The term “Disaster Tribe” is in my opinion used far too loosely in the “Survivor” fandom. Did your tribe just lose two challenges in a row? Vote out someone the fans like? Congratulations! You are now one of the worst tribes in “Survivor” history.
With that said, although perhaps SLIGHTLY premature, I feel that Malolo has earned that distinction tonight. While not nearly as bad as Ulong (“Survivor Palau”), their win/loss record is currently on par with that of the Fang tribe (“Survivor Gabon”), which unquestionably falls into the category of “Disaster Tribe”. In fact, I bring up Fang specifically because I can see people questioning the legitimacy of the term due to tribe swaps. After all, “Survivor Gabon” features the same number of tribe swaps as “Survivor Ghost Island”, and yet, Fang still gets the distinction. No reason why Malolo shouldn’t as well.
Wasting no time, we get right to the tribe swap. Nope, not even enough time to foreshadow things with the same ironic confessionals we always get! Don’t worry, we’ll get the in the middle of the swap, with Mike and James both celebrating salvation, while Desi curses the turn of events. She tries to remain optimistic, though, noting that, as the episode title tells us, “Fate is the Homie”. Can’t say I’m familiar with that expression, but I admire the optimism nonetheless. Also have to admire how the editors tried to trick us by showing a challenge with only two tribe lanes, thus hiding the twist of the swap, which I will discuss in the next paragraph.
Our boring method of swapping is at least alleviated somewhat by there being three tribes now, which makes for a refreshing change. True, we’ve had a lot of three-tribe swaps by this point in the series, but they at least waited a while before doing so. Our new Naviti has Bendan, Chelsea, Domenick, Libby and Donathan. Our new Malolo has Kellyn, Angela, Desi, Mike, and James. As for our new tribe, Yanuya (one of the most awkward tribe names to say, in my opinion) gets Wendell, Chris, Sebastian, Jenna, and Laurel. Once again, original Naviti gets an advantage on every single tribe, at least at initial glance, and this time I can’t even blame a set-up by the producers. There was only one tray of buffs for people to pick from. This was just really rotten luck for the original Malolos. Again, at least at first. Looking at the three tribes, the only one where Naviti seems to be 100% tight is, well, Naviti. Malolo, while semi-tight, has Angela, who if you’ll recall was burned by her original tribe. True, those who burned her are not ON Malolo, but the pain still lingers. As for Yanuya, they probably have the best outlook. They have Chris on their team, who is annoying (as we will soon see), and at odds with Wendell.
Speaking of which, having Wendell on this tribe is a relief, both for the producers and for Wendell himself. From a production standpoint, the big risk with a three-tribe swap is that you create a disaster tribe inadvertently. After all, having to start over from scratch, and with no rewards, really makes it hard for a tribe to do well. See Angkor from “Survivor Cambodia” as an example. Thus, having Wendell on the tribe is a relief for them. Not only is he a strong challenge player (along with everyone else save possibly Jenna), thus mitigating this factor somewhat, but Wendell is the furniture designer, aka the guy who made Naviti camp so damn fantastic that the decent Malolo camp seems crappy by comparison. If anyone’s going to help mitigate that disadvantage, it’s this guy.
As for Wendell himself, he just needed some sort of Hail Mary pass to survive. He was developing some relationships, but if the original Malolos sided with Chris, he probably would have been targeted, due to Domenick’s idol. True, Wendell is still on a tribe with Chris, but if you’ll recall, Chris is annoying, and Wendell and Laurel seem very close. With Laurel here, and no Donathan bonding with Chris, Wendell’s chances just skyrocketted. Plus, now that Domenick and Chris are separated, the feud will hopefully calm down. Granted, this means this storyline gets dragged out still FURTHER, but there are worse things that could happen.
