The Amazing Race Recap
Episode 1 - Part 2
By Daron Aldridge
October 1, 2014
BoxOfficeProphets.com
All the teams scurry down the stairs to Frank and get the destination: Unisphere at Flushing Meadow Park. It’s time for a cab sprint in Times Square with no one really in the lead and everyone barking their destination orders to their cabbie. I do give credit that each of the teams seems genuinely elated to be on the Race.
The first team at the clue box is surfers Adam & Bethany. The clue directs them to not-so-enviable airport of JFK for their departure to St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. There are two flights earmarked for teams, with the first one leaving 40 minutes earlier on American Airlines for five teams. The remaining six teams will be on a Delta flight.
The married couple hurries off to avoid being seen, even though there isn’t anybody around, it appears.
As expected since they were the first team to find their clue, Soul Surfer and her soul mate get to the airport first. When they get into the regular ticketing line for American Airlines, Bethany questions if they should be looking for another specifically marked location since they are getting on a predetermined flight. Adam assures her they are where they should be.
Alas, they are not. Tim & Te Jay get there next and immediately hustle over to the marked ticket counter and get the first spot on the first flight. The surfers remain in line but then see the dating Dennis & Isabelle rush over toward the correct counter, so they follow suit. That makes three teams on the first flight so far.
They are quickly joined by psycho cyclists Kym & Alli for spot four.
Cut to two teams arriving at the airport next: Team DDS Misti & Jim and Survivor alumnae Keith & Whitney. Run, run, run… and the dentists stake claim on the final seats on the plane. Dejected Team Survivor(?) shuffles over to the Delta desk for their second flight assignment.
As the first flight prepares to leave, Dennis breaks down the teams onboard and names Tim & Te Jay Team TNT. I think that might stick because I can’t come up with anything else at this point. Plus, the dentists get a little post-production sparkle effect on their gleaming white smiles.
As both planes full of teams leave NYC for the islands, the unsuspecting residents of the US Virgin Islands are about to be invaded by crazed mainlanders. Once they land, the teams have to make their way to Vendors Plaza.
The first plane touches down and the teams scramble for cabs. As luck would have it, Team DDS snags a cab with a driver that is as enthusiastic about winning as they are. This pays off for the toothy married couple. They arrive first at the plaza but are unable to find the sign- up sheet for the seaplanes that await them.
Their wandering opens the door for others to pass them up, which is what Tim & Te Jay and the surfers do. They claim the slots on the first plane. Misti & Jim finally make it to the sheet and are on the next plane with cyclists Kym & Alli. Rounding out the flight's teams are Dennis & Isabelle as the only team on seaplane three.
The 40 minute gap between planes dwindles some as one by one the first three seaplane leave and the other batch of teams have landed and start to head to the plaza to sign up.
The lead plane with Adam & Bethany and Tim & Te Jay give us a glimpse at this exquisite setting. Bethany is particularly excited because the surfer girl wants to dip into the ocean. Plane to boat is the next transition on this tropical leg, as they land and immediately board boats to transport them to a cay for some rock climbing and cliff jumping.
Right upon arriving at the next stop, the teams have to climb up and around a rock formation in the middle of the ocean and then jump two stories into the water below to retrieve a clue in a bottle.
The dating dudes get there first, but the surfing pair are clearly stronger and narrow the lead. While they climb, the next plane leaves with dynamic dental duo Misti & Jim and psycho cyclists Kym & Alli. That might not be too fair of a nickname but the bike racers do appear to have a wild side but good-natured so far. Said wild side is subdued at the moment because Kym is about to vomit in the seaplane. Yay, nausea.
The leap of faith into the ocean is now behind the lead teams as the next one arrives. The message in the bottle is thankfully not from a grief-stricken widower played by Kevin Costner but rather a parchment pointing teams to a ship called Blackbeard's Revenge for their next clue. Both ARRRRRGH heading that way now. My apologies for the bad pirate pun.
Team Ride or Die is thrilled to be rock climbing on actual rocks and not just in a gym. The dentists are simply focused on making up the ground they lost by not being on the first seaplane.
The college boys get their clue from “Blackbeard,” whose graying beard is in stark opposition to his role's namesake. The clue directs them to pull a dingy ashore with a guide rope. Once ashore, we get a Roadblock. Both the boyfriends and Team Hang Ten are on the beach, having survived their encounters with Blackbeard and his cannon that he fires off to mark the arrival of each team.
This Roadblock sets people up with a complicated task straight out the chute on season 25. They must select a bottle with unique coordinates and starting point (barrels, bell, anchor, wheel), and then use the shovel with one yard marked on its handle and an old school floating compass to ascertain the location of a treasure chest with their next clue. The other catch is that this compass doesn't work like a traditional one that always points north. Whatever direction is facing you is the direction you should be heading. So there is a huge margin for error on this task. Tim and Adam take the task for their teams and immediately flub the task. At least Adam makes the expected mistake of reading the compass like it’s a normal one, but Tim just goes straight to the bell and starts digging. Coordinates be damned for Tim, apparently.
By now, the first flight's teams have all completed the climb and jump with the dentists and cyclists now approaching the beach and Dennis & Isabelle with the bottle in hand.
Back at the plaza, the scramble to sign up is getting ugly. Survivor's Keith & Whitney get the first spot and mom/daughter Shelley & Nici take the other spot on seaplane four.
