Original subtitles

[Male Narrator] This season on Ink Master,

OG's versus Young Guns.

- Whoo! - [cheering]

[Narrator] Sixteen new artists enter the competition.

There's not a single weak artist here.

Sharpen your blades and take out these opponents.

Battle to the death. I'm here competing with my son.

Against my son.

I'm still kicking his ass.

[Anthony] James is the biggest threat here,

but I know everything that he does.

He's taught me everything. I have to beat him.

Most people are ready to throw me under the bus.

You're a strong player. You know, one of the best here.

If not the best.

Now's the time to try and do the best thing possible

to fucking take out James Tex.

James and Anthony should be worried,

because we're coming for them.

These girls are playing the game.

This is definitely not how I was planning to make my debut back

from maternity leave.

In the trenches, babe.

[Cat] Everybody else is competing against each othe,

but this is me in a competition against myself.

Cat's a threat. She's really good.

[Kat] Did they just throw me a bone right now?

This tattoo, it was close to perfect Cat.

Thank you, guys.

[Narrator] One by one, they were eliminated .

Love, Johnny.

Manny. Andy.

Elena. Jenna.

Jarell. Joseph.

Trevor. Lucy.

Jade. Pony.

Stephanie.

None of you have what it takes to be Ink Master.

[Narrator] In the end,

two OG's and one young gun were left standing.

To prove you deserve the title,

you must create a 24-hour back piece.

Shit.

You can tattoo any subject you want in any style you want.

Bring it on.

For your second Master Canvas.

What?

You will have 12 hours to create a tattoo on the leg.

The opposing team gets to call

the style and the subject that you must tattoo.

Shit.

Cat, what style and subject must James and Anthony tattoo?

Black and gray photo realistic lion.

Horseshit.

I have to make this a $250,000 fucking lion.

OG's, what style and subject must Cat tattoo?

- American traditional. - Lion.

Thirty-six hours of tattooing. Only one Ink Master.

[Narrator] Tonight, on the season finale,

the finalists will reveal their Master Canvases.

This is a big swing for me.

They're father/son. So I'm up against the family.

Most people don't have the opportunity to go

head-to-head with their mentor, their father.

This is what I came here for.

[indistinct]

If I have to beat him to win the title,

So be it.

[Narrator] One artist will win the $250,000 prize.

[whispering] I'm so proud.

But I still hope he fails.

...And the title of Ink Master.

It's all happening tonight

on the season finale of Ink Master.

[theme music]

You do have...you do have what it takes to be Ink Master.

Welcome to the season finale.

Big. It's gotta sound big.

- Hey, man in black. - Hey, guys.

Damn, Joel, you're looking good.

Thank you very much.

[Ryan] What are you doing in here all alone?

- It's the finale. - [DJ Tambe] Oh, exciting night.

I'm just here, you know,

taking a moment, reflecting on the season.

- It's been a wold one. - Yeah.

Some amazing tattoos this season.

Young guns, OG's.

How much do you think experience

played into getting these artists here tonight?

We watched a lot of these young guns go home early in the game

and watched a lot of these OG's dominate.

We also saw tattoo-ers with 20 plus years of experience

- go out before Cat did. - Yep.

There is an 18-year experience gap

between James and Cat.

That's a legal adult.

Think about how much you learn as a human in 18 years.

- All of that knowledge. - For sure.

But you know what? Cat kept up.

She learns and she adapts quickly.

And I think it's made her an overall

really well-rounded competitor.

What about James and Anthony, first father -son duo,

seeing them compete head-to-head?

Legendary, right?

Yeah, it hits to the heart, you know,

and anyone that has kids, I mean, this is the dream, right?

James is definitely living the dream through his son

and being here himself.

Being in Anthony's shoes, being taught your whole life

how to do something and then going up against your master,

that's got to be a crazy feeling.

Well, I can't wait to find out

who's going to be the next Ink Master.

You guys ready to kick this off?

- Oh, let's do this. - Ready.

Let's go.

Let's bring in the finalists.

