Pots and pearls

What a whirlwind Wednesday that whirred by! Let's briefly discuss the events on The Amazing Race and Lost. (We haven't seen the Top Chef reunion yet, so that will come later.) As always, I warn you that this post will contain explicit episode details!

First we had the penultimate episode of TAR, in which the final four was whittled down to those competing in the two-hour finale next week (take note!). Although it didn't turn out quite how I'd hoped, it could have been worse.

Right away the teams head out from down under up to Bangkok, Thailand. Hey - aren't the Top Models there right now? wouldn't it be funny if they ran into each other? Actually that would be bad - Eric & Jeremy would fawn all over Sara in an effort to cover up their gayness. At least it would be funny.

Anywho, the first major "DUH" moment of the episode is when the hippies decided to go out begging when they got to the airport. (You'll remember that BJ currently has no pants or shoes.) Meanwhile the other three teams decide to...I don't know...BOOK FLIGHT RESERVATIONS. You'd think this bone-headed move would doom the hippies, but no - they have the luck of the evil this week. They actually get an earlier flight, so all the teams arrive at the Roadblock in Thailand at the same time. Boo!

Then there was the whole Fast Forward business. Now if you've heard me talk about TAR long enough, you'll know that I miss the old days when there was a FF on every leg. That really made going for it or not a real strategic decision. Now it's more like, "If there's a slight chance we can get it, we're obligated to go for it." So based on position in the race, both the hippies and Ray & Yolanda go for it. But R & Y wisely realize that it's going to take time to eat a bowl of grasshoppers and crickets, so better to go back!

And the final "I can't believe this" moment came from Mojo - they trusted an aggressive cab driver too much, and ended up being screwed out of a good bus departure. My biggest lesson learned from this show - when in a foreign country and asking locals for help, ask a minimum of three people each time, just to be sure!

Monica's lack of mental fortitude really showed this week, as she completely broke down about carrying some stupid clay pots. She reminds me so much of a person from my past who shall remain nameless. Ugh.

So sadness, the hippies scoring the Fast Forward guaranteed them a final 3 spot. Boo! But R & Y made it in, so yay! And of course the frat boys made it, because although they suck, they are good racers. Good bye crying, dysfunctional Mojo!

Meanwhile in the world of Lost, we picked right up with the death of Ana Lucia, who showed up in Eko's dream. And yet so did his brother, Yemi. Intriguing! All of this leads to Eko and Locke discovering the question mark in the middle of Locke's drawing - another hatch! This one is The Pearl, basically a Skinner behavioral psychology observation station. And as we all figured by now, pushing the button is meaningless. Or is it? Also we had another "training video" from Creepy Asian Guy with Arched Eyebrow.

As I suspected, Libby was not in fact dead. For long. Although she wasn't able to get out a warning about Michael, the look on her face when she said his name will later trigger something in the minds of Hurley and Jack. Expect them to be slapping their foreheads when they realize what's happened!

And for those of you who didn't pick up on it, the father of Creepy Not-Dead Girl? Was Claire's psychic! He reveals to Eko that he is not in fact a psychic, but a swindler. So why was he so insistent on Claire going to LA? Why did he pay for it? And why did he insist she be on that flight? Could he have some tie to Dharma or the Hanso Foundation?

This show always sends me reeling with their previews for the next week. It looks like we're in for another episode similar to what we had with Claire earlier in the season, where Michael's flashbacks will reveal where he's been and what happened. Will this finally mark the return of Walt? And what shocking thing are all the survivors looking at?

(And on a sidenote nagging question - what the heck ever happened to Cindy the flight attendant?)