Idol Speculation: “Survivor 42” Episode 5: Fully-Armed Battalion

I try not to be too antagonistic on this blog, but sometimes, things just have to be said: CURSE YOU, LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA!  You and your annoyingly catchy lyrics!  Now I cannot here the phrase “push comes to shove”, a fairly common phrase, without your songs getting stuck in my head.  And now I’m forced to make them the title of my blog.  Again, CURSE YOU!

Rant over, we join the Ika Tribe, fresh off of Tribal Council.  As Romeo tells us, there’s damage control that needs to be done with Rocksroy, since his “set in his ways” mentality means he was unwilling to not vote for Tori.  Surprisingly, despite numerous slip-ups, Rocksroy actually takes being effectively “left out” fairly well.  I won’t say “perfect” because Rocksroy is not good at hiding his emotions.  He clearly is irritated by the decision, and mistrustful of the others moving forward.  But looking at his reaction on paper, it’s kind of hard for him to have a better one.  He talks about how glad he is that Swati is gone, once Romeo explains the whole “everyone is her number one” thing, and even has some good introspection.  He notes, both publicly and privately, that his social game needs some work, and if he wants to win, he’ll have to up it, or at least “ride his team’s social coattails” as he says.  Good introspection I would not have thought possible for him.  Kudos.  

Continuing the praise, much as I hate to do it for her, I will admit I got a laugh out of Tori rolling her eyes behind Rockroy’s back after he asks if his social game needs work.  That was actually good comedic timing, and I can’t deny that she’s probably right in this scenario.  More concerning for Ika is that Tori is not on board the “strong four” train they have going.  Granted, she has little reason to.  She WAS the alternate target at the first Tribal Council, and was at least talked about for the second.  If she’s not on the VERY bottom, she’s clearly not on top either, and so has little reason to stay loyal, barring no better options.  Really, I bring this up just to reinforce my point that Tori would have been a better boot.  Swati might have been double-dealing you all, but at least she had INCENTIVE to stick around.  

Moving on to Taku, all is not well in Jonathan’s paradise.  Specifically, his tribe won’t stop talking, particularly Maryanne and Lindsay, who first discuss Mario Kart, then the finer points of the game “Hot/Cold”.  There’s only so much the man can stand, but fortunately he has fishing gear to go full Rupert Boneham (“Survivor Pearl Islands”) and get away from it all.  

Unfortunately for Jonathan, he goes even further down the Rupert hole than he should, and by that I mean causing a disturbance via camp life.  Jonathan is in the process of chopping a log, but in the process, it bounces and hits Maryanne in the foot.  Maryanne is naturally upset about this, but Jonathan feels like she’s making too big a deal out of it.  Drawing on my deep knowledge obtained via years in the Boy Scouts (probably the first time I’ve done so in a decade), I have to say, while Maryanne may be slightly dramatic, she’s in the right here.  While she did enter what’s called the “Blood Circle” (an imaginary circle around a person wielding a sharp object whose radius equals the point of that object held at arm’s length to the corresponding shoulder, into which one is not supposed to enter for safety), it’s also incumbent upon the person IN said blood circle to A) call it out and B) keep an eye and make sure no one enters unawares.  

Jonathan tells us he needs to keep his temper, as he’ll come off looking like the jerk in any argument.  Valid, and shows good self-knowledge.  Instead, he privately vents to Lindsay about how Maryanne would need to go next due to irritation, to which Lindsay agrees… Despite being part of the “annoying” group earlier.  Jonathan is not as subtle as he seems, however, since Omar notices him going off, and correctly deduces that Jonathan is complaining about Maryanne.  This, as he notes, is a problem, given that it splits the group, and Maryanne has all the advantages.  Only time will tell if this bears any fruit.  

Not wanting to be left out of the “tribe fracturing” action, we head over to Vati, where Hai is mistrustful of, well, pretty much everyone but Lydia.  And we see he has reason to do so, since shockingly, Daniel and Chanelle seem to be mending fences, agreeing to bury the hatchet should the merge come.  Granted, with Mike, he and Lydia still make three to Daniel and Chanelle’s two, but it’s a point of concern.  Hai decides to break up that possibility by throwing shade at Daniel while the latter is out fishing.  Hai notes that Daniel is saying he can’t do challenges, yet can go out fishing.  I personally would not be one to question a serious injury, but it’s a valid point, and the others seem to buy it, so I can’t really complain.  

Now, we’ve been getting some good strategy this episode, even some bits of social interaction, but viewer, that’s not what you want.  No, what you want is STUFF!  Idols!  Advantages!  Long explanations of rules!  That’s what brings the viewers in!

This, at least, seems to be the mindset of Romeo, who along with Drea sets out to look for the Ika idol.  This segues into him talking about being a pageant coach, and the sacrifices his mother made for his family, and how it inspires him.  Not the greatest backstory we’ve ever had, but it does it’s job decently well.  The picture of Romeo in Time’s Square is particularly inspiring.  That said, I do find it concerning that he frames it as him wanting to help DREA be the best she can be, tying it back to his pageant coach thing.  If it’s just to tie into his career, I’ve no issue.  But the way it comes across is that he’s here to support someone else’s victory, rather than his own.  Not a good look.  

With all this talk about the idol, naturally it must be found, so naturally, with the previews spoiling everything, it is found by… Drea.  

