Idol Speculation: Survivor 41 Episode 6: Ish

Kind of a bland title, I know.  To be sure, not as eloquent or punny as I usually am.  But really, it’s the only word that comes to mind when I think of this episode.  Was it fun?  Ish.  Was there good mystery?  Ish.  Are the new twists cool?  Ish.  Just Ish all around.  Perhaps you should call me Ish-mael (Ha!  Knew I could work in a pun somehow!)

We start off the episode proper (after the logo of this season is shown burning in a fire, where it belongs) at Ua, where we get a little more insight from Shan into why she chose to keep Ricard over Shan.  Basically, while she did like Genie, she felt her heart was “too open”, and wanted Ricard around to ring in her nicer tendencies.  From what we’ve seen, I’m not sure she really needed anyone to help her play a cutthroat game, but hey, she knows herself better than I do.  

Unfortunately, Shan soon begins to realize that keeping Ricard may have been a mistake as well.  Ricard is STILL making a big deal out of holding onto the extra vote, even into the night after the Tribal Council he was concerned about.  Look, I sympathized with Ricard last episode, but he’s really wearing that argument thin.  I can understand him being wary after JD’s exit, but what else can Shan do to prove she’s with you at this point?  Besides, you did promise to give it back.  You really going to risk alienating your closest ally over a simple extra vote?  Ricard tries to argue that if they’re a pair, it shouldn’t matter who has what advantage, but that argument could be turned right back on him, and Shan, I would say, has more “right” to hold the advantage, given that she did the legwork of getting it.  Even when Ricard does cave and give it back, he keeps bringing it up like a sore spot, and only making Shan question, more and more, whether she made the right decision.  

Over at Yase, they get tree mail confirming that a merge is coming, telling them their rewards and personal belongings will be coming with them.  Way to bury the lead, show.  You spend all your “Next Time On…” segment from last episode building up whether or not this is a merge, and just drop that news on us in the first five minutes.  

And yes, I know press releases spoiled it as well.  Those press releases were dumb as well, but this blog is about the episode, not the hype surrounding it.  

Luvu gets the same message, and we head to our challenge… Hi Probst!  Haven’t seen you talking directly to the camera in a while!  Haven’t missed it either.  Eh, for all that I complain, this Probst interlude is pretty harmless.  Hyping us up for this “merge twist” without going into too many details.  It was cool to see a bit of the camera in the shot, I will admit, and Probst did take the time to say “Come on in!” this time.  Just unnecessary, not cringe-y.  

Thus, we get to our big twist: This is a merge, but first you’ll divide into two teams of five, with two people sitting out.  My heart sinks, as I fear we’re going back to the well that is “Survivor Fiji”, and doing the “Divided Merge Tribal Council Twist” from that season.  Longtime readers of mine know this already, but this twist is one of my most hated ever, and pretty much the main reason Fiji remained at the bottom of my season ranking list for so long.  A patently unfair twist that, combined with leading questions from Probst, screwed over Michelle Yi.  Something that should never be repeated, like most of “Survivor Fiji”.  Except for the diversity of the cast, and also Yau-Man.  Those things can repeat.  

Thankfully, despite many dumb decisions even in this season, the show is not THAT dumb.  No, instead, the winners get a merge feast, and are immune at the first Tribal Council.  The losers go back to camp with nothing but rice, and are vulnerable.  We’ll get to what happens with the sit-outs later, as Probst himself does not tell us until later.  This I can get behind a bit more.  Perhaps a bit of a pointless shuffle, but at least the show is trying something different, and something not as unfair as the aforementioned hated twist.  

The challenge itself?  Actually pretty decent.  Teams work to dig up a giant ball, which they roll across obstacles to retrieve keys.  Climb up a few walls to a slide puzzle for the phrase “Merge Feast”.  Gets a bit generic once the ball is removed, but giant balls are a “Survivor” staple I can get behind, and digging them up makes for a nice change of pace beyond just rolling them or holding them steady.  That said, I was disappointed neither tribe hit upon the hack of just digging up one side of the ball to make a ramp.  

Our teams, as mentioned, are randomly divided, with our sitouts being Naseer and Erika.  Our Yellow Team consists of Xander, Liana, Tiffany, Heather, and Shan, while our Blue Team consists of Danny, Deshawn, Ricard, Sydney, and Evvie.  Think those might be just a BIT lopsided there.  

Sure enough, our Blue Team wins it, but not before Probst gets his moment of inspiration.  The Yellow Team, exhausted, is barely able to get up the last wall, but manages it.  We see the determination in Liana’s eyes, hear their encouragement to one another, and it is inspiring.  Shame Probst has to ruin it by talking over the whole damn thing.  WE GET IT!  THEY’RE TOUGH!  WE CAN SEE THAT!  SHOW, DON’T TELL!

Next, we get a couple of reveals.  First, this merge is a lovely red color buff, which I can get behind!  Moreover, however, the winning team gets to bring one person to the “merge” with them (I use quotes because, although everyone has made the merge, only those who won get the buff now), and they are also immune.  The Blue Team makes a show of picking someone, with Danny commenting that they ended up doing Rock-Paper-Scissors.  Nice call back to the first episode.  That said, even though he insists it was true later, I’m not sure I buy that.  You see, they pick Naseer, which is the best move for the team that is majority Luvu, and wants Erika out.  Best not to give the person you want out immunity.  Granted, Erika now KNOWS she’s on the bottom, being sent to Exile Island for two days to fend for herself.  Plus, as we’ll see, this move may ultimately screw those people, but they have no way of knowing that at the time.  

At our feast, everyone expresses their excitement to have made the merge, Evvie in particular.  That said, game talk soon resumes, courtesy of who else but Ricard?  He asks Deshawn if they liked Erika, which Deshawn confirms, though this quickly leads Danny into his old saw about a “women’s alliance”.  Yeah, we’re DEFINITELY in a new era of “Survivor” if that tired, sexist old line is coming back.  

Erika, meanwhile, finally gets her day in the limelight.  She notes that she’s not particularly good in the outdoors, and so does not want to be on Exile Island.  Still, she puts a brave face on it, and uses her time trying to build a fire talking about the hardships her family had when she was growing up in Canada.  As with most of these flashbacks, it’s a nice and touching moment that really helps us connect with the cast.  Nothing more or less to it than that.  Just a nice little scene.

