Episode 11- Who Can You Trust?
Gophers- Makoto, Kyoko, Junko, Seiko, Chisa, Juzo
Bass- Leon, Chihiro, Mondo, Hifumi, Sakura, Hiro, Mukuro
16th place(10th voted out): Junko ("First my sister betrays me, then I lose to shitty dumb luck! Oh, the despair of it all! It's... PERFECT!!!")
This is halfway bullshit, but I think it comes down to Junko anticipating being able to win the challenge with Mukuro sabotaging, only for Mukuro to not do that when she wanted, and thus opening the door for a tied vote. See, there's a member of Junko's alliance with the DR3 cast that's been getting more comfortable with Kyoko on the DL, and that'll come into play here.
Episode 11 is the trust exercises, of which there are 4 challenges. The initial 3, and the tiebreaker because one of the challenges ends in a tie. Besides, each character needs to go at least once, and the Bass still have 7 members.
Challenge 1: Rock Wall (Makoto & Juzo vs Leon & Mukuro)
Makoto and Leon climb while Juzo and Mukuro support them from below. I do think Makoto would end up winning by accidentally sabotaging Leon trying to talk to him about Sayaka- maybe to apologize for not saving her? To let him know there's no competition? Something like that, probably. Leon would def be pissed at first but get over it once Makoto apologizes after the fact.
Challenge 2: Trust Jump (Kyoko & Seiko vs Sakura & Mondo)
I think they'd both get the point on this one; Mondo and Sakura are both strong enough to support each other's weight enough to not drop the other, and Kyoko and Seiko have been getting along at this point, so I'm sure they could line up the jump right.
Challenge 3: Apple Throwing (Junko & Chisa vs Hiro & Hifumi)
One character is blindfolded, while the other has an apple balanced on their head. It's a leading the blind challenge to knock the apple off if I'm conveying it right. For the sake of making a narratively satisfying plot, Chisa is the blindfolded one and is shit at following Junko's instructions, whereas Hifumi can pick out Hiro's position from his terrified screams and hit the apple first.
Challenge 4: Log Race (Junko & Makoto vs Mukuro & Chihiro)
Tell me this isn't the perfect setup for Mukuro to take her stand and win a challenge against Junko, securing her downfall. Junko's alliance isn't doing well; Chisa just proved herself a dud and Seiko is considering flipping. She needs to win right now to temper the team again and eliminate Sakura, a major threat in the game. But Mukuro doesn't want to do that anymore. She came into the game solely to help Junko; she didn't care about the fame or prize. So now she just wants to do everything she can to make sure Junko gets to lose instead, and get to stay with her friends longer. Makoto's luck is the only thing she can really bank on, but Makoto's luck operates for his long term here, so he loses but ends up winning the team as a result.
I think a heart-to-heart between Kyoko and Seiko would be cute to include during this too. Something like Seiko asking to watch the challenge with Kyoko, with Kyoko genuinely not expecting it because she had assumed Seiko was friends with Chisa and Juzo rather than just voting with them because that was what Makoto had done for her- they had decided to vote together, sure, but he'd very quickly made it clear he wanted to be her friend, too. And so she'd treated Seiko similarly, albeit much calmer and more low-key.
Seiko suggests voting Makoto to Junko and her alliance and suggests their loss could be to Makoto's bad luck. Junko would probably pick up on this betrayal, but let it happen out of curiosity to see if she could actually lose the tiebreaker. Said tiebreaker then ends up being some kind of massive Jenga tower they need to deconstruct in a specific order or something crazy like that. Junko, ever the analyst, is already seeing exactly how she needs to do it- only for Makoto to trip, his loose show to go flying off, and hit the exact right brick for the tiles to fall into the exact order and placement necessary to win the challenge. Junko is dumbfounded. Makoto is dumbfounded. Chris McLean is dumbfounded. Literally everyone goes. What the fuck. It's the stupidest possible way for Junko Enoshima of all people to lose, which, in my opinion, makes it ideal.
But before the elimination, and after the challenge, I think Chihiro and Mukuro would get to have a bit of a heart to heart as well. They won the challenge together, and Mukuro is finally seen outside of Junko's shadow, and she doesn't mind it. But part of the reason that I think she and Chihiro would be able to have as much of a connection as I'm giving them is because they both suffer from imposter syndrome. Mukuro sees herself as a disappointing girl, while Chihiro sees herself as playing dress-up and wouldn't be thought of as a girl at all. She doesn't like her massive skirts or feminine appearance, but to do anything to change it would mean immediately being seen as a boy, which is also not what she wants. [Transfem Chihiro here, my AU, I do what I want] And although she might not be able to place exactly what's going on with Chihiro, I think Mukuro is familiar enough with the feeling of pretending to tell that Chihiro is hiding something. They probably wouldn't end up talking about it directly, because cameras and all, this is a tv show and they know it, but a metaphorical conversation about feeling like you're in someone else's skin and not being able to really be yourself and blah blah blah you get the idea.
