Recap: The Amazing Race 19, Episode 3 – “At our age, we’re going to die soon anyway.”

The Amazing Race 19 Episode 3 – Don’t Lay Down on Me Now!

The Leg


The teams head out on the 3rd leg of the Race and Andy & Tommy the first clue directing teams to join a group of enthusiasts who reenact the bicycle patrols from the Dutch colonial period of Indonesia.  They’ll dress up, hop on bikes and join the groups who will lead them to Fort Vredeburg where they’ll be handed their next clue.

All the teams are on the road and Ernie’s pedal falls off allowing four other teams to pass them while they fix it.

At the Fort, teams get the next clue telling to taxi it over to Lesehan Restaurant in Salakmalang Village, Kulon Progo Regency for the next clue.


Andy & Tommy stay in the lead and find the Detour.
In Rice Field, teams will deliver lunch to the hardworking people in the rice fields.  While enjoying their lunch, the teams will take over for the farm workers and plant 300 rice seedlings before being handed their next clue.
In Grass Fed, teams must fill two sacks with freshly cut grass, collect two sheep and deliver them to a farm.  There, teams needed to fill a trough with six buckets of water, but only using two buckets per team.



Both choosing Grass Fed, Zac & Laurence catch up to Andy & Tommy when they are sent back for not filling their sacks all the way.  At the well, Andy & Tommy notice Zac & Laurence using three buckets.  They quickly finish and are now directed to head to Borobudur Temple and climb the steps to receive their next clue.

 The rest of teams arrive and Justin & Jennifer, Jeremy & Sandy, Ernie & Cindy and Bill & Cathi choose Grass Fed.  Kaylani & Lisa and Liz & Marie choose Rice Field.



While Cathi falls and the other teams have trouble with their goats, Kaylani & Lisa and Liz & Marie quickly finish and are off to Borobudur.  Already at the Buddhist temple, Zac & Laurence and Andy & Tommy find the Road Block.


In this Road Block, walking in a clockwise direction around the temple, teams will have to identify and count the Buddha statues with four distinct hand positions.  Teams will have to figure out that they must count and demonstrate each hand position, or mudra, in order to receive their next clue.

They decide to work together.



Back at the Detour, Amani & Marcus, still in last, manage to catch up to Bill & Cathi at the Grass side of the Detour.  But being told to go back and fill their sacks more, they decide to switch and do the Rice side.

Teams continue arriving at the Road Block and just as Tommy and Laurence are finally figuring it out, the other teams are completely lost.  They finally get the correct answer and get the clue telling them to find the Pit Stop within the Borobudur grounds.



They have to go back outside and pay their cabbie they had wait for them.  On their way back in, Amani & Marcus just arrive and Andy & Tommy tell them the answer to the Road Block.  The Olympians and the father and son run to the Pit Stop with Laurence & Zac arriving first.  But they incur a 15 minute penalty for their Detour mistake, allowing Andy & Tommy to win another leg and a trip to Dubai.  Laurence & Zac settle for 2nd.

Back at the temple, Bill is the first to realize what he has to do.  Marcus tells Lisa exactly what he remembers from the snowboards and Ernie clues in Justin, Marie, and Jeremy. 

The teams finally finish the Road Block, but most teams have to pay their taxis before being able to check in.  Having ditched their taxi about 1km from the Temple, Jeremy & Sandy get to officially check in 3rd.  Justin & Jennifer and Ernie & Cindy finish 4th and 5th.  Amani & Marcus, who had let their taxi go after getting lost move up to 6th after being in last all day.  Bill & Cathi finish 7th and Liz & Marie escape elimination in 8th.

That leaves Kaylani & Lisa in last and eliminated.




Episode Thoughts
This was a great episode.  You can see a lot of changes on TAR and I think they’ve been for the btter.

First, where are the clueboxes!?!  While I’m definitely missing those green boxes, it is certainly creative and reminiscent of the first season having the clues be in baskets and vases and whatever may be local.  But also something to think about, the Pit Stops have been missing the location signs, while clues have included country maps as well.  Could be something there.

There’s also the extra tasks in each leg.  Teams aren’t only going from Pit Stop to Road Block to Detour to Pit Stop this season.  They have extra side tasks in addition to the Road Blocks and Detours and so far they’ve been culturally relevant to the destinations which is awesome. 

And finally, those vague clues.  TAR isn’t merely feeding them instructions like a baby.  Teams actually have to use their brains for once and that is absolutely welcome.

Now the leg itself.  TAR has used their first to Indonesia to its fullest potential.  They’ve definitely done a great job of highlighting the country and its people. 

I loved the Detour.  The rice planting side of the Detour was great in giving teams firsthand experience at what everyday work is like for many families in Asia.  I know, coming from a Filipino family that had to work in rice fields every day like that, I would’ve been an emotional wreck doing that Detour just thinking about my parents and grandparents having done that same thing most of their lives and knowing firsthand how it feels.

It was also interesting how that side of the Detour was the easier one.  The 300 seedlings part of the clue probably sounded daunting, but really, plopping those seedlings in the ground wouldn’t have taken more than 10-15 minutes. 

