Episode Report Card M. Giant: B- | 1 USERS: B YOU GRADE IT Limping to Victory
By M. Giant | Season 22 | Episode 3 | Aired on 03.03.2013
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.First thing's first: Dave did indeed injure his ankle pretty bad, seriously enough to have to leave Bora Bora on crutches. But he and Connor are still not ready to quit. From there, the teams head to Phil's hometown of Christchurch, New Zealand, via Tahiti, Auckland, and all manner of airport intrigue, during which Dave goes to an actual hospital and gets a sonogram, official diagnosis, and an immobilizing boot to go with the crutches. But he and Connor are still not ready to quit, so Jessica & John hand Dave & Connor the Express Pass as promised.
Once everyone gets to Christchurch, they trek out the river and then take jet boats to a Detour where they either have to drive a car down a slippery dirt slalom course or catch a foot-long fish from the river. Obviously most teams opt for the race cars -- except Dave, who can't drive anything with a clutch while his foot is out of commission; and Chuck & Wynona, who are all about the outdoors. Most teams take a few tries for each racer to complete the course under the combined time of 83 seconds, and those are the ones where both partners already knew how to drive stick before learning for the race. Max is especially poor, and Katie isn't shy about saying so.
Dave & Connor use their Express Pass after a few minutes of fruitless fishing and end up leading the way to the next clue at Mount Hutt Station. There, they discover the Shemozzle, a wacky Kiwi obstacle course Roadblock that leads to each racer being covered in molasses and feathers on their way to a splashdown in a mud pool, all while trying to collect a dozen eggs. Max and Katie get lost and fall to bickering on the way, with the hockey brothers in their wake. Connor manages to finish the Roadblock before any other teams show up, at which point it becomes something of a melee, but Jessica & John get out of there in second place. Dave becomes what is probably the first person ever to win a leg of The Amazing Race on crutches, which they're happy about because it might be one of their last legs. In fact, Phil presents them with a dreaded "you're still racing" clue, at the worst possible time. And we leave it To Be Continued before we know if they're even going to stay in it. So now are Dave & Connor ready to quit? We'll find out next week, as well as finding out when and in what order everyone else makes it to the mat.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!As is customary when something serious has transpired between one leg and the next, Phil's cheerful welcome at the starting location of this week's leg will have to wait. Instead, we open right on Connor asking his dad Dave if he's okay, presumably moments after Dave self-diagnosed a blown ankle during the final dash to the mat. "It's gone," Dave answers him. Cut to an interview where he describes the sensation: "Thirty feet out I felt a pop in my Achilles tendon." We cut to Dave's ankle being looked at by a local medic, who quickly diagnoses a torn muscle and says Dave will need a sonogram to see just how bad it is. Dave is fighting tears as the medic says he can give him some crutches and send him to a specialist in Papeete, Tahiti. "Yes, I'm sorry, but that's the way," he shrugs, slightly more sympathetically than House. Dave talks about how they're already cancer survivors, so they're not about to quit now. The difference is that they didn't run the Amazing Race with cancer. Although, damn... wouldn't that be a great hook for a team?
Now Phil gets to give his opening narration about Bora Bora, which he says "is considered by many to be the most romantic island in the world. And just offshore, Motu Tapu, the Hilton's ultimate private island escape." Shilling for Hilton now, Phil? "This picture-perfect getaway is the start of a third leg in a race around the world." Bates & Anthony, the hockey-playing brothers who won the previous leg, are starting this one at the uncharacteristically decent hour of 8:54 AM. They open a clue sending them to "Phil's hometown, Christchurch, New Zealand." An Amazing Light Blue Line makes an early appearance to demonstrate how they'll depart Bora Bora, transfer in Papeete and then proceed across the Pacific to Christchurch via Auckland. Then they'll hop into a fleet of white Ford Foci to drive themselves to the Rakaia River Gorge. For now, they board a water taxi and hurry the pilot away from the dock, even as Dave is coming down the ramp on his crutches with Connor in tow. That team begins at 8:55 -- in second place for now -- and steps onto another boat. Dave reiterates that he's planning to see a doctor in Tahiti to find out what's what, which of course none of the other teams will have to do. It's like a Speed Bump, but less fun!
Jessica & John arrived at the mat right behind them, so they're starting in third place at 8:56. Jessica reminds us of the two Express Passes she and John scored in the first leg, and John says that they'll keep their word and give the other one to Dave & Connor now that Dave is injured. They're also hoping it'll help them beat the hockey players somehow, according to some trademark John-logic that, as usual, I am unable to follow.