in yours.

- The lack of black in ours?

- There's no black in
your tattoo.

- You saw that.
There's no black in it?

- There's no black
in your tattoo.

A lot of grey, and you know
where they say grey is.

In the middle.

- In the middle.

Oh.

♪ ♪

- You will have
one more chance

to secure your team's safety.

You must...

tag-team tattoo.

- What the [bleep]?
- Shit, man.

- [groans]
- Ugh.

It's harder than you think.

[rock music]

♪ ♪

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- Today you were being tested
on your creativity

with a team
collaboration tattoo.

Let's see how you did.

South, let's have a look.

- Man, the way this tattoo
came out is super smooth.

The black saturation
is really nice.

I really like the soft details
you put in the hat

with this light wash
underlines.

- See the way that this tattoo
looks glossy?

When it comes to color,
that's the look.

It's beautiful, man.
It's a nice, strong tattoo.

- Thank you, thank you.

♪ ♪

- West, let's see what you did.

♪ ♪

- I love this drawing.

The line work in this is thin,
but it works for the design.

It keeps it very tight,
but the color in this,

you do go with
a few shades too many

in such a little space.

If you just take
that one shade of green

and you pound it in there,

this tattoo
would jump that much brighter.

For something this small,
a little less HD

would take you a lot further.

♪ ♪

- East, you're up.

- All right.

♪ ♪

- Guys, I think you have
a really creative take here.

- I love the clean line work,
heavy, solid black,

and keeping it
really simple and bold.

I mean, this thing is legible
and bulletproof.

- It's not something that
I've seen a million times.

I commend you guys
for taking a swing.

You swung in the right
direction.

- Thank you.
- Thanks.

♪ ♪

- Midwest, you're next.

♪ ♪

Really creative design.

This beautiful crane
is cracked in half,

and it's revealing
a geode inside.

It has this feminine
quality to it,

but it has
this rough interior.

So symbolically,
I see a lot in this.

- As a design
and as a composition,

I love the shape of it.

You really get the light
shining on the geode,

and you really get
the depth in there.

It's super cool.
- Thank you.

- Thank you so much.

♪ ♪

- All right, guys,
time to determine

which team had the best tattoo
of the day.

- I really love the South.

The way that color's in,
the way it looks,

and the glossiness.

- On creativity day?

- The thing that I like
about creativity

is that these guys are all,
like, angry and "grr,"

so now they did, like,

the little chillin'
angry penguin.

[laughter]
So it's like...

I also see the humor in it.

- Well, we're talking about
out-of-the-box creativity

that we have never seen before.

- With the East,
that's the tattoo

that I want 20 years from now.

It's still gonna be tough,
still gonna be strong,

still gonna be cool.

This is the most timeless
tattoo of the day, for sure.

- And I love
what the Midwest did.

I love seeing stuff that
I could never possibly imagine.

That, to me, is what's exciting
in terms of creativity,

and for that reason,
I'm voting Midwest.

- For application,

I'm gonna still
stick with the South.

♪ ♪

- [whistles]
Man.

For this particular challenge,

my vote is for the Midwest.

- Whoa.

- Judges have decided.

Midwest, you have the best
tattoo of the day.

Congratulations.

- Thank you.
- Thank you.

- Midwest, you are safe
from elimination.

- That's awesome.

- West, South, and East,

tomorrow you will have
one more chance

to secure safety for your team.

♪ ♪

Head back to the loft.

♪ ♪

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- So what are you guys
gonna do today

while the rest of us
are tattooing?

- If we can help you guys out
in any way,

that puts South and the West
in the bottom, right?

- Right.

- As far as the West goes,

you know,
they're competitors,

but they're straightforward.

- Right.
- I can respect that.

But I do want to [bleep] with
the South a little bit.

- I think that would benefit
the both of us.

You help us out, it gets rid
of some of the South,

some of their top players
might trickle away.

- Anything I can do to make
sure that Jason

has a rough day is usually
a good idea to me.

♪ ♪

- Welcome to the second round
of the tattoo marathon.

- Let's do it.

- Midwest, you won
best tattoo of the day

in the first round and are safe
from elimination this week.

- Goddamn right.

- Your team will not tattoo.

- Yes.

- For the rest of you,

you will have one more chance

to secure your team's safety.

- We got this.
- Let's do it.

