My thoughts on this episode have mostly been stated already: I'm glad the female teams jumped to the front, and I loved seeing Christie & Jodi finish first. I was glad that the challenges were challenging, and the blind U-turn was a creative idea. But I was disappointed because they made the intro dumb. I don't want a weirdly changing intro that shows the teams racing. Keep it the same the whole season!
Amanda & Kris weren't ready to go out yet. Without the U-turn, they would have beaten Mark & Michael, because all three teams finished the task together. Unfortunately I knew they were out as soon as the episode started, thanks to the "overconfidence interview" they always give the eliminated team now! Try not to ruin the outcome so early, CBS.
Thoughts on the teams:
Christie & Jodi: They did an excellent job on this leg! It was way cool to see them finish first after their dismal previous placings.
Kisha & Jen: Ditto above. They really did better than C & J, except for the Roadblock. They would have finished first.
Tammy & Victor: Thankfully they got a chance to have an invisible edit. I've seen enough of them already, so this episode made up for most of the previous ones.
Margie & Luke: Starting to emerge as the villains of the season thanks to the editing teams' agenda. I lost some love for them with the insulting U-turn that they could have (and should have) put on Tammy & Victor, who were their real threat.
Jaime & Cara: Solid leg, the only reason they finished this low was because of the bad flight. And despite Luke's decision to try and "save" them, they really were in no danger this episode.
Mel & Mike: They still got a slightly overabundant edit, but not one that became annoying. They had some problems and overall ran an average leg for a Father/Son team.
Mark & Michael: They had a chance to finish well, but they lost that opportunity quickly. I'm surprised they had so much trouble finding the house. They seem like they are aspiring to become like Andrew & Dan!
ELIMINATEDAmanda & Kris: Unfortunately they become yet another awesome team to leave the race due to no real fault of their own, although I think they could have been faster at the Detour if they had broken away from the M & M teams. Although it is not true that, as CBS says, Luke "orchestrated" their elimination, I am still angry at Luke for this upsetting decision that was very poorly made. You should U-turn the biggest threat to you (in this case, Tammy & Victor), which of course they didn't do. This team had so much more potential, and I know they would have gone the distance if it wasn't for this.