S29.E11: As Easy As Stacking Cups

[rebeccalj]

4 hours ago, cousin oliver said:

Your comment made me curious enough to research.

Joey is 46, Tara is 38. There's hardly a generation gap between them and Brooke, who is [wait for it...] 36 and Scott, 34.

London and Logan are the babies of the finalists - both are 27.

Yes, I had to look it up a few weeks ago because I was curious as to the ages of the so-called "old" people/mom & dad.  When I found out Brooke was 36, I was absolutely floored.  and a lawyer as her profession?  Does she whine the opposition to death? 

[Fukui San]

The Boys made two major navigation mistakes. Many legs aren't designed to have tasks that make up for that much lost time. If 10 teams were running this leg we might see quite a bit of shuffling at the last challenge.

Back in the terrible Family Edition season, there was a challenge where all four team members had to beat the dealer at blackjack using standard rules. Some teams figured out it'd be fastest to have each team member immediately pass holding their initial cards and wait for the dealer to bust since the dealer had to hit with a 14 or lower rather than trying to play blackjack "correctly". In the same way here a player could try to die as quickly as possible until you got your advantages. If it takes 5 minutes to lose a competitive game while trying your best to win and 2 minutes to die intentionally, you'd get to the blindfold stage after 20 games 1 hour earlier.  Sometimes you can Moneyball it and do the non-intuitive thing to save time. In this case the Boys were too far behind to catch up.

[Pallas]

In New York and other major cities with well-designed public services -- most of which are not in the U.S. -- subterranean transport is fastest, at least within the urban hub and often, from the hub to the airport. What about other cities in the States? 

[holly4755]

I am going with exhaustion affecting everyone - for some odd reason it makes Brooke cheery, but pretty much everyone else is making bad decisions and saying ugly American things. 

eta - yes, you are correct, unless you are going a short or not straight distance, the subway is the fastest way in NYC unless it is 3 AM, then the taxi is faster.  

Edited May 26, 2017 by holly4755

[Miles]

45 minutes ago, Pallas said:

In New York and other major cities with well-designed public services -- most of which are not in the U.S. -- subterranean transport is fastest, at least within the urban hub and often, from the hub to the airport. What about other cities in the States? 

Granted, I don't know New York personally, but I doubt the subway is faster than a cab, after rush hour is over. I have seen too much TAR to believe that. The subway is always slower, even in cities with amazing public transport and a ton of traffic like Tokyo, unless it's rush hour.

And locals are always wrong about this fact. They always say the subway is fastest and then it turns out not to be true.

Edited May 26, 2017 by Miles

[Bryce Lynch]

8 minutes ago, Miles said:

Granted, I don't know New York personally, but I doubt the subway is faster than a cab, after rush hour is over. I have seen too much TAR to believe that. The subway is always slower, even in cities with amazing public transport and a ton of traffic like Tokyo, unless it's rush hour.

And locals are always wrong about this fact. They always say the subway is fastest and then it turns out not to be true.

In NYC it depends what you mean by "rush hour".  Midday, the traffic in Manhattan is usually still pretty bad, especially crosstown.    Whether a subway or cab is better depends upon the time of day and how close the subway stops are to your starting point and destination.  

[Fukui San]

13 minutes ago, Miles said:

Granted, I don't know New York personally, but I doubt the subway is faster than a cab, after rush hour is over. I have seen too much TAR to believe that. The subway is always slower, even in cities with amazing public transport and a ton of traffic like Tokyo, unless it's rush hour.

And locals are always wrong about this fact. They always say the subway is fastest and then it turns out not be true.

In an episode of Top Gear a few years back, they did a four way race in London from a western starting point to the airport in the East. The four methods of racing were public transport, a car, a bike, and a speedboat going through the River Thames. It started in a typical weekday morning.  The finishing order was: 1.) The Bike  2) The Speedboat  3) Public Transport and 4) The Car. 

Driving after work yesterday in my neighborhood, I'd say that taking the subway into Cambridge, MA is a lot faster than driving if you're anywhere near a T-stop, due to being in year 2 or so of bridge construction/repair into Cambridge. 

[Miles]

Just now, Fukui San said:

In an episode of Top Gear a few years back, they did a four way race in London from a western starting point to the airport in the East. The four methods of racing were public transport, a car, a bike, and a speedboat going through the River Thames. It started in a typical weekday morning.  The finishing order was: 1.) The Bike  2) The Speedboat  3) Public Transport and 4) The Car. 

You can't take Top Gear seriously. They have been known to fudge results. They were even sued over it and the judge sided with their defence that they don't have to tell the truth, since they are just entertainment.

If we do take them seriously for a moment, weekday morning sounds like rush hour to me...

[greyhorse]

Being in unknown city with absolutely no idea of traffic or congestion, if you're trying to decide between the train or a taxi, you would ask a local.  And yes, the locals sometimes can be wrong.  Taking a train?  Could be faster because no traffic and traveling at higher rates of speed.  But other variables are waiting for the actual train and then making a connection or having to wait again.  Taking a taxi?  Advantage is you hop in and you get door to door service.  Downside would be traffic, a slow driver, or in Matt and Redmond's case at one point during the race, a driver that takes you to the wrong place.

I doubt that Matt and Redmond studied the connections carefully and tried to see what the timing was.  Maybe they assumed, as did most, that in a busy metropolitan city that they would run like NYC every couple minutes.  Perhaps that is still the case.  We don't know how much time the missed connection cost them.  I'd be curious to know how far behind they were but it must have been significant, because all the other teams had already finished the kim chi task which I imagine took at least 15-20 minutes.

