The one investigating Alex's wife's disappearance is Richard Brooks, whose Minear-resume is Jubal Early in Firefly, and who is probably best known as Robinette in the first three seasons of Law & Order.

And to a small but loyal following, as one of the demon-hunting characters on Good Vs. Evil.

Thank you! I had totally forgotten about Jubal Early and was trying to place him as a demon in Buffy or something.

This may be true. But then why give Wendy a loaded gun in an envelope with the dictate to kill another competitor?

they didn't tell Wendy to kill her. They just gave her a gun, which was one method. That's the kind of mindfuck that people who have too much money might enjoy.

And to a small but loyal following, as one of the demon-hunting characters on Good Vs. Evil.

LOVED Henry and his volvo

Also, it looks like giving Wendy the gun was done by the people who run the race as a penalty, not by a sponsor. What a sponsor can do is probably very different from what the people running the race can do.

And I agree there has to be a "no direct violence by sponsors against racers" rule. Because otherwise the race would be a very short one. I suspect that racers use of violence against one another has limitations: otherwise a sponsor would win a race by sponsoring a really skilled killer, and the next race would consist entirely of skill and talented killers--which does not seem to be the game they are playing.

Also, I still say there is something more than a game going on, or at least more than just who wins and who loses. Some of the racers seem to have zero chance. I don't think Daughter&DyingDad have a shot. But you know, even horse races have prizes besides first. I'll bet there lots of sub-bets going on, as to whether A or B does better, even if "better" is 28th and 29th. Of course winning such a bet for a sponsor does nothing for the racer; but hey obviously this race is all about screwing with the racers. They are game pieces, not players. They are horses, not jockeys.

I was wondering if the man who posed as Wendy's husband had once been a contestant in an earlier race. He seemed to have a strong association with what being last would entail.

There are rules. I don't know what they are, but expect to learn more as we go on.

it's not unreasonable to intuitively see the Race in the same way.

That's your call to make but I haven't bothered.

Since the sponsors clearly are interfering,

This is around where I'd stop mapping. Since it's not working.

Maybe some of the former racers that didn't win and get whatever it is they wanted are invested in the results of the current race. There could be bunches of people out there with kidnapped relatives or whatnot that have a stake in which racer wins this year. They could be the ones helping out with the interference.

If you could actually kill a racer, what would stop that racer's sponser from killing your racer? That would be pointless.

I'm wondering why the sponsors didn't kill Corinne as a little girl. Presuming that her parents were racing to stop her death, when they died, wouldn't the sponsors assume that she would eventually attempt to co-opt the race? If they were threatening to kill her anyway, why not just carry through?

I'm wondering why the sponsors didn't kill Corinne as a little girl. ... If they were threatening to kill her anyway, why not just carry through?

"As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods; they kill us for their sport."

In other words, it's more fun to watch then squirm than to kill outright.