TAR 4/5 & 4/6

Cafe Society
41

A good episode follows a great episode. Props to the brothers for going out in style. This is turning out to be a fun season.

A few random thoughts:

  • I don’t think Alex meant it racist. There wasn’t a hint of snark in his voice. It seemed respectful. Think of all the nasty comments the pair have made along the trip. Every time, they are SO pleased with themselves, that they let you KNOW they think they are witty. Not so this time.

  • What was the EXACT wording of the instruction that Uchenna received on the clue marker? Did it say “take it out of the ground” or simply “remove the clue marker”? I saw that the ribbon was missing when he returned and assumed the production crew removed it so no other team could use that path. Did Uchenna actually remove just the ribbon?
    If it just said “remove the clue marker” isn’t the ribbon the clue marker? Kind of lame.

  • I am stunned that Gretchen and Meredith are still in it. With a few breaks, the old couple could make the final three!

  • Ron and Kelly may be my least favorite team in the two season I’ve watched. He annoys me more than Ass. Ass was at least good theater. Ron really is just a redneck who stumbled into history.

  • Rob and Amber are in good shape. Anything can happen, but I expect to see them in the final three. Then, no one has a real edge. Inevitably there will be a bottleneck at the airport in the final three episode. So, anyone can win that. In defense of “do nothing” Amber, you must concede that on any physical challenge, she is fairly solid. I think they are a good team and have a nice relationship. I want them to win.

  • I think next week will be an elimination leg and the NEL will be when there are four teams.

42

The clue said to “remove the post”. Uchena only removed the ribbon.

43

Then it was the correct ruling. Part of the game is reading the directins.

44

Generally, anytime the camera does one of those slow-motion focuses on some object in the foreground, it means the team somehow screwed up. They did it on the marker post and the clue that Team Geritol missed, they do it constantly when someone misses a clue box…I knew U&J were in trouble when they did that focus on the post.

45

Based on The Early Show interview this morning, the brothers stated that at no time during this leg did they ever see another team. I guess the later start and incorrect water tower issues really dropped them down a bunch of notches.

Still, between goat milking porn, gay guys putting on all their clothes, and the brothers swim attire, this might be the funniest TAR episode ever.

46

Damn. Damn damn damn. Even though Brian and Greg did cock it up by not reading the clue correctly, I wish they were still in this, fabulous swim trunks and all. It seems like fatigue is manifesting in messing up the clues. And Kelly going off on Ron, which was awesome and kind of pathetic all at once.

The editors seriously icked me out with Rob’s porno murmuring over Amber pulling on the teats. That was unexpected.

I think I might also be a little bit in lurve with Uchenna; they’re my favorite team at the moment. I’m nervous about Joyce’s performance in future roadblocks, however. She really should have done the shopping one, just to have another one under her belt.

Great shots of the wildlife ambling about, although I was a little nervous when the brothers got a little close to that elephant.

47

EXACTLY! How long were those morons (sorry ladies of the Brian/Greg cult) at the first water tower? They started a mere ten minutes behind, and we saw no evidence that they actually got lost during the driving. They must have been at the wrong tower for HOURS!

I’m not so sure. He did just fine. Even driving in reverse in an unfamiliar vehicle with an unstable load strapped to the front end. He can drive stick, he just doesn’t want to.

48

So these replacement vehicles? Do you suppose they are some stationed at intervals along the way or do you think they have to wait for them to come from one location? I can never tell how long they have to wait for them.

49

According to the “Insider videos”, the brothers got lost for a very long time.

This episode goes to show how spot-on shirtless Gus was. It’s too bad that he isn’t on this show, because he’d be in front. Gus said several times how far too many teams just ran for the sake of running. Careful attention while reading the clue would have pulled almost team ahead in this leg.

50

Actually, I thought it read “remove the post marker,” which to me says ‘the TAR ribbon attached to the post.’ I might have done the exact same thing in Uchenna’s place. Interpreting clues is SO important… it takes two people to do so. I think this is the first time I’ve seen somebody forced to backtrack and not lose their Pit Stop arrival ranking. I do hope the time Joyce and Uchenna lost retracing their steps doesn’t mean any narrowly missed flights at the airport next week. The fact that they’re at an airport doesn’t guarantee bunching.

