Journey to South Africa, Part I

Ayanna retraces her family roots.

Analysis

I'll pretty much keep this analysis in breakdown mode since it's a two-parter; therefore, I'll save the bulk of my comments and criticism for the conclusion next week. Until then, here's what I've been able to surmise from the goings on this week....

Many have criticized this season for straying away from the series' premise; and as far as I'm concern, the series strayed away from its premise during the second season! But this season titled, "Road Rules: Semester at Sea" appears to be anything but Road Rules; In fact, some have effectively dubbed this season "Real World: Semester at Sea, The Young and the Clueless, or just plain (my favorite)--"Club Med at Sea".

Now to be fair, I had mentioned in my Latin America Season Recap that I'd dive into this season with as open mind; knowing ahead of time that this season wasn't going to be business as usual. But still, whenever I feel compelled to turn the other cheek and overlook one change in the Road Rules status quo, here comes Yet Another course change in the system, diverting the show further and further away from its premise!

"Journey to South Africa, Part I" features such as example. When the Roadies (on second thought, given this season's set up, calling them Roadies would be highly unjustified!) arrive at Robben Prison (no longer in operation; and now serves not only as a museum, but also as a testament to the atrocities that once occurred in side) they meet Eddie Daniel, a former inmate who befriended Nelson Mandela while incarcerated. Their mission--or as Mr. Daniel puts it, their "assignment" (heck, there're not even acknowledging that there're called "missions" anymore! "Your Assignment" What is this, Mission: Impossible? Hmm, nah don't get me started on that! Ok, where were we? Oh ya!)

The groups' "assignment": In pairs of two, to stay with three South African families: An African family, an Afrikaner A.K.A "The Bunkers", and a Colored Muslim family. Almost Immediately Ayanna and Smooth Operator claim the African family as their own, so Clueless and Pua choose the Muslims, one of which just happens to be an avid surfer--just like Pua (Ooooh I'm sure that's just a coincidence!), which in-turn leave the leftovers--Pawel and Shawn destined for 704 Hauser St.

When they arrive, Shawn is abit apprehensive about meeting the Bunkers who took waaaay too long to answer the door (probably hiding the Aryan Nation material, but I digress)! Pawel reassures Shawn if things go down, he's got his back! Soon the front door admits Gloria who introduces our weary travelers to the rest of the Bunker Klan (If you look closely over Gloria's shoulder, you can spot the King of the Hill (Archie) on the phone....perhaps with the police? But once again, I digress). And it looks like the whole Bunker Klan is in the house: Archie, Edith, Gloria--however, no "Meathead" A troubling sign that liberal lips are not wanted!

Then everyone puts on their best "fake" smile to look good in front of the world while Archie welcomes our boys to his humble home with an expression that screams, UNTRUSTWORTHY! I don't care what color you are, you could not have gotten a goodnight sleep in that house! And the proceeding scene with everyone mute and twiddling their thumbs was just priceless! To say that the atmosphere between our boys and the Bunkers was unstable is an understatement! I'd assume to feel less tension between two binary pulsars than the occupants at 704 Hauser!

However, Pawel attempted to break the ice by expressing how wonderful this experience is, "I think I speak for both of us when I say we're extremely happy to be here." Oh come off it man! You don't want to be there anymore than I do!

Shawn's still justifiably uneasy, so All in the Family decides to take our travelers on a little sight-seeing tour of Cape Town; and to make Shawn feel even more uneasy, Archie highlights a memorial marker for a mass grave of murdered blacks....then makes the brilliant revelation, "You'll find that a lot of black people in the townships actually hate white people." No Spit! Hold on there Archie, we'll make a Furman out of you yet! At least both Clueless/Pua and Ayanna/S.O's encounters with their respective families was under a more serene atmosphere!

But while this episode shines from both a moral and ethical point of view, at times I felt like I was watching a CNN or National Geographic Special! I'll probably have more to say on this next week, but I just wanted to point out how it appears that the producers are trying to mold the show into something else all together, the question is what?

Stay Tuned..........

Goofs

• Inquiring Minds Want To Know: When Pua and Veronica arrived at the Muslim house, one of the younger men immediately asked Pua if she was from Hawaii. How could he have known (first time meeting her) that she was from Hawaii? Even if you buy into the fact that he came to that conclusion based on her physical appearance, that's an awfully narrow-minded assumption to make considering (before he heard her voice) Pua could've been a native of New York, Florida, Canada, Brazil, England, Australia, or anywhere else in the world! The point I'm trying to make is that it's pretty shallow for someone to make a judgment call on a person's place of origin based solely on looks. He might as well had assumed Veronica was from Mexico!

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