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RSSThe Amazing Race: Triumph of the mellow
I'm dubious about the U-Turn maneuver that's been added to The Amazing Race -- it just seems so mean-spirited and, ultimately, counterproductive. But if you're going to use it, at least use it effectively, and send home the particularly odious people who are actually behind you, ok?
"We just need to realize how embarrass[ing] and disgusting it was before the way that we were spoiling..."
The Challenges
Fly from Florence, Italy to Mumbai, India, then find a specific newspaper stand, who will sell each team a newspaper that will send our teams to a tailor's shop that sends them to the first detour. They can choose either to put up a six-panel Bollywood poster or thread a traditional Indian wedding garland. Then it's a roadblock that involves schlepping large tanks of propane on a bike, another stop where they can exercise a u-turn, and finally the pit stop. The race is on!
The Good
Rachel and TK are in their element: "We're going to keep up our strategy of keeping mellow," Rachel says. I'm not sure that really constitutes a strategy, but something works -- they finish this leg of the race in first place. Rachel's experience as a florist makes the wedding garland a snap, and TK is a freakin' machine schlepping the propane. They don't use the U-Turn because it would harsh someone's mellow, and I'm really starting to like these crazy kids.
Nicholas and Donald continue their strong run through a combination of smarts, cunning, mutual support and graciousness. They show their brains right off the bat by buying a plane ticket online, then checking into a hotel for some decent rest before the flight. Nicholas loiters near another team while they look for the ad, and uses that to narrow the search. They excel at the poster-hanging challenge -- not too high, not too low, everything lined up perfectly -- and decline to use the U-Turn when given the chance. Their only bobble: Nicholas is the poor sap who takes on the propane-schlepping roadblock, and he works himself to a state of exhaustion, dehydration and possibly mild heat stroke. He ends up puking by the side of the road. Poor kid.
The Bad
The Daddy Dearest side of Ronald comes out all the more this leg -- he's just an ass to Christina and the world at large. Does he even realize what a schmuck he is? He blows up during the paper-hanging challenge, first at Christina for having the temerity to provide a substandard stool for him to stand on (which he wouldn't have needed if he hadn't started out hanging the poster so high), and then at the judge of the challenge when he says something that had previously been ok was now off. Christina reminds him that pissing off a judge is bad strategy, and even loses her cool toward him a couple of times -- "Stop yelling at me!" Finally!
Jen and Nate continue to annoy by being Jen and Nate. They rush to the airport to buy a ticket, only to discover that the airport is closed. This, of course, is the airport's fault, not their own. When they can't find the ad in the paper, they're at each other's throats: You're horrible at this! The dog is bugging me! I didn't start it, you started it! Stop it! You're on my side! Moooooooooom! Seriously, my 5-year-old nephew and 2-year-old niece were less annoying when we were trapped in an endless traffic jam this week. Shut the hell up, both of you, or I'm turning this car around right now! Despite this, and despite Jen leaving receipts behind on the propane challenge, they come in fourth and remain in the game. Dammit.
The Gothy
Kynt and Vyxsin "[resort] to a bunch of performance art," as they put it -- they try to fool Rachel and TK into taking a later flight, which turns out to be pointless. The dreaded Speed Bump is actually kind of fun -- they're doing sea-side yoga, which is at least relaxing -- and prove the polar opposite of the odious Nate and Jen. Why, then, didn't they use the U-Turn on Nate and Jen? They knew the Dyspeptic Duo was right behind them, and had no clue where anyone else was. Why waste it on the slim chance that they could shake up Nicholas and Donald? Idiots. That strategic misstep is enough to ensure that team Perky Goth are dead last, and they're going home. Curses.
Highlights, thoughts, and odds and ends:
- I had been feeling a wee bit bad for Nate being saddled with Jen, but his "I don't understand why you can't do this -- you're a girl!" comment just made me want to kick him. He shouldn't have been surprised that Jen responded "Well, I don't understand how you couldn't row a boat -- you're a boy!"
- Despite my despair at gender stereotyping, I am surprised that Jen insisted on doing the propane schlepping challenge. Does she seriously think she's stronger and faster than Nate, who's got about a foot of height and maybe 80 pounds of muscle on her? Weird.
- Likewise, what was Ronald, the man with the hernia, thinking when he decided to do the schlepping?
