Enough with the elephants. I'm not watching "Babar."
9 comments:
Anonymous
said...
This leg of the race has finally convinced me that if Rob and Amber eventually win, they'll deserve it (frustrating as that is to admit). They seem to routinely be the best at out-thinking the race (sometimes it looks like they're the only ones even trying). Getting a local to guide them this time was just the latest in a series of clever moves, going back at least as far as their strategy with the Pile of Meat(TM).
I'm sorry to see Lynn and Alex go. (I noticed that they'd layered up before getting on the mat again, incidentally.) They had their irritating points, but as I've said before, their relentlessly positive attitude and overall kindness (to each other and to everyone else) made them a pleasure to watch. (I still suspect that their apparent loathing of Rob and Amber was emphasized in editing; it certainly hadn't really shown up much recently.) But in the end, the two teams that I would have missed the least were the two that were least likely to be eliminated, so I was almost certain to lose some team that I liked.
I've honestly started to wonder if I really have underestimated Meredith and Gretchen all this time. They just constantly seem to be playing catch-up, and it's hard to blame all of that on bad luck. Their survival this time was clearly a function of the non-pit-stop alone: they were way behind, but the uber-bunching continued to save them. Still, they just keep hanging in there, and somehow they keep surviving by the skin of their teeth. (How many times have they not been the last team to arrive that was not eliminated?)
Rob and Amber will deserve it on gameplay. They're still media whores.
Where did you get this relentless kindness vibe from Lynn & Alex? They always seemed kind of snooty to me and were borderline racist in a couple of places.
Wilhite and I worked out this Meredith & Gretchen thing last night:
LA--Peru: 6/11 Peru-Santiago: 7/10, way in front of Brian & Greg + the blondes, and both teams seemed to have been on a later flight or something Santiago-Meatblock: 7/9, only behind the two teams who couldn't navigate their cars Meatblock-Argentina: 7/8, in front of Susan and Patrick whose boat broke down Argentina-S. Afr: 7/7, Mugged S. Afr.-Botswana: 5/7, In front of Brian & Greg's rollover + Ray & Deanna's complete disfunction Botswana: 5/6, in front of Brian & Greg who (unseen on tv) drove the wrong freakin' way from the Amazing Mat. Botswana-Lucknow: 5/5, but the leg kept going and they got bunched Lucknow-Jodphur: 4/5, in front of the team whose taxi led them astray.
So in summary, we see they survived twice on really bad navigation by one or more teams, and twice more on bad transport luck for other teams. Also twice on non-elimination (which Part 1 of this leg essential was, sans mugging) What they haven't done is made the collossal mistake (like drive to the ocean) that eliminates you--although they keep trying (climbing in the elephant, driving past the clue). By all rights, they shouldn't be here. But next week, they probably lose that pretty backpack.
Decent episode that was (once again) over-shadowed by the preview of next week's action. I'm not terribly upset to see Lynn and Alex go; good racers for the most part, but I think fatigue has been weighing pretty heavily on them the last couple legs.
Someone on the TWoP boards mentioned the fact that, presuming that they don't win next week's leg or get eliminated, Gretchen and Meredith could end up as the first team to ever make it to the final three without actually ever winning a leg along the way. Without checking for sure, I think they may have already claimed the title of "surviving the longest after being non-eliminated", which is even more impressive since they also lost all of their gear along with all their money. Of course, if they finish last next week, there's also a chance that they could be the first team to double dip on the non-elminations in the same race (Is that allowed?). Apparently, there's a lot to say for just plugging along and avoiding the really big mistakes late in a leg.
True, but I think I still rate Gretchen and Meredith's fortitude ahead of the Bowling Mom's. They've gone through three legs now after their non-elimination, compared to the Bowling Moms going from episode 6 through the first half of episode 12 after getting the NEL in episode 5. It's close, but I think having the extra NEL in there (when the Twinkies skated through), not really being really penalized in the next round thanks to Marshall and Lance quitting the race and not having to forfeit all of their gear puts the Mom's a shade under this season's oldsters.
Suffice it to say, they've really grown on me from their early days of Gretchen screeching about everything and telling Meredith to smooth down his hair before meeting Phil.
Maybe I've been halucinating Lynn and Alex's basic decency. I do recall at least some of the borderline comments that they made. And we've certainly seen them gripe enough about the supposed horrors of not having a hot bath and beauty supplies every day.
But when they stopped to help Brian and Greg after their accident, that seemed entirely in character based on what I'd seen of them up to that point. (Admittedly, their perhaps unreasonable frustration with Rob and Amber for not also stopping also seemed in character.) They stayed there far longer than they should have; I'm not sure if them being there was actually helping anything after the first few minutes. They were generally supportive of each other, and as far as I recall they were also generally supportive of all the other teams except Rob and Amber. I felt like they had a strong sense throughout the race of how lucky they were to have the opportunity to see so many unique places and experience so many unique things. They were optimists throughout, up to the moment they stepped on the mat that last time.
