The Amazing Race 15: Legs 1 to 4
Oct. 24th, 2009 12:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
spiderbraidsA new season of TAR goodness follows the cut.
Leg 1:
1. This season, we get to eliminate a team right off the bat, and it was hardly a good idea when they had a mid-leg elimination in China a few seasons ago. Here, we have teams trying to find a license plate for Shinagawa District in Tokyo, which results in teams taking random Japanese plates and showing them to Phil, and a handful of teams actually taking a good look at the clue and noticing the Kanji for Shinagawa.
2. After we've gotten rid of two "annoying" married Yoga instructors, who seem to take their quickie elimination in stride (still doesn't make the concept better, though), among the teams remaining we have a pair of poker players, an Asperger's guy and his friend (I can relate to that), a former Miss America and her interracial hubby, and (get this) two Harlem Globetrotters. At LAX, we see the poker players (Maria/Tiffany) trying to pass themselves off as charity workers. Keep that in mind for later. Not as important, but funny, is Zev (Asperger's guy) telling "Big Easy" (Globetrotter) that he plays for the Globetrotters, and getting in response, "Well I'm an MIT grad." Somewhat approriately, the other Globetrotter is named "Flight Time".
3. The license plate task also serves to split the teams on to two flights, but in practice it doesn't matter since one flight ends up coming in less than 10 minutes behind the other, effectively making their next stop, a TV studio at Tokyo Tower a bunch point for everyone. While they're getting there, the Globetrotters randomly say "Andale" to their cabbie before realizing it's the wrong language. Heh.
4. What better thing to do in a TV studio in Tokyo than participate in a wild and crazy Japanese game show? Or rather, a reasonable facsimile thereof, replete with cheesy game show graphics and music. Basically, it's a semi-luck-based Roadblock: host guy spins wheel with sushi and "wasabi bombs", contestant eats whatever lands in front until s/he gets and finishes a bomb in two minutes. And anyone who's ever eaten it knows that wasabi is VERY HOT. We get to see everyone "eat da wasabi!" Maria ends up having to go through two bombs, and on consecutive spins, to boot (!) while Dan (half of a brothers team) makes short work of the wasabi, finishing in under one minute. Quote from the Globetrotters: "Tastes like money."
5. After the Roadblock, teams then lead a group of visored tourists across the infamous Shibuya crossing to some shrine, which is also the pitstop. Really, that's the whole leg. Highlights: a couple teams relying on foreign tourists to get around, Miss America's hubby Brian carrying a fainted tourist, dating on/off Jessica/Garrett taking a tourist to the bathroom (prompting TWoP to make a reference to Jen from last season), Zev commenting on a tourist's busted shoe, and most importantly, Maria/Tiffany losing two of their tourists at the crossing. Dating couple Megan/Cheyne get first place and a trip to Aspen, while those lost tourists put M/T in last place with a two-hour penalty. And here we have another first: It's a non-elim on the first leg.
Leg 2:
1. M/T's penalty doesn't affect them at all, since everyone ends up on the same flight to Ho Chi Minh City. However, we see Sam/Dan overhearing them talking to a poker fan at the airport. And though Zev/Justin haven't heard about it yet, they don't exactly get a helpful vibe from M/T either.
2. Ho Chi Minh, and everyone's making their way through the flooded streets to the bus station, while S/D confront the M/T by repeatedly saying "Poker poker poker!" Eventually, they end up getting split on to two buses to Cai Be. While the stragglers wait for their bus to leave, father/son Gary and Matt get christened "Pinky and the Brain", because Matt has pink hair a la Vyxsin. Talk about your convenient nicknames. Eventually, they decide to fork over "100" each to buy up the remaining seats and leave early. Z/J even give one of the guys on the bus a jacket. (There's been a bit of discussion of what they mean by "100". Most seem to assume its US$100, but at least one poster at TWoP thinks it's VND100,000 ~ $6, which would be more reasonable, considering the price shown at the ticket counters.)
3. The seat-buying turns out not to be such a good idea, since they still have to wait until the morning before they can boat to their next stop, a fruit farm, so they veg out, and sleep on deck chairs. Morning, and M/T also have their Speed Bump, which consists entirely of serving some pho noodles to the dock master. Tiffany says she's the queen of pho, and makes short work of the task, but really, it's a task meant to be made short work of by pretty much anyone.
