TAR 14: Eps 8-10
Apr. 29th, 2009 07:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
spiderbraidsAfter the one-week hiatus, the race stops by Bangkok for some karaoke before heading to China for some fishing and foot massages.
Ep 8:
1. Everyone's heading back to Bangkok on the same flight, then taking taxis to some boatyard on the outskirts of the capital. Mom and deaf kid Margie/Luke have their cabbie give bad directions to Louisville sibs Kisha/Jen's cabbie, but that'll soon be overshadowed by certain events later. We also see stuntmen brothers Mark/Michael comment on their penalties. This will be important.
2. Boatyard, and we have a Roadblock: "Who's ready to propel their team forward?" The task is to fit a propellor on a longtail boat motor, and M/L bring their bags to the Roadblock. This will be important, because after the Roadblock is a nice long river ride to Peninsula Pier.
3. Of the four remaining teams, lawyer sibs Tammy/Victor and cheerleaders Jamie/Cara run back to their cab to get their bags after finishing the Roadblock, while the rest leave their bags behind altogether. We see T/V waving at monks, and J/C complaining about the polluted river water.
4. Next up is the Detour, between putting dentures on some people, and singing this song in a taxicab on a 5 mile course (yeah, seriously)... accompanied with trannies (yeah, seriously!) Logically, M/L decide not to subject anyone to their singing, while everyone else decides on the karaoke. On a personal note, the title of the song they're singing refers to the part of Bangkok where I live, a pretty unremarkable part of town at that.
5. Between the pier and the singing Detour startpoint, we see the stuntmen bicker about going back to get their stuff (which they eventually decide to do), the Louisville sibs (who've not only left behind their bags, but also the fanny pack with their money and passports) trying to get a free ride (and one of them is barefoot, to boot!) and J/C complaining about the flooded roads they're riding through while Margie pretty much finishes the denture Detour single-handedly.
6. After getting a ride to the boatyard for B200, the stuntmen rack up about B800 on their first cab's meter by the time they get to the singing Detour, and end up giving their cabbie a compass and flashlight to make up the bill. This will be important. Pit stop is at Phya Thai palace, and M/L win the leg along with a trip to Puerto Rico.
7. After getting another free ride, K/J pip T/V at the pitstop, but end up getting sent back to get their bags first, during which time the stuntmen pay their next cabbie with a watch and get to the pitstop. Ah, but for the 2nd time in as many legs, they're being slapped with a double penalty for the bartering business. They get 4 hours total, and K/J come back just under an hour later to claim 4th, while the stuntmen are spared, but there'll be not only the Speed Bump in the next leg, but also 3 hours and change slapped on to their start time. Stuntmen: "In the land of the Buddha, I don't want to make bad karma."
Ep 9:
1. The racers are heading to Guilin, China, via Guangzhou, to go to a salon, and the editors have inserted a random shot of a sign saying "Bangkok International Airport" before a few scenes of ticket buying. Your average US viewer probably wouldn't notice anything wrong, but the sign they show is at the old Don Muang airport, but they're actually at the newer Suvarnabhumi airport. Whoops. Anyways, the lead teams get a delayed flight in Guangzhou, allowing K/J, connecting with a different flight, to get to Guilin first and get a cab like the other teams do.
2. Suspiciously, they're still in their cabs trying to get to the salon when sun rises. Turns out that the editors have also edited out a meaningless task involving running up 500 steps to a temple, which will have bunched everyone except the stuntmen. T/V claim they'll have a bit of an advantage in China, becuase a) they can speak the language, as we see them demonstrate by talking to the cabbies, and b) Tammy went to Guilin once.
3. C/J get to the salon first (and there'll be the Speed Bump here), while K/J and M/L manage to run clear into the salon (heh) before they spot the cluebox outside... and that's when they get it on, as Luke elbows Jen while going for the cluebox. Ouch. We spend quite a bunch of time on K/J and M/L b!tching in their cabs about the incident, but there'll be more later.
4. Roadblock, and who's ready for some fowl play? (^ HEH!) Basically, everyone gets to train a cormorant to pick fish out of the water. And we have K/J vs. M/L round 2, with Jen shoving the cluebox and elbowing Luke in return.
