Gummo

I don't remember any other alliance betraying the spirit of the race as blatantly as the Mine 5 during the rappel-"sauerkraut" challenge, when a bunch of teams that would have had to do it over & over again to get it right, or even to figure out what the challenge was, were literally handed the answer by Hung. How that wasn't against the rules and earn a penalty for her and every other team involved I'll never understand. But it was that point that it became clear that this alliance wasn't about helping each other race, it was about avoiding the race altogether. And just to keep this post on-topic episode-wise: Hey, Deangelo, bittercakes much??

But they did that already in Season 1 when they first met Cara and the villagers and fought off the raiders. With Din recruiting Mayfeld, I'm getting more of a scruffy Dirty Dozen vibe. And speaking of the arbitrary way some characters die for good and others come back, I'm still pissed they killed Kuill -- he was a great character. And I bet HE could have rebuilt the Razor Crest from a few scattered atoms!

Thanks, all. That makes it a little better.

But didn't he take it back to the ship, rather than just dropping it? I'll have to watch again.

Whew, just finished the episode. Lots to love, a couple of things to eyeroll over. First, 3 eyerolls: Mando has always been ridiculously cavalier about leaving the Kid unattended, even knowing that there are bounty hunters and Imperial goons from all over the galaxy out searching for him. This time it went from neglectful to criminally stupid. "Kid, I don't know how long that force field will be up and despite the fact that I know you're always weak as an Navarroian kitten after you've done some Force hocus-pocus, I'm going to go fly off and fight the bad guys." Uh huh, good thinking there, Dad. And the klunkiest thing in the episode had to be Mando leaving his jetpack in the Razor Crest for No. Damn. Reason. Even a single throwaway line like, "Damn, my jetpack needs to be recharged" could have taken care of that blatant setup, but they couldn't even be bothered to do that. Lastly, why do Stormtroopers even WEAR armor? It doesn't stop any kind of ray, projectile or force. One shot and they die. What's the point of Stormtrooper armor!!? Now to the good stuff: Boba Fett! Now I'm no SW fanatic, not knowing more than the original trilogy plus a couple of the others, but c'mon! Boba Fett! The ONLY good thing about the SW Holiday Special (unless you count Bea Arthur singing the word "Friend" 18,000 times)! Boba Fett, who we've been teased with for decades! Finally! And he did NOT disappoint. What a badass fighter! I loved his weapon (wait, that sounds way too dirty). The return of the assassin, what-'s-her-name! Cool! And as deadly as ever. Much as I HATED it, the destruction of the Razor Crest was brilliant. I can't believe how upset I was. It was worse than destroying the Enterprise (because there's always a replacement Enterprise). But it looks like Mando won't be doing any flying anytime soon, since his jetpack was in the ship.... Mando, gunslinger-like, or maybe more like the Dirty Dozen, gathering his posse together to go against the bad guys. But Mayfeld? That was a left-field choice. Can't wait to see his reaction to being sprung by his captor. I'm expecting some saved-by-the-cavalry action in the last episode when everything's hopeless, involving Bo Katan, maybe Ahsoka, and whatever mysterious Jedi *cough Luke? cough* received Grogu's message. Which means things are only going to get worse next episode....

Easy to see why this season sat on the shelf for two years. The alliance may have been a good strategy but it's made for one of the dullest seasons ever. Also, the Race is all challenges now, no flight drama, no train or bus drama, no running-out-of-money drama, very little self driving; it seems to get more spoon fed every season. TAR used to be about racing around the world, now it's just an oversized obstacle course.

Well, you know that scene at the end where Moff Gideon was looking over those rows of dormant soldiers? That scene was actually a pilot for a spinoff called Clone Storage Wars.

Next episode December 18th! Trailer:

Spears disguised as flagpoles sure confused people on The Amazing Race!

Speaking as someone who knows NONE of the backstory outside of the original trilogy and two-thirds of the second trilogy, I LOVED this episode. Action, atmosphere, new characters (for us SW pseudovirgins) and a new destination for Mando and ... Grogu. *rolls that around on the tongue* Grogu, Grogu, Grogu.... sure, why not? So Ahsoka is the second person to tell Mando "you are as a father to him" -- IIRC, the Armourer was the first. He seems very reluctant to accept what's obvious to everyone else. Having lost his parents so violently and so young, I guess he's afraid to let anyone close. Another reason why he had no problem accepting the restriction of never removing his armor -- it's a physical manifestation of his emotional armor. When he was talking to Ahsoka, I could almost hear Mando thinking, "And I thought I belonged to a weird religious sect of warriors -- we're downright normal compared to THESE people!" So Grogu has already had Force training -- for his race, he's still a toddler who can't even talk -- how young do they start!? Still waiting for that tracker on the Razor Crest to come into play....

Oh, I don't think that poor kid owed Baby Yoda anything, including his cookies. But Baby, being the selfish -- and insatiably hungry! -- toddler he is, just took'em. Isn't it about time for Mando to give the kid a name? How much longer can he call him "Kid"? Even "Junior" would be an improvement.

I think the theme song is more about how Sheldon sees himself.

I wouldn't give him too much grief - she had boasted how she was primed to do all the heights stuff, she was perfectly safe, and she'd been ragging on him the whole race. Better a quick laugh at her expense than letting it all build up to an explosion later on.

Okay, new theory: The Imperium didn't fall because it was too large, dictatorial and would stuff any idiot into a stormtrooper uniform; it fell because all the competent people fell into pits unprotected by guard rails! What did the Imperium have against guard rails, anyway?? Great episode, nothing too heavy, just action from start to finish, with just a little goose to the overarching story arc. Just lots of fun from beginning to end. Oh, and Baby Yoda continues to be a little cookie-stealing stinker! The arms-up 'whee!' as Mando flew desperate evasive maneuvers was great, and the blue urp-up after it was over was hysterical. Glad to see Blue Guy, Greef and Cara again, and to see Greef has definitely come over to the side of the good guys (for now, anyway). His squealing over Baby was adorable. It sucks that Gina Carano's been so irresponsible in her pandemic tweets (that goes beyond politics because it's downright dangerous) because I really like her character. Also, for a defeated empire, there sure are a lot of active Imperial bases and soldiers still out there. But I guess it's a big galaxy.

Another fun episode. It's almost impossible but I am so in for a Blonds win. They're fun to watch, they have such great attitudes and yes, they're easy on the eyes. How did they manage to look cute even in beards! Meanwhile, I am so over Hung. I really felt bad for Chee when Hung started berating him in the car for feeling frustrated when he hadn't said a word. Now she's punishing him for thought-crimes! Whether prompted by the other teams or not, I thought it was a good move for the blonds to Yield Leo and Alana. They needed the advantage. And I liked Leo and Alana, they were having so much fun on the race, and that's infectious to watch. But geez, did they overthink the counting task. So is next week's megaleg another 2 hours?