Legends Episode Ranking System - COMPLETE

[Purple Parrots Fan]

Here it is, my episode review of "The Applewood Amulet of Emiliano Zapata."

THE APPLEWOOD AMULET OF EMILIANO ZAPATA

MOAT: 8/10

For this moat, the players had to shinny across the moat on a poll. This round had its share of good and bad in it. The positive was, Olivia Emma was a BEAST crossing the moat. Seriously, just look at how fast she crosses. She made it look like it was nothing. The negative was, the infamous disqualification of the Blue Barracudas. You would think by watching the episode that the Blue Barracudas got disqualified for breaking off the button on their gong, right? Not quite, the real reason for disqualification was because the spotters sent the Silver Snakes back by accident. So the teams that DID advance from the moat were the Green Monkeys, Purple Parrots, Red Jaguars, and the Silver Snakes. But, we see the Blue Barracudas again, but this time as Purple Parrots in "The Priceless Portrait of the Polynesian Girl." Plus, this is the first episode in the whole series to feature Red - Green - Purple - Silver on the Steps of Knowledge. One of the many match ups that was absent in Season 1.

LEGEND: 7/10

This legend centered around Emiliano Zapata, who was deemed "The George Washington of Mexico." One day, a wealthy landowner came by and fenced off village's orchard. This upset Zapata's father very much, but Zapata was determined to get the orchard back. Twenty years later, Zapata went to the field with 80 armed men. At one point, Zapata cut off a branch from an apple tree, and made an amulet out of it. The amulet was intended for his father. Zapata also refused to put the amulet down until Mexico was free. Eventually, a bunch of people from Mexico flocked right over to Zapata's side, and helped build a Mexican republic. When Zapata died, the amulet disappeared. I liked this legend a lot. It could've used a little more detail, and it could've focused more on Emiliano Zapata himself instead of just his background. But it was still an interesting legend that didn't have any silliness at all.

STEPS OF KNOWLEDGE: 8/10

I found this to be a very competitive round. The Purple Parrots started off with an early lead, answering the first two questions correctly. But, the Green Monkeys ended up catching up to them, advancing to the bottom step first. It was a three way tie between the Red Jaguars, Purple Parrots, and the Silver Snakes on the second to last step. But in the end, the Purple Parrots sealed the final spot in the temple games. Which recorded another color combination first, the Green Monkeys and the Purple Parrots go head to head for the first time at this point in the series. The temple games match up Green vs. Purple was the only pair that did not occur in Season 1.

TEMPLE GAMES: 10/10

This to me, was the best temple game sequence and best match on the whole show. All three games were very competitive and a nailbiter at the end. Seriously, this round was so exciting, it deserves a perfect score. In the first game, Olivia-Emma and Simone had to go from board to board and spell out "Tierra y Libertad." This was one of the rarest type of games on the show, where it was only used in two more episodes. (The other ones being "The Mask of the Man in the Iron Mask" and "The Missing Weather Maps of Charles Lindbergh"). Regardless, Olivia-Emma ended beating Simone with 16 seconds to spare, earning her a half pendant for her team. In the second game, Robert and Jason had to climb up the walls  by making hand and footholds, and ring the church bells at the top. It was an evenly matched game, but Jason ended up beating Robert with 13 seconds to spare, earning a half pendant for the Purple Parrots and tying up the pendant score. But the final game could change that. In the third game, the teams had to stay on the spinning horse for as long as possible. This is one of only two games that feature the spinning horse for a team game. (The other episode being "The Silver Horseshoe of Butch Cassidy"). This temple game.... was both mind blowing impressive. Literally neither of the four players fell off the horse even once. Robert did start to loosen a bit, but he still hung on for dear life. I also liked how towards the end of the game, the spotters were spinning the horse much rougher and FASTER to see if any of the contestants would fall off. And none of them budged. That's amazing. But my favorite part of the round? When it was all over, Kirk looks at Jason and says "Oh shit, he's tired!" Of course, he was probably saying "Oh she.... he's tired." But it totally sounded like he said the former. Regardless, the pendant score was tied at 1.5 pendants, forcing a tiebreaker. The tiebreaker question was rather easy, all it asked was the capital of Mexico. I would've gotten that no problem as a geography buff. Needless to say, Olivia-Emma didn't even need the three choices revealed to her. As she got "Mexico City" as the correct answer and won her and Robert a trip to the temple! Of course, this was yet another Purple Parrot tiebreaker loss on such an easy layout. But, I wouldn't change these results for anything. The tiebreaker certainly wasn't "Xerxes" easy, but it was easy enough where any average person could've gotten it.

TEMPLE RUN: 9/10

While this run gets a bad rap for being too easy, I found it to be extremely exciting. Robert goes in first and he does an okay job. As soon as he's removed from the temple by two consecutive temple guards in Medusa's Lair and the King's Storeroom, Olivia-Emma takes over. After completing the top floor in a fairly quick fashion, Olivia-Emma grabs the amulet with 37 seconds left on the clock. It is here where she RACES out of the temple, with Robert cheering her on. And in the final seconds, Olivia-Emma emerges from the behind Olmec with only a single second left on the clock. Kirk was excited, the Green Monkeys were excited, the audience was excited, and I was excited. This was easily the closest finish on the show and one of the best temple runs in the shows history. Robert and Olivia-Emma were an excellent team and they deserved to win.

