Episode Report Card M. Giant: A- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Gypsies, Vamps, and Beams
By M. Giant | Season 14 | Episode 3 | Aired on 03.01.2009
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.Midair technical problems eat up Tammy and Victor's lead when their flight to Bucharest has to return to Munich. It's not as bad as what happens to Brad and Victoria, who miss their connecting flight in Amsterdam and wind up stranded overnight. Meanwhile, the lead teams go through some exercises in Nadia Comaneci's old gym before proceeding to Transylvania. There, the Detour is a choice between moving entire Romany households on horse carts or unlocking a coffin full of picture frames and impaling them. On the former task, Amanda and Kris temporarily lose their Amazing Purse, which winds up landing them in second place behind Mel and Mike. During the latter task Victor insists on following the wrong route markers far afield, but it doesn't hurt them enough to let Brad and Victoria catch up, and the kick-ass older couple gets their asses kicked off the show.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!The new Amazing Race is still messing about with the previouslies, I see, which in addition to covering the entire season so far now include a preview for tonight's episode. I'll wait until we get there on our own, thanks.
"This! Is Salzburg, Austria, the birthplace of Mozart," Phil informs us. Specifically, Schloss Hellbrunn, this season's second Pit Stop. Tammy and Victor, the attorney siblings whom I'm calling Team Family Law, are leaving in first place at 10:13 a.m. I kind of distrust the legs where they leave at a civilized hour. But Victor reads from the clue that they're going to Bucharest, Romania. Phil elaborates that they'll be taking a train back to Munich, then taking a seven-hundred-mile flight to Bucharest. Then they'll cab it to a gymnastics hall, but not just any gymnastics hall -- its' the one where Nadia Comaneci trained. And it's where they'll find their next clue. As they head for their waiting cars, Victor's describing his plan while Tammy solo-interviews for us about Victor: "Victor's super smart. He thinks of things and is able to analyze things quicker and better than other people." Example: Tammy suggests going straight to the train station, but Victor insists on going somewhere to reserve their airline seats before returning to Munich. "But Victor doesn't want to be wrong," Tammy's interview concludes. They soon find a travel agency in Salzburg and score seats on a Tarom flight leaving at 4:45, but on standby for a 3:20 Lufthansa flight. Then it's off to the train station, where they catch the train to Munich with ease. Things are going so well for them, aren't they? Of course, it won't be long before they learn that one of the worst things you can possibly have on The Amazing Race is momentum.
Still, that's a commanding lead they've got, because the Whites, Mel and Mike, don't leave the Pit Stop until 12:01. Mel interviews about how it's fun to have a famous son. "What I like about Mike is that his work in Hollywood has not gone to his head at all. He's still Mike." Mike just smirks modestly, like, Who else would I be?
Amanda and Kris aren't as close behind Mel and Mike as we were led to believe last week, leaving at 12:12. But perhaps we're about to learn something about them, no? Well, sort of. We do find out that they get $332 for this leg. Okay, moving right along.
Margie and Luke are leaving at 12:30, and Luke looks pretty happy to be heading to Romania. In a solo interview, he signs, "I don't want to rely on my mom all the time," as in real time Margie looks over the maps before pulling out of the parking lot. "I wish I could communicate more with the other teams," he continues. "I want to know what the other teams are talking about. I don't want to be relying on my mom for all the communication." And not just because he wants to flirt with former NFL cheerleaders, but also because Margie thought Bucharest was in Hungary. Well, she can't be the first to get Budapest and Bucharest mixed up. Napoleon, for instance, never quite recovered from that very blunder. I'm making that up, of course.