Episode Summary: After Don insultingly informs the viewers that the Vegans' plane crashed on a cannibalistic island (he was joking), the next destination for the remaining fourteen contestants in revealed; Transylvania.  You know, the setting of Dracula, the apparent origins of goths (according to Crimson), and a place you surely wouldn't want to bring your younger siblings to.  Wait, take your younger siblings to Transylvania!  I'm sure they will not be afraid of anything there, especially the old castles and the dark, damp woods.  The first eight teams board the first place, which will be two hours ahead of the other plane containing the rest of the cast.  When they arrive in Transylvania, they are met with a huge rain storm and their first tip of the night.  Teams must enter an old and quite possibly haunted castle to find a coffin, where one team member will be placed inside of.  They must then take the coffins to open graves in a nearby cemetery, where their next tip will be given by a creepy gravedigger.

  On the drama side of things, the Fashion Bloggers (characters based off of the real creators of the show) have a huge argument over who was really in charge of their website; Jen or Tom.  Also, the Goths are for once showing signs of happiness at being in Transylvania, and break a few rules during the challenge to fully explore the region.  These misdemeanors include stealing a painting of Vlad the Impaler (they must be sick in the brain to even want that picture) and taking turns in the coffin used for the challenge.  Finally, the Adversity Twins are afraid of the possibility of attracting werewolves, and pretty much screamed and ran for their lives the entire episode.  Strangely enough their fear turns out to true, as a werewolf is indeed spotted in the graveyard in the middle of the episode.  Okay, cue the fanfiction! 

After the teams arrive at the graveyard and receive their tips from a worn down knife, they head on horseback towards the Romanian Olympic Center.  Here, the teammate that was in the coffin must go on a balance beam and jump in the center, go jump above a vaulting horse, and land on their feet on the mat below.  For some reason, it takes not very athletic teams like the Reality TV Pros not even a minute to complete the course, while other teams like the Lovers (gymnastic instructors) a heck of a long time.  Also, it is love at first sight for Noah here towards the Sisters' team member Emma.  (Now, be prepared for a bunch of Noah and Cody shippers to have a riot.)  Unsurprisingly, the Ice Dancers arrive first at the Chill Zone, and of course overreact over their win as usual.  As other teams finish this leg of the race, tensions grow between Ryan and Stephanie, and tensions boil down for Jen and Tom as they realize their equal importance to each other.  In the end, the Fashion Bloggers get eliminated, and probably got eaten by bats afterwards for wearing fez hats.  Well, that was dark twist, especially considering their character are based off the show creators.    What, did the writers and animators get a pay cut or something?

Positive Aspects:   For an episode focused on Transylvania, it surprisingly didn't have a cliché plot about Dracula coming back from the dead, someone turning into a werewolf, or the contestants disappearing one by one in the old castle.  Instead, this episode focuses more on the humor, and developing certain characters.  For that, I think the writers deserve some huge praise for creating a very original plot.  Sure, it is not the best episode of the entire show, as evidenced by the A- rating.  However, this episode is definitely a must watch for fans a little hesitant about this Total Drama spin-off.

  On the humor side of things, there are few great gags involving the Adversity Twin's fear of werewolves, the Goths actually enjoying things for a change to the point where they smiled in one scene, Ryan being terrible at gymnastics despite working at a gym back home, and Josee's "revenge" on Jacques for dropping her on the ice during the Olympics.  These small bits of humor help to give this episode its own identity, and separate itself from other cartoons.

  As for the character development, this episode primarily focuses on the Lovers and the Fashion Bloggers.  (No, I won't be talking about Noah's sudden crush on Emma just yet.  That will be reserved for the next episode.)  Due to Stephanie's ambitious and overly determined attitude, it seems her relationship with the calmer Ryan may end very soon.  Evidence of this takes place primarily during the obstacle course in the Romanian Olympic Center, where Ryan keeps failing to complete the course without injuring himself in some way.  This of course infuriates Stephanie, and causes her to start yelling rudely at Ryan.  If that isn't a sign of a possible break-up between the two contestants, then I must be overanalyzing things.  Also, the Fashion Bloggers' argument for most of the episode over who really is in charge of their website helps to develop both characters quite nicely.  By seeing their strengths and weaknesses throughout the challenge, Jen and Tom realize that they both help equally to create their blog, despite their differences in personality.  So you can imagine I was kind of sad when they were eliminated.  However, I'm not angry at it due to it being well built up and both characters having more than enough screen time in the past episodes.  Well, the creators of the show might be a bit ticked off.  They personally were never one of my favorite teams, and I kind of was waiting for them to go.

  Overall, if you want to give the Ridonculous Race a chance, please watch this episode.  It will surely get you hooked on the new Total Drama spin-off and make you become reinterested in the original show.

Negative Aspects:   The sole reason this episode doesn't get a higher ranking is because of the existence of one too many sub-plots.  Some of them felt a bit out of place, and sometimes were completely pointless.  These offenders weren't terrible, but could've been left out to give other characters a chance to shine.