Tara is an old looking 38.  Too much time in the sun, bad skin, and a sour attitude when things don't go well.  Brooke at 36 looks good (I'm guessing she is half Asian?) - good skin, nice hair, although she also has the piss poor attitude.  I wonder if Tara used her age as a crutch to a lot of the other racers throughout the race.  Is the TeamMomandDad moniker a production thing after the fact, or did other teams call them Mom and Dad?

[holly4755]

OK I have to defend Tara here, not everyone can look like a beauty queen while racing sweating and no make up - this is not like other "reality" shows where the women always have time to put on make up.  They may be starving, but the mascara is easily at hand,  Cameras can be harsh, now how many of these guys are clean shaven, and they probably smell.  I get very annoyed at the insults women have to bear but men can be what ever. 

after working In NYC, there is only the middle of the night when there is no traffic in Manhattan. I once had to either go around the entire city going north to the GWB, then around queens to get to brooklyn or I could drive a straight line from the holland tunnel to the mid town tunnel to brooklyn. guess which would have been faster! It took me over 2 hours to go 15 miles and most of that was in NJ with no traffic. It was 2 PM in the afternoon.

Edited May 26, 2017 by holly4755

[LilaFowler]

Tara is 38? I thought she was at least 10 years older than that.

[Roccos Brother]

Let's be honest here, even without the "handicaps", the gaming pros were already going easy on the racers. I personally don't know how to play any of those fighting video games, but anyone who has ever watched a game of Street Fighter (or anything similar), knows that they involve using crazy killer combo moves that take up the entire screen. Those gamepads are designed to make those kind of button-mashing moves easy to execute. We didn't see any of that being used, just your basic punch/kick/fireball/etc. Tara was dismissive of the challenge right from the start, and that's why she did terribly with her defeatist attitude. I remember they showed her screen at several times where she was attacking without even being near or facing the opponent -- now, how hard is it to understand the basic function of a joystick? It did appear that she was finally figuring it out in the final round, where she jumped behind her opponent and body-slammed him as the final blow. It should have taken minimal understanding of the controls to pull that off when your opponent is blind-folded.

I didn't mind Logan's description of kim chee. It was a fair description, it's not like he said it tasted like dog crap or something.

Team LoLo for the win.

Edited May 26, 2017 by Roccos Brother

[HawaiiTVGuy]

18 hours ago, weightyghost said:

While I am all for having a final with no all-male teams, that means that Brooke has more of a chance of winning which I'm not cool with. 

I liked Joey but yikes - the gamer is doing his job. He's not a bully, he's not picking on her, he's not a loser for playing games. Get over yourself. 

Red and Matt at least kept their cool. It makes me mad that it was possible to fall THAT far behind. The metro was supposed to be quick. How easy was it to do the kimchi and cups that they never caught up until the gaming. 

At this point, go LoLo. The other teams can suck it. 

The problem they ran into was exactly what made the other teams decide to taxi, they had to switch train lines, and it seems like the Gangnam stop was like one of the last stops on the second line.  And they ended up missing their connection.  I am guessing that cost them 10 minutes easy.  Also, the fact these subway terminal stations can be pretty big so the walk to get from one platform to another could have easily ate another 5-10 minutes (including navigating through the crowds and looking at the signs to figure out where to go).  As a vacationer, I can see why a subway is better, it is way cheaper and probably not much longer in the long run with traffic, but traffic is really variable in terms of how bad it is, and it was dark already, and IIRC they are filming in the late spring/early summer?  So that was pretty late already.

 

18 hours ago, enlightenedbum said:

Tara approached that task all wrong.  Gaming is like anything else, you get better with practice.  By changing characters all the time, she was resetting her learning curve.

The other approach, especially if you're a novice with a fighting game, was London's strategy of just mashing buttons and hoping.  Basically how everyone approaches their first fighting game.

Yup button mashing is a time-honored technique for those who don't play often enough to be able to instinctively know which buttons to press based on feel.  It is kind of like the difference between someone who is able to use a keyboard without looking and one of those hunt-and-peck typers.  

For those saying that the smart move would have been to lose ASAP to get the pros to a handicap, that is actually what London's strategy was in her cab interview to the pit stop.  That would explain how she ended up getting to the blindfold level before Scott did even though Scott started earlier.

The only strategy I could think of was that once they got to the 10 round level and the pros could only use one hand, you could tell they were limited to pretty much two buttons, maybe use the fact they were limited to two attacks to your advantage?  But that of course would require you to know how to defend and attack those particular moves correctly.

17 hours ago, Browncoat said:

The Boys are almost like the Energizer bunnies!  I really thought they were going to beat Tara and Joey.  But Joey really pissed me off with the comments to/about the professional gamer.  Dude, he's just playing his game.  Suck it up.

Brooke was surprisingly less screechy and whiny tonight -- I guess she's only having fun when they're doing well.  Hmmm, sounds familiar...

Rooting for London and Logan now.

I wonder if a big reason for her toned down attitude was the lack of physical tasks.

17 hours ago, Bryce Lynch said:

Worst leg design ever!  There was no opportunity to make up ground.

I despise Tara and Joey.  Joey was a total douchebag calling the gamer all types of names for having the audacity not to just let Tara beat him.  

This show deserves to be cancelled.  I am not watching the finale and won't watch next season if CBS is stupid enough to renew it.   

I would actually disagree.  I am not sure how long each team took on the cup stacking challenge, but there was a learning curve, if a team behind is able to pick it up faster, it wouldn't be hard to make up some time there.  Kimchee was going to be a pretty static task.  And the gaming roadblock was similar to cup stacking, if someone is proficient at gaming, they could have easily cut their time there in half compared to the other teams who needed 20+ rounds.  Matt completed the task under 20 rounds and I think Scott was able to complete his in round 19.  I am not sure how the ideal leg structure is supposed to go?  Are there supposed to be just needle in the haystack tasks where it is completely based on luck?  What is an ideal task that allows for people to catch up?  

