I have no idea why the people on this forum are being so negative after each episode ends, but I'm seriously in love with this season!
I loved S29, but this season is even better, and probably in my personal top 5 seasons of all time. The cast is amazing, especially the top 5, and there was no team that I hated or actively rooted against (expect maybe the twins, but I just found them boring and preferred other teams over them, though I did not dislike them).
These two episodes felt really suspenseful to me. And that says a lot, because I was spoiled, so I knew Lifeguards were getting eliminated (and then them losing passports didn't help), with Yale getting NEL'd in Thailand. However, the editing was great and every task either provided entertainment to the viewer, or proved difficult and frustrating to the teams. We had many placement shifts, many near-meltdowns and it kept me on edge, waiting to see what everyone's final placements would be.
I also had absolutely no problem with Bahrain being all ARIs?? Why is it a must to have a detour & a roadblock if the leg is difficult and fun anyway? Seriously don't get the amount of criticism for that. The only thing I might've changed was the camel task - make it longer in some way, so that there are more possibilities for teams to catch up/fall behind. But the amount of self-driving was amazing, and without it, this leg would probably feel flat! All in all, it was an amazing first visit to Bahrain. Haven't seen/heard much about the country before, but I'm very intrigued now. Seriously wouldn't mind another visit there in the near future instead of a 5th visit to UAE as a Middle East connector.
Thailand was even better! My favorite leg in the country ever, for sure. I liked that they included the little task to look for ladies with the next clue, instead of just placing a cluebox in the middle of the sight. A nice little touch, and it wasn't inconsequential.
The detour was reaaally good. It seemed like elephants was a way easier task, but in actuality it was just as hard as the frogs. Both tasks were entertaining, fun, and at the same time difficult. Funny how Cody caught all 20 frogs for their team.
And I also enjoyed that Yale struggled at their detour so much, although it seemed to be their forte.
All the navigation between tasks was amazing, too, and I liked that the language barrier made teams frustrated. Again, the one thing I would maybe change is the Roadblock, by making it more difficult, because the way it was done seemed linear, although fun and entertaining. I would probably reduce the amount of food the roadblock performers have to eat, and make them answer some kind of questions (preferrably about Thai cuisine/delicacies, or Thailand in general), so that there is a chance for them to fail the task and have to repeat eating the plate until all of the questions are answered correctly. I don't know if I would've tortured their teammates with scorpions on their bodies for much longer, though, but some kind of possibility for them to have to redo the task would have been nice.
But generally, both really solid episodes! Can't wait to watch S31 unspoiled.
