Episode Report Card M. Giant: B+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Never Get In a Shouting Match with a Deaf Guy
By M. Giant | Season 14 | Episode 9 | Aired on 04.19.2009
Is Linda Evangelista supposed to look like the Snow Whitewitch in this commercial? Is that the goal?
After the ads, Margie tells Luke to forget about it. Good advice. If only she'll follow it. Kisha and Jen get to the South Ancient Gate first, and walk across a paved park area to find the clue box. It's a Detour, and suddenly Phil's on a brick outdoor dance floor, surrounded by ballroom-dancing couples. He says it's a choice between two local modes of artistic expression: "Choreography" and "Calligraphy" are the choices. You wouldn't think those two options would need much explanation, but here goes. For Choreography, the teams will need to go to an island in the center of the park's lake (how big is this park?), then join the locals doing their "morning dance routine," and learn the dance for themselves. Then they'll get their next clue if they do it right. Phil says, "Learning a dance routine can be a very daunting task, but teams with good rhythm could find themselves quickly shuffling off to their next destination." He keeps an admirably straight face while delivering this line. As for Calligraphy, they'll need to cross a pair of footbridges and find one of four "calligraphy stations," which are essentially locations around the park manned by a calligrapher (this is apparently a very large park). There, the teams will use brushes and ink to copy out Chinese characters that happen to be the name of the next station. They'll proceed this way through four stations (this park keeps getting bigger and bigger), and the last artist will give them their clue. Phil warns, "The Chinese characters are intricate, and if teams copy them incorrectly, they could find themselves literally lost in translation." Jen and Kisha head off to do calligraphy.
Jaime and Cara seem to be right behind them, and the choreography choice would seem to be a no-brainer for them. Well, I would hope so, as former cheerleaders. But that' s not the only reason: Jaime interviews that she has such terrible handwriting that she couldn't understand her own notes in college. I wonder if she yelled at herself a lot.
Tammy and Victor get out of their cab and run around yelling, "Ancient South Gate? Right or left?" But again, being lost in the local language doesn't keep Margie and Luke from finding the clue box first. They're dong calligraphy, which, as Luke explains, seemed preferable to an option whose instructions included the phrase "when the music starts." Tammy and Victor find the clue box in fourth place, and quickly agree to do calligraphy.