Idol Speculation: “Survivor Island of the Idols” Episode 6: Your Account Has Been Blocked

All right, after another long, hard day at work, it’s finally time to get down to some “Survivor”. No more distractions. No more interruptions. No more godforsaken alarm clocks that need to be set for an earlier time than any human should reasonably be expected to be awake at. Time to just sit back, relax, and one of the contestants is going to come crashing through my wall right now, aren’t they?

CRASH!

MATT: I hate being right.

ELAINE: Sorry Mr. Matt, but your plans have been canceled. I’m blocking this blog.

MATT: Elaine, what are you talking about?

ELAINE: The show was so happy with how good a character I am, they gave me this “Block a Blog” advantage. I can choose one “Survivor” blog to not happen in a week, and I’m choosing you.

MATT: I’m flattered, but this seems a bit odd. Why my blog?

ELAINE: I dunno. I’ve just got a bad feeling you’re going to badmouth me.

MATT: Quite the contrary. I was going to give you a fair shake in all we see tonight, and even some praise for some of your moves.

ELAINE: Oh. Well, I’m still using this. I’m not like those other players who hold onto their advantages as long as possible.

MATT: Speaking of which, can I see that advantage for a moment? (examines advantage). Ah, Elaine, I see you missed the fine print.

ELAINE: What’s that?

MATT: “This advantage blocks a blog from happening about one particular episode.”

ELAINE: That’s what I’m doing.

MATT: Except that this blog will start with a “Matt’s Mess-Up” We’re talking about two episodes. Your advantage is null and void.

ELAINE: …Nuts.

MATT: Hey, it’s all right. I admire your spunk. Any chance you could patch that hole in my wall before you go?

ELAINE: I suppose that’s fair.

Well, while Elaine patches my wall, let us get to the promised…

MATT’S MESS-UP!

Brief one this time, but I was so caught up in the saga of “Detective Dean”, that I actually missed the one-liners of his proverbial Moriarty, Missy. Not being an idiot, Missy could tell that Dean was upset about the Chelsea vote from the previous episode. However, Missy felt that Dean should be GRATEFUL. After all, he wasn’t the one to go some last episode. Sure Missy. One should NEVER be pissed that one of their close allies went home and they were left in the dark. That portends NOTHING about their fate.

Speaking of Dean, we start off this episode much like the last one: Dean staring morosely out to sea, pondering being left out of the vote again. Sadly, there is no “Detective Dean” this time around. That’s because the craziness that is Noura pervades all. Noura, it seems, has not forgotten that Jack and Jamal wanted to work with Molly early on to target her. As such, she thinks that getting rid of one of those two is her ideal solution. Actually a fair bit of logic here. Nothing Noura has said is incorrect. I just have one, tiny question, Noura: WHY THE HELL ARE YOU TELLING THIS TO DEAN! By your own admission, you’re planning to flip the women, meaning yourself, Karishma, Kellee and Janet. Guess what? THAT’S A MAJORITY! A majority that keeps the information largely to itself, and doesn’t need to involve someone on the bottom with nothing to lose. Someone who could bring this information back to your other allies and put you in the hot seat.

Look at that, Dean’s telling Jamal about what Noura just plotted, and Jamal has now moved Noura’s target up a great deal. Who could have seen that coming?

Morning at Vokai sees more bonding, as now Tommy and Elaine are bonding. Specifically, they’re bonding over having a chuckle at Elizabeth, who has a very loud reaction to waking up with a tarantula near her face. I have to say, though, I’m with Elizabeth on this one. Even as someone who doesn’t mind tarantulas as much as others, I would be pretty freaked to wake up with one right by my face if I wasn’t expecting it.

Talk segues to strategy, as Elaine reaffirms the Lairo/Vokai 4-4 split on this tribe, and talks about how everyone’s willing to go to rocks on both sides. With a setup like this, our next confessional can only be about one side not being willing to go to rocks. Sure enough, we get first Elizabeth, then Missy and Aaron, confirming that they won’t go to rocks, Aaron even going so far as to swear loyalty to Jason at the water well. Pretty extreme, but ok. This isn’t a good look for Elaine, and implies that she’s on the chopping block next. Still funny, though, and Elaine will get her revenge later tonight.

Not during the reward challenge, though. She’s sitting that out. She will go to Island of the Idols (more on that later), while everyone else runs an obstacle course. They will carry one member on a sled over some tracks and have them untie keys, then use a slingshot at the end to knock over targets. Winner gets the traditional “Survivor” sacrifices: Chickens and a Rooster. Overall a pretty average challenge with not much to talk about, save for one caveat: the person carried on the sled must also be the slingshot shooter. This, for me, is a nice little strategic wrinkle. You want your shooter to be someone strong, but at the same time, those people tend to be heavier, so you maybe don’t want your biggest gun to be your shooter in this case. Not much comes of this, as both tribes make logical choices, but it was a good dilemma I wouldn’t mind seeing return. Also, it amuses me that Lauren (who never met Tom) has a larger reaction to his exit than Missy.

This challenge is pretty even overall, but since it’s a challenge of any sort, Vokai has the edge. Sure enough they win, and we’ll later discover that they reach a new low of chicken knowledge: They can’t even identify which one’s the rooster.

For less embarrassment, let’s check in with Elaine. Naturally, with her Red Sox hat, she bonds with… Sandra. Ok, ok, so Rob does comment on the hat, but it still felt weird that she went to Sandra first. Not bad, mind you, just weird. Cutting right to the chase, Rob uncorks a sand timer, and tells Elaine that she has until the sand runs out to accept or reject an offer he’s going to make her. Elaine, not exactly the most subtle of players, immediately accepts, whatever it is. Rob once again gives her hell in confessional for not waiting, and again, I must take umbrage. It’d be one thing if you laid out the offer and THEN started the timer, but you’ve put her under a time limit, and expect her to slowly think things through? Hypocritical much?

Fortunately for Elaine, the offer turns out to be a good one. Her “challenge” such as it is is to get a “Block a vote” advantage hidden under a table during the next immunity challenge. Succeed, you get said advantage. Lose, and you lose your vote at the next Tribal Council. High risk high reward, but since Elaine thinks the alternative is drawing rocks, it’s one worth taking. She has the chance to flip power at the next vote (since really, with this sort of advantage, I can’t think of a better time to use it), and if she loses, well, it’s at least less random than a rock draw. Besides, this “test” is easy. We’ve had a number of idols hidden at challenges at this point, and no one’s yet managed to mess up getting one. Challenges are so chaotic, if anything they’re EASIER to get than idols at camp. Elaine leaves with her mission, and Sandra expressed a fondness for Elaine. Because you just knew she would.

People tend to give reality tv in general, and “Survivor” in particular, a lot of shit. It’s understandable. The genre is controversial, and when you’ve got a show that’s been on almost 20 years, you’re going to get some detractors. In the case of the “Appealing to the lowest common denominator” charge, however, I think “Survivor” gets a bad rep. When your show centers around interpersonal conflicts, it’s easy to let your players go more over-the-top and more personal for the sake of bigger and harsher arguments. “Survivor”, however, zags where it could zig in this department. Take our confrontation between Jack and Jamal. Jack casually refers to Jamal’s buff as a “durag” (a word I’ve apparently been misspelling all my life, if the subtitles are to be believed). Jamal is naturally a bit offended by this, since it can have “thug” connotations, and was done so casually. It would be EASY to play up this argument for cheap drama. Let Jack get accused of being consciously racist. Play up the feud as much as possible. Instead, what we get is two grown adults resolving it like adults. Jack sincerely apologizes and tries to learn from the experience. Jamal accepts the apology and does his best to share the world he lives in with Jack. It’s touching to see, and it’s why I think “Survivor” doesn’t get enough credit. Yeah, it throws too many twists at the wall at once, and yeah, it can be a bit repetitive at times, but it has a level of dignity it won’t sink below, even for the sake of views, and for this, it deserves respect.

Remember how everyone that we’ve seen come back from Island of the Idols has lied about what’s there so far? Yeah, that’s out the window, at least for Elaine and Elizabeth. Feeling she needs a confederate to help her get her advantage, Elaine tells Elizabeth about all that went down. I can’t be too hard on this move. I’ve complained enough already about how the people coming back should at least tell the partial truth about what happened while they were gone, and Elizabeth is a logical choice, having been to Island of the Idols before and not being as in favor of flipping as the likes of Missy and Aaron. Unsurprisingly, Elizabeth agrees to help Elaine with the challenge.

Our challenge itself is very similar to our reward challenge of the day, at least in terms of my enjoyment. Tribes dig under a cage, then lift that cage over tables, untying balls as they go. Once they reach the end of the course, still in the cage, tribes must put those balls into five baskets, with the first tribe to five winning immunity. Again, a pretty standard challenge, but one I can get behind at least one element of. In this case, lifting the cage made for an excellent visual that elevated the challenge beyond your standard obstacle course. It reminds me of the “Move a Village” challenge from “Survivor Africa”, in a good way.

Given that this challenge is, well, a challenge, Lairo is likely to lose, and the edit does them no favors. No clear targets, apart from Elaine, have emerged on Vokai, while Lairo has several. They’re pretty much goners at this point. Which is why it’s surprising that they win. Ok, show, I’m HAPPY you’re not being predictable, but at the same time, you’re now cramming all the interesting dynamics into the latter half of the episode, which just makes everything feel rushed. Hell, even Elaine’s advantage hunt isn’t that exciting. Apart from one second where it looks like it might fall out of her pants after she thought she had it (which, much as I like Elaine, would have been hilarious), it’s your pretty standard grab. We don’t even see Elizabeth run interference. Ho, hum.

Remember that whole “Flipping on old Lairo” thing? Well, scratch that plan. Look, I’ll be giving various players a lot of shit tonight, but credit where it’s due: the old Lairo players realize a good thing when they see one. Unless they have what is these days an uncommonly late merge, they’re going to be down in numbers come the merge. They could easily just abandon ship, and throw themselves on the mercies of old Vokai. But, when presented with an opportunity to have power in the game, they don’t do the stupid thing, and instead seize on it. You might think it patronizing that I’m praising such basic competence in gameplay, but I’m being serious. I sat through the non-Kim Spradlin members of “Survivor One World”. I know how bad this gets. Also, props to Elizabeth for once again letting Elaine be the fall person, in case Aaron and Missy weren’t receptive to her advantage.