Our losing team confers after the challenge, with Shan making her first true mistake of the season.  True, she’s made some questionable moves this season. I’ve disagreed with a few of them myself.  But this is the first one that’s truly, blatantly “What were you thinking?” territory, that to me takes it from “bad move” to full-blown “mistake”.  Shan asks about Liana’s advantage (which she thinks is just an extra vote) RIGHT IN FRONT OF TIFFANY!  HOW IS THIS IN ANY WAY A GOOD IDEA?  Look, Shan has been amazing so far this season.  I criticize because I want to see her do well.  On this season that has been filmed and over for several months now.  

Anyway, Liana fills Shan in on the advantage, but then has to fill in Tiffany as well.  Tiffany, understandably, is not happy about being left out, now questioning where she stands in the alliance.  She does a bad job hiding it as well, since Liana is now uncertain as well.  Adding to the complexity, the winning team now rejoins the losing team, and more discussions take place.  Xander buddies up to Naseer, wanting the challenge threats to stick together.  Xander says this new merge is an opportunity for his team to band together, and take out everyone else.  This is immediately undercut by his own team wanting him gone, with Liana and Shan debating whether to steal his idol or Naseer’s idol.  Cross-tribe alliances also begin to form, as Shan, Liana, Danny, and Deshawn all agree to stick together over their shared racial background.  Interesting options.  We’ll see where they land.  

Meanwhile, Erika talks about how the isolation and depravation may be making her hallucinate.  No, she is not setting up for yet ANOTHER idol activation phrase, but merely expressing surprise at Probst showing up on Exile Island to greet her.  Yes, this is the heralding of yet ANOTHER new twist.  Basically, Erika has been made a Time Lord, or whatever time-travel reference you would care to make.  She is now effectively a part of the yellow team, and can either keep them (and by extension herself) vulnerable, or else change the outcome to make her and her team safe.  This has the potential to be an interesting dilemma, and I like that Erika wins by effectively being left out.  Sort of like how the first challenge on “King of the Nerds” would play out, and as I like that show, I’m ok with that part of it.  

Unfortunately, this twist ultimately falls a bit flat for me.  The best dilemmas are true, well, dilemmas, with no one option being the obvious correct choice.  Here, Erika has the choice between leaving herself vulnerable, while keeping the people who rejected her safe, or saving her safe and leaving those who rejected her vulnerable.  Not really much of a choice.  Really, for this to be an intriguing debate, Erika needed to be vulnerable either way, and basically pick which group she thought would be more likely to keep her safe.  

Evidently the show thinks this is a major debate, though, as this is where we end.  Yep, it’s the rare “Survivor” cliffhanger, not often seen these days!  It’s shown up a few times in the past, such as before the Outcast Tribal Council on “Survivor Pearl Islands”, and at the fire-making challenge on “Survivor Exile Island”.  Both events more tense than this one, but hey, the episode needs to be split somewhere.  And I am glad they’re splitting this episode.  All this would have been too much to take in in just a single episode.  

Perhaps that’s why this episode is so hard to judge: It does feel like half an episode.  Again, not sure what they could have done different, but it feels like this episode was the instruction manual to the next episode, when exciting things happen.  Still, nothing happened to piss me off, so I guess this one becomes a win in my book.  Hopefully next week can build on the decent foundation.  

-Matt

Title Credit to Jean Storrs.  

Idol Speculation: “Survivor 41” Episode 5: The Little Mermaid

Exciting new tribe dynamics!  Engaging strategy and misdirection!  Clarification on rules!  A new advantage that doesn’t suck!  And of course, I choose to focus on one throwaway line that had absolutely no bearing on the episode for my title!  Just the kind of focus you’d expect from “Idol Speculation”, my knee-jerk opinion that everyone is entitled to!  

We start off with the Poor Unfortunate Souls at Ua, who are making the best of a bad situation.  Though down to three, they remain upbeat in the bond of surviving so many Tribals together.  That said, Genie has no bones about where she is, recognizing that Ricard and Shan are probably aligned, and so seeks to find the idol that Brad had with him when he was voted out.  At first, she makes what seems the questionable choice to tell Ricard and Shan about this, but considering her situation, it makes sense.  After all, if she finds it and it doesn’t get activated, she’s gone like she would have been without it.  But, if it DOES get activated, letting the tribe know means that you can still engender some loyalty from your fellow contestants, and keep everyone happy, rather than burning your idol to save yourself.  

Yes, it all seems to make sense.  Less sensible is Genie, rather than taking the idol and letting Ricard and Shan know afterward, finding it, putting it back, and then running to tell them about it.  The party all agree to wait until they hear someone from Luvu say the phrase before getting their idol for the next challenge, to use for the tribe.  Not a bad plan, if everyone sticks to it.  

The flaw in the plan is that there’s a lot of incentive for people not to stick to it.  Case in point, after Genie heads into the water to search for Les Poissons, Shan decides that having the extra vote is not enough.  As such, she and Ricard concoct a plan to have Shan take the idol, and replace it with a bracelet to fool Genie.  As for getting around saying the phrase without arousing suspicion, they’ll tell Genie they just plan to say it to test if Luvu has theirs or not.  Get the ball rolling.  Reasonable plan, though it does come with the risk of Ricard and Genie teaming up against Shan, or even forcing a tie.  The latter is forestalled by Shan pulling a JD, and giving Ricard the extra vote to hold, to maintain their majority, though at least Shan has a better reason for doing so than JD.  As to the former, only time will tell.  

