Idol Speculation: “Survivor Edge of Extinction” Episode 6: A Matter of Time

Oh goodie. Another merge at the start of episode 6. You all know how much I LOVE those.

As the title of this blog would indicate, time is not something this episode has a lot of. Fortunately, I have a way to make more. Yes, this far into this blog’s life, I’d like to introduce a new segment. My working title is…

MATT’S TIME MACHINE!

Yes, there is a topic form last episode I missed and need to cover, but I’ll do that in the blog proper, since it comes up in the episode itself. No, this segment is a bit different. It is something from the last episode that I want to discuss, but it’s not something I would have wanted to discuss at the time, and thus does not necessitate a “Matt’s Mess-Up”. Rather, this is something I think the AUDIENCE has wrong, but has no place in the blog proper to be talked about. Hence, I’m sticking it here. Once I was able to get people’s takes on the previous episode, one thing I saw that bugged me was that Rick made a terrible move in sharing the solution to the map with the rest of the people on the island, and should have kept it for himself. I think this is horse lucky for a few reasons. Firstly, I don’t think there was a way logistically that Rick could have kept it to himself. Everyone got their maps at the same time, and from what we saw, they all solved them together. I suppose Rick could have gone off on his own to solve it, but this would have just made him look suspicious in the same way Keith looked suspicious. Even if they didn’t solve the puzzle, someone would have gone looking for Rick, spoiling his plans. Secondly, though, I don’t think Rick should have snuck off even if he could. Bear in mind that Rick isn’t just on the island with his competition. He’s on the island with potential future jurors. As I talked about when discussing Joey Amazing back during my cast assessment, Edge of Extinction is great in terms of jury management. You get one-on-one time with likely jurors, setting them up to like you. What Rick does here is throw his fellow players a bone that doesn’t hurt him much, and makes them grateful to him at the end, should he get there, and as any bona fide “Survivor” fan should be able to tell you, social capital trumps advantage any day. Some might argue that Rick doesn’t know that these people will be on the jury, but to that I’d counter that he also doesn’t know that the “Chance to get back in the game” isn’t a vote a la the Outcast twist from “Survivor Pearl Islands”. Point here being, Rick did the right thing by doing the thing that made people like him more.

Want to know how bad this episode’s time management is? Not only do we not have time to go into any depth with anything in this episode, we don’t even have time for a “Previously On…” segment! Nope, it’s straight to the merge, after a pat comment from Wardog about the original Manu disadvantage. Then Probst, who evidently realized that this twist would be controversial, builds it up by decreeing that it will become a legendary moment the instant it happens. Gee, Probst, that’s not transparent at all, and totally not going to turn us off of this twist altogether! Hell, to further emphasize the bad time management, Kelley makes a comment about how she “knew it” when our voted out players return. You know, a scene that would have been nice to see, IF WE’D HAD THE TIME TO!

Ok, ok, getting on to the challenge proper. It’s your pretty standard obstacle course ending in the snake table maze seen last season, “Survivor David vs. Goliath”. Not really worth commenting on beyond that. Probst then has Chris and Keith reveal their advantage and disadvantage, respectively. Keith, as promised, gives his disadvantage to Chris, which makes sense, as the biggest challenge threat on the island not named Joey Amazing.

Now, I was initially prepared to HATE this challenge. Not so much for the challenge itself, but for the editing. You see, while all players are highlighted somewhat, they highlight Aubry a LOT, cutting back to her repeatedly during group shots, and giving her a lot of comments from the other players. Notably people talking about her coming for blood when she takes the lead after the “prison break” portion of the challenge. All this, to me, made it seem obvious that Aubry was going to be our winner, and while I’d be happy as an Aubry fan, I’d be annoyed in general due to how clearly it was telegraphed. But no, she chokes on the maze. Not even Chris, our next most likely to win, pulls it out. Instead, Rick shows heretofore unknown maze skills, and comes back to win the whole thing. Gotta admit, I like this outcome. Yeah, I’d have preferred Aubry go back in, but if she wasn’t going to win, Rick was the next best bet, being funny without the irritation that comes with Wendy and the chickens (especially since the merge tribe will go to Manu beach, since, you know, nothing bad has been happening on that beach), and it was an unexpected victory.

Our merge tribe heads off to their feast, and Probst talk with the losers. For all my snark, this is the one part of the episode that really works, because of the raw emotion on screen, and our mirror neurons working against us, to make us feel sad as well. Pretty much all the speeches are good, but particular mention goes to the ladies, who all knock it out of the park in one way or another. Aubry and Reem get personal, talking about how “Survivor” has helped them grow and bond with their family, respectively. But Wendy, for me, takes the cake, actually seeming happy with her placement, and pointing out that even being selected is an honor. A very good note to end on. Unless you’re a blogger, like me, in which case you accentuate the negative. For all the good speeches, I must once again point out that Chris is STILL harping on about not getting his perfect game. Oh no, poor you! Get over yourself.

After Wendy’s speech, Probst tells everyone that they can once again return to the Edge of Extinction for another shot at returning. Aubry swears she will. Literally. Everyone else pretty much raises their hand instantly, though after that speech by Wendy, what did you expect? To be fair though, I don’t think it will last. Between that speech and the endorphins still pumping from the challenge, of course everyone would accept in the moment. Once that wears off? I doubt all of them will think it worth the trouble.

And no, this is not hindsight. I literally thought that at the time.

So, the merge feast. For once, finding an advantage is not our focus, but rather the social bonds. Now, Rick coming back in the game should be good for everyone from the original Manu, since they need every number they can get. True, they did vote him out, but that was more out of necessity than true want. Rick voted with all of them at at least one point, so why would anyone be unhappy to see him? Because Kelley Wentworth doesn’t know a good thing when it hits her square in the face. Seriously, she immediately starts dissing Rick, and says she wants him gone. Again, why? Rick voted WITH YOU more often than not, and with “Kama Strong” unfortunately still a thing, every number is a good number. But no, Kelley has to just play nice with Rick, and then scheme behind his back.

Speaking of Rick, though, he does form some bonds of his own. Specifically, he and Julie get to talking and form something of a friendship, with Julie even saying she doesn’t want him gone, and will clue him in on future plans. Now, this is actually a smart move for Julie. Despite the whole “Kama Strong” thing going on, not everyone will be on board with that. Recall that Joey Amazing and Aurora were on the outs of that original Kama. They have no reason to be loyal to you now, and with five original Manu back in the game, they could easily jump ship and get a majority against you. By figuratively romancing Rick, you both fracture the original Manu still further, and add in two potential numbers (with David presumably coming with Rick) to help keep your majority solid. Does Julie justify it this way? Of course not! That would be the smart thing! Instead, she talks about Rick winning the challenge was a “hero moment” for him, and it made her like him. Julie, that “hero moment” is exactly why you DON’T want Rick around He’s just had a big victory in front of everybody, and unless this is a jury that REALLY doesn’t respect time on the Edge of Extinction, Rick now has a good shot to win.

Then again, perhaps Julie’s just a kind soul, since she says she wouldn’t with Edge of Extinction on anybody. This, of course, is our perfect transition to the Edge of Extinction, where a gorgeous overhead shot reveals two people walking to the sail and raising it, leaving the game, and not making the jury as a result. To no one’s surprise, one of the people leaving is Keith. He’s been out there nearly the longest, has taken a lot of hits both personal and physical, and as I said, has enough life ahead of him that this doesn’t have to define him. But our other exiter? That would be Wendy. This boggles me. Wendy spent barely any time on the Edge of Extinction, yet she wouldn’t even TRY for a second chance, however far in the future? Loss of respect points.

Aubry takes us out by talking about how the Edge of Extinction weeds out the weak, and how she’s tough enough to survive. Ok, this HAS to mean that she’s coming back on the second round, right? There’s no way they aren’t building up to that after all of this.

