Sunday, November 7, 2010

Amazing Race Recap: "To Cab Or Not To Cab"

Last week’s episode of the Amazing Race featured no real progression in the Race itself since it was a non-elimination leg. Essentially Chad got frustrated at Stephanie, Thomas was condescending to Jill, and Nick and Vicki sucked at anything and everything they tried. Sounds like every other episode so far this season. What would the second leg in St. Petersburg bring?

My Random Thoughts:

- Jill and Thomas started the leg out in first place, and on the obligatory ‘Leaders talking about their great teamwork’ on-camera confessional: Jill declared that “Our main issue is Thomas talking at me and not to me”, while Thomas explained “We work very well together. I hope that continues.“ Yep, they sound like they’re on the same page.

- Brook and Claire opened their clue to find that they were heading off to the circus, which caused Brook to break out her trademark shriek and exclaim “I want to be in a Circus! That’s where I belong!” (also the title of the episode) For some reason, I can imagine that if Brook was actually in a circus, at some point, the people in charge would have to pull her into the office and say “Listen Brook, you’re just a little too…over the top. We need you to tone it down a bit.”

- Once the door opened to allow the teams into the Circus, Thomas leaped down the steps in a gesture that was more suited to a 5-year-old than a Notre Dame graduate. Seriously, look at the picture below. Can’t you just hear him yelling “Wheeeeee!” in his own head? I’m guessing that he still comes out of the grocery store with his shopping cart and runs and jumps on the back end of it, rolling along in the parking lot with a big smile on his face.
- You know what this show has been missing? Russian Carnies! Looking at the freak show that the teams had to deal with on the first detour, I felt like I was watching a Cirque Du Soleil show while on acid.

- Hands up if you were shocked that Thomas didn’t talk about his experience Plate Spinning and playing the accordion while at Notre Dame. Last week I explained that the only thing dumber than switching tasks, is switching back again, and then we see it yet again this week. And Thomas tried to justify it by saying that since the other option was right there, they would have been foolish not to see what it was. I really enjoyed watching him have trouble with the accordion, and saying that it was “way too much to learn.” I’m still loving how delicious that irony tastes.

- Nat & Kat’s post-leg confessional looked less like an on-camera interview for the Amazing Race, and more like a scene from Flashdance 2: The Doctors Can Dance.

- Did you notice that Mallory was completely calm & composed in this episode? Explaining everything clearly to the cab drivers, not getting flustered, and not screaming for no reason whatsoever? Whatever medication she took at the beginning of this episode should be prescribed for the duration of the Race.

- Chad had trouble spinning the plates and said “I don’t think I’m gentle enough. This is stupid.” I think he has lost sight of the fact that almost everything they do on this Race could fall under the category of Stupid if you really think about it. I’m not sure anyone else would find themselves flinging watermelons out of giant slingshots at suits of armour just for a Sunday afternoon treat. His tantrum-like behavior is getting very annoying. After they switched to the accordion, he thought he could do it because it was “just like Guitar Hero.” Listen, if you’re comparing your cultural experience in Russia to your Wii game…maybe you shouldn’t be making comparisons.
- I liked how they specified that the teams were not able to pay a taxi to lead them because I’ve always thought that it’s a cop-out to be able to do that on the Race. I hope that’s an across the board rule and not just one for this leg. It was also some pretty good foreshadowing that someone was going to get a penalty.

- Kevin said “I don’t think Nick would lie to us cause he’s awesome”, which made me wonder about Kevin’s ability to assess a situation for 2 reasons: 1) OF COURSE he will lie to you in a race for a million dollars, and 2) Nick is most definitely not awesome. And even if he was, what kind of logic is that? The faux confrontation afterwards was pretty lame:

Kevin: “Did you guys lie to us?”
Nick: (shrug) “Lie to you? We’re right here looking.”

Was that not the worst response ever? It made no sense, and Nick gave him the most obvious ‘I’m lying” face I’ve seen in a long time. After seeing that scene, I’d like to personally invite Nick to my next poker game.

- Nick, meanwhile, was calling everyone he could either a dumbass or a moron. I’d like to respectfully remind everyone that this is the guy who got into a cab in Ghana and asked the driver to take him to the Arctic Circle.

- Chad to Stephanie at the tower: “It was right in front of your freakin’ face!” Stephanie: “I love it when he rubs it in.” Then footage of Chad laughing at Stephanie in the cab for missing the statue of the building. I look more and more forward to that marriage proposal every week.

- Gorodki looked like a lot of fun. How many shots do you think it took for them to nail that one of Phil getting knocked over? (don’t worry, he was fine)
- Brook had a fan club of 10-year-olds gather to watch her throw sticks, and she rewarded them with a good old-fashioned ass shake. Meanwhile, Nick might have actually pulled a muscle patting himself on the back for how great he was on the challenge.

- Did you notice that Nick and Vicki were not subjected to a Speed Bump, even though the last episode was a non-elimination leg? I have been saying it for 3 weeks now, stop making redundant Speed Bumps…just carry on with the race.

- Michael and Kevin’s elimination was quite anti-climactic, because we all knew the penalties were coming. I liked Team Jumba, but they never really had a shot to win the whole thing.

Next week: Chad and Stephanie get some extra sleep, and Mallory once again turns to Jesus.

Amazing Race Fans, feel free to bookmark the site or add your name as a Follower on the sidebar to the left. You can also add me on Facebook, where I post all of the recaps as soon as they go up. Don’t forget to mouse over the pictures for captions, and please leave a Comment in the Comments section if you’re so inclined.

Related Posts:
Josh Wolk’s Amazing Race Recap
Darren Franich’s EW.com Amazing Race Recap
Spoiler TV - Amazing Race Recap

NOTE - A lot of people are searching for an explanation as to why Nick and Vicki didn't do a Speed Bump this episode. See the Comments section below for an explanation.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Apparently Nick and Vicki did not have to complete a speedbump because, in the previous episode, when they were listening to the pianos they had given the correct sequence of songs, but the guy kept telling them they were wrong when they were right all along so they didn't have to do a speedbump because that mistake is what caused them to come in last place.

Copied From: http://www.spoilertv.com/2010/11/amazing-race-recap-to-cab-or-not-to-cab.html#ixzz14ei42Na7
Thanks for linking back. It really helps our site. Please leave the above link in.

Sean said...

Thanks, I'll add a link to Spoiler TV directly in the post so people can just click it instead of cutting and pasting from the comments.

Anonymous said...

Jesus apparently sends Mallory home next week, since her time is now up and life can resume to normal in small town Morganfield.