Episode Report Card M. Giant: B+ | 1 USERS: A YOU GRADE IT Si-bare-ia
By M. Giant | Season 14 | Episode 5 | Aired on 03.15.2009
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.The Trans-Siberian Railroad carries the seven remaining teams to Novosibirsk, Russia, where both Detours call for driving stick-shift cars. They have to either operate snowplows or transport brides to a church. Tammy and Victor make an alliance of convenience with Margie|Luke and the cheerleaders, whom they ditch at their first opportunity. Still, the six of them finish the snowplow task before the Stuntmen brothers arrive, and before the Whites deliver their bride. Then the Road Block requires one Racer to run to the Pit Stop in his or her underwear in sub-freezing weather (and Phil even models his own). Margie and Luke win the leg. Kisha and Jen struggle with driving the car, but they still reach the Pit Stop ahead of Christie and Jodi after the Flight Attendants get lost. But since it's a non-elimination leg, they're still in it. We'll see how their rolling suitcases go over the Speed Bump next week.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Just to let you know, Trash and I were fortunate enough this week to be able to watch this episode with a few friends who were in from out of town. Please welcome Keckler, Wing Chun, and Glark. Perhaps you've heard of them.
We're still in Krasnoyarsk, Russia, which Phil describes as a "booming city" of one million, and the home to the Theater of Musical Comedy. The theater only dates back to World War II, but Phil calls it "instrumental in the cultural development of this long-isolated city." And those dancers are still spinning about the stage as Phil winds his way through them, telling us that this was the fourth Pit Stop in a race around the world. Glark thinks the dancers are musical enough, but not particularly funny. We're down to just seven teams. Again, we don't get arrival times, but we learn that Christie and Jodi, who arrived first (!), are leaving at 12:34 p.m. today. Another non-twelve-hour rest period, apparently. But how much rest would they be able to get in those cramped theater seats, anyway?
The Pit Stop has been moved outside for the departure. Snow is falling, and looks like it has been for some time. Lovely. The Flight Attendants open their clue and get as far as "Ride the Trans-Siberian railway to..." Fortunately, Phil is here to tell us that they'll be traveling across 400 miles of tundra to Novosibirsk. Then they need to race to the Punkt Tehnicheskogo Osmotha. I love the Punkt Tehnicheskogo Osmotha! Their next clue will be waiting for them there. Jodi hopes it's at least warm there. "Any place that has that many consonants in it is not warm," Christie says, which we can easily confirm for her up here in Mpls. In an interview, they say that their advantage over the other teams is that they work together daily, unlike the other teams. And as Jodi says, "The Race is work." The Flight Attendants start walking along the snowy sidewalk to the train station. So I count three advantages that they've claimed so far in the Race. Let's see if this latest one starts working for them better than the other ones have.
As Kisha and Jen get going at 12:36, Jen interviews that because they're faster than the other teams, they want to stay with the pack. "That's our strategy," Jen insists, so they can win if it comes down to a footrace. Sadly, I have to agree that this is probably the smartest thing they can do, since in the navigation stretches of the Race they have amply demonstrated that they don't know their ass from page four. But for some reason, Kisha is not entirely on board with this strategy, as she complains about following the Flight Attendants to the train station and how they could end up wandering around Russia. "At least it's beautiful," Jen says. "Beautiful, my ass," says Kisha. Ah, so it's Kisha's turn to be the annoying one this week. Still, they end up calling out to the Flight Attendants to wait up, and they all walk to the station together. At the ticket window, they get passage without difficulty, but are not pleased to learn that the train is leaving at 10:26 that night. Ten hours away, in other words. Sounds like everyone's going to be on the same train together. The Flight Attendants look particularly disappointed about the loss of their lead, which is understandable; it's not like they have one very often.