In fact, this seems to play out, as we start out at the Yanuya camp. And no, I’m not bringing up all these points just because they all come true. This is exactly what I was thinking for Wendell when the swap happened, it just tickled me that everything came true exactly as I thought. Wendell, ever the social player, starts off by making friends, even with the people he wasn’t close to. Sebastian, it seems, likes to collect dingehoppers… er, I mean seashells! But, as swaps come unexpectedly, he left it back at Naviti. Sensing a swap, Wendell had the foresight to grab it before leaving, and return it to Sebastian. This, given that Sebastian himself admits that he and Wendell aren’t super close, shows just how aware and good Wendell is playing these social moments. Wendell admits to us in confessional that this new lease on life is a release, and that it’s nice not to have to stress about keeping the peace between Chris and Domenick. Hell, Chris even goes to far as to call a truce between the two. Granted, a fair amount of that is probably politicking on Chris’ part, but what we see seems to be genuine. And Chris being annoying? Got that! Wendell comments on it, leading to Chris bragging about his beach volleyball playing. Look, credit where it’s due, Chris is a nice three-dimensional player who is not all annoying all the time. But the tender bonding moments do not undo the annoying moments. Capping it all is the “revelation” that Chris models. My issue, actually, is not with Chris holding that back initially. He’s right that it would stereotype him as vain and stupid, things you don’t want to be seen as on “Survivor”. Well, ok, SOMETIMES you want to be seen as stupid, but generally not a good stereotype. My issue is that Chris thinks this is a revelation. Oh, Chris. It was already too late to avoid those stereotypes. Laurel all but confirms this, noting that she’s going through conversations with Chris with gritted teeth. She gets Jenna on her side, meaning Wendell’s chances look better and better. I’ve seen some shade on Wendell because he hasn’t been “living up to the hype” online. With this masterful social playing, I hope that talk goes away.
Checking out the other tribes, we don’t hear too much from Malolo. It’s pretty much what you’d expect, with the original Naviti seeming to team up, while James and Mike pair off. James admits that it’s a bit tense, since the pair were never that close (hell, Mike wrote down James’ name already), but needs must. In fact, James finds himself calling the shots, as he has the relationship with Angela that could be the make-or-break for the pair.
Naviti, being the most solid majority, is the least interesting, though at least Bradley can stop whining about the campsite now. He and Domenick reconnect, with Domenick then targeting Libby to go next, which makes sense. She’s not much use in challenges, and Domenick has at least some relationship with Donathan, meaning there’s no need to burn that bridge. Nothing much of interest has happened on either of these tribes,b ut we’ve at least gotten strategy enough to make the immunity challenge an unpredictable toss-up.
Speaking of which, it’s CHALLENGE TIME! Here we have an oldie but a goodie: the blindfolded obstacle course. One caller must direct two pairs to collect bags of puzzle pieces by spinning one down, untying another, and digging up a third. Still blindfolded, said caller must then direct a pair to solve a puzzle, with the first two tribes to finish getting immunity. While assuredly a reused challenge, it’s a fun one, and falls into the category of “‘Survivor’ Staple” instead of just “Lazy”. Plus, having a simple puzzle that must ultimately be solved by the blindfolded person is sadistic. I loved that twist on “Survivor Millennials vs. Gen-X”, and I love it here.
Sadly, this challenge does have the drawback of having less physical comedy than other iterations of the challenge. Less chances for people to bang into things, and when they do happen, such as Chelsea bashing her nose hard on the caller’s stand, it’s more sad than funny. Not a deal-breaker, but something sorely missed. Really, the only moment of comedy here was Chealsea and Donathan accidentally grabbing the wrong bag from the untying station.
Also, it’s revealed that the immunity idol splits cleanly in two, which I always love, but I think this one may be the best one yet. This split is pretty much seamless, yet each half still looks like an idol. A tough act to pull off, and this season does it beautifully.
Our callers are Desi for Malolo, Wendell for Yanuya, and Domenick for Naviti. In terms of volume, I can’t complain. All seem logical choices to be heard from afar. However, you have to bear in mind that the caller must also be the puzzle solver. While Wendell and Domenick seem ok in this regard, I must remind you that Desi said herself in the first episode that puzzles were not her strong suit. And this is the tribe where you have KELLYN, aka the Goddess of Puzzles? This seems like a queer choice.
That said, one can’t deny Desi’s loudness or enthusiasm. She actually gets Malolo an early lead, helping to add to the mystery of who wins. Did I not mention that? Yeah, for once, this episode did a great job of keeping the losing tribe a mystery. All tribes got strategy, and so all are in it. Great job, guys! Way to break the streak. Anyway, despite a major screw-up by Wendell in forgetting to get a bag of puzzle pieces, Malolo still goes to pieces. Granted, this was a hard puzzle to do by feel. With all the pieces being circular, it would be difficult to identify them by feel. Note that Desi has problems and calls out for Kellyn to grab “the white one”, which is absolutely useless to Kellyn. Really, Wendell and Domenick have the right idea, getting the pair they’re direction to hold a piece to the edge and slide it around the perimeter to find its place. As such, Desi loses the challenge for Malolo. Ok, not as interesting as a Yanuya Tribal Council would have been, but better than a Naviti Tribal Council, which is what I thought we were getting. Yanuya clearly has the advantage in physical contests, and thanks to Kellyn, Malolo has the advantage in puzzle contests. Point being, if any tribe is at a disadvantage challenge-wise, it’s Naviti.
