Idol Speculation: “Survivor Kaoh Rong” Episode 2: Fire Begins at Conception

You may recall that on last season, “Survivor Cambodia”, Stephen Fishbach kept commenting on how the “voting blocs” of that season were a new and unprecedented thing, indicative of that season. I’ve made it clear that, while this is an elevated form of gameplay very rarely seen, it’s not unique to that season, nor do I believe it marks an overall shift in gameplay. I bring this up because, for comparison, I’d like to bring up an incident that I believe HAS represented a shift in gameplay. Think back for a minute to “Survivor Blood vs. Water” episode 4, or as it may be better remembered, “The Timely and Much-Desired Exit of Brad Culpepper”. This is where Caleb, having heard that Brad wanted to keep the other tribe happy by voting off people whose loved ones were no longer there, realized he was an eventual target and campaigned, at Tribal Council, for Brad’s ouster. Now, talking strategy at Tribal Council is nothing new, nor was pleading for your life, but the crazy thing was, it worked. Up until that point, barring exceptions like Malcolm Freberg’s “Three Idol” play on “Survivor Caramoan”, strategy was done exclusively before Tribal Council. You had your plan in place going in, and you don’t deviate from it. Oh sure, there were exceptions to this rule. I’ve mentioned one of them just now. But by and large, conventional wisdom said that such pleas fall on deaf ears. That Caleb was able to work that situation out, I believe, has shaken things up. Not to say that people don’t go into Tribal Council with plans in place or anything, but it seems to me that since then, there’s been much more of a willingness to shake up plans at Tribal Council, immunity idol or no. Personally, I’m a big fan of this development. From a fan standpoint, it helps with unpredictability, which is definitely a plus, and since it’s really a new and more complex form of strategy, I see very little downside to this.

But at this rate, my introduction’s going to be longer than the blog itself, better hop right in. Our post-Tribal Council talk from last episode is less bashing of Darnell and more bashing of Alecia. True, she may have survived her first Tribal Council, but it was a very near-miss thing, which Jason makes no secret about. Despite presumably having learned her name, Jason still refers to Alecia as “Blondie”, which is sounding more and more derogatory each time I hear it. It’s pretty much the same complaints you heard last time: she’s weak, she does nothing around camp, blah blah blah. Not that Alecia helps her case a lot. To Tang has flint now, but can’t seem to get fire started even so. Jennifer seems to be the main contributor in this department, but Alecia is trying to help, looking for the “embryo” of the fire, which is only slightly less funny than John Palyok going on about “Hot Amber!” on “Survivor Vanuatu”.

In a somewhat unusual move, we actually get two camp scenes before our lack of an intro. Rather than build on, well, the alliance building at Gondol, we need more time devoted to Tai’s idol-hunting exploits. Not the worst plot line they could have followed, and given who goes to Tribal Council this episode, I can’t fault the show too much, but idol hunting exploits can get repetitive.

Fortunately, Tai is just pure fun. While the other five members of Gondol go for a swim, Tai stays on the beach, wondering if he should look for the idol or not. Learning from his mistake last episode, he’s worried about taking too long and being caught. However, in this situation, the clear choice is to go for the idol. The upside to Tai NOT looking for the idol would be that he had a chance to bond with his tribe, but seeing as he’s left on the beach all alone, I’d say that ship has sailed.

Getting good vibes from the place (or maybe just liking the feel of the trees), Tai returns to his old idol hunting grounds, trying out different trees this time around. I will resist making a “barking up the wrong tree” joke here, in particular because Tai actually barks up the RIGHT tree. He notices a semi-inconspicuous clue hidden in a knot of a tree, which tells him the idol is buried at the base of said tree. Tai gets to digging, only to discover that the note is a freaking LIAR! Well, at least it tells half-truths. The idol IS there, but locked in a small box. To open that box requires a key. Luckily, said key is nearby. Unfortunately, “nearby” in this case means “atop a 50-foot black palm tree”, and will require building a long pole to knock it off. This, in a sense, hearkens back to the old days when finding an idol was something like a scavenger hunt, leading you from clue to clue. I’m happy to see it back, though the building of the pole thing bothers me slightly. I think the issue I have is that, while the scavenger hunt could be a hard thing to hide, it was hideable. 50-foot poles are harder to hide.

Tai, however, takes what we might call the Ozzy Option (“Survivor Cook Islands”), and tries to just climb the tree. Sadly for him, being one with nature and respecting all living things does not grant you super tree-climbing powers, and so he’s forced to halt his idol-hunting efforts for the moment. Still, he does reference Ozzy, so the scene DID have the effect of making me like him more.

In order to keep parity, we head over to Chan Loh, which wastes no time in getting our promised “Debbie is crazy” scenes out of the way. Peter’s “Crazy Cat Lady” comment? Check. Debbie’s “We have the biggest frontal lobes!” cheer? Check. Oh, but we get added craziness, what with Debbie claiming to be an expert on everything yet continually showing no aptitude towards it. Yep, we’re definitely in full-on Coach (“Survivor Tocantins”) territory now. But, not content with mixing in just ONE older, crazier “Survivor” player, Debbie also has to drink the water without boiling it, insisting it’s safe. Ah yes, following the performances of Rudy Boesch and Sue Hawk on “Survivor All-Stars”. Truly, Debbie draws only from the finest of players. There’s not much more that can be said about Debbie’s craziness, so I will turn my focus to the first real shot of the water source we get. HOLY CRAP! That is a HUGE freaking water source! I know it doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things, but that water source is just so large and out-there that I think the image of it is permanently lodged in my brain.