How cool was it that Brian and Greg hit the pool immediately after Philimination? The fact they saw not one other team their entire journey on this leg says a lot about their pulling over to strip to their bathing suits. Hey, sometimes you gotta take a shot, right?

I may be a minority in this opinion, but I still like Gretchen and Meredith a lot. I hope they do finish in the top three. I’m used to Gretchen’s voice and silly sense of humor by now. Meredith isn’t really a whiner so much as someone who just verbalizes his frustrations. He still grits his teeth to DO things; whiners tend to balk at tasks and/or quit. Meredith is no Patrick.

My respect for Lynn and Alex has grown after TWO replacement vehicles were needed for a leaking fuel tank and a flat tire and they still finished fourth. That said, I don’t think Lynn’s comments about U & J were racist so much as codingly racial. Lynn’s comments come off kind of patronizing, and yeah, it’s because he’s white and I’m assuming he did not know that Uchenna’s father is from Nigeria. But it’s phrases like “they’re born to do this,” while standing around in the middle of Africa and “the pot calling the kettle black,” – Omarosa’s screed from The Appretince – that come off as insensitive when the speaker may not mean that at all.

Amber and Rob are unstoppable. What’s this, their third first place finish? MAN.

Ron and Kelly simply aren’t a good match as players or life partners. I’m sort of with Ron – I’d expect someone with ballerina training to balance and walk with a bucket of water on their head. You have to trust your training.

51

I still don’t like Rob. He made a snotty comment about Kelly, based on what he saw, rather than what he knew. Just because he saw that she didn’t milk the goat, he made the assumption that she was afraid of breaking a nail or didn’t want to get dirty.
In reality, Ron just didn’t let her do it. She sat there begging him to let her do some of it.
Once again, I don’t like Rob. He’s an ass.
And a big :frowning: for the boys.

52

I got the impression he didn’t know how since the other guy was giving him pretty specific instructions on how to drive it (i.e. foot on both the clutch and the brake, remove the emergency brake, etc).

53

I can’t believe that I am the one who is going to post this, but we are on page two and no one else has said it…

The editors had a lot of fun with this episode. One of the gay guys (I think) was shown in a compromising position trying to push a goat to the milking station, but the really funny thing was on three occasions they cut from a closeup of hands on goat teats to a closeup of Kelly bent over foreward in her low-cut shirt.

Don’t tell me that was a coincidence.

54

Yeah, no foolin’. I noticed that, too. That wasn’t exactly gratuitious, but it was a bit sleazy. But also amusing, and Kelly was acting like a boob, so it kind of fit on multiple levels.

About Alex/Lynn’s “born to do it” comment: certainly not racist, and I don’t think even any racial overtones at all. Just kind of another way of saying “wow, he’s good!” If you saw some guy nail a 250-yard drive and drop the ball onto the green ten feet from the flag, you might say, “Wow! He was born to be a golfer!” And that would mean that the guy’s got a killer swing, not that he’s a whitebread upper-crust Republican. Golfing != white dude, and Carrying Shit on your Head != black dude.

55

That was the best episode this season, I think. I was laughed, I cried, I scowled.

Seriously, I was massaging my cat when Rob and Amber checked in and won another trip and noticed that besides the scowl I had on my face, I was massaging him harder than I had intended. He didn’t make a noise, so he probably just considered it a deep tissue massage.

I’m very sad that the boys are gone and I’m sure my mother is, too. Although she still has Rombuh left.

:rolleyes:   Okay, I admit that they have a decent on-screen relationship and it's fun to watch them, but I can't like them.  Nope.

I agree with Draelin. I want R&A to come in second. In fact, I want it to be a foot race with Lynn and Alex, not because I like them, but because they hate each other so much. ::evil smiley::

56

Oh, another point (yes I’m a dork and forgot to say it before I hit post): Alex/Lynn’s “born to do it” comment might have had racial overtones, but only in the sense that he would almost certainly have known that Uchenna’s dad was from Kenya (from conversation at the Pit Stop) – Uchenna himself said he’d seen village women carrying stuff on their head all the time. But that’s not so much racial overtones as societal overtones: the Detour involved doing something that Uchenna was familiar with, and the other teams were not, due to who Uchenna was, and his background.

57

That’s my dream ending.

