If you were able to receive a gratis outfit made specifically for you from an up-and-coming fashion designer, what would you want? As the client-dream-outfit challenge has become a Project Runway standard, I’ve thought about this question often, and my answer has always been some variation of sci-fi-inspired outerwear. K’s coat from Blade Runner 2049, Cassian’s from Andor — like, mid-length, big collar, lots of pockets, leather accents. Perfect for pondering what’s more human than human or planning insurgent actions against a cruel Imperial apparatus. You know, normal stuff!

This week, “Threads of Confidence” gives us that classic Project Runway setup, and it makes for the best episode yet this season. The challenge is still a little overcomplicated — the outfits have to be appropriate for a night out on the town, and they have to feature a “jaw-dropping” on-the-runway reveal — but I always appreciate this challenge for giving us additional insight into the designers and how they actually work with clients. And “Threads of Confidence” really delivers by showing us different facets of Antonio’s and Jesus’s personalities, who, in this episode, actually end up doing the opposite of what I anticipated. Jesus imposes his own style on his client without really considering Jarrad’s preferences; Antonio is a supportive collaborator with his client, Stephanie, and delivers an outfit that she clearly feels like a million bucks in. How the tables have turned!

And yes, we’ll get to that cliffhanger ending. Because what! I repeat: WHAT???

Project Runway wraps up its Western challenge by sending home Yuchen, which surprises me (I really thought Veejay’s red vinyl dress would be a goner). As he leaves, Yuchen says this experience will be with him for his whole life. If so, I hope it gives him some confidence instead of doubt about his abilities. I genuinely thought his soccer-ball/molecules school-materials challenge was unexpected and clever (as was the alien hoodie that we didn’t see a final version of), and I think he could have a tongue-in-cheek, Jeremy Scott-esque career if he leans into the instincts of that look. Meanwhile, Veejay realizes how close she was to elimination and admits she needs to reconsider some of her decision-making, a sentiment that I think comes through this week in her lovely-but-safe outfit.

The group is down to the final five, and as Heidi introduces the customer challenge to them, she says they are going to be “pushed even harder,” to which I wrote in my notes: “HOW MUCH HARDER COULD YOU PUSH THESE PEOPLE?” Every challenge is a one-day challenge. Every judging includes facing off against Law. And Nina’s been absent for AGES, so the contestants aren’t even getting the benefit of her editorial-inspired and decades-in-the-industry-influenced feedback. The artificiality of these heightened stakes is not working on us, Heidi! Anyway, Heidi explains that this is a client-focused challenge, and the designers will be working with regular people to “prove you can make everyone feel comfortable and beautiful.” The unifying factor between these clients is that they all have eczema, which affects the types of clothes they can and cannot wear, as certain fabrics and formulations trigger flare-ups of the skin condition. (The challenge is sponsored by LINNÉ, a skincare company that is focused on products for people with eczema, psoriasis, and dermatitis. Heidi did not explain this, I had to Google it.)

Two men and three women randomly select the designers they’ll be working with for their outfit. Veejay gets paired with 19-year-old Jayden, Ethan with 42-year-old Rachel, Jesus with 37-year-old Jarrad (who immediately starts flirting with an “I was born ready, Jesus” line), Antonio with 36-year-old Stephanie, and Belania with 21-year-old Jewel. The designers get to know their clients by asking where eczema affects them and what fabrics they like or don’t, and everyone seems to be getting along well except for Jarrad, Jesus, Belania, and Jewel. Well, to be clear, Jarrad and Jesus are doing a lot of flirty touching and bickering, especially once Jarrad reveals that he speaks Spanish; Jesus’s “Are we on a date right now?” got a laugh out of me. But the actual challenge? They are absolutely not on the same page about that. Jesus says he wants Jarred to “feel cool,” but his idea of a long-ish jacket (one of the twins’ overused signatures) and a low-V-neck shirt gets skepticism from his client, who says the items sound “a little effeminate,” and not his style.

