CTGirl: I enjoyed immensely reading your post, mainly because our views aren't quite the same! It is always necessary to see another point of view. I'm afraid mine is a little frightening!

To answer your question: Yes, Kandice had confessionals about the team's emotions while Dustin talked about strategy. By the end, Dustin had the bulk of the confessionals as the girls ran into trouble. Again, their opening remark this week reflected their different personality: Dustin wanted to be first, Kandice joked about "Too Hot." This year, Dustin has been more prominent from the start.

Here is what I saw:

This Race is on Standby

Having done the summary for this week, which I hope you’ll enjoy, I viewed this episode from a slightly different view-point. I did my own editing and distorted so many quotes that I have to be careful not to distort the analysis also.

Since we had determined through editing and have been supported by a spoiler, we have to see if we can determine which of the apparent final 4 teams will win. First, I’ll take a quick look at the other 2 teams:

Uchenna and Joyce had their best episode. Again, Uchenna comes alive in Africa. He is proud of his heritage and gives us a chance to share it. This quote was powerful: Think about it this way; for a lot of people the last time they saw home was on this ride. When the slave trade was at its peak, Zanzibar was one of the gateways to Europe. 500 hundred years ago, they took the slaves down this very path. He even added a litlle humor: ”Ladies, Now it’s your turn,”he told the Blondes.

At the Roadblock, Uchenna was amazed to see the Masai warriors and he participated in their jumping ritual. When he hit the target, the camera turned to the spectators: Uchenna had many fans and not only on TV. Those present screemed their joy. This last quote is typical for him: “Jumping with the Masai, that is a dream come true.” Sharing a moment like this is a big reason why TAR as a loyal following.

Uchenna and Joyce haven’t been given a race related story. Their only conflict was with Romber and even that only surfaced on the duo’s final leg. Uchenna and Joyce, as the only winners on All-Star, are presented as the nice people they really are and we see that they are good racers. There is no manipulation to their edit and no build-up for later. Many will be sad to see them go but we’ve seen from the start that they haven’t been given a winner’s airtime and story.

Joe & Bill started by telling us: “There was a major mood shift since the number of teams dwindled down. We know now that we cannot trust anyone.”

We saw them ready to spend the night at the airport but, contrary to Teri and Ian, we didn’t see them discussing other possibilities or agreeing on the decision. We also saw them anxiously waiting while on Standby but except for Joe’s “son of a b*tch” we didn’t hear much of their thoughts. We were sharing much more in Teri and Ian’s misfortune. Even when Bill commented: “I’ve never been so happy to leave a country in my life” he was seen from behind so, at first, I thought the quote was from Ian when Teri “responded” with a “Praise the Lord.”
The Guidos were smart when Teri and Ian decided to do the “Solve It” detour. Bill reasoned that the best thing to do was to follow the married couple so that they couldn’t get away.
Bill completed the roadblock as the sun was getting up. All we heard from them was Joe with: “Teri and Ian didn’t show up yet”
“You know Ian is going to do it” answered Bill. “They could catch up to us.”
We never heard worries about being so far back from the others. The Guidos know all about being a day late so it was surprising neither commented on it right then. If it was left out for next week, that should tell us they don’t recover

Joe and Bill were in a perfect position for us to get to know more about them, to feel for them and hope they can get out of this bad situation. The editors left them out to dry it would seem since all we had was a set-up for Teri and Ian’s elimination. The same airtime will be given to the Guidos when they leave, which could very well be next.

Who will win “The Final Four” if it is between these teams?

Oswald and Danny are definitely the fan favorites and deservedly so. Their attitudes and their one-liners are treats and this week was no exception:
After hand-modeling the clue. Oswald commented that: “The stress of the race is getting to people. If you let it get to you, you lose a part of yourself. We like to have fun.” They then joined their driver, André, to what looked like a fun ride to the airport.
When Oswald repeated the directions to the ferry docks, his tone of voice suggested they were happy to be going to the “fairy” docks. A funny scene followed after Danny found a nice bench on the docks: “Do you want company, sir” suggested Oswald, “I come cheap.” Then they tried to joke with the cousins about working the corner but humor is lost on those two.

On the way to Kikungwi, we got the Cha-Chas of old when they decided to stop for some shopping and lost first place. Even the roadblock was done in good spirit: Oswald told Danny that he had to have a limp wrist. “Alto, Alto” he said while he laughed at his partner’s skills.

The Cha-Chas have a “Too Good to be True” edit that is one-dimensional. They have fun, they have good racing skills so why don’t I see them as winners? BJ & Tyler had that good edit for many episodes until their negative side showed in their fights with MoJo. They can’t manufacture negativity with the Cha-Chas and afterall, Tyler and James won with a none-dimensional edit!! Call me stubborn, but I do see something missing to declare them our winners: No one is mentioning their good results, no one is threatened by them. We should be hearing other potential winners saying that the Cha-Chas look tough to beat but we do not. That suggests it never becomes an issue.

