S36.E01: You Can’t Drive While You’re Crying

[Rodney]

6 minutes ago, Lantern7 said:

Ow. Siblings got eliminated anyway. I guess this wasn’t “Great Days” for Rohan.

That was an anime reference. Pay it no mind.

When I think of Rohan, I don't think of anime.  I think of Tenzin's youngest son.

[susannot]

NFL Guy coming in first.  Not a surprise.  I like them, and also the goofy twins.  Dad and daughter will be out soon but my God they are so much better than the horrific Dad and daughter team from last season.  Mercifully I have forgotten their names.

Edited March 14 by susannot

[KeithJ]

Chris and Mary. I get wanting to do the race with your daughter / father but at least take a jog around the block before you apply for the race.  If you almost pass out from that, maybe you’re not gonna make it on the race. Chris looked like he was going to fall over and die multiple times.

 

Maya and Rohan. What in the world were you doing with your car?  It did have a reverse gear.

 

A team got eliminated without a pit stop?

[Quilt Fairy]

3 minutes ago, susannot said:

my God they are so much better than the horrific Dad and daughter team from last season.  Mercifully I gave forgotten their names.

You mean the "C'mon, Dad!" team?  Yeah, don't remember their names, either. 

[anniebird]

Jeez, those poor siblings actually took different languages in high school so they would be more competitive on The Amazing Race,,,,and then they got eliminated in the first round. You probably shouldn't make life choices based on TAR.

[Quilt Fairy]

20 minutes ago, anniebird said:

You probably shouldn't make life choices based on TAR.

I don't think learning another language has a downside. 

[Lakebum]

For a while there I thought we were going to have the first-ever leg where every team lost. Many of these teams are going to have to improve, a lot, and in a hurry, or this season will be less about adventure and more surviving a comedy of errors…

Edited March 14 by Lakebum

[anniebird]

10 minutes ago, Quilt Fairy said:

I don't think learning another language has a downside. 

I don't either - but I don't think you should choose the language you study based on a reality TV show that you hope to get on.

 

[WatcherUp2]

53 minutes ago, Rodney said:

When I think of Rohan, I don't think of anime.  I think of Tenzin's youngest son.

I'm old so I think Lord of the Rings, the OG Rohan. I have no idea what you whippersnappers are referencing.

[Rodney]

Just now, WatcherUp2 said:

I'm old so I think Lord of the Rings, the OG Rohan. I have no idea what you whippersnappers are referencing.

In my case I was referencing The Legend of Korra.

47 minutes ago, Quilt Fairy said:

You mean the "C'mon, Dad!" team?  Yeah, don't remember their names, either. 

Steve & Anna Leigh.

[Lantern7]

Well, the good news is TAR wasn’t as disappointing as this week’s Survivor. The bad news? Thirteen teams are way too many to keep track of, even with ninety minutes to do so.

Once again, we got some inspired tasks. You don’t want to lug rocking horses over cobblestones? You can watch a luchador battle royale and try to match the paired wrestlers. Later, you jump through ropes. You have to wear a hat AND kerchief, though. There’s always one team that doesn’t read the clue to start the race.

Man, Maya & Rohan had no chance. I figured that we had a Mega Leg and that would save them. Nope . . . Phil should’ve mercy-eliminated them when their car got stuck.

28 minutes ago, WatcherUp2 said:

I'm old so I think Lord of the Rings, the OG Rohan. I have no idea what you whippersnappers are referencing.

Rohan Kishibe from Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable. Well, at least we still have a tribe named Nami over on Survivor.

Edited March 14 by Lantern7

[mertensia]

Maya and Rohan waited waaaaaaay too long to get directions.

Chris looks like he's going to keel over every time he walks faster than a mosey.

 

[Skooma]

3 hours ago, Browncoat said:

And these acrobatic guys on the giant pole are insane.

Good call on dumping the crossword puzzle books.