Ok, ok, time to address the elephant in the room.  The preview snookered us, most especially myself.  In hindsight, the voice over that played over Tori looking inquisitive is NOT Tori herself, but Maryanne.  Yes, Tori was never the one to find the idol at all, and could have gone home no problem.  Yes, it is clever on the editor’s part to trick us that way.  But no, it is still not a good thing to do.  Whether intended or not, it still sucked out a lot of the tension.  More to the point, I feel like one should really not include ANYTHING in the season preview that’s after episode 2, in order to avoid such speculation/spoiler.  Or, if you MUST, if there’s some draw to the season that cannot be ignored, talk about it in the VAGUEST terms to build intrigue.  I can’t believe I’m typing these words, but they should have taken their cue from “Survivor Fiji”, or at least its season preview.  The big event of that season was the deal between Yau-Man and Dreamz, and it’s something they couldn’t ignore in the preview, despite happening in the last two episodes.  But rather than give us details, they kept it vague, referring to it only as “The most controversial move in ‘Survivor’ History”, over footage of a shark.  Gives nothing away, but builds intrigue.  The hyperbole could get old, but better than spoiling your season outright, or ruining its intrigue.  

Drea gets her idol, and is very pleased with the amount of stuff she now has.  Much as I like this season, that amount is starting to get out of hand again.  Reading the note, she notes that Maryanne has found an idol, since both Maryanne and her particular phrase are hard to miss.  She wonders aloud if anyone on Vati found their idol.  This is our cue to cut to Mike, who is STILL insisting he won’t say his phrase.  Mike seems to be under the impression that if he just keeps quiet, his vote AND his idol come back at the merge.  Now, they may have changed that rule between seasons, but that’s NOT how it worked before.  Your vote came back, but the idol went away at the same time.  Like I said, possibly they just didn’t tell us about a rule change (in which case, shame on production), but I’m more inclined to think Mike just didn’t read the rules carefully.  

Mike will get the chance to put his money where his mouth is, as it’s once again challenge time.  The challenge is your standard obstacle course and puzzle, with a slingshot at the end, so not much need to dwell on it.  Instead, let’s talk about those idol phrases.  Maryanne once again uses her large reactions to sell her “bunny having dinner in the mailbox” line, and Drea has a natural lead-in with talking about food to get in her potato phrase.  Mike?  Well, he DOES say his phrase, and wisely so, but he doesn’t even TRY to sell it in the moment.  Oh, he goes back an tries to tie it into his football coaching, but he REALLY does a poor job of selling it.  Give Naseer credit from last season: He might have just blurted out his saying as well, but at least his SOUNDED like something of a rejoinder to the other two.  

Given that this challenge only has one small puzzle element, despite all tribes getting good strategic content, Taku is almost guaranteed to win this.  After all, they have Jonathan, who’s basically a fully-armed battalion in one person.  Yet, surprisingly, this episode does a good job of convincing us this might not be the case.  Ika cruises to an easy victory after Tori frankly BEASTS the puzzle, but Omar, on the puzzle, REALLY blows the lead, and Vati gets several shots on the slingshot before Taku gets a chance.  Unfortunately, Vati sucks just as bad on the slingshot as Omar did on the puzzle, and Jonathan is able to beast mode Taku to a victory.  

But wait!  Shipwheel Island returns once again!  As winners (getting a larger tarp as well as immunity, while Taku gets a smaller tarp and second immunity), Ika gets to send one person from Vati to Shipwheel Island.  They choose Lydia.  Unsurprising, given her not-great challenge performance, and a decent move.  Then they can choose one person from themselves or Taku to go as well.  They wisely choose themselves, which I can’t complain about.  Again, keep power and information consolidated into your tribe, rather than the other one.  But I must ask… You send ROCKSROY?  Granted, they can’t send Drea again, since those who’ve gone before are explicitly banned, and Tori is a bad option since she’s disloyal, but Rocksroy?  The guy who’s bad socially, in a situation requiring social smarts, and who may feel burned from the last Tribal Council?  THAT’S who you’re sending?  Again, better than some choices, but Romeo, who has proven to be very socially smart, and also in the majority, is RIGHT THERE!  Why not send him?  

While there is mystery as to which of two choices will go at tonight’s Tribal, it’s not a mystery who those choices will be.  With Hai and Lydia having done the smart thing, and picked up straggler Mike, it will be Daniel or Chanelle.  That said, we’re definitely left in the dark as tho which one the group will go for.  Hai seems to favor taking out Chanelle, while Mike is still against Daniel.  Both are good options, and there’s not really any downside to eliminating either of them, but on the whole, I say better to keep Daniel.  Apart from TECHNICALLY having voted with you once, the dude’s injury makes him less of a threat at the merge, which you now have to assume is nearby given the numbers.  And if it’s not?  Eh, you can get him at the next Tribal Council anyway.  Still, not going to fault them if they decide to keep Chanelle.  

Everyone left tries to push the decision onto Lydia, despite them not NEEDING her vote, assuming that Chanelle and Daniel vote against each other.  They talk about how they need Lydia’s vote anyway, thereby all but guaranteeing she risks her vote at Shipwheel Island.  Speaking of which, we get our requisite backstory on Lydia.  It’s decently touching, as she talks about her image issues, but really only stands out for her pink flower hat.  That thing is awesome.  Vati doesn’t need to worry, though.  She and Rocksroy are both suitably cagey, and so both naturally protect their vote, not trusting the other.  Reasonable decision, and nice to see another new outcome than either a mix, or the total miss when Chanelle and Omar went, but ultimately, just kind of a waste of time.  