We were so close last time.
- So close.

- Once again, you must have
a solid strategy

and trust in your team,

because today, you must...

tag-team tattoo.

- Ugh.
- Oh, my...

- As a team, you will create
one tattoo

for one human canvas.

Two artists from your team

must tattoo the same canvas
at the same time.

- What the [bleep]?
- Shit, man.

- Switching artists
every hour.

- That means we all
gotta get on it.

- Tag team tattoos
can be challenging.

You've got people wiping
at different times.

You've got people pulling
lines at different times.

You're in each other's space.

But now at least Hiram can
stop tattooing after an hour.

- Ugh, it's harder
than you think.

- You can tattoo
any style or subject...

- Yes!

- But once again,
the tattoo

must prove your creativity.

- Gotta kill it.
- We can do that.

- We're looking
for a solid tattoo

that looks like
one person did it.

It needs to be smooth,
it needs to be cohesive.

It needs to show creativity.

- We got this.

- This is your last chance

to save your team
from elimination.

- Yeah.

- Fail to beat out
the competition,

and an artist from your team
could be going home.

- Can't let that happen.

- Head to your shops
and start designing.

We'll send in your canvases.

And good luck.

- Thank you.

♪ ♪

- I got some ideas.

- All right, guys, here we go.

- Feels good to be safe.

- Mm, it does.

- We dodged a huge bullet.

- Yeah.

- What I had in mind

was, like, a cobra snake

with a neo-trad woman's face,
cut open,

with some, like, black-work
flowers coming out,

maybe some black-work
spider legs?

- That's [bleep] sick, dude.

I mean,
I love tattooing snakes.

- I love it.

- What about the West?

- First round,
they didn't have Raul

or Arlene or Angel.

I wonder where they're gonna
play into this tattoo.

- Yeah.
- Yeah.

- I figured you guys--

you guys cool to do
black and grey today?

- Black and grey today.
- That sounds good.

- Cool.
So I drew this up.

She's pretty cool.

Today I'm taking the reins
on the tattoo.

Work to our strengths
a little bit.

- Yeah. I'd say, definitely,

I should be on shading,
not lining.

- The crazy heart,
I can handle that,

because I drew it.
- Cool.

- I'm really curious what
they're gonna draw over there.

You know, the South team,

I don't know
how they're gonna do,

having to both
be on one canvas.

- It's gonna
be a power struggle.

- Oh, yeah.

- So what if I told you

that I have a way for us
to speed up time

and still keep consistency?

- Let's hear it.

- Two artists, same time,

on the same canvas.

One artist
can stretch and wipe,

the other one can tattoo.

- Holy shit.
- Shit.

- Okay, listen.

We don't want no other team
to find out.

- Now, here's
a good question.

Are we gonna help people today,

or are we gonna [bleep]
with people today?

- Yeah, just [bleep] with
the South a little bit.

- Yeah.
- Help the East.

- You okay with that?
- I'm way down.

♪ ♪

- Try and take some deep
breaths, all right?

- This canvas can't make it
through the tattoo, man,

we turning in
an unfinished tattoo.

- Gripping somebody like that
to hold them down

while you tattoo them
is not a strategy.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- All right, artists.

You have six hours
to tag-team tattoo,

and your time starts now.

- Let's do this.
- All right.

♪ ♪

- I think that's cool.
- I think it's cool.

- Two people tattooing
a canvas at the same time,

especially that don't know
each other's rhythms,

can be bad.

- It's pretty big, guys.
- Nah, it's not that big.

- You become very alert
and hesitant to pull

because you think somebody's
gonna mess with your canvas,

and you're in your head, so
it becomes a quick shit show.

- You gonna let Patrick
pull all these clean lines?

- You know, what I'm gonna do

is let my team
win this challenge.

♪ ♪

[tattoo machine buzzing]

- Sorry, dude.
- No, you're good.

- Tag-team tattoos
are just shit, man.

- Um, if I could get
down here,

you could get up there more.

- This is tough, man.

We're gonna really need
to very quickly

learn how one another tattoos.

I know we know our styles,

but we've never worked
on the same canvas before.

- Oh, I'm sorry.

- Look, you gotta do
what you gotta do.

I'm working with you,
so don't sweat it.

♪ ♪

- [groans]

- You doing good?

- Yeah, it's just, like,
my natural reaction.

