‘King of the Nerds’ season 2, episode 7 review: The walls come tumbling down

There are only five people left who are competing for the title of “King of the Nerds” and now that the teams are over, we are really going to have a chance to see who is going to shine. When it’s every nerd for themselves things get way more intense and this season even more so since we’ve had the purple team basically dominate every challenge until there was only two members of the gold team left. Some alliances have been made and we’ve seen a lot of great strategic play unfold this season – will that continue tonight?

Well, it was good strategic play from the standpoint of the once-Titans of Rigel … especially Kayla. Knowing that she does have some other players on her side right now, she stayed true to her former team and opted to send Jack into the Nerd-Off. When the other votes came down, she threw Zack in as a the tie-breaker. She got this power for winning a challenge that was about racing, which she greatly benefited from thanks to her knowledge of something that most nerds have no understanding of whatsoever: Cars. Zack didn’t even have a license, and looked completely lost in what we like to refer to as “Tron Mario Kart.”

Could you have argued that she should have put in Xander after his attempts to throw “Xander bombs” at her? Sure, but given that most of these Nerd-Offs are more skill-based, she may feel like she can take him out later.

We imagine the sinking feeling that must have come through Zack’s heart through all of this. He is told that there is going to be a challenge all about video games … and then it really has nothing to do with gaming at all. That is like being told that you are getting to be entering a palace made of candy, only to discover that this candy is really liver and onions.

That was only the start of Zack’s problems, since we lost him from the competition when his walls (literally) came tumbling down in the Nerd-Off. Everything else that happened this week was a tad predictable, but this was a trove of wonderful out-of-context comments about balls that are going to haunt The Jack – Zack attack for the rest of their lives.

We’re going to miss Zack on the show. We know that some people out there didn’t like his antics, and we get that. But at the same time, there was something sympathetic about his nerdiness at times, and he was tremendous entertainment. Seriously, the show is losing something valuable from a TV perspective tonight, and it also makes it even harder for Jack to emerge as champion. The guy’s on his own now. Episode grade: B.

Do you think that Zack was the right person to be sent home this week? If you want to check out some of our exclusive “King of the Nerds” interviews just head over here, or if you are more interested in listening to our weekly podcasts about the show you can do so at the link here. Also, be sure to subscribe to our newsletter for updates on all of the different shows we cover here at the site.

Photo: TBS