The one exception to this love-fest is Aaron, who says he has control over who goes tonight. Despite what I just said, if there’s one person from old Lairo for whom it MIGHT be beneficial to flip, it’s Aaron. For all that he and Missy are tight, he was on the wrong side of at least one Lairo vote, and so is perfectly within his rights to not trust them. Plus, if he’s going for a “shields” strategy like he indicated, no one left on the old Lairo really shields him, whereas several old Vokai have that temperament. There’s a worthy amount of temptation there for Aaron. That said, the smart move for him is to let Elaine use her advantage and vote with his original tribe. Aaron has no reason to trust old Vokai apart from them having done nothing to him. That’s not much, and when compared against the amount of time spent with his old tribemates, there’s no contest. Yes, he shouldn’t trust them all the way to the end, but like Natalie Anderson on “Survivor San Juan del Sur”, he should wait for the proper moment to strike.

As to who old Lairo’s going to strike… Well, the show hasn’t bothered to do much foreshadowing of it, so they just foreshadow everybody. Elaine takes us through the reasons to vote for every member of old Vokai: Dan because he’s sneaky, Lauren because she’s weak, Tommy because he’s well-connected, and Jason because he’s smart. There’s not really a good way to rank these choices, but I’d say overall there’s two good and two bad choices for old Lairo to vote out. Tommy and Lauren are the people who Lairo should be most keen to get rid of. Both are well-connected and well-liked on their original tribe. Both are epicenters of power for the majority alliance. It’s only a question of whether you want to keep strength for the tribe challenges (Tommy) or a lack of a threat for individual challenges (Lauren). That depends on your ability to predict when a merge will happen, which is a skill I’ve never put much stock in. Just lucky guesswork, nothing more. In contrast to Tommy and Lauren, Jason and Dan divide the old Vokai, Jason for his initially being on the outs, and Dan for being, well, Dan. Better to keep those two around. All is possibility, though, as we head off to Tribal Council.

We have probably the most stand-out Tribal Council so far, but even that’s a bit overselling things. Talk is pretty standard “Split tribe” fare, despite Jason’s claims of uniqueness, until Tommy’s sales pitch about getting on the winning side. Not a bad job, but Elaine and Elizabeth recognize that it’s easy to say in a position of power. This talk, though, leads all of old Vokai to admit they’ll go to rocks, damn the risk. Elaine, however, chooses to throw things into chaos by revealing her vote block, saying she’s going to block Jason. A good time to reveal it. Lets people panic and potentially make mistakes without giving them much time to strategize against it We then get some great moments of Lauren in particular being emotional. Probst gives them flak, but I think it’s justified. Despite what later whispering may indicate, old Vokai pretty much knows they’re screwed. Of course they’d be a bit emotional. We lack the epic music, but we make up for it in good editing that doesn’t indicate which way Aaron will go…

That is until voting starts, when Jason tries to fist-bump Aaron, and he doesn’t return it. Cap it all off with Elaine votes coming up early, and you can tell, old Lairo smartly stuck together. Their target is indeed Jason, who to his credit, leaves with a lot of class. He expresses love for his tribemates, and understandably warns them against Aaron. I also enjoy that Lairo basically went for a double-bluff. They figured that in picking Jason to lose his vote, old Vokai would assume he would be too obvious a target, and play any potential idols on themselves. Thus, double-bluff. And, between Elaine and Jason, Elaine is a much more interesting character, so I’m happy he went in that regard. That said, I don’t think it was the right decision for the reasons outlined above. Plus, it puts Tommy, my personal favorite of the season, on the outs, which I’m not happy about.

It’s tough for me to get a handle on my feelings for the episode. On the one hand, it was definitely exciting. Good mystery, fun challenges, and even some heartwarming moments thrown in. But at the same time, it was very self-contained. Pretty much everything you needed to know about this episode only came up in this episode itself. In my opinion, “Survivor” works best when it’s serialized: events from previous episodes build on one another to create a coherent narrative. Now, being self-contained has its advantages. Anyone randomly tuning in will be able to understand pretty much everything. But we lose something of the grander narrative, which this season has so far been good about keeping. Plus, while there was mystery, a lot of it came from us just getting little that mattered in terms of the vote-off until the latter half of the episode. Granted, this was partly forced on the show, since it came from Elaine’s block-a-vote advantage, but even so, a little more foreshadowing would have been nice. Maybe have old Lairo talk a bit more about who they’d like to target in the previous episode or something. On that enigmatic note, see you next episode!

-Matt

Title Credit to Jean Storrs.

Idol Speculation: “Survivor Island of the Idols” Episode 5: Going Full Shii-Ann

Look, I enjoy Shii-Ann Huang (“Survivor Thailand”) more than some. She gives a good confessional, she plays hard, never gives up, and accepts losing gracefully. All of this I very much like in a “Survivor” contestant. But I’m not going to sit here and tell you that her gameplay is good to repeat, and we see that as the case tonight, or at least some foreshadowing for it.

Skipping over the foreshadowing that now substitutes for our “Previous On…” segment, we get a rarity: cutting to the day AFTER a divisive vote, not before. Evidently Dean needed a full night to process what happened, and I have to say, he is CRUSHED. He did a good job keeping his voice in check, and didn’t really rage at anyone to their face, but the look on his face just shows how utterly defeated he is by this move.

Defeat is not the end of the journey, however. Dean puts on his best deerstalker hat (the hat Sherlock Holmes wears, for the uninitiated), and sets out to figure out who orchestrated this particular hit. After ruling out himself, Chelsea, and Tom (though I would point out the latter is ruled out purely on circumstantial evidence), Dean sets to questioning. “Questioning” in this case refers to a big game of “telephone”. Elaine doesn’t know who started it. Karishma was the last to know. Aaron heard it from Elaine, but thinks she didn’t start it. Elizabeth doesn’t have any idea who started it. And Missy says no one person started it; that it was just kind of a group thing. All very confusing for Dean, but one of these things is not like the others. One of these things just doesn’t belong. Missy’s frankly very flimsy lie gets Dean’s hackles up, and now he’s out for blood. Missy, for her part, still thinks this was the best move for her alliance. Sure, Missy. Eliminating someone who up to this point had been a loyal alliance member is a GREAT move, SURE to not backfire on you in the near future.

Incidentally, the only reason the title of this blog is not a “Sherlock Holmes” reference is that no one seemed close enough to Dean for him to say “Elementary” to.

We get to our reward challenge, and I’m impressed. Not by the challenge. It’s a mediocre reused challenge. No, I’m impressed because we had a switch with NO FORESHADOWING in the episode itself. No cliche confessionals about how someone is on top and nothing can go wrong, or how someone’s on the bottom and needs a miracle to survive. We’re sure a switch is happening, right?

Not only a switch, but a switch rarity these days. As the lack of a third lane in the challenge would indicate, we’re remaining at two tribes for this switch. I have to say, I am thrilled. Now, this might seem weird, given that switching up two tribes is literally the oldest twist in “Survivor” (not counting the 42-days of “Survivor The Australian Outback”), but think about how long it’s been. “Survivor Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers” kept the number of tribes the same at the switch, but since we had three tribes, it felt new and different. But in recent years, the number of tribes has other grown or shrunk at every switch, to the point where it’s getting predictable. The last time we had a switch like this was five years ago on “Survivor San Juan del Sur”. Yes, we technically had one on “Survivor Ghost Island”, but that was much earlier in the game, and be honest, does anyone remember it, over the later split? I thought so. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, and in this case, makes the twist like new again.

Since our switch method is as usual nothing to comment on, I’ll skip ahead to the switched tribes themselves. Contrary to the show’s order of things, I’m going to examine the new Lairo first, because I find them more interesting. Evidently Lairo is just doomed to be the disaster tribe, since all fractions in alliances ended up there, by and large. Karishma, Tom, and Dean remain, with Jack, Janet, Jamal, Noura, and Kellee coming over from Vokai. From our threesome, you have Karishma, who’s been the alternate target at most Tribal Councils so far and not happy about it; Dean, who’s furious at his old tribe; and Tom, who’s now not connected with much of anybody. Not to say that old Vokai does much better here. True, Kellee and Janet can be assumed to be aligned, and Jack seems to have no real beef with anyone. But you have Jamal, who’s out for revenge and has an idol, and Noura, who just annoys everybody. Point being, this tribe could break any number of ways, making it all the more interesting to watch.

Contrast this with the new Vokai, which falls along a more traditional 4-4 split. Tommy, Dan, Jason, and Lauren remain, being joined by Elaine, Missy, Elizabeth, and Aaron. Some cracks there, with Jason having been an early target, and Aaron being on the outs after the first vote, but not nearly as strong. Both were pulled back into the fold, the former by voting with the majority, the latter by allying with Missy. Maybe someone from either side could exploit that, but this seems like the less interesting of the two splits.

Luckily, I doubt that new Vokai will be seeing much of Tribal Council. Nearly all the challenge beasts, both physically and mentally, are on new Vokai. Yes, new Lairo has Janet and Jack, neither of whom are that bad, but most of their competitors are kind of middling, and they also have Karishma, whose status as a challenge sink is brought to the forefront in this episode. Add in that Lauren is the only person shown to be great with puzzle’s so far this season, and don’t look for new Vokai to lose, unless they throw a challenge.

New Vokai gets an immediate chance to prove their mettle with a reward challenge. Borrowing from both “Survivor Millennials vs. Gen-X” and “Survivor Caramoan”, pairs of people will be tied together with their arms and legs bound, and must crawl over sandbars. Once all three pairs complete their leg, the remaining two solve a fire puzzle. Neither of these elements are bad. Indeed, I praised this innovative new challenge when it first appeared on “Survivor Millennials vs. Gen-X”. But the simple fact is that it just feels flat. Maybe it’s only having two tribes race, maybe it’s how underwhelming the puzzle is, but this challenge just didn’t cut the mustard like its predecessors.

