The “Survivor” editing team. Some of the best at what they do. Purveyors of humor on many a season. Check out Russell Swan’s idol hunt on “Survivor Philippines” if you doubt my claim. Yet tonight, we get proof that there can be “Too much of a good thing”, and they weaken what was already a poor episode to begin with. So much so that the most exciting thing in this blog is going to be another edition of…
MATT’S MESS-UP!
Bit of a quick point, and actually a repeat of a point I made two blogs ago, but a missed point nonetheless. Amongst Missy’s arguments as to why she should stay, particularly after seeing Aaron leave at the previous Tribal Council, was a “People of color should stick together”, and an echo of Cirie’s point from “Survivor Game Changers” about the rarity of multiple women of color making the merge. A pretty solid, human moment, ruined once again by Probst’s need to inject himself into the situation, and to point out how much of a “moment” this is. Like I’ve said before, Probst, the way for you to strengthen these moments is to just LET THEM BE! It makes for a stronger message. When you try and constantly point them out, not only do you make us feel ill, but you weaken the moment overall as a result. Not saying that the argument would have changed the outcome of the episode or anything, but it would have been nice to just let a human moment be.
Speaking of Tribal Council, Lauren is initially worried about the outcome of the second one, so much so that she can’t even celebrate the ouster of Aaron. She and Tommy may not have been on the same team last episode, but they are on the same wavelength, both wanting Missy out to cement their power. Lauren, however, is pretty good at reading the room, and rightly predicts trouble for Tommy. Of course, as we know from having watched the episode, she needn’t have worried. Tommy returns, and the pair celebrate their good fortune. As well they should. They’ve cemented themselves as the Domenick and Wendell (“Survivor Ghost Island”) of the season: Savvy players that can run the season with little competition, with the only player savvy enough to stop them (Elaine, playing the role of Kellyn), being disinclined to do so. Glad all tension just went out of the season.
Yes, most everyone left has a reason to celebrate. About the only exception is Elizabeth, who just lost… Yeah, pretty much all her main allies. Put that way, she takes the whole thing quite well, stating that while she’s upset, she knows why it had to be done. Props to her for saying the right things to say in this situation. The read could have done with a bit more heart and sincerity in it, but much as I like Elizabeth, she has been kind of “flat” this whole season, so maybe it’s just her speaking style. No one seems to hold it against her, so in the end, I can’t really fault her.
The next morning, Tommy and Lauren regroup their strategy. Dean comes over and pitches his plan to get out what he calls the “goat army”, specifically Noura and Karishma. It’s basically his “meat shields” idea from last episode, minus the Aaron. Tommy admits he’s sympathetic, but also notes that Elizabeth is a major threat in confessional, and says he may need to go for her first. This is jumping the gun here, since I usually save my strategy thoughts for when targets start being finalized, but I will say that Tommy is absolutely correct here. Yes, you don’t want to go too big on the “get out the threats” route, since Tommy is fast becoming the biggest threat, but you can frame targeting Elizabeth not as a threat, but as an enemy. The trouble with Elizabeth is that she has no real allies right now, and no incentive to work with you. All this makes her a threat, even more so than the whole “Olympic Athlete” thing, and means she needs to go.
Someone else needs to go as well, though… To the Island of the Idols! Yes, the producer’s restraint has reached its limits (plus it actually fits within the time frame of the show now), and it’s time to send one person back. Continuing with our shout outs to “Survivor Ghost Island”, the selection method is exactly the same as the pre-merge selection for who goes to Ghost Island: Come to a unanimous decision, or draw lots. Unlike last time, some people are clamoring to go. And by some people, I mean Karishma and Lauren, the former because she’s still a major target, and the latter to consolidate power in her alliance. As always on “Survivor” social game wins out, and the tribe decides to send Lauren. Of course, Karishma could pull a Shirin (“Survivor Worlds Apart”) and be the dissenting voice that denies her, but as she rightly points out, making waves over such a little thing is more trouble than it’s worth.
