The Amazing Race: Murphy's Law
March 6, 2015 9:31 PM - Season 26, Episode 3 - Subscribe
9 teams race from Nagano to Phuket as part of a race around the world.
This episode featured a team 12 hours behind the others, more hotel footage (wink, wink, nudge, nudge), men concerned about their masculinity, the good kind of waterboarding, the bad kind of harping, dancing, feathers, makeup, failure to read the instructions, leaving a fanny pack behind, delivering food via zipline, a 60 year old's idea of what young folks do with their selfies, a fabulous roof-top terrace, and a public wedding proposal that gave another racer a big ol' case of self-pity.
There's a new team in the top spot.
This episode featured a team 12 hours behind the others, more hotel footage (wink, wink, nudge, nudge), men concerned about their masculinity, the good kind of waterboarding, the bad kind of harping, dancing, feathers, makeup, failure to read the instructions, leaving a fanny pack behind, delivering food via zipline, a 60 year old's idea of what young folks do with their selfies, a fabulous roof-top terrace, and a public wedding proposal that gave another racer a big ol' case of self-pity.
There's a new team in the top spot.
There's usually around 3 non eliminations, so one this early is normal. Then one in the middle and one very late in the race.
I was expecting such a train wreck that I'm ok with the season so far. The one bright side to the group is all the teams seems competitive from the start. There are no stuntcasted teams that are obviously out of their depth (too old, too out of shape, etc).
Even pairing strangers together has tuned out to be kind of a neat experiment. Knowing your partner hasn't seemed to matter so far but might when the race gets long and tiring. But the blind date angle makes Phil look like desperate if he keeps asking people if they are in love yet.
posted by Gary at 9:20 AM on March 7, 2015 [2 favorites]
I was expecting such a train wreck that I'm ok with the season so far. The one bright side to the group is all the teams seems competitive from the start. There are no stuntcasted teams that are obviously out of their depth (too old, too out of shape, etc).
Even pairing strangers together has tuned out to be kind of a neat experiment. Knowing your partner hasn't seemed to matter so far but might when the race gets long and tiring. But the blind date angle makes Phil look like desperate if he keeps asking people if they are in love yet.
posted by Gary at 9:20 AM on March 7, 2015 [2 favorites]
It is much harder to watch this season. I hate the fact everyone is dating, the blind dates, the feeling the show is pandering. And I get such a visceral shudder when people propose in public, much less on TV. It feels egocentric and more about the dude and his perspective than it does about the couple or the askee.
I thought I was going to hate the doctor, but he's showing some great restraint there.
posted by julen at 10:27 AM on March 7, 2015
I thought I was going to hate the doctor, but he's showing some great restraint there.
posted by julen at 10:27 AM on March 7, 2015
I'm with Gary. I had expected the blind date aspect of this season to make it utterly unwatchable, but I've been pretty pleased that almost all of the blind date teams are uninterested in discussing romance. And I almost cheered when either Bergen or Kurt said something like "This is not a match. We're both into big muscle-y men, and we got paired up with versions of ourselves." That seemed honest, and I'm almost surprised they aired it. And while this is still among the worst seasons in my book, I do prefer the race being stacked with blind date couples over being loaded with dysfunctional couples who scream horrible insults at each other and threaten to jump in front of trains.
My brother wondered if the whole blind date aspect was born out of the All Stars season 24 when Bopper couldn't travel, so they brought back Mallory from a different previous season, who had to run the race with a total stranger. And like one of the dudes said, running the race with a stranger should force you to be on your best behavior. So watching teams who don't know each other well (compared to those who have some pre-existing strategy that may or may not be healthy) deal with frustration is at least somewhat interesting. (Ashley, to her credit, seemed to physically swallow words when Matt dumped his juice into his soup.)
I think the worst aspect of this season is that the types of people who auditioned for a blind date race around the world are very different from those who typically audition for the show with a pre-set partner.
Oh, and on one season, the first non-elimination leg was the first one, so they shake up the timing a bit. I'm just relieved to keep Harley and Jonathan for at least another week, because they are super likeable in an ocean of people acting much, much more insufferably.
posted by joan cusack the second at 11:16 AM on March 7, 2015 [2 favorites]
My brother wondered if the whole blind date aspect was born out of the All Stars season 24 when Bopper couldn't travel, so they brought back Mallory from a different previous season, who had to run the race with a total stranger. And like one of the dudes said, running the race with a stranger should force you to be on your best behavior. So watching teams who don't know each other well (compared to those who have some pre-existing strategy that may or may not be healthy) deal with frustration is at least somewhat interesting. (Ashley, to her credit, seemed to physically swallow words when Matt dumped his juice into his soup.)
I think the worst aspect of this season is that the types of people who auditioned for a blind date race around the world are very different from those who typically audition for the show with a pre-set partner.
Oh, and on one season, the first non-elimination leg was the first one, so they shake up the timing a bit. I'm just relieved to keep Harley and Jonathan for at least another week, because they are super likeable in an ocean of people acting much, much more insufferably.
posted by joan cusack the second at 11:16 AM on March 7, 2015 [2 favorites]
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They just had to put dating show crap in the one reality show I watch. I actually turned off Episode 1 after 20 minutes, something I've never done before. (The Survivor-esque opening didn't help.) And the utterly pointless selfies -- was that a product placement deal that soured? Because they don't make a big deal about what the phone is (I've read that it's a Nokia running Windows).
I watched Eps 2 and 3 to give it another chance. Can't decide if I'm going to continue. Maybe I should just bail out now and hope that next season gets back to better form.
And a non-elimination round in Episode 3? Seems way too early.
posted by pmurray63 at 7:54 AM on March 7, 2015 [1 favorite]