So, yeah, I may just be writing off some of their snootyness as "cute"; perhaps I locked in to their positive traits early on and tended to ignore the rest. But whatever the reason, I generally liked them. :) And I would much rather have seen, say, Ron and Kelly get eliminated last night.
I have been impressed by Meredith & Gretchen not being eliminated, but I think a lot of it is luck; there have been just enough race-saving events at every turn to keep them from being booted, despite appearing less capable every step of the way. Their strengh is not speed, but they do avoid the disastrous mistakes that eliminate you (except for not getting the clue after the 2nd Botswana roadblock).
As to how far teams have gone after not being eliminated, the teams that won TAR2 and TAR3 were both non-elimed at some point, though I believe they were pretty sute that the legs were non-elims (and, thus, knew they weren't really in trouble). By TAR4, teams were pretty clearly able to tell which legs were non-elim and, with no penalty, were not even that worried about being eliminated when they were on the leg, or when they reached the mat. That's where the penalties came from.
I'm not sure who's survived the most legs after being non-elimed; that would take some research. It may be te Bowling Moms right now. Since the next leg of TAR7 will almost certainly be non-elim, we can assume that M&G will have made it at least 5 legs (one of which was really two legs with a rolling pit stop in between). If they manage to survive the last elimination, they will have gone 7 (really 8) legs after being non-elimed.
And as far as Lynn & Alex being nice, they weren't. They weren't bad to everyone, but they treated Rob & Amber like non-people. I agree that their animosity was over-edited, but they have been pretty cruel in post-Race interviews.
I agree that [Lynn & Alex's] animosity was over-edited, but they have been pretty cruel in post-Race interviews.
I don't think I've seen any of those interviews, so that's useful information for me. I certainly don't take back all of my positive comments about them, but I'll at least accept that their attitude toward Rob and Amber was unreasonably nasty. Especially with that in mind, I can certainly see that they were probably pretty grating to some people.
I think that Lynn & Alex would have come across (to me) as fun-loving and snarky, were it not for all of the Rob-and-Amber nastiness. There were a lot of times when they thought they were funny and I didn't agree, but, for the most part, the most off-putting stuff (to me) was the Romber obsession. I doubt that they're bad guys--they just seemed far more impressed with their own humorousness than I was.
The man of many hats (literaly not figuratively), condensed matter physicist, passionate baseball and hockey fan, devotee of the late, lamented Satellite of Love, mutli-pronged geek.
9 comments:
This leg of the race has finally convinced me that if Rob and Amber eventually win, they'll deserve it (frustrating as that is to admit). They seem to routinely be the best at out-thinking the race (sometimes it looks like they're the only ones even trying). Getting a local to guide them this time was just the latest in a series of clever moves, going back at least as far as their strategy with the Pile of Meat(TM).
I'm sorry to see Lynn and Alex go. (I noticed that they'd layered up before getting on the mat again, incidentally.) They had their irritating points, but as I've said before, their relentlessly positive attitude and overall kindness (to each other and to everyone else) made them a pleasure to watch. (I still suspect that their apparent loathing of Rob and Amber was emphasized in editing; it certainly hadn't really shown up much recently.) But in the end, the two teams that I would have missed the least were the two that were least likely to be eliminated, so I was almost certain to lose some team that I liked.
I've honestly started to wonder if I really have underestimated Meredith and Gretchen all this time. They just constantly seem to be playing catch-up, and it's hard to blame all of that on bad luck. Their survival this time was clearly a function of the non-pit-stop alone: they were way behind, but the uber-bunching continued to save them. Still, they just keep hanging in there, and somehow they keep surviving by the skin of their teeth. (How many times have they not been the last team to arrive that was not eliminated?)
Rob and Amber will deserve it on gameplay. They're still media whores.
Where did you get this relentless kindness vibe from Lynn & Alex? They always seemed kind of snooty to me and were borderline racist in a couple of places.
Wilhite and I worked out this Meredith & Gretchen thing last night:
LA--Peru: 6/11
Peru-Santiago: 7/10, way in front of Brian & Greg + the blondes, and both teams seemed to have been on a later flight or something
Santiago-Meatblock: 7/9, only behind the two teams who couldn't navigate their cars
Meatblock-Argentina: 7/8, in front of Susan and Patrick whose boat broke down
Argentina-S. Afr: 7/7, Mugged
S. Afr.-Botswana: 5/7, In front of Brian & Greg's rollover + Ray & Deanna's complete disfunction
Botswana: 5/6, in front of Brian & Greg who (unseen on tv) drove the wrong freakin' way from the Amazing Mat.
Botswana-Lucknow: 5/5, but the leg kept going and they got bunched
Lucknow-Jodphur: 4/5, in front of the team whose taxi led them astray.