What does NOT waste our time is Tribal Council, which brings entertainment in spades.  This is mostly due to Daniel, who tries to deflect things back onto Mike when asked a question, and weirdly succeeds.  He talks about how he can’t do analogies, only to then give an analogy to Muhammad Ali of all people.  He’s neurotic and all over the place and I kind of love it.  Unfortunately, this also dispels the tension of Tribal.  These are the actions of someone desperate, particularly when he tries to build up what a team they are, not someone confident they’ll stay.  Daniel will be going, which is hardly a bad decision.  Dude has shown himself to be unreliable.  

Daniel DOES go, but it’s a bit trickier.  Chanelle, anticipating a possible shot in the dark and unanimous vote on Daniel, throws a vote on Mike to try and save herself in a possible tie should Daniel be safe.  I was initially critical of the vote, since it seemed to come from Lydia or Hai and served to antagonize Mike, but from Chanelle, it makes sense.  This leads to a 2-2 tie between Daniel and Chanelle (Mike and Daniel voted for Chanelle, Hai and Lydia voted for Daniel), leading to Daniel going on a re-vote.  In terms of character, I am sorry to see Daniel go.  Chanelle is perfectly fine, but dude brought way more personality.  In terms of watching strategic play, however, very much pleased with the outcome.  After that first Tribal Council, Daniel was on a train-wreck to failure, and had next to no chance to recover.  Chanelle, at least has moves she can make and that will be intriguing going forward.  

I will say, this episode sits wrong with me.  It’s not the WORST, but I feel like, apart from some Daniel character moments, it’s the weakest of the season.  The issue, I think, is that the episode is more focussed on the twists and advantages coming into play, rather than the characters, which most of this season has focussed on.  The characters are strong enough to shine through anyway, but it’s a concern, particularly after last season.  

What intrigue there will be next episode!  An even 4-4-4 split!  Omar not having a vote, and possibly not knowing if Chanelle doesn’t tell him!  Jonathan now being targeted at every available opportunity!  Join us next week, for a rant about the hourglass twist if they don’t get rid of it and/or alter it!  

-Matt

Title Credit to Jean Storrs.  

Idol Speculation: “Survivor Ghost Island” Finale: History Has Its Eyes On You

You know, it says something about your season when your finale features an event that is unprecedented, historic, an unqualified “Survivor” first… and yet it STILL feels incredibly predictable!

Let’s not mince matters: this is less of a season finale, and more of a question of “Who would win: Domenick or Wendell”. Surprisingly, the first person we cut to to answer this question is Sebastian. Granted, we’re as usual starting with the fallout from the previous Tribal Council, but even then, it seemed like Angela was the one who was most hurt over the Donathan plan not being correct. But no, it seems that power has gone to the head of Sebastian, and now HE wants to make a move. This is probably helped somewhat by the fact that his extra vote advantage can only be used at the next Tribal Council. Can’t fault the idea, but feel it’s too little, too late. Sebastian, however, thinks it’s a great idea, which will get him out of the collective shadow of Domenick/Wendell, and turn the tide of the game for him. Sure, Sebastian. And Laurel will stop being a dues-paying, card-carrying member of the cult of Dom and Wendell.

Speaking of which, Laurel goes to talk to Donathan, bringing with her a healthy pitcher of Kool-Aid. Unsurprisingly, Donathan is shocked he’s still here. Ever the loyal follower, Laurel tries to talk Donathan around to how this is them PROTECTING him, and how he should be grateful. Yeah, Laurel, shame Donathan for wanting to play his own game. No harm can come from that.

Moving on to our real stars, they spend the next morning discussing who they want gone after the upcoming immunity challenge. Will it be Donathan, the man who’s been making a big stink lately? Angela, who has the best immunity track record after Domenick and Wendell? Or could there be a shake-up, and they vote out Laurel, out of fear that she might take a few votes for old Malolo loyalty? Rather than take any of these smart options, they decide to target Sebastian, to which I must ask: WHY? Look the guy’s likable, strong, and plotting against them, but both Domenick and Wendell have him beat on the first two counts, and have no current way of knowing about the third. As far as they’re concerned, he’s their most loyal number, after Laurel. What good does it do them to target him? It’s one day later, and it STILL boggles my mind.

Evidently someone on production said “I want my maze to be seen FROM SPACE!”, as our traditional “Survivor” maze this time around is a gigantic skull-shaped one. Probst refers to it as one of the biggest ever on the show, and given how clearly visible it is from such a great distance, it wouldn’t surprise me if this was the case. What I also like about it is the presumed asymmetry. With most “Survivor” mazes, the paths to various puzzle stations have to be the same for everyone in different quadrants to keep things fair, but with three stations spaced throughout the maze, as opposed to an even number. That can’t happen. Good job shaking things up there, production!

The puzzle this time around is really cool as well. It’s another one of those “bonsai tree” type puzzles where the pieces have no clear place to be put, and this time it gets even worse. You have to actually build the circular outline of the season logo. So, not only to you have to find where the piece goes, you have to keep the structural integrity of the thing.

