Post by Dale on Jul 12, 2010 9:44:53 GMT -8
I reread the entire season this weekend, and I realized it'd be a good idea to start this.
With season three around the corner, I thought we could all look back on, and share, your thoughts of this season. Your overall feelings, your favorite legs or moments, and your least favorite legs or moments.
For Bob's inaugural season, I think it was a pretty decent. A good cast of characters, diverse personalities that meshed well, and almost every leg had nail-biting endings. The good thing about it is that, with the exceptions of Jenova & Sephiroth, Strago & Relm, and Auron & Jecht, no team looked stronger or weaker than the other. It truly seemed like everyone had about even chances of winning.
The game locations and tasks were very well-chosen and very well-written, in spite of Bob's lack of seriousness in regards to the episodes. And he kept the suspense up at almost every turn, whether intentionally or not.
The elimination order was actually pretty decent, too, even though I'd personally switch some teams' places in said order around. And there was definitely at least one team I'd have preferred to reach the F3 over another.
One of the things that made this season was the adorable friendship/alliance between Yuna & Rikku and Shinra & Rufus, which started in episode five and held strong till the very end. That, of course, also brought us the cute Yuna/Rufus flirtation. Two teams that looked like they'd run out of steam early reached the end, and both finished in the top two! (I'd have greatly preferred the order being switched, but whatever.) And I can't forget the cuteness that was Steiner & Beatrix and their strong bond as a couple. Even when they fought, they never let it bother them. They always stuck it out and fought their hardest to survive in the race. Amarant & Lani and Fujin & Raijin made great endgame antagonists, and Auron & Jecht were interesting breakout villains, even though I didn't particularly like them. The myriad of ways they screwed others over was something to be seen.
I also enjoyed Edgar & Sabin's bitching and moaning whenever they didn't finish first. Even when they finished high, they just couldn't be satisfied! But I liked it because it wasn't particularly annoying. Strago & Relm were cute underdogs who just never found their footing, and it was amazing that nearly every bad thing that happened to them was pretty much Relm's fault (except their elimination, which, if you think about it, really was more Strago's fault for knowing it was a bad idea to ally with Auron & Jecht, but just standing idly by while Relm did it, anyway, and not saying anything). Tifa & Paine had potential after their first-leg victory, but couldn't get off the ground after that. And Jenova & Sephiroth, while I also didn't care much for them, were hilarious first-outs!
Now for my favorite and least favorite moments.
Favorites:
And my least favorite moments:
Those are my thoughts. What about all of yours?
With season three around the corner, I thought we could all look back on, and share, your thoughts of this season. Your overall feelings, your favorite legs or moments, and your least favorite legs or moments.
For Bob's inaugural season, I think it was a pretty decent. A good cast of characters, diverse personalities that meshed well, and almost every leg had nail-biting endings. The good thing about it is that, with the exceptions of Jenova & Sephiroth, Strago & Relm, and Auron & Jecht, no team looked stronger or weaker than the other. It truly seemed like everyone had about even chances of winning.
The game locations and tasks were very well-chosen and very well-written, in spite of Bob's lack of seriousness in regards to the episodes. And he kept the suspense up at almost every turn, whether intentionally or not.
The elimination order was actually pretty decent, too, even though I'd personally switch some teams' places in said order around. And there was definitely at least one team I'd have preferred to reach the F3 over another.
One of the things that made this season was the adorable friendship/alliance between Yuna & Rikku and Shinra & Rufus, which started in episode five and held strong till the very end. That, of course, also brought us the cute Yuna/Rufus flirtation. Two teams that looked like they'd run out of steam early reached the end, and both finished in the top two! (I'd have greatly preferred the order being switched, but whatever.) And I can't forget the cuteness that was Steiner & Beatrix and their strong bond as a couple. Even when they fought, they never let it bother them. They always stuck it out and fought their hardest to survive in the race. Amarant & Lani and Fujin & Raijin made great endgame antagonists, and Auron & Jecht were interesting breakout villains, even though I didn't particularly like them. The myriad of ways they screwed others over was something to be seen.
I also enjoyed Edgar & Sabin's bitching and moaning whenever they didn't finish first. Even when they finished high, they just couldn't be satisfied! But I liked it because it wasn't particularly annoying. Strago & Relm were cute underdogs who just never found their footing, and it was amazing that nearly every bad thing that happened to them was pretty much Relm's fault (except their elimination, which, if you think about it, really was more Strago's fault for knowing it was a bad idea to ally with Auron & Jecht, but just standing idly by while Relm did it, anyway, and not saying anything). Tifa & Paine had potential after their first-leg victory, but couldn't get off the ground after that. And Jenova & Sephiroth, while I also didn't care much for them, were hilarious first-outs!
