Hoo boy. This episode. This is going to be one of the toughest to blog in long time, at least on my end. While my own subjective opinion is obviously a lot of the focus of this blog, I do try and give an objective assessment of things, or as objective as I can be. Yet here I find myself with an episode that’s near-impossible to do. This, you see, is a rare breed of episode. One that is technically at least proficient, if not perfect, that gives us both great character moments and great strategic moments… And yet is one that I absolutely do not like. I’m sure you can guess why in general, though it goes a bit deeper than that. I’ll explain more at the end.
For now, we deal with the fallout from the last vote, and hoo boy, did people drop the ball on how to handle things. Yam Yam’s obviously going to be upset, but has a hard time keeping a particularly civil tongue in his head. Not that he’s going on an expletive-laden rant or anything, but he is talking loudly and harshly to Carolyn about her betrayal. Carolyn, being who she is, returns the favor, noting that while she may have betrayed him, Yam Yam didn’t exactly make himself the best ally by dictating what would happen. Both make valid points, but express them in a way that only serves to drive one apart from the other.
The one person who can be happy about this is Josh. While he did manage to survive the night, he did also burn his idol. Luckily, he now finds himself in the swing position. Carolyn informs us that, while Yam Yam did not treat her as she felt an ally should, she’s still closer with him personally than with Josh. Her heart is telling her to side with Yam Yam against Josh, while her head says Josh is a more solid ally moving forward. All reasonable conclusions. Given that Carolyn has played at least a solid game thus far, possibly even a spectacular one, I’d say this gives her siding with Josh the edge, but time will tell.
Over at Ratu, we quickly get our promised “Matthew talks about how in pain he is” sound bytes from the preview out of the way. He talks with Kane about how much pain he’s in, before doing the same with Carson. I’d normally be concerned that the thing still hasn’t healed up at this point. True, Matthew did disregard the “Go easy on it” advice from the doctors early on, competing in several challenges, but most of the time he left it in the sling, so it still being a problem would seem concerning. That said, from what my research turned up, these types of injuries can take up to 8 weeks to fully heal, and that’s in ideal conditions, which it’s safe to say “Survivor” is not.
Not that this makes it any fun for Matthew. He cries, both to Kane and to Carson, but a hug from the latter helps him keep moving forward. We transition away then to Carson talking about his position in the game, and I’m sure that after that little inspirational bit, we’ll NEVER hear about Matthew’s arm again.
Carson, for his part, is quite happy with his spot in the game, as well he should be. Despite Matthew having worked with several other people on the tribe, if not every single one at at least some point, he says he’s more emotionally close with Carson than anyone else. Carson says that people are giving him information, and while we haven’t seen that apart from Matthew’s conversation with him last episode (which was at least half false information anyway), we do see him having a variety of conversations. Kane and he discuss their various overlapping nerd-doms, and if you happen to be someone who’s NOT a nerd yet is reading this blog, take note: This is like 90% of our conversations when we first meet. Just listing off various franchises we like, and squealing over the ones we have in common.
While we don’t see this as an alliance-building moment, it would actually be pretty good for both of them. Kane just needs any ally he can get at this point, and with how fractured Tika has been, and will continue to be this episode, Carson needs backup plans. Plus, the pair can act as “nerd shields” for one another. I’d say Kane gets the better end of that deal, since Carson looks like a more obvious threat at this point, but still, not bad for Carson by any means.
Ratu had better hope that they can get Carson at least partly in the fold, since we’ll soon see that they’re likely to lose an ally at this point. Meditation is once again the order of the day for Soka, and we see Danny, rather than Jaime the yogi, leading things. Danny gives good advice about breathing from the diaphragm, something he says he picked up not from firefighting, but from Brazilian Jiu-jitsu. To add to the “hidden depths” part of the conversation, Danny talks about having to leave his relatively newborn daughter (4 months) for “Survivor”, which yeah, can’t deny, that takes a lot of determination.
Getting back to Jaime, though, she tells us if she had to pick any tribe, it would be this one, and not just for their strength. She says she vibes with them better, evidenced by the whole meditation thing. Glad to see that work Matthew put into her mattered so much.
As a result of this bond, Jaime offers to tell Matt everything, an offer that Matt… Says he needs to sit and think about for a while. Look, I’ve had a lot of sympathy for Matt this season. Dude gets bad luck after bad luck, most of which are not his fault, at least in part. But there’s no excusing this, it’s squarely on him. Dude, when someone offers you info, YOU SAY “YES”! Even if it’s false, it at least gives you a vague idea of where their head’s at! It’s not like you’re pushing her; she is literally offering a leg up in the game to you! This isn’t quite as bad as Penner turning down Lisa’s deal in “Survivor Philippines”, but MAN does it have similar vibes.
