Guest blogger Lenni G. recaps last night's action:

The evening started with a group number featuring eight of the sixteen dancers, all without their "natural" partners.  The choreography from Tyce Diorio was all about the girls "kicking the boys booties."  Um, interesting concept, and probably inspired by Nigel's earlier comments that the girls are the "Beasts" of this season.  OK, fine. 

On to natural couples and couple dances -
 
First up, Sasha and Alexander did a contemporary routine from Dee Caspary that featured a piano.  Nigel called it a good start, telling Sasha she is the "princess of dance."  He was not as kind to Alexander, telling him that he needs to work on connecting with the audience, though his dancing was terrific.  Mary loved the choreography, which was really unique. Guest judge, Kristin Chenoweth, loved both dancers.  Lil C, sitting in as the fourth judge, said it was the "representation of how mellifluous the piano keys are."  Alrighty then.  I loved the very last part where Sasha took up residence inside the piano, with only her hands showing on the keyboard.

We've got two hours to finish "Unfinished Business" and the last four teams standing are all worthy.

First a glimpse at the past bad endings for the teams: For Team Aspie, it was the lost passport. For the sistah sisters, it was the need to pee. For the Globetrotters, it was a penalty. And the father & daughter failed despite prayer.

The Globetrotters leave the Matterhorn first, heading for the warmer climes of Rio. From there they are to take a tram to some famous steps and find a tile that looks like a route marker. They want to make it past this 11th leg because that's where they fell short last time.

Folks who know nothing else about India and nothing else about Buddhism still invoke the notion of karma.

The Globetrotters may only understood it on the "My Name Is Earl" level, but karma certainly seemed their friend.

We're down to five teams at the Matterhorn. Team Aspie leaves first. They head to a heliport where they will be assigned flights in five-minute intervals and get the clue for a secret location.

It's said that after having babies nature allows women to forget the pain so that they might bear another child.

That's not true of all painful experiences. Memory, in most cases, serves an important function. It helps to stop us from making the same mistake twice.

On the other hand, no pain, no gain.

After our non-elimination leg, we're in Salzburg and Team Aspie gets to leave first. But first we get treated to another scene of their joy at winning the 2012 Ford Focus. I don't think this product placement is as effective as the Snapple plug. I wanted to buy the Snapple; I am not buying a Ford Focus.

You'd think that experienced Racers would know that tackling any task involving food is probably not a good idea.

You would think.

The Globetrotters leave India first, heading for a flight to Vienna, Austria. Once the teams arrive in Austria, we're told, they are to find a new 2012 Ford Focus for the next clue.

The trip to Austria gives Flight Time of the Globetrotters the chance to do his Arnold Schwarzenegger impersonation, because that's pretty much all we know about Austria, that Ah-nold is from there. He's impersonation is OK.

It's funny how on the Race, the simplest tasks can cause the most trouble. Sure, there's the exhaustion factor.

But who would think tea would bring someone to their knees?

We're in China and we're down to eight teams. The cowboys, who won the last leg, leave first. The clue sends them to a tea shop where they are to participate in a traditional tea tasting, get a brick of tea and then the clue. Phil tells us that the tea the teams drink will appear in another leg of the Race.
 

That's not to say it wasn't exciting.

In fact, it was pretty close, and at more than one point, it could have been anyone's game.

But I suppose the inevitable is called inevitable because it's inevitable.

Whew. That was a close one.

Last night's "Monk" finale gave fans of the show exactly what they wanted: justice for Trudy's murder and closure for Mr. Monk.

And they did it all without giving me a heart attack.

The first part of the series finale, which aired last week, made a nice case for killing off the Monk character and reuniting him in the afterlife with his beloved Trudy. The more I thought about it over the past week, the more sense it made -- and the more anxious I became. But thankfully, the "Monk" writers had a much more artful ending in mind.

BIG SPOILERS BELOW:

Two moments of clarity.

1) So happy for a solid education that would allow me to look at these five letters:

Z N F A R

and be able to see F R A N Z -- even without having trotted around the globe.

2) It's Dan. Dan is the gay brother to hate.

In truth, it was a smart move, not nice, but what the gay brothers did to the Americas was in the realm of gamesmanship rather than villainy.

But those brothers are just so annoying, aren't they?