5. You'd think that Tammy would have the advantage of being able to speak to these birds, but it appears to be of no advantage at all, since K/J end up first. We also see Luke getting a bite on his hand (ouch), T/V overtaking M/L and their slow paddler (heh), and more K/J and M/L b!tching.
6. The stuntmen have finally landed, and their Speed Bump is to wash two old ladies' hair. The stuntmen seem to be enjoying it a lot. Next route marker is at the Ancient South Gate, where the Detour is between dancing and calligraphy. J/C do the dancing, while the others do the writing. Tammy admits that they weren't paying attention in Chinese school, but nevertheless they seem to do pretty fine on the task, and even transliterate the location names that they're writing... which effectively results in the others riding on their coattails for the whole task. Heh.
7. J/C say that being cheerleaders and all, they know how to pick up choreography, but it sure doesn't look like it, since they're having a hard time doing the dancing, between the instructors manhandling them and the girls bumping into other couples and stuff. Ouch.
8. We have the calligraphy Detour teams in a footrace to the pitstop, and after riding T/V's coattails for the whole Detour, K/J get the win and a trip to Barbados, with T/V 2nd, and M/L 3rd (the first time all race they've not finished 1st or 4th). We spend quite a bit of time at the pitstop, with M/L and K/J b!tching over the elbowing incidents, and we get to see Luke sign the word "b!tch", while T/V just stand there randomly. According to Phil, this actually went on for 45 minutes (!) J/C and (muuuuch later) the stuntmen finish the dancing, and the leg in that order, so we say goodbye to the stuntmen.
Ep 10:
1. Next stop is Beijing, and yes, there will be an Olympics-related task later. First though, we have scenes of T/V getting airline ticketers to put them as front as possible while putting the others in the back, prompting K/J to comment on how their language skills make them privileged.
2. Beijing foot massage parlour, where the Roadblock asks, "Who's feeling manipulative?" T/V have been worrying in the cab ride that they'll have to do foot massages. They needn't have worried: the Roadblock is for the racer to be on the receiving end of a very painful foot massage. Ouch! There is an option to re-do the whole massage, but since no one wants to fall behind over that, everyone grins it and bears it for the whole 10 minutes.
2. After that it's a trip to a natatorium, which is Latin for swimming pool, and that has the Louisville sibs worried, Jen more so. Which makes Jen a live-action version of this character (look at the 2nd paragraph). They do have reason to be worried: It's an Olympics-themed Detour, with both tasks taking place in the water. Either try to jump off springboards in sync, or swim a 400 meter relay in a Michael Phelps outfit. We'll be spending a good half of the entire show on them trying to finish either Detour.
3. T/V have chosen the sync detour because Tammy only recently learned how to swim for the race. It turns out that the sync detour is probably the toughest judge-based detour we've had in a while, since the judges won't give them their clue no matter how well they do. Over at the swim, the producers decide to be cute and show a green line showing how far behind Phelps' pace J/C are. Heck, they don't even finish the first 200 meters in the time Phelps took to swim 400. Then again, none of the racers are trained swimmers, so...
4. J/C finish their swim in about 9 minutes, and get their clue first. We see them commenting in the taxi on their way to the Drum Tower that they've never had a first place finish in a leg. M/L get their clue 2nd, finishing just a shade over 8 minutes, almost exactly twice Phelps' time, which turns out to be the best time out of all four teams. Meanwhile, after what seems like hundreds of jumps, T/V eventually switch to swimming, and they're taking their time, like Kisha's doing while comforting Jen. T/V finish the swim in 19 minutes, with Victor spending a good amount of time getting on the cab because of a cramped leg. All those jumps finally getting to you, huh?
5. K/J end up switching Detours not once, not twice, but three times, before finishing the swim in 20 minutes, just a tad slower than T/V. With Jen spending much of her swim dragging on the lane makers. Wearing a lifejacket over her Phelps outfit. Wonder how they'll feel when they come up to Phil on the mat... and get a new clue handed from him. It's the return of an old favorite, the superleg (last seen back in Finland in S10), and one thing's for certain: that does not please J/C at all.