This leg in particular, was just in one city, everyone on one flight, and no self-driving.  Pretty much ideally for everyone to be bunched and primary differences in time would be relative competency on tasks.  That seems to be as ideal as anything and would result in probably the biggest amount of drama at the end of the leg.  But Matt and Redmond threw a wrench into the leg design, should the designers somehow put some sort of extra impediment because Matt and Redmond decided to try to outsmart everyone else?  Like others have mentioned, this was not a wise move, you are a strong team, you keep with the pack and trust that you will be in the top 3 especially with Brooke and Scott and Team Lolo around.  I am guessing they were fixated on winning first and had that as their primary goal, not making the finals.

In Vietnam, Becca and Floyd got passed by everyone else, but if Floyd didn't keep dropping baskets, then there really was no catching up anywhere either.  And is it fair that it is purely physical tasks so that a physically weaker team would have a lower chance of making up time?  

 

Does Street Fighter 5 not have Guile?  I would have thought Tara would have wanted the american military guy.  And I always thought he was the easiest one to play with the "sonic boom" and "razor kick" being a couple of the easier to execute special combos.

For those wondering about the Metro...I think here is a link to the route map for the Seoul Metro.  As you can see, Matt and Redmond had a LONG way to go from the Airport to their transit stop at Hongik University, it was the third to the last stop.  Then they had to transfer to Line 2 I believe and go to Gangnam which is like over 15 stops away (bottom of the green loop.

http://dmzap1.seoulmetro.co.kr/station/eng/linemap.action

I looked at the timetable for Hongik University station for Line 2, and it looks like a train came around pretty often, every 5-6 minutes.

http://dmzap1.seoulmetro.co.kr/station/eng/trainschedule.action?eng=Y&searchValue=&stationId=0239&mainLine=2&weekTag=3

16 hours ago, blackwing said:

 

London and Logan were finally very competent!   I wouldn't mind seeing them win.  The only thing I didn't like was when Logan said the kim chi tasted like soggy cabbage in Cajun spice   Way to be open to other cultures, dude.

 

I don't really have an issue with Logan's description, I mean he is describing flavors that he knows.  And in reality, that is kind of what kim chee is, but a lot more sourness because of the fermentation. 

Edited May 26, 2017 by HawaiiTVGuy

[CaioF]

Well, while I still wanted Brooke and Scott to leave (when they showed at the cup challenge and she said ´´ I CAN do it`` I had to watch it back to see if I wasnt mistaken. Thats it, the only task Brooke can do its a cups stacking challenge, unless we have a whining task next leg). The three teams kept pretty much tied most of the time till the video game part. I´m glad Tara made it cause yep, it would suck to go out on something like that. Its hard, if I handle my mom a joystick she will be clueless, its not even about being out of her confort zone, its about be from another universe of skills and have to do it against those kids?

Well, I can´t be sad for team Redmond. Yes, they got a best behavior now but I still can´t pass their bullying with weaker people. They had big guys on the other teams to compete with them now and they pretty much lost to themselves so that wasnt much ugly stuff for them to show at that point (is actually easier to keep the calm when you are the dead last team and find a chance to catch up than be the team thats is facing a task for a while praying for the last team to not catch up to you).

Also, it looked like the judges gave Redmond and Matt a easy time on the Kimchi challenge, so they could at least stood a chance.

Based on the entired competition I´m totally #TeamMomandDad. If not, at least #TeamLolo for be the most calm and collected team ever. Anything but Brooke winning please! 

Edited May 26, 2017 by CaioF

[J-Man]

I thought Phil said that the cup-stacking had to be completed in "under seven seconds." Brooke (I think it was her) did it in EXACTLY seven seconds. So shouldn't she have had to try again to get it UNDER seven seconds?

[CaioF]

4 minutes ago, J-Man said:

I thought Phil said that the cup-stacking had to be completed in "under seven seconds." Brooke (I think it was her) did it in EXACTLY seven seconds. So shouldn't she have had to try again to get it UNDER seven seconds?

I just watched it back and he kinda said ´´the teams have to complete it in less than 7 seconds..``. And yep, Brooke did it at exactly 7...  Unless it was writen different on the clue, its was a mistake. 

Edited May 26, 2017 by CaioF

[ichbin]

2 hours ago, holly4755 said:

I am going with exhaustion affecting everyone - for some odd reason it makes Brooke cheery, but pretty much everyone else is making bad decisions and saying ugly American things. 

I'm going to disagree one two counts.  First, I blame it on stress over exhaustion.   Joey behaved as badly as Brooke did when she was feeling stressed, and not only in this episode as I recall.  Remember when Floyd lost his passport?  Becca was far from "fun" in response.  LoLo has had a few moments too.  There is probably footage of all of them acting in less than stellar ways.  Brooke is showcased because she provided entertainment, particularly because of the way her partner reacts.   Some can meet adversity with dignity, some can't.  Second, I don't see this as being an ugly American.   Being a jerk has no boundaries.  Joey was simply acting entitled.  Based on what he was saying, he felt the gamer should have given Tara a break because of her age and inexperience.  The fact that the gamer was winning while handicapped didn't matter to him, I guess.  Was the gamer just supposed to sit there and give it to her? Joey seemed to think so.  Sure it was frustrating, but that's the way it goes.  

Unrelated, but once again a contestant "doing it for my family".  Aaaarrrrgh!!  Cannot stand people treating the race like Queen for a Day.  

