Wow, that sorta sucked.
Meh. I couldn’t even hate the geniuses by the end.
The show has potential, but meh.
Yes, but does he wear underpants on his head? (Well, OK, technically that was the Godlewski sisters who were wearing panties on their heads[sup]*[/sup], but Phil mentioned it, so that’s close enough.
[sup]*[/sup] = No, the unmentionables were not actually on their heads, I don’t think. But still. I’m trying to make a point here, people, which is that … well, I don’t know, but TAR 10[sup]**[/sup] starts on 9/17, which is in 26 days.
[sup]**[/sup] = Chinchillas!
Yeah, Laird MacWhoozit needs a personality transplant, stat. Or go back to his day job.
Still can’t figure out why the exact prize amount was a Big Secret. I thought it might have to do with the current market value of gold…Nah. (wouldn’t that be cool, if they actually pay the prize in gold coins?)
So somebody 'splain to me how the spinner worked – they kinda rushed through that part. The cryptex contained a spinner…put spinner on dial, give it a whirl, and it points to Right Foot - Blue. No, wait…points to Star. And they immediately know that this means to bang the star on the wall.
What if the spinner had pointed to Penguin, or something other than Star?
Cheese fries out nose. DEFCON Penguin. Sweeeeeeet.
I remembered what I meant to say last night–Ex-CIA lost that artifact by two seconds??? That’s got to hurt.
Okay, I’m laughing hysterically now, because I read all this really, really fast, and my immediate thoughts were Huh? My knee is fi … HOW DO YOU KNOW MY NAME???
I’m better now. 
The Geniusseses had 7 hours in that little room (I was wondering about the bathroom thing, too) so they had plenty of time (and, lord knows, the desire) to investigate every seam and crack in the rock. They probably found the mount for the spinner and the slightly loose star on the wall. There were other symbols around the spinner, and probably other loose spots on the wall, they just needed the pointer to make it work.
I’ll take credit for the insight, even if I don’t remember having it.
I may have been thinking about the producer’s point-of-view. It seems like they came up with these elaborate puzzles that just fizzled. “Let’s make the map so that the clue is revealed when they pour water on it, and a subtle hint about washing the streets of Paris. We’re so devious.” And then the teams do “what happens if we pour water on this? Cool.”
I was not a fan of The Amazing Race from the beginning. I’ve read that their clues used to be more obscure, and I started watching just about the time they gave that up. I remember the teams going to a football stadium near Phoenix, and the clue had to do with players names that you had to match with numbers to tell you where to look for the clue. Nobody got it. They just ran around the stadium until they found it.
I don’t think elaborate clues work most of the time. You design some challenge that you think will test their mettle and it never plays out the way you think it will. Read all the Sherlock Holmes books you want; the real world is messy and confusing.
There was a Jessica on the show, too? Who knew?
Seems plausible…but if they had thought to bang on the loose star, it would’ve opened immediately, without opening the cryptex first.
Methinks there was a producer in the background, saying in his little headset “ok, they’ve opened the thingy…activate the whoosy star smoke effect, and unlock the door.” Which, come to think of it, is probably how the door into the chamber worked: when they dropped the token in the slot, a stagehand slides the door open.
I was trying to tell if those were real gold coins in the treasure vault. As it faded to black, the Geniusseseseses were talking about loading the coins into their packs. I looked at the size of the stack and thought “three guys? No way.”
I’m guessing that there was a magnet embedded in the dial, so that the spinner would end up pointing to the correct symbol.
Yes, that was it. If you’ll notice, my first post of the day in this thread was 4:50am, so my brain is kind of at half-mast, as it were.
Team Air Force noticed that there was only one star symbol on the walls, so presumably the other teams noticed as well. What I’m wondering about is, when Team Air Force noticed that, what would’ve happened if they decided to bang the star right then? Or what if after the Geniuses had found the pointer someone had banged the star ahead of them, or dodged in front of them to get into the treasure chamber first? Since the very first episode established that stealing clues from each other was legal (we’re looking at you, Papa Fauxgal)…
Speaking of which, did anyone else’s jaw drop open in amazement when Air Force said that the Fauxgals waved them ahead at the church? What the hell is the point of screwing over all those other teams if you’re just going to roll over later for another team? Dumbasses.
“Young Buck-Toothed Rolly and the Unfortunate Camel Toe Incident” used to be my favorite children’s book!
And now having typed the phrase “bang the star” several times I find myself transfixed at the notion of Laird Macintosh sending a motorolamessage to his next date:
- ring *
(cue clue music)
“Congratulations. You’ve made it through dinner and several hours of polite conversation. Now, procede to my pants to find the next artifact. And remember, sometimes, objects are larger than they first appear.”
Thank you. I was waiting for someone to jump on that. Uh…to bang on…oh, never mind.
Your bon mot presumes that Laird is the *star * of the show. To paraphrase MST3K, wouldn’t it be more accurate to say that the camera is pointed at him occasionally?
“France” is a five-letter word? No wonder the Southie Boys didn’t win.
I can’t have been the only one to notice the subtitle “PORTIONS PRE-RECORDED” during that sequence.
I wonder what actually happened when they found the needle - “What the fuck is this? Anybody got a clue? Hey, cameraman, got any ideas?”
I’m still not convinced Max Headroom isn’t the host - the guy on stage could have been a hologram.
Was $3 million the largest prize ever awarded on a television show? I loved how the genworth VP marketing guy was named Buzz Richman. Now that is the perfect synthesis of job and name.
I got into the show towards the last few episodes so I hope they do it again.
I thought this too at first, but then wondered if he meant “franc” as in the first syllable of Francis Scott Key?
I suspect that opening the cylinder was required. Just banging on the star without that wouldn’t have caused the techie in the back to open the door.