Lingo

I'm really glad the partner swap turned out to be a big nothing. I was really worried that they were going to force these people to race with strangers for the rest of the race! I'll admit I've considered the idea in the past -- on a purely theoretical level, it could introduce some interesting dynamics as to interteam relationships for example. I even think that it may have made sense to try it last season, where the players were all strangers to begin with. But to do it to contestants who are expecting to have their friend/loved one by their side for the duration of the race would have been cruel. For a moment I thought that maybe Kristi and Jessica might be eliminated, and then Cody and Jen would have been forced to continue the race together while all the other teams got to return to their original partners. That would have been something (something crappy). It was so inconsequential it did feel like an hour-long Intersection. It's a little different than an Intersection -- with those, the official idea was to force two teams to work together rather than swap partners (although I remember that in one Intersection, two racers were required to leave their partners and do a Roadblock together). So this is a bit different, but it didn't really feel much different. Why do they keep putting the U-Turn boards before the Detours?! That's totally bogus.

Kristi and Jen rocked both roadblocks tonight, and seemed to be great at the Detours too. On both legs they came just shy of winning first. Not to belabor the point, but if they get knocked out for some stupid reason like a U-Turn or another lost cabbie, I am going to lose my shit.

OMG where did her shoes go?

Re your first point: yes! Am I right in that the first 5 legs have been won by 5 different teams? It seems like that rarely happens. Usually a few teams dominate the whole race. Although the skiers have been doing really well, perhaps in the top 3 of every leg so far? I am just really loving them so far, they seem to be good at everything. Yes, I think the ring must have been hidden in Lucas's headphone bag or something. I loved the look of puzzlement on Brittany's face when he asked for those on the race to the pitstop. I think she said that she thought his ears must have been cold! In some ways, that Head-to-Head (which I still don't mind) was much better than the first one. Culturally relevant -- incorporating a local game -- and strategic as well as physical, and you can learn plenty from earlier tries, which gives teams in front more of an advantage. And most of all, NOT GOOFY. On the other hand, it is a bit of a slow-paced game. Not an adrenaline-raiser. Yes I noticed that too. They seem not to like the Yalies for some reason. I hope they don't gang up against them.

Yes! Basically I am bothered by the fact that they've nerfed almost all these superheroes -- including and especially J'onn. What's the point of having all these superheroes on this superhero show when only one of them (Supergirl) is allowed to use her powers to their full potential? I mean I watched all of Season 2 and I'm still not sure what Mon-El's powers are. And why is Supergirl the only one allowed to have a colorful costume?? Everyone else including Reign is in all black. Strut your stuff, people! Get some zing! Take a cue from the Earth next door! On the other hand, I almost wouldn't mind if they killed off Kara if that meant Melissa Benoist would have to play as J'onn badly impersonating Kara every episode. That will never get old! But then I'd miss Kara and Alex's warm playful banter on that couch every week, which is always the best part of every episode. Katie McGrath has chemistry with everyone! Katie would have chemistry with a brick wall. Or ... maybe ... Katie McGrath only has chemistry with me ... Katie .... (This is hilarious to me because I have coworker literally named Katie McGrath. No joke.)

Cedric made a very simple, understandable mistake: he took the Roadblock clue and ran off, and just plain forgot that he still had his backpack on! Once he realized, I'm sure he thought, "Oh that's okay, I can manage" ... until he found out how long this roadblock was actually going to be, which no one knew at the beginning. Well it's a rookie mistake ... you can be sure he'll never make that one again. Even so, I was amazed that he managed to come out first out of the 2nd zipline ... then crushed that he still managed to finish the RB last. Man that RB! The RB was like a mini-leg in itself, it was so long and had so many lead changes. This whole leg was very similar: almost all the tasks were very physical, but they almost all demanded attention to detail too. It made for a great leg. And I'm thrilled the Yalies finished first despite the physicality. I do wish sometimes wish it wasn't so physical and that older teams like the BBall players could compete and stay in it more often. It'd be great to have another team like Ian and Teri make it to the end (well, Ian and Teri with better personalities). Was really worried about the Skiers at the beginning ... thrilled they finished 3rd. I laughed when I heard Phil describe the RB because I'd finally gotten around to watching that same Bourne movie a couple weeks ago!

