Ink Master season 9 episode 6: Will the newbie alliance work?
Moving into next week, some of these newbie shops (Artistic Skin Design, Unkindness Art, Allegory Arts, Pinz and Needlez, and Classic Trilogy Tattoo) are going to face some further challenges — they’ve got another pair of artists stepping into the game, and the further they make it, the easier it’ll be to turn on each other if they start to get the sense that the biggest threat lies within. All of the newbie shops have some talent, though Classic Trilogy hasn’t stepped up yet to the point where they’ve blown anyone away. What they have to worry about is that the returning shops from here on out are extremely skilled — for example, you’ve got Matt O’Baugh and Katie McGowan still on the docket, and Cleen Rock One is also out there with Aaron Is and we haven’t even mentioned Tommy Helm or Christian Buckingham yet! If any of them want to win, they have to go through some of the show’s best and that’s terrifying.
Of course, there’s one other significant threat that’s been shown off the past few weeks, and that’s Old Town Ink. If you want to keep going on with the narrative that DJ Tambe is the one carrying the team, go ahead — we’d counter, though, with that killer tattoo from tonight’s episode. It was presented that it was a team effort, and we gotta take it as such. The best thing that Bubba Irwin and DJ have going for them is that they work super-well together, and DJ’s pretty much a returning artist in his own right given that he was on Best Ink back when that show was on the air and he killed it over there too.
In terms of content, the preview for next week really didn’t give away all that much other than the alliance — which, by the way, doesn’t matter all that much in our mind. We do think that this is beneficial when it comes to avoiding nearly-impossible tattoos, but if you’re good enough, people are going to come for you anyway. If you remember back to season 4 Sausage was thrown pretty much every horrible tattoo on the planet and he killed them all. Or even Joshua Hibbard who was the best salesman we’ve ever seen when it comes to getting people to move a tattoo off the ribs. It’s more about what you do in convincing your canvas (if they’re difficult or have crazy ideas) than which skull you get. At the end of the day, it’s about your art even more than that. If you’re consistently great and you tune out much of the noise of the competition, there’s a really good chance that you’re going to find a way to win in the end.
Now, your thoughts
Based on what you’ve seen so far on Ink Master season 9, who do you think is the most qualified to win the entire show? Be sure to share now in the attached comments!
Meanwhile, head over to the link here in the event you do want to get some additional news right now when it comes to the show. (Photo: Spike.)