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Recap / Total Drama: "A Mine Is a Terrible Thing to Waste"

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The campers must venture into a toxic mine to retrieve a statue. Along the way, they are troubled by mutant gophers led by a feral Ezekiel. A fourth personality of Mike's is revealed, and Bricks' "Never leave a man behind" policy leads to his elimination. After receiving a diamond from Ezekiel, Anne Maria gleefully quits the competition, only to find out the diamond is fake.

Tropes:

  • Abhorrent Admirer: Ezekiel becomes one to Anne Maria, showering her with gifts she doesn't want.
  • Badass Fingersnap: After being taken to their territory, Anne Maria gets surrounded by mutant gophers. Before a fight can break out, their shadowy leader snaps his finger and they retreat, leaving him to deal with Anne Maria.
  • Bear Hug: Mike gives Cameron a big hug, thanking him when Cameron says he thinks he can help him control his Multiple Personality Disorder.
  • The Beastmaster: Ezekiel has become the leader of a group of blind mutant gophers.
  • Big "NO!": Dakota, when she looks in a mirror after her hair fell out.
  • Continuity Nod: Among Ezekiel's gifts to Anne Maria are a picture of him in his attempts to be a rapper and the burned prize money from last season.
  • Eyebrow Waggle: Ezekiel becomes smitten with Anne Maria the moment he lays eyes on her. No longer part of polite society, he abducts her to his lair, where instead of introducing himself, he sniffs her up and waggles his eyebrows at her. Anne Maria is far from impressed.
  • The Glomp: Zoey tackles Mike in a hug after reuniting with him and Cameron.
  • Hair-Trigger Avalanche: Lightning causes a minor cave-in that buries his team when he lets out an enthusiastic "SHA-BAM!!" upon making it inside the mine first.
  • The Hat Makes the Man: Manitoba Smith's Split-Personality Switch Trigger is Mike putting on a hat.
  • Honour Before Reason: Brick uses his team's Chris statuette to get Mike, Zoey and Cameron out of trouble, which ends up costing his team the challenge.
  • It Has Been an Honor: Mike, Zoey, and Cameron salute Brick, and he returns it before he's catapulted.
  • Let Me at Him!: Anne Maria, Scott, and Zoey are flung from their mine cart into an underwater lake, where Scott lands on top of Anne Maria. Anne Maria rises up, throws him off of her, and is all set to beat him mercilessly for the affront, but Zoey grabs her arms to hold her back, arguing it was an accident.
  • Neck Lift: Lightning ends a violent struggle with Ezekiel by grabbing his neck and forcing the bomb-filled backpack on him. Then he lifts him by the neck with one arm and kicks him away.
  • No OSHA Compliance: This trope finally comes to bite Chris, as his failure to get rid of the toxic waste properly results in the Department of Environmental Protection threatening to arrest Chris in the opening of the episode. He then sends the contestants into a mine filled with the stuff, and then seals it off. It doesn't work, as the Department of Environmental Protection still pursues Chris until the end of the season.
  • Non-Gameplay Elimination: Anne Maria quits after getting the "diamond" from Ezekiel.
  • No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: The Toxic Rats can make a clean escape from the mine with the statue they retrieved, but half of the Mutant Maggots are in immediate danger of simultaneously dying from radiation exposure, getting mauled, and being blown up. Brick can't leave them behind and uses the statue to club down the mutant gopher blocking their way. The statue breaks in two and while Brick's heroism gets everyone out of the mine, it also costs the Toxic Rats their victory. They vote Brick off that evening.
  • No One Gets Left Behind: The Toxic Rats can make a clean escape with the statue they had to retrieve when Brick notices that the Mutant Maggots, his former team, are under attack by a mutant gopher and unlikely to escape the mine timely. Having vowed never to leave anyone behind again three episodes earlier, Brick goes back to rescue them and sacrifices his team's statue in the process. While he saves the Maggots, it costs the Rats their victory and he gets voted off. It takes a bit for Brick to accept that doing the right thing doesn't automatically lead to a fitting outcome, but he takes solace when the Maggots come to see him off.
  • Not-So-Final Confession: When Mike starts losing the fight against the mutant gopher, he begins telling Zoey about his Multiple Personality Disorder. Brick saves them before he could actually spit it out.
  • Perverted Sniffing: Anne Maria's first impression of Ezekiel is formed when he abducts her. Her second impression is formed when she sees his shadowy form on his throne as king of the giant mutant gophers. Her third impression is formed when he introduces his self by taking a long sniff up her body and waggles his eyebrows at her. Her response is a short but sure "Eww!"
  • Pun-Based Title: The title is a play on the phrase "A mind is a terrible thing to waste".
  • Relationship-Salvaging Disaster: Averted. Jo and Brick used to have a pleasant rivalry before Jo's survival-of-the-fittest mentality clashed with Brick's belief to look out for others. They finally partake in a challenge as part of the same team once more and through the danger are on their way to reconciliation. Then another situation comes up where either they go for an assured victory or risk losing to save their former teammates from certain doom. Jo wants victory, but Brick saves the others at the cost of his team's victory. With that, it's over and Brick gets voted off by Jo and Lightning that evening.
  • Shout-Out:
    • Lightning mentions wanting to earn the Super Bowl ring.
    • Ezekiel's actions in this episode are based on Marvel Comics villain, Mole Man, who was a strange man shunned by society and forced to live underground.
  • Squee: When Ezekiel gives Anne Maria a large diamond, she squeals excitedly, and loud enough for her teammates to find her.
  • Un-Confession: Mike starts making a Deathbed Confession to Zoey about his disorder, but Brick rescues them before he could actually tell her.

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