Finally a NEL. I woulda said I totally expected a NEL; except I totally expected one last week and the week before. The busses were a bit of enforced bunching, as was the operation hours of the incense burner thing, but at least boh were at the beginning of the episode. And the Detour choice was interesting: rule of thumb is never do the needle-in-a-haystack Detours, and never do the animal Detours. So which to do when they’re head-to-head? After seeeing the episode, it turns out the camel doesn’t really factor into the camel Detour, so that was probably the best, but I don’t think the teams knew that a priori. The standings are kind of bunched up this week as teams do the opposite of their historical trends.
Taxi Assessment
Stuck in the Desert and Officially Detained - or, Philiminated with extreme prejudice.
John & Scott and Lisa & Joni and Wanda & Desiree and Danielle & Dani and David & Lori and Lake & Michelle - Outta here.
Flat Tire - or, not likely to get anywhere soon.
No one this week.
Stopping for Gas - or, not broken-down, exactly, but not a good sign.
No one this week.
"Rapido! Por Favor?" - or, making meaningless ineffectual comments from the back seat, but in no immediate danger.
Fran & Barry (up from “Stopping”) - Alright already. The old folks get a bump up this week after their stunning first place finish. This episode played to their navigational strengths–every other team had problems, while Fran & Barry did not. Not all episodes will be like this, so I’ll still be suprised if Fran & Barry make the final three, but they’ve been steadily improving through the race: now they’re performing like the savvy team they seemed to be on paper, and not the blind stumbling oldsters they were in the first two eps.
Ray & Yolanda (holding steady) - Hum interesting. Ray & Yolanda actually had a pretty shitty leg, what with getting lost and bickering and so forth, but they’re comfortably in third, so I can’t really downrate them. We’ll see what happens next leg…but I suspect it will involve more bickering and getting lost. Hint to Ray: Sometimes, you just have to abjectly apologize, even if you didn’t really do anything. Just five minutes of groveling saves hours and hours of oblique argumentation later. Not that I would do that personally, but I’m just sayin’.
In the Passing Lane - or, ahead of the pack, but not quite comfortably.
Joseph & Monica (holding steady) - Aw, bummer, a first place was within their grasp and they let it slip away. Still, they had a pretty solid leg, and if they had navigation problems, well, so did everyone else. And it they’re starting to look fatigued, well… so is everyone else.
BJ & Tyler (holding steady) - Killer fatigue sets in! I’m thinkin’ BJ didn’t keep himself adequately hydrated during the Roadblock–a mental mistake here. And he was clearly not digging deep enough in the pits, so he did way more work than he needed to. This team got out to an early lead early in the season, and due to the structure of the early legs, essentially cruised for weeks. Now that they’re at the back of the pack, they’re looking much more vulnerable-- they’ve gotten plumb lucky two weeks in a row. As an added bonus, they’ll have to concentrate more an racing and less on wacky highjinks from here on out. Still, I have to believe they’re essentially a pretty strong team, so until BJ completely flops, I’ll keep them up here in the Passing Lane.
Eric & Jeremy (down from “Cruisin’”) - Oh! Major mental mistake! Since when has taking a shortcut down a little dirt road been a good idea? Rule number six of TAR: unless you’re dead last or in the final episode, never gamble on taking a route different from other teams. The point of the early episodes is not to come in last, so remaining safely in the middle of the pack is better than a gamble that might put you either in first or last. Added to that is the mistake at the Detour, driving out into the desert. I kinda knew they were dumb, but not quite to such an extent. Anyway, Eric & Jeremy are now coming from behind. I suspect, given that this is a NEL, the next episode will have an early bunch, but if not, it will be interesting to see how this team reacts to being near last instead of near first.
Cruisin’ with Earl - or, drivin’ on the shoulder, takin’ shortcuts, and generally kickin’ butt.
No one this week.
Next week: We get to see the hippies begging. Oh, that will be so interesting. So, so compelling.
[sub]Props to Mullinator and his Raj Ratings.[/sub]
