Episode Report Card M. Giant: B | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT The Sprint of Our Life
By M. Giant | Season 19 | Episode 2 | Aired on 10.02.2011
Ernie and Cindy show up at the orphanage and run inside, clear through the building, and to the courtyard out back. The camera gives a nice, long close-up of the sign telling everyone to hand over all their money, complete with highlighting and underlining and everything but flashing lights on our screens. However, Cindy and Ernie hand over just their Detour earnings. In return, they get a medallion with a symbol on it, which Cindy has no idea what to do with. Maybe she should look around the immediate area for other clues, like maybe in the form of a sign or something. Phil explains to us that the medallion is telling them in its own inscrutable way that they need to get to Kraton Palace, "the current residence of the Sultan of Yogyakarta." Dude, my city only has a mayor. It's also the Pit Stop, and Phil warns, "The last two teams to check in here will be eliminated." I wonder how many takes he needed to get that right? Cindy and Ernie head out to find someone to ask what their clue means, but not without the Amazing Editors giving us one more dramatic look at that sadly ignored sign. They get directions to Kraton from a shopkeeper and proceed, totally oblivious to the fact that they just screwed the proverbial pooch. But it's not like the orphans are going to say, "Hey, give us the rest of your money, too!"
Bill and Cathi are getting dropped off at the orphanage, and Cathi tells their driver, "Thank you, we have enjoyed you today." Given a six-hour round trip, I certainly hope so. Liz and Marie arrive right behind them. When Bill and Cathi find the orphans at the donation table, Cathi bows and says, "We have had a wonderful day in your city," hitting the "T" in "city" so hard she earns a fail-gong. Then Bill earns the fail-clatter by handing over just the parking money and failing to notice the sign. As they leave, Liza and Marie take their place and do the exact same thing. Zero for three so far. I guess the orphans aren't having as lucky a day as I thought.
The snowboarders and the siblings are both working the parking lot hard, but Tommy & Andy are the next to finish, putting them in fourth place. Justin and Jennifer are in a close fifth. As they leave, the snowboarders see the arriving Laurence & Zac and tell them, "Get after it, guys." Easy to cheer on a team who's an entire task behind you, but the snowboarders had a good time at that one. Justin and Jennifer, on the other hand, ride in stony silence like they're in the cab home from Thanksgiving. Laurence and Zac are soon in their orange jackets, flagging down bikers. Kaylani and Lisa get to the intersection and into their costumes, as Kaylani gets right to work playing the Twilight Zone theme on the gamelan. Amani and Marcus are now done with that task, and so are Sandy and Jeremy. Ron and Bill are just arriving, and it's a good thing they're not on a mission to change hearts and minds because Bill has a lot to say about their costumes. All dressed, he heads out into the intersection, where his first target is a bus full of kids. They're happy to yell and wave at the cameras, at least, even if they don't have an awful lot of disposable income.