Original subtitles

Male announcer: On the last episode

of "Ink Master"...

Eight new and veteran artists

were battling it out to prove they're the best.

With no more veteran artists returning,

the race to the finale was more intense than ever.

- You must completely transform your canvas's back,

giving them a full set of wings.

- [bleep] me.

- Two of you must tattoo the same canvas

at the same time.

- Our tattoo is huge.

It is balls to the wall from start to finish.

- Yeah.

- Tattooing with a partner on the same body... it sucks.

- If there's things about your tattoo I don't like,

at least I say it to your face.

- I think that's bull[bleep].

- You're fake as [bleep].

- Are you trying to stir this [bleep] up more?

- I'm not fake, bro.

announcer: In the elimination,

Jime and Sausage were the bottom two.

- What you don't know is that this is a double elimination.

- Really.

- You will have one last chance to redeem yourself.

You must challenge another artist in the competition

to face off.

- [bleep] crazy.

- I'll choose Matti.

- If I'm going out with a bang,

I'm gonna take the best guy over there.

I'm gonna challenge Cleen.

- Matti and I have some unfinished business.

- I called out Cleen because I wanted to do

an artistic battle with him,

not just some boring-ass, copy machine tattooing.

- Why are you being all butt-hurt at me, dude?

You're the one that called me out.

- Jime and Cleen.

- The black is what really sets off Cleen's tattoo.

That rich darkness makes his more dynamic.

- Sausage and Matti.

- Sausage did great on a lot of textures,

but it kind of looks like his zombie

is posing for his passport photo.

Matti's looks like it just got whacked

off the shoulders with a baseball bat.

- The judges have decided, Sausage and Jime,

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

[dramatic music]

♪

announcer: Six artists remain, but only one

will earn a $100,000 prize

and the title of Ink Master.

[rock music]

♪

- Wow, how about that [bleep]?

- Man, oh, man.

- It's like, I won, but I feel like [bleep].

I sent my buddy home.

- Cleen seems really butt-hurt about sending Jime Litwalk home,

but I'm punch-drunk on Sausage's defeat,

and I'm ready to kill everybody in the house.

- I'll tell you from experience, now is crunch time,

and this is when it comes down to [bleep] strategy.

- Our strategy is we got to be [bleep] adaptable right now.

We need to be on point, and we need to be a team.

We literally have to become a little bit cold...

a little bit disassociated from the other guys.

And at every point, any time you see any weakness in them,

we have to exploit it.

- Hey, man, I'm a game player. I'm ahead of that stuff.

- We control 50% of the house right now, man.

We are half the game.

We are the finale if we can make this happen.

- We are a perfect combination to make one perfect engine.

- I think so too.

- I've never felt so strong about anything,

ever, in my life.

[dramatic music]

♪

- Welcome. Only six of you remain.

Half of you will compete in the live finale,

and half of you will go home empty-handed.

Only one of you will win $100,000,

a feature in "Inked" magazine,

and the title of Ink Master.

- I'm so close to the finale right now,

I can taste it.

- This is the strongest top six ever,

but it's only going to get more brutal,

because, once again, this week,

there is no flash challenge.

You are moving directly into your next elimination tattoo.

- Everything we do now has to be on point,

and everybody knows it,

because any slip-up can send you out the door.

- This week, we're testing adaptability.

- Adaptability means you need to be able to do

anything outside your comfort zone...

every style, any style, any time.

- I'm sorry, Jesse.

- In the 1940s and '50s,

production tattooing was a technique

developed by shop owners

to complete as many tattoos as possible

in a short amount of time.

They found the quickest way to work

was to mimic a factory assembly line

and have one artist line, one artist shade...

- Oh, [bleep].

- And one artist do the color.

And that's exactly what you must do today.

- Whoo, Lord have mercy.

- Working in teams of three,

you must tattoo an American traditional clipper ship.

- Clipper ships are super challenging

because there's so many long, one-pass outlines.

That right there in itself is a challenge.

- It's up to you as a team

to decide which artist tattoos the line work,

which artist tattoos the shading,

and which artist tattoos the color.

Once you choose, you can't switch.

- I [bleep] hate traditional.

- It's a production line, where the guy sits

and gets the outline, then he sits and gets the color.

Once you're sitting getting the shading,

you cannot go back to sit and get the outline.

Back when they used to do production line tattoos,

people would play up to their strengths...

people that would just line all day long.

If somebody in your team is better at one thing,

play to that strength.

- I'm a little bit nervous with Ollie,

because he is an American traditional specialist,

and he knows all the rules.

