TAR Unfinished Business: Eps 7 to 9
May. 6th, 2011 05:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
spiderbraidsEp 7:
1. After showing Gary/Mallory's Snapple-sponsored prize (IMO, the whole Snapple business was about as subtle as this), next stop will be Varanasi, by way of a connection in Delhi. After some humor with the Goths asking their cabbie if they can buy tix at the airport :-D, Ron/Christina having a nice meal :-) and Zev callingCalcuttaKolkata "Kol-Crowded" (meh), everyone gets tix landing at 10:45am, except for the Cowboys, who find themselves on a Jet Airlines (HUH.) flight landing at 11:45am, because they were apparently raised to be gullible :-P (We get a flashback to them having to swim to pick up a bottle in Mauritius.)
2. First stop there is a "tonga stand" for a Roadblock, involving finding a bunch of holy men in the crowded streets to get some scraps of paper and put them together into "When you're over the hill, you pick up speed" (Charles "Peanuts" Schulz), which turns out to be a bit ironic considering Ron (the oldest guy doing this RB) spends so much time (and searches over such a wide area) looking for the holy men, the Cowboys pass him.
3. Next stop, a wrestling club, not for a wrestling task, but rather a Detour between making fuel with hay and buffalo dung, and delivering hay to buffalo. Guess which one the Cowboys do ;-) Amusingly, Mallory, doing the fuel, points out that she wore the same shirt while digging cow dung in Russia :-D :-D There's also Zev/Justin and the 'Trotters singing out carrying hay in India :-D
4. Pit stop is some fort. 'Trotters edge Zev/Justin out for first and get a trip to Hawaii. Goths try to take a water taxi, and Vyxsin jumps into the river after seeing that their "cabbie" is too busy bickering :-D The Goths end up taking a tuk-tuk to the fort, and edging a water-taxi taking Ron/Christina out of the race, while the Cowboys make it all the way to 5th (not bad for an hour's deficit :-))
Ep 8:
1. Next stop is Vienna, Austria, and Mallory gives out a "Dammit" on finding out that it's much colder :-D Cowboys make a quip about having had enough of Cowboys and Indians that I kind of restrained myself from making last leg because I felt it was in bad taste. Speaking of the Cowboys, they get on a flight coming in later than everyone else once again, on purpose this time, to avoid connection problems. Both choices land on time anyways, and in another case of not-so-subtle product placement, everyone heads to the airport garage to get a Ford Focus, and a dashboard video of Phil Keoghan has them use its backing up camera to get their next destination, which is printed on the floor. It's Schloss Schallaburg, which is a castle in the sticks. Plus, Phil's video tells everyone that the 1st place team will get two Ford Focus cars.
2. After some asking for directions from a gas station, everyone drops by the castle to pick up a book from "someone out of Harry Potter" (according to the Goths), which is a clue to head back to Vienna and the National Library, where they give their book to the librarian and get a Detour between lugging Freud's couches and eating a bunch of meat on a Ferris wheel in 12 minutes (with a house band playing music, to boot). Kisha/Jen quip about the eating task being the biggest wiener they've ever eaten :-D while one of the 'Trotters pees on the library :-D :-D
3. Kisha/Jen, Zev/Justin, and Gary/Mallory all fail at eating, with the former two seemingly tricking G/M into thinking it was a doable task (even though all either team actually says that it's good food), and former beauty queen Mallory quipping about throwing up and trying again :-D I imagine that only a team with Joey Chestnut might stand a chance at finishing this Detour :-) Anyways, so everyone lugs couches to Vienna University, with Zev/Justin taking a wrong turn up another staircase. Moving on...
4. Next is a drive to Salzburg to a Roadblock. Roadblock is chimney sweeping, consisting entirely of lowering a weighted chimney sweep into a hole three times. Yes, it's that simple, and yes, they do reference Mary Poppins :-) We see the Goths bickering after Kent has gotten off the highway one exit early.
5. Pit stop is the Von Trapp family's villa (as in The Sound of Music). Zev/Justin manage to find it before the 'Trotters and get first place and the Ford Focus cars (which they even get to "test drive" right in the villa backyard :-)) Goths manage to get 3rd despite their bickering, prompting Vyxsin to quip that they might have to bicker more :-D (Incidentally, it IS their best placing this race, but ISTR that they placed 2nd in Croatia their first go-round.) Gary/Mallory are last... but not eliminated. Hmm...
