Kriti Mehrotra
As a reboot of the ABC cult-classic eponymous competition series, which in itself is based on the Belgian original production ‘De Mol,’ Netflix’s ‘The Mole’ can only be described as captivating. That’s because it centers around 12 players — well, 11 and a saboteur — as they complete a myriad of challenges for a hopefully hefty cash prize, all the while trying to identify the impostor in their midst. So now that the first eight episodes of its debut have made it clear greed, as well as skepticism, can both prove detrimental let’s dig a little deeper into contestant Avori Henderson, shall we?
Avori: Enigma or Mole in Disguise?
From the moment Avori came across our screens, she kind of put a target on her back through not just her sheer confidence but also her admittance to the fact she’s tactical owing to her career. The professional gamer actually even expressed she has always been rather underestimated, but the truth is she does ask a lot of specific questions and then pays close attention to every detail. That’s why she told the cameras she should be able to identify the mole relatively quickly, only for her undeniably stiff body language to throw us off her words and keep her real intentions up in the air.
However, Avori didn’t exhibit any mole-like behavior at first — she was raking in significant money for the pot — and her body language could also be attributed to her being a former pageant queen. It was thus seemingly the realization she needed to place suspicion upon herself to get further in the game following a conversation with close alliance Pranav Patel that turned everything around. The Illinois native, Arizona resident, hence began diverting and making excuses to waste time throughout each subsequent challenge, which is partly the reason for Dom Gabriel’s elimination.
Avori’s stalling sabotages were honestly extremely obvious, but as time passed, it did appear as if the obviousness of it all could’ve been deliberate as well — so was it a bluff or a double bluff? The fact she didn’t directly lose money with these tricks (the Great Barrier Reef treasure hunt or the mail delivery mission) yet looked at the dossiers for information on fellow players (ensuring $10,000 wouldn’t go to the pot) was also quite contradictorily odd. Therefore, the only constant aspects at every step of the way were her observational skills, her competitiveness, as well as her growing distrust for everyone else.
Avori not telling her closest ally, Pranav, her suspicion over Jacob Hacker following the Bank Heist was definitely a point of note — she thus felt terrible once he was booted — but it just motivated her further. Her efforts during the Mountain Mole challenge and the Spot the Fake mission consequently didn’t seem to have any evidence of dubiousness, yet all that got thrown right out the window with The Bird Cage.
Avori could’ve easily seen the number on the side of the pizza box during this Sydney city-wide game of hide-and-seek if she’d just bent down or moved it around, but she initially didn’t. Her fumble hence caused William Richardson and Jacob to arrive mere moments late, meaning the entire group lost an easy opportunity to add $10,000 to their total pot of nearly $69,500. So this was either a remarkably, ridiculously innocent mistake or an entirely purposeful action as the mole, especially considering she prided herself on her meticulousness.
Despite (or because of) everything, though, we do not believe Avori is the mole — yes, she’s strategic and a good liar, yet it’s unlikely that it’s to the extent of her being the saboteur.
