Legends Episode Ranking System - COMPLETE

[The Red Jaguars]

James was much better than Amelia Earhart's Kristen. They had identical paths and James was taken out one room further than Kristen, and he still had much more time. Even though he did have the Troubled Bridge, he still wouldn't have taken as long as her to climb in the Pit most likely. He wasn't too bad in the temple either until he hit the bottom floor. And honestly, this layout could've been winnable despite the temple guard placement. A team like John Sutter or Lawrence of Arabia would've won this layout. Especially the John Sutter team since both players were fast and smart. And thanks for pointing out Jessica's name, I thought it was spelled like that too. I used Hill though because many people called her that for a long time. Also, I am pretty sure James gave his last name but I could not understand it.

It was just an average episode overall. I am doing another S1 episode next. And it will probably be Golden Ship too. Hopefully it ranks better than Lost Hammer and Golden Cricket Cage.         

[The Red Jaguars]

Time for another episode review, and this time it is Golden Ship. It was a pretty random episode to review, but someone had to do it eventually anyways. Despite the short temple run, the episode itself was not bad and average. Enjoy! 

ELIZABETH I'S GOLDEN SHIP

MOAT: 6/10

The six teams had to cross the moat with the use of an Aztec footboard. The first player on each team must paddle their footboard across the moat to the other side by laying on their bellies and crossing it. Once they reach the other side, their partners must pull the footboards back and stand on top of it and cross it. The first four teams that make it across will move onto the Steps of Knowledge. This was a pretty average moat crossing with nothing eventful happening in it. The first player on each team made it across with no problem, but some of the second players struggled to get across. The Red Jaguars and Orange Iguanas made it across fine altogether, but the last two teams (Purple Parrots and Silver Snakes) had some trouble. In the end though, this moat wasn't too bad compared to the other episodes that day like Lost Hammer.

LEGEND: 7/10

The legend talks about Queen Elizabeth the First of England. Before Elizabeth the First became a Queen, her father did not think that she was capable of ruling England and protecting the country from foreign invasion. In the 1500's while Elizabeth was the Queen, Spain was the richest and most powerful country in the world. The only country that could come close to Spain's power was England. The King of Spain hated Elizabeth and fought he could defeat her. He gathered all his war ships and sent them North to attack. Elizabeth sent her admiral, Sir Francis Drake, and her tiny navy out to protect her kingdom. Even though the English were outnumbered, the whipped the Spanish Navy. Elizabeth welcomed her navy home and gave Sir Francis Drake a Golden Ship as a token of her gratitude.

This was a pretty decent legend in my opinion. It was one of those legends where it was more of a history lesson and didn't have any lame spin to it. And for a Season 1 legend, it was pretty in depth and along. I liked how it talked about how Elizabeth's father didn't think she could be a Queen, but the Legend exemplifies very well on how strong she was. On a side note, Elizabeth's father was Henry VIII. He would have a legend about him two production days later in "Henry VIII's Great Seal".

STEPS OF KNOWLEDGE: 5/10

The Red Jaguars and Purple Parrots were the only teams to get correct answers during this Steps of Knowledge round. This round wasn't anything special, and one question was thrown out because neither the Silver Snakes or Orange Iguanas got it right. The question asked what Elizabeth I's nickname was. In their defense though, this was a pretty tough question. Also, one of the answers given by Joe from the Red Jaguars was "The tudors... or whatever."  Luckily Olmec counted it correct, because Season 1 was like Nazis when it came to correct answers. 

TEMPLE GAMES: 4/10

The temple games featured the Red Jaguars facing off against the Purple Parrots. The Purple Parrots consisted of Mike, who was 13 and enjoyed playing baseball, and his partner Andrea was 12 and wanted to play for the Olympic Basketball team in future. The Red Jaguars featured Joe, who was 14 and played football for a JV team, and his partner Gabby who was 14 and played the piano. On a side note, Gabby and Joe had to be the oldest team in Season 1. Both players were 14. While there were other players who were 14 also, they usually had a younger partner on their team too.

This temple games round was pretty mediocre, and it was not really the players fault either. The first temple game had an awful concept, the second temple game was not even complete, and the third temple game was too picky. The second temple game in general was infamous because there was a missing wig for each girl. What saved this round from getting a lower score was that the it was pretty competitive and (admittedly) enjoyable to watch.

