Amazing Race - Week of 4/19

[tomalak301]

Didn't see a thread on this this week but last night's episode was pretty good. I've started to realize I don't like Luke, and now I don't really appreciate Margie either. Luke is coming across as a mama's boy each and every week and Margie just seems too overprotective and when she brought up the whole deaf, colored and the pressures of both, I just scratched my head. Now, Keisha and Jen should have let it go too, and it kind of spoiled the episode that they hadn't.

Other than that, pretty good episode this week. I used to like the Cheerleading girls but their attitude the last four weeks have been crap. I think the team I'm pulling for (And probably have been despite the arguments between them) is Tammy and Victor. They seem to have put the differences to the side and have come out the favorites. That, and Tammy is hot.

 

[Tulin]

Can't stand Luke.

His and his mother's freudian slips were in clear line of sight wit the whole, "HE'S BEEN MADE FUN OF HIS WHOLE LIFE!!!!!!!!" schtick.

Obviously the frustration and pain of a whole lifetime was being distilled into that one moment. It was ugly.

As for the two "altercations" at the boxes - both people were at fault. The first time, from what I could see Keisha(or was it Jen, can't remember)jus kind of bounced and bounded into Luke's personal space - her momentum carried her forward to where she couldn't stop in time. HE did the wrong thing however by trying to swat her away with his arm/elbow. That actually could have been construed as assault.

After that it got personal and all bets were off.

I think the girls came off better in the end because Margie(whom I used to like but now put her in the same category as Victor, who I LOATHE)just EXPLODED out of nowhere. I once worked ina Caltex and had a woman explode like that but much worse, because I could not give her a discount of a few cents. She actually went really mad and started pushing things off shelves. the funny part too was that she was in a business suit and was all done up. Obviously she had had a REALLY bad day and this was it all coming out. My reaction was one of shock but I know some people would also laugh(depending on the severity of the outburst), because it is kind of embarrassing to see such passionate raw emotion coupled with obviously very sincere words coming from very deep down.

I probably would've laughed, too and, in all honesty here, Luke's unintelligible "speaking" doesn't help things. Depending on education and previous exposure to people with disabilities, some people get uncomfortable and embarrassed.

Deal.

And I mean, BOTH sides deal.


This was very interesting from a psychological point of view seeing people reacting under stress and also under "accumulated stress".

 

[Skywalker]

How uncomfortable must Tammy and Victor have felt at that roadblock, standing in-between those two groups?

 

[Tulin]

I thought that too. It is one of the few times this season when Victor has not had that stupid smile on his face that I just want to smack off.

 

[Brent]

Sorry, my dad came into town last night, and I was with him, wasn't here to setup the thread.

Ok, so after watching the episode I found Luke to be at fault. IMO he started it by pushing her aside with his elbow. Yes, she called him a bitch, cause he WAS. We all know he is whinny anyway. Also, the second time he did push her into the clue box. I understand their anger toward him. I don't understand why Luke and his mother thought it was because he was deaf though, I was screaming at my TV saying THAT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH IT, it isn't cause he's deaf, it's cause he's a bitch! He could have had the best hearing on Earth and still gotten the treatment he deserved for that move. I always hate it when people revert to using the handicap as an offensive/defensive weapon, saying that people are making fun of him or being angry at him and blaming him cause of the handicap. I saw NO indication that his being deaf had anything to do with it.

No surprise the brothers went home, though the speedbump was a little easy.

Tammy and Victor are really strong competitors in this race, they have a good chance at winning, unless they royally screw up.

 

[Tulin]

That is my problem with a LOT of disabled/minority people and the whole PC thing. It's a defense to hide behind and to be as rude and offensive to others while as soon as you call them on it you are labelled as "UnPC!"(oh the HORROR!!! )or "racist!!!"

It dilutes the REAL cases of bigotry or marginalizing and, like the boy who cried wolf, makes them all seem trivial.

What makes me sick is that, if Luke and his mum win, there will be much hue and cry about how deaf people can do ANYTHING!!!!1!! My thoughts, after the first show with this sissy boy was that, "Actually, I NEVER thought deaf people COULDN'T....in fact, I don't think about deaf people much at ALL, let alone wondering what you can and cannot do!"

The irony of course being that, were they to win, it would NOT be a purely deaf team winning. Without his mum helping him, he'd be back at LAX crying in the bathroom. It's this "LET'S CELEBRATE THE CRIPPLE!!!!!" mentality when, in fact he is being more than aided by a hearing, fully functioning person that makes me shake my head.

No - fact is, your friends are right - you COULD NOT do it all on your own and there's nothing wrong with that. I have limitations, as does every person reading this and posting here. We all deal with it.

Luke is a whiny mummy's boy with a LOT of hangups who, it appears has been told all his life how special he is and suddenly people are not treating him like the porcelain doll and special little snowflake he thinks he is and he starts getting abusive....and worse, physical.

