It’s pretty sad that the only “Beatles song” that band seemed to know was Please Mr. Postman (which wasn’t a “Beatles song” at all, actually).
As to why no one could handle the German beer, well, it’s a lot more potent than American beer…
What is it with the let’s-cram-things-in-our-piehole tasks this week? Sauerkraut and beer? At least neither task featured enormous quantities, but you’d think the producers could be a little more creative with the tasks. I miss the have-the-locals-throw-shit-at-the-teams tasks; why couldn’t we have three-dozen lederhosen-clad German retirees pelting the teams with bowls of sauerkraut? That would have been more compelling TV than watching people eat the stuff.
Taxi Assessment:
Stuck in the Desert and Officially Detained - or, Philiminated with extreme prejudice.
Dana & Adrian and Jody & Shannon and Monique & Shawne - Still eliminated.
Flat Tire - or, not likely to get anywhere soon.
Louie & Michael (holding steady) - Amazingly, Louie & Michael score a first-place finish this episode, and I’m still kind of puzzled just how they did it. Somehow, despite leaving the Pit Stop last, they managed to hop aboard the lead flight with Jet & Cord. Were they smarter than the rest of the teams, or luckier? Was the landing order just a crapshoot? Hard to tell, but the slight lead at the beginning meant they could work with Jet & Cord at the Intersection, and Louie & Michael made the most of their lead by not fucking things up down the line. However, “not fucking things up” essentially meant getting a decent taxi driver and cramming their pieholes, so I’m suspicious that their first-place finish is anything more than a lucky break. It’ll take more than one fluke leg to make me upgrade this team, but it will be interesting to see what Louie & Michael will do next week with the luxury of a lead coming out of the Pit Stop.
Jordan & Jeff (down from “Rapido!”) - Jordan & Jeff essentially got screwed by their taxi driver, but having someone else to blame doesn’t really help them very much, particularly when their sauerkraut-eating attempt was full of fail. (Did anyone catch Jordan’s nose-holding? You don’t have to swim in the stuff, Jordan, just eat it.) What does help them is Phil’s news that this was a non-elim leg. However, they have a challenge next week: although the extra Speed Bump tasks have not, in the past, been very onerous or time-consuming, they have tended to be at times where teams can’t count on a future bunch before the Pit Stop to make up lost time. Luckily for Jordan & Jeff, there are still other teams competing that are totally possible to beat. Unluckily for Jordan & Jeff, Jordan’s still part of the team, but if they survive next week I’ll probably bump them back up.
Dan & Jordan (holding steady) - Dan & Jordan still don’t look like a threat to any of the other teams, and I doubt they ever will be. They don’t seem very motivated, and even in this episode where they don’t have to navigate very much, or drive a stick-shift at all, they still wind up among the trailing teams. We just haven’t seen much of anything from this team, and I don’t expect them to go very far.
Stopping for Gas - or, not broken-down, exactly, but not a good sign.
Brent & Caite (holding steady) - My wife points out that Brent & Caite seem awfully fragile for putatively healthy twenty-somethings. Last week some nasty food-borne illness, this week Caite’s legs and Brent’s stomach. Caite’s selection of the wrong train didn’t help them either (and although technically that was half Jordan’s fault, I don’t think “depend on Jordan for direction” would be a winning strategy.) I think we’ll see this team sputtering to a halt sometime in the future.
"Rapido! Por Favor?" - or, making meaningless ineffectual comments from the back seat, but in no immediate danger.
Carol & Brandy (up from “Stopping”) - It’s kind of hilarious that waif-thin Brandy powered through the sauerkraut nearly single-handedly while Jeff couldn’t wolf his portion down with sufficient speed. I’m bumping this team up a notch because they’ve been placing solidly in the middle of the pack so far, and despite the temper tantrums last week still worked well together this week.
In the Passing Lane - or, ahead of the pack, but not quite comfortably.
Steve & Allie (holding steady) - This makes two second-place finishes in a row for Steve & Allie, and they’re looking like good candidates for the final three along with Jet & Cord. They’re still not getting a ton of screen time, proportionally to the other teams, but they also seem to be not screwing things up.
Joe & Heidi (holding steady) - I’m really surprised that Joe & Heidi wound up in third despite switching Detour tasks. That’s probably a good indication of just how far ahead of the trailing teams they were. I think I’ll tentatively call Joe & Heidi as the third final three team behind Steve & Allie and Jet & Cord, but it’s only tentative so far.
Cruisin’ with Earl - or, drivin’ on the shoulder, takin’ shortcuts, and generally kickin’ butt.
Jet & Cord (holding steady) - Something of a disappointing fourth-place finish, in part due to Jet & Cord’s decision to take the train rather than a taxi. As a general rule, taxis are almost always faster, and teams rarely seem to have money problems, so that’s probably the way to go. Still, despite the public transportation decision and the (surprisingly) non-cowboy-related task of “beer-drinking,” Jet & Cord wind up safely in the upper half of teams on the mat.
