What if the first leg of The Amazing Race this time around wasn't a non-elimination leg?  I mean, it would've meant we'll have three teams tossed in a space of two hours.  Instead, we said goodbye to yoga teachers Eric and Lisa--they barely got there, point--and to since-engaged couple Garrett and Jessica.

That means we have ten teams left as the race continues going around Vietnam.  It's quite rainy when they got there--reminds me of all this talk about rains and floods in that part of the world--but tonight, it seems, will be the complete opposite.  I mean, check the episode title, which is always a quote form somebody.  Planet Mars?  It's dry there, right?  Barren, perhaps icy, but barren?

On tonight's leg of the race, teams will struggle through the complicated nature of Vietnam--the traffic, perhaps the people, definitely the elements.  Perhaps that's why we'll see Lance bashing an old piece of kit and taking off the motherboard.  It looks like a roadblock, but you know what I mean.  Early days, and absolute stress.

Also on tonight's leg, one team will help the competition, and it'll put a really huge question mark on their own futures on the race.  While it's common to see teams helping each other out, this sounds like a pretty gargantuan move.  Like, what's the situation, and why will it cost a lot?  And why am I thinking it's got something to do with Marcy's language skills?  Although she doesn't speak the native language, as far as I know...

The Amazing Race returns tonight from 8pm on CBS--unless, of course, if football overruns.


- Henrik Batallones, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
(Image courtesy of CBS)