So the storyline at Malolo plays out pretty much as you’d expect. Desi cries a bit in disappointment, but rallies with Kellyn to target James. Angela isn’t given a say, which may prove to bite them in the butt. After all, Angela doesn’t know Mike from anyone else she hasn’t played with, but has been in a sense spared by James, and has a bond with him. James understandably exploits this bond in a pretty subtle way, just gently reminding her about how her tribe backstabbed her, and about the bond they’ve shared. This does get Angela to start questioning things, after a pretty touching scene about the changes going on in her life.
But, just in case James’ pitch didn’t sell Angela on voting out Desi, let Kellyn talk to convince her! Seriously, this isn’t the WORST alliance pitch I’ve yet heard, but it’s in the ballpark. Kellyn talks about how tight the original Naviti are, particularly those who ended up on the second Malolo, and talks about how much she would like it if Angela voted with her. I can at least see SOME logic here. Make Angela feel wanted, and she’s more likely to come with you. Fair enough. But there’s no need to go out and EMPHASIZE how tight you are with the original Naviti you came to Malolo with, particularly in the case of someone who may not be so high on “Naviti Strong” anymore. Yes, Kellyn, talk on and on about how TIGHT you are with a group of people not including Angela, how unbreakable that bond is! I’m sure that won’t emphasize how hard it would be for Angela to get anywhere with this group, nor in any qua dissuade her from working with you! Yeesh. Kellyn’s been playing a near-flawless game thus far, but this is a pretty major stumble.
Gaffes aside, though, Angela’s best move is probably to stick with Kellyn and Desi. To be fair, neither move is really bad for her. Either she keeps someone whom she’s bonded with, and who’s saved her in the past, or she sticks with the current majority tribe. In my view, though, voting out James is the better choice. That bond is nice, but there are other Malolo to work with. While I understand Angela not trusting the original Naviti after that attempted blindside, none of the people on this tribe were involved in that. Voting out Desi, however, would permanently burn a lot of Naviti bridges. Voting out James, especially pre-jury, only really burns a bridge with James. He wasn’t the most well-connected member of Malolo anyway, and that tribe is quickly running out of options.
As to which one is going to go: I have no idea! Seriously! James and Desi have both had adequate screentime, talking about their personal journeys. Desi, of course, reminisces about the swap and challenge failure, while James perviously talked about his relationship with Mike, and also about the hardships of moving from South Korea to the U.S. Both good scenes, and both add to the mystery of this vote.
Tribal Council gives away little as well. We get some good “sound-byte tennis”, with the debate between voting out challenge threats and saving strength and loyalty getting bounced around. Nothing spectacular, but it’s a good debate that keeps the audience engaged. Though, when did James become a “challenge threat”? The only time he’s ever been shown in a challenge, it was LOSING IT! He’s like Tony Vlachos (“Survivor Cagayan”). We’re TOLD that he’s strong, but we get basically no evidence to back it up.
We do get one stand out fun moment at Tribal Council, though. To wrap things up prior to the vote, Probst asks whether these players follow their head or their heart when making decisions. Mike says heart, Desi, Angela, and James say head, but Kellyn gives the cheeky answer of “gut”. Not sure I follow her logic on that being a good thing to follow (see van den Berghe, Lex, of “Survivor Africa”), but I love a cheeky, third-option answer to a Probst question.
Not only does James turn out to be doomed, he turns out to be REALLY doomed. Even Mike votes against him. As I said, it’s the right decision, and I’m not super sorry to see him go. I liked the guy ok, but he didn’t bring a lot to the game, and Desi has more personality. I will say this for the guy, though: He takes it exceptionally well. Seriously, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a politer blindside victim. That’s a very big feather in his cap, if you ask me.
After what seems to be a stumble, this season is back on track with possibly the best episode yet! Great mystery! Great strategy! A fun challenge! People making the right decision at the end! All marks of a great show. Hope this trend continues.
-Matt
Title Credit to Jean Storrs.
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