April 13, 2006

TAR 9.7 - Herculean Efforts For Some Herculean Dudes

Recap: Teams travel to Rome and Greece and participate in the ancient practices of airline travel, subway riding, taxi hailing and bungee jumping. Product placement for The DaVinci Code controls the first half of the leg and Monica's stupidity dominates the second half. The Fast Forward finally emerges. A few teams experience 15 minutes of stress at the pit stop for not following a clue exactly as it was written, and Lake and Michelle are surprisingly eliminated in what most assume will be a non-elimination leg.

Comments: Daggummit, the Amazing Race producers know how to, like, produce! The usual routine for clues, detours and roadblocks is anything but formulaic this season. I must admit, I was a bit disappointed with the Italy leg. I was kind of hoping that Phil would be clothed in a sharkskin suit with a big gold Italian horn around his neck, but I guess the stylists decided to go in a more subdued direction.

Given the circumstance that all teams were bunched up when the Fast Forward appeared, I can see why MoJo, The Frats, and FranBerry decided to go for it. Since it was a task of chance that multiple teams could participate in at once, it wasn't an outrageous decision to give it a shot, and it didn't really hurt any of the racers' placements at the pit stop. It was, however, the only time you will ever hear me rooting for Eric and Jeremy this season, and that's only because I dislike them marginally more than MoJo. I can't wait for the Frats to walk down the red carpet at premiere of The DaVinci Code, only to hear, "Who the hell are THEY?" at every turn.

Monica wins the award this week for Dumbest Comments in a Single Episode. "To walk in the same places as Caesar and all those people is incredible." "This is where thinking began and the great philosophers are all from here!" Honey. Don't try to sound like you know...anything.

The bungee jumping Roadblock was the most exciting roadblock yet, although I do enjoy these kinds of tasks more when racers have Fran's kind of reaction. Overcoming fear is one of the greatest elements of drama that this show affords the viewer, and I like to see that as much as possible. Fran didn't exactly dive off the platform like the rest of the roadblockers - it was more of a belly flop, which provided some added hilarity to the task. Not as much hilarity as Barry backing into a tree and smashing out the rear window of the SUV, though.

For me, the detour was pretty vanilla, and except for Tyler's cartoonish homoerotic participation in the wrestling ring, fairly boring. Speaking of BJ and Tyler, their reaction at the pit stop was fantastic. It was the first REAL reaction from this team - no mugging or hamming to spoil the realization that this wasn't their time to go. I'm hoping to see more of that from them in future episodes, since they're my team to win now that Lake and Michelle are gone.

I'm sure plenty of people will disagree with me on this count, but I was hella bummed to see Lake and Michelle go. I friggin' LOVED them, and I couldn't care less that he called her ass a bitch. If I were on the race with my best girlfriend Amy, we'd be calling each other bitches left and right out of stress and exhaustion. No one would call us abusive or horrible because of it, but because Lake's a dude, he's supposed to be held to some standard of chivalry on the Race? Fuck that. Even though her exit interview was far from an eHarmony commercial, I think there's as much love between them as any of the other couples on the Race. Most people won't remember Lake calling Michelle "Sugar," or brushing the hair out of her eyes, or carrying her to the mat. They'll remember the bickering, arguing and name-calling. Big deal. Lake and Michelle were fantastic racers - competitive, driven, strong. She really committed to that bungee jump with no hesitation. There was no pretense with them. After Lori and Dave went, they were my team to win.

So this week's alternate episode titles go, once again, to Lake and Michelle.

You Didn't Hand Me The Damn Piece Of Paper Or The Sumbitch Would BE ON ME!
-Lake

You Never Handed It To Me, Bitch! Now Shut Up!
-Lake

It's A Fortress. It's An Antique Place!
-Michelle

I don't hate the word "bitch" as much as a lot of people, and I've had boyfriends call me that before. Sometimes rightly, sometimes wrongly, but I've (mostly) not considered it to be misogynist in nature. Sometimes I'm a bitch. Sometimes guys are bitches, too, and I'm just as likely to call a guy one as I am a girl. However, I just can't stand Lake. If you took every shot of him this season and superimposed G.W. Bush's head over his, you'd see what I see.

If you want some cartoonish homoerotic participation from Tyler, here ya go.

The AR producers are really killing me with this Wendesday night schedule. I tape it for my hubby so I can't watch America's Next Top model anymore and it cut into the first half hour of Idol.

There's just too much to watch on TV. I'll be going into complete withdrawel next week because I start my new part time job in the evenings.

I'll be working the hearing aid concession at Broadway shows and I'm starting this Friday night with Ring Of Fire.

TV is an addiction like so many other behaviors. But once I break free I'm usually okay.

Oh, I hear you, Val. Once summer comes, and the new episodes have drawn to a close, I can resume a normal life. Until then, I bow before the greatness that is the DVR.

Sandy, HAHAHAHAHHAHA! I love those pics! The only difference between the Hippies and the Frats in those pics, is the Hippies were KIDDING!

I have to admit I was sad to see Lake and Michelle go too, if only for the amusement of what comes out of their mouths. I think Fran and Barry or MoJo need to go. I loved when Barry hit the tree, I thought at the end we'd hear Phil say, I'm sorry Fran and Barry you've been penalized for crashing your freakin car. Hearing Monica talk made me scream.

Well, the thing is, I think the blondie hippie might be gay. I wouldn't place bets on dark-hair (I don't know who's who), but there was one guy in that picture who was WAAAAAAAAAAAY into the man areas.