I stated last week that while the merge episode of “Survivor” generally proves to be exciting, this one shaped up to be extra exciting. And I was proven right. Nice to have that happen once in a while. But, in fact, my correctness was SURPASSED. Not only did we get the conflicts and potential alliances that were foreshadowed, but we even got NEW conflicts and potential alliances that threw further layers of complexity into what may, in fact, be one of the greatest merge episodes of all time. No, there will not be a “Top 5, Bottom 5” list of merge episodes this week. I have to work first shift tomorrow, so getting to bed early is a priority, but also because we just had one only a couple episodes ago. But rest assured, that list is coming soon.
Post-Tribal Council, things are pretty subdued back at Ikabula. No one’s really upset, save Hannah, and even Jay’s bragging is pretty subdued, basically boiling down to him explaining that he felt Michaela was a challenge threat who needed to be gotten rid of before the merge. And I’ll concede he does have a point. My issue is not him getting rid of Michaela in and of itself. Tight as a foursome can be, it only gets you so far, and you;ll have to turn on each other at some point. Jay’s correct in that Michaela was a threat, both in terms of challenges and in terms of potential likability in future. Scoff though we may at here wearing her heart on her sleeve, that attitude can win votes at Final Tribal Council. My issue is with how soon it happened. As we see this episode, the numbers overall only favor the old Vanua by a small margin, and that can change at any time. Not that Michaela being here instead of Bret would ultimately have made a difference, but it would have given them one more number to work with.
Still, it seems they may have gained Bret as an ally. In what’s pretty much more screentime than he’s had all season, Bret becomes a major commentator about the upcoming merge. He has the generic grateful confessional for his skin being saved, but he brings up good strategy as well. He thinks he can trust Jay somewhat after this Tribal Council, but he also has ties to Chris, so there’s that aspect to consider. And that, in a nutshell, is why tribe swaps generally make for more interesting merges. When tribes remain the same throughout, or don’t stay swapped for very long, then it basically becomes a contest of “Who has the majority come the merge?” Given enough time, a tribe swap can make for more conflicting loyalties, which makes for a more chaotic merge.
Speaking of chaos, we also see one of the DOWNSIDES to voting out Michaela: losing the trust of Hannah. The Triforce really just don’t know how to handle her. One vote they don’t include her until the last second, and the other they don’t include her at all. Unsurprisingly, despite Jay having a good attempt at bringing her back into the fold, Hannah is more than a little upset at this development, and the “Freaks and Geeks” alliance seems reborn. Now, if only there was a merge coming so that might come to fruition…
Oh look, a merge! Yes, in what is sadly now typical “Survivor” style, we get a boat come in and gives the tribe five minutes to gather their things for the rest of the game. This is not necessarily a BAD way to do a merge, but when it gets done pretty much every season, you start to get tired of it. Plus, given how quickly we go through Ikabula and Takali gathering their belongings, we don’t really get a sense of the chaos we deserve from doing it this way. The one notch in Ikabula’s cap is that their merge confessional, courtesy of Bret (as was discussed earlier), is insightful, and somewhat different from your usual merge confessional. Adam, on Takali, gives us a more traditional “Now the game gets serious.” confessional. Look, I still love the guy, and he does get some great moves this episode, but he gets some pretty BAD ones as well, and one thing I can’t give him is original confessionals. Adam just doesn’t seem to have a knack for phrasing things in any way other than your generic confessional. Perhaps it’s the fault of him being a superman, in that he tries to do things as normally seen on the show, but your standouts each season generally aren’t the people giving generic confessionals. They’re the ones with a unique turn of phrase, a drastic departure of a personality. By trying too hard to stand out, in a sense, Adam doesn’t stand out much at all.