[Nedsdag]

So much for taking the subway. Regardless, Matt and Redmond played extremely well just to get close to Team Mom and Dad. Perhaps if there is a (sigh) all-star season, both these guys and Team Fun deserve another chance.

Like everyone else in here, I'm rooting for London and Logan. I hope they do well; however every time I root for someone, they lose.

Team Mom (Tara) looks like a female version of a younger John Kerry, complete with lantern jaw and lack of lips. It's a good thing her partner is easy on the eyes.

I was hoping that Scott and Screechy would have been Philiminated, but I have to admit they have come on over the past few legs. I still hope they lose.

[teebax]

Not everyone here is rooting for LoLo. I'm still team Tara and Joey. I feel like they've been the most competent racers of the three teams remaining.  Joey was a bit of an ass but I'm still cool with him winning. I'm an Army vet named Tara,  so I have a soft spot for that team.

[weightyghost]

The one comment from Tara that also bugged was "I was too busy saving lives in real life than playing games"

Really. At age 12, you were roaming the streets saving lives? I'm not a gamer by any means, I played my fair share of Mario and such growing up, but I'm not above it. Logan never played it either, but she just said because of having a sister they were more dancing and flowers. Being in the army doesn't make you too good for video games. 

[CaioF]

I dont see as much of a sense of entitlement from Tara and Joey as you... I would if heard some sort of ´´we deserve it more than that team``, but they talking about being there for their kids, I understand and its the true.. When you are a mom or a dad with young child, you´re not only responsable for yourself anymore. So, unless you already have grow up sons/daughters living their lives by themselves, you probably wont leave them/your daily job to go on a game show just for fun, as much as TAR can offer it (and they appreciate it as we saw other times).So, IMO is more just how they feel about it than a sense of entitlement. Joey lost his calm and could have taken that wait better, but for me, from all the possible stressfull moments on TAR, those are the worst, when you just can watch your partner struggle unable to help, after doing pretty well the full leg and see the chance to move on to the finale just passing in front of your eyes while you watch. I wouldnt be on a much better mindset. Its easier to swallow when the struggle begins during the leg and you start to accept your faith than when you are killing it and see the chance to get passed by the other teams on the last task.

Edited May 26, 2017 by CaioF

[Dobian]

One thing I've learned from years of watching this show, when it's really late in the race, *always* take the same transportation as the other teams.  Otherwise you are seriously rolling the dice.

I am sorry to see Matt and Redmond go, they were a great team and could have won the whole thing.

I found it odd that in the cup challenge, all the teams picked their lunkiest member to do this nimble challenge.

I was yelling at Tara, if you are just going to walk straight into the guy, there is no way he can *not* hit you.  He could have been playing with his feet and still beaten her.

I used to play Street Fighter with our friends' kid on the old Playstation 1 years ago.  He used to do to me what the pros were doing to them.  When you know all the timing and all the button presses for every counter, you are next to impossible to beat.

I do hope Tara and Joey win, but at this point I really don't mind who does.  Even Brooke and Scott, just for the comedy of it.

Edited May 26, 2017 by Dobian

[greyhorse]

52 minutes ago, weightyghost said:

The one comment from Tara that also bugged was "I was too busy saving lives in real life than playing games"

Really. At age 12, you were roaming the streets saving lives? I'm not a gamer by any means, I played my fair share of Mario and such growing up, but I'm not above it. Logan never played it either, but she just said because of having a sister they were more dancing and flowers. Being in the army doesn't make you too good for video games. 

Yes.  She's busy saving lives now in her adult life, at an age when you wouldn't be expected to be playing video games, or at least not the majority of people who have busy lives and kids.  But certainly not when she was a kid.  Of course if you grow up in a house full of girls, perhaps you didn't play Atari or Nintendo and had no friends that did.  So you are at a disadvantage in this challenge.  But while everyone was getting their butt kicked on Street Fighter, it was only Tara that had the pissy attitude and Joey sulking that the Korean kid was being mean to his partner the old mom.  London seemed to have the most fun out of all of them.  I really don't want Tara and Joey to win because I feel they have a growing sense of entitlement.

Not surprised that Matt did well.  He is a snowboarder, so in my head, snowboarding and video games kind of go together, along with many things of that generation.

Logan was the only one that did the cup challenge by moving both of the outside stacks at the same time using both hands.  I thought that was great.  The Korean kids didn't do it that way, so perhaps not the most efficient because maybe you can't go as fast, but he was able to complete the challenge nonetheless.

[Marvin]

I don't care who wins as long as it isn't Brooke. I think she is a horrible person ! I do think the producers of the show have some how fiddled it so that she ended up in the final three !

As for the gaming challenge - i thought it was hilarious due to the reactions of the Korean lads ! I used to win Street Fighter as a kid by pressing the buttons as fast as possible in the hopes of hitting a special move !! It was hi and miss but the best option if you aren't a pro !

I don't think team mum and dad were rude - i think they were just getting very frustrated and i don't blame them !

[Rinaldo]

22 hours ago, weightyghost said:

I liked Joey but yikes - the gamer is doing his job. He's not a bully, he's not picking on her, he's not a loser for playing games. Get over yourself. 

So true. I didn't really have strong feelings one way or the other about Joey before, but his ridiculous self-serving spewings about Tara's opponent were really awful.

20 hours ago, PaperTree said:

If it takes 10 rounds to handicap the kid,  I would try and lose quickly while trying to figure the damned thing out.

As others have suggested, "figuring the damned thing out" probably includes trying to play as well as you can while inevitably losing the first 10+ rounds. You learn by trying and failing and learning from mistakes.

19 hours ago, backformore said:

right.  What Joey said was "egotistical bastard wants to beat up on a girl."  And then some other comments.  "litte bastard, wont let her win.  all this work comes down to some  kid with an ego trip", "what is he proving, he can beat someone's mom in a video game?"

