(Posting early before work)

I was at an early-evening birthday party (because the couple involved get up way early for work) and missed the first twenty minutes or so of The Amazing Race, so I'm still unclear about how Rachel and TK got so horribly far behind. I don't think I've ever rooted quite so hard for a non-elimination leg. The nice interview segments, which are generally a requiem, did not reassure me, but I was glad to see the two of them going through the tasks on the leg despite apparently being really far behind. I figured, if they were hours behind on an elimination leg, surely they'd get one of those mercy clues I've seen at least once before that says "Go directly to the Pit Stop, for you the Race is over." Whew!

I was very slightly less bummed than I might have been because the rest of the teams behaved themselves on this leg: Nick and Gramps are always reasonable human beings (even when they get tired and whiny, they are tired and whiny within normal limits) but the other two teams have potential for needing to be repeatedly smacked in the head. And this leg, they didn't really need it: Ron was essentially positive and calm with Christina, and while Nate and Jennifer did get whiny and bickery, they have been much, much worse.

Okay, Nathan and Jennifer also got a couple of interview segments in which they were sitting close to each other and looking affectionate, which is a huge improvement over segments of the past. And I do give them credit for not being Ugly North Americans--one thing that makes me hate Racers is when they go to some non-English-speaking country and then bitch and moan about "foreigners." (The people who live in a country? Are not foreigners!) And even Jennifer, who seems like a thoroughly horrible person at least half the time, is routinely polite to the locals they meet. I realize that saving your bad behaviour for the people closest to you is not exactly a virtue, but her "Guess what? Nobody around here speaks English!" comment sounded like a moment of self-mockery rather than a gripe.

Occasionally Killer Fatigue at the end of the Race seems to make its sufferers into nicer people. That may be happening with both Ron and Nathan/Jennifer. That would be cool.

Now, get it together, hippies! Although really, this final four means we are guaranteed to have at least one consistently cool team in the final three, and that is never something to be sneezed at!