Temple Game #1 - Assemble the Fleet

Joe and Mike had to travel through the Dragon Tunnel and collect 6 Golden Ships. When they collected a Golden Ship, they had to place it on top of their head and continue making their way through the tunnel. While placing the Ships on their head though, they had to becareful not to lose any of them. The player with the most ships after 60 seconds will win. Personally, I thought this was a horrible idea of a temple game. The ships kept falling off the players head and Joe even lost one altogether because it was not easy for them to keep it on their heads. In the end, Mike won the temple game 6-4 (even though it should've been 6-5).

Temple Game #2 - Wigs at the Top of the Tower

In the second temple game, Gabby and Andrea had to climb to the top of a tower and place a wig on each of their mannequins heads. Once they complete that, then they must repeat the same process again until they get all four wigs on their mannequins. The player with the most wigs at the end of 60 seconds will win. This temple game was very unusual because both players were missing one wig in their temple. Either the last wig was very well hidden, or the producers forgot to give them for the girls. As a result, the girls were digging like crazy looking for that last wig. Which is too bad, because Gabby was dominating this temple game before the last wig. In the end, the temple game ended in a 3-3 tie.

Temple Game #3 - Assemble the English Flag

In the team game, the Red Jaguars and Purple Parrots had to recreate the English Flag. To do this, one player from each team had to grab a piece of the flag and place it on their head. Their partners then had to use their heads to carry the flag piece over to the board behind them and place the correct piece with the correct number. Also, when completing the flag, the players had to put the flags in their right orientation for it to count. I must say that the rules for this temple game were very picky. If you notice from the image above, this was the end result of the temple game. According to Kirk, the Red Jaguars only had one flag in the correct position while the Purple Parrots had none. I am sorry, but I felt that if the player put the flag with the correct number, then that should be good enough. But of course, Season 1 rules were so strict and picky. The final temple score was 1-0 and the Red Jaguars go to the temple with 1.5 pendants.

TEMPLE RUN: 4/10

Gabby and Joe only traveled through four rooms during this entire temple run, but they eventually had their run cut very short in the show's first triple capture run ever. And by getting cut short, this was literally the fastest loss on the show. There is not much to say about this run, except that Gabby and Joe were a very slow moving team. They really should've finished with 2:00+ minutes on the clock, but instead they spent too much time moving slow in the temple. But you can't really hold it against either player for this run ending the way it did. The temple guard layout was pretty unfair where all 3 guards were located very close to each other in the temple. Plus, the Red Jaguars only traveled through 4 rooms and the half-pendant was not in sight at all. So the temple guard placement was pretty cheat. Even though this was a Season 1 run, it should've been too obvious that the direct path to the Throne Room would not have work. Even though the score for this temple run may seem generous, at the same time too you can't really blame Gabby and Joe for the outcome of it. At the end of the day, Joe and Gabby would've made more progress if they were able to use all 3 minutes of their time. That is much better than a certain other team that made it through 4 rooms in 3 minutes during that day.     

FINAL VERDICT: 5.2/10

"Golden Ship" was an average episode in every sense and nothing really sticks out about it being good or bad. It was one of the many Legends episodes that were just there and you probably won't bother watching it that much. There are some moments that stick out like the very quirky temple games and the very quick temple run capture. If you are watching this episode just for the temple run, then you best avoid it because there is literally nothing noteworthy about it at all. The players moved too slow and the temple guard layout was pretty unfair. In the end, I say you should watch this episode because it is worth it to watch all 120 episodes. I wouldn't really recommend it though, but I wouldn't tell you to avoid it either. Watch it at your own leisure.

[Purple Parrots Fan]

Golden Ship was just an average episode, nothing special about it other than the quickest loss and the wig incident in Gabby's temple game. And I totally agree about how sloppily arranged the temple games were. Especially the third game with the nitpicky rules. Though even if that OCD "It has to be in the correct alignment to count" rule wasn't applied, the Red Jaguars were still gonna go to the temple. The temple run was pretty subpar, but the temple guard placement was completely unfair. I mean, where on earth WAS the half pendant? Though Joe should've known going from the Cave, to the Wall Climb, to the Throne Room would've been too obvious. Even if they had 2 full pendants, they still would've lost. I mean, entering your fourth room with 1:30 left on the clock, in a first season temple? Way too slow.

Overall, you hit the nail on the head with the whole review. I agree with every score you gave them. I still want to take on the Secret Battle Plan episode review next, but I keep forgetting to do it.