My leg's, like, shaking,
so it sucks.

- Try and take some
deep breaths, all right?

Dude, I can feel you twitching
just a little bit, so.

- That's really
a good idea, guys.

[clicks tongue]
Look at you.

- Thinking outside the box.

- Using another person,
just, like, gripping your thigh

and pulling it apart
as far as it'll go,

it's painful.

♪ ♪

- Five hours left, guys.

Switch artists.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

[tattoo machine buzzing]

- Careful when you
release the skin.

- It's just hard
to get in there too.

So--
- I know.

It's not--
it's not gonna be easy.

- So much movement
on your end, like--

- I'm barely in here.
Don't get so frustrated.

Just work.
- I'm not getting frustrated.

I've been waiting
the whole time.

I came here to tattoo,

and I'm not even
tattooing right now.

I just think it's bullshit.

♪ ♪

- Two hours to go.

Switch artists.
- Ow.

♪ ♪

- The moment we've all
been waiting for.

- It's time for Jessa
to shade in those boobies.

Bring those things to life.

Who doesn't love boobies?

I love boobies.

♪ ♪

- Jason keeps coming over
to look at our tattoo

like he's never seen
a pair of tits before.

- Some anatomical
issues over there.

- I made sure that I used
your boobs as reference.

- I mean, mine might be more
symmetrical than those boobs.

- Jason, you're full of shit,

and you know
you're full of shit.

Team East is getting stronger
by the day.

We're working well together,
and I think

the rest of the competition
is starting to notice.

The fact that Jason's
over here talking shit

shows me that he's worried.

- One hour left.

Final switch.

♪ ♪

- [groaning]
Oh, my God.

- It's like a bad dream.

You'll be waking up soon.

This canvas can't make it
through the tattoo, man,

we turning in
an unfinished tattoo,

and that's definitely not
what we want to do.

So we got to put Jordy
on therapist duty.

- Take deep breaths.

- [groaning]

- You're at 98%.

98%.

- Keep it up, Jordy.

I don't give a damn
what you talk about,

just keep on talking.

- Doing great,
you're doing great.

- [exhales]

- How's their canvas doing?

- Horrible.
- Yeah.

- I could tell within ten
minutes in the tattoo.

Gripping somebody
like that, that hard,

to hold them down while you
tattoo them is not a strategy.

- [inhales deeply]

♪ ♪

- Five, four, three, two, one.

That is it.
Time is up.

Machines down.
No more ink.

- Girl, you sat
like a [bleep] rock.

Thank you so much.

- She is absolutely beautiful.

- South, I think we got this
one in the bag, boys.

- Oh, yeah.
- Shit, yeah.

- [laughs]
- Oh, man. I'll tell you what.

I don't think
any of us are going home.

- Killed it.

- The mysterious woman
in the cloak with the heart,

I don't think
that's overplayed yet.

It's probably, like, ten people
shy of it being overplayed.

- There you go.
[laughter]

- There just wasn't
creativity about it.

♪ ♪

- I thought East side had some
weird anatomical choices.

- No, I think it lends itself
well to the style.

- Your boobs were beat up.

They didn't even line up
with the middle of the chest.

They were like, sitting
over here like this.

- Oh, man.
- No.

- Did anybody see a scale
pattern

on that snake that looked
like it was uniform?

- I seen a scale pattern
that goes straight down,

and then
when it hits the break,

it actually goes the complete
opposite direction.

- No.
- Yeah, I don't agree.

I just don't.
I just don't, Jason.

- I think he wants to join
team East, is what it is.

You guys recruiting?

- No, I mean, he's--he's right.

The shit was good.

- I'm just calling
how I see 'em.

- Whose idea was it

to have one stretcher
and one tattooer?

Terrible idea.

- Why is that
a terrible idea?

- Why do you think
she sat so badly?

- She was in agony.

- But our tattoo looks dope.

West side had two artists on it

at all times,
and it looked like shit.

- Dude, the West tattoo
was solid as concrete.

What are you talking about?
You're delusional, man.

- We give it that it's a solid
tattoo, it's just not creative.

- It takes a lot more trust

to have two machines
on a tattoo

than one stretching
and one tattooing.

That's all I have to say.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

[suspenseful music]

♪ ♪

- Today you had one last chance

to prove your creativity
with a tag-team tattoo.

