Idol Speculation: “Survivor David vs. Goliath” Episode 5: Troubled Waters

As a proud “Survivor” nerd, it is inevitable that I will be making comparisons between current and past seasons, as well as current and past players. After 37 seasons, it’s kind of hard not to find some parallel somewhere. A lot of the time this dulls the experience, as what happens on a current season can just be seen as a cheap rehash of a previous season. Sometimes the parallels lead to neat little in-jokes, and can provide some good insight into a player. In either case, though, it can lead to some really weird statements, like the one I’m about to make right now: Natalie Cole is basically Cao Boi Bui (“Survivor Cook Islands”).

Hear me out on this (though be warned that spoilers for the end of the episode are ahead): Both are players that have a wildly different worldview than the rest of their tribe, yet seem completely unaware of it. Both actually have some decent insight into the game and island living, yet are more often than not ignored due to their delivery. And both are (varying degrees of) fun characters that leave during the pre-merge phase. Granted, there are differences between the two. As a fan of Cao Boi, I’d argue that he was less overtly obnoxious, though admittedly Natalie never engaged in race humor. Also, while it’s true neither saw eye-to-eye with their tribe, Cao Boi was less serious than his compatriots, while Natalie was perhaps too serious. Still, while maybe not perfect, it’s still an apt comparison, and just so out of the blue that when I thought of it, I had to share it with you.

Speaking of sharing, let’s find out from a pissed-off Kara what possible justification Alec has for his horrible, horrible, horrible game move last episode. Turns out, he doesn’t have one, shock of all shocks! Alec tells us that his move was just a “gut feeling”, which as we all know has a history of working out BRILLIANTLY on “Survivor”! If the sarcasm went over your head, see van den Berghe, Lex (“Survivor Africa”), or more recently, Bechtold, Kellyn (“Survivor Ghost Island”). Actually, Alec DOES provide more justification than this, stating that he needs to have some former Davids on his side if he’s going to win the game. Not an unfair justification, but a flimsy one. After all, voting once along tribal lines is not going to turn all former Davids off from ever working with you. Plus, while you at best gain potential allies in the former Davids, by voting out Natalia, you lose a FIRM ally you can pretty well count on. Not good math there. Plus, not even Kara’s with him, being understandably mad at being left out of the loop, and as we’ll later see, less inclined to find a crack in the former Davids with him as she is in throwing him under the bus.

On a happier note, the challenge win last episode has done some good for Gabby’s confidence. True, she still feels she’s on the outs, and we’ll later see that others of her tribe agree with this assessment, but she’s stopped being openly upset about it, and is even bonding with the guys this morning, all of them cheerfully commenting on the sunny weather. As is the weather’s wont, however, it soon turns cloudy, which Tiva hopes will go away soon. At this, the irony gods collapse on the floor in laughter, and we cut to the storm…

CRASH!

NATALIE: Hold everything!

ME: Wha… Natalie?! What are you doing here? We had the perfect ironic segway to the storm?

NATALIE: Oh no, we didn’t. Anything Gabby can do, I can do better! She makes the weather a metaphor for her mood? Watch me comment on how nice the weather has been today.

ME: Natalie, no! Irony like that, it’s more than the television can take! You’re straining the fourth wall as it is! Give that confessional, and you could destroy us all!

NATALIE: Man, the weather has been so nice today. Just a picture-perfect day in Fiji.

And thus was the city of Columbus destroyed by an incredibly weird and rare midwestern cyclone. Fortunately, I had readied the “Idol Speculation” bunker for just such an emergency, and thus can continue blogging. The storm hits, and we get various scenes of tribe flags blowing over, and people exclaiming about how harsh it is. Eventually Carl returns with tree mail, telling the tribe they’re teleporting back to “Survivor Millennials vs. Gen-X”, and evacuating everyone. Far be it from me to question the wisdom of the “Survivor” safety crew, who are nothing if not consummate professionals. Though if I were to, I would note that, at least when tree mail arrived, this storm seemed far less severe than the one they stuck around for during the premiere. True, the storm DOES get worse (again, with the cast being evacuated, but the crew staying behind to get zoom shots of the destruction), but we don’t see that initially.

What I WILL take umbrage with is Christian referring to himself and his fellow competitors as “David”, and the storm as “Goliath”. Christian, Probst is forcing this theme on us enough. Don’t encourage him.

Shots of the destruction tell us that the former Davids were much better shelter builders than either the former Goliaths or Tiva, as while the latter two shelters are reduced to little more than convenient bamboo piles, the former actually keeps some structure intact.. Thus begins the rebuilding, not just of shelters but of alliances. Following up on her “Throw Alec under the bus” plan from earlier, kara starts talking to everyone about how she now doesn’t trust Alec, and that he was just using them for a vote, whereas she, Kara, now has nowhere to turn but them. A solid pitch, given what she has to work with and Carl at least seems to buy it. Elizabeth is also on board with her buddy, at least on the surface. Privately, though, she admits that Alec is a much better ally than Kara, pointing out that while she and Kara have a personal bond, Alec has actually demonstrated his loyalty in the vote, and I can’t disagree with her logic. Even leaving that aside, Alec is still the better ally. Besides obviously not being the most strategically brilliant person in the world, one mustn’t forget that his name is now proverbially mud with the former Goliaths, whereas Kara can plead ignorance. Thus, Alec needs you more, and will be more loyal.

We get our requisite shocked looks at the exit of Natalia before getting onto our challenge. Two tribe members will use poles to push sandbags off an overhead net. Said sandbags will then be used as slingshot ammo, with the first two tribes to hit their targets winning reward, in this case, our season-requisite chickens for first place, and a dozen eggs for second place. Despite the good reward, I’m not a fan of this challenge. Apart from being a reused combination of previous challenges, it just feels like too small a portion of the tribe. I know, the tribes are pretty small to begin with, but here you’re using two, maybe three people to run a challenge, and that just feels wrong.

Jabeni is the favorite to lose this challenge, mostly because they’re the favorite to lose every challenge, but the slingshot is a great equalizer. Plus, Tiva has to contend with Dan’s ego, which will not allow him to quit the slingshot despite multiple failed attempts. Thus, Vuku nabs the chickens, and Jabeni gets the eggs. Tiva merely leaves dejected, with Gabby sourly noting that had this overconfidence come at the immunity challenge, it could have cost her the game.

Checking in with Jabeni, we find that Natalie is once again doing everything she can to ruin her game. In this case, she’s strong-arming people into cooking the eggs immediately before they go bad. This would be difficult enough if people were merely objecting to eating all their food immediately. Lyrsa, however, graduated magna cum laude from culinary school, and insists that cooking them will actually lower the amount of time they stay good. Perhaps this is just my lack of culinary knowledge showing, but I was under the impression that eggs went bad without refrigeration, cooked or not. Thus, against the advice of the culinary expert, I find myself in agreement with Natalie. Eat them now, when you KNOW they’re good, versus later, when they might make you sick.

Sickness or no, Natalie REALLY needed to learn the lesson of “Cave to the majority, even if they’re wrong.”, since despite strong opposition from her tribe, she goes ahead and starts the pot a-boiling anyway. This gets Lysra kvetching about Natalie, winning her a potentially ally in Mike, who states that he wants to play this game without Natalie. You and everyone who seems to come in contact with her, brother.

