Pros (9): That opening recap (with the interjections of Chris's humiliating footage, and Chef at the end, it was pretty funny); that scene between Zoey and Courtney (it was fairly funny, and it featured Courtney doing something I never thought she'd do, and always wanted her to do: Admitting her faults - with how she gave Gwen such a hard time - and, once again, making me laugh with her line, "Go me!"); another new, enjoyable interaction (Gwen and Zoey); Alejandro vs. Mal (even though I'm not a huge fan of either of them, their battle of wits was very entertaining to watch); the challenge (a simple, yet deadly challenge. Very reminiscent of TDI in a good, nostalgic way; and on top of that, many of the painful moments were hilariously-timed and built up to an awesome climax); Scott getting hurt in the challenge (from the electrocuting, to the snapping turtles, to one of the funniest lines EVER: "MY FOOT IS TOUCHING MY FACE!" XD); the callback to the leech ball challenge; Mal, in my opinion, being at his absolute best in the episode (carefully and strategically manipulating each and every single contestant, battling Alejandro...and FINALLY causing an elimination); Gwen and Courtney talking out their differences peacefully, as friends, and resolving a problem without fighting for once (at the same time, however, showing that their friendship isn't perfect and just dandy after all. Well-written)
Cons (4): The scenes inside Mike's head (For the first time so far, rather than simply be neutral towards them, this one kinda bothered me); that MAJOR plothole with Courtney kissing Alejandro (Seriously? -_-); more of Alejandro godplaying (from more handstanding to his ziplining as a kid...seriously? -_-); that example of horribly lazy writing with Alejandro's elimination (that line of "This show just got 100% less beautiful" was a painfully obvious ripoff of Justin's similar line in his TDA elimination. Just more proof that he's a total Justin ripoff. -_-)
Main Aspect (Neither): Courtney and Scott getting back together. Like, OK. Something that really irked me about the last episode was Courtney and Scott finally hooking up...just to break up not too long after. And now they're back together? Like, seriously? I love Scottney, but was that basically just a running joke? On top of that, she still treated him like crap in the challenge. I still love this pairing, but I'm not sure if I like the direction it's taking...
Overall, coming fresh off of the 100th episode of the series - and the worst episode of the season thus far - this was a very nice bounceback. Just as Evil Dread bounced back nicely from the lackluster premiere, this was a refreshing episode that felt very Total Drama-esque. A simple, deadly, hilarious challenge. Scheming, conniving, and manipulating. All-out battles for superiority. Relationship drama. Friendships arguing, then resolving their problems. A great elimination of a character who definitely deserved it. The major cons all involved Alejandro through fairly poor writing (from Courtney supposedly kissing Alejandro, to Alejandro's ripoff of Justin's line, to Alejandro godplaying), and since he's gone now, I'm much more willing to forgive them. Like Lightning in Evil Dread; since that was his elimination, his stupidity and pompousness was much more forgivable. And the only other Con - the scenes inside Mike's head for this episode - were annoying, but still consistent and not a major problem to me.
With 9 Pros and 4 Cons, this episode is a 10/10.