Obligatory The Amazing Race: Unfinished Business post
Bumper edition!
Zev & Justin: The one thing I'm wary of in this season is that there are a lot of teams with rabid supporters who will insist that any and all first-place leg finishes this time around are proof positive that said team was ROBBED of victory the first time around. I'm sure Zev and Justin are one of those teams. I'm inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt though, because so far they've shown themselves to be solid, confident racers who can get things done in a straightforward manner. Good for them.
Flight Time & Big Easy: I...don't really remember a lot about these two in this episode. This is what comes of trying to write up my entry over a week after watching the episode. Still, I'll have plenty to say about them in the next one, OH YES INDEED.
Jet & Cord: Bah. I knew that I'd never be so lucky as to lose them on the first elimination, but I wasn't expecting quite such a rapid recovery. Interesting that they still seemed to struggle with getting the flag-clue in this half of the leg as well - they obviously really got sunk by that one, and I'll be interested to see how they fare over the race as a whole with the more mentally taxing tasks. They're definitely adept at making up time on the physical tasks though - they breezed through the rest of this leg.
Kisha & Jen: As much as I thought none of the teams had changed last week, I'm starting to notice a difference in these two - they're having fun. And good for them. They seem to function a bit better as a team these days - they're still not above the occasional daft mistake, and whether they can keep this up for the whole race is another question, but I hope they stick around for a good while yet.
Margie & Luke: I'm slightly concerned about Luke's driving. Not in the same way as I'm concerned about Jaime's driving in next week's preview, but just...since TAR tradition requires the navigator to sit in the back, and Luke needs to...well, look at Margie to communicate with her...is that safe? I dunno. They seem to be glomping on to other teams quite a lot - that seemed to be Margie's greatest distress when she lost her kangaroo foot, that she couldn't stay with the pack. Also, her and Jaime treating the whole thing like some kind of gal pals spa trip is weird to say the least.
Mel & Mike: Still not dead! Frankly with these two, you never know. Sixth place is very respectable, but I'm not getting much from them as racers. They're just sort of hanging with the pack, doing enough to survive, and that's pretty much it. I'm still not entirely convinced they should be on this season, as the unfinishedness of their businesses is debatable in my mind.
Kent & Vyxsin: An improvement on last week, although they could've done better if they hadn't misunderstood the rules at the Detour quite so dramatically, and that's always a concern. For a season that has so far involved so much working together from teams, you'd think they would learn to watch other people to find out what they're doing wrong. Although it was kind of worth it for Kent screaming "Vyxsin! Bring me children!" in the most call-Chris-Hansen way possible.
Jaime & Cara: Aside from the aforementioned spa day party with Margie, not a lot from these two on this leg. Then again, I guess there was a lack of non-English-speakers for Jaime to yell at. Although obviously their best contribution to the entire thing came in next week's trailer where Jaime apparently RUNS DOWN AND KILLS SOMEBODY. I mean, clearly there won't be an actual human casualty because no way would they have trailed it like that if there were, but still: exciting!
Gary & Mallory: Oof, what a slip. They lost a lot of time right at the beginning of the leg and never really gained it back, and Mallory's tendency to just run around like a mad thing without checking where she's going earned her a dose of Real Truth FlavorTM from Ron. There seems to be less appreciation for Mallory on the forums this time around (my personal suspicion is that last year no one noticed how manic Mallory was because, well, Brook), but I still enjoy this team. Or rather, I enjoy Mallory, and Gary is sort of there in the background.
Ron & Christina: I was worried when they were fighting it out for last place because I'm so not ready to lose this team yet. Ron appears to have reverted to type once again, and I for one am VERY PLEASED ABOUT THIS. Christina, on the other hand, not so much. I loved when they finally finished their Detour and all of his stuff was just lying on the floor for no reason, and she didn't even know what to say to him because...what do you say in that situation? Poor Christina. Anyway, they survive, huzzah.
Amanda & Kris: Well, I guess they have finished business now - they know that they're doomed to go out in a U-turn whatever season they race in. One one level, it's a shame, because: SHIRTLESS KRIS, HELLO! On another, it's not, because they didn't really have much to bring to the race beyond being an attractive young couple, and it's not like the canon is short of those. Also, Amanda was kind of useless at the Detour again, and they did squander a pretty good lead, so I can't feel that sad about their ouster. Now, if there could be some screengrabs of shirtless Kris on famousmales soon, that'd be grand.