We rejoin our boringly named Vata tribe to see that throwing Rick under the bus is not Kelley’s only play. After complaining about how Joe is once again in a super majority come the merge, a la “Survivor Cambodia”, she decides to pick his brain as a fellow returnee, citing Aubry’s ouster as a reason to be concerned. Joe folds under this intense interrogation, but Kelley does very little with the info. She COULD try and pull the old Manu back together, and bring in Joe and Aurora, but instead, she’s too stuck on the Rick plan. Speaking of Rick, despite Probst saying he has to start from scratch after earning his way into the game again, Rick looks through his bag and finds that he HAS been given something to help him along: an immunity idol! Who would have guessed? Though admittedly, this idol has a caveat. It has no power now, and won’t until the Tribal Council after the upcoming one. Instead, Rick just give half the idol to someone else prior to the upcoming Tribal Council, and both must survive for the idol to remain intact. You know, because that worked out so well for Lauren Rimmer on “Survivor Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers”. To be fair, though, I like how this iteration of the idol emphasizes social bonds, and the sharing of information, rather than the newbie just being given something so he doesn’t pull a Matt Elrod (“Survivor Redemption Island”) and leave as soon as he gets back. Now, the smart thing for Rick to do here would be to share his idol with Julie. While she showed something of a bond with Rick earlier, his safety is still not guaranteed. Sharing this information with Julie gives her more incentive to trust Rick and keep him around, especially if Rick emphasized how the idol can be used for their mutual benefit. Instead, Rick shares his idol with David. Good, I guess, if Rick’s confident he won’t go this evening, since David is unlikely to screw him over, but still, waste of a possibility, says I.

Off to our challenge, which is the damn sound guy one again. Whoopee. Since there’s no point in commenting on the challenge, let me instead comment on our individual immunity idol for the season. It’s ok. Basically a lot of big coins strung together into a necklace. Cool looking enough, but not something that’s going to wow us for seasons to come.

Surprisingly for an individual challenge containing Joey Amazing, and not containing a puzzle, Joey Amazing doesn’t win. Julie does, and i give her credit for an impressive showing. This takes us back to camp, where Kelley puts her anti-Rick plan into action. Although most agree to her face, as they should no one’s buying it in confessional. Julie in particular is adamant about Rick staying in the game, and thus now wants to target Kelley. What she is unaware of, however, is that Kelley has an idol. How do we know? A graphic on the screen tells us so. And it was shown last episode, which was the aforementioned mess-up I alluded to earlier. In fairness, the idol Kelley found had no consequence until now, so I don’t mind bringing it up here, except to say that given the green string it had on originally, it was well-hidden. As to how I feel about the graphics now saying who does and doesn’t have an idol/advantage? On the one hand, I feel it’s insulting to the audience, and only encourages the adding of more idols/advantages since they’re now easier to keep track of. That said, since I forgot about Kelley’s idol until I saw the graphic, it’s kind of NECESSARY, now isn’t it?

Idols alone are not enough misdirection, however (yeah, I never really though Rick was in danger this episode). Instead, as one would expect when he doesn’t have immunity, the target falls on Joey Amazing, though in kind of a weird way. Ron asks Joe who he wants gone. Joe, quite diplomatically, says he’ll go with the flow. This, to Ron, seems noncommittal, and thus he now wants to target Joe. His reasoning’s off initially, but eventually brings up the point that “If you can get rid of Joey Amazing”, you should. Victoria disses the idea, but the debate of eliminating Kelley versus eliminating Joey Amazing, I think I side with the latter group. Don’t get me wrong, there’s not really a “wrong move” between these two for the majority. Either you eliminate an idol and a strategic player, or you eliminate a challenge and social threat. But what makes Joe the better choice from my perspective is the fact that these players now know about Edge of Extinction, as Probst had mentioned it prior to the merge. This throws a wrench in the game, as they people you vote out may not stay that way. Thus, from my perspective, you WANT Joe on the Edge of Extinction. There’s little deterrent to going there, especially since Rick won the challenge, showing that truly anyone can make it back. But if Joey Amazing is there? Are you really going to stick it out only to compete against Joey Amazing in a CHALLENGE? Get real. More people will leave on the spot, making it better for your overall game if he’s gone.

We head off to Tribal Council with a goody mystery as a result of this debate. One that is quickly solved is how those still on Edge of Extinction will work as the jury. Evidently they are taken every three days to watch the Tribal Councils, which I like. If they’re going to influence the final vote, they should be there for what’s going on. Our Tribal Council itself gets in some good sou bytes as well, though Ron takes the cake by being super cocky and obviously in charge. He does make a major error, implying they’re not going for Rick that night, but it’s so fun to watch I don’t care. Victoria also makes a blunder here, stating that she’s targeting threats. This gets Joe’s hackles up, believing this refers to himself. Victoria justifies it by talking about multiple types of threats, which Joe hypocritically dismisses. Joe, you yourself were talking about other types of threats just last episode! Don’t change your tune now!

After a tense vote, the smart thing is done, and Joey Amazing is sent to the Edge of Extinction. Ok, technically he CHOSE to go there, but we all knew that was coming. Of the three possible targets, I’m the least sorry to see him go. He’s nice enough, but he brought nothing new to the table, and wasn’t witty enough to be entertaining. Hope you enjoy your easy waltz to victory on Edge of Extinction, Joe!

This episode tried to be good, it really did. It gave us new dynamics, fun editing, and good misdirection. Sadly, time management has become a big problem for the show this season. 13-person merges are hard enough to handle on their own, and adding in the Edge of Extinction stuff now only stretches the show thin, to the point where interpersonal dynamics can’t be fully explored, and everything feels rushed. Once again, this season continues to be its own worst enemy.

-Matt

Title Credit to Jean Storrs.

Idol Speculation: “Survivor Edge of Extinction” Episode 5: Friend or Idol?

Frankly, I’m not sure whether or not it’s a good thing I had to wait so long to write this blog. On the one hand, that was a hard episode to get through, both on an objective and subjective level, and I’m glad I had time to emotionally process it. On the other hand, having time to emotionally process this episode means my reactions will not be as over-the-top as they would have been fresh off the episode, which may make for a less interesting blog. I guess only the result will tell us true.

Before we get to those results, however, it’s time for another edition of…

MATT’S MESS-UP!

Yes, not only do we need to talk about an episode that is nearly a week old at this point, but we also need to talk about the episode BEFORE that, because it wasn’t confusing enough. There are two points from episode four that I neglected in the blog for that episode, but fortunately, both a fairly short. Firstly, while I mentioned Aubry expressing relief at having Wendy on the team, since it would get someone out before her, I neglected to mention her other reaction: regret. It seems Aubry has a soft spot for Wendy, and hoped to ally with her. Given that Aubry can be kind of “weird” herself, this is not surprising, but worth mentioning.

As to my second point, we must return to the Edge of Extinction, and talk about Chris. Chris, you see, articulates the Edge of Extinction as being a journey for him, realizing that he can’t do everything as well as he thought. In particular, he mentions that his hope for a “perfect game” has been shot. Some might see this as a nice arc from an inoffensive guy. I see it as an arrogant man thinking he can get a perfect game on his first try, and just roll my eyes. Then again, I’m a cynical critic on the internet, so that probably colors my view a bit.

We join Rick on the Edge of Extinction (who had basically no reaction beyond just quickly and quietly taking the torch to the camp), who basically reiterates how much it sucks, especially since people are more pissed at him than even Chris. Given how big a role he had in their exits (in each case, you could argue that he was the swing vote), I can’t blame them too much.