Sure enough, new Vokai turns in a dominating performance. They were ahead on pretty much every leg, but Karishma needed to be dragged up her hill by Noura really did new Lairo no favors. Thus, Vokai gets their reward: the ability to bathe before the end-of-challenge banter. Seriously, did no one notice that new Vokai were spick and span, while new Lairo were covered in sand? I know Vokai did well, but they couldn’t avoid freaking sand on a sandbar. Oh, and Applebees. I guess that qualifies as a “reward”. If you’re starving. In any other situation, and I say this as someone who has eaten Applebees many times in this life, Applebees is more “punishment” than “reward”.

Edible matter is edible matter, though, and with some alcohol to hopefully kill some tastebuds, new Vokai partakes. Tommy plays diplomat, after schilling for Applebees some more, and welcomes everyone to one unified tribe. Elaine, who had earlier been worried about her luck in a tribe swap, is happy both at the love and at the 4-4 split, meaning she has a shot. That said, Elaine is no dummy, and realizes this is the “honeymoon” phase, meaning of course everyone’s happy. Tommy can claim “One Tribe” all he wants, but we’ve heard that schpiel from contestants before, and it may have meant nothing. Hence, Elaine keeps a close eye on the proceedings, but doesn’t like what she sees. Missy in particular is WAY too happy with the new tribe, saying the old Lairo is done, and she wants a win. Eliane is rightfully concerned, though I do think she overreacts to this news a bit. She herself said this is the honeymoon phase, so of course Missy’s going to seem overly happy. Just because she says she wants to win doesn’t automatically mean she’s abandoning her old tribe loyalties.

Karishma, however, has no hangups with throwing her old tribe under the bus. She pulls Kellee aside right away, and informs her of everything that went down. And I mean EVERYTHING! Since we’ll soon see that Dean and Tom are going to throw her under the bus, and since her challenge performance did her no favors, Karishma definitely needed to ingratiate herself with her new tribe. But giving up EVERYTHING? Karishma should be concerned that she’s always the alternate boot, but it’s not like she had no allies on the old Lairo. Granted, she has no reason to be loyal to Dean or Tom, but assuming you make the merge, you’ll meet up with the likes of Missy, who HAS been good to you. You really want to burn that bridge down the line?

In case it wasn’t obvious, this is where Karishma goes full Shii-Ann, as alluded to earlier. Apart from her “Stupid People” confessional on “Survivor All-Stars”, Shii-Ann is probably best known for blatantly swinging to the old Chuay Gahn tribe on “Survivor Thailand”, thinking they had merged. The Probst said “psyche”, and Shii-Ann was promptly voted out. Karishma here is basically doing the same thing, minus the “psych” bit. Now, as I said before, she needs to do something to save herself, so what’s so wrong here? In terms of keeping herself alive, nothing. Karishma could do little better to ensure she stays in the game until the end. But Karishma has just also killed any chance she had of winning. Any old Lairo on the jury are going to be too pissed at her to ever vote for her, while any old Vokai just won’t care and/or see her as weak. She’s GREAT for any of the old Vokai, since she’s so open and now presumably loyal, but in terms of winning? I hate to say this with such certainty, but no way it’s Karishma. One nice thing about Karishma? Her talk with Jack and Janet about her heritage. It’s actually a very honest and sweet conversation, and the pair are nothing but supportive of Karishma’s views. Gotta love that little bit of bonding we get.

Not to say that Karishma’s the only one making bonds with the old Vokai. Paralleling Marcus and Crystal on “Survivor Gabon”, Dean and Kellee find they both have a friend in common outside the game. Dean uses this as an excuse to bond, and Kellee is certainly open to it, though at this point, she’s just out weighing her options, as she should. I’d be careful if I was Dean, though. The bond of a mutual friend means very little without that friend there, as Marcus discovered in what I’d argue is the best Tribal Council of “Survivor Gabon”.

Moving back to Vokai, we see that I was slightly wrong in my prediction of “No cracks”. The alcohol has worn off now, and we see that Missy and Aaron are set on dismantling the old Lairo. Yep, sure glad to see yet ANOTHER orange tribe self-destruct. Seriously, that color’s becoming more cursed than the name “Kelly” on this show. Aaron starts things off with… his socks. Ok, not the greatest of starts, but when you’ve got socks that distinctive, you roll with them. Aaron is brave enough to wear bright purple socks with his son’s face on them. His son is apparently a big fan of the show, so it’s really sweet. With kids involved, you can bet the person he bonds with is teacher Tommy. Yes, Tommy doesn’t even have to go out of his way to make bonds with people now; they just come up to him and do it anyway. The pair agree to use each other as meat shields, though Tommy make it clear he’s still with his original tribe. Aaron working with him is just another way to ensure their success. Missy also seems on board with this plan. Odd, considering the other targets then would be Elaine and Elizabeth, who she’s aligned with, but I can see her not wanting to rock the boat this time around. Our final nail in the coffin comes from Jason, whom Aaron tells his plans too. If anyone was going to break from the old Vokai on this tribe, it’s Jason. Yet, he too is all about “Vokai Strong”. Chalk up another win for a Vokai member, folks.

I’ll give the fracturing at new Vokai this: It makes the Immunity Challenge somewhat more interesting. Like our reward challenge, this is a repeat. In this case, “Octopus’ Garden” from “Survivor Cagayan”, the challenge Luzon infamously lost when another tribe was trying to throw it. Not a bad challenge, but one that’s become overused to the point of disgust for me. At least the “pair balance beam” was cool, though.

New Lairo does better in this challenge, but that’s not saying much. Even good editing can’t change new Vokai’s inherent challenge edge, though, and so they do end up winning. As three members of the new Lairo demonstrate, old Lairo members on their tribe are at their mercy. Noura talks about how Karishma is eating out of their hands, but is a challenge sink. Janet discusses a bond she’s built with Tom, but notes that he’s too loyal to old Lairo, and would probably abandon them at the merge. And Kellee exploits her connection with Dean, telling him the target is Karishma while privately admitting that he’s too charming. The three discuss their options, and Noura praises that fact that her lack of a vote can go unnoticed with a majority this big. Of these three options, I favor keeping Karishma the most. Yes, she is a challenge sink, but she’s a LOYAL challenge sink. Now, if the other players left were loyal original Vokai, this could be a problem, but you’ve got two non-loyal targets in Dean and Tom left over. You can lose another challenge and still be ok. Even if you lose beyond that, you’ve got Jamal, who has a grudge, and Noura, who’s annoying, that you can get rid of without offending your former tribe members. Plus, losing challenges keeps them safe, since as established, old Vokai on new Vokai are in a more precarious position that old Vokai on new Lairo. The merits of the remaining old Lairo are debated as well. Do you get rid of Tom, the weaker and less loyal of the two, or Dean, the one who’s charming and good at challenges, as a threat? For my part, I’d say voting out Tom is the best move for all involved (except Tom, of course). Of the three, Tom has the weakest bond with the old Vokai, meaning eliminating him eliminates the fewest bonds. True, Dean will probably not be happy, but hey, what can you do?

So far this episode, we’ve had neither hide nor hair of Boston Rob and Sandra. The cynical might think this is because the tribe swap messed up their way of choosing who goes next, but I’d like to argue that the show knows better than that, and is pulling back on them so we don’t get overexposed. Then, of course, they have to comment on virtually EVERY SINGLE LINE this Tribal Council. Yeah, this episode has been decent overall, but this Tribal Council really goes downhill. I’ll give it credit that the mystery going in is good, but when we have to cut away from our players so much, it really breaks the connection. On top of that, the mystery I mentioned? Yeah, it doesn’t stay forever. There’s some talk of weakness and “Vokai Strong” that could hint at a Karishma boot, but then Dean goes and makes a gaffe. He talks about having personal conversations with everyone, which is good, if you’ve actually done so. If not, you risk being called out on it, and looking like a sleazy jerk in the process. Sure enough, Dean is exaggerating, and Janet calls him on it. Such blatant foreshadowing is not even funny. As if it wasn’t obvious enough that Dean is now going, Boston Rob has to literally say it to the audience.

Man, this episode was doing pretty well. I’d hate for the ending to drag it down now. CUE THE EPIC MUSIC!

Epic music and a genuine surprise may yet save things. For all that it was the least foreshadowed, old Vokai did the smart thing and sent Tom home. Of the three, I’m probably the least sorry to see him go. Guy was a good sport, and unfailingly polite, but not as interesting a character as either Dean (now that he’s got his whole “detective” thing going) or Karishma. And again, probably the smartest choice.

This episode is not going to be one of the standouts of the season, but it’s still decent. We had a good exploration of both new tribes, and some good, if mockable, moments. But plot lines we’ve seen a bunch of times before, lackluster challenges, and a still pretty bad Tribal Council just pull this one into “low end of good” territory. Even so, I’m confident the season can pull back.

That said, you’ll have to wait a bit longer than usual to find out if the next episode hits the standards of some of the earlier episodes of the season. Unfortunately, my job occasionally requires that I work weird hours, and next Thursday is one such day. I’ll still have time to watch the new episode as it airs, but need to get to sleep right after, meaning no time for immediate blogging. As always, I promise to avoid reading other’s thoughts on the episode until I type my blog, so you’ll still get my unfiltered thoughts. Just a bit later than normal. Try to contain your tears.

-Matt

Title Credit to Jean Storrs.

Idol Speculation: “Survivor Island of the Idols” Episode 4: The Dumb Leading the Blind

Oh mighty and powerful “Survivor” Gods, if you can hear me, I beseech thee: Bestow upon me thy favor, as you have so bestowed your favor upon Karishma! I have but one humble request: Please do not let this season turn out to be another “Survivor Redemption Island”. Do not let us have three good episodes, followed by nothing but garbage afterwards!

Ah, but I’m getting ahead of myself into my thoughts. In fact, we can’t even talk about this episode yet, as we still have to talk about the last episode, as it’s time for another edition of…

MATT’S MESS-UP!

