As already noted on the TARbloob Twitter feed, "The Amazing Race 14" opened this week with a recap of the first two episodes, not just last week's airing. I didn't note that the recap included a preview of the yet to air Tammy & Victor third episode meltdown.
Clearly, there's a belief at CBS that a significant number of "Amazing Race" fans hadn't watched any TAR14 episodes yet and were tuning into this season tonight for the very first time. The recap was intended to help such viewers get up to speed on the season.
Of course, if CBS hadn't scheduled the first two episodes to air in conflict with Presidents' Day weekend and the Academy Awards, there wouldn't have been a need to do a such a recap. That's water under the bridge though, what's done is done.
----
The one frustrating thing about the episode itself is that married couple Brad and Victoria drained all the suspense out of the outcome early on. The spouses missed a flight connection in Amsterdam when their flight to the city was unexpectedly delayed. Fog subsequently closed Amsterdam's airport and dropped Brad & Victoria a full day behind all other teams.
Barring a miracle or a predetermined non-elimination leg (which never happens this early), there just wasn't going to be a way for Brad and Victoria to stay on "The Amazing Race 14".... and they didn't. The aggressive play was appreciated but going off on a flight with so little margin for error just wasn't a chance worth taking this soon.
----
The remainder of the episode was primarily designed to see if the self-destruction of a certain team (okay, it was Tammy & Victor) would provide the miracle needed to keep brad and Victoria on the race.
The siblings had agreed on the second episode that Victor would provide the leadership. To be quite honest, it seemed like a good idea at the time at least to me. I was wrong. The problem is that it's one thing to be a leader, it's another thing to completely disregard the person one is trying to lead.
Victor as a leader on leg three would only listen to his own voice, (heard way too often, by the way) even when what he was saying was abrasive or just blatantly wrong. Of course, Victor got a massive comeuppance this round that proved enjoyable even if we knew his team would survive the leg.
----
Tammy & Victor's nightmare leg started out with the team making the first flight out to Bucharest, Romania only to be turned around back to Munich, Germany when their plane developed mechanical problems. With no time to make the next flight out, the siblings dropped to the lower tier of racers ahead of only the hopelessly delayed Brad & Victoria.
Once in Bucharest, Tammy & Victor again were the first to depart the airport (at least among lower tier racers) but got lost when Victor misdirected his team to the wrong sports facility. The delay dropped the siblings to next to last place. Tensions got worse when Tammy lost focus on the gymnastics-themed Roadblock, not helped in the least by Victor's overbearing advice.
Fortunately for the sibs, the wait for the next day's train ride to Brasov, Romania equalized the field.... Brad & Victoria excepted of course. Unfortunately for the sibs but fortunately for the viewers, the next day would be meltdown city.
----
Tammy & Victor arrived in third place to the Detour cluebox and chose the Vampire Remains coffin opening task. Of course, they then had to get to the coffins to actually start the Detour. Against all common sense, Victor decided that his team should follow red and white arrows painted on trees to the Detour site.
Never mind that "The Amazing Race" always, always, always uses RED! and YELLOW! route markers unless explicitly stated otherwise on the clue cards.
Victor knew, he just knew, that somehow red and white would lead him to the Detour site. Tammy tried to speak up but she wasn't aggressive enough and Victor wasn't listening anyway. So up they went to absolutely nowhere. After who knows how long, Tammy finally got Victor to listen. By that point, they were again in next to last place.
Just to compound the ridiculousness further with bad luck on top of bad gameplay, one of the keys needed to open their coffin became dislodged and fell off while the coffin was being dragged. The sibs had to go back and backtrack to find their key. The team would pit in next to last place with a sorrowful Victor promising to pay more attention to his sister and Tammy promising to speak up when needed.
----
As for the other teams (yes, there were other teams this episode), father/son team Mel & Mike took seemingly the most physical "Gypsy Moves" Detour of loading, transporting and unloading a cart with belongings for a Gypsy family. Despite the ill fit, Mel & Mike finished the Detour in second place behind only daters Amanda & Kris.
When Amanda & Kris misplaced a backpack with their belongings, passports etc., Mel & Mike took advantage of the daters' delay to score a shocking first place leg win and a trip to Costa Rica. Sisters Kisha & Jen also finished the Gypsy detour to complete the leg in a best to date third place leg finish.
Finally, the first credible alliance of TAR14 developed with mother/son Margie & Luke connected with ex-cheerleaders Jaime & Cara. Alliance results though proved decidedly mixed. The cheerleaders' problem with a taxi driver en route to the Vampire Detour ended up delaying both teams. Further struggles on the Detour task itself dropped Jaime & Cara to 7th place among 9 teams while Margie & Luke pitted in fourth.
____________________________Labels: brad and victoria, recaplette, tar 14.3, the amazing race, the amazing race 14
