Episode Report Card M. Giant: B+ | 139 USERS: B+ YOU GRADE IT Franked Again
By M. Giant | Season 21 | Episode 9 | Aired on 2012.11.25
Meanwhile, the Chippendales are content with their 10:45 direct flight to Amsterdam, with no "scary 45-minute layover," as James calls it. "Those are terrifying," Jaymes agrees around another mouthful of apple. Meanwhile, Trey and Lexi are booking their seats to Amsterdam to arrive at 1:05. The twins interview that they need to be on this Alitalia flight, and as they tell us how bad-ass they are (which they support mostly by talking about how they tell everyone how bad-ass they are), we see them working their way up the hierarchy at the ticket window, and finally wheedling their way onto flight they wanted. What's Italian for "It's your funeral"?
The sun sets, the sun rises, and Abbie and Ryan rip open their first clue. Literally -- they're starting at 5:28 in the morning, when it's already light out again. Short June nights in Moscow, apparently, but they're still almost ten hours behind the Chippendales and more than eight hours behind the twins. They're momentarily flummoxed to find themselves holding a flag, which Ryan also thinks is France at first until Abbie quickly corrects, "C'est ne pas France!" Cute. Ryan's second guess is the Netherlands, which I don't think has been anyone's anythingth guess up until now.
As they ride in a cab into the rising sun, Ryan says they want to win two million dollars. "So someone's going down, it's not us. We have a few more legs to catch up and I know we will." Abbie says she's just hoping there's not a U-Turn, because "There's two people on the other side that will want to U-Turn us [splitscreens show the twins and Team Austin] and one that won't [as the splitscreen shifts to show the Chippendales]." Ryan says that's okay because they're so far ahead of Josh and Brent. "Start sending the sheep to slaughter," he says. Except for how Josh and Brent are goat farmers. Keep your ruminants straight, dude.
At the airport, the three lead teams are discussing the U-Turn, which they figure Abbie and Ryan would definitely use on any of them if given the chance (even though they didn't before). So one of the twins lays out a plan: if the teams get split up, the first team to the U-Turn should U-Turn Abbie & Ryan, and then the second team should U-Turn whoever U-Turned Abbie & Ryan, which will have no effect on that team but will take the other half of a potential Double U-Turn out of play so that Abbie and Ryan won't be able to use it in turn on Josh & Brent, or anyone else. That's actually diabolically ingenious. Jaymes doesn't appear entirely on board with this, not wanting to hurt anybody's feelings. "That was cute when it was eleven of us," one of the twins ribs him, not entirely humorously. Jaymes would rather not have U-Turns in the game at all, which is part of why he wants to be at the front of the pack in the first place. "Why lose a friend if you don't got to?" he asks. Because that worked out so well for Dave and Rachel last season? Okay, actually it didn't affect them at all when Art & JJ got all butt-hurt about Dave not sticking to the plan, but I sense the Chippendales are a little less bulletproof.