Representing the OG's,

Tattooing for 13 years, Anthony Tex.

[Anthony] My whole life since James started tattooing

has come to this moment.

I finally get to go head-to-head with Pops.

I really want to show who I am in comparison to who he is.

I'm here to fucking beat him.

This is what I came here for,

to get the title

and prove to everyone that I am an amazing artist.

I'm coming in swinging.

Also representing the OG's,

tattooing for 26 years, James Tex.

[James] I've spent the last 26 years working so hard

to build a tattoo legacy for my family.

Winning the title of Ink Master

will prove that I still have that fight

and that fire within me.

I've been through the gauntlet

in this competition to make it to the spot

and now we go to war.

And finally, representing the young guns,

tattooing for eight years, Cat Castro.

[Cat] I want to prove that I belong here.

I worked my ass off this competition.

I pushed through so many struggles.

I'm doing this for my son.

I'm doing this for us.

I want my son to be able to say, "my mom won Ink Master."

Congratulations on making it to the finale.

- Good job, guys. - You did it.

Each of you had to complete not one,

but two Master Canvas tattoos.

I can't believe we did it, actually.

36 hours of tattooing

over the course of the last three days.

A lot of tattooing.

It's wild.

Based on those two Master Canvases,

one of you will walk away with $250,000

and the title of Ink Master.

- This is it. - Right there, within reach.

It all comes down to this.

Sweat buckets, that's for sure.

But there is one more thing you should know.

[Cat chuckles]

No more tattoos.

Tonight, the judges are not the only ones

you need to impress.

Shit.

What does that mean?

A spot in the top two will be in the hands

of a jury of your peers.

- Uh-oh. - Oh, shit.

Are they here?

From the OG's,

Stephanie, Pony, and Lucy.

From the young guns,

Jade, Trevor, and Joseph.

How you doing, big dog?

[chuckles] What's up, Trevor?

Here we go.

Welcome back, artists.

- Thank you. - [Lucy] Thank you for having us.

I'm so excited to be here.

Feels like I just left.

[Ryan laughing]

All season long, these artists battled it out alongside you.

- This is wild, man. - Holy shit.

They also, more than likely,

want to be sitting where you are right now.

I have no doubt that they will hold nothing back

when it comes to critiquing

the tattoos of the artists that took them out.

Well, that's not good.

No, it's not good, is it?

Here's how it's gonna work.

The jury of peers will deliberate and vote

for the artist they think deserves a spot in the top two.

Should have been nicer to me, James.

The judges will then determine the second artist

in the top two.

The artist who does not receive a vote from the jury

or the judges will be eliminated.

Our fate's in their hands.

I've been doing a lot of talking,

and I'd rather be looking at amazing tattoos.

- Yeah, same. - Let's do it.

For your first master canvas,

you had 24 hours to tattoo anything you wanted.

Goddamn.

A whole back piece to prove your strengths and show us

why you deserve the title of Ink Master.

Wow.

Anything you want.

Let's see how it went.

Bada-bing, bada-boom.

- Anthony. - Yeah, dude.

That's a 12-hour tattoo for you.

I know.

[James] Now that Anthony's in the finale with me,

it's gonna be a dog-eat-dog fight.

[imitating cat noises]

Or a dog-eat-cat.

Your cat noise is sick.

I only got one. Mewlk.

Mewlk.[chuckles] Those are two.

- Hey. I'm your messy canvas. - Hey, I'm Cat. Nice to meet you.

So what we're doing today is gonna be this sexy,

beautiful sorceress, but kind of deadly, and then having,

like, this ghostly skull come out that she's summoning.

- That's awesome. - It's gonna be massive.

You ready for just a big old couple days here?

I'm ready for a big couple days.

I think I'm gonna do a crane.

I love it.

[Anthony] I think just, for me, readability.

Look across the room, you know exactly what the hells going on.

What do you think?

- That is sick. - Just a striking image.

I think it's gonna pay off in the end.

100%, yeah.

