Flying business class on 'The Amazing Race'
It's one thing to mispronounce the names of cities with different alphabetical systems and different complicated pronunciations rules. The Amazing Race contestants who have bungled the entirely phonetic "Vilnius" and "Dubrovnik" in the past two weeks are just illiterates.
I'm just sayin'...
[The following recap is just so unfair! Naaaaate! It contains spoilers!]
Every viewer has their own ideas for the facets that constitute a good episode of The Amazing Race. For my money, Sunday (Dec. 9) night's episode contained many of my favorite aspects, including...
Airport drama. Sunday's episode had far-and-away the season's most intriguing assortment of airport misadventures, an eclectic assortment of miscues and catastrophes that had the six teams arriving in Croatia via four different flights through four different connecting countries and on at least three (possibly four) different airlines. You had Jen and Nate going back and forth and back and forth between travel agency and airline, getting more and more freaked out with each step. You had Ronald swearing at the mild mannered Goths in a travel agency ("It's OK," Vyxsin reassured the mortified Christina, "I have a dad too."). Finally, you had Azaria and Hendekea getting into a shouting match (mostly Azaria shouting, "Don't give me attitude, OK?") in the middle of the terminal, Azaria conceding in the least gentlemanly way possible ("One decision and you think you're on top of the world?") and finally getting crushed not by anything they did, but by a travel agent who booked them in business class (an Amazing Race No-No) rather than economy. But even though Azaria and Hendekea weren't able to get on any of the early flights to Dubrovnik, they received temporary hope in the form of delays in Prague that caused two teams to miss their connecting flights.
Cool challenges in beautiful cities. Because I'm an ignorant American, I can't say I knew that Dubrovnik was so beautiful. The Croat Tourism Board must be drinking champagne toasts tonight, because Dubrovnik came off looking like a superior place to take your next vacation, or at least like a fun place to take a tandem zip line across a harbor. The Roadblock -- replacing bricks in a wall destroyed during the country's recent civil war -- was a bit of a disappointment, because it was so swift and not as poignant as it should have been. Thanks to how spaced out the teams were, it was hard to gauge the eventual advantages and disadvantages of the Detour options, but the one that required rowing displayed some of the most disgraceful paddle skills I've ever seen. If you don't actually know how to paddle a rowboat, teamwork will get you a long way, though the absence of teamwork for Jen and Nate led to...
A spectacular meltdown. Nothing this season will be able to top Lorena's camel-milking boil-over. ["Baby! There's no more MILK! There's no more Milk! Baby!" Oh, it still makes me giggle.] But Jen's inappropriately timed determination that she wanted to break up with Nate is probably close. Perhaps due to their hilarious height differential, Nate and Jen couldn't figure out how to paddle in tandem, causing Jen to yell, standing up in their boat, "I'm never gonna be with you ever again. I hate you with a passion." Then Jen criticized Nate for his skills exiting their boat, though to her credit, his weight displacement led to splashing and splashing led to Jen getting wet and Jen getting wet led to a cabbie refusing to take them to the pit stop. The drier Ronald and Christina got a cab and zipped off into first leaving Jen with her arms raises in disbelief. If this were a movie, the camera would have circled Jen round-and-round until everybody got sick. Instead, Jen threw a hissy, starting with the her heartfelt lamentation, "Oh my God, Naaaaaate! This is so unfair." Nate, who only seems reasonable when Jen is all a-blubber, said, "It's OK," but Jen was hearing none of it, bawling, "No it's not OK. Our relationship sucks." Things didn't get better. They hopped in an unlicensed cab and after reaching the pit stop in second, Phil Keoghan sent them back to get legal transportation, which Nate dubbed "the cherry on top of the ice cream sundae that's already melting." They still finished in third, but even Phil commented on their chilly handshake.
And it wasn't a non-elimination leg. It isn't that I'm glad to see Azaria and Hendekea eliminated, especially since they finished last was through no fault of their own, but this was just the kind of stage that would have just coincidentally turned out to be non-elimination in seasons past. Really, I'm sad that Hendekea never took advantage of her ability to say "There's a party in my pants" in Croat.
Couple other quick thoughts:
OK. I've got another recap to write, so what'd you think of this episode? Any favorite moments I missed?
I would have to agree with you. I did not imagine Croatia being so picturesque. Makes me wanna book a trip. Now on to the Race!
Nate and Jen: IN this episode, Jen ranks about an "8" on the Flo scale, with a "10" being the all time champion of incessant crankiness. Nicole of Brandon and Nicole, I think, would be a close second. Jen thinks her relationship with Nate is impossible, but closer examination of all of her relationships might reveal that perhaps she is the common denominator. She whines so much I would not be shocked if Nate is nipping from a flask between Roadblocks!