Thanks for assembling all of Joey's comments verbatim like that. What a jerk.

19 hours ago, Silver Raven said:

Funny how nice Brooke is when things go her way and then goes bitch mode when she has to cook with Scott. "Don't get mad at me, you're getting frustrated."

I wouldn't say she went bitch-mode during the cooking. She got worried or impatient a bit, as anybody might, but was amenable to counter-suggestions, and pretty reasonable. This relatively calm, assured Brooke is someone I could like, if only I could expunge the many weeks of the other Brooke from my memory.

17 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

My favorite moment in the episode was at the end when the final three were getting their talking head moments about the race up to the point and their chances in the finale.  The editors were nice with Lolo and fair with Scott and Brooke.  They were vicious, yet accurate, with Joey by following his "we don't fight, we don't complain" comment by showing footage of the two of them doing just that. Loved it!

That was really a lovely bit of editorial undercutting of their sanctimonious blathering (which deserves all the undercutting it can get).

11 hours ago, CrashTextDummie said:

Also I can forgive Tara and Joey for their behavior during the second roadblock. They clearly have a very negative opinion of video games, which I consider a generational thing and not really a character flaw.

I would have to disagree on "generational thing." What generation? They're barely older than the other racers, and more importantly, people way older than they are (like me) got enthusiastically into video games long ago. It's more a personal thing, not interesting to them (or at least to Tara) -- which is fine, everyone has their own preferred form of recreation, but there's no need to get snotty or superior about it, as they did. Your idea of fun is not automatically morally superior to someone else's.

[iMonrey]

Quote

 Thats it, the only task Brooke can do its a cups stacking challenge, unless we have a whining task next leg)

LOL. Just imagine if the final Roadblock is "who can screech the loudest?"

Quote

Worst leg design ever!  There was no opportunity to make up ground.

Losing due to bad taxi cabs and other navigational issues is a time-honored tradition on The Amazing Race. Yes, it's frustrating when it comes down to something that is basically out of your hands but it happens all the time. 

Quote

I don't see as much of a sense of entitlement from Tara and Joey as you... I would if heard some sort of ´´we deserve it more than that team``, but they talking about being there for their kids, I understand and its the true.. When you are a mom or a dad with young child, you´re not only responsable for yourself anymore. 

It's not that they're competing for the benefit of their kids or families, it's that at least twice now they have expressed a belief that others should step aside and let them win. They expect people to let them win. That's the very definition of entitlement. They thought Brooke and Scott were "scum" because they didn't tell them there were no more ladders at the last Detour. Not that they asked them, or anything - apparently Brooke and Scott were expected to simply offer up that information. Even though they knew full well it was down to those two teams. Even though they didn't lie to them or mislead them or misdirect them. They simply did not offer up information they were not asked, and for that - they earned the dreaded scorn of Team Mom and Dad. That's . . . laughably absurd. There's plenty of reasons to dislike Brooke and Scott. "They didn't help us win" isn't one of them.

Edited May 27, 2017 by iMonrey

[Haleth]

I guess it's my age showing but watching teams stack cups and play video games is the worst episode ever.  What next?  Competitive selfies?  Really not interesting. 

I give Joey a pass. He was tired, frustrated, and thinking out loud, but was never not supportive of his partner.  And I give Tara a pass because I would have been just as frustrated and angry to lose because of a stupid video game.

Edited May 27, 2017 by Haleth

[etagloh]

And locals are always wrong about this fact. They always say the subway is fastest and then it turns out not to be true.

Because locals don't get a wad of cash in an envelope from on high to use on a taxi from the airport, but they have anecdotal accounts of how much taxis cost and this one time someone in a cab got stuck in traffic for three hours.

I hate it when a team takes the public transit option from the airport when it's presented as an either/or choice and it starts their path to elimination. It happens far too often for my liking, and I wish it didn't. (TPTB: make them take the subway! Please! In real life, people try not to take taxis from airports unless they have lots of money or are expensing it.) In fairness, the elimination was more about taxi luck than subway luck, but it's still not great.

That said, this was a really fun leg, another late-night bright-lights big-big-city leg, which TAR does well. I much preferred the e-sports task to the contrived fake "Japanese game show" stuff they've done in the past in this part of the world.

I am sort of off Tara and Joey from their animus against the gamers. C'mon. If it were playing a ball game in a village, you'd be okay with it. And you're not sufficiently old to be all bah, humbug about gaming.

Edited May 27, 2017 by etagloh

[etagloh]

19 hours ago, holly4755 said:

personally I was all in on how London was just banging keys and having fun. She was also nice to her opponent who might have just been charmed enough by her to let her win.

If you're a pro gamer, then you've certainly played "bang all the keys" newbies in your time, and have approaches to beat those people, but you're more used to playing people who have some command of the controls and have a strategy to beat you than someone who could randomly end up with a mega-mega combo by accident.

The other part of it was that London was losing really badly early on, which meant she got to the handicap rounds earlier than Scott, who was losing but taking longer to lose. I doubt you'd have thought "strategy" in the heat of the moment, but a good strategy might have been to get abjectly KO'd nine or ten times -- basically, hands off the gamepad -- then start playing properly.

[mojoween]

I don't like anything and have no palate for anything spicy so being force fed cabbage with curry on it would have made me supremely cranky.

The editors did Tara no favors because I don't know if she said "how are they doing it" once and they played it over and over or if she herself said it over and over.  Regardless, it was tiring to listen to.

This episode really made me want to play Virtua Fighter 2.  I love Akira.  Also I'm five years older than Tara and love video games, even if I suck at them (like I do at Virtua Fighter 2, no matter how much I love playing it).