Oh, but out of the cloud of nuttiness that is Debbie, a silver lining emerges. It actually produces some strategy talk. The way it was built up, it seemed like this would be a set-up for a “Debbie annoys everyone, she needs to go.” storyline. Certainly that seems to be how Liz is thinking. Peter, however, has a different take, noting that Debbie’s craziness likely means that she’s unintelligent/easily lead, and a good person to keep around. Not bad logic from Peter. After all, that’s pretty much what I’d be thinking were I out there. However, I look at her more as “Easy to beat in the end.” rather than “Mentally weak.” Crazy she might be, but that doesn’t mean she’s dumb. After all, Cao Boi Bui (“Survivor Cook Islands”) was one of the craziest contestants ever, yet he still independently came up with a vote splitting strategy to flush the idol.

Heading back to Gondol, it seems that, a mere two seasons after my mini-essay on homosexuality and “Survivor”, we have the beginnings of a bona-fide bromance on “Survivor”. Despite Tai having a boyfriend, he flirts with Caleb, even getting to the point of trying to kiss him to get some food off of his lip. The impression isn’t helped by the fact that the two have arguments that you’d expect an old married couple to have. Tai’s “Love of all living things.” comes into play again when Caleb wants to kill a monster of a hornet, but Tai doesn’t want him to. Of course, in reality, it’s not realistically leading to a real romance between the two. Caleb has no interest in getting into anything with Tai that way, and as he himself says “We don’t have people like Tai where I live.” To his credit, though, the guy takes it all in very good stride. This could very easily have turned into another “Brandon and Frank” (“Survivor Africa”) situation, where the two people from different worldviews just can’t see eye to eye, and we laugh at how funny it is. Here, we have two people who do have different worldviews, but instead work with each other, teach each other, and even get along in a sweet way. That’s really nice to see, particularly from Caleb’s end. Rather than conflict, we have growth, and it makes for a nice change.

Oh, and the impetus for all this? Tai saying that he wants to bond socially with his tribe, since getting the idol is out for now. Yeah, it looks sweet and all, but this is still a REALLY strange way of bonding with one’s tribe. For all intents and purposes, I’d say it works, but it’s unorthodox to say the least.

Turning to the social outcasts at Chan Loh, we see Debbie complaining to Joe about the lack of discipline at the camp, which Joe agrees with. Wow, she’s REALLY pulling hard from the Rudy playbook this time! Unfortunately for Debbie, though, she seems to have missed the one good part of the Rudy playbook. Specifically, that quote I always come back to, “I’ve gotta fit in. Me. Not them.” Rather than go this route, Debbie and Joe simply complain that camp isn’t run the way they want, and further isolate themselves as a result.

Speaking of which, now it’s JOE’S turn to complain about everything. Somehow, Chan Loh has managed to get their wood wet, their matches wet, and lost a bunch of their kerosene in the three days they’ve had their fire-making kit. I know there’s a limit to what you can do about the keeping stuff dry situation out there, but the kerosene thing? That’s just pathetic. Neal, for his part, is quick to blame Joe for this, saying that Joe poured about a third of it on the fire that first day, and then let it evaporate. Since Joe never provides an explanation for how to do things better, and merely complains, I’m forced to accept that no, Joe, you really DON’T know how to do things. You want to complain about how things are run? Fine. But then you need to either put up or shut at at things being done better. Joe, so far, has done none of that, and his complaining only serves to ostracize him further from the tribe. Given that Peter wants to keep Debbie around, I’d say that makes Joe target A-1 for elimination from Chan Loh.

Joe also seems to have joined Debbie in drinking the Kool-Aid. And by Kool-Aid, I mean unboiled water. Liz is pretty squeamish about it, which sets Joe off on a confessional rant about how worthless Liz’s “book smarts” are out on “Survivor”. Again, I would have no problem with this IF JOE ACTUALLY DEMONSTRATED GOOD SURVIVAL SKILLS! But no, he just complains about how everyone else is doing it wrong. Plus, again, I’m on Liz’s side for this one. Water out there has a lot of really bad stuff in it. Best to boil it before drinking.

Dehydrated, Liz goes into the water to take a moment to herself, and… WHOA! When did Liz and Aubry do a body swap? We don’t hear a peep from Aubry this episode, but Liz breaks down about the water situation. A reasonable thing to break down about, I’ll grant you, but Liz came across as stronger than that. Hope she’ll be ok. She does seem to pull herself together by the end of it all.

Speaking of the elements, we cut back to To Tang, who are quickly becoming out go-to people for confessionals about elemental harshness. Once again, Jason is our narrator, talking about how bad the sunburn is, and how he needs to rest. Oh come on, Jason, it can’t be that bad… OH MY GOD! Emergency! Emergency! We have reached John Cochran levels of sunburn! Repeat! John Cochran levels!

Yeah, Jason’s shoulder’s look pretty bad, but I shouldn’t single him out too much. After all, the rest of To tang doesn’t seem to be doing much work either. Oh, except for Alecia, but that’s because she needs to prove herself. She goes off to make fire and… wait, they STILL don’t have their fire started! Ok, there’s been some talk about whether or not To Tang was going to be a “train wreck tribe” for the season, and I was inclined to disagree. Now, however, I’m a convert. I know that if you haven’t practiced, starting fire with flint isn’t the easiest thing, but I’d expect pure random chance to give you SOMETHING by now! And that’s not the worst of it! Alecia works on the fire for FIVE HOURS before she gets anything! And even then, it’s only with Jason helping at the last minute that the fire gets started at all. That’s pretty pathetic, guys.

Out of this patheticness comes some good stuff, though. First off, Alecia. I wasn’t her biggest fan after her first episode, and I’m still not very big on her now, but I must give credit to her determination and her unwillingness to accept her fate. In harsh conditions like these, it can take a lot to keep that going, especially when you’re so obviously on the bottom. Second, it further shows Jennifer’s emotional side, as she has a newfound respect for Alecia for doing that for the tribe. Doesn’t make Jennifer the best “Survivor” player ever, but it’s nice to see. Third, and most important, it makes To Tang seem like one big happy family, and indicates that Alecia may NOT actually be on the bottom.