Artists, you have 24 hours for your master canvas back piece,

and your time starts now.

Let's do this.

This is the only part that'll feel kind of nice.

That's perfect.

I've seen a lot of back pieces,

but have I seen a lot of $250,000 back pieces?

Not really. I want my mind blown.

I want my head to literally

explode off my fucking shoulders.

Mind gone.

Hoo.

Later.

Sick. Thank God that went on first try.

This is the worst part.

We have two OG's and one young gun,

but at this point, it's anybody's game.

All three of us have been on the top and the bottom.

It's been a roller coaster.

[DJ Tambe] The battle is on.

Who's got what it takes?

Good luck, bud. We got this.

Go time, buds.

I was just super excited for this piece.

My crane is fucking badass.

Cranes are one of my favorite things to tattoo.

It's a crane in motion with energy.

This tattoo is gonna show who I am and separate what

people think of James and myself because I'm my own artist,

and I'm fucking ready to crush this shit.

Is this the, oh, that's gonna be a fun part?

Give me a couple fun parts.

I'm tattooing a sorceress that's conjuring up this deadly energy.

It's a skull that's coming out at you,

and it's glowing onto her face.

I feel like we're all doing completely different styles.

I was the girl that was scared to pick up a tattoo machine

in the first challenge,

and now look where I am.

This character is the embodiment of what I want to be.

I want it to be strong and powerful

and show everything that I've learned since being here.

You're doing awesome.

You have 20 hours remaining.

My tattoo is a medusa.

There's a lot of things that can go wrong with this tattoo.

The face. It has to be bang on.

The hand, that has to be perfect.

And I'm not gonna hold back on the snakes.

I'm gonna show dimension, twisting, turning.

I know in this tattoo I'm showing off,

but this is the time to show every trick I have

and leave it all in the skin.

Oh, fuck.

Oh no.

You've got some shmutz on you?

Another pair of jeans gone.

They're father/son.

So I'm up against the family. [chuckles]

I thought the lid was closed.

He does this every day back at home.

I look good.

You've got 14 hours.

[tense music]

Artist, we have reached the halfway point.

Day one done.

Tomorrow's just fucking hard. We're really tough.

It looks like you have a cape on right now.

Superpower is just dealing with pain all day long.

All right, big guy. Let's get you all wrapped up.

- I'll see you tomorrow? - We'll see you tomorrow.

Hey, there they are.

How's it going?

[Cat] Back to it.

I guess we're gonna clean you up there, big guy.

Yep.

- You managed to get some sleep? - Yeah, a little bit.

You've got 12 hours. You're halfway there.

Get comfy.

And your time starts now.

[Cat] I'm competing against some titans right now.

This is so intense.

James and Anthony are gonna stick right in their wheelhouse.

Illustrated color.

But I'm hoping that I can still showcase myself

as essentially a black and gray artist.

I'm gonna make sure it stands out and outshines

their color tattoos by having really dramatic lighting.

This is a big swing for me.

All right, artist, you have eight hours remaining.

I love the look of back pieces. It's pretty rad.

Most people don't have the opportunity to go

head-to-head with their mentor,

their father, someone who gave me all the knowledge,

all the tools.

Now I get to try and take him down?

This is what I came here for.

Whoa, graphic.

Boom.

Very cool, man.

So much is on the line.

Not just the title of Ink Master,

but to prove to everyone that I can out-tattoo

and outlast fucking anybody.

Anthony's is pretty cool. It's a big wing.

I'm so proud.

But I still hope he fails.

Hands down, Anthony is one of the toughest competitors

in this competition.

But if I have to beat him to win the title,

so be it.

I'm gonna do the snake and head last, okay?

If you want anything in life,

you have to go out and get it yourself.

Because no one's gonna give shit to you.

I battled my way here, and he battled his way here.

So we're not gonna stop now.

He's gonna have to try to beat me to win that title also.

Only one hour left.

Still need to do highlights,

then we'll find out.

And add a tiny bit of shading on this corner.

24 hours is almost up.

