1. TAR5 - Colin & Christie 2. TAR2 - Oswald & Danny 3. TAR1 - Kevin & Drew 4. TAR3 - Teri & Ian 5. TAR17 - Brook & Claire 6. TAR9 - BJ & Tyler 7. TAR13 - Nick & Starr 8. TAR12 - Ron & Christina 9. TAR7 - Rob & Amber 10. TAR11 - Oswald & Danny 11. TAR14 - Mel & Mike 12. TAR16 - Dan & Jordan 13. TAR6 - Gus & Hera 14. TAR15 - Zev & Justin 15. TAR10 - Dustin & Kandice 16. TAR8 - Paolo Family 17. TAR4 - Jon & Al
Took my time on this one because I wanted to enjoy it, and I did! It holds up about as well as I remember. I was actually ready to put this at #2 early on, but I do think the season has a few issues that push it just below the classic seasons, though its definitely the best of the post All-Star batch. To start off, the cast of this season is great. There are very few duds, and there aren't any teams I outright hate. Jill & Thomas are probably the worst because they're just boring, but they have some value later on in the season too. Brook & Claire are obviously the standouts, and I don't expect this is a controversial statement. They're amazing all season long, and easily still my favorite TAR team ever. It's an absolute crime that they haven't been able to make it back on the show despite being asked like 3 times. Nat & Kat are great too, and excellent winners - probably top 3 up to this point in the series. When the season first aired, I was a little sore that Brook & Claire didn't win, and I think I unfairly took it out on Nat & Kat, but I appreciated them a lot more this time. They're still a little "winner boring", but that'll tend to happen with all the other big personalities on the season. Even some of the early boots were enjoyable. I would have loved to see more of Ron & Tony, Andie & Jenna and Connor & Jonathan (even though I think the singing would have grated if they stayed too much longer). Michael & Kevin were fun to watch, even though that team was doomed eventially by Michael's dead weight. Chad & Stephanie were pretty funny because Chad is such a stereotypical...well...Chad. Nick & Vicki I'm a little bit torn on. They definitely had their entertaining moments, but Nick is pretty emotionally abusive to Vicki in ways that actually become a little uncomfortable at points, so I'm not entire sure where I land. Oh, yeah also Mallory was here.
There are a couple things that hold this season back, namely the route. The first half of the race is really good. London is maybe the best premier in the series (or one of them), the Ghana legs and Sweden are good too. But after that it gets a little less interesting, the tasks aren't super noteworthy, and the final leg is sort of an abomination. There was very little skill involved in any of the tasks, so they were basically first in first out. It's even more exasperated by additional stratification of the teams by a helicopter ride that just make it really hard to swap positions throughout the whole leg. Nat & Kat basically won because they left the airport first. Granted, Jill & Thomas did get dropped to 3rd due to a bad cab driver, and while it was fun to see Thomas get dunked on by the girls, that's also a really frustrating way to see things shake out. I think Nat & Kat still win if that doesn't happen, but Brook & Claire almost certainly come in third. There was just no way to make up time that leg, and it was really anticlimactic because of it. But really, I could probably watch that first episode over and over and not get bored. And it does have probably the most iconic moment in TAR history, even though they really go ham on showing that clip over and over.
Seeing as I have an All-Star season coming up, a quick note on the cast. Other than the weird season 14 fetish, I think they basically nailed it. I think if you swap Amanda & Kris and one of the other S14 teams with Toni & Dallas and Brook & Claire, the cast is pretty much perfect. I know Brook & Claire were unable to race, but I'm not sure why Toni & Dallas got snubbed. Even Ken & Tina would have been fine, but I think S13 deserves some representation, and Toni & Dallas were the OG passport losers.
NOW it's finally time for HD. I watched the first few episode of 18 when it aired, and then dropped off. All-Star season seem to kill my interest for some reason (the same thing happened with 11 & 24).
