Episode Report Card M. Giant: B- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT The Couch Trip
By M. Giant | Season 18 | Episode 8 | Aired on 04.17.2011
Lucky for the Cowboys, their flight also lands on time, at least according to the subtitle that says the second flight is landing at 6:00 AM. They make it to the parking ramp while Gary and Mallory are still trying to figure out the intuitive, user-friendly interface. "Bad start," Gary pronounces. Bad! No biscuit for you, start!But then after the commercial break (and back in this commercial), they get Phil's message on the screen again, and he says, "If you don't get it on your first attempt, drive forward to your starting position, put the car in reverse, and you'll automatically activate the back-up camera again." Gary realizes their mistake and backs over the clue. "Bad start," he repeats as they finally get out of the parking ramp. Meanwhile, a room full of Ford executives tries to calculate exactly how many car sales Gary and Mallory's dimness just cost them. Also, does that dashboard screen include GPS? I would have like to be a fly on the wall when they debated letting the re-racers use it while driving.
The Cowboys can't be far behind when they show up. They get through their clue quickly, but are far from complacent. "We can't make any mistakes," Jet says from the driver's seat. It's probably a mistake to say that out loud.
On the road, Justin says they'll need to stop for a map or directions. They pull into a BP station and get directions, as do the Goths and the sisters. The Globetrotters get directions from a hotel instead, but Gary and Mallory hit that same BP station, which must get a lot of business based on its location. "We're on our way to the cawstle," Mallory sings one they're back on the road. Jet and Cord also stop at BP, but they ask a truck driver outside rather than bothering to go in. Shaving seconds off already!
It must be an uneventful trip, because next thing we know, Team Asperger's is arriving at a sign pointing them to the castle. "I don't like the cold weather," Zev informs us from between his furry earflaps. So he needs someplace both warm and not crowded, then. After parking the car, they have to park and run uphill for some distance, prompting Zev to remark, "I feel like Rocky." From the inside, maybe. Eventually they make it to a courtyard where fires are burning, and there's a figure on a distant balcony gesturing them upward. It's a chick in a conical hat, next to a table stacked with big books. She opens one for Justin, and through the cloud of dust that emerges he reads an inscription that says "Librarian Prunksaal Österreichische National Bibliothek Wien." Well, sure. They take the book and run back to their car, figuring this means they have to get to a library in Vienna. They arrive back at their car to leave just as the other teams are showing up. "We didn't have to do much there," Justin tells us, like we hadn't noticed, and like that's not going to be a theme this leg. "We just had to grab a big book from chick from Harry Potter." How meta.