Yes, we had two episodes error-free, but I made a mistake and/or omitted something last time. Specifically, while I mentioned that Vince went home with an idol in his pocket, I neglected to give any commentary on his not playing his idol. Now, many have rightly pointed out that he only had two Tribal Councils to play it at, so why not play it, especially when there’s suspicion that he might have on. A reasonable argument, but to be fair to Vince, I think he had good reason not to play it. The women were clearly in power, and they did a convincing job of making him think he had their favor. Plus, what most people seem to forget is that it’s not good for “Two Tribal Councils”, but “Two Tribal Councils you attend.” Vince has good luck with the challenges, and that thing takes him to the merge. Granted, we know that that didn’t happen, but Vince couldn’t have known, and it’s not like Vokai badly loses every single challenge. They only do that with puzzles. Yes, in hindsight, Vince should have played his idol, but the women spun him well, and I can’t fault him too much for holding on to it.

Getting into our actual episode, you’d expect the tribe to be mostly copacetic with their near unanimous decision, since all knew who they wanted, but split the vote to be safe. And you’d be right, but with the exception of Karishma. While I do think she misidentified the causes of no one coming to her aid with the hand thing, that doesn’t mean she doesn’t get paranoid about stuff worth getting paranoid about. Case in point, Karishma correctly deduces that being the split boot means everyone considers her expendable, a fact confirmed in confessional. It’s not as cut and dried as that, however. Aaron, in particular, still hasn’t forgotten being left out of that first vote. Thus, he wants as many targets as possible, to keep himself off the radar. He finds fertile target ground in a blossoming showmance between Chelsea and Dean. Yes, the person with the idol, and the person who’s spoken all of two sentences on the show so far. Feel the chemistry. Aaron and Missy confer, agreeing that this is a problem that needs to be nipped in the bud. Can’t fault the logic in wanting to get Dean out. After all, he’s not a member of the core alliance, and with nowhere else to go after he leaves, Chelsea comes back into the women’s alliance. All Aaron gains is another spot ahead of him, but still, that’s not nothing.

Over at Vokai, we get a minor repeat of the J’Tia and the Rice situation from “Survivor Cagayan”, that is, sadly, both less exciting in its execution and in its results. Once again, the person left out of the vote is the person left alone at camp. In this case, members of the tribe agree to either go fishing or walking. Jamal agrees to stay behind. Admittedly no one can really call him on this without looking like a jerk themselves, but still, it’s made to seem like no one is suspicious, which you’d think at least Tommy would be, being the guy who saw the blowup of Jamal the closest. Jamal tries to tie idol-hunting into a bad relationship he had. If you think of the most forced “Survivor”/real life connection you can remember, this is pretty much similar. It does lead to success, as such anecdotes tend to do. While I may mock Jamal’s story, I can’t fault his idol hunting skills. While the tradition of the significant-looking tree remains, it was hidden off the trail and deeply camouflaged in the trunk, so I’m not surprised it took this long to find.

Jamal finding the idol also means we get our first up-close look at the hidden immunity idols this season, confirming once and for all that the art department was doing this season in their sleep. Ah yes, a tribe-colored string with some beads and a large seed. How distinctive.

The fishing expedition returning heralds another boat on the horizon. Naturally, this one is here to take someone to the Island of the Idols. This time, however, production has finally gotten their heads out of their butts, and realized that a random name-draw is boring. What they come up with is only marginally better, but better nonetheless. They basically take the rule from “Survivor Ghost Island”, and apply it to the tribe: Come to a unanimous decision, or draw rocks. At first, the tribe is all gung-ho about drawing rocks, but then Kellee comes in and points out that this is a stupid idea. I knew there was a reason I liked her! Yes, in a game with a decent amount of randomness already, the LAST thing you want to do is add more to it with a rock draw, not to mention you run the risk of your greatest enemy getting an advantage. Besides, it’s more fun to watch the social manipulation and negotiation. Show some backbone.

But who to send? With such a stigma against going, plus Kellee not wanting to be found out in her lie, very few people are eager to go. Lauren is downright terrified of the place. Tommy’s game relies on social bonds, not suspicion, so he doesn’t want to go. Jason does an impression of a stereotypical Jewish mother to convince himself not to go. Coby Archa (“Survivor Palau”) shows up volunteering to go, but is summarily ignored. Finally, Noura volunteers, and despite her being the obvious target, evidently people agree, as the next shot is her coming to the Island of the Idols. I guess the idea is that since she was already a target, she doesn’t have a downside in being sent, but guys, have you forgotten the “Possibly get an advantage” part? Admittedly, Kellee probably hasn’t mentioned that to allay suspicion, but you’ve got to have guessed it from the season name regardless! Why run the risk of your worst enemy getting an advantage?

Well, Noura is greeted by Boston Rob and Sandra, and it becomes clear that Noura is going to be running this particular Island of the Idols. Oh, Rob and Sandra can try and get a word in edgewise, but Noura is just going to talk right over them. Lucky for her, her lesson is about talking. More specifically, the “Art of Persuasion”. In case Boston Rob spelling it out for you wasn’t obvious we cut to a montage of famous persuasive moments in “Survivor” History. We have the mind screw of Erik Reichenbach from “Survivor Micronesia” (always good for a laugh), Parvati flirting with Adam on “Survivor Cook Island” (random, but ok, it’s Parvati, I get why this was included), Yul blackmailing Penner with his hidden immunity idol (a classic), Sandra making Russell Hantz paranoid (easy to do, but still fun to watch), and Boston Rob asking Lex to spare Amber (really, show? You want us to remember THAT part of “Survivor All-Stars? Why not show us Hatch rubbing against Sue while you’re at it?). Some ups and downs, but not the worst cross-section of “Survivor” I’ve ever seen.

This lesson is appropriate for Noura, and her challenge is correspondingly difficult. She’s informed that the immunity challenge with be a “Lead the blindfolded people” challenge, and that to get her advantage, she must convince her tribe to let her be the caller in the challenge. If she fails, she loses her vote, but if she succeeds, she gets a new advantage for the show: a vote block. She can essentially force one person not to vote at a Tribal Council. I applaud the show for coming up with new advantages, but I have to say, I’m not sure this is a good one. Yes, having one less vote, particularly against you, is a good thing, but you ruffle a lot of feathers using it, to very little gain.

Still, this should be an easy enough job for Noura. She’s naturally loud, which is an advantage in a caller, and she’s bossy enough to be good at this. Granted, the caller also needs to be good at puzzles, but we’ve seen no evidence that Noura isn’t at least decent at puzzles. Noura accordingly jumps at the chance, which Sandra and Boston Rob try and walk back. Man, they are REALLY desperate to be able to negotiate with someone.

Noura comes back to camp with not a terrible lie: I know the challenge and can help us practice, but you need to say I’m doing a specific part of the challenge. A little on the nose, but pulled off with subtlety, might work. Sadly this is Noura we’re talking about. Subtlety is not really in her wheelhouse, and she seems to crack a bit under the questioning, not coming up with convincing answers as to why this would be plausible. Probably, she would have been better off just telling the tribe, then volunteering to practice as the caller, citing her loud voice, and hoping to win them over that way. She does start practicing with the tribe for the challenge, and we see that bossiness does not lend itself to clarity. Noura’s micromanaging gets the job done, but slowly, in a challenge where speed is of the essence, and frustrates the tribe as a whole. About the only happy one is Kellee, since he secret is safe with Noura making such a fool of herself.

Off to our immunity challenge, and if I can praise this episode for anything, it’s the mystery! Yes, only Lairo has offered up multiple targets at this point, but Noura has had such a terrible performance this time that I could see the show forgoing mystery in favor of a humiliating “Downfall of Noura” episode. It will all depend on how she does at being the caller.

Or, you know, she could be the sit-out, cutting the story off at the knees, and guaranteeing another loss for Lairo. The show does its level best to give us dramatic tension, but sure enough, they lose.

Back at camp, Karishma seems to be the dead girl walking once again, as pretty much everyone says that they haven’t bonded with her, and to keep the tribe happy, it would be best to just stick with the plan. Plus, in the event of a swap, Karishma is a risk. She has nowhere to go but the women’s alliance on Lairo, but it won’t always just be the women’s alliance. Accordingly, Missy and Aaron want to keep that going by splitting up the showmance, and voting off Dean. Frankly, it’s probably the smartest decision they have, for the reasons I outlined at the top of the blog. When the float the plan to Elizabeth, however, she’s not on board. Neither is Elaine, who Elizabeth lets in on the plan, since she rightly points out that this plan leaves out Tom and Chelsea, further disuniting the tribe. Fair enough, but it’s better if you look at it as bringing Chelsea back into the fold. Do this, and the women all stay strong, and lose a person they didn’t need anyway. Tom may be mad, but what can he do? He’s got little choice. Besides, with all his talk of teamwork, Tom doesn’t strike me as the type who’d flip, even if he was pissed.

Word of this gets back to Missy and Aaron via Elizabeth, and I have to say she plays this well. By getting Elaine on her side, Elizabeth has a scapegoat for who’s the one ruining the plans. “Look, everyone, I want to go along with this, I really do, but Elaine just won’t do it, so we won’t have the numbers.” Gets things to go your way, without the risk of looking like the troublemaker. Especially good since her performance as the caller in the challenge, and subsequent breakdown, did not look good for her, so it’s nice to see her get her game face on.

All this pisses off Missy something fierce, and she complains about people “Not wanting to play the game.” Like Dan earlier in this episode, I have to make my eyes go in a circle here. I’ve said before and I’ll say again: Just because somebody isn’t playing the way you think they should DOESN’T mean they aren’t playing. They’re just playing a different, probably smarter, game than you. Missy then pesters Elaine for a new target, even throwing Chelsea’s name into the mix as an alternative way to split the showmance up as we head to Tribal Council.

The topic of tonight’s Tribal Council is chaos, which will be shown visually this time. It’s barely been an hour at the time of this writing, and I still can’t make heads or tails of what happened. People talked about bullets flying at random, going all the way back to “Plan Z” (evidently this tribe likes “Spongebob Squarepants”), nothing makes sense here! The one thing this Tribal Council has going for it is the complete unknown of the target. About four people on an eight-person tribe have been targeted, leaving things very up in the air as to who will go home. Still, mystery alone is not enough. This Tribal Council has been decent, but nothing spectacular. It needs something to push it over the edge. Cue the awesome music!

