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**AMAZING RACE 36** / Re: TAR36 LIVE STREAMS AND COMMENTARY HERE! FINALE 5/15/2024 8:30-10PM CENTRAL TIME
« Last post by RachelLeVega on Today at 11:00:30 AM »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.