FINAL VERDICT: 8.4/10

This was one of the best episodes of Season 2. The only part I would consider to be negative was the moat. To me, I thought it was rather unprofessional and messy how the disqualification of the Blue Barracudas was handled. I know it wasn't their fault what happened, and I'm glad Janet and Chris came back as Purple Parrots in "Priceless Portrait." But, it was totally the spotters fault for not being careful and not paying enough attention to who was advancing from the moat. Other than that, the rest of the episode featured neck and neck competition all the way, where it seemed like any of the rounds could've gone either way. And the temple run was just amazing, and one of the best wins on the whole show. I really don't understand the flack it gets sometimes. So what if the layout was easy? So what if it was a straight to path kind of layout? Robert and Olivia-Emma may not have been THE fastest, but they did a great job with the objectives given to them and they knew what to do in every room. Yes they passed up the half pendant, but at the end of the day, it doesn't mean anything because they still won. Furthermore, the rooms Robert and Olivia-Emma was forced to complete were the hardest Season 2 had to offer at that point, even with the watered down version of Medusa's Lair. So it wasn't exactly THAT easy. I find this win to be much more respectable than "The Silver Horseshoe of Butch Cassidy," because at least they had objectives to complete. It's not like all they did was push a bunch of actuators. Despite the rather easy and straight forward path, Robert and Olivia-Emma were a great team and I'm glad they won. This is definitely a much watch, and I definitely recommend this episode. Also, this has got to be my longest write up to date. It definitely makes up for the rather short reviews I've written in the past.

[The Red Jaguars]

Emiliano Zapata is an episode I never get tired of watching. Lately, it seems like this episode has been getting some hate. I guess it had to do with Olivia-Emma and Robert having an easy layout. But the whole episode was enjoyable and probably a top 15 episode IMO. Every round was memorable!

During the moat, the Blue Barracudas were unfairly eliminated due to a spotter error. Luckily Chris and Janet will return later in Polynesian Girl, where they actually make it to the temple games! Also, during the moat, one of the teams knock their actuator off the gong. The legend was pretty good also. It talked about Zapata during the Spanish-American war. This legend ties in with "The Lucky Medallion of Atocha" where both legends deal with historical figures during said war. Emiliano Zapata's name is even mentioned in the Steps of Knowledge as one of the answers to a question in Atocha! And both episodes were taped back-to-back also. It was like the producers were following a theme in the first couple of episodes.   

And you're right about the temple games being fun too. Olivia-Emma dominated her individual game. She was able to spell out "Tierra y Libertad" before the Purple Parrot player could spell out "Tierra". Although wasn't this game used more than 3 episodes? I thought Atocha used this game also?  Both the Purple Parrots and Green Monkeys were evenly matched throughout the day too. And the last temple game was amazing too because neither player fell off. Unfortunately, the Purple Parrots lost the tiebreaker to the Green Monkeys. But that is okay because the Green Monkeys give us an awesome win!

I love the temple win too. I know it has been getting a lot of negative criticism lately, but I truly believe that this win deserves the love it gets. While the temple layout was easy, the whole temple run was very exciting and the Green Monkeys were a good team. Not every temple run is about the temple layout either. Some runs like this one and "Galileo's Cannonball" were exciting because the temple run came down to the wire. This was a great win, and kudos to Olivia-Emma for getting the Amulet out of the temple with such little time. Maybe Jason from Icarus and Kimberly from Poseidon should follow her lead? The ending was very exciting, and the Green Monkeys deserved it. They weren't perfect, but they gave us a fantastic win.

Overall, good score for Emiliano Zapata.  It almost has the exact same score as "Annie Taylor", which was also the same day too. Now that you did Zapata, I am going to do Lucky Medallion next. That will be the last episode from that production day we need to cover. And then we can compare the four scores for that production day to see which one is strong and which one is weak. I am guessing Atocha will rank about the same as Zapata and Annie Taylor. And since I have no work tomorrow, I will be sure to post this one. 

[Purple Parrots Fan]

Atocha never had the "Tierra y Libertad" type game. They had the spinning horse, rock climbing, and teeter totter game. So they did have 2/3 temple games in common. And Amulet has the exact temple game score as Annie Taylor, and also Catherine the Great too. It just goes to show what a wonderful episode Amulet was. And yeah, I feel like the temple run has been getting way too much hate lately. Yes I realize if they had a harder layout or different temple guard placement, they would've lost. But they won, so why think about the worst?

I can't wait for your episode review of Atocha too. I'm willing to bet that episode is gonna rank pretty high too.

[The Red Jaguars]

I finished my review for Atocha.   That means we completed a review for every episode that day. Unfortunately, the score for this episode didn't really come close to Annie Taylor or Emiliano Zapata. I blame it on one round. I really wanted to see it have a higher score, but I had to be fair. In my personal opinion, this episode would receive a 9. But regardless of the score it received in this review, I still love this episode.  

THE LUCKY MEDALLION OF ATOCHA

MOAT: 4/10

MOAT: 3/10 (PPF)

The 6 teams had to cross this moat by hanging upside down on a pole and shimmy across the other side. While shimmying, they could not fall into the water or they would have to start over again. Once both players make it to the other side, then they can hit their gong to move onto the Steps of Knowledge. This moat was pretty long and the last team struggled to get across. By the time the last team crossed, the fog in the moat was completely gone. The Orange Iguanas and Purple Parrots were the first two teams to cross with no problem, but the Red Jaguars struggled immensely. It was one of those moats that you would wish would hurry up and get over with.