Ep 9:
1. After a train ride with Kisha/Jen laying their legs on Flight Time, and a taxi ride where Zev/Justin convince their cabbie they're not terrorists :-D and Gary/Mallory's cabbie wastes their time using GPS, next stop is Schaanwald, Liechtenstein (Z/J: "Sounds like a fake country"), for a Roadblock involving riding a Solex bike with an odometer to measure the length of the whole country... all 22 km of it, and giving that answer to Olympic skier Marco Buchel. Before that though, Gary/Mallory have their Speed Bump, which consists of calculating the amount of gas they need to put in their bike for the proper gas-oil ratio, and then pumping with a manual pump a la Cambodia (yes, it's that trivial).
2. We see Jet comparing the Roadblock to Dumb and Dumber and Jen having to frantically bike to stay ahead of a truck :-) As for the actual task, half of the teams end up getting the answer off another contestant: Jen (who also gets directions from Vyxsin after losing her map) checks with Justin after he's given Marco the right answer, Jen gives it to the 'Trotters, and the 'Trotters give it to Gary. Meaning only Justin, Vyxsin, and Jet actually figure it out on their own (with Jet being the only one to ride across the country twice). We're shown that Jen wouldn't have given the answer to the Cowboys. In fact, it seems all this blatant answer-sharing is a ploy to knock them out.
3. Next is a train ride to Zermatt, Switzerland, and a Detour between eating fondue (no time limit this time, but there's still music) and carrying bags to a bunch of hotels. Zev/Justin eat fondue, Kisha/Jen see the fondue and switch, and everyone else chooses to carry bags. Z/J aren't very fond(ue) of the fondue (their words, not mine :-))
4. The bag task involves a bunch of racers dressed as bellhops frantically running around town and getting directions (and maps) to the hotels. We see the Cowboys quip, "Beep beep: That's an international language, isn't it?" :-) We see Vyxsin dragging Kent on the bag cart after finishing delivering the bags :-D Meanwhile, we get a clock telling how long Z/J are taking to finish the fondue, which is pretty close to an hour. Mom thought the fondue task was a bit grueling, and judging from Z/J's reaction, they seem to agree :-)
5. Double U-Turn at a fountain, and first 4 teams hit it without using it (Z/J do quip about using it on the goats :-) and K/V have already used theirs), so it essentially becomes a single U-Turn, and also decides who doesn't get eliminated. Pit Stop is at another restaurant, where after threatening to puke on Phil, Zev/Justin get a trip to Curacao, and get one more fondue pun in: "We're here for the fondue of it" :-) 'Trotters U-Turn Cowboys to the fondue to edge them out, and of course, their personal Western-movie-style musical motif plays them off. Well, considering that all of the teams I was rooting for made the final 6, I suppose I shouldn't be too disappointed...
Ep 10 to come once I've had a good look at it, but for now, who wouldn't love the Trotters shaking it while making chocolate? :-D
1. After showing Gary/Mallory's Snapple-sponsored prize (IMO, the whole Snapple business was about as subtle as this), next stop will be Varanasi, by way of a connection in Delhi. After some humor with the Goths asking their cabbie if they can buy tix at the airport :-D, Ron/Christina having a nice meal :-) and Zev calling
2. First stop there is a "tonga stand" for a Roadblock, involving finding a bunch of holy men in the crowded streets to get some scraps of paper and put them together into "When you're over the hill, you pick up speed" (Charles "Peanuts" Schulz), which turns out to be a bit ironic considering Ron (the oldest guy doing this RB) spends so much time (and searches over such a wide area) looking for the holy men, the Cowboys pass him.
3. Next stop, a wrestling club, not for a wrestling task, but rather a Detour between making fuel with hay and buffalo dung, and delivering hay to buffalo. Guess which one the Cowboys do ;-) Amusingly, Mallory, doing the fuel, points out that she wore the same shirt while digging cow dung in Russia :-D :-D There's also Zev/Justin and the 'Trotters singing out carrying hay in India :-D
4. Pit stop is some fort. 'Trotters edge Zev/Justin out for first and get a trip to Hawaii. Goths try to take a water taxi, and Vyxsin jumps into the river after seeing that their "cabbie" is too busy bickering :-D The Goths end up taking a tuk-tuk to the fort, and edging a water-taxi taking Ron/Christina out of the race, while the Cowboys make it all the way to 5th (not bad for an hour's deficit :-))
Ep 8:
1. Next stop is Vienna, Austria, and Mallory gives out a "Dammit" on finding out that it's much colder :-D Cowboys make a quip about having had enough of Cowboys and Indians that I kind of restrained myself from making last leg because I felt it was in bad taste. Speaking of the Cowboys, they get on a flight coming in later than everyone else once again, on purpose this time, to avoid connection problems. Both choices land on time anyways, and in another case of not-so-subtle product placement, everyone heads to the airport garage to get a Ford Focus, and a dashboard video of Phil Keoghan has them use its backing up camera to get their next destination, which is printed on the floor. It's Schloss Schallaburg, which is a castle in the sticks. Plus, Phil's video tells everyone that the 1st place team will get two Ford Focus cars.
