WRONG WAY - GO BACK

... Spoiler Alert! ... Spoiler Alert! ...


If you haven't yet seen (and you intend to see) episode 2 of The Amazing Race Series 8 - Family Edition (TAR 8), do not read any further!


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The last TAR 8 episode we saw here in Australia (the season premiere) ended with the Black family being the last team to reach the pit stop and the first team to be eliminated from the Family Edition of this fantastic show. The pit stop was located at the Rohrer family farm, a Mennonite farm in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

For the record, this was the order in which the teams reached Phil on the mat last episode, and the order in which they started this leg of the race:

1. The Godlewski Family
2. The Gaghan Family
3. The Weaver Family
4. The Rogers Family
5. The Schroeder Family
6. The Paolo Family
7. The Bransen Family
8. The Aiello Family
9. The Linz Family

Note: If you're already ahead of this point in the series, please refrain from giving any spoilers in your comments. Thank you.

As always, I’ll provide my thoughts on each team in this episode, listing them in the order in which they arrived at the pit stop (hence the 'Spoiler Alert!').



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1. The Weaver Family


Those wacky Weavers! Good on ‘em! They seemed to come out of nowhere, and it very impressive of them to take first place. They swapped first and third places with the Godlewski girls, and used their map well. They only had slight issues with directions and being over-excited, and had a good, smooth run. (Note to the Weaver daughters: When you see the clue box and run all the way over to it screaming your lungs out, you show other, struggling teams where it is, and that makes you dumb.)




2. The Linz Family


These guys possibly played the best game of the episode, if only because they were able to move up from ninth to second place in the space of one leg. There was no squabbling, no arguing, no mocking and no harassing of any of their team members (ie. Megan) – which was great to see. In fact, Megan didn’t even partake in the ‘dead soldiers’ detour; the three boys carried the stretcher between them while Megan encouraged them from the side. To my mind, they made up for their terrible attempt at what must have been a surprisingly physical detour (in the previous episode) with the Amish buggies. As long as they’re not being jerks to people they meet, other teams, or even their own sister, I like these guys enough to cheer them on (depending on who they’re racing against).




3. The Godlewski Family


There’s not too much to say about these girls, either. I don’t really remember them too much from this leg of the race, but again, they weren’t as offensive to the ears as one may presume when you see that they’re four cackling sisters who are all dressed in bright pink t-shirts. They lost their lead early on in the race and never reclaimed it, although they didn’t really fall too far behind. Third is very respectable when there are still nine teams left in the race (even on the penultimate leg, third would get you into the final!).




4. The Schroeder Family


Mark made a couple of comments in this episode which caught my attention (one about a female ‘spy’ who didn’t answer his codeword for the briefcase), but his main contribution to this episode was when he got his family to trick the Gaglans into believing they didn’t know where the clue box was, despite knowing they were at the wrong location. Good decision, although it was against the team I was hoping would win.




5. The Aiello Family


I was suitably impressed by the guys in this team – particularly Tony. They managed to pull together and overtake a few other teams, moving up three positions on the ladder. The pride that soldier-boy David clearly felt simply by being on the field where the Civil War re-enactment was taking place was obvious (and a little sweet), but otherwise I thought they played a pretty good game.




6. The Bransen Family


Well, Walter is certainly unfit – and a bit of a whinging pessimist for my liking. He’s not cut out for the race if he continually can’t keep up with his daughters. He shouldn’t have insisted on doing the spy roadblock, either. He should have taken the opportunity to get his breath back and calm down / focus. He won’t do anyone any good if he has a heart attack. If he’d rested during the roadblock, perhaps he wouldn’t have needed to stop during the detour, and maybe they could have kept the Aiello family at bay. The girls looked literally pained by and for their father, and full credit to them for being so supportive when lesser families (yes, I’m looking at you, Paolos!) would have snapped and roasted him for far lesser crimes.




