Ah, families. So supportive, so caring. So... pathological.

Last night's Amazing Race was a shining example of the chaos that DNA can cause. It's hard to know where to start... okay, the Weavers. We haven't been privy to such a hypocritical, sneering, bitchy, distasteful group of related human beings since... oh, I don't know, since some of the better episodes of Trading Spouses. Weavers, I heart you for bringing dysfunction back to where it belongs - the bosom of the family.

Though that's not entirely fair. The Weavers actually function very well, in their own little universe. This is a world where in one breath they can pray to Jesus for directions, and talk about answering to God as "a higher authority", and in another, mock the Paolos for their line of honest work (Dad Paolo is a garbage man) and jeer at them as "retards". I don't want to put words in God's mouth - the Weavers already do that enough - but I wonder if He/She is itching to use some of that higher authority on the Weaver family. In the Weavers' world, God is a very large vending machine, doling out favours to the righteous few who put their spare change in. One needn't be kind, or charitable, or polite, or remotely Christian, in the purest sense of the word. As one of the girls put it, "we don't trust other people, we just trust each other, and God". Nice.

Surprisingly, it's the Paolos who have emerged as the unlikely underdog heroes of this series. I always knew that their bickering would make entertaining TV, but I didn't expect to get caught up in the renaissance of their family unit. Sure, they still argue, but the Paolo boys are coming to see that their parents have intrinsic value, while Mother Paolo has toned down her incessant martyr-monologue. I never thought I'd be cheering for them, and yet here I am, clapping my hands like a fool - or possibly a retard - as Dad Paolo sweeps Phil into yet another jubilant embrace.

The others? I can take 'em or leave 'em. The Linzs are fun, I like seeing them get ahead. The Gaghans - alas, I'd had high hopes. The Bransens - those girls blend into one, and also apparently don't know what a 'relic' is. The Godlewskis are also fairly interchangeable. It's the flaw in the family edition of the show: with four people per team, it's hard to get to know them as individuals. Quick - name all of the Linzs/Godlewskis/Bransens! Yeah, see what I mean?

Still, I'll take a little character confusion, if it means we get to keep the Weavers. There's joy to be found in watching them, even if it is an impure joy: the gleeful disbelief that a family could have such a lack of self-awareness, the pleasure at watching them get their just desserts, and the relief in knowing that no matter my own family's failings - we're still not the Weavers.

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