Idol Speculation: “Survivor 44” Episode 9: You Only Win Twice

The name’s Arocho.  Yam Yam Arocho.  I’ll have a bottle of well water.  Boiled, not fresh.  Brain parasites, you know.  

Honestly, the idea of Yam Yam as James Bond is oddly hilarious to me.  Not sure why, but it is.  Best guess is how it would match on as a parody.  Like, who would be the “Bond Girl”, or I guess, “Bond Boy” in this case?  Josh, maybe?  He’s an Act One one, at least.  But now I’m getting way off track, and avoiding the episode proper.  

As to that episode proper, here we learn that there is such a thing as being TOO nice about being blindsided.  Jaime, energetic as ever, is quick to congratulate Danny and the rest of Soka on a successful idol play.  All well and good, but she goes on and on about how amazing it is.  She’s making it out like it’s this big move that’s never been done before, when cancelling votes with an idol is literally a move as old as “Survivor Fiji”.  Hell, even if you want to say she was talking about the number of votes cancelled, she’s still beat out by at least Kelley Wentworth’s idol play on “Survivor Cambodia”.  More recent than Fiji, obviously, but still… 8 years ago…  Man, I suddenly feel old.  

For his part, Danny is more pleased than I would be if I was him about how things went down.  Sure, everything all went according to plan, which as Danny correctly notes is a rarity on “Survivor”, but you still burned an idol when it was arguably not necessary (yes, Frannie received the majority of the votes, but they could also have engaged in a split vote to achieve the same effect.  Slightly riskier, perhaps, but possible).  Still, a blindside well-executed whatever else happened, and Danny can be proud of that.  

Lauren and Kane both do better jobs handling the blindside.  Kane is generally pleasant, but publicly doesn’t say much.  Lauren is vocal, but limits it more to what she and the rest of Ratu could have done better, rather than how she’s feeling.  Lauren’s conclusion is that they should have split the votes, which I’m not so sure about.  Splitting the votes only works if Tika is with you, and while they did largely vote with you, basic math says that at least one Tika member must have voted for Brandon.  As such, you have to assume that Tika was at least partially in on the plan to blindside Brandon, and thus not trustworthy with a split vote.  

But no, the old Ratu is convinced that Tika is with them, for some reason.  This of course pleases the old Tika, who admit they’re now firmly in the driver’s seat.  Yam Yam even gives me good title fodder by comparing himself to James Bond, whom he misnames as “Double-Oh Cero” (000 to the non-Spanish speakers among us).  Time will tell how well they can capitalize on this.  

With his game face now on, Kane notes that an idol being played means there’s likely a new one hidden somewhere.  Thus, everyone starts setting off to hunt.  Danny is the most blatant of all, only making token “Getting firewood” excuses.  Everyone sees him doing this, and it makes him a target, so Danny had better hope he’s the one to find an idol.  Danny is confident in himself, however, noting that he’s working harder than anyone in this hunt.  Naturally, such a bold statement can only lead to an ironic fate, and we almost immediately cut to Heidi finding the idol.  Good for her.  

Our next segment is something of a rarity for the new era of “Survivor”: A scene of pure camp life.  Yep, no advantages, no challenges, and practically no strategy talk.  Everyone is gathered around the flag they’re painting, and I have to say, while the name “Va Va” for the merge tribe is ok at best, that flag is killer!  The shield look fits with the more medieval theme of the season, and the things that look like runes down at the bottom are a nice accent.  Yam Yam then gets the tribe onto a round of “Eye Spy”, teaching us the Spanish name for it the meantime.  Yam Yam also shows us how he is too pure for this sinful Earth.  When Frannie spies something beginning with “F”, he first guesses “Frannie”, which is just innocent, and then “Family”, which is really sweet regarding people he’s known for at most 17 days at this point.  For the record, the correct answer was “Firewood”, as Lauren figures out.  

We then get Carolyn giving everyone her backstory regarding addiction, celebrating 13 years sober out on the island.  Speaking as someone who has worked, and still does sometimes work, with drug-addicted populations, that is damn impressive, Carolyn!  You rock, assuming you’re reading this, which I admittedly doubt.  Everyone feels closer to Carolyn as a result, and in the one bit of strategy talk, Carolyn articulates how she’s moved from someone whom no one thought they could work with to someone whom no one suspects strategically.  A really good, accurate assessment, and all with a well-done backstory that felt like a natural progression in the show, rather than forced in for the sake of “feels”.  Honestly a well-done scene that both brings us closer to the characters, and gives us insight into Carolyn’s game and strategy.  Just a highlight of the episode.  I have no notes.  

Ok, that’s not exactly true.  I do have one note.  Carolyn, why are you climbing a giant rock for no reason?  Have you learned nothing from Matthew’s example earlier this season?  You too, Yam Yam, don’t think I didn’t see you on that rock as well!

But what of our third Tika member, Carson?  Yeah, he’s still not doing so hot.  He admits his nausea has gotten better, but he’s just plain feeling out of energy.  One episode of this sort of talk I could dismiss, but with two, I’m getting concerned.  True, he does seem to get better after a substantial meal, but this is now two episodes in a row where Carson’s health has been the focus; rarely a good sign.  We did hear before the season that there would be two medical evacuations, and it could be argued that Bruce and Matthew fit the bill.  Matthew technically quit, however (for justifiable reasons, but still a quit rather than a medevac), leaving us with room for one more potential medical evacuation.  Carson seems cool, so I hope that isn’t the case, but needs to be brought up as a possibility.  

How is Carson going to get access to the aforementioned food?  Why, by negotiation, of course!  We get the reading of Tree Mail, which at first seems unusual at this point in the show’s history, until you realize that the note basically says “There’s a rice negotiation today; better prepare!”  All parties talk it over, with Carson volunteering to sit out due to, you know, illness.  There’s some talk about wanting to split sit-outs relatively evenly between the tribes (it’s stated in the note that four people need to give up a shot at immunity, which does not evenly divide into three tribes), but really, the planning is notable more for how it breaks down.  Some, like Frannie, are reluctant to go along with sit-out plans due to not trusting the other tribes.  Fair enough.  Frannie did technically receive the majority of the votes last episode, so she has a reason to be mistrustful.  Moreover, it leads to a dynamic we’ve not seen before in these negotiations, which makes it more fun to watch than usual.  

