After seeing the preview, I was reminded of TAR 20 Leg 7, which also had a blowup at an airport after a few legs of simmering tension among the teams. Airport drama in terms of actual fights between the teams really haven't occurred on this series. There has been so much drama brewing among the teams over the previous two legs that this dynamic was a powder keg that doesn't looked fully resolved. However, this leg also had the same problems as TAR 20 since the rest of the episode couldn't match the drama from the beginning and wasn't that interesting. Any fun from the Detour on this leg wore off after a couple of minutes, yet the bulk of the episode was spent on this challenge. It was also somewhat interesting that Humboldt wasn't visited considering they raced in the direction of the town. Really, the only point of this episode was to resolve the drama of the previous legs while also setting up the drama of the legs to come. It was nice to see some positive moments like with Anthony & James and with Trish, but that doesn't save the episode. I am happy that Trish & Amy were saved, and I'm really looking forward to next week.
Jon's distain for penalties showing everything he said "after the other."
Anthony's defensiveness about cheerleading.
Dave finding a pig.
Amy happy they finished the Detour before sunset.
Mine: Decent task that's relevant to the region to start the leg.
Square Dance: Very much the harder of the two Detours, so it really wasn't balanced, and the actual task itself wasn't that interesting even if it was relevant to prairie culture.
Maize Maze: Felt tacked on in order to add another task and make a Detour. Only thing interesting was seeing so many teams at once in the maze.
Lacrosse: The lacrosse task didn't have much much drama aside from Trish & Amy arriving at the end.
1/5