Episode Report Card M. Giant: A- | 57 USERS: A YOU GRADE IT Have You Driven a Fjord Lately?
By M. Giant | Season 23 | Episode 4 | Aired on 10.20.2013
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.The teams all travel together to the Norwegian fishery village of Svolvaer. The fourth leg ends up being run overnight, but since they're north of the Arctic Circle, the sun never sets. It's a little eerie. Things start right off with a Detour in which most teams opt to string together bundles of fish-heads and then hang them on a drying rack. But they're soon spread out by the desperate shortage of taxis in Svolvaer in the middle of the night, so some choose to cab it, some choose to hoof it, and some end up hoofing it even though they would have preferred not to.
Tim & Marie take an early lead at the fish-head task owing to having grabbed the first taxi, but their leg goes downhill from there, starting with making their fish-head bundles the wrong size at first. Eventually other teams join them and they get straightened out. Then it's a long, hard hike across town with wheelbarrows full of fish heads, which the exes incorrectly hang on a part of the rack that has no flag marker. Three other teams (Jason & Amy, Brandon & Adam, and Nicole & Travis) pass them before they figure out their mistake. Meanwhile, the Afghanimals have a bum wheelbarrow which they have to physically carry, so that's enjoyable.
After finishing the Detour, the teams get to take a speedboat ride to a bridge where they have to swing from a rope into the Arctic Ocean and get their clue. The hairballs leave this Roadblock in first place, then find themselves at home in a pickup commercial where they have to tow a boulder off of their next clue. They're still in the lead as that clue, which includes a pouch of "Viking coins," sends them to the Pit Stop. Other teams complete this task with varying degrees of success, with the non-stick-driving blondes at the lower end of the range.
As for the other Detour option, Tim & Danny and Nicky & Kim opt for a much more time-consuming task that requires them to retrieve thirty fish from atop a three-story drying rack, then beat them into jerky with a hammer. It's not as fun as it sounds. The Okies are in seventh and the baseball wives in last by the time that's over, but Tim & Danny are looking good at the truck task.
As for the Pit Stop, that's not entirely resolved. Brandon & Adam do indeed get there first and win the leg. Other teams are also on their way, but Tim & Marie -- yes, them again -- drove off without the part of the clue that tells them where to actually go. The ER docs encounter them en route to the Pit Stop, and Nicole tells Marie to put her money where her mouth has been for the last four legs and give her the Express Pass in exchange for telling her where the Pit Stop is. And we get the dreaded "To Be Continued" before anyone else reaches the mat, or before Marie figures out that she might have to hand off of her precious Express Pass an entire leg before she wanted to.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!"This is Castela des Mouros," Phil reminds us, "a castle built high above the town of Sintra, Portugal." That's about 20 minutes outside Lisbon, per Google Maps. He's coming to us from the top of one of the long ramparts that appear to stretch down much of the hill's considerable height, saying, "These ancient ruins are often referred to as a miniature Great Wall of China, and are now the start of the fourth leg in a race around the world." That's a pretty clunky nickname, since "miniature" contradicts that sense of the word "great" and I can't help noticing that there is very little China on my screen.
But anyway, Nicole & Travis, who won the previous leg, are starting this one first, at 11:08 PM. You'll be glad to know they appear to be at ground level and will not be expected to negotiate the narrow castle walls in the dark. Their clue is sending them to Svolvaer, Norway, which Phil says is not only more than two thousand miles by plane and ferry, but north of the Arctic Circle. It also meets the one surefire criterion that indicates a place is an international backwater, which is that its name is not in Spellcheck. Their next clue is waiting for them at the ferry terminal. The married ER docs hop a taxi to the travel agency, hoping to get an earlier flight than the other teams. Which worked out pretty well for them last week, so why not? Nicole interviews that she's from Brooklyn, where she grew up not letting people take advantage of her and has held onto those lessons. Travis says that he's learned on the race that Nicole's even tougher than he thought she was. It's almost as though this character note is being used to set something up for later.
Jason & Amy are taking off in second place, at 11:14 PM. Like Nicole & Travis, they're also not excited about being Arctic-bound, but Amy interviews how Nicole & Travis's marriage is an inspiration for them. She's also hoping for an earlier flight for Nicole & Travis, and to be on it with them. Which also worked out pretty well for them last week, so why not?
The ER docs show up at Osiris Travel, a storefront agency which is almost offensively bright this late at night. The agent running the computer is able to find a flight out at 8:55 in the morning, and nothing earlier. Amy & Jason catch up with them at the desk, and after Amy asks about some flights that don't exist, the sky-blue alliance heads to the airport, resigned to flying to the next destination with the other six remaining teams. People got a little spoiled about not having to do that, didn't they?