Episode Report Card M. Giant: B | 2 USERS: C YOU GRADE IT Smithing and Sewing
By M. Giant | Season 21 | Episode 4 | Aired on 10.21.2012
Josh & Brent get to the Roadblock in sixth place, and Josh takes it. Inside the yard, Ryan is getting irritated at Nadiya's incessant cheering for Natalie. Trey & Lexi show up in seventh place, and Trey volunteers to take it. Gary & Will finally show up, in last place as usual, and Gary will be doing the Detour. As he gets set up, Will tells us they thought they would be in the front of the pack today. I actually wish that were the case, because it would have been entertaining to watch them fall all the way back to last again. On the bright side, he says Gary's good at this, while he couldn't even reach. "Yeah, they'd have to bring a stool," Kelley agrees. Or a U-Turn???
James and Abba show up at a place where a dude's sitting at a wooden card table with gloves, a bag, and a small map of pickup locations. "Rats," James says before they go hiking off in search of some dead ones. First stop: New City Restaurant. Restaurant? That's not encouraging.
At the repair yard, Ryan requests and receives approval of his putty application thus far. The bad news is that in the process, he's gotten so much sweat and putty on his clue as to make it unreadable. So at Abbie's suggestion, he goes over to offer James his help with sanding in exchange for getting a look at James's undamaged clue. Jaymes, James and Abbie talk about how great alliances are, even though it looked like all James got out of it were a few verbal tips before Ryan goes to tie a big scarf around his face as protection from the dust he's about to generate.
Natalie gets some nonverbal guidance from a task judge in the form of hand gestures, but Rob's just about ready to start sanding, it looks like. Lexi, unimpressed with Trey's bumpy work so far, tells him to come over and check out Rob's work. Indeed, as Trey and then Gary observe, Rob is spreading the putty in smooth, thin layers rather than slathering it on thickly, the better to minimize sanding when the time comes. Admittedly I haven't done much body work, but I've done so many repairs on the walls in my postwar house that some rooms are made entirely of joint compound.
James and Abba find some local kids who are willing to lead them to the first location, New City Restaurant, but they complain about how hard it was. Sorry this Forward isn't so Fast, whiners.
Chippendale James is struggling with his putty work, which is looking like nine square feet of bad road. This is not the kind of bodybuilding he's used to doing. He says he doesn't see any chance of finishing, but Jaymes tells him to stay calm. Rob, the fourth person to start the task, is the second to get approval to start sanding. Nadiya asks the task judge as he goes by, "You have a girlfriend? My sister's single." Rather than asking Natalie out, he tells her she can sand, leaving both twins overjoyed. James is not only embarrassed at being beaten by a girl, he realizes that he's going to have to chip off his poorly applied putty to start over. One of the twins sees this and yells, "Crazy American!" I've always thought it a shame that we don't hear that phrase on this show nearly enough. Too bad it had to come from another team. But at least James is back in his comfort zone, which is taking things off.