But, back to griping about the merge. We’re merging at 13 this time, and I’m not a fan. I get that “Survivor” wants to move away from double or triple Tribal Councils, and make sure that as many exciting people as possible make the merge, but the fact is that a 13 person merge is just too much to really keep track of on a non-returnees season. Even on those type of seasons, I’m a little leery, but at least there we have a better idea of who’s who because we’ve seen them before, and it could be argued that things need to be intensified for a returnees season, the fact remains that it’s just too much to keep track of here, and feels off. I’ve come to accept 12 person merges as a norm these days, but even those I’m not to big on. I prefer even number merges, but I’ll take odd, just make sure it’s 10 people or fewer.
What I can get behind is the new merge tribe name. We never see it made, it just shows up in the byline during confessionals, but it’s awesome. Lately, tribe names have ranged from just kind of ok, such as “Dara” (“Survivor Kaoh Rong”) to awkward like “Merica” (“Survivor Worlds Apart”) to the just plain awful of “#Huyopa” (“Survivor San Juan del Sur”), but this one manages to knock one’s socks off. Meet the new Vinaka tribe. I’m not sure if it’s a native word or not, but frankly I don’t care. It sounds epic, menacing, and seems to express more creativity (in a good way), than most recent tribe names. Part of me wonders if it’s not a combination of old tribe names, as some of the letter combinations seems familiar, but if it is, I can’t for the life of me figure out that combination, so kudos there if that’s the case.
We quickly get to partying, which is Jay and Taylor’s forte, as they rekindle old bonds. Subtlety, however, is NOT their forte, and Bret and Chris are quick to notice, going off and talking about how the old Vanua may be more united than previously thought. However, one could argue the opposite, as Hannah, Zeke, and Adam go off and rekindle their nerd alliance. If anything, the old Takali are far more united than them, and that’s where the conflict comes in, since there’s draws on both sides. Bret and Sunday have a connection with Jay, and Jessica and Ken were debating doing something with Taylor, so there’s connection to the Triforce, but David and Chris have ties with Zeke, and Jessica and Ken could also build on their thing with Adam, so it’s all very loopy and twisty-turny. Yeah, not feeling very creative in my descriptions tonight. Point is, it makes the road map of alliances all the more complex, which makes it harder for the audience to figure out who’s going where, and that’s to be commended. Unpredictability is almost always a good thing on “Survivor”, and when you can add that with interesting strategic discussions, you’ve got yourself an episode for the die-hard fans to eat up.
You’re going to notice a pattern with my commentary on Adam tonight. Every move he makes, I will have an opinion on whether it’s good or bad, and every time, the exact opposite is going to happen. We start with a repeat plotline, where Adam uses the tribe’s distraction over food to go and search for something. He claims it’s a “merge idol”, and admittedly it’s not far out of the realm of possibility for that to happen. However, that’s usually because one or more tribe idols was not found, and we know this season that they all have been found. Thus, Adam’s search seems pointless, and like skipping out on goat-hunting before, seems like it’s a loss of valuable bonding time, especially given his social problems later.
Adam is, however, rewarded for his efforts. Not quite in a “hidden immunity idol” way, but in an advantage way. Tied to the roof of tree mail is a note telling Adam that he can steal a reward from someone after it’s won. For once, an actual “Survivor” first when it’s been promised! And a really good one as well! On the surface, this might seem like a pretty pointless twist. Yeah, it’s better than nothing, but what power does it really have? Well, a lot, depending on how you use it. Say, for example, you’ve got a late-game challenge for an advantage in the next immunity challenge. Then, that would be QUITE the advantage to use. Or, say you don’t want a certain group of people going together on reward. BAM! That group’s broken up. What really makes this interesting is that how powerful it is depends on the skill of the player. Held onto long enough, and used at the right time, it could be incredibly powerful. Used at the wrong time, and you get yourself a nice meal while pissing someone off royally. With the great potential to screw or be screwed, this is a twist I’m hopeful we haven’t seen the last of.
