TAR US: 12x07-08
Jan. 8th, 2008 08:52 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
spiderbraidsSo, when we last left off, Ron and Christina and the Goths were looking good in Croatia, while Nate and Jen were fuming at finishing 3rd, with the other teams considerably behind. Let's get moving, shall we?
TAR US 12x07: Croatia to Italy
1. Next clue had the racers heading to Ancona, Italy by ferry. Ron doesn't know much Italian, but apparently he thinks that Prego (as in the spaghetti sauce) means "please". Meanwhile, the Goths seemed happy to head to Italy because to them it's the home of fashion and glamor. I guess that's why the Winx look so pretty :-)
2. Bus bunching, ferry bunching, whatever bunching, meant that the teams were all even heading into Ancona. So, the next clues were taped to a hard-to-see road barrier, and it took someone running straight into it for most of the teams to notice it was even there. The next clue called for driving from Ancona to some airfield, and this is where the real fun begins: TK and Rachel asked for directions (like everyone else) and forgot their clue at a cafe and had to drive back to get it. And the girl still had it when they returned, prompting some people to joke that she was going to sell it on eBay. Other teams rested by the side of the road when their chosen route was closed, while the Goths took a detour under the same conditions. And I mean detour as in the literal sense. We'll get to the real Detour later.
3. Airfield. Nate and Jen took a scenic route and got there first, while TK and Rachel apparently got good directions such that forgetting their clue wasn't much of a setback, as they came in second. But the Roadblock, involving searching a large radius of fields for some random word in an ultralight, would prove to be the Hippies' problem, since TK had to fly around four times (half an hour per refill) before finding the word Vinci, while other Roadblockers got it in one. It took so long for TK to find it that even though the Goths were detoured for so long they were in last, Vyxsin overtook them here. (And unlike many other racers, Vyxsin knows how to drive stick, because she has such a car.)
4. While others were flying around looking for words in a field, Nick and Don went to participate in a seafaring tradition. It turned out to be getting a tattoo. Who'da thunk that Don hadn't already HAD a tattoo? It was for the Fast Forward, and he compared it to a previous season's FF, getting a hair shave. Nick and Don for the win, and the vacation package that goes with it. Jen was kind of teed that someone went for the FF, because they were the only remaining team without a leg win (er, the Goths haven't won anything yet). Also, I've been told that the "ff" pattern they used on the tat was the same as the "f" on Kynt's shirt. (looks at pics) Ah, so it does.
5. Of course, Vinci was their next destination. Yeah, as in Leonardo. After going up a hill to the place with the clue box (you can drive up there, but some teams didn't know this until they saw the "P" sign at the top of the hill... HEH!), teams got the Detour: building a crane, or throwing flags around. I was totally thinking that the majority would go for building the crane. Turns out everyone except TK and Rachel went for the flags, but I guess it's justified, since the Goths complained about having to use all the given parts to build their little crane, and switched Detours after just one look. Nate and Jen were relatively tolerable while performing the flag detour in what was effectively a race for second.
6. Speaking of Detours and driving, the usually strong going Goths somehow got into a spat and broke their car while heading to the other Detour, forcing them to head to it on foot while their car was getting replaced. This allowed the Hippies to complete their Detour ahead of the Goths, while quipping that Da Vinci must have been buff :-). Although pre-race hype had there being no non-eliminations this season, this did turn out to be a NEL. While the Goths were not eliminated, they would have face a new race twist, known as the "Speed Bump", in the next leg.
TAR US 12x08: Italy to India
1. One word, folks: India. TAR always loves to go to India, because not it makes racers act all "off", thus making for good television. Anyways, everyone was sent off to Mumbai (the former Bombay) to some newspaper stand, to look through a copy of a newspaper to find their next clue. In an interesting twist, the clue was printed in an ad for everyone to see, and I really do mean everyone, making some viewers wonder what regular people would have made of it.
2. But before we get there, tickets. Nick and Don got tickets and took a nap at a hotel, while most of the other teams were sleeping outside the Florence airport for tix. We got to see the Goths use their so-called "performance art" to look worried, which resulted in TK and Rachel taking a flight that got into Bombay a few hours after everyone else. Also, there were delays at one of the connections, which allowed the Goths to be first in Mumbai.
3. Did we mention that none of this even mattered? The news stand wasn't open until 6 the next morning, by which time everyone had caught up anyway. Hello, bunching. So, everyone searched through their papers, while Nate and Jen were getting distracted with dogs and stuff. Eventually, their clue had them take an auto-rickshaw to head to some tailor to get their next clue, or in the Goths' case, get a Speed Bump, which was yoga. Mmm... yoga. And that meant that we got to see Vyxsin bend her body in various poses, while Kynt was saying that it would allow them to relax. Mmm... Vyxsin doing yoga.