That newfound teamwork should really help To Tang since it’s CHALLENGE TIME! Like with the first immunity challenge, this one borrows from some previous challenges, but not in full concept, and after 32 seasons of this show, I’d imagine coming up with purely original elements is a bit difficult. The challenge this most borrows from is the first reward challenge of “Survivor Africa”, where the tribes transported long poles through a course, later assembling those poles to get to the top of a structure. This means that not only are we seeing a challenge element that, while reused, is rarely used today, but also that we’re borrowing from a season known for great challenges, and it’s hard to fault that. The gist of this challenge is that the tribes must carry a long log through a series of obstacles to get in in a finish space. Once there, they must untie a ball and rope on the log to get said ball to a slingshot, where the ball must be launched to knock over two targets. First two teams to knock over both targets win immunity and various amounts of fishing gear. This one is a really big challenge, and relatively unique as well. It’s a bit simpler than last episode’s challenge, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s grueling and epic-looking, and that counts for a lot.

One major disadvantage this challenge DOES have, though, is predictability. Last episode did a FANTASTIC job of giving us strategy from all sides, meaning anyone could lose. This time, the only real strategy development came from Chan Loh, pretty much guaranteeing that they’re going to Tribal Council this time.

At first, the challenge seems convinced that this is the case as well. Between Chan Loh being slightly behind Gondol and To Tang from the outset, and Debbie further cementing her “crazy” status by cheering like a madman from the sidelines awkwardly. Gondol manages to keep their lead, but a fumble by To Tang puts Chan Loh back in it at the untying portion of the challenge. It’s a very close race, but after Gondol takes first place, some sharp shooting by Peter sends To Tang back to Tribal Council again. Ok, points for unpredictability, show, but we got the LEAST from To Tang strategy wise this episode. Perhaps you’re setting stuff up for later, and I’m certainly not saying that what we got pre-challenge was BAD, but it feels like none of it mattered, and now you have to cram in all that strategizing after the challenge.

Yeah, I know that there may simply not have been much strategizing to show at To Tang, but these editors are clever. I’m sure they could come up with something.

As we leave the challenge, Jason complains about how they’re set to be the worst tribe in “Survivor” History. Ah, that old and tried hyperbole. Don’t worry Jason, you’ve still got two episodes to go before you hit Matsing levels.

Back at To Tang camp we get, what else, more complaining about Alecia from Jason and Scot. Ok, I’ve reached my boiling point on this. Again, I’m no fan of Alecia’s but these guys just keep making the same points over and over again, and some of them don’t even make sense! I mean “Alecia doesn’t pull her weight around camp?” She made the fire!

(The door to Matt’s house breaks down)

MATT: What the… wait why am I surprised by this any more? It’ll be Jason this time won’t it?

(Enter Jason)

JASON: Well, technically, I made the fire, you know. So yeah, she’s not pulling her weight.

MATT: Overall, yes, Alecia could be doing more. But YOU did not make the fire. You showed up in the last five minutes to lend a hand. Effectively, you kill-stole a fire.

JASON: That’s my bounty-hunter skills, man!

MATT: Look, bounty-hunter skills or not, you’re just plain being rude. We get it. You’ve got an alliance. Alecia’s not a part of it. Stop driving that point into the ground.

JASON: What else is there to talk about?

MATT: Oh, I don’t know, ANYTHING else?

JASON: Ok, well then, let’s hear some more about my sunburn.

(Matt exits in a hurry).

Well, after that interruption, we get confirmation of what I said all along: that To Tang would be the no-nonsense tribe. Sure, they got an alliance together, but there’s a LOT of pressure from each other to stick with it, and very little tolerance for lying. Alecia provides the best evidence for that. When asked by Jennifer “What’s the best thing to do on ‘Survivor’?”, Alecia’s initial answer is “Be honest.” Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but I doubt someone so shadily hiding whether or not they have the idol (as we saw last episode) would say that honesty is best on “Survivor”. Unlike Debbie and Joe, Alecia is adapting to her situation. Scheming won’t work on To Tang, so she’s changing up her perception.

Scheming, however, may be the order of the day. Further being ruled by her emotions, Jennifer is not happy about voting Alecia off. Like me, she’s both impressed at her determination, and fed up with the guys attitude towards her. With Darnell gone, the women have a majority, and conspire to vote off Jason. Actually, not a bad plan for any of them. At the moment, it’s pretty clear that Scot and Jason have all the power on this team. Those two are most likely sticking together. True, they’re easily the two strongest people left on the team, but the strength part of challenges really hasn’t been their problem, and now’s pretty much the last chance until a swap for anyone else to seize power. Yeah, you might lose some more, but again, tribe swap. Anything can happen.

Despite stumbling onto a good strategy, Jennifer starts to have third thoughts after talking with Scot. While she wasn’t happy with either of the boy’s attitudes towards Alecia, she was more angry at Jason (hence his being the target), and thinks that perhaps risking offending Scot isn’t such a good idea. She floats this to Cydney, who at this point is just fed up with all the flip-flopping.

Well, for the short time-frame given, we’ve got some good misdirection heading into Tribal Council. And oh boy, what a Tribal Council it is!