Danny, however, has his own reasons for why negotiations break down.  He feels that sitting out for food, since everyone came out here to play.  A sentiment I myself have expressed and agreed with… WHEN YOU WERE SITTING OUT FOR A MEAL JUST FOR YOURSELF!  If it’s a “Gorge yourself on burgers or whatever while watching everyone else play”, I 100% agree with Danny.  You look like a jerk for eating on your own, and you have a once-in-a-lifetime chance to do these challenges.  What do you gain?  Feeling full for a few hours.  Suck it up and do the challenge.  But the rice negotiation is a different animal.  You’re sitting out for tribe gain, which could be done strategically to curry favor, and you’re getting no more benefit from doing so than anyone else.  It’s not a matter of “You came here to play”, it’s a matter of “Doing what’s best for your game”, and in this particular context, sitting out might actually be the best thing for your game.  

All this time spent on the buildup made me think Jeff was going to pull some sort of shenanigans at the auction, but it’s actually more to set up how reluctant everyone was to sit out.  With the rain, Heidi asks if anyone has changed their mind from the plan of not doing so earlier.  Lauren is the first volunteer, and while I’m not surprised she sat out overall, I AM surprised she sat out that quickly.  Don’t get me wrong, given where Lauren thinks she is in the game, and her personality, it makes sense that she would sit out.  However, given how the votes ended up last Tribal Council, and given that she was not targeted partly due to having immunity, I would have thought she’d wait for others to jump first.  Carson joins right in, but everyone else needs some promises.  Most everyone there guarantees the sit-outs safety, Danny even saying “Scout’s Honor”.  These guarantees are, of course, about as genuine as the ones Jason Siska got on “Survivor Micronesia”, but they’re enough to get Kane to jump.  Frannie tries to convince Jaime she’s safe, which initially works, though Jaime backs out of backing out at the last minute.  Heidi ultimately steps in, meaning that for all that craziness, things ultimately went the way they were planned.  Still fun to watch the process, though.  

Our challenge is, of course, a reused endurance challenge, specifically holding a ball on a post with a rolling pin while standing on a block of wood.  That said, for all that this is old hat (and looks kind of goofy, if I may be honest), I will give them credit that they upped the challenge difficulty in a couple of ways.  For one thing, they made the block you stand on smaller, as well as enacted a rule that you had to stand one foot on top of the other.  The other is that, as Probst notes, it’s raining, making the ball slick and harder to support.  So yeah, if we’re going to redo this challenge, better to make it harder.  Even if some of the difficulty was not something the show could have planned for. 

After a close battle, Frannie wins her second immunity.  Now all she has to do is never win immunity again, and my title for this blog will remain true.  

Unsurprisingly, most of our post-challenge strategizing falls along the Soka vs. Ratu battle lines.  Ratu wants to split the vote between Heidi and Danny, with Danny being the preferred target.  Makes sense.  Probably the two most strategically competent players on that side, plus the person who’s won the most individual immunities and the guy who on paper is a challenge threat.  Soka, meanwhile, is all in on getting out Kane, which I have to say is more strategically questionable.  Ok, not going for Jaime I get.  She’s not that great a player, threat of an idol, has been ok working with you in the past; there’s reasons to let Jaime be for the time being.  But Kane?  Guy has barely got his legs under him all season (as he himself admits, he’s never successfully voted anyone off), and has no advantages or idols to his name.  Lauren you know has an extra vote, has proven to be tough in challenges, and is strategically at least competent, if not above-average.  As such, she seems the much greater threat in this scenario.  

Before we discuss Tika’s position in the middle of all this, there’s a couple of shenanigans we need to discuss.  One is Ratu’s movement of idols and advantages.  To plan for a possible Knowledge is Power shake-up (now I think on it, it IS kind of weird the show didn’t try putting it in again after trying twice on “Survivor 43”; not that I’m complaining), they switch everything around, Jaime holding Lauren’s banked vote, and Kane holding what he thinks is an idol, but is actually Jaime’s fake one.  Oh, poor Kane.  Even when he thinks he has some power, the chyron has to mock him by choosing that moment in the confessional to add “One Fake Idol” to it.  For all that I mock, this is honestly decent strategic planning, and I can’t fault them for it.  

The other thing of note is a plan floated by Frannie to potentially flip the vote, working with Ratu to get out Yam Yam.  She correctly notes that Tika is by far the tightest three, with strategically the most power, and thus weakening them is something to consider.  I’d say Carson or Carolyn make more sense to target, but given that Carson’s sick and Carolyn has done a good job obfuscating how smart she is, I can’t fault Frannie too much for this.  Who I CAN fault is Danny, who dismisses the idea out of hand, despite the fact that everything Frannie has said is factually correct.  Danny is dead-set against ever working with Ratu, saying that doing so is like being “Under the Wing of a Dragon”, giving us an episode title I’m still having a hard time believing did not come from Kane.  

This is important to bring up first since it leads into my thoughts about the debate Tika has about which side to choose.  Yam Yam is all for sticking with Soka, wanting Kane gone for writing his name down.  Carolyn and Carson, however, peg Danny as the bigger threat, and thus want him gone instead.  Now, in terms of threat level, I would say Carolyn and Carson have the more accurate view, and thus I was inclined to side with them in this debate when it first came up.  Thinking more about it, however, I’m actually inclined to side with Yam Yam, and it’s 100% due to seeing that conversation Frannie had about flipping on Tika.  This is the first, and so far only, time someone has seriously talked about targeting that particular tribe (Yam Yam being the default decoy notwithstanding), and is the one major threat to their position of power.  You get rid of Danny, and it’s very possible Frannie and Heidi rally with Ratu to start targeting, say, Carolyn or Carson.  Get rid of Kane, however, and I don’t think Ratu does the same thing, with how laser-focussed they are on Soka.  Thus, you remain the swing vote, and keep your power.  Of course we have no idea of Tika KNOWS Frannie has proposed this plan, and as I say, Danny is threatening for a number of reasons, so it’s hardly a bad move to get him out tonight.  Getting out Kane just seems slightly more optimal.  

Our Tribal Council starts out pretty promising.  A forced metaphor here or there, but some good banter and funny moments.  As I called to my friends when I was watching the episode, Danny reveals he was never a scout, hence his earlier “Scout’s Honor” meant nothing.  I will also give props once again to the editors.  Yam Yam talks about wanting subtitles, and sure enough, the editors give him some.  There’s even good mystery throughout, as I can see arguments for either Kane or Danny going.  Where things go downhill is when Probst inserts himself too much into the conversation.  Because humor is boring, I guess, he insists that this cast is full of people ready to have a “Live Tribal” every episode.  Dutifully, our players get up and start whispering to one another.  Decently fun chaos, but I preferred what we had before.  

