It's the finale, Part 1. Ugh. Just Part 1. I kind of need this show to be over now. We have our second consecutive all-girl Final 3: Althea, Carol Hannah, and Irina. They got $9000 and several months to design a 12-piece collection for Bryant Park. Tim would be checking in on the designers during the process. Yeah, we know how it works by now, guys.

First Tim visited Carol Hannah, who lives in the suburbs of New York. It was five weeks before Fashion Week. She found inspiration from the architecture of the Duke University campus. That's cool. She showed him a dress with a tulle skirt in an inverted pyramid shape. It looked really cool. She also created a mini cape for this one cool banded gown she made, but Tim wasn't having it. Carol Hannah made a point of stating that she was making separates - tops, shorts, pants, etc. - since one of her major criticisms during the show was that she always made fancy gowns and nothing else. Then Carol Hannah and her family brought Tim into the kitchen to help create a traditional Southern meal. She admitted that she was a geeky girl, and she learned a lot from watching her grandmother, started out making dog clothes, and has gained self-confidence by figuring out how to make cool clothes for people. It's interesting that she was self-taught, and yet we never saw the constant hand wringing over not having a degree from her we always saw from Christopher.

Then Tim checked in on Irina, who lived in Manhattan. Of course. She's such a New York princess. And she has a dog named Princess! And she is a mouthy bitch! Just like her owner! Irina wanted to create something more personal, about where she's from, and she was inspired by Coney Island, which is near where she grew up. That's kind of interesting. She did that, though, by creating boyfriend t-shirts with postcard-like images of Coney Island on them. Meh. However, her knit pieces were stunning. Like, total wow pieces. Tim had concerns over the fur pieces she was making, and he didn't want the line to look forced. To her credit, Irina seemed open to Tim's opinions. Then Tim met Irina's friends and family, and as should be expected, Irina has a beautiful family (she's a stunning woman; I might find her abrasive, but she could be a model if she wanted to). Her Mom seems as strong-willed as her daughter, and I think that's awesome. Her father was apparently less supportive, but we didn't see a lot of that on-camera. She did say that if she won, it would prove to him that she has what it takes to be a real fashion designer. I don't think there can be any doubt at this point that Irina has what it takes to be successful in fashion. She's got a big future ahead of her.

Then it was off to Althea, who lives in Dayton, Ohio. Oooh, Althea. Dayton. That's rough. Tim went up a rather precarious elevator to get to her, and it kind of just underlined my entire opinion of that city. (I have relatives there) Althea was inspired by women in science-fiction movies, strong women in everyday wear. I didn't really see much of that in the clothes they showed us. She was also working in really fabulous knits, which I liked. Tim had concerns about the length of a kick-ass coat, which he felt was too old and too costumey. I liked that she seemed to be using colors, at least. But Tim's mantra was edit, edit, edit. Then they went to visit Althea's parents at their totally adorable home. Althea's got a hot boyfriend, by the way.

Back in New York, Tim called Irina 10 days before Fashion Week. There was a problem with the Coney Island images on her t-shirts, which were copyright protected, and such she couldn't use them in her line. She handled it rather well. Instead of bawling or fuming, she just started trying to figure out options. Good for her.

There was minimal drama between Irina and Althea once they both arrived at the suite; I'm sure the producers were hoping for a bit more. It was awkward, but that's about it. Irina explained that part of her attitude during the season was just being stuck with the same people for weeks on end. Yeah, I would probably end up bitching all the time too. (Not that I don't bitch all the time now anyway.) But Carol Hannah was noticeably absent from their little reunion.

Tim arrived, and explained that CH was sick with a terrible stomach virus, and it was contagious, so the producers made her stay home and rest. Oooo, that's a bummer. I mean, I personally feel as though Carol Hannah has no chance to win this, and that it really is an Irina vs. Althea race at this point, so it was kind of fitting. But she did work hard to get to the F3, and it sucks to have that potentially taken away from you for something you can't control. Irina said that if it was just her and Althea at the end, they would become the best friends or the worst enemies. Four days before the final runway, CH finally arrived, still looking a little worse for wear. It does suck that at this super stressful situation, she's just trying to stay conscious. Yikes.

After doing some check-ins, Tim still had some concerns about Althea's line, picking out a sequin top as matronly, and wondering if she was creating her line for one specific client rather than going all over the map. When Irina saw some of Althea's knits, she once again brought up the copying allegations, and it got downright snippy. Me-ow, ladies!

Tim encouraged Carol Hannah to simplify some of her looks, because they were over-detailed. He held up one absolutely hideous shiny gray number that looked like it was dripping in gray phlegm. Althea said that although she saw growth in Carol Hannah's work, she wasn't intimidated.

Irina came up with a solution for her t-shirt problem by taking elements of the prints, and then writing her own reasons for loving New York on her t-shirt. One of them was Madonna being back. Amen. Tim and CH both commented that Irina's collection was black black black. And how! But I didn't have a problem with it; it looked cohesive and modern. She also had a show-stopper gown that needed a TON of work, and both she and Tim were deeply concerned that she would not have time to finish it.

After a totally uneventful model selection, Michael Kors and Nina Garcia stopped by the workroom to offer a few pointers. Lovely idea, although these two were so barely present during the season, I kind of feel like they don't even know these designers. They talked to the designers about order, and about color (Nina specifically said that an all-black collection can be difficult to get "editorial" on). Irina disagreed with Nina, of course, and decided to keep her collection the way it was. Even if she did agree with Nina, seriously, what is she going to do about something like color four days before the runway? That advice came kind of late.

When Heidi walked into the workroom, Carol Hannah wisely realized that something terrible was about to be thrown at them. I hate when they do this to the designers. They have enough shit to work on; just let them get their clothes done to the best of their abilities. But they need drama (and boy do they with this group; what a boring episode this was), so the final twist: they had to make a 13th look that was cohesive with the rest of their collection, and the muse model (the models they've been working with all season) would be casting the model for that look. To help them with their new challenge, they each got to choose one of the last designers to be eliminated. Althea chose Logan, Irina got Gordana, and Carol Hannah Christopher. Can I just say again how lame that Final 6 was? Jesus.

Althea decided to do another jacket and some pants for her 13th look, and Logan tried to give her opinions on the styling. As if Logan knows anything about anything; he was never in the top ONCE this entire season. Carol Hannah decided to do another gown, and wanted to make it another "wow" piece. That's a lot of responsibility, and a lot to put on Christopher's shoulders given the shit shows he churned out over the season. Meanwhile, Irina set Gordana out to crochet her ass a new piece. Put her to work, girl! And really, Gordana - who was repeatedly critiqued for being a seamstress not a designer while still in the competition - is the perfect helper on this challenge, because she's fast and she's good. So Irina is the only one of the F3 who I think got a boost in the helping hands department.

Back at the hotel, Carol Hannah relapsed with her illness. And that was our cliffhanger: Will Carol Hannah die? Probably not. But she is clearly a mess. And Tim Gunn is about to lose it backstage because shit is so far behind schedule. Awesome.