Amazing Race April 10th, Delays Possible from the Masters

Cafe Society
21

The good thing for the Cowboys was that they beat both Ron & Christine and K & V. Part of that was in choosing what looked like the easier task. Actually, I think it was supposed to be somewhat mitigated by the fact that those who did the fire didn’t have to travel as far to the pit stop. It seemed that way, at least, and K & V made a big mistake in heading back to “where they where” instead of going “where they need to be”.

I got the feeling Ron & Christina knew they weren’t likely to make it to the final, but were glad to have the chance to go on a trip like that again. It doesn’t seem like K & V are getting much out of this trip, on the other hand, and I don’t think they’re going to make it much farther.

It looks like the Globetrotters and the Cowboys are both quite capable of stepping it up when they need to, but also having the ability to make big mistakes. Kisha & Jen keep silently plugging through but are showing signs of stress. Gary & Mallory are doing what they need to, are relaxed, and I’m thinking they really have a good shot at the final.

22

They all just took cabs.

23

One of them even had his hay-hauling gloves with him.

24

How likely is it that Vyxsin would get sick from her little swim there?

25

What blew me away this episode was when Gary and Mallory were on the boat and Gary pointed out to her that “they’re cremating people over there.” Then the camera points over to the river bank, pans back to Mallory, who suddenly realizes what she’s seeing…

I’m wondering about Ron’s mental status too.

Part of me wants to kick Kent in the jaw while the other half wonders whether it’s the stress that’s getting to him or if he truly is a grown crybaby. That throwing-the-passenger-from-the-cab incident left a horrible taste in my mouth. I don’t care if you’re racing for a million dollars – you just don’t do things like that to an innocent bystander.

26

Actually, in this one case Kent was right to be concerned…the Ganges at the populated stretch of the river is close to toxic. Dead bodies (of both animals and humans), raw sewage, industrial pollution…people get horribly ill all the time from bathing in it (and children playing and swimming in it).

27

Wow. Y’know, I was thinking that if any team other than the cowboys had fallen an hour behind, they would have been toast. But Jet & Cord just buckled down and passed enough teams that they stayed alive.

Taxi Assessment:

Stuck in the Desert and Officially Detained - or, Philiminated with extreme prejudice.
Amanda & Kris and Mel & Mike and Jaime & Cara and Margie & Luke - Already eliminated.
Ron & Christina (down from “Stopping”) - I said before that Ron & Christina have little chance of winning, and yes indeed I was right. I’m not quite sure what was in the Roadblock instructions that the other teams figured out but Ron didn’t, but whatever it was caused a big enough breakdown in Ron’s thinker that the cowboys easily passed them by. Did he seriously think these holy men were going to be off taking a dip in the Ganges? Well, lucky for Christina that it was Ron, not her, who caused them to lose; else she would have never heard the end of it.

Flat Tire - or, not likely to get anywhere soon.
No one.

Stopping for Gas - or, not broken-down, exactly, but not a good sign.
Kent & Vyxsin (holding steady) - Oh, Kynt. Everybody knows that this is a game and it’s every team for themselves, but dropping Gary so obviously doesn’t give you any real advantage, and really only serves to ensure Gary & Mallory never work with you again. And you really can’t afford that–judging by the shadows, you were just barely ahead of Ron & Christina this week. What would have happened had you not been able to ride Gary’s coattails on the Roadblock? Kent & Vyxsin have not yet cracked the top four; what chances do they have of making it to the final episode, much less winning the entire Race?

"Rapido! Por Favor?" - or, making meaningless ineffectual comments from the back seat, but in no immediate danger.
Flight Time & Big Easy (holding steady) - The Globetrotter’s first first-place finish (and only their second top-three) come at an opportune time, heading into the more competitive portion of the Race. I halfway expected Big Easy to freeze at the end of the Roadblock (the puzzle-y, unscramling-words-to-make-a-sentence part), but he didn’t. They’re working well with their Season 15 BFFs Zev & Justin, and they certainly have a chance to sneak into the final three. However, they just haven’t been on top of their game all season until now, and I’m not sure if they’ve shifted into a new gear or just got lucky.