Oh, by the way, this scene gives us a more thorough read-through of the note, where they FINALLY clarify that the idol expires at the merge if not activated, but you get your vote back.  Sure would have been nice to know when we FIRST found the idol!  You know your idols are too complicated when…

Happy music transitions us to Luvu.  We get our requisite arrogance from Sydney, as she claims to be one of the Daughters of Triton.  On land, however, the men are plotting.  While still wary of Naseer, Danny and Deshawn are becoming concerned about the lack of women being voted out this season.  They suggest to Naseer that they ought to throw a challenge to get rid of one of the women as a result.  Gee, never heard this storyline before.  And still just as problematic as ever!  However, while Naseer is on board with the alliance as a whole (having evidently let go of his early idol hunting grudge), he’s not in favor of throwing a challenge, not wanting to lose the tribe flint.  Understandable.  Unfortunately, while Danny and Deshawn agree to not throw the challenge, both are not happy with Naseer’s reluctance.  Surprisingly, it’s Danny, the challenge thrower from last episode most unhappy with doing so, that is upset at Naseer for this.  Naseer, unfortunately, doesn’t seem to notice the warning signs, though as we’ll soon see, he just may not care.  

Meanwhile, at Yase, Xander is desperate to be Part of Your World, Evvie!  He takes her to the water well, begging to be let in, and pitching a Liana boot.  Evvie does an excellent job of playing along, but of course, we know it’s BS.  Evvie is too close to Liana to be truly considering this.  Sure enough, part of Evvie’s playing along was to lure Xander away so that Liana and Tiffany could enact the tried and true bonding activity of going through Xander’s bag, finding his idol and extra vote, getting the chance to read the instructions for both.  Xander, still attempting to build trust, reveals these things to Tiffany on his own, but makes the mistake of trying to play off when he found certain advantages, which Tiffany of course knows to be a lie.  Xander is named a target, and as such he REALLY needs that idol activated.  

As our challenge is a boring obstacle course ending in a slingshot, it’s really not worth discussing beyond that.  Even our reward (tarps of varying sizes) is not worth discussing, and as per usual, two tribes win immunity.  No, the real show here is the phrases that people need to say to activate their idol.  Ricard gives Shan a softball, describing her as “a vegan going crazy”, which leads her into the broccoli line, which she then compares to an (I’m assuming intentionally) misquoted Xander, who uses the pretense of correcting her to get in his quote.  Unfortunately, Luvu still hasn’t found their idol, so we’ll just have to wait and watch them squirm…

CRASH!  

ME: Oh Christ almighty, this again?!  You know, I ENJOYED not having the wall of my house destroyed twice a year by some random contestant breaking in.  I was really hoping to keep that going.  

NASEER: I’m as confused as a goat on AstroTurf!  

ME: Look, Naseer, brilliant as it was for the editors to hide that you found the idol, surprising us with you answering that, did you REALLY need to come all the way from California, just to say it again?

NASEER: That is Naseer!  

ME: Ok, not dealing with this anymore.  Where’s my nice new Peih-Gee Plays buff?  

(NASEER Exits)

In all seriousness, this is a brilliant bit by the editors, reminiscent of not revealing Gary Hawkins’ idol on “Survivor Guatemala” until the vote.  I applaud this move, and welcome more of it in the future.  So yep, idols are active now.  Congratulations on not voting out Xander when you had the chance, Yase.  Hope that doesn’t come back to bite you in the butt.  

It may very well have a chance to tonight, though.  While this episode was light on pre-challenge content, what it DID give us was quite balanced.  All tribes got some strategy talk, and at least one target named.  Naseer having the idol makes it less likely Luvu goes, in my mind, but it’s still enough to create some tension here.  No tribe’s chances are Under the Sea as yet.  

Fortunately for Yase, Xander’s sharpshooting puts them in first (despite being behind Luvu, and neck and neck with Ua most of the way).  Naseer proves once again to be the anchor for Luvu, as despite Danny actually putting some effort into using the slingshot, only Naseer hits anything.  Ua, meanwhile, feels the pain of getting rid of Brad, and JD not living up to his challenge promise, and Ricard is now left to be the anchor of his tribe.  He gives it a valiant effort.  He even gets the slow-mo of success.  But he just can’t pull it out, and Ua goes back to Tribal Council.  

Not for nothing is this challenge so early in the episode, though!  As the first place finishers, Yase gets to pick one person from Ua, and one from either their tribe or Luvu, to go to “Advantage Island” (I know it’s not named that, but it might as well be called that at this point).  Shan is truly the Belle of the Ball, as she is selected to go, with little reasoning given.  Yes, I know Belle is from “Beauty and the Beast”, but hey, it’s still all Disney in the eyes of pop culture.  Besides, there’s no showmance on this season, so I don’t have a good way to work in every song reference from “The Little Mermaid”.  Don’t see anyone wanting to Kiss the Girl on this season.  

Liana is sent as the other person, as Yase obviously doesn’t want to give Luvu more advantages, making the possibility of sending one of them moot.  Evidently something about the island makes great strategists want to spill their guts, as Shan lays out her entire game plan to Liana as they hike for three hours above the Fathoms Below.  This seems like a poor strategic move…  And it is, but it says something about the bond a shared background can send.  Shan and Liana are both women of color, and while Genie is a woman (and is a woman of color, but ultimately of a different background to Shan), and Ricard is of color, as Shan says there’s something different about having the full shared background that makes one feel secure.  It’s actually a raw, honest scene, and I quite enjoyed it.  Shan also shared more about her background.  Mostly she related the “foster care” story, though she gave us a bit more background this time.  Basically, her mother was a drug user, and they only reconnected in the last five years or so of Shan’s mom’s life.  Again, they use real-life photos to great effect, and the scene tugs at the heart strings.  Dammit, show, you got me again!

Getting back to strategy talk, with so few numbers, and having only just earned her vote back, Shan is reluctant to risk it, and strengthens the bond with Liana by telling her so.  Reasonable move.  Can’t fault it.  As such, Liana gets her advantage, but oddly gets it back at camp, rather than at the next Tribal Council.  Yes, this means we’re NOT playing for an extra vote, but something far more powerful and exciting!  Liana has a new advantage, which allows her, one time, to ask a player if they have an idol or advantage, and they must answer honestly.  If they do, they must give it to her.  If they don’t, Liana is SOL.  

