I came into the seasons with very little expectations. Having only watched like 2 episodes randomly of two other TARASIA seasons I knew it would be a bit ratchet.
This was confirmed pretty quickly once I got familiar with some of the editing techniques, the weirdest of which utilized montages of the teams doing tasks where it would show one team doing a task for (not exagerating) 2 seconds, swap to another team doing something for 2 seconds with no caption or anything and then continue doing that between 4-5 teams before cycling between them another 1-2 times to show that they were moving on. It was very haphazard and often the music played during these scenes didnt fit at all but in a sense it added to the charm of the season.
The route while only being within asia i thought did a very good job showcasing a lot of different places and so that wasnt an issue for me. The leg planning however left a lot to be desired. Multiple legs would have a task or two only for the teams to fly to another country mid-leg and have not much left to do before heading to the pitstop. However there were moments when the leg planning shined, like the trip to krabby, and some fun tasks like the impossibly hard digging task or the cryptic child on a swing clue. The final leg was also among the best final legs as i think each team had at least one moment where they were in first and it was close up until the very end.
In the end it was the cast that truly shined. the 3 teams you could argue were the most boring were 3 out of the first 4 boots and the rest truly had MOMENTS. Howard and Sahran's constant meltdowns < 3 team M & M and their constant lulziness and self-deprecating humor < 3
Andy and Laura were also amazing villains. idk if im biased but Andy's lack of any self awareness coupled with his abbrasiveness in public reminded me a lot of my Dad and idk if thats just a thing that comes with being a snobby british person or what but i loved their storyline. The constant "we get the worst luck" line repeated over and over when in reality it was their horrible attitude that got them a ticket in new zealand + yeilded and then their "glass half empty" self fulfilling prophecy moment culminated in their missed taxi that led to their elimination was great.
This season also had the first F/F winning team EVER. however theres not that much to say about them since since they were pretty MOR throughout. yay womyn!!!
Final Assessment: GREAT (barely)
The highs of the season are quite high but at the same time the race drags a bit towards the end. Legs 10 and 11 arent exciting almost at all and another handful of legs are riddled with mid-leg transport that make no sense kinda kill the hype in a lot of legs. Andrew and Syeon I also found to be extremely un-fun and they made it all the way to the end, naturally.