Jaime also can’t understand why Matt is the way he is, and so goes to talk to the expert on Matt on this tribe, Frannie. Frannie tries to justify it as that just being how Matt interacts with people, which Jaime seems to buy. Frannie looks of the bright side, however: Someone has finally not seen how close she and Matt are! Speaking of which, we need to get confessionals about THAT again! You know, the thing that’s brought up basically every episode?
I kid, I kid. This actually does articulate their dynamic in a bit more detail. Both are clearly smitten with each other, though for now their affection is limited to long hugs rather the more open affection of, say, Amanda and Ozzy on “Survivor Micronesia”, or Boston Rob and Jeff Probst on “Survivor All-Stars”. No little Ozzlets coming any time soon from these two. But while Matt is open and blunt about it, Frannie is more circumspect. She admits to some attraction, and a willingness to date Matt outside the show, but wants to leave it there for now. And if you don’t think this is enough of a change to merit its own confessional, it at least adds some humor to the proceedings. We hear from a producer again, this time calling out Frannie for blushing when she talks about Matt. Touche, producers. Touche.
Back at Tika, Yam Yam tries to clear the air with Josh. For his part, Josh indicates there’s nothing to clear. The pair don’t trust each other, and that’s about it. Again, what’s interesting here is that neither side is right. One’s just playing more emotionally, and one’s playing more logic-based. Yam Yam sees their disagreement as emotional as much as strategic, and thus wants that emotional air cleared so they can move forward. Josh, meanwhile, doesn’t think that feelings were involved on either side, but also sees no reason, outside general diplomacy, to pretend they’re on the same side right now. Again, equally valid ways to view the game, and it’s interesting to see them come into conflict like this.
Even if the pair can’t get on the same page strategically, though, they can get on the same page emotionally. Both gay men, Josh and Yam Yam share their stories about coming out, and form a real connection over it. While Josh tells his story second, I’ll focus on his first because I have less to say about it. Josh came out his sophomore year in college, explaining that he had trouble feeling safe to come out in his high school, and it seems like his family was pretty cool about it when he did. Josh uses this to give us his medical backstory in a bit more detail, and while a BIT of a stretch to link the two, they’re still nice stories overall. Yam Yam, meanwhile, says that while he’s out now, he never came out to his mother (presumably she unfortunately passed away before Yam Yam got married, or possibly I just missed what happened). He was successful in this due to having no boyfriends before his husband. And why was this? It seems Yam Yam had some issues finding himself attractive for a good long time, which naturally made attracting other people difficult as well.
I really like this story, because it’s something you don’t see a lot in media: Accepting your own body image. Oh, don’t misunderstand, there’s a LOT of media out there about one’s body image. However, for pretty much all of that media, the solution to poor body image is “Make yourself over!” or “Diet and exercise!” Changing yourself to better fit the Western ideal of “beauty”, rather than accepting yourself as you are, and thereby presenting the best image of yourself that you can. Now, it’s possible that Yam Yam DID do some or all of those things, which is perfectly valid. But it needs to be stated that these are not the ONLY paths to a good self-image/attractiveness, and this is a message that, I feel, needs to be presented more in media. There is nothing wrong with diet and exercise, but there is more than just that one path to a good positive image of oneself.
The pair do bond over this, and we get a bit more strategy from Josh. While he does see himself as the swing between Carolyn and Yam Yam, he doesn’t want to just leave it up to that. Thus, he has lied to Yam Yam and claimed he has the birdcage idol from Soka. His evidence for this is a fake idol he makes in this episode, and showing Yam Yam the parchment from his journey idol. I’d point out that there should be text on that parchment indicating that it is NOT the birdcage idol, but to be fair, when Josh showed it to Yam Yam, it was dark, and so Yam Yam may not have read it thoroughly enough to catch that. In addition, we see that while Yam Yam is factoring that possibility into his decision-making, he doesn’t fully believe Josh either, so we’ll see how this plays out.
Off to our challenge, and if you were guessing it would be an obstacle course followed by a puzzle-like thing at the end, CONGRATULATIONS! You’ve seen any tribal episode of “Survivor” in the modern era!