The team with
the best tattoo of the day

will be safe from elimination
along with the Midwest.

Let's see how you did.

South. You're up.

♪ ♪

It's a really creative,
beautiful design.

I love the little blue drops
that you put against the red

to get that hot-and-cold
saturated pop feel.

- What I do wish
is that the dress

was deeper, richer black.

Your blacks are so purposeful
around your edges,

and then your umbrella
and your dress

are in the same tone,
so it makes it look like

those two items
are washed out,

and everything else
was put in with heavy purpose.

But overall, the composition
of the tattoo's very nice.

♪ ♪

- [bleep], man.

♪ ♪

- West. You're up.

♪ ♪

- The tattooing overall
on this thing is spectacular.

- The shining moments
in this tattoo

are definitely the smoothness
and the folds of the cloak.

This deliberate shading
in the face

where you just go super dark

and just fade right out
to skin, super deliberate.

I love that.
- Thank you.

- Thank you.
- Thank you.

- East. You're up.

♪ ♪

- I really like this tattoo.
I like the design.

I really like the dynamic
drawing of the face.

- But I also find
some strange things

in the upper portion
of the tattoo.

You have a bigger head
than your entire torso.

It would be like
you need to add

another boob on there
for width.

I love where you're going
with the concept.

I just don't think you hit
the concept in the drawing.

♪ ♪

- That was a lot harsher
than I thought it was gonna be.

- All right, judges,

it is time to determine
which team

had the best tattoo of the day.

♪ ♪

- The West do a tattoo

that technically
is on the money.

- But in terms of creativity,

the South showed us something
completely different.

- The composition
of the tattoo's very nice,

but yesterday,
I saw them tattooing

the slickest of the day.

For me, today, that quality

and that value's
gonna take my vote.

I'm gonna go
for the West today.

- The guy sitting over here
did a crane

with geodes inside.

That's a creative win.

- But they also had
smooth tattooing.

- And you don't think
the South has smooth tattooing?

- Not as smooth as the West.

There's one that just really
screams out to me,

and it's the West.

- [bleep] yes.

- You're kidding me.

- My vote is for the South,

and I think
this is utter bullshit.

♪ ♪

The judges have decided

that the best tattoo of the day
goes to the West.

- Thank you.
- Thank you.

- Congratulations, West.

You are safe from elimination.

Please have a seat.

- All right.

♪ ♪

- That means,
South and East,

all of you
are up for elimination.

- Here we go again.
- All right.

- You'll have one last chance
to prove your creativity

by facing off
against each other.

- Oh, my God.
- Damn it.

- But this time, the power

is in the hands
of your competition.

♪ ♪

Midwest, you will assign
the style

that everyone must tattoo
in the face-off.

And West, you'll assign
the subject.

- Oh, damn!
- Oh, shit.

- Oh, no.
- [bleep] this.

- What do you think?

- That's what I was thinking.

- Midwest, what style
must they tattoo?

- We decided that they're
going to tattoo

American traditional.

♪ ♪

- West, what subject
must they tattoo?

- Full-bodied fairies.

- Bastards.
- All right.

- Full-bodied American
traditional fairies,

and this face-off is set.

Tomorrow you'll have six
hours to tattoo,

and based on your work,

one of you will be packing
your machines.

Good luck.

♪ ♪

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- You guys can use whatever
you guys need to use,

as long as you're not [bleep]
going home, okay?

- Deal.
- All right?

♪ ♪

- Let's tat some fairies.

[rock music]

♪ ♪

- Artists,
this is your last chance

to save yourself
from elimination.

You have six hours to tattoo
an American traditional fairy,

and your time starts now.

- All right,
here we go, brother.

- Let's go.

♪ ♪

- All right.
Let's do this.

♪ ♪

- Go big or go home, right?

- Yep.

- Final round of the marathon,

East and the South,

every man for himself.

They have to tattoo

American traditional fairies.

- You good?
- I think I'm ready.

[sighs]

[dramatic music]

- Basically,
we're looking at pinups,

and traditionally in this
competition, pinups are hard.

♪ ♪

The saving grace on that

is that fairies
are mythological creatures.

If you do a more standard
looking pinup with wings,

we're gonna get you on
proportion and anatomy,

but if you go a little wild
with it, it's up for debate.

- I would wear this.

I've never seen
anything like it.