[The Red Jaguars]

Yeah, both Gabby and Joe were moving way too slow. It should not take 1:30 to move through the easiest rooms of the Season 1 temple at all. If they used all of their time, they would've made it to the Spider's Lair at least or maybe reached the Golden Ship. There was nothing special about this run anyways and there is not even a reason to watch the temple run for this episode except for completion. I know I watched it once and rarely go back to watch it. As for the half-pendant, that is a mystery we will never know. This team took the most direct path and there was no pendant in site. I am guessing though that it was somewhere in the Heart Room? And speaking of the direct path, I am sorry but did this team really think they could just walk into the Throne Room and grab the Golden Ship? Season 1 run or not, that should've been too obvious.

And yeah, the third temple game rules was kind of nitpicky. But you're right, the Red Jaguars would've won either way. Isn't this one of the few episodes where you don't mind the Purple Parrots losing the temple games? And speaking of bad temple game rules, Nathan Hale shares the exact same problem with the "Attack Philadelphia" game. I really think the Silver Snakes were screwed in that episode. But then again, the triple capture was entirely their fault.

 I don't blame you either for not having time for these because I have been busy too. I know they can be time consuming too because most take little over an hour to complete. Golden Ship was luckily one of my shortest ones. Mostly because there was not much in-depth to talk about in that episode. Nathan Hale will be an interesting episode to read too. The next episode I am going to do is one that I am uncertain about at the moment. Maybe it will be another Season 1 episode? I can't say which yet though.

[The Silver Monkey]

the triple capture was entirely their fault.

I don't blame James for that at all. He signaled the half pendant back to Christina, it was entirely her fault for missing it.

[Purple Parrots Fan]

Yeah, I honestly didn't think either team was impressive in this episode. I'm not sure how much better the Purple Parrots would've fared. Though if they had gone to the temple with 2 pendants, they wouldn't have gotten triple captured. On a more shallow note, the Purple Parrot boy seriously looks like John from Cricket Cage. The bowl cut and coke bottle glasses and everything. Maybe Joe and Gabby going to the temple was doing us audience at home a favor. You never know.

And yeah, I either forget to write the episode review, or I'm just plain not in the mood to do it. Maybe I'll get to reviewing Nathan Hale tomorrow though. I'm not even worried about us taking turns writing reviews anymore either. Since you always have more episodes to review than me.

[The Red Jaguars]

the triple capture was entirely their fault.

I don't blame James for that at all. He signaled the half pendant back to Christina, it was entirely her fault for missing it.

I definitely agree with you there. Christina failed very hard for not finding it. James signaled it to her, Kirk told her that she passed it up, and it was in plain sight too. She deserved to lose after not finding it. Even Kristen from Polynesian Girl passed it up and found it without Jim or Kirk telling her about it. And it was on the opposite actuator for Kristen's run.

Also, I don't think they would've won even if Christina found it. She only had a little over a minute left when she was taken out? She still had to complete the King's Storeroom and probably would've been forced to enter the Jester's Court. They would've been even lucky to reach the Secret Battle Plan.

Also, it makes me wonder how different the temple layout would've been if the Secret Battle Plan would've been in the Throne Room?  I am sure the temple guard placement would've been different and we might've had a different outcome. This episode is one of the biggest Legends mysteries on the show IMO for the layout change along. At least Belshazzar was understandable for the layout change due to being the first episode taped.

[Purple Parrots Fan]

Yeah, Christina is completely to blame for why her team lost.

[The Red Jaguars]

Well, here is another episode review completed. This time, I chose Henry Morgan even though I didn't originally claim. The reason? I needed a good episode to review, and I love this episode very much. And I haven't seen it in a while either, so I felt that I could make an excuse to watch it again. Plus, it is an awesome episode and worth it to write about. I am surprised no one has claimed it earlier. This is easily the best episode that ends in a loss after "Ivan the Terrible".  

THE GOLDEN EARRING OF HENRY MORGAN

MOAT: 7/10

The first player on each team had to stand on a floating ring and use the ancient fallen rod over their hands to cross the moat. When they make it across, their partners then had to take their floating ring and cross the same way. If the player fell in, they had to start over again. The first four teams that made it across the Steps of Knowledge would move onto the next round. I enjoyed this idea for a moat, and it felt like something they would use in Season 3. The little flaw this moat had though was if the player lost their ring, then they had to either cross the moat hand by hand or start over. But still, some players did this and made it across alright. Plus, it was a pretty quick moat crossing too. I just felt the floating ring was kind of a flawed idea though.

