Remember all those nice things I said about Ciera last episode? How she was an underappreciated strategist who knew just when to cut her loved ones loose? Yeah, I take that all back. She did a pretty good job last episode, but she really just WRECKED her position this episode. I mean, she came out on top, so I guess it’s all right, all things considered, but still, this was a MAJOR strategic gaffe for Ciera.
Let’s take things from the top, however. We start off at Kasama, where, true to form, everyone is trying to comfort the loved one of the boot, in this case, Ciera. For once, though, the loved one doesn’t need consoling, as Ciera admits that she is oddly ok with the whole situation. Don’t let her outward appearance fool you, though. Ciera cares deeply about her mom. She loves her very much, and is torn up about voting her out. You can tell by how she stares blankly at the camera, while monotonously insisting that she really does care about her mom. Deeply. Truly. Sincerely.
The rest of the cast takes this vote with varying degrees of apprehension. Hayden seems pretty appalled that, as he puts it “Water won out over Blood”. Really, guy, the title was dumb enough on its own, we don’t need you reminding us that it’s lame. Tyson, on the other hand, is somewhat proud of her, knowing that it was a tough decision. At the same time, however, he’s apprehensive, since this means that Ciera is playing hard, and consequently might be a threat to him.
But of course, we can’t get to our lack of an intro without a Redemption Island scene. As Tina and Vytas confer, while Tina holds a teddy bear (nice touch), they agree that it’s more than likely that Katie is the one who got the boot. Things seem to be confirmed when the bootee calls out “Mom!” to get their attention. It turns out to be an actually funny joke, however, as it was Laura who got voted out. This funny scene only lasts a short while, unfortunately, as we then get into Laura’s “I’m so Proud” speech again. While I enjoyed it last episode, it’s gotten old REALLY fast, and I wish it would go away very quickly. As such, we’ll skip over the rest of Redemption Island and head right to the challenge.
Once again, we get a combination challenge. Duelists must push four blocks through a net (the concept of which comes from “Survivor Thailand”), and then use those blocks, which are colored on all sides, to create a tower 4 blocks high which has no duplicate colors on any sides (“Survivor Samoa”). Like the last few duels, I really can’t find it in my heart to hate this challenge. Yes, it’s reused, but it’s a combination of reused that we’ve never seen before. While it’s lacking a bit in the physical challenge department, it’s a pretty tough puzzle, particularly when one is dehydrated, starving, and presumably low on sleep. I’ll give this season one thing: while I will never love or accept Redemption Island as a concept, I’m hating it less and less as the season goes on.
Probst tries to get Laura to cry and rant at her daughter on national tv, but once he sees that Laura’s gearing up for her “I’m so Proud” speech again, he quickly and rightly decides to drop the subject, and head straight to the challenge instead. This one seems to me like more of a dead heat than the last one, but that might not be the case. Tina falls quickly behind, even being lapped by both Vytas and Laura. All three end up at the puzzle at the same time, though, and the race is on. Laura finishes first, but this is not all that surprising. Not only is Laura a challenge beast, but she’s also done this puzzle before. At first she seems determined not to have another Kat situation on her hands, and spins her puzzle around so no one can look at it. Later, though, she starts whispering the solution to Tina. Given how loud her “whispering” is, I’m amazed Vytas can’t hear it, so I’m chalking it up to the microphones they put on people before challenges. I have to admit, this surprised me. It’s a bit of strategy I’ve never thought of before, but it’s clever: help the weaker person on Redemption Island, so you have an easier match to get back in the game. Laura’s flaw, in my opinion, is choosing to help Tina. I admit, on paper you’d want to get rid of Vytas as quickly as possible, but I think this is a fallacy. While she’s no Vytas, Tina is pretty tough when it comes to challenges, and if you underestimate her, she’ll almost DEFINITELY come back to bite you. On top of that, thus far challenges to get back in the game have been all about endurance, and the lighter, determined people are generally the biggest threats, not the guys with muscles. Still, can’t fault the strategy in and of itself, only the target.
You also can’t fault its effectiveness, as Tina edges out Vytas by a manner of seconds, sending Vytas to the jury to hang with brother Aras. This saddens me, as of the three, I least wanted Vytas to go. He had some funny moments, was a likeable guy, and a more than decent strategist. I look forward to seeing him in another “All-Stars” season. Probst once again tries to get Vytas to give a big speech about his and Aras’ relationship, but Vytas rebukes him, and Probst lets the matter drop so Vytas can leave with dignity.
