Whodunit?

[celerydunk]

I stumbled onto this show a couple weeks ago (the golf cart death was my first) and I agree its a fun summer show. If the team dynamic wasn't so annoying I would be totally sold. It reminds me a lot of that suitcase show from a few years ago (team had a certain amount of time to hide a suitcase full of money and if the detective didnt find it, the team got to keep it). Great concept, just need to flesh out the details a bit.

Next week's show looks especially fun. I think the killer is Lindsay.

[Spinderella]

I'm going to stick to my theory as to Cris being the killer. I was up late tonight and had a little too much caffine and though I'd do a little background on this girl

All behind the spoiler tag:

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}
- Her dad is a detective. He has taken part in a lot of murder 'mysteries' and high-profile cases in his career. Apparently, some novels or short stories have been written with him as the character or the real cop investigating.

- Her mother is a breast cancer survivor. St. Agatha is also the patron saint for breast cancer patients. (Dante's medallion)

- She spent a lot of time around barns and is familiar with horses. (Ulysses's death)

- Studied at FIDM in fashion and may have some connection with the episode related to Sasha & Dana's death, knowledge about fabrics (Dante)

- Loves golf - (Adrianna's death)

- Is pursuing an acting career (well, who isn't in OC/LA?)

I'm sure I'm just completely and totally over analyzing this, but it was something I was interested in doing and makes me very suspicious of her.

[GirlyGhoul]

Very interesting Spinderella! And she does seem the most composed of the women at least. But who knows. I watched part of it again last night because Sasha and Dana's demise was so freakin' hilarious (A total House of Wax rip off- but still hilarious) And I caught Kam reading a book. At first glance, I thought it was a Brian Keene book (I LOVE Brian Keene) But on rewind, it was actually Brian Greene and was called "The Hidden Reality".... Could THAT be a Clue?!?!?!?

One of the things I think might improve the show- I think they've stated in the Press that they never intended the mystery to be solvable by the audience. I think that was a BIG mistake- Because speaking for myself, I'm pretty much burnt out on reality contestant drama. I'm certainly not tuning in to see the teams huff anf puff and fling poo at each other every week. The mystery is the whole draw. So I think they SHOULD have set things up for the audience to have as many if not more clues than the contestants. I mean, I take guesses and pick up on things every chance I get, but I'm all the while realizing the Producers didn't really set up clues to find. They should have spun it like "Who Shot Mr. Burns" and encouraged the audience to search for clues every episode.

[Spinderella]

Oh, absolutely, GG! I think part of the fun with murder mysteries is having the audience solve them along with the contestants! I mean, they're constantly showing tweets from "the killer" and asking the questions, "did you figure out the clues?" or "how was your theory" or some BS. I mean, they're egging you on but making you not get all the details for a lot of things.

If the players miss something, they don't share what they missed with the audience, so you lose that opportunity to fully decipher the "howdunnit", too.

Now with the "house of wax" deaths of Dana & Sasha, could that be tied-in to Madame Trousseaux (and all those other wax figures found upstairs?) as in Las Vegas, Nevada (where Ms. Cris was crowned Miss Nevada 2010)?

Heh. My feelings are so strong with Cris, that I may just be putting all my cookies into one basket. It'll be hilarious if she dies (but then again, can the killer "die" as a ploy? How do we know what the rules are for a final showdown?) and I'm just totally wrong.

[GirlyGhoul]

Yeah, I latched onto Gino early on and can't yet shake him as a suspect (even with his tears last week). But I'm not placing any bets. Hell, I thought the Royal Baby would be a girl!

[Spinderella]

While reading Cris's bio on ABC's website, I noticed these few key elements from her handwritten application:

- "I love to win. I relish every time I outwit someone or solve something before the character on a TV show"

- "I have a short temper...I get defensive over silly things because of it."

- "I can't stand people without class. [Others] should conduct themselves in a classy way."

- "A love for Rock and Roll and bad jokes.

We get a lot of bad jokes on the show, along with the riddles & things the killer leaves for Giles to share with the group. People on TWOP have been questioning the "Iron Maiden" reference made at the beginning, not sure if it's any meaning. But when Sheri dropped the glass, didn't the killer say it was classless of her?

And then there's her mention of temper, having to win and relishing in people's losses. Heh. I'm just really trying to push for Cris, no?

[aibohphobia]

Looks like I doomed poor Geno to get eliminated when I posted that he looked like the winner to me. Although he could be annoying sometimes, I still wanted him to go further than smug Kam.

The bright side is that I'm more positive than ever that Melina is the killer, and it will be Cris or Lindsey for the win. I think the former because her arc has started to come on strong now whereas Lindsey is just sort of there now like how Cris felt to me at the beginning. Of course, as long as the winner is anyone but Kam and now Ronnie, because of his stupid gameplay this past episode, I'll be okay with the ending.

Before this episode, I was still wavering between it being one of the three women, since the men seemed too into the gameplay to be the Killer, but I felt that the case for it being Melina was getting stronger every episode because so far she's never been at the top nor the bottom. Plus, every episode she seemed ridiculously over the top about everything. I gave her pass the first few episodes because most of the other cast was acting in a somewhat similar manner although never as melodramatic, imo, as Melina, but with these last few murders, everyone seems to be really about another death except Melina. She also mentioned the iron maiden again which I think was one of the audience's clues from the first episode, and she let her usual demeanor slip when she mentioned karma getting Ronnie back which seemed highly uncharacteristic coming from her. Of course, if she is the killer than she knows she's safe, and that after Geno, Ronnie would likely be the next to go since if he doesn't solve the riddle, it's unlikely anyone will tell him anything after his actions the previous day.