Oh, you thought we might get some fallout from that vote? Silly viewer! That’s from seasons where the people who get voted out actually leave! Instead, given our lack of time, we jump straight to an obstacle course for varying amounts of peanut butter and jelly. Frankly, this challenge is so generic that the individual elements are not worth talking about, save for the first. One tribe member must stand on another’s shoulders to untie a bolo from a high arch. I bring this up because, while Lesu is favored to lose pretty much every single challenge at this point, this is an obstacle that they should do fairly well on. They have Wardog, who’s basically a rock, and David, a skinny guy with good challenge experience, but Wardog keeps dropping, with everyone kvetching at him for his failure. Pretty funny, if sad at the same time.

As Kama was our ultimate victor in this challenge, we start off at their camp. Unsurprisingly, since Joey Amazing is on this tribe, talk centers around Joey Amazing. Specifically, talk centers around getting him off. Julie and Julia in particular are keen to get him off, even quietly suggesting throwing a challenge to spell his elimination. Ron, on the other hand, is less keen, due to Joey Amazing being amazing at camp life, as well as challenges. He fears that with him gone, everyone on Kama will starve. Julie rightly counters that while yes, life will suck more without Joey Amazing, it will also be manageable. And yeah, I kind of agree with her and Julia on this one. Joey Amazing is great in the challenges. Hell, he’s probably the only reason you guys are undefeated at this point. But being undefeated does you no good if you have enemies on your tribe. Given that he overheard your conversation about eliminating him and Aubry, it’s pretty safe to say that Joey Amazing is an enemy at this point. It would be one thing to get rid of him if he was the only enemy on your tribe, but even if you lose the next challenge due to his absence, you also have a nice Aurora ripe for the picking off. No need to worry. Might as well eliminate a threat when you have complete control.

Over on Manu, we see that sadly, my prediction about this episode was correct. Victoria, Eric, and Gavin all meet to discuss their continued Anti-Aubry pact. In fact, they even discuss getting her out before Wendy. That said, they decide they need to concoct a plan to fool Aubry into thinking she’s safe, lest Aubry potentially play an idol. As such, they decide that Victoria will go to Aubry and suggest a women’s alliance. Not a bad plan normally, but guys, need I remind you AGAIN that you were overheard plotting to eliminate Aubry NOT SIX DAYS AGO? What on Earth makes you think that Aubry will buy this?

Perhaps the fact that Aubry’s desperate? Yes, despite now having perpetual target Wendy on her tribe, thus hopefully saving her, Aubry has gotten greedy, and wants more. She hopes to break off a member of the group to use for herself, so Victoria’s offer is music to her ears. She even misses the obvious tell of Victoria being unable to maintain eye contact during the conversation. Again, I cannot get over the fact that this plan WORKS! Not only is it somewhat poorly executed (at this stage), but I’d say it was unnecessary. Aubry would probably buy the “Wendy is annoying and released the chickens, so we’re targeting her” line, and it would be more plausible than Victoria suddenly and drastically changing her opinion on Aubry. Unnecessary, but cool. Think everything Tony Vlachos did on “Survivor Cagayan”.

Speaking of Tony, that’s the comparison we’re about to get at Lesu. After confirming once again that yes, Lauren is still having trouble eating, we see that Wardog’s had about all he can stand of it. He pulls Kelley aside, talks about how buddy-buddy they are, and suggests eliminating Lauren next when they’re almost guaranteed to lose. Not a bad idea in and of itself, but Wardog’s justification here is somewhat lacking. See, Wardog tells Kelley that he wants Lauren gone because if it came down to him, Kelley, and Lauren, he thinks Kelley and Lauren would stick together. With is a great reason for Wardog to want to eliminate Lauren. But what’s the incentive from that pitch for Kelley to eliminate Lauren? None whatsoever. Kelley says as much, and now considers eliminating Wardog for his gall. Surprised it took this long to come up.

What’s that? One scene on Edge of Extinction was enough? Too bad, you get even more of it! Actually, they give the people on Edge of Extinction something to do. Everyone is brought a map with a riddle telling them to follow the stars. As the map has an inconsistent border of stars, they quickly figure out that folding the map to line up the stars points them to two trees, and agree to look at those trees after lunch. Keith, however, is a greedy SOB, and so fakes a bathroom break, only to run off to look for the advantages. Everyone quickly guesses what he’s up to, however, and so race after him. Keith may have a head start, but despite no swimming being involved, Keith still sucks in challenges. Chris beats him to the first advantage, a set of bamboo and rope with the note “Practice”, indicating that our returning challenge will be the “Prison Break” challenge first seen on “Survivor Thailand”. Fitting, given that this was also the challenge that went with the “Outcast” twist on “Survivor Pearl Islands”, which this twist most resembles. Rick finds the second advantage, which is an extra vote he can send to someone going to the next Tribal Council. Interesting enough, and I like that it does give the players on Edge of Extinction a BIT more say in the game, but given that it’s unlikely whoever gets it gets back in the game to reap the social capital they would gain, I’m inclined to say that the first one is the better advantage. Apart from practicing the challenge at all, having an idea of what the challenge is gives you a possibly insurmountable psychological edge.

We come to our best challenge of the evening… and it STILL SUCKS! Basically, teams of four swim to retrieve two clumps of buoys to bring via pulley boat to two other clumps of buoys to attempt to build a pyramid. The diving part of the challenge is nice, but the puzzle’s been done before. Not that you’d know it by how long it takes the teams to figure out, but done before nonetheless. Honestly, watching this back, it seems like the hardest part was unclipping the buoys, which I don’t get. Maybe I didn’t understand the mechanism, but it seemed like it was just a matter of pulling it out of the chains, and shouldn’t have been that tough. Unoriginal, not all that exciting, and yet this is the best we can do. Joy.

I will give credit here that the editors do a good job of fooling us on this one. Lesu falls behind early on, due to the aforementioned trouble with the buoy pulleys. This might seem like a comeback of Kass McQuillen (“Survivor Cagayan”) proportions, and it does end up being so, but by giving Lesu the dodo music here, they cast doubt, making their eventual triumph all the better.

It comes down to the puzzle, which Kama is the first to get. Aurora tries to help out Aubry by telling her to put “Four on the bottom”. Unfortunately, Aubry mishears this as “Four in the back”, and so Manu ends up losing. A great moment for Lesu, but a hard moment for us Aubry fans, as the writing is on the wall at this point.

Don’t believe me? Soon after, everyone tries to get Aubry in on the “Wendy’s annoying, so we should vote her out.” plan. You know, the plan they should have gone with from the start? They sell it well, though I question their decision to let Wendy know, since she’s likely the type to spill the beans to Aubry. You know, basically her only alliance at this point? But then again, maybe not Aubry, trying to decide what to believe, floats the idea of a women’s alliance to Wendy, who remains noncommittal. Here’s the point where I would normally debate whether Aubry should trust in the noncommittal Wendy or stick with Kama, ultimately siding with the idea that since Kama was against her early on, she shouldn’t trust them now, but that would be pointless, because it’s clear at this point that Aubry’s going. No other viable target has been presented, and on a tribe with Wendy, that’s saying something. Now, Aubry does have an idol, and if she bothered to remember what the team was saying about her LESS THAN A WEEK AGO she might play it. But no, she sees this as a new lease on life in the game, and decides to play it safe. Piling on the “royally screwed”, Aubry gets given the extra vote by Rick. Because of course the superfan was going to give the advantage to the returnee.

One point on which I can at least cut Aubry some slack: Catching no signs at Tribal Council. Credit where it’s due, Gavin, Victoria, and Eric play this off VERY well. Even with musical cues and edited footage, I saw no signs that would make me play an idol if I had one. That’s a high caliber of play, and I can’t really blame Aubry for being fooled at this point. Special mention goes to Gavin’s comment talking about Aubry not being seen as a returnee at this point. Just what she wants to hear, and delivered in a believable way. No wonder she was fooled.

Yes, if it wasn’t obvious enough at this point, Aubry goes out. Of course I’m disappointed! Aubry is my favorite player of all time, so of course I want her in the game as long as possible. True, these players did a very skillful snow job on her, and apart from her idol, she had little way to avoid this situation, but it still hurts that she will no longer grace our screens as a main player in this game this season. At least we get a good “shocked” face out of her for it. We can also take solace in the fact that she was voted out for being a threat, not for any particular mistake or bad play.