- More Jen and Nate follies -- does Cal State Long Beach not expect much in the basic vocabulary department? How else do you explain how Jen could think "give the garland to the bridegroom" might mean "give the garland to the elephant"? And was anyone else hoping that the elephant would eat the garland, thus forcing the duo to start over again?
- Even during the yoga Speed Bump, Kynt kept his perspective: "Any chance to see Vyxsin twisting, turning or contorting her body is a highlight for me, and I think it was a highlight for the instructor as well." Good to know.
- When Phil tells Team Perky Goth they're going home, he tells them they at least have the honor of being "the most fashionable couple ever on The Amazing Race." I'm not sure "fashionable" was quite the word he was looking for. "Appearance-obsessed," "fringe-fashion-infatuated," or even "gothtastic," but hardly "fashionable." Just saying.
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Zap2it Twitter Talk 
Jen giving the elephant the garland was definately the highlight of this episode. Also, has anyone else notied that Jen and Nate never take a taxi anywhere. They are either walking five miles to a clue box, getting a ride from some local driver, or having no idea what or where to go. They're gonna win.
I hope not. I'm rooting for TK and Rachel (hell I'm rooting for anybody so long as it isn't Nate & Jen).
I was really irked at the Goths for wasting the U-turn, but then I finally understood what Kynt was saying: they weren't sure that Nate and Jen, who'd left the flower stall just ahead of them, were behind them. They only knew, based on the number clue envelopes there, that one team was behind them, and based on past experience, Gramps and Skippy were a logical enough ***umption. Sad but not as idiotic as it seemed watching it and knowing that Jen and Nate were just down the block.
Well, with the Goths gone, I'm hoping for anyone but the obnoxious twosome Nate and Jen. Gramps and Skippy are doing an impressive job, and you have to give them props for going through with the tattoos last week. TK and Rachel are so laid-back, you can't actually not root for them. Finally, is it possible for Christina to win without Dad from Hell?
Go TK and Rachel! Or Nicholas and Donald!
I still don't understand "the pinks" (as Jen put it last night) using the U-Turn on Nicholas and Donald when they knew they had a team close to them. Yes, Jen and Nate left the challenge before them but come on seriously they thought someone else screwed up that bad? Use it on a team you have seen for goodness sake. You are in last place, at least give yourself a shot.
So we have the two bickering teams, the mellow team, and the good natured team. While the bickering teams provide entertaining TV, I will be upset if either of them win.
Nate and Jen have got to go. She is a pain in the rear and a total @$$.
If she wins I'll have to throw something at my TV or yell out some choice words.
Sorry to see the gothic couple leave. Too bad
I was hoping the elephant would eat the garland too. I hated to see the Goths go. If anybody needed some yoga, it was Nate and Jen. They really need to lighten up on each other.
I'm surprised at the member of the team sometimes chosen to do a particular roadblock. Is there a rule that each member has to do an equal number of roadblocks? If there isn't such a rule the strongest or smartest would do all roadblocks so saving a person for later on down the road may be happening.
Yes, I was hoping the elephant would eat the garland too and was so disappointed when it did not.
I think there is a rule that each member has to do an equal number of roadblocks. That only came about after Uchenna & Joyce (I don't remember which season they were on) won because Uchenna did all the roadblocks and his wife did none of them.
The Goths will be missed. For Christina's sake, I would love to see her win. However, Ron has to be one of the meanest people ever to be on TAR. We've always had bickering but this is different. He's downright cruel to his daughter.
Yes, Kynt made a fatal choice, but as Sam points out above, while it was abundantly clear to the audience that N&J were behind, Kynt did not know that. Nate and Jen lesft the flower market first. They could have been at the pit stop for all Kynt knew. He went with a fairly decent logical decision; it was just wrong.
I'll miss the Goths. Appearance aside--and my husband noted that Vxysin seemed to look more and more normal as the race went along--they proved to be generally amiable, smart, co=operative, and good-natured. You can fault Phil for his exact word choice ("fashionable"), but I think he was write to compliment them.
I generally do favor the mellow teams, so go TK & Rachel. But props to Nick & Don for lasting longer than I ever would have guessed at the beginning and doing some gutsy stuff. I think we're all rooting for Christina to some extent, but she's unhappily yoked to her overbearing father. Nate & Jen, argh! There is some entertainment value to seeing how awful they can be each week, but I hope they're out next.