[La Dee Da]

I often look at google maps during the show to gauge how far they're travelling - for Seoul it automatically defaulted to transit mode as the fastest and refused to switch to car mode. But I agree cabbing is the cardinal rule in TAR.

I played video games for the first time in years over Christmas and it was sooooo hard. There were a million buttons and switches for different moves and weapons. It's too bad the racers weren't able to use my strategy - I ran away (off a cliff once or twice) and hid until someone took out the "enemy".

I slow-mo'd the cups footage to see how the kids were proceeding. It was impressive!

[Ducky]

16 hours ago, CrashTextDummie said:

They clearly have a very negative opinion of video games, which I consider a generational thing and not really a character flaw.

 

In general maybe but I don't think it's a generational thing.  I'm older than Tara and Joey(older than him by about 6ish years at least) and while I haven't really played in a long time I would have enjoyed the hell out of this roadblock.  Would have probably done the London way... mash the buttons like mad (and not keep changing characters either).  My niece is in her 20s and I sincerely doubt she'd have been a fan of this sort of thing lol (now her brother... well...he once beat me in Wii golf I think it was- at the age of 5 AND doing it right handed- he's naturally left handed).

 

As to comments previously about how many rounds, I thought I heard/saw (Captions) someone say it would be up to 100 rounds.  Tara didn't even finish until something like 34-35 rounds. 

Aside from the goofup with what transportation to take and the errant cab driver taking down Matt & Redmond they did run a good race- tolerable this episode.  Brooke too (I must be in an alternate parallel universe- scientists did say they MAY exist..), I was amazed at how low key/calm she was at the cup stacking- thought for sure she would fall apart there.  Maybe she thrives on KF?  LoLo is finally showing some power/push...

In the same way here a player could try to die as quickly as possible until you got your advantages.

  Maybe but how could they know? I got the impression that they didn't realize or know what kind of "advantages" they'd get or when.

So.. LoLo for the win.. I guess?  I don't have any strong (positive) feelings for any of the 3 left.  LoLo is the least bothersome to me at this point.

Edited May 27, 2017 by Ducky

[jumper sage]

9 hours ago, Fukui San said:

In the same way here a player could try to die as quickly as possible until you got your advantages. If it takes 5 minutes to lose a competitive game while trying your best to win and 2 minutes to die intentionally, you'd get to the blindfold stage after 20 games 1 hour earlier

Exactly!  That would have been a good strategy.  I was yelling at the screen for "mom" to offer her opponent a kiss for losing.

6 hours ago, Dobian said:

One thing I've learned from years of watching this show, when it's really late in the race, *always* take the same transportation as the other teams.  Otherwise you are seriously rolling the dice.

I was going to say the same thing.  When you see everyone else take a cab - take the fricken cab.  They could have beat out others in a foot race but to have no idea where anyone is must be daunting.  Didn't they say that the subway was a big risk?

30 minutes ago, La Dee Da said:

It's too bad the racers weren't able to use my strategy - I ran away (off a cliff once or twice) and hid until someone took out the "enemy".

I'm old and love playing Runescape.  I'm pretty good.  When running through the Wilderness on a mission and not wearing any armor, I run yelling, "I'll drop $50k if you let me by".  If they kill you they only get what you have in your knapsack, which is nothing if you're smart, so they get cold hard cash to let you by. I've even had a group of boys use their emotes to bow and let me by on the way back.  How chivalrous.  

[mamadrama]

I miss the actual "traveling" part of TAR. When it first came out, I was a travel writer and went on long trips around the world to review youth hostels, restaurants, and budget-friendly activities. I loved figuring out new underground systems, booking plane tickets, reading maps, exchanging currency, and generally figuring out the best way to get to Point B from Point A. I enjoyed TAR for the traveling aspect of the show. It was the only "reality" show I thought I could ever do well on because I feel like I have a knack for navigating foreign infrastructures. Now, however, it seems that things have changed. They have group buses waiting for them. No running around trying to find a travel agent; they all go to the same counter and that person seems to be waiting for them. Yes, they take taxis and occasionally have to flag one down but in other places it looks like the cars (rental or otherwise) are waiting for them. I was actually excited last night to see #theboys take the underground because it reminded me of the "old days." Anyway... 

Also, have the players gotten younger? I haven't watched the show for about 10 seasons or something but I remember there being all different ages and different physiques. You had seniors, overweight people, skinny people, pretty people, "little" people, etc. A good mix. Now, except for #teammomanddad they're all fairly young, good looking, and dressed in lycra and sportswear. 

My favorite team will always be Chip and Kim. I liked the part where it ceased being The Amazing Race and suddenly turned into "Chip and Kim's Vacation Through Africa." When they won I was literally standing on my couch, screaming at the TV. 

I am rooting for either Tara and Joey or Lolo. Because I have a strong dislike for Scott and Brooke, however, I am almost certain they will win. 

[JenMcSnark]

On 5/25/2017 at 8:31 PM, sinycalone said:

As I mentioned above, the "pros" in these types of challenges usually do let a struggling team win...and usually a lot sooner than Tara won.

I'm pretty sure Floyd would disagree.  

I mean, if they can't relax the rules a little to let Floyd unload his bike when he is near death, I think Tara can finish a damn video game without the gamer laying down for her.  And if any of the other gamers had gone easy on their opponent, Joey and Tara would have been the first people crying about it!

[Dobian]

14 hours ago, rebeccalj said:

Yes, I had to look it up a few weeks ago because I was curious as to the ages of the so-called "old" people/mom & dad.  When I found out Brooke was 36, I was absolutely floored.  and a lawyer as her profession?  Does she whine the opposition to death? 