And he's not afraid to tear people apart

for breaking them.

- You'll be judged as a team.

Let's meet your canvases.

♪

Today, your teams and your canvases

will be randomly assigned.

Canvases, one by one,

you will each choose three skulls

to determine which artists tattoo you.

- Christian.

- If I get stuck with the wrong guys on this challenge,

no matter how good my part looks,

the overall piece is gonna look like [bleep].

- James.

- I totally don't want to get paired with Jesse Smith.

He has no idea how to do American traditional

or anything but his new school crap.

♪

- Jesse.

- God damn it.

- I got the two oldest guys in the competition,

and they have to know about traditional.

They're old.

I feel good about my team.

- Matti.

Cleen Rock One.

Anthony.

- Anthony and Matti have this little house of alliance,

and these guys have been gunning for me since day one.

They better put all the bull[bleep] aside,

because we all need to work together as a team.

- Those are the teams.

You'll have six hours to tattoo

an American traditional clipper ship.

And remember, you're being judged on adaptability.

Good luck.

- Hi. - Cleen.

So where are you thinking about putting this ship at?

- The left thigh.

- Okay. - Ooh, good spot.

- Every artist in almost any genre

has to be adaptable to be successful.

- Six hours' worth.

You're gonna get a pretty big tattoo.

- And today, these artists

really have to work well together,

for the simple fact that they're being judged

as one tattoo, and everything has to fall

perfectly into place,

or we're gonna pick it out in a minute.

- All right, man - Man, we're gonna have a blast.

- I'm sketching. - Yeah.

I'm a little nervous.

I don't do American traditional at all.

As much as I hate Cleen as a competitor,

Cleen's style is derived from traditional tattooing.

Being on his team is definitely gonna work in my favor.

- I think it looks great.

- Of course I'm the only one drawing this

because I'm the only one that knows what I'm doing.

- You just... you whip that out? - Yeah.

I'm not here to teach guys how to do traditional tattoos.

If you don't have these fundamentals,

get the hell out of the business.

- You want me to do the black, and him do the color?

- I'll [bleep] line it out quick.

- You drew the whole damn thing, so...

I mean, if I had drawn the whole thing, I would've lined it.

- I mean, I got no problem lining it, dude.

- You do the roses, I'll start this, and then we'll...

and we'll figure it out and meet in the middle.

- Christian, is there anything you want me to work on?

- Jesse helping us is the equivalent

of having a three-year-old help when you're making dinner.

He can go off and do some little thing.

Me and James will take care of the real work.

- I can do the line work if necessary.

- I'll do it.

- So we'll do black shading? - Yeah.

- I mean, I'm definitely a color dude,

so I feel like color would be my strength,

but I'm down to do anything

that anybody feels like they're not confident in.

Are you listening to me?

- I am.

- Christian and James

are pretty much shutting me out of this.

It's obvious they have no respect for me as an artist.

- My big concern with Jesse is if he doesn't do

a lot of traditional, he's gonna [bleep] overdo it

or go too smooth on colors.

- Getting the palate together.

- Oh, Lord have mercy.

It's American traditional.

You don't need 80 colors.

Reel it in.

[mimics line humming]

Come on, Jesse, come on. Aaah!

- They need more colors in their tattoo.

Look at that.

- Minimal, minimal, minimal.

Any more colors than this, and we're in trouble.

Lose this one and this. - Just one... fade it.

- Jesse, you're gonna [bleep] this [bleep] up, aren't you?

[industrial music]

♪

- Okay, artists.

You will have six hours to show your adaptability

by tattooing a clipper ship as a team.

And your time begins now.

- Let's do this.

- All right, all right.

- This stencil...

- For this elimination tattoo,

we're doing something we've never done

on "Ink Master" before: production line tattooing.

- Am I just stenciling this?

- How many people does it take to screw in a light bulb?

- Two is good for stenciling this big.

- Each team has to produce

an American traditional clipper ship.

- I like it. - Pretty straight.

- Strong outline, strong shading, bright color...

clipper ships are one of my favorite images.

One of these teams messes up,

I'm gonna nail them to the wall for it.

♪

- Cleen's gonna do the line work

since he drew the [bleep]

and wouldn't let anybody else put anything in there.

- I'm going nice and slow,

trying to make love to this line work.

Of course I'm gonna line it.

You got to start out with a big, bold, traditional outline.

I'm never this anal about my line work.

I'm not gonna let these jokers keep me from winning today.

- Looks good.

