Idol Speculation: “Survivor Island of the Idols” Finale: In a Mirror, Darkly

Longtime readers of mine will know that one of my favorite things to do with a finale blog is to point out how the finale weirdly parallels the season as a whole. It’s frankly strange how often this one (admittedly extra-long) episode is a microcosm for the season as a whole. This season, however, I can’t do that. Indeed, with rare exception, this episode has exactly the opposite of the strengths and weaknesses of the season as a whole.

Case in point, despite not emphasizing the season-naming twist too much, we start off with Rob and Sandra looking into the sun, discussing their history with the game. Not that this scene isn’t nice, but again, this is the finale of a journey we’ve spent 13 episodes (14 if you count double-length episodes as two episodes, which I don’t) on, getting to know the NEW people along the way. This finale should be all about them. Putting the emphasis on Rob and Sandra is, in my book, a poor move.

I shouldn’t give the show too much hate for this, though, since this is about the most we’ll see of the pair this entire time. What I WILL complain about is the lack of a recap. True, that’s been the case pretty much the entire season, and while I think it was a step in the wrong direction particularly in some episodes, I’ve been overall fine with it. The finale is the exception to this. Even in this day and age, the finale is usually the most-watched episode of any season. In addition to the loyal fans who follow the season religiously, you also get in some casuals who get curious about how this thing will end. I’m all for putting the fans first (especially since they’re what’s allowed the show to go on so long), but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t cater to casual viewers at all.

In any case, the Lumuwaku tribe gets a note for everyone to pack their things and get on a boat. Have the producers thrown up their hands after Dan’s behavior, and just decided to scrap the whole thing? No, of course not! Everyone just goes to Island of the Idols where they’ll live in Rob’s super-shelter for the remainder of the game. Goodie. Because why emphasize the society that our new players have built, when you could emphasize the society Rob and Sandra have built? We also find out here that the whole “Lying about Island of the Idols” thing was dropped at some point as Tommy, the only player left who hadn’t been, expressed no surprise at what he saw. He did insist on the first hug, which was fair. Our players get new “special edition” buffs for the occasion, which appear to be black, because why have different and interesting tribe colors when all merge buffs could just be black? Rob and Sandra have some nice words of parting, and mercifully leave so that the focus can be on what we’ve all been watching this season for…

IDOL HUNTING! What, you thought this game was about the players? No, you fool, it’s all about idols and advantages! After Noura has a fun scene where she gushes about how nice the shelter is, Tommy points out that this is all too easy, and there must be some twist to this new camp. He correctly zeroes in on the new buffs they were given, and sure enough notes that one of the idols on the logo has been replaced with a machete. It’s subtle, but it’s there, so Tommy goes around examining the machetes. He eventually finds one embedded in a random coconut, which has been painted red on the inside. The only problem with this is that Tommy is colorblind, and has trouble telling what “red” is, thus not doing much to limit his search. What he does to combat this problem I’m sure a lot of people give him flak for, but honestly, I can understand Tommy’s logic here. Needing help, he goes to Dean, who’s really the only logical choice. Tommy’s made it clear that despite alliances with Janet and Lauren, he really doesn’t want to go to the end with them, so they’re out. Noura? Do you really think Noura would be a good idol-hunting partner? No, Dean is more reliable, and has helped out Tommy in the past, making him the best option for Tommy at this point.

Unfortunately, Dean has other ideas. He wants the idol for himself, and so makes no pretense about looking. Tommy notices, and so doggedly keeps searching on his own. Eventually he finds the correct clue: A red board along a path. Color-blindness be damned. Tommy peels it up to reveal, not an idol, but another clue. In this case, a letter “H” carved into some bamboo. Still befuddled, Tommy calls in Dean for help, and while Dean still doesn’t look like he’s helping, he actually is looking, just for himself. While Tommy is looking for a path intersection or a set of sticks laid out the same way, Dean thinks it looks like the rope swing that was set up, and so goes for a swing. He oddly does not look under the swing, which was the first place I’d look if I suspected the swing was hiding something, but Dean turns out to be right in this case. He notices a similar “H” carved into one of the shelter supports, and after waiting for everyone to be off somewhere else, pulls out an idol, and a nice note from Rob and Sandra. I’m of two minds about this. On the one hand, as a Tommy supporter, I’m sad that he didn’t get the advantage. However, one of the things I love about Tommy is that he’s done so well without the need for an idol or advantage. It’s a nice thumbing of the nose at a season that so seems to emphasize idols and advantages, and also speaks well to Tommy’s skill in the game. In that sense, I’m glad that his record of good gameplay wouldn’t be sullied with such a crutch. Dean, for his part, is happy at his find, but a little too optimistic about how much power this gives him. He notes his legacy advantage (fake), his idol nullifier (won in a lame coin flip), and his hidden immunity idol (actually an accomplishment). Of these, one just makes him look bad, and two need to be played correctly to be of use. Dean thinks this makes him a major threat in the game, and I’m not saying he’s completely out of the running, but the dude overemphasizes how important these things are. I think it’s his talk throughout the episode of how “historic” this is, and how a real fan of the show appreciates what Dean’s doing that gets to me. It’s ok to like these things, but for me, they’re not what the show is or should be about, and I don’t like that Dean is perpetrating the stereotype that they’re all this show focusses on these days.

Our immunity challenge for the day is another obstacle course, though with a lot of emphasis on ladders this time. Tribe members use sticks to get down rope ladder rungs to build, well, a ladder, and then have to maneuver a bag of balls up another ladder by moving its rungs. This all ends in a table maze, which is probably the weakest element of the challenge, but it’s otherwise ok. Obstacle courses are just so commonplace at this point in the game that they just all blend together anyway. Dean ends up winning, but since he wasn’t really a target at this point, it doesn’t really matter. Dean also gets to take someone to steak dinner, and so takes Noura. Not sure what it is about Noura this episode, but she REALLY leans into the whole “dating” thing, comparing Dean to a sleazy ex-boyfriend while also admiring him in confessionals. The pair make a pat agreement to take each other to the end that neither of them really believes, so the scene is more comedy than anything. Never change, Noura.