Ep 8:
1. Everyone's heading back to Bangkok on the same flight, then taking taxis to some boatyard on the outskirts of the capital. Mom and deaf kid Margie/Luke have their cabbie give bad directions to Louisville sibs Kisha/Jen's cabbie, but that'll soon be overshadowed by certain events later. We also see stuntmen brothers Mark/Michael comment on their penalties. This will be important.
2. Boatyard, and we have a Roadblock: "Who's ready to propel their team forward?" The task is to fit a propellor on a longtail boat motor, and M/L bring their bags to the Roadblock. This will be important, because after the Roadblock is a nice long river ride to Peninsula Pier.
3. Of the four remaining teams, lawyer sibs Tammy/Victor and cheerleaders Jamie/Cara run back to their cab to get their bags after finishing the Roadblock, while the rest leave their bags behind altogether. We see T/V waving at monks, and J/C complaining about the polluted river water.
4. Next up is the Detour, between putting dentures on some people, and singing this song in a taxicab on a 5 mile course (yeah, seriously)... accompanied with trannies (yeah, seriously!) Logically, M/L decide not to subject anyone to their singing, while everyone else decides on the karaoke. On a personal note, the title of the song they're singing refers to the part of Bangkok where I live, a pretty unremarkable part of town at that.
5. Between the pier and the singing Detour startpoint, we see the stuntmen bicker about going back to get their stuff (which they eventually decide to do), the Louisville sibs (who've not only left behind their bags, but also the fanny pack with their money and passports) trying to get a free ride (and one of them is barefoot, to boot!) and J/C complaining about the flooded roads they're riding through while Margie pretty much finishes the denture Detour single-handedly.
6. After getting a ride to the boatyard for B200, the stuntmen rack up about B800 on their first cab's meter by the time they get to the singing Detour, and end up giving their cabbie a compass and flashlight to make up the bill. This will be important. Pit stop is at Phya Thai palace, and M/L win the leg along with a trip to Puerto Rico.
7. After getting another free ride, K/J pip T/V at the pitstop, but end up getting sent back to get their bags first, during which time the stuntmen pay their next cabbie with a watch and get to the pitstop. Ah, but for the 2nd time in as many legs, they're being slapped with a double penalty for the bartering business. They get 4 hours total, and K/J come back just under an hour later to claim 4th, while the stuntmen are spared, but there'll be not only the Speed Bump in the next leg, but also 3 hours and change slapped on to their start time. Stuntmen: "In the land of the Buddha, I don't want to make bad karma."
Ep 9:
1. The racers are heading to Guilin, China, via Guangzhou, to go to a salon, and the editors have inserted a random shot of a sign saying "Bangkok International Airport" before a few scenes of ticket buying. Your average US viewer probably wouldn't notice anything wrong, but the sign they show is at the old Don Muang airport, but they're actually at the newer Suvarnabhumi airport. Whoops. Anyways, the lead teams get a delayed flight in Guangzhou, allowing K/J, connecting with a different flight, to get to Guilin first and get a cab like the other teams do.
2. Suspiciously, they're still in their cabs trying to get to the salon when sun rises. Turns out that the editors have also edited out a meaningless task involving running up 500 steps to a temple, which will have bunched everyone except the stuntmen. T/V claim they'll have a bit of an advantage in China, becuase a) they can speak the language, as we see them demonstrate by talking to the cabbies, and b) Tammy went to Guilin once.
3. C/J get to the salon first (and there'll be the Speed Bump here), while K/J and M/L manage to run clear into the salon (heh) before they spot the cluebox outside... and that's when they get it on, as Luke elbows Jen while going for the cluebox. Ouch. We spend quite a bunch of time on K/J and M/L b!tching in their cabs about the incident, but there'll be more later.
4. Roadblock, and who's ready for some fowl play? (^ HEH!) Basically, everyone gets to train a cormorant to pick fish out of the water. And we have K/J vs. M/L round 2, with Jen shoving the cluebox and elbowing Luke in return.
5. You'd think that Tammy would have the advantage of being able to speak to these birds, but it appears to be of no advantage at all, since K/J end up first. We also see Luke getting a bite on his hand (ouch), T/V overtaking M/L and their slow paddler (heh), and more K/J and M/L b!tching.
6. The stuntmen have finally landed, and their Speed Bump is to wash two old ladies' hair. The stuntmen seem to be enjoying it a lot. Next route marker is at the Ancient South Gate, where the Detour is between dancing and calligraphy. J/C do the dancing, while the others do the writing. Tammy admits that they weren't paying attention in Chinese school, but nevertheless they seem to do pretty fine on the task, and even transliterate the location names that they're writing... which effectively results in the others riding on their coattails for the whole task. Heh.
7. J/C say that being cheerleaders and all, they know how to pick up choreography, but it sure doesn't look like it, since they're having a hard time doing the dancing, between the instructors manhandling them and the girls bumping into other couples and stuff. Ouch.
8. We have the calligraphy Detour teams in a footrace to the pitstop, and after riding T/V's coattails for the whole Detour, K/J get the win and a trip to Barbados, with T/V 2nd, and M/L 3rd (the first time all race they've not finished 1st or 4th). We spend quite a bit of time at the pitstop, with M/L and K/J b!tching over the elbowing incidents, and we get to see Luke sign the word "b!tch", while T/V just stand there randomly. According to Phil, this actually went on for 45 minutes (!) J/C and (muuuuch later) the stuntmen finish the dancing, and the leg in that order, so we say goodbye to the stuntmen.
Ep 10:
1. Next stop is Beijing, and yes, there will be an Olympics-related task later. First though, we have scenes of T/V getting airline ticketers to put them as front as possible while putting the others in the back, prompting K/J to comment on how their language skills make them privileged.
2. Beijing foot massage parlour, where the Roadblock asks, "Who's feeling manipulative?" T/V have been worrying in the cab ride that they'll have to do foot massages. They needn't have worried: the Roadblock is for the racer to be on the receiving end of a very painful foot massage. Ouch! There is an option to re-do the whole massage, but since no one wants to fall behind over that, everyone grins it and bears it for the whole 10 minutes.
2. After that it's a trip to a natatorium, which is Latin for swimming pool, and that has the Louisville sibs worried, Jen more so. Which makes Jen a live-action version of this character (look at the 2nd paragraph). They do have reason to be worried: It's an Olympics-themed Detour, with both tasks taking place in the water. Either try to jump off springboards in sync, or swim a 400 meter relay in a Michael Phelps outfit. We'll be spending a good half of the entire show on them trying to finish either Detour.
3. T/V have chosen the sync detour because Tammy only recently learned how to swim for the race. It turns out that the sync detour is probably the toughest judge-based detour we've had in a while, since the judges won't give them their clue no matter how well they do. Over at the swim, the producers decide to be cute and show a green line showing how far behind Phelps' pace J/C are. Heck, they don't even finish the first 200 meters in the time Phelps took to swim 400. Then again, none of the racers are trained swimmers, so...
4. J/C finish their swim in about 9 minutes, and get their clue first. We see them commenting in the taxi on their way to the Drum Tower that they've never had a first place finish in a leg. M/L get their clue 2nd, finishing just a shade over 8 minutes, almost exactly twice Phelps' time, which turns out to be the best time out of all four teams. Meanwhile, after what seems like hundreds of jumps, T/V eventually switch to swimming, and they're taking their time, like Kisha's doing while comforting Jen. T/V finish the swim in 19 minutes, with Victor spending a good amount of time getting on the cab because of a cramped leg. All those jumps finally getting to you, huh?
5. K/J end up switching Detours not once, not twice, but three times, before finishing the swim in 20 minutes, just a tad slower than T/V. With Jen spending much of her swim dragging on the lane makers. Wearing a lifejacket over her Phelps outfit. Wonder how they'll feel when they come up to Phil on the mat... and get a new clue handed from him. It's the return of an old favorite, the superleg (last seen back in Finland in S10), and one thing's for certain: that does not please J/C at all.