2. After some asking for directions from a gas station, everyone drops by the castle to pick up a book from "someone out of Harry Potter" (according to the Goths), which is a clue to head back to Vienna and the National Library, where they give their book to the librarian and get a Detour between lugging Freud's couches and eating a bunch of meat on a Ferris wheel in 12 minutes (with a house band playing music, to boot). Kisha/Jen quip about the eating task being the biggest wiener they've ever eaten :-D while one of the 'Trotters pees on the library :-D :-D
3. Kisha/Jen, Zev/Justin, and Gary/Mallory all fail at eating, with the former two seemingly tricking G/M into thinking it was a doable task (even though all either team actually says that it's good food), and former beauty queen Mallory quipping about throwing up and trying again :-D I imagine that only a team with Joey Chestnut might stand a chance at finishing this Detour :-) Anyways, so everyone lugs couches to Vienna University, with Zev/Justin taking a wrong turn up another staircase. Moving on...
4. Next is a drive to Salzburg to a Roadblock. Roadblock is chimney sweeping, consisting entirely of lowering a weighted chimney sweep into a hole three times. Yes, it's that simple, and yes, they do reference Mary Poppins :-) We see the Goths bickering after Kent has gotten off the highway one exit early.
5. Pit stop is the Von Trapp family's villa (as in The Sound of Music). Zev/Justin manage to find it before the 'Trotters and get first place and the Ford Focus cars (which they even get to "test drive" right in the villa backyard :-)) Goths manage to get 3rd despite their bickering, prompting Vyxsin to quip that they might have to bicker more :-D (Incidentally, it IS their best placing this race, but ISTR that they placed 2nd in Croatia their first go-round.) Gary/Mallory are last... but not eliminated. Hmm...
Ep 9:
1. After a train ride with Kisha/Jen laying their legs on Flight Time, and a taxi ride where Zev/Justin convince their cabbie they're not terrorists :-D and Gary/Mallory's cabbie wastes their time using GPS, next stop is Schaanwald, Liechtenstein (Z/J: "Sounds like a fake country"), for a Roadblock involving riding a Solex bike with an odometer to measure the length of the whole country... all 22 km of it, and giving that answer to Olympic skier Marco Buchel. Before that though, Gary/Mallory have their Speed Bump, which consists of calculating the amount of gas they need to put in their bike for the proper gas-oil ratio, and then pumping with a manual pump a la Cambodia (yes, it's that trivial).
2. We see Jet comparing the Roadblock to Dumb and Dumber and Jen having to frantically bike to stay ahead of a truck :-) As for the actual task, half of the teams end up getting the answer off another contestant: Jen (who also gets directions from Vyxsin after losing her map) checks with Justin after he's given Marco the right answer, Jen gives it to the 'Trotters, and the 'Trotters give it to Gary. Meaning only Justin, Vyxsin, and Jet actually figure it out on their own (with Jet being the only one to ride across the country twice). We're shown that Jen wouldn't have given the answer to the Cowboys. In fact, it seems all this blatant answer-sharing is a ploy to knock them out.
3. Next is a train ride to Zermatt, Switzerland, and a Detour between eating fondue (no time limit this time, but there's still music) and carrying bags to a bunch of hotels. Zev/Justin eat fondue, Kisha/Jen see the fondue and switch, and everyone else chooses to carry bags. Z/J aren't very fond(ue) of the fondue (their words, not mine :-))
4. The bag task involves a bunch of racers dressed as bellhops frantically running around town and getting directions (and maps) to the hotels. We see the Cowboys quip, "Beep beep: That's an international language, isn't it?" :-) We see Vyxsin dragging Kent on the bag cart after finishing delivering the bags :-D Meanwhile, we get a clock telling how long Z/J are taking to finish the fondue, which is pretty close to an hour. Mom thought the fondue task was a bit grueling, and judging from Z/J's reaction, they seem to agree :-)
5. Double U-Turn at a fountain, and first 4 teams hit it without using it (Z/J do quip about using it on the goats :-) and K/V have already used theirs), so it essentially becomes a single U-Turn, and also decides who doesn't get eliminated. Pit Stop is at another restaurant, where after threatening to puke on Phil, Zev/Justin get a trip to Curacao, and get one more fondue pun in: "We're here for the fondue of it" :-) 'Trotters U-Turn Cowboys to the fondue to edge them out, and of course, their personal Western-movie-style musical motif plays them off. Well, considering that all of the teams I was rooting for made the final 6, I suppose I shouldn't be too disappointed...
Ep 10 to come once I've had a good look at it, but for now, who wouldn't love the Trotters shaking it while making chocolate? :-D