Dean does, however, plan to use his idol nullifier tonight, since Janet needs to play her idol that night anyway, and Dean and Tommy both want her gone. Surprisingly, Janet is on board with this plan. Not so much the “idol nullifier” part, but she is suggesting the votes be piled on her so she can idol out Lauren. Not a bad plan, but definitely risky, as we see in a minute. Of course, we need misdirection, and so Dean talks about potentially wanting Lauren out instead, since she’s a bigger social threat. Tommy, however, emphasizes the threat that Janet poses as well, particularly as she’s good at fire-making, as we saw at the beginning of the season. Weirdly, they’re both right. Dean is right when he says that Lauren is more of a social threat than anyone left, and Tommy is right when he says that Janet will beat anyone in fire making. Hence, why Janet needs to go. I’m normally all for voting out the biggest threat, but due to fire making, this is the last time you can realistically get Janet out, whereas Lauren can go pretty much at any time.

The show does its level best to convince us that there’s a chance that Dean will let Lauren be voted out, but I’m personally not buying it. The misdirection this season has been pretty good overall, but after 13 episodes, we’ve learned its tricks. We know that even if it looks like people are going to make the dumb decision, they continue to do the smart thing. Hence, Janet will go home via idol nullifier, exactly as everyone predicted. After a pretty tame Tribal Council (though mercifully without the commentary of Rob and Sandra), we get just that. Even if predictable, though, we do get the impact of the idol nullifier being played. Sure, we know it’s coming, but the impact on the players, Janet in particular, still makes for an effective moment. Janet goes home and I, like the rest of the fanbase, am heartbroken. Janet was a decent player in the game, but more than that, and excellent human being. Even if she was the smart choice to vote out at this juncture, she was a bright spot in an otherwise bleak season, and a different character type that we usually see make it this late in the show. I look forward to her return, and think her interview at commercial was completely justified. Glad to hear she’s inspiring others.

That said, we the audience are not the only ones to react to that idol nullifier. The jury is quite vocal about it as well, with Missy in particular giving a good “shocked” expression at the whole thing. Here’s where my heart starts to sink, as it looks like Dean may have a point. True, he’s been playing well for the last couple of episodes, and that’s not nothing, but is a lackluster first 3/4ths of a game no longer relevant? Is a flashy end really all that’s needed at this point? Are idols and advantages really the things we want in our winner exclusively? It’s a depressing thought, if true.

On our next day, Tommy continues his social game, by spinning complete BS to Noura. He has correctly realized that, while fire-making can be a way to win jury points, it’s also a huge risk. Tommy, being risk-averse, has made sure no one has ever seen him make fire, and so sells Noura on the idea that he’s never made fire before, and isn’t good at it, the idea being that this way Noura won’t want to put him in in the hopes of beating someone else. Noura admits that he’s playing her, but also says she likes the attention. I’ll also give Tommy credit not only for hiding his skills, but also for having the smarts to do his schmoozing BEFORE the challenge, thus making the lie less transparent. It does make the winner of our challenge more transparent, though. Since both Tommy and Dean have made deals to the end with Noura, Noura is going to win the challenge, a fact emphasized when we see that it’s a repeat of the challenge from “Survivor Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers”, where tribe members balance blocks that spell a phrase (in this case, “Island of the Idols”) on a wobbly pole. Not the worst challenge, but it doesn’t have the epic feel a final challenge should. It also favors women, who tend to have better balance, and so Noura ends up the winner. Good for her, but a predictable outcome nonetheless.

Much as Noura can be fun, here she’s a bit much for everyone. It’s an accepted phenomenon that when you win immunity, you’re a bit happier than the rest of your tribe. In this case, however, the rest of the tribe REALLY wants to know what Noura’s planning, since it kind of affects them. Instead, Noura cheerfully says she’s going for a swim and suggests they share a pineapple afterward. They do not take this well, especially since when Noura DOES come and tell them her plan, she does it in her roundabout way that makes her a fun character, but hard to live with. She eventually informs Lauren that she’ll be going to fire-making due to being a threat, which Lauren does not take well, mostly because Noura still insists on describing her as her “number one”, which she objectively is not at this point. Lauren keeps asking who she’ll go against, while Noura keeps insisting on explaining her logic. She eventually reveals that, wanting Lauren beaten, she’s sending Dean to fire, evidently having bought Tommy’s lie about being bad at fire. Naturally, Tommy and Dean are both happy about this. Lauren goes off to cry for a minute, though she quickly sets to making fire. She and Dean both have some trouble, though Tommy offers both advice, so that whoever loses will still be happy he helped. How he’s never called on this, I can’t say. About the only disadvantage is that Noura comes over to try and make peace with Lauren, but as it’s Noura, she doesn’t do a very good job of it. She keeps insisting on that “number one” thing, which really pisses Lauren off. Noura also doesn’t take the hint that Lauren wants to be left alone right now. I know this show thrives on conflict, but this really just felt uncomfortable. Too personal and too pointless at this juncture to be worth showing. As to whether this was a good idea for Noura, I personally would have kept Dean around for the end, and let Tommy and Lauren go to fire. You can’t trust anything anyone says, especially relating to fire-making, and if your problem with Dean is that he’s rallying at the end, putting him in a position to win fire-making only helps that. Take that away, and you undercut his argument, and let the two big social threats duke it out.

Contrary to how Noura is, Tribal Council is short and sweet. Since Noura already knows who she’s taking, we guarantee that Tommy is safe, and Lauren and Dean go to fire-making. It’s a decently close match between them, but Dean’s extra practice and not being annoyed by Noura pays off, as he wins, thus making his case better for the end. As one might expect, I am sorry to see Lauren go home. Her game was underemphasized, especially early on, but the woman had a lot of good plays, and can be proud of herself. She played well, and it would have been interesting to see how she would have done against the jury. She definitely deserves the Probst interview she got after her exit. I also look forward to her inevitable return.

After ending the fire making challenge, Dean, in an attempt to look better, points out that he’d only made fire that day. Not bad, but he says too much. He goes on to say “Tommy played you.” This makes him look weak socially compared to Tommy. As Jack puts it: “Tommy played YOU”. Fun fact: This is the first time all season that the number of men left is greater than the number of women. No small feat.

Since we’re now at Day 39, this of course means that we get everyone’s arguments for why they should win, before we head off to Tribal Council. Surprisingly, everyone’s got at least a decent argument. Tommy of course has his social game, and Dean has his “fourth-quarter rally” as he calls it. But Noura even brings up a good point: she could easily have been the first one out, yet rallied to become a major player in the game. True, Noura’s personality and long-windedness tend to counteract any chance she has with the jury, but on its own, the argument’s not half-bad.