Returning to the Tiva tribe, we find that “Survivor Caramoan” has returned, and evidently taken on a Spanish flair, as the former “bro-down” is now referred to as the “brochachos”. This, of course, refers to the male members of the tribe, those being Jonny Mundo, Christian, and Dan. This, if nothing else, should separate Christian from Cochran, as even Cochran, dominant as he was, could not be accepted as a bro like Christian here. This is where Dan reaffirms that Gabby is on the outs, but that’s not all he does. To ensure things stay that way, Dan looks for an idol, noting that third tribes tend to get one of their own. While Dan may be an idiot in many other aspects of the game, it should be said that he at least has awareness when it comes to finding idols, even if the act of hiding said idols still eludes him. Christian watches Dan at his work, though for once I won’t hold it against Dan for not doing a basic 360. Christian was spying from pretty far away, and the only way we saw him was via zoom lens, which I doubt Dan has. After a good bit of searching, Dan finds a clue to an idol, as well as an emotional moment, where he talks about how his overweight self wouldn’t have been able to do this. As an overweight person myself, I’m torn between compassion for the scene, and offense at the implication that overweight people cannot do something as simple as find an idol.

Ah, but Dan has not found an idol yet. Instead, he has found out that the idol is beneath a tripod at the upcoming immunity challenge, which we shall talk about now. While effectively being another generic obstacle course, with people going over bamboo structures, holding up bridges, and naviagating a ball up a vertical snake table, this at least has the scale that I would expect from a good “Survivor” challenge, and they shake things up enough to give it a pass in my book. It’s mainly the ending table that makes it for me. We’ve had vertical table mazes before, but they’re usually of the “swiss cheese” variety. In this case, the ball must instead be kept on the only solid part of the table, in the shape of a twisting snake. To show just how out of touch with reality he is, Probst says this part looks “easy”. To me, it looks diabolical, and I love it.

Jabeni is favored to lose this challenge, mostly because they’re favored to lose about every challenge, but despite a surprisingly even strategy edit from all tribes, I’d say Jabeni is actually the least likely to lose. We’ve had the least strategy from them, with our only real scene being Natalie annoying people some more, whereas we’ve seen the “brochacos”, and Gabby on the outs at Tiva, and full on scheming at Vuku. Add in the table maze as an equalizer, and I’d say you’ve got a pretty even challenge. Sadly, Jabeni does not break stereotypes this time, and loses outright, due mostly to an impressive showing of Nick over Christian (Alec’s slow and steady paces clinches a win for Vuku).

To no one’s surprise, the former Goliaths of Jabeni have a “debate” over who should go from the former Davids, which really amounts to “Let’s justify why Lyrsa should go”, even though it’s fairly obvious. Look, I like Lyrsa a lot, but she’s the obvious choice. A “Vote out the Davids” strategy is all well and good, but there’s only two on your tribe. Lose two challenges after this, and that strategy is shot. While I think people give Lyrsa a hard time for her challenge ability, Nick is clearly the powerhouse of the tribe, and by keeping him around you at least have a SHOT at winning something down the line, maybe even sending Tiva to Tribal Council, the one place where the former Goliaths may have an actual solid majority at this point.

Rather than get this justification, however, Angelina has to give us a somewhat pettier one. Angelina, apparently, “runs cold”, and thus is in need of a jacket. Coincidentally, Lyrsa has a good jacket, thus making her a target, the implication being that Angelina can filch said jacket once Lyrsa leaves. Petty, but I’ve heard worse reasons to target someone on “Survivor”.

Still, even this is not enough for Natalie to leave well enough alone. Despite Lyrsa being the obvious target, she tries to imply to Nick that unless he gives up his jacket, he’ll be going home. Hmm, blackmail on “Survivor”. That may actually be a first, and if not, it’s certainly a rarity. What else is certain is that this strategy does not sit well with Nick at all. Nick does not take kindly to being “bullied” (his words), and so angles to get Natalie off. Mike seems willing, and for him it would be a good move. The main reason to keep Natalie at this point, apart from wanting someone weaker around at the merge, is to stay “Goliath Strong”. Now, that’s all fine and good if you’re in the majority of the Goliaths. Mike, however, is on the outs with them, and while one doesn’t want to burn too many bridges, Mike can use this as an excuse to move against them, and bond with the former Davids. Sadly, while Mike does want to make the move, he’s too concerned with keeping his old bonds as well, and thus wants Angelina on board. For Angelina, this would not be a good move. Angelina, with Natalia gone, is effectively the power of the old Goliaths, and thus needs more of them around, such as Natalie, to secure victory. Couple that with her talking about voting “anticipating a merge”, and we can kiss Lyrsa goodbye. Let’s hope for a fun Tribal Council, at least.

What we get is basically a repeat of the first Goliath Tribal Council. Someone (in this case Lyrsa) rails into Natalie for having few social graces, while Natalie keeps her composure and gives a classy voting confessional where she compliments the person receiving her vote. Say what you will about the woman, but she keeps it real. Angelina tries to act as peacemaker, even trying to defend the coat thing as Natalie looking out for her rather than blackmail. Sadly, while this is entertaining, it doesn’t reach the heights of the Jeremy boot, and is undercut by the obvious outcome of Lyrsa going home. Look, there’s the fifth name right now, and sure enough, it’s… Natalie?

Ok, show, you got me good there. True, Natalie does take away her class by refusing to give up her jacket to Angelina. I get what Natalie says later about being suspicious that Angelina was behind her boot, but given her reaction, it seems clear even to the people there that she wasn’t, so no reason not to be kind. All this is to say that, to my surprise, I’m actually somewhat sorry to see Natalie go. True, she was probably annoying to live with on a daily basis, and was even somewhat annoying on our screens, but it was just so refreshing to see someone so DIFFERENT on the show. What I mean is that the show loves to tout how it brings people from “different walks of life” together, but rarely gets someone with a drastic worldview. For good or for ill, Natalie brought that, and it was refreshing to see the show live up to this part of the premise. For that alone, she shall be missed.

This is definitely a decent episode, and had Lyrsa gone, I would have a lot of praise, since it would have made a boring, predictable episode at least a little exciting. With this outcome, though? It seems to me that with a blindside of this caliber, it should have been spectacular. Still, perhaps that’s the whole “After 37 seasons, everything seems done” problem, and as I say, this episode was enjoyable enough. Just hope they amp it up next week.

-Matt

Title Credit to Jean Storrs.

Idol Speculation: “Survivor David vs. Goliath” Episode 4: Jeff Probst’s Wet Dream

“Live” Tribal Council. Resume building. Copious mention of “Big Moves”. No, the loss in quality on your television doesn’t mean it’s dying. That’s just steam from how much Probst is panting at this.

Since this episode is meant to cater to Probst, we of course skip the fallout from the past Tribal Council (some would argue a unanimous vote means there would be no fallout, but I would argue that the presence of Natalie “Napalm” Cole means fallout is inevitable, unanimous vote or no), and cut right to the game-braking twists. No, I don’t mean the swap, we’ll get to that. I’m instead talking about a tragic loss for the game. Consider, for the moment, the player of Bi Nguyen. Not the best player by any stretch of the imagination, but she seemed to have some game to her, was a physical force on her tribe, and while on the bottom after the first vote, had some prospects to move back up. Pretty standard “Survivor” stuff, but bear in mind that Bi is an Asian-American woman, a demographic that has fallen on rough times lately. Bear in mind that the last Asian-American woman to make the merge on “Survivor” was Brenda Lowe on “Survivor Caramoan”, nearly six years ago. Not an impressive showing for a demographic, but Bi seemed like a good possibility to break the curse. Sadly, Bi will not do so, as while her injury is not severe enough to pull her from the game, she is choosing to eject herself because of it. Before anyone cries “Wimp”, it’s clearly not because Bi is in too much pain to continue or anything. Rather, it’s because, as a professional athlete, her physical health is rather important, and thus Bi doesn’t want to stake her career over a stint on a reality show she wasn’t doing particularly swimmingly at. While I am a little disappointed that this slot wasn’t therefore given over to a superfan who would have been willing to stick it out, I can understand Bi’s decision, and can’t really fault her for it. Not Probst, though! The man who gave infinite respect to someone quitting out of fear of “hurting someone”, you know, a seeming failure of character that shows disturbing homicidal tendencies, is curt and businesslike with the person valuing real life over “Survivor”. Ok, I know the show is kind of your life man, but get your priorities straight! I mean, at least Probst’s not deriding her for quitting or anything, but I feel like a Jenna Morasca-esque eulogy a la “Survivor All-Stars” might have been in order. True, Bi’s reason for leaving is nowhere near as heartbreaking as Jenna’s, but it still deserves more respect than it got.