Probst wastes no time in jumping on the strategy of voting, noting that Alecia, as the other vote-getter from last time, is the obvious choice. On the other hand, he floats the possibility of a women’s alliance straight to Jennifer, further lending credence to the idea that Probst has some knowledge of what happens at camp. Now, Jennifer could play this off with a coy half-truth, hinting at what she wants to do without drawing suspicion anymore. For the sake of drama, she doesn’t. Instead, she admits that she’s up in the air, not sure of how she wants to vote. Since she told Jason and Scot that she was firmly in the “Vote for Alecia” camp, this causes some FANTASTIC fireworks! Suddenly, nobody knows where they stand, and they start to scramble. To her credit, Jennifer does try and talk her way out of it, mainly by lying through her teeth. She claims that the women’s alliance was all Alecia’s idea, despite this not being the case, as it’s the only way to get the cloud of suspicion off of her. Alecia, though, also capitalizes on this opportunity, denying Jennifer’s lies and trying to cast aspersions of disloyalty. Jennifer counters with a plea for strength in the tribe, saying she’s always stood behind that value. The tribe, however, remains unconvinced. Scot in particular says she needs to make him trust her again. Jennifer somehow accomplishes this by standing up on her seat. Not sure what good that does, but it looks cool. Also, since we don’t have enough classic “Survivor” comparisons, the mistrust and pleading from Jennifer reminds me of the situation Ami was in for her boot episode on “Survivor Micronesia”.

The votes are in, and in another parallel to the aforementioned Ami situation, Jennifer’s pleas fall on deaf ears. She managed to convince Scot, but as he himself admits, he’s not known for being smart. She goes home, and while I did find her likable and will miss her, I think that was the right decision. She was just too volatile for this tribe, and wasn’t particularly necessary. Still, when she wasn’t being overly emotional, she had some game, and I’ve definitely got a soft spot for her. Credit also to To Tang as a whole: While they do value honesty and sticking to the plan (further evidence why Jennifer needed to be voted off: she didn’t follow that), they are, at least willing to change it up at Tribal Council. Not only is that a smart way to play, but it makes for a more interesting game.

This episode was still really good, but mostly for the back half. Not that the stuff we got pre-challenge was bad, but since we spent the least substantive time with the tribe going to Tribal Council, it felt a bit pointless, especially when last episode did such a good job of balancing good screentime for every tribe. Still, what an exciting back half, man! Say what you will about To Tang, they do make for a fun Tribal Council. Since I suspect they’ll be going to a lot more of them in future, look forward to more excitement next week!

-Matt

Title Credit to Jean Storrs

Idol Speculation: “Survivor Blood vs. Water” Episode 5: An Excess of Lauras

There’s an odd trend on “Survivor” that rarely comes into play, and I’ve actually yet to have a season until now where it bears commenting on, but tonight, I’m forced to.  That trend is that, for whatever reason, when two people with the same first name appear on the same season of “Survivor”, one of them must go, usually very early.  On “Survivor Pearl Islands” we had Ryan Opray and Ryan “Skinny Ryan” Shoulders, both of the Morgan Tribe, and Skinny Ryan was second to go.  On “Survivor All-Stars”, we had Jenna Lewis and Jenna Morasca, as well as Rob Cesternino and Rob “Boston Rob” Mariano, with Jenna Morasca and Rob Cesternino going third and fourth respectively.  There was also “Survivor Vanuatu”, which gave us John “J.P.” Palyok and John Kenney, with J.P. being third to go.  And let us not forget “Survivor Samoa”, which had both Russell Hantz and Russell Swan, and while Russell Swan lasted a few episodes, for how well remembered he is from that season, he may as well have been out early.  There were other seasons, of course, such as “Survivor Nicaragua”, but this intro’s far too long as it is, and I think the point stands.  Now, there are exceptions to this rule.  Notably, “Survivor Africa” had both Kim Powers and Kim Johnson survive until the final 6, but it’s more the exception than the rule.  That rule was played out in full tonight, as at Galang’s first Tribal council, the only targets were people named “Laura”.  But let’s take it from the top, shall we.

Ok, ok, I know it’s coming, let’s get that damn Redemption Island scene that we already saw out of the way… Oh hey, we’re looking at Tadhana!  Now that’s much more interesting.  Perhaps the producers are finally learning something.  So we see that everyone is still a little shell-shocked, which is to be expected given how hectic that last Tribal Council was.  The only really interesting tidbit comes to us from Ciera, who points out that now she has an opening to take out one of the guys, due to this move fragmenting them somewhat, and making Caleb seem untrustworthy.  Gotta admit, while I’m not a big Ciera fan, and I think she oversells herself a bit, this is a solid plan.  Nothing Earth-shattering, mind you, and I doubt it’s going to work quite like she thinks, but she’s watching her surroundings, and making the best possible use of them.  Kudos to her for putting in the effort.

Well, that was fun, let’s see what’s happening at Galang… Oh, NOW we get the stupid Redemption Island scene.  As per usual, people are pissed at Brad, though give him credit that he at least TRIES to be civil and polite about the whole thing.  Thank God for small favors.

So NOW we get to see Galang, where Laura Morett is desperately trying to give herself a chance.  Her idea is adequate, deducing that Aras is in with the majority, and trying to get in his good books via massage, but she’s not subtle at all about it, and Aras, game savvy that he is, sees right through it.  This makes him not improperly paranoid.  Then again, perhaps it’s just Colton’s influence on the tribe making massages unpopular.

One Laura in trouble just isn’t enough, however, so we get Laura Boneham commenting on how she’s the odd one out for never having played the game before.  This is not too surprising, but fair.  Not much else to say.  Moving on.

I feel like we’re getting whiplash as we head on over to Redemption Island to see the march in of Candice, John, and BRAD?  What the hell, Probst, I thought you were all for calling him “Culpepper”?  Huh.  I guess getting sent to Redemption Island gets your nickname status demoted.