The scientists of Team Candy Crush Amy & Maya slip into the next plane and the real estate sisters decide to play dirty. As firefighter Michael is in the process of writing his team’s name on the board, one of the indistinguishable blonde sisters actually takes the grease pen out of his hand and steals that spot on plane five. That leaves Team Office Fire and the wrestlers Brooke & Robbie on the last seaplane.
Michael & Scott are justifiably angry about the way the girls played that and hope that karma comes back around. Sadly, karmic payback isn't usually this immediate on the Amazing Race so they may not be around to witness their comeuppance.
On the beach, dentist Jim and biking Alli are the chosen ones for the Roadblock, as well as dater Dennis. Jim's wife beans with pride as she explains that he is the smartest man I have ever met. I pegged them to annoy me, but they surprisingly haven't been overbearing yet. It's still early, though.
While the first group struggles (such as Alli starting at the wrong point altogether because "a bell can also be an anchor”), Jim shows off his big brain and compares what the compass in his watch is saying to how he is reading the provided compass. Bingo! He figures out how to read the compass and even passes along this insight to Adam. The fact that he doesn't get cocky or rude about it and shares even though it wasn't necessary or expected shows that maybe he is a pretty decent fellow.
Even though he shares the knowledge, no one can seem to measure correctly. So that puts the dentists way out front as Jim finds his treasure first. The clue directs them to the Pitstop at Fort Christian. Short of a catastrophe, the Save will be in the hands of Team DDS.
The firefighters are still lamenting the underhanded play of the sisters as they wait on the dock for their plane - the last plane.
But it doesn't really matter because no one really has an issue with the rock climbing and no one is gobbled up in the sea from the cliff dive. It's the Roadblock beach that will be the equalizer this leg as one by one the teams arrive and start digging: mom Shelley, candy scientist Amy, Keith, and blond Lisa (I think). With the arrival of Michael & Scott and the wrestlers, who somehow managed to sink their dingy, all the teams are together at a task, save for one.
And I do mean "save" because Misti & Jim hit the mat in first and Phil gives them a golden ticket to make any leg a non-elimination leg for themselves. I am pleasantly surprised that I don't hate them yet and they actually seem like a solid team, with Jim being very deliberate in reading every clue and aspect of a task. (My liking of them is subject to change at any moment.)
As each person digs haphazardly and with little luck, Robbie gets some help from Shelley on compass use and Lisa is schooled in the grade school mantra of "the sun rises in the east and sets in the west" to help her get her bearings. Even this tidbit doesn't really help the sister, who is also not helping dispel stereotypes about blonds.
Shockingly, the next person to find the clue is Tim, who started so horribly and was getting more and more frazzled as the other teams arrived. He is followed by the wrestlers?!? Yup, the team that was in last place has jumped up to third out of the Roadblock. That’s quite an impressive recovery, and they are another team that has been more entertaining to watch than I expected. With these two on their way to the Pitstop, cyclist Alli switches gears and finds her clue next.
While the others dig, we cut to Phil and see Tim & Te Jay claim second, with Kym & Alli sneaking past Brooke & Robbie for third, giving the pile drivers fourth.
Brawny Adam has his treasure chest in hand and he and Bethany run off to Phil. For some reason, they bring the entire chest and shovel with them to get crowned as team number five. I expected a bit more from them but a couple of minor mental slipups cost them higher placement twice this leg. They need to be more cautious.
We haven't seen or heard much from Team Candy Crush Amy & Maya but they are claiming a middle-of-the-pack spot as Amy finds her treasure and they get to Phil in sixth.
With a handful of blisters, Dennis and Shelley both get their clues next and race off to the Pitstop. Seventh place goes to dating Dennis & Isabelle and Shelley & Nici are happy to be in eighth and no longer on the beach.
That leaves three floundering teams on the beach: the firefighters, their pen-swiping nemeses, and Survivor's Keith & Whitney. The Nashville native Keith is completely exhausted and is going as fast as he can, which isn't very fast at this point. Meanwhile, blondie Lisa has virtually given up and openly debating taking the penalty and convincing the others to do the same.
As night falls and the limited amount of light in the beach becomes a factor, the penalty risk seems like a worthwhile gamble. The sisters are convinced that they can outrun the firefighters, so they begin selling the others on the plan.
As they discuss the fact that they have been out there for nearly four hours and they are now in the dark, the editors decide to show how close each team is to their treasure. I’m not exaggerating this at all when I say that all three of them were within 10 feet of their clue.
They collectively decide to take the four-hour penalty and all rush off to hail a cab. I guess I was wrong about delaying karmic satisfaction, as Michael is able to successful post up the entrance to a cab and prevent the sisters from stealing it. Of course, Lisa plays up the move and is claiming he caused her to get scratched up. I have to think that the producers or camera people would step in if there was a concern for a team's safety.
Regardless, all three are heading to Phil and...
...Keith & Whitney get number nine and Michael & Scott claim number 10. The first team eliminated is Lisa & Michelle. I have nothing really profound to say about them because I have no opinion of them beyond this 43 minutes. But since they probably would've continued racing that way, I’m glad they are gone.
This was a good start to a new season, but we didn’t really have any teams standing out on the great or horrible side just yet. Until next week, have a great one.