From the ashes of a quit: Salvation for Probst in the form of a twist. Evidently the tribes were supposed to stay where they were for another episode (evidenced by the purely two-tribe challenge we saw in the aerials), but when word of Bi’s quit came down, it was moved up to today. A little on the early side, but not sinfully early. What is sinful is the lack of shake-up in this switch. Seriously, you had a perfect opportunity for drama! Make it a quiz like on “Survivor Guatemala”. Imagine the horror if you’re labeled the Goliath who was “Most like a David”. A golden opportunity, and you waste it, “Survivor”. Shame on you.

As the overall tribe with the majority going into the swap, you’d expect the Goliaths to have an advantage on the majority of the tribes. And they do, if by “majority”, you mean “every”. Our former David tribe, now mercifully changed to the cooler “Vuku” tribe (though why they weren’t just called this from the beginning, I don’t know. Also, trivia time, this marks the first season that no tribe buffs had tribe names on them since “Survivor Nicaragua) consists of Natalia, Kara, Alec, Davie, and Elizabeth. Our stacked tribe for the season is the newly-created green “Tiva “tribe. Seriously, this group got arguably the two biggest physical players (Johnny Mundo and Dan), and arguably the three best puzzle solvers (Alison, Christian, and Gabby). The Goliaths, meanwhile, become the “Screwed” tribe… I mean “Jabeni” tribe. Cool name and all, but seriously, talk about a lopsided competition. Your tribe has on it Mike and Natalie, probably the two biggest challenge sinks in the game, Lyrsa, who’s considered to be the biggest challenge sink in the game, and Angelina, who while not bad, is no challenge all-star. True, they do get Nick, who’s fairly decent at challenges, but given that challenges often come down to “how strong is your weakest member?”, they’re probably going to be seeing a LOT of Tribal Council.

While we’ll see in a bit that a lot of my assumptions aren’t the case, while the former Goliaths have a numerical advantage on each tribe, each has a crack of some sort that can save the former Davids. Vuku seems to have the most solid majority, with Natalia, Kara, and Alec all having been part of the supposed majority bloc on the old Goliath tribe. Davie, however, has an idol, so all bets are off. Tiva would seems to also be pretty solid, but don’t forget that Alison was left out of the majority alliance on the original Goliath, so in the unlikely event that this tribe was to attend Tribal Council, there’s at least some opening to exploit. As for Jabeni, any tribe with Natalie on it is going to be inherently volatile, but having so many minority alliance members on it makes things even weirder.

But where is Carl in all of this chaos? If you guessed “Exile Island”, then congratulations! You’ve figured out that the producers have run out of original ideas! We’ll come back to that in a moment. For now, we check out the new Vuku camp, which despite being the “David” camp originally is evidently very nice, with much “oohing” and “aahing” from the former Goliaths. Neither Elizabeth nor Davie, though, have any bones about where they stand on this new tribe. As they are not closely aligned, Davie and Elizabeth set their sights on making friends with the former Goliath’s in the hope of gaining a spot at the table. Davie in particular is eager to go, calling this the part of the game he likes. That said, Davie also admits that he’s not always the best at relating to others, again citing his status as a black nerd to emphasize this. Still, he tries to bro-down with Alec and it seems to go all right. Unless you compare it to Elizabeth, that is. Elizabeth is off with the ladies, looking, as she says, for common ground. She finds it, at least with Kara, in the realm of horses, as the two chat up their shared experience with the animals. Advantage, Elizabeth.

Throughout this conversation, Natalia is in the background, glaring. At first, I thought the show was being subtle, and hinting at a later story where Natalia brings this back to bite Kara in frustration. Then you remember that this episode is made to satisfy Probst, meaning all subtlety must be thrown out the window. Instead, we get Natalia talking about how concerned she is over this bond, and how it breaks her trust with Kara. Ok, Natalia is clearly being bit by the paranoia bug. To give her her due, it IS right to be a little concerned when an ally starts getting chummy with someone outside the alliance. But, one has to remember, this is the FIRST DAY TOGETHER for this tribe! Getting to know each other is the ONLY thing going on right now. On top of that, you and Kara have been together 10 days, building trust all that time. Now she talks about a shared interest with someone she’s known for one day, and you’re worried she’s flipping on you? There’s a big difference in your math there, girl.

Getting back to Carl, he gives us one of the smoother transitions to talking about his job, noting that while trucking and Exile Island are both very isolated activities, at least with trucking you have SOME options for communication. It’s still a little forced, as all such conversations will be, but it’s better than most, and for that, Carl earns my respect. Carl has little time for boredom, though, as a note hints at something for Carl about to be washed out to sea, having fallen from a tree. Deducing that it is a coconut (as rocks and trees, the other places idols are hidden in, don’t fit the clue), Carl runs to the shoreline to look for a coconut. At first, it seems like it’s going to be a fun, fancy-free idol hunt for Carl, casually picking up a coconut or two, until a hilarious bit of editing ensues. Carl comes around a rock outcropping to find a sea strewn with coconuts. This I can get behind. Make him work for it! Make him suffer!

After a suitable amount of suffering, Carl finds the coconut with blue string, revealing not an idol, but the teased “Vote Nullifier” of the season. I went over my thoughts on this twist during my cast assessment, and frankly, nothing new has come up since then to change my opinion To briefly recap: while I’m not wild about this twist, I see some potential, and am willing to give it a season to impress me. That said, I think it’s in good hands with Carl, at least in terms of being played well. Carl strikes me as a slow, methodical player, exactly the sort of person who would wait and read the room, determining the right moment to use the nullifier for maximum effectiveness You’re in good hands, twist.

Referring to the Jabeni Tribe as the “Screwed” tribe was not just me being an over-the-top internet blogger. Mike, a member of said tribe, has exactly the same assessment. And, as it turns out, not even challenge ability will be needed for this tribe to self-destruct. Natalie, who I SWORE would jump at the chance to have some original Davids on her tribe as they’d be easier to boss around, evidently really meant her “Goliath strong” comments at the last Tribal Council, as she declares to confessional that she wants them gone. Again, why? Apart from the potentially fitting in better with her personality type, they could make a more solid alliance than Natalie’s had yet But no, they must go, but first, boil water for Natalie. Despite claiming to take the criticism of “Delivery of the message is important” to heart, Natalie fails to do so. Although her point about needing to get stuff done before dark is correct, she goes about it in her usual, bossy manner, such that after she leaves, Angelina sees no point in denying it to Lyrsa and Nick, even effectively referring to this as a “good” day. Way to keep those cracks covered, guys!

Ah, but Angelina is not the only one quickly cracking on Jabeni, as after Nick says he thinks no one from his original tribe has an idol, Mike reveals the existence of Dan’s, which I’m sure will in NO WAY screw Dan over later. Still, you know what this alliance needs? A dumb name! Yeah, I held out hope that Nick had given up on that particular line since we had a full minute of strategy involving him without it being brought up, but no, he and Mike align, dubbing themselves “The Rock Stars”. Still not a fan of this, though adding in sounds for Mike’s air guitar was a nice touch.