Chaotic also is a good descriptor for the vote.  No idols played, despite Heidi explicitly bringing hers and receiving votes, but Jaime does burn Lauren’s extra vote.  All to no avail, however, as Kane ends up being the victim.  I’m not overly sorry to see him go.  I would probably get along well with him in real life, and I did enjoy his D&D references, but ultimately, just not that great a player, and so I’ll take the more competent and energetic player staying in the game any day.  I do feel bad for Kane, since he never got his feet under him, but sometimes that’s just how “Survivor” is.  

That said, so much for the fake idol.  Glad we spent so much time on THAT Chekov’s gun, only to never fire it.  

This season continues the upward trajectory it’s been on since roughly the merge.  While it still hasn’t reached the highs of the early season, the moments to just let the characters “be” were a breath of fresh air, we had good strategy to chew on, and even a bit of chaos to keep things interesting.  Minor nitpicks aside, I’m quite happy.   Let’s hope the trajectory continues.  

-Matt

Title Credit to Jean Storrs.  

Idol Speculation: “Survivor 44” Episode 8: Live by the Idol, Die by the Idol

If there’s any episode that should prove to production that it’s the QUALITY of an advantage used, rather than how many there are, it’s this episode.  Skipping ahead to my overall thoughts, this was a snooze-fest of an episode right up until the last five minutes, which had a poetic beauty that elevated it to “Pretty Good, Actually” territory.  One that was caused by advantage playing but simple ones with a good parallel, not a bunch being thrown at our face a la Advantagegeddon of “Survivor Game Changers”.  But before we can start on that journey, we have to do some cleanup on the previous one, as it’s time once again for another…

MATT’S MESS-UP!

Pretty simple one this time.  When talking of Yam Yam naming the tribe, I discussed the name he actually gave it, and my thoughts therein.  I failed, however, to discuss his first, mostly sarcastic, attempted naming.  Yam Yam, hilariously, tried to convince the other contestants that “Yam Yam”, as in his name, was Fijian for “Survivor”.  A good, humorous moment, and not just because I once tried to convince a draft pool I was in that “Mattrox” was Fijian for “Triumph”.  

For the record, Google says the Fijian word for “Triumph” is actually “Qaqa”.  

Heidi starts off our episode proper by giving us more insight into why she played her “Control a Vote” advantage the way she did.  As suspected, she didn’t want anyone mad at her for using it, and so “Played the middle” by indicating the outcome she wanted without making moves that would outright change the outcome unless the remaining players were willing.  I can see the logic, Heidi, but must ask: If not offending people was your goal, why play the advantage at all?  Frannie would probably be mad at inaction in saving Matt, I suppose, but that’s one person mad versus at least two I’d feel like you piss off in this scenario: Lauren for effectively having a vote stolen, and Yam Yam, whom you directed her to vote for.  

Then again, Yam Yam seems oddly chill about the whole situation.  For all that this guy has not been the best at dealing with the aftermath of a Tribal Council, I will give Yam Yam credit that he handles this one excellently.  What with him receiving votes, one directed by someone outside the group of five he was with, I’d expect him to be incredibly upset.  Perhaps because he knows how tight the old Ratu were, however, Yam Yam is mostly just thankful to still be around.  When Heidi makes overtures to him about teaming up with the old Soka against old Ratu, Yam Yam and the rest of old Tika seem pretty on-board, and this is the woman who effectively voted for him last episode.  Yam Yam, you’re learning!  Kudos!

Yam Yam even comforts the person TRULY upset by the outcome of last episode, Frannie.  Yes, only now is Frannie realizing the consequences of not “accidentally” losing the previous challenge.  Surprisingly, Frannie’s mood is more due to the emotion of the thing than the loss of a good strategic partner.  True, Frannie’s hardly a game-bot, but she was the less obviously love-struck of our pair, and so I expected her to lean more on the game angle.  If not that, then the relationship angle.  But no, it’s the mirror neurons that are getting Frannie.  She empathizes with Matt so much that seeing him voted out is like getting herself voted out.  You think that’s bad, Frannie, try sharing a name with someone being voted out.  It’s a gut punch, every time.  Most everyone, including her own tribe, isn’t too happy with this attitude, but admit they have bigger fish to fry than Frannie right now.  

Up comes the sun, and with it, up comes Carson’s reward.  Yes, Carson is our over-indulger of the season, later telling us he awoke no less than 8 times the previous night to vomit up his peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  This was played up to be another Joe del Campo moment from “Survivor Kaoh Rong” in the preview, but given Carson’s young age, he’s naturally fine, just not very happy with his body right now.  He calls it “The worst night of his life”, which I would normally dismiss as hyperbole.  However, given how young Carson is, and how much it sucks being sick in a strange place… Yeah, he might not be exaggerating there.  

Tree Mail arrives, with what for our players is a strange note, but for us the audience seems quite familiar.  They’re told to divide themselves into pairs, meaning we’re getting the same twist as last season, only at the final 10 instead of the final 12.  This, retroactively, makes me more ok with the tribe division twist last episode, since we’re getting a normal merge vote now (and presumably a normal one at the final 9, which we haven’t had in a while).  I’d still prefer they just not do the tribe division twist post-merge altogether, but hey, take what I can get.  The good news is that, unlike last season, the group does not just do a random draw to determine teams!  The bad news is that this cast is just so lovey-dovey that absolutely zero drama comes from it!  Even with Carson, whom you’d think would be fought over in some way (either as the top pick if they think they’re going up against one another, or the bottom pick if they think they need him to win), is given fair consideration, with Carolyn ultimately volunteering to pair up with him.  

The other pairs highlighted are the two “older ladies” Jaime and Heidi agreeing to team up, along with Danny and Lauren.  The latter is especially noteworthy, as Danny had been on the warpath against Lauren earlier due to her extra vote.  Lauren acknowledges that Danny might not have wanted her with him, but she definitely wanted to be with him, and I’m sure this is in NO WAY foreshadowing what will come this episode.  

Not only is the twist copied from last season, but the challenge largely is as well.  Apart from only one elimination in leg one (due to the lessened number of players), only the last leg is different, being the “Stand in the frame” challenge first seen on “Survivor Fiji” rather than the “Hod the rope bar” one that Gabler used as an excuse to thank everyone and their mothers.  The first leg is going through that twisted, muddy net, then digging up a pair of planks, while the second is crossing a rope bridge using said planks; top two teams move on to an individual round of four.  If you’re going to bring back a challenge from last season, this is probably the one to do, though again, I would still wish for original challenges.  