But then there’s that matter of the idol clue to deal with. Laura, not too surprisingly, gives it to Ciera, who throws it in the fire. Man, I love the look on Probst’s face when he sees it happening again, you know it’s killing him. Still, to Ciera’s credit, this is the one smart move she makes all episode. After last night, she needs hold true to the “Loyal to Tyson’s Alliance” ideal, and that means not taking a clue to make it look like you’re sneaking behind their backs. Plus, it helps keep up her “I’ve already found the idol.” lie with Katie. Good for you Ciera. Enjoy the praise, it won’t last long.
Back at camp, we at long last get to the “good” part of the episode. The quotation marks are because “good” refers to the entertainment value of said segment, not the quality of some of the strategy. Tyson is, quite naturally, worried about his position in the game. He wants Katie off badly, partly because she’s a jury threat, and partly because he wants to maintain control. And for once, his fears are founded, as Hayden and Caleb have chosen this moment to break free of the shackles of Tyson. Shock of all shocks, they’ve figured out that he’s a tough fight in the finals, and that therefore it might be wiser to take him out well before the end. They seem to be talking two or three votes in advance, but when Caleb goes to let Katie in on the plan, he acts as though it’s the upcoming vote. Um, might want to get your stories straight there, gents. Well, it’s still a really good plan. It pretty much guarantees either Hayden or Caleb a victory (as they’re both likeable and can claim to have been strategic), and gives Katie a solid alliance. All they need is a fourth, and Ciera seems to be that fourth.
Once again the swing vote, Ciera is brought into the fold of Hayden and Caleb, who offer her final four to go with them. Ciera agrees to their faces, but then admits to the cameras that she’s not buying it. She thinks that they don’t know how to play the game, and that the experienced players are a safer bet. Here’s where Ciera’s stupidity really shines through. For one thing, she clearly hasn’t seen other seasons with returning players battling newcomers. If you’re a newcomer, NEVER trust a returnee to the end. Experience goes a long way in this game, and however good you think you are, they’ll run circles around you. For another matter, her chances are better with Hayden and Caleb than with Tyson and Gervase (assuming that Gervase isn’t going anywhere, as long as Tyson has a say). One could make the argument that Tyson and Gervase have annoyed more people, but I’d counter that Ciera has a better argument for being the brains behind everything with Hayden and Caleb. Unless this is an EXCEPTIONALLY bitter jury, that’s likely to be her argument, and it works better with Hayden and Caleb. Further, if they’re less skilled in the game, you want them in the end as they’re easier to beat. I admit that it’s probably a tougher call than I’m making it out to be, but for my money, she should have gone with Hayden and Caleb. Kept playing both sides, to be sure, but ultimately sided with Hayden and Caleb. And to those complaining about my praising of her throwing away the clue earlier, when I said the benefit was showing loyalty to the Tyson alliance, and now saying she should go against it, I liked the move when the Tyson alliance was sticking together. If they’re splitting, it changes things.
Generic scenes of Tyson and Gervase being paranoid follow before we get something completely different: HAYDEN being paranoid! All the difference in the world. Give the man props, though, he notices that Ciera and Tyson have become quite chummy, going off to tree mail in a very blatant display of power. I would say he was being excessively paranoid, that one trip to tree mail means nothing, but in this case he’s actually right, so I have to chalk it up to smarts on his part. Still, it wouldn’t surprise me to learn that Hayden had witnessed a few other chummy moments beforehand.
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, ENOUGH WITH THE REDONE CHALLENGES ALREADY! Today’s challenge is from “Survivor Philippines”, in which tribe members have to hold a twisting bar with rope wrapped around it still as long as possible. At the other end is a bucket of sand with a given percentage of their body weight. Last person with a bucket in the air wins immunity. This is probably one of the fairer challenges “Survivor” has ever done, due to having no perceptible gender bias (the men tend to have greater upper body strength, but the women tend to be lighter), but it just looks stupid and doesn’t hold my attention. For another thing, IT’S NOT ORIGINAL!