 

3 hours ago, Quilt Fairy said:

Haven't we seen them before on a Mexico leg?   I'm kind of disappointed that they're just a landmark and not part of a task.

Yes.  Well a different but similar group anyhow.  Back on Season 3 where The Wonder Twins did the Fast Forward: 

Quote

This leg's Fast Forward required one team to travel to the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City and join a group of performers called the Voladores by climbing a 100-foot (30 m) pole and swinging around the pole while suspended on ropes. Derek & Drew won the Fast Forward.

And yeah Rohan = The Lord of the Rings.  And I bet Stephen Colbert would agree.

As stated above this is the season that was filmed before the season we just saw last fall.  It was the last covid influenced season too thus the start in Mexico instead of flying there commercially and dealing with a crowded airport.

Spoiler

Which means all flights between countries on this season will still be on the chartered plane again alas.

 

Edited March 14 by Skooma

[Fretful]

4 hours ago, Quilt Fairy said:

Haven't we seen them before on a Mexico leg?   I'm kind of disappointed that they're just a landmark and not part of a task. 

 

I believe Derek and Drew (season 3) joined them as a Fast Forward.

[PrincessPurrsALot]

I am calling the twins Team Spicoli. 

[lgprimes]

4 hours ago, Browncoat said:

 

Twins are clueless

 

In our house we are already referring to them as the Spiccoli twins. 

[Fukui San]

2 hours ago, PrincessPurrsALot said:

I am calling the twins Team Spicoli. 

The Spicolae?

[shura]

Wow, so many teams that seem really unprepared and not likely to do well on the Race. Did the siblings say they were competitive swimmers and something else? Competitive? In the sense that they want to win, I’m guessing, not in the sense they are able to compete, right?

Phil said something like “we went to a new country last season, and this season we are going to two new countries!”  Seeing how “this” season happened before “last” season, did they assemble everybody on that beach again way afterwards, just to record that line?

[Fake Jan Brady]

This is all I could think of during Maya and Rohan's parking problem.

Way too many emotional back stories for one episode. 

After last season's likeable cast this one seems like slim pickings.

[Haleth]

6 hours ago, Skooma said:

It was the last covid influenced season too thus the start in Mexico instead of flying there commercially and dealing with a crowded airport.

But of course they all had to fly there and go through a crowded airport anyway.  

1 hour ago, shura said:

Phil said something like “we went to a new country last season, and this season we are going to two new countries!”  Seeing how “this” season happened before “last” season, did they assemble everybody on that beach again way afterwards, just to record that line?

Since it was such a vague comment, "a new country" might have fit the race before the previous one too.  (Of course I couldn't tell you anything about that one, it was so long ago.)

Thank goodness the siblings were eliminated despite being a continuous leg.  Watching them try to turn the car was painful and even though they caught up twice they still managed to fall way, way behind with poor navigation.

My daughter and SIL got married in Puerto Vallarta.  It is gorgeous there and a really fun place to visit.  Yes, it can be very hot and humid.  Not fun standing on a beach in formalwear.  

[shura]

56 minutes ago, Haleth said:

Since it was such a vague comment, "a new country" might have fit the race before the previous one too.  (Of course I couldn't tell you anything about that one, it was so long ago.)

Ah yes, you are right.  He must have been referring to Jordan, but it worked out well with the season switch and refers to Slovenia now.

[Good Queen Jane]

3 hours ago, shura said:

Seeing how “this” season happened before “last” season, did they assemble everybody on that beach again way afterwards, just to record that line?

If you watch, they don't show Phil's face when he says that or makes any reference to "last" season. I assume that they just dubbed in Phil's voice. It's amazing what you can do with editing.

[chaifan]

2 hours ago, Haleth said:

But of course they all had to fly there and go through a crowded airport anyway.  

My guess is that they're using the Amazing Chartered Plane, like they did in the other covid season.  Which, personally, is fine with me.  I liked the airport drama of 'yore, but post 9/11 airport drama was mostly useless filler.  I'd rather see the screen time go to actual challenges. 