One would hope that with Christian and Johnny Mundo on the same tribe, talk about the logistics of Slamtown would quickly recommence, and those people are not disappointed. It’s a funny conversation, clarifying that Slamtown is populated by people Johnny Mundo has slammed, though if Johnny Mundo is the “Mayor of Slamtown”, does that mean he slammed himself? How is that even possible? Christian asks for a consulate position there, which Johnny Mundo considers. While humor does come from this conversation, it’s also a very necessary one for Christian. Lord knows his survival skills won’t help, as after shots of Johnny Mundo, Dan, and Alison all effectively chopping bamboo, we see Christian’s attempt at it. True, he does not fail as hard as Stephen Fishbach’s attempt at such on “Survivor Cambodia”, but comparatively, it’s still pretty bad. Johnny Mundo confirms that it’s working, and we can sleep well knowing that Christian has mastered the difficult art of being “charmingly awkward”.

Less effective is Gabby, feeling left out in the cold by Christian’s bonding. Not because he’s ignoring her, or anything, but because he has an ease at this that she does not. She breaks down crying late at night, leaving Christian to comfort her. On the one hand, I sympathize heavily with Gabby here. Feeling like you just can’t fit in due solely to your personality is something most people can identify with on some level, and it’s been a big part of my life for a while. That being said, seeing Gabby break down here, since she’s had some sort of breakdown in most episodes so far, is starting to make it seem like she isn’t really cut out to play “Survivor”. Again, I’m not knocking being emotional, especially on a show like this, but at some point you need to be able to handle yourself without dissolving into tears. Now, Gabby will rally later on, and I give her nothing but credit for doing so, so this probably isn’t a deal-breaker. Still, this really needs to be the point where Gabby makes a full turnaround. Comparisons will be made to Aubry’s arc in episode on of “Survivor Kaoh Rong”, and the comparison is an apt one, though I’m inclined to say Aubry’s was stronger, and worthy of less flak than Gabby’s. Partly this is just due to timing. Aubry did it first, and so has the advantage. Also, though, the few minor differences between the arcs of Aubry and Gabby give Aubry the edge. Aubry’s breakdown was early, and due to the elements, whereas Gabby’s was well into the season, and related to social issues. Why does this matter? Well apart from winning a challenge being a stronger comeback if the question was whether you could handle the elements rather than the players, Aubry never professed to be a challenge badass. She was competent enough, but it wasn’t her main selling point. What did Gabby talk up prior to the season as her strength? Her social ability. If it’s collapsing this early, it’s a poor outlook for her prospects.

Christian should be given props for this moment, though. He gives Gabby more credit than she gives herself, noting that they both have on and off days, and support each other on those off days. People, find yourself a significant other like Christian. He may not be attractive in the conventional sense, but damn if the man doesn’t know just the right thing to say to comfort someone.

CHALLENGE TIME! Today, we have ourselves a new twist on a classic challenge. It’s blindfold time, so you know a caller will be maneuvering people through an obstacle course and then a table maze. The catch this time is that the caller is not stationary. Rather, the caller is put into what I can only describe as a minimalist wheelbarrow, and rolled around a course prior to the table maze portion. This keeps all the classic difficulty and physical comedy of blindfold challenges past, but makes it different and memorable, plus changes the strategy for the caller a bit. Rather than a loud person, you now want a light person, hence why all three callers (Angelina, Gabby, and Kara) are women, a rarity for this challenge. In addition to immunity, baked goods are on the line for the winning tribe. Not bad stakes, though they again just make a smaller immunity idol for the second idol, which always bothers me. Your big idol has a hat. Just take it off, and use that as your second idol!

Tiva is naturally going to win immunity, so it’s no surprise they get an early lead and hold it. Credit where it’s due, Gabby does a fantastic job as caller, and deserves all the praise she gets. While not as direct as Aubry’s arc, it’s redemption nonetheless. We can probably guess that Jabeni is going to Tribal Council, but they give us a good bit of back-and-forth between the two tribes to throw us off of the trail. Vuku actually falls behind early for no apparent reason, before Angelina gets Jabeni stuck on a maze portion. Still, both are on the table maze portion (not to be confused with the regular maze portion), and to our surprise, Jabeni pulls out a narrow victory, mostly due to Kara screwing up the table maze, and forcing Vuku to start over. Got me there, show, though it is a shame, as a former David is likely to go, and I really like both Davie and Elizabeth.

Davie talks about not wanting to use his idol this early, and I can understand why. As someone in the minority on his original tribe, with no particular ties to Elizabeth, the idol is a good safety net, and he has no reason not to just jump ship. That said, with how obvious the “Goliath Strong” feeling is from all original Goliaths, I’d actually be in favor of Davie playing his idol tonight. With Carl coming back to the tribe, that would give him a close ally and a solid majority to go off of, as well as some good resume building. True, you’re out one idol, but those can be found again. That said, Davie’s backup plan is not bad either. After a good bit of actin on idol hunting with Elizabeth, Davie throws her under the bus to the old Goliaths, mentioning that she had targetted Natalia during their idol hunt. This sets Natalia’s hackles up, and understandably so. You’d think, then, that she’d be extra assured when Kara expresses indignation on her behalf. And you’re right, but she’s still paranoid. We’ll come back to that in a second. With Elizabeth throwing Davie under the bus, and Alec seeming to favor eliminating him to shake things up, it’s time to debate who’s better to go. It’s a tough call, and there’s really no wrong answer for the former Goliaths. Keep Davie, and you have a challenge competitor and provider who was on the outs with his original tribe. Keep Elizabeth, and you’ve got someone Kara has bonded with, and who won’t ally with Carl. Due to this last point, I would say keeping Elizabeth is the slightly stronger move. You can still work with her, and she won’t want to work with Carly, after Lyrsa. Plus, eliminate the idol.

Remember that paranoia I said would come up? It takes the form of Natalia needing constant reassurances on the vote. This begins to annoy Alec, who feels she should have more trust than that. Davie, in a good bit of subtle social maneuvering, casually suggest to Alec that they just cut the paranoia and target Natalia instead While Elizabeth vs. Davie was a great debate, Elizabeth vs. Natalia is no contest. You keep Natalia. You’ve known her longer, you’re allied with her, and while Kara and Elizabeth have a bond, nothing is set yet. Your alliance has been going for about 10 days. You’ve been on this tribe one day. No need to drastically shake things up yet.

Probst’s dream Tribal Council kicks off with some good, subtle sniping at each other on the parts of Elizabeth and Davie. The real kicker, however, is when Alec has had enough, whispering to most everybody except Davie, a fact that Probst points out between orgasms. It’s chaos, and more organic chaos than some seasons I could name (looking at you, “Survivor Game Changers”), but it still feels contrived, somehow, and I’m more convinced than ever that this is a predictable vote they’re spicing up by any means necessary. They’re not doing a bad job of it, but this is clearly an acting job from Alec. Natalia is sticking around.

And then she gets her torch snuffed. Great.

On the one hand, I’m happy that of all the targets, she left. Davie and Elizabeth were both bigger and better characters than her, and apart from her tirade exiting Tribal Council, Natalia probably won’t be remembered much. Plus, we did get a good idea of why Natalia left, even if a lot of the strategizing was left out. Still, it was the wrong move, and feels very weird coming from Alec. It would be easy to compare him to Alec Christy of “Survivor San Juan del Sur”, but I’d argue after this episode, he’s more like Jon Misch from that season. A bland, boring guy who after being silent for a long time comes up as a major strategic power. It just feels wrong, even if we didn’t lose a great player this time as a result. That said, if this is the beginning of an “Era of Alec”, I’m not looking forward to it.

This episode baffles me. It fooled me, yet I didn’t feel the usual excitement from being fooled. Maybe the charm of the early season is just wearing off, maybe Alec just isn’t that interesting, but despite being technically competent, I couldn’t get into this episode. By no means the worst, but I hope the season can do better.

“Shocked Carl” needs to be a meme.

-Matt

Title Credit to Jean Storrs.

