Idol Speculation: “Survivor Game Changers” Episode 7: Too Big to Succeed

It’s no secret that I’m no fan of the merge at 13. Even 12 and 11 are suspect to me. In my mind, 10 at the earliest, and make a twist out of doing it later, rather than earlier. However, if I’m being honest and fair with the show, they do generally do a good job of keeping things coherent, despite large numbers. That is not the case with this episode. If there was ever a case for the later merge, than this would be it.

First, though, we have to deal with the fallout from last Tribal Council. You’d expect, with all the touching love and support shown to Zeke by his tribe, that it would be a loving and heartfelt experience. And we do certainly get that. First, though, comes Sarah and Tai arguing about forgiving or not forgiving Jeff Varner. How pleasant.

I kid, I kid. Sarah and Tai do effectively kiss and make up, but for what I expect to be a sweet and tender moment, it was quite jarring to start off with what initially sounded like a fierce argument. We do again get Zeke reflecting on what this means for him before we circle back around to strategy. This leads us nicely into the merge, with both tribes coming out to the feast. The observant amongst the cast, however, note that there’s a suspicious covered table next to Jeff as well. This group of observant people naturally includes Cirie, but also surprisingly counts Ozzy amongst its members. And once something is so obvious that OZZY notices it, it must be acknowledged. Jeff then reveals the “twist” for this episode, namely that in order for the merge feast to occur, one person from each tribe must volunteer to sit out the feast entirely. If no one volunteers, no one gets the feast, and instead everyone gets a single portion of cheese and crackers, and a swig of iced tea.

Now, before I get to talking about this twist in and of itself, I must address a criticism that people are having with this season in general, and that I can’t disagree with. Namely, people are saying that this season is twist-happy; throwing in ill-conceived twist for the sake of living up to the “Game Changers” name that most of this cast left (save for Cirie, Aubry, Michaela, and arguably Ozzy) can claim to fit. As I say, I agree with this criticism, but I DON’T agree with people saying that they should just do a season with no twists whatsoever. Twists help make the game fun, and add an element of luck. I’m sure some people would want the game to be pure strategy, and I do think there should be ways for strategy to win out over luck. Still, luck should be a factor, if only for those “gotcha’” moments the show can provide. I also don’t think any of the twists seen here are bad in and of themselves, save maybe for the combo-Tribal Council that ousted Malcolm. Rather, my problem is the SPEED at witch these twists are being thrown out. Concept aside, what makes for a good twist is that it shakes up the status quo, leading to less predictability for a season, and often more fun for the audience. The trouble with this season is that in order to shake up the status quo, you first need to establish a status quo. When you throw out twist after twist, at the rate of pretty much every episode, you deprive the audience of a chance to see something established before it gets shaken up. This, rather than leading to unpredictability, leads to confusion and frustration, plus a look of desperation for the season.

So, I’m not a huge fan of this twist, but not for anything it does. I don’t think it makes or breaks a season, but it’s not a BAD idea. It’s got a good “Prisoner’s Dilemma” about it, in and of that everyone wants the feast, but if everyone TAKES the feast, then NOBODY gets the feast. My issue, though, is why have people volunteer. You’d lose the prisoner’s dilemma aspect, but if you have each tribe instead vote one person out who has to miss the feast, you get more strategy and drama. As it stands, this twist in and of itself doesn’t amount to much and is inoffensive, but given that it adds to the overall perception of this season throwing out twists for the sake of twists, it takes on a negative connotation.

As it stands, this twist results in a thrilling anticlimax, with both Brand and Tai agreeing to sit out the feast for everyone else. Cirie admits that this earns them brownie points, and gives us our requisite “This is where my game starts” confessional. One that we’d expect from Cirie anyway, but that makes double sense since she’s never been to Tribal Council this season. A pretty impressive feat, all things considered. Our other bit of strategy at the feast comes to us courtesy of Debbie, who seems to be our “drunken idiot” for the season, with the coup-de-grace being showing off her naked butt to Tai and Brad (just a few bushes away). In confessional, however, Debbie states that she had not one drop of alcohol, and was playing up her drunkenness in order to throw people off of her scent. Debbie, this is just like your “Exile Island” lie: well done, but pointless. People ALREADY underestimated you as just a crazy person. No one needed this display.