13 minutes ago, Good Queen Jane said:

If you watch, they don't show Phil's face when he says that or makes any reference to "last" season. I assume that they just dubbed in Phil's voice. It's amazing what you can do with editing.

I caught the "last season" reference as he said it, and was actually paying attention from that point on.  Anything that seemed to reference "last season" was said "off screen" and seemed dubbed in.  Honestly, it would have been better if they just left it out - why pretend these two seasons are in normal order when it's well known they aren't? 

Teams:  I like the pilots, they aren't giving me the standard overly macho Alpha male team vibe.  I like the cousins (who are like sisters).  I like the gay couple in the tropical print shirts.  I like double dutch team.  NFL guy comes on as a bit too much, he's not totally irritating to me yet, but there's clearly the potential for that.

I like that the teams that could speak Spanish could actually speak Spanish, and no one was just making up words with -o- tacked on to the end.  Everyone seemed to be really respectful of the locals.  Overall, this looks like it will be a good cast to watch, no one stands out for hate-watching, no one stands out as actor/model here to get social media likes. 

 

[TheRabbi]

I thought this was a really fun premiere and I was laughing throughout. The siblings were comically toast from the beginning, but that Austin Powers moment was an all time classic. Lots of other fun moments throughout. Hopefully a sign of a good season to come. 

[iMonrey]

1 hour ago, chaifan said:

no one stands out for hate-watching, no one stands out as actor/model here to get social media likes.

Agreed. I have no real favorites so far, but I don't dislike anyone yet either. And maybe they got the memo we're sick of social media influencers?

I think Rod and Leticia (NFL and wife) are going to be the team to beat. But I was surprised how well boyfriends Ricky and Cesar did. I think the face mask detour was the better option overall but especially for them. 

Derek and Shelisa are retired police officers but they are captioned as "grandparents" so I had trouble remembering who they were through the whole episode. 

I thought twins Anthony and Bailey would be awful but they actually did a fairly decent job. They raced right through the Roadblock (whichever one did it) and they're both young and fit. They seem to be having a good time too. That goes a long way. 

Air force pilots Juan and Shane are also going to be a strong team, they made up a huge time deficit toward the end and are arguably the most fit after Rod. 

I have no real feel for anyone else yet, except it was clear right away sibs Maya and Rohan were toast when they got hopelessly lost and Maya refused to stop or turn around. Father/daughter team Chris and Mary aren't long for this race either if this leg was any indication of Chris's stamina. 

[Skooma]

7 hours ago, shura said:

Phil said something like “we went to a new country last season, and this season we are going to two new countries!”  Seeing how “this” season happened before “last” season, did they assemble everybody on that beach again way afterwards, just to record that line?

No.  It was Jordan he was referring too which was the real Race chronologically filmed before this race.  Not the one broadcasted last fall.

I feel like time and space will be altered because of this broadcasting switcheroo.  🤪

6 hours ago, Haleth said:

But of course they all had to fly there and go through a crowded airport anyway.

Not necessarily.  See below.

3 hours ago, chaifan said:

My guess is that they're using the Amazing Chartered Plane, like they did in the other covid season.

[Quilt Fairy]

3 hours ago, chaifan said:

but post 9/11 airport drama was mostly useless filler.

Except for season 1, all of TAR has been post 9/11.  

I totally forgot about the Amazing Chartered Plane, now it makes perfect sense why they started out in the first country.

So, first episode of the season and we get to hear the entire theme song, and I'm clapping along in excitement.  

[aghst]

I haven't driven in Mexico.  But a lot of the racers seem to be fairly comfortable in Spanish so it shouldn't have been something like mixing up street names.

It wasn't only the brother-sister team that had trouble with navigation.

Seemed random, the pilots and the doctors both had problems.

