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Despite a unified Tribal Council, there is a somber tone when we get back to Vesi. Cody in particular is upset, saying that losing Nneka is like a close girlfriend breaking up with him. This would be kind of a forced metaphor that I would normally hate, but Cody takes it to such ridiculous extremes that it circles back around to being hilarious. See for Cody, this is like his girlfriend breaking up with him at the same time the pizza delivery guy does not come through with the pizza. Also, he just found out his childhood dog finally died, and some guy had a fender-bender with his car. Didn’t even leave his insurance information. Oh, and that bitcoin he invested in? Worthless now. All while it is, of course, raining. Ok, so I made some of those up, but you have to admit they sounded plausible. Hence why this blog was almost titled “Cody Assenmacher and the Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Day”.
Curse the rest of the episode going well for Cody. I liked that title.
Fun fact about the tropics: It actually gets cold! Counter-intuitive, I know, but you’d be amazed what a lack of sunlight will do, particularly if your home has an insulation factor of 0, like pretty much every shelter on this show has. Gabler, however, has a plan. Palm frond blankets! That will make everything better! Admittedly not the dumbest plan I’ve ever heard on this show.
The flaw in the plan, a la Reem on “Survivor Edge of Extinction” is that Gabler doesn’t ask if anyone actually WANTS such a blanket, and wakes up most of the shelter in the process. Naturally, people just woken up tend to be grumpy, and given that they admit that Gabler’s efforts were not particularly effective at keeping them warm. Gabler apologizes with good grace, but he and Elie are still at heads, getting into a heated debate over how to best tend their fire. I hardly know enough about building a fire to determine whether one of them is right, though I do know that Gabler’s point about the direction of the wind making it harder for the fire to catch is sound, and a factor not really discussed on the show. Doesn’t make Elie’s idea less valid, though. It doesn’t really go far enough to be called an “argument” really, and even in confessional, Gabler is diplomatic about the whole thing. He says the two are just strong personalities who like to be in charge, and so naturally there’s going to be some clash. Still, Gabler reminds us that he hasn’t forgotten or forgiven Elie going through his bag for his idol rules, doubtless setting up something for some payoff later. No way we would be disappointed in that.
I will, however, be disappointed in the fact that we have a reward challenge. Now, this may seem weird for me, the guy who will usually exclaims “Challenge time!” in all caps, and who seems to focus on the challenges more than other blogs. And yes, I enjoy having more challenges to having fewer challenges in general. However, with three tribes and only a regular length episode, it really feels like it takes up too much of our time. Jumping ahead a bit, that talk from Gabler we got at the top of the episode? Yeah, that’s the only bit of pre-immunity challenge “strategy” we get. There will be stuff worth discussing, and I wouldn’t take anything OUT of this episode, but it’s clear that with three tribes, there is not enough time in a regular-length episode for a reward challenge. It just eats up too much time.
As to this specific challenge, it’s largely a hybrid of two pervious challenges. We have knocking blocks off a horizontal beam (from several seasons, but mostly resembling a challenge from “Survivor Kaoh Rong”) and tossing sandbags onto swinging circular platforms (“Survivor San Juan del Sur”). For the most part, the most notable thing at first seemed to be that I initially mistook the swinging platforms at the end for actual swings, which made me think for a second the contestants were actually just going to have some good playground fun. Probst playfully “taking attendance” as Coco comes in may have contributed to this as well.
But oh, there’s a part of this challenge that’s nothing short of sadistic! Those blocks? Yeah, the tribe doesn’t stack them. Instead, whoever knocked them down has to cross a long stretch of sand. Without touching the sand. Using only two blocks. And they cannot move their blocks with their hands. Oh, and did I mention there are OBSTACLES on this course you have to get your blocks over? Yeah, I feel sorry for the poor saps completing this portion.
Fittingly for such a torturous challenge, the reward itself is quite a powerful one. There’s the “ten fish” reward which seems pretty standard, but the winning tribe also gets the right to loot one item from either of the other two tribes. this has been seen a number of times, but is most prominent on “Survivor Pearl Islands”, where it was a mainstay of all tribal reward challenges. Certainly makes for good drama, and I’m all for its return, even sporadically!
There’s a good bit of tension to this challenge as well! Vesi has the early lead, and do ultimately win, but they take a long time on the swings so that even Coco, who were decently far behind, get to that portion. Vesi wins, though, but do not get their flint back. After Coco and Dumbass are sent away to await with fear the possibility of being looted, Vesi gets to negotiating. Probst tells them that as always, they can trade their reward for any previous one… Wait, since when has this been a thing? Ok, I know it’s happened a few times, most notably during the aforementioned “Survivor San Juan del Sur”, but this was NOT established as an ongoing rule! It’s fine if it is , but that’s the sort of thing that needs to be established at the top of the season, show! It’s relevant here because Noelle, evidently not being a fan of sashimi, does not want fish without the ability to cook it. I’m on the side of Cody here that sashimi is delicious, but their ultimate trade for fruit and tools makes sense.