Goths: Another good performance on this leg, like TK and Rachel, they just keep on chugging along without being involved inn the drama with the other groups. I have to wonder if they even socialize with the other teams during the "mandatory rest period". I know I sure wouldn't!
Ronald and Christina: I may have underestimated this team. I most certainly thought they would have been one of the early eliminations especially since they made a big deal about Ronald's hernia. Maybe thats clever foreshadowing. *shrugs* What I do wanna know is how many shirts does Ronald have "who's your daddy?" imprinted on. Its getting kinda creepy!
Grands: I do have to admit that the rock challenge was rather uninspired for Amazing Race. I am not really a fan of these subjective challenges where a local has to judge your work in order to succeed. If they wanted to, the local could really throw the game in your favor or out of your favor depending on how they feel about you. But I guess thats no different than travel agent issuing you business cl*** tickets instead of economy, which leads me to...
Elimination: I for sure thought this would be a non-elimination leg, especially since they have not had one yet. How many are they supposed to have? Three? Four? One season they had two in a row, but they could really screw with the teams and do a bunch in a row, especially now since most of the dead weight teams are gone. Too bad we gotta wait two weeks...
Great blog entry :)
Spoiler for Non-Elimination Leg
I read an interview before this season started that said this season they were having no non-elimination legs to keep it "exciting" It was a while ago that I read the article so I may be remembering it wrong but it certainly seems to be holding true so far (I'll try to dig the article up to double check)
I saw that listed in the Wikipedia article for this season. I actually prefer it without non-elimination legs, because a lot of times (at least since I started watching halfway through Season 5) the team(s) saved by would still finish last and be eliminated on the next leg.
On another note, is anyone else getting sick of Nicolas giving his grandfather the Roadblocks that would be a little easier for a younger guy to do? And then complaining when gramps doesn't do it as fast as he would (could?)? Guess nobody taught him respect for his elders.
I was in Dubrovnik years ago - mid 1970s...it is spectacularly beautiful and wait until you dive into the sea - it feels like satin and you can open your eyes under water because the sea is not as salty as the Pacific or Atlantic and the sea creatures/fish are gorgeous. I too want to return now.
I was THRILLED to see Azaria gone--though it's a shame Hendekea got eliminated at the same time. He is one of the most insufferably smug Racers I've ever seen (at least Ron KNOWS he's a jerk--Azaria thinks he's being a sensitive brother). Even though they're siblings, I'd give serious thought to dumping him from my life were I her. What a twit.
I think the lack of non-eliminations is generally a good idea, given how they seemed as if they were sapping a lot of the drama from the show in previous seasons. The POTENTIAL of having one, though, adds a nice element to the show which is (apparently) missing this year.
I, too, was surprised at the beauty of Croatia... How did I not know this before? I think there are alot of people looking into booking a trip there in the future!
I really like Azaria and Hendekea (though mostly Hendekea...) and am sad to see them go.
I don't know how Christina hasn't pushed her dad in a lake by now... I mean, what an ***! He yells at Nic for being a jerk in the airport and then does the same thing with the goths. He is sooo annoying!
I am glad that Jen and Nate, once again, lost in a close second... call me evil, but I enjoy their meltdowns and pouting and I think they got what they deserve... I mean, who choose the rowing challenge and then when they get there says I don't even know how to row a boat... who doesn't know how to row a boat!?!?!
TK and Rachel are my new favs to win...
Good episode. Sooooo glad the brother/sister team are gone. They were boring and dull. Next Jen and Nat have to go. I dislike them and she needs a muzzle to shut her up.
As for Dubrovnik, I was there this past summer and it is truly BEAUTIFUL!!
Too bad we have to wait 2 weeks for the next episode. :-(
I can't believe I am posting here, but I've just got to say that I do not understand the comment about Hendekia and Azaria being eliminated "through no fault of their own." The agent might have booked them wrong (although I'm not willing to ***ume that since I don't recall seeing any conversation with the ticket agent about what cl*** they wanted to fly in), but in any event it does not take a genius to look at an airline ticket and discern whether you are in economy or business. I've flown all over the world for business and pleasure, and every time I get a ticket or boarding p***, the first thing I do is look to make sure I'm in the right seat in the right cl***. Who doesn't look at their boarding p*** and realize such a thing until they are AT THE GATE trying to get on the plane?? The agent might have started their troubles by booking them wrong, but they surely share in the fault for not paying enough attention to their own travel details!
Daniel, you are so right about the European capital illiteracy. That always drives me batty too... almost as much as when people don't think to learn how to paddle or row before they go on the race. You know you're going to be in a boat at some point!
I wish TAR would contain only one non-elimination leg per season. It is sooo much more dramatic when there is an elimination nearly every time.