4. Back to the race now. Detour was between pasting up a Bollywood poster or making a garland with flowers. Jack-of-all-trades Don used to do printing, so he would know how to put up a poster. Of course. The Hippies decided to do the flowers. Of course. Ron and Christina had their first argument in a while while putting up the poster. Of course.
5. Nate and Jen took so long to find their clue, between being distracted by dogs and being stressed in last place, the Goths were still in it when they returned from yoga to do garlands. Although N/J finished the task ahead of the Goths, the Goths somehow got to the next marker before N/J did. This marker was a U-Turn, and apparently Kynt had no idea who to pick on, because he pasted up Nick and Don's photo, instead of going with Vyxsin's suggestion of Nate and Jen. Dude. Since Nick and Don had already passed the marker a while before this, it did not affect them. (Honestly, I'm kind of miffed that none of the other teams wanted toYield U-Turn N/J. I know, strategy, but if there ever was a time to hose someone just because you don't like them, well, this was it.) (Also, I've read fans trying to justify Kynt's U-Turn; basically, they say that N/J were more likely to be ahead if they left the Roadblock ahead of them, and N/D were more likely to struggle.)
6. Next is the Roadblock, with carrying gas deliveries. Some of the deliveries were to the 5th floor of a building without an elevator. Go figure. Anyways, despite the U-Turn misuse, surely Kynt's head start would allow him to beat Jen to the next clue and then the pit stop, right? Well, not really. Jen was quite the trooper on this task, even running up the stairs to send down the elevator after Kynt left it open in an attempt to hold her off. Jen ended up getting the task done before Kynt came back... and even then, Kynt had forgotten a receipt or two, so he had to run back again. Meanwhile, TK and Rachel (I think) won the leg and a vacation package.
7. Jen thought of the Goths that they had some kind of witch powers, but apparently their witch powers didn't work in India, since N/J finished ahead of the Goths, thus ensuring their presence for at least one more week, while Phil declared the Goths "The most fashionable team on TAR" before sending them off. At the end of the day, the moral of the story: Trust the logical pink-haired girl :-) Yeah, I'm a bit disappointed at their elimination, but more disappointed at the lack of Jen meltdown.
And somehow, I managed to bookend my thoughts on TAR with two Winx references. Japan goodness has already aired, but I'll get to that later.
TAR US 12x07: Croatia to Italy
1. Next clue had the racers heading to Ancona, Italy by ferry. Ron doesn't know much Italian, but apparently he thinks that Prego (as in the spaghetti sauce) means "please". Meanwhile, the Goths seemed happy to head to Italy because to them it's the home of fashion and glamor. I guess that's why the Winx look so pretty :-)
2. Bus bunching, ferry bunching, whatever bunching, meant that the teams were all even heading into Ancona. So, the next clues were taped to a hard-to-see road barrier, and it took someone running straight into it for most of the teams to notice it was even there. The next clue called for driving from Ancona to some airfield, and this is where the real fun begins: TK and Rachel asked for directions (like everyone else) and forgot their clue at a cafe and had to drive back to get it. And the girl still had it when they returned, prompting some people to joke that she was going to sell it on eBay. Other teams rested by the side of the road when their chosen route was closed, while the Goths took a detour under the same conditions. And I mean detour as in the literal sense. We'll get to the real Detour later.
3. Airfield. Nate and Jen took a scenic route and got there first, while TK and Rachel apparently got good directions such that forgetting their clue wasn't much of a setback, as they came in second. But the Roadblock, involving searching a large radius of fields for some random word in an ultralight, would prove to be the Hippies' problem, since TK had to fly around four times (half an hour per refill) before finding the word Vinci, while other Roadblockers got it in one. It took so long for TK to find it that even though the Goths were detoured for so long they were in last, Vyxsin overtook them here. (And unlike many other racers, Vyxsin knows how to drive stick, because she has such a car.)
4. While others were flying around looking for words in a field, Nick and Don went to participate in a seafaring tradition. It turned out to be getting a tattoo. Who'da thunk that Don hadn't already HAD a tattoo? It was for the Fast Forward, and he compared it to a previous season's FF, getting a hair shave. Nick and Don for the win, and the vacation package that goes with it. Jen was kind of teed that someone went for the FF, because they were the only remaining team without a leg win (er, the Goths haven't won anything yet). Also, I've been told that the "ff" pattern they used on the tat was the same as the "f" on Kynt's shirt. (looks at pics) Ah, so it does.