Ironically, it is not Carson that costs him and Carolyn this leg, but Carolyn herself.  Partly that’s because she goes first, but she was WAY behind everyone else.  Shock of all shocks, her usual challenge M.O. of “Panicked Enthusiasm” was not very effective against a twisty net that requires a certain amount of finesse.  Though kudos to the show for not making a “Moment” out of everyone coming to help Carson out of the net.  

Round two sees Jaime and Heidi eliminated alongside Yam Yam and Frannie, though a special shout-out is deserved for the team of Brandon and Kane, whom I gave basically zero odds to get through the rope bridge segment.  A lower center of gravity is better for this sort of challenge, meaning tall guys like Kane and Brandon are inherently going to have a harder time.  Yet, frankly, they crushed this leg; good for them.  

Unfortunately for them, as Yul explained on “Survivor Cook Islands” mass goes up faster than surface area, so all the guys are pretty well screwed on this particular final leg.  Sure enough, Lauren’s our winner, though Danny does put up a good fight.  He forces Lauren to have to go all the way to the final, small nub for her feet, which I would not have predicted.  Still, she wins, so that way we have at least some drama this episode.  

I’m sure some people want me to talk about Danny calling for Probst during the challenge only to fart, but…  Look, while I give credit to Danny for timing that so well, and to the editing team for cutting it together perfectly, I just don’t like fart jokes.  A good execution does not make up for crude humor.  To each their own, but I thought Kane’s sarcastic “Thanks for getting us all muddy first” line was funnier, personally.  

Targets may need to be switched, but don’t think that Ratu isn’t still on the outs.  Brandon tries to target the down Frannie, and is even confident enough to suggest as much to Soka, but Danny is still on the “Hurt Ratu” train.  A strategy I can’t fault, given that Ratu technically has the most remaining members of any original tribe at this point.  What I CAN fault is the choice of target.  Lauren’s immune, obviously, and given how Jaime vibes with the old Soka (plus has what everyone believes is a real idol), I can see not going for her.  But in the great debate of Brandon vs. Kane, Danny targets… Brandon.  Now, don’t misunderstand, I can see the logic.  Brandon, on paper, is the better challenge competitor, and has even proven able to win challenges outside his natural skill-set, such as in last episode.  But Brandon is also just plain BAD at the strategy game, literally giving his enemy information he doesn’t need to.  That’s the sort of person you want to keep in the game.  The move is doubly-baffling for Danny, who has literally talked about wanting Brandon around as a meat shield.  A perfectly good strategy, thrown out for reasons still unclear.  

Just to be safe, however, Danny wants to play his idol.  Guess it was burning a hole in his pocket.  He tells Heidi this, for reasons still unclear.  I get not wanting to blindside your tribe, but I doubt they’re going to be too pissed at a selfless play like that, and telling people about your idol has the devastating potential of making you a target, hint hint.  

Danny may have reason to fear, however, as while the old Tika does fear Ratu, they fear making enemies even more.  With Frannie now kind of on the outs after Matt’s exit, they discuss just going with the flow to keep their (admittedly valuable) swing position.  Decent enough misdirection, but I’m not buying it.  There’s been too much talk about Ratu being a threat for them not to go that way.  Besides, even if Ratu is pissed at you, unless they’re willing to team up with Soka, they have little choice BUT to work with you moving forward.  Keeping things relatively even keeps your swing position more secure.  

Hearing this, however, Heidi decides to comfort them by… Telling them about Danny’s idol plan.  Again, I can see what she’s going for here: Make them think voting Frannie is not safe.  The flaw in that plan is that it now makes Danny look like a VERY tempting target, and sure enough, they discuss getting Ratu to pull such a move.  Carson does at least inform Danny of the possibility, leading Danny to be mad at Heidi.  Don’t misunderstand, the move from her was not great, and she IS objectively the one that let slip the information.  Danny, I’m afraid I’ll have to disagree on the ultimately blame here, though.  Much as Heidi had little reason to tell about you idol, YOU had little reason to tell HER about your idol.  Ultimately, in my view, this comes back on you.  If you were worried about this happening, best not to talk about the idol in the first place.  

All this does lead Danny to suggest he might play his idol on himself to be safe, misdirection I might actually believe in this case.  Good thing we have SOME mystery here, since this Tribal Council is a snooze fest, largely due to everyone just getting along so well.  With no arguments, and pretty typical strategy, it’s analogy city up in here.  I’ve never been one to subscribe to the “Nice people can’t have compelling conflict” idea that some of the fanbase has, but this season in general, and this episode in particular, is starting to make me see their point.  I like this case, but apart from a bit of humor and general niceness, they’re giving us NOTHING!  The moments just go by as a blur, not standing out in any way, and for a season I’m enjoying overall, that’s just depressing.  

This changes, however, when Danny plays his idol.  Correctly reading the room, he plays it for Frannie, as promised.  Good thing, too, since she actually had the majority of the votes.  The old Tika split their votes, two going to Frannie, one to Brandon, which is presumably how they keep everyone happy, as was their stated goal.  Thus, in a bit of poetic justice, Brandon, who avoided being first voted out by an idol play, now goes out himself due to an idol play.  I am not sorry.  Brandon was not a BAD guy, but he was not good at the game, and never showed us enough layers to be interesting.  

Like I said at the top, the ending of this episode makes all the difference.  It wouldn’t have been “Bad”, just boring, before that idol play.  But the poetry of how it went down really elevates it.  The narrative was simple, but as a result easy to understand.  Things were, perhaps, a mite predictable, but where it went had good thematic parallels to the season.  Parallels that could have easily been missed if they had a dozen different advantages all vying to be played.  Take note, show: When it comes to idols and advantages, less is more.  

-Matt 

Title Credit to Jean Storrs.  

Idol Speculation: “Survivor 44” Episode 7: May I Offer You A Papaya In This Trying Time?

Sometimes the show just hands you a gift.  Drops the title right in your lap.  Sure, I could come up with something clever, but why bother?  Nothing is going to top that line, and frankly, it’s a CRIME that that wasn’t the official episode title.  Sure, it’s a bit long, but I would remind you that the first episode of Cook Islands was called “I Can Forgive Her But I Don’t Have To Because She Screwed Up My Chickens”.  Long, and still one of the all-time great episode titles.  You could have used it here.  

Besides, given what’s about to happen to Matt, you could at least have thrown him a bone by letting him name the episode.  

