Into The Heart Of Darkness

The Roadies finally bid a fine farewell to Mexico. That's celebration enough don't you think!

Analysis

Rarely this season have I seen a episode where a particular mission takes center stage and character interactions are left behind the curtains. Especially if it's the same old conflicts we've come accustomed to over the past few weeks....and I sort of like that. I think there has been way too much drama this season, and a somewhat change in pace is welcomed.

You know some conflicts are getting pretty old when you start calling out the events in advance! Take for example the scene at the end of the show where Abe confronts Sarah to talk about her constant bickering. The moment Brian and Josh slid onto the scene, I figured they would give Abe back-up, Abe would get cocky and dish-out idle threats, then Sarah would retreat to trash Abe behind his back. And wouldn't you know it! Everything unfolded exactly as I predicted....except for the revelation that Holly and Sarah both sleep in the nude. I guess the season theme of the naked Road Rules Posse lives on!

But seriously, these two need to hang-up their boxing gloves and come to some sort of truce. Is this how we're going to carry-out the rest of the season? Sarah takes a swing at Abe with a smart comment and he counters it with a blind threat? And just when I thought we were getting somewhere! What the heck was that redemption speach in "This One's For Gladys" all about if we're back to square one? Now in the past, Abe has been characterized as a pest, but in recent weeks I haven't seen him go out of his way to patronize his travelmates. Therefore, watching Sarah snap at Abe for building a bonfire and chopping down a few weeds seems over the top. This looks like a job for Mother Love!

Fortunately, this time around we didn't have to rely on character conflicts to carry the episode. The mission managed to hook me in more so than Abe and Sarah's bickering; In fact, I can only recall one other mission this season (Bullfighting) that was able to keep me interested to the point of whether I cared if the Roadies succeeded or not. And that's a shame because given all there is to do in Latin America, the producers could've done a much, much better job....and apparently they did!

I found out at B-M's site that the kids participated in a croc hunting mission in Belize. Now why they couldn't have made a episode out of that instead of forcing us to suffer through "Deep Sea Therapy" or "Strike the Gold" is beyond my comprehension. And judging from next week's teaser, BMP's mission department is in serious need for some new and "creative" producers!

This week's mission scores points for not necessarily being original because there have been many original missions this season, just not too many interesting ones. But here we not only get originality, but entertainment as well. I especially got a kick out of watching Holly flutter under the stress (Flapping her arms) of having to deal with a hairy creature fondling her arm. Especially since she allowed another hairy creature to fondle her arms along with her neck and sholders while exhibiting no stress at all!

And once again, I have to commend Josh for providing a cool head to help Holly ease her fears. In Fact, if anyone in the group deserved to get paid more it was Josh who did most of the back-breaking work while his useless travelmates screamed, giggled, and chopped down vegetation for the fun of it! One aspect of the mission that I had a hard time buying was when after they had tracked down the Wolf Spider, Great White Hunter (Steve) tells the kids that they've made history in discovering a new species of spider. Now I don't know about all of you, but I personally find the notion that these are the first humans in history to lay eyes on the elusive Wolf Spider of Belize despite all of the native indians of Belize, spanish explorers, slaves, and scientist that came decades and centuries before them a little hard to swallow. But who cares eh? Consistency isn't the name of the game on this show!

With that said, I want to point out something that really pissed me off early on in the show. That was of course when Brian mentioned that they were out of cash and in desperate need of work. Ugh, did they actually expect us to buy that? C'mon, that was total B.S! All this time in Latin America and they're now flat broke! The cast must be one of the most incompentent bunch of idiots ever to not see this coming....or maybe the producers are a bunch of idiots for thinking we'd swallow this gallon of bull--!

I especially loved how the cast poorly tried to prioritize the "out of money" issue by sleeping in REI tents and mentioning how they were going to have to (gasp) "rough it!" by camping out in the elements. Then by episode's end, they're reclining in a plush lodge....writing the money issue off as just another day at the office as it becomes a distant memory. I didn't even see them get paid for crying out loud! I suppose I would've taken the whole money dilemma abit better had it first came out earlier in the season. Here it seems like a strained plot device intended to hammer home the ideal that the kids can still have money problems despite the luxury hotels, full corse meals, and commercial deals! Does that make any sence to you?

I suppose I'm inclined to give this episode a 3. Had the troopers been hunting jaguars, this puppy would've gotten an automatic 5, but the ridiculous out of the blue money problem was enough to knock it down acouple points.


NEXT WEEK: Take your pick: Macarena, or La Bamba? Either way you're gonna get spam.

Jump straight to "Image Is Everything". Or go back to "Strike the Gold".

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