During the feast, we also get what a lot of people have been asking for from “Survivor”: Hot girl-on-girl action! Though given that the girls in this case are Debbie and Cirie, this may be a case of “Be careful what you wish for.” Not that either of them is unattractive, just that I’m sure people wanted it to be the younger women in the bikinis.

The real intrigue, and our first target, comes to us from Brad, who brings Tai back into the fold by talking about potential targets. Specifically, Brad talks about eliminating Michaela, since he hasn’t really bonded with her, and she’s a potential swing vote. Now, I’m sure many would decry this as HORRIBLE strategy, since with the newest version of the Mana tribe only up by one member, both sides could use a swing vote or two, but from both perspectives, getting rid of Michaela (and Hali as the other swing) makes perfect sense. The newest Nuku would see it as a chance for the newest Mana to be down 6-5, while Brad’s alliance thinks they have at least Tai, if not Debbie as well, such that they feel like swing votes are superfluous, and only serve to benefit the opposite side. It’s quite a fun dynamic, actually.

Taking Cochran’s advice to heart, Debbie, in the words of Tony Vlachos (“Survivor Cagayan”), makes “nice-nice” with everybody, but particularly Brad. After moving back to the Mana camp (not sure why, since EVERYONE said Nuku was nicer, but oh well), those not in the know are curious about Varner’s exit. Showing all the naysayers that Zeke was ok with this story being discussed, Zeke brings it up to everyone. Again, it would be easy to complain that this move is stupid for Zeke, since as we’ll see, it makes him a target for being “too big of a jury threat”, but again, I think there’s a logic to it. This past Tribal Council has made the newest Nuku tight, and if a reason why is not given, then the newest Mana is likely to band together and take them out. If, however, this is explained, then it opens up more strategic doors, and gives everyone a chance to share and bond. Like Aubry, for example, since commenting on emotional moments seems to be all the producers will show of her this season! Yeah, I know, it’s nice to see, and in many ways Aubry’s bread and butter from “Survivor Kaoh Rong”, but I’d like to see more strategy, more fun metaphors, more of the Aubry that we fell in love with on that season. Again, this doesn’t mean that what we’ve got of Aubry is BAD, what it means is that we haven’t got enough Aubry this season.

Give her credit, though, with how much bad luck she’s had this season, and how much Sandra seemed to be against her, it’s a wonder she’s even made it THIS far. I’d dare even say her game is Sandra-esque, since she seems willing to flip-flop from alliance to alliance, as long as they’ll have her. Case in point, she tells us that this moment has bonded her to Zeke, potentially setting up future alliances.

Moving on, the “Oust Michaela” plan is put into action, with a nice game of “Survivor” Telephone, as everyone tells everyone. Perplexing to me, though, is Tai’s decision to tell Hali about the ouster. I mean, I’m sure Hali’s happy it’s not her, but Hali and Michaela have been lumped together at this point, so telling Hali is, in a way, telling Michaela.

Not initially, though. Initially, a chicken climbing on the roof of the shelter to lay an egg signals to Cirie that it’s time to talk strategy with Zeke and Andrea, who are currently in the shelter with her. I don’t know WHY this is the signal, but there you go. The foursome get to talking, and for the first time start to suggest that Michaela might be the best way to go. Don’t get me wrong, it’s always better to have numbers for your group, but again, my focus would be on keeping Debbie and Tai loyal. By now, Zeke has spilled the beans about Michaela’s challenge prowess, so she’s a threat in that regard, and while the foursome do say that Sarah is also on their side, that’s still only 5/13 people. Even IF you pulled in Hali, you’d still be one short. Better to pool your resources to keep the people you already have from joining Brad’s coalition.

Sure enough, Tai’s slip up to Hali leads to Hali revealing to Michaela that she’s a target this evening. Michaela is definitely pissed, but actually takes it rather well, at least by her standards. Still, there is the tiny problem of her wearing her heart on her sleeve, which leads to nice heart-to-heart to Cirie. Apart from wanting Michaela in her alliance, Cirie bonds with Michaela over their shared African-American female heritage. And no, I’m not just pulling this out of thin air. The pair BRING THIS UP in the show itself, along with the fact that this is the first season of “Survivor” to feature more than one black woman making the merge. Cirie talks about Michaela being like she was when she was younger, and in a very cute part of the scene, gives her tips about not owning up to her emotions, while still making sure to not be closed off. There’s a “My Fair Lady” joke in here somewhere, I’m just not sure what it is.

