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
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.The second leg doesn't start off quite as smoothly as the first, as the cowboys misunderstand directions to the next destination as being a 15-minute jog instead of 50 minutes, Brendon & Rachel run off in a random direction and Margie & Luke are stepping all over each other in the process of getting their first cab. Most unfortunate of all at first glance is Mark & Mallory's alliance with the Afghanimals, but that will soon be the least of their problems. At an academy across town, a tai chi instructor stamps their next clues on their forehead. This sends them to an indoor play park, where a Roadblock requires one member of each team to put together an electric toy car, using instructions in Chinese while little kids run around distractingly. Everyone meets up here except the country singers, who left in last place, and the cowboys, who fell to last place after trying to travel too far distance on foot. Mark finishes the Roadblock in first place, Margie in second, and Dave in third, so clearly the parents have the advantage here. But since Mallory left Mark's backpack behind, that won't last, and they're soon having a meltdown over when, if, and how to retrieve it. Mallory's cool with just proceeding without it, because, of course, it's not her backpack. Mark feels differently, however, the backpack's contents comprising a significant hunk of his net worth.
While Caroline struggles with the Roadblock, Jennifer shakes Cord down so hard for the spare Express Pass that his teeth rattle. He and Jet hand it over, and the country singers immediately use it for the first task in the second leg. So the country singers are out of there right after the cowboys, who now have the only Express Pass still in play. At the back of the pack, Meghan and John are the last to finish the Roadblock, and Meghan helps her TAR 22 ally. Which she may live to regret.
Margie & Luke are the first team to find the Detour where they have to play "featherball," a game that is to hacky sack what badminton is to tennis (everyone skips the weird smoke-suction one that I'll explain in the full recap). Eventually all the teams find their way there, but keeping the shuttlecock in the air for ten kicks proves a challenge for all of them. Dave & Connor leave for the Pit Stop first, but after them it's looking close. It's a footrace for the win, with Team Big Brother winning their first leg ever, seconds ahead of Margie & Luke and minutes ahead of Caroline & Jennifer, Dave & Connor, Flight Time & Big Easy, Jet & Cord, and the Afghanimals. John & Jessica and Joey & Meghan come in eight and ninth, leaving Mark & Mallory to arrive in last place and face Philimination in front of all the rest of the teams. Wow, maybe a preexisting relationship between teammates is more vital than I thought.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!"Guangzhou, China has been referred to as the world's factory," Phil narrates, "where you can find anything at a competitive price." Just like in a factory? He's coming to us from outside the Guangzhou Opera house, which he describes as "award-winning." I might believe that if there's an award for buildings that look like spaceships. But it's now the start of the second leg, so what're you gonna do? Cowboys Jet & Cord won the first leg, so they're starting this one at 8:16 AM, like it's an office job or something. The first clue of the leg reads, "Make your way to the Chen Clan Academy and stand still in front of the master to receive your next clue." In a clip, the leader of a yellow-clad tai chi class advances aggressively on the camera and then presses an inkstamp on the forehead of a production assistant, so presumably that's what the racers will have to undergo.
Jet & Cord run into each other while trying to leave the mat, which is some foreshadowing right there. Leaving the grounds of the opera house, they wonder not only where they're going, but whether they need a cab to get there. Jet interviews that after winning the two Express Passes in the first leg, they're happy to have one for themselves, but the one they have to give away is "just kind of a headache." Jet agrees that they've been trying to decide whom to give it to and when. Has it occurred to them to hold it over every other team's heads to get what they want like Marie did last season? No? On one of the city's vast pedestrian walkways, they find a local who can understand them enough to know where they're going, but can't get them to understand that it's probably too far to run. In subtitled Chinese (sorry, I don't know how to distinguish between Mandarin and Cantonese so I'm just using the generic term like a RACIST), he explains that it would be about a fifty-minute run. He tries to convey this by holding up five fingers, which Cord interprets as five kilometers. The local tries to further clarify by pointing to his watch, holding up a finger to wait, and then showing them five fingers. The cowboys seem satisfied that they've only got a fifteen-minute run ahead of them, thanks to the combined phenomena of the language barrier and hearing what they want to hear.
In news related to things you don't want to hear, Brendon & Rachel are leaving the mat in second place, at 8:23 AM. Rachel starts running off in a random direction, cutting through a densely wooded park for some reason while Brendon tries to both keep up and figure out what she's doing, which latter task is extra difficult because she doesn't know what she's doing either. Before the leg, she interviews that she and Brendon worked well together in their first leg this time around. "No emotions," she explains, and Brendon says they've already had a leg where Rachel hasn't cried so they're doing well. Rachel acts mock-offended, which is better than crying. They do manage to find a local who advises them via mime to take the Metro. She's either moving her hand low along the ground to indicate that they should be on the subway, or to indicate that they should lie down on the ground and never get up again.