They should have been given a penalty for Luke's physical aggression. If he was a hearing person, he WOULD have.


Typical and to be expected, I guess.

 

[firehawk12]

I think I cringed when the mother said "you're black, you should understand" card.

Oh well, I'm sort of glad that the ethnic teams have an inherent advantage on the race. Last time (or was it two years ago?) it was the daughter/father team in Taiwan. Good times.

 

[Pegaritaville]

Luke is a whiny mummy's boy with a LOT of hangups who, it appears has been told all his life how special he is and suddenly people are not treating him like the porcelain doll and special little snowflake he thinks he is and he starts getting abusive....and worse, physical.

Exactly. I expressed my dislike for Luke weeks ago, but until this last episode, I don't think I fully grasped how enabling his mother seems to be. Granted, it's tough to tell from a subjectively edited tv show, but I'm getting the impression that he's been pretty coddled all of his life.

As far as what happened at the clue boxes, it looked like "incidental contact" to me. Both teams overreacted. At the mat, I don't think Jen and Keisha were laughing at Luke- it seemed more like they were laughing at the absurdity of the situation. Luke's mom going off on them was out of line, IMO.

 

[Bloodwhiner]

This was easily one of, if not the most annoying episodes of TAR I have watched. I really like the show and look forward to it each week. This time, it became "enough, already about the stupid push." It was like watching two little kids doing the old "She did it" - "No, He did it" arguments. It just got tiresome.

And yes at the end you could plainly see Tammy and victor were very uncomfortable. One shot showed them looking off in any direction but the other teams.

 

[Skywalker]

Poor Tammy. Stuck in that situation.

Really, though, Phil could have told them to go ahead and move on to wherever it is the teams stay during the pit stop while Margie/Luke and Kisha/Jen hashed things out.

 

[Brent]

Poor Tammy. Stuck in that situation.

Really, though, Phil could have told them to go ahead and move on to wherever it is the teams stay during the pit stop while Margie/Luke and Kisha/Jen hashed things out.

If it were me, i would have backed away slowly anyway

 

[tomalak301]

Poor Tammy. Stuck in that situation.

Really, though, Phil could have told them to go ahead and move on to wherever it is the teams stay during the pit stop while Margie/Luke and Kisha/Jen hashed things out.

If it were me, i would have backed away slowly anyway

Why couldn't they excuse themselves and go to wherever it was they stay. Other than helping the other two teams through the Detour, they didn't need to get involved and just being there is awkward. I'm a bit surprised they were.

 

[McCoy]

No surprise the brothers went home, though the speedbump was a little easy.

I don't think the speed bumps are supposed to be difficult, just supposed to eat up some time.

 

[Skywalker]

Oh, did anyone else crack up at the Jaws-style music they played as the bird swam up to bite Luke?

 

[Tulin]

Yes - we re-wound it twice and laughed our arses off each time.

I liked that they made fun of Luke by doing that.

 

[Spot's Meow]

The Jaws music was hilarious. The whole fight was stupid, they were both at fault but Luke more so, and their laughing had nothing to do with being deaf.

This past weekend I had the chance to see a presentation type thing by Toni and Dallas, the mother/son team from last season. I actually live in the same small town as Dallas. It lasted a couple of hours. They played clips from the show and then talked about "what really happened." It was very interesting and informative.

Someone asked them what they thought about Margie and Luke. Dallas said that he thinks Luke is relying on his disability too much as an excuse and Toni said that Margie was carrying the whole team. And this was before Sunday's episode aired, so I can only imagine they feel more strongly this way now.

They also said that they felt the editing on their season, for all teams, was very accurate. So maybe this is the real Margie and Luke.

 

[Skywalker]

I think part of Margie's blow up was also partly just due to stress. They are all on kind of hectic schedules during the race and having to deal with a lot of unfamiliar cultures and high-pressure situations (especially in India, seems like every time the Race goes to India everyone struggles). I don't think Kisha and Jen were laughing at Luke, just at the situation.

 

[Tulin]

This past weekend I had the chance to see a presentation type thing by Toni and Dallas

AWESOME!!!!

Please feel free to tell us more - we LOVED Dallas!!!!!!

 

[Canadave]

I think part of Margie's blow up was also partly just due to stress. They are all on kind of hectic schedules during the race and having to deal with a lot of unfamiliar cultures and high-pressure situations (especially in India, seems like every time the Race goes to India everyone struggles). I don't think Kisha and Jen were laughing at Luke, just at the situation.

Yeah, in all honesty, I probably would have done the same in that situation. How else can you react, really?

Margie and Luke have definitely become my "anyone but" team now... I'd even prefer Jaime and Cara to win over them.

 

[Tulin]

I must admit, I'd rather have Victor win, now, rather than M&L.


And I LOATHE Victor but at least the adorable and obviously very good hearted Tammy would benefit.