- I don't need a strong team.

I am the strong team.

♪

- You think you should move your water a little over here?

- I think you should move and let me do this outline.

- Working with Christian is showing adaptability,

because he's a turd.

- Are you sure about that?

- The outline is almost done,

and you two old maids need to figure this out,

'cause Ollie's gonna tear our ass up if not.

- Aesthetically, I like this way better.

However, if it's incorrect, then we look like assholes.

- Four hours remaining.

- I got it, Matti. Just get set up.

♪

Get it, Matti.

Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on.

- Yeah, that's a good whip right there, Matti.

- Man, I bet you guys are making him nervous

just a-hovering right over him.

- We're working as a team, bro. That's how it works.

- Is that what you're doing?

- I hate that this elimination challenge

has to be a team effort.

I do clipper ships all the time.

I could do it blindfolded,

but I'm stuck with just the shading.

That sucks.

♪

- I don't care what's going on on my team.

All I know is this tattoo won't send me home at all,

because my shading's gonna be on point.

- Just turn the damn shading in without any color,

and we're good.

Tattoo of the day, black and gray.

Work it out, player.

- Two hours... two more hours.

- All right, Jesse, no pressure,

but everything now rests on you.

♪

- I'd make the bottom one solid, you know?

Anthony's got me walking him through every step of the way.

- All right, so what are we doing here?

- A little brown off of there,

a little brown off of there,

just a... [tongue clicking]

Figure it out, bro.

I adapted more than both of these guys.

I adapted into a teacher and showed these two apprentices

how to do a traditional tattoo for the first time.

- Oh, whoa. That's the wrong one.

That's... that's brown, bro.

God damn. I just had a heart attack.

- I may not tattoo American traditional a lot,

but I'm not an idiot.

- The worst part is just sitting here.

- 30 minutes.

- Get to work.

- I know how to put in color.

It's super solid, super saturated...

We could put a little bit of brown in here.

- Hell, no. No more brown. [whistling]

-But all these assholes are getting all stressed out,

and they're projecting it on me,

and it's starting to make me stressed out.

- It's not that you're slow or nothing, Jesse,

it's just that you're slow.

- Stop yelling at me, Christian.

We're on the same team.

I'm trying to make sure this [bleep] is tight.

- James and I gave Jesse tons of time to finish the color,

but he's taking twice as long as it should.

And if we get [bleep] because of Jesse,

I'm gonna be pissed.

Jesus Christ, Jesse.

- Hang in there, Chris.

I'm trying to make sure this is solid.

-I would like to rip his little head off

and stuff it into a little animal,

and give it to my kids to play with.

- Five, four, three, two, one.

That is it. Time's up.

Machines down.

No more ink.

- What do you think, Chris?

- That looks badass.

- That looks really good.

- I thought Matti was gonna put some black in this thing.

There ain't no shading in there.

Just like... [whistling]

- Do you love it or what?

- Yeah, I really love it.

-After looking at this tattoo,

I ain't even worried about Jesse's color,

'cause we got this thing.

[rock music]

- So do you feel like you guys worked together pretty good?

- Jesse was slow as [bleep].

It was painful to watch.

I think I could have done that tattoo

as good or better in four hours.

- A lot of the decisions that you got me to make in that

weren't exactly the decisions I would have made.

- Well, then you should have nutted up and said so.

When you were telling me, I told you to get

the [bleep] out of my way, 'cause I know what I'm doing.

- Yeah, because you're an asshole.

- No, I know what I'm doing. - Every...

- I wasn't asking you for advice yesterday.

- If it wasn't for me, our flags would be backwards.

- The one guy who actually did the artwork

made one little flaw. - One flaw?

I could have drawn them flags on

with a [bleep] pen in my [bleep].

- Why didn't you? You didn't draw a [bleep] thing in there.

- I should have. - You should thank me.

- Now you're walking around acting like you [bleep]

did the whole tattoo by yourself.

- You have absolutely no conception

on how American traditional works.

That's where the one-trick-pony thing comes in.

- You're a one-trick pony, and your one trick is boring.

Like, your tattoos... there's no life behind them.

There's no energy. There's no soul.

You are doing what everybody else has already done,

and you're getting on me for doing something

that I've developed on my own.

The fact of the matter is I have put a lot of time

into developing what I've put together,

and my soul is in there.

My thought process is in there.

When you see a Jesse Smith tattoo, you say,

"That's a [bleep] Jesse Smith tattoo."

That's my voice, my soul.

Everything in that tattoo is me.