PPF's Description

For this moat, the players had to hang upside down and shimmy across a pole to get to the other side. If a player fell into the water, they had to go back and start all over again. I really like moats like this, but this round was just terrible. It was one of those moats that was really long because the players were poor contestants. Ty and Jennifer of the Orange Iguanas got across the moat no problem, and ended up finishing first. But the Red Jaguars, Green Monkeys, and the Silver Snakes struggled immensely. The Silver Snakes were beyond pathetic in this moat. They couldn't even get one person across before the round finally ended. At least the Green Monkeys got one player across, and they struggled with this moat too. When the round at long last came to an end, the Orange Iguanas, Purple Parrots, Blue Barracudas, and Red Jaguars advanced to the Steps of Knowledge.

LEGEND: 7/10

LEGEND: 7/10 (PPF)

One of the greatest leaders of the Mexican Revolution was General Pancho Villa. He led a rebel army to victory over the dictator of Mexico, Porfirio Diaz. In the 1890's, Diaz was elected as President of Mexico and refused to leave power when his term was over. Villa gathered a small band of rebels and started a revolt, but the government forces counter-attacked. Villa spent many months hiding, and fighting, and always on the run. Eventually, Villa overthrew Diaz and legend has it as his victorious army passed through a small town, the crowd turned out to cheer. Villa lifted a small boy from his father's shoulders and gave the boy his Lucky Medallion of Atocha in hopes that he will fight for the freedom of his people one day.
 
This was a good legend that made Pancho Villa out to be a hero. I wished their was more detail though about Villa's army and how they overthrew Diaz. But with such little time to tell a story, I guess it was hard for the producers to include a lot of details without going over their time limit. At least they explained the important parts about Villa's accomplishment. However, one thing bothered me about this legend is something that is never explained. Who or what is Atocha? The whole episode is centered around Pancho Villa, but the only mention of Atocha was at the very end when Villa gave his Lucky Medallion of Atocha to the small boy. Shouldn't the artifact be "The Lucky Medallion of Pancho Villa?" There is no mention of Atocha in the legend at all. I am guessing Atocha was a place that was special to Villa? The producers could've explained who or what Atocha was.

PPF's Description

This legend centered around Pancho Villa, who was a great leader of the Mexican Revolution. He led a rebel army over Porfirio Diaz, who was the dictator of Mexico. Diaz was elected as President of Mexico in the 1890's and was unwilling to give up power when his term ended. Villa tried to start a revolt, but the government counter attacked instead. Villa spent months hiding, and on the run while fighting. Villa eventually overthrew Diaz and his army passed through a small town as a large crowd cheered for them. Villa then gave a small boy his lucky medallion as hope that he'll get to fight for freedom one day. I really liked this legend. I liked how the producers went out of their way to make Pancho Villa out to be a big hero. What really drags it down for me is the lack of mention of "Atocha." What's an Atocha? Is it some town or city? Is it some person Pancho Villa looked up to? This sort of thing also occurs in the legend for "The Pearl Necklace of Gwalior." We have no idea who/what Gwalior is, without doing some extra research on it. Same thing happens here. I have no idea of this "Atocha" that is only spoken of at the very end of the legend. Furthermore, like mentioned above, the producers could've gone into more detail of how Pancho Villa was on the run, and "overthrew" Diaz. This was one of the more stronger and more interesting legends, but the lack of details and the no mention of Atocha really bring it down.

STEPS OF KNOWLEDGE: 8.5/10

STEPS OF KNOWLEDGE: 8/10 (PPF)

This was a pretty exciting Steps of Knowledge round, and contained two very smart teams. The Red Jaguars got down to the bottom step first after answer 3 questions correctly when the first four questions were asked. The Blue Barracudas got a couple of answers right themselves, but the Orange Iguanas were the team to advance to the temple games. Also, one of the answers to the Steps of Knowledge question was "Zapata". An interesting little fact, the next episode produced after this one was "The Applewood Amulet of Emiliano Zapata", which focuses on Zapata during the Mexican Revolution. I like how the producers covered both historical figures back to back.

PPF's Description

Unlike the moat, this Steps of Knowledge round was solid. It was a very close match between the Red Jaguars, Blue Barracudas, and Orange Iguanas, who gave no wrong answers. The Red Jaguars were especially smart and were the first team to advance to the temple games in a matter of seconds. Eventually, the Orange Iguanas secured the second spot to the temple games. The Blue Barracudas got two questions correct, and the Purple Parrots failed to answer any questions. All in all, it was a very competitive round and featured some very smart teams.

TEMPLE GAMES: 9/10

TEMPLE GAMES: 9/10 (PPF)

The temple games featured Ty and Jennifer of the Orange Iguanas facing off against Erica and Chad of the Red Jaguars. This temple game round was very exciting, and Jennifer and Ty's dominance made this one very fun to watch. After dominating their individual games, the Red Jaguars made a surprising comeback which leaves the ending in a tiebreaker. The temple games were also very quick due to the dominance by the Orange Iguanas. I also liked the temple game sequence that was used also.

