One of my last morsels in this TAR37 thread to send it off into the sunset, my season-in-retrospect.
"In the hospital, somebody would be dead by now.": A rare synergy in the air occurred these past several weeks, and each Wednesday, that same feeling came in bouts and waves. Thinking back to the first leg, I never imagined myself remembering the record-breaking 14 teams by the end of it, let alone recalling and embracing the signature racing styles of 10+ specific teams. That flip in mentality and trajectory took place for me on the Kyoto leg when so many teams' reactions, plays of strength, and signs of weakness were brought to life by the edit. As someone who always emphasizes THE EDIT as integral to a team's journey, the result was a fixture of individual storylines focusing on the real-time moods and nerves from these teams, despite the overuse of confessionals. And strangely, it felt inspired by TAR3's vibes. Between you and my wild comparisons, I found Jon & Ana's dynamics almost like an older Flo & Zach, Han & Holden rising like a phoenix a la Teri & Ian, Carson & Jack geeking out over fun times and camaraderie reminiscent of Ken & Gerard, Brett & Mark being a latent force like the Doublemint Twins, Melinda & Erika taking a page from Heather & Eve's accidental playbook, Scott & Lori riling the witch hunt against Jon & Ana like Aaron & Arianne over the twins, Alyssa & Josiah's chutzpah and dad jokes an earshot call of John Vito & Jill's hyper-competitive and complimenting demeanor, and the haystack field elimination of Nick & Mike a lighter circumstance of terrible luck in an imperative point in the race like Andre & Damon. Even at the beginning, I appreciated the tense highlights interspersed like Jackye overcoming her fear of stairs as the first task, Ernest causing unintentional sabotage to Brett & Mark at the Intersection, Courtney & Jasmin's culmination of misadventures from taxi conundrums to their dried rice paper-bus sequence, and Bernie's one-sided bickering with Carrigain on the side. The multiple characters, conflicts, charisma, and competitiveness shown throughout this season encapsulate an essence that had gone missing for a while. It's a renewal after years of social media-scared kumbayah from previous races.
"It was almost like a spirit. It was insane!": I love the uptick of back-to-basics TAR experiences: the booking agencies, the starting line flight battle, the midleg transit, and the on-foot protocol. I was impressed by how detailed the overall race interacted with these classic elements. The funicular frenzy in Naples, Melinda & Erika going from 9th to 4th against everyone else running the wrong way, and the Dubai Pit Stop scuffle between Pops & Jeff and Nick & Mike were some of the best moments that came from it. The legs' task sets are some of the better ones I have seen recently that feel naturally connected to their immediate cultural areas. However, I did feel like tasks here or there came off as thematic duplicates (the e-foil in Dubai and the hydrofly in Miami, mozzarella making in Naples and cheese-naming in Strasbourg) or even simply underwhelming (namely the lion dance routine in Hong Kong, the sheep's milk and eating yogurt Roadblock, and the coral-coconuts Detour in Indonesia). Carson & Jack coincidentally meeting the wood-weighing judge in the Bulgarian countryside on the city bus again is still one of my favorite moments involving locals in the race, and I am still in disbelief that this is the first time we had an unplanned clue-giver cameo caught on film. The atmosphere of the race this season was palpable thanks to the solid travel route, and the teams did wonders making the travel experience their own.
Mixed bag of twists: The wheels were placed, but weren't screwed on. That is how I describe the planning of the twists for the season. Going through them, I feel like the execution wasn't as effective as it could have been. Leg 1: Fork in the Road... it was a Detour with a double-elimination. Had either tasks been different in arrival requirements to the Pit Stop or a wager situation on one side, it would have given it a unique edge. Legs 2 & 3: I was satisfied with the Intersection and the first Express Pass challenge. It felt like a homecoming for these two. Leg 4: Driver's Seat... could be tooled with a limit on how many teams you can inflict it on, over just having one team take all. Leg 5: The open forum U-Turn... I see no benefit in it for the race. Never liked the Tribal Council-style vote since it debuted on the 31st season. Equalizing everyone to do it also makes it a death knell for those penalized teams. Leg 6: The Fast Forward was a nice treat. I just wish they had at least a couple more Audis so multiple teams could compete for the scuba dive in some fashion. I would have loved to see a Carson & Jack vs. Han & Holden showdown. Leg 7: The second U-Turn was phenomenally used and positioned, three cheers to Melinda & Erika! Hands down, the best results of a twist application this season. Leg 8: The second Express Pass task... I feel like every other team was cheated out of it, as that was offered at the Pit Start. Leg 9: The non-elimination is a welcome guest, but I just wish Han & Holden had the Speed Bump in Leg 10 for the complete experience. Surprised there was not one in the next leg. Leg 10: The Head-to-Head shined being divorced from the Pit Stop, but the last-place penalty could be more substantial with an additional task or a longer waitout. Leg 11: The Valet Roulette... a novelty item I could do without. Leg 12: The Scramble... as G.B. had mentioned earlier, needed to be equidistant to open it for choice, or even limited to one or two teams at each site to guarantee a split.
Miami's Vice: It's safe to say I was a little disappointed with the final memory task. As much as I wanted to like the postcard puzzle, it comes just off the Liberty Bell replica from last season, only being supplied with a straightforward recollection of past game pieces and locations. Coming off of analytical gems like the floor piano in 34 and the tennis racquet riddles in 33, I hope this can change the direction of this all-encompassing task to include more deft and critical thinking. At such a high-stakes point in the race, it should be a sizable factor in who comes out on top than who can produce a prepared product in the end. Otherwise, the final leg was a solid cap to the season where the water activities utilized the all-star neighborhoods of Miami (Coconut Grove, Key Biscayne, Miami Beach, Wynwood, Little Havana) to reflect the landscape and recreation of the area. Kudos to Carson & Jack and Ana for conquering tasks out of their wheelhouse! I'm happy we ended up with this final three and an impressive run by DnD to go with!
Lastly, if I had to assign a GIF to represent this crazy and jam-packed season, Sylvester Stallone said it best for everything that was thrown to the teams and at us:
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