'The Amazing Race 9' Episode 3 ...er... 3A ... er ... To Be Continued ARGH

Forgive me for I must rant. If you're squeamish or just plain sensitive, you may want to skip down past the next paragraph. This isn't going to be pretty.

I hate continuing sagas. When I see the words "To be continued..." I freak out. I don't watch soap operas or even continuing dramas such as 24 partly because I hate the feeling that if I miss an episode, I'm lost. As a matter of fact, Lost is one of the only continuing stories I watch and that's because I'm masochistic, I guess! (With all the repeats on that one, I must be masochistic.) Yes, I know the whole existence of the reality show genre is a continuing story and yes, I've learned to live with that idea. But I want my Amazing Race to end each week at the end of a leg. I don't care if it's a non-Philimination leg or not. I want a finishing order. I want someone winning the leg; I want results! Concrete results! Is it too much for a show fan to want? Am I micro-managing my television watching? Am I alone in wanting some sort of conclusion to the show each week? ARGH!
/rant

Now that I've got that out of my system, I'll talk about last night's episode - or partial episode or whatever...

The show opened at the Brazilian coffee plantation which was the site of the last Pit Stop. As always, the departure times went according to arrival times. BJ and Tyler were the first team to leave at 4:48 AM while Dani/Danielle were the last to leave at 7:07 AM. Quite a time span, eh? Well, it didn't really mean too much in the long run as the clue directed teams 3 miles away to take a nifty zippy zipline trip which didn't open until 7 AM. So, most of the teams just gathered awaiting the opening and even the last teams weren't so far behind. That is, unless they got lost like Lake and Michelle. (Heh.) BJ and Tyler were a hoot during the wait. They pounced upon or jumped out in front of arriving teams and had a good time of it all. I think these two are adding a lot of outright fun to the show. While they're serious and good competitors, they're thriving on the fun and adventure aspects and creating an atmosphere we don't always see with the teams -- laughter and good times. Kudos to 'em!

I would like to ride a zipline; they look like a heck of a lot of fun. But all in all, I don't think they're much of a challenge. You're harnessed in and just glide down. The first few ones were neat to watch, now they're just sort of a required once each season TAR redundancy. So, let's move along. The clue at the bottom of the zipline directed teams to the airport where they would head to Moscow, Russia. Yep, Moscow, Russia as opposed to Moscow, Idaho. I'm glad the clue specified the country, aren't you? All teams ended up on the same flight, so the scramble would be on upon landing.

Lake whined and fussed that he didn't want to go to Russia because it would be so cold. I hoped they'd dunk him in frigid waters. And, so they did! Once teams arrived in Moscow, they were directed to go to Chaika Bassein where Olympic swimmers train. Oh, no! It's a Roadblock! That, of course, is a task only one member of a team can perform. In this Roadblock, one member from each team had to "take the plunge" from a 10 meter high diving platform into a pool, swim the length of the pool and then dive down to retrieve the next clue. Most of the teams did okay with it. Yolanda balked a bit as she can't swim, but did fine in the end.

Who was annoying and set the team way back? Wanda! I was waiting for Desiree to slap her to get her out of her hysterical hissy fit. Sheesh! What is with that woman? Now, I like Desiree, but she is not her mother's mother! Sigh... instead of slapping her, Desiree teared up saying how proud she is of her Mom. Gag me. They took so long on the Roadblock that Dani/Danielle managed to make it back to retrieve their left behind belongings and go again.

That brings another thing to mind - the teams, not just BJ and Tyler, seem to have a lot more camaraderie a'goin' on this season. I know the Horned Toads (Jeremy and Eric) have a thing for the Double D's (Dani/Danielle), but to keep waiting for them? Not a real bright policy to get ahead in the race, guys. At least they let the girls go back for their stuff alone and didn't blow their lead time. All of the teams seem to be actually more friendly than past seasons. I'm trying to decide if that's a Good Thing or a Bad Thing. I don't like to watch teams fight all the time, but a bit of a spat amongst teams (not amongst team members themselves) is often the spirit of the race. If everyone likes one another it's nice, but will it dampen the competitive spirit? I guess we'll see.

From the dip in the pool, teams faced a Detour - Scrub or Scour. Yes, they sound a lot alike, but they're not. In Scrub, teams had to locate a trolley depot where they would clean a trolley car inside and out, inspected and approved before they could move on. In Scour, there was no cleaning at all. They had to scour Russian nesting dolls for a clue to the next stop. This was a classic TAR bit - the nesting dolls were in a theater with dancers and musicians creating madness as teams frantically, yet methodically, sought the elusive clues. As Ray said, "That music is playing with my head!" It's sort of like a maddening acid-induced Russian dream or something. I loved it!

For some reason, the first teams taking on the Detour had problems finding the trolley depot and ended up going for Scour. The later arriving teams seemed to find Scour okay, perhaps with some lost time. Don't ask me why. I don't know.

Jeremy and Eric were the first to get the clue to move onto the Red Square where they would meet Phil. Thinking back, it didn't say Pit Stop. And, it sure wasn't. At the Red Square, Phil handed them a clue and said, "This leg's not over." ARGH! (Go reread my first paragraph!)

I'm liking these teams. At this point, the only team that bothers me is Lake and Michelle. It frightens me that he's overbearing and a dentist. I'd like him to go away. I'm not all that thrilled with Fran's defeatist attitude. I expected more from her, didn't you? She's reminding me a bit too much of Gretchen. I think the other teams are fun to watch - even Mojo is growing on me. Perhaps they can put Lake, Wanda and Fran in seclusion and then the teams would be perfect.

And, now... this report is TO BE CONTINUED.
(Argh!)