Temple Game #1 - Ring the Church Bells

When Pancho Villa entered a town, the townspeople often rang church bells to welcome him. In this temple game, Ty and Chad had to climb up a wall and ring the Church Bell at the top. In order to get to the top, they had to find the correct foot holes that will allow them to climb higher. By pressing the different squares on the wall, the guys could make a path to the bell by finding the correct foot holes. The first player to reach their church bell will win. Ty DOMINATED his temple game. He completed it in exactly 18 seconds, while Chad wasn't even half-way up the wall. This put the Orange Iguanas ahead 0.5-0.

Temple Game #2 - Spirited Mechanical Horse

Jennifer and Erica are both riding a mechanical horse, and must hold onto their horse while spinning around on it. The first player that falls from their horse will give victory to the other team. The temple game didn't last very long like the previous one. Jennifer holds on longer than Erica, and puts the Orange Iguanas up 1-0.

Temple Game #3 - Donate Money to the Poor

Pancho Villa was often known as the "Robin Hood of Mexico" because he robbed from the rich and gave to the poor. In this temple game, the teams had to work together on a teeter-totter and grab bags of gold. Once they have a bag of gold in their hand, they then had to put it into the donation box for the poor. The teams that had the most bags of gold will be the winner. The ending score was close, but the Red Jaguars won 11-9. This gave both teams a score of 1-1 and forcing the first tiebreaker that day.

The tiebreaker question that was asked by Olmec was, "Which of these Mexican cities were famous for their cliff divers?". Ty chimes in and answers "Acapulco", which was the correct answer. I have to give Ty credit for getting this answer right on his first try. This question definitely stumped me, and it looked like it stumped all the players also because it took a few seconds for Ty to chime in. The Orange Iguanas win their tiebreaker and get a chance at Olmec's temple.  

PPF's Description

The temple games were a very exciting round. It featured an excellent set up of games, and even came down to a tiebreaker in the end. In the first game, Ty and Chad had to climb up the walls, making footholes in the process, and ring the churchbells on top. Ty OWNED this game. He stayed on the center of the walls the entire time, a very clever method of climbing the walls. Ty rang the bell in less than 20 seconds, earning a half pendant of life for his team. The unenthusiastic Chad wasn't even halfway up the walls. And seriously, Chad had to have been THE most unenthusiastic contestant on the history of the show. While I don't expect every contestant to be as excited as Kate or Elisa, at least LOOK like you're having fun. Chad didn't even crack one smile the entire episode. He looked sad and down the entire time. In the second game, Jennifer and Erica had to stay on the spinning horse for as long as possible. Erica of the Red Jaguars fell off the horse within 20 seconds, giving Jennifer of the Orange Iguanas yet another half pendant for her team. So now the pendant score was 1-0, giving Orange Iguanas the commanding lead into the final temple game. In the third game, the teams had to work together and grab bags of gold on the teeter totter. The final score at the end was a whopping 11-9, with the Red Jaguars winning. That gave them the full pendant, tying up the pendant scores 1-1, and forcing the first of four tiebreakers on this filming day. Ty of the Orange Iguanas got the tiebreaker question right, (with Acapulco being famous for cliff divers), earning them a trip to the temple! And I've got to say, that easily had to be the hardest tiebreaker question ever. Even Ty didn't quite know the answer at first. You can definitely tell which questions were told backstage to the contestants, and NOT heard during the show.

TEMPLE RUN: 9.5/10

TEMPLE RUN: 9/10 (PPF)

Ty was one of the best male players to enter Olmec's temple, and this solo win was very solid, memorable, and exciting. Just as Ty enters the temple, his Pendant of Life flies off his arm near the temple gates. As Ty enters the Ledges with no Pendant, he encounters a temple guard. But at the same time, "Jennifer" throws back the Pendant to Ty, who uses it to save himself from the guard. If you watch the temple run though, you can definitely tell it was not Jennifer who threw it back. The hand that threw the Pendant to Ty had no glove on. From the Pit of Despair, Ty continues along the top floor of the temple and completing each room at a fast pace. He reaches the Mine Shaft and grabs the Lucky Medallion, and brings it out with a good amount of time on the clock, scoring the only bottom floor victory in Season 2. Overall, this temple run was very exciting and Ty was a really good player. From the Pendant dropping to Ty's dominance, I really enjoyed this solo win. Ty didn't let the Pendant of Life fall phase him at all, and he was smart for taking the upper road in the temple. This is the Orange Iguanas best win in my opinion, and the Orange Iguanas enthusiasm also added to the excitement factor of this run.

PPF's Description

This was a solid temple run. Ty was a great player, who knew what he was doing in every room. But the run got off to a very awkward start. As Ty raced up the stairs, he dropped his pendant in the process! Kirk claimed it was Jennifer who threw it back to Ty, but the hand was not gloved, so it couldn't have been her. Must've been a camera guy. And it's a good thing a stagehand threw the pendant back at Ty. Because a temple guard was waiting to take the pendant away from Ty in the Ledges. From there, Ty recovered quickly, and raced through the whole top floor of the temple with ease. He eventually makes his way to the Mine Shaft, and grabs the lucky medallion with 57 seconds left on the clock! From there, Ty speeds across the bottom floor, Jennifer is going crazy from the sidelines, and races back to the temple gates with 8 seconds left on the clock! Temple runs don't get any better than this. This is not the best Orange Iguanas temple run in my opinion, (I personally think "The Levitating Dog Leash of Nostradamus" was the actual best), but Ty earned it. This temple run was very exciting from Ty's competence in the temple, to Jennifer's enthusiasm from the sidelines.

