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Third Times The Charm Despite Ad Screwup

7/30/2013

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With the third episode of what is becoming an enjoyable premiere season of the Amazing Race Canada we leave beautiful British Columbia and head east to sunny Alberta. Okay, so it hasn't been all that sunny this summer, but at least when they ran the race through southern Alberta they didn't have to contend with flash floods and torrential downpours that seem to be plaguing our summer this year. Anyway, another episode, another province.

So it's off to Calgary, Alberta to start this leg of the race where they will need to search for the statue of the notorious bull "Outlaw". During the flight Kristen and Darren decide to go back on their agreement to give the second Express Pass to the married doctors and instead pass it off to the sisters Vanessa and Celina. Not sure that was the best decision but it did add a little tension during the Roadblock and could have been a determining factor in this episode. At the airport the doctors decide to hide all the Calgary maps but it didn't seem to help as every team had no problem finding the statue and their next clue.

Off the teams race in their nice new pickups (in Alberta you get a truck, that's apparently how we roll) to find Ranchman's Cookhouse and a slightly more challenging Roadblock which only one team member has to perform. The Roadblock is a fairly intense line dance with lots of turns and the usual back and forth wash, rinse, repeat that line dances are known for. Joanne of Team Body Break managed it on her third attempt and she and Hal were in the lead. Most teams manage to complete the task on their third attempt but this slowed the doctors down quite a bit, taking Holly eight attempts before finally nailing it. Jody with his prosthetic legs 
took seven (and over three hours to do those) and Tim Sr brought up the rear with nine attempts before moving on to . . . 

Drumheller and this episodes Detour task. Teams were given a choice between filling a coal cart (the manual task) or building a dinosaur model (the brainy task). Sure shovelling coal into a large railroad cart is a gruelling and time intensive task, and why the sisters wanted to do this by hand is anyone's guess, but it's not exactly a quintessentially Albertan thing to do. It didn't help the sister that they seem incapable of reading a map and lost their third place position to Jet and Dave.

The doctors, of course, decide that they should do the dinosaur skeleton as they reason that they should have no problem putting together a simple little skeleton. I mean, after all, they're doctors . . . how hard could it be? Apparently harder than they thought as Holly starts freaking out to the point that Brett has to tell her to step away from the table. They appear to be the only team having any internal squabbles at the moment but the season is still young.

Through careful editing of choice clips you're never quite sure where everyone is during the race in regards to each other until they give you the little caption but eventually the Tims arrive while the doctors are still deeply entrenched in dino bones and find that the easiest way to load coal is not by hand as the sisters seemed to think, or by the shovelful as everyone else did, but to load their wheelbarrow and then dump the whole barrow into the cart. This helped them to make up some time against the doctors who were still struggling with a simple little skeleton and had to race back across the museum for another look at the original. All that careful editing makes it look like these two teams are neck and neck as they leave the badlands and head north to Horsethief Canyon. That was north Tim Jr, not south. Pay attention. He was sure he saw the canyon on the way to their last task but, well, not so much.

And herein lies the offending ad screwup. I won't mention it at the moment but if you've read Wayne's post you already know what happened. Not everyone caught it but it was there. Suffice to say that revealing the end of the episode before the end of the episode is like telling everyone that "Under The Dome" has been renewed for a second season when you were looking forward to it wrapping up in one. Wait, you didn't know that? Sorry.

Regardless, while the Tims head south, totally disregarding the map in Tim Jr's hands, the doctors head north to Horsethief Canyon and sixth place. A little depressing for them to go from first to sixth but sometimes that's what's needed to get a team focused. The Tims arrive last to the Pit Stop only to have Jon tell them that this is a non-elimination leg (as many already knew) and that they will have a Speed Bump to perform during the next leg. Well, better that than a sad trip back to Winnipeg.

I've been warming up to Jon Montgomery's "Phil Lite" delivery and he does seem to be getting a little more relaxed during his bits. I feel he was a really good choice for the host of the series. I've also been impressed with Team Body Break Hal and Joanne who have gone from third in episode one to second in episode two to first in this episode. Their celebrity status aside they've been an uplifting team to watch and they've done well throughout. Kristen and Darren going on about their integrity when they showed none backing out of their Express Pass deal was a little annoying but not unexpected. Don't make a deal you're not going to stand by, especially since the doctors would have used it about halfway through that dinosaur.

A little disappointed that the episode only visited the southern quarter of the province but that does leave more room for the season to encounter Edmonton and Fort MacMurray (which I actually thought they'd hit this time). Next episode they're off to Yellowknife for a polar plunge and what appears to be a challenging Speed Bump. See you next week.

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Who's Up For Round Two?