Chaos, while entertaining, is not always satisfying. It can lead to situations like Jeremy’s ouster on “Survivor San Juan del Sur”. We got surprised, but also no idea how we got here. That’s what happened tonight, as Chelsea leaves, idol in pocket. She should have known after telling Probst how she likes blindsides. I am very sorry to see Chelsea go. Most of the other targets (save Dean) were interesting characters as well, but Chelsea was a superfan, and playing a decent strategic game. I’d have liked to see more of it.

That said, this is the first really dumb move of the season. I wasn’t a big fan of Molly going out, but there was at least some logic to it. Here, voting out Chelsea goes against both possible stated goals. If you want a unified tribe, well, Karishma was the most on the outs, and the greatest threat in a swap. If you wanted to strengthen the women’s alliance, you needed to vote out a guy. Chelsea does neither of those things. All she does is split up the showmance, and again, in terms of the women’s alliance, Dean’s a better bet. Sorry, ladies. There’s no way to spin this as a good thing.

Yeah, like I said at the top, this was just not a good episode. If I had to sum it up in one word, it would be “Crowded”. Up until this point the show’s done a good job of balancing game time with time on Island of the Idols. This time, however, it dominated. We had one short scene at Lairo, one short scene at Vokai, the Island of the Idols, then immunity challenge. This led to pretty much all the strategizing happening between the challenge and Tribal Council, which just makes things too difficult to follow. This is by no means an irredeemable episode, but definitely confusing and weak, especially compared to the other high-quality episodes we’ve had so far this season. Still, I don’t feel a bad episode deserves to end on a bad note. Yes, it is time once again to bring back…

TOP 5 AND BOTTOM 5!

Yep, while topics have been scarce on the ground as of late, it seems we’ve yet to do a list of the best and worst blindfolded challenges in the history of the show. The Noura arc this episode kind of overshadowed it, but these blindfolded challenges are always good for suspense, action, and lowbrow comedy. How did this season stack up? Let’s start listing off the blindfold challenges of seasons past and find out!

TOP 5

5. “Survivor Cagayan”: Normally, as we’ll see, there’s a lot of physical comedy in this category. “Survivor Cagayan”, however, is an exception. There’s very little physical comedy, and what little there is is mostly groin shots, which are more painful than funny. However, this challenge took to Luzon tribe, already a comedy of errors in the challenge department, put them in a challenge designed to be a comedy of errors, and you’ve got yourself a lot of fun. J’Tia losing the challenge by being unable to pull up a basket in sync with the rest of her tribe? Hilarious.

4. “Survivor Ghost Island”: Later seasons really do tend to cut back on the physical humor of these challenges, which is why you won’t see many of them on this list. When the comedy comes from other places, though, it still works. Case in point, while the competency of callers varies from challenge to challenge, rarely have we seen one fail at grabbing the essentials. This challenge would have been bland and forgettable were it not for Wendell, funnily enough, forgetting to grab the puzzle pieces, and needing to run the course again just to get them. Not funny enough to land higher on the list, but still memorable.

3. “Survivor The Australian Outback”: Sometimes, all you need is an ending. This one was a pretty dull challenge to begin with. Just a bunch of random tasks with no rhyme or reason. But then, Jerri out of nowhere fails at directing Amber to put a basket on a table, leading to an exciting comeback victory for Kucha. A lot of tension and humor to be had. It loses points for the lackluster end to the challenge, but that moment alone deserves a spot on this list.

2. “Survivor Vanuatu”: This particular iteration of a blindfold challenge has a lot of the hallmarks of these sorts of challenges. Callers missing the obvious. People running into objects. People running into each other. Having some pieces out in the water helps make this one a memorable one, but what sets it apart is Sarge yelling “Say my name!” at the end of it all. It’s hard to not join in his triumph, and I defy anyone to tell me it’s not a memorable moment. Seriously, why has Sarge never been on again?

1. “Survivor All-Stars”: It’s the simple things in life. This challenge may not have had the most exciting ending, though the upset of Chapera actually losing a challenge was cool. But moment for moment, this has the best comedy. Lex wandering off on his own. Hatch getting things confused. Big Tom being hit in the head repeatedly. Had this gotten more serious, it would have been an awful challenge. Since no lasting harm was done, though, we can laugh at it. And laugh we shall.

Honorable Mention: “Survivor Gabon”: This challenge is a bit of an odd one. There is the “blindfolded person and caller” element to it, but in this case, that’s only to stop a ball rolling down a hill thrown by the other tribe. A fun and creative challenge, but not strictly a blindfold challenge, which keeps it off the list proper. If nothing else, though, it deserves credit for Randy Bailey thinking of calling out to the other player. A brilliant move that gave Kota a well-deserved win. Well done, Randy.

BOTTOM 5

5. “Survivor Millennials vs. Gen-X”: This was the first blindfold challenge to have the people stay blindfolded while doing a puzzle (no, the blindfold maze from “Survivor Heroes vs. Villains” doesn’t count, since it’s not strictly a puzzle), which was a good way to shake things up. Unfortunately the rest of the challenge was kind of lackluster, and needed the puzzle to be difficult to really recommend it. Suffice to say, it was not, and the challenge just kind of falls flat as a result.

4. “Survivor Island of the Idols”: Maybe I’m being mean here, but this one really just didn’t do it for me. We’ve seen all these obstacles before, so they just kind of blend together in my mind, making the whole affair forgettable, even now. Again, I appreciate them doing the puzzle blindfolded, but this time, with no mystery as to who was winning, it just didn’t have the edge or the physical comedy needed to save it.

3. “Survivor Tocantins”: I applaud them for trying something different here, but different doesn’t always mean better. Here, blindfolded people had to make their way through more of a maze than an obstacle course, which is certainly difficult, but not all that interesting to watch. Pouring things into buckets while blindfolded should also be fun, but something just seems off about it. Maybe it’s the labels on the gutters, but this challenge just felt “off” somehow.

2. “Survivor Nicaragua”: Once again, “Survivor Nicaragua” does something wrong. This was when the show tended to put more “modern” things in the show as rewards and I didn’t like it. Here, you had a simple blindfold challenge to pick up various camping items. Not exciting, no physical comedy, and didn’t really fit the show. Need I say more?

1. “Survivor Worlds Apart”: Like I said before, physical comedy is funny, up until you hit the point where people are actually injured. Kelly having that severe a head wound is not fun to watch, and just retroactively makes everything about the challenge worse. For all my gripes, this is the only blindfold challenge I have a real problem with, since it makes me uncomfortable rather than having fun with the concept, like any good challenge should.

Honorable Mention: “Survivor The Amazon”: At first glance, this seems like a pretty standard blindfold challenge. People bumping into each other, people making gaffes. Why put it on the bottom list? Well, according to audio commentary on “Survivor All-Stars” it’s because of missed potential. Butch was the caller for the men, and he was not so good with names, according to Rob Cesternino, and so called out completely wrong identities for his tribe mates. Comedy gold! And they barely showed any of it! For missed potential alone, this challenge must go on the bottom list.

And there you have it. What blindfold challenges did I foolishly leave off either list? Let me know, and I’ll see you in the hopefully better next episode!

-Matt

Title Credit to Jean Storrs.

Idol Speculation: “Survivor Island of the Idols” Episode 3: The Bystander Effect

This episode feels no need for preamble before starting the action, so neither do I! Quite honestly, these lines are only here so that people seeing a preview online don’t get accidentally spoiled on anything. We don’t even get a “Previously On…” segment this time around. We get one clip of things to come with no announcement and no Probst narration. I’m all for keeping things short and sweet, and I’m glad the audience is being trusted to understand what’s happening without being told, but I must admit, I think not recapping the previous episode is a mistake. The “Survivor” fanbase numbers have been holding steady for years, but that’s not because no one ever leaves. Rather, it’s because new fans come in at about the same rate as old fans leave. As such, while we the superfans don’t need a recap, I feel it’s essential for drawing in the superfans of tomorrow. Hell, I only became a fan about 2/3 of the way through “Survivor Guatemala”, and that might not have happened if I didn’t have the recap to catch me up to speed. You’ve got the right idea, “Survivor”. Now just fine-tune it.

Naturally, we start off the episode at Vokai, since we’ve got the fallout from a blindside to deal with. Jason is, naturally, thrilled to not have been targeted, but we don’t dwell on that for long. For once, the reaction is not yelling, screaming, or any sort of indignation, but rather cold silence. In some ways, this is more terrifying than a blowup. Janet tries to start things off, but that doesn’t really go anywhere. Instead, it falls to diplomat Tommy to smooth things over with the burned Jack and Jamal. Tommy starts with Jack, taking him over to the water hole, and explaining that the move was against Molly, not himself or Jamal. True enough, but that still doesn’t change the fact that you didn’t include Jack on the vote, so he still has a reason to be concerned. Only an idiot would think this means everything is cool. Naturally, our next confessional is Jack being stoked about still being in the majority. I was willing to give Jack the benefit of a doubt from my first impression of him, but now it’s seeming like it might be correct.

Tommy guesses that Jamal will not be such an easy sell, and sure enough, the man’s pissed. He can’t keep the bitterness out of his voice, and asks the fair question of why he wasn’t included on the vote. The man has few options, so on the surface agrees to work with the group, but it’s clear to everyone that’s he’s out for himself, which he pretty much confirms in the confessional.

Dawn at Lairo brings us the women fooling about in the water, which is all the cue Karishma needs to talk about her heritage, and how it separates her from others. Specifically, she’s older and more modest, stating that Indians are conservative by nature. Not sure if that’s true or not, but I applaud her for going against her own personal morals to fit in, playing in the water with the other women as carefree as you please. It fits with the Rudy Boesch (“Survivor Borneo”) maxim of the individual needing to conform to fit the group to survive, not the other way around. I still maintain it’s the best summation of “Survivor” to date, and Karishma carries it well. Kudos.

