The Amazing Race 29 episode 7 review: Sing a song for some to hear
Venice is beautiful, it’s artsy, and it is so different than almost any other part of the world. The teams all being there helped to make up for the fact that none of these tasks seemed altogether difficult and the race probably ran in total for a handful of hours.
The big winner here was Matt & Redmond, largely since this was a reminder that if they can rely mostly on their speed and strength, they will clobber every other team. To us, the hauling luggage Detour was easily the right choice just because it’s all about willpower. The task with the luggage is one where there was so much more room for things to go haywire, given that there were so many different ways in which things ultimately could go wrong with hitting the right notes or remembering the words. It was the far more entertaining task of the two, but we’re trying to think here mostly from a racer point of view as opposed to what the Amazing Race viewer wants to see.
The Roadblock, in turn, had at least some level of finesse since you had to recreate a mask — but yet, at least you were in a cool spot to do it. Nobody other than Liz had a whole lot of trouble with it, and really, Liz wasn’t that terrible, either. Everyone was just really efficient on this leg and there are no terrible racers left. Because everything was mostly on foot or water-taxi, there wasn’t much of a chance for anyone to get horribly lost. This was all about how quickly you do tasks and go from point A to point B.
In the end, Michael & Liz just are the least physical of the remaining teams. They’re the sort of pair who has to be almost perfect if they want to overcome their setbacks in terms of navigation / finding clues. Whether it be missing the clue early, not getting the Detour the first time, or Liz messing up with the Roadblock, they all added up. The good news? It was a non-elimination leg. Other bad news? It looks like their navigation nightmare is returning next week.
All in all, a pleasant leg
This was worthwhile entertainment, and while we’d rag the Race for giving us a fairly easy leg, we’ll take that sometimes if it means we get to see the teams run around Venice, one of the most unique city in the world. We also like the majority of the teams left, even Brooke & Scott (though some of that “like” may be for the unintentional comedy). Episode Grade: B.
Recommended reading
In the event that the show gets a season 30 and it’s an All-Star season, we put together yesterday a list of teams that we’d love to see come back and play again. Be sure to check it out. (Photo: CBS.)