First to finish their puzzle and let Jeff Probst know wins immunity and a steak dinner. Wendell is the clear favorite to win this, and sure enough, he finishes his puzzle first. To make absolutely sure Probst is aware this time, Wendell yells out his name. Then he yells it again into a megaphone. Then he pulls up the billboard he rented in Fiji for just such an occasion. Then he pulls out his homemade flashing neon sign that reads “Wendell is done with the puzzle.” Just kidding. Though while the name yell is funny, I’m a bit surprised that Wendell didn’t at least go for “Jeffrey Probst”, to ensure no confusion. Hell, he could even have gone for “Jeffrey Lee Probst”, though that would have required looking up Jeff’s middle name in the Fijian islands, which would be rather difficult.

Thus, Wendell gets the choice of who to take on reward, ultimately going with Sebastian and Angela. Odd choices at first, and I was all prepared to read Wendell the riot act for this move, but the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. I’m all for pandering to your partners, but now we’re at the endgame. There’s very little that can derail Wendell’s plans, especially since his hidden immunity idol guarantees him at least the chance to make fire for a spot in the finals. Thus, the reward is perhaps better used as a chance to curry favor with potential jurors. The favor of Donathan seems to have sailed, and Laurel and Domenick are pretty well locks for him in the end anyway. That leaves only Angela and Sebastian as question marks at this point (though really, given how Sebastian was so happy with Wendell about the shell thing, I’m pretty sure he’s good as well), and thus bringing them, and hopefully trading a steak dinner for a million-dollar vote, is worth it.

That said, I will still give Wendell flak for not taking Laurel. Domenick I understand, but Laurel is still the least-loyal of your allies, and as mentioned before, I don’t think Sebastian would have snubbed Wendell in the end anyway. Thus, probably smarter to take Laurel over Sebastian.

Sure enough, after our nice reward scene, we find that Laurel is pissed, though unsure of what moves she has left. Oddly, it’s Sebastian to the rescue, as he fills in Donathan about his extra vote, suggesting they use it to blindside Domenick. Worst case scenario: Domenick plays his idol, the person supposed to go home goes home, and chances of getting rid of Domenick improve greatly. Best case scenario: Domenick gets cocky, doesn’t play his idol, and goes home. Win-win, barring that you’re the person who Wendell and Domenick vote for. Naturally, since this plan has no downside, Laurel will be against it and immediately blab to Domenick and Wendell… Wait, what’s this? She’s actually considering it? And not telling Domenick and Wendell that we see? My God, this may actually work! Hell, they even get Angela in on the plan, thus further cementing success. All they need now is for no one to spill the plan…

And, there goes Angela talking to Domenick. I may have mentioned this before, but even if I did, it bears repeating. Angela, despite being incredibly tough, played this game at the wrong time. Her empty-nester issues were played up big time this season, and we can see the impact they have on her game. As she says, she wants to trust the people she was originally with, even if they’ve betrayed her. Despite the fact that taking out Domenick is clearly her smartest move, Angela can’t help but trust, because she wants so badly to. In life, I can’t really fault her this tendency. On “Survivor”, it’s a major flaw.

With no mystery as to the vote tonight, Tribal Council will be replaced with a magic show! Nothing up my sleeve, and PRESTO! Multiple idols for multiple people! With Donathan being uncharacteristically subdued tonight, it’s up to Domenick to make a spectacle of things. Fortunately, Domenick does this very well. He calls out the plans of Sebastian and Donathan, then to show how foolish it is, pulls out his real idol, and his fake idol. This serves two purposes. One, it scares people away from any mutinous plans. Most were convinced that Domenick had but one idol, but there was a rumor he had two. This lends credence to the rumor, especially as Domenick’s fake idol is a “real” fake idol, for want of a better term. If the stick from “Survivor Micronesia” can be an idol, so can this. Two, it’s a good bit of theater. Wendell isn’t the only one looking to score points with the jury. While Wendell is trying his best to do it socially, Domenick’s tactic is to go for the flashy moves, cementing him as the leader of the tribe. Not to be outdone, Wendell pulls out a few idols himself, one real and one fake. However, much as Domenick can be good socially, but not as good as Wendell, so to can Wendell not overshadow Domenick in flashy moves. Not only is Domenick’s theater better, but he scores points on smarts. Playing off paranoia that fake idols can be real, instead of giving up his actual idol, he plays the fake idol from “Survivor Millennials vs. Gen-X” pre-vote, hoping to scare people out of voting him. And it WORKS! This is crazy to me, but Sebastian does not play his extra vote. WHY? By his own admission, this is the last night he can use it! Even if you’re changing the plan and sticking with the majority, there’s NO HARM in playing it, if only to say you’ve played it! But no, Sebastian gets scared, and rightly goes home for it. Oddly, despite how I usually feel about Sebastian’s archetype, I’ve got mixed feelings about his exit. Yes, he was annoying at times. Yes, he was a bad player. But just imagine him at the Final Tribal Council. How would he have justified himself? That’s something I’d pay to see.

Oh, and this is once again a season where we randomly cut back to Probst talking to the cast and the audience before commercial. We WOULD get an interview with Sebastian, but only major characters get screentime, so instead of talking to him, we’re going to see James Clement (“Survivor China”) and Erik Reichenbach (“Survivor Micronesia”), because the editing and the boot order didn’t make this case seem weak enough!

Despite the reunion show no longer getting the airtime it deserves, we evidently STILL don’t have time for strategizing post-Tribal, as we head straight to our immunity challenge. It’s another puzzle/obstacle course combo that wouldn’t bear mentioning were it not for the fact that the puzzle is a trick one. Basically, four three-dimensional shapes have to build a pyramid, which is tough to figure out even when you’re not starved and dehydrated. My money’s on Laurel to win this one given her puzzle prowess, but once again, Wendell pulls out a victory. This puts him in a dilemma as to how he wants to use his idol, but we’ll get to that in a minute. For now, with Donathan clearly the next to go, let’s see what feeble attempt he has to save himself.