FINAL VERDICT: 7.6/10

FINAL VERDICT: 7.2/10 (PPF)

"Lucky Medallion" was a very memorable episode that featured one of the best Orange Iguanas team on the show. This was my favorite Orange Iguanas episode by far, and Ty was the star of this episode. This episode should have a much higher score than it received, but the long moat really dragged it down a lot. Aside from the moat, every other round was competitive and fun to watch. The temple games were fun for the Orange Iguanas dominance. The temple run was also highly memorable and fun to watch too. Once you watch it, you definitely won't forget about it either. I would recommend this episode to anyone, easily. Even if you don't like the Orange Iguanas (like me), this episode is a much watch. You will be missing out on a lot of great moments if you don't watch it.  

PPF's Description

Overall, Lucky Medallion was a very exciting episode from beginning to end. This is not my favorite Orange Iguanas episode, but it was one of the very few I can even come close to liking. Besides the moat, (which REALLY killed this episodes average), every round was absolutely fantastic and very eventful. The temple games were especially fun, despite the unenthusiastic Red Jaguar boy. I personally thought Jennifer and Ty should've just swept the temple games, as they were clearly the stronger team. And the temple run was great. Ty owned everything and handled every room was complete and utter ease. It's especially memorable for Jennifer's excitement from the sidelines, and the pendant drop at the beginning of the run. I definitely recommend this episode to anyone. You'd be missing out on A LOT if you skip over it.

[Purple Parrots Fan]

Atocha was a great episode, I'm pretty sure TMH deemed this his favorite episode ever. And you can totally see why too. The only thing I didn't like about this episode, was the moat. I personally would've given it a MUCH lower score than a 4. It was one of those moats like in "The Silk Sash of Mulan" where the moat is really long because everyone is still waiting for the final team to cross. In this case, it was the Red Jaguars. And man, the Silver Snakes were beyond pathetic in that moat. They couldn't even get their first person across before the round was finally over. The Green Monkeys sucked too, but at least they eventually got one player across. The rest of the rounds were competitive though, and I loved the sequence of temple games used. The Red Jaguars kind of sucked before the team game, where they got a lucky break coming from behind. Also, Chad of the Red Jaguars had to have been the most unenthusiastic contestant ever. He didn't even smile once and contributed nothing to his team. I'm glad they didn't go to the temple. And the temple run was great. From the pendant dropping to the incredible solo win, Ty owned everything. This is the only male solo victory I even like. Well, maybe Enormous Iron Nose Ring too, but I like Atocha much better.

Great review as usual. Another thing I'd like to note is that you said this was the first Orange Iguanas tiebreaker win. That's not actually true, it was "The Silver Horseshoe of Butch Cassidy," unless you didn't want to count that one. Speaking of that episode, I might review that episode next. Since it's the only other Orange Iguanas victory that hasn't been ranked yet. And I want to see how it ranks. It shouldn't rank too low, but I don't expect it to get any higher than the low 6 range. Oh, and I fixed the table in the OP. You must've typed something wrong, because the formatting was off. But, I've fixed it, so it should be working just fine now.

[The Red Jaguars]

Yeah, the moat was really long in this episode. Not the longest like Silver Saddle Horn, but it ranks up there. Too bad, because the other moats that day got good scores. At least the Orange Iguanas made it across fine. And I noticed the same thing about Chad too lacking enthusiasm. I don't expect someone to be Elisa or Andrea enthusiastic, but be happy that you got to the round before the temple run! -_- Truth be told, the Orange Iguanas should've swept the temple games because the Red Jaguars weren't that great. Luckily the Orange Iguanas won the tiebreaker and winning one Pendant made the temple run more exciting. I might change the moat score later just because how long and slow it was.

And for reference, here is how the other episodes ranked that day:

Annie Taylor: 8.4
Emiliano Zapata: 8.4
Atocha: 7.6
Benjamin Franklin: 6.5
Overall Score: 7.73

This was a good production day overall, and probably the best on the show. "Electrified Key" was obviously the weakest link, but it was not that bad of an episode. Although it did have a couple of big fails. The other three wins that day were great and are probably some of the best on the show. I love all of them.

The only production day that will probably rank better will be the last day of S3 (Sforza, Empress Eugenie, Ruby Earring, and Catherine the Great). Although that is understandable since the producers put in more work that day. Even though I don't think Ruby Earring and Sforza are amazing episodes. They are good, but not on the same level as the Atocha day. Another really good production day was the Roland, Boadicea, and Pirate Captain day. But that was easily ruined by Enormous Feather.

And for my next project, I am going to do Snake Bracelet and then Jedediah Smith. Butch Cassidy will be interesting to rank. It was an okay episode and will probably rank around Electrified Key score. Even though I don't care for this episode at all. And speaking of Butch Cassidy, I fixed the error in the tiebreaker section for Atocha.

[Purple Parrots Fan]

My turn to do an episode review. And this time, it's "The Silver Horseshoe of Butch Cassidy."

THE SILVER HORSESHOE OF BUTCH CASSIDY

MOAT: 5/10

For this moat, the players had to deal with crisscrossing ropes, and they had to cross the moat by hanging on to the upper rope, and walk across the bottom rope. While this was the first moat challenge of Season 2, it was a rather lackluster round and a lot of the teams struggled getting across. Paula especially had difficulty getting across. Matt, on the other hand, had no trouble at all and REALLY hauled ass just to seal the fourth and final position to the Steps of Knowledge. In the end, the Red Jaguars, Purple Parrots, Green Monkeys, and Orange Iguanas advanced to the Steps of Knowledge. Though after the round was over, the winning teams were announced in reverse order, being Orange - Green - Purple - Red. This also happened in "The Diary of Dr. Livingstone." I'm glad they didn't do that often, it just came across sloppy.