After a “humorous” interlude involving a chicken stealing Sandra’s papaya, Lauren arrives and does her best impression of Amber Brkich (“Survivor The Australian Outback”), saying “Oh my God!” over and over. This pleases Boston Rob, and he bestows his favor upon Lauren. You see, up until this point, people have gotten “lessons” that are either things they genuinely need to work on, or things that are neutral to them. Here, Lauren gets a lesson in what is dubbed “situational awareness”, but is really “interpersonal awareness”, and either way, plays to Lauren’s strengths. Basically, she gets told the immunity challenge (which is a repeat from “Survivor Ghost Island”. What is up with all the references to that season this episode? Don’t get me wrong, it’s underrated, but it’s not great enough to be deserving of THIS much attention), as well as that it’s an eat or compete challenge for breakfast. She has to pick one potential winner of the challenge. Get it right, she gets an idol good for two Tribal Councils. Get it wrong, she loses her vote. As Lauren herself rightly points out, those aren’t good odds. You’re basically picking a 1/9 shot, and even if you eliminate half of the people for various reasons (challenge weakness or desire to eat), that’s still only a 25% chance that you win. Bad enough in and of itself, but after those crazy couple of Tribal Councils, every vote is important. For me, losing such a vote would be too big a risk. Boston Rob therefore decides to sweeten the pot with better odds (and not just seemingly better odds like he talked about doing pre-season) giving Lauren two picks instead of one. Objectively better odds, but I still say the risk is too great, even for Lauren with her reading of others. Lauren disagrees, however, and with the repeated flashbacks when discussing each person, she comes down on Elizabeth and Noura to win, since this challenge is an endurance challenge involving holding a ball against a wood block with an upward pull system. Not bad choices, though I’m surprised Elaine and Tommy weren’t in the mix.
Say, you know what we haven’t had in a while? Dean making a fool of himself! It seems despite the skepticism of Jamal’s “gift” from two episodes ago, people have now swung around to thinking the “legacy advantage” is real. I guess you did your job after all, Jamal. Not that it does you much good besides a satisfying “gotcha” since you’re already on the jury, but satisfying nonetheless. After getting confirmation from Janet on the veracity of the advantage, Dean decides to double down on the idiocy by plagiarizing the fake advantage, so that he can bluff with the fake and save the “real” fake for the final six. If this were a legit advantage, this would actually be kind of a smart play. But it’s not, and anyone with brain cells should realize that, so I’m not sorry Dean gets the dodo music here.
Only the return of Lauren could stop this madness, so return she does. When asked what went down, she talks in the same vein as Noura did during her trip (which should make everyone immediately suspicious), and reveals the challenge, as well as the eat or compete twist. It at first seems like she’ll continue keeping the nature of her twist a secret, but she spills the beans in the end. Granted, it’s only to Tommy, who’s a really good co-conspirator for her, so ultimately probably a good move. It just seems weird that the trend gets bucked NOW of all times. Since Tommy wants Lauren to have that idol (presumably she’s selling it as “an idol for both of us”), he goes around, talking up the feast aspect to those that Lauren didn’t bet on. Gotta admit, it’s good gameplay. If Lauren did the convincing, she’d be seen as suspicious (again, see Noura), but Tommy’s a natural salesman, and despite his closeness with Lauren, doesn’t come off as someone with an agenda.
Consequently, after Probst feigns indignation at the lack of reaction to the feast (the man HAD to know they’d been informed), six of the nine choose to sit out, a surprise even to me. Only Karishma, Noura, and Elizabeth choose to compete, better odds that Lauren could have possibly hoped for. Even better for her, Karishma is out in the first 30 seconds or so, guaranteeing her the idol no matter what. Even better for the audience, Karishma gets a really touching emotional moment where she breaks down about trying even when something doesn’t play to her strengths. Probst, while he addresses the moment, wisely lets it play out largely without commentary. About the worst that can be said is that the challenge is over quickly by endurance standards, though you knew that was coming. Probst talked up the 45-minute record like it was a major feat, but dude, we’ve seen 12-hour endurance challenges. Get that JV-junk out of here.
