Episode Report Card Miss Alli: B | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Tea and Treachery
By Miss Alli | Season 1 | Episode 3 | Aired on 09.25.2001
2:46 AM. Our beloved communal grandparents read the clue. They don't know what a "grande roue" is, so they start asking around. While they chat with helpful strangers, Margaretta says in an interview that age is all in your head, and the only time she feels old is when she looks in the mirror. I have to say that right around this time, I looked at Margaretta and was struck by how pretty she is, so I don't think she should even feel old then. Not to say that "old" and "pretty" are mutually exclusive, I'm just saying…well, you know what I mean. Davey voices over that when his wife sets her mind to something, she does it. I drop Davey a note in the mail, begging him to give husband lessons to Loud Pushy Frank.
Here go Lenny and Karyn, at last, at 3:03. Lenny explains that although he's competitive, he's not currently giving a hundred percent. He is polite enough (and perhaps attentive enough to his own well-being) not to attribute this to the fact that Karyn treats him like crap. We see them taking what looks like a chilly stroll, and as they walk, Karyn assures Lenny that she's not "asking for much," and that she doesn't want to "mess up [their] relationship." Unable to quit while she's ahead, Karyn then gently (not-so-much) points out that they need to be "thinking." Yeah, thanks, Karyn. That's not the least bit insulting.
Big Ferris Wheel Keep On Turning. Here come Paul and Amie, but as expected, they find that it's not open. Seeing that they'll be able to get in at 9:00, they sit themselves right down on the sidewalk. "Ah," Amie sighs, surprisingly good-humoredly, "this is the life." That's my official first Liking Amie Moment EVER. They note that this is the Race Leg Of Much Bunching-Up, in that basically they're all being reshuffled, and all past leads (including their own recent improvement to sixth) just don't mean all that much.
Let me make a side note here that I've heard some complaining in the forums this week about this aspect of the show -- it's unfair! Your lead just evaporates! I, personally, disagree. I think this is the right decision for dramatic purposes. If you remember watching the first Survivor, in which the Tagi alliance just sat there picking off the rest of them week after week like they were biting the heads off of defenseless chocolate bunnies, you know that when the audience knows what's going to happen, boredom can set in quick. I don't see the reshuffling of the teams as some kind of affront to the Tao of racing or anything like that. It just means you have to be on your toes and alert at every step, because you can't build up an insurmountable lead and then just coast. (I'm talking to you, Team Guido.) I wouldn't have it any other way. Furthermore, it didn't have to go this way. Had some of the teams gotten in a few hours earlier, they could have made it to the wheel and then to Notre Dame or the Pantheon before they closed. Wow. That's certainly all I have to say in defense of Jerry Bruckheimer and his crackerjack staff.