The cavorting of the girls does not go unnoticed, and I don’t mean in the “Survivor The Amazon” fantasy sequence way. The guys, but particularly Tom and Aaron, notice this, and speak with the remaining guys about sticking together, not wanting the women to pick them off one by one. I would applaud their powers of observation, but sadly, I think this is just a case of dumb luck. Whenever there’s more women than men on a tribe, it seems inevitable that the accusation of “Women’s Alliance” will be leveled. The only difference in this case is that it happens to be correct. Sadly, even if I am shooting them on their powers of observation, they still don’t have much hope. Even if 4 was somehow able to be greater than 5, they still wouldn’t have a hope. Vince has not forgotten being targeted by Aaron at the first Tribal Council, and refuses to work with him. Still, at least our victims this season aren’t COMPLETE morons.

We soon see that Jamal is willing to make good on his promise of revenge back at Vokai. We start off simple enough, with another montage of Noura being irritating. This prompts Dan to inform us all that despite voting with her last time, she’s not in favor on the tribe, and touts a plan to pretty much everyone but her to take her out in a unified vote. Not a bad plan, all things considered. Nothing of great value is lost, and it unifies a tribe that needs to be unified. Jamal, however, is not about unity at this point, and so whispers in people’s ears, particularly Janet, about how Dan is taking control and needs to be stopped. My fault with Jamal here is not his plan as such. After all, this sort of talk is what got out Molly last episode. Jamal makes a good argument, but he’s doing it way too early. When you’re on the losing side of a vote, you’re in about the most vulnerable position you can be in in this game. Any name you hear that’s not yours, be grateful, and hang on to it. Don’t make waves. Now, should Jamal just forget about the betrayal, and reunify with Vokai long-run? Of course not! This is the sort of thing one should not forget about. But one should take a note from the playbook of Natalie Anderson (“Survivor San Juan del Sur”), and WAIT for the proper moment to enact your revenge. Lull your betrayers into a false sense of security, then strike. Otherwise, you run the risk of seeming like an unstable element in a game with far too many unstable elements already.

Sure enough, Janet’s not fully on board with this plan, and brings it to Tommy. He puts the kibosh on it, since he really wants that tribe reunification, where his social bonds are most helpful. As such, Jamal is now a prime target, where he wasn’t before. Way to go, Jamal.

I see it’s time to get our preview scene out of the way at Lairo. We were promised an injury, and sure enough, Karishma manages to cut her hand open while slicing some coconut. She claims she can see the bone, but surely that’s… AAGH! OH MY GOD! WHY DID YOU PUT THAT ON SCREEN?

After establishing that if anything Karishma is UNDERREACTING by calming saying she needs medical and walking away, we see that the focus of this injury is oddly not going to be the injury itself, but rather everyone’s reaction the the injury. Karishma starts to feel light-headed, presumably from shock, and so gets on her knees with her head down, to prevent passing out. A wise maneuver, but one that she does entirely on her won. You see, not one person form the group approximately 15 feet away comes over to help or comfort her. Karishma notices this, and claims that it shows she’s not really a part of the tribe, and that they’re out to get her because of her differences. Now, I applaud Karishma for paying attention to her surroundings, and I admit her conclusion has some logical basis. However, in this case I think that conclusion is wrong nonetheless. You see, I don’t think Karishma is being left out of the group, so much as she is the victim of a little something called the Bystander Effect.

For those of you not versed in Introductory Psychology, the Bystander Effect states that when a large group is asked for help, responsibility to help is diffused throughout the group, thereby decreasing the likelihood of anyone actually helping. Put more simply, if you ask a big group for help, each member of the group thinks “Someone else can do it”, making all of them less likely to actually help. Plus, in a large group, there’s then pressure to not deviate from the norm. If no one else is helping, you don’t want to stand out by helping. As a side note, this means that if you ever need help in a public place, you should call someone by name, or at least make eye contact, and ask a specific person for help. This puts all the pressure on that person, thereby making them more likely to actually help you. We should get back to “Survivor”, though. This, to me, is what’s happening with Karishma. Rather than asking one person for help, she asked the group (and didn’t even rally ask, just expected others to notice her), and didn’t make a big deal about her injury. Thus, everyone could pass off the blame and not rock the boat at the same time. Logical thinking on the part of Karishma, but wrong in this case. Don’t worry, though. Karishma will have legitimate reasons to be worried later in the episode.

After establishing that Karishma has been all bandaged up, a boat arrives at Lairo to take the next person to the Island of the Idols. Our victim this time is Vince, which worries many people. Everyone in general is worried about the possibility of an idol, while Elizabeth in particular is worried about Vince blowing her cover. More on that later. Suddenly, though, a voice from the background, mysterious and strange, comes with a solution. It is Dean!

Yes, Dean Kowalski, the most invisible contestant so far, has come to make his case. Frankly, given the quality of the case he makes, he should have kept his mouth shut. Dean, noting the idol paranoia, suggests splitting the vote in case Vince has an idol. A worthy suggestion, were it not for the fact that everyone BESIDES Vince is here, meaning that, by definition, you are suggesting voting someone off to their face, or at least bringing them close. Dean at least realizes his faux-pas, but the damage is done. Really should have just stopped talking. Karishma gets even more paranoid at this development, though again, I see little evidence that SHE will be the split vote here. It’s coming though.

Over on the Island of the Idols, we at first seem to be answering my prayer of Sandra taking the lead, as she’s the one to great Vince. Sadly, Boston Rob will again take the lead later on, but it’s a slight improvement. Vince, like Kellee before him, cries, and I’m less sympathetic here than I was to Kellee. Maybe Sandra and Boston Rob really are Vince’s heroes, but it isn’t really built up much, so his reaction seems a bit over the top. Kellee, by contrast, had a moment all of us could find emotional, making her crying far more understandable.

To be fair, though, Vince’s crying does mean the lesson for the day ties in better than before. Boston Rob wants Vince to work on controlling his emotions, and while that may not be a fatal flaw in Vince’s game, we have previously established this as something Vince struggles with, so it fits better overall. Vince’s “test” for this is to sneak into the Vokai camp and steal some fire, or other proof that the fire is out. Succeed, and you get an idol good for two votes. Get caught, and lose your next vote. Vince goes for it, which I can’t fault him for too much, since he doesn’t appear to be at risk, and I don’t see Vokai getting overly mad at his sneaking around. That said, I must call out Boston Rob for not giving Vince grief for holding out for a better deal. If this is something that’s supposed to be obvious to do, why does only Elizabeth get chastised for it?

Vince preps for the stealth mission. No, this does not mean Woo from “Survivor Cagayan” comes in to bestow upon Vince his “Ninja Stealth Mode”. Instead, Sandra teaches him her trademark techniques for sneaking around. I like this. It gets Sandra more involved, and is more visual than any lesson we’ve had so far. As Vince leaves on his mission, we get some good banter between Rob and Sandra. Sandra wishes to go with him to help, while Boston Rob jokes that she’d make too much noise with her nonstop talking. Funny, and natural. If we get more of this, I’ll go from being neutral about these two returning to overjoyed at their return.

Vince’s mission into Vokai is fairly uneventful, so I’ll save it a blow-by-blow. It’s really well-edited, though. The music and the shots of Vokai waking up combine to add a lot of tension to the scene. It’s also nice to see Vince improvise when their fire turns out to be out, scooping ashes into his canteen instead. It’s capped off to Vince comparing himself to a super-spy, while showing him fall on his butt. Boston Rob and Sandra deem his efforts worthy of an idol. Good for him, even though he too should have been given grief for not holding out for a better deal.

CHALLENGE TIME! And yes, it has been a while since I’ve used all-caps when announcing a challenge, but then, it’s been a long time since I’ve been this excited about a challenge. I don’t think I’ve seen something this fun or original since the third immunity challenge of “Survivor San Juan del Sur”, and that was five years ago! Now, some elements might seem pretty standard. You’ve got a one-on-one swimming race to retrieve a key. Nothing unusual there. Our challenge ends with a puzzle. Again, pretty standard, but they at least combine a couple of puzzle elements, specifically the hanging fish from “Survivor Redemption Island”, and that bonsai-tree puzzle first seen on “Survivor One World”. Getting better, but nothing all-caps worthy. But that middle section! You see, our remaining six players (having used one on swimming and two on the puzzle) need something to do. As such, they all climb up on a see-saw balance beam, and must then maneuver the last player up to both ends of the see-saw to retrieve bags of puzzle pieces. This is an element like nothing we’ve seen before. Closes was the first reward challenge of “Survivor Vanuatu”, and even that was more about the maneuvering than about the balance. You have to take both into consideration here, and it makes for an engaging visual we’ve never seen before on this show. More of this creativity, please!

Even the reused parts of the challenge manage to be exciting, though that’s in part due to the stakes being high. Unlike the previous two episodes, both tribes have had some talk about multiple targets, and thus there’s actual MYSTERY as to who wins. Even the damn swimming challenge is engaging, with Olympic Swimmer Elizabeth going up against lifeguard Janet. Janet is kind of in a win-win situation here. If she loses, no big deal. She was up against an Olympian, and can use that as an excuse. If she wins? She beat an Olympian, and her stock goes up tremendously. She’s sort of in the same position as Nick Maiorano going up against Scot Pollard in basketball on “Survivor Kaoh Rong”, with similar results.

Still, despite this early lead, Lairo takes the loss. It seems puzzles are their achilles heal, as Karishma and Vince can’t get it together, letting Jamal and Lauren take the win on this one. NOW Karishma has reason to be worried. She may have exaggerated how outside the group she was earlier, but a challenge loss, particularly when you had a decent lead, is reason enough to vote you off. Sure enough, when discussion comes as to who to split the vote with against Vince, Karishma’s name comes up, due to her poor performance. Of course, Karishma at camp isn’t helping herself, either. Not with the “Everyone hates me” thing so much, but with being too enigmatic in her strategy. Playing cards close to the chest is one thing, but Karishma refuses to name names, simply saying she doesn’t want to go. Again, I get the strategy. It’s basically the “Anybody but me.” strategy. Karishma, unfortunately, does not have the subtlety to pull it off, and suffers for it. Plus, if someone’s begging you for a name, GIVE THEM A NAME! There comes a time of diminishing returns on the enigmaticness.

