Episode Report Card M. Giant: B | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Down Under Blunders
By M. Giant | Season 18 | Episode 2 | Aired on 02.27.2011
The Cowboys are running from the beach, wondering like ten teams before them what "To Sail To Stop" is. They start flagging down locals to ask for directions, but none of them seem to know anything. Worse, there's this slow dissolve between every shot of them doing so, like the kind you see near the end of an episode when a team is utterly doomed. They even walk right in front of the Opera House, in a forlorn shot that suggests they hoofed it all the way back from Manly, asking every person they encountered along the way.
The sun goes down, and the other teams are arriving at the Sydney Domestic Airport. The Cowboys continue to be conspicuous in their absence. We see them still schlepping around the city on foot at night, having come up empty the entire time. But I'm sure they'll catch a break, because they always do -- especially when there's a commercial.
Finally they hail a cab, and when they ask about "To Sail To Stop, the driver says, "That's City Town Hall, mate" in a voice that almost seems like he knows they've been searching for hours. On their way there in the cab, they wonder what time the charter flight leaves. The Amazing Editors haven't gone out of their way to remind us of that lately, because we're supposed to worry that the Cowboys might miss the plane entirely, but they get there in time to sign up for the last slot on the a 6:30 AM flight. Made it with only one night to spare. "Long day today," Cord understates, "but in this one instance, we're very glad there's other teams on this flight." Jet is glad to still be in the race. Off to the airport!
The next morning, Mel's feeling much better. "Seeing you makes it twice as better," he tells Kisha. Aw. The six lead teams board the first flight at 6:05, and it takes off. Everyone else -- including the Cowboys, who probably should have been eliminated twice already by now -- leaves at 6:30. Amanda and Kris are pretty uptight, knowing there's a bunch of teams ahead of them and a U-Turn in their near future. Hey, other teams have survived a U-Turn. It was a Double U-Turn, yes, but still.
The first batch of teams lands in Broken Hill and runs for the fleet of white SUVs with clues stuck under the windshield wipers like Amazing Chick Tracts. They're going to the Living Desert, which Phil calls "a vast, barren landscape in Australia's Outback." As everyone piles into their vehicles, Jaime offers to caravan with Team ASL and stop for better directions along the way. Off they go, and Mel assures Mike that he's feeling much better. Still, it's probably just as well that Mike's doing the driving.