Monica is, to be expected, upset about this, even offering to take Brad’s place in the game.  Brad, correctly realizing that he’d just be voted out again should he accept, and that then more than likely both he AND his wife would be out of the running for the prize, declines.  The problem, however, is that Monica is more upset about this than she should be.  No, this is not my heartless cynicism leaking into the blog again.  I accept that it must be hard to see a loved one go, and do allow for some grieving.  Monica, however, is going way too far, making it clear that she’s playing for two (as opposed to for her alliance), and associating herself too closely with Brad, which, given how he’s perceived, could lead to problems down the road.  Particularly egregious is her getting mad at Candice for trashing Brad, to which Candice for once fairly replies that Monica voted Candice out, so if anything, Candice has more of a reason to be mad at Monica, which actually makes a lot of sense.  Seriously, Monica, GET OVER IT!

So, where is today’s Rehash Island challenge from?  Well, hate to say it, folks, but for once my powers of recall fail me.  I know this challenge has been done before, and my gut tells me it’s from either “Survivor South Pacific” or “Survivor One World”, but for the life of me I can’t remember which one it is.  I hang my “Survivor Nerd” hat in shame.  The challenge itself, in any case, is one I enjoy.  Our duelists must disassemble a box, and use the boards to solve a puzzle bridge.  Having completed the bridge, they must then disassemble the bridge, selecting out pieces that have paint on the other side to solve a puzzle.  First two to solve the puzzle stay alive, and the first one once again gets to give someone in the game a clue.  For once, I’m actually ok with this challenge.  It’s fairly clever, pretty well balanced (if a bit heavy on the puzzle side), and not one we’ve seen a million times before.  I particularly like that with the second puzzle, not every piece will be used.  It’s an added layer of difficulty you don’t often see on the show.  Also, there’s a metaphor here somewhere with the building of a bridge only to tear it down, I’m just not sure what.

Well, seeing as Probst talks up Candice’s challenge ability, so you know that means that Candice will be losing this challenge.  Props to the editors on this one, however, they did make it very tense, with a nail-biter of a conclusive battle between Candice and Brad.  It would have been more tense were it between Candice and John, but hey, it’s reality tv, you can’t control these things.  Galang cheers Brad all the way, seemingly to cheer up Monica, but I think there might be a deeper layer to it.  As we’ll see later, Tadhana is a much more united front with Brad out of the tribe.  If Brad sticks around long enough to come back, he might be a way to divide and conquer Tadhana, should they have a sudden winning streak.  Excellent forward thinking on their part, if that’s true.

Candice, as I said, loses, and so must leave.  I kind of wish she’d stuck around, partly to get more exploration into how the relationship survives such a trial, as well as dilemmas about how you fight your loved one in a game like this.  I’d also rather she stuck around over John, as while I’m not a fan of Candice’s character, she at least HAD a character.  John is just bland on bland with a side of bland.  Hey, Cochran!  I need an ice cream metaphor here!  Still, all things considered, I’m not sorry to see Candice go.  It’s a bummer she never really got to play and all, but her character was never that good to begin with, and she seemed really whiny this season.  Yeah, I’d rather John or even Brad went, but all things considered, she’s not a huge loss.

John, being unable to think without Candice, gives the clue to Monica again, who just throws it in the fire.  Lather.  Rinse.  Repeat.

It’s a shame Monica can’t read this blog on the island, or else, I think she wouldn’t behave quite like she did at camp, complaining to people in general and Tina in particular about Brad’s treatment, even going so far as to say they’re essentially the same person, at least in terms of personality, to which I refer her to my earlier comment of “That’s not a good thing”.  Tina assures Monica that he’ll come back, but as to be expected, Tina points out that Monica’s thoughts might have some very negative consequences.  She doesn’t know what yet, so she’s not going to be hasty, which at the moment I think is a smart decision, particularly given that you don’t know what will happen with Redemption Island.  Still, rest assured that if Monica keeps this up, Tina will get rid of her very quickly.  Not useful?  GONE.

Speaking of Tina, I guess now is as good a time as any to address my assessment of Tina pre-season.  I sort of left Tina as a blank slate, as I acknowledged that she was good in the past, but had no idea how well both her social and physical games had held up over the years.  I can now attest that both have held up exceedingly well.  Tina’s not getting a lot of interviews, but you can tell she’s playing, and still as savvy as ever.  Moreover, given how often she’s been competing in challenges, I would venture to say that her physical game is holding up quite well.  So good for her, it looks like Tina’s in for the long haul this time around, and I’m excited!

Ciera, over at Tadhana, utters the immortal words “There’s no way this can get any worse.”, with regards to the physical camp situation.  CUE RAINSTORM!  In all seriousness, we actually get a rainstorm of injury litanies, culminating with Katie’s complains about a foot fungus growing under her toenails, causing them to fall off.  Thank you so much for sharing!

Super Vytas, despite his super-durability, is also not immune to the grossness of such injuries.  Perhaps it’s his Kryptonite.  Still, he valiantly bears it for a brief period, before heading off to talk strategy with Caleb.  The two casually comment on liking Ciera, which is really double-talk for what they tell the cameras.  Caleb, in the more obvious and less interesting confessional, says it’s good to be the swing vote, and uses the word “Kahuna” in completely the wrong country, a hanging shame if ever there was one.  Super Vytas, on the other hand, tries to sense the aura around Caleb to get a sense of his alignment in the fight between good and evil.  However, while he’s read everyone else, Caleb’s aura is clouded.  This makes Super Vytas suspicious, but his first priority is to prevent Caleb from taking his rival for tribe head permanently, leading Super Vytas to try to bond with Caleb.  It’s a good strategy for now, but there will doubtless be a time soonish that it needs to be dropped.  The superhero’s life is a lonely one, after all.

The next day reveals that, whatever Super Vytas’ super origin, he’s solar powered, as he performs his daily yoga on top of a mountain to keep his powers in check, doing the very impressive move of a split while simultaneously standing on one’s hands.  He then decides to use his inspiring presence to motivate Tadhana to a victory.  Well, nothing else worked, I guess this is worth a shot.