LEGEND: 5/10

The most deadly, most dreadful, and most daring Pirate of them all was Henry Morgan. In the 1600's, he built a Navy of over 2,000 Pirates and attack the Spanish colonies through the Caribbean. In 1668, Henry Morgan and his men attacked the town of Portobelo in Panama. They locked up the towns people in a Church, lit up a bonfire, and threw a victory party. His men also forced the merchants to reveal the location of their hidden gold. Legend has it, the party was in full swing when the beautiful Carmen Guilla enters the scene. Henry Morgan wanted to dance with Carmen, but she refused to do so and called him a pig. Carmen then grabbed Morgan's ear and twisted it until he fell down to his knees. Carmen then told the people of Portobelo to drive the Pirates out of town. Carmen kept Morgan's Golden Earring as a souvenir.

This legend was way too silly for my taste. I liked some of the pirate themed legends on the show like "The Treasure Map of Jean Lafitte" and "The Lost Hornpipe of the Pirate Captain", but this one did not do it for me. The whole plot was just too childish from the ear twisting scene to the lame Pirate puns. The beginning of the legend was good, but the rest of it was stale and was ruined due to Legends trying to add their own spin to it.

STEPS OF KNOWLEDGE: 9/10

After a disappointing legend, the Steps of Knowledge was very exciting. There was close competition between all four teams, and three of them made it to the second to last step. Plus, there was no wrong answers given either, showing how smart these players were. And luckily, none of these questions were silly either despite the ridiculous legend. I enjoyed the close competition and questions asked, and it made it a pretty exciting round overall.

TEMPLE GAMES: 8/10

The temple games featured Shannon and Raymond of the Orange Iguanas facing off against Shem and Ashley of the Silver Snakes. The temple games were very entertaining, and the producers used the Pirate theme very well. I also like the selection of temple games used and they weren't repeat temple games that we have seen a bunch of times in Season 2. The temple games get an extra point for ending in a tiebreaker. Even though the Silver Snakes were a much more dominant team and should've honestly swept the temple games. I am glad they made it to the temple games in the end too.

Temple Game #1 - Henry Morgan's Secret Map

Ashley and Shannon had to reassemble Henry Morgan's secret map to his treasure by collecting them and bringing them back to their board. Each of the pieces of the map are protected by a series of swinging bags. When collecting the pieces of the map, each player had to avoid getting hit by the swinging obstacle or else they were forced to retreat back and start over again. The first player who collects all four pieces of the secret map or the player with the most after 60 seconds will win. In the end, Ashley got 3 pieces of her map and was close to getting her fourth one, so she earns the Silver Snakes their first half-pendant.

Temple Game #2 - Henry Morgan's Gold

In the second temple game, Shem and Raymond had to climb a spider net and grab sacks of Morgan's gold from different "caves". When they find a sack of gold, they must climb back down and place it onto their scale. The higher up the players climb, the heavier the bags of gold will be. The player with the heaviest bags of gold after 60 seconds will win. While both players collected a lot of bags of gold, Shem had the heavier weight and won the Silver Snakes another half-pendant.

Temple Game #3 - Recover Buried Pirate Treasure

The Silver Snakes and Orange Iguanas had to take their boats and pull themselves to Pirate Island to collect the Pirates' buried treasure. Once they have grabbed the treasure chest, then they had to pull themselves back to their dock. While pulling themselves in the boat, the players cannot touch the water (floor) at any time or else they have to return to the dock and start again. The team that brings the Pirates' buried treasure chest back to the dock first will win. In the end, the Orange Iguanas barely beat out of the Silver Snakes in getting their treasure back and both teams end with a 1-1 tie.

The tiebreaker question asked by Olmec was, "Which of these were another famous Pirate? Billy the Kid, Captain Kid, or Captain Kurt." Shem of the Silver Snakes answered "Captain Kid" correctly, allowing the Silver Snakes to enter Olmec's temple.

