The fifth episode of the Successor opens with some interviews of the contestants.
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The Trainees' room.
"Do you feel like you're being treated unfairly by Keith, Lacie, and the other Trainees?" Asks Tim Slacks - a white man with a shaved head and a neatly trimmed goatee.
Landon replies, "ya man. It pisses me off. I spent my weekend writing a paper, and Keith just glanced at it before dumping it into the trash."
Landon continues, "I'm tired of all this 'wokeness'. It's not my fault my ancestors kicked ass."
"Why are they blaming me for things that happened in the past?" Landon asks.
"Mmmhmm," replies Tim.
"The Bible says you shouldn't hold the son responsible for the sins of the father," Landon vocalizes, "I just want people to be more 'Christian'".
"Mmmhmm," replies Tim before continuing, "in the Selection phase, you mentioned that God wanted you to become a superhero."
"Can you elaborate on that?", Tim asks.
With a grin, Landon replies, "of course."
Landon elaborates, "you see, the Bible is a contract between God and man. If you have faith in God, He will protect you and give you security, wealth, and happiness.It is God's will for His people to be blessed."
"And this makes Him want you to become a superhero because..." Tim probes.
"I grew up poor," Landon recounts, "I grew up in rural Pennsylvania. We didn't have anything - I grew up eating government cheese.
"Most got out by joining the military, but God came to me in a dream, and told me that I would be a hero. That's why I'm here," Landon finishes.
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The Trainees room.
"Do you feel like you're treating Landon unfairly?" Tim asks.
"No. He's a racist asshole, probably misogynistic too," Lacie says while grimacing.
Shaking her head, Lacie mutters, "I wish he were more 'Christian'."
With a look of shock on his face, Tim replies, "but... But he is Christian".
"No he's not," Lacie explains, "The scripture calls, in over a hundred places, to welcome the stranger. In fact, all the rules, all the laws, all of the Ten Commandments… are rooted in the mandate to remember that we, too, were once slaves in Egypt, we were strangers in an unwelcome land. There is support in the Bible for marriage equality, open immigration, women's reproductive rights...."
"Get back on track, Tim," the cameraman prompts, "this is her interview".
"... he's what the Bible would call a Pharisees," Lacie continues. "It is easier for a camel to...".
"Ahem," Tim interrupts, "let's get back on track."
Tim continues, "so Lacie, can you elaborate on why you want to become a hero?"
Lacie responds, "my father was a guard at the Psi-Solar correctional facility...".
"You mean the 'Rift'?" Tim interrupts.
"Yes," Lacie responds without missing a beat. "The prison created on the other side of the dimensional tear..."
"Ah yes. The permanent dimensional 'Rift' created by an epic battle between the heroes Solar Flare and Psi-Axe," mansplains Tim.
"I know what it is," frowns Lacie, "I grew up there..."
"I meant it for the audience," Tim lamely mutters.
"...The most secure facility in the world, my ass, curses Lacie, "all it took were the 'Followers of the Rot' to subvert the guards and boom ! Prison Break."
"My father... he," Lacie chokes back tears, "he died then..."
Sniffing, Lacie concludes her statement with, "and that's why I want to become a hero".
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The second part of the episode is the physical "Challenge" of stacking large crates.
A contestant from each team races out to their designated-colored crate. Once they reach the crate, they must roll it back to their team's mat. Upon reaching the team mat, the next team member would run out to get the next crate. After all six crates have been collected, the contestants would stack the crates, solving a puzzle on the side of the crates; spelling out the key word, "heroic". Once all the crates have been stacked correctly, the team would climb up the crates to a platform. The teams are ranked according to the order in which they get all of their members on the platform.
This Challenge always gets messy and truly tests the communication of a team, revealing the best and the worst out there. Surprisingly, the Rejects did not take last place; that "honor" was given to the Trainees.
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Post crate-stacking, the Trainees room.
"Bitch, it's all your fault," Landon accuses Lacie.
"My fault?" Lacie retorts. "you're the one who can't spell - rock for brains."
"Settle down guys," says Ms. Good - a masked white woman wearing a silver and blue spandex costume. "We tried our best."
"Fucking bitches are dragging us down, right Leo?" Landon remarks.
"Leave me out of it," says Leo Righeris - a compact muscular white man with dark brown hair - as he slowly backs away.
"Why aren't you stopping them?" Buckman asks- a masked white man wearing a cowboy outfit.
Keith shakes his head, "this will build character. They'll remember the sting and it'll make them strong."
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The next part of the episode is more interviews of the contestants.
The Sidekicks room.
"So, in the Selection Phase you mentioned that you were from Eastlake Village, but where are you really from?" Tim slyly leers at Snow Lily.
"What do you mean?" Snow Lily asks- a masked Asian girl wearing a pure white costume.
"I mean where were you born?" Tim clarifies.
"Oh! I was born in Nevada, Henderson to be exact", Snow Lily responds, "But if you're asking where my ancestors are from, they're from China".
"So why do you want to become a hero? I mean really want to become a hero," probes Tim.
"I could say money," Snow Lily chuckles, "or that I didn't make Kpop tryouts, but that wouldn't be the truth."
"Oh? And just what is the truth?" Tim prompts.
"I grew up in Eastlake," Snow Lily replies, "and ever since I was a kid, my dad would take me on trips to the neighboring city of Thousand Goats and tell me stories".
Snow Lily continues, "he would tell me stories of how Thousand Goats was infested with Parakian vampires, and how Solar Flare's and his Knights of the Sun would slay vampires and offer succor to the distressed".
"This was before Solar Flare went 'Supernova?'" The interviewer asks.
"Yes," replies Snow Lily, "this was before he went crazy".
"Wow", Tim exclaims, "you Asians age really well".
Snow Lily stares. "..."
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The Inscrutables room.
"I'm surprised you can stack crates in that," says Maria Sangria- a young Hispanic woman.
"Meh. You get used to it," replies Robolox- an imposing figure wearing a full suit of medieval plate armor.
"No. Seriously," says Maria, "how heavy is that? Fourty, fifty pounds?"
"Something like that," responds Robolox.
"I guess you're going for super strength," Maria observes.
"Actually, I'm hoping for a super ability related to sunlight," professes Robolox.
"You mean like Solar Flare's powers?" Asks Maria.
"Not just like his powers, I want his exact powers," responds Robolox.
"But... but powers are random," utters Maria.
"Not wholly random. Only semi-random," corrects Robolox.
"My fans," Robolox says while addressing the camera, "can you imagine a Crusader swinging a blade of holy light?"
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The remaining part of the fifth episode is a pole-holding Challenge.
Although it sounds boring, this physical Challenge will display a contestant's willpower. It's mind over matter; the winner just has to climb up and hang onto a two-foot diameter pole the longest. The contestants are ranked according to how long they can hang on to the pole.
Tyrone, from the Rejects, hung on the longest and took first place.
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Surprisingly, or perhaps unsurprisingly, this episode only contains minimal footage of the Rejects.
The Producers pretty much ignored the Rejects; they did not give them any interviews and gave them the least amount of screentime during the team competitions. This has given the audience the impression that the Rejects are useless. A member of the Rejects, especially Tyrone- who was rejected by the other mentors - taking first place during a competition shows that there is possibly more to the Rejects than meets the eye.
Consequently, there have been more and more voices demanding that the Rejects be treated "fairly" and given more screen time.