Challenge time, and I’m in the rare position of WISHING for another Redemption Island challenge.  Today we get a mixed rehash from “Survivor Fiji”, and “Survivor One World”.  Running in pairs, one person from each tribe will slide down a water slide, grabbing a large ring on the way.  Once at the bottom, they then try to get the ring around a post, the first one to do so scoring a point, first to get 5 points wins immunity, plus a choice between a steak dinner and fishing gear for a reward.  I’ve said before and I’ll say again that water slides of “Survivor” DO NOT WORK!  They don’t fit the “Native Islander” themes at all, and just feel lazy and tacked on.  Ok, so the one on “Survivor Gabon” was kind of cool, but that one was also built into the cliffside.  Furthermore, this one is not remotely challenging, with the ring just lying there, and the post having so many nooks and crannies of it, that it seems far too easy to hook a ring on it.

Galang chooses to run Tina and Kat, so they must be smoking something.  Tina I can understand, but you’d run KAT in a challenge over either Laura or Monica?  What is your major malfunction sir?

Stupidity on Galang, coupled with the inspiring presence of Super Vytas (who earns redemption against arch-nemesis Aras-Man) actually earns Tadhana a victory.  Guess it really was Brad Culpepper’s attitude that held them back.  They choose to take the steak, and I’d normally chastise them for not taking the long term fishing gear reward, but given that the tribes seem to have fishing spears already, I don’t see it as much of a loss.

Now THIS is interesting!  Galang really has to strategize now!  Which is why they do the obvious of target Laura Boneham as being an easy first out.  Laura doesn’t help matters by awkwardly commenting on the situation in a transparent plea for comfort, which is rendered all the more hilarious by Gervase’s apparent silence on the matter.  Give Laura B. some credit, though, when she sees this isn’t working, she tries a new tactic.  Specifically she tries the “create conflict to shelter myself tactic”.  She’s not subtle about it, but she’s at least trying.  So, how do you get around being completely unsubtle about strategy?  Why, by going to the brainless wonder, KAT!  Laura B.  tells Kat that both Laura M. and Monica thought they should have been in the challenge, which is true, but put a lot more vindictively by Laura B. than was actually intended in the conversation.  Kat, for her part, seems to be falling for it, but then looks at her handler of Tyson and Tina, who quickly defuse the situation.  Nice, quick thinking on their part.

Well, if Laura B. isn’t going to be saved by her own hand, then by who’s hand.  The answer to that is Aras, who rattles off the alliance for about the FIFTH time this episode (though with the new addition of Kat, who seems to have been grafted on as a safety net for her stupidity), and points out that both Laura’s are on the outs, with Laura B. looking to go first.  However, Aras doesn’t trust Laura M., and has also noticed Monica’s loyalty towards her husband, and thinks it would be better if he was out of the game.  To this end, he decides to recruit his alliance to vote off Laura M., in the hopes of her challenge proficiency eliminating Brad on Redemption Island.  Now, I do agree that Laura M. would be the smarter move overall, just because despite appearances, she’s quite game savvy, and could throw a wrench in your plans later on, whereas Laura B., God bless her, is not nearly as on the ball in terms of gameplay.  Also, Laura M. knows that she’s not fully in with you all, and might flip, whereas Laura B. has no reason to flip.  However, I must protest the “Laura M. is more of a challenge threat” explanation.  True, Laura M. is more well-rounded in challenges I would say, but Laura B. is no pushover either.  In fact, from what we’ve seen of her, she’s a force to be reckoned with.  give her some credit.

Still, with that angle, you have to wonder how they’ll justify it to Monica.  They don’t.  They just suggest the idea, and she too trashes Laura B.’s challenge ability.  Swell.

History is the theme of Tribal tonight, as we get fairly interesting takes from Gervase and Tina about how the game has changed in the 13 odd years it’s been since their first forays.  Both agree that it’s harder, and things move faster, though given Tina’s gameplay on “Survivor The Australian Outback”, I contest the claim that Tina has played harder thus far in the game than she did on that season.  We then get to the targets, with Laura M. giving a solid, but generic, interview.  Laura B. gives us a bit more, giving what I thought quite an honest answer to Probst’s question.  True, she’s contributed, but there’s no question that they would have preferred Rupert being there.  In a sense, that could be seen as a metaphor for life.  It’s hard enough being a spouse to a famous person, but when that someone is one of the most famous people to ever come off the show, coupled with his big public works, I expect Laura B. gets shunted to the side a lot in real life.  Now she finally has a chance to shine, and she’s likely to be first off again.  It’s these kinds of complex problems that make this season a lot of fun.

But enough of that!  Let’s hear Laura M. trashing Laura B. for never having her torch snuffed.  Probst thinks this is a good note to end on, though personally I think it would’ve been even better to end on someone pointing out that Aras never had his torch snuffed either, but that’s just me.

We watch everyone voting, as the producers have a field day with the rare treat of being able to show at least part of everyone’s vote, due to “Laura” applying to both women.  Aras-Man’s Black Yogic Arts win out in the end, and Laura M. goes home, much to my delight.  Laura B. is not the best gameplayer, nor the most interesting character, but there’s something about her determination that I like, and Laura M.’s character is egotistical at best, unpleasant at worst.  Hope she loses the next challenge.  Yes, even over John.

As I said, smart vote out, so this episode comes in ok for me.  Nothing spectacular or groundbreaking, but it had a good moment here and there, and nothing was unpleasant, so just an average, but fun, episode.  Next week we get what looks to be a tribe switch, and I’m excited!

Oh, and I just looked it up, the box breaking challenge was from “Survivor South Pacific”!  Hah!  Come here, “Survivor Nerd” hat!

-Matt

Title Credit to Jean Storrs.