TEMPLE RUN: 9/10

Sometimes a temple loss is much better than a temple win. This was probably one of the most exciting temple runs on the show, and one of the best losses too. Entering with the temple with the team's only pendant, Ashley starts off in the Crypt and is forced into the Laser Light Room from the Pit of Despair. Notice how she drops her pendant while hitting the Laser Light Room actuator? Luckily, she picks it right back up and continues along the bottom floor of the temple. In the Dark Forest, Ashley finds the key to the Shrine passage, but she fails to use it. Even Shem is shouting at her to go up, but she chooses to bust through the Mine Shaft wall instead. She is taken out with the only temple guard encounter ever in the Mine Shaft. Shem races to where Ashley is taken out and makes great time. He assembles the Silver Monkey fast, but he has some bad luck in the King's Storeroom as it was the third pot that held the key and the third pedestal that opened the correct doors. Unfortunately, Shem failed to notice that the Room of the Mandarin Hand opened from the King's Storeroom. Instead, he runs into the Observatory and completes the Stone Column at a very fast time and grabs the Golden Earring at the last second. At the very end, both Shem and Ashley were very excited to even reach the Golden Earring even though they didn't win the grand prize.

Overall, this was a solid temple run and one of the best losses on the show. However, Shem and Ashley really should've won. Ashley should've used the Dark Forest key because the Shrine passage did work for this team during this run. They would've had a solo victory had she used it. Plus, Shem could've avoided the Observatory too because the Room of the Mandarin Hand did open from the King's Storeroom though. It was still a great effort though and the fact this team even reached a center of the temple run is a good feat itself. And besides, this temple run being a loss makes it much more memorable and the Silver Snakes were a solid team. 

FINAL VERDICT: 7.4/10

"Henry Morgan" is hands down one of the most exciting losses on the show. The whole episode in general was entertaining and fun, and I have nothing bad to say. This episode would've ranked higher if the legend portion of it wasn't so absurd. Other than that, every other round was good and it was delight to watch this whole episode. The Silver Snakes were a really good team all day too. The main highlight of this episode is the very excitign temple run. Shem and Ashley may have not won the grand prize, but they ended their temple run in memorable fashion. Sometimes a temple loss is better than a temple win. I would easily recommend this episode, especially over some of the wins on the show. You will be missing out if you don't watch it and the very exciting ending. 

[Purple Parrots Fan]

Henry Morgan was a very exciting episode, and I can't believe it hasn't been covered yet either. I'm sort of surprised this episode didn't crack the 8 range, but I guess the legend ruined it and brought the score down a little. The temple run was great too, though Ashley and Shem really should've won. If Ashley didn't enter the Mine Shaft, or if Shem didn't waste time climbing on the Jester's Court ladder had noticed the Mandarin Hand door was opened from the King's Storeroom, it would've been a guaranteed win for sure. Oh well, at least they reached the artifact, and they were both excited to do so too. Also, the golden earring itself has got to be the tiniest artifact the show has ever seen. Imagine if Shem had dropped that while escaping the temple. He never would've found it.

Overall, great stuff as always.

[The Red Jaguars]

Yeah, the legend easily brings this episode score down a lot. If it wasn't for that, it would've ranked very close to an 8. But then again, it is not easy for an episode with a loss to rank that high. Only Ivan the Terrible has reached that mark, and that episode had perfect performance by Travis and Elisa. There is two losses that might reach the 8 marking, that being Polynesian Girl and Queen Boadicea. I don't think they will, but it will be close.

But yeah, Shem and Ashley really should've won. I blame Ashley mostly though because she would've won it solo if she used her Dark Forest Key. Although Shem might've had an "Emiliano Zapata" type ending if he entered the Room of the Mandarin Hand and stayed low. Of course, the real reason Shem and Ashley lost was because they used the Jester's Court ladder. Overall though, this temple run was very exciting and I think it being a loss makes it more memorable and exciting. And I agree with the Golden Earring being the smallest artifact on the show. The Medal of Sir Edmund Hillary was pretty small too, but at least the Medal had a long strap. Shem would've had to hold onto that artifact for dear life in order to not lose it. 

Not sure what episode I am doing next, but I think it will definitely be Buddha. Since I have that episode claimed for a long time and to get it out of the way.

[The Red Jaguars]

It's been a while since I have done one of these, but I finally got around to completing "Buddha" after claiming for who knows how long. The episode score may seem kind of surprising, but I didn't think this was a bad episode either. Although it wasn't exciting and there is a reason why no one really talks about it.