Not content to just let things sit, Tommy and Noura discuss their opening statements. Tommy suggests that they need to go after Dean, emphasizing how he was pulled along as a goat the entire way, and never in power. He suggests Noura talk about this in her opening statement. Translation: “Noura, make my biggest target look like an ass for me so he’s easier to beat, while keeping my hands clean of any mudslinging.” Noura seems drawn in by it, even if she realizes what Tommy’s doing, and I’m happy because it reminds me of Chris Daugherty (“Survivor Vanuatu”) convincing Twila to not hold back in their Final Tribal Council. It’s actually a brilliant move that I can’t wait to see play out.

What’s that? We’re not getting opening statements this time. Yay. Guess that made that completely pointless.

Say what you will about this season, but if nothing else, the jury has managed to do something not seen since the switch to the new Final Tribal Council Format: BE INTERESTING! Seriously, apart from Wardog’s “The theme is not on trial here; you are.” comment on “Survivor Edge of Extinction” there hasn’t been one standout moment since we moved away from questions. This jury, however, delivers. Oh, it’s not always coherent what they deliver. Indeed, a lot of their debates over social game versus idol game become a jumbled mess, but at least there’s actual DEBATE and EMOTION going into it. Things never go out of control, thanks in large part to moderator Jamal, but they do get fun. Elaine calling out Noura for giving non-answers. Aaron calling out Tommy for dismissing the idol hunting part of the game. Karishma calling out Dean for not forming the needed relationships. And of course, Kellee calling out everybody. The lack of question-and-answer makes a blow by blow impracticable, but Noura gets dismissed early on due to using yet another “dating” metaphor. Thus, it comes down to Tommy, the social player, versus Dean, the advantage player. For once, there’s no obvious winner based on arguments. Tommy wins in the early portion, since it’s most about social game, and Dean admits that he didn’t make those bonds. Dean tries to spin it as a positive, saying that he didn’t break any bonds as a result, but with how many admit that Tommy was up in their alliance, coupled with Tommy doing a good job articulating his strategy, and owning up to his playing of Noura to guarantee himself safety. The second portion focusses on idols, advantages, and immunity wins, an area where Tommy is pretty much completely lacking. Tommy takes the appropriate tactic of downplaying the importance of these things, though this does incite debate amongst the jury whether that’s true (Aaron and Missy seem to feel it is, others not so much). None of this is helped by Dean’s revelation that he found the idol under Tommy’s proverbial nose. Even the revelation of the fake legacy advantage doesn’t hurt, as Jamal points out he was able to use it as a threat in spite of being a fake. Tommy doesn’t come out looking too good, but Dean also shoots himself in the foot. Having initially said he made no deals he couldn’t keep, he mentions having made final two deals with people sitting on the jury, and is rightly called out for it. There’s closing statements, but that’s basically the note we go out on.

So, it’s social game versus flashy game. As always, and as it should, social game wins out. Tommy wins, the first person to do so without an idol or advantage since Denise Stapely on “Survivor Philippines” (if you count winning immunity as well, the last person to match Tommy was Natalie White on “Survivor Samoa”). That is a good note for the season. One thing this episode did that the season as a whole avoided was to REALLY emphasize the importance of idols and advantages in the game. They were talked about, sure, but never really seen as a “necessity” before that episode. Unlike the rest of the season, the twist of the season overall was emphasized as the main focus of the season in this episode. That’s why someone like Dean, who only really started doing anything worthy of a vote last episode, is still talked about as a contender. So, for all that emphasis, it is satisfying to see the one guy who had NONE of that, and just played his social game, give a figurative thumbed nose to production. Tommy may not be the most interesting winner, but he did play an excellent game worthy of his victory. And I’m not just saying that because he was my personal favorite.

And so we come to our “live” reunion show. As has been highly publicized by now, it was pre-recorded, and we the viewers got an edited version. I’m of two minds about this. On the one hand, unlike an edited tv show, a truly live reunion can’t be edited super fast, and there are kids who watch “Survivor”. Wouldn’t want them picking up anything negative like that. Plus, with lawsuits doubtless pending, you want to make sure you don’t say anything that can be used against you. And, above all, this can hopefully avoid a “Jerri Manthey” incident like we had on “Survivor All-Stars”. That said, it’s not down to the show to police what they show, but down to families, and editing the reunion also gives the show control of the narrative, which they could do who knows what with. All that is suspicious, and on the whole, I think they should have kept it live, though I can understand why they did it the way they did, and won’t vilify them for it.

As to the show itself, it’s ok. Not great. We hear at least a bit from most people on the jury and up, but almost nothing from the pre-mergers, including our first Canadian! Also, why wasn’t Jack able to come? Dan I get, but why not Jack? Still, the big story is the Probst/Kellee conversation, and in one final twist on how the show has been, they handle it WAY better than they have so far. They admit fault. They explain that they’re going to do better. But most important, they give Kellee a platform to speak on her experience, and largely let her do it. Probst interrupts a little bit at one point, but for the most part, they handle things well here. It gives me hope for the future, and Kellee says she hopes that the incident won’t color the overall perception of the season.

I feel for Kellee, but unfortunately I think the damage was done. Even this overall lackluster, predictable finale, despite a nice outcome, doesn’t change anything. For good or for ill, despite everything good about this season, including a great and overall likable cast (again, Dan notwithstanding) with a good reaffirmation of the importance of the social game, when we look back on the season, what we’ll think of is the controversy, and it just drags the season down too much. I hope most of the cast gets a second chance, because they deserve a season unmarred by this controversy.

But that’s not what you want to hear about. You want me to talk about the reveal for next season. And I’m sorry, but I have to complain. Don’t get me wrong, I WANT to like this season. I WANT to be excited about this season. I mean, all-winners is an idea that ANY true fan has at least thought about. Come on, look at some of the people we’re finally getting to see again. “Survivor Guatemala” finally gets the representation it so richly deserves with the return of Danni. Yul comes back to finally prove he can play well without an original-rules idol. ETHAN FREAKING ZOHN will grace our tv screens again after 16 years of absence! So yeah, I want to be excited, but I can’t. That’s because, in that preview, they also mentioned something awful. Something dreadful. Something so horrendous, it may ruin the season before it even starts…

“Winners at War”? Really? THAT’S the best title you could come up with? Look, I know “Survivor Legends” is a bit generic, but it at least has more gravitas than this. And if you did need the alliteration, you could have kept it! Drop the “At”, call it “Winners War”. That sounds cool. “Winners at War” sounds like the news tagline for a minor feud between a couple that won the lottery. Everything about this season should be big and epic. That name is not.