She yells "Objection!" after every other sentence out of the other lawyer's mouth.

[mojoween]

I noticed when the three teams were in taxis the second time one of the teams looked back as a cab was passing them and there was a red and yellow race sticker on the windshield.  So I wonder if they were spoon-fed or they put the stickers on them sometime.

It was after Joey read one of the clues that specifically mentioned to take a cab.

[InDueTime]

This episode was okay, but I would've preferred a Detour.

I'm indifferent to Redmond and Matt leaving, but it sucks that they had such terrible transportation luck.

I don't know whether to be more amazed at the kids speed at stacking the cups, or at the fact that there's a "championship" for it.

I've played video games, but I've never played Street Fighter, so I don't know how I would've done with this challenge.

Kimchi is one of those things I've never had, and probably wouldn't seek it out. Though, if someone offered me some for free, I'd definitely try it.

Seoul is beautiful at night.

[Haleth]

7 hours ago, mamadrama said:

Also, have the players gotten younger? I haven't watched the show for about 10 seasons or something but I remember there being all different ages and different physiques. You had seniors, overweight people, skinny people, pretty people, "little" people, etc. A good mix. Now, except for #teammomanddad they're all fairly young, good looking, and dressed in lycra and sportswear. 

I think this was only because of the gimmick of the racers all being individuals who had to pick a partner.  It kept all the teams pretty equal.  Normally TPTB still throw in a few teams of older or less fit folks, but they tend to be cut early anyway.  Looking down the list of winners there are only a couple exceptions to the young and fit mold.  (I started to say Chip was one of the exceptions, being a big guy, but then I remembered he did all of the challenges so big?  Yeah.  Fit?  Absolutely.  He and Kim did skew slightly older than their competition though.)

[Miles]

11 hours ago, etagloh said:

I hate it when a team takes the public transit option from the airport when it's presented as an either/or choice and it starts their path to elimination. It happens far too often for my liking, and I wish it didn't. (TPTB: make them take the subway! Please! In real life, people try not to take taxis from airports unless they have lots of money or are expensing it.) In fairness, the elimination was more about taxi luck than subway luck, but it's still not great.

It actually would be nice if teams were forced to take public transit wherever possible. It would cut out a lot of taxi-luck, make them actually navigate a little themselves (you can always board the wrong train or bus), hussle a bit to get the connection, etc. Of course it's a bit of a fine line, you don't want them bunching up after every task, but if you are in a big city where trains run every 5-10 minutes, I think that would be a great opportunity to have them take public transport.

Amazing producers, if you are reading this, please make it happen!

7 hours ago, mamadrama said:

Also, have the players gotten younger? I haven't watched the show for about 10 seasons or something but I remember there being all different ages and different physiques. You had seniors, overweight people, skinny people, pretty people, "little" people, etc. A good mix. Now, except for #teammomanddad they're all fairly young, good looking, and dressed in lycra and sportswear.

While it has gotten a bit less diverse over time, this season is especially bad and not really representative. I don't know why exactly. Maybe older people didn't want to go without the partners they had applied with?

5 hours ago, Dobian said:

She yells "Objection!" after every other sentence out of the other lawyer's mouth.

http://objection.mrdictionary.net/go.php?n=8383876

Edited May 27, 2017 by Miles

[sigmaforce86]

16 hours ago, Roccos Brother said:

Tara was dismissive of the challenge right from the start, and that's why she did terribly with her defeatist attitude. I remember they showed her screen at several times where she was attacking without even being near or facing the opponent -

There were times when she wasn't even touching the joystick or was just nudging it with one finger.  Looks like she thought if she just randomly pounded on the buttons long enough she'd win.  

Joey, I know you're tired, I know you see the end and want to be in the final but no, the gamer isn't obligated to "let" your partner win or go easy on her.  Sorry the challenge sucked but face it - if a gamer went easy on another player you'd be complaining they got an unfair advantage.  It is possible to pick the wrong person to play against - Tara's opponent seemed to have had his sense of humor removed at some point but that's just luck of the draw.

Not sorry to see Matt and Redmond go - I don't think I hated them even though they're annoying at times but they did see themselves as better than the other racers and after awhile that gets old (and entitled).  I'd be happy with any of the remaining three coming in first except I want Scott to win but not Brooke, is there a way to arrange that?

[ByaNose]

20 minutes ago, sigmaforce86 said:

There were times when she wasn't even touching the joystick or was just nudging it with one finger.  Looks like she thought if she just randomly pounded on the buttons long enough she'd win.  

Joey, I know you're tired, I know you see the end and want to be in the final but no, the gamer isn't obligated to "let" your partner win or go easy on her.  Sorry the challenge sucked but face it - if a gamer went easy on another player you'd be complaining they got an unfair advantage.  It is possible to pick the wrong person to play against - Tara's opponent seemed to have had his sense of humor removed at some point but that's just luck of the draw.

Not sorry to see Matt and Redmond go - I don't think I hated them even though they're annoying at times but they did see themselves as better than the other racers and after awhile that gets old (and entitled).  I'd be happy with any of the remaining three coming in first except I want Scott to win but not Brooke, is there a way to arrange that?

Scott could lose her at the Detour or Road Block. Brooke? Who's Brooke?!

[watch2much]

anyone but Brooke!

[Clearlyhere]

  22 hours ago, Roccos Brother said:

Tara was dismissive of the challenge right from the start, and that's why she did terribly with her defeatist attitude. I remember they showed her screen at several times where she was attacking without even being near or facing the opponent -

There were times when she wasn't even touching the joystick or was just nudging it with one finger.  Looks like she thought if she just randomly pounded on the buttons long enough she'd win.  

