Amazing Race update – Abridged version
Yes, I did manage to catch a portion of the Amazing Race during my vacation. After all, we are not savages. If you want a much more detailed review of this week’s leg, check out Kris at Dummocrats or Pat at Brainster. My quick take is this: the teams went to Utah and had to rappel down a cliff, or take a bike ride, then at the Roadblock they had to glide down a ski lift and do a flip.
All that is incidental to the Weavers vs. Everyone subplot. And let me start out by noting that Pat believes reality shows are “reverse engineered” such that the drama is manufactured in the editing room such that the (eventual) winners appear to have overcome hefty odds. I have it on good authority (although I forget where I read it) that the editors of TAR do not know who win in the end. They are given hours of videotape and forced to splice together 45 minutes of the best material. Thus, I submit that all the “evil Weavers” footage is not to build drama, but to show them as they truly are. For those of you not watching TAR8: the word “hypocrites” comes to mind as well as “annoying,” “insincere,” and “un-Christian.” I bristle every time they pray to Jesus then belittle another team. On this particular leg, the Weavers were driving past some bikers in Utah and Rolly Weaver yells out the window “You wish you were Lance Armstrong.” What a jerk, but then the apple doesn’t fall far from the family tree.
The Weavers seem truly baffled that all the other teams hate them. They’re so nice! They’re trying to be good people! All the other teams will only spend the prize money on boob jobs! Wait…they said that? Yes, yes they did.
The only team in the history of the Amazing Race got Yielded for a second time but this was a non-elimination leg, so they get to stick around. Whatever. Even Phil seems annoyed with their antics.
Final standings:
#1 – Linz famly – Team Cincinnati – Travelocity trip to Jackson Hole, Wyoming
#2 – Bransen family – Team Powerpuff (and Wally)
#3 – Godlewski family – Team Scream
#4 – Weaver family – Team Jesus loves us but not you – Yielded / Non-elimination leg
1 comment:
You may be right on the reverse-engineering issue, but I'm suspicious.
We're being conditioned to dislike the Weavers. This episode contained one really egregious bit where the Linzes exclaim at a spectacular waterfall, followed by a bit of the Weavers talking about how ugly a bare hillside was, followed by another family marveling at a terrific rock formation. It is difficult for me to read that as anything other than a (rather clumsy) attempt at characterization.
I still say they're the team to beat, if only because we haven't gotten any real characterization of the other teams since the Paolos dropped out. We'll see how it goes.
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