Oh, and I suppose they also mentioned that “Edge of Extinction” is coming back. That’s also a big mark against the season, though my hope is that, like Redemption Island being on “Survivor Blood vs. Water” it’ll be merely pointless rather than actively awful.

Well, that was a lot. Only thing left to do is go through the cast, and note how wrong I was during my cast assessment.

KELLEE-The “Wentworth Loophole” continues. Kellee was certainly memorable. Didn’t make it quite as far as I’d thought, but she still did well.

RONNIE-Again, I wasn’t super far off, but I underestimated how annoying he would be, and as a consequence overestimated his time in the game.

CHELSEA-Wrong. Much more interesting, but much shorter-lived than I predicted.

DEAN-Dean is a weird one. I’d definitely say I was right in that he never really connected with the other members of the cast, but not quite for the reasons I thought. It also never really mattered to his time in the game. On the whole, wrong.

NOURA-She was definitely as out there as I thought, and I was initially right that she would rub people the wrong way. Yet, she lasted longer than I thought. Good for her.

VINCE-Had he actually kept his head down, he might have exactly matched my predictions. As it stands, I was wrong. He was much shorter-lived than I thought.

LAUREN-Wrong, flat out. Maybe her charm just didn’t come across to me, maybe she’s just not my cup of tea, but she was WAY better than I thought at the game.

TOMMY-CALLED IT! CALLED IT! NEENER, NEENER, NEENER!

KARISHMA-Kind of right, kind of wrong. She definitely struggled out there, but then the women’s alliance kept her alive. Ended up being wrong as a result.

AARON-For once this blog, pretty much straight-up right. Muscle kept around until the merge, but not much past that.

MOLLY-Right on time in the game, wrong on personality. She was not as big a character as I thought. Probably the forgotten member of the season, if I’m being honest.

TOM-Not as big a liability as I predicted, but still wrong overall. He lasted about as long as I predicted, though.

MISSY-I may have undersold her game skills a bit, but she lasted about as long as I thought, and left for being a threat, so I was pretty much right.

JACK-He had a bit more game than I gave him credit for, but I was otherwise right. Out after the swap.

ELAINE-For once, one of the biggest characters I predicted pulled through! Elaine did end up a better Lauren Rimmer (“Survivor Heroes vs Healers vs Hustlers”), and I am thrilled to be right about her!

JASON-Wrong. Overestimated his smarts and his time in the game.

ELIZABETH-Wrong. I overestimated her game savvy, and as a result, she didn’t match my expectations. She came decently close, though.

JAMAL-Pretty charming, and out at the early merge. Another “win” for me.

JANET-Wrong, and happy to be so. She was much better at the game than I gave her credit for, and I’m happy she made it deep.

DAN-Wrong, though who could have predicted that whole debacle.

Well, that about wraps up this season. Thanks for being patient for this to come out. Now, you’d expect to see my cast assessment for “Survivor Winners at War” up soon, since the cast is revealed, but I’m waiting for confirmation that name color is indicative of tribe, due to so many previous relationships staying together. With 2/5 of the “Villains” tribe on this season, some overlap was inevitable, but some of this just seems nuts. Really? You put Jeremy and Natalie on the same tribe? What on earth made you think that was a good idea? But there’s another reason for the delay. Lame name aside, this is the 20th anniversary of “Survivor”, and that deserves celebration. I think it’s time we go back and look at those season rankings…

-Matt

Title Credit to Jean Storrs.

Idol Speculation: “Survivor Island of the Idols” Episode 12: Mirror Universe

With the nation of Fiji subsidizing half the show, and it being relatively easy to film there, it has seemed like “Survivor” would never leave again. Yet, this episode provides us with an alternative, one that keeps the ease that the show currently has in filming, and have no extra cost. Ladies and Gentlemen, I propose to you Season 41: “Survivor Mirror Universe”.

What’s that? Getting to a metaphysical concept where alignments are switched is beyond the realm of mortal ken? Nonsense! The show’s clearly been there already! They brought back the version of Tommy that actually gets pissed at stuff, so they obviously are able to get there! Now all we need to do if film a season there, and we’re good to go. Before we can talk about my fee for this new idea, however, we have to talk about…

MATT’S MESS-UP!

Yep, can’t help but have a stumble in the antepenultimate blog, even if it is a small one. In all the excitement of the last 10 minutes of the previous episode, I forgot to mention that Elaine played her idol. Unnecessary in her case, since she wasn’t a target, but she had no way to guarantee that, and I can’t really fault her for being cautious. Now, on to the episode proper.

You would think, given that pretty much everyone was done with Karishma, that things would be fairly chill following the past Tribal Council. You forget, however, that Tommy has been replaced with an evil doppelgänger, who is none too pleased with only finding out about the votes coming his way at Tribal Council itself. Naturally, his anger is directed at Noura, since she seemed to be in on the plan. Even Tommy’s natural diplomacy can’t hide the rage in his voice. This, naturally, increases Noura’s rage, and she goes to take her revenge on Dean. She pulls from the Holly Hoffman (“Survivor Nicaragua”) school and goes for his shoes. She says she’s going to put them on the tribe sign, which I initially think is just a height thing, but then she mentions that this is where they always put an article of clothing from the people who’ve been voted out. I’d like to talk about the ominous yet subtle threat this poses to Dean, or Noura’s great “Soul/Sole” pun, but I can’t because I’m too busy being pissed that THIS IS THE FIRST TIME WE’RE HEARING ABOUT THIS TRADITION! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THIS SHOW? Seriously, this is a great little slice of life that both humanizes and connects us with the cast, and is a unique feature we would get only on this season, yet we’re only just now hearing about it! Man, this show really has its priorities screwed up this season. And believe it or not, this is not the last time I’m going to say that about this episode.

Even if I had avoided the “Matt’s Mess-Up” section, Elaine would have made sure it was mentioned anyway, as she and Dean get up to go idol hunting. I’m all ready to blast this cast for sleeping in when there’s idols in them thar hills, but fortunately Janet is here to prove me wrong. She shakes Tommy awake, and the two pairs go idol hunting. Since Tommy or Janet finding the idol would be the outcome that removes the most tension from the moment, naturally Janet finds the idol and shows it to Tommy. Not that she gets away scot-free, though. Dean and Elaine note that Janet appears to be showing Tommy something, and Tommy is looking down, leading them to correctly conclude that Janet found the idol. I’d normally complain about Tommy and Janet not doing a 360 to check to see if they’re being watched, yet we’re clearly shown that Tommy did. Chalk one up to Dean and Elaine’s spying skills, I guess.

