Episode Report Card M. Giant: B- | 189 USERS: B- YOU GRADE IT Gone with the "1"
By M. Giant | Season 19 | Episode 12 | Aired on 2011.12.11
Back in the building, Ernie and Marcus both "go outside," which I guess means turning off their autopilots. Marcus asks an imaginary control tower for taxi information, and the instructor politely explains that they can't do that until after they've landed, so he's blown it again. Ernie seems like he's coming in a little hot, with the plane rolling from side to side, but he sets it down level. "Third time's the charm, right babe?" Marcus asks. Or maybe a higher number. Having completed the task, Cindy says, "That was so whack!" Marcus again tells himself the third time's the charm. He should say it one more time. Out in the hangar, Ernie and Cindy open their clue and know nothing about "the Dump." Marcus is praying for help. The second Ernie and Cindy are outside, she asks their driver, Ben, if he knows "the former residence known as The Dump." She borrows his phone again as they figure that Jeremy and Sandy must already be done and gone. And back in the building, Marcus smacks the runway at a vertical speed of ten feet per second and tries not to lose control. "Little movements," Amani reminds him, and looks impressively calm as he skids off the runway again. Marcus looks less calm about this. I happen to think this would be much better TV if, after going off the runway, the simulation included the landing gear buckling, the plane flipping over, and the fuel tanks exploding. It would also make for more effective symbolism.
After the ads, the instructor counts down from three and hits the reset button, which seems to restart the scenario at the point of final approach from 2,500 feet. Flaps twenty, gear down, one dot above, disengaging autopilot, etc. Marcus bounces off the runway and slews off to the right yet again. "That's all right, baby," Amani says with a patient smile. She's amazing. I'd be like, "Do you not have rudder pedals over there or what?"
One long, dizzying, high-speed helicopter shot across town later, we catch up with Jeremy and Sandy, who are still trying to figure out what The Dump is. They get off the freeway and find someone to ask while Cindy's talking into Ben's phone. The "local" (although he has a Yankee accent and is wearing a University of Akron t-shirt) tells them it's up near Buckhead and is a former Home Depot store on Peachtree or something. I don't know who Cindy's got on the phone, but she's explaining, "I'm sorry, we're just in a race and we're trying to find information from obscure clues." Jeremy and Sandy get back in their cab and head for Buckhead, just as Cindy is finding out that they're looking for Margaret Mitchell's home. She's getting the address, but Ben already knows where it is (it's on Peachtree). And Jeremy and Sandy are promising their driver a big tip, for bringing them to the wrong place.