Recap: The Amazing Race Philippines, Episode 2 (Leg 1, Day 2) – “Four brains work better than two.”

The Race continues at the Manila Yacht Club.  Marc & Kat find the flag key nearby while other teams like Crystel & Mykey, Sheena & Gee and Saida & Jervi realize there are 26 flags corresponding to the letters of the alphabet. 

Jervi puts his UP magna cum laude to good use and decodes the nautical phrase, “Blue skies and calm waters.”  The skipper hands them their next clue.  Teams must now head to Midas Hotel and Casino.  They must first change into formalwear before they can enter the casino where they will play a special Amazing Race version of baccarat.  They must play until they win 9 chips with letters on them, then unscramble them to reveal their next Route Marker.

Boom & Cheng and Marc & Kat are close behind.  Meanwhile, Anton & Armand work with Sheena & Gee and some people from the yacht club to figure out the phrase and Crystel & Mykey follow.

Dani & Mish, who had found the flag book first, leave sixth and that causes LJ & CJ to start worrying with less and less teams left at the docks.

Down the street, Saida & Jervi arrive at Midas and get changed into their formalwear.  Saida wears a dress, but Jervi is very disappointed he has to wear a coat and pants.  Saida & Jervi get their 9 chips and start working on unscrambling the destination.  Their guesses so far… “Doormeats” and “Metro Soda.”

The other teams arrive.  Marc & Kat sit at the other table and Boom, a regular at casinos according to Cheng, take a seat next to Saida & Jervi.  Anton is upset with his hot pink and sparkly dress shirt and Sheena & Gee have fun trying to run with their dresses.  Dani & Mish worry the word they must unscramble is in Tagalog.  When Crystel & Mykey get their first four chips, he immediately sees it spells “astro” and thinking about nearby locations, he realizes the chips must end up spelling “Astrodome” as in the Cuneta Astrodome.

Back at the Manila Yacht Club, LJ & CJ finally figure out what they have to do as Ed & Angel exchanged their finished phrase for their next clue.  Pamela & Vanessa just finish before now in last place Fausto & Dayal.

And all teams are at or on their way to the casino.

Episode Thoughts
So with a full 20 minutes of Racing, we are starting to see what the episodes of this daily format will entail.

This second episode seemed to have a slower pace than the first.  The editing wasn’t as slick either with pockets of dead moments interspersed with frantic hurry up.  The increased number of confessionals than a regular one-hour TAR episode also present a different dynamic.  Instead of cutting and creatively editing tasks to fit into an hour (or 44 minute) episode, it’s like we’re getting the full, uncut version of the Race.  While that might not at all work for a regular TAR episode, I think it does work better in this 20-30 minute, daily format.

While I still think TAR works best as a weekly, hour-long and maybe TARPh would’ve been better as 2 one-hour episodes on the weekends, I “get” why TV5 would decide to do it this way instead.  Filipino networks are less on weekly programs and more focused on their weekday primetime lineups that consist of daily soap operas.  That’s partly why both local versions of Big Brother and Survivor have aired daily (and done reasonably well).

This is definitely new territory of The Amazing Race, but it does fit the local TV market’s formula.

That said, I do hope the episodes can be edited a little more tightly in the weeks to come.  Especially when there are only a few teams left, they’re going to need to make sure the Race continues to be exciting and fast-paced.