IN INDIA, AMAZING DANCE FEVER

The Amazing Race, Episode Nine, Season 20, India:

NPR’s Mark Memmott deemed it a “Bollywood Miracle.”

And so it was. In an ending to an episode that featured bickering, barfing, dancing and drama, Kentucky boys Bopper and Mark staggered to last place only to be told by Phil that it was non-elimination episode.

Bollywood movie

It was the second time that they had been given a reprieve, a tribute to their good luck. Or it may just be that Mark and Bopper are simply too good television to go to waste.

The episode started in Tanzania and went on to in Cochin (now Kochi), India, where the action took place.

Team Kentucky was playing hurt throughout. Bopper had a bum knee; Mark was beset by travel sickness that led him to heave on a bus ride. The heat got to him as he hoofed it on stage with the chorus from Monsoon Wedding.

“We Kentucky boys, we ain’t Las Vegas dancers,” Bopper allowed as he watched his buddy misstep again and again.

Bollywood Mark

Mark got it right on the 12^th try, proving, in Bopper’s words, “he ain’t got much rhythm, but he’s got heart.”  And that heart, that persistence – he’s sick, he’s better, he’s on, he’s off, he’s on – made for an Emmy worthy segment. Really, it was Amazing Race gold.

Mark persisted in order to prove something for his three kids.

Earlier he had briefly quit the race, doing that for his kids, as well. (The heat was getting to him and he didn’t want to die and leave his children fatherless.)

Rachel and Dave

His flip-flopping reflects the first law of Amazing Race motivation. Just about everything is done for the kids we never see. You win the money for them; you play hard for them; you lose for them (it gets you home.)

Maj. Dave and Rachel Brown finished first for the fifth time, largely on the strength of her on-stage performance in the Bollywood number. A dancer from elementary school, she aced the routine on the first try.

Her good performance overshadowed Dave’s arrogance: “I have skill and ability in nearly every sport,” he remarked at one point.

As always, he was condescending toward his wife.

“Listen to your fricking husband,” he yelled by way of claiming that his backseat driving had led her to complete the rickshaw challenge successfully. (To the delight of viewers everywhere, he then screwed up on his first try on the rickshaw course.)

Art and J.J.

Art and J.J. remained upset about Rachel and Dave’s “betrayal” when they didn’t U-turn Brendon and Rachel in the previous episode.  “We’re done, Maj. Dave, take your Army ass and get out of my face,” Art said to the camera, though not to Dave himself.

The border patrol agents spent most of the rest of the episode musing on gender roles. “Dudes can’t dance like chicks, man,” Art explained. “It just can’t happen.” (OK, he was right on the night. The men couldn’t dance.)

Rachel Reilly, Brendon’s partner, contributed to the stereotyping by breaking down after one failed shot at the dance challenge.  She defended this by saying that as “a girl” she could get emotional.

There were times, however, when the stereotypes didn't fit.

Batwoman

In a Title IX triumph, Rachel proved to be a better cricket batter than Art, leading her to gloat that his team got “beat by a girl.”

And Mark and Bopper were far more emotional than any of the other contestants, man or woman, as they cried a river at the end.

Finally, where were the dating divorcees, Ralph and Vanessa as all the plots and sub-plots collided? Well, they pretty much flew under the radar, doing what they needed to do to stay in the race. Looks like they’ll get more airtime next week, as the previews showed Vanessa taking a tumble.

Overheard:

Mark: People don’t realize how much we need this money.

Bopper: There better be a barf bag around.

Art:  Come on J.J.  You’re the only dude. Come on, put on a good show.

J.J.: I felt like a fat Elvis.

Brendon: When Rachel gets emotional she gets thrown off.

Art (to J.J.): You’re a Bollywood Travolta.

Vanessa: I failed drivers ed.

Order of finish

1) Rachel and Dave

2) Brendon and Rachel

3) Art and J.J.

4) Vanessa and Ralph

5) Bopper and Mark