After 33 seasons of a show, it’s pretty much inevitable that the advent of a new season will draw comparisons to an older one. Case in point, myself and many other people have drawn comparisons between this season and “Survivor Nicaragua”, both in terms of being a battle of the ages, and a pretty cringe-worthy theme. The cringe-worthiness I will not deny, but sometimes are judgements are too hasty. In terms of theme, this season is actually a lot closer to early “Survivor Cambodia”. Specifically, it’s closest to the early Ta Keo Tribe, where the divide was “old school vs. new school” “Survivor”, referring to a divide between those actually trying to survive, and putting the strategic game on the back burner, and those who put the game first and foremost. It may be a bit cliche, but as we’ll see, the Takali and Vanua tribes individually represent old school and new school gameplay respectively.
Dealing with your tribe after a major blindside is always a tricky business. Being hurt and/or outraged is a perfectly understandable reaction. At the same time, you really can’t afford to give in to that reaction, at least, not if you value your time in the game. Like it or not, if you want any chance at survival, you need to be diplomatic about the whole thing, since you’re going to need at least SOME people in the majority to still like you. So, where do Adam and Zeke, our betrayed players this episode, fall? Much like this season so far, they end up somewhere in the middle. Adam takes on the spokesperson role of the tribe, offering congratulations to the tribe as a whole, and Figgy and Taylor in particular, on their blindside. The correct words are there, but there’s a distinct tone behind them that makes me wonder whether this congratulations will be accepted or not. We also get a snarky comment from Figgy about how Adam is coming down hard on her and Taylor when a majority on the tribe ended up voting together, which is admittedly correct of her. However, I think what Adam’s REALLY trying to say is that he sees Figgy and Taylor as being the ones who swung the vote. Of course, this is ALSO a mistake on his part, since Michelle was the real power behind the swing this time, but in a sense, that only increases her credibility as a strategist. Swinging a vote is hard enough, but not taking any of the flak for doing so? That takes a whole other level of skill. Props to her.
Where Adam and Zeke (particularly Zeke) fall apart is in their dealings with Hannah, our indecisive voter from last episode. Correctly recognizing that she’s on the bottom of the majority, Hannah goes over to apologize and mend some fences with the pair, who are commiserating out on the beach. Zeke, however, is a no-sell in this regard, saying that he doesn’t particularly feel like talking to her right now. Fair enough, but again, there’s a tone there that indicates more animosity than needed. Add to this Hannah’s inability to take a hint (and by “hint”, I mean being repeated told “I don’t feel like talking right now.”), and you’ve got a situation where no one comes off looking good. Hannah doesn’t seem to understand about how to strategize with the recently burned, and seems to be looking more for forgiveness than an alliance. Zeke, meanwhile, is too stubborn in not talking to Hannah, and comes across as kind of an ass in how he ends up talking to her. Even Adam, who is charitably the most diplomatic of the three, ends up talking to Hannah rather harshly, such that I’m surprised she’s willing to hear out a proposal of his later.
Next morning does NOT see a continuation of this conflict, but we instead head over to Takali. Once we see what’s there, I WISH we’d kept on with Vanua. At this point, nothing at Takali really happens of note, except that we reaffirm how annoying Paul is, and call him out as a guy who can’t deliver. He takes the spear and goes snorkeling, but comes back with fish stories but no fish. We also get confirmation that CeCe and David do talk, and that Ken is more than just a middleman in this alliance, but that’s not a huge revelation.
Sadly, heading back to Vanua does not give us more strategizing, but instead a good fake out. We see Adam walking along a deserted section of beach with ominous music behind him. I’m sure most people were thinking “hidden immunity idol” at this point. I certainly was. But no, Adam instead walks right past the idol to get to tree mail. This reveals that the Vanua idol is NOT in a coconut, but under a seashell. Makes it harder to spot the logo, since seashells are generally more colorful than coconuts, but also makes it harder to just stumble across accidentally. All things considered, I prefer the coconut.
Tree mail brings us our promised “rock drawing twist”, and it’s here that we find out that we, the audience, have been played once again. Most people, including myself, suspected a “Two tribes become three” twist like on “Survivor Cambodia”, but it was not to be. Instead, four members of each tribe are randomly selected by rock draw to go on a picnic together, to gather information. I have to say, in some senses I’m relieved by them not going the same route as on “Survivor Cambodia”. Don’t get me wrong, the further dividing of the tribes was a great twist that I’d like to see again, but on a season explicitly titled a “versus” season, I feel like it’s too soon. If you want to draw attention to the divide between two groups, to the point of making it the theme of your season, then you need to keep those groups consistent, at least for more than two episodes. Plus, it’s always fun to see how good people are at holding their cards close to the chest in cases like these
If I WERE to have a complaint, it would be the rock drawing method in and of itself. The twist of having people from opposite tribes meet up and pair off is still a good one that we haven’t seen in a while, but given the option, I always like to have choice in these matters. Seeing how the tribe picks who will go can give great insight into strategy, or, at a minimum, lead to hilarious moments. Recall Coby Archa’s “Should it be Gregg or should it be Ian?” confessional on “Survivor Palau”. A comedic highlight of the season that would not have been there had the tribe just drawn a rock to see who would get singled out. I rest my case.
