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I like it, although I doubt we’ll see Ethiopia anytime soon due to the ongoing war in TigrayMaybe it should be replaced by another SA leg (perhaps in Pretoria or in a rural area)
Never been on this forum but I had to come somewhere and just say that was the most boring season of TAR. The entire season felt like they were just in the same place. They need to hit a few different continents every season to mix it up and make it interesting. Spending the entire season in most Spanish-speaking countries was clearly an advantage to 3-4 teams that spoke fluent Spanish. I don't think Ricky and Cesar win if there were more variety of locations. The language was a clear advantage for them.
Hope they find their mojo in the season and get back to some real travel.
I would just be cautious that it would end up airing like the Santa Barbara finale in the social media season where they stall way too long in downtown for no reason (why did they choose a senior living condo out of all placesAlso another reason why I would like to see more regional finales over a huge metro. I would appreciate a full and well-thought-out Phoenix finale, but I'm more interested in curveball cities like teams ending up in Tucson (you could make two legs worth of great tasks here honestly) or Sedona since the final 3 teams can be thrown for a loop more easily. Arizona has plenty of places that can host awesomely unique tasks with stellar vibes, the leg just doesn't necessarily need to take place entirely in its most popular area.After tonight's episode, I would like to say that I need or even prefer to see a finale leg that isn't hosted entirely in a large metropolitan area, even a smaller city-town to avoid hometown or transplant advantages as much as possible. I feel like the last time we had some instance of this was TAR27 with Long Island or TAR23 with Juneau. I understand it's not as cost-effective to start somewhere away from an international airport, but it would be awesome to see a city out of left field again or even more frequently.
My hopes:
Santa Fe & Taos, New Mexico
Grand Junction or Aspen, Colorado
Reno, Nevada and Lake Tahoe
Yuma, Arizona to El Centro, California
Monterey, California
Madison, Wisconsin
Panama City Beach, Florida
Dubuque, Iowa
Palm Springs, California (Surprised we haven't had a finale in this area or even Austin or Houston for that matter yet, but I know we've started here.)
El Paso, Texas
Though they would fly into a metropolitan area, I have been hoping for a Phoenix finale in the self driving finale area where they can drive throughout the desert
I know people keep throwing around a Phoenix finale but I honestly doubt it. The city itself is quite boring with not much to make a leg out of, and any sort of ‘desert nature’ leg would take teams pretty far out of town
I will say that if they want to use an Arizona finale they could fly into Phoenix and then after a few challenges downtown, pull a Season 27 finale and travel by helicopter or small prop plane to a small airport. Flagstaff would make such a cool finale!). Much rather have them drive the extra while away in the beginning to do a complete leg in a new city.
Loopsided detour for leg 11I guess you don't have to worry about whether a Detour is balanced if all teams pick only one side?
However, it made the task feel like an ARI and contributed to the first leg's super short feel.
And here's to non-COVID racing coming back! 
Fair point, sometimes things aren't available and that's okay. They made it happen with the extenuating circumstances. I still found it odd that Phil introduced the final leg in a way that felt like it was going to be a tour through Philadelphia pop culture, but end up with tasks at the aft revolving around U.S. independence. Seems and feels like a portion of Philly's original final was scrapped whether this was their primary intent or not.I will pop the overall season review in the Squeal thread sometime over the weekend when the dust has settled, but just off tonight's broadcast...
I saw the episode as cobbled together just as much as the leg design. Fusing two legs of material into an hour-and-a-half slot shouldn't be an issue normally, but when the legs don't have substantial enough tasks, it turns into an effort of trying to fill the pig. I feel like the "point A" to "point D" in the final leg was a blur (specifically the mascot RB to the Arch Street Meeting House) and the edit and the structure of the leg did not give enough time for anyone to process the info/places thrown at us. I will say there were a couple high points in editing during these two legs that could've been highlighted as a moment more than leaving it as a side reaction, 1) Juan & Shane misdriving to a Pat's Select Pizza & Grill in New Jersey and 2) Leticia and Juan overtaking Ricky at the windsurfing Roadblock. As for the finale, it's a very odd structure with one half being modern Philadelphia icons and then suddenly diving straight into Independence Day historical context even with the Finish Line location. I'd rather they had just picked one motif and went with it like Nashville's music-themed leg in the previous shutdown-period season. Seems like the producers really had their eyes set on airing this leg like last season's, in the spring close to 4th of July (35 ended on July 8 ). Overall, very competitive final 3, I've been impressed by them, but it could very well just be the staggered Pit Starts and no real airport equalizers skewing their dominance in their favor. I'll dive more into that in the overall review soon.
This the game designer speaking not the detective: not all cities can provide you with a consistent themed structure for the final leg, sometimes you just have to go ahead with what you find and try to assemble something feasable enough to challenge the teams in the run for the million dollars. That's why sometimes we got outstanding final legs - in terms of tasks - and some really forgettable.
I would just be cautious that it would end up airing like the Santa Barbara finale in the social media season where they stall way too long in downtown for no reason (why did they choose a senior living condo out of all placesAlso another reason why I would like to see more regional finales over a huge metro. I would appreciate a full and well-thought-out Phoenix finale, but I'm more interested in curveball cities like teams ending up in Tucson (you could make two legs worth of great tasks here honestly) or Sedona since the final 3 teams can be thrown for a loop more easily. Arizona has plenty of places that can host awesomely unique tasks with stellar vibes, the leg just doesn't necessarily need to take place entirely in its most popular area.After tonight's episode, I would like to say that I need or even prefer to see a finale leg that isn't hosted entirely in a large metropolitan area, even a smaller city-town to avoid hometown or transplant advantages as much as possible. I feel like the last time we had some instance of this was TAR27 with Long Island or TAR23 with Juneau. I understand it's not as cost-effective to start somewhere away from an international airport, but it would be awesome to see a city out of left field again or even more frequently.
My hopes:
Santa Fe & Taos, New Mexico
Grand Junction or Aspen, Colorado
Reno, Nevada and Lake Tahoe
Yuma, Arizona to El Centro, California
Monterey, California
Madison, Wisconsin
Panama City Beach, Florida
Dubuque, Iowa
Palm Springs, California (Surprised we haven't had a finale in this area or even Austin or Houston for that matter yet, but I know we've started here.)
El Paso, Texas
Though they would fly into a metropolitan area, I have been hoping for a Phoenix finale in the self driving finale area where they can drive throughout the desert
I know people keep throwing around a Phoenix finale but I honestly doubt it. The city itself is quite boring with not much to make a leg out of, and any sort of ‘desert nature’ leg would take teams pretty far out of town
I will say that if they want to use an Arizona finale they could fly into Phoenix and then after a few challenges downtown, pull a Season 27 finale and travel by helicopter or small prop plane to a small airport. Flagstaff would make such a cool finale!
). Much rather have them drive the extra while away in the beginning to do a complete leg in a new city.
