I think TAR 14 seems bland/overrated looking back from a post-UB perspective, but I think it deserves more credit than it's been getting recently.
I don't think it was the best decision to include 5 teams from it in UB, and at the expense of teams from TAR 13 (who were frankly more deserving), or from TAR 16 (confused as to why ONLY Jet and Cord were pulled from this season)
BUT, there were plenty of highlights in locations, tasks, and cast.
The cheese rolling task, the Chekhov roadblock, that underwear marathon, and the final surfboard roadblock were some of the standout tasks of the season- most of which have had future tasks based off of these- both directly (Cheese switchback in 22) and indirectly (Bali surfboard task- oddly enough in 22 too).
First visit to Romania- awesome
Spending 2 legs in Siberia- delightful
Rural Southern China- beautiful
Hawaii finish- amazing
Was the overall route a little mediocre? Sure- if you're just looking at the basic map- but, to me, it showed that you can still keep a race interesting despite using 'overused countries' for the majority of the race.
Loved Brad and Victoria, Steve and Linda, and Amanda and Kris- was sad to see them go so early. Mel and Mike were a treasure, and though I don't think they fit the bill for Unfinished Business, I loved their overall attitude/demeanor in both seasons. Margie and Luke were a perfect 'villainous' team- willing to play hardball, and scheme in order to get ahead. Kisha and Jen, to me at least were inspirational (I think that mostly came from spoilers, and them lasting all the way until the end, despite our not really seeing much evidence of them past Austria).
And finally the natural drama of the season, due to the circumstances teams faced and the competitiveness of the cast, was some of the best. The hang-gliding roadblock in leg 2, and whether teams chose to wait for the wind to die down or run down the mountain, Brad and Victoria's flight issues saving Tammy and Victor with their leg 3 meltdown, the infamous u-turns, Margie passing out in Thailand, the infamous scuffles in Guilin, Jen having to overcome her fear of water with two water-based options in the first Beijing detour, and all of the different races to the pitstop- from leg 1, all the way to bathroom-gate in leg 11.
This season was entertaining from start to finish, with the top 9 teams all being legitimately competitive (some of which surprisingly so), and it proved that the race could still feel exciting and fresh for years to come, even if we were to run out of new locations.
And that concludes why I have the seemingly unpopular opinion of viewing S14 as one of the stronger seasons (and that it has become underrated recently).