When I see your tattoos, I see everybody else's tattoos.

- You are an arrogant little prick, just like I said.

- Hey, man, did I hurt your feelings?

- Of course it does.

- "Jesse Smith doesn't love me."

- You go [bleep] your little self.

[dramatic music]

♪

- Today you had to prove your adaptability.

Remember, you're being judged as a team.

Cleen, Matti, and Anthony,

you're up first.

♪

How did you guys choose who took on what task here

on the assembly line?

- I was pretty open to doing anything.

- He drew it; he should outline it.

I do a lot of black pepper shading.

I'm pretty good at it.

Anthony, he's a color saturation guy,

so that's good.

- So, Anthony, how did you guys find working together as a team?

- I mean, the topic at hand was adaptability.

We all did really well.

These guys are a little bit more versed

in this style of tattooing.

I'm a great listener, and I learned really quick.

From there on out, it was pretty easy.

- First off, overall, guys, I just like the tattoo.

Super clean, super simple, straight to the point...

exactly what traditional tattoos are meant to be.

Breaking this thing down into three parts,

for the size of the tattoo,

it's a nice, solid, bold outline...

a lot of straight, bold, well-executed lines.

- The line weight is what I really like about it:

The boldness of the outline in contrast to the shading.

- Matti, in the shading, you did a great job

pulling off that peppered effect

in a lot of areas of this tattoo.

- I especially like the black shading in the water.

Keeping that water all black

and doing it that way looks tough.

It's tempting to want to go blue,

but the black definitely stands out.

- Well, going on to the color, there's some areas

where the color doesn't go solid up to the line:

In the red against the sail, the red against the boat,

a couple of areas where the brown to the line of the boat.

And where the red meets the front sail,

it's not so saturated up to the line.

And I feel like that red glow that comes up,

you lost the roundness of that shape of the horizon.

You just went kind of straight up with it.

There would be the area inside that front sail

by the front of the ship where that red

would be in behind the sails a little bit.

I would have kept that red a little lower

and just had more of an arc

instead of just coming so far up.

Overall, it's a good, solid take

on a very simple, traditional tattoo.

♪

- Christian, Jesse, and James,

you're up next.

♪

Christian, how did you guys choose who took on what task?

- Jesse, obviously, is great with color saturation,

and James felt really comfortable doing the shading,

so I picked lining.

- Who drew the ship? Who came up with the design?

- I did the ship, and James did the roses.

And then we all worked together on the composition and stuff.

- You guys did a nice job putting the design together.

I like the roses at the bottom

to finish a strong, traditional look.

- Didn't go overboard with too much.

Just kept just the right amount of simple,

but it definitely has a very strong skeleton to it.

The outline is pretty flawless, man.

The outline is really, really nice.

It's a huge tattoo,

but every single line exactly the same thickness.

One of the most overall consistent outlines

that we've seen.

- The black shading throughout the tattoo really is nice.

It works.

Because it is solid black, it will look great.

As the color dissipates, it'll still hold.

- I loved how much black you put in the sails.

You give this whole tattoo a lot of weight to it.

It's a nice peppered effect.

The areas where you left the highlight between the line

and into the shading... it's very smooth.

It's not wavering.

It's a nice attention to detail,

and the overall look of the tattoo,

I think, really shines out.

- The color's nice and strong.

The balance is strong.

- From a distance, the amount of color in this tattoo is nice.

The problem with the red and the saturation

is you really look at the roses...

you see where the red is not really just solid punch

over top of the black shading in every area.

- I was thinking color was gonna be pretty easy...

just laying it it areas.

And then once I got in there, it was a struggle for me,

because I felt like when you brush the red

over the top of the black,

it kind of makes the black not as dark.

- You want the red to at least saturate

all the shading part of the black,

and you pound that red over the top of that black.

That was the way to go with the roses.

But you have a couple areas where it's a little bit soft.

♪

Usually, on traditional day, we have a lot of stinkers

and a lot of people that don't do the style

and a lot of people that just can't understand it.

But today we have two really strong,

really standout traditional tattoos.

I'm stoked.

- The six of you really capitalized

on the punch word of the day, which was adaptability.

You constructed your designs well.

You worked together well.

And this was one of those times where everybody shined.

♪

- All right, guys, you've heard the judges' critiques,

and both teams did solid work.

No doubt about that.

As we keep saying, this is the strongest group of artists

that's ever competed for the title of Ink Master.

This race is extremely tight.

Now the power is in your hands.