[sub]Props to Mullinator and his Raj Ratings.[/sub]
I blame Canada.
Weren’t the Beatles more a cover band in their Hamburg days? Most of my knowledge of this era of the Beatles comes from the movie Backbeat.
I also raised a Phil-like eyebrow at Joe’s “family” comment…I think this bears watching in the future to see if any asshole-ish behavior creeps into the open on the race. It definitely knocked them down my personal cheering rankings…
Preview thoughts…
Next’s week’s World War I trenches tasks look intriguing…I hope it isn’t as superficial a historical treatment as many Race tasks turn out to be…
A buddy of mine suggested it was probably low-alcohol beer. Imagine if 78 year old Granny and Granddaughter had stuck around and had to drink that much.
Lame-ass intersections suck donkey balls, as do U-Turns. When will the Amazing Producers realize that we want to see teams race, not play schoolyard games like on Survivor?
And was it just me, or was it hysterical watching “Lookit me! I’m so edgy and I tell it like it is” Joe shrieking about how “I can’t get it up” when he was playing with his balls ?
And yeah–worst Beatles impersonators ever. They sounded nothing like the Beatles.
Oh, and unless the producers cheat and have the speedbump at the very beginning of the leg and make it something easy so they’re all bunched up a few minutes in, anyone using the U-Turn for anyone other than the Big Brother team is an idiot. If you HAVE to have U-Turns in the race (and you don’t, dammit), the intelligent way to use them is to knock out a trailing team.
What “return”? Phil said this was the first time the intersection has ever been used.
Although a little digging reveals that is a bit of a lie. It looks like it was used in TAR10, which I don’t remember at all beyond the one-legged marathoner.
I’m really puzzled by the comment that either Carol or Brandy (whichever one it was that did the bungee jumping) made, when she appeared aghast that they were upside down. She even said that she had gone bungee jumping before the race. I can’t say that I’ve seen feet first bungee jumping before - don’t they usually call that “a hanging”?
Brandy, and I was puzzled by that too.
I think that’s just more evidence of Carol and Brandy’s “delicate” designation that came in the first episode. They really didn’t know what they were getting into on the race and eventually it’ll bite 'em.
There has been at least one intersections before. I just re-watched the applicable portion, and Phil did not say anything about it being the first time it had been used.
It was (IIRC) used in two seasons. The one with the blonde Miss Americas and the next season which was All-Stars. Both times the Miss Americas got hosed by it. (They were hours ahead and had to wait for another team to arrive. So getting there first penalized them. Intersections suck)
I think it was the first time it was used for a roadblock. In the past (IIRC) intersections have been used for detours.
Yeah, watch it again…
Phil: “For the first time ever…”
and to continue the quote:
“…teams must pair up.”
“A roadblock is a task that only one member of a team can compete.”
Normally roadblocks are done solo. This is the first time ever that an intersection has been used on a roadblock.
And? This is not the first time ever that two teams have paired up. So using that language for this Intersection was lame.
Although, considering how forgettable the last two times were, I suppose it’s only fair.
No–it’s the first time anyone has ever paired up for a roadblock. Roadblocks are always done solo. This is the first time a two-person group (from two different teams yet) have ever done one. That said, yeah, the language used was uber-lame. Totally agree.
Also, I’d argue that the last two sets of intersections weren’t as much forgettable as they were full of suck. To make a team in the lead lose 5 hours because they were better than the loser groups isn’t what the race should be about.
And we get another “special” next week. The U-turn is back. Admittedly, it’s better than the Yield, but I agree with a lot of people that features of the Race that involve one team messing with another team’s game are distasteful. That includes Intersections, where the “messing” could be unintentional (re: the Beauty Queens losing hours waiting for another team).
(At least, I think it was the U-turn we saw in the previews. I may be wrong, it may have been the Yield, but I thought that was gone.)
And also the first time an intersection for a “death defying” challenge. So it is the first time the intersection was used on a roadbloack. And the first time a intersection was used on a “death defying” challenge. Oooooooo aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh ooooooooooooohhhhhhh
The Yield has been gone for awhile.
I don’t remember a “U-Turn” last season. There may have been one or two last season, but no one chose to use it.
The last one I remember was in Siberia where the racers had to stack wood/fix a house. Margie and Luke “blind” U-turned Amanda and Kris who were performing very well until this leg and they were eliminated.
I think the threat of the U-turn is a good part of the race. You don’t want to look to capable so people will U-turn you, nor do you want to treat a team badly or else they might u-turn you.
To me, that’s the problem with the U-Turn. Unless you’re playing “elementary schoolyard politics” type games like Survivor, you want to look good. And any team that yields you because you treat them badly deserves to lose–the best strategy…the only strategy that makes sense with the U-Turn or the Yield is to use it on whoever you think will get to the U-Turn/Yield last. (Which it’s why it’s boring: the strategy is so obvious that it’s dull if it’s used right or frustrating if it’s used wrong)