Similar friction is going on with Belania and Jewel. Jewel’s favorite colors are “nudes” and she doesn’t like prints, and Belania rolls her eyes in her confessional when discussing this. She basically seems to shut down in dealing with Jewel because of how much Jewel’s preferences don’t fit her own. Of course, we’re only seeing an edited version of what happened, but she doesn’t question Jewel further about what spectrum of nudes she’s into — Mauve? Mahogany? Taupe? — or about anything, really. She’s caught up in the idea of what her “reveal” will be, while everyone else seems to have a general idea of what they want to do. Antonio and Stephanie are vibing about an expensive-looking outfit that will show off her cleavage. Jayden dresses fairly casually, but Veejay thinks it will be nice to give him a fancier version of the quarter-zip sweater he wears often. And Ethan is excited by Rachel’s willingness to show off her body, since that and the runway reveal should fit his drag-inspired aesthetic.

After shopping at Mood, the designers get to work. Christian starts with Jesus, and he can really convey so much with his little musing “Hrms”, can’t he? Christian saying his mom would wear Jesus’s sequined tweed jacket is brutal but fair, and the beaded collar he’s putting on the deep-V wrap shirt for Jarrad feels similarly off. It’s like Gob Bluth went shopping at White House Black Market. Christian notes that Belania’s two fabrics of silver lame and plaid wool do not fit with Jewel’s preferences, and he’s not entirely sold on her plan to open the trench coat to reveal a dress underneath, either. It feels pretty expected. Christian’s also doubting Ethan, since he’s planning a long white dress along with a beaded top — the former is sort of papal, while the latter might damage his client’s skin. Christian urges Ethan to change the look into a minidress, but Jesus encourages Ethan to paint the white fabric and make his own pattern, and Ethan ends up taking Jesus’s advice over Christian’s! Dramatique!

It’s time for the clients to come in, and Christian sticks around, making for a dynamic I really enjoyed because Christian could actually then see the designers and their clients together. Christian razzes Veejay for making Jayden a sweater that looks like something Christian’s uncle wore for Christmas “for 30 years,” and Jayden laughingly agrees that it has a definite holiday vibe because of the emerald-green fabric, but he really loves it, and Christian is impressed by how pleased he is. Also doing well is Antonio, who wants to do a double reveal in his transition from outerwear to strapless dress (he gets a low five from Christian), and whose client Stephanie loves the black fabric with spangly beads that he’s using for her look. But Jarrad is still unhappy with Jesus’s look and wants it to be more masculine; Rachel is unhappy with Ethan’s crisp white fabric and doesn’t think it’s flattering; and Jewel seems hesitant about Belania’s silver drape top, which Belania also now hates because it’s taking too much time to sew. Sixty percent of the designers struggling is not great.

Runway time! The judges are Heidi, Law, designer Harris Reed, and comedian Nikki Glaser, which again is a random collection of words that noticeably does not include “Nina García.” Replacing Nina with a woman who has the same initials as her is not going to fool us! Here are the looks:

Antonio: Princess-style overcoat, black with green accents, that eventually reveals a black strapless minidress with beading on the front and back Veejay: Black leather jacket, dark-wash jeans with black leather accents, and that emerald-green quarter-zip sweaterBelania: Long plaid-patterned sweater jacket with a silver lame asymmetrical top and black dress shorts underneath Ethan: Long white coat that when opened reveals a Rorschach-style paint-splatter pattern and a matching minidress Jesus: Long black tweed jacket with sequins, black pants, and white wrap blouse top with sequin collar

There are so few contestants now that they all stand on the runway with their clients for judging, and seeing all the looks together, it’s pretty obvious who succeeded based on how comfortable people look in their outfits. Let’s start with the good: Law and Harris loved Antonio’s numerous reveals, and praise the fit on Stephanie’s dress. I thought it actually looked a little too big in the bust, and like it was drooping (there’s a moment where Stephanie easily adjusted the dress by pulling it upward, and I don’t think a well-fit top would do that), but Law says “I’m actually getting attracted to your cleavage and I’m extremely gay,” so there’s that. Also successful is Veejay. She’s once again made a beautifully constructed jacket, the judges praise the leather panels on the denim pants to create a cohesive look, and they like how happy Jayden is with the sweater. What keeps her from winning, though, is that she didn’t do a dramatic reveal on the runway; Jayden unzipping his leather jacket to show the sweater underneath isn’t exactly an explosive moment. So Antonio finally gets a win, and it feels deserved this time.