So in summary, we see they survived twice on really bad navigation by one or more teams, and twice more on bad transport luck for other teams. Also twice on non-elimination (which Part 1 of this leg essential was, sans mugging) What they haven't done is made the collossal mistake (like drive to the ocean) that eliminates you--although they keep trying (climbing in the elephant, driving past the clue). By all rights, they shouldn't be here. But next week, they probably lose that pretty backpack.
Decent episode that was (once again) over-shadowed by the preview of next week's action. I'm not terribly upset to see Lynn and Alex go; good racers for the most part, but I think fatigue has been weighing pretty heavily on them the last couple legs.
Someone on the TWoP boards mentioned the fact that, presuming that they don't win next week's leg or get eliminated, Gretchen and Meredith could end up as the first team to ever make it to the final three without actually ever winning a leg along the way. Without checking for sure, I think they may have already claimed the title of "surviving the longest after being non-eliminated", which is even more impressive since they also lost all of their gear along with all their money. Of course, if they finish last next week, there's also a chance that they could be the first team to double dip on the non-elminations in the same race (Is that allowed?). Apparently, there's a lot to say for just plugging along and avoiding the really big mistakes late in a leg.
-Ryan
Bowling Moms in Race 5 were non-eliminated and made the final 4.
True, but I think I still rate Gretchen and Meredith's fortitude ahead of the Bowling Mom's. They've gone through three legs now after their non-elimination, compared to the Bowling Moms going from episode 6 through the first half of episode 12 after getting the NEL in episode 5. It's close, but I think having the extra NEL in there (when the Twinkies skated through), not really being really penalized in the next round thanks to Marshall and Lance quitting the race and not having to forfeit all of their gear puts the Mom's a shade under this season's oldsters.
Suffice it to say, they've really grown on me from their early days of Gretchen screeching about everything and telling Meredith to smooth down his hair before meeting Phil.
-Ryan
Maybe I've been halucinating Lynn and Alex's basic decency. I do recall at least some of the borderline comments that they made. And we've certainly seen them gripe enough about the supposed horrors of not having a hot bath and beauty supplies every day.
But when they stopped to help Brian and Greg after their accident, that seemed entirely in character based on what I'd seen of them up to that point. (Admittedly, their perhaps unreasonable frustration with Rob and Amber for not also stopping also seemed in character.) They stayed there far longer than they should have; I'm not sure if them being there was actually helping anything after the first few minutes. They were generally supportive of each other, and as far as I recall they were also generally supportive of all the other teams except Rob and Amber. I felt like they had a strong sense throughout the race of how lucky they were to have the opportunity to see so many unique places and experience so many unique things. They were optimists throughout, up to the moment they stepped on the mat that last time.
So, yeah, I may just be writing off some of their snootyness as "cute"; perhaps I locked in to their positive traits early on and tended to ignore the rest. But whatever the reason, I generally liked them. :) And I would much rather have seen, say, Ron and Kelly get eliminated last night.
I have been impressed by Meredith & Gretchen not being eliminated, but I think a lot of it is luck; there have been just enough race-saving events at every turn to keep them from being booted, despite appearing less capable every step of the way. Their strengh is not speed, but they do avoid the disastrous mistakes that eliminate you (except for not getting the clue after the 2nd Botswana roadblock).
As to how far teams have gone after not being eliminated, the teams that won TAR2 and TAR3 were both non-elimed at some point, though I believe they were pretty sute that the legs were non-elims (and, thus, knew they weren't really in trouble). By TAR4, teams were pretty clearly able to tell which legs were non-elim and, with no penalty, were not even that worried about being eliminated when they were on the leg, or when they reached the mat. That's where the penalties came from.
I'm not sure who's survived the most legs after being non-elimed; that would take some research. It may be te Bowling Moms right now. Since the next leg of TAR7 will almost certainly be non-elim, we can assume that M&G will have made it at least 5 legs (one of which was really two legs with a rolling pit stop in between). If they manage to survive the last elimination, they will have gone 7 (really 8) legs after being non-elimed.
And as far as Lynn & Alex being nice, they weren't. They weren't bad to everyone, but they treated Rob & Amber like non-people. I agree that their animosity was over-edited, but they have been pretty cruel in post-Race interviews.
I agree that [Lynn & Alex's] animosity was over-edited, but they have been pretty cruel in post-Race interviews.
I don't think I've seen any of those interviews, so that's useful information for me. I certainly don't take back all of my positive comments about them, but I'll at least accept that their attitude toward Rob and Amber was unreasonably nasty. Especially with that in mind, I can certainly see that they were probably pretty grating to some people.
I think that Lynn & Alex would have come across (to me) as fun-loving and snarky, were it not for all of the Rob-and-Amber nastiness. There were a lot of times when they thought they were funny and I didn't agree, but, for the most part, the most off-putting stuff (to me) was the Romber obsession. I doubt that they're bad guys--they just seemed far more impressed with their own humorousness than I was.
That said, they got screwed by their cab driver.
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