Coming back from commercial, we see that Elaine has now developed plan B to avoid going home, now that an idol seems out of the question. She goes back to the “women’s alliance” well by cozying up to Lauren, but surprisingly is the first person to actually try and convince Lauren to turn against Tommy. Not Missy’s plan of voting Tommy out independently, and then win Lauren’s loyalty, but to actually appeal to Lauren’s strategic nature. And Elaine actually has kind of a point, saying that nobody wants Lauren at the end, and that Dean will supplant her. It helps that Elaine doesn’t put the focus so much on getting out Tommy (a harder sell) as she does getting out Dean. Lauren discusses this with Tommy, who I have to say is kind of condescending here, comparing her to a jealous girlfriend. He can’t pretend that Dean hasn’t moved up, since he’s grateful to Dean, but spins a good lie that he’s replaced Janet, not her. Lauren seems to buy it, but we then see that this is another case of self-fulfilling prophecy. Just as talk of a women’s alliance can cause one to form where there was none before (see “Survivor Kaoh Rong”), so too can talk of a men’s alliance cause one to form. Tommy talks about how he, Dean, and Dan have a pact to the end, since Tommy can beat both of them, and how they need to get rid of Lauren. Funnily enough, while this is not the first alliance to be nothing but men, it IS the first one to be referred to as a “Men’s Alliance”.

Talking about how much Tommy likes Dean now can only lead up to something making Dean look terrible. Sure enough, a boat comes and informs the group that a random person needs to be sent to Island of the Idols. Guess who that random person is!

Fittingly for the last individual visit to Island of the Idols, Dean’s is a combination of both the humiliation type and the strategy type. We start off, fittingly for Dean, with the humiliation angle, as he talks about his “brilliant” move of playing the fake Legacy Advantage, instead of his REAL fake legacy advantage. This should be hilarious, but here’s where Rob and Sandra basically being producers hurts them. Look, Dean seems like a nice guy, but this is a dumb move on his part, and he should be HUMILIATED for it. Sandra should be talking about his “stupid ass”. Rob should be coming up with some crazy, working-class metaphor for what Dean’s trying to pull. But instead, they can’t give away that info, and just keep a straight face. Way to cut the teeth out of two of the best snarkers in the history of the game, show! Our lesson is much better, though with a caveat I’ll get to in a second. Rob and Sandra’s lesson is about jury management, something new, relevant to the game, and that Dean desperately needs. He’s been getting the goober edit for most of the season, and if that’s what we’re seeing, most likely that’s what the jury is seeing. But what they say about winning over the jury, I don’t get. They talk about the need to have victories in front of the jury, and about making a coherent narrative. A bit of an oversimplification, and leans in a bit too much into modern “Survivor” and its penchant for “BIG MOVEZ!”, but nothing too egregious. But it’s Sandra saying “The jury always wants to vote for the player who played the best.” that gets to me. Um, Sandra, more often than not it’s the jury voting for who they like the most, or at a minimum dislike the least, the leads to someone winning, game or no game. Rob I can understand having the philosophy of “the best player winning”, since that’s how he won “Survivor Redemption Island” but Sandra, BOTH OF YOUR WINS WERE DUE TO BEING AGAINST DISLIKED PLAYERS! DID YOU JUST FORGET THAT OR SOMETHING? Again, I think this is the producer hat coming on, but all this does is reaffirm that the pair are far more interesting as players than as producers.

In the vein of a move to impress the jury, Rob offers Dean the challenge of a “Coin Flip”. It’s about as much of a challenge as the “Pull rocks from a bag” family challenge on “Survivor Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers”. He loses, he loses his vote. He wins, he gets his choice of an extra vote, an idol nullifier, or a hidden immunity idol good for one vote, and must be played on someone else. This is a toughie. On the one hand, if people are truthful, Dean really doesn’t have much to lose, even if he can’t vote. On the other, as he saw with Kellee, there’s no guarantee of loyalty after being saved, so perhaps better not to risk it with so few numbers, on something you have no control over. Plus, I don’t buy Rob’s comment that the jury will respect Dean risking everything in his game on a coin flip. Using an advantage correctly, I could get behind. But pulling that big a risk on something you have no control over? I wouldn’t respect that, and I don’t think the jury will either. It’s a moot point though, as Dean wins. He correctly picks the idol nullifier as the most powerful of the three, and the most useful to him, given his knowledge about Janet’s idol. He lies back at camp, both about having the idol nullifier and about losing his vote. The first part I get. No need to put up the hackles of someone you might want to use it on. But why lie about losing? Granted, it makes you less of a threat, but also means people won’t want to strategize with you. Dean corrects this by informing Dan, Tommy, and Lauren about what really went down, but this seems like it would backfire to me as well. After all, now you’ve proven to your allies that you lied to them, and are now more of a threat than you were previously. Sure enough, Tommy now says that Dean is maybe not as sure a bet as he thought, and may need to be eliminated. Not sure I buy his logic 100%, but I can see where he’s coming from.

CHALLENGE TIME! And yes despite overall being a “generic obstacles with puzzle at the end” challenge, this one gets my seal of approval for two reasons: One, it features dizzy people, which is always a riot, and two, the puzzle is quite creative. It’s another word puzzle, which Eliane is mad at, but rather than individual cubes, the letters are now basically on Tetris blocks, which have to be stacked to make the phrase “This game will mess with your mind”. Creative, challenging, and even the puzzle phrase is kind of clever. Hey, the challenges have been really repetitive of late, so I’ll take what I can get.

With this sort of challenge it all comes down to the puzzle. Dean wins, though since no one else seemed to make actual words (at least ones that related to the show; Dan’s “Sith” was amusing), it’s not too surprising. Good for him, but way to cut the tension, show! Since Lauren’s been presented as the only viable target, she’s obviously going to be the next to go. Sure, Tommy brings up Elaine to the group as a whole, which makes sense. Elaine is the only threat left bigger than Lauren. But soon enough, we’ll get a confessional from Tommy saying that they need to go after Lauren. Yep, there he goes talking about throwing a vote on… Noura? Wow, this really is Evil Tommy. That’s a bona fide grudge and everything. Apart from that, there’s really no reason to go for Noura. Sure, she’s just the decoy vote, and Elaine is the main target, but what happened to Lauren? Surely she’d be a prime decoy vote.

