After the long delay due to the Majdal Shams attack, we finally got the complete Senegal leg, all four hours of it.
Highlights:
- No detour OR roadblock! Although the watermelon task/fish task could have been a solid detour and spared the teams a task, and the dance task was essentially a roadblock.
- A lot of butt shots at the watermelon task.
- The fish task was surprisingly complex, with the puzzle, the retrieval of the fish, and the "catch" to arranging the fish, but we now have a new TAR superstar in the form of Grumpy Fish Lady, who only showed emotion when the last team was done (she probably danced with them because it meant that she would be done with this silliness for the day)
- Kind of disappointed that they went all the way to Goree Island and did a task involving...baguettes. At least 20 years ago in TAR 6, they laid roses at the Door of No Return, and we had an emotionally poignant moment with Gus/Hera breaking down and crying at the gravity of the place they were standing. Yehuda Levi, to his credit, did mention the history of slavery in a voice-over, but it was a blink-and-you-missed-it moment.
- The double battle was at least a little more equitable this time for all the teams, and actually looked kind of fun. But when Hasi yelled "I HATE THE DOUBLE BATTLE" after losing a 4th time in a row, I was like...same, girl.
- The alphabet dance task seemed like an afterthought. There was no one to verify if they got the answer correct, and basically Modi/Mickey took a risk on an extremely lucky (but logical) guess and ended up jumping past Hasi/Yarin and Amit/Rotem to an 8th place finish. Had they actually had to do the task, that might not have been the case. Also, kind of funny seeing Mickey reading a newspaper in French while stuck in downtown Dakar traffic.
- I'm still liking all the teams, pretty much. Matan yells at the locals a lot, and using a mix of Hebrew/English/French/Spanish, which is no help in Senegal, and I can't get Sapir's "LISTEN ME!" out of my head (Lior, to his credit, seemed much more active this leg). I am surprised at how many of this season's racers have poor English skills, usually that's the minority of teams but this time it's the other way around.
- Inbar/Avishai are quite the comeback kids. First, their bags got locked in a taxi and they had to get a mechanic to jimmy it open with a crowbar, and then they and their camera operators got quite the dressing-down when they accidentally trespassed at a mosque.
- Sahar/Yiftach, Esty/Itzik, Lee/Anne, and surprisingly Idan/Guy (first-place finishers) did not get as many moments during this leg, but then again, Inbar/Avishai had some really crazy stuff happen to them.
- Sad to see Amit/Rotem go out in 10th despite finishing in the top half on the first two legs and in the middle in Morocco, but hey, that's TAR, and this season's tasks are no joke.
- The best parts of the leg were the overall attitudes of the teams towards Senegal. Even with a bit of yelling, they were mostly polite and complimentary to the locals and expressed how awesome the scenery was, unlike TAR 6's visit, with the infamous quote from Kendra "they just keep breeding and breeding..." The only complaints and put-downs were about how poor the quality of the cabs were which...no argument there. A few had trunks tied shut with rope, and we got plenty of shots of cracked glass windows and taped-up tires.
- The worst part of the leg was the mat chat with Yehuda. Basically, it's just racers saying how tired they are, how the leg treated them, and how proud they are of their partner, and I'm like...just tell us the placements, man. The only team we really need to hear this from is the one that gets eliminated this leg. The teams seem to be annoyed by this as well.
- Next group of episodes are Azerbaijan, and I hope we see some tighter editing, which I know is not going to happen, but hey, a girl can dream.
