New at BOP: Review: Matrix Resurrections Movie Review: Moonfall Movie Reviews: Scream The #1 Movie in America November Forecast The Many Saints of Newark October Forecast New Trivia Question All site updates Share & Save   Tweet Print this column

Finally, Mr. and Mrs. Mullet leave the Pit Stop in last but only 11 minutes after the hockey brothers. This puts all the teams on two flights with the first one carrying Max & Katie, Pam & Winnie and Dave & Connor to arrive about three hours ahead of the others. That type of a gap has got to be tempting for the father/son team to at least attempt the tasks and not just throw in the towel yet. Well, I spoke too soon but if it was tempting, it would be foolish because the theater they arrive at is closed until 9 a.m. the next morning. So, all the teams will invade Hanoi together.

When the remaining teams arrive, they let Pam & Winnie and Max & Katie know that John & Jessica were indeed eliminated holding the Express Pass. While he is slightly obnoxious in his vocal disbelief, I agree with Max that this error was a case of overconfidence on John’s part. Meanwhile, Joey & Meghan and Mona & Beth are silent about their displeasure of Max’s joyful analysis of their fallen alliance mate.

Before reveling in John’s folly, Teams Chameleon and Cape Fear sneakily tell the others that Dave & Connor are only at the doctor and they are still racing. It’s a sneaky move but just may prove effective, if the others think that Dave & Connor are only delayed. This could also potentially be a wasted U-Turn by a team thinking that a U-Turned Dave & Connor will prevent their own elimination.

And at the 15-minute mark of this episode, the father/son tandem check in with Phil and officially disqualify themselves. With tears, they walk off the show and we lose one of the very few teams worth rooting for. Depending upon how this leg shapes up, this could be a long season. My gut says that they won’t eliminate anyone this leg because that would put them down five teams in five episodes. Or they could knock out another team and just insert a bonus non-elimination at some point. We know they love some non-elimination legs.

As the teams gather on the steps of the Rap Cong Nhan Theater, there is an anti-John & Jessica conspiracy under way with all the teams agreeing to U-Turn Team YouTube or Sock’er Moms solely because of the alliance. It seems short-sighted since one of these two teams isn’t physically threatening and the other one has mastered the art of picking the more time-intensive task on EVERY Detour.

Inside the theater, the teams get their Roadblock clue, which requires the person to watch a performance, with the finale being a display of five umbrellas with a phrase written on it. They will then go into another area to find a political poster with the phrase on it. The performances will continue with only five-minute intermissions between them. Oh yeah, they aren’t allowed to take any notes at all.

It looks like we have Caroline (maybe), Chuck (again…I don’t think that Wynona has done a single Roadblock), Anthony, Pam, Katie, Meghan, and Beth. After watching The Amazing Race’s special tribute to socialism and the Vietnam Communist Party, the racers sprint in and out with posters they think are correct. The biggest hiccup is that even if one letter is off, then it is wrong. After several failed attempts by others, Pam uses her keen eye to locate the right phrase.

Continued:       1       2       3       4       5