You, as a team, know better than anyone

who on your team showed adaptability

and who did not.

You must decide which artist on your team

was the weakest.

The artist each team nominates will be up for elimination.

- Whew...

- This was one of those times where everybody shined.

This is gonna be a really tough one for you guys.

And, like it's tough for us,

today it's gonna be your turn to feel it.

- I think this is gonna be a rough choice.

The fact that you all worked together well as a team

is gonna make it even more difficult.

- Pick wisely.

Now you're back to playing the game.

- Head back to the loft.

You have a very important decision to make.

- Ooh, Lord.

♪

- Do you just want to pick a [bleep] fight or what?

I'm sick and tired of you, and I'd love to see you

get the [bleep] out of here. - I'm over this.

- It's tough to see a room full of tough guys

get soft pretty quick.

- Which artist are you putting up for elimination?

[dramatic music]

♪

- What are you guys thinking?

- I feel I've been the most adaptable in this house.

I feel you were the least adaptable.

- I walked you through the whole entire tattoo.

I didn't put the color in sloppy like you did.

- Who would you guys send out?

- If we're going by who was weakest in the challenge,

I think you're the obvious choice.

- What do you think, James?

- Christian's been on top since the beginning.

- And it's a sure win if we send you down.

- No, I'm not volunteering to go down.

- I'm not...

- I just don't see any strategic advantage to doing that.

- What about you, James? What's your vote?

- It's very hard.

- I think you should vote Christian down.

- Do you just want to pick a fight or what?

What do you want from me here? - Dude,

I'm just putting [bleep] out there, I mean,

essentially you could take out one of the strongest players.

- Well, right now you're annoying.

I'm here to play a game. This is a competition.

I'm gonna go with the weakest link every [bleep] time.

- I'm not trying to get you to go down.

- Shut the [bleep] up. - I just asked you a question.

- All right, well, I'll let you guys get it.

- You've got my vote for sure,

because I'm sick and tired of you and your little mouth,

and I'd love to see you get the [bleep] out of here.

- Christian's afraid to go to the bottom because he's a pussy.

I know that I can beat any of these guys head-to-head.

- Oh, jeesh.

- How are they doing? - They're going at it.

- It sounds like we're kind of in the same situation.

According to the critique, I'm the weakest link on my team.

I'm a man, and I own up to my mistakes.

- So what's the consensus vote?

- These guys think that I didn't adapt,

which doesn't make sense.

- I'm over this.

If no one wants to step to the plate, I'll go.

- You're going down?

Who's your vote for, Matti?

- I don't want to vote for Anthony,

but if he volunteers, I mean, I can't tell him not to.

- Anthony wants to volunteer himself

out of some misguided sense of nobility.

This isn't an honor system, man.

It's a game. Play it.

What the [bleep] are you doing?

If you go down and you lose, we lose you.

- I'm not gonna lose.

- What if? I don't care.

It's a what if.

- I was just going based on the critique.

- [bleep] the critique. Did you [bleep] up?

- No. - Okay.

So do you deserve to go down?

So... - Matti's just like...

- You just let Cleen out-talk you is it.

We're teammates. We go together.

You and I said that day one.

We're right there.

Why on God's green Earth

would you put yourself on the chopping block?

I forbid it.

♪

- Today you had to tattoo as a team.

Now it's up to you to decide

which artist on your team was the weakest.

Cleen, Matti, and Anthony,

your team is up first.

Matti, which artist are you putting up for elimination?

♪

- Are you sure you want to do this, man?

♪

I'm nominating Anthony, 'cause he volunteered to go down.

♪

- Cleen, which artist are you putting up for elimination?

♪

- I guess myself.

I can't sit here and throw somebody under the bus.

We all did a great tattoo, so I'm here to tattoo, man.

♪

- Anthony, which artist are you putting up for elimination?

♪

- I'm voting for myself.

I'm pretty much basing it off of the way the critique went.

If you guys feel I missed the mark on coloring

up against the lines, so be it.

- By a vote of two to one, Anthony,

you have been put up for elimination.

Please step down.

♪

Christian, Jesse, and James, your team is next.

Christian, which artist are you putting up for elimination?

♪

- I'm voting for Jesse.

Myself and James carried the majority of the tattoo,

and he was the weakest link.

- Jesse, which artist are you putting up for elimination?

♪

- I vote myself.

I completely agree with Christian.

I think that they carried me through this challenge,

and I felt it only made sense for me to vote myself down here.

♪

- James...

which artist are you putting up for elimination?

- My tattoo could stand alone without color.