Joking aside, this bring up ANOTHER reason for Cirie’s alliance as a whole to reject the idea of keeping Michaela. Michaela IS a number for your side, which is always nice, but unlike everyone else, who seems to be a major partner, Michaela is less an ally of the alliance, and more an ally of Cirie, which in my mind gives Cirie too much power. Also, why does EVERYONE seem to think now is the time to ally with Cirie? The merge is when she’s MOST dangerous! She said so herself! Target her.

As we leave for our immunity challenge from the yellow Maku Maku Tribe, let me give my thoughts on, well, the yellow Maku Maku Tribe. Color-Wise, I’m happy they went with what was, at the time, the least-used merge tribe buff color, so that we balance things out with the other underutilized merge colors. As to the name, I’m pretty neutral on it. It does sound kind of like a one year old vocalizing, but I’m sure it means something in Fijian, and can sound a bit ominous (particularly with the nice font on the tribe flag), so while it’s not the best, it’s ok. I mean, at least it’s not another combination name.

Our immunity challenge brings us our individual immunity idol, Captain Cuttler having been retired. I’m not a fan of his replacement. It’s basically a rope necklace with a few doodads tied around the edge. Granted, I do like the trident pendant in the middle, but my real issue is the rope. It just leaves too much blank space in the idol. Again, we’ve had WAY worse, but on a season that’s actually done ok in the visual department, this is a step backward.

Our immunity challenge itself is also boring, the challenge originally from “Survivor Cagayan” of standing in a frame pressing a block against the top, with the last one standing winning. A standard and difficult immunity challenge, but not fun to watch, and overall just kind of a weak one to start on.

I give Sierra the best odds to win based on height alone, but they adjust the frames for that. In the end, Andrea edges out Tai for the win. Good for her. All it means for us is that nothing about the outcome of tonight’s episode will change. Though it is kind of a shame that Michaela didn’t win. I thought it was kind of cute how she kept talking to herself.

The “Oust Michaela” talk launches right up again, but this time Cirie is a little more up front about what she wants. Her foothold when Sierra suspects Hali of having an idol, due to her being “more confident” this time around. Really, Sierra? The woman you claim to have NO BOND with you can now read so well that you suspect an idol? I’m sure Caleb is frustrated as hell right now. Still, the idea of split vote intrigues Cirie, since it was, in a sense, her original idea. Rather than use the split to make a lesser majority, however, she instead decides to ask why not Hali instead. Framing it as them keeping another number to Zeke, she wisely gets Zeke to do the dirty work of asking a cocky Sierra why not Hali first. Zeke makes a good point about how if Hali does have an idol, and doesn’t play it, then why not vote her out. Sierra doesn’t outright reject this plan, but does seem dismissive of it. After Zeke is gone, she goats to Debbie in a “Who does he think he is?” manner, and gives us our episode title.

Cirie, however, is not giving up. Again doing a great move to prevent being the messenger, she spills the beans to Michaela, but also tells her how to act, informing her to vote for Zeke (the decoy vote that Michaela and Hali have been fed), so that her tracks cannot be detected. This is brilliant for Cirie in that it gives her complete control, while also not revealing her subtle hand in the dealings of the alliance. Now for Michaela, it gains her very little, as voting for Hali instead could give her an advantage in the split vote. It’s a testament to Cirie’s skill as a player of “Survivor” that she convinces someone to act against their own best interest.

I hesitate to call our first Tribal Council for the night uninteresting, since we get our usual fun banter. With thirteen people, though, it’s hard for any one moment to stand out, and with Michaela seeming a lock to leave from both the standpoint of strategy and the standpoint of screen time, there’s not much tension. About the only really exciting moment is Hali volunteering to be strip-searched for an idol should someone ask, which is mildly funny in a “Jenna-and-Heidi-get-naked-for-chocolate-and-peanut-butter” way a la “Survivor The Amazon”, but given that the sexual attitudes of that season haven’t aged well, it’s only mildly amusing at best.

