Episode 10 - My Thoughts

Well, here's my overriding thought on this leg: HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH!

Meredith/Gretchen

• If you watch the Insider Video from the episode where Gretchen and Meredith got all their stuff taken away, you will see that Gretchen was sad to have to give up her calculator. That would have come in handy on the scales!
• Jerome. Jerome the Gnome. I love it. Thanks, Meredith.
• You know, what is it with the older team having issues finding the clues on this show?
• I've finally decided what Gretchen's problem is. She has absolutley no internal dialogue. Instead, every thought inside her head just comes spilling out of her mouth. It's like that totally painful scene in About a Boy when Marcus starts singing "Rainy Days Will Always Get You Down" in the middle of class. Except when he did, I felt really really bad. With Gretchen? I'm just annoyed.
• Except when she comes out with these gems like, "Only 58 kilo? God, a lightweight." That was awesome.
• The thing I do like about this team is that they did acknowledge at the end that they've really gotten as far as they have because of stupid mistakes made by other teams. But no one ever said that luck wasn't part of the game. Meredith must have a whole family of leprechauns up his butt!
• Major props to Gretchen for doing that roadblock. I was joking when I said it before, but maybe she is what Joss Whedon's looking for.

Rob/Amber

• Hubris.
• I think Rob's horseshoe finally fell out of his ass, making room for Karma who must have been watching Solyaris or something and otherwise occupied, letting him get away with all of his little tricks up until now.
• Or maybe he's like Walt, making things up in his head and then BOOM! they just appear! Seriously, how did Rob not find out about the earliest flight?
• After all the comments that Rob made about Meredith and Gretchen and Uchenna and Joyce, I hope he's having fun eating some humble pie.

Ron/Kelly

• Schadenfreude.
• I was having fun replaying the conversation between the cameramen at the Pit Stop: "Dude, guess what Beauty Queen said to POW today?" Oh, was that great.
• Props, Ron. Good on yeh. You might be a little funny. A little dumb, but a little funny.
• Do you think Ron was resisting the urge at the detour to call out "H-7? You sunk my battleship!" I was.
• Kelly: "We're in second place and gotta catch up!" Well, catching up is for sure!
• Maybe they should spend the $20,000 from Travelocity and Ron can take Kelly to Baghdad and see if she's committed to their return ticket or something (there was more of a joke there, but I'm struggling with the wording today).
• But there's the biggest question: Will staying in the Four-Star suite for the night completley throw Ron off his game because...it's not like Baghdad?!
• Ron, thank you for providing me with my favorite scene of the episode. When Rob and Amber were checking in at the Pit Stop there you were, all on your own, standing on top of the tower searching the skies aimlessly for the key. I'd maybe, um, check the WALL in front of you or something. I don't know.
• HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH. Bye bye now.

Uchenna/Joyce

• Why is it that I really like you guys but I never have much to say about you? You ran a good leg.
• Uchenna--good thinking telling the people in the street to keep their coats on keep holding their bags!
• For all that head shaving, you only had a TWO minute lead over Ron and Kelly leaving the pitstop. That's, like, cutting it close. I'm glad you extended your lead this time.

Some other general thoughts

• I love gnomes. How great was it that they had to carry the little guy all over Istanbul? Way better than either Kodak Easy Share task 1, Kodak Easy Share task 2, T Mobile task, or AOL Task.
• Why didn't anyone call out "Have Fun Storming the Castle"?!
• And, last, why are they going to Turkey? Seriously? And I don't think I'm spoiling anything (because you can see it on the preview video for next week on the CBS site) that next they go to ENGLAND. Um, isn't this supposed to be a "race around the world"? Maybe that's why Phil is saying that phrase so fast at the beginning of the show, like "a...racearoundtheworld" because he has to say it, but he knows it's not true. It's more like a big boomerang trail. Really really far, and then it comes back right at you. I don't understand boomerangs, either.

That's it for today!