From now on, I'll be writing reviews of each episode for this season.
After several months of not watching TAR, I'm glad it's back. The theme of the season involving the best people in their fields may be unobvious at first, but it gives off a very competitive vibe for the season. I like the cast as it is very diverse. From the first episode, TAR's tagline for this season being the most competitive season yet shows how true this can be.
Destination: Reykjavik, IcelandTAR's first destination for this season was an interesting choice. Iceland hasn't been visited for 24 seasons, and it was only visited once for one leg prior to this. The rural mountainside scenery of Iceland looks breathtaking. The first task allowed teams to see the beauty of Iceland. After all, the race is not only a competition, but also an opportunity to travel around the world for free. I think it's important to appreciate the surroundings of foreign places when traveling. Meanwhile, it's nice to have teams travel to the urban side of Reykjavik on the same leg. They can appreciate Iceland by seeing both its rural and urban areas.
Culture:Besides the surroundings, the culture of the land is also an important thing to appreciate while traveling to foreign places. During the episode, we've seen how the roadblock has a clue stand made of ice. Even the objects used in the roadblock are made of ice. We don't see this in every corner of the world, so it's nice to have these icy objects shown and used during the episode. It reflects the materials the nation uses. It is living up to its name! Upon reaching the urban side of Reykjavik, we got to see a glimmer of Iceland's history with vikings and the modern culture about them lifting weights competitively. I like how TAR showed this while also showing the scenery of rural Iceland on the same episode.
Active Route Info 1:One team member has to scale through a wire hanging above two cliffs then retrieve a small flag of Iceland, while the other has to assist his or her teammate scaling through the wire for this task. Having teams go to the rural side of Iceland for a task like this gives them the opportunity to see the beauty of the land. Traveling around the place by car can show them some scenery, but one above and between two mountains is not something that can be seen at any given time. Aside from the focus on scenery, the task is a heights task. It's an opportunity for some racers to face their fears. For all racers, it is an opportunity to have a better view of Iceland's beauty.
Roadblock:The task of arranging letters in a certain order from memory is a simple task fitting the difficulty of the first leg. The racers not only had to remember the letters scattered around the course randomly but also the numbers with them. They have to memorize two different things in pairs. Having eleven of them was not too easy yet not too hard. Aside from memory, attention to detail was secretly needed for the task as well. The accented ó and the regular o showed how some racers had difficulty in completing the task immediately. It is a nice trick by the task designer to have a small detail like that matter so much. Required skills aside, the task also has an obstacle during the memorization part of it. The splashing water made it distracting for racers to see what they have to remember. Although, traveling around the river in a buggy while getting splashed is a nice immersion to the location. The task wasn't too difficult for the first leg, yet it wasn't too easy to be linear. Teams shuffling placements from this task proved its difficulty.
Active Route Info 2:With the theme of the season being people who are the best in their fields, showing vikings and telling viewers that they are competitive weightlifters not only fit the theme but also showed history and culture of Icelandic vikings. Teams having to ask around for the answers of the two questions required social skills, unless they have it as stock knowledge. The task was simple, considering that there were earlier tasks in the leg that were more difficult.
Pit Stop:The pit stop location showed the scenery of the lake surrounded by the city, which is a nice scenery. Having Miss Iceland as pit stop greeter was a cool bonus.
Overall Leg Design:With teams driving to the rural then to the urban sides of Reykjavik by themselves, they need directions to get around the place. Having a scenery appreciation task, a mental roadblock that was moderate in difficulty, and another task that showed Iceland's modern culture, I think the leg was designed well enough to be fairly difficult for the first leg. There were first legs in other seasons that were designed better than this, but considering that there were also those that were poorly designed, I'd consider this as decent. We have two easy tasks, one moderate roadblock, and self-driving for the first leg. Not bad already!
