What's The Catch – Game Changer S8 Review

I was wrong with my prediction from last episode, however, I was correct with my guess that this episode would be What's The Catch all the way back in Episode 3, so that's a victory for me! Here I would make a prediction for Episode 9, but actually I'm writing this so late we already know what it will be — in fact, this post is probably going up around the same time as it, so whatever.

Usual spoiler warning applies, watch the episode before reading this review. I feel like this is the one this applies the most in, you really should watch this one.

What's The Catch is the longest episode of Game Changer Season 8 s0 far, and almost beats One Year Later's record for the longest single-part episode ever, and there's definitely a reason for that. It features Kurt Maloney, Jacob Wysocki, and Kimia Behpoornia as the contestants, and the game itself is actually one of the simplest we've seen in the season so far. The specifics change each round, but in general the contestants play games — mostly of luck — that can reward them with prizes, however they often catch "catches", which — as the name of the episode suggests — give unfavourable conditions to the prizes, which in turn them make them punishments.

That's all there is to the game itself, it's pretty simple, but where the episode really shines is what those "rewards" lead to. Throughout the episode we get to see the contestants and their ""rewards"" once they're finalized in very silly videos! There are a lot of them, I seriously struggle to choose my favourites. To name just a few, I loved Jacob getting a fast pass at Universal Studios for a full week… for only 2 minutes a day, Kimia getting a fancy dinner… in her bed at 4AM, and Kurt getting new professional photos… with Josh Ruben as the creepy fisherman in the background.

Speaking of, aside from the """rewards""", my favourite part of this episode was the fishing theme! They went all out with it, with Sam's usual podium being replaced with a lounge chair and a mantlepiece where the contestants put their prizes and catches in, which are plaques and fishes respectively. There's also Jeremy Culhane as a stereotypical game/prize show host, and Josh Ruben as a mildly creepy fisherman who gives out some of the prizes, and he's probably my favourite part of the episode, especially after seeing the additions they made in the behind the scenes, as they added more marine noises and creaking sounds whenever he was on screen. Weirdly enough, this is also the only episode of the entire season to have the regular podiums! They seem to have been remodeled a bit too, specifically the displays… but that did not matter at all in this episode.

This is definitely a hard episode to write about, as — like I said — the game itself is incredibly simple, but the real meat of the episode comes from the incredible moments of the contestants in their """"rewards"""", and that is something I can't replicate in the blog.

I could talk about how good Kimia's Dad's acting reel was, or how much I laughed at Jacob and Sam in their adventure in Topeka, Kansas (especially how much Sam suffers, that's karma for ya), or how emotional hearing Iris by The Goo Goo Dolls being sang terribly by a bunch of people made me, but that's not something I can do any justice in a review like this.

This is definitely my weirdest review yet. It's the longest episode so far and I absolutely adored it, and yet I am struggling to write about it, but I'm fine with that. I guess if that means anything, it's that this episode is really really special, one you definitely have to see for yourself, I highly encourage you to! It may not be my favourite of the season, I think I'd put it in 3rd place for now (between Noise Some Makes and Night Shift btw), but seriously, if there is one episode of the season I highly encourage anyone to watch, it would be this one. It really is special.