The Amazing Race (TAR) 10/10/17: Thinly Sliced Anchovies

Cafe Society
1

We see Phil in the middle of the action once again, and the tasks are complex enough that there’s plenty of chances to mix up the order of the Racers. The normally competent dentists blew a 1-2 hour lead over most of the other teams, and even the hapless mother-daughter team, who started 2:20 behind the dentists, wound up overtaking them.

Taxi Assessment:

Stuck in the Desert and Officially Detained - or, Philiminated with extreme prejudice.
Lisa & Michelle (#MiamiRealtors) and Dennis & Isabelle (#TheDatingCouple) & Michael & Scott - Already eliminated.

Flat Tire - or, not likely to get anywhere soon.
Shelley & Nici (#MomDaughter) (holding steady) - The huge meltdown at the end of this episode looks pretty bad - Mom has the absolute worst case of passive aggressive shutdown response that I’ve ever seen. Made worse, I might add, because it came pretty much out of nowhere. Now, they really got screwed by the flight delay at the beginning of the episode, but had successfully worked their way back into contention when Nici powered through the Roadblock. All they had to do was find Phil…and then the whole something-something blew up. In any case, this team is not all that good, and not being able to work with each other is just going to make them worse.
Brooke & Robbie (#TheWrestlers) (holding steady) - I badmouthed this team last week, pointing out that they’d spend significant portions of episodes 1-3 in last place. This week, though, they had a pretty good run, doing better than most on the cake Detour, at least pretty good on the Roadblock, and making no real mistakes. That was good enough for second place, behind only the plane-roulette winners Kym & Alli, and good for them. Still, though, Brooke & Robbie’s performance has been so erratic, I don’t see them keeping up top-three finishes for very long. They’re a fun team, though, so I hope they stick around.

Stopping for Gas - or, not broken-down, exactly, but not a good sign.
Tim & Te Jay (#CollegeSweethearts) (holding steady) - Yeah, OK, mid-pack performance, and Te Jay rocked the Roadblock that was thrown right in his wheelhouse. Still, overall I’m not too impressed with this tram.

“Rapido! Por Favor?” - or, making meaningless ineffectual comments from the back seat, but in no immediate danger.
Maya & Amy (#SweetScientists) (holding steady) - Maya & Amy inexplicably drop from second after the Roadblock to fourth at the mat. They wandered around on the way to the Pit Stop last week, too, so this is a recuring thing. Stil, points to them for good performance on the tasks, and actually being in second.

In the Passing Lane - or, ahead of the pack, but not quite comfortably.
Kym & Alli (#TheCyclists) (holding steady) - Kym & Alli certainly did get lucky with the flight situation, so they were nearly guaranteed first place. Still, though, they did great on the cake-delivery (excellent idea on taking the icing along!), were only one of two teams to figure out how to drive the C-Max correctly, and were at least competant on the Roadblock. Even though I imagine we’ll see a bunch at the beginning of the next episode, they’ll at least have the luxury of having a pressure-free few hours at the beginning of the leg.
Keith & Whitney (#TeamNashville) (holding steady) - Keith & Whitney are looking beter and better, with another top-three performance. After the treasure-finding fiasco in the first episode, they’ve been quietly finishing in the upper-mid range.

Cruisin’ with Earl - or, drivin’ on the shoulder, takin’ shortcuts, and generally kickin’ butt.
Adam & Bethany (#SoulSurfers) (holding steady) - Weirdly, the top two teams from the last two weeks straight - Misti & Jim and Adam & Bethany - wind up right at the bottom this episode. Adam & Bethany just slowly slipped though the entire episode, culminating in a navigation snafu that landed them on the mat behind Shelley & Nici. Still, I would remind you, they have the huge advantage of an Express Pass, so I still see them as a top-two team.
Misti & Jim (#TheDentists) (holding steady) - OK, I understand why the Amazing Editors put Jim’s self-inflated ego on display these last few episodes. A pretty awesome comeuppance this week: this team started with an hour-plus lead on all but one of the remaining teams, but wound up getting pretty much nothing right the whole episode. I’m actually kind of intrigued by what, if anything, the performance this episode might presage. On the one hand, Misti & Jim neither quit nor broke down nor got snippy with each other when things went south. On the other hand, they just seemed to get worse and worse all episode. So are they keeping calm under pressure, or losing focus? Let’s see if they need to use their Save next week.

2

For the teams that chose the parking spot option of the Detour, they had a choice of which two designs to put together. Once they made a choice, were they stuck with it? The living room option didn’t seem to have a trick like the one with the flower pot - the teams that did the living room setup all breezed right through it. I wondered if the dentists could have just switched to the other setup rather than switching to the other Detour task. Still, with all the bragging the last few weeks it was fun to see them having so much trouble.

3

I have to give credit to the dentists. Dropping from first to last provides ample opportunity for team meltdown, but we saw none of that. The surfers, too, kept their cool despite dropping to next-to-last.

4

I thought zut should have brought the “Drawing circles around African school children” rating for #TeamMom&Daughter

5

Are your quoted leads based on start times or plane-landing times? I was once again disappointed that the results of the last leg were completely negated right off the bat by having everyone leave the pit stop and get on the same ferry. Start times were so inconsequential that the show didn’t even tell us anyone’s time after the dentists left.
I was very surprised, and not a little pleased, at how poorly the dentists did throughout. I didn’t realize until you and Terminus pointed it out that I should respect their equanimity.