That said, I think this vote cements for me that this season would have been better without returnees present. True, even without them this still wouldn’t be one of the all time great casts of the show, but here’s the thing. These three players, in particular Victoria, just pulled off a spectacular move. They played things masterfully, particularly at Tribal Council. Yet, we resent them, because they usurped our favorites. Had they pulled this move against another player, they’d be among the greats. Instead, we only see them as usurpers. Plus, there’s the fact that ALL their strategy talk has been centered around returnees, and as such gets repetitive. Just not a good look for what could have been new stars of the show.

Aubry of course, chooses to go to the Edge of Extinction, and laments being voted off in such a “humiliating” way, comparing herself to JT Thomas (“Survivor Tocantins”). Definitely not the most dignified elimination, but I think Aubry sells herself short here. As far as we know, Aubry at least brought her idol to Tribal Council. She at least acknowledged the possibility of elimination. JT did not.

After we see all the remaining returnees shit their pants at Aubry’s elimination, since it spells doom for them in the long run, we cut to our reward challenge. You may remember it as “That challenge where Chris Nobel kicked butt #85” from “Survivor Ghost Island”. Now, it will also be remembered as “Challenge where Wardog sucked #32”. Seriously, the man’s built like a tank, but can’t hurl a sandbag to save his life. Naturally, Lesu loses this one.

Seeing Aubry eliminated has sparked a new drive in Joe, since she was, as he puts it “his only ally”. Aurora somewhere just randomly started crying, and doesn’t know why. Still, Joe decides to try a different tactic: convince everyone to join a threat’s alliance. Now, who on Kama besides Joe would qualify as a threat? No one, but that doesn’t stop Joe from trying to convince them they are. He tries the trick out on Julia, which seems to work. No word on whether it worked on the other members of his tribe or not.

Manu has nothing interesting to do, so we head straight to Lesu, where David is going idol hunting. He comes up empty-handed, so this scene is pointless. Having slightly more of a point is our scene on Edge of Extinction. Yes, really. Another riddle map comes along, this one harder to figure out. Indeed, no one really does, and everyone just starts wandering around. Given that there were holes in the map, I figured you had to hold the map up to the “Welcome to Edge of Extinction” note, and the holes would reveal letters pointing the way to whatever advantage comes next. Instead, Reem just spots something in the shallows, which Keith grabs. It turns out to be extra knots for someone, and Keith lets us know in no uncertain terms that Chris will be getting them, in revenge for voting Keith out.

All is not well on the Edge of Extinction, though. Chris got wind of what Reem did, and lays into her for what he calls “Giving up an advantage”. Reem, who views this as a simple mistake anyone could make, and not exactly good at taking slights at the best of times, lashes out at Chris. This leaves Aubry to do what she does best: comment on the madness. For all that Aubry’s strategic game is lacking so far this season, I will say her confessionals have been up to par. Certainly better than her efforts on “Survivor Game Changers”.

Speaking of which, guess which season we’re emulating? Yep, it’s time for the combined Tribal Council Twist! Because THAT went over so well last time! Let’s take the twist that was only saved from causing the worst episode of the season by Jeff Varner deciding to be complete trash a few episodes later! Great idea, everyone! Is our challenge cool at least? It’s another obstacle course with a puzzle at the end? Joy.

Kama naturally wins, and here’s where I’d usually spend my time talking about the strategies of each tribe, but really, each boils down to “Force a tie and vote for someone you think the other team would be willing to sacrifice”, with one person on each tribe stating they refuse to go for rocks (Victoria and Lauren), so instead, let me talk about this twist. Yes, I hate it, but like the “One World” twist, I don’t think it’s a bad idea, just bad execution. With minor tweaks, it could be a lot of fun. In the case of “One World” you need to keep it around all the time, and trust that we can differentiate tribes without a forced tribe division. In the case of this combined Tribal Council, we REALLY need the tribes to be able to negotiate pre-Tribal Council. This would add intrigue and new drama instead of forced whispering and the loss of anything new that we get with the current formula.

Since there’s really nothing to talk about at this Tribal Council, let’s talk about who ends up targeted. Manu goes for Lauren, which is not bad given her sickness. Lesu, however, correctly guesses that the annoyance of Wendy, coupled with her not being original Kama, leads to her being flipped on and eliminated. Once again, show, you’re eliminating all the fun and interesting people too fast. Of course I’m sorry to see Wendy go. She was truly unique as a character, and made for a lot of fun zingers, even if her strategy wasn’t the best. That said, she does get Probst to call her “Big Wendy” before she goes, which I respect.

Oh, and of course Wendy goes to the Edge of Extinction. I don’t think she even read the whole sign. I think she just went with the option that wasn’t “go home”.

This episode really continues to sink this season lower and lower. All the players we care about go home early, the time management is miserable, and thanks to the returnees, we don’t care too much about the new players. Perhaps more pre-merge episodes can help.

What’s that? You say next episode is the merge? Another merge with 13 players, after a return from the Edge of Extinction? Yay.

-Matt

Title Credit to Jean Storrs.

Idol Speculation Delay Announcement

My Loyal Readers,
It is my unfortunate duty to inform you that, sadly, “Idol Speculation” will not be up with its usual promptness for this episode. As you may or may not have heard, tonight will be a t-hour episode. I personally did not hear about this until it was too late to take time off from work. It’s hard enough to blog a one hour episode and still get enough sleep for work. With two hours, I just can’t justify it. Fun though this blog is, my paycheck comes first. I solemnly swear to not read any commentary on the episode until I write my blog, to keep my thoughts unfiltered. Until then, try and contain your disappointment. Thanks for understanding!

Idol Speculation: “Survivor Edge of Extinction” Episode 4: Sailor Wendy

Freeing chickens by moonlight/Spilling secrets by daylight/Busted ankle and she’ll still fight/She is the one named Big Wendy!

Yes, this introduction is corny, but it’s better than what we get on the show these days. Not only do we lack the awesomeness that is the “Survivor” theme song, but now we don’t even get Post-Tribal Council fallout. Why? Edge of Extinction, of course! Everyone’s favorite twist that just gets worse and worse with each passing episode! To its credit, though, we do at least get something different this time around. Reem and Keith were both allied, so their subsequent vote-outs were to be expected, and their bond largely intact. Chris, though? He is amongst those responsible for their evictions, and so you can expect initial conversations to be, well, awkward. What you don’t expect is for Reem and Keith to be so vindictive. Granted, I’d expect lack of food to do that to anyone, but they really lay into Chris as though he’s the scum of the earth, gaining schadenfreude from his blindside. Ok, Keith I can kind of get. Chris was his play to stay in the game, and it didn’t work. But Reem? Yes, Chris voted against her as well, but he was just a number among many, and was by no means the orchestrator of her demise. Someone like Kelley, Lauren, or Wardog I could understand, but Chris was just someone on your tribe who didn’t vote with you. Guess what? SO WAS KEITH! Oh well. I feel bad for Chris here, but at least his judgement day gives us something different to watch.

Moving onto the players ACTUALLY in the game (I still refuse to consider those on the Edge of Extinction fully “in the game”), we see that Wendy’s chicken crusade continues. Trying a different tack, she returns the flint, now ready to enact her own version of “Chicken Run”. Here we see that Wendy’s TRUE flaw in the game is her inability to keep a secret, well, secret. We saw her earlier talk to Rick about her chicken-freeing plans, and now she nearly does the same with David. Some might be inclined to blame this on her Tourette’s, and I can’t rule out that possibility. However, given that she’s been shown to be high-energy regardless, and she didn’t talk about her Tourette’s making it hard for her to keep secrets, I’m inclined to say that has nothing to do with it. Wendy’s just really bad at keeping secrets.

