After a quick recap of what happened with episode one (The Pickup Artist, S01E01), viewers got a quick tease of what's going to happen in this episode: creating a persona and learning the basics of picking up women.
This episode of the Pickup Artist opened with Kosmo saying how frustrated and ashamed he was of his performance in episode one, essentially because he wasn't able to even open his mouth in the first challenge, while several of the other gents mirrored similar feelings -- although one standout, uber-geek Scott, says he's so impressed with Mystery and his wingmen that he's become inspired and can't wait to start the learning process.
Before the guys can dwell too long on their failures however, Mystery, J Dogg and Matador show up, whisking the Pickup Artist contestants away to another room to start the theory portion of their makeovers.
The first lesson Pickup Artist lesson: peacocking. Mystery explains that men have a tendency to be more attracted to women who display their sexuality prominently, via shorter skirts or tops that enhance their cleavage. Men can't wear a shorter skirt perhaps, but they can enhance their sexuality in different ways, such as wearing tighter pants or having an image that makes one stand out from the crowd.
Mystery then starts to explain the premise of The Pickup Artist show. Each week the remaining participants will participate in a challenge to see how well they've absorbed the theories taught to them, by taking them into the real world. Each challenge winner will receive a reward that will assist them with the completion of a 'field test'. And with that, this week's reward challenge was introduced: each person will build an avatar, wearing at least one interesting, eye catching item. All of the accessories worn were to convey sexuality, appropriate peacocking was required in some form or another, and all hairstyles should have changed dramatically, with the intention of attracting attention. When finished, each participant was then to meet up with Mystery and his wingmen, and a winner would be chosen. The person who builds the best avatar by displaying their own "unique identity", would win the challenge. The reward? A lady-friend by the name of Tara, who would help the winner practice his pickup lines before the Pickup Artist field test.
Fred, the 45-year old virgin, synthesized it well, "I want to look like anything, but this!" as he pointed to his own face.
The next scene opens with the pickup artists in training shopping for new clothes, and Purdeep, the over zealous talker, telling viewers that he's going to try to appear gay for his avatar, because "that starts conversation". I wasn't sure if he was trying to be facetious or was actually serious at this point in time, but the sales girl took it all in stride and walked him towards the women's clothing section.
The Pickup Artist makeovers in progress are both painful and humorous; Brody decides to go platinum blond, Fred wants pants that omit him having a derriere altogether, and several of the Pickup Artist contestants try on pants that look uncomfortably tight. But the funniest of them all is everyone's reaction to Sppon, who gets various parts of his body waxed.
Next up, the Pickup Artist contestants model their new avatars. In succession:
- Brady: One word summarizes Mystery's response - "perfect". He's wearing a black blazer with the collar flipped up, gray t-shirt, his bleached blond hair, ripped jeans and nice black shoes. Matador: "I don't even remember you from before."
- Scott 2.01: He comes out wearing a very Miami Vice outfit - bright pink shirt, white jacket, tight blue jeans, beige shoes and a streak of blue in his already-blond hair. Matador: "I'm not too sure about the colors. If I sneezed, I'd afraid of knocking you over right now." The blue in the hair however went over well.
- Joe: Wearing a yellow shirt, plaid tight pants, sneakers, a casual tan fedora, blue puffy vest and purple aviator shades, Mystery asks him what he did to his ears: he took six chunks out of them for large gauge earrings.
- Fred: The first to get a negative Pickup Artist review, Fred comes out wearing clothes better suited to a man half his age -- black hoodie, yellow t-shirt, baggy black jeans, crew cut and sneakers. Mystery says it well, "Sesame Street. There is absolutely no need for a 45-year-old man to dress like this." Matador explains what he would have liked to see Fred in (a "playful suit).
- Kosmo: Mystery doesn't like what Kosmo picked out for himself: shades, large diamond earrings in both ears, a black hat worn backwards over top of an orange bandanna, one black glove on his right hand, a black jacket, yellow printed t-shirt, something white around his right wrist, tight grey jeans and black shoes. "Electric Boogaloo," said Matador.
- Purdeep: All three of the Pickup Artists laugh when Purdeep walks out from behind the curtain, sporting a blond streak in his dark brown hair, a gray suit jacket, pink and purple striped t-shirt, black tie worn askew, tight khakis tucked into his socks, and black tennis shoes. "Too much going on," was the consensus.
- Spoon: The new Spoon got his hair shortened and spiked, pierced his ears, and wore aviator shades, a dark brown casual jacket, red t-shirt that said, "want woman" on it, blue and white striped tie, dark blue jeans and black shoes. "Good job," was the Pickup Artists' response.
- Joe D: When Joe D walked out, Mystery looked mildly disappointed, saying, "I had an entirely different look for you." Wearing a dark brown jacket over a camouflage hoodie, blond highlights, a shell necklace, white t-shirt, jeans and dark colored shoes, Joe D looked a bit frat boy. It was suggested instead that he try for a dark suit, "mafia-style".
Spoon and Brady were singled out as being the best of the Pickup Artist contestants, but Spoon took the first challenge honors in a unanimous decision.
