Ok, editing team, I’ve praised you for a lot this season, and doubtless I’ll praise you in the future, but you’re going off the rails here. It’s not that I DON’T want to see dynamic characters who are neither straight heroes nor villains, but you’re really starting to confuse me here. First, you make out that Jason and Scot are bullies. Then, you have them conquer adversity and find good alliances. THEN, you go out of your way to make us like them with children and mothers, but NOW you go and make them cocky assholes. I’m not saying someone portrayed as an asshole needs to stay that way the entire time, but at least TRY to make it a progression from one to the other, don’t flip-flop back and forth.
But now it’s time for me to flip-flop, specifically back to last episode. Yep, it’s time for another edition of…
MATT’S MESS-UP!
Actually a very brief one this time. I made mention that this past episode’s reward was particularly harsh since it was delivered to camp, thereby really rubbing it in for everyone else. What I NEGLECTED to mention was that the group actually stayed very civil about the whole thing, and that one of the things that caused Michele’s turn was Jason hollering over to them to live it up a little. It was a nice gesture of them to do, and I’m on Michele’s side on this one. Pretty much as simple as that.
Just when you thought the days of getting straight to the point were gone, we get our sabotage scenes nearly right off the bat. Scot gives a token confessional about being blindsided, but to his credit, he’s actually pretty respectful, calling it a good move on their parts. About the worst thing he says is that the old To Tang alliance is dead, which is fair, and also brings up my point again about why this move was bad for Cydney. While it certainly helps build her a resume for the Final Tribal Council, it also most likely puts two people on the jury who now despise her. Because, as we see now and later in the episode, it’s her that Scot and Jason are particularly pissed at, which is never a good thing on “Survivor”.
The niceness is not to last, though. The pair get together with Tai and agree to sabotage the camp for daring to betray them. Stop getting food, hide the tools, things like that. What? You say that Jason feels that Russell Hantz (“Survivor Samoa”) is the guy who really knew how to play the game? I never would have guessed! Yes, the three are blatantly emulation the Russell Hantz game now, though Tai is admittedly reluctant in this regard. Their justification is that they need to create psychological tension in the alliance, so that cracks will form that they can use to save themselves. Now, in terms of pure logic, this strategy does make sense. Deprivation would cause tempers to rise, which would logically lead to the fracturing of alliances. Unfortunately for Scot, Jason, and Tai, this effect is counteracted by the fact that EVERYONE KNOWS IT’S THEM! The other times this strategy has been pulled off successfully, the perpetrator was able to hide their identity well enough to reap the benefits of tension without the cost of everyone blaming the saboteur. In Russell’s case, he did it so early and secretly that no one could guess that it was him. They had nine other people to blame, since no one was clearly on the outs. On “Survivor Pearl Islands”, Sandra was successfully able to push blame for throwing out fish onto her ally Christa, though admittedly this was more of a happy accident than actual skill on Sandra’s part. Still, the point being, when everyone knows it’s you, it makes you a target. No one likes a saboteur, so in reality, all you’re doing is painting targets on yourselves.
The three put their plan into action next morning, Scot and Jason spiriting away a hatchet and a machete while Joe tends the fire. To prove my point about why this is stupid, everybody correctly blames them for this maneuver, with even DEBBIE (who really goes off the rails this episode) correctly blaming them. They have no evidence to support this, but really, who else would it be? Still, our stalwart castaways are not to be deterred, and come up with a new way of opening coconuts, by throwing them in the fire and then hitting them with a saw. Why they don’t just saw through the coconut without doing the fire is beyond me, but it seems to work nicely. Cydney in particular can’t help commenting on their impressive outside-the-box thinking, and it irritates Scot, who thereby graduates from doing something REALLY stupid to something INCREDIBLY stupid. With the hiding of the things, you could argue that they were at least doing their sabotage at night, when no one could firmly blame the act on them. Now, however, Scot just goes and dumps (presumably fresh) water on the fire, in full view of everybody. Now, not only is there CLEAR evidence of who’s committing the sabotage, but it really doesn’t accomplish much in the way of psychological warfare. Unlike the machete and hatchet, a fire can be restarted, and water can be boiled again. All you do is make people hate you for inconveniencing them. Not even an arguable negative for this one. Following this, Scot and Jason talk about how they need to escalate their sabotage, which REALLY gets on Tai’s conscience, even asking the pari why they need to do what they do on that scale. Jason argues that they’re going to be voted out anyway, so why not do it? The answer, Jason, is that until your torch is snuffed, there’s not GUARANTEE that will happen. This episode is evidence enough of that. All you do by openly antagonizing them is making it MORE likely that they’ll vote you off, because now you’re a liability. Well done.
