Note: I'm going to be extremely positive about Noah and Emma's relationship in this review. If you don't like the two of them together, which I can completely understand, it is fine if you want to skip this review.

Episode Summary: The action starts out immediately as the next destination is revealed to the remaining twelve teams; Finland. You know, the country that has the most saunas, most cell phone use, and most goths. So many goths in fact that one actually ran for office and won. There isn't just snow in that region apparently!

  After an eleven hour flight, the teams land in Iceland.  Right away, the teams rush to the nearest available taxi, some more effective than others.  After being told by Rock in the last episode that he was way too easy going, Spud tries to be a better teammate.  With some actual effort, he is able to lure a taxi in quite easily, which would've been great character development if he didn't invite a bunch of other teams to go with them.  Wow, Spud is possibly stupider than Owen.  Worse, he thinks he is in an alliance with all of these teams, and tells them all of his weaknesses.  Unfortunately for him, MacArthur was in that cab, and has come up with a plan to mess with him later.  Well, let the humiliation conga begin for Spud.

  Despite the Rockers and five other teams getting the first taxi, the Reality TV Pros are first to arrive at their destination.  They receive the first tip from the Don Box, detailing how the first challenge will take place in the nearby saunas.  Two teams must share a sauna fully clothed for ten minutes, which can only be described as pure torture.  Then, they must exit the saunas, and cross a semi-frozen river to reach a cab for the next challenge.  Due to the two person requirement per sauna, Noah decides to risk his team's lead and wait for Emma.  Owen agrees, but just barely, showing he might not be so stupid after all.  Knowing this show by now, do you think they keep their lead?  If you said no, then you would be right.  In a matter of not even thirty seconds, the Reality TV Pros go from first place to seventh place, all just to wait for Emma.  Well, it looks like love has just made Noah dumb.

  Once all the teams enter the saunas, it is a torturous ten minutes ahead for everyone.  Everyone that is, except the Adversity Twins.  Due to having a disorder known as Temperature Dyslexia, they cannot feel the heat inside the sauna.  So while other teams are nearly collapsing or heading straight for the river to get cool, the Adversity Twins are just fine.  Looks like they will be doing well for once in this episode.  There is no way my statement will later be proven wrong by some unfortunate events later in the episode.

  As the teams cross the semi-frozen river, MacArthur decides it would be a great time to mess with Spud.  Remembering that he'll blindly take a dare, she double dares him to go near a baby seal.  Not knowing MacArthur was messing with him and is not in an alliance with him, he takes the dare and is attacked by the baby seal.  Let us just hope it wasn't the same seal DJ ran over in the Yukon in Total Drama: World Tour.  The Goths easily cross the river, but the combined forces of the sauna and the river has taken their make-up and wigs off.  As a result, they have been "de-gothed" and put paper bags over their heads due to disgust at their "new" looks.  Oh, and did I mention that for some strange reason that they haven't seen each other without make-up for the three years they have dated!  That would seem kind of important.

  After the teams cross the river, they reach their next destination near a rock stage with a huge crowd.  The next tip reveals that the person who didn't use the rickshaw in the last challenge will preform on stage in front of the entire crowd of people.  Their performances will be judged and must be perfect in order to be allowed to reach the Chill Zone.  Only they won't be using instruments.  Instead, they will be doing the next best thing; air guitar.  So instead of listening to music, we get to see contestants jump around on stage like idiots.

  After Ennui receives a nasty response from the audience, he and Crimson in a depressed state try to step up their game.  At least that is what they should have done.  Instead, they freaking attempt to quit the game.  The quitters enter a taxi headed to the airport, and start to bond with each other without their make-up.  It seems they will be together even without their make-up after all, until they see a nearby gothic store.  Realizing then it is their common "dark hearts" that have kept them together for so long, and the "de-gothing" did not affect their relationship, they buy even more gothic clothing, go back to the rock stage, and literally steal the show.  Hey, an actually great sub-plot for the Goths this episode.  That was nice of the writers to do.

  Rock gets nervous Spud will botch up his performance, as he does with everything else in the competition.  Rock is forced to watch in terror as Spud performs, and then takes away that fear when he steals the show.  Even though Spud isn't good with everything, he is at least good at rock and roll. That was what made him friends with Rock in the first place, and gave the freaking team title of the Rockers.  Wow, another well written sub-plot. 

  The Reality TV Pros and the Adversity Twins constantly are booed off the stage during this challenge, each for different reasons.  Noah keeps getting distracted by Emma's good looks and ends up embarrassing himself onstage constantly.  Mickey, meanwhile, is afraid of being on stage due to getting a concussion during a school performance at ten.  How did he get the concussion?  Well, he fell down due to tripping on the roots of his tree costume.  Guess the play was the Wizard of Oz, maybe.  These two teams are neck and neck at the bottom, and only one of them will continue in the competition.  So which one makes it?

  Not surprisingly enough, it is the Reality TV Pros.  After having to watch Noah fail again and again at the challenge, two things happen.  The first is that Emma makes Mickey think he is surrounded in germs so he'll break out in hives and ruin his own performance.  The second event is more impactful, and the more surprising.  Owen prep-talks Noah into doing well in the challenge, as when they will get eliminated, it won't just be the end of their team.  It will also be the end of Noah's controversial love story with Emma.  This strong speech allows Noah to finish the challenge at last, and makes Emma fully realize she is in love with him.  So it looks like Owen wasn't so stupid after all.  Well, it looks like Spud might be the bigger idiot now.  The only downside to the speech is that is makes Noah want to give up on his feelings for Emma due to these feelings barely making him lose the race.  Well, many fans are probably celebrating right now...

