Communist architecture isn’t big on subtlety, is it?
The Chinese make really big public works. I explained to my daughter that this is because a moderate crowd at any given event could be about the population of Detroit…
One disappointment of this season has been the near lack of suspense about who’s going to come in last place. I don’t think any episode has been down to the wire; there’s alway some team who’s finished the last task well behind the other teams. I suggest the producers take me up on an idea I had a long time ago: give teams two tasks that they can do in any order, so teams leaving task A have no idea whether any teams are left at task B (and neither do the viewers).
Taxi Assessment:
Stuck in the Desert and Officially Detained - or, Philiminated with extreme prejudice.
Dana & Adrian and Jody & Shannon and Monique & Shawne and Joe & Heidi and Jordan & Jeff and Steve & Allie and Carol & Brandy - Gone until the finale.
Flat Tire - or, not likely to get anywhere soon.
Louie & Michael (down from “Passing”) - Louie & Michael were looking great earlier in the season, with three first-place finishes in a row. Then they fell into mediocrity, with three third or fourth-places finishes, and here they are with yet another fourth. And it’s really on Michael. Yes, they had cab problems at the beginning of the episode, but they couldn’t have lost that much time, because they got to the noodle-making Roadblock before the other teams had finished. And Louie hammered through that Roadblock pretty efficiently, finishing well ahead of Jordan. Even though they got lost (again!) looking for the fashion house, they still got there in third place. It’s just that jigsaw puzzles are apparently not Michael’s forte, and that really showed through. They’re so far behind that, unless there’s a bunching point next week (probable, but not certain), they have essentially no chance to make it into the final three. Even if there is a bunching point, they’ve still got that additional task to perform, and Louie & Michael don’t have a history of pulling themselves out of a trailing position. With only three other teams in the Race, it’s a little much to hope that one of them will do something dumb enough to let Louie & Michael squeak by. Louie & Michael: dead men walking. Or Racing, I suppose.
Stopping for Gas - or, not broken-down, exactly, but not a good sign.
Brent & Caite (holding steady) - Not a bad episode from Brent & Caite, although not a great one, either. Caite did better than Jordan on the noodle-making, Brent did better than Michael on the puzzle-making, they both rocked the fashion task, and the team benefitted from a good cabdriver. They made the most of their luck and cruised through comfortably into a second-place finish. Since I expect Louie & Michael to be eliminated next episode, I expect Brent & Caite to earn a spot in the final three. But, one more time, they’re the weakest team remaining, and no amount of Caite’s self-aggrandizement will change my opinion.
"Rapido! Por Favor?" - or, making meaningless ineffectual comments from the back seat, but in no immediate danger.
Dan & Jordan (holding steady) - Jordan’s frustration at doing the noodle-making task kind of sums up this team: OK in fits and starts, but prone to breaking down in a flash. They still have a shot at winning, but only if they can control themselves.
In the Passing Lane - or, ahead of the pack, but not quite comfortably.
Jet & Cord (holding steady) - This episode was a good indication of why Jet & Cord have scored four first-place finishes, and are the favorite to win it all: they adapt easily to unfamiliar tasks, and don’t allow themselves to become frustrated when things don’t go their way. Yes, they got a boost when both Louie & Michael and Dan & Jordan wound up with bad cabs, but (Brent’s self-aggrandizement aside) they were slowly pulling away from the competition for the entire episode. The final-three leg is always designed to make the finish as close as possible, but Jet & Cord have the best chance of coming out on top.
Cruisin’ with Earl - or, drivin’ on the shoulder, takin’ shortcuts, and generally kickin’ butt.
No one.
[sub]Props to Mullinator and his Raj Rating[/sub]
One thing I do like this season that’s atypical is the camaraderie–with the exceptions of the Lesbians and of that other u-turned couple, this has been a tighter (but not incestuous*) group than we’ve seen since like season 4. I like the sportsmanship: Michael & Louie wishing Dan & Jordan good luck as they left the noodle-making stand, Jordan & Dan wishing the cops luck as they left the puzzle…yeah, it’s kind of meaningless but at the same time it makes for more enjoyable TV.
I’ll also note that Carol & Brandy must have been pretty poisonous when 100% of the remaining teams were happy they were gone. Yeah, Dan & Jordan were right from a strategic point of view, but they weren’t complaining about them being gone.
Since they’ll want this next episode to be a close finish, I suspect the speedbump will be something like “eat a mini-pizza” or something equally lame and that there’ll be some sort of major bunch point early on.
*Remember “The Sixpack” where a bunch of loser teams hung out at tasks to help each other so they could all feel good about themselves? barf.