In general, I LOVE this advantage!   Like the best advantages of the past, it relies on social deduction to be the most useful, as you have to have an idea that someone has something, but you have to be REALLY sure.  Plus, you could also use it just to gain information, rather than a full idol or advantage, so it’s got some versatility.  That said, I’m not sure this is the season to implement it.  It’s weird to me to say, but this twist works better with LESS tribe interaction.  Because we’ve had so much chatting between the tribes, it’s a lot easier to know who has an advantage (partly just from gossip, partly from the “three phrases to activate the idol” thing now being common knowledge), and thus requires less deduction.  I think production was relying on people being cagier with their information, but if so, it backfired.  There’s also a lack of clarity on if someone would need to ask about a specific advantage, in the event someone had more than one advantage, but hey, there’s a lot of rules, and this one is clearer than, say, the rules of the hidden immunity idol of this season.  

Before leaving the island, Shan tells Liana that if she’s voted out, it’s because Ricard snaked her, indicating there might be some mistrust in the family.  That said, it seems misplaced, and we soon confirm that Shan is truly in the best seat here.  Ricard DOES talk to Genie about blindsiding Shan, but mostly because he has no other choice.  Ricard even tells us that he’s just doing it keep Genie in the dark.  Genie, like Ricard, is convinced Shan is her number one, and so spills the entire can of beans (shoutout to Clarence Black of “Survivor Africa”) when she and Shan have their one-on-one.  Shan, paranoid, goes to Ricard, and asks for her extra vote back, now that the idol is active.  Ricard, however, has learned from the mistakes of JD, and refuses.  Tensions increase between him and Shan, though Ricard does a good job remaining calm throughout.  He doesn’t give back the advantage, instead promising to give it back post-Tribal, but it leads to at least some tension prior to Tribal.  

Honestly, it’s a good debate.  Both players have been pretty much loyal to Shan throughout, so there’s little leverage there.  Ricard makes a better shield, but also has the potential to betray Shan.  Genie is more loyal, but come the merge, Shan is the more likely target.  Once again, Shan finds herself in a position with no bad options.  On the whole, though, since Ua is destined to be down in numbers come the merge anyway, coupled with Shan being so good at forming bonds, I’m not sure she needs a shield.  Thus, keeping Genie is probably slightly better for her game, though neither move is truly bad.  

We have a very intimate Tribal tonight, in part because of how few people there are, and partly because of how bonded they are.  For all the flaws of this season, it has done a good job, through both text and subtext, of showing us how tight our groupings are, and that works to the season’s strength.  Genie reiterates her loyal, while Ricard, despite mentioning his “strategic prowess”, which could be a threat, reiterates his bond with Shan by noting that they voted together every Tribal so far, while Genie, for all her strengths, has not.  

The whole question for Ua was always “Who was Shan really tight with?”  Everyone seemed to feel Shan was their number one, but who did Shan feel that way about?  Ricard.  The answer is Ricard.  

Genie goes home, and I am sad, though more for the potential than anything.  Genie was a nice character, but sadly not the most memorable in the “Survivor” Pantheon.  Plus, Ricard can be something of a buzzkill at times, so I would have overall preferred he go.  Still like the guy overall, but he’s not living up to my hopes.  

This season, however, continues to make strides.  While lacking in more camp life/social bonding moments, the strategy talk was good, and we ultimately had another well-balanced episode.  Good mystery throughout, intriguing new advantages, an overall satisfying product.  Let us see if the “Not Exactly” Merge next episode can keep things going.  

-Matt

Title Credit to Jean Storrs.  

Idol Speculation: “Survivor 41” Episode 4: Put Your Behind in Your Past

Boy, for a show that claims to like redemption arcs, this season sure is snuffing them out faster than Probst literally snuffing torches.  Voce turning out to be likable?  Poof!  Gone!  Brad actually learning to play more new-school style?  Poof!  Gone!  And now we have the case of JD,  who actually played semi-decently this episode (at least compared to his previous ones), seeming to finally be learning from his mistakes?  Poof!  Gone!

Well, now that I’ve spoiled the episode for you, let us get to discussing it properly.  We actually start immediately following Tribal Council, meaning that there’s probably some drama to be had.  Sure enough, Genie does not take the blindside well, threatening to stop working around camp due to the other players betraying her.  She’s well within her rights to do so, but it’s not a good look.  That said, the other players aren’t much better.  Despite Genie saying she doesn’t want to talk, she basically gets forced into it, always a bad move from the majority.  Shan is really the only one who tries to comfort her or justify things, revealing Brad’s vote steal advantage in the process, pointing out to Genie that this meant Genie was not Brad’s number one.  A reasonable move, but not one that makes what YOU did much better.  Moreover, JD points out, in confessional, the hypocrisy of Shan getting mad at him for keeping a secret advantage when Brad did the same thing.  Shan tries to say that it was “Brad’s thing”, but JD rightly counters that the same was true of his extra vote, which he wants back.  Shan complies, because she probably has very little choice, and JD vows not to make the same mistake again.  

We cut to… A reward challenge?  No, no show.  You’re supposed to give us a new convoluted advantage that we spend all our time explaining instead of getting to what actually interests us in the show!

I kid, I kid.  Yes, it could be argued the reward challenge takes up just as much time as getting a new advantage but A: The reward challenge is simpler and easier to understand, meaning it doesn’t confuse the game like a new advantage, and B: Doesn’t add more advantages to the game, apart from the reward itself.  Speaking of the reward, it’s the return of an oldie but a goodie: The local who comes by and teaches you how to live at camp.  A fun reward from past seasons.  Whether it was Da the Ni-Vanuatu, Paul and Joe of Palau, or everyone’s favorite, Tata the Bushman of “Survivor Caramoan”, it’s always fun to see the locals school the American rubes, and a very important reward on a season like this, with limited supplies.  Second place?  A fish.  Fair enough.  

And the challenge itself?  A returning one, but unusual and fun.  Hailing I believe from “Survivor Millennials vs. Gen-X”, one at a time each member of a team of four hurls a ball onto a rail, then runs through trip wires to try and catch it.  Once all four do, they dig under a beam to an end course, where players must get all balls to land on a narrow platform.  Tricky, and with some fun elements.  Glad to see this return.  