Joey, I know you're tired, I know you see the end and want to be in the final but no, the gamer isn't obligated to "let" your partner win or go easy on her.  Sorry the challenge sucked but face it - if a gamer went easy on another player you'd be complaining they got an unfair advantage.  It is possible to pick the wrong person to play against - Tara's opponent seemed to have had his sense of humor removed at some point but that's just luck of the draw.

Not sorry to see Matt and Redmond go - I don't think I hated them even though they're annoying at times but they did see themselves as better than the other racers and after awhile that gets old (and entitled).  I'd be happy with any of the remaining three coming in first except I want Scott to win but not Brooke, is there a way to arrange that?

Basically i want Scott to win Andy Brooke not to get in his way.

[backformore]

19 hours ago, Rinaldo said:

I would have to disagree on "generational thing." What generation? They're barely older than the other racers, and more importantly, people way older than they are (like me) got enthusiastically into video games long ago. It's more a personal thing, not interesting to them (or at least to Tara) -- which is fine, everyone has their own preferred form of recreation, but there's no need to get snotty or superior about it, as they did. Your idea of fun is not automatically morally superior to someone else's.

Yeah, it didn't help that the other teams decided to call them "Mom & dad", giving the impression that they were SO much older, when they weren't.   My kids grew up playing video games (in moderation, after homework and chores were done, and only the games I deemed appropriate in content), but I knew a lot of moms who had the attitude Tara seemed to have, that video games are evil and will lead kids down a bad path.   Then there were the other extreme, parents who let very young kids play the most violent of video games as many hours as they wanted.  I never understood why people couldn't accept that video games are an acceptable way of kids and adults being entertained, but not to the exclusion of other activities.  

[PaperTree]

On 5/26/2017 at 0:59 PM, LilaFowler said:

The boys: the subway was a stupid decision. It's rare that taking alternate transportation pays off. I think even with the cab stuff they would have beaten Mom and Dad.

They also would have had a different cab driver who probably wouldn't have taken them to the wrong place.

[legaleagle53]

On 5/25/2017 at 7:56 PM, Bryce Lynch said:

Worst leg design ever!  There was no opportunity to make up ground.

I despise Tara and Joey.  Joey was a total douchebag calling the gamer all types of names for having the audacity not to just let Tara beat him.  

This show deserves to be cancelled.  I am not watching the finale and won't watch next season if CBS is stupid enough to renew it.   

It already has been renewed for Season 30.

[jhlipton]

On 5/25/2017 at 11:07 PM, Lantern7 said:

I will say this: if you're coming from far behind, and Street Fighter determines whether you run for a million dollars? You do NOT PICK Zangief.  Even if that's your guy back home, you need a guy with fireballs. Or Chun-Li or Blanka. Anybody where button mashing benefits you.

I would have no clue who to pick.  I know they got some advice before playing (except for Matt) -- I wonder if that included character pluses and minuses.

On 5/26/2017 at 8:12 AM, Miles said:

 It probably would have been the best strategy to jump around a bunch and spam hadoukens at that point.

A who to the what now?

 

On 5/26/2017 at 0:41 AM, blackwing said:

The only thing I didn't like was when Logan said the kim chi tasted like soggy cabbage in Cajun spice   Way to be open to other cultures, dude.

As others have said, it didn't seem to be closed to the culture.   I loove kim chi and he's not far wrong.

On 5/26/2017 at 7:39 AM, cousin oliver said:

GOGO LOLO!

Phil, to Brooke and Scott at the mat: "If ever there was a time to finish first, it was this leg".

Next leg, Phil; that's the one to win.

Also, the one leg without a prize is not the one to finish first.  All three of the top teams got the same "prize"/

 

On 5/26/2017 at 1:40 PM, Pallas said:

In New York and other major cities with well-designed public services -- most of which are not in the U.S. -- subterranean transport is fastest, at least within the urban hub and often, from the hub to the airport. What about other cities in the States? 

In Los Angeles, it can depend.  The traffic there can get pretty backed up (one of the announcers calls it "bummer-to-bummer" traffic.

[Fukui San]

Ok, so I didn't really play Street Fighter more than a few times but I actually watched people play the arcade version a lot during college. (Don't judge - easily and cheaply entertained)

So here's what I can tell you about that challenge. Anything more elaborate than a kick or punch relies on memorizing sequences with specific timing. The fireballs, throws, uppercuts, and special attacks are largely unavailable until you learn them. 

Even a marginally skilled player will consistently kill a novice. A common tactic is the "Fireball Trap". Characters who have both a fireball attack and and uppercut type attack can alternate those. The slow fireball will float across the screen. Then you perform an uppercut and catch anyone trying to jump over it. It's boring but a newbie has no chance. The pros seemed able to do uppercuts one handed, and they could probably do the fireball trap in their sleep or blindfolded if they had two hands. 

Bottom line: A newbie who doesn't learn special moves probably won't win until the pro is one armed and blindfolded. A newbie who can learn a few moves may win against a blindfolded two armed player. A fairly good player like Matt may be able to win before the blindfold stage when the pro is one handed.  

I think that's an accurate assessment of that challenge. Better players feel free to correct me  

[greyhorse]

5 hours ago, jhlipton said:

In Los Angeles, it can depend.  The traffic there can get pretty backed up (one of the announcers calls it "bummer-to-bummer" traffic.

Do you live in Los Angeles?  The subway/train that exists in downtown LA to the neighboring cities is a pathetic imitation of public transportation.  They are expanding the train, but the process will take years and will never be what it is in NYC or Chicago.  You pretty much have no choice but to drive unless you happen to live right next to a train station.  And yes, because everybody drives, traffic always sucks.