I was amazed that all 10 teams got the clue to the crane at the same time, and yet 6 teams got so lost that the first 4 teams finished the crane task and were gone before the other 6 even showed up! And they were traveling on foot, so you would have thought that the bottom 6 could have just followed the top 4?

I like that idea, although I think having an empty cart would give you too big of an advantage. One bag minimum, I'd say. And I imagine they could pull the cart, although I don't think that would have been any better--probably just as hard to steer, and you wouldn't see when you dropped a bag! (Or you'd be driving backwards, even worse.) I was reminded of the old Intersection twist as well. That one was often bad because sometimes a team would have to wait a long time for another team to show up (I think for hours in one instance in Season 11!) -- which was really bad because those two teams are still competing with each other as well as the other teams. So the timing is key here. Which I think is another reason to have this thing at the end of the leg -- even if you have to wait, you don't have to keep competing with teams ahead of you after having lost time, because the mat is right there, and there's probably bunching on the next leg. I wonder if they'll have one of these on a non-elimination leg??? Now that would be extremely irritating!

Why? Why would getting another clue, jumping in a car, and driving to another random location and beating some other team who just beat you at this head-to-head be any better? It's just one random task versus a different random task. What makes one better than the other? I mean, we've already had plenty of episodes where a team who came in last at the last Task got to the pit stop not-last because some other team got lost on the way to the Pit Stop. Just last week for example, and maybe 20% of all episodes of all past seasons. We've seen it play out that way so many times. I don't mind having the last task be right at the pit stop for once (which we've also sort of seen before as well). That's a good point, and I hope they only use it in legs like this one, where there is unlikely to be much of a separation between teams. Or in cases where there's very likely to be bunching at the start of the next leg -- which, let's face it, is most legs these days. The point of the head-to-head was that it was an elimination competition. To have the finish mat anywhere else would be missing the point.

I thought the Head-to-Head Competition was an interesting concept. It's definitely not the worst twist they've ever had (that would be introducing teammates at the starting line and forcing them to pretend to be romantically interested in each other!). Not the best either (that would be ... um ... making the teams divide up their Roadblocks evenly I guess?). I disagree with the notion that it's not merit-based or not fair or that it makes the rest of the leg pointless. It is in fact very fair and merit-based from my point-of-view. You get to the end first, you get the most chances to win the HtH. If you get there last, you only get one shot. If you get there second-last, you get two shots, etc. Evan and Henry had to do it 7 times, but getting there so early meant they got 7 shots (and an 8th if they didn't beat the Goats). I guess the only way it fails in that regard is that the first team to arrive gets no advantage over the second. But other than that, it preserves the advantage of getting to a clue before other teams, which is a big check mark for me (I really hate bunching points that wipe out the efforts of what came before it). That said, I would prefer a task that has more of a learning curve, so that a team that gets there first has even more of an advantage. That would make a re-occurrence of an Evan/Henry situation less likely. Although I wouldn't have hated it if a team I disliked got there in the front and got eliminated because they couldn't finish this one challenge. That happens all the time on the Race. And I would prefer a head-to-head that involved both teammates competing instead of just one, considering that elimination is at stake. What I didn't like about it most are primarily two things: (1) it took too much time away from other parts of the episode, and (2) as a task, it was boring and goofy -- even deliberately so, by forcing them to wear the dumb costumes. It was basically just a dumb party game that had only a nominal connection to the culture surrounding it, and that really killed the mood for me. This should be a big deal because it's for elimination, but instead it just fell flat. In my mind I'm comparing it to other head-to-head competitions on other shows, although due to my limited viewing experience (I don't watch Big Brother or the Challenge for instance) I couldn't think of many. I think the best ones are Project Runway, where they occasionally force the Bottom Two to make a new dress in an hour. It's contrived but the challenge is directly relevant to the theme of the show, and it feels very dramatic. Survivor's fire-building challenges and other occasional head-to-head competitions (e.g. the Redemption Island challenges) are also pretty good too; they know how to build the challenges and edit the footage for maximum impact. This just doesn't compare. If this had been a true contest of significant skill, then maybe it would be a different story. And you know, this show has seen its share of truly genuine, dramatic, virtual head-to-head competitions. Think back to Season 4, for instance, of Millie & Chuck versus Jon & Kelly in the bat cave. I'm sure you can think of other cases. So the show doesn't need this. But I'm willing to watch it play out for the rest of the season. I could have used less of Phil's running commentary too. They're trying to make him do Jeff Probst's job here, and Phil just doesn't have the experience for it (although Probst often goes overboard as well). At one point after we'd already seen several head-to-heads, I heard Phil say something like, "The key here is to not drop any of your french fries." You don't say, Phil! Speaking of Phil: Is it just me, or does he seem a lot more soft-spoken this season so far? He hasn't been shouting anything, he's just been talking at a normal conversational volume. I wonder if he was nursing a touch of laryngitis. I will say that I really liked the Detour: mental challenges, very detail-oriented, and at least a little bit related to the locale. Good stuff.