Oh well, at least it creates a bit more tension. Elaine and Lauren realize that if Dan is voting for Noura, they can use their votes plus Janet to get her out, sparing the pair of them. A great plan for Elaine, bad for anyone else. Jumping into Tribal Council shows us why. Everyone naturally talks about how tough the game is now they’re down to the finals, but the main story of the night is Elaine. She again bemoans her bad luck, and gets a big speech about how she keeps on fighting until her torch is snuffed, and gets a lot of love from the players as a result. A very touching moment that makes her WAY too dangerous to keep around. The jury loves her. Let her get anywhere near, and you’re screwed. Elaine makes the best argument she can, suggesting she be kept around as basically a shield, an alternate target so no one looks too closely at you. Sort of what Spencer was to Tony on “Survivor Cagayan”. And that’s a good argument… for when you’ve got a bunch of people left. Even not knowing what happens at the end of this episode, you’ve got at most three votes after this one left, and Elaine is no slouch in challenges. She could easily win her way to the end, and swipe that million-dollar check that’s so rightfully yours. I’m not saying Elaine has a better argument to make at this juncture, but I am saying that her best argument falls kind of flat.

In keeping with the overall pattern of this season, Elaine goes home. She is not sent out with the awesome music, but I’m not sad about that. After how heartfelt the Tribal Council was, it would have been inappropriate. I am sorry that Elaine is gone, however. Smart move though it may have been, Elaine was that rare combination of good character and good strategist that this show so richly needs. She was a bright spot in a season that gets darker and darker still, and she will be sorely missed, particularly over Noura, who just doesn’t do it for me. I look forward to Elaine’s inevitable return, unless the show gets cancelled before they get the chance.

But now, you may be noticing that this blog is not ending despite having reached its natural endpoint, just as viewers noticed that she show was not going to credits despite the vote-out having taken place. We skip the fallout from Tribal Council and cut to the next day, where Jeff Probst is walking to camp. Sadly, this is not some new twist in the game, but an old plotline rearing it’s ugly head. There, shoved into the last minute or so of the show, is the reveal that Dan has been removed from the game, and will not be allowed to sit on the jury. Tommy bemoans in confessional how this screws up his game, and we go out on a card saying that Dan was removed for being inappropriate with a producer.

Allow me a second here to go find my “MORONS” megaphone. It may be a little dusty from “Survivor One World” but I’m sure it’s around somewhere. Ah, there it is. Now, if I may…

WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THIS SHOW? OH, SO IF A PLAYER COMPLAINS ABOUT SOMEONE TOUCHING THEM INAPPROPRIATELY, THEY GET OFF WITH A “WARNING” THAT CONVEYS NOTHING, BUT AS SOON AS IT HAPPENS TO A PRODUCER, THE PLAYER HAS TO GO? WHAT THE HELL KIND OF STANDARD IS THAT? DO THEY THINK WE’RE THAT STUPID? THAT WE WON’T NOTICE? ARE WE SOME KIND OF JOKE TO YOU? Now, I already hear the counterargument: “Well, Dan received a warning, and this was his last strike after the warning.” To that, I say, “THEN WHY THE HELL DIDN’T HE GET A WARNING THE FIRST TIME, AND WHY THE HELL DIDN’T HIS SECOND VIOLATION WITH KELLEE RESULT IN THIS? I swear, I’m even more pissed off now than I was at the Kellee boot with all this. Yes, production handled that poorly, but this just feels like them doubling down on the whole fiasco. Not only did their negligence allow this to happen again (true, they’re not responsible for Dan’s actions, but they are responsible for the safety of their cast, and Dan’s continued presence jeopardized that), but it comes across as them being held to a different standard than the cast, which is just wrong on so many levels. But the real kicker here for me is that, for all the flaws of Kellee’s boot, the show at least showed us what happened, and how and why it went wrong. They were up front about the incident. By both not showing us any of the leadup and sticking it at the end of the episode, it feels like they were trying to sweep this unpleasantness under the rug, which is the complete wrong move. Show it, own up to it, and explain what you’re going to do to prevent it in the future. For as uncomfortable as it is, lay it bare to show how wrong it is. Now, they say the incident happened off-camera, but you’ve already had the producer’s voice in the show. Why not bring the producer on to explain what happened? And if, for some dumb reason, that’s not possible, at least have more buildup than this. Have the players talk about Dan being taken away, and what they think’s going on. Don’t just shove this at the end of the episode like it’s nothing. Because it’s not.

Ugh, this episode was never going to get a rave review from me. True, it’s hardly the worst this show has produced, and I would even say is overall a pretty good episode of the season for how it bookends some plot lines (the talk of gendered alliances), and some nice human moments (the sign of lost souls), but is overall lost in the quagmire of pointless strategizing and a continued emphasis on the philosophy of “You need idols and advantages to win this game.” But the whole Dan thing coming back, and being so poorly handled, just makes me sick, and puts this episode down at the bottom of the season, along with the OTHER Dan is a creep episode. Still, if there’s one silver lining, his elimination this episode means I only have to rank five people left in who’s most to least likely to win. Speaking of which…

LAUREN-My top spot is always reserved for the person who “If they get to the end, they win.”, and this year that title goes to Lauren. She and Tommy have both played stellar social games, but Lauren also has an immunity win and higher visibility in her corner. Tommy’s a behind-the-scenes kind of guy, which is great for getting stuff done, less good for actually winning the game. With these victories, Lauren makes it a slam dunk for her to win if she gets to the end, but harder for her to actually do so.

TOMMY-Like I said, a stellar social game, but not many firm victories. If he eliminates Lauren, that’s a feather in his cap, and gets back any votes Lauren might siphon off of him. He says he’s down and out with Dan gone, but with everyone else recognizing Lauren’s threat level, I think he’s still got a decent shot. He beats anybody but her, and since everyone likes him, I don’t see them targeting him.

JANET-While not as social as Lauren or Tommy, Janet’s just likable in her own right. She is who she is, and won’t compromise that for anything. I get the feeling, if she gets to the end, the jury will respect that. Add to that some good plays when she was swapped to Lairo (the Tom boot is a particular feather in her cap), and I think Janet’s got a decent shot. It’s a testament to how good Tommy and Lauren’s social games are that they’re the only thing preventing a guaranteed win for Janet.