LEGEND: 6/10

This legend had to do with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Along with the Hole-in-the-Wall Gang, they robbed banks, trains, all without killing anyone. They always planned out their robberies carefully, and had horses concealed on their escape route, so they could escape from a posse successfully. Despite their reputation as robbers, they were polite to ladies. One lady even recognized Butch Cassidy, and asked for his autograph. Butch Cassidy gave her a silver horseshoe, and engraved his initials on it. The woman treasured the silver horseshoe, but it eventually disappeared. Not a bad legend for the start of Season 2, but it could've been more detailed. One thing I don't understand is why would a woman want an autograph of some dude who went around and robbed banks? Unless of course she didn't know of Butch Cassidy's reputation. I don't know, it all seems rather silly to me.

STEPS OF KNOWLEDGE: 6/10

The Steps of Knowledge were just an average round. The Orange Iguanas swept the Steps of Knowledge and were down to the final step in a heartbeat. Eventually, the Purple Parrots joined them as the second team to advance to the temple games.

TEMPLE GAMES: 7/10

The temple games, just like the Steps of Knowledge, were just an average round. Though I did like the usage of temple games in this episode. In the first game, Paula and Terry had to crawl out, grab bags, all while avoiding the swinging obstacles. Both players moved relatively fast and were good about not getting hit too much. In the end, Terry wins a half pendant for the Purple Parrots. In the second game, Matt and Wendy had to collect gold while on the see saw/rotating levers. Both players were rather sloppy here, but Wendy ended winning the game. So now the Purple Parrots had a 1-0 lead going into the third game. In the final game, the players had to stay on the spinning horse for as long as possible. This and Applewood Amulet were the only two games to use the spinning horse game as a team game. All the other episodes only used it for an individual game. The Orange Iguanas wins and tie up the game. Matt gets the tiebreaker question right and him and Paula go off to the temple.

TEMPLE RUN: 6/10

Paula did a decent job covering 7 rooms on her own, but she wasn't THAT great of a player. Every room she entered were nothing more than hit the actuator rooms, which didn't require any skill. She reached the Silver Horseshoe with 1:25 left on the clock, and escaped with 53 seconds left on the clock, recording the first Orange Iguanas win. That time would've been significantly shorter had Medusa's Lair not been a late shipment. Despite this being the first time the Orange Iguanas win, I found the win to be boring and uninspiring.

FINAL VERDICT: 6.0/10

Just as I expected, this episode just barely managed a 6 rating. Every round was average and the temple run is by far the most overrated, most overhyped win ever. Just because Matt led the team the whole episode, and just because they were the Comeback (read: Dumb Luck) Kids, doesn't make them an amazing team. I never understood the love for Paula. She was just an average player at best who completely lucked into her win. People just feel sorry for them just because of their "comeback kid" story arc, and people just like it just for the sake of liking a win. Yet contestants like Missy and Tony from Billy the Kid get undeserved criticism just because they make one measly mistake in the temple. Even if Matt had gone in first, it still would've been an unexciting win. Despite this, it's still a watchable episode, and I do recommend a rewatch. But, it's not as great as people make it out to be. The temple run is very overrated, despite it being a win.

[The Red Jaguars]

Butch Cassidy... every Purple Parrots fans' favorite temple win.  It was a slightly above average episode for the most part. The main theme in this episode is the "Comeback kids" theme. Paula and Matt both advanced in the moat and temple games by making a comeback in each of those rounds. It was just a nicer way of saying that they scraped by their whole episode though. At least Matt was a good player and they swept the Steps of Knowledge.  The temple games were also highly controversial. In the final temple game, one of the Purple Parrot players fell off their horse early in the game. Well, in the last second of the game, Paula falls off the horse and touches the ground. The producers decides not to call it a tie and states the Orange Iguanas win. This forces the one pendant tiebreaker and the Orange Iguanas turn around and win it. This episode is the reason I hate when a team only wins their team game only and turns around and win the tiebreaker. I know the Blue Barracudas did this in "Annie Taylor" and Silver Snakes did in "Henry Morgan", but at least those teams were dominant in other rounds.

The temple win is pretty overrated, and I never cared about it. Sure, Paula finished with a lot of time. But her path was way too easy. She didn't even hit a room with an objective. I don't know why people compare this one to "Annie Taylor" or "Freydis", because those two are far better than Butch Cassidy. Easily a bottom 5 win in my personal list. But in the end, Paula did win it fair and square. So I guess you can give her credit for that. Overall, Butch Cassidy was average for the most part. I think a 6 is a perfect score for it. It definitely had some memorable moments, but it's not the best thing in the world like some people make it out to be.

Good job with this review and you nailed the score perfectly too. I am doing Snake Bracelet next, which I believe will finish with the exact same score as Butch Cassidy. 

[Purple Parrots Fan]

Wrong. In Henry Morgan, Shem and Ashley won their individual games, NOT the team game. So you might want to fix that.