On the other hand, the other side of the Detour required teams to deal with pesky sheep and was far more physical with the filling of sacks and buckets.  Plus, they had all that way to walk with the sheep and sacks.  But it was also a great Detour since tasks with animals are always winners on TAR.

The Road Block was also straightforward, yet difficult at the same time.  More tricky really.

It was another linear leg, but they made up for it with the great tasks and the beautiful travel porn treatment of Indonesia.  Wonderful. 





PIT START
Kraton Palace/
Kraton Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat
Yogyakarta, Indonesia

ROUTE MARKER
Fort Vredeburg
Yogyakarta

Lesehan Restaurant
Salakmalang Village, Kulon Progo Regency

DETOUR
Salakmalang Village, Kulon Progo Regency

ROAD BLOCK
Borobudur
near Magelang, Central Java

PIT STOP
Borobudur
near Magelang, Central Java



DEPATURE
Kraton Palace/
Kraton Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat
Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Andy & Tommy 7:38am
Zac & Laurence 7:57am
Kaylani & Lisa 8:02am
Ernie & Cindy 8:14am
Liz & Marie 8:18am
Jeremy & Sandy 8:21am
Bill & Cathi 8:22am
Justin & Jennifer 8:31am
Amani & Marcus 8:32am

RICE FIELD


<

GRASS FED






In order of completion
> or < indicates team switched Detours.

Who did the Road Block?
Who’s ready to follow the path of Buddha?
In order of completion; Italics indicate who did the Road Block

1 Laurence Zac 2
1 Andy Tommy 2
2 Bill Cathi 1
2 Justin Jennifer 1
1 Ernie Cindy 2
1 Liz Marie 2
2 Jeremy Sandy 1
1 Kaylani> Lisa 2
1 Amani Marcus 2

2 Ethan Jenna 0
1 Ron Bill 1

PIT STOP
Kraton Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat
Yogyakarta, Indonesia

1st Andy & Tommy =
2nd Laurence & Zac =
3rd Jeremy & Sandy +3
4th Justin & Jennifer +4
5th Ernie & Cindy -1
6th Amani & Marcus +3
7th Bill & Cathi =
8th Liz & Marie -3
9th Kaylani & Lisa -6
Ernie & Cindy Ernie & Cindy – I certainly hope that first leg wasn’t a fluke.  They’ve stayed in the bottom half of the pack these last two legs and they were unlucky with the bike this leg.  They made up time with their taxi though and it is not unlikely they can pull themselves out trouble.  Cindy continues to be a great personality.  From her mini-breakdowns to her over-preparation for the Race, how can you not root for them?
Kaylani & Lisa Kaylani & Lisa – A very sad early elimination.  Granted they haven’t exactly Raced all that well and they were 3rd and all-but eliminated only because other teams made that critical mistake.  But I do think they were competitive and  had the drive and determination to Race.  Which is more than can be said for many teams that go on the Race.  It would’ve nice to see them go all the way.
Bill & Cathi Bill & Cathi – Cathi might just be the biggest personality in the Race other than Cindy.  She’s loud, she does slapstick comedy, she makes sarcastic remarks.  Definitely not the cute little old couple you’d expect.  I don’t know how far they can go, but they have certainly done well recovering from the first leg non-elimination.
Liz & Marie Liz & Marie – Not a lot from this episode, but still miles better than their annoying first leg.  They’re settling in the Race and they’re definitely growing on me.  I hope they step it up, both Race-wise and personality-wise.  
Andy & Tommy Andy & Tommy – And another great leg for them.  They Race well, they’re competitive, they’re methodical even and thankfully they’re not loopy hippies.  They seem like nice guys and are so far running a great, mistake-free Race.  Sharing the answers with Amani & Marcus was interesting.  I wonder if that was only the beginning with them.
Laurence & Zac Laurence & Zac – A good leg for them save for not reading their clue.  Kudos to Laurence at the Road Block.  They may not be the most exciting team, but they’re very solid competitors.
Amani & Marcus Amani & Marcus – The liner leg design certainly didn’t help much, but they were lucky enough to survive this week.  Again, it is disappointing to see them performing so badly since you really should expect more from them.  At least I do.  Here’s hoping they can pick it up next week.
Jeremy & Sandy Jeremy & Sandy – Another under the radar leg for them I think.  They just seem to be there.  Not horrible Racers, but nothing exciting about them either.  Which probably means they go far.  I do hope in that time, they grow into a more exciting team though.
Justin & Jennifer Justin & Jennifer – Jennifer calmed down this week which is very welcome.  And the bike task showed maybe she has a sense of humor and can be fun after all.  Here’s to more of that Jennifer and less of the “Why am I here?” Jennifer in future legs please.
Quotes from Episode 19.03

Cindy: “The pants are too tight so I must have gotten fatter on the Race.”

Cathi: “At our age, we’re going to die soon anyway.  So it’s all good!”

These teams haven’t been very quotable! No wonder the episode titles have been boring. lol



Almost 500 HD episode caps at photobucket.com/TAR1903


 


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