diff --git a/src/backend/distributed/connection/placement_connection.c b/src/backend/distributed/connection/placement_connection.c
index 8e946403b..8d39afda0 100644
--- a/src/backend/distributed/connection/placement_connection.c
+++ b/src/backend/distributed/connection/placement_connection.c
@@ -308,7 +308,7 @@ StartPlacementListConnection(uint32 flags, List *placementAccessList,
 		chosenConnection = StartNodeUserDatabaseConnection(flags, nodeName, nodePort,
 														   userName, NULL);
 
-		if (flags & CONNECTION_PER_PLACEMENT &&
+		if ((flags & CONNECTION_PER_PLACEMENT) &&
 			ConnectionAccessedDifferentPlacement(chosenConnection, placement))
 		{
 			/*
diff --git a/src/backend/distributed/executor/multi_router_executor.c b/src/backend/distributed/executor/multi_router_executor.c
index debc03ba3..8a2d86716 100644
--- a/src/backend/distributed/executor/multi_router_executor.c
+++ b/src/backend/distributed/executor/multi_router_executor.c
@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@ static List * GetModifyConnections(Task *task, bool markCritical);
 static int64 ExecuteModifyTasks(List *taskList, bool expectResults,
 								ParamListInfo paramListInfo, CitusScanState *scanState);
 static void AcquireExecutorShardLockForRowModify(Task *task, RowModifyLevel modLevel);
-static void AcquireExecutorShardLocksForRelationRowLockList(Task *task);
+static void AcquireExecutorShardLocksForRelationRowLockList(List *relationRowLockList);
 static bool RequiresConsistentSnapshot(Task *task);
 static void RouterMultiModifyExecScan(CustomScanState *node);
 static void RouterSequentialModifyExecScan(CustomScanState *node);
@@ -247,8 +247,16 @@ AcquireExecutorShardLockForRowModify(Task *task, RowModifyLevel modLevel)
 
 
 static void
-AcquireExecutorShardLocksForRelationRowLockList(Task *task)
+AcquireExecutorShardLocksForRelationRowLockList(List *relationRowLockList)
 {
+	ListCell *relationRowLockCell = NULL;
+	LOCKMODE rowLockMode = NoLock;
+
+	if (relationRowLockList == NIL)
+	{
+		return;
+	}
+
 	/*
 	 * If lock clause exists and it effects any reference table, we need to get
 	 * lock on shard resource. Type of lock is determined by the type of row lock
@@ -266,33 +274,27 @@ AcquireExecutorShardLocksForRelationRowLockList(Task *task)
 	 * with each other but conflicts with modify commands, we get ShareLock for
 	 * them.
 	 */
-	if (task->relationRowLockList != NIL)
+	foreach(relationRowLockCell, relationRowLockList)
 	{
-		ListCell *rtiLockCell = NULL;
-		LOCKMODE rowLockMode = NoLock;
+		RelationRowLock *relationRowLock = lfirst(relationRowLockCell);
+		LockClauseStrength rowLockStrength = relationRowLock->rowLockStrength;
+		Oid relationId = relationRowLock->relationId;
 
-		foreach(rtiLockCell, task->relationRowLockList)
+		if (PartitionMethod(relationId) == DISTRIBUTE_BY_NONE)
 		{
-			RelationRowLock *relationRowLock = (RelationRowLock *) lfirst(rtiLockCell);
-			LockClauseStrength rowLockStrength = relationRowLock->rowLockStrength;
-			Oid relationId = relationRowLock->relationId;
+			List *shardIntervalList = LoadShardIntervalList(relationId);
 
-			if (PartitionMethod(relationId) == DISTRIBUTE_BY_NONE)
+			if (rowLockStrength == LCS_FORKEYSHARE || rowLockStrength == LCS_FORSHARE)
 			{
-				List *shardIntervalList = LoadShardIntervalList(relationId);
-
-				if (rowLockStrength == LCS_FORKEYSHARE || rowLockStrength == LCS_FORSHARE)
-				{
-					rowLockMode = ShareLock;
-				}
-				else if (rowLockStrength == LCS_FORNOKEYUPDATE || rowLockStrength ==
-						 LCS_FORUPDATE)
-				{
-					rowLockMode = ExclusiveLock;
-				}
-
-				SerializeNonCommutativeWrites(shardIntervalList, rowLockMode);
+				rowLockMode = ShareLock;
 			}
+			else if (rowLockStrength == LCS_FORNOKEYUPDATE ||
+					 rowLockStrength == LCS_FORUPDATE)
+			{
+				rowLockMode = ExclusiveLock;
+			}
+
+			SerializeNonCommutativeWrites(shardIntervalList, rowLockMode);
 		}
 	}
 }
@@ -316,7 +318,7 @@ void
 AcquireExecutorShardLocks(Task *task, RowModifyLevel modLevel)
 {
 	AcquireExecutorShardLockForRowModify(task, modLevel);
-	AcquireExecutorShardLocksForRelationRowLockList(task);
+	AcquireExecutorShardLocksForRelationRowLockList(task->relationRowLockList);
 
 	/*
 	 * If the task has a subselect, then we may need to lock the shards from which
@@ -920,8 +922,6 @@ ExecuteSingleSelectTask(CitusScanState *scanState, Task *task)
 		{
 			placementAccessList = BuildPlacementSelectList(taskPlacement->groupId,
 														   relationShardList);
-
-			Assert(list_length(placementAccessList) == list_length(relationShardList));
 		}
 		else
 		{
@@ -1316,9 +1316,6 @@ GetModifyConnections(Task *task, bool markCritical)
 		multiConnectionList = lappend(multiConnectionList, multiConnection);
 	}
 
-	/* then finish in parallel */
-	FinishConnectionListEstablishment(multiConnectionList);
-
 	/* and start transactions if applicable */
 	RemoteTransactionsBeginIfNecessary(multiConnectionList);
 
diff --git a/src/include/distributed/multi_physical_planner.h b/src/include/distributed/multi_physical_planner.h
index cabb46df0..35685f3bb 100644
--- a/src/include/distributed/multi_physical_planner.h
+++ b/src/include/distributed/multi_physical_planner.h
@@ -194,8 +194,23 @@ typedef struct Task
 	TaskExecution *taskExecution;  /* used by task tracker executor */
 	char replicationModel;         /* only applies to modify tasks */
 
+	/*
+	 * List of struct RelationRowLock. This contains an entry for each
+	 * query identified as a FOR [KEY] UPDATE/SHARE target. Citus
+	 * converts PostgreSQL's RowMarkClause to RelationRowLock in
+	 * RowLocksOnRelations().
+	 */
 	List *relationRowLockList;
+
 	bool modifyWithSubquery;
+
+	/*
+	 * List of struct RelationShard. This represents the mapping of relations
+	 * in the RTE list to shard IDs for a task for the purposes of:
+	 *  - Locking: See AcquireExecutorShardLocks()
+	 *  - Deparsing: See UpdateRelationToShardNames()
+	 *  - Relation Access Tracking
+	 */
 	List *relationShardList;
 
 	List *rowValuesLists;          /* rows to use when building multi-row INSERT */