Off to the reward challenge, and for a change of pace, we get a COMBINATION of reused challenges instead of a single reused challenge. Divided into two teams of four, the members will have to untangle themselves from four sets of ropes and race back to start. Once unclipped, they must throw sand bags at bamboo chutes, knocking them off a platform. First team with all chutes knocked off wins Chinese food delivered to camp for them. I’m tired of the damn bamboo chute and sandbags thing! It’s been around, at least in wide concept, since “Survivor Philippines”, and while I get that’s it’s probably easy to make and set up, it’s a lame concept that’s never really worked as a “challenge”. The rope untwisting is pretty cool, though. Reminds me of the first part of the second immunity challenge from “Survivor South Pacific”.
In his pre-challenge banter, Probst brings out the division in the tribe, as evidenced by last Tribal Council, and it comes out that it’s Scot, Jason, and Tai versus the girls (and Joe). With that in mind, Probst offers them the opportunity to forgo the usual schoolyard-pick, and offers to let them divide themselves into even teams naturally. One person has to sit out, and Joe immediately volunteers. Fortunately, “Survivor Nicaragua” rears it’s head, though in a good way this time. After many seasons of being absent, the person left out of the reward challenge now gets to bet on a team to win, and shares in the reward if they bet correctly. I’ve always really liked this twist. It keeps the sit-out involved, albeit in a very tangential way, but it can also reveal where one’s loyalties truly lie. In this case, Joe isn’t an idiot, and sides with the women of his alliance. Good move, Joe.
However, since Scot, Jason, and Tai are only three, someone from the majority alliance has to go with them. After a brief pause, Julia volunteers as tribute. Unlike “The Hunger Games”, however, this doesn’t make her a little hero. Even though it seemed to me that she left plenty of time before volunteering, she still makes both Cydney and Aubry suspicious of her motives. And, sure enough, we hear from Julia that she volunteered on purpose, wanting to be close to Scot, Jason, and Tai to be a potential swing vote. A pretty good strategy for her in theory, but the problem is, everyone knows it. This is the sort of thing that needs to be played out subtly, behind everyone’s back. When people KNOW you’re the swing vote, it often makes you a target. More on that in a second.
You would think, with the first part of the challenge, that bulky people like Jason and Scot would be a detriment to their team. Surprisingly, though, their team gets through that portion with a slight lead over the others, and while a valiant effort is made by the other team on the sandbag portion, that foursome win the Chinese food reward. Once again it’s back at camp, but this time it seems a bit farther away. Far away, at least, for the four to talk strategy. Showing no subtlety whatsoever, Julia flat out admits that she’d like to work with the three, and once again opines that she’s the swing vote. Ok, she is in a private conversation with people she wants to gain trust with, but with how much people are saying that she’s untrustworthy as a swing vote, it feels like she’s doing it wrong. She DOES make a major error I can point to in a bit, but for now, she’s playing ok, but for the fact that everyone knows what she’s doing. It’s basically another Kelly Goldsmith (“Survivor Africa”) type situation. Julia clearly knows what she’s supposed to do, and doesn’t seem to be doing anything suspicious, but since people ARE so suspicious of her, it implies that she must be doing something wrong, even if I can’t pinpoint to exactly what it is.