With almost no cards left to play, all Donathan can do is turn on his closest ally, Laurel. And, to his credit, he makes a pretty credible pitch to Domenick. Donathan says that he’d spare Domenick the fire-making challenge, since he wants to “Go up against the best”, and points out that Laurel may have more friends on the jury than him. Domenick at least entertains the idea, but quickly smells bullshit. Still, he floats the idea to Wendell, bringing back the question of who Wendell will use his idol on. After all, Wendell’s not going to pass up a chance to curry favor and look good in front of the jury. Given how close he and Laurel were, Laurel would seem the obvious choice, but now Wendell is second-guessing things. And I don’t buy it for a minute. I’ll give credit that this misdirection is at least DIFFERENT from what we’ve seen so far this season, and it’s doing the best it can with what it has, but with how close Laurel has been built up to be with Domenick and in particular Wendell, I don’t see her NOT getting Wendell’s idol.

To add on to this, it would be the smart move for Wendell to do. Again, I initially thought it might be best not to, since it might offend Domenick, but at this point, Domenick and Wendell are gunning for each other anyway, spared only by their idols. By keeping Laurel safe, you not only show your power in front of the jury, but you put someone pretty much guaranteed to keep you safe from fire-making if they win immunity. Given that Wendell also curried Angela’s favor with the reward, that means the only way he makes fire if he gives Laurel the necklace is if Domenick wins immunity. Pretty good odds for such a twist in the game.

Remember how I said that Wendell couldn’t outdo Domenick in terms of Tribal Council theater? Yeah, let this be the exception that proves the rule. There’s really nothing of note at this Tribal Council aside from idol plays, so let’s just skip straight to those. Wendell lets Domenick go first, thereby giving himself the recency effect, and then makes a big show of how he’s playing it for Laurel, and thus sending Donathan home. Point Wendell.

As Donathan was a big character on the show, we do get a nice interview with him about how he’s grown from the experience. Evidently it also gets Tai Trang’s (“Survivor Kaoh Rong”) Sia of Approval, as Donathan gets $10,000 to help care for his family. Good for him.

Once again, pre-challenge discussions fall by the wayside, as we head to our Final Immunity Challenge. Frankly, it’s the weakest of the bunch. It’s stacking alternate balls and bases, as in the final challenge from “Survivor Kaoh Rong”. It’s a tricky challenge, to be sure, but it’s one that lacks the epic grandeur one would hope for in a final challenge.

So, that one scenario where Wendell DOESN’T get a free pass to the finals? Guess what happens? Yeah, it surprised me as well. I thought for sure this was Laurel’s challenge to lose, given that it involved precision and balance, but she seemed to be the worst of the lot. We get a good bit of back-and-forth between Wendell and Domenick, with Domenick pulling out a victory. Good for him, and good for the show for keeping it quiet. Trust me, you’ll hear that very rarely in relation to this season.

Making sure we go there one last time, Domenick’s decision discussions will take place exclusively on Ghost Island. After much ooh-ing and aah-ing over the torch snuffers, we get down to our debate. Wendell, seeing the writing on the wall, doesn’t waste his breath trying to convince Domenick to take him, and instead just goes to practice fire making. Domenick quickly informs us that he debate is between the person he thinks actually has a chance at beating Wendell in fire-making (Angela), and the person he’d less like to see in the finals (Laurel). Both reasonable reasons to keep someone, but oddly, I find myself in agreement with Angela on this one. I’m not convinced Wendell loses to either of them in fire-making, so the choice is really who you want to see less in the end between Angela and Laurel. Given that Laurel is the last Malolo standing, and a better talker than Angela, she’s clearly the choice out. That said, I doubt I’ll be able to find fault in whatever choice Domenick makes.

This is not the only decision Domenick must make, though. Domenick got a note upon winning the Final Immunity Challenge, which tells him to hike to the top of Ghost Island. Here, he finds the voting urns from “Survivor The Australian Outback”, “Survivor Cagayan”, and “Survivor Game Changers”. We’re told that these are all the urns from finalist choices who “Made mistakes” (even though I agree with Mario Lanza in that Colby’s decision at least was not a “mistake”), and that Domenick must pick on in the hopes of, say it with me now, “Reversing the Curse”. Like most things with the Ghost Island twist, it’s not a bad idea, but the execution is underwhelming. Look, I like the tribute to past seasons, and they picked some of the cooler-looking urns (and the one from “Survivor Game Changers”) for the twist. My issue is that it doesn’t really add anything, other than one more brief moment of nostalgia for the superfans. You could make these urns more relevant. Granted, it’s a bit late in the season to introduce a twist, so I wouldn’t want to see that, but you could make it a symbolic thing. Maybe by picking the urn, you’re picking who you take to the finals (the note would say this, so Domenick wouldn’t be screwed by something he couldn’t see coming). Like, if you take the “Australian Outback” one you take Angela, “Cagayan” Wendell, and “Game Changers” Laurel, or something like that.

But no, all we get is aesthetic. That’s cool too, I guess.