In the Passing Lane - or, ahead of the pack, but not quite comfortably.
Kisha & Jen (holding steady) - Kisha & Jen, never in the lead, but never really in danger of elimination, either. I’m really not sure if they can turn up the effort in the final episode (assuming they get there), but they’re doing what they need to do now.
Zev & Justin (holding steady) - Zev & Justin are back in the top three after a solid, mistake-free leg. The only thing I’ll note is that Zev has done only two Roadblock to Justin’s four, and one of Zev’s – the Chinese zodiac wind chime one – was a disaster. I sense that Zev just isn’t comfortable when frustrated and working alone, so the Roadblock parity rule (assuming it’s still in force) might be this team’s downfall.

Cruisin’ with Earl - or, drivin’ on the shoulder, takin’ shortcuts, and generally kickin’ butt.
Gary & Mallory (holding steady) - A fourth place for Gary & Mallory, which is actually their worst showing yet, save a ninth place in the second episode. This team has an advantage in their intra-team dynamic–they get along well without feeling like they need to parcel out blame (Ron? Are you watching?), and Mallory’s bubliness is nicely leavened by Gary’s taciturnity. As long as Mallory doesn’t get overexcited and go haring off somewhere, this team has a decent chance of making it into the final three.
Jet & Cord (holding steady) - Jet & Cord can’t really afford to make many major blunders like taking the wrong flight. Hint to the boys: if you think you might not be on the quickest flight, get your ass moving, look for another one, and change your ticket. That’s legal. The cowboys got lucky that they were an hour or less behind, and showed some admirable hustle in catching up to the rest of the teams, but damn, they’re not always going to be able to hustle or luck out of major blunders. I still give Jet & Cord the edge in winning the Race, but only if they don’t drop the ball again.

[sub]Props to Mullinator and his Raj Rating[/sub]

28

It was kind of confusing there, but it looked to me like Kent & Vyxsin flagged down their cab, the other passenger sniped it, and they got peeved and “convinced” him to leave gracefully.

I noticed that too. Usually the editors don’t spend too much time on irrelevant details, so the focus on hay and number of bales and the addresses seemed like it was foreshadowing…something.

Yeah, Mallory is growing on me. I rather liked her last season, but she seems to lack any kind of fuse between her brain and her mouth, which is occasionally awkward. At least so far this season, though, she seems so genuinely happy to be Racing that it’s impossible not to like her.

I really liked that, too. You could see Mallory processing that information, and just not having any point of reference to compare it to, and realizing how different cultures can be (and not being at all judgmental, I might add). It wasn’t really heavy-handed on the part of the editors, like sometime happens on the Racers-go-to-India episodes. It was just…a little poignant and introspective, I guess, for lack of a better pair of words. I’d like to see these non-Racing interludes more often.

29

I know that Ron described it as over-thinking, but it’s a stretch to call what he did over-thinking. He’s shown such a tendency to overestimate his own competence and cognitive abilities that he was really just trying to save some self-esteem.

Thinking that the clue givers (who you know are dressed in a particular way because you’ve been given their pictures) might have decided to take off and bathe in the river instead of being available to help carry out the task is not over-thinking. Continuing on way past the area, and then even picking some point along the river way in the distance as a reasonable estimation of how far you might need to go is not over-thinking. Those are just examples of thinking through some problem very poorly. I kept recalling the scene from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade of Marcus Brody wandering around a Middle Eastern market hopelessly asking whether anyone spoke English.

Despite all this, there was no question for me that I wanted Kynt to be eliminated. I didn’t have much of a positive feeling for him before this episode, but he was such a, well… kynt through the whole thing that not only did I want to see him eliminated, but I also wanted to punch him in the nose. First, he bumps his own head on the trunk of the taxi, but blames the cab driver, starts whining about not bleeding, and then starts barking nastily to the cab driver about hurrying. He leeches onto Gary and then sprints away when he gets what he needs, which he describes as their “co-dependency” no longer being functional, or some such. No, you douchebag, it wasn’t co-dependency. Gary didn’t depend on you at all. You followed him and then broke your part of the deal when it served your purpose to do so. Later, he whines in order to get Vyxxen to carry his backpack in addition to her own. The kicking the other guy out of the cab was just the coup de dis-grace. It’s a big nose, and it’s ripe for a good punching, you big kynt.

I too wondered about the very dramatic and foreboding highlighting of the labels on the hay. Maybe something got edited out later?

30

You know, I didn’t think she freaked out. The way I saw it, they wanted off the water cab and the pilot wasn’t doing anything and they were too far away from the dock/shore to step out of it. Taking matters into her own hands she jumped in (although from the look on her face as she went under, I think she miscalculated the depth) and started towing the boat back to the dock.) I gave her credit for trying to do something while Kent The Douche Of The Episode just kept yelling at her to get out of the water and, it looked to me, trying to pull her out by the wrist. Good luck with that Mr. I’m-Not-Strong-Enough-To-Carry-My-Own-Backpack.

31

I have never been a big fan of Zev & Justin, but I gained a lot of respect for them this leg. It was obvious that Zev is dealing with some pretty serious stuff in relation to his Asperger’s. He did not look good while waiting on Justin. I get the feeling that for them to make it as far as they have is a pretty big accomplishment.

Did Ron spend the rest of the race eating at the Amazing condo? I felt sure he was going to stop for a snack in the middle of the roadblock.

32

One big thing about some autism-spectrum people is sensory overload. They can’t filter stuff out like non-autistic people can PLUS they generally don’t have the coping skills of non-autistic people. My partner’s brother is high-functioning autistic and isn’t good in large crowds. Even a slight change of routine can send him into a tailspin. Zev is doing tremendously well in coping with the chaos and uncertainty of a very long trip with unknown destinations. It’s one reason that I didn’t read as much into his dropping the teacup last episode…that’s about the worst thing Zev’s done the entire race so far, and that’s kind of amazing.

33

I’m surprised more people didn’t do the “Feed the Fire” task. Aren’t you supposed to avoid the task that requires navigating yourself through a chaotic city? And the judge scraping substandard cow patties off the wall was hilarious.

The Indian holy men on “An Idiot Abroad” were a lot more entertaining.

I thought for sure that when the Globetrotters & Zev & Justin got to their destination, it was going to turn out that one of the teams had a different address on their hay and would have to start over.

34

There’s a difference between breaking a deal because you can, and breaking a deal because you gain a major advantage by doing so. It sounds to me that Kynt broke a deal solely because he could. This is IMO bad play. (ETA: Bad in the sense of annoying, unfriendly, nasty, etc.)

My Amazing Guideline is to break deals only when you gain a major advantage (ex: come in first, avoid elimination, eliminate the other team).

35

I couldn’t believe that they stopped at a restaurant for dinner before heading to the airport at the beginning of the leg. I mean, yeah it’s obvious that the airport is going to be a bunching point, but wouldn’t you go to the airport first, get your tickets reserved, THEN go get something to eat? It’s like all the guy wants to do is stop and sample the local cuisine. Dude, you’re in a race, not on a freaking vacation!

36

I may have to watch this episode just to see this fail of Amazing Rule Number One.

bonk I posted in Game Room, then got the 60 second timeout whine here in CS. :fist:

37

I’m pretty sure they went to the airport first & bought tickets, then went to the restaurant. Ron said something like “We have a long wait for our flight, so we may as well eat.”

38

Indeed. Before Mallory gave him the earplugs, it looked like Zev was in his own personal hell.

39

I thought they went to a travel agent, then went and got food before they got to the airport.

40

I am sure that as soon as the cameras were off, Ron looked at Christina and said, “Don’t worry, I forgive you for costing us the race.” because he just that delusional and hurtful to his daughter.

Kent’s tool-ness grew by leaps and bounds this week and I also loved the Cowboy’s line about hay (which apparently really is green since they did not miss a beat when seeing it).

I also loved every cutaway to a cow in the episode. There wasn’t one that was not funny.