We've seen couples compete on the Race, but now it seems couples are being made. Asian daughter revealed that she's engaged to former Racer Azaria who was on the Race with his sister. Isn't that sweet?
Team Aspie got to the pit stop first and so they're first to head to Tokyo where they'll head to a rotating parking garage and get the next clue.
The teams, being experienced and all, are smart about travel. Most head for a travel agency or computer before they head for the airport. And there are several discussions about whether it's better to hop on the flight to Japan that has a connection through Hong Kong and arrives 15 minutes earlier or take the direct flight.
The Goths and red heads go straight for the 15 minutes earlier route, while Margie & deaf son Luke and funny father & son Mike & Mel go back and forth, and then, deciding they need any advantage they can get, go for the connection. The Globetrotters are with Team Aspie as they mull which way to go. The travel agent tells them there's only room for two more on the flight with the connection, and the travel agent says there's typically no problems in Hong Kong. The Globetrotters give the flight to Team Aspie, saying they owe them one because of Aspie's help last week with a clue. The Aspies aren't so sure the repayment works out well and the Globetrotters are glad to pay the debt on something they didn't want to do anyway.
As it turns out, Team Aspie's debt was paid with counterfeit bills -- the plane has problems in Hong Kong and is delayed an hour and a half.
Meanwhile, the first plane lands and the teams must drive to a shrine and find a dojo for the next clue. Asian father & daughter arrive first and get the roadblock. A team member must dress as a samurai, learn a ritual and then perform it in front of a master. If he approves, they must mount a wooden horse and shoot an arrow at a target. Hit it and they get the clue.
While other teams make their way in groups to the shrine, the cowboys ride alone. And get lost.
Sistah sister Jen is good with details, so she gets the ritual down easily and hits the target pronto. The clue sends them to a railroad station where they are to look for a statue for the next clue.
Boy Goth is all into the aesthetics of the roadblock. He likes the feel of the fabric against his skin. He likes that it's black and yellow.
Meanwhile, the mean red heads, ditched by the other teams, are driving around still looking for the shrine. They can't find it, but manage to find another car's side mirror and smash into it. They offer to pay the man off, but he wants to handle it properly, calling the police. Extra mean red head thinks he's overreacting. After all, he should trust a non-Japanese speaking foreign stranger to do the right thing. What's his problem?
The next clue leads to a detour. Purity involves learning a Shinto ritual for cleansing. The teams must learn a vocal and physical prayer and then stand under cascading cold water for a minute. Frog of Luck involves striping down to skivvies and getting into a mud pit to find a fake frog in the mud while being pelted by other mud bathers.
Despite the delay, the mean red heads catch up to four other teams at the roadblock, but are quickly left behind when less mean red head can't shoot the arrow.
At the mud pit, Team Aspie finds the frog first. Justin chest bumps the stoic grand master and gets the clue. They make it to the pit stop first and get a trip to Costa Rica.
After the cold cascading water, Big Easy calls for his mama, more than once. Perhaps because he's disoriented or perhaps because he's thoughtless, Flight Time accidently picks up Asian daughter's fanny pack (they all have black ones apparently) and takes it to the dressing room. When he notices the mistake, he leaves it in the dressing room rather than returning it to where he picked it up.
So when Asian daughter & father get out of the cold water, they are freaking out, looking for the fanny pack. Asian daughter deduces that the Globetrotters must have picked it up by mistake. "Why would they make such a stupid mistake?" says dad, an existential question I guess.
Asian father's so irked it takes him a minute to notice the fanny pack in the dressing room, but he does. They make it to the pit stop in good position, but Asian daughter is peeved and Phil notices her grimace. She shares her sense of injustice, arguing that the Globetrotters thoughtlessness cost them time. Phil supports her outrage and penalizes the Globetrotters 30 minutes, moving Asian father & daughter up a place. Lesson learned: You can lie to people, give them the wrong directions and the like, but fanny pack meddling will not be tolerated. It is the fanny pack, after all, that marks us as Americans. You might as well spit on the flag!
Boy Goth is pleased that his makeup has withstood the detour, and it really has. Sounds like an endorsement deal to me.
Funny father & son Mel & Mike are in the dark in the mud looking for the frog and it's cold. Son wants to give up but dad keeps pushing. Finally, son forces dad to stop and go in a van to warm up. This opens the door for the last place mean red heads. They find the frog and head to the pit stop believing they've been eliminated for sure.
Nope, it's Mel & Mike, who look too cleaned up at the pit stop to have even completed the task. The son says he's grateful for the experience with his dad. Dad says that the fact that his son made him stop and get out of the cold and mud shows that he cares more about me than the Race, and that feels good. These two are sweet, but c'mon dad, you already knew that.
Assistant Features Editor Adrienne Johnson Martin would like to have her life turned into an animated cartoon.