Jesse's my choice.

- The vote is unanimous.

Jesse, you have been put up for elimination.

Please step down.

♪

- James, how you feeling out there?

- Part of the game, brother.

- Every single elimination is tough, man.

It's tough to see a room full of tough guys

get pretty soft pretty quick.

- I am who I am, brother.

♪

- Anthony and Jesse,

your teammates have put you up for elimination,

but only one of you will be packing your machines.

You will have one final chance

to save yourself.

Tomorrow, the two of you must face off

in a six-hour tattoo proving your adaptability.

- At this point, we know we're gonna see two great tattoos.

Come out swinging.

This is you guys battling each other

as two tremendous artists.

- Anthony and Jesse, get your machines ready.

Good luck.

♪

- You must draw your tattoo directly

onto your canvas's skin freehand.

- Let's get it on!

- There's really nothing you can say about what this is.

It's a little bit confusing.

- Overall, it doesn't speak to me.

This is gonna boil down on both sides of the table

to technicalities.

[dramatic music]

♪

- I know I can win this face-off.

That's why I voted myself to the bottom.

I'm versatile, I'm determined, and I'm adaptable.

If I take Jesse out of this competition,

I'll be completing one of my goals

of taking the veterans out one by one.

- Boy, they both got their game faces on.

Going to be an interesting match-up.

- I'm not worried about competing with Anthony.

He's an amazing artist for 5 years of experience,

but I got 17.

If I lose, then I didn't deserve to be here.

♪

- Anthony and Jesse,

your teammates determined that you were the weakest.

You must now face off for survival.

You've each been randomly assigned a canvas,

and your canvases are completely open.

The subject and style of your design is completely up to you.

However, to prove your adaptability,

you must draw your tattoo

directly onto your canvas's skin...

freehand.

- Wow.

- You cannot use any stencils,

and you must draw from scratch...

- Oh, wow!

- With no reference. - [sighs]

Freehand and no reference?

Jesse's made a name for himself being an illustrator

and coming up with images off the top of his head.

I'm [bleep] screwed.

- This is exactly what I needed,

because I want to do something crazy.

I want to do what I do.

This is my comfort zone.

♪

- This is a really good opportunity to do something

you haven't been able to do so far in this competition.

Show us whatever you want to do.

Any style. Complete freedom.

Doesn't have to be a huge tattoo.

It has to be a great tattoo.

- Guys, this is the ultimate competitive platform right here.

This is right out of your brain right onto the skin.

Go at it.

- Let's bring in your canvases.

You have six hours to tattoo,

and your time starts now.

- Let's get it on!

- Jesse Smith and Anthony Michaels

could easily make it to the finale.

One of them's not.

- I specialize in little critters:

Rabbits, squirrels.

I do the googly eyes and teeth.

- These two tattooers have such a different background.

- We can do, like, a traditional eagle or something.

- That's cool.

- And that'll surprise the judges

because they wouldn't expect that.

- Typically experience is everything.

But there are times where inexperience

creates hunger and creates drive.

- I know the judges wouldn't expect it either,

but I'm gonna murder this [bleep].

- We'll have to see how Anthony does

going up against a veteran that knows all the tricks.

♪

- You're just drawing right now...

seeing what comes out.

- This is the first time in this competition

that I've got a piece of open skin

to do whatever I want.

I'm taking advantage of it.

- This tattoo right here is a game-changer.

If I win, then I knock Anthony out,

one of the strongest competitors,

and I have an easier path to the finale.

I'm ready to show these guys what I'm made of.

♪

- I screwed up the American traditional clipper ship.

I have to redeem myself.

I'm tattooing a freehand eagle

across the shoulder blades of my canvas.

I'm out for blood.

I'm creating something that's badass.

- Is there a party in here or what?

- I wish.

- Anthony has taken a big risk

in a huge shoulder-to-shoulder eagle on this guy's back.

- So this is your go-to? - No.

- Typically in this competition,

eagles have been a recipe for disaster,

and today Anthony is tattooing one on with no reference.

- I don't normally tattoo this style,

and I figured I'd push myself a bit.

You know what I mean?

- You're staying black and gray with it?

- No. No. - No?

- Watch... Jesse will be doing a portrait.

Jesse, you doing a portrait over here?

- I'm [bleep] going for it.

-What Jesse's doing is his own made-up character

that there's no rules.

There's nothing to hold him to the fire on in this tattoo.

On paper, this challenge is looking like

Jesse's got it in the bag.

- All right, guys, you have four hours remaining.