Oh hey, you remember what I said about how Domenick really had no bad move in this scenario? Yeah, he managed to find one. For some reason, looking at the urns gives Domenick the BRILLIANT IDEA to give Angela his immunity, and fight against Wendell in fire-making. Do I have to spell out why this is a stupid idea? Well tough. I’m doing it anyway. You’re telling me, Domenick, that you would give up a GUARANTEED place in the finals, a finals in which you have an above-average shot no matter who you go up against, just to try and get Wendell out, a move that could take you from possibly WINNING the game to handing WENDELL the game? No. Not buying it. Domenick’s played too smart to get tripped up like this at this juncture. There’s no way this would happen.

I’ll give this Tribal Council this: It’s the most entertaining of the three, though mostly for one of Wendell’s comments. As before, he doesn’t shy away from the fact that he’s making fire, and tells Probst he’ll win so long as he sits at the station with the purple flag, rather than the “cursed” orange one. Salivating at people buying these superstitions, Probst points out that given Wendell’s seat, he WOULD get the orange flag, to which Wendell quips “Got any paint?” Ok, I may be tired of these superstitions, but that’s funny.

Domenick reveals to the jury that the took the “Survivor Cagayan” urn from Ghost Island for the final votes, justifying it by saying he played the game like Tony Vlachos on that season, and wants the jury to reward that. Good marks on the justification there, and it’s also the one I would have taken, due to looking the coolest. I would also have accepted taking the urn from “Survivor The Australian Outback”. The point is that Domenick did not take the “Survivor Game Changers” urn, and I respect him for that.

As expected, Domenick is NOT so stupid as to give up a guaranteed finals spot, and chooses Laurel to go along to the end with him, which as I say I can’t fault too much. Angela, not being the superstitious type, agrees to switch stations with Wendell. Unfortunately, this is a season where being superstitious helps, and Angela loses in no real contest. Can’t say I’m too sorry to see her go. I think she’s tougher than shown, but for what we got, she just wasn’t that interesting. Makes for the best Final Three.

Or rather, Final Two. There’s really no pretending that Laurel’s much of a competitor at this point, but her Day 39 confessionals do put up a good argument, going with her “Last Malolo Standing” distinction. Still, this really is the Domenick and Wendell show at this point, and while I’ve given the editors a lot of flak for repeating the same types of scenes over and over again, and for making who makes the Final Three INCREDIBLY obvious, I will say that they do a good job of hiding who wins between Domenick and Wendell. It’s the strategic game versus the social game. The bombastic figurehead versus the subtle manipulator. Even their placement in things keeps it all under wraps. Domenick gets the last word before Final Tribal Council, a spot usually reserved for the winner, but Wendell gets the last word AT Final Tribal Council, which is also usually reserved for the winner. My God, there’s actual tension here! I forgot what it felt like!

Even the jury seems to feel it, as even THEY have trouble deciding between Domenick and Wendell. At first, it seems like Domenick has the lead, as Wendell’s “I was the real ringmaster” argument was undercut by nearly everyone saying that Domenick brought them into the alliance. Domenick is his own worst enemy, though, as he continually interrupts Wendell and is belligerent on the points he makes. This rubs many people, most visibly Kellyn and Sebastian, the wrong way. Wendell may underplay his performance, and be a bit too humble, but at least the points he may stick as a result. And just to show how even a good performance can’t help you sometimes, Laurel has the best performance of the bunch. She’s confident, but not cocky. She makes her points, but doesn’t press them too much. She’s respectful, but doesn’t hold back in her arguments. She answers every question as well as she can, and what does she get? Jack diddly squat. Laurel, for all my berating, I feel very sorry for this. You did as well as you could, with the game that you played.

With Domenick and Wendell edited so evenly, who could be the winner? Why, both of them! Yes, with no clear favorite in this game, we can only end in a tie, the first ever at the Final Tribal Council. And boy, is it underwhelming! Don’t get me wrong, the novelty of seeing a “Survivor” first, and of these two competitors being so close in the end, does still have a lot of excitement. But with how even Domenick and Wendell were this season, coupled with Probst revealing the method for breaking Final Tribal Council ties back on “Survivor Game Changers”, it was pretty clear this was what it would come down to. This means Laurel gets to cast the deciding vote, thus sucking the remaining tension out of the season. I’m glad two worthy competitors had it so close, but with Laurel as your last vote, Wendell has it on lockdown. The guy most closely bonded with Laurel, who even gave Laurel immunity, you think he ISN’T getting her vote? Yeah, you’re delusional.

As Laurel goes to make Wendell the winner, I want to talk for a brief moment about the breakdown of the tie vote. We don’t get much info on why most of the jury voted the way they voted (another weakness of the new Final Tribal Council format, along with too much Probst interjection), but I think the breakdown of the votes helps explain it. Domenick got the votes of Chris, Libby, Des, Jenna, and Michael, while Wendell got the votes of Chelsea, Kellyn, Sebastian, Donathan, and Angela. Sound familiar? It should. That’s the order people were sent to the jury. I’m only hypothesizing here, but I think that Wendell’s strategy of making bonds worked better on later jury members because they had more time to bond with him/had more time for Domenick to put his foot in his mouth. Maybe I’m wrong, but that seems like a likely reason the votes broke down the way they did.

Back in Los Angeles, Wendell wins, and I’m happy, and not just because I’m a big Wendell fan. Wendell’s win here follows a historical precedent: That of the social versus strategic game. Let’s take the finals of “Survivor The Australian Outback” as an example, as it makes for one of the clearest examples of this dynamic. You had Colby, who was not subtle and played an up-front game, versus Tina, who was less abrasive, but also less visible. In that situations, as in all other times this sort of Final Tribal Council situation has happened, the vote has been close, but the social player wins out. Wendell is that social player, and once again, he wins in a narrow vote. Nice to see that, even so many seasons on, some precedents still hold.

