'The Sims Spark'd' Episode 2 Highlights: Team Llama pulls ahead as Team Gnome loses their lead
Spoilers for 'The Sims Spark'd' Season 1 Episode 2
When the lights go off, and the witching hour begins, there's no telling what's going to happen, and things that seemed like a sure bet fall all the way through. A supernatural twist in the July 24 episode saw Team Gnome start to fall behind on their impressive winning streak, and Team Llama comes up from behind with a surprising victory that no one saw coming. No one, at least, aside from longtime fans of Xmiramira, who knew from the start that stifling her creative voice was Team Llama's greatest weakness.
The episode's first challenge saw the Simmers parent a Sims child. The goal was to design a Sim as a toddler, a child, and as a teenager, design three distinct rooms for each stage of development, and of course, weave a story that ties it all together. Xmiramira and DrGluon continued to butt heads on this challenge as Simlicy did her best to figure out a cohesive design between the two. While the judges enjoyed the design of an orphan girl who grew up to be a spellcaster, they felt the story had some major plotholes.
It was Team Cowplant who scored a victory this round, telling the story of a young boy figuring out his gender identity through his childhood bedroom, his school, then on to university. Cowplant's focus on character-driven work really impressed the judges in terms of how much they showed 'The Sims' was capable of. Cowplant's first win got them a major advantage in the next round - getting the first pick of what 'The Sims 4' DLC packs would be available to them in the video-editing elimination challenge.
The six-hour video editing challenge was broken up over two days and would have a supernatural theme. Partway through the first half of this challenge, host Rayvon Owen introduced a twist: all teams would have to incorporate their Parenthood Challenge character into their video in a meaningful way. This only compounded the stress for Gnome and Llama, but happened to work out well for Team Cowplant, who had picked 'Discover University' as one of their packs, which is just what their character in the previous round had started to do.
Both Gnome and Cowplant came out weak this round, despite them having first picks of their DLC packs. Team Gnome, amused the judges by making Sims modeled after them be kidnapped by an alien Rayvon, with vocal sound effects by Simproved. Despite the laughs, however, the judges felt the overall storytelling was weak. Team Cowplant faced a similar hurdle, as the ending of their mermaid video confused the judges despite its ambitious, cinematic scope.
Though Team Llama was unable to get the original 'Dine Out' DLC they wanted, they turned things around quickly. Xmiramira took charge of the story, and DrGluon followed her lead, believing his team needed to "do something crazy" in order to score a win at this point. Llama weaved a risque tale about an aging actress who was turned by the spellcaster from their Parenthood Challenge into an immortal vampire. It was a risk that paid off big: both judges and contestants like loved the story from beginning to end, giving Xmiramira validation, and Team Llama a first-place spot and safety from elimination.
Despite their confusing ending, the judges felt that Team Gnome had the weaker video, sending what was once the strongest team home. A true reversal, as last episode Team Gnome had appeared to be the clear frontrunners. It only goes to show that in competitive gaming, anything can happen. We're left with Team Llama and Team Cowplant going head to head against each other, now, in the final rounds that determine which team wins the coveted $100,000.
The next episode of 'The Sims Spark'd' airs on July 31 on TBS with a repeat broadcast on the 'Buzzfeed Multiplayer' YouTube channel on August 3.