On to looting discussion. Cody is quickly selected to be the tribe ambassador, due to his charm and, on his end, salesman skills. More of a debate is which tribe to loot, and what to take once they do. We don’t get a clear answer to the first question before Cody leaves, and to be fair there’s not really a wrong answer. Either way, you’re getting something good while weakening your opponents. That said, I would say that looting Dumbass is probably the slightly smarter choice. One reason is that Baka has gotten the bigger reward in the last two episodes, and so has more/better stuff to be looted. This is a factor brought up by Vesi, but when discussing weakening a tribe, it’s only brought up as a reason to loot Coco. Yet, I feel it would be a stronger reason to loot Dumbass. Partly this is due to most immunity challenges relying on “not being last”, and Dumbass is currently looking like the weaker of your two options. You can make it easier to not come in last if you further weaken the already slightly-weakened tribe. Further, there’s evidence to suggest that Coco being so ahead in terms of members is a good thing to be preserved. Consider that the majority of the time, a tribe that never goes to Tribal pre-merge tends to self-destruct, to at least some degree, immediately after the merge. Tandang, Kama, Luvu, you get the idea. There’s no reason to suggest Coco would be any different. Let the tensions build, so by the time of the merge you can exploit them.
A fiercer debate is what item to take. Most of Vesi is in favor of taking some of the fishing gear for their long-term survival. But, of course, Cody will get to make the final decision here, as the ambassador. And Cody is more in favor of taking the tribe machete, so prevent them from making fire, severely weakening them. Both logical reasons, but I’m more on the not-Cody side on this one. As the rest of the tribe points out, they have saws in the tool kit to strike the flint. Not as effective, admittedly, but still possible. Not brought up, but also a concern here, is the possibility of a tribe swap. Yes, weakening a tribe so severely can be an advantage, but if you’re swapped to that tribe? Congratulations, you just screwed yourself! Now, some might say that tribe swaps aren’t a thing in the “New Era”, and thus should not be planned for, now that our players have seen how “Survivor 41” and “Survivor 42” played out. I say if that was the case, they should also assume the “Beware Advantage” requires them to say some stupid phrase. Don’t assume things on “Survivor”. The only constant is change.
Cody warns in confessional of a possible “executive decision” as he heads off to the as-yet unknown tribe. Turns out it’s Coco, and while I do stand by it being the sub-optimal decision, it’s hardly a bad one either. Cody at first seems to be making his executive call, asking for the machete. Lindsay initially takes point for the tribe as the spokesperson, outright saying the tribe is unified in not wanting the machete taken. James contributes to the offer of food to supplement some other item. After some hemming and hawing, Cody agrees to take the fishing gear and food, which is probably ultimately the best decision.
What makes it even smarter, though, is that Cody lets us in on his sales tactics being put to use! Yes, it seems Cody DIDN’T want the machete, but DID want to milk the tribe for as much as it was worth. He intentionally gave them a highball offer to get them to give up more when taking the item he actually wanted anyway. The fact that he tells us about this only confirms its intentionality. While Cody still isn’t my cup of tea personally, I can’t deny this was a BRILLIANT move, and really shows off the depth he has compared to others of his archetype. Great negotiating. Angelina Keeley (“Survivor David vs. Goliath”) would be proud.
Is there any downside to Cody’s maneuvering here? Well, only one minor one, and it’s really not something he has control over. His manipulation here was generally quite subtle, hence why his confessional explanation was necessary. Karla, however, sees through it, so at least one person moving forward has Cody’s number, which could be trouble for him down the line.
CHALLENGE TIME! See, told you I went in for the all-caps. And this challenge certainly merits it, all due to the puzzle. The obstacles are pretty bog-standard, especially as the “find the ring of keys” aspect poses no problem to any single tribe. But that puzzle, man! Four tangrams you use to form a shape. Difficult, but not that special. Spencer solved a similar puzzle with little effort on “Survivor Cambodia”. But oh, dear reader, this IS a special puzzle! You make a square. Then you move the pieces to an upper platform, then use them to make a triangle. Yes, this puzzle has MULTIPLE solutions you can make with the same pieces. That’s cleverness, borderline genius! Frankly, I’d love to see more puzzles that need to be manipulated this way.
Note to “Survivor David vs. Goliath”: Puzzles with multiple solutions are only genius if they’re INTENTIONAL! I’m still salty about Carl not winning that one immunity where he spelled a word, but not the word the show was looking for.
Time problems rear their ugly head here once again. With only Dumbass getting true strategy talk (or at least talk not centered around the looting), there’s no doubt they lose this challenge. And that probably might have happened, were Noelle not a spanner in the works. You see, Vesi finishes the challenge first, oddly lending credence to the “addition by subtraction” philosophy. Then, Noelle gives advice to Dumbass on how to solve the puzzle for a triangle, leading Dumbass to an immunity win. Now, this is hardly the first time we’ve seen one tribe helping another in this type of situation. Aurora attempted to do it on “Survivor Edge of Extinction”, and Michaela did it successfully on “Survivor Millennials vs. Gen-X”. The notable difference here is that those seasons had tribe swaps, thus explaining why one tribe might favor another winning. Evidently Vesi is fully on the “weaken Coco” train. Fair enough strategy, but they’re quite obvious about it, and James in particular is not pleased with this development. So much for that cross-tribal alliance you formed, huh Noelle?