[intensifying music]

Five, four, three, two, one.

That's it. Time's up.

No more ink.

We fucking did it.

A 24-hour back piece.

That is so sick.

Hopefully this brings me the win, man.

- You killed it. - Fucking stoked.

Let's take it off if you don't want it.

[both laughing]

I think this one's gonna take the win.

When we come back,

we will critique the Master Canvas back pieces.

And we haven't even talked about the 12-hour leg tattoos yet.

- What? - Oh, my God.

There's so much more to see.

This is an exciting night at Ink Master.

Welcome back to the Ink Master season finale.

Three finalists remain, and tonight,

one of them will earn a quarter of a million dollars

and the title of Ink Master.

- It's right there, guys. - So close.

Unbelievable.

The time has come to critique

your 24-hour Master Canvas back pieces.

The style and subject were completely up to you.

I'm shitting my pants right now, man.

James, you're up first.

- Whoa. - That's nice.

[Ryan] In the history of this competition,

no one chooses a Medusa

because they're usually the kiss of death.

Not only do you have to render a female face,

you have to render multiple snakes.

One of my favorite subject matters is tattooing

female form, and no reference, it's right for my head,

so I'm pretty proud of that.

There is so much beauty in the composition.

The glowing flare in her eye

is centered with the center of the back,

and then you have that perfect

bend of the snake right under that.

So even though this composition is asymmetrical,

you still have this perfect line up that spine.

It's so successful.

Anatomy is beautiful, bro.

The angle of her head is

with her hand and holding that snake.

It really has a beautiful, timeless look.

I love the underbelly of Medusa's throat,

which matched that underbelly of like a snake.

It's really subtle. It's really cool.

I also like that you brought tails into this.

You think of a regular Medusa, you know,

those snakes kind of grow from her head.

I do it so there's not so many snakes.

Big, readable snakes have better effect.

[Joel] It's a bold choice. It could go really wrong,

and this went really right for you.

It's a great tattoo, James.

Thank you.

- So good. - Thanks, Cat.

Anthony, you're up next.

This is sick.

The colors you chose for this are beautiful.

The composition, I love.

It's laid out really nicely.

The legs of the crane are in such a dynamic pose,

like it's just taking off, and one of the claws comes down

onto the butt cheek, and it fits so well.

This is a dominant tattoo,

but as it comes down in that asymmetry,

the fact that the one branch

just breaks that negative makes it delicate.

It's elegant and powerful at the same time.

There's a ton of leaves on here.

They're all different shapes blowing different directions.

You know, they're not just that stagnant, stiff sticker.

They have life themselves.

[DJ Tambo] I love the moon.

It's got great readability, and I know when this heals,

the background's gonna soften up so nice,

and this bird's just gonna jump out at you.

It's a beautiful tattoo, and in 24 hours, man,

you were soaring just like this bird, dude.

I can't even believe you did that in 24 hours.

Thank you, Anthony.

I wonder who's next.

And finally, Cat.

You're a G with your illustrative realism.

You pull it off really nicely.

There's a lot of areas in here that are really smooth.

You nailed contrast.

You're really good with light and shadow.

You have a lot of really cool,

open, negative skin that really gives the impression

that it's glowing.

I love that bottom arm.

The darkness of the bottom of the hand is great.

You're not afraid to do everything in shadow

and commit to your darks and commit to your shadows.

I really love the shoulder

and the material and the back arm.

That material feels puffy and feels like light,

and I love the way the light's hitting it.

It legitimately looks like there's a gust of wind.

It's blowing this hair up in both directions.

I love that the earring is blowing with the gust.

It's not just hanging down

and dangling like it's unaffected.

You crushed.

Definitely is tattoo sorcery.

Thank you, guys.

- Good job, Cat. - She killed it.

This is not going to be an easy decision.

Three badass back pieces.

I don't see one tattoo that's short of amazing.

The amount of coverage and detail and sophistication

you all pulled off in 24 hours, was super impressive.

You guys blew me away on this one.

Damn.