Idol Speculation: “Survivor David vs. Goliath” Episode 3: It Builds Character

Tonight, “Survivor” takes on a guest producer. Rare, I know, but it happens. You can usually tell because the episode takes on a distinctive theme. In this case, that theme is “Suffering builds character”, which you may recall was the creed of Calvin’s dad from “Calvin and Hobbes”. Yep, that’s our guest producer, ladies and gentleman. Bring on the rain!

First, though, we have to bring on the pain, as we see how the three from the David tribe on the wrong side of the vote weather things. All are quiet, but Davie probably takes it the best, pulling Christian aside and asking what happened. Christian claims that he and Nick were brought in last minute, hence why Davie was left out. This seems to satisfy Davie, although his hidden immunity idol probably helps with that. Carl is also quiet, but doesn’t really talk to anybody. Instead, he gets emotional about it, stating that Jessica was like a daughter to him. “Emotion” in this case takes the form of a quavering in his voice and a few tears, which might not seem like much, but for a tough guy from Texas, that’s basically curling up into a ball and sobbing. Still, he rallies, and certainly doesn’t do anything to hurt his game.

Before we get to our last outsider, let us check in with the Mason-Dixon alliance. They wisely wait until they’re out of eyesight and earshot before celebrating, and then plotting their next move. As we saw with Christian earlier, they decide to throw Gabby under the bus as a ringleader, which I have to laugh at a little bit. Not that Gabby is blameless in this vote-off, but of the five who voted for Jessica, I’d say she had the LEAST agency in that vote-off. True, she did bring in Christian and Nick, but they were the ones who decided to pull the trigger, and it was Lyrsa and Elizabeth who targeted Jessica in the first place. Still, putting the blame on Gabby is a good move, at least in the short-term. It’s clear that the Mason-Dixon alliance is trying to be the swing vote between the two sides, so making as few enemies as possible can’t be a bad thing for that. That being said, it also means you need to eliminate Gabby before Final Tribal Council, lest she be given credit for moves she didn’t really make. Look at the Final Tribal Council of “Survivor Millennials vs. Gen-X” for your evidence. Ultimately, it was Hannah who convinced Ken to vote off David, but who got the credit for it? Adam. Why? Because he was the one seeming to be making moves against David, so everyone thought he must be behind it. Narrative is important here, people.

Still, the best-laid plans are worthless without good execution, but evidently Mason-Dixon have that covered. We check in with Bi and see that, after initially blaming Davie for no apparent reason, she switches to Gabby. Bi then goes full Abi-Maria (“Survivor Philippines”) and effectively declares Gabby dead to her. More on that in a bit.

We check in with Goliath next, where Johnny Mundo is still trying to convince us that he is not his wrestling persona, and failing miserably due to mentioning his nicknames every five sentences. I kid, I kid. Johnny Mundo actually does a pretty good job here of showing what a good reader he is of the people around him, before using this to give us the same “Natalie is on the outs” confessional we’ve heard a few dozen times over the course of this season already. Instead, let us focus on something different: hermit crabs. Yes, of all things, I want to draw attention to a brief scene of a hermit crab race we see the Goliath tribe running during their down time. As this blog is primarily focussed on strategy, I normally wouldn’t mention something like this. However, it is very worth mentioning from an entertainment perspective. You see, this season has definitely been good so far, but from a strategy perspective, it’s not been that great. Not awful, by any means, but nothing special either. Normally this would bring a season down, but decent strategy can be offset by an influx of charm and character, which is what we get here. Watching the show, it’s easy to forget that these are real people living out their day-to-day, 24 hour lives, needing to meet their every need, including entertainment. It’s just so charming and, for want of a better term, real, that it just endears me to the season. More, please!

For all my snark, there is a method to Johnny Mundo giving us what at this point is the standard Natalie confessional. Johnny Mundo, you see, is one of those who agrees that Natalie might be a good person to have at the end, due to her rubbing people the wrong way. Fair enough, but how do you plan to get her there? The answer is foreshadowed in the next scene, as we see a new bond at Goliath. Mike and Jeremy are bonding over a shared love of the game, enough so that Jeremy shares his backstory: he and his dad didn’t always see eye-to-eye, but Jeremy feels his dad would be proud of where he’s at in life. Sadly, Jeremy’s dad has Alzheimer’s, and is thus not really in a position to notice these things. It’s a sad story, and we’re thankfully spared the “this makes Jeremy a Final Tribal threat” confessional, so we can just take it at surface value.

Johnny Mundo may not want people to think of him as a wrestler, but if the other tribe is bringing it up as a topic of conversation, then I’d say it’s a lost cause. While playing in the sand, thus fulfilling the prophecy from last episode, Gabby and Christian debate the logistics of Slamtown, which is another funny and charming scene. If nothing else, you can say this episode does of good job of building up its characters and getting us to bond with them. Sadly, we must get the low, repeat point of the episode, out of the way instead, as Bi, Nick, and Davie all sit out on the raft during a fishing expedition. Bi again expresses a desire to see Gabby go, which Nick fervently agrees to. Since we’ve seen this all before, let’s take a moment to seriously debate where the Mason-Dixon alliance should go. As with any good debate, there’s positives to both sides. Getting out Bi strengthens the majority you currently have, and ruffles no new feathers. Getting out Gabby keeps the tribe stronger overall, and keeps your status as swing votes more secure. As to which side they should go with, well, it depends. For Nick, there’s no answer but to vote out Gabby. To someone with few allies, playing a swing vote is probably the best move, and getting out Gabby strengthens that. Christian, on the other hand? While Nick is being played up as his ride-or-die currently, he still has an alliance with Gabby as well. Having more allies is always better than having fewer, but this in turns gives Nick more incentive to get Gabby out, thus leaving Christian with him as his main option. It’s an intriguing turn: What happens when two member of an alliance have diametrically opposing interests? No answer is yet given, so we’ll have to wait for a swap to decide.

Back at Goliath, since we need a viable alternative to Natalie going home this episode, we put Jeremy up to bat. Oh, don’t worry, this isn’t the show manufacturing drama out of nowhere. Rest assured, Jeremy will be making plenty of mistakes this time around. First comes the time when he takes a leaf out of the playbook of Garrett Adelstein (“Survivor Cagayan”). In case you’ve forgotten who he is, Garrett is the guy who decided it was a bright idea to FORCE his tribe not to strategize, leading to his eviction as the second player of the season. All this, WHILE HOLDING A HIDDEN IMMUNITY IDOL! Yeah, to say that this is not a good place to draw from is an understatement. To give Jeremy his due, his reason for making this bone-headed move is solid. He sees people pairing off and talking, but not to him. Given that he’s a physical threat on a tribe that can afford to lose a physical player or two and still be good, that’s reason enough to be concerned. I have no quarrel with Jeremy wanting to do something about this. What I do have a problem with is that, rather than take the initiative and pull people over himself, Jeremy instead pulls the tribe together and effectively tells them to knock it off. As Natalie has demonstrated, bossing adults around does not generally go over well. Such is the case here, especially when Jeremy proves himself a hypocrite, and starts talking with individuals anyway, trying to throw Dan under the bus for his idol. Excellent job there, player. Excellent!

Man, these challenges just get worse and worse, don’t they? Now we’re just upsizing individual challenges, with a total of four players (in groups of one and three) completing a ropes course, and then two pulling a sled of puzzle pieces for two to solve. While upsizing a challenge is better than downsizing, it still doesn’t change the fact that this feels like three individual challenges Frankensteined into one. The puzzle is at least complex, being a four-piece pyramid, probably most remembered as being solved by Wendell on “Survivor Ghost Island”, but actually making its first appearance on “Survivor One World”. Yeah, I prefer to remember Wendell too.