Floating in the middle, as he was last week, is Ethan, whose look divides the panel. When Rachel walked the runway, Heidi reacted with a doubtful “Huh,” and she goes in on the look during judging by saying the white outerwear looked like a lab coat and insulting Ethan’s taste level. Harris agrees that the inkblot pattern should have been on the outside of the jacket as well instead of being just part of the look’s reveal, but he and Law both like the look overall. My weekly Law laugh: “Oh, she’s a whore, which I love,” he says of the reveal of Rachel’s legs and cleavage in her minidress, and she laughs too, so that’s fine! She defended her affection for Ethan’s look well by saying it was so striking that it made her feel like her eczema was irrelevant, and that’s what she wanted, and so Ethan succeeded. Belania and Jesus: not so much.

Belania’s pieces just have no connection to each other, and Jewel admits she wouldn’t buy the silver top herself. “You failed her,” Law says, which is both harsh and accurate, I think? Belania didn’t listen to any of Jewel’s wants for her look, and also didn’t give her pieces strong enough that she convinced Jewel to try a new style or a new color. She didn’t consider Jewel’s desires at all, and similarly, Jesus heard Jarrad’s complaints and ignored them. Yes, Jesus altered the shirt’s collar by removing some of the sequins, but overall, Jarrad looks like a kid playing dress-up in what Nikki describes as a “pirate magician” outfit. Heidi gets a really apt zinger in when she says the look feels like something out of Dancing with the Stars, “bedazzled on top of bedazzled on top of bedazzled,” and you know that if Jarrad gets to keep these clothes, he’s never wearing them again.

It’s not shocking that Jesus is indignant at the judges’ criticisms — “This makes absolutely no sense,” he complains in his confessional — but it is shocking that the episode ends with Heidi announcing a double elimination of both Belania and Jesus. Law had asked whether Jesus’s “sloppy toppy” or Belania’s “mismatched mess” was worse, but seemingly the judges have decided that both were equally bad? I personally think this is all set up for some kind of designing-head-to-head challenge in next week’s episode, where the judges make a snap decision to get one person back in the competition (like Top Chef’s Last Chance Kitchen), but I’m open to other thoughts. Project Runway’s given a lot of changes this season, but they wouldn’t go down to three contestants for both the penultimate and finale episodes, right? Right???

Fabric Scraps

• The outfit I most wanted to wear this episode: I would like Veejay’s green sweater very much. Great color!

• Highlights of the episode for me include Rachel, seemingly unaware of who Christian is, calling him “this man,” and Stephanie’s cheery “I’m ready to show off my skin and get myself a husband!” as she and Antonio planned her outfit. And Nikki’s observation that Belania’s outfit was like two phases of Kate Middleton, her partying college years and her more settled queen-in-waiting phase, was really on point.

• Fun with chyrons: Antonio’s “**** blocker” as he complains about Jesus getting distracted by Jarrad’s flirting; Veejay’s “mixologist” when she, for the millionth time, tries to stir up shit between the twins.

• I liked Christian really putting his foot down this week with Ethan’s outfit; his “I’m not letting this happen” was good TV. But did Ethan not end up using any of his original beaded fabric at all?

• Ethan getting so up in arms about Veejay not doing the “reveal” part of this week’s challenge felt a little bit like payback for Veejay goofily accusing him of plagiarizing her wool dress last week, no?

• My skepticism re: Belania and Jesus both being out is caused by Heidi wearing an outfit of Belania’s while promoting the season, and I don’t think she would do that unless Belania made it further in the competition? Although, I warn you, the outfit is … a lot.

 Real people are the clients in this episode, the best of the season so far.