Episode Report Card M. Giant: A | 535 USERS: B- YOU GRADE IT Thai'ed Up
By M. Giant | Season 19 | Episode 5 | Aired on 2011.10.23
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.From the floating village that was last week's Pit Stop, teams are magically teleported to the mainland, where they have to take some "local transportation." That turns out to be elephants, up along a jungle river course to search for a clue sunken in a murky waterfall pool. That clue sends them to find a miniature shrine called a spirit house, which they have to disassemble and transport to a normal-sized temple for reassembly. This turns out to be a rare if not unprecedented "Double Road Block," where the team member who hunted in the pool has to rebuild the spirit house. The snowboarders, whose devout Christianity is suddenly getting a lot of play, hold onto their lead through both tasks even in the face of Tommy's incomplete memory and his need to go back to the start of the task. Laurence makes a similar mistake on Zac's behalf, and then blames Zac for it, which is not cool. Ernie does the same thing, but at least he blames himself, and Cindy is surprisingly cool about it. Some control freak.
After leaving hours behind everyone else, twins Liz and Marie have to shovel elephant poo and wash one of the beasts for their Speed Bump, which they're actually thrilled about, being the elephant-lovers they are. For the teams ahead of them, the required taxi ride to a station to catch a bus to Bangkok proves almost ruinously expensive, especially Cindy and Ernie, who get ripped off pretty badly. Laurence and Zac, however, spring for a first-class bus, then bail and hoof it back to the station to start over when they remember the rule against buying first-class tickets. Liz and Marie, still bringing up the rear, have a scary moment when they give all their money to their cabbie, who still isn't satisfied and nearly makes them miss the bus they've already bought tickets on, only to relent and rescue them at the last minute. So with all the different teams on different buses arriving in Bangkok at different times, things are pretty chaotic by the time everyone reaches the city the next morning to feed fish in a canal and race from there to the Pit Stop.
Amani and Marcus win their first leg, immediately followed by grandparents Bill and Cathi, and they all act like they won the million already. Ernie and Cindy make a good recovery and end in third, although they might have scored another victory had they not bailed on their cab. Liz and Marie, stranded in the city with no money, are reduced to begging rides from taxi drivers, while Andy and Tommy end up asking directions to the Pit Stop from a teacher, who ends up disappearing with their clue and leaving them stranded indefinitely. Justin and Jennifer come in fourth after a leg of minimal bickering, followed by the snowboarders and the sailors. Upon reaching the mat, Phil informs Laurence and Zac that the no-first-class rule only applies to plane tickets and not ground transportation, so they cost themselves a lot of time for nothing. After struggling with navigating Bangkok, Jeremy and Sandy are an emotional seventh-place team, and Liz and Marie finally face their inevitable Philimination. And just when I had figured out how to tell them apart, too.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!"This is the village of Koh Panyi, Thailand," Phil greets us, putting to rest growing concerns that he might have tragically lost the ability to start an episode with the word "This" for unknown medical reasons. He says it was "built on stilts in the eighteenth century," which is different than a floating village, and is a "unique fishing community" that also serves as the start of the fifth leg. As the winners of the previous leg, Andy and Tommy are leaving in first place, at 10:07 AM. Their clue tells them to take "local transportation" up the Kalong Song Prak River, or at least something that sounds like what I just typed. Phil clarifies that after taking a taxi to an adventure company (seriously, I'm just giving up on closed captioning now), the "local transportation" will prove to be a four-ton Asian elephant. I don't know how "local" an animal can be if it has two zip codes, but apparently each elephant will take a team upriver. Cut immediately to Andy and Tommy pulling onto the road in the back of a pickup truck taxi, so I guess the Amazing Editors skipped the boat ride to the mainland from Koh Panyi. We get a little new information on them in a pre-leg interview. I was a little surprised to hear Andy talking at the end of last week about praising God, but apparently that was for real. As Tommy sincerely puts it, "Yeah, we love Jesus." They even show off the names of Bible verses they Sharpied onto their backpack straps (Proverbs 19:2 for Andy and 1 Thessalonians 5:16 for Tommy, in case you care to look them up). Then they go on to talk about joy and God opening the door, and it's like we're getting a whole different idea of these guys than what a lot of us probably assumed. Including me.
They get dropped off at the adventure company, which is pretty much a hut in the jungle with elephants parked outside and a Speed Bump sign with Liz and Marie's picture on it. I assume the Speed Bump sign is temporary. The snowboarders quickly hop onto one of those two-seat litters that are strapped onto the back of an elephant, with a local driver steering from the animal's neck. That is, until the driver hops off to guide it from behind. Andy and Tommy are impressed with the animal's traction on the rough terrain and through the rocky river bed. Andy even says he plans to buy one after the race. "They can do some serious four-wheelin'." Well, they have feet, not wheels. But an elephant on rollerblades? Now you're talking.
Nearly an hour behind them, Justin and Jennifer are the second-place team, leaving at 11:01 AM. Up in the jungle, Andy and Tommy are taking turns on the neck that serves as their elephant's driver's seat, now that they appear to be on their own without a guide. Jeremy and Sandy start their leg at 11:44 AM in third place, learning that they have $186 for this leg. Laurence and Zac are right behind them, ripping their clue at 11:45 AM. As we see them hop in a taxi-pickup, Laurence interviews that's he's proud of Zac and his accomplishments. "But," he adds, "every young person wants to be seen beyond their years, and not always do they have the wisdom. So I'll kind of have to dictate, and being the father, Zac will heed what I say." This wisdom, at the moment, consists of Laurence reminding Zac that they'll have to be sure and use local transport. Wise to read the clue this time.