Probst taunts the contestants by making sure the reward portion of the challenge (pillows, blankets, and chairs) is thoroughly soaked via showing it off, and we get to set things up. While the challenge itself may be lackluster, the one thing going for it is decent misdirection. True, we’ve heard more specific targets from the David tribe, so they likely lose, but both tribes have a least a shot at losing. However, that good will goes out the window when we see the Goliath tribe strategizing, and Natalie forcing herself onto the puzzle portion. Granted, if you’re going to use Natalie in a challenge, this is where you use her, but the fact that we see only them strategizing guarantees they lose. And while this did not ultimately play a factor (this challenge was pretty neck and neck throughout, and won on the puzzle, expertly solved by Christian and Gabby), I feel like the David tribe may have had an advantage here. Part of the ropes portion of the challenge involved three players untangling from each other. Naturally, the ropes were all made different colors, but even on my HDTV, the colors for the David tribe seemed more distinct than the colors for the Goliath tribe, making them easier to untangle. Not tarnishing David’s victory, though. They earned this, though at what cost?

Bi ran the first leg of this challenge, the solo ropes course, and Probst made a point of describing her as “hobbling back to the mat” afterward. Couple that with repeated cuts to Bi saying her knee was injured, and you’ve got a recipe for medevac. Thankfully, this is just a well-executed fake-out from the producers, as while medical does look at Bi’s knee, both they and she say she’ll be fine, and bandage her knee up.

Following that fake-out, time to see who the Goliath tribe tries to fake us into going rather than Natalie. To no one’s surprise, it’s Jeremy, due to the whole “big threat” thing he mentioned earlier. Surprisingly, rather than Natalie, Angelina is the one pushing for this. She’s really gung-ho about the whole thing, which tells me that she’s got a case of “big-move-itis”. You see, while it is true that the Goliath tribe could lose someone as strong as Jeremy and still be ok challenge-wise (they have no way of knowing a swap is next episode), that doesn’t make it a good idea. I’d tell you why, but I don’t have to: Natalia does it for me. She rightly points out that Natalie feels more on the outs the Jeremy, and is thus more likely to flip. Angelina argues that Jeremy is more of a charmer, and thus could better flip, but I disagree. Yes, Jeremy is charming, but he’s charming in an obvious way. He seems like the type who would fit in well on the Goliath tribe. Conversely, Natalie seems like the odd one out who you would logically expect to flip. Plus, remember that Natalie’s big issue is being to bossy. If she so badly wants to be in charge, where better to find followers than on a tribe supposedly full of followers? Not saying that the David tribe are all followers, but that seems to be what Natalie believes, and I think the David tribe is smart enough to play into that to gain an edge.

Jeremy’s biggest obstacle to staying, though, is Jeremy. In his third boneheaded move of the evening, he had encouraged Natalie to do what she needed to save herself, but also said it was an uphill battle. A bit tactless, but not bad in and of itself. However, when Natalie tries to talk strategy, and asks Jeremy not to be there, Jeremy turns it into an argument that makes everyone involved, but especially himself, look bad. I understand that if you think someone might be talking about you, you shouldn’t let them, but when you make a big deal out of it, you hit a point of diminishing returns on how much trouble you’re saving yourself. Jeremy goes WAY past that point here. Smart thing to do would be to put up a mild protest, then pretend to acquiesce, and listen in from the bushes somewhere. Instead, this argument drags on to commercial break, though I have to give the editors credit for cutting to commercial right when Natalie talks about cutting things off.

Then we come to Tribal Council. To jump ahead to my thoughts a bit, I think this is one situation where we were duped. This was made out to be a “Live” Tribal Council, where the decision was up in the air, and what happened at Tribal decided the outcome. For reasons I’ll get into shortly, I believe everyone knew the decision, and was playing up the discussion for the cameras. That said, if you were to tell me that Natalie was saved by her performance at Tribal Council alone, I would believe it. Seriously, this is some top-tier performing here! Gone is bossy, seemingly uncaring Natalie. Instead she’s calm, logical, and is open to criticism, even putting up what she says she will and taking Dan’s point about “The delivery of the message, not just the content” to heart. Compared to what we see Jeremy do (oh, we’ll get to him in a moment), she comes off as the much more logical choice to keep, despite what I said earlier in the blog. Seriously, I am agape. This is top-level play right here, and it came out of one on the people I would least expect from what we’ve seen so far.

Jeremy’s performance is why I say I think everyone knew the outcome of this Tribal Council beforehand. Natalie should have been the obvious target. It should have been easy. When someone is that annoying, you just gently remind people of what’s happened, and let that person self-destruct to prove your point. What Jeremy does here, going on a full-on, unprovoked attack on Natalie and her game is the work of someone trying desperately to save themselves. Jeremy is enough of a fan that I’m sure he knows this, and thus is only doing this because he knows it is his only chance. Unsurprisingly, it does not work. On a tribe looking for order, whatever the first nine days may have shown, tonight Jeremy showed chaos, and Natalie order. If Jeremy can take some solace he has two rare achievements to his name: He is both a male inductee and a pre-merge inductee into the Order of Sue Hawkabies, each a rare achievement.

I’ve got mixed feelings about Jeremy leaving. He definitely earned it this episode, but I think he was a more interesting and varied character than Natalie. The story about his dad really got to me, and while Natalie is a bigger character from an entertainment perspective, Jeremy had more facets to him, and I would have like to see those develop. To Natalie’s credit, though, she has a lot of class when voting for Jeremy. Complimenting his skin? Love it.

While not top-tier material yet, this season is doing a good job so far. True, a lot of the mystery was gone tonight, but it makes up for it in the characters. Not only is this season doing a good job developing a variety of people, but it does a good job making us care about them; no easy feat. I think it comes back to what I was saying about the hermit crab race earlier: We see them as people, which develops them as characters, which makes this season greater.

Of course, Natalie’s Tribal Council performance also goes a long way there, and as you can probably guess, that means it’s once again time for…

TOP 5 AND BOTTOM 5!

As you’d expect, we’ll be talking about Tribal Council performances. Excluding Final Tribal Council performances (those get their own list someday), what feats of arguing and theatre are the most memorable and most effective? Conversely, which ones backfire the most? Success and failure is no guarantee for either list, though they help. With those very minimal ground rules out of the way, let’s get started with:

TOP 5

5. Russell Hantz (“Survivor Samoa”): Much though I hate to give him any credit, it takes a lot to hide an idol ace up your sleeve, and if there’s one thing Russell IS good at (or at least was in his first two appearances), it was finding and utilizing idols correctly. Not perfectly, you understand, but good in an above-average way. His crowning achievement was the second post-merge vote of “Survivor Samoa”, where he kept it so perfectly hidden that he attracted votes to himself. Plus, we got his iconic “I ain’t finished playing just yet.” quote here, and to a lesser extent, “Keep hope alive”. Not as flashy as Parvati’s similar move on “Survivor Heroes vs. Villains”, yet all the more iconic for it.

4. Malcolm Freberg (“Survivor Caramoan”): Yeah, you all knew this was coming. The guy who basically created a “Live” Tribal Council by making sure he and his allies were immune had to make the list for the chaos he caused alone. Malcolm loses some points because in the long-term, his move wasn’t successful, but even so, it did change the course of that vote, and was flashy enough to get a song made out of it, so it definitely earns a spot on this list.

3. Natalie Cole (“Survivor David vs. Goliath”): Seriously, if you want an example of keeping cool under pressure, this is it. Natalie dominated this Tribal Council by showing just WHY she could be a better tribunate than her competition, but without going over the top. True, this list has favored the flashy, but the finesse of this performance is just too good not to award.

2. Vytas Baskauskas (“Survivor Blood vs. Water”): Someone down in numbers on a swap tribe needs to have a damn good performance in order to make it through to the merge, and Vytas does just that with his “And we will be strong” performance. Natalie had finesse, but even so, she had to capitalize on an existing argument. Vytas used a natural breakdown of Laura Boneham to his expert advantage, thus being kept around until the merge. And all while appearing calm and collected, never once getting sucked into the argument. Well played, good sir.

