Wow. I've been thinking this season was too easy, with its watered-down tasks and such. But if there's one thing that this episode proved to me, it is that this particular course is designed to be easy out of pure necessity, because this batch of teams is (for the most part) strangely lacking in intelligence. I'm not just talking about Jeff & Jordan, either. With the exception of Jet & Cord, Steve & Allie, and Monique & Shawne, I think every team made a mistake on this leg. This does not bode well for the remaining teams, since yet another of the "smart" teams was eliminated. (I only say they are "smart" because they are the only teams that have the average intelligence of Pre-Season 12 teams) After this point, the results for the remainder of the season may simply come down to who makes the
worst mistake, rather than who makes a mistake, period. I'm not sure what to make of this.
On the plus side for this week, we got to enjoy and laugh at the errors of the teams we don't like (while hating the errors of those we do), we got to see a somewhat surprising (but still sad) elimination for those who knew the spoilers, and we had more self-driving and departures (thank goodness, it feels so refreshing). And with the self-driving came the opportunity to see the team numbers (which this season were covered up in black on the backpacks by producers trying to hide it for no apparent reason). I enjoyed that, even if nobody else did, because I like to analyze the numbers they give to certain teams and why.
And it's the first time in a while (I think since TAR 6) that we've had a team depart at a different time than their scheduled one. Interesting indeed.
As for next week, the Intersection makes a return? Why? I (and I thought most other people as well) loathe it. Usually what it does is drags a strong team down by tying them to a weaker one, or makes one team wait for hours for the next team to arrive. Plus I don't think a Fast Forward should be done by two combined teams unless it counts as having been completed for both teams (unlike Oswald & Danny in All-Stars). This could have been an interesting surprise if they had waited to reveal it during the episode, but instead, by revealing it this early, they ruined the entertainment value of the surprise. And that just makes me disappointed, rather than surprised.
But I still think it will be a great episode. Wonder what Jet & Cord were doing all by themselves on a leg with an Intersection, though.