Teams of four mean Luvu must sit two people, meaning for the first time, they must deal with the “Cannot sit out the same people in back to back challenges” debacle.  Fortunately, their picks are sound.  Erika and Naseer are our sit outs.  Sitting out your puzzle person on a challenge without a puzzle, and one of your stronger members, but not your strongest.  All logical.  Unfortunately, this means that your challenge sink plays, and that challenge sink is Heather.  She has trouble even getting the ball into the rail, and Ua and Ease all finish up digging before she even gets through.  It’s back and forth between those two, but between JD not showboating his basketball throws and Genie coming in with a clutch first shot score, Ua wins the island native, while Yase gets the fish.  Heather is the star, though, with Probst once again milking an opportunity for a hero story, with Heather continuing to try in spite of her repeated failure.  And it IS an inspiring moment, but the Probst narration was not necessary.  Again, show, don’t tell.  Also, while the inspirational music was called for, it was cued too early.  While Heather’s perseverance was inspiring, the REAL star moment was after the challenge.  Heather, understandably, breaks down a little about leading her tribe to their first loss.  And yeah, this is a challenge performance that merits some fear.  It’s a reasonable reaction.  How does her tribe respond?  Every single one of them, even the sit outs, comes up, hugs her, and tells her how well she did.  Not a single one gets upset at the loss.  Heather’s name is NEVER brought up in anything other than a positive manner.  THAT is inspiring.  THAT is heartwarming.  And THAT is the true highlight of this challenge.  Though Tiffany admitting she’s uncertain of the fish’s gender is a close second purely for its humor.  

We stick with Yase as they prepare to cook their fish, and make a fun joke where Evvie makes a “Previously on… ‘Survivor’” for their tribe, and the editors edit it in.  This is interrupted, however, when Tiffany calls the tribe over to look at something.  On the other side of their island, we find that baby sea turtles have hatched, and are making their adorable way to the ocean.  So much effort, so little forward motion.  Evvie does take a moment to compare it to the stick-to-it-iveness of Yase, but really, it’s just a nice moment at camp, and a real bonding moment for both cast and audience.  See what nice things we can have when new advantages aren’t shoved down our throats every five minutes.  

We don’t look in too much on Ua, though we do meet their local, Nathan.  He’s quite skilled, climbing up a coconut tree, and somehow descending face-first, but we sadly don’t spend much time with him.  One thing I appreciate, though, is his dress.  Usually on these rewards, the local is dressed in “local attire”, but Nathan here is wearing a T-shirt and shorts.  Not that the other locals from other rewards SHOULDN’T have been wearing their native garb, by any means, but it did serve to set them apart from the cast.  The cast were the identifiable “Americans”, and the native the “other”.  Here?  Nathan blends with the cast, and seems just like a regular guy, which in my opinion is a good thing.  It’s so easy to demonize the “other”, that seeing someone from a different part of the world from the average American, with a different skill set from the Average American, look like the rest of the cast, serves to help bring a small bit of unity.  There are differences, but ultimately, we’re all people, with similar wants and desires.  

The rest of the tribe finds this heartwarming as well.  So, leave it to Ricard to bring it back around to the game, as he tells us that now Genie’s threat is irrelevant, as they don’t need her.  Way to be a buzzkill, Ricard.  I still like his strategic game, but man, he can harsh the mellow of the season, sometimes, and be needlessly vindictive.  

We head over to Luvu.  Let me guess, now the tribe thinks they need Naseer again?  No, actually, Naseer is probably the LEAST involved member of the tribe this episode, if you count Heather’s moment at the challenge earlier.  Erika, you see, is being bit by the bug of “Big Move-Itis”, or inflammation of the Big Move.  After Sydney throws a little hissy fit at not being able to make fire with a flint, Erika sees this emotional volatility as a liability, and goes to Deshawn to suggest voting her out.  Deshawn plays along quite well, but if you remember anything about Luvu, apart from Naseer, then it’s the fact that Deshawn and Sydney seem to be aligned, as all strategy talk goes through them.  Sure enough, Deshawn clues Sydney into what Erika is saying.  Or at least, he tries to, but given that Erika is literally the LAST person on the tribe Sydney guesses threw her name out, I’m not sure she gets it.  As if doubling down, Sydney doesn’t really react like someone who heard their name get thrown out.  She doesn’t throw a fit.  She doesn’t swear revenge.  She doesn’t break down.  She doesn’t scheme behind Erika’s back.  No, she states that Erika’s right to do so, because Sydney is just THAT GOOD at the game.  Way to be humble, Sydney.  That’s sure to endear you to the audience!

Coming back from commercial, we see that Luvu is STILL on this train, with Deshawn informing Danny of the plan, and talking about how it might not be the worst thing for the tribe to lose a challenge here.  He’s not saying they SHOULD, but just saying it wouldn’t be the end of the world.  Reading between the obvious lines, Deshawn wants to throw a challenge to get out Erika.  Now, throwing a challenge is risky, and should really be done only under ideal circumstances.  Think Boran throwing the first post-swap immunity on “Survivor Africa”.  As the old Boran could get a majority that way, and protect their unsafe allies on Samburu, it made sense.  Here?  Not so much.  

Now, Deshawn does make a sound argument.  Historically, on three-tribe seasons, a tribe that never goes to Tribal Council pre-merge becomes a target, and usually caves to infighting.  This would be a valid reason to perhaps throw a challenge.  The flaw in this plan is that you’re planning to BLINDSIDE someone.  Blindsides, for all their positives, do not increase tribe unity.  Ua noticed this right after the last Tribal Council.  You throw the challenge, vote out a consensus boot like Heather or Naseer?  Fine.  Risky, but a logical play based on history.  But blindsiding Erika at this juncture is only going to divide your tribe, and wreck your chances come the merge.  

Thankfully for Deshawn’s game, the universe refuses to let him make this dumb move.  This challenge is one that is nigh-unthrowable.  Teams of four swim out to retrieve bags of blocks, which they then untie to open and use the blocks to push other blocks out the end.  Inside one of the blocks is a key to unlock three rings, which must be landed on posts to win immunity.  Two immunities up for grabs once again, in a decent challenge.  Pretty standard obstacle course stuff, but the block-using was a fun set piece, and I like the way the key was hidden in this one.  Still, not the sort of challenge you can throw.  Really, the only choke point is the ring toss, unless your whole tribe is on board.  Unfortunately, Erika and Naseer, two people who aren’t on board, have to be in this challenge.  