1. Gary Hogeboom (“Survivor Guatemala”): What’s better than a performance that blindsides the players? A performance that blindsides the audience. Granted, this is partly due to editing, but Gary pulled off the blindside idol play in a textbook perfect manner here. Even if we had seen him find the idol, nothing in his demeanor would suggest he would play it. I mean, we’d probably FIGURE he would play it, since he would go home otherwise, but still, keeping a secret that big that under wraps? Masterful. Plus, “Survivor Guatemala” deserves more respect, and this is one area where it definitely earns it.

Honorable Mention: Stacy Kimball (“Survivor Fiji”): This is an odd one, as it’s a move I’ve yet to acknowledge, and really need to. Stacy was the first person to truly pioneer the idea of “Place votes on the person not likely to have an idol played on them”, which resulted in Edgardo’s exit, and is a move still used to this day. Stacy and the rest of her alliance do a great job of hiding the target here, hence the shocked looks on the faces of the Four Horsemen. Unfortunately, this one had camp strategizing as a big factor, and no theatrics at Tribal Council. True, that was kind of the point, but it still technically bars the move from the list proper, hence only being an honorable mention.

BOTTOM 5

5. Jennifer Lanzetti (“Survivor Kaoh Rong”): Ah, Jennifer and her iconic bird pose. She wasn’t the first to stand up at Tribal Council, but she was the first to do it at a Tribal Council other than the final one. Not sure that it alone was what doomed her, but it didn’t help. Jennifer’s big failing here was really just in being too open about her plans and scheming. Easy enough to do, but no matter what, she just kept digging herself deeper and deeper, flip-flopping on stories and giving into pure, emotional protests, which led to a rightful exit. Still not as much of a mess as we’ll be seeing, though.

4. Ami Cusack (“Survivor Micronesia”): Similar to Jennifer, though dialed up to eleven. Ami also had an emotional breakdown at an insurmountable wall that exposed her scheming. Ami’s breakdown was bigger, which makes it in a way more entertaining, but also sadder, especially since we knew Ami better as a strategist than we did Jennifer. That said, because this breakdown seemed bigger, Ami gets the higher spot on this list. However understandable, it was a shame to see a great strategist sink to this level of argument.

3. John Cochran (“Survivor South Pacific”): This one is more anecdotal than evidence based, but even given what we saw in the episode, Cochran really did himself no favors at this Tribal Council. Like Jeremy, he kept talking and protesting where he really didn’t seem to need to. Unlike Jeremy, Cochran ACTUALLY didn’t need to, and if Dalton Ross is to be believed, nearly cost himself the game right there from overscheming. Thankfully he didn’t, but such a near miss definitely earns a spot on this list.

2. Gervase Peterson (“Survivor Blood vs. Water”): Cochran’s move nearly cost him the game, but you could argue Gervase here did more direct damage. When someone at Tribal Council is playing for your ally, you DON’T want to antagonize them and encourage them to just go for it. That’s what Gervase did here, and it led to the first rock draw in 23 seasons. Not a good look, and definitely not a good Tribal Council performance.

1. Jeff Varner (“Survivor Game Changers”): You all knew this was coming. I know Varner was desperate, but this was a depraved, desperate move that had (thankfully only) the potential to ruin someone’s life, all for a game he wasn’t likely to win anyway. Varner felt like scum afterward, and well he should, given the lengths he went to. But even taking out the moral perspective here for a moment, it was bad game wise. If people weren’t planning to vote for you before, they sure are now! Look at the tongue-lashing he got from his tribe. Well-deserved, I say. If Probst has you voted out verbally, you know you’ve royally screwed up your game with a single performance.

Honorable Mention: Hali Ford (“Survivor Game Changers”): It didn’t really impact things one way or the other, but Hali’s “I didn’t consent” bit gets such a chuckle out of me that I had to include it somewhere. Given that it didn’t help, but also didn’t make much difference in the outcome of things, this seemed the best spot for it.

Well, despite some of my criticisms, we’re three for three on good episodes so far this season. We’ll see if that holds, though, as I feel the swap is a bit too early this time around.

-Matt

Title Credit to Jean Storrs.

Idol Speculation: “Survivor David vs. Goliath” Episode 2: The Rudy Rule

As someone who watched past “Survivor” seasons out of order, I’ve never had quite the nostalgia blinders for the season some long-tie fans have. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a top-tier season. I just don’t agree when some say it was the pinnacle of “Survivor”, and nothing else ever comes close. And yet, even with this in mind, it still boggles me how, 37 seasons in, points made on the very first season still apply. It also boggles me how often they are ignored. I’m talking specifically about Rudy Boesch’s early maxim about how to do well on “Survivor”. “I’ve got to fit in. Me. Not them.” Simple, but poignant. So, why can Natalie not get that through her skull?!

Ok, ok, this blog’s not about Natalie. She just drove me nuts this episode. As one would expect, we start off with the David tribe, commiserating about Pat’s unfortunate exit. Nick in particular is relieved, as despite seeming somewhat oblivious last episode, Nick evidently had enough self-awareness to realize he was the probable target. To once again reinforce how luck plays a big role in this game, this length of time gives Nick an opportunity. Christian wants to work with him, his ire having evidently been reserved for the now-evacuated Pat. Nick compares it to the Stephen-JT alliance from “Survivor Tocantins”, which is not an unfair comparison, but those are some big shoes to fill, Nick, and you guys aren’t quite up to that caliber yet. This alliance is partially formed out of a fear of the women, as the pair agree that a woman needs to go next. Um, ok, where did this come from? I mean, I guess with Pat gone there’s now the possible threat of a women’s alliance, but Christian, might I remind you that your main ally at this point is a woman? Seriously, this sudden desire to eliminate a woman just seems weird to me. Nick being Nick, this alliance can’t go without a name, and so with the pair being from Maryland and Kentucky, agree to call their alliance the “Mason Dixon Line”. An apt name, to be sure, but doesn’t seem like a name that strikes fear in the heart of your enemies to me.

These guys might not be at the level of JT/Stephen yet, but they’re MENSA compared to what we’ve got going on with the Goliath Tribe. I’m starting to question what criteria are needed for the SWAT Team, since Dan, while his weight loss is impressive, seems very much unaware of some of the basics of “Survivor”. That idol he found last episode? In his suit jacket. Rolled in a sock. A jacket, I might add, that is not on his person, nor is anywhere near his person. Kara rightly calls this out. Dan, being an idiot, dismisses her concerns as being paranoia, going with a “It’s so obvious, no one would think to look there.” ploy. After some deserved bashing by Kara, everyone comments on how unsubtle the pair are being, with the consensus that Dan just wants a showmance, but Dara is using this as a strategy, which after the idol-hiding debacle, I can’t disagree with. To drive home how much of an idiot Dan is being, Jeremy, sure enough, goes looking through everyone’s clothes, and finds the idol. This sends Kara, Natalia, and Angelina into damage control mode, trying to calm things down by cementing a firm alliance. The three of them, each one bringing in another man (Dan, Johnny Mundo, and Alec) to create a majority of six. I’m not a big fan of any of these women, but I’m always in favor of the smart people taking control, and after what I’ve seen, I can’t deny that these seem to be the smart people.

There’s not too much time for strategizing, however, as another cyclone hits. Now, given what happened on “Survivor Millennials vs. Gen-X”, they’d be evacuated. You forget that that particular season was full of Millennial, who as we all know, need handouts. As such, both tribes are left to suffer though the night in the rain, resulting in neither having fire. Each tribe then receives a gift of a fire-making kit and a tarp (we never see the David tribe get a tarp, but it’s implied), since dead contestants tend not to be interesting. I can’t fault the production on this, but I also can’t shake the feeling that we’re wimping out on the “survive the elements” part of “Survivor”.