Will, Taylor, Figgy, and Jay all end up going for Vanua, making things there kind of bland. After all, no one from the minority got to go, so the strategic possibilities are limited. Takali is a bit more interesting, with underdogs CeCe and David going alongside Chris and Paul. Despite this divide, though, I have to give the strategic edge in this twist to Takali. Pretty much everyone there plays things as they should. Ok, maybe not Paul, but given who he is, I think it’s the best he could do. Chris gives us our traditional “play things close to the chest” confessional, which for someone like him who’s currently in the power position, is a smart move. Paul, despite making kind of an ass of himself, does actually do something of a service to his tribe by making a spectacle of himself. If people are watching his crazy antics, and so long as he doesn’t give anything away about divides on his tribe, it distracts people from talking strategy. It’s like a magic trick: you want to draw the audience’s eye away from what’s really happening. Even CeCe and David, the only people who explicitly give away alliance secrets, do their job well. They make some alliances on the other side (a necessity for the pair, since they’re on the bottom), but don’t do it in such a way that it tips off the rest of their tribe. All this is not to say that Vanua has a bad performance, but it’s very inactive. The one bit of talk we DO see from them is them revealing Mari’s exit after a single question. Not that this is dynamite information (after all, they’ll see Mari left at the next immunity challenge), but I feel like it’s opening the door to further, more probing questions. Not a good way to be in a situation like this.
It’s when we head back to our respective camps that we REALLY get to see the “old school/new school” divide on this season. Ken in confessional has been the most open critic of Paul, mostly for his failure to deliver on fish, an argument made stronger by the fact that Ken actually DOES catch fish. We also see him criticize Paul in front of Jessica, and attempt to get her to flip. Jessica talks about the possibility, and even brings it up to her fellow ladies in the majority, Sunday and Lucy (yes, they exist). However, they all agree that they’re in a good spot, and it does no good to piss off the majority just yet. This stuff is pretty textbook old school “Survivor”: challenge and survival performance are paramount factors in length of stay, and once you’ve got an alliance going, you don’t deviate from it.
Conversely, our simple scene back at Vanua ends up being textbook new school “Survivor”. After a bit of the “Triforce” plus Will hanging out, Taylor declares them to be an effectively invincible powerhouse. ACK! HUBRIS! We see, though, that Adam the diplomat can come out. Taking advantage of time alone with Michaela and Hannah, he outlines why it’s dangerous to keep the “Triforce” around, in a very logical manner. All talk, and all strategy. Again, textbook new school “Survivor”. We never hear Hannah’s thoughts on the matter, but given that she wanted to talk strategy the night before, and Adam isn’t yelling at her, we can presume that it goes over ok. Michaela effectively continues her “As long as it ain’t me.” campaign, listening and taking what Adam says to heart, but not committing to anything just yet. She wants to see where the situation lies for her, and notes that in the end, she’ll “Follow her gut.” Ah Michaela, when will you learn? From Lex Van Den Berghe’s eternally wrong gut on “Survivor Africa” to Darnell Hamilton’s gastrointestinally-inclined gut on “Survivor Kaoh Rong”, following your gut on “Survivor” is almost NEVER a good idea!
Anyways, it’s Challenge Time! We’ve had a great challenge and an awful challenge so far this season, so it’s only fitting that we average out to an average challenge this episode. One at a time, five tribe members will haul sacks containing coconuts and sandbags across a tricky balance beam. Once all the sacks and tribe members are across, two other members sort the sandbags from the coconuts, leaving two more tribe members to toss said sandbags at a finished, standing block puzzle. Once the puzzle is knocked down, two other tribe members reassemble it, with the first puzzle finished winning immunity as well as some chairs and other comfort items. This is pretty much a rehashed challenge. It’s tough to say where heavy bags and balance beams come from, since both have pretty much been “Survivor” staples since “Survivor Borneo”. The puzzle knocking down, though, comes explicitly from “Survivor Cagayan”, and I’m happy to see it back. It’s a nice twist on the puzzle concept, where instead of just solving a puzzle, you effectively have to take it apart and put it back together again. Where the challenge falls down for me is in comparison to it’s counterpart on “Survivor Cagayan”. Originally, you were racing to knock down another tribe’s puzzle, and the challenge stopped when one puzzle was completely gone. Therefore, there was an element of balance between strength and smarts. You might not be the best at puzzles, but if you could knock things down quicker, you wouldn’t have to worry as much about the puzzle. In comparison, knocking down your own puzzle seems like a weak change.
