S04.E06: Am I Actually Operating the Plane?

[radishcake]

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The teams fly to Hamilton, Ontario where they receive messages from home.

[In Pog Form]

Frankie: "We should have used the Express Pass here (the Detour)"

Yeah, no duh.

Sure, use the Express Pass on the first Roadblock, which is almost always easy and offers little potential for order shuffling. And in this case, was extremely easy and fun. How do you not notice that the Detours are where the difficult tasks that can cost you the race happen?

Edited August 3, 2016 by In Pog Form

[Keener]

I wonder where they got the idea that you use the Express Pass to jump to first place?  The purpose of the Express Pass is to let you skip the task. That means you should keep it for a task you are unable/unwilling to complete.  The plane task, while challenging, wasn't particularly hard and was easily accomplished by everyone by the second try. They got what they deserved in the end.

[Artsda]

The softball girls still lying about the Express Pass is dumb, especially when they must know U-Turns are coming up. They covered their bases with the team that saw them give the passes, but did they tell Frankie & Amy not to tell anyone where they got the passes from? Nope, stupid lie that was unnecessary to keep after the Express pass got found out about. 

Frankie and Amy were so stupid, why would they use the express pass on something they didn't even attempt to do and that didn't have all the teams even there. They threw it away when they didn't need to. 

[Rachel RSL]

I can't remember, have the softball girls used their Express Pass yet? (Are they still keeping it a secret in the hopes they don't get U-Turned?) I loved when one of them rang the bell with her head. "Nailed it!" Them, along with the twins, are my favs. The twins crack me up. They're so typically Canadian with the self-deprecating humour.

I wonder why they made the Racers take a GO train to Toronto then switch to a Via train to get to Kingston. I'm pretty sure they could have just boarded a Via train in Hamilton. 

Are people really clamouring for a special to update us on previous winners? I don't even remember 2 of the winning teams. I only remember Tim and Timbit and, while I hope they're doing well, I really don't care about an update.

[Artsda]

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I wonder why they made the Racers take a GO train to Toronto then switch to a Via train to get to Kingston. I'm pretty sure they could have just boarded a Via train in Hamilton. 

Bunching perhaps?

[Shermie]

Bunching, sponsorship, variety...

In original TAR, didn't the Express Pass initially give them a free trip to the mat? Is it a one-task-only skip there too, or is that only for TARCAN?

i like the father-daughter team, but I also like the twins.

[Rachel RSL]

I'm pretty sure the EP has always been a one-task-skip on Original Recipe TAR.

[etagloh]

It's Sponsors Who Aren't Chevy Leg at TARCAN!

The NEL was pretty obvious from about a third of the way in -- all teams on camera, none looking sad -- but I didn't expect a TBC. And so far, it's one of the purest TBCs I've seen in recent years (US/CAN) with no big bunch straight after "keep racing". (I'd expect a HoO bunch next leg, but TARCAN seems to prefer sign-up sheets for those.) Also no mention of a Speed Bump for Joel and Ashley.

That was one of the least smart uses of an Express Pass ever. "We're going for the leg win" tends to encourage somewhat reckless behaviour, but as others have said, the EP's value is in escaping a difficult task or negating a U-Turn (or perhaps to get you to the U-Turn board first), not to jump ahead of the pack on a conventional leg when there's still a Detour to come. (The Fast Forward sends you straight to the mat, but you have to complete a special task to win it; there's been one FF in every TARCAN season so far.)

Jill is unbearable. There is a joylessness to her -- she's on Reality Show Duty, everything's a pain, and no, she won't take advice from someone who's got it right -- and that's pretty striking when juxtaposed with other competitors, especially Julie in this leg.

Joel and Ashley had pretty rotten taxi luck this leg: though we didn't get to see why they arrived behind the pack in Hamilton, I assume that was the cause, and having teams use Toronto cab drivers in a strange city for at least some of the leg felt like it put a thumb on the scale. They didn't help themselves along the way, though: Ashley's trouble climbing is forgivable (maybe that skill needs to be added to 'swim' and 'drive a manual') but there was no kind of method to how they managed the art Detour.

Things you don't get on TAR:US: jokes about lesbians and welding; teams grabbing a beer as they exit a leg and showing up with empty cans at the Pit Stop.

[SnideAsides]

The Fast Forward was the one that let you go directly to the Pit Stop. The Express Pass is basically just "quit a task and you won't get a time penalty".

[Rachel RSL]

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, I assume that was the cause, and having teams use Toronto cab drivers in a strange city for at least some of the leg felt like it put a thumb on the scale.

I must have missed that information during the episode. Did they bring in special cab drivers from Toronto for this leg? Why? I'm sure Hamilton has cabs there. Odd.

[etagloh]

They flew into Toronto, got cabs from there to the downtown Hamilton BMO, and it seemed that for at least part of the leg (up to the MEC-sponsored tasks) they held onto those cabs instead of using local ones. We know from past seasons that the "additional information" on clues sometimes tells teams to release their drivers at certain points of a leg, usually because they'll end a task far away from where they started it.

It looked like Joel & Ashley's driver was the one least familiar with Hamilton, as they arrived last at the BMO, clearly frustrated, and went to the wrong location instead of Bayfront Park.

[Keener]

32 minutes ago, Rachel RSL said:

I must have missed that information during the episode. Did they bring in special cab drivers from Toronto for this leg? Why? I'm sure Hamilton has cabs there. Odd.

A friend of mine travels to Hamilton frequently from Toronto. She's said that on numerous occasions cabbies have offered to take her there. I too thought it was impossible and odd, but apparently not.  We have to remember too though that they arrived by plane technically in Mississauga/Brampton/Malton (which is arguably closer to the QEW/Hamilton), so if you're an airport cabbie, it's probably not out of the realm of possibility to be going to Hamilton. I still think that the cabbies were TAR placement cabbies though.