4. The next task at the fruit farm involves playing in mud. Well, sort of. Racer fills pan with mud, racer pours pan into tree, repeat until mud covers up to marked ribbon. We have a few funny moments of racers slipping. Tiffany manages to slip twice, and there's also Cheyne getting his foot stuck deep in mud. Not so funny is that after Justin has his own slip, he and Zev end up having to double back to the fruit farm to pick up their clue.
5. Next stop, some field with ducks. It's the Roadblock, and who's feeling ducky? Task is to herd ducks across a bridge and back using flags. Matt lived in Montana and grew up around animals. Tiffany also had ducks growing up, and makes up quite a few places. Zev also excels at the task, prompting Justin to call him "The Duck Whisperer" (HEH!)
6. Not so good on the task are Jessica (who starts this task 2nd) and Ericka/Brian, and wind up having to redo the task several times, prompting Ericka to say "I'm going to have duck for dinner" after finishing, and dropping G/J into a race to avoid last. Pitstop is a boat in the river, and Pinky and the Brain take first place and a pair of kayaks. G/J get eliminated, prompting Garrett to punch a nearby overhang.
Leg 3:
1. Because the pitstop was on a boat, the teams start from My Tho to head back to Ho Chi Minh and a water puppet theater. Keri (engaged to lawyer/teammate Lance) "hilariously" thinks that they're already in HCM. Takes a while for them to wisen up and get a cab like everyone else. Interestingly, two racer have dad stories to tell this week: Bg Easy's dad died days before the race, while old lady Marcy's dad was shot down in Vietnam and later rescued.
2. Water puppet theater, where the task is grabbing the next clue from the dragon puppet's mouth. While everyone else is busy opening their bullet-like canister and figuring out that the next stop is the post-office, we see L/K cluelessly looking for their clue after getting their bullet.
3. Post office, and here we have our first Detour: Child's Play (drag cement animals to party at park, collecting balloons along the way) and Word Play (spot 6 letters in a roundabout, use letters to make Vietnamese word). For no reason at all, we see the Globetrotters shoving a ram past a random girl and telling her to "Work it" :-) For obvious reasons, their scenes are accompanied with the whistled melody of Sweet Georgia Brown (AKA the Globetrotters theme song). (And speaking of whistling, Marcy calls for cabs using a whistle. Let's just say, don't get used to it.)
4. Also among the animals available to be dragged is a giraffe. Most wisely avoid the giraffe, and Z/J give a demonstration of why it was wise to avoid it, as they end up breaking its neck against the road and having to pick up the broken pieces. Ouch. And on the cute side, B/E have taken the zebra to reflect their interracial marriage. Aww. We also see the poker chicks telling the brothers to run their own race while the brothers are giving them a hand with their broken cart.
5. At the other detour, Marcy and other old guy Ron take two attempts to get all the letters after mistaking a D with a bar through it as an O. Did we mention that the letters they're looking for are Vietnamese letters with freaky diacritics? And if that wasn't enough, they try a little self service when rearranging their letters and randomly hand over "Old Cap" to their clue guy, before wisening up and getting a local to do it. Which is what the clue said for them to do. D'oh!
6. Roadblock, and who's ready for a total breakdown? Task is to take apart two VCRs into its separate parts for recycling. Naturally, Pinky Matt takes this one for his team, adding that he used to take aparts VCR when he was a kid (figures). Here, there's been a bit of controversy, since I've read complaints that Lance wasn't following the rules by literally ripping up the VCRs instead of using the tools provided. But it sure looks funny, doesn't it?
7. Pit stop is Reunification Palace, introduced with iconic footage of a VC tank busting through the gates. We have a footrace for first between the Globetrotters and M/C. Globetrotters are first and get a trip to Aruba. Another footrace sees Z/J beating L/K to the mat for 8th place, prompting Lance to threaten to wrestle Phil (HEH!) Old couple get eliminated, and in a post-race interview, they claimed it wasn't as much the task itself as it was the cab rides that got them into last place.