Bad as the editing and foreshadowing are, at least we now get a deeper look into the Coco inter-tribal dynamics, something that has admittedly been relatively lacking this season. As one would expect, we first check in with the women’s alliance. Geo is all for targeting Cassidy, but Kayla, one of our swing votes, tells us this is not an option. Couple that with Geo being somewhat cocky and bossy (we see him micro-manage Cassidy in cutting up some food), and we determine that he’s target number one. An obvious move, but a fair one nonetheless.
We’re going to need better misdirection than that, however! Enter Lindsay. With such a relatively unified vote, there’s little need to go off and talk one-on-one. Not in the world of Lindsay, though. She’s paranoid people are talking without her. Admittedly a fair fear, but given that she seems to have been involved about the Geo decision, she can’t be THAT out of the loop. Though, again in fairness, I can see her having thoughts about being targeted due to being visibly the oldest. She never mentions this, instead saying she thinks people might see her as a threat, but even if we don’t get a confessional for it, I wouldn’t be surprised if this thought was in her somewhere.
In a good old case of self-fulfilling prophecy, her paranoia rubs Karla and James, our swing votes, the VERY wrong way. Privately, they go off and talk about how Lindsay’s paranoia is a threat to stability, and thus, by thinking she may be a target, Lindsay has made herself a target. And the pair are at least taking the idea somewhat seriously, going so far as to talk about the possibility with Ryan, the guy who seems to be LEAST involved in strategy discussions at this point! Serious as it may be, I would say booting Geo is the slightly smarter decision overall. Granted, there’s not really a WRONG decision for our swing votes, as is the case with a lot of early tribe votes. They’ll still be the power with the potential to swing the person on the outs, plus our swing votes each have a relationship with one possible target who might stay (James with Lindsay, Karla with Geo), so they’ve got options either way. The only reason I say a Geo boot is smarter is because, from what we’ve seen, Geo and Ryan are closer than Lindsay and Cassidy. Both pairs are bonded, but Geo and Ryan seem like each other’s ride-or-die, whereas Lindsay and Cassidy have the “women’s alliance”, which Karla at least as an “in” on if need be. Plus, while Lindsay’s paranoia IS a concern, it might just be pre-first-tribal jitters. The sort of thing that will go away with a successful alliance vote. If you go back and she’s STILL this paranoid, it’s a guaranteed liability. But you could at least give her the chance.
Frankly, Coco’s reaction to the Tribal Council set is more interesting than most of Tribal Council itself. There’s a good back and forth between Lindsay and Ryan about who was talking to whom and what it says, and some setup for a Geo boot with him talking about him just wanting to not go, but mostly standard stuff. But as Probst says, this is one of the more over-the-top reactions to Tribal Council ever. And contrary to the fear one might expect, they’re reacting with wonder at the dramatic architecture. As a fellow fan, this is understandable, and a fun deviation from the norm.
Our vote is a 4-1-1 split, with Geo voting for Cassidy, and Lindsay voting for Geo. The remaining four votes go on Lindsay, another surprise for me, but one adequately foreshadowed. While I maintain this was not the optimal decision, I can’t say it was bad overall. From a viewer’s perspective, this is the best outcome. Nothing against Lindsay, she seems perfectly nice, but she was not a particularly dynamic character this season. I’m not sure she even got much of a backstory. Geo is not the greatest character either, but we know a lot more about him, and thus he’s more interesting to watch. Still, I do feel back for Lindsay, particularly as she seems quite broken up in her final words. Sadly, that’s just the way the game goes sometimes.
Perhaps the most baffling question for me is why Geo was left out of the vote? Granted, he seems to be a bit of a motormouth, so perhaps they were worried about him spilling the plan? But personally, I’d be more worried about what a pissed-off Geo might do. I mean, the man HAS to realize he’s on the outs, right? It may not have been exactly the vote he wanted, but no one, even right before tribal, pulled him aside to say “Hey, just FYI, it’s Lindsay”? Not even Ryan, his closest ally? It just strikes me as weird, and I could see this coming back to bite the majority if they don’t attend Tribal Council again until the merge.
Honestly, the parts to this episode were not bad. Light on strategy, light on character, but what discussions we had were good, and it was nice to get a look into the dominant strategy at Coco. Again, I think the problem is they’re trying to cram too much into too short a time frame. I love challenges, but if you’re going to have two of them in an episode on a three-tribe season, you need more runtime. Everything felt rushed, and while not bad, it just can’t hold a candle to the first few episodes.
-Matt
Title Credit to Jean Storrs.