Wendell as a winner reminds me a lot of Ethan Zohn (“Survivor Africa”), both in terms of play style and impact on the game as a whole. Ethan wasn’t the most strategic player, nor the most up-front. He made a few moves, but they were mostly in the background, and he spent his time playing to what strengths he had. This describes Wendell to a “T”. More important, though, is their legacy of what type of winner they were. Ethan reminded us that you don’t have to be a big-time schemer to win “Survivor”. Wendell, to me, helps counter the argument that one must make “BIG MOVES!” to win the game. Granted, Wendell had his share of moments, but if the winner was solely decided by who played the bigger game, then Domenick would be a millionaire. He’s not, and for good reason. Despite what the show would like to market, when subtle gameplay comes up against up-front gameplay, subtle always wins out.

The reunion show, such as it is, really doesn’t merit any talking about. We take more time to embarrass Erik and James again, plug some dumb new show, and only talk to 1/4 of the cast, including snubbing Laurel, THE FIRST PERSON TO CAST A TIEBREAKER VOTE IN FINAL TRIBAL COUNCIL HISTORY! DO YOU THINK MAYBE SHE’D BE WORTH AT LEAST A CURSORY QUESTION? Ugh, I hate to say it, but honestly, it might be time for the reunion show to die. Still do a live vote, still have the cast meet with the audience, still preview the next season, but don’t show it on tv. I’d rather have the full hour and talk with most everyone, get in-depth with the questions. If, however, we’re not going to do that again, then give us 30 extra minutes of content on the show proper, and just ignore the reunion aspect of the thing. If you can’t be respectful of your cast, don’t even put up the pretense of trying.

Oh, and next season is “Survivor David vs. Goliath”. Wow, they’re REALLY stretching for a theme, aren’t they? Biblical references are ALWAYS the audience favorite. Here’s an idea: FOCUS YOUR SHOW ON CASTING, AND NOT ON A THEME! Needless to say, I’m not super-confident about next season. It just seems like a forced and cringe-worthy thing to do.

I’ll be saving my thoughts on the season as a whole for the end of the blog. For now, let’s just focus on how my pre-season predictions hold up, starting with:

Brendan-Starting out with a mixed bag. I nailed his time in the game, but exaggerated his personality. I’ll still call this one a victory, though.

Donathan-Pretty much right, though he made it further than I expected.

Jacob-Definitely the fan I predicted, but much less smart and much shorter-lived than my prediction.

James-I didn’t have much of a read on him, and I still don’t. I did say he’d make the merge, though, so wrong there.

Jenna-Wrong. Much more subdued and longer-lived than I would have anticipated.

Laurel-Pretty much right, though she was stronger and showed less of her smarts than I would have thought.

Libby-A bit longer for the game than I expected, and less religious. Wrong on this one.

Michael-Again, wrong. The kid was savvier than I gave him credit for, and it increased his time in the game as a result.

Gonzales-Wrong, though in my defense, I couldn’t anticipate who would be sent to Ghost Island first.
Stephanie-I nailed her time in the game, but she was so much savvier than I anticipated that I’m still calling myself wrong on this one.

Angela-Pretty much right, for once on this list.

Bradley-Right. Enough said.

Chelsea-Didn’t have much of a read on her then. Still don’t now. She made it about as far as I thought, so, right.

Chris-Evidently Naviti was just the tribe I understood better, as I’m once again right.

Desiree-Wrong, as she was much calmer overall and consequently much longer-lived.

Domenick-Wrong. Much more self-control, and much better at strategy than I gave him credit for.

Kellyn-About the smarts I anticipated, but longer for the game. Mixed bag on this one.

Morgan-Wrong. There’s always one person screwed by the swap I can’t anticipate.

Sebastian-Longer for the game than I would have thought, but the guy did play about how I expected. I’ll give myself this one.

Wendell-Absolutely right. Suck it, doubters!

So, now onto the thoughts on this season as a whole, right? WRONG! It’s time once again for…

TOP 5 and BOTTOM 5!

As there aren’t enough tie Final Tribal Council votes to do a list on, we’ll instead talk about the other stand-out thing about this episode: mazes. Yes, they’ve been around since very early on in the history of the show, yet we’ve never noted what the best and worst mazes are. Time to rectify that today. Any sort of maze goes here, be it a large traditional one, a table maze, or something even weirder. Let’s look at them all with…

TOP 5

5. “Survivor Ghost Island”: Scale may not be everything, but it gets you a long way. The maze this episode may not have been the most exciting overall, but the sheer size of it makes up for a lot of that.

4. “Survivor Cagayan”: Here, I’m not talking about the final three maze, though that was cool as well. I refer instead to the vertical table maze from the one immunity challenge Luzon actually WON. Yes, I’m sure they won. We’d seen plenty of table mazes before, and they were kind of old-hat at this point, so turning them vertical was a stroke of genius. It kept an old challenge fresh, and it made for a nice comeback victory. Good times.

3. “Survivor The Australian Outback”: This one changed up the formula for your team maze by having teams run in parallel mazes, instead of the same one. This could have been confusing, but the aerial shots made everything make sense. I like how there was no order to finding the poles; that there were no clues which way to go. If you were lucky, you stumbled on a pole, and remembered where it was later. Rewarding a spotty memory is a good shake-up to me.