Now for my favorite and least favorite moments.
Favorites:
- Edgar & Sabin's placement as "Currently Boned."
- Anytime Shinra got Rufus's name wrong (which we later got confirmed was completely on purpose). My favorite instance, in particular, was "Rhubarb."
- Tifa & Paine's first-leg victory after foiling Auron & Jecht's near-win.
- Strago's death on leg two.
- Steiner "motivating" Umberto at the Mail Detour.
- Squall reading Ramon's erotic letter.
- Rinoa, Steiner, Relm, and Shinra's domination of the beer guzzling Roadblock on leg three, contrasted with Fujin and Amarant's epic failures at it.
- Yuna & Rikku falling for Auron & Jecht's phony clue box.
- Strago rushing right through the Sewers Detour with "a drunk little girl."
- Edgar & Sabin taking first place from Shinra & Rufus without them even knowing it.
- Yuna & Rikku going from the bottom to the top on leg four.
- Rufus bringing up the unguarded stairs of the Shinra Office Building to Shinra.
- Beatrix accidentally arousing the Nu.
- Beatrix dominating the marketplace Roadblock in Nobilia on leg five.
- Lani's "God, what a WASTE OF TIME!" on the way out of the marketplace Roadblock.
- Yuna & Rikku bonding with Pete in Crustacia.
- Yuna & Rikku and Shinra & Rufus's friendship.
- Yuna & Rikku making out at the Doing Broadway Detour, arousing Shinra & Rufus, on leg six.
- Fujin & Raijin's "steal first place" trick.
- Steiner & Beatrix's miraculous comeback and recovery in New York City, which allowed them to just avoid last place.
- Lani's reaction to being saved by the first non-elimination leg, followed immediately by her and Amarant's reaction to wearing the dresses.
- Every mention of Amarant's dress problems on leg seven.
- Steiner & Beatrix's Fast Forward win.
- Fujin & Raijin's karma-slap from Yuna & Rikku, directly leading to their elimination.
- Though it didn't end the way I'd have preferred, Auron & Jecht and Fujin & Raijin's footrace.
- Yuna & Rikku's footrace/swimrace with Steiner & Beatrix on leg eight.
- The long-overdue elimination of Auron & Jecht.
- Amarant & Lani winning leg nine without Gippal even being at the Pit Stop!
- Steiner & Beatrix's final words upon their tragic elimination.
- Yuna & Rikku's nice treatment of their gold chocobo contrasted with Amarant & Lani's poor treatment of theirs on leg ten.
- Weimar propositioning Rinoa on leg eleven, the final leg.
- Relm, of all people, taking out the giant spider for Shinra & Rufus!
- Yuna finally giving into her feelings for Rufus and kissing him at the finish line.
And my least favorite moments:
- Any moment of Yuna & Rikku ditziness that was just too unbelievable.
- Fujin & Raijin not helping Relm when Strago died on leg two. Ditto Steiner & Beatrix not at least getting them near the Pit Stop like they promised to.
- Tifa & Paine going from first place on leg one to last place on two due to Auron & Jecht's dirty trick with their backpacks.
- Auron & Jecht causing Strago & Relm's elimination on leg four (not so much for what they did, but for what they said to Gippal at the Pit Stop -- took them right from "bad, but I can bear them" to "must go NOW!" in my eyes).
- Edgar & Sabin getting eliminated by the Glide Detour on leg five.
- Most of leg six, really, because it was fairly obvious it'd be a non-elimination leg (even though the VERY first time I read it, I admittedly wasn't even sure of that).
- Steiner & Beatrix's Fast Forward struggle on leg seven.
- Fujin & Raijin losing it all from Fujin's knee injury.
- Every time Auron & Jecht survived a leg.
- Every time someone called Auron & Jecht a strong team. I had no idea being in the middle to back of the pack most of the race was considered "strong."
- Steiner & Beatrix's fight over Rufus on leg eight.
- Steiner & Beatrix not getting the hint about their bad map until it's too late and getting eliminated largely because of it on leg nine.
- Yuna & Rikku getting screwed by their local Burmecian guide on leg ten.
- Rufus nearly scamming the little girl in Treno.
- The "bringing people back to help the F3" twist.
- Amarant & Lani give up near the end of leg eleven, the final leg.
Those are my thoughts. What about all of yours?