Picture it … Phil standing on the mat, with all the other eliminated teams standing around and waiting for the finish … Rob and Amber come tearing across the inevitable open space sans backpacks and stuff, Lynn and Alex right behind them (perhaps with underwear on their heads, just for effect). Lynn and Alex take one look at each other, nod, and just fly past Romber like they’re standing still to beat them to the mat by nanoseconds.

And then Lynn and Alex utterly collapse, because they’re not cut out for running like that, while Rob stomps his feet and throws his hat and swears to himself and complains that they cheated, and Amber stands there, looking at her feet, continuing to be little more than a waste of skin.

But who the hell am I kidding? le sigh They’re probably going to friggin’ win.

58

Conceivably. But I can’t equate most golfing skills with a natural ability or a cultural affinity, though. Whereas anyone who’s seen a snippet of rural life in Africa, India and Asia has seen dark-skinned people carrying baskets on their heads from little kids to little old ladies and might make the erroneous assumption that it’s “natural.”

I’m not offended by the comment since it’s not exactly mean-spirited (the earlier Compton remark was more off-putting), but I am annoyed by the implication that U & J did just what came naturally. Uchenna’s African roots comment is less suspect, but I’d call out Joyce for selling wolf tckets if she’d made it. He learned this skill through observation, recalled what he’d seen and imitated it, then talked Joyce through it and showed her what to do.

Also, Alex/Lynn giving out unmixed snark-free compliments to any of their TAR competition is pretty unprecendented. Also, they made the comment while they QUIT the task to go running to milk the goats. It’s the kind of dumb comment people make to feel better about themselves. It’s the equivalent of me getting beat out in a (struggling to make a meanginful comparison) feng shui room assignment by Alex/Lynn in San Francisco and saying in the middle of switching detours to groom dogs, “Well, that’s what Lynn and Alex were born to do.”

59

Ok, perhaps I’m wrong but I really thought that Lynn’s (or was it Alex’s?) remark was intended the way it sounded. I feel that if Rob said that the “Ramber” detractors would have had a field day. However, I am in the minority on this and will let it go. KGS, I fail to see how one such comment by me makes you think that I think “every reference to someone’s origins” is a racist comment. There’s no need for snark in a Cafe Society thread.

I am, of course, ecstatic that Rob and Amber have another first place finish.

The clue did specifically say that they were supposed to remove the post, not just the marker. Everyone else took the stick with them.

Thanks Mullinator, I didn’t get to see this morning’s show. I guess they got lost for a very long time.

60

This was one dull episode. No travel, no grouping points to offer the chance for a team to really catch up. Perhaps it was needed, because all the teams looked and sounded completely burnt out after last week. Does one not sleep well on a salt flat?

From the leaderboard (which looks almost identical to last week’s leaderboard):

Rombuh: I might not mind them so much if they weren’t so full of themselves. Other than that, a good solid leg this time around, and if they fail to maintain their progress, as they have done before, next week is likely a non-elim. In fact, unless they lop off a leg, their going to have to double up on the non-elims this time around (which may be the plan, what with the “you run the next leg in your skivvies” penalty this season. The final three may be limping to the finish in the shreds of their tattered clothing.)

Ron/Kelly: Now, did he get captured because he’s incompetent, or just to get away from her, or both? Other than leg one, they have a better track record than Rombuh, but I’m at a loss as to how they managed it.

Uchenna/Joyce: The only remotely likeable team left. They kicked butt fo the most part, and if they’d ever had any opportunity at all to catch up to the other teams, they might have been out in front, at least until they had to turn back to get the post. Can’t they follow ANY kind of directions? :wink:

Lynn/Alex: The sheer amount of spin being placed on this one comment in light of the fact that there are few teams left worth supporting exposes it for what it is: a sour-grapes comment that, hearing what they’ve hadto say so far in the race, almost definitely had racial overtones. These two are just a miserable pair. They race passably well, though, in spite of their abysmal luck with vehicles. I peg them as the last elimination, halfway through the finale.

Gretchen / Meredith: Isn’t it odd that this leg had four women, but six women’s names? I’m amazed their still here, and I’m not going to predict when they’ll drop out anymore. It seems they can’t possibly have thet much left in them, and if there were money on who goes next, I’d probably still put it on them, but": Go Team Headwound!

Brian/Greg: These two peaked early, and never quite pulled it back together. And with them go the fun & games. We’re in for some cold, hard racing the next seven legs, with mostly unpalatable people.