As a side note, while I gave a hard time for the flip-flopping edits of Scot and Jason, Julia’s edit, such as it is, is an offender as well in this regard. We pretty much hear NOTHING from her until the swap. Then she gets a bit of screen time during episode six when it seems like she might be going, and she comes across as a pretty smart, determined young lady. Then she disappears again, and now we’re supposed to buy that she’s a naive flipper. Once again, editors, MAKE UP YOUR MINDS!
Sure enough, a meeting of the minds between Cydney and Aubry comes to the conclusion that Julia needs to be blindsided, preferably now. While I can see the logic, since she’s not being loyal, I can’t really get behind this move. Even if you can’t count Julia as a number, what’s important is that one of the four reward winners leaves. If you go with Julia rather than Scot, Tai, or Jason, you risk fracturing your alliance beyond repair. At this point, Scot, Jason, and Tai can be counted a solid threesome, and you’ve only had one vote to earn trust. A fracture now could be disastrous later on. Plus, you’ve got a super idol to flush. Stuck to their plan, though, Aubry approaches Debbie about said plan. Debbie, however, is too pissed about the sabotage, and thinks the vote ought to be split. Debbie, what happened? You seemed to have good strategic moments there, but now you’re stongarming people, not listening to sense, and just being rude and unstrategic! Bring back the old Debbie!
Oh, but Aubry, don’t think you’re getting off scott-free (or would that be Scot-free?) in this exchange either! While I do like you, and I sympathize with Debbie being unreasonable, accusing Debbie of “playing emotionally” is a bit hypocritical. Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t you want PETER gone at your first Tribal Council, because he annoyed you more than Liz? What do you call that?
To cement that he’s in with the threesome, Tai overcomes his conscience and pours some water on the fire during the night. It doesn’t cause much of a reaction from anyone, but since Tai was smart enough to wait until everyone was ASLEEP to do it, so it doesn’t reflect negatively on him, and I can’t complain too much. Our challenge, though, is another matter. A relic of “Survivor Gabon”, this challenge has people stacking blocks one at a time along a board, while having to avoid trip pipes that can knock over said blocks. First person to get their blocks to all knock over to the end wins immunity. Now, this is definitely a trick and exciting challenge that’s not TOO overused, so why am I upset? Because every time they do this challenge, they make it easier and easier. In its initial iteration, the trip ups were a net of ropes at odd angles, not a grid you had to step over. On top of that, the board you had to place the blocks on was hilly, not flat, and the blocks had odd-shaped bottoms, making it a puzzle to figure out where they went. Now? It’s basically a game of dominoes with a precision component thrown in. LAME!
At the very least, this challenge gives us a lot of good back and forth, plus a great tracking shot following the ultimate winner’s stack of blocks all the way to the end. Incidentally, Julia wins. Aubry is upset, to say the least.
To make matters worse, when everyone gets back to camp, the women’s alliance (and Joe) convene to decide how to do the votes, since Julia’s immune. Debbie, coming to the conclusion that the sabotage on Jason’s end means he’s trying to attract votes, suggests they split between Scot and Tai, as a move they’ll never see coming. Not a bad plan, all things considered. It even counters the super idol, since it could only make either Scot or Tai immune, leaving it up to the one of them who didn’t get it. However, Debbie spills the beans RIGHT IN FRONT OF JULIA! Understandable, since Debbie’s been the steadfast defender of Julia in the alliance, but bad because Julia’s playing both sides. Accordingly, Julia spills the beans to Scot and Jason, no questions asked. And, here’s where the criticism of Julia comes in. While it’s one thing to play the swing vote, giving up vital information so easily, especially when you’re not sure if anyone else would come with you, is risky. Julia needed to firm up things with her other potential flipper before making this move. True, as Scot says, the split vote means only Julia need flip for this vote, but even then, it’s still a 4-4 tie after tonight, and with the super idol gone, that’s no the best of situations. It’s one thing to play the swing vote, it’s another to do it badly.