We start off this episode on familiar ground: Yam Yam doing a poor job recovering from a Tribal Council that did not go his way.  Ok, ok, to be fair, he does a good job injecting humor into the thing, and everyone’s laughing with him by the end.  And of course, Yam Yam shouldn’t be happy about seeing his name come up multiple times.  But to dwell on it with barely concealed annoyance?  Not a good look.  

Luckily for Yam Yam, talk soon turns away from strategy, and to what to name the newly merged tribe.  A rare scene in this day and age, but ok.  Yam Yam himself ends up naming the tribe, noting that “Va” means “Four” in Fijian, and thus the tribe is named “Va Va”, for “Survivor 44”.  Somewhat clever, appropriate to the season, and is at least not a combination of the old tribe names.  That said, I still can’t endorse the name, because of my ironclad “Good tribe names are at least five letters long” rule, though I must admit, the show seems hell-bent on never giving us longer names again, so it’s hard to be too mad at the players following suit.  

But not all were present for this naming!  Our resident lovebirds, Matt and Frannie, are off doing their lovebird thing.  Nothing much new comes of this, so let us move on to the strategy talk.  It quickly becomes clear that, with the former Tika no longer considered a threat, it is now a war between the former Soka and the former Ratu.  We see things from Soka’s perspective, and they target Lauren.  Fair enough.  Kane’s no threat, Brandon has a bond with Danny, and Jaime has some Soka bonds, while Lauren has an extra vote that is presumably public knowledge.  Makes her a threat, and with no obvious ties to anyone on another tribe (save one journey early in the season), she’s the easy vote.  

Not to say that Soka won’t talk to any former Ratu, though.  Brandon, in keeping with his inability to keep his mouth shut, starts talking about the birdcage idol.  He describes it quite well, and mentions the detail that there were two idols, one real and one fake, in the birdcage.  And most notably, he mentions this in the presence of Matt, who is in possession of the Soka fake idol.  

Now, I’ve been hard on Matt this season.  It’s hard seeing someone who shares your first name be portrayed as nothing but a lovestruck dummy whose every move seems cursed with bad luck.  Frankly, the jokes just write themselves.  But I will give him credit: He is not a moron.  On hearing that Brandon’s birdcage had two idols, he concludes that his should have had the same, and the fact that it did not makes his idol a likely fake.  Further, he realizes in retrospect that Danny was a bit TOO eager to have him look in the roots of trees, and thus correctly realizes that Danny was the one with the real Soka idol.  This sets Matt against Danny, though notably not immediately.  He states that it’s ok for Danny to think he’s in charge for now, and contents himself with letting others know about Danny’s idol.  Thus, despite what happens tonight, this information may come back to bite Danny.  

Wait, it’s challenge time?  Five minutes in?  Goddammit, there’s going to be some stupid twist that merits a lot of explanation time, isn’t there?  Yep, not content with a split Tribal Council last episode, now we have to have another one!  Because heaven forbid we actually let the tribe have a normal vote-off without any sort of production shake-up!  

Unwillingness to let the status quo be aside, I actually don’t hate this twist.  It’s basically the split Tribal that’s now standard at the final 10, with an extra twist.  While the remaining people on teams of 5 compete to win reward for their team, in this case a picnic feast including peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, they’re also competing for safety without power.  Basically, only one team of five is going to Tribal Council tonight.  The others will be there, watching, but not be allowed to vote.  Is it a necessary shakeup?  No.  But at least it’s different, and not too overpowered.  You can win immunity for the team, but at the cost of having no say at Tribal Council.  Decently balanced, and spares us the confines of a double-Tribal.  

One person on the losing team getting immunity also gives us our look at the individual immunity idol for the season, and like the merge tribe name, it’s not the worst, but definitely disappointing to say the least.  A necklace somewhat reminiscent of plate mail, with a big gold disk in the center with dragons on it.  It could have been worse, but with how strong the theming was this season, I was hoping for something more epic.  A standard, a piece of armor, SOMETHING!  Think of how different the scabbard on “Survivor Pearl Islands” was as an idol.  They could easily have done something similar here.  Again, not the worst, but definitely missed potential instead of doing another somewhat generic necklace.  

An odd number of people means one person is not randomly assigned a team, and that one person is Carson.  As such, he gets to choose a team to be a part of, even if he doesn’t participate.  Probably the fairest thing to do, but it does feel a bit wrong that he randomly gets no say in his fate beyond guessing what team will win out.  Carson sides with the orange team of Carolyn, Heidi, Frannie, Kane, and Danny, which given that this is a balance challenge involving holding a ball on a horizontal pole over one’s head, seems like a wise choice.  These sorts of challenges favor those with low centers of gravity.  Shorter women, in other words.  True, purple does have Jaime and Lauren, but consider that they also have Matt, Yam Yam, and freaking BRANDON, the tallest guy out here?  Yeah, I’d say Carson bet his money safely.  

Surprisingly, though, the purple team does a good job defying the body-type odds.  Only Jaime goes down before almost all of the orange team, leaving it as Frannie against four.  The inspirational music tells us she’ll succeed, but lost mystery aside, it’s impressive nonetheless.  More impressive to me, though, is who lasts longest on the purple team.  As I foreshadowed, it’s somehow the giant Brandon who wins here.  Kudos to him!  If you had asked me to bet on someone who would NOT win this challenge under any circumstances, I probably would have bet on Brandon.  Tall guy, top heavy.  This challenge would not seem his forte, so good on him proving me wrong.  

Our losers are sent to the old Soka camp, a problem for Matt since he doesn’t have his bag with him.  I initially planned to ask why this was such a big deal when Matt himself had said his idol was a fake, but Matt will later mention his Shot in the Dark die is in there, thus preventing him from even having that chance, which makes sense.  After crying out in the vain hope Frannie will hear him, and after giving us a needless love montage between Matt and Frannie, Matt sets to work.  

Jaime is, despite her earlier declarations, considered to still be Ratu, and so both Matt and Yam Yam realize they are the targets.  They’re nice enough about it to one another, and agree that if they can sway someone, they’ll work together, but both admit they plan to vote one another at this time.  Matt makes a pitch to Brandon and Jaime to keep him since he thinks they can work well together.  Brandon in particular is on board, noting that as he voted Yam Yam at the last Tribal Council (a fact he later stupidly admits to Yam Yam, but again, it’s pretty clear at this point that Brandon’s major game flaw is an inability to keep his mouth shut).  Yam Yam, meanwhile, works on Lauren, bringing up the solid point that Matt is well-liked, and has the relationships, and therefore other options, that Yam Yam doesn’t.  

