For notes on leg construction, task design, course layout, camera work, and the other elements which go into the actual assembly of the Race. It's sort of a behind-the-scenes GUFU with occasional positive notes. And given that last night was pretty much a front-of-the-scenery ninety-minute screwup, we might have to start looking a little deeper if we want to get anywhere at all.

Not that Production really distinguished itself either. In fact, this season, we've got to start with one major:

!Slap! Stop. The. Roadblock. Yes, it was funny watching a home shopping network host get a watermelon to the face. Sure, given the sheer amount of con artistry, ripoffs, and blatant lies she's handed out over the course of her job, she likely deserved it plus three more of increasing weight. But the fact remains: she could have died. More to the point, someone else could have died. Suffered severe facial injuries. Brain damage. Yes, there's a couple of people where that last would have been difficult to tell, but the potential was there. As soon as Production saw the very literal backlash potential in action, they should have killed the Roadblock on the spot -- before it killed someone. Not having done so is a megaslap, not to mention a wrongful death lawsuit waiting to happen. Oh, yeah -- and for that to happen, someone would have been dead.

Slap It's nice that we finally made it to Stonehenge. Now can we do something there other than pick up a clue and leave? No? Then consider it a waste of some really spectacular rocks.

Clap The one-two punch of left-side driving and stick shifts let us ID the unprepared early, along with helping to pick out a few of the extra-stupid. If you're applying to the Race and you haven't learned how to drive standard, please identify yourself with a cloud of smoke from your clutch --

Slap -- and if you've never spoken to your partner before the day you applied, then please don't claim they have a pre-existing relationship other than the genetic. That's not just stunt casting, that's a breakdown looking for a country to happen in. (There are other potential casting Slaps out there, but I'll stay with this one because it's a Production issue instead of one with Racer IQs.)

Clap/Slap A flight-divided field of teams should always have some hope of catching up for the back pack and of staying ahead for the leading one. But to give the first three out a half-hour advantage followed by sending them onto M25? False hope is funny. But in this case, it's also pointless: London traffic was going to take out anything under three hours, and we all knew it going in -- making the airport rush an extra-pointless waste of footage.

Clap "Have fun storming the castle!"

(mini) Slap I know it's too much to expect anyone in this group to say 'coracle'. I still expect you to.

On Hold The Express Pass. It's not too powerful at the outset (unless we get a seven-hour Roadblock or a Detour with two killer branches), it's one-time-only, and limiting it to the first eight legs helps -- but we won't know if this is a Clap or Slap until we see it in action.