Title Quote:"You're a Champion, Prove It" fit the theme of the season very well. Having this title for a premiere was cool and fitting. It wasn't too simple and boring as well. I can see the quote as inspirational too somehow. It shows how champions can't just quit easily. They have to show the world that they deserve the title.
Editing:~Editing is responsible in showing the detailed content of the show. I think the editing for the episode needs improvement. First off, six teams were introduced before the start of the race while the other five were introduced after. Viewers would wonder who the other five teams are. Little to nothing was known about them when the race started. I'd prefer teams to all be introduced before the start of the race. That way, it'll be easier to recognize them when they are shown on the starting line.
~Skipping most of the second route info and the travel between that and the roadblock made viewers like me wonder how and why certain teams switched placements. One moment we see a team finish the roadblock. The next moment that team just appears on the pit stop. Even though it is implied that the team finished the task, not showing it made the progress of some teams messy. I was just surprised to see some teams reach the pit stop immediately, specifically those who weren't shown doing the second active route info.
~Having teams socialize during the airport like in older seasons would've been nice for viewers to learn more from the teams. Some teams can barely be remembered given their short appearances throughout the episode.
~Despite these editing issues, the footrace to the finish was edited really well. We see a montage of the last two teams walking and running to the pit stop, as well as their progresses on the last task. From these, we got to see how both teams were overtaking one another. At the same time, showing the NBA players waiting out their penalty on a close finish was suspenseful to catch the viewers' interests. Showing Phil mentioning that two teams were on their way to the pit stop made the three-way close finish even more suspenseful!
~Overall, despite the ending being edited really well, I think it still needs improvement on other parts. Also, if TAR can extend the premiere to a 90- or 120-minute episode every season, I think viewers could see more character from each of the racers.
Teams:Team Extreme: Personally, I like their intro very much. "Girls aren't supposed to do dangerous things, and I was all about proving that wrong." I find the quote inspirational in a feministic sense. They breezed through the first leg, and I think they deserved their final placement for the leg. From 5th place, they did the first task as fast as they could. The one performing the roadblock was also attentive to detail immediately, and that allowed them to finish the task quickly, passing two teams. They not only breezed through the last task, but they also avoided getting lost on their way to and from the location of the last task. They were not only cool and inspirational, but they proved themselves to be very competitive, skillful, fast, determined, with something to prove for the first leg. For this, they are my favorite team for this season so far.
Team Big Brother: I haven't watched Big Brother to know them very well, so I'm basing their performance without the full details of their background. I like how they were quick as well, although they got lost near the end. Cody immediately finishing the roadblock was impressive. Their overall performance makes me think they deserve to be in this season, with the theme.
Team Yale: This is another team I really like. They were fast and competitive, but they lost their lead to other teams based on tasks and probably directions. Being on the top few all throughout the leg, they were more memorable than other teams.
Team Well Strung: They were in the middle the whole time, so I couldn't see much from them. Their time in the roadblock seems short, but I didn't see enough detail to analyze how well they did. Still, their final placement for the leg can prove how strong they are.
Team Indy Car: We got to see enough from this team in my opinion. The false hope shown in the roadblock was funny. Both of them being roommates or housemates was a cool fact about them. They did well, but the one performing the roadblock took too much time guessing instead of going for a second round at the buggy.
Team Chomp: They were memorable during the intro and the starting line. Perhaps the part with one of them yelling to the other about not quitting could be memorable too. However, they were under the radar for the rest of the leg. We didn't see enough of them aside from their background.
Team Ocean Rescue: Being in the middle of the pack made them forgettable too. Although, the proposal in the middle of the race was a nice thing to know about Lucas.
The Firefighter: They were easily forgettable. I couldn't see how they fit in the theme of this season too. I couldn't see it, and it was probably just mentioned once. The only time I think they were memorable was when they overtook the NBA players during their penalty.