THE BELLY BUTTON OF BUDDHA

MOAT: 4/10

The first player on each team had to cross the moat by paddling their rafts to the other side. Once they reach the other side, they had to tie their ropes around the pole and their partners had to cross a little differently. The second player had to cross by grabbing the rope over their heads and walking across the bottom rope that their partners pulled across the moat. If any of the players fell into the water, then they had to start over. The first four teams that made it across got to move onto the next round. I am sorry, this moat round was pathetic. The first Purple Parrot player did not even paddle their raft across the moat at all. Seriously, all four teams were already across and this Purple Parrot player could not even make it half-way across the moat on their rafts. The other teams sort of struggled too, but I had to give this round a low score because of how pathetic the Purple Parrots were.  

LEGEND: 6/10

The Shwedagon Pagoda was a great temple that was located in Ancient Burma. The Pagoda is filled with over two tons of gold, over 6,000 jewels, and a 76 karat diamond at the top of its tower. It also has tons of bells, and one that weighs 23 tons. Inside the Pagoda was a large statue of Buddha, with a large jade belly button. In 1824, the English raided the Pagoda and made off with the jade belly button and the great bell. The great bell sank into the river as they tried to float it away. The Burmese later pulled the great bell out of the water, but the Belly Button was no where to be found. Eventually, the Belly Button made its way to the temple.

This was a pretty lame and short story. This legend literally has nothing to do with Buddha except of how a group of Englishmen stole its Belly Button and made off with it. That is it, no backstory behind Buddha at all or anything. I will admit that I liked how the legend described the Pagoda with all the jewels and gold, but this legend was about Buddha and not some glamorous temple. The reason this legend didn't get a lower score because it was one of the few S1 legends where there was no intern used in the moat image. Instead, it uses an actual image of the Pagoda. Because of this, I found it to be interesting and gave this round a more generous score.

STEPS OF KNOWLEDGE: 7/10

There is not a whole lot to say about this round of the episode. Tony of the Blue Barracudas was the star of this round as he got all three questions correct of his team. The Green Monkeys and Red Jaguars both made it to the second to last step, but the Red Jaguars got the last question correct and joined the Blue Barracudas for the temple games. It was an above average round altogether, but it finished with a decent score because no correct answers were given at all.

TEMPLE GAMES: 7/10

The temple games pitted the Blue Barracudas against the Red Jaguars. The Blue Barracudas featured Jennifer, who was 11 years old and had a nickname "Ricochet" because she bounced all over the place. Her partner was Tony, who was 12 years old and wanted to be a cartoonist. Their opponents were Randy, who was 12 years old and had a collection of couple of thousand sports cards. His partner included Katherine, who was 11 years old and collected porcelain dolls for the Red Jaguars. The temple games were just average, and the Blue Barracudas were a more dominant team in the end. I did enjoy the temple game choices a little bit. It certainly wasn't a bad round though, just slightly above average.

Temple Game #1 - Bells of the Stoop

The Shwedagon Pagoda was famous for having thousands of bells. In this temple game, Tony and Randy had to place 5 bells onto the Pagoda. They each had a bag filled with 5 bells, and they must climb the wall and place the bells onto the pieces of velcro on the wall. Once they placed one bell in it's proper spot, then they must do the same thing again on the other four spots. The player with the most bells after 60 seconds will win. Both male players were able to get at least 3 bells onto their Pagoda, and they both earned a half-pendant of life for their teams.

Temple Game #2 - Pilgrims to the Shwedagon Pagoda

In the second temple game, Jennifer and Katherine had to climb up a slippery ramp and place pieces of gold foil in order to decorate the Pagoda. Once they reach the top, they had to take the gold foil off their heads and place it onto the Pagoda. The player with the most foils on the Pagoda after 60 seconds will win. All I have to say about this temple game was that the Red Jaguar girl was challenged when it came to climbing. She never really made it to the top of the ramp and always fell back down once she made it half-way. Jennifer was not much better either, but she got one gold foil up. The final score was 1-0 in the end.

Temple Game #3 - Buddha's Shrine

In the team game, the players had to place jewels on the belly button of Buddha. To do this, one of them had to climb up the Pagoda and place one of the jewels at the top. Once they did that, their partners had to make the same move as them. They had to switch back and forth while doing this while placing more jewels at the top. The team that gets the most jewels on Buddha's belly button after 60 seconds will win. The Blue Barracudas proved that they were the stronger team in this temple game and won with a score of 7-4. They also earned the right to enter Olmec's temple with two pendants.