  In the end, the Adversity Twins get eliminated, but not without reflecting on how they beat the odds of making it this far into the game.  Even with their constant phobias and disorders, they were strong in the end.  Okay, how many good sub-plots were in this episode?  Did the Ridonculous Race just become better than Total Drama Island?

Positive Aspects:  "I Love Ridonc and Roll" is by far the best episode of the Ridonculous Race.  The episode, in my opinion, is absolutely flawless, and shows just how great the Total Drama franchise really is. In fact, it may even prove that the Ridonculous Race is superior to the regular series. Most of the episodes are of Total Drama Island quality, and others have proven to be better than even the episodes of that season. If more episodes like "I Love Ridonc and Roll" come around for me to review in the near future, it is safe to say this will my favorite season of the Total Drama franchise.

What makes this episode so great is its complexity to many of the competitors, especially those in the Rockers, the Reality TV Pros, the Sisters, the Goths, and the Adversity Twins. Each of these characters' complexity was presented in the four main sub-plots mentioned above, which were just as flawless.

The sub-plot with the most screen time, and my personal favorite of the four, was the one between Noah and Emma. Throughout this episode, both characters go through really well established internal conflicts about their relationships. Noah loves Emma, but his love for her is distracting him and could make him lose the Ridonculous Race. As established in the first episode, Noah came to the game to win for once, due to his failures in various other reality shows. He has toned down his sarcasm to do that, and is the brains of his team, the Reality TV Pros, which he shares with his best friend Owen. That is why Noah took Owen's speech, or homily the wrong way later in the episode. He took it as a warning for what could happen to his team, and thus decided right after winning the challenge to try to forget Emma. Not only does this decision show the hidden turmoil Noah is going through, but it also shows he is indeed a flawed character. He's never been in love before, so he really does not know how to act with all these foreign feelings going through his head. Emma, meanwhile, fears that deciding to go out with Noah will cause her to be eliminated from the competition, not have enough money for law school, and eventually will just end in heartbreak for both of them. The reason she feels this way is because of her horrid break-up with Jake three years ago. Kitty, seeing this, tries throughout the episode to try to tell her sister to give Noah a chance and go out with him. She rejects this idea due to fear at first, but starts to consider her sister's advice once she sees the possibility of Noah being eliminated. That is why she made Mickey botch up the challenge, and gave Noah one last chance to win the challenge. Although the outcomes of each of these characters are opposite, it really shows the writers know what the roots of a real romance are. It isn't just butterflies in the stomach and flirting. Romance is creating a connection between two people, which with the right tools could turn into an everlasting bond. It is not what you see in Twilight or most other romance novels.

My second favorite sub-plot was with the Goths, and their real appearances being revealed. Truth to be told, I thought their plot was a little weak the first time I watched it. It seemed to me the plot was kind of pointless, as they just ended up the same way as they were before their plot started. The only thing I liked at the time with their plot was the diverse emotions they were feeling for once. However, re-watching the episode for this review, I noticed something that cemented it as one of the highlights of this episode. That something was a little thing called character development. Although they end up putting the make-up back on in the end of the episode, Ennui and Crimson have definitely gotten something out of their entire "de-gothing" experience. Both characters realized that even without their make-up, they still liked each other in the taxi headed to the airport. This is seen solely with little to no dialogue through the change of expression on their faces. It is further evidenced after Ennui does well in the air guitar performance, and says it is the darkness in their hearts or really their common interests that has kept them together. If their make-up was ever taken off again, the two of them wouldn't be ashamed of each other anymore and would probably be okay until they could get to the nearest gothic clothing store. What seems like nothing is actually great character development for both characters.

The other two plots had their moments of glory and kept my interest on them greatly. Starting off with the Rocker's sub-plot, we get a conflict between Rock and Spud. Rock wants Spud to step up his game, and not be so laid back all the time. He also starts to question what made him so close to Spud in the first place, clearly showing deep internal conflict. Throughout their plot, Spud continues to slow the team down and makes the conflict the more intense. It is not to the point where you will be biting your nails, but to the level where you see how serious their situation is. Just as it seems the Rockers will embarrass themselves again thanks to Spud, something amazing happens. Spud does great in the air guitar challenge and gets into first place for his team. From this moment of glory, Rock realizes that Spud may be slow, but he is committed to the game and is a rocker like him at heart. This climatic moment creates great character development for Rock, who will never again question his friendship with Spud or that he needs to make him more motivated. Spud is great the way he is already. With the Adversity Twins, their sub-plot can be summarized as a conclusion to their external conflict throughout the entire series; no one believing they could even survive a day on the Ridonculous Race. Not one person back home thought they would make it, due to their countless phobias, disorders, and allergies. However, they got as far as the final twelve, which is pretty darn good if I say so myself. Once they get home, society might be treating them quite a bit differently and not doubt them as much anymore. Well that is once the filming of the Ridonculous Race is finished in their universe.

Besides the excellently executed sub-plots, the humor was great as always. The humor managed to stay alive throughout the entirety of this more plot focused episode, and not be missed at all. Also, there will be no negative aspects section this time. Not when an episode like this exists. I'm really pumped to review the rest of this season, and give it the attention it deserves. (I've watched the entire season, but I still need to review 15 episodes.)