♪ ♪

- The Midwest definitely
threw me a bone here.

This is what I do
at home every day,

so I need to make sure
I kill it.

Simple, clean,
doing what I do best,

but also giving myself enough
time to work with my team.

♪ ♪

- Have you always
been into some form of art?

- I painted
for about a decade,

but I've always loved
tattoos.

I've collected tattoos
since I was a teenager.

I had a lot of issues
being comfortable in my body,

and for me, like, tattooing
was just like,

well, let me just, like,

throw beautiful things
all over myself.

Coming off the past
couple days

working with my teammates,

I feel really positive
for the first time,

And I think that I can
use that to my advantage

and do a great tattoo.

- I'm looking for your black.

It's packed solid as [bleep].

- We have our own

American traditional fairy
on our team,

and his name is Jimmy Snaz.

- How you doing?

- He's sprinkling
his knowledge on us,

and we'll be fine.

Think she's a bad bitch?

- Mm-hmm.

- I'm trying
to make you proud.

I'm on your team.

I can't just do your style
and shit.

- [laughs]

- Here he is.

Just like when you have
a beautiful, sunny day,

and then just out of nowhere,
a [bleep] storm comes.

- How'd you have
any friends in school?

- I didn't have any friends
in school.

- Oh, that makes sense.
- Yeah.

- All right.

- Three hours to go, people.

Three more hours of tattooing.

- I'm kind of pissed off
about the last challenge.

I felt like that our tattoo
was the most creative,

so with this design,

it's basically like
a big [bleep] you.

- You did get away with not
having to draw hands or feet.

- Yeah, he got away
with it, for sure.

- I'm doing a four-tittied
cock horse fairy.

The bottom's gonna be a horse,

the middle's
gonna be a woman,

and the top's
gonna be a rooster.

I'm putting an extra set
of breasts on this tattoo

because I saw the anatomical
issues with Jimmy's.

So I figure I'm just gonna
double up the challenge

and make sure that I hit it
better than he did.

♪ ♪

[tattoo machine buzzing]

- Like, I was having issues
with the hair.

I wanted to make her
a little more Hispanic.

- She's beautiful.

[tattoo machine buzzing]

- Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

- Just trying to hit the
challenge, that's all.

No more, no less.

This is probably one
of the biggest opportunities

in my career that I've had.

I'm tattooing for my life
in this competition.

To have all that weighing
on my mind right now,

it feels like a vice grip
is on my head.

- Yeah?

- It's like a pinup
in a blender.

[laughter]

- Final hour, guys.

Final hour tattooing.

♪ ♪

- It's always the end
that hurts the worst.

- I know.

My canvas's skin
is starting to welt up.

You've got, like,
little top layers of skin

just kind of peeling off.

If you're from the South,
a welt would be

when your mama busts your ass
with a hickory.

This is becoming
a nightmare for me.

- How you doing, buddy?

I have too much to lose.

My name is on the line,
my family.

I'll be damned if I'm gonna
go home on this [bleep] tattoo.

♪ ♪

- Five, four, three, two, one.

Time is up.
No more ink.

- Your line work is amazing.

Just watching you draw those
lines so steady and bold.

Love it.
- Thank you.

- Oh, man, I love it.

- Dude, you're a [bleep] rock.

- I tried.

- I appreciate you
being a sport,

letting me do something crazy
like this.

- Very unique.
[laughs]

- Do you think any one
of my team's in the bottom?

- I mean, I'd say K,

just because I don't think
it's American traditional.

It's definitely more
illustrative.

If the challenge
is American traditional,

and everybody's looks American
traditional but one...

- Right.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- Today the South
and the East

had to face off
against each other,

tattooing an American
traditional fairy.

Based on your work, one of you
will be packing your machines.

- Here we go.

- East, let's start with you.

Jessa.

♪ ♪

- It is a very traditional
style of illustration.

I like that it has a lot
of rich contrast.

It has a punch to it.

- I like the style of hair
that you do here.

Coloring this in black,

it gives it a nice
graphic feel and shape.

But if you're gonna use
a bright red,

why not use bright green
and bright yellow?

If you're doing
American traditional,

a muted color palette
isn't really

the classic way of doing it.

♪ ♪

- Jimmy.
- All right.

- Go, Jimmy.

- I really like
the illustration.