Leg 4:
1. Next stop,Sean Penn Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and the FCC. Not that FCC, though, but rather the Foreign Correspondents' Club. All the teams end up getting on the same flight, and once at the FCC, they get their next "assignment" from an "editor". And they apparently do have to say "assignment", because Mika/Canaan (another dating team) ask for their next task a few times before wisening up.
2. The next "assignment" is to go to a hotel suite named after the lady in the photo they've been given. Many of the younger teams assume it's Cambodiam royalty (Mika/Canaan even think it's Queen Elizabeth! :D) but Gary/Matt correctly recognize it as Jackie O. Regardless, most of the teams make their way to the right hotel (though some stop by the royal palace... d'oh!)
3. Next stop, the Russian Market. Your Detour this week: Cover (sell helmets for $10) or Wrap (find a lady with a scarf matching that which has been given to them). Lance/Keri sell helmets, everyone else looks for scarves. Gary/Matt try to tie this task in with their Montana roots by saying that they've been trained to spot things from a distance (HEH.)
4. Wat Tuol Tom Pong, and this week's Roadblock is who's ready to go bananas? Thanks to a great cabbie (and the plane bunching), Z/J have moved from 8th to 1st entering the Roadblock, in which Zev dances like a monkey. No, really. This Roadblock has the racers do three different monkey-inspired dance routines. (In Thailand, we have similar dancing.) Zev finds the third of the routines quite draining on him. Little does he know, a later development will be even more draining...
5. Pit Stop at Wat Phnom, with the teams wearing their monkey masks all the way to the finish. Your first 3 teams are, Z/J, S/D, and the Globetrotters. And I'm pretty sure that they don't mention any prize for Z/J is not suspicious at all. Oh wait, Zev's lost his passport, so Phil sends them out on the course to find it before the rest of the teams check in, yeah, like they have any chance, even with their great cabbie :-\
6. Upshot from the missing passport is that the poker players (appropriately enough ;-)) get to race another day. And although not shown in the actual episode itself, it turns out that Zev didn't lose his passport: a bonus online video shows that when they found it returned to the American Consulate, it had been found at Tuol Tom Pong, and Justin concludes that it must have dropped in the dark while he was looking for his flashlight. Ouch. As if getting eliminated over a missing passport after finishing 1st wasn't painful enough.
This past week's leg to come in the next update, but let me say right now that it was awesome.
Leg 1:
1. This season, we get to eliminate a team right off the bat, and it was hardly a good idea when they had a mid-leg elimination in China a few seasons ago. Here, we have teams trying to find a license plate for Shinagawa District in Tokyo, which results in teams taking random Japanese plates and showing them to Phil, and a handful of teams actually taking a good look at the clue and noticing the Kanji for Shinagawa.
2. After we've gotten rid of two "annoying" married Yoga instructors, who seem to take their quickie elimination in stride (still doesn't make the concept better, though), among the teams remaining we have a pair of poker players, an Asperger's guy and his friend (I can relate to that), a former Miss America and her interracial hubby, and (get this) two Harlem Globetrotters. At LAX, we see the poker players (Maria/Tiffany) trying to pass themselves off as charity workers. Keep that in mind for later. Not as important, but funny, is Zev (Asperger's guy) telling "Big Easy" (Globetrotter) that he plays for the Globetrotters, and getting in response, "Well I'm an MIT grad." Somewhat approriately, the other Globetrotter is named "Flight Time".
3. The license plate task also serves to split the teams on to two flights, but in practice it doesn't matter since one flight ends up coming in less than 10 minutes behind the other, effectively making their next stop, a TV studio at Tokyo Tower a bunch point for everyone. While they're getting there, the Globetrotters randomly say "Andale" to their cabbie before realizing it's the wrong language. Heh.
4. What better thing to do in a TV studio in Tokyo than participate in a wild and crazy Japanese game show? Or rather, a reasonable facsimile thereof, replete with cheesy game show graphics and music. Basically, it's a semi-luck-based Roadblock: host guy spins wheel with sushi and "wasabi bombs", contestant eats whatever lands in front until s/he gets and finishes a bomb in two minutes. And anyone who's ever eaten it knows that wasabi is VERY HOT. We get to see everyone "eat da wasabi!" Maria ends up having to go through two bombs, and on consecutive spins, to boot (!) while Dan (half of a brothers team) makes short work of the wasabi, finishing in under one minute. Quote from the Globetrotters: "Tastes like money."