2. “Survivor The Amazon”: Again, mazes are a pretty common thing on “Survivor”, so you need to shake them up. From that perspective, blindfolds are maybe the best idea the show has ever had. After all, what’s more fun than trying to make people figure out a maze? Making them figure out a maze they CAN’T see! With the rain adding great atmosphere, and Butch being horribly lost, this is a fun maze for the ages.

1. “Survivor Vanuatu”: I say again: turning the maze vertical is a great idea. Doing it for your traditional “Survivor” maze, making for an impressively intimidating structure? Fantastic.

Honorable Mention: “Survivor Millennials vs. Gen-X”: Our shake up this time is not getting to see the maze again, but this time with the twist that it’s not blindfolds, but the maze simply facing away from you. Probst’s commentary and the novelty of the maze being on the outside of a door you can’t see past made for a good shake-up. This one loses points, and thus ends up on the Honorable Mentions, though, because of size. It does matter, and this one is just small.

BOTTOM 5

5. “Survivor Heroes vs. Villains”: I’ll be honest, this list was hard to do. There’s hardly a “Survivor” maze I dislike, and really it’s only the top three on this list that I have actual dislike for. The rest, while good, are just not as strong as the others. In this case, “Survivor Heroes vs. Villains” loses out because of a lack of originality. Granted, on a season so seeped in “Survivor” History, you’d expect some repeat challenges, but this season always went the extra step to make the repeats their own thing in some way. This was a direct copy, and thus it earns a spot on this list.

4. “Survivor Tocantins”: Another cool idea: Have people race through the “Survivor” logo. The problem here is that with the maze being in the rough shape of a line, it was kind of boring to watch when not seen from the air.

3. “Survivor Marquesas”: This one tried to be what the maze from “Survivor The Australian Outback” was, and it did have a cool door. However, having the tribes race in the same maze was confusing, and the circle shape just does not make for a memorable challenge.

2. “Survivor All-Stars”: “Say, you know what would be a fun idea? Take the maze from ‘Survivor Marquesas’, then divide it up into easily memorized quadrants, making the challenge super-easy! Imagine how fun that will be to watch!”

1. “Survivor Gabon”: This maze brings nothing new to the table, and is just dull. It’s got no color to it, the walls are just burlap, and everything just blends together. A maze should not do that.

Honorable Mention: “Survivor Borneo”: Ah, a non-traditional maze on this list. Rather than run around walls, people had to run an obstacle course while clipped to carabiners. This is a great way to shake things up for a maze, and did lead to the funny “Greg: Lost” moments. Really, it would be in the top five for sure were it not for the randomness. Most mazes can be solved with skill, but this one was almost pure luck, which demotes it to the bottom list.

No more stalling, onto my thoughts on the season as a whole. While I’ve avoided reading any other commentary post-Finale, so as to keep my thoughts my own, I did check out opinions prior to the Finale, and from what I can tell, they probably haven’t changed. I mention this to say that I hear the criticisms, and they are legitimate. The boot order pretty much let Wendell and Domenick waltz to the end unopposed. Ghost Island, while a good idea, was lackluster at best. And the editing was repetitive, not to mention clearly broadcasting that either Domenick or Wendell was our winner. All of these are valid points I completely agree with. So when I say that people are hard on this season, it’s not because I think this is an amazing season people don’t get. This, for me, falls into the category of “ok, but not great”. When I say I like this season more than others, I mean I disagree with those who call it a “Bottom 10” season. There are problems, to be sure, but worse then seasons with horrible characters on them? Worse than seasons that were predictable start to finish? This season has problems, but it’s not THAT bad, and I can only guess that such strong opinions are recency bias. Still, I can’t deny that this season feels recycled. I’m not sure whether the editors didn’t have a lot to work with post-merge, or if they were just asleep at the computer, but it seemed like we got the same scenes over and over again once the merge hit, and it REALLY detracted from the season. On top of that, I’ve always said that a strong finish for a season is much better than a strong start, and this season helps exemplify that. With rare exception, the pre-merge was great! But in being great, it got rid of all the true rivals to Domenick and Wendell, who were pretty much all on Malolo. You can’t even take the comfort of “Well, it just showcases how good Domenick and Wendell were at eliminating their competition!” Bear in mind, the only two Tribal Councils those two attended were the only Tribal Councils that a Naviti went home at. The best you can say about the pair is that they were smart enough to capitalize on the “Naviti Strong” sentiment to take it to the end. Ultimately, I would compare this season to “Survivor Heroes vs. Villains”. I’m sure many of you are now thinking “Blasphemy!”, but bear in mind, I have a much lower opinion of that season than others do, due to all the best moments coming in the pre-merge episodes, and the merge episode itself. I’d say “Survivor Heroes vs. Villains” hits higher highs (The J.T. Debacle comes to mind), but also hits lower lows (The post-merge essentially becoming the “Russell Hantz Show”, on the heals of a season that may as well have been titled “Survivor Russell Hantz”). That said, with fewer stand-out moments, I still give “Survivor Heroes vs. Villains” the edge, but in terms of level of excitement, they follow the same pattern.

If nothing else, this season gave us a great winner. Maybe we didn’t like the season that got him there, but he’s the winner we deserve, the winner we needed right now.

-Matt

Title Credit to Jean Storrs.