The old Ratu compare notes and agree to go for Matt, which does make sense.  Yam Yam is the equivalent of Romeo from “Survivor 42”.  The person who’s always the safety vote, who can be gotten rid of at any time, and therefore not perceived as a threat.  Of course, Romeo got to the end, but with no shot at winning, so unless you’re concerned about a seat getting eaten up at this stage, Yam Yam is not a threat.  Matt, by contrast, is well-liked and has more ties, thereby making him a larger threat.  Plus, if there is a Soka/Ratu war, getting out an original Soka member can only help things.  They agree to split their votes, despite Matt telling them his idol is a fake.  Believing he might have it on him without his bag I’ll let slide, but really?  You think this guy is capable of planning that far ahead for a twist he couldn’t see coming?  Plus, if he DOES have an idol, what good is splitting the vote anyway?  It would be 2-2-1, but if the idol is played correctly, Matt and Yam Yam’s two votes would win out.  Granted, this assumes Matt and Yam Yam vote together, but I’d hardly call that a remote possibility.  Now, it WOULD defend against a successful shot in the dark, but even then, overly paranoid, says I.  

Our winners have come to pretty much the same conclusion over their PB&J.  Most would prefer that Yam Yam go (Carolyn being the only real dissenter), but feel they have no real way to make it happen.  Frannie laments that she should, perhaps, have thrown the challenge to save Matt, but I personally disagree.  His loss is no guarantee of his eviction, especially as Yam Yam seems the obvious target based on last Tribal Council, and there is the chance Jaime could be persuaded to vote for Lauren, given how all-in she appears with Soka (categorizing her as Ratu this episode notwithstanding).  That being said, even in a worst-case scenario… Well, I hate to sound heartless, but it might actually be good for Frannie if Matt goes.  

Now hear me out on this: The two are definitely close, and even if their attraction does not blossom into love outside the game, losing a close ally is never fun.  But the fact is that of Soka, their pairing is the most obvious target.  The clear rallying cry against your alliance as a whole.  It makes both of you the major targets moving forward.  But if one of those targets is gone, the other is much less of a threat, and therefore stands a much better chance long-term.  Plus, this gets out Matt without Frannie dirtying her hands, thus guaranteeing her a jury vote should she make it to the end.  Hardly a bad deal for her, from that perspective.  

Of course, we can’t have a reward without ANOTHER production twist throw in.  A note has been sitting there all feast, and Frannie finally opens it.  The note says that the birdcage has been re-locked with a new advantage inside.  Keys are hidden in the open throughout the island.  The catch is that only one key is real, and you can only come back with one key at a time.  First to open the cage gets the advantage.  Look, I know production can’t help themselves, but even by their standards, this “drama” feels forced.  Yes, the moment of hesitation before everyone bolts is fun, and they do have some good cinematography on the race to find the keys, but ultimately, this is not interesting.  Basically just a roulette wheel determine who gets an advantage.  

Heidi is our eventual winner, revealing publicly (as Frannie saw her open the cage) that she got the “Control a Vote” advantage, which is not as powerful as it sounds.  As the name would imply, at this Tribal Council, and only this Tribal Council, she can dictate how exactly one player votes.  When Jeff says “It’s time to vote”  she names a player whose vote she wants to control, tells them how to vote, and they must do so.  It’s basically no different from a “Steal a Vote” advantage, though minus the “Joe is voting for Joe” hilarious possibility.  On the other hand, it does allow a bit more influence from the peanut gallery on how things go, which is nice.  I wish it wasn’t handed out randomly, but still nice.  

But how shall Heidi use this power?  The obvious answer is to save Matt, and try and get the vote on Lauren.  Steal Jaime’s or Brandon’s vote, have them do Lauren, and hope that Matt and Yam Yam get the message.  Gets out a Ratu, saves a close ally and a potential ally, and gives you the feather of “Controlled a vote you weren’t even technically present for” at the end.  True, Lauren’s extra vote could just make everything a tie again, but in that case, you can say you tried, but could do nothing in the end.  No way to overcome the math on that one.  Granted, the person whose vote you control is going to be pissed, but that comes with the territory of using the advantage.  In that regard, the only winning move is not to play.  

Despite the obvious benefits of this plan, Heidi has second thoughts.  She doesn’t want to risk Yam Yam going out, seeing him as a potential ally (fair), while Matt is closer with Frannie than anyone.  The latter point is also fair, though I would note that Matt is a more likely ally for you than either Brandon, Lauren, or even Jaime, and thus, targeting one of them would likely be easier.  She explains her reservations to Frannie, who is not buying it.  The confessional where she exasperatedly says Heidi DOES have the power to save Matt is nothing short of hilarious, and a highlight of the episode.  

We head off to Tribal Council with the mystery being less on who will go, and more on how Heidi will play her advantage.  Not to say that Tribal Council gives us nothing, though.  Matt asks if someone brought his bag with all the subtlety of a brick, only to find that he is let down in this regard.  As such, he offers Probst a papaya, leading to one of the all-time great random “Survivor” Quotes.  Then comes the strategizing.  Matt gives an excellent pitch, pointing out how he has worked with, or at least bonded with, the three Ratu with him.  Yam Yam, for his part, does a good job turning this against Matt, pointing out how good a salesman he is.  Then come the waterworks from both Yam Yam and Matt about their situation.  Not the best emotional moment I’ve seen on the show, but I can’t deny I felt at least a little something.  

Now comes the time for Heidi to use her advantage, and she decides to split the difference.  She does try to save Matt, probably to help keep Frannie happy, but evidently does not think targeting a former Ratu will work.  As such, she orders Lauren to vote for Yam Yam.  If Lauren’s banked vote was not common knowledge before, it is now.  Lauren asks for clarification on whether Heidi controls one or both of her votes.  While potentially bad for Lauren’s game if it wasn’t already known, it does make us rules lawyers very happy to get a definitive answer.  Sure enough, Probst clarifies that just one vote is controlled, meaning Matt’s fate is sealed.  He goes home, and I’m mixed.  Yam Yam is the more exciting character, and this is a bigger strategic shake-up hopefully leading to more excitement down the road.  That said, Matt was finally starting to come into his own in the game, and it’s a shame to see his time cut short, especially when he couldn’t even use his shot in the dark.  Plus, he and Frannie WERE cute together, I can’t deny.  At least he made the jury.  

While not reaching the heights of most of the rest of the season, this is an improvement over last episode.  The pathos was real, and I can’t say I was bored.  That said, production REALLY needs to slow down on the twists.  They’re muddling a game that’s jam-packed as it is.  Will they slow down?  Probably not, but I can dream.  