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Zev & Justin: Hmm, two first place finishes in a row. It's impressive, sure, but now I'm just wondering if they're going to do a Romber (i.e. start out untouchable and then have one bad leg that gets you eliminated right away). I hope not, because they seem like good, likeable racers - although the implication that Zev made a joke about the size of Japanese men's genitalia is not good, if that is indeed what he was getting at. Bad Zev. Bad.
Gary & Mallory: A decent recovery from these two. They seem to be falling into a similar pattern from last time, in that they either excel or they choke, with precious little in between. Mallory was quite fun on the Detour (when she told the locals to look forward to seeing a mud-covered Cara & Jaime, because that would be hot) and Gary was kind of amusing on the roadblock ("I was born 1000 years ago"), and they did some pretty savvy navigating in a tough city, so this was a good performance from them.
Ron & Christina: If I may contribute to the wank that is everywhere, I don't blame Christina at all for anything. She was positively reserved in comparison to how I would've been if someone had been moving my essential race shit. It's unfortunate that the programme made it look like the penalty was only given to the Globetrotters because Christina ratted them out (they could always have just addressed it at the start of next episode if they didn't spot it in time for the GTs check in, but I guess that way they'd have missed the DRAMAZ) when she was simply expressing frustration at another team's negligence. I mean, come on - she's already got to put up with Ron, let's not make things any worse for her. And by the looks of the preview, next week he goes 100% batshit and starts dishing out the Real Truth FlavorTM to a bus. Oh Ron.
Kisha & Jen: Hmm. They do seem to have a habit of bleeding time off-camera, which is a bit worrying. I noticed this happening to Brook & Claire a fair bit last season as well. That said, their navigation skills seem to have improved a lot since their last outing, because they used to be hopeless at it, and this time around they're faring pretty well. They're even bringing the funny, because when they accidentally ended up at a funeral home, and Jen shout out a guilty-sounding "Sorry! Rest in peace!" as they drove away, I loled.
Flight Time & Big Easy: And now for the other side of Fannypackgate. Do I think them taking Ron & Christina's bag was a deliberate act of sabotage? No - from everything we saw in the show, it looked like a genuine mistake, and the sort of thing that could've happened to anyone. What bothers me is that when they realised their error (and the timeline's a little iffy here, because the footage that shows them acknowledging the error seems a bit cobbled together from woodshavings), they didn't really do enough to put it right. Leaving it in the men's changing rooms seemed lazy to say the very least - perhaps going back up the mountain to return it may have proven a bad idea if Ron & Christina had already left, but the fact that they didn't even try didn't sit well with me. Especially since they left it in the Men's Changing Rooms - fair enough, it was right on top of Ron's clothes, but I wouldn't trust Ron to look for anything, and it was somewhere where Christina couldn't look for it. Poor show, I thought, and the punishment seemed fair enough. I'm sure they'll make it up next leg, anyway.
Jet & Cord: They seemed particularly affected by the difficulty of navigating around Tokyo - it looks like they spent a lot of time just driving around aimlessly. That said, they made up a lot of time when it came to dumb muscle tasks. I think that'll be a theme for them this time around, and probably something that'll keep them in the race for a good while yet - worse luck. Still, at least they're keeping the catchphrases to a minimum.
Kent & Vyxsin: I feel like these two need to step it up a bit. Or perhaps Kent needs to step it up a bit - Vyxsin's doing pretty well. I did enjoy her burn on him after the Detour when he complained that he was cold and she was all, "well, I'm not, because I was WORKING HARD". But yeah, they're not doing as well as they did in TAR12, and I worry that if they don't get it together soon, one tough leg could do them in.
Margie & Luke: I'm confused over the power that Margie has over some of the other racers, who feel the need to run everything past her. She's one hell of a mother hen, that's for sure. And possibly some other adjectives starting with "mother". They remain pretty solidly mid-pack, and vaguely villainous, and continue to never do anything by themselves if they can avoid it. I wish they'd hurry up and be more interesting (and by "interesting", I mean "evil").
Jaime & Cara: Yeah, the car accident wasn't nearly as exciting as I hoped - I'm sure they made it look/sound more violent on last week's trailer. And although it did bring out the obnoxious side of Jaime a little bit, I thought she was a lot better-behaved than she would've been in season 14, so any progress is progress as far as I'm concerned. I also admired that in spite of everything, they kept plugging away and determined to finish the leg, even when they thought they were going home. With that in mind, it was even sweeter when they discovered they were still in the running, however barely.
Mel & Mike: Not really a surprise. Mike seems to have been fretting about his dad's health ever since they left the US, and that mud task just did them both in. They're nice guys, and I liked them a lot in TAR14, but they were a poor choice to bring back this year, and I think this finishing spot for them is about right.