5. After the Roadblock, teams then lead a group of visored tourists across the infamous Shibuya crossing to some shrine, which is also the pitstop. Really, that's the whole leg. Highlights: a couple teams relying on foreign tourists to get around, Miss America's hubby Brian carrying a fainted tourist, dating on/off Jessica/Garrett taking a tourist to the bathroom (prompting TWoP to make a reference to Jen from last season), Zev commenting on a tourist's busted shoe, and most importantly, Maria/Tiffany losing two of their tourists at the crossing. Dating couple Megan/Cheyne get first place and a trip to Aspen, while those lost tourists put M/T in last place with a two-hour penalty. And here we have another first: It's a non-elim on the first leg.
Leg 2:
1. M/T's penalty doesn't affect them at all, since everyone ends up on the same flight to Ho Chi Minh City. However, we see Sam/Dan overhearing them talking to a poker fan at the airport. And though Zev/Justin haven't heard about it yet, they don't exactly get a helpful vibe from M/T either.
2. Ho Chi Minh, and everyone's making their way through the flooded streets to the bus station, while S/D confront the M/T by repeatedly saying "Poker poker poker!" Eventually, they end up getting split on to two buses to Cai Be. While the stragglers wait for their bus to leave, father/son Gary and Matt get christened "Pinky and the Brain", because Matt has pink hair a la Vyxsin. Talk about your convenient nicknames. Eventually, they decide to fork over "100" each to buy up the remaining seats and leave early. Z/J even give one of the guys on the bus a jacket. (There's been a bit of discussion of what they mean by "100". Most seem to assume its US$100, but at least one poster at TWoP thinks it's VND100,000 ~ $6, which would be more reasonable, considering the price shown at the ticket counters.)
3. The seat-buying turns out not to be such a good idea, since they still have to wait until the morning before they can boat to their next stop, a fruit farm, so they veg out, and sleep on deck chairs. Morning, and M/T also have their Speed Bump, which consists entirely of serving some pho noodles to the dock master. Tiffany says she's the queen of pho, and makes short work of the task, but really, it's a task meant to be made short work of by pretty much anyone.
4. The next task at the fruit farm involves playing in mud. Well, sort of. Racer fills pan with mud, racer pours pan into tree, repeat until mud covers up to marked ribbon. We have a few funny moments of racers slipping. Tiffany manages to slip twice, and there's also Cheyne getting his foot stuck deep in mud. Not so funny is that after Justin has his own slip, he and Zev end up having to double back to the fruit farm to pick up their clue.
5. Next stop, some field with ducks. It's the Roadblock, and who's feeling ducky? Task is to herd ducks across a bridge and back using flags. Matt lived in Montana and grew up around animals. Tiffany also had ducks growing up, and makes up quite a few places. Zev also excels at the task, prompting Justin to call him "The Duck Whisperer" (HEH!)
6. Not so good on the task are Jessica (who starts this task 2nd) and Ericka/Brian, and wind up having to redo the task several times, prompting Ericka to say "I'm going to have duck for dinner" after finishing, and dropping G/J into a race to avoid last. Pitstop is a boat in the river, and Pinky and the Brain take first place and a pair of kayaks. G/J get eliminated, prompting Garrett to punch a nearby overhang.
Leg 3:
1. Because the pitstop was on a boat, the teams start from My Tho to head back to Ho Chi Minh and a water puppet theater. Keri (engaged to lawyer/teammate Lance) "hilariously" thinks that they're already in HCM. Takes a while for them to wisen up and get a cab like everyone else. Interestingly, two racer have dad stories to tell this week: Bg Easy's dad died days before the race, while old lady Marcy's dad was shot down in Vietnam and later rescued.
2. Water puppet theater, where the task is grabbing the next clue from the dragon puppet's mouth. While everyone else is busy opening their bullet-like canister and figuring out that the next stop is the post-office, we see L/K cluelessly looking for their clue after getting their bullet.