But as you know, being an ink master is about

more than just proving your strengths.

It's about proving you can take on any challenge any day.

For your second master canvas tattoo,

you had 12 hours to tattoo in the style and subject

determined by the opposing team.

I wonder what they did.

Cat called a black and gray photo realistic lion

for the OG's.

[laughing]

Playing the game.

The OG's called an American traditional lion for Cat.

Flip the script.

Let's see how it went.

- Hi. - Hi, I'm James.

- I'm your master canvas. - Nice to meet you.

Me too. We're going to be doing

an American traditional lion today.

Awesome.

I'm so excited.

Ready for some lions? I'd be lion if I wasn't excited.

This is the lion down here.

This looks amazing.

There's no real like line work in this.

We're just going to shade. It's going to be like.

Oh, yeah. Easy peasy.

Artists, you have 12 hours for your second master canvas.

You're tattooing lions on legs.

And your time starts now.

Good luck out there, guys.

[DJ Tambe] These artists have to do a 12-hour leg tattoo

that another competitor called.

It's time to go.

Shut that other artist up.

- Anthony's crooked. - You're crooked.

Show them they got the tricks and techniques to take them down

with something they chose.

- So we do have 12 hours. - Yeah.

I think we do.

This is going to be brutal.

[Kat] You ready for this?

Ready.

There's actually like a lot that goes into American traditional.

James and Anthony knew what they were doing by throwing me this

American traditional lion

because it's a lot harder to be really impressive

with American traditional.

Is white incorporated with American traditional

or not usually?

And I love using white highlights,

but we're not doing it for this one.

They're supposed to be straightforward,

flat, solid tattoos that are super simple.

I've tattooed in this style, but not this imagery before.

So that'll be something new.

I'm not known for super simple.

So I really have to hold back on this one.

There are seven hours left.

Would you say James has been your biggest competition?

These two for sure. The whole time.

- The whole time? - Yeah.

Cat, she's good with black and gray realism

and stuff like that.

So this is kind of her strong suit.

Cat assigned me a photo realistic lion.

This is some hard shit.

It's almost harder to find references

than it is to fucking draw. We kind of want to make sure we

weren't doing the same fucking lion 'cause that would suck.

Then it would be even harder of a critique probably.

This is more straight on.

I found this one, I was like, fucking light source is rad.

Me and James, we're both doing realism.

It's almost hysterical because it's like the final

showdown going head to head,

seeing who actually is the king of the jungle on this one.

Five hours remaining.

The tougher you are, the better it's going to be.

The last time I had to do photo realism in this competition,

I was on the bottom.

So this is not what I want to do as a finale tattoo.

But here we are.

I'd be lion if this wasn't cool.

And I'm out of here.

What's hard about black and gray photo realism

is it's monotonous detail.

It's just over and over doing the same thing,

hair upon hair upon hair.

It's very easy to get lost in the details.

Chipping away slowly, right?

So I can make sure you last.

Yeah. Exactly.

You've got two hours left for these lions.

[Cat]American traditional gods, help me.

Sorry, my tattoo face is like.

No, I get it.

Yeah.

It's just the hair

and some of the deets I'm going to be doing, but...

Staying in there. We're getting through it.

How's yours doing?

I was panicking there for a bit.

It's going to get a little better now.

Sometimes it's up, sometimes it's down.

Ahh.

What a way to end the season, man.

Let's see.

I think it needs that background.

Let me see.

I'm going to match the color yellow to the color

that's on your skin.

Instead of doing it super solid, I may like fade it out.

All right. This is it.

Wrap them up.

Five, four, three, two, one.

That's it. Time's up.

No more ink.

All right. I think we're done.

Big, bold, colorful.

That is so gorgeous.

This is going to bring me to the win, I think.

That's phenomenal.

- What do you think? - Yeah.

Look at that. You just did that.

I just did that.

It's going to win you Ink Master.

Fuck, I hope so.

Talk about the lion's den.

But there is more than just pride on the line tonight.

When we come back, the judges will critique

the second master canvases

and the jury will deliberate and vote.