They all performed the tasks okay.

So it seems like bad luck in getting lost is what got the team eliminated.

Oh and no maps?  What's that about?  The producers are leaning into asking bystanders for directions or looking up Google Maps on bystanders' phones now?

But one team said they didn't want to stop to ask for directions because they might lose time?

 

[chaifan]

2 hours ago, Quilt Fairy said:

Except for season 1, all of TAR has been post 9/11.  

I totally forgot about the Amazing Chartered Plane, now it makes perfect sense why they started out in the first country.

You are right.  The airport dynamics did have a noticeable shift after the first few seasons.  I can't pinpoint it, but my brain was saying 9/11, but my brain is wrong.  I remember somewhat early on there was a production/rule change about buying as many standby flights as you could with the Amazing Credit Card, so that made teams make an actual decision and stick with it.  And then I think it was just that there were overall fewer flights and less choices, so either production was choosing the flights or everyone ended up on the same flights anyways. 

Anyways, my point was: airport drama bores me, and if I had my way the Amazing Chartered Plane would be a permanent part of TAR.  Or, they'd have more self-driving between contiguous countries.  I know I'm in the minority on this opinion.

[Notabug]

28 minutes ago, chaifan said:

You are right.  The airport dynamics did have a noticeable shift after the first few seasons.  I can't pinpoint it, but my brain was saying 9/11, but my brain is wrong.  I remember somewhat early on there was a production/rule change about buying as many standby flights as you could with the Amazing Credit Card, so that made teams make an actual decision and stick with it.  And then I think it was just that there were overall fewer flights and less choices, so either production was choosing the flights or everyone ended up on the same flights anyways. 

Anyways, my point was: airport drama bores me, and if I had my way the Amazing Chartered Plane would be a permanent part of TAR.  Or, they'd have more self-driving between contiguous countries.  I know I'm in the minority on this opinion.

I believe in later seasons, particularly after Colin and Christy managed to get an almost 24 hour lead on the pack at least in part due to airport skills; TBTB added restrictions to the rules for booking a flight.

In the early seasons, teams flew some obscure airlines overseas that didn't have a great safety record which also led to the Amazing lawyers issuing a proclamation that only certain airlines, those with documented safe records, were ok to use for flights.

Also, over time, airlines have combined and formed partnerships etc to cover their routes, so the days when half a dozen airlines services a single destination on a daily basis are over.  

[Netfoot]

Glad to see TAR back. 

No immediately unlikeable teams but none of them look too competent either. 

I never new they made Chevys that did not come equipped with a reverse gear. You know, for getting out of places without having to do a 129-point turn.

Her dad is Mexican so that was her rope-jumping challenge. To attempt 18+ times....

Some of the challenges seemed like they could be fun and hopefully the racers will soon sort themselves out into nice vs. nasty.

I'm not sure why they broadcast the seasons out of order. I was told that this season was considered too bad to go to air and had been abandoned, but then TPTB reconsidered. Good or bad, it's IP that has some value. Let's hope it isn't too awful, especially after the latter-day classic that was last season. And you never know. Sometimes the viewers confound the expectations of the production team.

[dancingdreamer]

The first episode  is so frenzied,  I need them to settle down.

The tasks weren't  too hard, but just being in that heat made them harder.

Dad isn't  in shape, I always  worry  about guys like him.

[iMonrey]

3 hours ago, aghst said:

But one team said they didn't want to stop to ask for directions because they might lose time?

It was Maya who said they could have stopped and bought a map but didn't want to waste time. Bit of a bad call there.

1 hour ago, chaifan said:

Anyways, my point was: airport drama bores me, and if I had my way the Amazing Chartered Plane would be a permanent part of TAR.  Or, they'd have more self-driving between contiguous countries.  I know I'm in the minority on this opinion.