DEAN-Dean’s not out of the competition yet, but he’s got an uphill battle if he wants to win. True, he’s been the underdog with no real alliance, and so hasn’t pissed off anybody, plus is the last remaining Lairo. But tell me, what victories can Dean point to? Every move he’s made for himself has pretty much made him look like a goober, to the point that he can’t be taken seriously. True, he did play Kellee’s idol correctly, but Kellee can confirm that that move was more her than him, leading to that not really being a victory for Dean. He has a much better shot if he plays that idol nullifier correctly, but without that, I don’t see a Dean victory in the cards.

NOURA-No one respects Noura. No one understands Noura, and that includes Noura. This jury will not reward a crazy game. You want her in the end with you.

A quick heads-up: I stupidly forgot to ask for the day following the finale off. I’ll still watch it live, but if I have to work the next day, I just won’t have time to blog about it immediately afterwards. I promise, as always, not to get any other opinions until I blog, but it won’t be out until like Thursday or Friday instead of Wednesday night. Sorry for any inconvenience, but this doesn’t pay the bills for me.

Man, this show really has its priorities screwed up this season.

-Matt

Title Credit to Jean Storrs.

Idol Speculation: “Survivor Island of the Idols” Episode 11: Mostly Pointless

Here, we see the elusive “Live Tribal” in its natural habitat. Claimed sightings of this beast are common, but rarely are they correct identifications. While this one does seem confirmed by scientists, we also see the dangers this beast can pose to the ecosystem: Making everything pointless.

Having dispensed with a recap of previous episodes, the show now goes on a cutting spree, and cuts the very thing it replaced the recap with. Hence, we start things off at our reward challenge. As advertised, it’s the loved ones challenge, which is as nice and heartwarming as one would expect. There’s no cringe-worthy moments as the family members are introduced (but just you wait, the cringe is right around the corner), so we’ll just touch on a couple that either merit commentary or are particularly heartwarming. Janet’s husband comes out in a pink shirt, indicating that the family is having a girl. Nice bit of news, and a creative way for a gender reveal without being overblown. Dan has his 13-year-old son come on, which is a nice touch, since we don’t see it that often. However, I take issue with Probst calling him “The youngest person ever on ‘Survivor’.” Even leaving aside the various young kids you’ve given supplies to, have you perhaps forgotten Boston, the son of Shane Powers from “Survivor Exile Island”? He was on the show just as much, if not more than Dan’s son, and was also 13 years old at the time. I’m sure that Dan’s son probably wins out by a matter of months, but it’s the principle of the thing! I will not have “Survivor Exile Island” erased from continuity, dammit! It’s not “Survivor Edge of Extinction”! The winner for “Most Heartwarming Reunion”, though, goes to Eliane and her partner. It’s not as tearful as some others, but the pair clearly share a bond, and Elaine gets a good talk about how she wasn’t sure her partner’s children would accept their union. What goes unsaid, but also worth mentioning, is the bravery of them being a lesbian couple in Kentucky. We don’t get a confessional about it, but Kentucky is not the most LGBT friendly place on Earth, and now your relationship is being laid bare on national TV. That takes some guts, and sends a good message, but doesn’t drive it into the ground unnecessarily. It just lets a nice moment be, without needing to draw attention to “HEY! LOOK AT THE PROGRESSIVE THING WE’RE DOING!” Enjoy the compliment, show. It’s one of the few you’ll be getting tonight.

Our challenge is a generic obstacle course run in pairs. The challenge itself is not worth talking about, but I’ll note that our pairs are Dan and Noura, Dean and Elaine, Tommy and Janet, and Lauren and Karishma. Remember when I said that the show was doing a good job of not patting itself on the back unnecessarily? Yeah, throw that out the window. You see, Noura’s sister has some vision problems, and so can’t really see the challenge from the family gallery. As such, the show does the proper thing, and has her stand next to Probst so she can cheer appropriately with the rest of the family members. The trouble is that Probst needs to keep drawing attention to this fact, like it’s some big feat for the show to be fair to someone with vision trouble. It’s not like this is a common courtesy thing that you should have been doing regardless, right? At most, maybe mentioning it once as an explanation to the audience would have been appropriate. With how much Probst emphasizes it, it just feels forced and fake, like the show did this more to pat themselves on the back than to be fair to everyone. On a season that doesn’t need a more sickening taste in one’s mouth, this is just unfortunate.

I’d favor either Tommy and Janet or Dean and Eliane to win this challenge, but everyone manages to get to the last leg together, since it involves throwing a single sandbag onto a small platform (gee, haven’t seen that on “Survivor” before!). Tommy and Janet pull it out, though, only to be given the schmuck bait that is the family reward challenge. They get picnics with their loved ones, but now get to pick two more people to come with. Janet goes first, picking Dan. Now, despite me giving these two some flak, Dan is not the worst choice. With how high emotions run with this particular challenge, more than with any other reward challenge, you NEED to pick the swing votes to come along, lest they get mad and turn on you. While I wouldn’t describe Dan as a “swing vote” he has been shown to hold a grudge, so I could see the logic in picking him. What I CAN”T see is Tommy’s logic in picking Lauren. This is the LAST person Tommy should be picking. Everyone knows they’re together, and emphasizing that fact doesn’t help matters. Plus, if Lauren’s already loyal to you, you don’t need to earn that loyalty further. And perhaps you’ve forgotten how much Elaine’s been saving your butt in the past couple of episodes? Didn’t think maybe you could pay her back, while still keeping her loyal yet not taking her to the end? Noura, as we’ll soon see, would also have been a wise choice, but regardless, Tommy did a dumb.

Karishma’s on the warpath after the challenge, but before we get into that, we have to see our players and loved ones enjoying themselves. Nothing much comes of this, but they do scoff at the people they left back at camp. Lauren especially is dismissive of their prospects, stating that they have Noura wrapped around their fingers, and the group will in no way come together to make a plan to get one of that foursome out. At first, it seems like she might actually be right, since Noura is so busy ranting about how upset she is to be the only original Vokai left out of the reward that they simply won’t have time to strategize. However, our remaining players are rewarded for listening to Noura’s rant by having her declare loyalty to all of them. Everyone agrees that this foursome is in control, and needs to be broken up. Even Dean finally seems to be coming out of his “bro-down” reverie, and acknowledging that he needs a different strategy if he wants to get farther in the game. And while they celebrate, I have to take a moment to talk about what this says about Tribe dynamics.