Once the weather clears, Davie goes out hunting again, stating a desire to be the provider of the game. No octopus this time, but he does come up with a lizard, so he has some skill. And thankfully for Davie, he does not go full Rupert (“Survivor Pearl Islands”) and have that be his only strategy. Davie goes out idol hunting, and finds it, shock of all shocks, in a distinctive-looking tree. Credit where it’s due, though, at least even within the tree the idol was hard to find, indicated only by a thin orange rope. Davie is rightly proud of himself, and celebrates by sniffing the idol. Ok…

Meanwhile, the misogyny spreads to the rest of the David tribe. Carl, formerly so gung-ho about eliminating Nick, is concerned about challenge performance now that Pat is gone, and so suggests one of the women by targeted. He specifically mentions Lyrsa, citing her as the weakest person there. Ok, there MUST be something the show isn’t showing us. It’s one thing for the opposing tribe to name her the weakest based off of very little information, but it another when your own tribe, who has seen you in action, says so. And it’s not as though Lyrsa has cost anyone a challenge. As she herself says, she helped WIN the very first challenge of the season. Granted, the challenge was stacked in her team’s favor, and Christian was the real kingmaker there with the slide puzzle, but still, she’s no slouch. True to her early alliance, Elizabeth lets Lyrsa in on the plot. Lyrsa, understandably, is not happy, though as she saves her blow-ups for confessional, I can’t really give her any flak for this. Even in the face of dismissal and frustration, the woman thinks logically. She had my interest. Now she has my respect.

Now, if you want to see what handling things poorly looks like, look no further than the Goliath tribe. Now what, you might ask, is going poorly? Everyone is laughing. The tribe seems to have a bounty of food. The prominent ukulele in the music tells us this is a happy-go-lucky bunch. Ah, but when that music stops on a scowling Natalie, you see where things go south. As the music indicated, the Goliath tribe is a happy bunch. This makes Natalie unhappy, as she feels they’re not taking the game seriously, never stopping to consider that they’re taking it seriously, just not with her. See, this is why she’s getting targeted by the majority. Here, Natalie breaks the aforementioned Rudy Rule, stating that she’s not going to play the way they want her to play. Honest, to be sure, but a downright moronic way to play if you want to win. Look, Natalie, there’s angles you can work here! People hate the showmance! They’re paranoid about Dan’s idol! Play into those things, and keep your head down, and you might just weasel your way into an alliance. But no, Natalie can’t adapt to her situation, she insists that the situation adapt to her. Natalie seems unable to understand why someone would vote off “the old person who can’t win”. Um, Natalie, perhaps you’ve heard of these things called CHALLENGES! You need to win them to avoid Tribal Council, and older people who aren’t as good at challenges make this difficult. It might also help if you weren’t so bossy and critical, though you would need to be aware of that to correct it. Even when Jeremy talks to her, TRYING to get her to see some sense, she just insists that she is who she is and that she should be respected for it. Look, I’m happy she’s as successful she is outside of “Survivor”. For now, though, she’s playing extremely poorly, and unless she shakes up her game, or gets REALLY lucky and makes it to a swap, she’s toast.

CHALLENGE TIME! Despite this being a generic obstacle course challenge with a puzzle at the end,this one does a few different things that I like. The first bit, sending one tribe member up a ladder to retrieve a key, is one of the coolest. Rather than being a puzzle ladder, this one has generic rungs that fit anywhere. The catch is that there are only two of them, and so you must balance on one while removing the other to progress upward. In the most generic part of the challenge, five tribe members row out to retrieve puzzle bags, and bring them back to shore. Then, five more members must solve the puzzle, balancing it on a wobbly platform a la “Survivor Blood vs. Water”, though this time the puzzle crosses platforms, rather than being confined to a single one. This challenge definitely reuses old concepts, but it puts new spins on them and scales it up, so it’s exciting enough for me.

It helps that there’s real mystery as to which tribe wins immunity and fishing gear (not sure what they need beyond the spear, but ok). Both tribes have had good content and strategy, and this is the sort of challenge where comebacks are easy. Even a major early lead by the Goliath tribe can’t sully things, since we know it all comes down to the puzzle. True, Goliath does win, but it seems more due to their teamwork on the puzzle from what we can see than from their physical prowess. Win they do, however, and so now the David tribe must make their plans.

At first, all seems set for Lyrsa, despite little evidence against her challenge prowess. However, the best-laid plans of Jessica and Bi go awry in the execution. Gabby (who was not present for the original conversation targeting Lyrsa), asks the pair what’s going on, looking for reassurance. Now, this is a simple matter for Jessica and Bi. All they have to do is tell gabby about the conversation with the majority of the tribe, and apologize for not letting her know sooner. Instead, they dismiss her and effectively say “Just go with it.” Gabby, not being a moron, is suspicious of this, plus points out that if the tribe goes for the “weakest” first, she’s probably not far behind Lyrsa. She considers making a move, which should soon be fairly feasible. Elizabeth and Lyrsa are still not happy with the direction of the vote, privately throwing a tantrum for a few minutes before settling down to the serious business of how to turn the vote around. They’re initially for targeting Carl as the person who threw out Lyrsa’s name first, before Elizabeth suggests that Jessica might be a more palatable alternative. This seems to be based on the “vote out the weak” mentality of the tribe (which, while Lyrsa doesn’t seem weak, is an understandable mentality, given that the only challenge they’ve won is one stacked in their favor), but Lyrsa demonstrates some good interpersonal knowledge by noting that Jessica is the glue in a lot of alliances. Ok, REALLY like Lyrsa now. Feisty, aware, and smart. Really hope she does well.

The pair bring the plan to Gabby, who tries to get Christian and Nick on board. Ok, I still like Gabby, and I’m willing to give her a pass on being this emotional this early, particularly given the whole “cyclone” thing, but she really does seem to be begging Christian to do what she wants, instead of being an equal partner. Not what I was hoping for. Christian and Nick debate the pros and cons of Jessica vs. Lyrsa, and jumping ahead, there is real mystery as to who they’ll choose. From a strategic standpoint, however, the move is clear: vote out Jessica. She’s no stronger than Lyrsa, and while going with the overall consensus keeps tribe unity, that still leaves ally Nick on the outs. Going with Lyrsa and her group splits the tribe, but puts you in power, and this early, that can be a major boon.

Thus prepared, we head off to our Tribal Council: Stonehenge. Ok, though that was in England, but apparently it’s in Fiji. Things heat up quickly, as Lyrsa mentions her name as having been thrown around, but declaring that as an anthropology major, she understands people. I’d say it’s more sociology that would be helpful on “Survivor”, but whatever. This, for some reason, causes Jessica to chastise her for not strategizing before Tribal Council. Where did that come from? Lyrsa said nothing about when she did or didn’t strategize. She just said she knew what was going on. How do these two things connect? This leads to more good double-talk before our vote.

Christian and Nick do the smart thing and send Jessica home, with a lot of good, shocked looks from those on the outs here. Can’t really say I’m sorry to see Jessica go, especially over Lyrsa. She brought some game, to be sure, but she was mostly a generic character. Nothing we hadn’t seen before. Lyrsa is a personality, and a smart one at that, so much happier that she can continue to entertain us over Jessica. If nothing else, Jessica can take comfort in getter her torch snuffed by an epic torch snuffer. Seriously, a stone axe with coral accents? Sweet! If I hadn’t already done a “Top 5 and Bottom 5” on snuffers, you can bet I’d be doing it now.

This is another solid episode for the season as a whole. Maybe not as exciting as the premiere, but it did what it needed to do: Set up plotlines while also keeping us invested in a self-contained story. A good lookout for the season. Let’s hope it lasts.

-Matt

Title Credit to Jean Storrs.