And yeah, this temple run was overrated. While Paula did a decent job, she was just plain average. All she did was luck into her win, and she's not as great as she's made out to be. This run was so boring to me because the win was pretty much handed to them on a silver platter. It's just like "The Diary of Dr. Livingstone" and "The Moccasins of Geronimo" in terms of wins. And people in the past liked this run better than Annie Taylor and Billy the Kid. Truth be told, I never liked it when a team barely scraped by each round. =/

And I can't wait for your review of Cleopatra, which was also a rather dull win.

[The Red Jaguars]

Well, I finally finished my episode review for Snake Bracelet.  It wasn't the best episode in the world, but it was kind of nice to go back and watch it again. It was good for the most part.

THE SNAKE BRACELET OF CLEOPATRA

MOAT: 6.5/10

The players in this moat had to cross by pulling themselves across a ring of innertubes. The first player must scramble across the moat first by using the chain of innertubes, and their partner must cross the same way. Once both players reach the other side, then they could hit their gongs to move onto the next round. I have nothing to say really in regards to this moat. The moat crossing used was better than most of the moats used in Season 1. The teams didn't really struggle here in this moat either. This round was slightly above average for the most part.

LEGEND: 5/10

Cleopatra was known as the most beautiful woman in the world and last great Queen of Egypt. Being a social climber, she decided to move to Rome and marry it's ruler, Marc Anthony. She crossed the Mediterranean Sea in her golden barge to meet Marc Anthony, who awaited for her arrival. As she approached Marc Anthony, he gasped at Cleopatra partly because of her beauty and partly because her Snake Bracelet fell into the water. Esmeralda, her hand maid, forgot to close the clasp on the bracelet, so Cleopatra pushes her into the water to go retrieve it. Cleopatra smiles at Marc Anthony, who promises to buy her a thousand new bracelets. They both set off into the sunset, leaving poor Esmeralda behind with Cleopatra's Snake Bracelet. Cleopatra and Marc Anthony never returned, and Esmeralda sold the Snake Bracelet to pay for her trip back to Egypt.

This legend was just a typical love story that was featured in many other episodes. There was nothing really special about it, which is kind of disappointing because Cleopatra is a really interesting historical figure. I didn't have a problem with the plot of the legend, but I gave it a low score because of the voice acting. Seriously, this had to be the worst voice acting in any legend.  The female voice used for both Cleopatra and Esmeralda are so cheesy and out of character. The ending to the legend where Esmeralda screams "Come back!" was the highlight of this A+ voiceacting. 

STEPS OF KNOWLEDGE: 6/10

This Steps of Knowledge questions revolved mostly around the legend and Ancient Egypt. The Purple Parrots were the first team to get two questions correct, but fail to make it to the next round. The Green Monkeys also looked pretty bad when they answered two easy questions incorrectly. Eventually, the Silver Snakes got 3 correct first followed by the Orange Iguanas.

TEMPLE GAMES: 7/10

The temple games featured Robert, who was 14 and traveled to many countries including Mexico and Puerto Rico, and his partner Tracy, who was 13 and wanted to be a zoologist. Their opponents were Joshua, who was 13 and wanted to become an Oceanographer, and his partner Samantha who was 13 and liked to roller blade with her dog around the block. The temple games were pretty good for the most part, and I liked the Egyptian theme they used for the sequence of games. The first temple game was very interesting too. It was a pretty exciting round.

Temple Game #1 - Cleopatra's Needle

Robert and Joshua had a giant needle attached to their backside, and they had to climb up a wall and put the thread through "Cleopatra's Eye". Once they got the needle to the top, they had to pull it through the hole and bring it back down and put it through the hole at the bottom. Once they completed one side of the wall, they had to to the same thing on the other side. During this temple game, Robert was dominating until he tried to put his needle through the second hole. He dropped his needle while trying to climb for the second hole. However, as he was the one furthest along, Kirk declared the Silver Snakes victors of the first temple game.

Temple Game #2 - Build the Pyramid

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Tracy and Samantha had to take three blocks of a Pyramid up a slippery slope by pushing the block with their backs. Once they reach the top of the slope, they had to slide back down and repeat the process. The first player to get all three pieces at the top of the pyramid or the player furthest along after 60 seconds will win. In the end, Samantha got more blocks at the top and was declared the winner.

Temple Game #3 - Crossing the Mediterranean Sea

In the final temple game, the two teams had to work together to ferry different gifts across the Mediterranean Sea. One contestant will have to attach a gift to the velcro part of their helmet, and then they had to pull themselves towards their partner who must grab the gift and place it inside the team's bucket. The team that ferries the most gifts across the Mediterranean is the winner. In the end, the Silver Snakes had more gifts in their bucket and were granted entry into Olmec's temple.

TEMPLE RUN: 6/10

Season 1 had a lot of temple layouts that were pretty simple and resulted in an easy win for a certain team. The Silver Snakes in this temple run had a pretty simple layout and still won despite hesitations by Tracy. Robert was a very fast frontrunner and was making great time in the temple. He made it all the way to his fifth room in under 30 seconds. That is amazing! Tracy was pretty slow as a second runner however. When she entered the Observatory though, she forced the closed bar up and tried entering the Treasury of the Golden Orbs from the Observatory. The door was obviously locked and the bar was down for her, yet she still wasted time checking to see if it was open. When she finally got to her senses, she went down into the Room of Fallen Columns and followed Robert's path. She eventually made her way to the Snake Bracelet and slowly exited the temple with it. Note on the way out, the Observatory-Treasury door never opens for Tracy. Is it possible that Tracy broke it when she tried exiting the temple? Tracy eventually made it back to the temple gates with about 20 seconds left. Even after winning the whole game, Tracy doesn't seem happy at all. Come on, you won the biggest round on the show! At least crack a smile? In the end, this temple win was just average. If the layout wasn't so generous for the Silver Snakes, they might've not won at all. This was mostly thanks to Tracy too. If she moved fast at all and didn't stall in the Observatory, I really believe that this team would've had the fastest team victory. In the end though, it was still a win and the Silver Snakes deserved it. 

