Well, my review for Two-Cornered Hat is officially down now. It got the score that I imagined it would receive, so I am not too disappointed. It was a great episode overall and this is definitely the best Red Jaguars temple loss episode on the show.
THE TWO-CORNERED HAT OF NAPOLEON
MOAT: 7/10
The moat challenge for this day reuses a moat that was very similar to it from a previous production day (Lost Lion Tail/Montezuma day). In the previous production day, the teams had to cross the moat by swinging across together three Babylonian wheels. This moat features a similar premise, but instead a single player had to swing across and make it to the other side before their partner had to cross. Also, there were more tires that they had to swing across with in this moat. The first four teams that made it across would go onto the Steps of Knowledge. Overall, this was a pretty good moat and the four teams that made it across didn't even fall in. The Purple Parrots were the only team that struggled, but they didn't make it across anyways. This was a solid moat for the most part, but it sort of lacked competition.
LEGEND: 5/10
In the early 1800's, the most powerful army leader was Napoleon Bonaparte. Legend has it, after conquering most of the world, Napoleon gave himself the title "King of France...and most of the World". Pierre, his trusted valet, suggested that Napoleon use a different title though since "King" was so common. After going through several suggestions like "King of the Western World", Pierre suggested the title "Holy Roman Emperor". Napoleon was very impressed with the title and gave Pierre his Two-Cornered Hat. Napoleon was later thrown out of France and Pierre and the Two-Cornered Hat got lost at sea.
This legend was very disappointing when you consider how important of a historical figure Napoleon was. All the legend talked about was finding an appropriate title for Napoleon. Not only that, there were some silly moments too when Napoleon was giving suggestions to Pierre about a new title. The legend was too short too and there was nothing to really talk about either. Luckily, Napoleon was talked about more in later legends like "The Melted Head of Madame Tussaud" and "The Good-Luck Watch of Empress Eugenie".
STEPS OF KNOWLEDGE: 7/10
This Steps of Knowledge round was very unusual where the lead changed between each of the four teams. For example, the Red Jaguars got the first question correct and then the Orange Iguanas got the next two correct and pulled ahead. And then later the Green Monkeys came from behind and made it to the second to last step. Eventually, the Red Jaguars met the Orange Iguanas on the last step to go onto the temple games. This round would've got a higher score though if there weren't so many answers incorrect. I counted like 3-4 at least. On a side note, the Green Monkeys had an awesome "handshake" when they got a question correct.
TEMPLE GAMES: 8/10
The
Red Jaguars featured
Carly and
Brian while their opponents featured
Rebecca and
Ryan of the
Orange Iguanas. The temple games were pretty exciting and fun in this episode. First off, this episode used a temple game that was used on only one other production day on the show - Mush Pot Hat/Empress Theodora game. Also, all of the temple games came down to the wire. The Red Jaguars would've easily won all three games, but the Orange Iguanas squeaked by the first two. Luckily, the Red Jaguars won their team game though. After the disappointing legend, the Napoleon theme during the temple games was real nice.
Temple Game #1 - Crown Napoleon
Just like Napoleon, Brian and Rebecca had to grab a crown and crown themselves with it. To do this, they must climb up two sets of rope and grab one of the crowns at the top. Once they reach one of the crowns, then they had to wear it on their heads and place it into their team bucket. The first player who collects all four crowns or the player who collects the most after 60 seconds will win. While Brian was a more dominant player it seemed, the temple game ended in a tie when Rebecca put her second crown in during the last few seconds. In the end, the final score was a 2-2 tie.
Temple Game #2 - Conquer Europe
Napoleon conquered many European countries during his tenure as the French Army general. In this temple game, Carly and Ryan had to climb a wall that had four different European countries conquered by Napoleon: Italy, Spain, Germany, and Holland. The players had a pair of pegs and they must put them into the holes on the wall. If they find the right hole that is used to conquer a country, a "victory salute" will go off indicating that the team conquered the country. The team with the most countries conquered after 60 seconds will win. Both players kind of struggled to get up the wall, but Ryan conquered 2 countries compared to Carly's 1 country, so he got the half-pendant. The Orange Iguanas are up 1-0.5 now.
Temple Game #3 - Defeat the Austrian Army
In the final temple game, the Red Jaguars and Orange Iguanas had to help Napoleon defeat the Austrian army. One player was hanging on a suspended sack while their partners were on the ground. The objective of this temple game was for the player to take their partner and use their body to knock over the Austrian soldiers. The player swinging in the sack can help the player knock over the soldiers too by swinging their bodies towards them. The team that knocks the most soldiers down after 60 seconds will win. In the end, the Red Jaguars were very dominant and knocked down all three of their Austrian soldiers before the 30 second mark. With 1.5 pendants, they earn the right to enter Olmec's temple!
TEMPLE RUN: 7.75/10
Brian and Carly were a solid team in the temple, but this episode is the perfect example of why you need to take shortcuts in the temple. Brian started off in the Crypt before he was forced down into the Ledges. After completing the Rock Quarry objective and passing the half-pendant, he is removed from the Laser Light Room after letting out a really girly (and obvious voice-over) scream.
With about two minutes left, Carly follows his path by unnecessarily entering the Crypt, but also finds the half-pendant along the way. Which is a good thing, because she would need it in the Swamp for this team's last temple guard encounter. After letting out another very high pitched scream, Carly races into the Mine Shaft and tries the Shrine passage elevator. However, she does not press the actuator to the Shrine and instead rides the slow Mine Shaft elevator up into the Lightning Room. After completing the Lightning Room objective (she was the only contestant to complete it after Shane from Ahmed Baba), she completes the Silver Monkey and grabs the Two-Cornered Hat with 9 seconds left on the clock. It was not enough time however as time ended for her in the Shrine.
This honestly was not a bad temple run even though the Red Jaguars made a critical mistake by using the Mine Shaft elevator. Carly never tried the Shrine actuator from the Mine Shaft. I am sure it would've opened, and this team would've had a close win if they did use it. But still, this run was still exciting and one of the few good Red Jaguars temple appearances. This run featured two good players and a lot of screaming.
FINAL VERDICT: 7.0/10
"Two-Cornered Hat" was one of the very few episodes that were overplayed during the Nick GaS days. But that is not a bad thing at all because this episode was very good. Every round was exciting and memorable, and there are no real dull moments. The legend was kind of disappointing for a Napoleon themed episode, but every other round was good at least. The temple run was also very exciting too despite it's flaws. I would definitely recommend this episode to anyone, and it is good enough for even rewatching to sometimes. And considering that the Red Jaguars don't have many good episodes, it makes this one even more special. This was definitely their best and strongest temple loss on the show. Even if you are not a Red Jaguars fan, this episode is a must watch
Topic: Legends Episode Ranking System - COMPLETE (Read 87137 times)