7. The Gaghan Family


I certainly got it wrong here, didn’t I! After a promising start in the first leg, the Gaghans stuffed up royally last night! They didn’t read their clue properly and were walking around the wrong part of D.C. for “over two hours” (by their own admission), and didn’t even think to ask anyone for assistance the way the Schroeders did! Then, to make matters worse, they took the Schroeders at their word – not having learnt anything from previous seasons about how teams will lie to your face if it gets them ahead of you. This is despite the Schroeders hot-footing it to their car and making a clean get-away (granted, the Gaghans may not have witnessed their departure, although after a while it should have become obvious that the Schroeders were no longer there … although again, this may have led the Gaghans to presume that the Schroeders had simply located the clue box and moved on). Still, it was a foolhardy way to play the game, and despite their amazing proficiency at carrying dead soldiers in the detour (which helped them catch up a fair bit), they certainly didn’t play a smart round. Hopefully they lift their game, because Carissa – in particular – is a little angel and I don’t want to see her cry when she gets eliminated!




8. The Paolo Family


Oh my goodness … these guys are so totally inappropriate! Again, the husband (I can’t even be bothered looking for his name on the above photo, because I’m so disgusted with him) hardly said a word while his wife Marion battled away with their two outrageously disgraceful sons, Finch and Brian. Sorry, DJ and Brian. All the carrying on about the ‘gas’ for the car, and telling their mother to shut up at every opportunity … not to mention expecting her to help carry dead soldiers (and then getting frustrated when she found it next to impossible). But just like last week, all their ridiculous behaviour was so surreal and unbelievable (literally unbelievable; as in, it was actually quite difficult at times to believe that it wasn’t all a horrendous act), that it was impossible to look away ... and I found myself having a tough time as the episode progressed: I certainly don’t want my favourite teams to be eliminated, but I’d much prefer that some of the teams I have no interest in at all were given the flick before the Paolo family get cut ... simply because they’re highly entertaining to watch, and I want to see Marion clock both of her sons on the head with a brick or something. Now that’d be good television! (Wouldn't it be hilarious if the Paolo family ended up winning the season?!)




9. The Rogers Family: ELIMINATED!


Well, this family was definitely the cause of the angriest moment of watching the show, for me. When son Brock (about whom I didn’t really have much of an opinion last week, but who grew on me in a big way last night) was unfairly ‘framed’ by his overbearing father Denny as the one who’d led them astray (when in reality it was Denny who read the map wrong and told them to drive in completely the opposite direction to where they should have been going), I wanted to yell at Denny and make him realise just who was at fault. But the beauty of TAR is that they set up situations like that perfectly; if Denny’s mouthing off for ages, blaming the wrong person for their problems, you can bet your bottom dollar he’ll be eating humble pie in a big way before the credits roll. And true to form, Denny was not only corrected by his daughter Brittney (who had the map – although by that time Brock had already been relegated to the back seat again), but Denny also helped the Gaghan family by letting them know they were searching for the clue box in the wrong location. Both errors were Denny’s, and both errors cost the family a spot in the race. I felt even angrier when his response to finding out their 'wrong way' journey was his fault and not his son’s (who he’d been lavishing guilt on for ages) was to say, “One person can only do so much”. Jerk. Clearly ‘apologising’ isn’t part of what Denny considers one person is capable of doing! Thankfully by the end of the episode he was smart enough not to blame anyone else but himself. And so he should; if he’s going to spout on about how the man is the ruler of the house and demand that his way is best and that he knows everything, then when it all goes pear-shaped he’s the only one who can-and-should shoulder the responsibility and the blame. He had it coming, but I don’t think the kids deserved it. Speaking of which, Brittney’s pretty cute. It’s hard to believe she’s 22 and Brock is only 19. As for their mother Renee’s closing line that she’s the glue that will hold the family together, I’m just glad she managed to turn up at the end and say something; correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think she was in the rest of the episode. It was good to finally meet her!


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Last week's tips:

First Team: The Gaghan family. (Wrong – very much not the case!)
Last Team: The Paolo family. (Wrong – close, though)
Yield? No. Correct!
Fast Forward? No. Correct!
Elimination Week? Yes. Correct!
Biggest Argument: The Paolo family. Correct!
Smartest Team: The Gaghan family. (Wrong – not even close)


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Next week's tips:

First Team: The Gaghan family (I’m not ready to give up on them yet).
Last Team: The Bransen family (he’s clearly pretty useless).
Yield? No.
Fast Forward? No.
Elimination Week? Yes.
Biggest Argument: Um, hello? Have you been paying attention? The Paolo family.
Smartest Team: The Schroeder family (just for something a little different).


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