S25.E04: Thinly Sliced Anchovies

[kingshearte]

I was impressed with how well the cyclists have evidently mastered energy efficient driving techniques, and kind of thoroughly unimpressed with everyone else. If the two of them could do it in one tenth the allowed gas, it should have been completely manageable for all of them, and yet, what, only one other team came in under? I wish the penalty task, so to speak, had been more involved. As it was, it was so quick that you might as well gun the car to get there as fast as you can, fuel efficiency be damned, and answer the quick question, rather than go slow and steady and fuel efficiently, which probably actually took longer, ultimately kind of penalizing teams for completing the task correctly. And it is very very sad that only one team knew the answer without looking it up.

 

Did it strike anyone that it was rather fuel inefficient to use the car to drive to Sweden just to turn around after proving it is fuel efficient?

That was absolutely my first thought.

 

I'm guessing he was going with the idea that it's easier to memorize something if you sing it or tap dance along or something like that rather than just try to spit back the words. (The Schoolhouse Rock theory of learning.)

I thought that too. I've known plenty of people with memorization techniques that were completely nonsensical to me, but seemed to work for them. If this was his, so be it.

 

Shelley and Nici… Oy. Nici is definitely whiny and could stand to grow up a little, but Shelley, hun? You are not exactly being a pinnacle of sage maturity either. That kind of passive aggressiveness is annoying under any circumstance, but when you’re racing for last place? I’d probably be mad enough to storm off like that, too.

 

And it seems we finally have an entry for the List of Things Adam and Bethany are Not Especially Good At: building a parklet

[Donny Ketchum]

I was impressed with how well the cyclists have evidently mastered energy efficient driving techniques, and kind of thoroughly unimpressed with everyone else. If the two of them could do it in one tenth the allowed gas, it should have been completely manageable for all of them, and yet, what, only one other team came in under?

No, two other teams.  Kym & Alli, Keith & Whitney, and Shelley & Nici all managed to come in under.

[TV Anonymous]

I wonder why the greeter and Phil have that breed of dog on the mat. Yes, that breed is called the Great Dane, but that breed is originally German. In fact, in the old days, it was called German Mastiff.

[jhlipton]

Playing devils advocate, if a fan favorite team had The Save and were in the dentist's position (last place) and it was returned to them because it was a NEL (as Phil did for the dentists), IMO, I don't think the outcry would be the same. 

 

Not for me.  I think that they should wait until they're told they're last, but once they are and they play the Save, it should be gone, even if it's a NEL.

 

Guaranteeing that the dentists are in the top three isn't ensuring that they'll win.  Last season, I didn't feel that Dave and Connor were the best racers, but they beat Brendon & Rachel, who I felt were much better racers over all.  Jet and Cord won the first leg, but the Save wouldn't have Saved them, since they were last on the 10th leg, after the Power Of The Save is gone.

[ozlsn]

No, two other teams.  Kym & Alli, Keith & Whitney, and Shelley & Nici all managed to come in under.

 

I actually had a lot more respect for Keith and Whitney and Shelley and Nici managing to do it.  I imagine knowing that you have a 2 or more hour lead over the rest of the teams helps immensely in driving as energy efficiently as possible.  Being pretty sure you're in last place and doing it - that takes a bit of nerve (or, quite possibly given this team, some intense passive-aggressiveness. ;-) )

Count me among those who thought that producing the Save should have meant that it was used, NEL or not. 

 

I'm also among those who are surprised that so few teams could remember the capital cities - admittedly I do play on a trivia team every Monday, so this kind of thing is normal for me, but I'd definitely have been reading the inflight magazine in case they decided to highlight something that turned up in a clue.  You never know, it could happen!

 

Was I the only person looking at the "garden" parklet and thinking "there's no way I'd have the pram on the traffic side..."?

 

Also those sandwiches sounded awful. 

[fishtown]

Funny how they don't grab a passer-by and ask "What are the capitals..." Instead they ask "Do you have a SmartPhone?"  Like, "Well, I don't know the answer, so everyone else must be a dumb-ass too!"

 

But how could they be sure that the person they're asking is giving the correct information? They could get someone who'd have a little fun messing with the dumb-ass Americans. ("The capital of Sweden? That's Helsinki. Yeah, that's the ticket.")

[kingshearte]

I actually had a lot more respect for Keith and Whitney and Shelley and Nici managing to do it.  I imagine knowing that you have a 2 or more hour lead over the rest of the teams helps immensely in driving as energy efficiently as possible.  Being pretty sure you're in last place and doing it - that takes a bit of nerve (or, quite possibly given this team, some intense passive-aggressiveness. ;-) )

Fair point. Which also highlights why I would have much preferred to see the teams that didn't do it get a much more difficult "penalty" for failing.

[Netfoot]

But how could they be sure that the person they're asking is giving the correct information? They could get someone who'd have a little fun messing with the dumb-ass Americans. ("The capital of Sweden? That's Helsinki. Yeah, that's the ticket.")

 

You mean Helinski, right?  (I loved the BQs!) 

 

No, I'm just saying that the modern TAR racer automatically uses strategies and tactics that have been developed over the years.  They rarely ask a Fern to come along and show them they way.  Instead, they pay a taxi driver to lead them.  And they rarely ask a passer-by for any information they need.  Instead, the immediate response is to jump on the net.  Either at an internet cafe, or by borrowing a SmartPhone. 

 

I wonder how the race would play out if they were prohibited from using the internet? 

[Rusun]

Been there, done that: first task in S19E9 (the leg after the bunny racing). I'm glad that for this one they focused on a different side of Copenhagen.

 

Indeed, every task this episode dated from the last century or later: the efficient automobile RI and the mobile parklet Detour are from the turn-of-the-millennium, while the kransekage-bicycle delivery Detour and the SandwichBlock are no older than WW1. Too bad about the lack of Tivoli Gardens, but that aside, this leg was superior to TAR19's 1.5 leg visit.

[Lingo]

To everyone wondering what they're doing on the plane instead of memorizing capitals: I think they're catching some much needed Z's.  They don't really have much time to rest during Pit Stops, and you really don't want to end up as brain-dead zombies (like Millie and Chuck) during the legs.

[Rusun]

I totally loved Ida the sandwich proprietess.

 

She would be all stern:  "That is not correct." Keeping a straight face through all the antics.  And then when they finally got it right, the stony exterior would crack and she'd smile and get hugged.  I loved how she said to Mrs. Dentist, "It was the numbers, darling!!"

 

Loved the restaurant patrons, too.

 

Chef Davidsen is not just one of the best TAR taskmasters ever, she is arguably the most A-List restaurateur ever to appear on the show.

 

In this sense, she is the analogue to gold-medal hockey Olympian (and Canuck of Danish extraction) Meaghan Mikkelson-Reid, an equally high-profile contestant on this summer's The Amazing Race Canada: Season 2. They even share that same trait of a stoic, firm visage enriched by an encouraging, teacherly charisma: