For all that the subdivision of tribes this season has been a new and innovative twist, it’s been getting some complaints, and not unfairly. Not so much for the subdivision of tribes, in and of itself, but for just what the new tribe, Angkor, got at their camp. Apart from having no rewards and no ship raid to fall back on, they had to completely start over, and weren’t even given any rice. Many people complain that this is unfair, and they’re quite right to. This is the most a tribe has been seeded for failure since the “Have-Nots” tribe on “Survivor Fiji”. Anybody drawing the wrong buff is pretty much doomed. On the other hand, I put it to you that “fairness” is not really something that needs to be had on “Survivor”. Even the challenges in and of themselves, however you try to even them out, favor one tribe or person over another, based on said tribe or person’s strengths or weaknesses. I’d also further point out that this twist does not prohibit Angkor from winning. It just makes it very, very unlikely. Kind of like the “Old” tribe on “Survivor Nicaragua” that way. Fairness aside, though, one tribe perpetually losing does make for boring tv. True, it can occasionally be interesting to see one tribe continually lose (see Ulong of “Survivor Palau” or Matsing of “Survivor Philippines”), but for the most part, when the losing tribe becomes predictable, the episodes become predictable, and therefore boring. That’s what makes this episode so important. However unlikely, and however much help they may have had from Bayon, Angkor does not lose. It’s someone else, and that makes for the fifth awesome episode in a row! But, I’m getting ahead of myself.
Naturally, we start back at Angkor, where Woo is thrilled to have made it through Tribal Council relatively unscathed. Then again, Woo is generally stoked about everything. That’s why we like him, but it also makes his confessionals a lot of same-y, if that makes any sense. Speaking of same-y confessionals, it’s Abi-Maria time again! Guess what?! She’s swearing yet ANOTHER vendetta against one of her tribemates! And it’s Woo! AGAIN! How is this entertaining?
Third time’s the charm for Angkor, though, as we get a lovely scene between Tasha and Savage hugging it out, and pretty deservedly so. After all, they’ve made it through a tough situation where they were basically dead in the water, only to come back and be in control of the tribe. That’s something that definitely deserves kudos, and it makes for a touching little scene. Hmm, something needs to ruin this. Surely, there’s a way for Savage to use this scene to brag about his supermodel wife again?
Let’s see if Bayon can top that nice little moment between Tasha and Savage. Actually, while not a topper by any means, it initially seems like a pretty good follow-up. That Monica person that people voted in for whatever reason starts talking about how the women are the real providers of the tribe since they go out early crabbing and clamming, set over scenes of them doing such activities. Alright, a nice bit of girl power on what is on the whole a very masculine show, I can get behind this. Such an idyllic scene cannot go unrefined, however. When Kimmi (yes, I’m sure there’s a Kimmi on this season) comes up with three fairly large, delectable clams, Monica questions whether or not they should be harvesting this many clams, so as to give them time to reproduce, and keep the cove supplied long-term. Kimmi, however, contends that the clams will migrate, and that the perceived diminishing of the clams is due to those searching for the clams being closer to shore. Being no clam expert, I have no idea which is right, but I’m inclined to agree with Kimmi. Even if you were to leave some clams there to reproduce, I suspect the clam reproductive cycle runs a bit slower than 27 days (which is how long the game will still go on), so leaving them there won’t do jack squat. Whether they migrate or not, I suspect leaving some clams won’t mean you get little baby clams by the time the game ends. I get the suspicion, though, that Kimmi is less for eating the clams now because it smart, and more because it delays the death of Bayon’s chickens.
But hey, Monica’s not the ONLY person who can get some screen time five episodes in! Yes, this argument over the clams, though actually not that severe, has awakened the wrath of Kimmi. To give her credit where credit is do, Kimmi actually manages not to get into an all-out argument with Monica, which the Kimmi of “Survivor The Australian Outback” would have. That doesn’t stop Kimmi from reading Monica the riot act in confessional. And I’m SURE that Kimmi’s newfound dislike of Monica will in NO WAY impact the narrative of this episode!
We cut over to our reward challenge, this time coming to us courtesy of “Survivor Blood vs. Water” Each tribe will place one person in a barrel, and roll them over to three gallows, where the person in the barrel will have to get out, dizzy, and unroll a rope to release a bag of balls. Once all three bags are released, that person is rolled to the finish, where one tribe member must roll balls, Skee-Ball style, into six holes. The first tribe to land all six balls wins a tarp, some comfy chairs, and food. The second tribe only gets a tarp, while the third tribe gets jack squat. I wasn’t wild about this challenge when it first aired, and I’m not wild about it here. The barrel-rolling part is kind of a cool idea, but it’s been lamed down from “Survivor Blood vs. Water”. There, the tribes had to criss-cross each other, and maneuver the barrel in more than just a straight line. Here, it’s a straight line. Much less interesting. And as I’ve said before and will say again, Skee-Ball on “Survivor” is just not exciting.
Probst also takes time to point out how Ciera’s Tadhana tribe lost this challenge on “Survivor Blood vs. Water”, and how this is her shot at redemption, but I must point out that, while Ciera’s tribe lost that challenge, it wasn’t really Ciera’s fault. Heck, she barely participated in that challenge. Just saying.
Right out of the gate, Bayon falls behind. Not due to their barrel-rolling skills, but because Monica just cant whip through that rope quite like Woo or Kelley. Yep, this is more of the “Fall of Monica” edit, and like with Shirin, it’s masterfully done. The right amount of humor and strategy combine to make for a predictable, but still exciting, exit. But back to the challenge. It’s fairly even between Ta Keo and Angkor for first place, so the question is, who’s better at Skee-Ball? It actually doesn’t matter too much, as Keith and Woo both land a ball apiece before Bayon gets up, which is not a significant lead. Before finishing the challenge, though, I must take time to once again question Ta Keo’s choice of Skee-Ball roller. St. Joe is participating in this challenge, so why not have St. Joe do it? He’s good at everything else. Heck, why not just have St. Joe run every challenge single-handedly; Ta Keo would probably still win? But if Woo and Keith are just ok at Skee-Ball, Jeremy is little better, landing only one ball while the others get up to four apiece. Bayon trades out for Spencer, which to me seems a poor choice, since I feel like this challenge would have a steep learning curve, but evidently I don’t know anything, since Spencer lands three in a row, tying things up again. Evidently that’s all he has, though, as first Ta Keo and then Angkor land their last two balls, leaving Bayon empty-handed at the reward challenge once again.
Cheerful music tells us we’re heading to one of the winning tribes next. Sure enough, we rejoin Ta Keo in the throes of Bacchanalian Bliss. Literally, if Kass’ alcohol jokes are to be believed. Terry, ever the challenge lover, can’t help but be happy at how successful is tribe is, and how safe they are. I smell an ironic confessional!
Yep, Terry goes off into the water to do some supplemental fishing, and Ciera and Joe use this time to plan for the future. After all, pretty much everybody can assume that the whole “Bayon Strong” thing is a thing, since they’ve not lost anyone yet, but you need a sub-alliance within that if you want to win. Thus, Ciera proposes that the five they have there, sans Terry, stick together until the end, this being Ciera, Joe, Kelley, Keith, and Kass. A bit standard in terms of gameplay, but it’s not a bad alliance. It’s mainly Bayon, so it can easily hide out, eliminating Ta Keo stragglers who aren’t Kelley, before making their move in the majority. They’re strong in terms of both physical and mental challenges, so they’re likely to have immunity amongst their ranks, and they have at least one hidden immunity idol amongst them, which might be used for the greater good of the alliance. I do see a couple of problems on the horizon, however. First off, Joe. he’s too big of a threat to be kept around. I could see scenarios where any other combination of that alliance could lead to anyone’s victory, but no one wants Joe at the end. he’s too big of a threat. Sure, final five is not final three, but even bringing him to the final five is dangerous. At most, there’s three immunity challenges before the end in that scenario, and Joe could easily win all three. Heck, even Joe recognizes the danger, blatantly stating to his alliance how he’s a threat, and needs assurances they won’t backstab him. All swear that they won’t and Joe seems satisfied. I’ll give him credit that Joe recognizes his failures on “Survivor Worlds Apart”, and is at least TRYING to correct them, but the way he does it is some ham-fisted and basic that I’m not sure how effective it will be. Point being, I don’t see this alliance keeping Joe around until the final five. Second, while having the hidden immunity idol is an advantage, I don’t think Kelley is likely to fill them in on it anytime soon, since her whole lie is that Terry was looking for the idol, but that means it won’t be utilized as effectively as it could, thus weakening the alliance. I’d also expect Kelley to not be fully on board with the alliance, since as the one remaining Ta Keo she’s clearly at the bottom of that alliance, but she’s actually quite gung-ho about the whole thing, praising herself, not undeservedly, for successfully throwing Terry under the bus. Then again, I suppose she doesn’t have much choice. As I stated last episode, with the binding agent that is Jeff Varner gone, any chance of an original Ta Keo strong alliance is out the window, meaning most of its members are likely finished. There’s some hope for individuals to survive in a new alliance, though, and that may just be what Kelley is doing. Plus, by saving the idol for herself, she has extra protection. I would say there’s a third problem with this alliance, in that the preview for next episode makes it look like Keith gets medically evacuated, but since we don’t know that for certain, I’ll save that for next episode, if it comes up.
You want to know the strongest evidence that this is a good alliance? Keith, the man who can’t grasp the concept of a “two-person alliance”, says that this is a good alliance. Bravo, Keith, you’re finally understanding the game! Granted, he still says that two-person alliances aren’t a thing, but give him credit for this anyway, he’s a little slow on the uptake.
Also, one other crazy thing about this episode: after hearing little to nothing from Monica, Kimmi, and Ciera from this season so far, all three have at least one major scene in this episode. Where the heck did they come from?
Bayon decides to take a break from the Monica-bashing and instead gives us a charming scene in which Spencer and Jeremy go out in a circular raft to fish, comedically paddling the raft in circles for a bit. Here, Spencer talks about how much he’s grown since his first season, how he though he couldn’t be the athletic guy who went out and caught fish, and yet here he is doing just that. It’s a touching scene, to say the least. I know I’m normally snarky about such scenes, but both the two we’ve had thus far, and the one we’ll be having later, all work for some reason! Every scene hits emotionally home with almost nothing to tarnish it. What’s going on here? It’s kind of sweet to see, I’ll grant you, but it feels very “Un-‘Survivor’”.
In all seriousness, while I’ve gone on and on about the whole “Kass has changed.” edit (and I still stand behind it), if anyone’s a contender in this department, it’s Spencer. It’s a bit less pronounced, since Spencer was never shown as that interpersonally awkward on “Survivor Cagayan”, but you can still see the plain growth. He’s much less cocky, at least, which is an improvement. Granted, I still want Kass to win, so this edit worries me a little bit, but it’s nice to see, and Spencer winning would not be the end of the world.
Speaking of touching scenes, we get one at Angkor after they put up their tarp. Turns out, Woo’s mom had a heart problem, and needed an emergency transplant, which it sounds like she barely made it through. Good grief, I’m tearing up at this, that’s really amazing! Woo, man, I really feel for you there.
Hmm, but we’ve had two emotionally touching scenes completely untarnished, one right after the other in this case, how can we ruin this one? Bring in Abi-Maria, of course! Her vendetta not forgotten, she immediately talks about how she has a part of someone else in her as well, due to a knee operation. Um, sweetie? Kind of not the same thing. This is about as apt a comparison as Dan from “Survivor World’s Apart” comparing his adoption to Shirin’s abusive father. Heck, I’d say even DAN had more of an argument than you do! When Abi-Maria’s sob story SURPRISINGLY fails to garner sympathy, she then talks to everyone, particularly Tasha, about how Woo is just using this to further his game. This may be true, but Abi-Maria, I don’t think you quite get something. When you talk bad about someone who just told you a harrowing story about nearly losing their mom, YOU CANNOT WIN! Whatever you come back at it with, you don’t come off looking good. Granted, it could be a “Dead Grandmother” situation a la Jonny Fairplay of “Survivor Pearl Islands”, but do you really think Woo is capable of such deception? Just let it go.
We then get a confessional from Tasha, that basically amounts to “Abi-Maria is hard to live with.” No, really? I NEVER would have guessed that from the first five episodes!
We come to our immunity challenge, which hails from “Survivor Worlds Apart”. One at a time, tribe members race up a series of ladders to a slingshot on a tower. There, they must try to hit five tribe-colored targets. After each person fires at least one shot, a new person can come up and take over. First two tribes to hit all five win immunity. Like with today’s reward challenge, I wasn’t a big fan of its original use, and I’m not a big fan of it now. Not a horrible challenge, just kind of underwhelming, and it separates the tribes a bit too much for my liking so early in the game. I do have to ask, though: how do those flags get pushed up just by being hit by a small sand-bag? I like to thin that they’ve got an intern crouched behind each target, just out of camera-view, whose job is to wait until their target is hit, and then hold up a flag.
I didn’t talk about the sits-outs for the reward challenge because they were irrelevant. Kass and Terry for Ta Keo and Stephen and Kelly for Bayon. Good choices, as either their strength wasn’t needed or they were more puzzle-oriented, and the reward challenge didn’t suit them. However, I have to question at least Bayon’s decision of who to sit out at the reward challenge. Ta Keo sits out Kelley and Ciera, which seem logical enough, but Bayon sits out Monica and Jeremy. Monica I get, since as demonstrated at the reward challenge, she and challenges don’t mix. But Jeremy? This challenge is all about climbing ladders and aiming at targets. In other words, it’s a challenge BUILT FOR FIREMEN! And it’s not as though Bayon didn’t have a perfectly good Kimmi they could sit out (don’t get me wrong, Kimmi’s hardly weak in challenges, but Jeremy is definitely better). I just don’t get their decision.
Not only does Angkor win immunity this time around, but they win it outright. Helped by Stephen of Bayon, who hits one of Angkor’s targets accidentally, they come in first. It’s actually a tense race then between Bayon and Ta Keo, helped by the fact that we’ve seen at least a BIT of strategizing from all three tribes. Granted, the “Downfall of Monica” edit is strong, but at least there’s some doubt. Editing wins out, though, and Ta Keo scrapes second place, and Bayon now has to face Tribal Council for the first time. Know who’s excited, though? Monica, that’s who! She thinks it can be a good thing for a tribe, and there’s some people who need to go. This isn’t the final nail in the “Monica leaves” coffin, but it’s definitely the most important one. She does have kind of a point, since as Stephen later says, surviving Tribal Council is how trust is built, but you don’t want to say it out loud. Like it or not, not having a chance at going home is better than having that chance, and saying such things to your tribe makes you seem sneaky.
After a profuse apology from Stephen for helping Angkor win we get talk between the old Bayon (minus Kimmi, for some reason) about whether Spencer of Kelly should go, since it’s really kind of a toss-up between those two. The correct answer here is Spencer. He knows how to play the game, Kelly doesn’t. And evne if she does, she’s not as good at it as Spencer. True, she has more bonds with the old Ta Keo, but as mentioned, you don’t want Spencer around late-game. Time to get rid of him. But no, it seems Spencer’s character development has helped, since everyone pretty much uniformly says Kelly must go. Sealing the deal, we get more Spencer character development, as he talks about needing to rein back his obsessive chekcing-in with allies pre-Tribal Council, since it made him suspicious last time. As always, it’s good to see character development, and I like it all the more since now Spencer’s talking about a problem of his that was more apparent on “Survivor Cagayan” than lack of social graces.
Enough of that, though, we haven’t thrown Monica under the bus enough quite yet! When Kimmi double-checks that it’s time to get rid of Kelly, Monica posits that perhaps they want to keep the women in the majority for longer. Actually not a bad strategy out of Monica. While not exactly subtle, it doesn’t sound like out-and-out betrayal, and is working feelers toward the future. You’d think this was the sort of thing that wouldn’t get you into too much trouble if your alliance found out about it. Kimmi is able to read between the lines, though, and runs to tell Jeremy and Stephen that Monica is not Bayon strong, and therefore they need to consider getting rid of her. Unlike their earlier argument, I’m siding with Monica on this one. For all that Kimmi has improved her game socially, she doesn’t seem to have aged strategically. As I noted with the discussion at Ta Keo earlier, it’s all fine and good to say “Bayon Strong”, but you need a sub-alliance. Kimmi just turned that down, and while it gets her in solidly with Jeremy and Stephen, I fear it may bite her down the road.
With all of the “Fall of Monica” edit we’ve been getting, it’s pretty hard to convince us that anyone but Monica is going. Still, they give it their best effort. Stephen rightly points out that the old Bayon on other tribes might see this as betrayal by the three to have Monica go first, and therefore they might be in deep water. Granted, they can explain this to the other tribes later, but it’s still a valid point.
Sadly, Tribal Council tonight is pretty standard, and not just because we all know that Monica is going. It’s all very subtle hinting and double-talk, which is definitely good gameplay, but not the most exciting to watch. Stephen gets in a few good sound-bytes (I particularly like the one about loyalty), but especially compared to the other Tribal Councils we’ve been getting, it’s just kind of standard. Not bad, but it doesn’t stand out.
Monica goes home. I’m sure she REALLY added to this cast, will impact the game for votes to come, and will definitely be remembered as one of the greats of this season! Seriously, guys, we left out T-Bird (“Survivor Africa”) for THIS?
As you might guess, I’m not sad to see Monica go home. I’ll give her an “A” for effort this episode, but she brought NOTHING to the table overall, and was really just a wasted slot. As for whether it was smart to send her home? Well, I maintain that the smart move would have been to vote out Spencer, so I can’t say it was the smart-EST move they had. However, if it’s a choice between Monica or Kelly, I’d say Monica is the smarter move. True, Kelly has connections at the old Ta Keo, and there’s the whole “other tribes misinterpreting” problem that I mentioned earlier. However, as I also brought up earlier, pretty much any chance of a united old Ta Keo front come the merge is dead, so Kelly’s less of a threat in that regard. Plus, she’s not playing the game. Monica is. Overall, that makes her more of a threat, and a threat, I might add, who brings nothing to challenges. There’s still the misinterpretation problem, but as I said, that’s a “What If?” scenario that might not come to fruition. Hardly a bad move, especially since Monica was clearly against a lot of the vote, but not the best one either.
Just as I’d hoped, this season continues its awesome-episode streak for five episodes now! I will add the qualifier, though, that this one was less awesome than the other episodes of the season. We had lackluster challenges and a fairly humdrum Tribal Council, big blindside aside. We also had it pretty clearly broadcast from the beginning who was going home. However, like with the Shirin boot three episodes ago, it’s not about the destination this time but the journey. Like with Shirin, we got a glorious buildup to the eviction, which showed pretty clearly what was happening every step of the way. On top of that, we got strategy from EVERY tribe this time around, and even got to see some new people go to Tribal Council, adding a new dynamic in everything. It may not QUITE live up to the bar set for episodes this season, but that’s a high bar. On it’s own? Excellent episode! Looking forward to the next one.
-Matt
Title Credit to Jean Storrs.