THE LEG
Phil shows us a little bit of the Mekong Delta, once a place of fear and death, now a beautiful and vibrant area of simple living. And along these “peaceful waters” the Bassacc III Riverboat which has left Cho Cai Be and is now traveling to the town of Meto, Vietnam, the teams clueless to their destination. (The first time we’ve had a mobile Pit Stop? – That actually went mobile that is?)
In the morning, Gary & Matt are first to depart from the docks of Meto and get a clue telling them to travel by taxi to Ho Chi Mihn City. There, they will search for the Golden Dragon Water Puppet Theatre where their next clue will be taken from the mouth of a water dragon.
Gary comments on how hard it is for him to accept his son is an adult, capable of making his own decisions. Sam & Dan leave next and Sam talks about trying to get his younger brother to calm down and not to easily get frustrated as we see him getting frustrated already just looking for a taxi.
Big Easy Nate talks about losing his father a few days before the Race began. He’s going to represent his dad and win the Race for him who told him that it didn’t matter where you came from for you to make something of yourself.
Keri reads the clue, saying they’re going to Ho Chi Mon City and as she and Lance run off into the street, she says they ARE in Ho Chi Mon City. Their confessional talks about how they are built for this Race, that they are the lions and everyone else are gazelles (cut to the gay brothers) or zebras (more on that later).
Marcy gets emotional when remembering how her father was shot down in Vietnam during the war, but thankfully rescued thanks to his sheer will and determination, two things she feels she is made of as well. She takes note of how beautiful the people in Vietnam are and how she really wants to experience the people and culture of the country.
Lance & Keri are finally told they are two hours away from Ho Chi Minh City and all the teams are on their way.
The scooters and motorcycles and mopeds are buzzing around the streets as the teams enter Ho Chi Mihn City. It’s traffic, but Flight Time and Big Easy arrive first at the threatre. The dragons spray water at them and slyly maneuver through the water making it hard for the teams to grab the flag and clue hanging from their mouths.
They grab the clue, a bullet with a stamp inside of it. On the stamp is a picture of the building where their next route marker is located, the Ho Chi Minh City Main Post Office.
Gary & Matt are next. They head out to the streets and a man tells them the post office is one kilometer away. Matt reasons they don’t have much cash and its only 1k so they will just run it though dad is unsure. They run, but don’t know where to go.
Flight Time & Big Easy find the Detour, Child’s Play or Word Play. (The first of the season!!)
In Child’s Play, teams make their to a local park and find a kiosk where they will pick up a concrete animal and transport the “heavy and unwieldy” animal along the bumpy pathway of the park, picking up five balloons from vendors. When they deliver their animal and balloons to the children’s playground, they’ll receive their next clue.
In Word Play, teams head to a hotel’s observation deck. Scanning the crowded intersection below, they must identify six Vietnamese letters traveling with the congested traffic. Once they check with the security guard that they’ve got the right letters, they’ll leave the hotel and get help from the locals to unscramble the letters to spell DOC LAP, meaning ‘independence’ in Vietnamese.
Flight Herb & Big Nate choose Child’s Play and realize to take the smaller animal since it’s lower to the ground and less likely to fall over.
Meanwhile, Gary & Matt finally decide to take a taxi realizing the post office wasn’t so close, and Meghan & Cheyne leave the theatre just as four other teams arrive. As the three teams leave for the Post Office, Lance & Keri hold their bullet and wonder where their clue is, having no idea they must open it. They head back to the theatre, hand the bullet to the men at the door, but they shrug. Back inside, Keri finally tells Lance to open it and they find the stamp. They take Mika & Canaan’s taxi as they arrive and Keri tells Lance not to yell at her.
Mika & Canaan are dancing to the music inside the theatre while Brian & Ericka are stuck in traffic.
Canaan dances as Brian & Ericka are stuck in traffic. Flight Herb and Big Nate collect their balloons and along the way, they pass a woman jazzercising along the path (Work it girl!).
At the post office, Zev & Justin, Gary & Matt, and Meghan & Cheyene arrive and they all choose Child’s Play while Marcy & Ron choose Word’s Play. Zev & Justin pick up a navigator who squeezes into the crowded backseat. Mika & Canaan’s dancing finally results in a clue and they leave as Brian & Ericka catch up to them.
Flight Time & Big Easy take their sheep to one of the stalls and hand the balloons over to the lady. They get their clue telling them to head for Dien Co 008 at the intersection of Durong Vinh Vien and Durong Ly Thuron Kiet for the next one.
Lance & Keri head inside the Post Office, while the two couples go straight for the clue box outside, and are now in last place (“Damn it Keri!”).