Oh, and there’s also a special rule on the balance beam. Someone who’s already made it across can go back and take a bag for someone else. The only stipulation is that bag or no, everyone at the start of the challenge must make their way across the balance beam, meaning for this rule to be useful, someone either has to be really good at the balance beam, or someone has to really suck.
In fact, we get both. We’ve once again got a relatively back-and-forth challenge where either tribe could lose (both had sufficient strategizing that I could see it going either way), but where Takali falls apart is CeCe. She’s incredibly slow at the balance beam, but insists on going the entire way. Conversely, it turns out that Taylor on Vanua is reminiscent of Ozzy Lusth (“Survivor Cook Islands”) in more than just looks, as he pretty much carries every bag across himself. This turns the tide in the end, as Vanua comes back to win it all. This leads to Chris getting mad at CeCe, and declaring her the next to go, which naturally means CeCe is safe for tonight.
At first, though, there’s no obvious path of escape for her. As I said, Takali tends towards old school gameplay, where you stick with your alliance no matter what. A combination of CeCe being eternally left out of the loop (girl, you need to be PROACTIVE about these things if you want information), and Jessica’s reaffirmation that she doesn’t want to piss off Chris and Bret tells us that she is legitimately in trouble.
Then, however, Paul makes a mistake, as he is want to do. Jessica was already a bit on edge about the power of the guys, or at least the losing of another woman. She was cool to stick with her original allies, but Paul then makes a comment about being willing to throw the ladies under the bus should a guys alliance form. This leads Jessica, Sunday, and Lucy to reconsider their position before Tribal Council, giving us a solid narrative for Paul’s inevitable exit.
Probst made a comment before the season began about how he preferred the millennials at Tribal Council, and after two Tribal Councils with Takali, it’s easy to see why: THEY’RE BORING! Is this hyperbole for comedic effect on the internet? Yes, but the fact remains that even a blindside can’t make a Takali Tribal Council as exciting as a Vanua one. For some reason, Vanua just gives more creative answers and better sound-bytes than Takali does. Not that Takali answers things POORLY from a strategy perspective, not at all. But from an entertainment perspective, they lack. There was a funny moment of levity in the debate of “U” versus “you” in texting, but even that came off as annoying, cliched, and pointless, much like the theme of this season.
There was, however, one really good moment, highlighting a member of Takali I’ve only briefly touched on: Sunday. You might remember her as “Lady who gave generic ‘Gen-X’ confessionals in a Minnesotan twang.” This time, however, she actually has something to say. With the subject of her young children brought up, she points out how they’ll try a bunch of different ways of reaching their end goal, while her tribe seems caught up in doing things “the right way”. As I’ve said before, it’s the person with the most flexibility who embodies the best of both tribes, who will most likely win this season. I hadn’t really considered Sunday a threat before this Tribal Council, but this shows self-knowledge and flexibility, both very good qualities in this game. You go, girl! Kick that butt!
In the end, though, the inevitable happens, and Paul must leave us. His time was short and somewhat annoying, but entertaining and not overly annoying. I’m not sorry to see him go, but I’m glad he was at least on the show briefly. As to whether his ouster was a smart move: I’m stumped. Really, I don’t think there was a wrong move for Jessica, Sunday, and Lucy in this position. If they booted Paul, as they did, they keep themselves in power and keep the women at even numbers with the men to prevent a gender alliance, but piss off Chris and Bret, and theoretically end up 3 against three versus Ken, David, and CeCe. Keeping Paul, on the other hand, makes the threat of a men’s alliance greater, and theoretically limits your options. Either choice could work out for them in the end, so it’s hard to say one’s better than the other. If you hold me down and force me to choose, though, I’d say that getting rid of CeCe would have been the better choice. I think the chances of David and Ken joining a men’s alliance are minimal, so you could pull them in next vote and be up on them 3-2 in the alliance, and you piss off fewer people. Still, I’m not going to chastise them for the move. It’s logical, and perhaps a men’s alliance was more likely than we’ve seen.
All in all, we’ve just got another ok episode. It wasn’t very surprising, but if you’re going to do an obvious boot episode, this is how to do it: set up early and clearly WHY this person will go, and give us strategy for future episodes to help keep things moving. Just kind of a ho-hum decent episode we get through before the REALLY good stuff comes.
-Matt
Title Credit to Jean Storrs.
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