FINAL VERDICT: 6.1/10

"Snake Bracelet" is an all around average episode with nothing really remarkable standing out about it. But that automatically makes it better than most of the Season 1 episodes though. The temple win was also pretty average too and not that special. The team should've actually finished with much more time than 20 seconds left. I would recommend to watch this episode for a couple of reasons. First off, it's not a bad episode by any means and there is hardly any moments that will make you cringe. Secondly, this episode ended in a win, so it is a must watch in my book. This episode will probably sit at the back of your mind after watching it because there is nothing memorable about it. In fact, this episode is hardly talked about among Legends fans. But either way, I do think it is worth your time to watch this episode for both the sake of completion and because it ended in a win.

[Purple Parrots Fan]

Snake Bracelet is a pretty average episode. For such an interesting legendary figure, I expected more from the legend. Though I don't remember the voice acting during the legend. As for the temple run, I probably would've had more enthusiasm for it if Tracy had gone in first and Robert had gone in second. They probably would've topped Benzibab's time for quickest team run ever if that were the case. Overall, they earned their win, despite Tracy's complete and utter unenthusiasm. Seriously Tracy, smile!

Overall, good review. I'm probably gonna do "The Missing Portrait of Hans Holbein" next. I expect that one to rank just average.

[The Red Jaguars]

As forgettable as Hans Holbein is, I do remember parts of that episode since Nick GaS played it all the time. The legend was pretty silly IIRC and Rachel's voice was very annoying during the temple run. It was a decent episode though for the most part, but will end up with an average score. I will be looking forward to this one for sure. 

And for my next project, I am going to do Bent Shaving Pan. I have a feeling that this episode will probably rank pretty low. Also, I want to do Annie Oakley soon too. Now that is a good episode that will probably receive a good score. 

[Purple Parrots Fan]

Yeah, I'm definitely expecting Bent Shaving Pan to rank REALLY low. Has to be the most boring episode in the shows history. I don't even feel sorry for Irish and Brian for losing. But I definitely look forward to your ranking of Annie Oakley. I know that one for sure will rank high. PP Pwnage!

[The Red Jaguars]

I actually hate the Bent Shaving Pan episode. I don't know why, but the whole episode so unlikable to me. I guess it was because it is so boring and this Orange Iguanas team doesn't get as much criticism as it should get. People have always said that Irish was an average contestant who had bad luck with a one room away guard. I use to feel that way too about her, but she was pretty mediocre in the temple. It took her 2:30 to make it to the Room of the Ancient Warriors WITH a shortcut. But Brittany from Pytheas gets bashed but she made much better timing than Irish. And you're right, this has to be the most boring episode ever. Even Cosa Rara and Stone Marker had more exciting moments then this one. My personal ranking for it is a 2.5 or 3/10.

On the other hand, I love Annie Oakley.  Great legend (and random artifact -_-), good temple game sequence, Chandra and Nick owned the whole episode, and the temple loss was one of the top 5 losses on the show. I am surprised no one reviewed this episode earlier! I know TPP loved this episode, and so do I. I would give it an 8.5 or 9/10 for my personal ranking. Definitely looking forward to this one too. 

[Purple Parrots Fan]

Yeah, you're totally right about Bent Shaving Pan not getting enough criticism. I can't believe people feel sorry for them. How is it "not a bad episode," and how is it "not forgettable" again? Seriously, nothing happened other than having the same temple games as Xerxes (oh joy ) and the one room away guard. Irish was too slow, and Brian was even slower. In 30 seconds, you should be able to make it further than the Dark Forest. I can't believe people feel sorry for Brian, both him AND Irish were terrible players. I don't understand how people defend these guys, yet Derek and Sherra are bad players just because they had a difficult layout themselves. I hate this episode, they deserve all the criticism they get and I almost always skip over this episode while re watching episodes on YouTube.

Annie Oakley was a great episode though. That episode (as well as Blue Pearl) is one of the reasons why I like some of the losses better than some of the wins. They totally would've won if it wasn't for Chandra taking the elevator. Darn elevator.

And just for a reference, here's the episodes that are to be covered next:

Covered by me:
The Paintbrush of Leonardo Da Vinci
The Silver Cannonball of Grandy Nanny
The Lion-Headed Bracelet of Chandragupta
The Missing Portrait of Hans Holbein
The Lost Hornpipe of the Pirate Captain
The Jeweled Scabbard of Sforza

Covered by you:
Lawrence of Arabia's Headdress
The Golden Stallion of Ali Baba
The Jeweled Necklace of Montezuma
The Leopard-Skin Cloak of Annie Oakley
The Bent Shaving Pan of Jedediah Smith
The Broken Trident of Poseidon
The Ruby Earring of Benzibab

By the time we're done with all those episodes, we should surpass the halfway mark of episodes to review. I mean, aren't we approaching 60 episodes right about now? Either way, that's pretty amazing progress.