Marcy & Ron arrive at the hotel. She slaps him in the elevator with the clue (Ron: “What the f— was that!?!”) and up top see the letters on top of scooter boxes and drivers’ hats, but they miss one letter and the man tells them their letters are not correct.Meanwhile, the other teams arrive at the animals. Sam & Dan and Maria & Tiffany stick together until the girls’ dolly breaks. Dan tries to help them, but as much as the girls’ appreciate their kindness, they don’t want to impede another team’s progress just for them so they let the brothers go.
Zev & Justin choose the giraffe as it was closest to the dollies. They try to maneuver the tall, heavy animal through the park until it slams its head onto the ground. Oops. They get it back up, pick up all the pieces from the ground and head off.
The rest of the teams at the back get their animals. Brian & Ericka choose the zebra since it “worked well” for them as they put their hands together, their fingers resembling the zebra’s stripes. Now officially Team Zebra.
Marcy & Ron figure out the missing letter was a D and not an O so they head down to the street. However, they are having trouble as they are looking at signs outside the hotel instead of asking locals to help them.
The other teams are in the park. Tiffany has trouble pushing the animal all by herself. They don’t have a man on their team like the others. Lance lets go of his red balloon so they go back for it. Brian & Ericka speed through and move up to 5th.
Lance & Keri are freaking out looking for the balloon lady, they even ask Zev & Justin… who are with the balloon lady handing them their clue. She’s holding balloons. Lance & Keri walk away. She walks into some performing pagoda, but Lance screams to her. They frantically pull the animal up, they knock over a monobloc chair, they scare the balloon lady, they’re in 8th place.
Flight Time Herb and Big Easy Nate arrive at the cluebox and find the Road Block.
Who’s ready for a complete break down?
In this Road Block, teams must break down two VCRs and toss their parts into separate piles. When all their VCR parts have been disassembled and sorted, they will be given their next clue.
Flight Time does the Road Block, and Matt and Cheyne follow.
Meanwhile, Marcy & Ron continue to overthink the Detour. They guess OLD CAP. Wrong. They finally ask a local and he tells them DOC LAP. They think that’s it and it is. They head to the Road Block.
Back at the Road Block, Flight Herb finishes first and the Globetrotters are off to the Pit Stop, the Reunification Palace. The site of a historic moment when a North Vietnamese tank stormed the gates ending the Vietnam War.
The Globetrotters have trouble finding a cab that knows where to go as more teams arrive at the Road Block. They decide to follow Meghan & Cheyne and beat them at a footrace. Gary & Matt are close behind.
More teams arrive, Sam & Dan are done. Brian & Ericka are right behind. Dan gets whiny again, Sam tells him to stop.
Flight Time & Big Easy and Meghan & Cheyne are at the Reunification Palace gate and it’s a footrace. They all drop their packs and though Cheyne arrives at the Mat first, Meghan lags allowing both Globetrotters to claim first place and a trip to Aruba (with a reserved cabana everyday!).
Meghan & Cheyne settle for 2nd and Gary & Matt claim 3rd. Coming back from last place, Team Zebra, Brian & Ericka take 4th.
Zev & Justin and Mika & Canaan arrive at the Road Block, but Lance & Keri get dropped off nowhere near it after he yells at the driver, Keri says. He proclaims “I’m done with you” and get back in a taxi. They get to the Road Block and Lance starts smashing and ripping the VCRs apart. (Can he do that?) He finishes, leaving Justin and Zev who leave before Marcy & Ron arrive.
Sam & Dan run to the Mat to finish 5th, Maria & Tiffany are 6th, and Mika & Canaan are 7th.
All the teams are done with Road Block and the last three heading to the Pit Stop. Justin & Zev’s guide remains with them.
At the gates, Lance & Keri run first, but Zev & Justin are right behind. Lance & Keri get clueless again just as Marcy & Ron arrive at the gate (or we are led to believe so, giving us hope!).
But it is the best friends who run faster as Zev & Justin claim 8th with the clueless couple being spared elimination at 9th. Lance offers to wrestle Phil to show the lion is still alive, Phil doesn’t want to, but Zev offers he and Justin to take him on.
That leaves the internet dating couple from San Francisco in last and sadly Philiminated.
OVERALL
A great episode. I enjoyed the Detour, for one because it we didn’t get any in two hours last week, and also because it is awesome having children on the Race. Plus, the animals were just as fun whether live or cemented.
I felt bad for Marcy & Ron. They could’ve easily blown through the Detour, but they spent too much time on little things. While you’ve always got to be detailed on the Race, sometimes being too detailed is the wrong way to go. They overthought it and it did them in. It would’ve been great seeing them move forward.
The Road Block was okay. Not too imaginative and not really that Vietnam-specific, but it looked like it got them to be with the locals which is what all challenges should do on TAR.
So far so good!