Recap: The Amazing Race 36, Episode 4 – “Are you a name station?”

Recap: The Amazing Race 36, Episode 4 – “Those Who Wander Are Not Lost”

The fourth Leg of the Race begins with teams paragliding in Medellin, Colombia to the Pit Start. Ricky & Cesar and Amber & Vinny depart first at 9:15am. Rod & Leticia, Juan & Shane, Derek & Shelisa and Yvonne & Melissa depart at 9:30am. And the final group of Michelle & Sean, Kishori & Karishma, Angie & Danny and Sunny & Bizzy depart at 9:45am.

The first clue awaits teams at Comuna 13 en Reversadero #1 near the base of the escalator. That clue reveals a Detour: Dance Vibe or Wall Scribe. In Dance Vibe, teams must learn a breakdancing routine. When they can perform for 30 seconds, they’ll get the next clue. In Wall Scribe, teams must search amongst murals for pieces of a rebus puzzle, identified by Race markers. Once they recite the answer “The world is smaller than you think” to a local artist, they’ll get the next clue.

Ricky & Cesar and Amber & Vinny choose Wall Scribe. Juan & Shane, Yvonne & Melissa and Derek & Shelisa choose Dance Vibe. Rod decides for himself and Leticia to do the breakdancing even though she says she is a horrible dancer.

Angie & Danny have trouble finding the cluebox. Danny insists going up the escalator, but Angie correctly points out the clue told them to search the base.

Meanwhile, Ricky & Cesar go to the artist and guess incorrectly several times. Amber & Vinny, however, get it on their first attempt. Ricky & Cesar do process of elimination and get the clue shortly after.

Amber tries to get Vinny to slow down as she can’t keep up. She even threatens to quit if he doesn’t. Ricky & Cesar manage to catch up to them.

Angie & Danny ask Amber where the clue is and she points them in the general direction. The mother and son choose the puzzle while cousins Kishori & Karishma choose the dancing. Sunny & Bizzy choose the puzzle too while Team Double Dutch Michelle & Sean of course take the dancing.

Angie and rebus puzzle-loving Danny get the correct answer and have leaped into 3rd place leaving Comuna 13. Juan & Shane get the thumbs up on their breakdancing after their 2nd attempt. Derek & Shelia pass on their 3rd attempt, Rod & Leticia on their 5th attempt and Michelle & Sean on their 3rd attempt as well. Kishori & Karishma pass on their 4th attempt with Yvonne & Melissa passing on their 5th attempt.

After the Detour, teams must make their way to Plaza Botero. On the taxi ride over, Amber gets emotional and she and Vinny talk it out. The other teams get caught up in traffic. And in the meantime, Ricky & Cesar ask for the driver’s phone to research what Plaza Botero looks like.

Amber & Vinny arrive at Plaza Botero and open the clue revealing a Road Block: Who’s feeling artsy? For this Road Block, teams must properly place the names of the 12 sculptures by renowned artist Fernando Botero located in the plaza onto a map of the area.

It is Amber’s turn to do a Road Block and she gets started. Ricky arrives next and tries to catch up. Amber has not covered her answer board, but Ricky does not want to cheat and look at it.

Back at the Detour, Sunny & Bizzy decide to switch to the dancing after their 31st attempt. And it only takes them one attempt to get the thumbs up there.

Over in Plaza Botero, Danny starts the Road Block just as Amber gets the thumbs up. She and Vinny can now make their way on foot to the Pit Stop at Parques del Rio Medellin. Ricky gets the thumbs up next and he and Cesar are able to run off first. When Amber sees the boyfriends leaving, she decides to take the time to help Danny orient himself with the map. Danny is grateful and is excited to run the Race with the dating couple.

Shelisa starts the Road Block while Rod and Shane decide to split the map and work together. Michelle and Karishma are next to arrive and start the task with Yvonne starting behind them.

Michelle asks Shane and Rod if they can work together, but they ignore. Danny, meanwhile, gets the thumbs up after his second attempt.

Ricky & Cesar arrive at the Pit Stop and claim first and the $2500 for each of them. Amber & Vinny take 2nd with Angie & Danny in 3rd.

Shane and Rod get the thumbs up on their 3rd attempts after Shane corrects Rod’s incorrect placement. Yvonne passes on her first attempt and Shelisa gets it on her 8th attempt.

Rod & Leticia finish as Team #4 and Juan & Shane finish as Team #5. Derek & Shelisa finish in 6th followed by Yvonne & Melissa in 7th.

It’s down to the last three teams. Sunny gets it on her 2nd attempt and she and Bizzy head to the Mat in 8th.

Both Karishma and Michelle are struggling with the orientation of the map. And it is Karishma who gets it first after her 18th attempt.