Up until this point, the season’s done a good job of keeping the exact members of the dominant alliance under wraps. The Tommy/Lauren bond was tough to keep quiet, but exactly who else was in the majority was hard to pin down. This episode tells us that the core includes Janet and Dan, which would be fine if that made any sense. The Dan part is understandable, but where did Janet come from? Only a few episodes ago, she seemed to be the primary target of Tommy and Lauren. Now she’s with them? Either this is some next-level strategy we mere mortals cannot comprehend, or the show just purposefully lied to us. Kudos to them if they did, since they did it masterfully, but the fact still remains that this feels kind of cheap, especially since, for all the talk about how dynamic the alliances on this season are, it seems to be boiling down to “Original Lairo versus Original Vokai”. Because we’ve never seen that before. Frankly, the whole thing feels like a con. A well-made con, but a con nonetheless, and it retroactively sours me on the season somewhat. Because we didn’t have enough of that already.

Back to our strategizing four, they quickly realize that four is not enough, and so either need to pull in one more person or find an idol. Sadly, the go with the less-intriguing option “B”, leading Elaine to find an idol for the group’s use. They collectively agree to go for Lauren, since she’s the biggest threat in terms of the jury. Personally, despite his dumb move earlier, I’d say this is a feather in Tommy’s cap. Both he and Lauren have been living and dying by their social games, but the fact that Tommy’s well-liked, yet also not talked about as a threat, means, to my mind, he’s playing better than Lauren. Granted, this also means Tommy needs to get rid of Lauren before the end, lest she sweep up votes he could otherwise claim at Final Tribal Council, but still, good on him.

Our immunity challenge is, you guessed it, another endurance challenge, in this case the one involving holding a ball against a pole with a rolling pin. It’s really not worth mentioning, save for Lauren’s emotional fight. The woman was literally CRYING trying to win, so it was nice to see her effort rewarded, especially since Elaine is no pushover in this department either. That said, since Lauren was the ONLY target presented to us prior to the immunity challenge, it pretty much makes the first half of the episode POINTLESS!

Don’t worry, though, our next half isn’t much better. With Lauren no longer available, the new foursome switch to plan “B”. In this case, plan “B” is Tommy, since he’s “Lauren’s right-hand man”. I’d personally say it’s because he’s a major social threat, but they’re right for the wrong reasons. Can’t blame them too much. Things look even better for them when it turns out the other four are SO convinced of their superiority that they’re even going to split the vote between Elaine and Karishma. Karishma I get. If you’re not going to use her for her vote, all she’s good for is as a number for the other side, so why not get rid of her. But Eliane? You don’t know she has an idol, and she’s worked with you in the past. I’d have said get rid of Dean before her. Not targeting Dean works in their favor in the end, though, as Dean is our weak link this time. Now, some might say that Noura’s the weak link, but her craziness is well-established at this point. Dean’s the one who doubts, which seems somewhat justified as we see Noura tying herself up in knots trying to figure out the best move based on the possibilities. This is what she should be doing, of course, but she’s doing it in such a convoluted way that she’s just making herself more paranoid than necessary. Add onto that at least a bit of skepticism from the other four, and despite the relative pointlessness of the episode so far, we’ve still got some enjoyable misdirection.

Ah, but then we see exactly WHY nothing of consequence could happen before Tribal Council: Everything of consequence happens AT Tribal Council! Yes, while I think both fans and the show are too quick to call “Live Tribal” these days, I do think this is one case where things legitimately got shaken up at Tribal Council. We’re barely two “Generic Probst Questions” into the proceedings when Dean whispers to Tommy that his name’s come up, but that he (Dean) won’t go for it. At the time, I wasn’t sure if this was a double-bluff by Dean to look better towards Tommy on the jury, or if Dean was legitimately trying to blow up a plan that would benefit him. Having now seen the entirety of Tribal Council, I favor the latter explanation. From what little we’ve seen of Dean’s strategy, he’s been big on the physical threats teaming up, and I think he sees Tommy as a shield he doesn’t want to get rid of just yet, even though they’re all close to the end. That said, as Dean himself mentioned earlier, however bad he wants it, I don’t think it’s going to happen. As Dean demonstrated with Kellee, one saved vote does not buy loyalty. If the foursome left out of the reward are offering you a better deal, take it. Fortunately for Dean, he’s spared any backlash since people immediately turn to Noura to find out if she flipped. Since this is Noura, she goes off, and starts spilling the beans on everything. Now, a little bit of honesty coupled with a lie (“Yeah, they approached me, and I debated it, but I wasn’t going to do it.”) played off with skill might have helped Noura. I’m not sure she had the skill to do it well, but it would have been an attempt. But no, she spills everything, including the presence of Elaine’s idol, thereby killing any hope the foursome left out of the reward had of coming together. Noura caps off the performance by saying that Dean, not her, started this. Technically true, but Noura, when you make such a spectacle of yourself, and make the whole procedure worse for everyone, you might as well have.

I’ll spare you a blow-by-blow (both out of me being tired, and it needing to be experienced for oneself), but this is some great chaos. Unlike the chaos of, say “Survivor Game Changers”, we can follow this, but still have the pandemonium of lies being flung about, and people questioning people. Even Boston Rob and Sandra get some good commentary in, ripping Noura a new one for lying so poorly. This may be the first time I’m actually glad they’re at Tribal Council.

You may have noticed that I skipped over the smart mover for everyone. I’ve hinted at it, but not talked about it explicitly. That’s because, like this episode, none of it matters as of Tribal Council. Little strategizing happens, and what there was gets thrown off the crazy train. Noura seems to be the consensus boot, and at this point, I can’t really argue with it. Sure, she’s easy to beat in the end, but she’s now crossed to the point where she’s going full Keith Nale (“Survivor San Juan del Sur”) and giving away secrets she shouldn’t be giving away. This makes her a liability to everyone, a good consensus boot, and for the group that has been in power, keeps them in power.

And yet they go for Karishma. Not the worst target, but as I just laid out, I think not the best one either. On top of that, I’m sorry to see Karishma go. She was never my favorite player, but there was something intriguing about the way she just kept hanging on, despite constantly being the target. Much more fascinating than Noura’s general kookiness, in my opinion.

The last ten minutes of this episode were great! I just wish the first fifty justified them. Don’t get me wrong, this was a fantastic finale to the episode, probably the best of the season so far. Hell, it left Probst speechless. That in itself is a feat. But most of the rest of it just didn’t matter, because it all happened at Tribal Council. We could have had a ten-minute episode, and gotten just as much out of it. That makes for a real mixed bag. Next week promises some better intrigue. Hopefully it delivers.

-Matt

Title Credit to Jean Storrs.