TEMPLE RUN: 6/10

Season 1 was usually very inconsistent with some of the temple layouts they handed their teams. Some layouts were so brutal that no teams had a chance at winning, while others were very generous and cupcake layouts that even mediocre players will win. Jennifer had a very generous temple layout and won it all by basically walking. There is not much detail to give on her performance, except that she basically walked all the way to the Observatory. She had a few moments where she looked kind of lost, like when she ran into the Torch Room from the Shrine and wasted time looking inside the Treasure Room chest. Other than that though, she still got the job done and won it all with 10 seconds remaining. Luckily, she moved fast enough with her temple exit or else it would've been a very close call. One thing to note about this episode is that it had the exact temple layout as "The Milk Bucket of Freydis", and both female runners in those runs ran backwards into the room to the left of the Shrine! But don't be fooled, because these two runs have nothing in common. "Freydis" was a more exciting and memorable win, and Tarrah did a solid job with handling a bunch of tough objectives. Jennifer got a rather easy layout, and she still finished with little time because all she did was walk the whole way through. It wasn't the worst win on the show, but it wasn't exactly the best either. And it wasn't very memorable either.

FINAL VERDICT: 6.0/10

"Buddha" was just an average episode all the way through. Nothing exciting happens in this episode at all, even though it ends in a win. In fact, there are times that I forget this win even exists. The moat was pretty long in this episode, and it probably drags this episode score quite a bit. But the rest of the episode was average anyways, so it wouldn't have scored very big. I personally don't find the episode as bad as the ranking it is receiving right now, but it's not at the top of any of my list either. I would definitely recommend this episode either way because it ends in a win and it is not bad in anyway. Just don't expect something exciting to happen when you watch it. There were better runs in both categories for Season 1 anyways.

[Purple Parrots Fan]

Buddha was an okay episode. Not one of the best episodes, but one of the better in Season 1. The moat really made the Purple Parrots look bad. They didn't even get their first person across before the round was over. How embarrassing, imagine what that kid would've been like in the temple. The legend was kind of subpar. I hate it when legends have nothing to do with the historical figure. They didn't even have an intern dress up as said figure either. That was always a pet peeve I had with some of the legends on the show. Also, Jennifer and Tony look so much alike. Jennifer was even referred to as a "he" at some points in the episode. And the temple run was just average. I realize it was an exact replica of "Freydis," but this layout was easier, and a lot less exciting. Jennifer wasn't an amazing all star player at all, she was just plain average. Tarrah had a harder layout and her run was more exciting. I prefer Tarrah to Jennifer honestly.

Like always, great review. The ranking was right around the same as Geronimo, the very first episode ranking I did. I probably would've ranked it in the 6 range, but the early rounds killed it. As for me, I STILL haven't started my review on Secret Battle Plan yet, like I claimed I would. Maybe sometime this week I'll get on it. I know it's not the best episode, but it is interesting for the layout change and early Season 2 quirks.

[The Red Jaguars]

Between Jennifer from "Buddha" and Sabrina from "Blackbeard", I am not sure who looks manlier. I would say Sabrina wins this one because at least Jennifer looks feminine in the face.

As for Buddha, I would personally give this episode about a 6 score. For the sake of these rankings though, I had to be fair about some of the rounds like the moat, which ultimately brought the episode's score down. But I was thinking of "Geronimo" though when I was ranking this episode too. Both episodes were average all the way through, and both episodes had wins that are okay. But I liked the Buddha win MUCH better than Geronimo's win.  "Freydis" is easily the better episode in this case too. Tarrah moved slightly faster, completed more objectives, and was still able to win despite taking a nasty hit in the pit. Plus, her win was much more exciting. I would take "Freydis" anyday over "Buddha, and its not even close. "Buddha" doesn't even stack up well against the better runs of S1 like Galileo, John Sutter, Lawrence of Arabia, Sultan Saladin, Kamehameha, Blue Pearl, and Great Seal. Those were more higher quality runs than Buddha.

Which episodes am I going to do next? We have 34 left, and I want to have at least 30 left by the New Year. I am thinking of doing "Zenobia" next for sure. It want to see how low it ranks with the crappy temple games and mediocre temple run. "Nathan Hale" is an okay episode too, and probably the most bizarre non-S1 episode. I don't really remember it being too bad, aside from the temple run.

[Purple Parrots Fan]

Yeah, Secret Battle Plan is definitely a bizarre episode. It will probably rank in the mid 5 range though. Good luck with Zenobia too, that episode was even more boring than Belly Button. That will probably rank in the 5 range too.

EDIT: By the way, you never added Buddha to the chart in the OP. And it's not erased from the list of episodes yet to be finished.