They didn't have to go back.

Oh, so they ARE dating. I wasn't sure while I was watching. At first I assumed they were, but then I heard Evan call Henry "buddy", which I thought was kind of a strange word to call your boyfriend!

I just finished watching the entire new season on USA's website, since I couldn't watch it on demand on my TV at present. (It's only 4 hours, so ....) I have to say that the first couple of episodes left me cold and I was having trouble remembering why I liked the show. But as it went along, I began to remember, and I think the show itself remembered as well. Later on there's more of that playful back-and-forth banter that they do so well. And that loving warmth! It got good and funny, even when it became suddenly serious ... or I should say, especially when it became suddenly serious. It's a shame USA is burning it off in 4 short weeks, but it was fun while it lasted. Can't believe it took them 2 years to bring it back! I'm surprised Tara didn't write an article on the premiere episodes. Maybe on Monday?

What really struck me about this episode is what a poor, whiny, entitled schmuck Jimmy has become! He acts like the world is trying to bring him down, as if it's somehow not fair, but there is not a single negative consequence he is currently enduring that he did not bring upon himself. He DID switch the numbers on the MV contract, he knows it, Kim knows it. He DID break-and-enter Chuck's house more than once. And now he's dealing with the consequences of his suspended license. Which of course means the community service and the lack of his usual attorney income. He brought all of this on himself! And he seems to have completely forgotten that he WON the disbarment case. He got to keep his license, and he didn't even have to serve time for the break-and-enter! He won the big battle. And now he's whining about the entirely forseeable and deserved consequences, like give me a break. And, as pointed out, he's making it worse for himself, because of some really dumb stubborn emotional reasons -- primarily his desire to be seen as someone self-sufficient and dependable and worthy of Kim's respect. So despite Kim's very reasonable suggestions, like letting Francesca go and offering to support both of them for a while, Jimmy's pride can't let him accept it, and he digs an even deeper hole for himself. And he could just buckle down and work hard and honestly to get through it, but he can't even do that. He has to resort to tricks to get the fast bucks. The ironic thing is that he denigrates his father for not doing the "hard" thing, which in his mind is to cheat and steal and break the law. In reality, his father was doing what's really hard, which is getting through this life with honesty and integrity, while Jimmy is always looking for the easy way out.