Not for want of trying on the parts of Danny and Deshawn, though.  Deshawn narrates the whole thing, about how he walks slowly to shore, ties MORE knots in their bags, and prays to get the key to the rings to hide it (Erika finds it first).  Deshawn does his best to sandbag the ring toss, but Naseer eventually subs in.  Presumably Deshawn could refuse, but that would only paint a bigger target on his back.  This way, if they lose, he can claim he just had an off-day.  Naseer is quite the ring tosser, but even he loses to the skills of Yase, who come from being even behind the intentionally slow Luvu.  Yes, if you can’t tell, this is another case of Luzon losing to a tribe throwing the challenge in “Survivor Cagayan”.  Ua is the victim in this case, and like with a tribe getting decimated in the game, it doesn’t land well.  This sort of thing is fun to see once, but loses a lot of the fun on rewatch when you know it’s coming, and even more when you’ve seen something like it before.  It doesn’t help that, while the throw in “Cagayan” served to emphasize how much Luzon sucked at challenges, this one just serves to emphasize how this challenge really couldn’t be thrown.  It’s circumstances rather than ability that lead to this moment, and it’s lesser for it.  

Shan knows just who to blame, though.  JD, of course.  He was Ua’s only ring tosser, and managed to blow a lead.  Reasonable enough evidence and conclusion, but I’m not sure anyone on Ua would have been a BETTER ring-tosser, in which case there’s no point in blaming much of anybody.  

Someone has to go, though, and it looks like Genie.  Realizing this, Genie tells JD she intends to use her shot in the dark, and asks JD to throw a vote on Ricard just in case.  Despite this being a decent thing to do to save his own skin, JD refuses.  I did say he does better in this episode, right?  

Instead, our drama comes from Shan, as you might expect.  She’s REALLY not ok with JD having an extra vote, and so conspires to get it from him.  She spins a story about how she’s paranoid, and needs to “hold” his vote for “security”.  JD, in a departure from his past gameplay, responds calmly and rationally to this, but when Shan insists, he caves.  Despite what he said earlier.  Look, I’m not gonna lie, JD is still an incredibly inconsistent player, but he’s at least learned to keep his calm.  I could read him the riot act for giving up his advantage in the same episode he said he would never do so again, but when your supposed number one is pushing that hard, I think you have to.  An ally is more valuable in the game overall than one extra vote.  For once, he’s not flying all over the place like he has in past episodes.  

Of course, now that Shan has the parchment, her evil humming recommences, and she considers voting out JD for his vote (presumably it’s transferrable).  One on many good reasons to vote JD out, but ultimately, I’d say Genie is still the smarter move here tonight.  Whatever JD’s flaws, you haven’t burned him yet, so he’s likely to be loyal.  Genie literally threatened to stop working because of one vote she was left out of.  As you dwindle in numbers, loyalty becomes ever more important, thus making JD the slightly more valuable ally.  

Tribal is a somber, subdued affair.  Whatever flaws may be said about this season, the camaraderie amongst the cast is a highlight.  They really do seem like family, and you feel the emotion at each eviction.  That said, there’s no real highlights, so let’s get to the vote whose outcome you already know if you read the top of this blog.  JD goes home, and I am sorry.  Apart from him being in my draft team (I’m down to just Deshawn and, God help me, Sydney.  Only shot I have now is if Deshawn wins this whole thing), the dude brought a lot of chaos, and for all his bad play, was always happy to be there, and that counts for a lot.  That said, I would have been sorry to see Genie go too, so this episode was really just a lose-lose for me no matter what.  

Outcome and (relative) lack of mystery aside, this episode returns to the form set by the original episode.  Amazingly, when you let your good cast just be a good cast, and not bog everything down with 87 new advantages which all have to be explained, you can really connect with people.  All the emotional moments hit home, and while I may personally dislike the outcome, it was still a fun ride.  Hopefully next episode can keep up the momentum!

-Matt

Title Credit to Jean Storrs.  

Idol Speculation: “Survivor 41” Episode 3: The Castaways of Alcatraz

Well, three episodes in, and we return to form.  It was a fun experiment while it lasted, and I’d hoped it would go on longer, but some things just beg for renewal.  Thus, it is my displeasure to once again subject you, loyal readers, to that recurring segment:

MATT’S MESS-UP!

Yes, Even with an extra-long break, and a new season of “Survivor” to be excited about, it seems I can’t even go three episodes without missing points from the previous one that I had hoped to discuss.  To be fair, though, most of them revolve around Xander, a character I don’t think about too much.  Nothing against the guy; from what we’ve seen of him on the season he seems nice enough, but he plays into the “dude bro” archetype, which is just not one I find engaging.  But in doing so, I failed to give him credit where credit is due, in that he made the “Butterflies are dead relatives saying ‘Hi’” phrase about as natural as it could be, segueing into it when Probst asked about the level of deprivation this season, playing the saying off as him being delirious from lack of water.  Now all he has to do is wait for the other two tribes to say their phrase, then call back to his phrase as a “joke”, and then everything will be money for Xander.  That is, assuming he survives that long.  Not only is he on a tribe where the alliance is clearly against him, but he made the rookie mistake of reaching into stuff to look for idols/advantages without first poking in with a stick to avoid any snakes or other creatures that might bite him.  His loss.  

Oh, and the second place tribe at the immunity challenge also got some fishing gear.  Good for them.  

Moving onto our episode proper, we start with Yase at night, making you think there might be some drama or fallout from the last Tribal Council.  If so, you CLEARLY don’t know what “Survivor” is all about.  Don’t let the flashbacks and abundance of personal stories from the cast fool you: “Survivor” is all about the advantages, and NOTHING else!  Sure, we get some brief pathos from Liana, who has buyer’s remorse about not voting out Xander last night (a move more understandable in light of the information that Evvie had maybe 10 minutes with Tiffany before Tribal Council.  If Tiffany whipped herself up into paranoia all afternoon, any argument, no matter how logical, is not going to undo that, and then better to go with your alliance), but it’s brushed over pretty quickly.  Why, rather than discuss what happened at Tribal last night, or what Xander plans to do, we need to see Tiffany finding yet ANOTHER “Beware Advantage”.  But whereas the one Xander found was broken to the point of being a net loss against him, this one is barely any loss for Tiffany.  Her “risk” is that she has to sneak out of camp.  Ok, correct me if I’m wrong, but has this EVER caused problems for anyone?  This has been a thing since “Survivor Cambodia”, and not ONCE has a person been caught or got in trouble for doing so.  It’s almost like half-asleep people aren’t paying attention to your every move, and if they DO happen to see you out, they probably just think “They’re using the bathroom” and turn over.  While the filming at night is cool, it’s time for this twist to die.  It adds almost nothing (the occasional funny scene, such as Tony giving Sarah camouflage makeup on “Winners at War” notwithstanding), and takes away time we could be spending on other stuff.  