Honestly, the only thing worth talking about here is that one of the obstacles is the rope-platform see-saw, aka the “Let’s Break Missy Payne’s Leg!” Obstacle first seen on “Survivor San Juan del Sur”. For a show that’s lately been pretty good about taking out challenges with a high risk of injury, it AMAZES me that this obstacle, which actually DID injure someone, keeps getting brought back. Maybe it’s because it was designed by a “Make-A-Wish” kid, but that challenge had other elements to it to honor the kid. Why keep using the one known to cause injury? What next, are we going to see Schmergenbrawl from “Survivor Samoa” come back?
The misdirection as to who will win and lose is not as good as it has been in previous episodes, since all we got from Ratu is “Matthew’s in pain, while Carson’s in a good spot”, or exactly zero strategy content. That said, Jaime trying and failing to get in with Soka is JUST enough that, coupled with Yam Yam repeating Sarah’s “We need to win or I’m out” confessional, that I could see either Soka or Tika losing.
Indeed, all three get to the “puzzle”, this time a table maze worked by two people, pretty much dead-even. But while I call this a “puzzle”, it seems it is not “puzzle-y” enough. Tika really blows it here, and that’s in SPITE of wisely having Carolyn as far away from the crucial part of the challenge as possible.
Ratu pulls out a narrow victory here, which only matters because this challenge has another “Journey” to send people on, and Ratu has thus won the right to pick who goes by coming in first. From themselves, it’s Brandon. Wise choice. Only Kane would seem to be strongly against him at this point, and if he DOES get some advantage, 10-1 he tells you all about it, so no real threat there. From Tika, it’s Carolyn, who will return before Tribal Council. Again, solid call. She seems to be the weakest and most volatile overall, so giving her potentially more power can only lead to chaos on the enemy tribe, particularly useful in the (admittedly now unlikely) event of a later merge this season. But the Soka pick, Danny, I’m still trying to parse out the logic of. I suppose he would seem the most outwardly volatile of Soka, but then again, JAIME, someone from your own tribe, is RIGHT THERE! Why not send her along, to help her potentially stay in the game longer? Granted, they can’t KNOW she’s not vibing with them as much anymore, and may be able to guess that those swapped were given idols given Sarah’s elimination, but still, some signal that you’re looking out for her might be appreciated! But no, just drive her further into the arms of the other tribe, I’m sure THAT won’t backfire down the line…
We come back NOT to the journey, but still at the challenge. Matthew wisely sat this challenge out due to the arm-injury aggravation potential of the obstacles, but it’s enough that Probst wants medical to come and have a look at him anyway. Medical’s assessment is slightly different from the one I researched, indicating this is a soft-tissue tear that’s likely to take a while to heal. As it’s not life-threatening, Matthew isn’t being pulled, but all present agree that the pain is going to take a major toll if he stays in the game. The choice is up to Matthew, and we cut away, surely meaning that while this needed to be addressed, it’s not important to the episode, and won’t make for a predictable ending whatsoever…
We STILL avoid the journey, instead coming to Tika, to get the riveting discussion between Josh and Yam Yam. Shock of all shocks, they discuss voting out Carolyn, the one person who isn’t present! Who could have seen this coming? Yeah, I get why this needed to be shown, but it’s exactly the conversation we could have assumed was happening even if we hadn’t.
More interesting, surprisingly enough, is the Journey. Yeah, I know, but trust me, I haven’t been replaced by a pod person. Brandon talks about needing to figure out how to play this. He knows he probably has the chance to bring back something, but isn’t sure how he wants to play it to his tribe. A decision rendered moot by the fact that production, for once, makes a very smart decision. It seems they have a time machine, since they read my blog about the problems of modern “Survivor” and decided to implement one of my ideas. Or rather, implement my suggestion to reuse a twist from “Survivor Millennials vs. Gen-X”, and have the Journey just be, well, a journey. There’s a bit of food, but no real “advantage” outside of the chance to talk to the other tribe and strategize.
And oh, what strategizing there is! Despite her talkative nature, Carolyn doesn’t really give Danny or Brandon much, basically just saying she’s on the outs. Danny and Brandon give lip service to not wanting her to go, before pretty much completely ignoring her and talking to each other about the big physical guys being threats at the merge, and thus the pair needing to stick together. Not a bad conversation to have eventually, but maybe, you know, NOT IN FRONT OF CAROLYN? A WOMAN YOU LITERALLY CALL NOT A THREAT TO HER FACE? Yeah, shock of all shocks, Carolyn’s not happy about this, and vows not to let the strong guys take over the game. This consequently turns her away from Josh, seeing him as one of the “strong guys”, particularly when compared to Yam Yam. A fair assessment, but given how thoroughly Yam Yam distrusts her, I might just cut her losses now and hope to make up some more allies at the merge.