I don't think you're in the minority. I have recently gone back and watched Seasons 1, 2 and 3, which I had never seen before, and fully half the episodes were spent on airport drama, minimalizing time spent on Roadblocks and Detours. There was just way too much footage of people at airports looking up flights, booking flights, fighting over flights, waiting for flights, boarding flights, etc. 

That said, there should be a happy medium between that and being spoon-fed pre-arranged flights. I think last season they went back to using travel agents to book flights, right? That seemed to strike a good balance.

Edited March 14 by iMonrey

[chitowngirl]

58 minutes ago, Netfoot said:

I'm not sure why they broadcast the seasons out of order. I was told that this season was considered too bad to go to air and had been abandoned, but then TPTB reconsidered. Good or bad, it's IP that has some value. Let's hope it isn't too awful, especially after the latter-day classic that was last season. And you never know. Sometimes the viewers confound the expectations of the production team.

This season was already edited to fit into a 60 minute time slot when the Hollywood strikes happened. So they edited the next season for a 90 minute time slot so CBS could air something. Then they re-edited this season to fit a 90 minute time slot. It’s easier to edit from scratch than to re-edit something already completed.

[Fukui San]

In general, even though we know that this episode was retrofit to be 90 minutes it didn’t seem artificially stretched. It’ll be the later episodes which might be more padded seeming with fewer teams and with the race not designed to have extra checkpoints like we may have seen last season.  

[choclatechip45]

I felt bad for the siblings, but that is why it is bad to make life choices based on a reality show!

[chaifan]

3 hours ago, Netfoot said:

I was told that this season was considered too bad to go to air and had been abandoned, but then TPTB reconsidered.

I don't know who your source is, but that sounds ridiculously unlikely.  That would be a waste of millions and millions of dollars to shoot an entire season and decide to not air it.  As a practical matter, I can't even imagine how an entire season of TAR could be "too bad" to make it to air.  Bad in what way? 

[Ancaster]

No-one here seems to dislike any of the racers, so I feel compelled to say I didn't like the football (?) player and his wife.  Pretty much the first footage of them was them bickering in the car.  Not a good indication if they're doing this at the beginning of the race.  By the time killer fatigue crops up, they'll be unwatchable, at least for me.  I don't care how long they've been married and if this is how they normally communicate, I don't want to see it on The Amazing Race.

 

[Seelouis]

23 minutes ago, chaifan said:

I don't know who your source is, but that sounds ridiculously unlikely.  That would be a waste of millions and millions of dollars to shoot an entire season and decide to not air it.  As a practical matter, I can't even imagine how an entire season of TAR could be "too bad" to make it to air.  Bad in what way? 

Very true. I mean they aired the family edition!  Nothing could be worse than that. 

[Quilt Fairy]

3 hours ago, iMonrey said:

That said, there should be a happy medium between that and being spoon-fed pre-arranged flights. I think last season they went back to using travel agents to book flights, right? That seemed to strike a good balance.

Travel agents seem to be more common in Asian countries, that may be due to visa/passport requirements, but I don't think you'll find many of them elsewhere. 

I didn't mind the charter flights per se, what bothered me was that they acted to level the playing field time after time after time.  If a team is hours behind, there should be a penalty for that, not "Don't worry, we held the plane for you!"

[vousviou]

First episodes are always a bit flat due to all of the introductions and camera time getting divided so much, but I'll say it was a really well-designed leg. The self driving added a lot of tension, the challenges were interesting and made teams work and think, and they took advantage of the location.

Season 35 had a lot of well thought out legs, so I'm hopeful that will be true this season too.

[Netfoot]

2 hours ago, chaifan said:

I don't know who your source is, but that sounds ridiculously unlikely

When the last season aired I wondered what had happened to this season. I was told the story about it being abandoned. It seemed unlikely to me, since no matter how bad the season had been, there would be some value in the IP. But the season had clearly not been aired, and what do I know? 