Not helping Wendy’s case is the fact that people (Kelley in particular) have finally caught on that she STOLE THE FLINT! Better late than never, I suppose. Since this only adds to Wendy’s already substantial pile of “Royally Screwed”, she’ll need a big shift in order for things to work out for her. Cue the tribe swap!

Actually, that’s about our only cue. We forgo our usual foreshadowing confessionals (the person on the bottom talking about needing a miracle, the person on top talking about how safe they are, etc.), which I like. Shake up the formula once in a while, I say. Sadly, what we replace it with is arguably worse. Yes folks, it’s time for PROBST HYPERBOLE! Watch as Jeff Probst tries desperately to interest you in what has so far been a pretty lackluster season by making out that your average shocked tribe expression is the BIGGEST the show has ever had! Look, Probst, I get what you’re trying to do, but this was just way too obvious. Yeah, this was probably the biggest reaction so far of the season, but of the whole show? Whether you want to admit it or not, “Survivor Gabon” exits, and was a good season. If nothing else, it gave us the over-the-top reaction to the exit of Marcus Lehman, which is the REAL “Biggest reaction of all time”.

Thus comes our promised tribe switch, this time to three tribes. Now, I get why this is done these days. It helps prevent supermajorities, and shakes things up from your regular switch. But at this point, it’s become so predictable, I think it needs to be retired, at least for a little while. People are starting to guess a switch to three tribes is coming, and planning accordingly. Shake things up! Keep people guessing! Make for a more exciting game WITHOUT being really predictable. Hell, you even know what the buff color will be before the reveal. It’s green. Because with the exception of Angkor on “Survivor Cambodia”, it’s ALWAYS green! Look, as green is my favorite color, I’m happy to see it used more often, but give us some variety for goodness sake!

Well, at least the breakdown of our switch gives us some variety, in the form of a rare fall-out. This is not really a “switch” so much as a “dissolution”, as there are very few new interactions to be had. Joe, Aurora, Julie, Julia, and Ron all stay on Kama. Aubry, Victoria, Eric, and Gavin remain together as well, joining Wendy on Manu. This means that our big five alliance, the one that’s voted together at every Tribal Council so far, makes up the new Lesu tribe. A fun concept on paper, being effectively a swap that’s not really a swap, but then, when you think about it more, it’s really lame. Here’s where I’d normally describe the new dynamics this creates, but there are practically none! Everybody stays with everybody else! The only new interaction is on Manu, and even then, basically all it does is help Aubry stay in the game longer. Granted, I’m in favor of this outcome, but it doesn’t really add anything to the season. Ultimately, this just makes the swap seem like a pointless waste of what could instead have been a challenge.

That said, I must now nerd-out “Survivor” style, and call Gavin for saying that there’s never been a swap like this before. Yes, Gavin, there has. “Survivor All-Stars”? Second swap? Chapera and Mogo Mogo just switched camps, with only Amber ending up with new people? Granted, that was two tribes to two tribes, and the camps at least changed, but still, pretty similar situation, no? Some might argue that “Survivor All-Stars” goes into the same category as “Survivor Game Changers”, but I think “Survivor All-Stars” deserves more credit than that. Yeah, it’s by no means a top-tier season, but it had some fun moments, so big emotions involved, and if you look at it as less of a season in and of itself and more a love letter to past seasons, it actually works really well. Yes, I would argue that it’s better than “Survivor Heroes vs. Villains” in that regard. Bite me. If nothing else, “Survivor All-Stars” is a guilty pleasure for me, and I think it needs more love.

Tirade over, we now go deeper into the dynamics of Lesu. Not since Angkor have we quite got a tribe that seems so screwed to be at the new camp. Post Angkor, it seems like the newly created tribe gets some advantage, whether it be an extra person (“Survivor Millennials vs. Gen-X”), getting a challenge beast on the tribe (“Survivor Game Changers”), or just getting someone who can make camp life extremely easy (“Survivor Ghost Island”), something seems to compensate the new tribe for their inherent disadvantage. This time, however, there’s nothing. True, no one with the possible exception of David seems to suck in challenges (and even then, David does usually have a knack for puzzles), but there’s no big guns either. No, Wardog does not count as a big gun, given his track record in challenges so far. Add onto that having to build a new shelter and start with no ship supplies, I’d say Lesu is in trouble.

Such tensions will usually get one person to crack, and this time that person is Lauren. She’s been having trouble eating, and the extra physical labor involved in the new camp is getting to her. I can’t say I don’t sympathize with her, but I must counter her claim that “‘Survivor would be fun.” Dear, I may not agree with Keith Nale (“Survivor San Juan del Sur”) a lot of the time, but this bit of wisdom from him rings true: “‘Survivor’ ain’t fun. Going on a cruise is fun.” I’m all for fans playing the game, but don’t have any illusions about what you’re getting into.

Moving over to Manu, Wendy is giving everyone the grand tour. Aubry should know the camp quite well, as it’s clearly the old Mana camp she spent the majority of “Survivor Game Changers” at, but evidently she’s being polite. Speaking of Aubry, her new lease on life is confirmed when Wendy begins spilling the secrets of Manu to her new tribe, which I can’t really blame her for. With no knowledge of the Edge of Extinction, she has no reason not to burn the people who perpetually kept her out of the loop, and since the old Kama seem set up to run the game, might as well ingratiate yourself now. Aubry goes full Boston Rob from “Survivor Redemption Island”, and laughs at the “ametures” (his words, not hers) giving up info so easily.

All well and good, but bear in mind that Aubry is with arguably three of the people most dead-set against working with a returnee from her old tribe. Why should she think Wendy will go before her, old Manu or not? Well, the answer to that is our old friends, the chickens! Yes, while Manu camp doesn’t have quite the amenities of Kama camp, it does have chickens, which Eric in particular is very keen on eating. Wendy once again sticks up for the chickens, and while Eric has a more sympathetic ear that most of the old Manu, he’s still pretty dead-set on killing a chicken.

Checking in with Kama, Joe now decides to turn on his “charm”, so that he doesn’t just have to rely on physical strength to carry him through the game. Not a bad idea in theory, but we quickly see that Joe doesn’t really know how to pull it off. The man was allied with Aurora and Aubry. Aubry is now gone, but he at least has Aurora on his side. This means all he needs is one more. Does he try to pull in Julie, the lady who has seemed most on the outs, and closer in age to Aurora, thus meaning a possible connection. No, that would be the SMART thing to do! Instead, he decides to try and convert Ron. You know, the guy Joe caught plotting against him LITERALLY TWO DAYS AGO! Look, a tribe swap can shake things up, but when all your tribe does is shrink, it’s probably not going to change things that much. Sure enough, Ron quickly reveals that his talk to Joe was all a ploy so that Julia could go through his belongings, checking for an idol. When no idol is found, Ron is willing to accelerate Joe’s demise, even at the cost of his tribe. I can understand the impulse, but I’m not sure it’s wise. Kama seems to be the overall weakest tribe, with their only saving graces being Ron’s puzzle ability and Joey Amazing. Get rid of half of that, and you can expect many a Tribal Council visit. With only original tribe members to vote out after that, there’s not a lot going your way.

Back at Manu, Wendy decides to enact Opertaion: Fly the Coop, sneaking in and releasing the chickens. It makes for a fun scene, and Wendy gives us Stereotypical Anime Girl Pose #5, which is something you rarely see on “Survivor”, so I enjoy it. What’s more, Wendy actually pulls the move off with SUBTLETY this time, waiting until everyone’s asleep, thus giving her plausible deniability. Good in theory, at least, but plausible deniability only carries one so far. Wendy, unfortunately, has been too vocal about the chickens, and so everyone can tell that she’s been planning this anyway. Things get worse when the chickens, territorial creatures, keep trying to come back to camp, forcing Wendy to shoo them away. Honestly, who can blame them for coming back? That was a sweep coop they had, with a net giving them a wide-open area. Shame we couldn’t have seen THAT being built. Maybe in place of, say, Edge of Extinction?