“Survivor” Retrospectives: Vanuatu

Well, following “Survivor All-Stars”, the show seemed to be on a streak.  “Survivor The Amazon” and “Survivor Pearl Islands” were both very well received, and “Survivor All-Stars”, while not the greatest season ever, was very much a tribute to the past, and so was still pretty well liked.  But going into the 9th season (Vanuatu), the big question was “How do you top returning castaways?”  The short answer is that you can’t, but unfortunately, it is part of what led to Vanuatu being seen as a poor season overall.  However, is it really deserved, or was it just bad timing?  Does the season whose best review calls it “forgettable” really fall at the bottom of the barrel?  Read on and find out.

First, though, a quick reminder that this review does contain spoilers. If you just want an opinion on how watchable the season is, scroll down to the bottom of the page, where I will have an “Abstract” section that will answer this question, while only talking about this season in the broadest of strokes.  But let’s waste no more time, and plunge into the review.

CAST

In my cast preview for “Survivor One World”, I listed off 4 types of seasons, and cited Vanuatu as an example of a strategy-dominated season.  You can read my full description of the implications in my blog, the link for which I have provided (

https://idolspeculation.wordpress.com/2012/01/19/idol-speculation-survivor-one-world-cast-assessment/), but suffice to say that seasons dominated by strategists usually are not received well, and that’s certainly true of this season.  A boring cast is one of the things most often cited as why Vanuatu was a bad season.  Here, though, I have to disagree.  While I do admit that Vanuatu had fewer “characters” than previous seasons, it was also one of the few seasons where nearly everybody was good at playing the game, and almost nobody shirked away from strategy.  The few exceptions (such as Dolly Neely) were quickly disposed of, leaving us with an intriguing, unpredictable game.  Seriously, looking at the season as a whole, without knowing the outcome, would you guess that Chris Daugherty would walk away with the million?  The man lost the first immunity challenge for his tribe, and was the last man standing against a strong, six woman alliance that had systematically picked off his allies!  I wouldn’t have given him any odds to win, and yet he did.  While I won’t go into much detail on the others, you certainly can’t deny that everyone who made the merge, at least, went in for strategic thinking with few qualms.  This, to my mind, made the season very intriguing.

Another major criticism of the season, which goes along with it having fewer characters, is that there were no villains to hate.  You couldn’t root against anybody, couldn’t hunger to see someone gloriously voted off, because, even when being strategic, these people were nice, or else working out of desparation.  Chris might have been good villain material, and he certainly had the one-liners for it, but having a villain win was considered bad P.R.  This led to Ami Cusack (who my dog is named after) being classed as a viallian, which, to a degree, she deserved.  I’m sorry, Eliza Orlins, but Ami snuffing out Travis “Bubba” Sampson’s and Lisa Keiffer’s torches after only the slightest HINT that they might vote you off, counts as villainous.  Does this mean that she’s a bad person?  No, none of the contestants are, they just played strategically.  A lot of people don’t like the moral conflict, being unable to outright hate someone, but I personally find it fascinating.  Pushing the limits of morals, seeing the duality of people’s personalities and actions, for me, that’s a thrill ride, and a big part of what I like about this cast.

While I will admit that this season did not have the biggest characters, I also wouldn’t say that it didn’t have ANY characters, it’s just that they’re not talked aobut very much.  Lea “Sarge” Masters is the prime example, portraying the stereotype of the drill sergeant, barking orders around his tribe, and getting fed up with more lackluster members like Rory Freeman.  Also a character was Twila Tanner, who portrayed the southern, hard working, no nonsense mom to the point where it cost her a million dollars. The problem was that these people were strategists as well as characters, and even then weren’t the most extreme characters ever, they still had some of the characteristics.  Two other people I should note, even though they aren’t “characters” are Chad Crittenden and Julie Berry, the former being the first contestant with a prosthesis (which, in a sense, is all he is remembered for, as he had the approximate personality of white bread), and the latter dating Jeff Probst for a significant period of time.  Both were ok strategists, who weren’t the greatest characters (although Julie’s attempt at nude sunbathing was a valiant effort), but got remembered for things unrelated to the game.

In short, I’ll say that what other’s see as weaknesses in this cast, I see as strengths.  A cast doesn’t need to be polarized characters to be exciting, and it was refreshing to see a majority of strategists at the merge.  It made for interesting psychology, and for my money, made this one of the better casts.

Score: 9 out of 10.

CHALLENGES

The best way I can describe the Vanuatu challenges is “meh”.  This is not to say they’re bad by any stretch of the imagination, oh no!  When they want to be awesome and epic, they take it to the extreme.  For instance, the Final 4 Immunity Challenge, a Vertical Maze, was truly exciting and new, making it one of my favorites (not quite top 5, just due to the number of amazing challenges, but easilly top 10).  The problem is that the inverse is also true: when the challenges aren’t amazing, they’re boring and forgettable.  Seriously, although the challenges aren’t awful or cringe-inducing, everything just seems toned-down and phoned in this season.  I think it was hindered by a few problems. First of all, the location is once again “Generic South Pacific Island”, so it didn’t have a distinctive culture to draw on.  Scratch that, it DID, but aside from a few Tamtams (and a hilarious incident with a pig that I’ll discuss in the “Twist” section), they didn’t do anyting with it, and this was the nation that invented BUNGEE JUMPING!  Seriously, you couldn’t come up with ANY good bungee jumping challenges?  The other big problem, though, is the main twist of the season, which I’ll here reveal is the return of the battle of the sexes.  As I mentioned in my review of “Survivor The Amazon”, when a season is “battle of the sexes”, you have to make the challenges fair for both men and women, which means generally toning down the intensity of the challenges.  This is fine, as long as you make the challenges interesting and clever, as they did in “Survivor The Amazon”.  However, the challenges in Vanuatu are simplistic and held back, which just doesn’t do it for me.  It did give us one staple challenge, which is to line tribe members on a balance beam, and have them navigate around each other, but this was the exent of it.  Again, the challenges aren’t bad, and when they’re good, they’re REALLY good, but for the most part, a weak season challenge-wise.