The women, however, are not content to just have two targets. They’re still the majority, so they can decide who to vote for. They could just stay for Vince, but as noted, he’s nominally on their side, so it may not be the best idea. They cast around for men to vote off, and settle on Tom, for being older and quiet. I can understand the decision, but I’m still shocked that Dean didn’t get targeted for his faux-pas earlier. I know they say they need his strength, but it’s been established at this point that Lairo is not hurting for strength. It’s brains they need, and unless Dean’s going to step up on the puzzles, there’s not much of a need to keep him around.

As we head off to Tribal, let us discuss the pros and cons of our three targets. Overall, Karishma is the worst choice to go, particularly from the women’s perspective. She puts the dominant alliance in jeopardy if she goes, and two poor puzzle performances does not a challenge sink make. There’s an argument to be made that she’s unstable, as we’ll see at Tribal Council later, but I think Karishma has a big difference from other insecure players I’ve advocated getting the boot in the past. Specifically, while she’s insecure, she’s not flipping due to that insecurity, just begging the women to stay together. She may be uncertain, but she’s loyal in her uncertainty, meaning it can go away with more votes going the way she hopes, and making her an asset down the road. Vince, while not the best choice, is still ok. He’s probably the most unified choice, as the only person out of the vote is him, and he’s gone. Still, he does seem loyal to the women, making him an asset. Surprisingly, despite being the last minute target, Tom is actually probably the smart choice. I hate advocating getting rid of the older guy, but I don’t see him bringing much to the tribe, and he’s probably the least loyal to the women’s alliance. True, he does have an “in” with Elaine, but Vince does as well. Sure, it will piss off Aaron and Dean, but they’re probably out next, so who cares. The exception to all this is Elizabeth. As she mentioned earlier, so far the only person on Lairo who can contradict her story about the Island of the Idols is Vince. I wouldn’t suggest she advocate hard for Vince, since that in and of itself would arouse suspicion, but if others are saying it, I might push for it slightly from her point.

With Karishma so on edge, Tribal Council is understandably a fun affair. After Aaron displays some confidence, Karishma again vocalizes her discomfort with her position in the tribe. Tom tries to calm things down by giving his “team” pep talk, and correctly pointing out Lairo’s puzzle weakness, but Karishma will not be stopped. She goes and whispers in the women’s ears, a move that plays better on tv than it does in the game. If anything this hurts Karishma, as now she can be painted as a schemer. Again I understand the paranoia, but this is not the right way to express it.

For once, our mystery is kept all through Tribal, but in the end, the women go for Vince. As I stated previously, not the worst move, but not the best either. I am personally sorry to see Vince go. He wasn’t the best player in the game, and I don’t think he would have won, but the guy did make for a lot of fun moments, and for that, he shall be missed. The only flaw in his exit is Boston Rob and Sandra up in the peanut gallery, reminding us that he got voted out with an idol. You know, in case we forgot from 30 minutes ago.

This episode is probably the best of the season. It keeps the strong characters and intriguing storylines, but adds in better mystery and more humor. If this season keeps up, it definitely stays in the top-tier, and with a blindfold challenge promised for next episode, it seems likely to do so!

-Matt

Title Credit to Jean Storrs.

Idol Speculation: “Survivor Island of the Idols” Episode 2: Advantage Legacy

While I know that stating an opinion such as this on the “Survivor” internet may not win me many friends, I cannot help but be honest: I am not a fan of Angelina Keeley (“Survivor David vs. Goliath”).  Is she the worst thing to come out of the show?  Not by a long shot!  In a world where we have the likes of Russell Hantz (“Survivor Samoa”), Angelina is practically a saint.  But, I feel I must admit that I don’t much understand the appeal that she seems to have.  While she seemed to have good ideas (selling herself to the jury, idoling out a threat, working as a negotiator, etc.), the fact must be stated that she was not very good at executing those ideas.  This in and of itself would not be a big deal, were it not for the fact that Angelina acted like she was all that and a bag of chips, that everything she did was a brilliant move that everyone should respect.  That got real old, real fast, and just rubbed me the wrong way.  It’s not that I mind the way she played the game, it’s that I mind that she did it poorly, yet acted like she didn’t.  

With that said, if there’s one area where I completely agree with Angelina, it is in the disparity in terms of the number of women finding idols.  Partly that’s because the numbers don’t lie, but also because it just seems wrong to me.  Now, this is the first season where players actually had a chance to see Angelina talk about this before filming, yet none invoke her name.  Nevertheless, since Angelina made this point, there’s been a noticeable uptick in the number of women finding idols.  Whether this is directly Angelina’s doing or not, I can’t say, but if it took her mentioning that to get this started, then I’m happy we had a season of Angelina, even with the problems mentioned above.  

Starting off our episode proper, you could be forgiven for missing the fact that the episode had started.  We do get a recap of what happened in the previous episode, but it seems Probst was making himself scarce in more than just the premier.  There’s no narration, no foreshadowing, there’s not even an epic “Previously on… ‘Survivor’!” to kick things off.  Again, I’m overall in favor of this.  It shows humility on Probst’s part, and brings us up to speed on the previous episode without too heavily leaning into what will happen as the season progresses, which would make the whole exercise predictable.  That said, I feel like this goes a bit too far.  Leave out the Probst narration, but keep the “Previously on..” intro.  Adds an air of epicness to the proceedings.  

Speaking of epicness, a blowout of epic proportions seems to be happening at Lairo.  Yes, virtually no one is handling the fallout of that Tribal Council well.  Aaron is, understandably, pissed and untrusting of the rest of his tribe, and isn’t doing a very good job of hiding it.  Elaine seems to be the speaker for the group, explaining why they voted the way they voted.  Normally I’d be in favor of this, as Elaine is generally well-liked, and therefore in the best position to deliver bad news.  However, since she was a target at that Tribal Council, even sugar-coating the move will still seem like rubbing salt in Aaron’s wound.  Not helping matters is Vince, who CONSIDERS doing the smart thing, before throwing that out the window and angrily asking why he received votes.  An understandable reaction, but as I’ve said before, on “Survivor” you need to temper down those feelings for the sake of diplomacy.  

Only Missy really comes out of this situation looking good.  While she privately admits that she’s happy, since the women’s alliance can now control the tribe, she still thinks she can work with Aaron.  She accordingly takes him off into the woods for a one-on-one talk, where she soothes his bruised ego by seeming to demure to him (though my read is that she’s merely pretending to to keep him happy), and talk soothingly about how much he’s needed.  Aaron says he’s on board, but it’s clear his frustration is simmering just underneath the surface.  Sure enough, Aaron admits in confessional that he’s ready to slash and burn everything when he gets the chance.  I see Rory Freeman (“Survivor Vanuatu”) is making a comeback.  

Dawn at Vokai, and we see people FINALLY get the idea to put a freaking roof over their fire to keep it going in rain.  Sure, the roof we see is only a palm frond, but it’s a start, and I’m frankly amazed so few tribes think of this.  The only other one I can come up with off the top of my head is Zhan Hu from “Survivor China”.  Good on you, Vokai.  

Of course, with them only coming up with the roof idea now, this begs the question: how did the fire survive the night?  The answer is Noura, who reports getting up repeatedly to tend to the fire.  Now, Noura is understandably going to be a little cranky about this, and has a right to express that crankiness.  Unfortunately for Noura, crankiness quickly devolves into complaining, loudly and frequently.  We see her going around to pretty much everyone in the tribe, pontificating about how the camp should be run, and about how certain people, particularly Molly, aren’t doing anything to help.  I can’t say I entirely disagree with Noura here.  While Vokai is not even close to a terrible camp, I have a hard time saying that the more serious people when it comes to actual survival are in the wrong.  What I CAN say is that Noura’s delivery is way off.  Even if you’re in the right in your way of doing things, how the camp is run should be a consensus, not one person mandating everything.  Call a big group meeting, express your views, maybe have a spirited yet polite debate.  What you don’t do is complain to people individually.  Most likely, nothing will get done, and people will just see you as annoying.  Worse, as it becomes a pattern, they’ll start to tune you out.  In one shot, you can pretty much see Jamal’s eyes glazing over.  

Needless to say, Noura isn’t getting through to very many people, though she at least realizes it.  Privately, she complains to Jason about their spot in the game.  Together they talk about pulling a “Revenge of the Nerds” style coup against Molly, who they see as the ringleader.  I would complain about neither Noura nor Jason being particularly nerdy, but I’m too busy wondering when Molly became such a threat?  Don’t get me wrong, she was hardly a nobody last episode, and we did see her and Jack bond, but when did she become this Parvati Shallow (“Survivor Cook Islands”) type of threat?  It’s not as out of the blue as some plot points I’ve seen, and I can understand that there’s only so many things you can cram into one episode, even an extra long one, but a little more foreshadowing would have been appreciated.  Still, Noura and Jason don’t really have a way of convincing the others to go against Molly, so for now, it all just remains a pipe dream.  

Smoke is also present at Lairo.  No fire, alas.  Aaron, continuing his newfound downer status, states that they won’t get fire tonight and will remain a wet, cold, hungry, pathetic tribe.  What’s that smell?  Why, it’s the sweet smell of HUBRIS!  And our waitress tonight is none other than Superfan Chelsea, who seems the only person capable of beating Boston Rob in a fire-making race.  As Tom puts it (in a mildly chauvinistic joke), she makes a fire in about two minutes.  Chelsea fangasms about making fire on “Survivor”, which is fair enough.  Why, the only thing that could be better is if she found an idol!  Which she proceeds to do!  Like I said before, I’m happy for her.  She seems nice, I always like to support the superfans, and the more women finding idols, the better I say.  Plus, I like to see people hunting for idols the SMART way, as Chelsea does here: Do your chores, and when you happen across a likely-looking tree, poke around really quick.  Limits the suspicion thrown on you, while still giving you at least a decent chance of finding something.  Way to go, Chelsea!  