3. Post office, and here we have our first Detour: Child's Play (drag cement animals to party at park, collecting balloons along the way) and Word Play (spot 6 letters in a roundabout, use letters to make Vietnamese word). For no reason at all, we see the Globetrotters shoving a ram past a random girl and telling her to "Work it" :-) For obvious reasons, their scenes are accompanied with the whistled melody of Sweet Georgia Brown (AKA the Globetrotters theme song). (And speaking of whistling, Marcy calls for cabs using a whistle. Let's just say, don't get used to it.)
4. Also among the animals available to be dragged is a giraffe. Most wisely avoid the giraffe, and Z/J give a demonstration of why it was wise to avoid it, as they end up breaking its neck against the road and having to pick up the broken pieces. Ouch. And on the cute side, B/E have taken the zebra to reflect their interracial marriage. Aww. We also see the poker chicks telling the brothers to run their own race while the brothers are giving them a hand with their broken cart.
5. At the other detour, Marcy and other old guy Ron take two attempts to get all the letters after mistaking a D with a bar through it as an O. Did we mention that the letters they're looking for are Vietnamese letters with freaky diacritics? And if that wasn't enough, they try a little self service when rearranging their letters and randomly hand over "Old Cap" to their clue guy, before wisening up and getting a local to do it. Which is what the clue said for them to do. D'oh!
6. Roadblock, and who's ready for a total breakdown? Task is to take apart two VCRs into its separate parts for recycling. Naturally, Pinky Matt takes this one for his team, adding that he used to take aparts VCR when he was a kid (figures). Here, there's been a bit of controversy, since I've read complaints that Lance wasn't following the rules by literally ripping up the VCRs instead of using the tools provided. But it sure looks funny, doesn't it?
7. Pit stop is Reunification Palace, introduced with iconic footage of a VC tank busting through the gates. We have a footrace for first between the Globetrotters and M/C. Globetrotters are first and get a trip to Aruba. Another footrace sees Z/J beating L/K to the mat for 8th place, prompting Lance to threaten to wrestle Phil (HEH!) Old couple get eliminated, and in a post-race interview, they claimed it wasn't as much the task itself as it was the cab rides that got them into last place.
Leg 4:
1. Next stop,
2. The next "assignment" is to go to a hotel suite named after the lady in the photo they've been given. Many of the younger teams assume it's Cambodiam royalty (Mika/Canaan even think it's Queen Elizabeth! :D) but Gary/Matt correctly recognize it as Jackie O. Regardless, most of the teams make their way to the right hotel (though some stop by the royal palace... d'oh!)
3. Next stop, the Russian Market. Your Detour this week: Cover (sell helmets for $10) or Wrap (find a lady with a scarf matching that which has been given to them). Lance/Keri sell helmets, everyone else looks for scarves. Gary/Matt try to tie this task in with their Montana roots by saying that they've been trained to spot things from a distance (HEH.)
4. Wat Tuol Tom Pong, and this week's Roadblock is who's ready to go bananas? Thanks to a great cabbie (and the plane bunching), Z/J have moved from 8th to 1st entering the Roadblock, in which Zev dances like a monkey. No, really. This Roadblock has the racers do three different monkey-inspired dance routines. (In Thailand, we have similar dancing.) Zev finds the third of the routines quite draining on him. Little does he know, a later development will be even more draining...
5. Pit Stop at Wat Phnom, with the teams wearing their monkey masks all the way to the finish. Your first 3 teams are, Z/J, S/D, and the Globetrotters. And I'm pretty sure that they don't mention any prize for Z/J is not suspicious at all. Oh wait, Zev's lost his passport, so Phil sends them out on the course to find it before the rest of the teams check in, yeah, like they have any chance, even with their great cabbie :-\
6. Upshot from the missing passport is that the poker players (appropriately enough ;-)) get to race another day. And although not shown in the actual episode itself, it turns out that Zev didn't lose his passport: a bonus online video shows that when they found it returned to the American Consulate, it had been found at Tuol Tom Pong, and Justin concludes that it must have dropped in the dark while he was looking for his flashlight. Ouch. As if getting eliminated over a missing passport after finishing 1st wasn't painful enough.
This past week's leg to come in the next update, but let me say right now that it was awesome.
