As if the sight of people measuring things wasn't pulse-pounding enough, we now get to watch Carisa and Matt pack up their things from the loft on their way out of town. "What I need to do to win," Carisa voice overs, "is prove to the judges -- I'd say Margaret in particular -- that I can do luxury." You will also need to be more talented; do you think you can swing that in the next two months? On the dry erase board in her loft, Carisa writes, "Carisa -- the Mayor of Excusesville." First off, it's the "Mayor of Excuses Village" -- read the recaps! -- and second, is that supposed to be some sort of reverse-psychology motivational tool? And if it is, do you suppose right now Carl is sitting in his apartment writing things like "Carl -- it's going to snap!" on his dry erase board? Matt is going with the more direct motivational tactic: "Losing to Carisa is not an option." Well, it is -- it's just a particularly humiliating one. "If I lose to a student," Matt continues, "I am going to, like, rob a bank, and go, like, to Mexico and drink the rest of my life." Way ahead of you, Matt. Try the Sangria -- it washes away the shame.

Two months have passed. No, really -- that's what the caption says. I know that the typical episode of Top Design feels like it runs for two months, which might explain your confusion. Anyhow, Matt and Carisa have gone back to their separate villages and now returned to L.A. for the final five-day sprint to Top Design glory. Can you stand the tension? Yes, I can stand it too. Perhaps we should get on with it, then. Carisa arrives at LAX and boards the GMC We Paid Good Money For This Mobile before letting us know that she's spent the last two months thinking about nothing other than her loft -- "lots of thinking, mostly, and planning and changing and conceptualizing." Perhaps she should have set aside 15 minutes to consider her wardrobe, because that green and blue billowy blouse she's wearing for her return visit to L.A. looks like something Ringling Brothers should have three rings underneath. Meanwhile, Matt has spent his two month layoff with less thinking and more doing -- he's talked to the PDC vendors whose overpriced furniture he's likely to use so that everything's priced out and he has samples. Even if I didn't know who won here, I would guess that Matt probably wrapped up the competition with what he did during the past two months. He formulated a plan of attack, whereas Carisa, for all her thinking, still seems up in the air about what she's planning on doing. On smaller points have empires been won and lost, let alone crap-ass reality show competitions.