If there was any doubt who the final three would be, this episode clarified it. Eric and Danielle, Dustin and Kandice and Charla and Mirna were all featured prominently. The episode showcased the final three and their talents and personalities. We saw some altercations between the teams and they’re talking about each other more. With Uchenna and Joyce MIA for most of the episode, the editors had more time to include interactions.

Danny and Oswald are the fan favorites this season, maybe the most popular racers ever. However they had a rough leg this episode which is signaling that the end is near for them. Oswald said, “Danny and I have gone through thirteen years of ups and downs, but ultimately I think it’s how you resolve those issues in the end that tests the strength of the relationship.” We see them tiring, arguing, but remaining good-natured throughout. Since their edit has been clean cut with little manipulating, we can see that their end is coming. Their teamwork is breaking down; they were complaining about the heat, and they couldn’t get a taxi. They are emotionally drained and Danny needs his space (“I’m hating you… hating you…hating you…”!) but at the pit stop they are still good friends. Eric and Danielle say that “If any team has to win beside us, I’d like to see Danny and Oswald.” They are echoing the viewers: we all would like to see them win! But alas, it’s not to be! Danny spent most of their money buying newspapers. Are they the team Eric foreshadowed last week with his comments on sticking to a budget?

Charla and Mirna also ran a good leg and if we didn’t know everything about them that we do, I would say it was a positive edit, but we do know how they operate and it’s not pleasant. They had two quotes regarding game play and I wonder if this is foreshadowing their weak point. Mirna begins by saying, “When you’re with the other teams they’re all trying to copy each other. We don’t resort to dirty game play like that. We want to depend on ourselves to get us through.” It is obvious now that when Mirna is in the lead she is a very different person. She smiles a lot more and is calmer (and dare I say good-natured?!) They choose not to use the yield because, “We want to win this race by playing it clean and play it with our own efforts, not by trying to hold anyone back.” They talked with locals on the plane and learned the best route to the caves. Mirna was upbeat throughout their time in Kuala Lumpur, encouraging Charla, “You can do it!” They had fun. They looked forward to the Cookie Confection detour, Mirna was singing in the taxi cab! The Malaysians love Charla and Mirna. There was a huge crowd watching them at the detour and Mirna got a boost from them (well maybe she had a sugar high too!) She yelled, “Come on, cheer us on.” Someone yelled, “Go Charla.” But once again Charla was edited as a buffoon. She was seen spewing cookies all over the place like a pig, (Mirna was barely shown eating them). They have usually been edited as good with locals but somewhat naïve about certain things. They have book smarts (they can plan flights well) but they fall apart when the going gets tough. Will they have the skills to compete against the Blondes and Eric and Danielle in the final leg? Eric and Danielle and Dustin and Kandice are crafty racers; Charla and Mirna are not. Later Mirna gives a confessional, “we will find a way to do it and we’ll make do. We’re a team.” In their prerace video they spoke about how they are like sisters and family is important to them. We see Mirna admonishing the local children, “stay in school, stay out of drugs, be a professional…be good, win more medals.” She sounded like someone’s grandmother, not a strategic racer! They are up against tough competition. We’ve seen them work well with locals and navigate well and we’ve seen them come totally unglued. It doesn’t seem like they have the consistency to win or that they’ve learned from their mistakes!

