Archive > The Amazing Race 30

TAR 30 EPISODE 2 LIVE UPDATES & COMMENTARY WED 1/10/18 8PM EST *read Post 1*

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Slowhatch:
Mixed feelings about this. On the left is "Stan" the chocolatier; on the right is Stijn Keuleers. a Flemish actor. Three times in thirty seasons teams have come across a chocolatier--two of the three times they were dwarfs. I didn't buy it in Bariloche, and if that's Stijn I'm certainly not buying it now. If this is some producer's idea of Oompa-Loompa humor, it's in rather poor taste.

cbacbacba1:

--- Quote from: georgiapeach on January 11, 2018, 09:44:48 PM ---
--- Quote from: zuzuspetals on January 11, 2018, 08:51:14 PM ---
--- Quote from: georgiapeach on January 11, 2018, 11:33:19 AM ---Especially since April had to wait THREE hours for the Firefighters to arrive. Just hate it being a final task, there should always be something else after it. Sigh.

--- End quote ---

In an interview I read (THR) April said the Yalees had three hours of rest time before the Yogas arrived at the Frites race.  Then the Yogas waited for the Twins for a bit before they arrived.

--- End quote ---

I don't know how long Yale waited for Yoga. However it is possible that happened as well, or that that April was confused since Yoga definitely waited ~3 hours for Firefighters.

--- End quote ---
Sorry but it is like
Debaters ~ 3 hours ~ Yoga ~ 3 hours ~ Twins?
Or simply 3 hours gap between either Debaters and Yoga or Yoga and Twins?

Nyoman_SB1:
Totally agree with all of you, that fries race was horrible, it should be placed earlier (maybe after the roadblock). I feel bad for Yoga mom, they beat the firefighters with big margin of time but then eliminated because they had to wait for 3 hours. I like the detour, it was fun to watch, but i don't like when Phil talking during the fries race, for a moment thought i was watching survivor  :cmas11 :cmas11

Musicon:

--- Quote from: Platrium on January 11, 2018, 01:41:56 PM ---

Detour: Diamond Glint
I like how we have a diamond-related task on the diamond capital of the world. Attention to detail is required to find flaws in the diamonds. Math was involved to calculate the total value of the jewelry. The diamonds being small made it hard to place on the microscope, especially when under the pressure of the race. I find this task much more difficult than the other one, but that's coming from my perspective. The teams being able to guess values lowered its difficulty, but it shouldn't be that way in the first place. From a viewer's point of view, I find the task confusing. I think this task was difficult enough to balance the other one. I just find it more difficult and more confusing from my point of view as a viewer.

Head-to-Head:
I like the addition of this task type to the original franchise, contrary to popular opinion. Different franchises had different names for this task type. Even I called it a roundabout for my fanfiction. Anyway, I think it fits the theme of the season, as the most competitive season yet. First off, I like how culture is involved in a newly introduced task type for the franchise. The origin of fries or frites may also be enlightening for viewers who didn't know it. Aside from culture, I like the task's difficulty. There were a lot of things to consider for the last task of the leg: racing speed, stability of bag of frites on the dolly, dolly handling (turns), bulky outfit as a possible obstacle, the design of and the obstacle course itself, and the task type. It is difficult with all of them together, but it is not impossible given the nature of the task. We see the task done for exactly nine rounds with ten teams on the second leg. It looks easy at the beginning, but watching it over and over allowed me to see the things to consider in this task. Henry & Evan had a lot of difficulty with dolly handling, and that affected their stability with the bag of frites. What made the task really scary and crucial is that the team who never wins in it gets eliminated without another chance to redeem itself from the loss. The task made checking in to the pit stop much harder, since navigation isn't the final key to finishing the leg. It turns out to be the skills or strategy for the task. Given the task's difficulty and required skills, I think it is fair to place it right before the pit stop. (Again, contrary to popular belief.) To win the head-to-head, a strategy or a skill must be used. Henry cut in front of April on his last race, most other racers distracted his or her opponent, Kristi and April were being slow and steady to not make any bag of frites fall, etc. Therefore, even an unfit team can win the head-to-head when the right strategy is used. At least we have teams who are competitive to stay positive and keep racing for the task, not one that just gives away the win to the opponent for no reason but pity. The only problems I can see is exhaustion of any one team and possibly long waiting time, which is unfortunately part of the nature of the task type. Luckily for Henry & Evan, they got enough rest before their final race. However, winning is not impossible even without rest. The difficulty just increases because it's a physical task.


Editing:
I think the editing of the episode improved from the previous one. The real issue with the previous episode's editing was the lack of time, thus there were a lot of choppy scenes last week. We got to see more from each team in this episode with a more improved editing. The sequence of where teams are going is clearer compared to the previous episode's. There are two things I particularly liked with the episode's editing.
~The intro came after everything that happened in Iceland. I wasn't expecting it, but I think the flow was smooth. I wished we got to see each team departing, but having thoughts of the first three teams and the last two teams was enough I guess. Despite this being a smooth flow for the start of the episode, I'm not sure if it will consistently be enjoyable if used on future episodes.
~Before goat yoga finished the detour officially, the scene switched to the twins doing the task. Goat yoga's celebration upon finishing the task could be heard even from the twins' perspective. Seeing goat yoga leave right after the perspective switch confirms that they have finished the task. I think it's cool that we got the twins' reactions upon knowing that goat yoga finished the task without having to switch scenes or cameras.


Others:
~Phil's narration during the head-to-head added more excitement to the race in my opinion. The commentaries were unique here, because the various head-to-head tasks in different franchises didn't have something like that. Without the commentaries from Phil, the frites race would still be exciting. I just thought it added some flavor to the task.


--- End quote ---

The narration wasn't that bad in the head to head, though it was really stating the obvious as in Survivor.  But at least it wasn't annoying cutaways like in Big Brother to the Diary Room to just repeat what we see.

The final race wasn't that difficult though.  Most, if they had the strength, seemed to pick up how to move the dolly immediately.  The obstacles on the course were virtually non-existent, there was a ramp.

The diamond task wasn't that easy to guess as they had a precise figure to reach, and they only seemed to get close by following the right procedure, so even though we didn't get the exact details of the task I liked the difficultly.

SuzieTampa:
Welcome Tiger17! I'm also bingeing TAR from the beginning. Phil seemed to have had more of a sense of humor back then. Now he seems more like Dad. During the race, I thought he was trying to make fun of the typical commentary by talking in a cheesy fashion. So far, I'm rooting for the debaters and the Xtreme women.

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