-Matt

Title Credit to Jean Storrs.  

Idol Speculation: “Survivor 44” Episode 6: Persephone

I’m coming to realize that, for me, how easily I can come up with a title for a blog is a good indicator as to the quality of the episode, or at least my feelings about it.  If an episode is extremely good, it usually has a strong through-line or sense of humor I can base my jokes around.  If an episode’s extremely bad, my rage lends itself to many a clever title.  It speaks to the quality of this season that I haven’t raged yet still, if I may toot my own horn a bit, come up with some of my better blog titles.  

Then you have episodes like this, where all I have is a passing reference to a comment of Jaime’s I’m sure most people forgot about since it was quickly overshadowed by Carolyn talking strategy.  

Titles aren’t the only area in which I’m deficient, it seems.  It’s time for another edition of…

MATT’S MESS-UP!

My sadness over Matthew’s quit last episode made me neglect one more bit of strategy at Tika.  Specifically, while I gave Josh a bit of flak for the fake idol play, I didn’t actually talk about how he REALLY messed it up.  Prior to Probst coming in with the tribe’s stay of execution, Josh decided to show the note, in broad daylight, to Yam Yam.  And, just in case there was a chance Yam Yam missed the obvious clues that the note couldn’t be referring to the birdcage idol based on wording, he also shows it to Carolyn.  Yes, the woman who has literally ALREADY SEEN THIS NOTE in connection to the idol he played.  Shock of all shocks, this backfires, and all but confirms, for Carolyn and Yam Yam, that Josh has no idol.  Brain trust, this one.  

Speaking of Tika, we see that Matthew’s quit REALLY messed them up.  They were ITCHING for a Tribal Council.  Granted, it was a saving grace for one of them, most likely Josh, which he recognizes.  But still, there’s at least mistrust, if not outright bad blood, between all three to some degree, and so they hope for a shake-up soon.  

This shake up comes in the form of Tree Mail, which tells Soka and Tika to drop their buffs, and that they have 10 minutes to pack up camp, while Ratu just get the former portion of the note, denoting them as the merge camp.  After we get a mildly humorous line from Kane about how he feels “naked” without his buff, we check in with Carson for his strategic thoughts on his matter (all we really get from Soka is them still wanting Josh out).  Carson admits that he’s got a lot of information at this point, and we see that he does know about Lauren’s banked vote, something we hadn’t formally seen from him before now.  To be fair, said information also says Jaime has a real idol, since Matthew did not get to go back to camp to say goodbye for some stupid reason (it’s not like it was an evacuation where he had to go to the hospital ASAP.  Surely they could have driven him back to camp to pick up his stuff, say goodbye, hand off his idol, etc.), though we can’t hold that against Carson too much.  What I WILL hold against him is him revealing his idol to the camp.  Information for information I suppose, but if I were old Ratu, I’d be like “If you’re so in with us, why not tell us sooner?”  Carson says that the thing has no value, and while it is technically powerless, I’d hardly say it has no value.  A bluff or a fake idol are hardly “nothing”.  Give yourself some plausible deniability at least.  

Oh well, tribes meet up, and there’s happiness all around.  Jaime talks about how she has the most power in the game, due to having the most information.  I’ll concede that Jaime has at least a BIT of a point, since she has had direct interactions with the most people left in the game.  I believe Yam Yam and Carolyn are the only two she hasn’t specifically talked with in some capacity yet, though admittedly her interactions with Josh and Carson were confined to the “Journey” they took to switch them up.  The flaw in this thinking is that Jaime has mostly incomplete or bad information.  Her idols?  Powerless and fake.  Her knowledge of other tribes?  Can’t even see the relationship between Matt and Frannie.  I can see why Jaime thinks she’s in a good position, but the facts just don’t bear it out.  

Luckily for Jaime, all of original Soka is ready to eat each other.  With no love lost between him and Tika, Josh spills EVERYTHING about what was happening there, getting Yam Yam upset again.  Their clashing styles of play were fun to watch last episode, and I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t still at least a bit fun in this episode. Yam Yam also lets us know that he feels alone, due to Carolyn’s breaking trust to vote with Josh, and Carson’s time on Ratu being an unknown quantity.  Yam Yam therefore sets about trying to make friends with Soka as quickly as possible.  

Soka, for their part, is ready to eat Josh due to the lack of bond with him.  Fair enough.  Josh wasn’t particularly connected anyway, and given that Soka has the most original members remaining, showing a willingness to devour one of their own greatly lowers their threat level.  Matt tells Yam Yam as much, but does go a bit too far, saying that Soka is super-fractured.  While not 100% true, there are still two pairs who can be played against each other, and you don’t even want to HINT at that, lest it be used against you.  Granted, Yam Yam is not in a position to do much about it, but Matt has no way to know that.  

Speaking of not knowing stuff, Carolyn does not know what to do in regards to all these conversations.  In a cool editing trick wherein we hear the start of bonding conversations only for them to fade out, Carolyn acknowledges the dilemma of wanting to be in on conversations, but not wanting to force herself in.  It’s a tough, human element, and one of the better parts of the show.  Her solution is to try and get back with Carson, whom she trusts the most out of those left, which she does that evening.  Carson, for his part, is ready to get the “Three Stooges” alliance of himself, Carolyn, and Yam Yam back together.  Not exactly the most auspicious name there, but can’t fault the strategy.  Certainly better than Carson talking about his idol to Ratu earlier.  

In a bit of a rarity, we go to commercial on a night scene, and come back on another night scene.  Matt and Frannie, with a whole bunch of new people, have a chance once again to bury their relationship form people who might not have noticed it.  And they indeed talk about doing so.  The flaw in this plan is that they’re talking about doing so IN THE MIDDLE OF A CROWDED SHELTER!  It may not be “The Sounds of Jungle Love” as Cirie said on “Survivor Micronesia”, but it’s at least The Sounds of Jungle Flirting, and I’d be surprised if people don’t take notice.  

Hey.   You see that challenge coming up?  The one that’s clearly demarcated for two teams?  You know what that means?  Yep, it’s “Mergeatory” time once again.  The “Kind of merge, but not really”.  And frankly, I’m just sick of it at this point.  Once they got rid of the “Hourglass Twist” it was at least not PAINFULLY bad, but this twist even without that addendum rarely adds anything but more confusion to an already stuffed vote.  Time to get rid of it, or at least not do it every season, to keep players on their toes.  

