S2E11 ... Team Maggot and Team Weasel

Folks on the sub promised an iconic episode and this certainly delivered. The kind of shenanigans you only dream about happening in a TAR episode. With an hour and a half of action to sift through, my memory is getting hazy, but I will aim to cover it all.

The episode started with teams making their way from NZ to Hawaii. There was some entertaining banter as Tara once again flirted with the other team, and said "Wil doesn't like me talking to you, he says 'don't talk with the maggots'.". WHY HAVE WE ONLY JUST HAD THIS QUOTE IN THE FINAL EPISODE? I've been looking for a team name for C+A, and Team Maggot is absolutely perfect. Later, during the diving roadblock, he calls Blake and Paige 'weasels', another perfect nickname. I'm bummed that I haven't been able to call them that the whole time.

Teams had to initially hunt for a pineapple. Annoyingly, all of the detours and roadblocks this episode counted for nothing because they were equalised over and over again until the very finale. But they were entertaining. Teams had to either find a red pineapple by cycling or one of four yellow ones by walking. For some reason, Tara called them "pin-apples" Weird. I disliked that Team Maggot were able to go to the same pin-apple as T+W. There should have been just one clue per yellow pineapple so that teams couldn't follow other teams.

Then it was off to the infamous diving road block (I don't know if it's infamous but there was definitely drama here). Blake came last and left first in a stunning show, while Wil floundered in the water, unable to complete the challenge for some time. Here is where I absolutely lost any respect I still had for Tara. She was utterly verbally abusive to him at this point, repeatedly calling him an idiot and stupid for not being able to do the task. How is that supposed to motivate him? I was really shocked by her language, and if she thought she looked good in comparison to Wil, she's completely wrong. Later on in this episode she started blaming nonsensical things on him, and her slowness compared to Wil at the final stretch is what ultimately cost them the prize. Wil might have looked unhinged throughout the season, but I come away thinking she is the worse person overall. The things she yelled at him were disgusting and totally unfair. I'm glad the season is over so I don't have to hear them bicker again.

After the diving came the first iconic moment of the episode, where Blake and Paige hopped over a wall to come in first place ahead of Wil and Tara, winning a plane holiday to London and Paris right in front of the other team. God that was delicious to watch. I suspect Phil himself must have been entertained, being able to see both teams coming at him at once. Annoyingly, it was deemed that Wil and Tara were delayed by one minute by production, (HOW? How can they possibly claim that? Please comment) so both teams got the prize and started at the same time. Just petty.

Then came the final leg which was surprisingly long and yet contained no detour. Teams had to go to ALASKA! once again. Why? Are there no other frigid places to take teams at the end of a season of TAR? I chortled that they were going back to Anchorage.

The second iconic moment came when Wil and Tara LOST THEIR CLUE! You mean to tell me that neither of them burned the information into their brains the second they saw the clue? I was astonished and wondered what would happen. It would be insane if a team dropped out at the last minute. The other teams were absolutely right for not sharing their clue.

Even more insane, however, is that Tara somehow managed to figure out where they were going again. I still don't know how she did it, by going through a list of flying businesses in Anchorage? I guess? Somehow she did it which is pretty incredible, but man that was delicious drama. Wil was so happy that he jubilantly came over to tell the other teams they were back in the race. I thought this was totally fine behaviour but of course Tara dismissed it and distorted it as him being a jerk. She just hates him and anything he does at that point, and I think she couldn't see clearly because of it.

Teams had to sleep in an igloo (but NOT a pit stop, so they were equalised!) and then do a fun ride on a snowcat. For some reason, T+W's was slower, and this gave Wil a chance to call Tara an idiot. UGH ENOUGH. I'm bored by their drama.

The one roadblock included breaking an ice globe, which reminded me of the ice hacking roadblock from the beginning of Season 34! Both the maggots and weasels figured out that chiselling away at it was the best solution while an anxiety-ridden Wil decided to throw everything he could at the problem, which made for a more visual spectacle. I did enjoying seeing the flame thrower, although it was not very effective. Drills, hammers... god he looked like an idiot.

T+W were happy to learn the finale would be in San Francisco. A funny move included the maggots driving to Fairbanks airport thinking they would get an advantage, only to get straight onto a flight to Anchorage and everyone else.

You could feel the desperation in all three teams as they sped out of Oakland airport and into some taxis. For people who knew the city well, T+W could not get a break as they couldn't get a taxi from the front or back of the queue somehow and got into an argument with the taxi conductor man. The third iconic moment from this moment was Wil saying "It's important, it's for a million dollars!" and the guy saying "I don't care! I'm not getting it." Fucking badass line. I was reminded of 90 day fiance and the airport cleaner trying to dust up Tania's rose petals that she had strewn carelessly on the floor to look romantic, and trying to shoo away the janitor who simply said "Boss says it's no good"

I thought there were some particularly well-filmed shots of all three teams running through San Francisco. In HD, they might have looked cinema-worthy.

Wil and Tara realised they couldn't beat the maggots in a foot race and Wil, bless him, tried a tactic that could have worked if Tara had actually tried to go along with it. But it was very slapdash, and the maggots didn't fall for it.

Like before, it was a footrace to the end, and inevitably, the maggots won. I was desperately hoping that the Weasels would somehow find a way to jump over a wall and beat them just as they had done in the previous leg, and in Namibia. That's their signature move. Wil looked absolutely crestfallen. I honestly felt bad for him, but it's actually rather remarkable that the most dysfunctional team I've ever seen managed to lose the race by only a few seconds. I would have been pissed off if they won. This makes me think there will definitely be teams that I will be upset about winning. In fact I already saw a spoiler about season 6's winner.

We looked up what each team had done since, and were most surprised to find out that Blake FOUNDED Toms Shoes (which my wife has a pair of). Also, Paige is gay. Huh. I didn't find anything interesting about the other teams except that the gutsy grannies are apparently still alive. Wow.

And that concludes season 2! Want me to keep going for Season 3?