Rules question - Are the racers allowed to keep any sort of written journal? I ask because it seems as though the producers really like a task that recalls all of the race legs in the finale somewhere. The probable final three looks to have two teams that freak out and are likely unable to think clearly, and one team that should be able to calmly go over the entire race.
Jet & Cord just might be my favorite race team of all time. They have taken everything calmly, no freakouts or yelling. No complaining about other teams or how life is unfair. Yet, they have clearly been given tasks outside of their comfort zone. Sure, there early there were some tasks well suited to them, but fashion and noodle making? Sometimes they come off as a little corny, but I think it is genuine.
Jet & Cord: “We’ve won three trips so far. We won’t be taking them with each other.” 
And Cord teasing Jet about his engagement: “We’re going to spend the rest of our lives together…I’ll be right back…” And the smiles at each other. They really seem to genuinely like and respect each other.
I wanted to smack Jordan and Caite for their whining during the noodle-making, and Brent during the puzzle. Just do the task. Crying about it takes up more time.
I wonder if doing the puzzle, if you runed the pieces over and at least got the word pieces in the right spots, the worked on the outside, if that would be considered cheating?
StG
Still annoyed that Brent and Caite didn’t get eliminated, although having the Louie and Micheal get knocked out would have been a pretty good consolation prize.
Down to the final four, and I’d be pretty content with any of these teams winning except Brent and Caite. The Cowboys are my favorite, but the brothers have been pretty tolerable (and occasionally endearing). I’m mostly amused by the cops as well. Although I disliked Carol and Brandy, it was pretty stupid to U-turn them last time.
There were several legs earlier in the season with no taxi luck, bunching points or anything. The racers started by getting in their own car, driving themselves to and from both challenges and then driving themselves to the pit stop.
I’m still annoyed that team Big Brother fell behind solely through bad taxi luck immediately before there were two such “clean” legs in a row, meaning they never had a chance to catch up. (Saved from bad taxi luck by NEL, then again by U-Turn, but second consecutive “clean” leg killed them. Bogus.) Not just because I really like them, but also because they would have been way more fun to watch than the models. Brent and Caite really are distasteful.
I completely agree. I’m trying (and failing) to recall what it was that one was giving the other grief about in one of the side interviews. (“That’s a mighty big word” or something like that). I just think they’re all kinds of awesome.
He didn’t think “tranquil” was a real word.
The comment re: Pingping, that he’d scare you to death if he jumped out of your trashcan, was the most surreally hilarious thing I’ve ever heard out of any contestant’s mouth. That was classic.
If you have a few minutes, it’s worth reading the Wikipedia article on Pingping. His sister is seven feet tall! The article also notes he was a chain smoker. He died in March from heart complications.
Holy crazy genetics, Batman!
I was kind of in awe of him last night. I admit that I’m kinda spoilin’ for things to criticize Caite about, but I got squicked out by her referring to him as “adorable” and wanting to take him home…like he’s a pet or somehow not human. And I did have a moment of, "Did he just say that?’ when one of the cowboys made the trash can comment. At the same time, I also admit that both of those are valid reactions.
Clearly, my musings have added a lot of value to this thread…
ETA: Ok, this picture of He Pingping is just nuts.
I think *anything *jumping out of my trashcan would scare the crap out of me, whether it’s an opossum or Pingping. That’s what made the comment so surreal. It must be just one of those things they say in Oklahoma.
Excellent point.
Her first reaction, said to his face, of “Awwwwwwww!” did make me go a bit :dubious:, like he was a baby or a puppy.
That item about his sister really feels like a vandalism on that article. It just sounds too amazing and it’s not cited so I took it out.
Note: I’m not saying it’s not possible that he has a 7-foot tall sister, but most Wikipedia vandals are not very smart about what they do and they tend to put either vulgarities or stuff that’s just “too good to be true” into the article.
I think he was aware of the word (I’m pretty sure he used ‘tranquility’ a few seconds later), he was just mocking him in a kind of “that’s an awfully fancy word for you to be using” way. They are smarter than they let on, and that’s probably not so bad; better than pretending they’re smarter than they aren’t.
They’ll have to nerf the Speed Bump in order for the next episode to be remotely interesting. It wasn’t really til this episode that I figured out that most of the ‘race’ isn’t about finishing first, it’s just about not finishing last.
I felt the crying/huggin/consoling scene with the brothers went way too long (I blame the producers, not them). It’s clear they’re not going to win, but I wonder if they’ll fall next week. The last scene with Phil actually breaking character for once seems to point to the detectives in the Final 3.
One of the late night comedy shows had some video from that shoot with the world’s tallest woman. The big joke was about how long it would take for him to look up…it didn’t take long.