I love the features
you put on her

to give her a fairy-esque look

with the ears
and the real straight nose.

The line work
throughout this thing

is super clean, super sharp.

- What really shines
is the amount of open skin.

Everything in the foreground
is lit; it's beautiful.

Remember that traditional
tattoos were done

when 40 people
were waiting in a line.

It was about moving fast
and efficient.

You definitely deliver here.

It's a good job.
- Thank you.

- If he dropped the ball,
I'd be really surprised.

- Yeah, absolutely.

- First good critique.

- K.

♪ ♪

- I do see a big turn in you.

You're definitely
tattooing a lot better

than where you started
with us.

- Yeah, the past couple days,
just being able

to make tattoos with my team
was really great.

- Lot of great color
saturation in here,

but this outline
is super thin.

- And she has a little bit
of a flat face.

But you show
a lot more promise

in being solid
and being clean.

- Thank you.

- [whispers] Good job.
- [bleep].

- It's getting ready
to get real.

- South, you're up.

♪ ♪

Money Mike.

Anatomically, this thing
is very, very strange.

Arms don't grow from here.

- It's kind of weird
what's exactly going on

with the anatomy.

She's twisting up
a little bit.

Your outlines, we can see
the drag lines of each needle,

as opposed to being
one solid line.

Also, the application
of that green,

not very smooth.

You went over it
a little bit too much.

That's why you're getting
that rough texture.

♪ ♪

- Patrick.

♪ ♪

- The illustration,
I like it.

The anatomy of the girl
looks nice,

sitting on the moon
looks nice,

but it does get rough
in a lot of areas.

The lines in the hair
look rough.

The line by her neck
is really, really beat.

A lot of problems here
with trauma with the skin.

- I--I'll be honest, man,

I've never had that issue
like this before.

It just was not as good skin
as I thought it was gonna be.

- It's pretty jacked.

- Jordy.

♪ ♪

I really love the position
of this pinup,

but the face got away
a little bit.

It just doesn't look
proportionately right.

- It's pretty wild looking,
but you do pull off

a very traditional feel,

and you do pull off
a lot of solid saturation.

Overall, it's a clean tattoo.

♪ ♪

- Jason.

♪ ♪

We did say creativity.

- Four-tittied chicken goat.

[laughter]

- Just weird and funky,

and it looks like you had
a fun time with this.

- Good one-pass line,
solid black whip, solid color.

It's a strong tattoo.

- Thanks.

- High risk, high reward.

- I think it looked cool.
I liked it.

♪ ♪

- All right, judges,
it is time to determine

who's going home.

- I would say
that my bottom picks

all live in the South.

- So can we all agree
that the East is safe?

- I do.

♪ ♪

Mike and Patrick.

That's the big battle
right there.

- You know,
we went for traditional

because it shows fundamentals.

Patrick's tattoo, it's beat.

- It's just so overworked.

- I will--I will disagree
with it being overworked.

- Go ahead.
- Now, there's trauma areas,

but I don't think the whole
tattoo's overworked.

- There's way less damage
in Mike's,

but it's fundamentally flawed
at the design table.

- Drawing for drawing,

I'd rather have Patrick's
girl on the moon.

- Just too beat, man.

♪ ♪

My vote to go home
is for Patrick.

♪ ♪

- Regrettably, Patrick.

- The judges have decided.

Patrick, you do not have what
it takes to be Ink Master.

- This competition

has been a roller-coaster
for you, man.

You did some really killer
work in here,

and you should be proud
of that, so head up.

- I came in here
with my head held high,

and I'm gonna walk out
with my head held high.

- Please pack your machines
and close shop.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- I'm not gonna go cry
in my pillow.

I'm not gonna stop tattooing.

I'm gonna go back home
and just get better.

Hell or high water,
I'll be back,

and I promise,
when I come back,

there'll be a whole nother
storm to deal with.

♪ ♪

announcer: On the next episode
of "Ink Master"...

- We need to take every
advantage that we can get.

With the East, we have
an eight-person alliance.

- Oh, my God.

- Damn, how you feeling, Bob?

- I don't understand
what's going on.

I have a higher set
of standards

that I set for myself.

It just crushes me.

Ugh.

- Welcome to the jungle.

- I don't know what it is, bro.

- Shit's just spilling out.

- That's bullshit.

- When you see
it's not going well,

don't continue on.