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
Ernie and Cindy have nailed down the Hank Aaron thing, but now what do they do with that information? Cindy asks someone if there's a Hank Aaron statue or memorial. While he goes off to check, Cindy wonders if they need to get to the ballpark, and indeed, he comes back to send them to Turner Field. Off they go, in a state of high excitement, even if they must certainly realize that the heydays of Hank Aaron and Ted Turner didn't exactly overlap.
Back at the Dump, Sandy finally figures out to hit the "l" and finishes up. She comes out and Jeremy hops the porch rail, congratulating her on killing it. "I don't know what place we're in," he warns. They start puzzling out the numbers in the van. "It's like route coordinates or something," Sandy says. "We need to Google it." She's half right.
Ernie and Cindy spot the clue box standing in the vast, empty parking lot of Turner Field and run up to it. There's a big map behind them in the background. Like, a BIG map. An aerial shot shows it standing in the part of the parking lot that used to be the outfield of the old Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium (which we can see because the shape of the old diamond is painted on the asphalt, with a section of curved outer wall and a sign marking the landing spot of Hank Aaron's 715th homer also remaining). It's like a three-sided billboard structure with a world map on each side.
Phil tells us, "Working without any notes, teams now face a massive mental map challenge that has the potential to completely change the outcome of this race." Once again, Phil is exaggerating. As massive as the map might be, the mental challenge isn't, and the game-changing task happened in the beginning of the episode, not here at the end.
One partner will have to put on a climbing harness and scramble over the face of the map and, while the other is "screaming out instructions," must thread a rope through metal loops attached to each country. In this manner, they'll trace the route they've taken around the world. See? It's a live-action Amazing Red Line! After they're done, they'll get their "final clue."