Kishori & Karishma finish as Team #9.

That means Michelle & Sean are last and eliminated. Phil wants a quick double dutch lesson before they go.

Episode Thoughts

So first off, it’s funny that they actually showed the full opening credits this time. I guess it helps to fill out the episode lol

But it was another okay episode.

An interesting way to start the episode with teams paragliding before the Leg actually starts. Definitely a first for TAR. But it really is interesting because sometimes paragliding during the Leg kind of halts the Race with the processional/first come, first served aspect of such a task. So it’s a refreshing chance to have teams do it, but not be part of the Leg.

Would be interesting to see TAR do more things like this in the future.

I wish Phil did a bit more background on Comuna 13. I think Beau Ryan did more on TARAu6 so I used what I learned from their visit here to help fill in the blanks of what TARUS did here. But this Leg was actually much better than TARAu6’s visit to Medellin. So there’s that. lol

The Detour was alright. It might not have come across on the episode. But the breakdancing definitely suits the location. That’s why I wish Phil described Comuna 13 more. I can only imagine what some whiny fans will be saying about this task. I mean, people were complaining about simple “face painting” when it was specifically related to Dia de los Muertos, a major part of Mexican culture.

Now the rebus puzzle side of the Detour was definitely scary though because if this were TAR32 or TARAu 5 and 6, you’d see teams just telling their friends the answer to it. And for the Road Block, maybe even some teams actually completing the map for other people. Or heck, just telling another team to submit their map as their own. *shudder*… I don’t want to think about it lol

The rebus puzzle is a creative task though. Maybe not a worthy Detour option. Much better as an extra task in the Leg. But it was alright here. Especially for Sunny & Bizzy’s hilarious guesses.

Now speaking of cheating… I mean, sharing answers, the Road Block was good as the map boards had a cover on it. But the teams still worked together. And I think it was fine because they worked together. They didn’t just spoonfeed the answers to each other. Even Amber helping Danny was only to help with orienting him on the map. She didn’t give him all 12 answers or something.

With Shane and Rod, they split the work up and then ran around together. Sure, Shane pointed out Rod’s one mistake. But they had worked together to complete the entire task.

So these are the kind of “alliance” antics that have been a part of TAR since the beginning. Absolutely different from shoving the answers and solutions down each other’s throats like on TAR32 and TARAu6 and 7.

Love the moment at the Mat with Phil and Michelle & Sean. Really fun.

Anyway, this Leg started at 9:15am and teams were Racing until at least 5 or 6pm based on the sunset time. I know some eager fans who said these TAR35-turned-36 Legs would only last a few hours. I am honestly quite satisfied they are being proven wrong. Sorry not sorry.

And sorry not sorry to say that I liked the episode overall. Definitely needed one or two more tasks of course. But looking at final placements and comparing them to previous Legs doesn’t tell the whole story. Watching the episode, it actually was quite unpredictable as teams were shuffling all over the place. Teams might have settled into similar positions in the end. And the elimination was not much of a surprise. But the episode itself was enjoyable and unpredictable.

Team Thoughts

First off, I must give props to Ricky for not looking at Amber’s map and talking about how to do the Race the right way. That definitely scored a lot of points for Ricky & Cesar in my book.

I definitely did not expect Amber & Vinny to be a dysfunctional couple-type! Very interesting dynamic they have. And then throw in their friendshalliance with Angie & Danny and we could be in for some interesting times in the coming episodes.

Thankfully, their alliance so far has been limited to just pointing each other in the right direction. And if they continue doing only that, then that’s perfectly fine. Kudos to Angie & Danny being able to leap into the top 3 though. I guess partly thanks to their friends helping them twice this Leg. And Danny definitely needs to listen to Mama Angie more. lol

Sunny & Bizzy were absolutely hilarious at the rebus puzzle. Those guesses were something else! And I was laughing so hard at the strange sentences they were coming up with.

Even more hilarious were our favorite TAR cousins. Kishori crying during the Road Block was so funny. She and Karishma really are so spazzy and funny. I think they are great TV. I hope they make it far.

Juan & Shane, Derek & Shelisa and Rod & Leticia had fine Legs. Quiet Legs for them. But each had their moments in this episode.

I don’t know if it’s because I’m mixing up Sunny & Bizzy and Yvonne & Melissa, but I can’t seem to remember much from the dating couple in this episode.

Finally, Michelle & Sean. They were a fun team to watch. But I think this is a good time for them to go. You don’t get big personalities like them on TAR these days. So they were a refreshing team to have on this season.

Episode Quotes

Danny: “I eat rebus puzzles for breakfast!”

Karishma: “Are you a name station?”