♪

- Ooh, damn.

I think right now, Anthony's balls

might be bigger than his head.

He wants to impress the judges,

but I need him to maintain control

so that we can make it to the end like we planned.

Everybody's helping Anthony out.

Nobody's trying to help me out.

- Make sure you do tough claws.

- They got three on top and then one on the bottom.

They have four? - Yeah.

Three on top and one on the bottom.

- I'm not competing against

one person on this tattoo.

I'm competing against five.

- I am pretty sure it's three and one.

-But you know what?

Adaptability is being able to take a bad situation

and make it good.

My dad was in the Army. I grew up all over the world.

I've had to adapt every time I've moved.

I was always exposed to a bunch of different artists,

and I pulled a piece from every artist I've ever met,

and that's where my style comes from.

Now I'm all alone,

and I'm getting to do what I want to do.

Anthony's in trouble.

- Everybody's gonna help Anthony,

because Jesse's tattoo is coming straight from his head.

It's not gonna be very easy to critique.

- I think you should tell him "I did an eagle

because he eats little googly-eyed creatures."

- Anything you say about it, he could just explain away

in some imaginary fairytale story.

- This particular guy lives in the Creotic Sea...

preys on skimper fish.

- I don't know why Anthony's choosing to do

traditional today when he doesn't do traditional.

Maybe he's got a point to prove.

- Two hours... two hours to go, guys.

- I'm gonna rip that clock out of the wall.

♪

What's pushing me in this tattoo

is remembering everything I had to fight for back home.

When I was five, my sister went to the hospital.

They were gonna remove her appendix,

and they gave her too much anesthesia, and she died.

By the time they brought her back,

she had lost too much oxygen to her brain.

She was a vegetable. She was on life support.

But, man, my mom wasn't accepting anything

the doctors were saying.

She fought tooth and nail, man,

to get my sister back to where she is now.

She went from being a vegetable

to winning medals left and right

in the Special Olympics.

My mom definitely inspired me by her tenacity.

She didn't quit.

Everything I've been here fighting for, this is it.

♪

- Five, four, three, two, one...

that is it.

Time is up. Machines down.

No more ink.

- Whoo!

Down to the wire.

Good job, dude. - It's badass.

- You can't get a more different approach on each one, you know?

- Pretty crazy, man.

Jesse was smart doing something that he loves to do:

Big-eyed, crazy creatures.

Your Muppet's got "toofuses."

I don't know what the hell it is.

Well, they can't get you on anatomy,

because nobody know what the [bleep] that thing is.

But I think it should be way more saturated than it is.

Jesse's supposed to be the color guy.

Go figure.

- It's just a tough one to call.

- I don't think it's like, bam, sure win... bam, sure win.

No. - Yeah.

'Cause neither one of them played it like a pussy

and did a little, tiny tattoo; they both went for [bleep].

- I feel like I would have liked a little more time,

but I feel like I could say that

with every tattoo I've ever done.

- That was a Jesse Smith looking tattoo, man.

- Yeah, it is.

- Obviously, for me, I'm rooting for Anthony.

I mean, he's the last one of the original members here,

and, you know, we've been homies

since day one.

This has been a long road,

and everything just gets so intense,

and things do become very personal.

- You know, everybody's got, like, those relationships.

- Yeah.

I mean, you bond with everybody.

But, you know, Ant and I... right off the bat we just knew,

you know, we had each other's backs.

♪

It's [bleep] absurd.

♪

- This is definitely a do-or-die moment.

I need to get into the finale.

I need this $100,000.

My life is riding on this.

[dramatic music]

♪

- Today, you faced off to prove your adaptability

by free-handing your design directly onto the skin

with no reference.

Jesse, let's start with you.

♪

So what are we looking at here?

- This is a octo-bunny fish.

It's pretty much straight from my head.

- It's a very creative tattoo.

Definitely recognizable as your style of artwork,

but at first glance, it's a little bit confusing

the way the body turns around the back and what's going on.

Are those supposed to be stitches

that are holding the thing together in the back?

- Yeah, this particular character...

he's been through some bad times.

He relies on the pattern on his sides

to attract other fish so he can have a meal for the day.

It makes me sad to know that he probably won't last that long,

because he can't move like a normal fish.

- Thing's crazy.

- You know, there's really nothing you can say

about what this is, because it's something

totally created out of your mind.

I think it's a great, creative approach.

There are some areas that are really shining...

the nose, the fang...

the little textures that really stand out strong.