The first artist into the top two.

The battle for $250,000 is far from over,

but it will end tonight on the Ink Master season finale.

Welcome back to the Ink Master season finale.

Finalists, the time has come

to reveal your second master canvas.

- Shittin' bricks. - Good luck.

You had 12 hours to tattoo in the style and subject

determined by the opposing team.

Lion time.

Cat, you're up first.

You had to tattoo

an American traditional lion called by the OG's.

[Ryan] The closer you get to this tattoo ,

the more you can appreciate how beautifully saturated every

single color is in this entire tattoo.

The roses are sick. I love the mouth, the teeth.

The eyes are really cool. But I do think...

that the sun gets away from American traditional

because it has no outlines, just like the shape.

I wonder why you didn't go bigger in 12 hours.

What I think is that you got

tripped up a little bit on the style.

This lion could have had on boxing gloves with a crown.

He could have had anything you wanted to do because you're such

a good illustrator

in an American traditional style.

I would have loved to see

more of that Cat creativity in this piece.

A little bit more of you.

James, you're up next.

You had to tattoo a black and gray photorealistic lion

called by Cat.

There's a lot of areas of great detail.

Under the chin, you create a lot of good texture.

The whiskers, they're not overpowering.

But as far as the photorealism, you took a little bit of liberty

to illustrate into it a little bit.

When you have the tattoo next to the photo reference,

you have those really deep, dark pockets.

I wish you would have pushed those dark lights

a little bit more and really commit to black to create those

silhouettes that you see.

[Ryan] You approach this more as an illustrator

and less as a replicator.

And that's where Cat got you.

That's fair.

It is sick.

It was a tough day, man.

Finally, Anthony, you also had to tattoo a black and gray

photorealistic lion called by Cat.

[Ryan] There's a lot of nice moments in this tattoo.

The sharpness of the whiskers is really nice.

That reflective light under the chin is really pretty.

The way all those details, they're so intricate.

But you miss the peppery texture

under the eye, on the snout.

The way that you render this is really smooth.

But in that smoothness,

you lose the illusion that things are textured.

I can see why you chose this image.

The front of the lion has this cool,

aggressive black contrast with the light.

But I think it was the wrong choice of a photo.

The farther I get away from it,

it starts to kind of look like a koala.

I think it was that lighting that was probably

like drew me in and then just

didn't even think about the other things.

I do think for your second photorealism tattoo ever,

you can tell the growth.

We're not doing this. You guys did really well.

I'm just going to go do lions every day now until I nail it.

Three incredible artists,

but there can only be one Ink Master.

Jury of peers, based on or both of the master canvases,

you must deliberate and decide

which finalist you are voting into the top two.

The judges will then determine

the second artist in the top two.

The finalist who is not chosen

by the judges or the jury will be eliminated.

Jury, head to the shop to deliberate.

Finalists, while the jury deliberates,

we have one more small surprise for you.

What is this?

Trust me, you're going to like this one.

- Hi, Anthony. - Hi, Anthony.

Look at you on the finale of Ink Master.

Wow.

It's crazy to think that when you were graduating high school,

you came to dad and I, and you asked if you could take

a year off school so you could join dad at the shop.

And you have proven that

this was the right career path for you.

And I'm so proud of you.

I'm so proud of you.

And someone else is really proud of you too.

And would like to come and say hello.

- It's your boy, Yuri. - It's Yuri.

Say hi. Good luck, Anthony.

We love you.

Hey, Sweetie Pie. I just want to say I'm so,

so proud of you. I know you're killing it.

I know that your creative side is coming out.

I know that you are just doing

everything that you've always wanted to do.

I'm so glad that you took this challenge.

You're all the way in the final right now.

Who would have thought? Love you.

Keep it up.

And wish we could be there with you.

Besos.

Hi, Mommy.

We're so proud of you making it to the final.

We know you can do it.

- We love you very much. - We love you.

So proud of you. Love you.

So cute.

- Guess who? - We're back.

