Recap: The Amazing Race 37, Episode 12 – “We’re in Miami, baby!”
Jonathan drops and breaks two tiles, but they have to just put them as is on the wall. He and Ana get a check and the thumbs up first. They hurry to find the Pit Stop. Alyssa & Josiah finish next and we are made to believe there is a footrace to the Mat.
But it is Jonathan & Ana who check-in as Team #3. That means Alyssa & Josiah are last and eliminated.
The Final Leg officially begins when teams learn they will be flying to their final destination, Miami, Florida. And this Final Leg will be a Scramble.
At the airport, Jonathan & Ana print out maps of Miami.
Upon arrival in Miami, teams must head to Crandon Park Marina and ride a speedboat across Biscayne Bay.
The waiting clue reveals the Scramble involving three water-related challenges: Sail at the Coral Reef Yacht Club around a marked course; Soar, hydroflighting for 60 seconds above Biscayne Bay; Save a victim using a high-speed watercraft and rescue board. After each challenge, teams will get a piece of the next clue.
Jonathan & Ana arrive at Save first where teams will participate in a lifeguard training exercise. One team member will drive and another will be on the board to save someone from the water.
Because of Ana being unable to swim, she chooses to operate the jetski. Jonathan hops in the water to save the mannequin. They save their swimmer and get back to shore just as Carson & Jack get in the water. Han & Holden start the task just as Carson & Jack arrive back on shore as well.
Jonathan & Ana initially chooses Sail next while Carson & Jack and Han & Holden go to Soar. But Jonathan & Ana end up switching to Soar first which they can see on the map.
At Soar, it is a Road Block: Who’s ready to go above and beyond? For this Road Block, teams must stay in the air on hydroflighting for 60 seconds. Jack decides to do the Road Block.
Han arrives next followed by Ana who will now face her fear of water to complete the task.
Ana is struggling with the water and her instructor helps to calm and encourage her. Jack and Han are not doing any better either until Jack gets it on his 7th attempt. Han gets it on her 10th attempt, but she is frustrated that it took her too long. Ana finally gets it on her 21st attempt and she is sad that it has probably cost them the Race.
Carson & Jack arrive at Sail. Here, teams learn how to sail the Optimist around Valentine’s Island just by watching young experts. As all three teams are at the sailing, Carson & Jack finish first and now put their clue boxes together.
With the three boxes together, teams must figure out they must head to Calle Ocho Domino Park.
Han ends up hitting another car and they have to stop and talk to the other driver. Holden uses his Spanish skills to settle the situation and they continue on.
At Domino Park, Carson & Jack are given the next clue directing them to Ice Palace Film Studio.
At the studio, teams must assemble a 100-piece 3D puzzle where teams must spell out AMAZING RACE and photos of people, places and things from the Race and match them with the twists they encountered on every Leg.
Carson & Jack and Han & Holden are at the Final Task. But it is Carson & Jack who finish first. They can now make their way to Loandepot Park, the Finish Line.
Jonathan & Ana arrive at the studio and get started.
Han & Holden get the thumbs up and can now head to the Finish Line. They run out as Jonathan & Ana have already assembled their letters and are just putting the photo pieces on.
But it is Carson & Jack who arrive at the Finish Line first and Phil officially declares them the winners of the Race.
Han & Holden are 2nd place and Jonathan & Ana are 3rd.
Episode Thoughts
This was an alright finale. I’ll admit, it wasn’t too exciting. Definitely far from the worst though. Maybe a faint glimmer of hope that Han & Holden could pull it out to make things interesting in the end. Or it seemed like they were setting up an epic Jonathan & Ana comeback. And when a CBS teaser apparently teased one of the “closest” finishes ever, my expectations were high. But alas, it was just alright.
Let’s start at the beginning. There was no reason to save that one minute of a fake footrace in Porto for this finale episode. Considering we never saw either couple in the same frame the entire time, it probably wasn’t even close. So there was no need to save literally one or two minutes for another episode. Also doesn’t help that Alyssa & Josiah’s first confessional in the last episode showed them at night and sad. Lol Pretty obvious who was eliminated.
Next, it looked like all three teams ended up in Business Class anyway lol
So I followed the spoilers as the Race ran and the teams arrived in Miami when there was a huge storm. And apparently they had to delay the Final Leg by a day or something. So when they ran out the airport, I wondered if they sent teams back there just to film them running out. Lol But then I saw that it was suddenly sunny and morning when they started the Scramble. So I guess they held teams after the speedboat on the rainy day before picking back up when it was sunny the next day?
Well, whatever. The magic of television I guess. Lol
Moving on, the speedboats were definitely one of the most Miami things you could do. So it was a great way to start the Leg.
The Scramble was okay. But I think in the future, it would be good to maybe have two tasks with similar distances so that teams won’t just go in order of distance. And there will be more variety in what order teams will choose to do the task. That’s really the only reason to do a Scramble. Make things more unpredictable.
As for the tasks themselves, they were good together as part of the Scramble. On their own, they might be less interesting. But together, they made a logical trio of tasks representative of Miami and as part of a thematic succession of tasks.
On the other hand. Because teams all went in the same order, there was a bit of a processional, linear feel to the proceedings which is what a Scramble is supposed to specifically prevent. But that’s just all on how the teams chose to complete the tasks.
All three were straightforward tasks. The hydroflighting was certainly the most challenging. But the teams still left in the order they arrived too.
The domino block was a nice little clue. But maybe it would’ve been nice to have a task in Little Havana.
For the Final Memory Task, I would have provided extra photo pieces or even extra letter pieces to make it a bit more challenging. There was really not much memory aspect to it except for the twists. But that was minor. I think having many different photo options would have made it more challenging and exciting. Even TARAu and TARC provide extra photos in their memory tasks.
All the driving was good too, but it didn’t seem to affect the teams too much.
Overall, it was an okay Final Leg. Again, not the best or most exciting. But far from being the worst of course.
Also, ooops…
The TAR editors have been a bit sloppy in recent seasons with the graphics and stuff. So hopefully they can clean that up.
Team Thoughts
I’ll have more Team Thoughts in my Wrap-up. But I would’ve been fine with any three teams winning the Race. Again, having followed the spoilers, I knew these were the Final Three. And I think maybe that helped me enjoy the season more since I liked all three teams.
Carson & Jack were a consistent team that pulled themselves up when they fell behind during the Race. But you could argue they were the strongest contenders and they solidified that in this Final Leg. It’s a well-deserved win.
That said, I would’ve been very happy to see Han & Holden pull out a win. They have grown to be one of the most dynamic characters on the Race in a long time. And to have a sibling team like them on the Race has been fun.
And finally, Jonathan & Ana. I really thought the episode was setting up a last-minute comeback for them. But it wasn’t meant to be. Lots of what ifs we can talk about, but they didn’t do anything wrong other than the tricky Road Block which could’ve been anyone struggling with. Even Han had trouble and she was perfectly suited for it. So Jonathan & Ana had a solid Leg and an even more solid Race.
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