Give the episode credit for good misdirection. Hali goes home, and nothing of value was lost. Hali really was just there to be a warm body filling out the “Hot Girl in Bikini” quotient for the season, so as viewer, I’m happy. From every other perspective, save Cirie’s, though, it was CLEARLY the wrong move. Michaela is the bigger threat and much less maleable, and therefore less valuable to almost everyone.

Cirie and Zeke spend the next morning talking about their next target, presumably “puttetmaster” Sierra, but I have to knock them over the heads a bit because Aubry is RIGHT BEHIND THEM! I know she said she liked Zeke, and isn’t too tied to any one alliance, but we’ve seen NOTHING to indicate that she’s against Brad’s group at this point. And you’re feeding her that info? It seems to work, though, as Aubry wants to work with her “Italian Aunt” Cirie. A funny metaphor, but perhaps not the most flattering description of Cirie. Can’t fault the flip too much though. As I said, Aubry really just needs a home, any home. Plus, if we’re going with a “shields” strategy, her skill set most aligns with Cirie’s, and the pair of them could be some form of protection for each other.

Zeke, however, is getting wary. After this conversation, he has another with Andrea, in which Andrea dictates to Zeke VERY SLIGHTLY what the move is going to be. Zeke, however, sees this as the women having all the power, and so wants to move to take out one of them. Zeke states that he’d rather go out for making a move than go out for waiting too long to make a move. An admirable sentiment, and one that’s hard to argue with, but Zeke, this is not smart at this time. A vote or two down the road, perhaps, but not now. You are still on thin ice, due to the whole “jury threat” thing. It’s telling that you were seen as the logical decoy vote rather than obvious individual challenge beast Ozzy. This should tell you that what you need right now is loyal allies. Dictatorial or not, Cirie and Andrea are loyal allies. Let them thin the numbers a bit, THEN take them out.

Our reward challenge comes courtesy of “Survivor Kaoh Rong”. Divided into teams of six, two tribe members untie a fishing net with wooden fish, which they drag to shore, where two other tribe members untie the fish, put them on a pole, and move that pole to a platform. The remaining two tribe members use the fish to solve a puzzle. Winner gets a spa trip and hamburgers. It’s a reused team challenge post merge. You know what I think of those. Let’s look at our teams.

We end up with a pretty evenly-matched pick here. One team is Sarah, Brad, Michaela, Aubry, Cirie, and Sierra, while the other is Troyzan, Ozzy, Andrea, Tai, Zeke, and Debbie. Pretty evenly matched, all things considered. It’s tempting to give the team with Ozzy the advantage, since this challenge involves swimming. However, I give the advantage to the other team, since this sort of challenge comes down to the puzzle, and while Zeke’s good at puzzles, given how fast Cirie and Sierra solved the puzzle a couple of episodes ago, I wouldn’t want to go up against them.

In the end, a nice bit of back and forth has Cirie and Sierra flubbing the puzzle, which upsets Sarah. She’s disappointed, but talks about how she’s been in the middle, and how despite the loss, this sets her up well. This is, what, our FOURTH person in the middle for this double-length episode. First Hali and Michaela were the swings, then Aubry at the beginning of the second half, and now Sarah? Just how big is this middle?

Our real emotion comes from Cirie, giving a big speech about how this is like providing for one’s children, and how hard it is not to be able to provide. Not bad in terms of emotional impact, but compared to last episode’s emotional moment, it just feels lacking. Instead, we cut over to the wacky hijinks of Tai streaking, then explaining to the kids what “streaking” is. Truly, YouTube has gotten all the shock out of us.

Zeke, as per usual, brings us back to the game, taking some time alone with Debbie and Tai to talk about blindsiding Andrea. Tai, as per usual, is on board, but Debbie is somewhat skeptical, especially since Zeke throws out the whole “she was suggesting you” gambit. Debbie tells us that she looks on every bit of info that she gets skeptically, which is definitely a good philosophy for “Survivor”, though I’m duty bound as a snarky guy on the internet to point out that Zeke WAS telling the truth in this instance.

We now get to what SHOULD have been our first individual immunity challenge. Granted, it’s reused, but it’s grander in scale. It’s the “Hang on a pole with grooves” challenge originally from “Survivor Vanuatu”, which is overdone, but a nice staple. Still, way to spoil the outcome of the challenge, show. It’s not like you’ve got a guy on this season who has won this challenge TWICE!