Even the challenge is a rehash, what else is new?  Only two things are noteworthy about it.  One is that they bring back the digging up and rolling around of giant balls, which is always a fun challenge element, even if reused.  The second is the puzzle, which is the normally difficult tree puzzle.  I say “normally” because, as Carson reminds us, this is one of the puzzles he 3-D printed and practiced.  Thus, when Probst says the randomly-drawn teams are “evenly matched” I can’t agree.  Physically they’re pretty even, but since the purple team has Carson, they have the major edge.  Unless they’re REALLY behind at the puzzle, they’ve got this.  And sure enough, that’s exactly what happens.  Good for Carson, though if I were him, I wouldn’t be happy at Probst hilighting “my” challenge win, lest it make me a threat.  

Yam Yam, Danny, Kane, Josh, Lauren, and Heidi all had the misfortune to not be on Carson’s team, and so go back and sulk.  Naturally, with Josh and Yam Yam both vulnerable, they immediately start pitching each other.  Yam Yam pitches Josh to Kane and Danny, but Danny at least is not having it.  Weird, considering that Danny’s part of Soka, who seemed quite keen to get rid of Josh earlier, but perhaps Danny really does want Josh for the bro-down he discussed last episode.  Josh has more luck pitching Yam Yam to Lauren and Heidi, who are presumably happy it’s not their names ultimately being thrown out.  

Our purple team gets to enjoy their feast in the black merge buff, which I wasn’t happy to see at first, but they’ve grown on me.  Black has gone from being a fairly rare merge buff color to being so common as to be cliche as the show went on, but when I think about it, the show’s actually been fairly restrained in using them lately, last being seen on “Survivor Winners at War” three years ago.  That’s enough of a gap that I can’t be mad at them being brought back.  It’s the chyrons that really sold me on these buffs, though.  The buffs have dark red accents, which normally don’t make a difference, but in the chyron, one color blends into another for a really cool effect that helps the color scheme stand out.  I don’t want every other season to have a black buff merge again, but this one I can live with.  

Josh as the target is not dead, as pretty much everyone on this feast agrees he should go.  Their only concern, primarily voiced by Carson, is that Josh may have an idol.  Thus, with only Brandon and Jaime to defend him (neither of whom seem particularly close to him anyway), Kane gets thrown out as the alternate target.  While it may not be strategically wisest to keep targeting people who have few to no connections and thus are no real threat, I can see why socially it makes sense, and with a large merge, sometimes the simple plan is best.  Carolyn, strongly preferring the Josh option, keeps insisting that Josh has no idol, even giving her evidence as to why this is the case, but no one listens to her.  While this looks bad for sure, it isn’t ALL bad.  If nothing else, it shows that Carolyn is still not perceived as a strategic threat, thus putting her in a good position to strategize under the radar.  That said, you need to be taken seriously at Final Tribal Council to be able to win, and I’m not sure Carolyn’s there yet.  She can get there, but she’s going to need to do some work.  Also, while I can understand most at the table not seeing Carolyn as more than surface, you would think Carson would at least listen to her.  Time will tell if this is a long-term concern for their alliance.  

Yam Yam, upon hearing that Kane is the alternate target, is relieved.  This lie is what they spin to Josh as well, which is a plausible scenario, and to his credit, Josh does not insist on his way.  He makes it clear he would prefer a Yam Yam exit, but will go with Kane if necessary.  Carson, however, still has that nerd bond with Kane, and so lets him know that he’s the alternate target, even if Josh is preferred.  As Kane has no way to know Josh doesn’t have an idol, he’s naturally a bit spooked, and starts pushing for Yam Yam to be the alternate target instead.  He pushes a bit aggressively in my opinion, but it does get people talking again, and seems to shift the target away from him.  Heck, it even gets Yam Yam and Josh talking about working together again!  Neither of them seems sincere about it, but hey, it’s something.  

We head off to Tribal with good mystery, but what’s the optimal move?  Given that the original Soka seem to be the decision makers here, if I look at it from their perspective, I’d say Josh is probably their best move.  Makes them seem less united than they are, and gets rid of the bridge they’ve burned the most.  No terrible options here, but again, a Josh boot is the ideal play.  He also seems to be the best consensus boot, which Matt notes is important given his lost vote.  He’s done a good job of hiding that from all but Frannie, which is smart, though he isn’t quite on Omar’s level in taking control of the vote on “Survivor 42”.  Still, this means a supermajority is preferable to prevent mix-ups, and Josh seems like the best bet in that regard.  

While not one for the history books, Tribal Council does have good mystery, and a couple of fun moments.  Most enjoyable for me is a slip-up from Probst where he described Tika as being down to “Yam Yam, Carolyn, and Josh.”  Probst, what is Carson, chopped liver?  Yes, that’s what NEW Tika was down to, but Carson was a part of that tribe for a good long while.  Hard to talk about these tribes post-merge in a season with a swap, is what I’m saying.  I also very much enjoyed Carolyn’s distraction in the voting booth.  It seems like she’s spotted some game-changing clue… Only for her to note she had a similar decoration in her room as in the voting booth.  I’m not as on board with Carolyn as a character as some are.  I respect her as a strategist, but she seems a bit “much” for me, and feels like she would be emotionally draining to be around constantly for long periods of time, but this was a fun moment nonetheless.  Still respect her as a strategist, for sure, either way though.  All this is docked points, however, when Heidi needs to make a metaphor about picking up people in a car being like “Survivor”.  Heidi, I know you haven’t had much screen time, but you’re better than this.  

The mystery is kept well, but in the end, the smart thing happens and Josh goes home.  Can’t say I’m overly sorry.  He seemed like a nice-enough guy, but the “Always the target” thing had run its course, and if we had to keep having that conversation every episode, it would have gotten old real fast.  Probably a good time for him to leave, but he’s by no means a bad guy.  

Of more interest to me is the rogue vote for Kane.  He did successfully make Yam Yam the alternate target, but still received one vote.  Looking back, it was from Carolyn, and so I see two possibilities for how this happened: Carolyn, in an attempt to repair her relationship with Yam Yam, might have decided not to vote his way as an olive branch, or it might have been in case Josh somehow had a real idol and Yam Yam successfully played a Shot in the Dark.  Or possibly both.  

Yeah, not as much to say about this episode.  This is the closest the show has come to “boring” for me this season.  A goody mystery kept it from QUITE going there, but it’s borderline, mostly due to how formulaic this “Mergetory” has become.  Time for a change, show!  

-Matt

Title Credit to Jean Storrs.