Heh. I didn't think of that one because I was just thinking of all these recent casting gimmicks they've done in the last few years as a desperate ratings grab. But I guess the Family season counts as a gimmick too, which I would probably put ... hmm. On the one hand: boring route, boring tasks. On the other hand, teams I liked better than the ones on 24 or 26. So maybe I'd put it in the middle? Then there's the first two All-Star seasons, which didn't really feel like gimmicks to me. Season 18 is definitely my favorite of the bunch, I put it on top. Season 11 ... was often anticlimactic and the worst team won. But it didn't feel like a "gimmick" because all reality shows have all-stars seasons, and by that point we were asking for one. So I still put it near the top of this short list.

Scott said that tower was where the racers went on Season 9, when it was actually Season 6! Some superfan HE is! /sarcasm I kid, I kid. I'm actually impressed that he remembered that tower. I'm a fan (first 20 seasons on VHS), but I wouldn't have remembered that even if I was there. I don't mind Scott and Brooke winning. They were somehow entertaining. Brooke can be a little bit charming when she's got it together. She wasn't nearly as bad as Flo, who was ready to throw Zach under the bus the moment they appeared to be losing. Scott was funny. It helps that I wasn't rooting strongly for either of the other teams. I was rooting for Mom/Dad but their self-seriousness (especially their comments about the Korean video game task) turned me off. And LoLo ... are very hot but complete ciphers and how the hell are they so bad at racing?! This last leg and especially this final task are like so many other finales, where on paper it looks like it could be really challenging and exciting if the racers happened to be neck-and-neck ... but they weren't, so it wasn't. I think they must have thought that keeping them on foot for much of the leg would have kept them close together, but it didn't work out like that. I was surprised that they had a judge confirm their scoreboard was correct before they were given the formula to their clue in the stands. It would have been particularly grueling if the racers would have been forced to go back into the scoreboard if after looking in the stands for their clue, they decided they got it wrong. But I suppose they didn't want another case of heatstroke. Perhaps LoLo fell behind because the last postcard they got was at the location farthest from City Hall? I don't know Chicago geography but I'm just guessing. As far as these fucking gimmick casting seasons go, here's how I rank them now: 1) the Social Media Season (28) 2) the Complete Strangers Season (29) 3) "All"-"Stars" (24) 4) the Dating Game Season (26) I'm ready for another regular season. Or cast Bill Murray on the final season and call it a day.

As I said in the episode thread, I don't mind at all how Cirie went out. She was outplayed by not winning or finding an idol of her own (or forming a strong enough relationship with Sierra like Sarah did, or with Tai like Aubry did). And in the episode thread I pointed out that the Legacy advantage expired at S6, so even if all 3 idols had been saved up to F5, there would still be at least one person eligible for votes. However, it occurred to me today that there could easily have been a situation in which NO ONE would have been eligible for elimination. Troyzan saw everyone else play their idols and smartly, safely, played his. But what if he hadn't? Neither he nor Cirie got any votes. So there would have been a revote, with only those two eligible. Considering how the alliances lay at that point, the revote could easily have been a 3-3 tie. Then what would have happened? According to the usual rules, they would have gone to rocks. Except by the usual draw-rocks rules, Cirie and Troyzen would have been immune to the rocks because they had gotten votes, and everyone else would have still been immune because of their idols! So no one would have been eligible to draw rocks. What happens then??

Yeah, I just wanted to amplify this post. Cirie was voted out, not literally but practically. Just as what happened in Second Chances at F6, when all the players who got votes play idols, then they revote, but with idol-players remaining immune. It's just that this time, only one player was left un-immune, so Jeff didn't bother going through the motions. (Although if I were there, I would have nagged him to read the first set of votes anyway, just so the remaining players can see how they all stabbed each other in the back!) I understand that a lot of viewers feel that there are too many secret idols floating around in the game. But personally I like seeing new unique situations arise, like this one, and the one in Second Chances. I've always wondered what could happen if only one person was eligible to be voted for. Now I've seen, though, and I don't need to see it again. (I like the idols and other advantages, but I too would prefer there be fewer of them overall.) I also wonder what might happen if EVERY player happened to be immune. But you'll note that the producers engineered such a situation to be impossible, by forcing the Legacy Advantage to be played at F6 and only allowing 3 other idols in the game at once. So there will always be at least one player without immunity.