Noura ends up our victor, and kudos to her from learning from her mistake. She keeps going in the challenge in the hopes that it makes the feast last longer, before Probst puts the kibosh on it. We of course see Tommy and Lauren pick up the idol, but there’s not much beyond that. There’s very little strategizing to be done, since Elizabeth is largely a consensus boot (though Elaine isn’t terribly happy about it), and there’s enough of a majority to split the votes between her and Karishma. The only issue comes if one of them has an idol. Karishma is still reeling emotionally, and I hate to pick on her, but Noura stole her bag to look through it, and if NOURA is able to steal your bag, you must not be paying even the remotest bit of attention. About the only upside for Karishma here is that this is Noura, so despite finding a note and two things with seashells, she thinks there’s no idol.
In order to convince Karishma not to blow up the plan, Dan tells her the partial truth. Elizabeth being the target is correct, but he tries to sell her on Janet being the other swing vote. Karishma, being occasionally blind, but not stupid, sees through this, and goes to talk to Elizabeth. Fortunately Lauren can read lips, and so sees Dan’s name be brought up between the pair. Lauren initially tries to keep Dan contained when he wants to go over and bust up the conversation, but Dan cannot be contained. Dan, did you learn nothing from Missy last episode? Strong-arming Karishma is NOT the way to go. Consequently, now she’s bringing her idol, the ONLY reason you would have to vote her out, and no one even knows about that!
Our Tribal Council is unfortunately just as dull as the rest of the episode. The lowlight is Probst forcing racing metaphors into the conversation. Metaphors can be painful enough when they’re NOT obviously planned by production. Hell, Tommy had a decent one comparing making a decision about who to vote out to where to take his girlfriend to dinner, but you force in the racing one? Between this and the obvious boot, not even the presence of the awesome music can save this one, though it tries valiantly. It’s really bad when the highlight is Boston Rob and Sandra recapping what we saw EARLIER IN THE EPISODE!
The outcome may be obvious, but this is modern “Survivor”. Shenanigans must be had! Dean plays his “fake” fake Legacy Advantage, and does a poor job feigning surprise. Sadly, it also makes Tommy a moron, as he also believes in its veracity. It does, however, cause Karishma to play her idol, which I can’t fault her on. Hell, I might have played it last time if I were here, and given that she’s portrayed as the alternate boot here, I can’t fault her. What I CAN fault is Lauren playing her own idol on herself. Why? What possible reason did you have to think you were the alternate target? Better safe than sorry, I suppose, and since the idol was only good one more vote, you don’t lose much, but you don’t gain much either. The jury’s not going to look at you fondly for playing an idol incorrectly, compared to Karishma’s correct play tonight, and Tommy seemed a little miffed that a “shared” idol got played without his consent.
If one person comes off well from this Tribal Council, it’s Karishma. For reasons I still can’t fathom, she was the main target tonight, and negates seven votes against her. Good for her. For all my smack-talk, playing an idol correctly is hard, so kudos to Karishma for pulling it off. This leads to a tie between Elizabeth and Janet (presumably Karishma voted for Elizabeth, and Elizabeth voted for Janet), leading to the obvious outcome of Elizabeth going home. My, that was a convoluted way to get to the outcome we all knew was coming. Painful as it is to see one of my winner picks go home, I can’t say I’m too broken up about it. Elizabeth was by no means BAD to watch, but much like this episode, she just didn’t bring much to the table, and I can’t say her presence will be majorly missed.
How many ways can I say it? This episode was BORING! An obvious outcome, and so much time spent on flashbacks and on Island of the Idols, that the whole thing just felt like a chore. Granted, they didn’t have the best material to work with, but surely we could do better than this?
-Matt
Title Credit to Jean Storrs.
idolspeculation 