Eric in particular is mad about the chickens, stating that the first one he catches goes straight into the pot. This confessional is interrupted by the clucking of a nearby chicken. I have to admit, that’s good. It got a chuckle out of me.

Say, since we’ve got nothing by rehashed tribe dynamics for those IN the game, why no have some rehashed tribe dynamics for those out of the game? Yes, it’s back to the Edge of Extinction. Keith gives us a confessional about the temptation of the sail. What it means to him. How much easier than living on this island it is. Wow. A really touching confessional that brings something we haven’t heard before to the game. Almost makes this twist worth it. Too bad we have to the segway into more bashing of Chris for little reason. Chris, for his part, tries to redeem himself, and so takes out the fishing spear and brings back… wait, FISHING SPEAR! Dammit, “Survivor”, you can’t even stick to your own premise now! I thought “Edge of Extinction” players were supposed to get nothing, and now, not only do you give them rice, but you give them a fishing spear too? How is this in any way worse conditions than the regular camps? You’ve officially lost the right to say this twist in any way tests the metal of the contestants.

Chris comes back with fish, finally earning him some love from Keith and Reem. Talking about Reem for another minute, I’ll give credit that she’s at least toughening up during her time out there. When Chris and Keith complain about the conditions, she points out that this isn’t the Holiday Inn, and they can’t expect comfort. It’s fun to see from Reem, if only because it makes me see her as the second coming of Twila Tanner (“Survivor Vanuatu”) and it is glorious.

Our challenge today technically originates on “Survivor Samoa”, but is more directly copied from the second immunity challenge of “Survivor Cambodia”. Tribes first race up a pair of A-Frames, then tie rope to pull a crate. Then, of course, you solve a puzzle, with the first two solved puzzles winning immunity. A reused challenge, to be sure, but a cool and infrequent one, so I’m willing to let it slide.

I’ve talked briefly about the challenge abilities of Lesu and Kama, but let’s talk Manu for a second. Since most challenges are “only as fast as your slowest member”, I’d say they have an edge. They have puzzle ability in Aubry (and, as we’ll later see, Wendy), and probably the only guy comparable to Joey Amazing in Eric. With no real challenge sinks, I have a hard time seeing them lose a challenge. Kama has some of the physically weaker members, and Lesu just a lack of big guns, but Manu has no real weak suit. Give them any time of challenge, they’ll probably do well. That said, I feel like Manu is the most likely to lose based on targeting. They’ve had a lot of talk about taking out Wendy, and the vendetta against returnees may still stand for Aubry. True, we’ve had some talk on both other tribes about vote-related topics (Ron’s plan against Joe, Lauren being ill), but nothing that coalesces very well. Hell, despite Lesu being favored to lose based on strength, I’d say they’re least likely to lose based on screentime.

However, that all goes downhill pretty quickly, so let’s talk idols for a moment. I always favor the split idol when multiple tribes need immunity, but what they go with here is pretty cool as well. Probst pulls out a wooden phoenix to pair with the dragon, looking to be at war with each other. The idols have a theme and feel like they fit together, yet aren’t identical. It’s a cool and different way of having multiple idols. I still prefer having one idol that splits apart, but I like this better than either having a mini-idol or multiple copies of an idol, and I could see some creative idols coming out in the future as a result.

Dodo music heralds the demise of Lesu, as even a favorable amount of confessionals can’t spare them a trip to Tribal Council. Back at camp, everyone is devastated. As well they should be. This is the group that voted together every single time this season. The group that, as a result, has had the chance to form the tightest bond. And now they have to turn on each other, much sooner than expected. This should be touching. This should be the highlight of the season. This Tribal Council, on paper, should be the emotional equivalent of the Dan Barry boot on “Survivor Exile Island”. It should be that heart-wrenching. And yet… I don’t care.

You are, perhaps, wondering why I don’t care. The answer is simple. The vote out at the aforementioned Dan Tribal Council was impactful because of the time we spent getting to know the La Mina Tribe. While perhaps not as interesting as the clashing personalities on Casaya, we still knew who these people were. We still met them. We still cared about them. Who can we care about on this tribe, based on what we’ve seen? David and Rick? Ok, fair, they’re a funny and smart pair, but they still have yet to truly stand out. Everyone else? Lauren found an idol, good for her. Doesn’t make her a memorable player we’ve bonded with. Wardog? Fun for how he always ends up in charge of the boot, but still yet to carve a name for himself, and seems like he’s trying to hard when he does. Even Kelley, taken on her own merits this season, hasn’t done much to earn investment. As a returnee, she has an advantage in that department. And even THEN, we’ve seen more of people geeking out over her than we have anything from her properly. I love Kelley Wentworth as much as the next guy, but she needs to step it up. Bring out that charm and grit we saw on “Survivor Cambodia”.

Moving on to the strategizing, David and Rick quickly nix the “Vote out Kelley” plan, on the basis that “The time isn’t right.” according to David. Translation: Wardog won’t go for the plan, and we need him as a swing vote. As such, they decide to target Lauren due to her illness. This makes sense, as Wardog has seemed to favor that type of strategy so far. Plus, David suspects that Kelley has an idol at this point, and thus Lauren is the “safe” vote. Ok, this episode will completely redeem itself if David’s proclamation there is what ends up biting him in the butt on this vote.

Kelley and Lauren, as you’d expect, are our other pair, and quickly decide to target Rick as being more likely to flip in the event of the merge. I can kind of see that, but if I was Lauren, I’d push harder for David. Bigger threat, not great in challenges so far, and getting rid of him gives you power over the returnees left. Perhaps Kelley wouldn’t go for it? In any case, Wardog once again finds himself the swing vote, and at this point I think we have to assume that it’s his maneuvering that’s got him in this position. Given that he’s the swing vote at pretty much EVERY vote so far, it has to be intentional. He claims to be unsure of what to do as we head off to Tribal Council, but really, the outcome is obvious. Lauren will go home tonight. She’s fun and all, but Rick has been built up as a big character for the season, if not the overall breakout character of the season. No way we lose him now. That said, it will be the wrong move for Wardog. The debate here is down to strength versus loyalty, and given that the old Manu will almost certainly be down in numbers come the merge, loyalty is needed. Plus, Wardog as an in with at least Kelley, whereas Rick and David seem inseparably tight. Then again, who said Wardog always makes the smart move?

Rick kicks off our festivities tonight with a fun fake broadcast for the “Lesu News Network”. Frankly I’m surprised it took him this long to make a joke like that. The wait was worth it, though, as it is quite funny. Sadly, the rest of Tribal Council does not live up to it. Again, it SHOULD be really emotional. Everyone hits all the right beats, talking about how bonded they are, and how they don’t want anyone to go. But because we just don’t care about the people experiencing it, we don’t care about the experience.

Even the shock that Wardog did the smart thing and send Rick home isn’t enough to save it. Granted, it’s better than a predictable vote, but now I’m just sad we lost one of the biggest characters of the season. It was the smart move, but Rick brought much-needed levity to the season. With him gone, not only does Kama’s dominance seem assured, but now it will be all the more hollow without our funny man.

This episode needed to help a season that has been struggling overall, but did not deliver. There were one or two bright spots of humor, but apart from that, again, we just don’t care. It’s still salvageable, but we need to connect more with this case, and we need to do it now. Can it be done with Edge of Extinction taking up more and more time each episode? Possibly, but it’s an uphill battle. Still, I’ve been wrong before. Perhaps this is one of those times.