With the old To Tang going for Cydney (told you she made herself a target), it looks to be a question of whether or not Julia will flip, meaning either Scot or Cydney is probably going. It seems, however, that the urge to make a move has bitten Aubry. Debbie’s lack of logic is getting to her, so she and Cydney concoct a plan to blindside Debbie. Oddly this is a better move for Cydney, but a horrible move for everyone else. Once again, like with Julia, it fractures an already fragile alliance, and in the case of Aubry and Joe, it loses them a valuable ally which basically guaranteed them final three. It’s good for Cydney because it puts her in the middle of two twosomes come final five, and because she’s a target tonight, so staying the course is not good. Apart form that, though, bad idea.
This might not be happening, though. Aubry is confident that Joe will be on her side, but she forgets that Joe’s goal this season is evidently to not be involved in any strategy whatsoever. He point blank refuses to vote for Debbie. Undeterred, Cydney goes to Julia, the defector, and tries to get her on board with the plan, a further risky maneuver. At least Julia doesn’t go off and tell Scot and Jason about this one, though.
At first, Tribal Council seems like a tense, but relatively cut-and-paste affair. But then, downfield, I do believe we have the Malcolm Freberg-Maneuver! Yes, yes, there are the idols out in the open. Ah, for those who don’t know, the Malcolm Freberg-Maneuver was invented on “Survivor Caramoan”. It works on the logic that, since hidden immunity idols theoretically save you only one vote, it is better to reveal that you have them at Tribal Council, throwing everyone else into chaos, and potentially taking votes off of you without playing said idols. While we’ve seen this done before, this does bring an air of uncertainty to Tribal Council, as well as a lot of whispering in ears. While a bit theatrical, the move is largely played well, except for one bit. With only two immunity idols to split between the three of them, and no individual immunity, Jason and Scot say they’ll do rock-paper-scissors to see who gets the idol. This should be the clue to everyone else that they aren’t actually planning to play said idols. No one would be THAT stupid to decide who gets an idol that way. Still, now it’s all the more reason not to blindside Debbie. The only counter to the Malcolm Freberg-Maneuver is to go with the “Keith Nale Defense” developed on “Survivor San Juan del Sur”, and “Stick to the Plan.” This forces the idols to be played, removing their threat. Worst case scenario, you lose a member, and the idols are out of the game.
If I’ll give the editors credit for anything this episode, they DO do a good job of faking us out with regards to Scot and Jason. They actually do play for the idol, and for one moment, you think they may in fact be that stupid. But no, they give it to Tai as a super idol, to be played for any of them. Well guys, now’s your chance to flush it.
Sadly, as I’ve implied, the Malcolm Freberg-Maneuver is not performed. Debbie ends up going home, and Tai ends up with the super idol. Whether or not he’ll give it back remains to be seen, but that’s for next episode. For now, we mourn Debbie. I can’t say she didn’t EARN her exit. For all that I gave Aubry a hard time this episode for her dismissal of Debbie, and for all that I think it was ultimately the wrong move, I will concede that I understand the thinking. Debbie was being illogical, alienating people, and becoming more trouble than she was worth. She wasn’t playing well, and for that she deserves to go. For all that, I like Debbie, and am sad we don’t get more of her. She was crazy, in a Coach Wade (“Survivor Tocantins”) sort of way, but she didn’t have his hypocrisy, and played better overall. Debbie will be missed, and I look forward to seeing her on the jury/on future seasons.
One thing the move DOES do, though, is make me think better of Cydney’s flip last episode. It’s clear now that she’s the real power of this alliance, being the in with both Michele and Julia, and effectively co-calling the shots with Aubry. Much more power than she had in her old alliance. Plus, my main gripe with the move was that she went from a guaranteed final three to begin fourth at best against the old Chan Loh. With Debbie gone, she’s got more even odds in that alliance, and is therefore much more likely to make it to the final three, possibly against people she can beat. Perhaps this will work out for her after all.
While I am a bit annoyed that we had so much time on the Julia subplot when it amounted to nothing, this was still a pretty good episode. The misdirection wasn’t as good as it has been, but it was still good enough, and while the plotline of this episode was clearly broadcast from the get-go, it was still a roller-coaster ride of entertainment that I thoroughly enjoyed! I don’t want to get off, so you can be sure I’m looking forward to next week!
-Matt
Title Credit to Jean Storrs.
idolspeculation 
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