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It's like being dropped on Planet Mars - Lance about the drop off from the boat

The producers delivered with fast-paced promises in the super-sized two-hour season premiere, so let's see if they keep the momentum going. Previously, we were treated to a surprise elimination while still on American soil and then after trotting across Japan to a Vietnamese pit stop/boat, sometimes dating but always fighting couple Garrett and Jessica are eliminated. We weren't attached to them after only two hours, so we move on.

This season is apparently so fast-paced that even the pit stop is moving. During the 12-hour break, the floating pit stop kept making its way down the river. By the time the first team (father and son Gary and Matt) leave at 5:45 a.m., the teams are nowhere near where they boarded. The first clue tells the teams to go to Ho Chi Minh and snatch the new clue from a water puppet dragon. Now the teams just need to figure out where they are.

Gary starts off saying that it is hard for him to let Matt be an adult and make decisions in this race but he is proud of the way Matt has performed so far. To break the serious, introspective tone, we hear Sam point out that even though he and Dan are both gay and obviously brothers, they are different in every other way. Sam proclaims that he is the easy-going one and Dan is extremely impatient. I would wager that potential drama is exactly why they got cast and is what they are foreshadowing here.

Shortly after Gary and Matt and the brothers leave, it's Flight Time and Big Easy's confessional time and Big Easy shares that just days before the race started his dad died. Easy's dad offered this bit of advice, "Win the damn race," and Easy is using his dad's memory and those words as his motivation.

It's time for our buddy Lance and his fiancee to depart next. Lance proudly describes the other teams as gazelles and they are the lions that will devour them in this race. "It's survival of the fittest," Lance says confidently. Whether deserving or not, Lance truly believes it for himself so it must be reality.

As Keri and Lance leave the pit stop, Keri says that she thinks they are already in Ho Chi Minh City, so they wander the streets of this unknown city looking for the dragon puppets. The first of what will surely be many fights happens with Keri starting to show her passive-aggressive colors when dealing with Lance. Before they realize that meandering is not exactly the best race strategy, Lance frustratingly describes the situation as "It's like being dropped on planet Mars." Thank you, Lance, for giving the showrunners their title.

So, the Globetrotters and Lance and Keri each have a point in my episode title game. It's time to get back to the race.

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