It'll be interesting to see if any other teams try to get Kris & Steph to burn their Express Pass on the upcoming U-Turn. Frankly, I'm hoping for a Jillian and Emmett elimination. That can't come soon enough. Jillian is literally Flo 2.0. 

I love Julie and Lowell. What a great couple!  They are always so supportive of each other and so positive. I love their attitudes and puns. I hope Lowell gets to the paralympics and wins gold! 

Edited August 4, 2016 by Keener

[Rachel RSL]

Good lord, that must have cost a fortune!   I live in Toronto and it costs me a good $70 to get to the airport.

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 Jillian is literally Flo 2.0. 

I can't agree with that assessment. Jillian may get shrieky with Emmett because she's so competitive but she's not like that *all* the time. Plus, she's pulling her own weight in the Race. Flo, on the other hand, was horrible to Zach all the time. Not to mention she was absolutely useless in the Race, doing literally one Road Block and making Zach do everything else. Hell, Flo is the entire reason they changed the Road Block rules. 

Edited August 4, 2016 by Rachel RSL

[Canada]

Oh man, what a tease!  I really thought I'd got that awful hair and cleavage off of my screen for good.  How useless are you, to use the Express Pass and still end up near the bottom?  I live in hope for the next episode.

Still love the Softball couple and Blind couple.  Actually, I like team Ashley and the Sisters too.  It's really just team BB and team Trailer Park that I need off of my screen.

I don't understand why team Softball cares so much that they didn't tell anyone they got the Express Pass.  Who cares?  Obviously the Trailer Park Girls are going to tell everyone, so people are going to find out.  They don't seem the type to be able to keep quiet.  I guess it could make them a target to be U-turned, but as they're doing so well I think they're a target anyway.

[Kanaloa]

19 hours ago, etagloh said:

 there's been one FF in every TARCAN season so far

Almost: season 2 had two (outmoded billboards in Winnipeg and nude posing in Montreal), and season 1's was unaired (Mountie driving in Regina).

Speaking of which, I wonder if there might be zero this year:

Spoiler

Unless we get a late appearance a la the Singaporean artificial surfing in the American edition, the schedule for the remainder of the season is tight:

• Leg 7: Kingston - F6 elimination (August 9)
• Leg 8: Havana - F5 NEL (August 23) *
• Leg 9: Sydney, NS - F5 elimination (August 30)
• Leg 10: Saint John and St. Andrews, NB - F4 NEL or elimination (September 6)
• Leg 11: Montreal - F4 elimination or Finale (September 13)
• Leg 12: L'Anse aux Meadows, Labrador, ? - Finale? (September 20?)

 

9 hours ago, Rachel RSL said:

I can't agree with that assessment. Jillian may get shrieky with Emmett because she's so competitive but she's not like that *all* the time. Plus, she's pulling her own weight in the Race. Flo, on the other hand, was horrible to Zach all the time. Not to mention she was absolutely useless in the Race, doing literally one Road Block and making Zach do everything else. Hell, Flo is the entire reason they changed the Road Block rules. 

I concur - she is way more like Nurse Hayley, the basic blonde b-word with Dr. Blair: one-dimensional (Flo was mostly kind to other teams and locals, whereas Stuntcast Teacher's and Blind Dater's entire edits revolve around their teammate), try-hard (nothing more than female Joey Graceffas), and with a marginal online fanbase (the likes of which got butthurt when Crayley lost the race to the team that had been dragging her for filth since around the halfway point).

[etagloh]

I agree with the Hayley comparison vs Flo: Jill is clearly on friendly terms with other teams -- even though they shouldn't help her, it's a raaaaaace -- but has two, um, failure modes: a point-blank refusal to take guidance from Emmett in situations where he clearly knows what he's doing, and a clinginess to other teams in RBs where they're all doing the same thing at close quarters. When she's on her own on a task, as with the RB on this leg, she seems to manage fairly well.

And yes, I stand corrected on the double FF in TARCAN 2, and agree that (like TAR:US) it's probably being phased out.

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Good lord, that must have cost a fortune!   I live in Toronto and it costs me a good $70 to get to the airport.

It must have been a pretty pricey leg, and since it was a TBC, I don't think they got any extra money at the Pit Stop -- or at least, it wasn't mentioned. $380(?) on their promotional-consideration plastic would probably cover the cabs and train tickets, but no wonder they went to the bank at the start...

[kingshearte]

On 8/4/2016 at 11:23 PM, etagloh said:

I agree with the Hayley comparison vs Flo: Jill is clearly on friendly terms with other teams -- even though they shouldn't help her, it's a raaaaaace -- but has two, um, failure modes: a point-blank refusal to take guidance from Emmett in situations where he clearly knows what he's doing, and a clinginess to other teams in RBs where they're all doing the same thing at close quarters. When she's on her own on a task, as with the RB on this leg, she seems to manage fairly well.

She is so all over the place in her interactions with him — often wildly hypocritical. Doesn't want him to cheer her on when she's doing roadblocks; screams at him the whole time he's doing them. Complains if he goes faster than her; complains if she doesn't think he's going fast enough (on at least one occasion when he was actually in front of her). Explicitly states that he's good at almost everything; berates his "poor" performance at almost everything, and, as you point out, refuses to take any advice from him, even on things that he is demonstrably competent at. That welding (like almost everything else involving her) was seriously cringe-worthy. He got his done on the first try, so maybe you might consider that he might have something useful to say about how to do it successfully? Maybe? Ugh. She needs to go away.