Second episode, season eight. Yay! Or boo, depending on your feeling. The odd thing about this episode that struck me was that the Roadblock, in theory, acted like an anti-bunching point. According to Phil, there were 50 people with briefcases, and only 10 “spies.” So the first family had a 1/5 (10/50) chance of getting the right case, and the last only 1/21 (2/42). So it should take the last family longer. Anti-bunching. Odd.
The Back Seat Report
"Over the River and Through the Woods…" - or, songs, happiness, and lots of familial love.
The Weavers (up from “Daddy’s driving”): A third and a first; not a bad showing for the Widder and Kids. Plus, I saw less reliance on Jesus to smite the other teams in this ep, so that’s an improvement. So far, in the early going, they’ve worked well together and not really made too many mistakes, so I’ve gotta give then the early-season nod.
The Godlewskis (up from “Daddy’s driving”): Also a first and a third, with only a few mistakes and plenty of, um, excitement. Shrieking and squawking, really, but I’ll be kind and call it excitement. Still, shrieking and squawking is a vast improvement over bitching and moaning, so I really can’t complain.
"Daddy’s driving right now, hon." - or, a little tension and impatience, but still far from the breaking point.
The Schroeders (up from “Are we almost there?”): OK, this family still has yet to make an impression Race-wise on me. Dad thinks he’s funnier than he really is, but then I think I’m funnier than I really am. I like to think I’m less of an ass than Dad Schroeder, but there you go. My dirty little secret exposed. I’m moving the Schroeders up a slot on the theory that they’re probably likely to come in ahead of the teams down below, but this is subject to drastic revision.
"Are we almost there yet?" - or, some whining and dissent, but no more than you’d expect.
The Linzes (up from “poopy-pants”): Second place this week is pretty darn good, so the Linzes move up. Good work on taking the shortcut; that shows promise. However, I can’t shake the feeling that description of this family need to include such images as “box of rocks” or “bag of hammers,” so they only move up to the center here. If they can keep from making mistakes, they could still go all the way, but not making mistakes is difficult for the smartest teams, and for this team… let’s just wait and see. Look for either a rapid rise or a rapid fall in the rankings next week.
"Dad… Janie’s on my side again!" - or, conflict, bad feelings, things just not going right.
The Aiellos (holding steady): Again, this team fails to make an impression on me. On paper, they ought to be awfully strong, but their average placing isn’t great. I’m not sure what the problem is, other than Dad’s imminent heart attack, but I see this family finishing in about fifth place.
The Gaghans (down from “Daddy’s driving”): OK, first of all, huge mistake spending “two hours” at the wrong reflecting pool (I doubt it was really two full hours, but still). Second, what were you thinking doing the physical Detour with two small kids? That’s what the lantern choice was for, dummies! On the plus side, they did cruise through the Detour, even with only two people effectively carrying the stretchers, so Mom and Dad hafta be in damn good shape. And they’re not exactly in last place, despite the reflecting pool mistake. Still, they’ve got less room for mental error than teams with four adult members, so they need to play a perfect game from here on out.
"Dad… Jimmy made poopy-pants in the back seat." - or, near disaster, and a whole lot of clean-up required before getting back on the road.
The Paolos (holding steady): Oh, woe is us for having to watch the sad-sack Paolos. Mom is just not prepared for the race, mentally or physically; I have a bad feeling that we’ll be subjected to her complete breakdown. The rest of the family is too interested in histrionics to race well. The whole family would be much more effective if all four were gagged, and they communicated exclusively through a series of head-slaps. Unfortunately for us, that’s not the case, so we’ll all suffer through until the painful elimination. Hopefully next week.
The Bransens (down from “Are we almost there?”): Uh oh. Dad’s out of gas on the second episode. I don’t see this team going far if the daughters have to haul his sorry ass around the rest of the race. Look for a teary exit scene where Phil asks some quiet, heart-felt questinos, Dad talks about letting his family down, daughters talk about how they’re proud of him anyway, and everyone hugs.
"ALL RIGHT, I’M TURNING THIS CAR AROUND RIGHT NOW!" - or, out of the Race and on their way home.
The Rogerses (Down from “Are we almost there?”): A huge navigation mistake, Dad. It was nice that you took the responsibility, Dad, but the little lecture on how son Brock needs to learn not to place blame, coming after you blamed him for missing the exit even when it was your doing seems a tad, uh, hypocritical. Or maybe that’s just me. Look, I realize people make mistakes, and it’s in the nature of TAR that individual mistakes can be severely punished, so I’d normally cut some slack here, but Dad’s so busy being a low-key dick that I’m glad he’s gone.
The Blacks: Out because they’ve got little kids who are physically weaker than adults. Huh. Imagine that.
[sub]Props to Mullinator.[/sub]