Hi, Dad.

I just want to start off

by saying how incredibly proud I am of you

for being in the Ink Master finale.

I remember when I used to come into your drawing rooms

and sit on your lap

and you teach me how to draw cherry blossoms.

I'm just so proud of you. I love you so much.

Fuck.

This is amazing. Just to think when we were kids

and you were drawing all the time.

You're so talented.

And your determination is so inspiring.

And we never take anything for granted

for what you've done for us.

We have been through so much together.

And I'm so proud of you. Good luck.

Love you, Dad.

I got so something in both my eyes.

That's nice.

You have all put your lives on hold to compete.

And you all have amazing people in your corner cheering you on.

Hopefully, the jury is also in your corner.

- Hopefully. - Pfft. Hopefully.

[music]

We're here as the jury of peers to determine which artist

to send to the top two.

Let's take a look at Cat's.

I really like the hair.

I love the amount of negative space that she used for it.

I think that that shit's sick. This skull is super cool.

I do think it got a little bit dark.

First, when I look at it,

I didn't even see the hand in the front.

I have to go really close to understand,

oh, there is a hand.

I'm not a huge fan of the bottom part of the skull,

like the jaw area.

All that should have been just so much lighter.

Anthony's, I love the composition.

It's awesome, dude.

I think it's just hard to read in some spots because there's

not enough separation.

The background, the cloud, it's going all different direction.

And then the branch is all different direction.

I feel like it's just competing with everything

because there's so much going on.

James's back piece is way more readable.

The way he left so many negative spaces.

With skin highlight, it's really, really dynamic.

The eye is so good.

The mouth is so good. The nose, neck is incredible.

Yeah, and those snakes are ridiculous.

How they twist and turn.

They look like more than 24 hours,

- this tattoo. - For real.

How do we feel about his lion, though?

There's a huge contrast issue on the left side of the face.

But when you compare Anthony's...

Is that a lion?

It doesn't strike me as, like, a lion right off the bat.

It would have been nice to see some teeth and an open mouth.

You know why he didn't do that? Because he's not experienced.

- I think he just played it safe. - Yeah.

Compare the rest of the two.

James's tattoo, at least, reads as the best-looking lion to me.

The tattoo could have been way bigger.

That's clearly a six-hour tattoo, for sure.

- I have my vote. - [Lucy] Me, too.

I have my vote.

The jury has almost reached their final vote.

The artists are waiting. The judges are waiting.

This could go in any direction.

The one thing we do know is when we come back,

someone will win $250,000

and the title of Ink Master.

Welcome back.

We are moments away from naming a winner.

- Yeah. - It's time.

It's now time to find out which one of you

is one step closer to $250,000

and the title of Ink Master.

All right.

You guys ready?

Jury of peers.

Based on their 24-hour Master Canvas back piece

and their 12-hour Master Canvas leg tattoo,

which finalist are you voting into the top two?

The jury has decided

that the artist we are voting into the top two is...

James.

[laughing] Really?

That's awesome.

Congratulations, James.

You have earned the first spot in the top two.

That back piece fucking rips, dude.

- It fucking rips, dude. - It's so cool, dude.

There's so many cool things about it.

It means a lot, guys.

It's my favorite piece.

- You deserve it, my man. - Oof.

Oof.

It is now time to take a finalist out of the running.

Anthony and Cat, one of you will move on to the top two,

and you is about be eliminated.

The judges have decided...

Anthony,

you have earned the second spot in the top two.

That means, Cat,

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

Created an amazing back piece, but as far as overall flow,

layout, and composition, Anthony edged you out.

Oh, 100%. Anthony's piece was killer.

It's been amazing being here. I'm taking this as a win.

I've done things in this competition

that I didn't know I was capable of.

I'm just grateful for everything I've gotten to do

while I've been here.

Cat, this is just the first step of the journey.

You can be an amazing mom and a talented,

hardworking, impressive artist that kicked everybody's ass

for the majority of this competition.

I can't wait to see you continue

to grow and to evolve and to find yourself.

