American Gladiators "Episode 209" (2008)

The end of the preliminaries and I could not be happier. Even though we were spared a gimmick episode in this last batch of contenders, aside from the fact that the male contenders were labeled heroes (not to say that they aren't), I'm just happy to be done with all the people who probably should never have been on the show and just focus on the competition between the cream of the crop. I think we've seen better Eliminator times this season than last and though it's difficult to compare as the Eliminator has been changed since last season, a strong performance in the Eliminator is worthy of respect and I think we have a solid bunch going into the semi-finals. Plus we're guaranteed there can't be any gimmicks unless they bring up the original ones again. Also that married couple is floating around in there, it would be interesting if they both won.

This episode started off kind of awkward. Alexander (Blue) is a military veteran who suffered injuries in Iraq that almost kept him from walking again. While it is admirable what he has done for his country, I think it's a bit shameless to joke about so callously right after he has related his story. Laila tells Wolf if he bites Blue he'll end up with a piece of shrapnel and then Wolf retorts with he'll send Blue's shrapnel to his family. Can we say awkward?

I have a bone to pick with whoever edits these episodes. I can understand the need to skip over some of the events since they all cannot fit into the one hour format. But please just skip over the useless ones like SkyTrack. But why would you skip over Joust? Gladiators pummeling contenders with giant Q-Tips is a hallmark of the AG franchise and there is just no excuse passing over this staple for showing us the worthless Rocketball, especially if Crush is the one doing the Joust. Aside from being my personal favorite, I'm pretty sure she's also a favorite of many so any event with her should be given preference. Speaking of Crush, we got to see her dominate in Earthquake. I had originally commented that Earthquake was made difficult since if the gladiator falls in the water with the contender, the contender is awarded full points. Proving how resourceful she is, Crush has overcome this difficulty and easily dispatches both contenders. Also any time Crush can do a victory dance, which is almost always, I'm a very happy camper.

Favorite moment: Not to be outdone by Crush, Militia, who I can't remember seeing very much of this season, makes a hell of a comeback on Earthquake when he succeeds in knocking off both contenders even quicker that the proficient Crush. That first guy never knew what hit him as Militia just barrelled him right off the platform. It goes to show how not every Gladiator is always on their game, but it's best to keep them in the wings until the right moment in the right event. Don't shove them down our throats repeatedly just because you want them to be popular (Hurricane, Zen, Panther, Steel).