As a final note before I sign off, I want to talk briefly about our “Next Time On…” preview. I normally don’t mention these, as doing so would be pointless, but I feel so strongly about something that I need to call BS. Much as it pains me to say it, I don’t see an Aubry/Wendy/Victoria alliance coming to fruition. Victoria was too set against returnees. My guess is that, like Ron with Joe, it’s just another diversion. You heard it here first!

-Matt

Title Credit to Jean Storrs.

Idol-Speculation: “Survivor Edge of Extinction” Episode 3: Into the Spider-Verse

Yes, someone like Gavin fits the role of Spider-Man more than someone like David, but at this point, if we’ll accept a talking cartoon pig as Spider-Man, I think we can accept a 44 year old comedy writer as Spider-Man.

Our episode formally takes off at resolving Keith’s dilemma for us. After a suitable amount of misdirection, we see that Keith did indeed decide to head off and give the island a try. For all that I said I would understand if Keith chose not to, I’m glad that he did, and not just because I like the kid. It means that the editors kind of know what they’re doing here. Now, if anyone does say “No” to returning, they can pull a Keith, and there’ll be actual doubt as to what they just did. For all that I’m still not sold on the “Edge of Extinction” twist (and I’ll get more into why later on), I’ll admit that the editing around it has been very good so far.

Keith’s arrival breaths new life into Reem as well. Despite still not wanting to play the “mother” role, she can’t help but baby the guy a little, giving him the lowdown on the island, offering to keep watch while he naps, wiping dirt off of his face, and asking him to tuck in that shirt for goodness’ sake… Ok, may have gone a little overboard there, but for someone who was trying to change her game, Reem seems to just be playing the same game. Still, she talks about how she might have quit from the loneliness were it not for Keith showing up, and it’s actually kind of touching, as well as selling how rough this twist is. Had this been all we got for the “Edge of Extinction”, I’d have been happy.

But no, still MORE time must be devoted to this twist no one but Probst wants. Reem had mentioned the lack of food being an issue, and as dead contestants tend not to be entertaining, CBS has seen fit to bequeath the pair rice. But not that easy, though. They have to hike for it, and then only get about a day’s ration, with Reem complaining that they’ll have to hike “Mt. Everest” for it every day now. I missed the part where it says it was a daily thing, but it would make sense if so. After all, we don’t want a “Survivor The Australian Outback” situation where the contestants are technically alive, but not really doing anything. This is our last scene at the “Edge of Extinction” for the episode, and you might wonder what’s so objectionable about it. Please join me in the next scene.

Fallout after Tribal Council? Readjusting of alliances? No time for that! It’s challenge time! Shame we had to wast time on the “Edge of Extinction” when we could have gotten insight into the dynamics of those people STILL IN THE GAME! At least we get a pretty cool challenge in return. Three tribe members work to assemble a wheelbarrow, which they roll through a maze, collecting sandbags along the way. They then dump the sandbags in a bin, disassemble the wheelbarrow, and use it to build a slingshot, which uses the sandbags to knock down four targets. First tribe to four gets their choice of either comfort in the form of furniture and tarp or chickens. This is a reused challenge, in this case from “Survivor South Pacific”, but one that I’m ok with. It’s an underrated challenge from an underrated season, and it hasn’t been done to death. I certainly wouldn’t want to see it EVERY season, but once in a while is ok. I’m also glad that choice returns, as it always adds a nice dimension to a reward. Plus, this choice is actually kind of difficult. A tarp and chickens are both useful in the long-run, and so make for more of a dilemma. On the whole, though, I favor taking the chickens. You can win the game while wet. It’s a lot harder to win the game while hungry.

Kama gets to sit out two people, and I say they make the wise decisions here, going with Aubry and Ron. With a low-stakes reward challenge, you don’t want to put your best in all the time. Granted you don’t want to sit out your best either (I’d have given them heavy criticism if they sat out Joey Amazing), but sitting out those who will not be an asset in this challenge, while not being your weakest, is the wise move. Aubry and Ron are by no means challenge sinks, but neither are they challenge gods, especially in a challenge like this with no puzzle. This also means, though, that Manu has a better chance to come back at this challenge. Indeed, things stay pretty even throughout. The editors even pull a clever trick on us by giving Manu the “dodo” music at one point, implying a blowout. Yet, in a fun surprise, Manu comes back to win, after Kama has trouble assembling their slingshot, and can’t compete with Chris at shooting out targets. Chalk up another point for the editors.

Guess this is when Ron should use his reward steal. After all, his advantage is no good for anything after this episode. No? Just going to let it sit there and rot? Ok, Ron. Your loss.

Manu makes the smart choice and goes for the chickens, though they are not without cost. In disassembling the wheelbarrow, the wheel component landed on Wendy’s foot, hurting it to the point where she can’t put weight on it. She needs to be helped back to camp, but it seems it is not so bad that medical is called. Later on, we’ll see Wendy walk back to camp under her own steam, albeit with a limp, so she’s probably just got a bad sprain.

Enough about that, though. Let’s get to the chickens! Yeah, I make this out to be more callous than it is, since Manu DOES try to comfort Wendy in her pain, makes sure she’s ok, and get ASKED by her to leave before going to ogle the chickens, but since they’re about six feet away, it still feels cruel somehow. The usual “Eat them or let them lay eggs” debate is pretty much out, since Wardog needs meat.

Now, Wendy is in a VERY precarious position here. Not only has she been on the losing side of every vote so far, but now she’s injured. The only way the target on her back could be bigger is if she went the Gervase Peterson (“Survivor Borneo”) route, and painted an actual target on her back. Point being, Wendy needs to lay low at this point, and not make waves, hoping the anti-Kelley sentiment will kick in. Naturally, Wendy makes a stir about the chickens. No, she is not a vegetarian. She is very open about the fact that she eats meat in her regular life. But something about a chicken getting killed squicks her out. Granted, it would probably squick anyone out, but Wendy doesn’t need to put up the fuss that she does, going so far as to threaten to go all “Chicken Run” on them and bust them out. She unwisely tries to get Rick on board with this plan as a co-conspirator. Rick, not being a moron, washes his hands of this plan, and warns his tribe of the possibility. Wendy will then pointlessly get into an argument with Wardog over the matter. Openly admitting her hypocrisy in this matter. Wendy, look. I like you. I really, really do. But admitting that you’re a hypocrite DOES NOT EXCUSE YOUR HYPOCRISY! Christ, I thought we got all the chicken talk out in season two, but evidently no. Wendy just has to bring us back to this cliche plotline again.

Over at Kama, it seems we don’t have enough repeat plotlines, as we once again have to point out how the returnees are royally screwed. This time, however, we get a bit more insight into the dynamics. With little to go on (since Manu, as the disaster tribe, gets the bulk of the screentime in all episodes), it’d been assumed that Kama had a 7-2 split. Basically Joe and Aubry vs. the World (incidentally, I’d read the hell out of that graphic novel). But no, it seems that it’s actually 6-3, meaning one new player actually LIKES the returnees. It’s Aurora, and I have to ask, when did this come up? Look, I’m all for a surprise, but we should at least get a HINT of how they dynamics are developing. But nope, suddenly it’s just “Aurora is with Aubry and Joe now”. Shame we didn’t have more time to devote to this. Time taken up by, for example, a lame “Edge of Extinction” twist?

Look, I may be being a bit harsh on how much of a screen-hog the twist is being so far, but it’s only going to get worse. With so few people likely to forgo the “Edge of Extinction”, we’ll get to a point where it dominates the game, because more and more time needs to be devoted to it. One or two people work ok, but more than that, and it’s too much of its fair share. Already we’re seeing some unforeshadowed plots as a result, and it’s only going to get worse from here.

