And it's our very last shopping montage together. I feel like we should commemorate the occasion with a toast or something -- "To better television somewhere!" -- because we certainly aren't commemorating it with any compelling action. Matt is shopping for rugs -- just about the only thing less interesting than buying your own rugs is watching someone else do it -- while Carisa wonders the corridors of the Pacific Design Center tagging anything that happens to strike her fancy. Carisa describes her style as "mid-century pop" -- "Clean edges, hard lines, crisp, modern." Apparently, all those different adjectives can be summed up by the phrase "stuff other contestants have already used," as we see Carisa tagging the dining table and chairs Andrea used to win the chef's table competition a few episodes back. Carisa again speaks of her love of entertainment; as if to prove it she throws down $5,000 a piece on a pair of speakers. I guess her loft will double as a venue for KISS's next tour. And on we go with even more ridiculous shopping -- Carisa looks at a $9,230 sofa bed; Matt enthuses about a $13,533 leather sofa; Carisa eyeballs a $1,580 ceramic tray. All of these figures are, like, science fiction to me. A couple months back, the wife found a very nice mission-style sofa on craigslist for $150 -- maybe one-tenth of its original cost -- and I still dug in my heels on that purchase as if my wife had proposed buying our own island. So I see the dollar figures Matt and Carisa are tossing around here, and, as far as I'm concerned, they might as well be bidding on Park Place or Marvin Gardens or trying to corner the market on railroads. The bottom line: Carisa's shopping spree centers on quantity -- "I went sticker happy," she says -- while Matt has focused on quality. "I would rather have things that are beautiful, quality, elegant," he says. Me-ow -- kitty has claws.

Later that night, the last Top Designers standing are having dinner at their hotel. Carisa says she's happy that it's the two of them in the finals; I'm sure Matt couldn't agree more. "'Cause I'm going to kick your ass," he says. Again, I think he's being playful here, but given his tone of voice, it's like he's making a hostage video. ("Make no attempt to rescue me. I will soon be awarded with an Elle Décor feature article. I am being well-fed and cared for by Todd Oldham.") "Eleven out of 12 people could not kick my ass," Carisa says. "So good luck with that." Actually, it's more like 10 out of 12, since Matt hasn't really had an opportunity to kick her ass, and, presumably, Carisa hasn't tried to kick her own ass, though I certainly wouldn't put it past her.