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RECAP: The Amazing Race - "I Cannot Deal With Your Psycho Behavior (Austria)" and "We're Good American People (Switzerland)"

So! Thanks entirely to my laziness you, my loyal(?) reader(s?) are to be treated to ANOTHER two-episode recap of The Amazing Race! There is no particular reason for this, other than the fact that I felt like hell for Monday and Tuesday of last week, and by the time I felt better I figured I might as well wait for the next episode and just recap both at once. AND WHAT A RECAP IT WILL BE! I warn you in advance, this might contain A LOT of cursing, as I was GODDAMN FURIOUS with the outcome of the second episode. TO THE BULLET POINTS!!

RECAP: The Amazing Race - "I Feel Like a Monkey in a Circus Parade (Kolkata, India)" and "You Don't Get Paid Unless You Win (Varanasi, India)"

I was going to post my TAR recap from two weeks ago last week, but my laziness once again prevailed, so here we are with a double recap. I'll make it brief, because I've got movies to watch tonight. Instead of a recap of the last two episodes, I'm just going to jot down some brief thoughts about the major events in each one.

• Luke and Margie got eliminated from the Race in the first of these two episodes, and it happened for a familiar reason: Luke's inability to deal with frustration. Once again he was faced with a Roadblock that turned out to be quite difficult for him (he had to find a specific cup of tea from among about 2000 cups, based solely on his memory of the taste and smell of some tea he'd tasted earlier in the day). Some teams found this task relatively easy (Ron and Jet quickly realized that the smell of the tea was fairly memorable, and were able to find their cups right away), but when Luke didn't immediately find his cup we saw almost an exact recreation of the events of the finale of his first season. Rather than tough it out like an adult, he started crying and moaning to his mother that the challenge was too hard. Certainly the task looked very difficult, and I'm sure chugging cup after cup of tea for hours on end is disgusting, but honestly, you're in a race for a million dollars; suck it up. Margie was incredibly supportive throughout the challenge, but even she admitted that once a challenge starts taking too long, Luke has a tendency to freak out and let his frustration get the best of him. Even the other teams and the tea room employees took pity on him, cheering him on as he struggled to finish the task. The most irritating part was that when he finally finished the task, it was clear that he had given up, and he basically sulked through the rest of the leg, even sitting down in a huff when they eventually reached the Pit Stop. For God's sake man, you're like 25 years old and you're on national television; stop throwing temper tantrums and act your goddamn age. As much as they started off a team that I wanted to cheer for, I'm not sad to see them go.
• Mallory continues to be adorably hilarious, as when she frantically raced down a street and right past the clue box because the other teams shouted that she needed to keep going. When she realized her mistake she ran back and playfully smacked the other teams. I can't remember ever seeing this level of camaraderie between the teams in any other iteration of the Race, and it's an interesting dynamic to see. I'm curious to find out whether it'll last to the end of the Race, or if things will get a bit more cutthroat down the line.
• Kisha and Jen didn't realize that their next clue after the Tea Room challenge was hidden under the lid of their tea bottle, and instead asked their cabbie to take them to the Snapple factory. When they realized their mistake, one of them (I don't know which) yelled "Get the fuck outta here!", which was a rare instance of swearing on the Race. I'm always surprised there's not more cursing on this show; I know I'd probably give the censors a run for their money if I was on the Race.
• The product placement in this episode was disgusting. The entire thing was sponsored by Snapple, and when Gary and Mallory came in first, they were rewarded with a special dinner provided by Snapple, and received the dubious honour of being the first people to taste two of Snapple's new Race-inspired flavours. Mallory in particular looked like hers was gross.
  
  
• In the second episode, the Cowboys made a huge mistake and ended up on a flight an hour later than every other team. However, the Roadblock had one member of each team trying to find six Indian holy men in the crowded streets of Varanasi, and Ron had such a hard time (he went in completely the wrong direction) that the Cowboys were able to catch up and pass Ron and Christina, eventually coming in fifth.
• Kent and Vyxsin (but mostly Kent) continued to enrage me this episode, with Kent first deciding to screw Gary over at the Roadblock (they had agreed to work together since Gary was having an easy time finding the individual holy men and Kent had already accidentally found the final holy man) by running away when Gary needed to follow him. Later Kent banged his head on their cab's trunk lid and decided immediately that this was the cabbie's fault, so he spent the rest of the ride berating the poor man. He then was such a pussy that he made Vyxsin carry BOTH OF THEIR GODDAMN BACKPACKS UP A FLIGHT OF STAIRS! This asshole really is unbelievable, and I kept wishing he'd get gored by a bull while they were there. Vyxsin was a bit annoying too; she freaked out when they accidentally started taking a boat instead of a cab and decided to jump into the river and pull the boat back to the dock. However, next to Kent, she was fine. Unfortunately Ron and Christina sucked just a bit more than Kent and Vyxsin, so it was the father/daughter team that was sent packing.
• Based on the preview it seems like Kent and Vyxsin are going to have a bit of a meltdown next week; Vyxsin was shown yelling at Kent that if they were eliminated she would never speak to him again, and my roommate and I were confused, because that just seems like a bonus for everyone involved. The preview also showed that the teams are headed to Austria, which I'm looking forward to; the European legs of the Race are always my favourite ones.

I'll try to get back on track and have a normal recap of the next episode on time next week. Until then, stay tuned.