Good start. 14 teams. First to Hong Kong. Two sets of winners/losers- one team I was rooting for won #1, but another was eliminated. (no spoilers yet, but okay later)
One team we hate- From Salt Lake city, with 8 children. He is so condescending to his wife.
Well, last episode had two roadblocks- either build a giant origami crane, or use ninja skills to hit targets. That last one was poorly planned it seems- there were three sets of three to throw - steel darts, stars and blowguns- Each member of each team had to make all hit and stick in the target- but even after 20 or so tries- the darts just would not stick. No team succeeded, they all had to go do origami.
The two nurses were eliminated, and the team we hate won.
Okay. So we’re four episodes into TAR, and so far only a single watcher has had anything to say about it?
Have they completely forgotten what sort of tasks make for interesting viewing and exciting changes in rankings?
You need for there to be chances for couples to SHINE. Something in their lives should have given them a chance to do really well unexpectedly, like having an unusual skill at juggling or a native talent at memorizing chunks of a foreign language or actual ability at an athletic task.
Or, even better, you need things they can FAIL at. Are they afraid of snakes? Can they be spectacularly bad at something, like not doing basic arithmetic?
For example: drive a cart around a single lane track, with absolutely no chance for anyone to pass someone else. Just follow the well beaten track, go through the tunnel, collect an envelope, proceed to the end of the track. Zero chance for anyone to make a wrong turn, pick a better or worse path, have to hunt for an X where chance might make you lucky or unlucky in your searching, no danger, no athletic skill or driving ability involved, nothing. Might as well have been doing a ride at DIsney Land. Whatever order you got there was the order you ended, period.
Yes, it was a sort of spectacular scenery, but when all you do is watch ten couples go through exactly the same routine one after another… utterly boring after a couple or two.
Oh, then it was followed by the Dramatic Driver’s Seat – which was done completely without any of the other teams being even there to witness and react to what the team was choosing. That was fun.
Did they cast this year by looking for the least interesting couples that could possibly be? Pretty much everyone just gets along. Okay, a few moments of one of the girls passive aggressively complaining her partner won’t listen to her. That’s really the only intracouple friction I remember.
And tie a bunch of ornaments on a pole? Wander through a market to buy fruit and stack it up to a pattern? Outside of the one guy whose fruit tumbled when it was downloaded NOTHING seemed to be even slightly challenging about the tasks. Either the judges were way. way lenient compared to similar tasks on other races, or these guys are all masters of nitpicking details.
After years of devoted watching, I nearly turned the show off yesterday.
And chances to succeed.
I like this season well enough. As far as location go, this season is much better than last season.
Same. I’m annoyed with them - my wife hates them (her). Why is have 8 babies something to brag about!?
VERY lenient judging. I saw many instances of things that would not have passed muster in previous seasons. That part of the show is getting a bit sloppy.
Absolutely. But the teams arent quite as good as last season- or so it seems.
It seems to me that after so many attempts or the fact that the team is way behind the judging gets more lenient. I can see that.
No, I think it’s more that that. I’m OK with passing someone after 20 attempts. I’m talking about having a team get close and passing them. There were several instances this season where people got passes early on, like the first or second attempt. The problem with this is it’s subjective. Either meet the challenge as stated or keep trying, imo.
On the stacking task, the judge actually pointed out where the mistake was. Can’t remember ever seeing that before.
You’re right, I saw it a couple of times. I don’t think that was even allowed in past seasons.
Happens once in a while, and I am glad to see it.
The bickerson ladies got voted off and i am not sorry to see them go.
Sadly, the drivers thing- the lead team had to screw over some teams.
It’s getting more frequent (the sumo judge also pointed out errors), and I hate it. I WANT a team to miss some small detail over and over, while the camera zooms in on the thing they’re missing with a dramatic sound affect. Especially when they’re an obnoxious team.
Speaking of which, am I the only one who hates Jonathan and Ana, especially Jonathan? In the first episode he got really angry when the other teams caught up to them because the ferry was on a schedule, and was upset they didn’t get the meaningless first place. In the third episode, when his wife was doing the soccer ball challenge - solely for the purposes of winning the Express Pass - he was an utter asshole to her, not a single word of encouragement, just disgusted looks whenever she missed a kick. Then in the confessional, he said “I’m not gonna be smiling when you’re having a hard time with something I find so simple.” What an awful thing to say to/about your spouse - and I’m sure he’s a super supportive dad too. Then in episode 4, they used their Express Pass for no reason whatsoever, besides their odd desire to come in first place at any cost. Ana didn’t even pick up a single rice plant to see how hard the task would be. I’m quite looking forward to the episode where they get stuck at a challenge with teams flying past them and regret burning the Express Pass.
Agree. I remember challenges that were quite exacting. Maybe I’m wrong, but tying the sumo belt just didn’t seem that tough.
Speaking of sound effects, we love the descending tone clanking when a team is going wrong.
Not Ana, but yes to Jonathon. It was a dickish thing to say. Wasn’t there a guy like that last season? I know people get frustrated and probably the producers love it, but I do not like to see dominate males demean their spouses. It’s ugly to me.
Fair enough. I dislike them as a team because they’re not playing strategically and are focusing on the wrong things, while I dislike him as a person because he’s a jerk.
Fair enough as well. That’s an issue that will probably solve itself. 
Well, yeah sure. But how about if they are a team you like?
By no means on our list of faves, but right now we reserve our hate for the salt lake city couple, with the 8 kids and his “My wike, I think I’ll keep her” attitude. Ana seems Okay,
No, you’re not. I don’t like either of them much but him especially.
Don’t sleep on the gamer boys… Carson and Jack? I think that’s their names.
They’re my current favorite.
I think the show lost something when it went to 90 minutes. Too much filler. I usually DVR it and end up fast forwarding through a good chunk of the show.
Well, I prefer it’s not a team I like, but I think the episodes are more enjoyable when there’s adversity in a challenge, rather than just “do it 3 times and we’ll pass you anyway” nonsense.
Speaking of which, the ninja challenge was fantastic because it was so cool that most teams wanted to try it, but utterly impossible to pass. I don’t remember the last time that a bunch of teams tried a task but every single one switched.
We like them also.
I think “fantastic” is the wrong word here- IMHO>
If I remember right, they didn’t have someone showing them how to do it, did they? I just remember them (everyone) going up and hurling things at the target with no regard to the correct way to do so.
They did show someone demonstrating it when the first team (Lori & Scott) arrived. But it looked like the spikes were by far the hardest thing and the most dependent on technique - throwing a metal pipe with no fletching so it lands perfectly point forward right at the target was pretty difficult for everyone. And it looked like half the teams tried to do the spikes like they were tossing darts at a pub, which was never going to work.