The Ecstasy and the Agony - Part I

With so many shows to discuss from last night, I'm going to just break this up into 4 separate posts, particularly to make it easier to comment and not get confused. But there is a definite theme from the night which will carry through in all the posts - truly awesome moments, peppered with things that you will find completely unshocking, capped off by sad endings.

So I begin with the 8 o'clock hour and The Amazing Race. One awesome moment this week came from Michelle of all people. While we had just witnessed Monica whining about being covered in fish and basically being a pill, Michelle marches in and carts her fish with ease and no complaints. Color me surprised! Of course up to this point we'd think it would have been the other way around.

As for how the teams did, a quick rundown:

Eric & Jeremy ended up in first yet again, of course. And they still suck. But they are definitely dumb (the fact that they even wavered about BJ & Tyler's fake list is astounding). And we saw the spark of gayness and future love for the hippies this week. I'm waiting for a full on make-out session next time.

Joseph & Monica went from being totally non-threatening to completely irritating in about 2.5 seconds. Here's hoping a new city will revive their niceness - but I won't forget your whining, Monica!

You will be completely (not) shocked to learn that Fran & Barry got lost driving, and then had issues counting. They are like the anti-PSA for AARP.

Ray & Yolanda basically just trucked along and did nothing wrong, although their sense of direction could use a wee bit of help. They really need to take advantage of the next bunching to catch up.

Speaking of which, there was no opportunity for bunching at all this week, which meant that one period of being lost put Dave & Lori in last, unable to catch up. As I calmly waited for the non-elimination, I was DISRAUGHT to find out that they were actually Philiminated. SADNESS! This is unfair! Ditch the hippies and give me the nerds! Who the hell am I supposed to root for now? I guess my love will have to go to Ray & Yolanda, as they have done nothing at all to upset me yet.

I also have to say that the counting heads "challenge" was lame. I'm in favor of clues that actually require some thought, but just walking in a circle counting to 41 is not challenging for a 3rd grader.

Next week I assume will finally be a non-elimination leg, which means we are stuck with these final 6 teams for quite awhile, so get used to it. But they'll be in Greece! ScottE went to Greece. I went to Athens ages ago. I hope they meet the woman who spearheaded their Olympics - she's pretty rockin'.