Victoria and Ron converse by the water, reaffirming once again that they’re anti-returnee. I’d complain that there’s no NEED for them to do this, but they’ve been out there a week, and conversation topics are scarce. They’re also dangerous, though, as it turns out that despite being a supposed “superfan”, Victoria has never heard of the idea of a simple 180. Joey Amazing was right behind her, and heard exactly what she said. Bringing this information back to Aubry and Aurora, this now means it’s desperate measures time. Aubry goes running off to look for the idol, which I can’t really fault her for. I’m usually one to advocate for winning over the game socially instead of relying solely on idols, and I often cite Aubry’s game on “Survivor Kaoh Rong” as an example of that. But in this case, Aubry tried that. It didn’t work. Besides, there’s precedent that a returnee getting an idol can change how they’re viewed in the game. Jonathan Penner was in a similar position to Aubry and Joe on “Survivor Philippines”. The minute he got an idol? Everyone wanted to work with him. He went from underdog to top dog. Thus, Aubry’s move is correct here.

Aubry talks about how while winning is the main thing on her “Survivor” bucket list, finding an idol is a close second. This is intercut with a montage of Aubry’s idol hunts on “Survivor Kaoh Rong” and “Survivor Game Changers”. Again, guys, if you want us to LIKE this season, don’t go showing us footage of better seasons we could be watching instead. So yeah, keep showing that “Survivor Game Changers” footage. This season may be in a precarious position, but we have yet to get to “Jeff Varner outs Zeke” levels of uncomfortable yet.

After a good bit of search, Aubry finds an admittedly well-hidden idol. This leads to Aubry doing what she does best: Cry…

You know what? Screw it. I’m sick and tired of Aubry being given crap because she can be a bit emotional. Guess what? PEOPLE HAVE EMOTIONS! Acknowledging or expressing them does not make one weak! Hell, one could argue that a lot of Aubry’s power COMES from her emotions, specifically her emotional intelligence. On top of that, as a superfan, don’t tell me you wouldn’t shed at LEAST a tear upon finding an idol, especially one you desperately needed. So no, I will not tease Aubry for this cry. She’s freaking EARNED IT! Aubry has once again overcome great odds, and while she’s not out of the woods yet, she has a map now. The Aubry Lobby is pleased, and this is the highlight of the episode. I will fight you on this. You want to complain about her emotions? Take it somewhere else.

Probst claims our Immunity Challenge today is an original one, but I have to disagree. While the boat-pulling portion is technically new, it’s only a third of the challenge, and the other parts are all reused. Plus, pulling a boat was technically done as a cheat on “Survivor Samoa”, so I say even that part’s not original. Our other parts involve leaping off of a platform to grab keys (“Survivor Cook Islands”), and solving a puzzle in the shape of a ship’s wheel (“Survivor Blood vs. Water”). Not the most original challenge, nor the most exciting, though I am amazed Probst resisted the urge to point out how Aubry had done the puzzle portion before (or at least seen it) on “Survivor Game Changers”.

For all my praise for the editors, they really dropped the ball on this one. We barely saw any of Kama, and while it did talk about Tribe dynamics, no real targets were thrown out. Even when Manu gets a slight lead on the swimming portion (Wendy giving an impressive showing on her ankle), you know Kama will win, since these challenges almost always come down to the puzzle.

Sure enough, Manu chokes, Kelley in particular getting frustrated, as Ron (it seemed like he took the lead on puzzle solving this time) leads his tribe to victory. Again. Yep. Manu has definitely earned the title of “Disaster Tribe” at this point. David, however, sees this as an opportunity, as do I. His “Spider-Sense” tells him the time is ripe to vote off Kelley, and my Title-Sense tells me I have an appropriate and timely nerd-reference to use for my blog.

Back at camp, Wendy leaves everyone alone as they prepare to kill one of the chickens. Seems like she couldn’t effect her escape plan after all. But wait! Their flint seems to be missing! And there’s no Drew “Badass” Christy (“Survivor San Juan del Sur”) to blame! What could possibly have happened? Could the person who said they wanted to save the chickens have reasoned that without fire, there can be no killing of chickens? This would be the logical conclusion, and they do mention it, before immediately dismissing it. MORONS! As it to underline their stupidity, we then cut IMMEDIATELY to Wendy bargain that she stole the flint to prevent them cooking the chickens. I’ve tried to be fair to Manu. My “Disaster Tribe” comments are mostly in fun, and refer more to challenge performance than anything. By and large, when it comes to Tribal Council, they make the logical decision. But this? How could you believe the explanation is anything BUT Wendy doing her best Sandra Diaz-Twine (“Survivor Pearl Islands”), and stealing things to cause chaos around camp, in the hope of saving herself?

Oh, but Wendy, don’t think you’re getting off scot-free either! For all that this move worked in your favor, that’s only because your tribemates are MORONS! What Sandra has that you lack is SUBTLETY. Almost anyone else would have called you out on that, and tonight would have gone very differently. You got lucky this time, but I wouldn’t bank on that luck forever.

Fortunately for Wendy, David is still on the “Get out Kelley” plan, which is objectively the worse plan. Apart from, again, Kelley being a good shield for David, there still seems to be momentum against Kelley, meaning you can wait to take her out. And when the alternative is someone who is not only injured and annoying, but ACTIVELY SABOTAGING THE CAMP, the choice is clear, loyalty be damned.

Ah, but we’ve had one bad plan so far, let’s see if we can find a worse one! David goes to Chris about getting out Kelley. Chris is all for it, but wants to clue Wardog in, as the pair have a bond. I understand the desire, but I have to agree with David’s point that Wardog hasn’t seemed to be open to this plan so far. And is tight with Kelley. And is not easily persuaded. And goes by the name “Wardog”. Such guys are usually not amenable to this sort of thing. Chris, however, can’t resist being the nice guy, and so clues in Wardog on the plan. Wardog takes it well, deciding that if Chris is the ringleader, and targeting a close ally of his, then Chris may need to go. He brings the plan to Rick, who seems to actively consider the plan.

Ok, props to David first off for effectively hiding that HE’S the one targeting Kelley, but I have to ask, why are they even considering this? Kelley may not be the best plan, but I can at least see SOME incentive to vote her off. As a returnee, she’s automatically a huge threat, and her core three does not seem to contain you. But Chris? A guy who’s firmly in your corner, strong in challenges, inoffensive, no threat whatsoever until the merge… Where’s the incentive to boot this guy, again? I suppose it gives us good misdirection, but not good strategic choices. How is it on a tribe with very few “wrong” moves, we’ve managed to find not one, but two, IN THE SPACE OF ONE EPISODE?

At least Tribal Council is somewhat fun. We start off with the missing flint and Wendy being her usual, loud self. All that’s missing here is Sandra coming in to say the flint “Grew legs and walked away.” We then move on to the “Gaffe” portion of tonight’s Tribal Council, with everyone failing at their doublespeak. Special mention goes to David, who talks about eliminating social threats, which gets Kelley’s hackles up. Entertaining, but not good for misdirection.

Perhaps it’s Kelley’s nervousness that leads to the move of the night. Chris goes home, and I still can’t figure out the incentive for David and Rick. What good does it do them to have a loyal, strong soldier gone? Please, if you have some insight, let me know. It’s going to drive me crazy.

That said, as a viewer, Chris was the best outcome of the three. Wendy is nothing if not entertaining (though again the hypocrisy this episode is detracting from that), and Kelley, while ultimately doing little besides organize a tight threesome so far, at least has returnee upside. Chris, while a nice guy, brought little from an entertainment perspective. It may be, though, that this was just because the opportunity had not presented itself. Chris’ reaction to finding out about “Edge of Extinction” is understated, but good. After calmly considering it for a minute, he says “Screw those guys. I’m getting back in the game.”, and walks off with his torch. Classy, yet snarky. Chris may grow on me yet.

I should hate this episode. I really should. Plotlines that come out of nowhere. Misdirection that’s fair at best. Too much time devoted to stuff we don’t care about. On the other hand, Aubry found an immunity idol. I guess that averages out to an “ok” episode for me. Let us hope the shake-up gives us still more insight!

-Matt

Title Credit to Jean Storrs.