[Giuseppe]

I thought the unofficial explanation was that this season wasn't 'too bad' to air, but just not as good or exciting as the last season aired, and they knew so many of us wanted to see a 'back to basics' race, so they aired last season first even though it was filmed after this one. We'll see how this season plays out, but the use of the amazing charter plane is NOT it for me. Charter plane on each leg equals not actually racing around the world, and that is my big gripe. The struggle for teams to figure out how to get from point A to point B whether by plane, train, bus, or ferry has always been the best part of the race for me. I hate the over-use of spoon fed travel.

That said, I didn't mind this premiere. But Mr. NFL is treading on that line of over-exuberant, over-celabratory racers that annoy me. And Mrs. NFL is surely gonna get tired of putting on all that makeup every leg, lol. So far though, have no strong reactions for or against any team.

[Cotypubby]

Yeah I hate the chartered flights. It made sense during Covid but it really saps so much of the drama from the race. Seeing teams have to figure out on their own how to best get from place to place and choosing between various flights and airlines was always one of my favorite parts. Without the airport drama the show can be quite boring.

Don’t they normally start with 11 teams? I guess they have 13 this time because there aren’t any non-elimination legs.

Edited March 15 by Cotypubby

[Vermicious Knid]

I was just on the Malecon and Centro last week. I think I recognized the square with the Luchadors too, which does not usually have a wrestling ring. Yes, outside of the major thoroughfares most of the city is narrow cobbled streets. I've been on buses that feel like they're going to hit the buildings while swinging around corners. And driving is crazy. It's not real obvious in the epidode where they're going down that main street but the lanes in the middle are like express lanes and you can't exit directly from them, if you want to turn you have to switch to the outer lanes running alongside. Which means lots of jughandles because there are no left turns.

Teams seem okay, no one instantly dislikeable or obnoxious. There should be a tequila challenge, not taking shots but something like chopping up the agave and putting them in the ovens. That's a lot of hard work.

[Haleth]

8 hours ago, Quilt Fairy said:

I didn't mind the charter flights per se, what bothered me was that they acted to level the playing field time after time after time.  If a team is hours behind, there should be a penalty for that, not "Don't worry, we held the plane for you!"

The charter flight would be ok if the beginning of each leg occurred once they landed, so there would be a staggered start from the airport based on when they checked in.

[zapper]

Never in my life have I seen such a perfect Austin Powers moment. 

This season's "hi Bob"  game for me is the word "Dude". 

[anniebird]

12 hours ago, Ancaster said:

No-one here seems to dislike any of the racers, so I feel compelled to say I didn't like the football (?) player and his wife.  Pretty much the first footage of them was them bickering in the car.  Not a good indication if they're doing this at the beginning of the race.  By the time killer fatigue crops up, they'll be unwatchable, at least for me.  I don't care how long they've been married and if this is how they normally communicate, I don't want to see it on The Amazing Race.

 

I thought that was the older couple, the retired police officers, who were the Bickersons.

[Fukui San]

3 hours ago, Haleth said:

The charter flight would be ok if the beginning of each leg occurred once they landed, so there would be a staggered start from the airport based on when they checked in.

When the last season in which they did all chartered flights, two seasons ago, they had them start off each leg in pairs of two teams at a time spaced 10 minutes apart, I think, based on when they checked in. I felt that I would have preferred them to depart one team at a time with perhaps that 10 minute gap. It didn't seem like enough time given that check in times could be hours apart.

[meep.meep]

18 hours ago, Netfoot said:

 

I never new they made Chevys that did not come equipped with a reverse gear. You know, for getting out of places without having to do a 129-point turn.

Not only did they not consider just backing up, once they finally got the car turned around and headed back up the street, there was a truck parked blocking the exit.  And they didn't buy a map.

Maybe it's just as well that they were eliminated.

As long as we're talking about sibling teams - those twins are not identical.

Really didn't like this episode, maybe I'm over TAR.  Only bright spot was the little boy handing out clues at the end of the rocking horse task.