Eric and Danielle are “both forming opinions about each other” said Danielle. She went on to add: “Eric is very stubborn sometimes but I don’t just lay back and let him take charge.”
They get along well for now. They joked in the car with Eric saying he was happy to be going to Tanzania where the Tanzanian devil lived. Danielle told him it was the Tasmanian devil. He called her a knucklehead for not getting his joke.
Lets not forget that Eric is a good racer: It was 9:00AM in Maputo and everyone was sitting on the floor, moping. Eric noticed that a SA Airline office door had opened upstairs. Three teams followed them upstairs and those 4 teams had the priority Standby positions. When the agents realized that there was overbooking, Eric and Danielle “shouldn’t” have been the one penalized since they should’ve been first on the list. We had nice foreshadowing during their walk to the gate, Eric said: “I can’t believe that it actually happened. I’m still waiting for someone to run up to us and tell us to stop.”
“Relax” said Danielle.
Her breakdown afterwards was certainly understandable and had to be shown: “We were sitting on the plane, this is ridiculous. This is a nightmare.”
What was missing from this scene? The reaction from the 3 other teams. They owed their place on the plane to Eric’s observation but he was the one taken off. Someone had to comment and that would have made the audience feel more sympathy for the dating couple. Instead, many probably wished the expulsion had happened after take-off!

They don’t get the sympathy scenes but they do get many unnecessary, negative ones. What was the point of showing the scene with Eric setting a waiting line and then imposing it on Teri and Ian? It could only serve to provoke more hate for them. Even showing Eric swaying to imaginary music was meant to make him appear cocky.

How did you feel when, getting on the Dhow, Danielle commented: “That would ruin the little trip we are about to have.” It was such a benign comment, but it still seemed that it was included to make them appear vindictive.

Just before they arrived to the island, Eric confided: “We are fighting from the bottom to try and get to the top. There is always something behind you, telling you not to get too comfortable.” Wise words for this race which certainly reminded us of Ray’s words in Season 9. Lets not fall for it again!
When they finally reached the Roadblock and the Masai warriors, they made their first smart challenge decision. Danielle used their big lead to do this one.

Eric and Danielle are racers to contend with but their reversal of portrayal, the questions on their relationship, the animosity towards other teams and especially the lack of any softening scenes make me think that they aren’t going to be our winners. They will be the team that will come just short again.

Down to two and Dustin & Kandice have a very consistent edit which is always a good sign.
Dustin said, as they left the Pit Stop: “We haven’t been first in this race yet. We hope this is the leg for that.”
Kandice added: “It’s a little hard to compete against ‘Too Hot to Handle” refering to the T-shirts the cousins were wearing. Many said it made them look mean but it was a joke and wearing that saying on matching T-Shirts certainly deserved a joke.

We saw more of the girls enjoying the race on their way to Zanzibar in the 2nd Dhow, Uchenna told everyone: “My great-grandfather was a Pirate.”
“Where did you get him?” Kandice asked Joyce.
Joyce answered: "I don't know."
Dustin insisted: "Where did you find him?"
"We could trade him" Joyce said.
Kandice then told Uchenna: "Zanzibar, you're going home, buddy!"

At the Kijangwani lumber yard, the girls handled the roadblock well. They joked about the cart being a bobsled and they got cheers from the locals. Was it the right detour choice? It really didn’t matter with the lead they had. If you also consider that the task was well defined, they knew there couldn’t be a bad surprise. You can’t really tell the degree of difficulty of a puzzle until you see it. Showing them debating the choice afterwards probably convinced many they made another mistake even if we don’t know if Uchenna and Joyce were simply faster than the others puzzle-makers.

Dustin and Kandice continue to have the right attitude about the race. Their edit is consistent with their story of the previous season. They even have a little more of their personality added to the mix. They will have their fans pulling for them but I don’t think their story will be that of winners. We have seen their failures, we haven’t seen any build-up from the other teams that their average results are about to change. Worse, they keep telling us that they are due to turn the tide but it never happens. Their story seems to be that it will never happen.

So, that leaves, OH! No!:Charla and Mirna. The cousins have a huge story this season. Even when they were in last place, they had the airtime due to a long term team. Now, their story has so many facets, it is hard to know where to start!

Their opening statement was a direct set-up for the episode: “Charla and I are leaving in first place. It’s kind of nerve-racking because we’ve never been in first place. We want to prove that it wasn’t just a quirk. To do that, we have to take risks. If you don’t take risks, how are you going to win?” The whole episode was told in that confessional. Ian, Bill and Kandice commented that going to Jo’burg was too big a risk and later, Ian realized “They are geniuses.”

Everything that they said they would do or that others say they do, happens!

-Bill said they were good with locals when the two teams were trailing the pack: In this episode, we saw them going to a second ticket agent to get the risky tickets to Johannesburg. Later, Christo helped them quite a lot in Johannesburg.

-Uchenna told them that the key was never to quit: When Teri mentioned going back to Miami it was Charla who was appalled and said she should go if she doesn’t want to race. We also saw Charla being sea-sick but pushing on.

-Mirna said: “We are super competitive and driven and we want to be in first place again.”

With all those comments coming true, what should we make of the following statement by Oswald: “Charla and Mirna are formidable contenders. They could beat the bejesus out of us”? Shouldn’t this one come true also?

Charla and Mirna first appeared as villains and shouldn’t that have eliminated them from our considerations? Is it only because of their two wins that they now appear as the winners? First, I think the two wins allowed the early portrayal. We didn’t see them as All-Star and being at the back of the pack seemed to confirm that. It was easy to pick on them and the editors had fun with it. Despite their harsh personality, one has to be impressed with their determination to succeed. Added to the fact that we have been given worse villains in Eric and Danielle, many viewers would be pulling for them in a final showdown between the two. Before finalizing the choice, it will be interesting to see if their portrayal remains when they don’t do as well in a future leg. For now, they seem to be the story of the season.