[GirlyGhoul]

Looks like I doomed poor Geno to get eliminated when I posted that he looked like the winner to me.

Hey, don't feel too bad, I pegged him as the killer! Although the instant everyone started mentioning the "Geno sized shoes" I didn't think: 'Ah ha! I was right!' I thought 'Uh oh, he's doomed!' Ah well.

I'm still not liking how its set up near the end for only one person to find the main and most important clue. Surely there it could be set up some way for everyone to have the same shot. The mad scramble with everyone falling all over each other and themselves annoys me. I guess they thought it would make more exciting watching, but I don't like it. I like when someone will put together the riddle "Oh, double snowman = 88 = piano keys!!!" But I don't like when everyone's bum rushing the piano all at once. I liked it better last week when everyone had a shot in the snake barn to find the clue.

I'm not sure how this could be fixed, since I realize if they only let one person work at a time it would take the production forever. But its this part of the show always bugs me.

So, goodbye Geno- the least annoying male left. I could get behind Spinderella's theory that Cris is the killer- but it would be hilarious if it were Melina or Lindsay since they're both so squeaky, cutesy pootsey and jumping at shadows all the time.

[Spinderella]

Yeah, I'm definitely thinking it's a woman, but how did Kam get that about the shoes?! He's sneaky. Was it because there wasn't enough of a foot impression in the rug?

I feel sorta bad for Dana because she didn't want to have such a drawn out death and her's was the worst. Her ending clip where Sasha was like, "I'm just glad I can go out with my other southern belle" and Dana is like, "Yeah, me too." Oops.

I didn't like how Cris came to the conclusion of the 88 keys. Geno was a lot better about his reasoning then her. She was like, "The snowmen are the key, and a piano has keys" - uh, riiiight. Gene was thinking how two snowmen look like two eights, so eighty-eight and keys--and I think piano."

Plus, she was a little too quick to go right to the morgue and that secret room, don't you think? I couldn't believe she put "go to the room where you are blocked from" or something like that. There are TONS of rooms in the house and she just knew to go right to that cabinet and then push it away? Weird. Plus, she withheld that piece of info about the shoes being stuffed and Kam still got it and she lied to him at the dinner table saying, "I didn't even think to look in there". And yet, she had all the pieces and still wasn't the star winner but Kam was? Weird.

I knew Geno would go since they honed in on his bead-lei laying on the bed as he left for the party. And they hinted that they all have to look through the beads for something. Maybe he had a tracking device that let the killer know where he was or once he was under the chandelier to be struck? I have to go back and watch to hear what the killer said about no one dying that night, but they did anyway. I think it was a trick statement. (Notice they mentioned that the Iron Maiden was dressed up, too? Don't know if that means anything)

Now if my memory serves me correctly, Cris, Lindsey & Melina have never received a SCARED card, right? That's weird.

[aibohphobia]

I'm still not liking how its set up near the end for only one person to find the main and most important clue. Surely there it could be set up some way for everyone to have the same shot. The mad scramble with everyone falling all over each other and themselves annoys me. I guess they thought it would make more exciting watching, but I don't like it. I like when someone will put together the riddle "Oh, double snowman = 88 = piano keys!!!" But I don't like when everyone's bum rushing the piano all at once. I liked it better last week when everyone had a shot in the snake barn to find the clue.

I'm not sure how this could be fixed, since I realize if they only let one person work at a time it would take the production forever. But its this part of the show always bugs me.

Yes, I still enjoy the show because of Giles and how everything seems to campy, but as the show has progressed, I haven't enjoyed it as much because the solving the riddle part seems so unfair, and it became even more unfair because of the alliances that were set up. Of course, contestants like Ronnie who screwed over their alliances instead of helping them didn't help either, but I was hoping the show would have been more about Clue-like or more The Mole like instead of Survivor in a haunted mansion.

I really hope that it comes back next summer only because I want to see more of Giles again, but I really hope that they're able to iron out all the bugs if it does return. (I'm not holding my breath though because I read that it's expensive to make and hasn't got the ratings or the buzz to bring it back.)

Now if my memory serves me correctly, Cris, Lindsey & Melina have never received a SCARED card, right? That's weird.

That's true, or it was until tonight. Although if the killer is Melina, it makes sense that she finally received a scared card because if she hadn't, the audience would have known right away since there's no way she could have done better than Cris, Lindsey, and Kam. She's still my choice for being the killer. She didn't do a whole lot that I remember as being suspicious except how dramatic the show focused on her opening her envelope and her shaking. She had to have known that she was likely going to be in the bottom two, so I thought it was just more of her bad acting when her hands were shaking.

As for the winner, now I sort of hope Lindsey wins although I think Cris will in the end just because of Cris's behavior tonight. Before I had liked her, but that was pretty cold what she did to Melina. I know everyone is in it for themselves, but I don't think she needed to make an offer like that to Melina since her group has such a big advantage right now if she really wasn't sincere about it.