I’d always written off the wrestlers as muscle-bound doofuses (purely due to prejudice, I’ll admit — mostly for their job, but also somewhat because I think they’re both kinda weird-looking somehow), but watching the male one recite the ingredients was lots of fun. (Wrestlers are entertainers.:smack:)

The mother-daughter team got on my last nerve this leg. The daughter’s first-leg meltdown was bad enough — not because she was crying, but because she looked and sounded just like a crying 6-year-old — but now I want to smack Mom as well.

They didn’t give us a close-up of the ticket, and they never show us the more explicit instructions, but when Phil described it, he said something like, “If teams do not complete the task before the half-hour is up, they must break down their parklet and reassemble it in a different spot.” Which implies, but does not actually state, that they have to stick with one design.

Now that I think about it, though, if they were allowed to switch, I don’t think Phil’s spiel would be any different. So I guess my answer is “I don’t know.”

Sorry I made you read all this.:o

6

For context

7

I was very impressed with the reaction of the dentists to their problems in this episode. It seemed like all of the bragging and overconfidence would play out with an angry meltdown and a rant in which they placed the blame on each other and/or the race designers. Instead, they remained calm and placed the blame where it belonged, on themselves, without beating themselves up too much. Misti was particularly likeable when she realized that she had failed by not including the order numbers during the Roadblock.

I also enjoyed the wrestlers in this leg, especially Robbie’s very entertaining presentation at the Roadblock.

The blowup between Shelley and Nici had nothing to do with the race, and everything to do with their mother/daughter relationship. It had never occurred to me before, but I can see how me racing with my mother might produce a similar complete breakdown.

I’m enjoying how for the most part these teams seem to really be in the spirit of the race, admiring the scenery, and taking the tasks for what they are - painful experiences designed to test them and reveal the weak links. I think they all understand that they’re getting what they came for.

8

Kind of ironic that they made take a trip to Sweden on a fuel efficiency challenge. And then made them drive right back to Copenhagen.

The penalty for not driving efficiently was not severe enough, IMO. Kudos to the college sweethearts for knowing the answer to the Scandinavian capitals (I am sure most of us knew the answer as well) but it should have been designed to be at least a 30 minute penalty for everyone that did not drive efficiently. (Like a crash course (and then a quiz) on how to drive with maximum gas mileage.

9

The dentists didn’t have any breakdown, agreed, but why would they? They have a save. They knew no matter how badly they were doing they weren’t going home. So I don’t give them a lot of credit for handling a stressful situation because it was only academically stressful. It’s not like they were in any danger, unlike other poorly performing teams like the mom & daughter. Who I agree were super unlikeable this leg.

I thought the surfers made a mistake not sending Bethany in to do the no-arms-required roadblock. And I felt bad for Bethany the moment I heard them say the words “wedding cake.” They never had a chance on that task.

10

Disappointed this was a non elimination because I don’t like The Dentists and would have at least liked to see them burn their Save. Also thought the mother daughter meltdown was beyond ridiculous.

What I did like:
All kinds of delicious looking food, both sweet (the baker) and savory (amazing sandwiches!).
Dog hugs!
I like the bikers and was glad they won.
I really really want to visit Copenhagen now.

11

I just want to thank** zut** for putting together the Taxi Assessment every week. I don’t feel the show is complete until I’ve read it. (Insert Thumbs Up Smiley here.)

12

Seconded. I don’t always agree with the Taxi Assessments but they are entertaining and I appreciate the effort put into them every week. Thanks zut!

13

Question about the Save since I missed the first part of the first episode:

If they use the Save does that mean nobody is eliminated or that the second to last team is eliminated?

Seems like it is the first based on the editing but if so then that means they’re left in the uncertain position of not knowing how many legs they’ll need if the possessor of the save never faces elimination.

14

I think if they hand the save over, that should be the end of it, NEL or not. “Thank you for the save. Unfortunately for you, this was a planned Non-elimination Leg, and you wouldn’t have been eliminated anyway. Ha ha ha ha!! Sucks to be you!”

StG

15

Oh, yes. Best moment in the whole episode: After the cyclists won, they ate a Danish in Denmark.

16

I agree, sort of like immunity idols in Survivor.

17

I thought it was funny they were the only ones to ask for food (except for the dim bulb who wanted to eat the Challenge cake twice).

18

Food isn’t safe around any cyclist.

19

It wasn’t spelled out exactly, but the way it was phrased it can be inferred that when the Save is used, nobody goes home.

The Save then ends up being what amounts to a “floating NEL.” In order to keep the number of legs fixed, they just need to remove a late-season NEL if the Save is used.

20

The times I was using were the plane-landing times, since (as you say) the actual leg start times are inconsequential. I think the producers like the airport bunching, because it (hopefully) prevents suspenseless episodes where Team X is four hours ahead of the pack and easily wins, Team Y is four hours behind the pack and has no chance, and all the other teams are just on auto-pilot. Still, I prefer there to be at least a little penalty from coming in behind on the previous leg. Arranged transport sometimes provides some staggering, and I kind of wish they’d work that in more often toward the beginning of the leg.

Yeah - making each sandwich a little stage presentation probably actually helped him remember the ingredients (much like…Misti? was sing-songing her sandwich set), but he was also clearly hamming it up for fun. I like his goofy sense of humor.

Thanks! It’s nice to know people actually read it occasionally.

This was pretty much how I interpreted it. The Save can be used only through leg eight (I think), so I assume that if it’s not used, the next leg will be a NEL.