LAST EDITED ON 10-24-06 AT 08:10 AM (EST)

Mavs_fan, nice of you to get things started. After episode #1, I proposed that “The Race is Tough and you better be ready for Surprises” as the theme of the season. Last night’s “automatic” detour is the first fun task they’ve had up to now, a big difference to last season’s roller coasters, duck-boats and test driving Mercedes! Sorry if I repeat any of your latest comments but I write it all after rewatching the tapes to have it fresh as it was presented.

The latest episode was fast-paced compared to last week. There was little time for discussions, but we saw:

Helping Hands and Dirty Tricks.

The recap showed us the ill-fated alliance of Peter and Sarah with Dustin and Kandice. In an episode where alliances were so crucial, it made me wonder if it was only to prepare us for the tri-athletes’ downfall or does it have repercussions for the Blondes as well.

The opening quotes were equally revealing in Peter and Sarah’s case. Peter saying, “I’m confident we’re going to continue to do well. I think that even on our worst day, we are still better than most of the others in the pack.” A kiss of death if I ever heard one!

The Blondes again showed they are focused on the race, Dustin saying “When you come towards the front of the group, some people look at you and they are going to be jealous.” Kandice adding with a smile, “I don’t think anybody wants to be beaten by a couple of blonde girls!” Note that they haven’t won a single leg yet. You don’t suppose it could be foreshadowing, do you?

Tyler tells us, “Last leg, when we came in 6th place, it was like a dagger in the side for both of us, we had no idea we were in 6th place. We can’t stop, we can’t let up our guard for a moment.” Isn’t editing funny sometimes? Of course they said it, but in a confessional that probably lasted a few minutes, that was the one clip that made the show.

The Back Pack Alliance was in full force last night. The Cho Brothers told us right at the start that they were going to stick with “Alabama”. They sacrificed their chances of climbing out of last place so that Kentucky could avoid the penalty. Not only that, they impeded Dustin and Kandice with a good bluff, giving David and Mary all the time they needeed. Later, the Brothers helped Bama with some directions in the maze that was the Souk Al-Gharaballi. Such strong alliance tactics are unheard of in TAR so it makes it hard to analyze. The teams of Adam-Rebecca and Lake-Michelle used the yield to help a team they got along with, but it wasn’t part of a plan and it certainly wasn’t at their own immediate peril.

From what we’ve seen and heard, the only other team that reacted to the three teams sharing information was Peter in the important train sequence. An alliance that is revealed only by those in it isn’t usually successful. The ones that carry some of its participants to the end are talked about by others. Here, we aren’t made privy to those considerations. To analyze it, I am tempted to go back to the original Survivor season where players on one tribe didn’t want to play that way, while the Tagi-4 dominated the game. We did hear many concerns about the possibilities that an alliance had been formed. TAR isn’t Survivor but story telling does have certain guidelines, if you will. If the alliance was to roll over everyone, we should be hearing some teams showing concerns. Still, we have to consider the different possibilities:

1- The alliance doesn’t play any significant role other than outlasting the one team that expressed concerns about it. It did enable David and Mary to get further than the athletes as our observations of Peter’s rudeness to the nice couple had prepared us. The athletes’ navigational skills were so awful that an alliance wasn’t necessary in this leg, so its efficacy would be negligible.

2- A more substantial gain would be achieved if the alliance outlasts its main target; the Blondes. The conflict between Lyn, Karlyn and the Beauty Queens is approaching its paroxysm. The alliance could bring the girls down and maybe that was the reason for the nice edit the girls had. We will see that they were the victims of TAR’s first alliance.

3- The alliance strikes at the teams that don’t suspect a thing; the happy go lucky models and the conflicted couple. It would be a major coup.

Which is it? Maybe looking at how the teams are presented will help answering it.

David & Mary were grateful to the Cho Brothers who put their race on the line. They were sure to let Phil know it. Now that their parallel story to the athletes is over, it could be the end of their own, surprising, story. The Fast Forward was the occasion to hear a fun quote by Mary: “It’s like a Steven Seagal movie”. David again reflected on his life, his dream of being a firefighter and that the race is like turning dreams into reality. The editors took their time in showing their flaws along with their qualities because they knew this loveable but unathletic couple was going further than the power duo. It is a great ending to a story so we would be faced with possibility #1. There has been no signs that there is another chapter to their story, one more team leaving before them. If there is, then this race is presented in two acts and we’ll have some serious reassessments to make!

