I loved this season. While the first legs in India felt a little slow (or, at the very least, I wasn't yet invested), I loved having consecutive legs in the same country. The visit to Penang built on prior franchises' showings, and I was pleasantly surprised to see enjoy legs in one city- Siem Reap- without it feeling repetitive.
One strength of TAR Australia, at least as of late, is its ability, or willingness, to dive deeper into countries and further from airports. Take last season, for example, we got to see further into rural Turkey or Mayan ruins in Belize, with the additional legs without worrying about transit.
I wouldn't call the route lackluster, and with carbon emissions being an increased factor in race planning- or at least a source of public scrutiny (cf. TAR Suomi)- it could be a model for the US. Looking at the US thread, I know many of this forum's members have complained about double legs, but I almost prefer them, so long as the cities don't repeat within a single season. Even the two sides of Jaipur were enough to satiate me. Moving forward, I'm curious if the US version will start to incorporate three legs in a single country in a racecourse. If so, this season could be a fine example.