But there's some saturation issues...

the muddy colors, like the orange spots

that look scratchy and unfinished.

Then there's some areas that I think could have been

a little brighter instead of that pale yellow.

Overall, it has a more muted, washed-out feel.

This was your chance to really do something super bright

and poppy on a pale skin.

- Jesse, there's no doubt about your creativity,

but then looking at the consistency of the outline,

you have a lot of different line weights.

You have some areas where you get a little gray,

or you have some thickness where it looks like

you had to pick up in some spots.

Overall, you did a really cool image.

This is gonna to boil down completely,

on both sides of the table, to technicalities.

♪

- Anthony.

♪

This isn't really the most traditional eagle in the world.

- I wanted that feel.

I know there's so much more about traditional tattooing.

There's so many rules involved.

So I wanted to be a little looser,

but keep some elements of traditional being the black,

and I tried to simplify the design as much as I could.

- But have you drawn a lot of these eagles?

- No.

- Drawing a eagle like this from memory... very risky.

Just going from nothing and coming up with

an aesthetically pleasing look...

I think it's a great take,

and I love this outline throughout...

big, nice, crisp.

But there's some questionable ways

you did the feathers in the wings.

- I didn't want the wings to look so uniform.

- I shouldn't be able to see the feather lines

go all the way to the base.

That black should be black enough

to where those lines disappear into the blackness,

and then it would have had a much stronger look.

- Where, to me, things get short is the color.

I don't love the brown stripes off the yellow in the talons

and in the wings.

It doesn't speak to me as powerfully

as everything else in the tattoo.

♪

- What are you guys' thoughts?

- It's not apples to apples.

- Definitely taking a risk doing a style

you're not familiar with.

I think it's a personal triumph for Anthony.

I was happy to watch him swing for the fences on that one.

- I see more hiccups on the eagle outline than that one.

Everybody's like, "Ah, it's just so crazy."

But there's a science to doing what he does,

because there's 100,000 guys out there trying to do

exactly what he does, but it doesn't work.

So there is a right and wrong way

to do a crazy character like that.

When you look at that, you're like, "That's Jesse Smith."

- But then, if you're creating a fantasy character,

I have to look at the character

and believe that it can function.

Jesse's arm coming directly out from underneath the cheek

didn't look like it functioned.

And then the fin, I don't understand if that's on its back

or if it's coming down a ridge or something.

- I drew it all on, and as far as adapting

from what I normally do, I drew with the tattoo machine

while I was going.

There was a lot of decisions I made

that weren't on there when I started.

♪

- All right, it's time to go to the judges here.

Which artist is going home?

- I feel like there's some technical problems

with both these tattoos.

- We all agree that both have

some kind of anatomy issue.

We all agree that some areas

of each of the tattoos are light.

Where I would say that there's a gap

would come down to outlines.

Definitely, Anthony's tattoo has a much stronger outline.

Looking at it line by line, pass by pass, stroke by stroke,

the finesse that's in that outline...

that is what's really strong.

- In terms of overall readability

and maybe just taking it up a notch,

Anthony may have stepped a little bit further

out of his comfort zone.

- Anthony took the big risk.

He did a show stopper.

He did a tattoo to win.

- Final choice to go home?

♪

- I got to vote for Jesse.

- My final decision...

Jesse.

- Jesse.

- The judges have decided.

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

- Thank you for the second opportunity.

I appreciate it.

- Jesse, you do something that is really your own thing.

And the fact that you tell us a sad story about the fish

means you're actually thinking it through,

which is a true sign of an artist.

But it came down today to the simplest part

of the whole tattoo: the outline.

- Please pack your machines and close shop.

♪

- This time around, it was weird.

It was just like a cold shoulder from everybody.

I definitely felt outnumbered.

I don't feel like I should be going home right now.

I'm capable of a lot more

than most of the people in this house.

I'm better than all of them.

♪

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

- You must help your canvas make a bold statement.

- Who agrees to tattoo this kind of symbol on somebody?

You have no moral values.

- I'm not nervous one bit.

I can tattoo anything, any time.

- We are so close. - It just makes me hungrier.

- If I go to this finale, I want to take you with me.

-I don't know if anybody ever has controlled the game

better than I have.

I kind of have this feeling that

you're sort of playing both sides.

- It gets more of a turkey feel

than it does an eagle feel.

- I'm known for doing big-ass tattoos.

- Larger doesn't always win.

- You can't always finish something in one sitting.

- I don't think I deserve to go home.

- The tattoo's unfinished, man.

[hard rock music]

♪