Finally rewatched
Episode 4, and I understood more things now that I put 100% of my attention on the show.
After seeing it clearly, I have to say this leg was really tough! Extremely difficult it was. The detour was challenging one way or another. I would say it was equally difficult, but I guess it really depends on the luck of teams? I'm not sure. We saw Tara & Joey switching from Knock, to Lock, then back to Knock. LoLo switched from Lock to Knock. Even S&S switched from Knock to Lock despite finding 2 out of 3 wooden thingies from the Knock detour. Both sides of the detour stressed out so many teams. Both side of the detour are searching tasks, and the difference once again is the small and large scale of the tasks. This detour gets a perfect rating from me!
The roadblock looked simple on live stream.
On TV, it was something else!
I don't know how my mind tricked me into that. Cutting metal itself needed strength, then it has to be not sharp. Poking the holes take a lot of time and strength too. It was a physical roadblock.
The boat ride from Zanzibar back to Dar Es Salaam was so cool like last time's vice versa. TAR should avoid mid-leg equalizers, but considering how S&S struggled badly with the detour, I guess it was fine. Almost everybody going back to square one at the roadblock was quite a bummer after such a challenging detour that shuffled placements and proved to be not linear, considering that this leg was on the same country as the previous leg. The tasks this leg really did a good job shuffling placements. TAR should have more very difficult tasks on the second leg of the same country.
Now to the teams...
Tara & Joey did fine this leg. They were just lucky with the boat equalizer mid-leg. They were behind S&S for a short time during the Knock detour when S&S had 2 out of 3 while Tara & Joey just switched. Tara on Joey with "Get a new partner." and then with Joey explaining how Tara doesn't have to listen to Joey for whatever he didn't have to say showed how she can handle the team well. This was unlike Sara's case, which I'll discuss later.
Becca & Floyd also did fine this leg. They got help on the detour, which is fine as there was a boat equalizer and that the favor was returned to Brooke & Scott anyway. She said how difficult the roadblock was, yet she just did what she have to do to finish fast. Had Becca not helped Brooke,Team Fun might've gotten 1st, but at least they returned the favor.
Liz & Mike should've been 1st had there not been a boat equalizer, but it would've been their 3rd win, so at least the 1st went to someone else. When they were led to the wrong direction, it so happened that there was a sack in yellow-red-yellow.
That was so funny!
Anybody led to that direction who finds a yellow-red-yellow of anything will most likely look for the clue there, no matter what it is.
They made a mess on the whole place, but good thing they knew when to stop.
Liz also figured out the secret compartment quite quick, so I guess their biggest struggle this leg was the Mercury House.
Michael telling Brooke no U-turning after the help was a nice deal. I wonder what will happen on the next W-turn though.
Matt & Red at least got some rest from Ashton drama this leg. They had a good eye at the detour seeing what Brooke was doing when she was whispering to Scott about the secret compartments. The roadblock was also smooth for Redmond at least. They didn't have very big struggles. Their confessional about Brooke was quite funny; the one about calming down.
I have to agree with Redmond that the phrase was there for a reason. I guess Brooke was just allergic to the phrase for some reason, probably from her past.
LoLo would've gotten 6th-7th this leg had it not been for the boat equalizer. They are by far the most consistent team. They only have 2 different pit stop placements so far. They're one of the teams showing so much struggle in the detour, so they must be really lucky about that equalizer. They've been running on luck mostly.
Leg 1, they were lucky to be on flight 1, because they could've ended up like Liz & Mike and/or Kevin & Jenn. Leg 2, they were lucky Shamir struggled with the roadblock and Jessie & Franny were way behind with a later flight. Legs 3 to 5, they're fine in those legs, but they would've been 2nd to the last had some teams not been unlucky (Leg 3), had there not been a boat equalizer (Leg 4), and had some teams not struggled (Leg 5). Still, they're a decent team probably just laying low so that they could not be seen as a threat, which is a strategy that has worked in some seasons. Unfortunately, they're still the most underrated team, but at least they will be remembered for making it halfway through the race.
Vanck & Ashton have a big problem as a team. Why did Vanck pick Ashton of all extroverted-looking people? Well, they're not hiding anything. As Ashton said, she's stuck with Vanck. I guess their greatest struggle this leg was their communication as a team. The detour took some time for them too, but their communication with each other is a bigger problem. Ashton seems to be the more aggressive of the 2, as her decisions are the ones usually followed. Hopefully this team does not result their elimination in self-destruction like Shamir & Sara's.
Brooke & Scott were a real roller coaster from start to Leg 5. It's definitely easy to say that the biggest struggle for them was the roadblock. They're lucky S&S did worse this leg, otherwise they would've been eliminated. Brooke is a mixed bag to me. She had good attention to detail, because she showed that she can do it on the detour. The issue with Scott giving the key to another team at least helped Brooke in a way, so I guess that was destined to happen?
For the roadblock, had she not been so pessimistic, it would've been fine. If I were in Scott's shoes, I would have regretted getting a partner like Brooke. I'm pretty sure even Matt said he doesn't want a partner who easily gives up, so good thing they're not a pair. Brooke at least makes up for the really entertaining quotes so far.
There are times she does not give up, like when she said "Pain is temporary. Elimination is forever." This time though, we got to see a pessimistic side of her.
Sad. Hopefully she won't be as pessimistic as she was this leg.
Shamir & Sara barely tolerated each other this leg. They were trying to be patient with each other all throughout the leg. That's not teamwork.
I realized at some point that Sara took over the team completely, and the reason she used was the incident on Leg 2. Leg 1 was fine for them, as they were the 1st team among the 2nd flight teams to reach the pit stop. Leg 2 would've been fine had Shamir controlled himself. Leg 3 was a struggle for some reason.
Leg 4, well Sara blew it this time. She was not listening to Shamir's inputs at all, but that was caused by Shamir on Leg 2, so this went a full cycle that it's both team members' faults that caused them out this leg.
To add to their communication, which is worse than Vanck & Ashton's, their luck was also poor this leg. Leg 2 was horrible for them, but Leg 4 really pushed them out. When I noticed Sara not listening to Shamir, I was like: "So that's why!" But even if she listened to Shamir, it might not change? I mean, who knows? What has been done has been done, so the detour along with their communication was their biggest struggle this leg. They were not truly happy on their confessionals, so it's really obvious that they were just barely tolerating each other. Oh also, the roadblock site was closing while Shamir was still doing the task.
Reminds me of Kevin & Jenn, but Phil didn't visit them since Liz & Mike might still get extremely lost. They probably would've taken a forced penalty like Kevin & Jenn had there still been a team getting lost to the pit stop. But no, it was really not their day.
They had a bad reception overall this season, but still,
to both of them for having 1st impressions not be lasting impressions.
I love the transition to darkness. Leg 1 vibes...
Overall, this is my favorite leg so far among the 5 legs. Teams having communicating issues, the difficult detour, the physical roadblock, and other moments altogether made this one of the best legs of the season!
Leg 5 review will soon come. I have to watch the corrupted version on YouTube since I don't know where else to look.
AXN Asia will show Episode 5 next week, and I'm not waiting that long just to review the episode.
P.S. From how I'm seeing it, Matt & Red and LoLo are the only remaining teams with no communication issues shown so far.