Episode Report Card M. Giant: B | 53 USERS: B+ YOU GRADE IT Opposites Repel
By M. Giant | Season 24 | Episode 2 | Aired on 03.02.2014
Margie & Luke are the second team to arrive, and Luke nominates Margie for this one, based on the question, "Who's the mechanic?" In subtitled ASL, he and the editors remind us that Margie built a boat propeller in TAR 14 and a big wooden dinosaur in TAR 18, "And I thought she would be awesome because she can focus on the small details," he adds. The kind of thing that sends Luke right into meltdown mode, in other words. Margie soon sees what's what as Dave is getting underway. There's also a little girl in an orange shirt who seems to be everywhere at once. She's just getting warmed up.
The Afghanimals arrive in third place, having apparently ditched Mark & Mallory at some point between the Academy and the mall. Jamal takes on this Roadblock, and Leo interviews, "Our dreams came true: partying with kids." He's trying to be hilarious as usual, but just coming off creepy. As usual. As Jamal heads into the Roadblock, Leo describes the place as Chuck E. Cheese on steroids. Which is actually not all that far off. Leo joins Dave and Luke at the waiting area, and is surprised to hear that the cowboys are MIA thus far. Then Brendon & Rachel show up, and for the question of who's the better mechanic, Rachel interviews, "Clearly not this girl." No, her skills lean more toward clinging to things for unreasonably long periods of time, a feat she usually accomplishes by imagining they are Brendon. Mark & Mallory show up in fifth, and the mechanic question is clearly a no-brainer for that team (the answer is Mark). Soon he and Brendon and Jamal are unpacking their boxes, still in a good mood because they're surrounded by happy kids and they haven't seen the instructions yet. Then the Globetrotters arrive, and Flight Time is doing this one. Dave at least has his wheels on, and he takes a break to let us know that one of the most frustrating things he's ever done as a parent is assemble toys in Christmas Eve. Been there, done that; I'm currently flashing back to a 226-piece toy kitchen that took me an hour and a half. When Team YouTube arrives, Meghan takes this, because she's always wanted one of these cars for Christmas. "Except it was pink and it had Barbie on it," she clarifies. Jessica & John take a few seconds to decide which of them is going to decide, but she agrees to do the next one if John will do this one. So in case you're not keeping count, there are eight of ten teams at this Roadblock. Big Easy is keeping count, and he observes that the cowboys and the country singers have yet to arrive. Indeed, we see Caroline & Jennifer just now approaching the tai chi class while Jet & Cord are still in the taxi on their way there, while Rachel interviews that every other team has showed up. The country singers get their forehead-clues (Jennifer recoiling from the stamp until Caroline tells her to hold still) as Jet & Cord come running up, wondering how far behind they are. All the way behind, Jet. All the way. Both teams are pretty surprised to realize this as the country singers look for a cab and Jet laments, "First to last." Not to kick him when he's down, but "worst to first" is catchier.