Episode Report Card M. Giant: B | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Back to School
By M. Giant | Season 17 | Episode 3 | Aired on 10.10.2010
Michael slowly walks his hoop along, the camera getting a shot of the punishing sun overhead while Kevin walks along with him, saying, "The girls aren't at the Pit Stop yet." It's not over till it's over, or until Michael keels over dead, whichever comes first. Michael finishes his first pass, but confesses, "Kevin, I don't think I can go back." Kevin encourages him to try, even if it takes him thirty minutes. What's striking about this is how calm and supportive Kevin is; it's not losing he fears, but quitting. Michael just hangs on the tattered soccer net and tries to stay conscious. "I can't," he says. "Sorry, Kevin." And then the commercials come, which leaves way too much time for something horrible to happen.
Kevin interviews that it was painful to watch. Yes, we agree. We see a production medic checking Michael out on the field as Kevin reminds us that it was 98 degrees. They walk him into the shade so the medic can check his blood pressure, and Kevin kindly tells Michael to take all the time he needs. "I didn't do it," Michael says, nearly crying. Kevin says it's okay, and it's not his fault, and doing a pretty good job of hiding his disappointment. Which is admittedly not that hard, given that Michael seems to be staring off into two different directions at once.
Jill and Thomas get to the mat, and Phil invites them, "Why don't you guys complete my sentence?" Why don't you start a sentence, Phil? They know they're team number seven, even after winning the first leg. That's a freefall. "Hey, we're happy," Thomas says. Indeed, they still have the Express Pass, which pretty much means they'll automatically stay in the race a leg longer than they deserve to.
Nat & Kat? Somehow, someway, they've done the seemingly impossible and gotten lost on the way to the Pit Stop. At least that'll help Michael and Kevin, right? With water dripping from his head, Michael tells Kevin, "Let's go." As they get up, he interviews, "I want to show my son that we are a team...you should finish what you start. I can walk with my son to go to the finish line, not just give up in the middle." Not that Kevin was going to let him.
Nat and Kat ask a picnicking family for directions, and they point them in what is presumably the right way. Back at the soccer field, most of the kids are gone as Michael starts inching his hoop along in a slow walk. All Nat and Kat have found in the way of a marked path, meanwhile, is a wandering goat. "The marker of the goat," one of them jokes lamely. Michael finishes, and almost collapses again, but they have their clue and are headed for the Pit Stop. "I'm ready to be eliminated," Michael says. Indeed, he looks like that's just about the only thing he's up for at this point.