As we wait for Ozzy’s inevitable victory, we hope for at least some dramatic (though non-injuring) spills, as we get to see Andrea fall ALL the way from the top to the ground. Fun only because she walked away from it pretty much unscathed. Oh, and we do get the little surprising twist that OZZY DOESN’T WIN! I guess age really has taken its toll. Tai ends up winning, good for him. Once again, this means that a guy who really wasn’t going home anyway and therefore makes little difference gets immunity. Yay for being pointless!

Now, up until this point, my complaint about the management of such a large merge seems limited only to the Tribal Council from the first half, but this is not so. The area between our second immunity challenge and Tribal Council may be the most confusing mess I’ve seen in 12 years of watching this show. It’s now an hour and a half later, and I STILL can’t quite make out what’s going on. Sarah does us a favor, since she’s in the middle, and try to parse out the alliances for us, but there’s just so many people that I can’t figure it out even then. It doesn’t help that the target changed about five or six times. Chaos is usually entertaining, and this is no exception, but the lack of comprehension does limit its appeal.

What we CAN glean from this is that our targets are Ozzy (pushed mainly by Debbie and Sierra) and Zeke (pushed mainly by Andrea and Cirie, having been told about Zeke’s attempted move against them). This makes it easier to parse out what Sarah should do. This is another situation where there is no wrong choice. No side seems more or less safe for Sarah, and both Ozzy and Zeke seem to have some loyalty to her. While Ozzy is more of a physical threat, Zeke is more of a strategic threat. On the whole, though, I would say that Sarah’s better move is to vote out Zeke. While both Ozzy and Zeke seem to be loyal allies, Ozzy doesn’t have a mean bone in his body, whereas strategic Zeke could simply be playing her, or might play her down the road. On top of that, while Sarah’s by no means a moron, she’s not exactly known for her mental game. She needs people less strategic than her around, and Ozzy fits that bill well.

Debbie also mentions bringing her vote advantage to Tribal Council, so there’s also that wrinkle.

Tribal Council is, once again, a strategic mess. We don’t have any standout moments, but it is really hard to tell who of Zeke and Ozzy is going home, so it’s still ok. We get a couple of shocks with mystery votes for Sierra and Aubry (from Cirie and Zeke, respectively, though in Zeke’s case it’s less of a mystery, since Aubry was the decoy), but in the end, Debbie plays her extra vote, lying and saying that she gave up necessities at Exile Island for it. Can’t say I fault her for it. With the majority for her vote nebulous at best, having that one extra vote could make or break Debbie’s game. Were I in her position, I would probably have played it as well. We see that the extra vote has a fancy border around it, which is a nice aesthetic touch, but kind of ruins the whole “anonymity” of voting.

Once again, snarky internet guy that I am, I am duty bound to point out that Debbie’s vote was pointless. Sarah joined her coalition, giving them the majority, and sending Ozzy to the jury as its second member. Probably the best ever play of this advantage, since Debbie both avoided going home and voted for the right person, but still, ultimately, unneeded. Once again, as a viewer, I’m stoked. While this does put Aubry on the wrong side of the vote, I MUCH preferred Zeke as a character to Ozzy, and we’d kind of gotten what we needed out of Ozzy. Strategically, though, it makes little sense, and just adds to the confusion that was this episode.

About the only nice thing we get is Cirie. I may not like Cirie as much as other fans, but I respect her strategically, and this episode DEFINITELY highlighted that. It’s not just her social manipulation that’s impressive, but how she was able to cover her tracks and make it LOOK like she wasn’t doing anything that makes her one of the greats. You’ll note that it was ANDREA Zeke wanted to go after on his power trip, when in terms of strategy, CIRIE is clearly the bigger threat. That just shows how good she can be.

I can’t call this episode bad, but especially by merge episode standards, “weak” seems right. It was a confusing mess with a couple of fun moments to get excited about, but nothing to really make me sit up and take notice. That being said, this problem should diminish as the numbers dwindle, so this season has hope as of yet. Plus, we’re FINALLY trimming the fat!

-Matt

Title Credit to Jean Storrs.