This is a great episode in my opinion. Lotsa teams, lotsa fun! I think a part of me liking this episode is that there are still a lot of teams racing. Brazil somewhat feels like an overused location, but for not seeing TAR in a while, I guess it can pass.
The detour this leg was nice. One side requires physical strength and good attention to detail. The other one is a rhythm challenge. The samba detour may look easier since it's just rhythm, but both detours are equal in difficulty, mainly due to the preciseness needed in both tasks. The samba one is cultural, but I don't think I see anything in the setting up of the gym.
Not sure.
The roadblock this leg wasn't easy too. As shown by some racers, missing the top part could mean that s/he has to "start over" again in a way that s/he has to go down, go back to the penthouse, then rappel down to reach the upper part of the window again. That's not only annoying, but it's also time consuming. The best thing, I think, about the roadblock is that it's not linear, so teams can have a footrace to the pit stop. Or like what we saw with the last 2 teams, they can fight neck and neck against each other.
6 different flights? That's great! Teams not only get to book the flights themselves, but the flights seem to be mostly full too. Wow! Well, we didn't get to see flight drama anymore, but it was still nice knowing that teams are quite far apart with the flights. Although I wish they showed more flight drama, especially for Jessie & Franny's case. I didn't expect them to be that far behind.
Speaking of Jessie & Franny, I'd say it was their flight being the last one that screwed them over. At the very least, that was what was shown from the editing. They were not lucky enough since Day 1. From not choosing teammates, to not making it to the 1st flight despite Phil driving them to the airport. Oh well.
Shamir & Sara would've been eliminated if Jessie & Franny were on an earlier flight. Their 1st leg was okay, especially since they were the 1st team from the 2nd flight to check in. This leg, it was just not Shamir's day. The drums were already a pain to him, and they took a while to finish the detour. That didn't pull them down completely yet. It was only at the roadblock when he even broke a window our of pain and frustration.
It was simply not his day. Even not getting on the earliest flight could add up to this.
I have to agree with the previous posts. Brooke should've been the title quote owner for this episode. Not only is it inspirational, but it's also philosophical. I like that.
"Pain is temporary. Elimination is forever." Scott facing his fear was nice for him I guess. Poor Brooke broke under pressure. Even telling her to calm down won't help. At least it's not overly dramatic.
Team LoLo seem to be under the radar for the past 2 legs. I would not have remembered them much if it wasn't for spoilers. I hope they'll show more of this team as the race goes on. Hopefully the consistent 8th place doesn't mean they'll be eliminated soon. Tara & Joey are also under the radar this leg, but Joey seems more invisible, since they revealed more of Tara's background aside from Tara performing the roadblock. I can't imagine a first impression of her as an army person.
Team Fun is still fun as always!
Becca seems so used to rappelling. After all, that's almost like what she does for a living. Meanwhile, Floyd as a drummer is the same thing. They're lucky to have their passions or professions as tasks this leg.
Seth & Olive are also under the radar this leg. I'm bothered by the possibility that there's no leg prize for Leg 1. I thought it was just unaired, but now I'm not even sure. Back then Leg 1 prizes are the most precious and/or most powerful prizes of the season. Now it's just... null? Hopefully not. Prize money from last season's Leg 1 is better than no prize at all, so I guess I'll wait and see if there's really no prize for the Leg 1 winners.
Liz & Mike definitely have an improved performance this leg!
From arriving last and almost being eliminated for getting lost and for struggling with the detour, to a smooth run for 1st place!
Even those on the 1st flight came after them. It reminds me of Yvonne & Chloe from TARA5. They were the last team to depart on the 2nd pit start, but they won the 2nd leg surprisingly enough.
Okay, so there's little drama between Matt & Red and Ashton. Ashton keeps grudges eh? The W-turn next episode will be interesting to this arc. Matt & Red running their own race is not bad anyway. This situation reminds me of a situation in my fanfic wherein one team yielded the other team for declining an alliance.
I wonder how this arc will go. Vanck & Ashton and Matt & Red seem to do really well this leg. Matt & Red just wasn't able to find the marked cycling cluegiver right away, and Vanck & Ashton were just overtaken by Mike & Liz. At least Vanck & Ashton worked really well this leg. Matt & Red seemed to do better based on those confessionals.
Red trying to make a joke out of being one-legged and Vanck saying he gave 120% that leg even though it's mathematically impossible...
Overall, this was a great leg! I liked the previous episode better because of the self-driving element. At the same time, I think this episode's tasks were just lacking in so much excitement. This is not a bad episode, but I think it can be done better.
I'm gonna watch the episode again. I don't like missing 5 minutes of the show from that special announcement. I understand that it is an alarming news, but why did it have to coincide with TAR of all shows!?