Dustin and Kandice ran a strong leg. They comment at the beginning, “Sometimes it feels like we are holding on for dear life and sometimes it feels like we are charging ahead. I hope that we can be consistent and continue to be positive.” We’ve always seen their positive side so it made me wonder if they were down on themselves earlier in the race and we didn’t see those confessionals. Their story is emerging and we see them portrayed as determined, competitive and maybe even mean. (At the airport Kandice agrees with Eric’s assessment of Charla and Mirna, “They’re so annoying. I can’t stand them.”) They are also playing a strategic game. They chose to yield Eric and Danielle because they were a bigger threat physically than Danny and Oswald even though they knew they’d “hate us forever.” We’ll see if it was a good strategy for them later on; there is another yield coming up. The Yield causes two teams to refer to them as fake and phony. Danielle was upset because she thought the teams got along well. As the Blondes are leaving the roadblock, Charla and Mirna are arriving and Mirna chimes in, “The Beauty Queens, this is one ultra phony team.” That quote seemed out of place to me. We know that the TAR editors have recently given a negative spin to all the top teams, so I’ll reserve judgment on that side of the Blondes for another episode. We haven’t seen them do anything phony (Kandice even held Charla’s hair while she was getting sick during the sausage Eat It Up Detour). They haven’t even argued like they did last season. At the pit stop, the Blondes said, “I smell Phil” as they were getting closer. He did quite a long eye flirt-tease with them before telling them they were first. “You’re beating out some tough teams.” They reply, “We don’t want to be over confident. If we can stay on this pace, we’ll do good.” Their edit last season was more black and white, here the hinting that they could win is subtler which I think is a good sign. They will go further this time, but are they strong enough to beat Eric and Danielle? Maybe they don’t have to be strong enough, will they be smart enough?

Eric and Danielle have entered into Act 2 of their edit. Their differences have magically seemed to disappear! Eric says, “We’ve had some tiffs here and there. When you are with someone and spend a lot of time with them, that’s the person you pick on. That’s the person you argue with. You can get past those things. We’re just taking it step by step. In a good relationship you can get those things. We have potential for growth and a future.” Danielle proved herself this time, but not quite in the way I would have expected. I guess I was expecting too much from their relationship! At the roadblock she said “Every roadblock that is designed for a guy, I do and every roadblock designed for a girl, he does.” Even Eric agrees, “I do all the easy challenges.” Even though she complained and wore her bike helmet backwards, she did a good job with the roadblock. Danielle has been getting more competitive each week. They are also united together against the other teams. Teamwork is important and they had it this episode and finished in the middle-of-the-pack. They don’t like Charla and Mirna and Eric mimics them in the taxi, “I don’t know why people don’t like us?” Danielle responds, “because you’re rude.” Eric is funny at the airport, “Guys we have bad news. Charla and Mirna are not nice…” Kandice says, “Smart little girls!” recognizing again Eric and Danielle’s strength. Eric wouldn’t let Mirna ask the Blondes a question, “Please wait because we had to wait on the internet.” Mirna says, “Touché, he has a point. We won’t argue with that.” On the one hand I was glad that Mirna wasn’t a harpy about it, but on the other she backed down quickly just like Ian did when Eric challenged him at the airport. At the Yield, Eric and Danielle remain calm even though they are annoyed. They start calling the BQs names, Eric mimics them by holding the yield picture, “I’m Miss California, I’m Miss New York.” He also calls them “dirty hookers” and “dirty pirate hookers.” How many people caught the Anchorman movie reference? According to the lvoe lists, not too many! I haven’t seen Anchorman; now that I know it’s a movie reference, I don’t know how the editors wanted us to take it. I didn't like it (another one of his jokes I didn’t get!) Danielle explains their feeling more clearly, “We were shocked because we did get along with them. Look at their character a little bit, maybe they are fake and phony.” We see more foreshadowing at the yield also. Eric says, “Hopefully we’ll catch them. I can’t wait for that to happen!” In a confessional, Danny and Oswald, whom everyone respects, calls Eric and Danielle “good competitors – very cunning.” It was an odd quote coming from someone who will not be in the final 3, but we respect their opinion, and the awkward editing made it stand out.

To me, it seems as if the race is between Eric and Danielle and Dustin and Kandice. Eric and Danielle have had some key “winner’s” quotes over the weeks. Dustin and Kandice have gotten the best overall edit to date, but we still have four more episodes to go! Charla and Mirna are racing against themselves and should add some fireworks. This could be a very competitive final three. The editing has shown that all three of these teams deserve to be in the final of All-Stars. They’ve all raced well at times so now we will see who has learned from their mistakes the best!

I will be away next week so hopefully Mavs and Beau will be back with their observations. Michel – please check your red wavy flag. I have an AVG favor to ask you.