Really, my only complaint is that this throws out my idea that all idols this season might be time-limited ones from Island of the Idols.  I’m not as big a detractor on having a ton of idols in the game as some people, but if you’re potentially having someone win one every episode, I think giving them time limits and throwing out regular idols would have been a good balance.  

Heading back to Vokai, a boat arrives. The tribe has some mystery as to what’s going on, but we the audience are of course aware of what this must be: the name drawn for Island of the Idols.  The answer turns out to be Kellee, who goes off with some encouragement from her tribe.  She walks with some trepidation towards the appointed area, calling back to “Survivor” History in wondering whether Cochran (“Survivor South Pacific”) will be waiting for her.  Give her credit, she had the right idea.  She now gets to meet and greet with Sandra and Boston Rob, which she calls better than Cochran.  Sandra I’ll agree with, but Boston Rob, a better sight than Cochran?  Debatable.  

Now, let’s see how Boston Rob and Sandra analyze Kellee’s game!  Since we’ve seen so little of it, apart from her not liking being touched, this will be a good chance to gain insight into how she’s playing… Oh, wait, apparently we need to hear about Boston Rob and Sandra’s personal lives.  Ok, I guess that’s kind of cool too, but I really wanted to get to know about the new players before hearing about the old.  Naturally, this is telegraphing pretty clearly that Kellee’s game will be a variation on the old “How well do you know each other?” challenge of old, and sure enough that’s what it is.  I’m disappointed, “Survivor”.  Oh, not in you bringing this challenge back.  I understand your need to get rid of it after Vecepia broke it on “Survivor Marquesas”, but it was a fun challenge nonetheless.  No, my problem is that these “lessons” are not being tied into an individual’s game.  I could understand having it be pre-determined for Elizabeth, since her game hadn’t had much of a chance to develop, but I was hoping that, through talking, our veterans could identify a key weakness in a person’s game (which everyone has.  Yes, even your favorite players.) and play a challenge directly to said weakness.  Instead, we get these cookie-cutter lessons that aren’t bad, but feel hollow as a result.  

Kellee faces a similar deliberation to Elizabeth, since the stakes are similar: Win and get an idol good at two Tribal Councils, lose and lose your vote for the next Tribal Council.  Unlike Elizabeth, however, I think Kellee should go for it, for two reasons: Most obviously, there’s the fact that this time she just has to answer four out of five trivia questions correct, meaning she’s not in direct competition with a professional at this, and therefore has a better chance of winning.  A better reason, though, is that Kellee’s had more time with her tribe.  Yes, Elizabeth wasn’t likely to be a target at Lairo, but in those early days, especially being away from the tribe during pre-Tribal discussion, there was still at least a decent chance her name could come up.  Kellee, however, has had that time to bond, and ensure she’s in a solid majority where her vote may not be missed.  There’s still a risk, to be sure, but it’s a much more calculated risk than before.  

Even so, Kellee is unsure, having been so focused on looking for a hidden challenge that she didn’t pay much attention to what was being said.  Does she get pressured to compete like Elizabeth was when she said she was unsure?  Nope, that would have been fair!  Instead, Boston Rob sweetens the pot, and offers her an idol good for three Tribal Councils with only three correct questions.  With the odds actually better, Kellee goes for it, and nails the softball questions.  She cries, then chastises herself for crying, though I don’t really see why.  It’s an emotional moment, crying’s ok.  

To her credit, Kellee does weaponize that crying back at camp.  First of all, like Elizabeth before her, she lies about the nature of Island of the Idols, basically saying it’s like Ghost Island from the titular “Survivor Ghost Island”.  By sheer coincidence, these two have come up with almost exactly the same lie (Kellee had a detail about statues that Elizabeth didn’t).  It’s almost like these people are being coached or something… Anyway, Kellee really doesn’t want people to suspect she has an idol, and so tearfully starts dumping her bag out.  Now, the crying part of this is a risky strategy.  Done with subtlety, it can make people feel for you, and forgo heavy scrutiny out of feeling uncomfortable.  Done over-the-top, it can make people suspicious.  Personally, I thought Kellee was being a bit transparent, but her tribe seems to buy it, so I guess good on her.  Of course, even if they had stripped her, it wouldn’t have mattered, as Kellee cleverly hid the idol in her hair.  I have to admit, that’s a new one.  Good for Kellee.  

As we head to commercial, I have to say that I’m seeing a trend I don’t like on Island of the Idols itself.  Overall, Boston Rob and Sandra still aren’t stealing the spotlight from our players.  Hell, I’m even ok with them at tonight’s Tribal Council, since their comments are limited and don’t take up much time.  But it was made out that these two are equal partners, but so far don’t seem to be.  Apart from Boston Rob’s victory and Sandra’s defeat being emphasized in the season opener, Boston Rob has now taken the lead with the new player both times.  This could change, but it feels like this is really “Island of Boston Rob” with Sandra there as a bit player.  It’s not the end of the world if it is, but it’s a shame.  Sandra is objectively the better player, and I just find her more entertaining.  

Wow, our Immunity Challenge already?  Geez, these episodes are flying by fast.  Our first episode made it pretty clear which tribe was losing the challenge, but this one makes it look subtle in comparison.  Who will win?  Lairo, the tribe with one guy who’s mildly pissed at being left out of the vote, or Vokai, the tribe that’s cracking internally, and has multiple viable targets?  We don’t even have that exciting of a challenge to make up for it.  Swim, get a ladder, untie balls, play “Plinko”, and that’s it.  While holding up the ladder is exciting, that’s about it.  In particular, Plinko as the closer bother me.  I don’t need the closer to be a puzzle every single time, and there’s some nice CBS synergy going on here, but Plinko is just not that exciting, being more luck than skill.  

Jamal, it seems, is incredibly lucky.  Despite Vokai being behind for most of the challenge (due, I say, to the inexplicable decision to NOT have Jason on the water portion of the challenge), he actually makes thing pretty close, but as we all suspected, Lairo wins.  While I like Vokai as a tribe better, it is nice to see variety in who goes to Tribal Council, so I’m happy in that respect.  

With no viable way to target Molly, it’s time for Noura and Jason to start eating each other.  To put it bluntly, Noura does so badly.  She goes for a Sandra strategy of “I’ll vote how you want”, which I’m normally in favor of, but when people are asking you to have an opinion, you need to say SOMETHING!  Either throw Jason under the bus, or push for your Molly preference, but say SOMETHING!  Instead, Jamal tells us that the majority plan to split the votes between Jason and Noura, in case of an idol.  With their numbers, a fair strategy.  They’re relatively safe in doing so, and fear of an idol from Jason is worth taking precautions against.  Who would they go after in a revote?  Either one.  The guys seem to prefer Jason, while Molly is really pushing for Noura, since the latter called her out on not working enough.  Frankly, either one’s a good choice, since both are causing divisions early on in the game.  If I had to pick one to go, I’d say Noura is the smarter choice.  She’s not as good as Jason in challenges, and while an idol is a concern, there’s ways around it, even if it doesn’t get played tonight.  

But we’ve seen this sort of thing before, we need some excitement.  Evidently I was wrong in saying that Noura needed to advocate for Molly’s exit, since others have come to the same conclusion.  The women, spearheaded by Lauren with Janet caught up in it, have noticed how she’s taken the lead position, and are threatened, wanting to turn everyone against the Molly-Jack-Jamal threesome.  But even that would be too straightforward!  After all, people like Tommy and Kellee are in good with that threesome, and while maybe not on the top, have at least some pull, and would be burning bridges early on with a move like this.  The pair agree to move together as we head off to Tribal.  While the aforementioned bridge burning would make this a bad move for both Tommy and Kellee, I have to say that I think voting Molly out at this juncture would be bad for the tribe as a whole.  Yes, a tight threesome is something to watch out for, but even if you vote out Jason and Noura, you’re still up 5-3 on them.  “Shuffling the deck”, as Tommy puts it, this early only fractures your tribe, and makes you easier to pick off.  It could be argued that Lairo did a similar flip last episode, but that was a case of someone rubbing multiple people the wrong way, and a secret sub-alliance.  This is just the majority starting to cannibalize early, and I think it’s a problem for Vokai’s long-term prospects.  

Jumping ahead a bit, tonight’s Tribal Council does not have the awesome music from last episode, but is still quite good.  Jason gets things going right out of the gate by offering a strip-search (what is it with this tribe and strip searches?), and Noura quickly chimes in about how they’re on the bottom.  Boston Rob and Sandra wisely have less to say this time, so we’re left with the wit of the tribe.  Jamal, in a comparison to racing, calls the game in “first gear”.  Jason protests, and Jamal retorts that Jason is playing from the bottom, and therefore in a different gear.  Now, this is the sort of remark that, in the wrong hands, could really hurt someone’s standing in the game.  However, for whatever reason, it comes across lighthearted and joking when Jamal says it.  He’s got that inexplicable charm that can get someone out of a lot of tough situations.  Even though Jamal’s on the bottom, I can’t help but root for him a little.  

Make no mistake, Jamal’s on the bottom.  There was some good mystery going into the vote, but all the comments at tonight’s Tribal Council point to Molly going home.  She does, and as I say, I think this was the wrong decision.  It fractures a tribe when it wasn’t needed over only a partially-established threat.  I am sorry to see Molly go.  I think her prowess was overstated, but she had good potential, and I saw very few flaws in her game so far, apart from being too obvious to the other players.  Plus, with how badly Noura and Jason were floundering socially, I wanted to see that rewarded.  

It’s amazing how much leeway episodes that aren’t the premiere get.  Objectively, this episode either had the same problems (lame immunity challenge, Boston Rob stealing the spotlight), or more problems (a more obvious loser of the challenge, less time spent with the camps pre-challenge), yet I like this one just as much as the first episode.  It was fun to see Vokai develop, and for all the minor problems this season has so far, the overall product still holds up pretty well.  Again, it helps a lot that this is a cast that both knows how to play and is likable.  When that happens, we can put up with a lot.  Still, Sandra better start stepping up more, or we’re going to have issues.  

-Matt

Title Credit to Jean Storrs.