Score: 5 out of 10.

TWISTS

If people don’t complain about the cast of Vanuatu, the twist is usually their target, and with good reason.  As I mentioned before, the main twist of this season was a redo of “battle of the sexes”, which in and of itself was a good idea.  The problem is that it had been done not even two years ago, so it still seemed fresh in people’s minds, and it seemed like a cheap cop-out on twists.  Now, the show was no stranger to reusing twists (the tribe swap being a prime example), but this was the first time a main twist was completely rehashed, so again, it seemed like a cheap move on the part of CBS.  I would agree that reusing a twist so soon would be a bad idea, except for two reasons.  The first is that it was somewhat forced on the producers, rather than a concious decision to reuse the twist.  The DVD of Vanuatu (which I highly recommend) explains it better, but basically, the season’s opener (one of the best ever, I might add, with the natives attacking the boat, and a very violent welcome ritual) separated the men and the women, as part of the custom of the natives.  The trouble is that when this happens, people talk, and once people talk, you have to put them on the same tribe, to prevent pre-game alliances from forming.  The second reason I don’t mind a redo of the sexes is that the outcome was different.  I don’t mean just the ultimate winner (although that was a change between seasons), but just in how the tribes played things.  For one thing, while tribes did divide along age lines (so there were SOME similarities to the first battle of the sexes), this time the older group came out on top, as opposed to the younger group of “Survivor The Amazon”, which made for some interesting gameplay.  Also, this time, gender loyalties stuck beyond the merge. Bottom line, same twist, different game, makes it ok in my eyes.

Part of the battle of the sexes twist was the opening ritual, in particular one aspect.  The men were offered a chance to climb a tall pole greased with pig fat to retrieve a spiritual stone, rumored to bring good luck.  However, were they to fail, the women would get it.  Lots of superstition sprung up around the stone, so it made for good tv, and I’m glad it was in the game, and the challenge had a lot of potential as well, with lots of men falling flat on their faces in the offing.  The problem is that the man the natives picked to go first was an FBI agent, who scaled the thing on his first try, with almost no effort.  This really depleted the tension and the interest in the twist.

I suppose what could be considered the next “twist” was the “Fat Five” alliance of Chris, Chad, “Bubba”, “Sarge”, and Rory.  Not so much in that the alliance existed, that was old hat, but that it was the first time someone (Chris) failed so miserably in the first immunity challenge, completely costing the men victory, and lived to tell about it.

Our next twist is a first, one not brought on by contestants or by the producers, but by nature itself.  An earthquake shook the island, which was at least interesting to see.  It was followed by natives coming to each camp, asking for a leader.  “Sarge” was chosen for the men, and Scout Cloud Lee for the women.  They were then designated to change up the tribes, with a “One cuts and the other chooses” deal.  This was a fairly unique way to change up the tribes, and one that I rather enjoyed.

Coupled with this twist is another player-supplied one.  Rory, who along with “Bubba” had been exiled to the women’s tribe, at a 5-2 disadvantage, somehow made the merge, “Bubba” having gotten the axe for trying to signal the men’s tribe to throw the challenge.  The thing is, Rory was a throughly disagreeable individual.  Loud, abrasive, and prone to tantrums, virtually everyone wanted Rory off.  Given that he was the man who threatened to invoke the “slash, burn, and salt the earth” policy, this is hardly surprising.  Yet he showed remarkable amounts of cunning and resourcefulness and made it through, much to everyone’s amazement.

One minor twist came a few days after the merge.  At tree mail, rather than a challenge, a pig showed up, leading to hilarity and intrigue.  No one knew what the pig was for, only that he could not be eaten, much to the dismay of “Sarge” and Twila.  It was also funny trying to see Eliza haul in an entire pig by herself.  So, a lot of fun and mystery with this twist.  The one drawback was that it only lasted one episode, and the reveal was simply that it was a gift for a tribe that 4 people would visit for a reward, so a bit lackluster there.

The only other major twist to speak of has already been talked about, namely that Chris managed to survive 6 women who wanted his blood.  This, for me, rocks my socks, and makes up for all the so-so parts of the season.

So looking at the season, one can see why others don’t like it.  They reused a lot of twists, what few there were, and a lot of the twists were lackluster.  While I admit this isn’t the greatest season twist-wise, I think a lot of the twists were underrated, particularly Chris’ feat.  Also, a lot of the twists came from the people, which I liked, so I think this season is respectable on twists.

Score: 8 out of 10.

OVERALL

So I say there’s a lot to like about this season, so why is it so disliked?  A lot of it, I think, has to do with timing.  It came right after a run of really great seasons, not to mention the meta “Survivor All-Stars”, which would be hard to top in epicness without getting returning castaways.  This made an alright season seem less good by comparisson.  Also, the generic location worked against the season, hard though the producers tried to combat it.  This, plus the reused twists, make a lot of people neglect this season.  For my money, though, one thing saves it: the gameplay.  As I said, nearly everyone this season came to play, and it shows with some really great gameplay, not to mention a lot of unpredictability.  Bottom line, that’s enough for me, and I like this season a lot.  It’s not the strongest season ever, but there’s a lot of things to love.

Score: 30 out of 40.

ABSTRACT

Vanuatu is a great season to watch for any fan of good gameplay.  Nerely everyone brings their “A” game, and it shows, making for a delightful, unpredictable season.  While this is not the best season for those who like big characters, or those who love watching challenges, it is still a very good season, and well worth a watch.