Erwin and Godwin have taken a chivalrous role, unselfishly relinquishing their chance at an easy win for the sake of nice people. They don’t talk about any underlying strategy. To get a better understanding, I went back to their pre-show interviews: “Erwin and Godwin are overachieving, super competitive brothers. They say they are fit and they are aware that stress will come into play and are ready to deal with it. They have fear of heights. They’re ready to use Plan A, B and C if needed. Plan A is to see if other teams are willing to form an alliance to get further but if it doesn’t work, they are ready to go at it alone.” It is an accurate portrayal except the super competitive part. Since no one, including themselves, mention them as candidates for the win, I still see them as nice guys who fall short…very nice guys!

Lyn and Karlyn announced the plan for the three teams to make it to the end. They have often been seen as mean racers and they certainly are no-nonsense women. Even if that has been softened somewhat, they almost kidnapped the potential helpers for the girls. They also received help from the brothers in the Souk, where they were directed to the right door. They still were in the back of the group until they practically stumbled on the detour. Interestingly, the brothers had given up going in that direction and asked for direction for the other detour, turning around without them.

When talking about Dustin and Kandice’s edit I may appear to be going overboard. If I’m listening to crickets for the next clue, please let me know! It is too late to retreat now but there as been a change in their edit. They flaunted their pageant titles at the travel agency in response to the “medical emergency” Peter invented. Their smiles may also have helped to get the pilot to tell them how to get to the Towers. They are starting to have really mean comments about the Moms. Is it simply reciprocity for the “sistahs'” bad behavior? If the answer is no, then obviously we must go with option #2. BJ and Tyler certainly were shown to have warts also when it came to MoJo, so option #1 is still viable.

On the positive side, we spend a lot of time with them in each episode. Last night’s stars, the Chos brothers, with their tricks and their fear of heights were the only ones that had as much airtime: We saw the lack of aggressivity they wanted to overcome when they abandoned their idea to go for the FF. We saw a dancing Kandice after the roadblock, We anguished along with them as they were desperately lost in the souk, making it look as if they were in danger of elimination when the Moms hadn’t even arrived yet. Contrary to other teams, Kandice was “awesome with maps.” Even most of Rob and Kimberly’s airtime was devoted to show that the girls couldn’t expect help from anyone, “Hide the clue” Rob urged Kimberly so the girls wouldn’t locate the right shop. Then, even at the detour, it was a confrontation between these two teams. Kimberley was right saying that they beat the girls but they didn’t keep their lead all the way to the pit stop. Sarah’s final confessional showed that last week’s “fierce competitors” comment came from their final briefing! It certainly is a good sign to have final words of one team inserted to compliment another. The previews for the last three weeks at least have featured them: The croc, the Moms urging their helper not to help the girls and now more conflicts and a car crash. Are they in danger? No, I don’t think so!

Tyler and James had recovered(!) nicely from their poor finish but once more they got lost and were slow to ask for help. They were close to panic until they also stumbled on the automatic detour after giving up the nightmare of looking for the manual one. They didn’t talk about their story but in an episode devoted to action, it doesn’t mean much. Their return to the bottom of the standings is more telling. They have to do what they promised they would do but didn’t deliver this time or else option #3 could surprise them.

Rob and Kimberly didn’t fight…as much! We heard good comments by Rob, understanding he is too dramatic and that sometimes it’s not good. They were only seen when others were around. Lack of airtime is worse than a bad edit. Even Rob's “Kimberly is fearless” comment climbing the Kuwait Towers was quickly negated by her “I’m stupid” while making the puzzle. The detour was proof that Rob can’t help but scream at Kimberley once per episode at least. To their credit, they reconcile at each pit stop. The lack of conflict with the alliance seems to indicate they will not fall to them.

So, if you ask which option will happen, I’ll answer #1 is more likely but the race can be full of surprises. Isn’t that part of the theme!

Philimination note: Even the Kuwaiti greeter didn’t want to see Peter!