5. Of course, Vinci was their next destination. Yeah, as in Leonardo. After going up a hill to the place with the clue box (you can drive up there, but some teams didn't know this until they saw the "P" sign at the top of the hill... HEH!), teams got the Detour: building a crane, or throwing flags around. I was totally thinking that the majority would go for building the crane. Turns out everyone except TK and Rachel went for the flags, but I guess it's justified, since the Goths complained about having to use all the given parts to build their little crane, and switched Detours after just one look. Nate and Jen were relatively tolerable while performing the flag detour in what was effectively a race for second.
6. Speaking of Detours and driving, the usually strong going Goths somehow got into a spat and broke their car while heading to the other Detour, forcing them to head to it on foot while their car was getting replaced. This allowed the Hippies to complete their Detour ahead of the Goths, while quipping that Da Vinci must have been buff :-). Although pre-race hype had there being no non-eliminations this season, this did turn out to be a NEL. While the Goths were not eliminated, they would have face a new race twist, known as the "Speed Bump", in the next leg.
TAR US 12x08: Italy to India
1. One word, folks: India. TAR always loves to go to India, because not it makes racers act all "off", thus making for good television. Anyways, everyone was sent off to Mumbai (the former Bombay) to some newspaper stand, to look through a copy of a newspaper to find their next clue. In an interesting twist, the clue was printed in an ad for everyone to see, and I really do mean everyone, making some viewers wonder what regular people would have made of it.
2. But before we get there, tickets. Nick and Don got tickets and took a nap at a hotel, while most of the other teams were sleeping outside the Florence airport for tix. We got to see the Goths use their so-called "performance art" to look worried, which resulted in TK and Rachel taking a flight that got into Bombay a few hours after everyone else. Also, there were delays at one of the connections, which allowed the Goths to be first in Mumbai.
3. Did we mention that none of this even mattered? The news stand wasn't open until 6 the next morning, by which time everyone had caught up anyway. Hello, bunching. So, everyone searched through their papers, while Nate and Jen were getting distracted with dogs and stuff. Eventually, their clue had them take an auto-rickshaw to head to some tailor to get their next clue, or in the Goths' case, get a Speed Bump, which was yoga. Mmm... yoga. And that meant that we got to see Vyxsin bend her body in various poses, while Kynt was saying that it would allow them to relax. Mmm... Vyxsin doing yoga.
4. Back to the race now. Detour was between pasting up a Bollywood poster or making a garland with flowers. Jack-of-all-trades Don used to do printing, so he would know how to put up a poster. Of course. The Hippies decided to do the flowers. Of course. Ron and Christina had their first argument in a while while putting up the poster. Of course.
5. Nate and Jen took so long to find their clue, between being distracted by dogs and being stressed in last place, the Goths were still in it when they returned from yoga to do garlands. Although N/J finished the task ahead of the Goths, the Goths somehow got to the next marker before N/J did. This marker was a U-Turn, and apparently Kynt had no idea who to pick on, because he pasted up Nick and Don's photo, instead of going with Vyxsin's suggestion of Nate and Jen. Dude. Since Nick and Don had already passed the marker a while before this, it did not affect them. (Honestly, I'm kind of miffed that none of the other teams wanted to
6. Next is the Roadblock, with carrying gas deliveries. Some of the deliveries were to the 5th floor of a building without an elevator. Go figure. Anyways, despite the U-Turn misuse, surely Kynt's head start would allow him to beat Jen to the next clue and then the pit stop, right? Well, not really. Jen was quite the trooper on this task, even running up the stairs to send down the elevator after Kynt left it open in an attempt to hold her off. Jen ended up getting the task done before Kynt came back... and even then, Kynt had forgotten a receipt or two, so he had to run back again. Meanwhile, TK and Rachel (I think) won the leg and a vacation package.
7. Jen thought of the Goths that they had some kind of witch powers, but apparently their witch powers didn't work in India, since N/J finished ahead of the Goths, thus ensuring their presence for at least one more week, while Phil declared the Goths "The most fashionable team on TAR" before sending them off. At the end of the day, the moral of the story: Trust the logical pink-haired girl :-) Yeah, I'm a bit disappointed at their elimination, but more disappointed at the lack of Jen meltdown.
And somehow, I managed to bookend my thoughts on TAR with two Winx references. Japan goodness has already aired, but I'll get to that later.
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no subject
Date: 2008-01-08 05:15 am (UTC)The Japanese robots were cute, but the guy in the taxt looked like he was in trouble. Next stop...Republic of China - Taiwan!
no subject
Date: 2008-01-08 05:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-08 05:18 am (UTC)Spoiler for next episode
Jen loses it at the airport Christine tells the airport lady something in Japanese that will possibly prevent Jen from getting a better flight.
More tension between the father and son or TK and Rachel
no subject
Date: 2008-01-08 05:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-10 09:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-10 02:44 pm (UTC)