The Amazing Race Family Edition Part III--Lost in SpaceSomething of a disappointing episode overall. This is only my second season of watching the show, but I've already got some clear ideas of what I don't like, and this episode had several bits that were less appetizing than the usual fare:
1. I don't artificial means to join and/or separate the teams. As usual, the mechanism to join the eight teams was an airport. I understand the purpose, but it seems to me that it detracts from the "race" aspect. Runners don't run a half-marathon, then have to wait for everybody to catch up before starting the second leg. Then the mystery bus trip, where the fifth through eighth teams were forced to wait for a second bus two hours later, artificially separated them.
2. I don't like detours where it turns out in the end that one choice was obviously best. This week it was quite clear that the shrimp de-heading option (which was my choice) turned out better for all teams taking it. The fact that the Gaghan family zipped through the mud bog in one try (apparently) and yet fell further behind stunk. The tedious test should be longer than the skill test performed well; tonight it wasn't.
3. I especially didn't like the road block because of the lack of challenge. The teams entered and exited the road block (a 3.2 times gravity simulator) and stepped onto the mat at the end in the exact same order, so really the only challenge was getting to the clue box off the mystery bus trip. Nobody wimped out on the simulator.
I didn't see the first team's starting time, but the second team got underway at 2:27, while the last team started at 3:08, so the time gap was only 41 minutes from second to eighth, and much, much less than that to 7th, which was more like 11 minutes apart.
Cool scenery, especially in Huntsville by the Space Center. I just wish they had found something better to do there. The Paolo family continues to amuse with their incessant bickering; it was nice to see the mom teasing her boys a little bit on the shrimp boat. The other Italian family, the Aiello's, arrived last and were Phil-iminated. Team Widow got quite frazzled on the bus ride, which I confess I don't quite understand. Anybody think the Waffle House stop was a bit of product placement? And the winning team (the out-of-shape dad and his three daughters) got free gas for life from Arco or BP. I'll admit I don't have a clue where the nearest Arco station is; we don't have BP here in Arizona as far as I know. But I guess I'd find out pretty quickly! ;)
Eric at Viking Pundit has his usual
well-structured rundown of the episode here. Kris at Dummocrats
has some observations that mentally registered but that I forgot to include in my summary, like the very obvious fact that Team Widow is rapidly becoming despised by their fellow contestants.
