Do you sympathize with the Bifocal Monocle team with their layout?

[Purple Parrots Fan]

Yeah, I also hate Bifocal Monocle way more than Snow Cone. The latter is just a really forgettable AND bad run, both are which are a bad combination. Or maybe I've just blocked so much of Snow Cone out of my memory. But Bifocal Monocle to me, has got to be the second worst run after Cricket Cage. Though Lost Hammer is a good contender for worst runner up too. I mean, not knowing how to press a button? At least Billy did an okay job though.

[PurpleParrot4Life]

While Veronica and Thomas struggled in the temple, the path was strange. And while their success was very low, I can sympathize with them for their layout (which, I must point out, is different than sympathizing for them due to their ability). This was the first and only Season 3 episode that featured a dead end. This was also the first episode of the new season, so it was more-or-less a "testing ground" for the new rooms and objectives. Once the producers saw that adding dead ends to the already more difficult series of rooms was excessive, they probably realized that it was sufficiently difficult to have teams proceed in a predetermined path, rather than have to deal with dead ends on top of it. This pattern of trial-by-error and adjusting/clarifying episode-by-episode was seen in several moat crossings and temple games throughout the duration of the show as well. So all in all, I am not surprised that the producers chose to get rid of the dead ends for Season 3.

Another point of interest I want to mention in regards to the Bifocal Monocle run occurred after Veronica encountered the temple guard in the Ancient Warriors. One of the cameramen (or perhaps another crew person, etc.) mumbles something about a "door" when there is 0:55 left on the temple run clock. She then kneels down by the door that led back into the Chamber of the Sacred Markers before looking at the cameraman, hesitating, and proceeding up to the King's Storeroom. Perhaps she intended on returning to the Chamber, but was influenced otherwise to head to the King's Storeroom.

[The Red Jaguars]

Looking back now, I don't even think I feel that this layout was even tough at all. Yes, it was tricky with the rare dead end in Season 3. But I feel that some contestants wouldn't fall for the obvious direct path trick either. Plus, Veronica and Thomas actually had a chance at solo victory too. This layout might've been exactly like Roland's with just one extra room tacked on to it. And I don't think being the first temple run for Season 3 is an excuse for how bad these two performed. Galileo and Butch Cassidy were the first temple runs for their respective seasons, and those teams won. Veronica and Thomas made horrible progress and didn't even make it past the central shaft. Plus, the other temple runs that day were actually pretty successful. Even War Fan had a chance to being a win. Finally, the mistakes that these two made were pretty glaring. No excuse for spending over a minute to climb a wall or trying to complete objectives that were already done. In my mind, this is the second worst temple run ever on the show. A team like Bandit Queen, Metal Beard, and even Poseidon would've had better success with this layout even if they were confused by the dead end.