Team Slam Dunk: This team was a funny mess. I like how the title quote came from one of them. They started well, fairly speaking. One of them has a fear of heights, yet he did the task to prove that he is a champion. The roadblock was fine at first. It looked like Henry's mistake. However, after going through the course again and still finding nothing, it can be concluded that Shawn has poor attention to detail. He helping the racer he was neck and neck with for last place was not really a good move. What's more ironic is that it put them in last place. The coaching, even though unheard by Shawn, put some suspense to the show at least, because of the penalty. The comparing Shawn did made him finish the task at last. I think it was okay for him to compare answers, since he helped out the other racer. However, I wish he found the solution in some other way instead of comparing. This team checking in at the pit stop before the team that got help from Shawn showed that they were probably good with navigation and self-driving. Those made them pass three teams from the roadblock to the last task. It probably maintained their lead earlier in the leg as well. At least this is the good side they have after all the issues they had this leg.
Team Goat Yoga: I never heard of goat yoga, and I find it cool! Being the founders of goat yoga made them an interesting pair right away. Their hobbies were also interesting: trapeze, teaching kids to parkour, being moms, etc. If I'm not mistaken, this is the same team which had ninja warrior competitors. They had a very good intro and first impression. Unfortunately, their overall leg performance was disappointing, especially with their athletic background. I had high expectations from them, and they were about to be my favorite team. The choppy editing not showing why there was tension between them all of a sudden didn't help as well. Perhaps the confessionals answered that, and that gives them character development. Then again, I think the editing on them about it made it confusing. Their poor start was probably caused by this tension, but it could also be their poor skills in navigation and self-driving. If the NBA players beat them to the location of the last task, even after they got help from that team, then it could mean that they are poor in those skills mentioned. Seeing that they finished the last task in 10th, but the ring girls passed them some time during the footrace to the pit stop, I was wondering if they were doing this to save their energy or they were not competitive enough. Overall, I like them from their background, but their weak performance was pathetic. At least the bottomgoddessing they did throughout the leg was entertaining for me.
The Ring Girls: I think this team had potential to do better. They were easily forgettable for being in the middle of the pack for most of the leg. They showed us that they have a competitive drive, yet they finished at the bottom on the first leg. After rewatching the episode and noticing certain details, I believe it's the little things that mattered which had them eliminated. The editing showed how they struggled with parking. That took a lot of time from them. However, even though they finished the last task in last place, they were able to overtake the goat yoga moms, which showed that they have speed and a more competitive drive than the other team. However, what really mattered in the end is that Dessie was wearing her bag while running to the pit stop. I thought she got tired from running and overtaking the other team, but upon closer inspection on the last moments of the footrace, she was the only racer among the four wearing a bag while stepping foot on the pit stop mat. That extra weight from the bag cost her team the race. Sadly, we won't get to see more from this team because of a really small mistake. It's the small things that matter.
Others:~I was gonna mention about the shopping bags. It could be an unaired task, but somebody pointed out that it could be their clothing for the weather. I'm actually curious now if TAR always provides teams with jackets or sweaters when needed.
~The "Hosted by Phil Keoghan" part on the intro was a cool new spin from the intro we're used to. I like that!
~Phil saying "will be eliminated" while recording his narration for the first pit stop is a pet peeve of mine. There's inconsistency with other seasons about this. It takes away some suspense from viewers who've seen the show so many times already.
Overall Episode:Overall, I think this was a decent premiere, a decent first leg. We have two active route infos and a roadblock, which total to three tasks for the first leg. There was self-driving, and that helped shuffled the placements around, aside from the roadblock and its difficulty. The scenery and culture shown in the episode was enlightening about Iceland. I think the best part is the possibly-record-breaking close finish between three teams, one of which was waiting out a penalty by mere seconds. It may not be the best premiere I've seen from TAR, but it's decent enough for me to like it overall.
Scenery: 8.5/10
ARI1: 6/10
Roadblock: 8/10
ARI2: 4/10
Leg Design: 8/10
Editing: 2.5/10
Episode: 7/10
Phew! Took me 3.5 hours. 11 more episodes to go!