7/22/2013

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Here we go again with the second leg of The Amazing Race Canada. Starting up where we left off at Quail's Gate Winery in Kelowna, BC, Kristen and Darren are first out of the block and on their way by air to Vancouver followed closely by the other teams. Those Alberta cowboys better step it up.

Four teams make the first flight leaving the other four Teams at least 90 minutes behind. The Doctors show their planning skills by getting to the next clue first for the Road Block, while the Hippies make a few minor mistakes which costs them their lead.

Following the speed skating Road Block at the Richmond Oval it's a race to Vancouver's Chinatown where teams get to test either their memory or their navigation skills. The traditional cutting back and forth between challenges and teams adds to the excitement here but sometimes you miss who's where in the order of teams.

Obviously if we were one of the teams we'd have chosen the "draw it" challenge since it's a mix of art and writing and I'm pretty sure we'd have nailed it. I'm also pretty sure Wayne and I would make a terrible dancing dragon.

From Chinatown the teams race down to the docks where they get an eagles eye view of the second pit stop on the roof of the Vancouver Convention Centre. It's no surprise who comes in first but it's a little disappointing who comes in last.

The second episode played out pretty traditionally with the usual cliffhanger cuts for commercials and then repeating the scene to its uneventful conclusion. There was no backstabbing, no cattiness, and no major mistakes made by any of the teams . . . but there were a number of minor mistakes which added up.

Overall, despite their competitiveness, these teams are just too damn nice. We have yet to see any of the traditional alliances being made and broken, nobody stands out as the bad guys, and everyone is playing fair. Then again, it's still early.

Next week they're off to Alberta. Let the line dancing begin.

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An Unexpected Delay

7/19/2013

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I purposefully went out of my way to not see any preshow sneak peeks to avoid prejudging the teams prior to the premiere and then ended up sidetracked by my life to the point that my review is uncharacteristically delayed. It won't happen again. I promise.

Anyone who is a huge fan of TAR was probably glued to their seats for the first episode of the Canadian version. We've been waiting for this for so long and always assumed that the American version didn't allow Canadians to race against them because a) we'd have an advantage with a Canadian passport because everyone loves Canadians, and b) we're just too damn nice. I guess we'll see how that works racing against other Canadians without the need of a passport.

Opening with Canadian host Jon Montgomery at the Niagara Falls starting line we get a quick introduction to the teams. They certainly played better on film than in their initial bios. Jon comes across a little stiff in his deliverance as he emulates Phil but he seems to be enjoying himself and I'm sure his delivery will loosen up as the race progresses.

The teams raced to the Butterfly Conservatory to grab their next clue(s). Remember that part as it's important. Why would anyone be afraid of butterflies? After that it's off to the airport where the teams have a chance to interact before their flight to Kelowna.

Their next clue is basically a stall to allow those teams from the later flight to catch up. I hate when production doEd this but I'm sure those teams on the second flight appreciate it.

Jet skiing across Lake Okanagan in search of a diving platform looks easy but it's a big lake so some teams are likely to get lost. Add to that the fear of breathing underwater as they search for Ogopogo and I wonder who's gonna crack. It's an easy task though as long as you don't get lost, or panic underwater.

task completed and off they go to Myra-Bellevue Provincial Park where teams get to challenge their fear of heights climbing over the edge of a trestle bridge and along a 12" wide support to their next clue. They're wired in so the only challenge is not falling off before you get the clue. It doesn't help that the support is only secured at one end and shakes the further you move along. Add to that the obligatory cliff-hanging cuts that TAR is so well known for and the reveal of who's still way behind and you can pretty much predict who's coming in first.

From here it's a quick race to Quail's Gate Winery (one of my favorites) and a jump to the mat. This is where those earlier mistakes catch up to the teams who made them. It's no surprise who wins the first leg as they're in their own backyard, but I was surprised by the second team . . . and Hal and Joanne did great despite being the oldest team racing. They'd have still been the oldest even if Wayne and I were racing against them.

I wasn't really impressed with Vanessa and Celina's reaction to their unexpected luck but that'll bite them later in the race. The last two teams almost tied to the mat but another penalty flips their order and it's "goodbye twins". No worries, they probably just went back to the winery to have a few shots before being put up in a nice resort for the duration.

Overall I've been pretty impressed with the team selection so far. Their interaction with each other doesn't come across as too phoney and so far nobody stands out as the bad guys.

Next episode the teams are off to Vancouver and Chinatown. Not sure what's urban jungle about that but I'm looking forward to it. Stay tuned for my next review . . . on time.

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    Gordon L Gale

    Gordon L Gale is a Freelance Illustrator, a Graphic Designer, a Dad and (according to his children) an Ogre. 
    A big fan of the Amazing Race Canada & Amazing Race US, he is currently working on a  graphic novel with his good friend and future TARC teammate Wayne Arthurson. Occasionally you can find him aboard a time-travelling steam train.

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