As an aside, I’m particularly surprised to see this behavior from Danny, who’s been playing a pretty solid game up until this point. True, Brandon seemed to be driving the conversation, most of the verbal gaffes were his, and this sort of gameplay we’d expect from him, given his game smarts demonstrated so far. But it’s not like we saw Danny do anything to mitigate the damage or bring Carolyn into the conversation. He can do better, is what I’m saying.
Carolyn is brought back to camp, and sets about mouthing her desire to get rid of Josh to Yam Yam whenever Josh’s back is turned. She’s not subtle enough, however, so Josh pulls out his fake idol and note again to try and bluff his way through. Granted, Josh is also somehow claiming his fake idol will save him at the merge, which if he’s saying he will play it tonight not sure how that works. Chalk it up to a brain fart and move on. Now everyone’s not sure who to trust, with Yam Yam in particular noting that he doesn’t really trust either person at this point. It’s a mystery of a cluster, all leading up to an exciting Tribal where literally everyone seems at least somewhat vulnerable, a messy vote-off for the history books, and…
And there’s like three minutes left in the episode. Yeah, much as I wanted to believe everything would be ok, the timing confirms it. There’s not enough time for anything resembling a Tribal Council. Matthew has decided to take himself out of the game. That’s basically the episode. Oh sure, we get some lip service to him from Tika, and some talk about how they’re all not sure where they stand with one another heading forward, but really, this is the emotional climax of the episode.
So on the surface, you can see my problem. We got great insight into the characters, fantastic editing (timing of the climax notwithstanding), and overall just a lot of good conversations and funny moment. And yet, because of Matthew’s exit, I cannot, in good conscience, say I enjoyed this episode.
To a certain extent, this is to be expected. Your favorite goes out, you’re not happy. But there’s a bit more to it than that for me. Look, I’ve dealt with a lot of scenarios in my time. I’ve had my favorites be voted out first. I’ve had my favorites make dumb mistakes that cause me to slap my forehead. I’ve had my favorites be absolutely vilified by the audience and players alike, making the season tough to watch. I’ve had my favorites get medically evacuated. I’ve learned to live with all that. But I’ve never had my favorite player quit.
And make no mistake, this is a quit. Sure, it’s not PRESENTED that way. The show is doing the Dana Lambert (“Survivor Philippines”) thing where they understand the reasons why, and don’t vilify that person as a result, as they do many other quitters. But medical did not pull Matthew. They explicitly say they are not doing so. This was his decision, and while I can understand and respect it, it is still, technically a quit. And that’s hard to reconcile for me.
And the worst part is that you can’t even say it was bad luck. The injury was 100% his own fault. As he himself says in his final words, he shouldn’t have climbed the damn rock.
But then there’s the other issue: Who do I pull for now? Like it or not, “Survivor” is a lot more fun to watch when you’re pulling for someone. The trouble is that the other person whose game I was really liking was Claire. You may have noticed, she’s not around any more. Yep, we’re heading into the merge, or possibly that stupid “Merge-Atory” thing the show keeps doing, and my favorites are all gone. It’s not to say that I DISLIKE the people left. Indeed, this is a very likable, very engaging cast I’m happy to see do well. But I just kind of like them all equally, and they don’t GRAB me the same way people like Matthew and Claire did, and that just damages my overall investment.
Are there any upsides to any of this? Two, actually. One, the chaos between the remaining Tika members and Josh is fun to watch, and it looks like that will continue to the next episode, so I suppose that’s a plus. And like I said, it’s not like this remaining cast is unrootable, just all equally rootable for me. I suppose Yam Yam I have the most fun watching of those remaining, and I think Heidi is playing an understatedly good game. But, no offense to either of them, Matthew they ain’t. Two, this does blow the field of who can win WIDE open. Oh sure, there’s a few who are pretty much out of the running (Brandon springs to mind), and a few who will move up to frontrunners now (Carson and Carolyn come to mind), but Matthew was clearly the “winner edit” of the season up until now. His exit will rapidly re-work everything about the meta of the game, and that, at least, is somewhat exciting.
We’ll see how I feel next week, though. Hopefully I can get some of the enthusiasm back with some distance.
-Matt
Title Credit to Jean Storrs.
idolspeculation 