Thank you, Ryan.

They're happy tears, I promise.

You can have a seat.

Thank you, guys.

- You did so good, buddy. - You did so good.

Anthony and James, it all comes down to this.

Good luck, buddy.

One of you will walk away with $250,000

and the title of Ink Master.

I can't believe this is happening.

James,

you're going up against your son.

Yeah, this is surreal.

I couldn't be more proud.

Proud of both of us, but mostly him.

I never thought I'd be going head to head with him right now.

It's fucking, yeah, pretty surreal.

To be side by side with him in this competition

just means so much.

It is time to determine the winner.

Oh, shit.

Judges, who do you think

has earned the title of Ink Master?

This is a very, very hard one.

I love both of these back pieces.

Anthony took more of a risk with the composition of his back

piece coming all the way down onto the butt.

The general flow on the human body,

it's so classic and timeless.

Anthony might have this larger tattoo,

but look at how many snakes there are.

Just to render one snake takes forever.

To do all these snakes in 24 hours with a face

and a hand is really mind-blowing.

They both bring emotion to every little detail.

On Anthony's, each leaf is interesting to me.

And on James's, every snake head has emotion.

I mean, even looking at James's tattoo,

just the circle in the back and the way it really makes you

look into the face.

And when I look at Anthony's, it does the same thing,

where these wings pull everything to the center

to where you see the crane's head.

It's really astonishing to see both of you pull off a similar

composition in that way, where it's subtle, but striking.

Let's talk about the lions.

[Nikko] I see very similar flaws in each of them.

They're both missing that top layer,

that detail in certain areas that you want to see.

[Ryan] They're both great attempts,

and I think they both absolutely hit realism.

They're both technically put in the skin really well.

I do think James edged out Anthony over the readability.

Right away, instantly, you see a lion's face.

Where Anthony's, the front of the snout

kind of loses itself a little bit.

But I do like some of Anthony's details more,

in the areas under the eye, down the snout.

This is tough.

Fucking lions, man.

It's time to vote.

James and Anthony, these back pieces, I really am blown away.

I got to go with the tattoo that turns me to stone.

My vote goes to James.

Thank you.

Both of these back pieces are two of the best tattoos

seen in this competition.

James, your back piece is badass.

It's sick. It's clean.

My vote...

is for Anthony.

Your back piece, I just can't stop looking at it.

This back piece is one of the coolest ones I've seen.

- Good job, buddy. - Thank you.

That's one vote for James, one vote for Anthony.

Both you guys crushed it.

My vote...

is for James.

It was this close.

Anthony, James edged you out

a little bit on just the overall design

has more feeling and emotion.

That's two votes for James. And one vote for Anthony.

I can't stop looking at the composition of Anthony's.

James, you could take a couple notes from your son.

I will.

Looking at this Medusa, every single piece is so methodical.

It's so well thought out.

Thank you.

My vote is for James.

That means, James,

you do have what it takes to be Ink Master.

[music]

It is an overwhelming feeling.

[cheering and applause]

Anthony, give us a hug.

You fucking deserve this shit, dog.

As much as I'm super excited and proud of winning myself,

at the same time, I'm equally sad that I had to beat my son.

And you got a pretty fucking cool son.

- Proud as hell so. - Congratulations.

[Anthony] Number two is not going to bring me down.

I mean, it's the finale.

And I'm just standing by my pops.

Dude, and it was a hard decision.

Oh, I fucking bet.

I couldn't do it. That piece is unreal, dude.

It's the make him proud.

I did.

Not 100%, though. 98.

I didn't kick his ass, so.

It was that 2%.

Holy shit.

You fucking got him at the last minute.

[James] I'm proud of Anthony.

He made it right to the end, right next to me.

And he gave me a real run for my money.

I worked my ass off to get here,

not just in the competition,

but also my whole tattoo career, my whole life.

Cheers to the new Ink Master.

After 26 years, walking away with the win feels awesome.

[Everyone] Whoo!

[rock music]

[music]

[music]