The Amazing Race – Lucky frogs and evil spirits

This week’s episode of The Amazing Race showed us how the choices we make can have some bad consequences. Things got off to a seemingly great start for several teams who discovered a flight that went from Sydney to Tokyo via Hong Kong, and arrived fifteen minutes earlier than the direct flight. Anyone who knows anything about story construction knew the editors were having a ball with all of the foreshadowing going on, as the teams contemplated that the flight with the connection could end up setting them back if there was a delay. And there was. Mechanical problems set the teams in Hong Kong — Kent & Vyxsin, Jaime & Cara, Margie & Luke, Mel & Mike and Zev & Justin — behind the other teams by a little more than an hour. Flight Time & Big Easy were with Zev & Justin when they were looking at the flights, but with only one pair of seats left on the flight, the Globetrotters repaid the favor they received in the first leg of the race, when Zev & Justin helped them with the answer to the clue. In this case, a noble action ended up hurting the team it was meant to help.

I’m enjoying most of the teams this season because I think having gone through this experience once has helped them focus on the task at hand. They’re comfortable with their partners and they know pretty much what to expect from the game. It’s interesting to see how quickly alliances are formed and broken, though. Last week, Jaime & Cara were Luke’s “Race girlfriends,” but this week Margie & Luke ditched them and took off with Mel & Mike because being in a caravan of four teams was not going to help any of them. The snub left the girls flustered. To compound matters, the confusing crowded streets of Tokyo became an obstacle, as the girls hit another car, damaged its mirror and had to wait for the driver to call the police, instead of settling the matter through insurance. This little mishap ended up putting Jaime and Cara in last place but not out of the race.

Unfortunately, even in this early stage of the race some disharmony and physical limitations are plaguing the teams. We’ve already seen Mel & Mike struggle as Mel nearly collapsed on the ferry in Sydney. It’s nice to see someone like Mel not want to give up, but his poor son has been beside himself worried about his dad’s health. At the Detour this week, the guys chose to do the “Luck” challenge, which required them to strip down to their underwear and don some traditional Japanese garment (which wasn’t more than a strip of material tucked into their waistbands). Then they had to search through the mud, while being pelted by the locals, for a plastic frog. After spending what seemed like hours in the freezing cold, Mel wanted to forge ahead because he knew they’d be eliminated if they quit. Mike kept trying to get him to stop, but Mel’s reply was, “I’d rather die here with you than home in bed.” Mike finally had to call it quits, and the men were taken to an ambulance to get their core temperatures back to normal. Mel & Mike were the last team to check in and were eliminated, but the love and respect they have for each other is truly uplifting.

Not so uplifting are Ron & Christina. Poor Christina; I bet she’s wishing she was running the race with her finace, who she revealed was Season 12 cast member Azaria, instead of her father. Even though she insists it’s been a great experience spending time with Ron, she never really seems all that happy. Last week, he complained about Mallory not knowing where she was going, but she got them to a clue before Ron decided again she didn’t know where she was going; then he got lost. This week, Christina made Ron stop to ask for directions from another motorist who told them where to go. Ron, again, said the woman was less than helpful, even though they got to their destination because of her help. I guess Ron is just very old school and doesn’t respect women very much; whatever his problem is, I hope they’re out of the race soon. Sorry Christina!

An interesting piece of business did involve Ron & Christina and Flight Time & Big Easy between the Detour and the Pit Stop. Christina carried her fanny pack to the challenge and left it on a rock, and when the Globetrotters left the challenge, they took the pack with them, realized it wasn’t theirs, and left it in the changing area instead of taking it back. Ron and Christina freaked out looking for it and lost some valuable time and when they arrived in fourth place; they were like stone. Phil asked them why they were so upset, and they related what had happened. So Phil gave the Globetrotters a 30-minute penalty that put them in fifth place and Ron & Christina in third. It will be interesting to see if this has any repercussions next week.

Some episode highlights:

• Christina making Ron do the Road Block, which consisted of dressing like a samurai and shooting an arrow from atop a spinning wooden horse. Ron complained the entire time.
• Teams insisting on chest-bumping and hugging the man with the clue after they got out of the mud pit.
• Kent thrilled with his black and yellow samurai outfit.
• Jaime & Cara referring to the dried mud in their hair as Panda Poo … which would have been fitting had they been in China instead of Japan.
• Mike telling Phil about Mel that “sometimes you just have to quit for him.”
• Jaime & Cara pissing off Phil by reciting his line about being the last team to check in and eliminated and Phil snapping at them that they were incorrect.

Clacked by Chuck Duncan
on Mar 06, 2011 @ 23:41 EST5EDT