Zev & Justin: The one thing I'm wary of in this season is that there are a lot of teams with rabid supporters who will insist that any and all first-place leg finishes this time around are proof positive that said team was ROBBED of victory the first time around. I'm sure Zev and Justin are one of those teams. I'm inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt though, because so far they've shown themselves to be solid, confident racers who can get things done in a straightforward manner. Good for them.
Flight Time & Big Easy: I...don't really remember a lot about these two in this episode. This is what comes of trying to write up my entry over a week after watching the episode. Still, I'll have plenty to say about them in the next one, OH YES INDEED.
Jet & Cord: Bah. I knew that I'd never be so lucky as to lose them on the first elimination, but I wasn't expecting quite such a rapid recovery. Interesting that they still seemed to struggle with getting the flag-clue in this half of the leg as well - they obviously really got sunk by that one, and I'll be interested to see how they fare over the race as a whole with the more mentally taxing tasks. They're definitely adept at making up time on the physical tasks though - they breezed through the rest of this leg.
Kisha & Jen: As much as I thought none of the teams had changed last week, I'm starting to notice a difference in these two - they're having fun. And good for them. They seem to function a bit better as a team these days - they're still not above the occasional daft mistake, and whether they can keep this up for the whole race is another question, but I hope they stick around for a good while yet.
Margie & Luke: I'm slightly concerned about Luke's driving. Not in the same way as I'm concerned about Jaime's driving in next week's preview, but just...since TAR tradition requires the navigator to sit in the back, and Luke needs to...well, look at Margie to communicate with her...is that safe? I dunno. They seem to be glomping on to other teams quite a lot - that seemed to be Margie's greatest distress when she lost her kangaroo foot, that she couldn't stay with the pack. Also, her and Jaime treating the whole thing like some kind of gal pals spa trip is weird to say the least.
Mel & Mike: Still not dead! Frankly with these two, you never know. Sixth place is very respectable, but I'm not getting much from them as racers. They're just sort of hanging with the pack, doing enough to survive, and that's pretty much it. I'm still not entirely convinced they should be on this season, as the unfinishedness of their businesses is debatable in my mind.
Kent & Vyxsin: An improvement on last week, although they could've done better if they hadn't misunderstood the rules at the Detour quite so dramatically, and that's always a concern. For a season that has so far involved so much working together from teams, you'd think they would learn to watch other people to find out what they're doing wrong. Although it was kind of worth it for Kent screaming "Vyxsin! Bring me children!" in the most call-Chris-Hansen way possible.
Jaime & Cara: Aside from the aforementioned spa day party with Margie, not a lot from these two on this leg. Then again, I guess there was a lack of non-English-speakers for Jaime to yell at. Although obviously their best contribution to the entire thing came in next week's trailer where Jaime apparently RUNS DOWN AND KILLS SOMEBODY. I mean, clearly there won't be an actual human casualty because no way would they have trailed it like that if there were, but still: exciting!
Gary & Mallory: Oof, what a slip. They lost a lot of time right at the beginning of the leg and never really gained it back, and Mallory's tendency to just run around like a mad thing without checking where she's going earned her a dose of Real Truth FlavorTM from Ron. There seems to be less appreciation for Mallory on the forums this time around (my personal suspicion is that last year no one noticed how manic Mallory was because, well, Brook), but I still enjoy this team. Or rather, I enjoy Mallory, and Gary is sort of there in the background.
Ron & Christina: I was worried when they were fighting it out for last place because I'm so not ready to lose this team yet. Ron appears to have reverted to type once again, and I for one am VERY PLEASED ABOUT THIS. Christina, on the other hand, not so much. I loved when they finally finished their Detour and all of his stuff was just lying on the floor for no reason, and she didn't even know what to say to him because...what do you say in that situation? Poor Christina. Anyway, they survive, huzzah.
Amanda & Kris: Well, I guess they have finished business now - they know that they're doomed to go out in a U-turn whatever season they race in. One one level, it's a shame, because: SHIRTLESS KRIS, HELLO! On another, it's not, because they didn't really have much to bring to the race beyond being an attractive young couple, and it's not like the canon is short of those. Also, Amanda was kind of useless at the Detour again, and they did squander a pretty good lead, so I can't feel that sad about their ouster. Now, if there could be some screengrabs of shirtless Kris on famousmales soon, that'd be grand.