Hey, Probst is announcing a twist! Listen to that dramatic music, it must be something new and Earth-shattering to make up for this piss-poor challenge! Nope, it’s the old “Eat-or-Compete” twist, now with annoying hashtag to match! I do like this twist, and how it reveals the pecking order, but it’s often painful (and delicious) to watch, and it’s just been done to death, change it up already.
Sure enough, the pecking order is revealed as Tyson, Gervase, and Ciera all choose to sit out and eat. If walking off to tree mail wasn’t an obvious indicator that Ciera was with Tyson and Gervase, this most certainly was. This fuels Hayden’s desire to win, and he makes a good show of it. He even puts up with Probst’s attempts to destroy the games of Tyson, Gervase, and Ciera by making them out to be similar to spectators at a gladiator match. I’d say the metaphor would be more apt for Redemption Island, but that would insult Probst’s brainchild, and there’s no way he’d stand for that. Not the most egregious example, as Probst has done similar commentary on those who eat in the past, but this somehow seems more mean-spirited, and serves as another instance of Probst influencing the game too much.
Despite Hayden’s best efforts, Monica takes home immunity. Ok, I knew she was better in challenges than she looked, but I never realized she was this much of a BEAST! Man, we need to start considering her a real physical threat. Could do without the constant “I’m doing it for my kids” speech, though.
So we head back to camp and back in time, as Hayden is still going on about his paranoia over Ciera. What I like, though, is that this time it’s more justified, and that he actually DOES SOMETHING ABOUT IT! Take note, cast of “Survivor One World”.
Hayden’s solution is that, if he can’t get a majority with Ciera, but has Caleb and Katie loyal to him, he might as well make sure that, if not Tyson, it’s not himself, Caleb or Katie. To this end, he and Caleb agree to go to Tyson, and make out that Ciera was lying, playing both sides, and therefore ought to be voted off. Not a bad plan, but in my opinion, not an idea one. True, should it work, they will tie for majority, but it’s be better to have majority outright, and to that end, I thought they should have approached Monica. It’s unlikely to work, to be sure, but if they get her paranoid about Tyson (potentially bringing up her challenge wins as a reason she might be a target), and promise her final 3 (no one else has done that yet), she might go with it. Not what I’d have done, but can’t fault the logic of their plan.
I find their performance for Tyson unconvincing, but Tyson does become suspicious, and Hayden seems to think that Tyson’s still on their side. Caleb is unconvinced, perhaps because they’re targeting him over Hayden for no discernible reason, but we see that Tyson is talking things over with Gervase right before they head off to Tribal, which I have to say, is one of the better ones of the season. Not a lot to say about it, but there were a lot of good social politicking moments, particularly Gervase’s appeal to Hayden fooling Hayden into thinking all was well.
But then, right before the votes are read, we see that Ciera is not the ONLY one who can make boneheaded moves. Tyson, after comedically searching for it (I thought perhaps he was joking at first), plays his idol, in what was a completely pointless move. It’s easy to say that, admittedly, as we all knew Tyson was not in actual danger this vote, and he had reason to be paranoid, but I’d argue he went to far. Pretty much nothing Ciera said indicated that she would go against Tyson, and Hayden and Caleb would have had to put on quite an act to pull the wool over Tyson’s eyes that well. Further, the downside to hiding the idol from everyone else is that it makes everyone paranoid about you once you reveal it. I applaud Tyson’s cautions, but in this scenario, the risks outweigh the benefits.
Caleb goes home, in what I think was the smartest move for Tyson, Gervase, Ciera, and Monica. While getting rid of Ciera might have kept the peace, Caleb’s a bigger threat overall (at least physically), is at least as likeable as Ciera, and gives them a solid majority, rather than a 3-3 tie with Hayden, Caleb, and Katie had they voted out Ciera. As to Caleb’s leaving, I’m not sorry. He wasn’t painful, unlikeable, or dumb, but his flashes of brilliance were scattered and infrequent, and compared to everyone else (save Katie) he’s just not that interesting. I like the guy, but I won’t miss him.
As to this episode, despite the strategy not coming to much of anything, I liked it. For all that I was prepared for letdown on the “Tyson May Go Home” plot, it still kept me guessing, and balanced out dumb strategy with intriguing strategy, and while it was the most edge-of-your-seat exciting episode ever, it was still a good watch. Can’t wait for the next one!
-Matt
Title Credit to Jean Storrs.
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