Really, the bigger problem is making sure no one sees you get the advantage, since it’s hidden in the camp firewood piles.  Tiffany is seen, but by her alliance.  No harm done to her.  Heck, even if Xander HAD seen her take it, what was he going to do?  He still has no vote.  

Brad on Ua is in a much better position to find it.  After JD quotes some “Survivor Cagayan” (First Trish’s “Do you think I’m stupid?”, then Woo’s “Ninja Stealth Mode” and “Sonic Speed” lines.  The latter will be appropriate later, but to his credit, JD has a good Woo impression), we see that everyone on the tribe is joined with him and laughing with him.  Save Brad, who is back working hard at camp, commenting “kids will be kids”.  After several shots of him being near the advantage but missing it, he leads himself into finding it by talking about how “hard work pays off”.  Brad is the most interesting person of the three to find this advantage, but we’ll come back to him in a bit.  

In a bit of a twist, Luvu starts off NOT talking about their advantage, but instead some strategy dynamics.  What’s this?  Actually looking at the inner workings of the tribe?  Unfathomable!  No, Sydney is spilling the beans about Naseer to literally EVERYBODY on the tribe.  She talks about how he woke her up to talk about getting out Danny, and then Deshawn.  We see from some cleverly-edited flashbacks to the night before that while she’s exaggerating in terms of her not actually being asleep, she is essentially telling the truth.  After Deshawn unsurprisingly informs us that Naseer is now top of his hit list, we see that Naseer is not blind to the goings-on of the tribe.  He notes everyone talking without him, and gets the sense he may be on the outs.  He tries to clear the air in front of the tribe, because being open in front of the tribe has worked so well for past contestants.  We don’t get to see how it worked for Naseer, though, as Sydney spots her tribe’s Beware Advantage, and grabs it in the open, to ensure Naseer doesn’t get it.  Reasonable move, but Sydney is the one person whose reaction to getting the advantage I don’t fully understand.  Tiffany shares it with her alliance.  Since they were nearby, it’s the right thing to do.  Brad (for now) keeps it to himself, again, the right thing to do.  But Sydney?  She takes it in front of EVERYONE, yet, from what we see, confides in NO ONE.  Look, obviously Sydney shouldn’t make the information entirely public, but maybe confide in someone like Deshawn, who she seems to be close with?  That way she has someone in her corner should she be targeted for having a suspected advantage.  But no, just go off on your own.  That did a lot of good for Naseer, I’m sure it’ll be good for you, too!

Back at Ua, after JD gives an argument as to why EVERYONE could have an idol at this point, we see that Brad is on a roll, as we see in flashback that he also found the OTHER Beware Advantage, the one with an idol.  And yes, he gets the dumbest saying of them all, the one about “Broccoli is just a bunch of small trees”.  Frankly, Luvu has it easiest, as by process of elimination, they have to say “I’m as confused as a goat on AstroTurf”, the phrase that’s probably the easiest of the three to work into banter with Probst.  Genie is there with him when he finds it, but this only tightens the bond between Brad and Genie (still waiting on the logic behind her stray Ricard vote in episode 1, by the way).  It also gives Brad information, as reading the other code phrases, he recognizes that Xander has his idol, and Luvu hasn’t found their idol yet.  However, this is all getting to be a bit much for Brad, and he feels he needs some help.  As such, he shares his finds with Genie (after finding the second Beware Advantage at camp) and Shan.  Wait, what?  Ok, Genie I understand.  She seems tightest with Brad, and already knows about the idol.  Might as well go whole hog.  But Shan?  You have to know after that first Tribal Council that she was the swing vote.  Why clue her in?  Sure enough, Shan is concerned about the amount of power Brad is getting.  Great play there, Brad!  At least she can help you “Sneak out of camp.”

Oh, wait, scratch that, Brad doesn’t need anyone’s help!  He just builds a body double out of some cloth and flippers!  Dude, get over it.  You’re walking down the beach, not escaping from Alcatraz.  While this is a funny moment, on par with the Tony/Sarah camouflage thing mentioned earlier, I maintain that this whole thing is pointless, as evidenced by the fact that Sydney and Tiffany don’t get ANY shots of them sneaking out of camp, and we cut straight to the island.  

At said island, we meet our dilemma for the episode, and credit where credit is due, my request for a change-up from the Prisoner’s Dilemma has been fulfilled.  Basically, each person will individually choose whether they want a tarp or a vote steal.  If all take the former, everyone gets a tarp.  If all take the latter, everyone gets nothing, and loses their vote at the next Tribal Council.  In the event of a split, however, those who choose the tarp get nothing, and those who choose the vote steal get what they asked for.  This dilemma blows the previous one out of the water.  This time, there’s actual RISK to both choices.  Everyone wants the vote steal, but can’t all go for it.  Someone can sacrifice in order to get it for the others, but then they get nothing.  The best outcome for everyone is to go tarp, but per game theory, as soon as one person chooses tarp, it’s better for the others to choose the vote steal.  

Naturally, such a complex situation requires close coordination, which our contestants will naturally take their time over, as well as build bonds with the other tribe… Or you could be paranoid about the “time crunch” and rush the decision, that works as well.  