I doubt that this show is actually telegraphing Nacho causing Hector's upcoming paralysis. That seems too easy, too predictable. These writers like their surprises. There must be a twist. I would guess that Nacho tries to poison Hector and perhaps ends up dead for his efforts. The paralysis happens for a completely different reason. I do wish the two halves of this show came together more often. BB constrains the writers somewhat, but it's not inconceivable for Jimmy and Mike to have more adventures together. But the writers don't seem committed to making that happen too much. I keep expecting Jimmy and Nacho's interaction in early Season 1 to come back into play sometime down the line.

I'm still pondering Kim's hilarious reaction to Saul Goodman. I had to rewind and watch that 2 or 3 times. She seemed completely shocked, flabbergasted, blown away. Perhaps even a little bit ... aroused? The relationship between Jimmy and Kim is so understated, it's sometimes hard to get a read on exactly what is going on between them. I assume they're in a sexual relationship, since they are sharing the same bed (most nights -- I noticed his concern that she went home this episode) but we never even see them kiss. I do like how understated the show is with its characterization, but sometimes I could use a little more clarity. Is the doctor Chuck called the same one we've seen before (played by Clea DuVall)? Lydia! I never expected to see her on this show, though I guess if I'd ever thought about it, I would have realized it was totally plausible, once Gus arrived.

Well, who gets paid more, the box checker or the supervisor? So if a company is being forced or incentivized to employ humans, it'd make sense from the company's perspective to replace the expensive managers with synths, and keep the humans in the lowest-wage positions (sadly).

OK, someone who's watched both English and American versions (if anyone), tell me what they cut please! Like Max's wink shown in the recap (I don't remember that). It sounds like Max and Hester had some more philosophical discussions I was not privy to. If they keep cutting out all of her dialogue, it'll be a grave disservice to her character (not to mention Max's). And the Odi plotline seemed really chopped up as well, although maybe it was the same in the original too. Yeah, I don't care for Mia and Ed's relationship either. Are we supposed to care and sympathize with these "Synthies", these people pretending to be synthetics? Why? Like Toby's classmate here. Isn't she basically the Rachel Dolezal in this scenario? It's pretty rich that they cast a black actress to play her.

It really does. I was really mad at Max and Leo for apparently not even trying to explain WHY what Hester was doing was wrong -- but actually they did! I especially liked how in Season 1 they made each of the Synth's personalities and actions reflect their pasts. Removing Hester's past made her motivations more opaque to me, and just made her feel like a less-sympathetic, duller copy of S1 Niska (though perhaps they want her to be less sympathetic?). What worries me in particular is that, in choosing what to edit out of S1, they decided to stick mostly to removing a single storyline: Pete's relationship with his wife. I was able to follow that storyline well enough, but I fear it could do a lot of damage to Hester's story if they take the same approach here. I'm not particularly mad at AMC doing this, as I know most American networks cut down most British imports, but it's puzzling in this case, considering that AMC seems to be a co-producer, and as I pointed out above, they're will to let their own shows (TWD, Breaking Bad, etc.) take as long as they need. And why does it have to be the same edited version online (iTunes etc)? Does AMC not actually have ultimate say over the edit?

Absolutely none of this is in the American cut of the episode. Goddammit AMC. :( Why can't you just run a 65-minute cut of the episode if that's what it takes? You let The Walking Dead run over all the time >:( The version of S1 on iTunes is the same edited-down version they showed on air BTW.

Off-topic, but it's funny you say that, because Zoolander was totally based on a model who ran on The Amazing Race (or possibly two models, since they were twins!).