*********
Zev & Justin: Hmm, two first place finishes in a row. It's impressive, sure, but now I'm just wondering if they're going to do a Romber (i.e. start out untouchable and then have one bad leg that gets you eliminated right away). I hope not, because they seem like good, likeable racers - although the implication that Zev made a joke about the size of Japanese men's genitalia is not good, if that is indeed what he was getting at. Bad Zev. Bad.
Gary & Mallory: A decent recovery from these two. They seem to be falling into a similar pattern from last time, in that they either excel or they choke, with precious little in between. Mallory was quite fun on the Detour (when she told the locals to look forward to seeing a mud-covered Cara & Jaime, because that would be hot) and Gary was kind of amusing on the roadblock ("I was born 1000 years ago"), and they did some pretty savvy navigating in a tough city, so this was a good performance from them.
Ron & Christina: If I may contribute to the wank that is everywhere, I don't blame Christina at all for anything. She was positively reserved in comparison to how I would've been if someone had been moving my essential race shit. It's unfortunate that the programme made it look like the penalty was only given to the Globetrotters because Christina ratted them out (they could always have just addressed it at the start of next episode if they didn't spot it in time for the GTs check in, but I guess that way they'd have missed the DRAMAZ) when she was simply expressing frustration at another team's negligence. I mean, come on - she's already got to put up with Ron, let's not make things any worse for her. And by the looks of the preview, next week he goes 100% batshit and starts dishing out the Real Truth FlavorTM to a bus. Oh Ron.
Kisha & Jen: Hmm. They do seem to have a habit of bleeding time off-camera, which is a bit worrying. I noticed this happening to Brook & Claire a fair bit last season as well. That said, their navigation skills seem to have improved a lot since their last outing, because they used to be hopeless at it, and this time around they're faring pretty well. They're even bringing the funny, because when they accidentally ended up at a funeral home, and Jen shout out a guilty-sounding "Sorry! Rest in peace!" as they drove away, I loled.
Flight Time & Big Easy: And now for the other side of Fannypackgate. Do I think them taking Ron & Christina's bag was a deliberate act of sabotage? No - from everything we saw in the show, it looked like a genuine mistake, and the sort of thing that could've happened to anyone. What bothers me is that when they realised their error (and the timeline's a little iffy here, because the footage that shows them acknowledging the error seems a bit cobbled together from woodshavings), they didn't really do enough to put it right. Leaving it in the men's changing rooms seemed lazy to say the very least - perhaps going back up the mountain to return it may have proven a bad idea if Ron & Christina had already left, but the fact that they didn't even try didn't sit well with me. Especially since they left it in the Men's Changing Rooms - fair enough, it was right on top of Ron's clothes, but I wouldn't trust Ron to look for anything, and it was somewhere where Christina couldn't look for it. Poor show, I thought, and the punishment seemed fair enough. I'm sure they'll make it up next leg, anyway.
Jet & Cord: They seemed particularly affected by the difficulty of navigating around Tokyo - it looks like they spent a lot of time just driving around aimlessly. That said, they made up a lot of time when it came to dumb muscle tasks. I think that'll be a theme for them this time around, and probably something that'll keep them in the race for a good while yet - worse luck. Still, at least they're keeping the catchphrases to a minimum.
Kent & Vyxsin: I feel like these two need to step it up a bit. Or perhaps Kent needs to step it up a bit - Vyxsin's doing pretty well. I did enjoy her burn on him after the Detour when he complained that he was cold and she was all, "well, I'm not, because I was WORKING HARD". But yeah, they're not doing as well as they did in TAR12, and I worry that if they don't get it together soon, one tough leg could do them in.
Margie & Luke: I'm confused over the power that Margie has over some of the other racers, who feel the need to run everything past her. She's one hell of a mother hen, that's for sure. And possibly some other adjectives starting with "mother". They remain pretty solidly mid-pack, and vaguely villainous, and continue to never do anything by themselves if they can avoid it. I wish they'd hurry up and be more interesting (and by "interesting", I mean "evil").
Jaime & Cara: Yeah, the car accident wasn't nearly as exciting as I hoped - I'm sure they made it look/sound more violent on last week's trailer. And although it did bring out the obnoxious side of Jaime a little bit, I thought she was a lot better-behaved than she would've been in season 14, so any progress is progress as far as I'm concerned. I also admired that in spite of everything, they kept plugging away and determined to finish the leg, even when they thought they were going home. With that in mind, it was even sweeter when they discovered they were still in the running, however barely.
Mel & Mike: Not really a surprise. Mike seems to have been fretting about his dad's health ever since they left the US, and that mud task just did them both in. They're nice guys, and I liked them a lot in TAR14, but they were a poor choice to bring back this year, and I think this finishing spot for them is about right.