There’s some disagreement over whether Sydney or Tiffany will take the fall (Brad having made a good case for his needing the extra vote), with Tiffany saying she needs the advantage, while Sydney claims that the smaller numbers make it better for Tiffany to sacrifice.  I’m siding with Tiffany here, not so much because I feel she needs the advantage, but because with smaller numbers, the vote is more valuable, and Tiffany has been on the chopping block due to challenge performance.  Sydney, on the other hand, is in solid with the largest tribe left, and so should be one of the ones to risk, as she has less to lose if it doesn’t pay off.  Brad, as expected, goes for the vote steal, and we see Sydney got cold feet and went for the tarp.  We don’t see what Tiffany put… Until after commercial, when everyone goes to tree mail (which actually looks like a driftwood mailbox.  Nice touch), and we see that only Brad put down the vote steal, and is thus the only one to get an advantage.  Way to hold that tension for all of three minutes, show.  

Our immunity challenge, sadly, is even more underwhelming than the last two.  One at a time, tribe members cross a thin rope bridge, then go to shore to dig up sandbags, which they must then land on discs above them in a spiral.  First two tribes win immunity and varying amounts of fruit.  I’ll admit the spiral is cool, but this challenge just feels scaled down from the previous ones.  Still another obstacle course, but not even an epic set piece to recommend it.  

Yase is also playing for their flint back, and based on the edit so far, they might get it!  Yes, for all my complaints, this episode does a really good job of balancing likelihood of tribes going to Tribal Council.  We got at least lip service towards the dynamics on Ua and Luvu, and while Yase was pretty quiet, you could argue their strategizing from last episode carries over.  Oh, and Brad calls out his phrase, where we learn that you evidently don’t need to get the phrase exactly, as while Brad says the “Broccoli is just small trees” bit, he misses the “I didn’t realize this until now” part.  Xander, of course, should keep his mouth shut until someone from Luvu says their phrase, which is why Probst immediately goes to him, and all but forces him to say his phrase.  Way to remain impartial there, Probst.  

As I say, Yase has a chance to win this challenge from an editing perspective.  In reality, they have to deal with Tiffany still being a challenge sink.  Admittedly, she doesn’t do quite as poorly as she did on the balance beam last episode, but the other tribes have all but lapped Yase by the time we get to the digging portion.  Still, Ua blows their lead both there and on the sandbag tossing, which both Tiffany and Xander show an affinity for.  This leads to a tight race, helped by the show pulling the old trick of “Triumph” music only for someone to miss a throw.  Luvu predictably wins in the end, but Yase pulls out a clutch second place, sending Ua to Tribal Council, despite Genie’s fantastic cheering from the sidelines.  

Old habits die hard for Brad, as he once again goes for whoever the challenge sink was in the last challenge.  This time it was JD, who failed miserably on the sandbag toss.  Sinking JD’s ship further, he goes off to get his extra vote, only to leave it sticking out of his pants, which both Shan and Ricard notice.  While JD and Shan might be close, Shan has a bond with Brad as well, and as Brad was honest about his advantages, Shan is all aboard the JD boot idea at this point.  In essence, she’s the swing vote between the JD/Ricard alliance (ironic, given that Ricard wanted JD out first, but you make do with what you have), and the Brad/Genie alliance.  To his credit, JD realizes he messed up, making those Woo comparisons from earlier all the more apt.  As such, he makes the risky play of giving his extra vote to Shan as a sign of trust.  No word on whether it’s transferrable or not, so presumably no Cirie and the vote steal situation of “Survivor Game Changers” incoming.  

We head off to Tribal on the one bit of emotion the show has this episode, with Shan comparing the vote to her parents splitting up, and being asked to choose who to live with.  There’s some real emotion there, and you feel for it.  Yes, this episode has been using flashbacks, but they’ve all been game related, not for bonding with the cast like in previous episodes.  Nothing wrong with that, but this episode has been all “game, game, game”, without much of the humanity that the previous two episodes had.  This moment comes the closest, and does work, but it really does feel like now there’s too much going on to actually care about the people playing.  

As Shan is the swing vote, you might be wondering which way is the better one for her to go.  Honestly, this is the rare situation where there are no bad options.  If you get rid of Brad, you’re in power in a tight threesome, and have gotten rid of several advantages that could be used against you.  Plus, as we saw, Brad is pretty set in his old-school ways.  That said, JD is little better.  Brad at least knows when to shut up, but JD plays chaotically and out in the open.  Plus, you’re still in the majority if you vote him out, presumably get to keep his extra vote, and had Brad’s advantages to keep you in power come the merge.  No bad option for Shan that I can see.  If you FORCED me to say which was better, I would say voting out Brad is slightly smarter, since I’d say Shan has more power over Ricard and JD than she does over Brad and Genie, but again, can’t fault her whichever way she goes.  

As one would expect with such an emotional tribe, Tribal Council is a fairly subdued affair.  For all that this tribe is pretty well splintered at this point, they do seem to genuinely care for each other, which is a plus.  JD forces a few metaphors (stop trying, JD, you’re no Voce), but makes up for it with his own humanity.  It’s the old saw we’ve heard about his youth and how much the show means to him, but it hits well.  It also portends his doom, as we saw with Voce last week.  Probst wanting your life story at Tribal Council means you should be prepared to go.  

Credit to the editors, they know when their tricks are getting old, and they need to change them up.  As soon as people start complaining about how obvious getting your life story at Tribal Council makes your boot, that person stays.  Brad is sent home in the slightly smarter move for Shan.  I’m mixed on him going.  On the one had, he was definitely a more interesting character than I gave him credit for.  Very old school in his play style, and when he did do more “new school” antics (spying on Ricard and JD, finding idols and advantages), he acquitted himself well.  That said, I identify more with JD, and had him in my draft team, so overall, I think I’m happier with this outcome.  Or maybe I’m just happy with the good job the editors did.  

“Overstuffed” is the word that comes to mind when I think of this episode.  It was nearly what I titled this blog.  Look, the editors did a fantastic job with what they had to work with, but there’s just TOO MUCH going on for this season.  This episode was basically “Beware Advantage; Challenge; Pre-Tribal Buildup; Tribal Council”.  I stand behind this being a good cast, and the first two episodes did a good job of helping us bond with them, but we need to keep that going.  Good though the dilemma of this episode was, we don’t need more advantages in the game.  Let us get to know the tribes better.  Don’t throw in a new dilemma every five minutes.  All you’re doing is taking the time away from the heart and soul of the show, and if you keep it up, the solid start this season has had will quickly peter out.  

-Matt

Title Credit to Jean Storrs.