The Amazing Race Philippines 2, Leg 2 Wrap-up – "Wala na yung cap eh!"

Leg 2, the week of episodes and the Leg itself, was much better than the first. There was a lot more competition, a lot more drama and much better tasks.

Luz & Chen’s epic Pit Stop meltdown may be the most memorable moment of this Leg, but it merely capped a Leg that really was full of exciting drama. And it was drama both personal and competition-wise.

The Leg started with Luz & Chen’s first meltdown (which obviously pales in comparison now) at the go-kart racing where they end up in dead last. Making matters worse was their inexperience with cars that slowed them down even leaving the first Route Marker.

(Let’s take this opportunity to thank Kia for sponsoring The Amazing Race Philippines! Hopefully, patuloy po ang pag-supporta ninyo sa Amazing Race Philippines for many seasons to come! =D)

The go-kart Double Battle (why no official name? =() was much better than Leg 1’s horrible sprinting “duel-duel.” Here, all teams were on a level playing field and it was just up to who drove the fastest and safest. Plus, it was the very first task of the Leg instead of one of the last where it could have decided the outcome. I think these Double Battles should be that way. (They were that way in TAR Israel, if I understand correctly.)

And then this:

The wall climbing Road Block was fine and it was a creative way to include both a Summit Water product placement as well as an extra bit of challenge for the upcoming task at Sky Ranch. (Which, of course, ultimately did Luz & Chen in.)

Seeing Jeck quit was horrible. Seeing any team quit on The Amazing Race is horrible. Unless the task is worse than rolling hay bales:

Or if your head gets busted open:

You really have no reason to quit anything. (And take note, those two examples above, neither team actually quit, they kept going, which is my point.)

Like Zarah & Osang pushed through last Leg even though they knew they were last, teams should Race to the end, no matter what. And this was only wall climbing! Jeck could’ve rested four hours and tried again, it would be the same result, but she wouldn’t have given up.

Hello to the first Hours of Operation this season. As well as the return of U-Turn voting. Which is fine. It forces teams to U-Turn someone and stokes the fires for drama I suppose. But why wasn’t Luz & Chen’s vote wasn’t marked on the Reveal Board?

The Detour this Leg was miles better than the first Leg’s Detour. Both sides were good. I liked that extra clue on the Fashion side of the Detour. But the Fruits side was hilarious. I wish we got to see more of the teams actually transporting the fruits and vegetables. We need to see more fruits rolling around and locals laughing at the teams. That is always fun.

The Ferris wheel task is one of the worst luck tasks on TAR. But the difference between this bad task and last week’s horrible tasks was that the teams made it work and still gave us a great episode. There was Luz & Chen’s penalty to Daniel & Charlie’s missing the U-Turn Reveal Board and then the teams passing each other and getting lucky with numbers. It was definitely more enjoyable and exciting to watch than the dull, nakakainis, “I can’t do this” episodes of last week.

Still, I don’t know about having TWO luck tasks back-to-back and at the end of the Leg too. It really should’ve been one or the other, either the Ferris wheel or the sandcastles.

The sandcastles is a much better luck task because it’s all in the teams’ hands. No waiting for a Ferris wheel to make a round. Teams would finish the task as fast as they can move. Again, kudos to the teams for actually all finishing the task since three TAR22 teams actually quit the sandcastles task of their first Leg. This sandcastles task actually was more difficult here, in a way, since they had to build two layer sandcastles with little flags on them. TAR22’s task had teams flip buckets over.

And finally the Pit Stop. Did I mention it was great seeing teams drive themselves? Because it was. It was great to see teams driving themselves and really controlling their own fate. I hope we get to see them drive more.

But the Pit Stop location was fresh too. Plus we got Jesus as the Pit Stop Greeter!

It definitely presented an awkward location for Luz & Chen’s meltdown though. (lol)

The format still shows its downsides this week. The Pit Stop episode itself was pretty flat until Luz & Chen’s elimination. There should be another task or even Route Marker on the Saturday episodes before teams head to the Pit Stop.

But overall, Leg 2 was a pretty good Leg and much better than Leg 1.

My Subjective Team Rankings For Leg 2

Overall, this is a great cast who have all delivered in their own ways. These rankings are not necessarily best to worst or loved to hated, but definitely relative to each other and what they’ve brought to the show in terms of fun and entertainment as well as their actual Race performance too.

Luz & Chen are such a loss. Worst first two eliminations evah I think. Luz really delivered every single episode. Her one-liners were hilarious. But I think we definitely saw the cracks in their teamwork all along. This Leg alone, the tension was already there. The contrast in Luz and Chen’s outlook on the Race was really striking. Especially at Sky Ranch with Chen cracking up and Luz so distraught. Chen suggested they just accept their fate several times this Leg while Luz wanted to stay positive and hopeful. I really do hope they work out their differences. While it was fun to watch their epic meltdown, of course, it will be even better if they patched things up.

AJ & Jody are also amazing. Their own back and forth has been hilarious to watch, especially since their arguments have mainly been about underwear or driving. They can compete and get through tasks when they need to, but they’ll need to work on focusing on the Race even while getting pikon with each other.

Roch & Eji are quickly moving up! And it’s all thanks to Eji’s shrieks of joy and Roch establishing a Derek Hug Count. Roch will join TAR greats Mirna (who asked Phil for a hug every Pit Stop) and Brooke & Claire (who started a kiss count) if she keeps up her Derek Hug Count for the rest of the Race. WHILE also both keeping their competitive nature they’ve shown here and there.

Jet & Yna have shown themselves to be a pretty solid team. They’ve done well enough and almost got a First Place if it wasn’t for the Ferris wheel. But it would be great for them to step it up moving forward. They’re right on the cusp I think.

Tina & Avy were a little quieter this Leg than last. No “ganging on” them this week and no clashing with other teams. But they were able to still run their own Race and managed to stay right in the middle of the pack, which is a safe place this early in the Race. I definitely hope a Blondies/Nerds fued is brewing though. That would be amazing!

Matt & Phoebe had some pikon moments this Leg, but they had the right amount of luck and skill to get them the win. Their defense of voting for Jet & Yna was great and I liked their confessional reaffirming their drive to win. Kelvin & JP were also much quieter this episode, save for them excellently recovering from the U-Turn and them trying to cheer up Luz & Chen by randomly screaming at them (lol). The preview for Leg 3 though shows them exploding, so I’m looking forward to that. They’re definitely a threat who could go far.

Daniel & Charlie being bottomgoddesses is hilarious. Who would have expected that?! And their cursing and swearing really is randomly amusing. RR & Jeck need to step it up and not quit so easily. I get wanting to rest, but I too want them to hustle a little more if they want to stay. At least they provided some hilarious moments this Leg. Vince & Ed are fine, but are just being overshadowed by bigger personalities. Though if they need some personality, all they need to do is keep that Tina & Avy fued going. Them being so upset at the Reveal Board was hilarious. I would like to see more of that. More sassy Nerds.

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