Then, Taylor decides to further throw a wrench in the plans of the Triforce, by actually pissing people off. Oh, don’t worry, I’ll actually have a word of praise for Taylor later, but what he does here is foolish. As with most merges, there is a merge feast. As with most merge feasts, there is too much food to go around. So, you stockpile it for the tribe. But for Taylor, evidently altruism or collective need is not a concept. He squirrels away a lot of the food in a jar, and pulls a Will Sims (“Survivor Worlds Apart”) and keeps it for himself. Amazingly enough, he gets caught by Bret, who isn’t happy, further damaging the potential of any alliance between the old Takali and the Triforce.
Oh, but let us not forget Adam, who makes a move that should work, but doesn’t. Adam once again makes a valiant attempt to mitigate the hate against him for the Figgy vote, by bonding with Taylor. Granted, this could have the obvious downside of getting caught with the food as well, but Adam’s a lot more subtle than Taylor, so he pulls it off well. He then uses mutual food eating to bond with Taylor, basically trying to do what he attempted last episode in consoling Taylor, only he does it better. There’s still an apology in there, but Adam does a better job of playing it cool and trying to explain himself. I’d actually be on board with this move, were it not for the fact that he goes overboard. Trying way too hard to regain Taylor’s trust, Adam reveals his reward steal advantage, which at first seems ok. After all, it’s not a totally overpowered advantage, and sharing information can be a good way to bond. The trouble is that ship has sailed. Granted, Taylor deserves credit here for doing a really good job of playing stupid, and getting Adam to give up information for nothing, but Adam really needed to dial it back. Case in point, Adam takes things too fast with Taylor, and tries to target Will. Now, I get where Adam is coming from here. You want to try and get Taylor to be good with you again, and on your side, if possible, and that involves subtly weakening his alliance. Targeting Jay or Michelle, who have been his inner circle since the beginning, might set off alarms, but Will is a relatively new addition to the alliance, and so Taylor might be more amenable to that prospect. That is, if he were interested in an overt strategic game. A flaw in many superfans, Adam included, is that they tend to think of the game in pure strategy, and that selling things that way is a surefire path to victory. The trouble is, not everyone thinks like that, and will respond poorly. Adam doesn’t seem to realize that Taylor is the type of guy who’s turned off by overt strategy. If you took a long time, and worked it in subtly, you MIGHT be able to sway Taylor, and given his crusade, even that’s a longshot. I get Adam wanting to mitigate the fallout from his blindside, but he needs to take it slow.
Next morning, everyone’s plans get outed. Bret outs Taylor as a food thief, further throwing a wrench in potential alliances, and Taylor outs the targeting of Will to Jay and Will, thus getting Adam’s name thrown out there. Zeke, however, overhears them, and relays that information back to Adam, who’s understandably concerned now. I’d normally fault Jay and Taylor for not doing a simple 360 to make sure they weren’t being overheard, but given that Zeke seemed pretty far away, and the conversation had been going for a while before he approached, I’m willing to let it slide.
Our first immunity challenge, as Probst points out, is an oldie but a goodie, dating all the way back to “Survivor Africa”. Our tribe members stand on a small wooden perch, holding their hands over their head. Their hands a chained to bar, which is attached to a bucket of paint, which will drop when the bar is pulled. Last one standing wins. A simple but tough endurance challenge. I do prefer water to paint, as the latter seems very un-“Survivor”, but adding both hands makes things seem tougher. The real reason for the two-hands aspect, though, is so that people are sure to get paint all over themselves when they fall, which is a funny visual. In single hand iterations, people could pretty well avoid the water/paint, but here, you’ve just got to take it. We don’t get any temptations either, which is also a bummer, and this challenge is overdone, but since it’s been a while, I’ll give it a pass.
As to our individual immunity idol… It’s just kind of ok. A wood necklace with some bones, a shells, and a tiki in the middle. The pointy bits are a plus, but there’s just a lot of empty space, which I tend not to like in immunity idols. Granted, an immunity idol can also be too busy (see the individual immunity idol of “Survivor Worlds Apart” for an example), but in general, less blank space is better. This one is hardly the worst, but I don’t think it stands out overall.
Will gave us a confessional about needing to win before the challenge, so naturally he does. We do get one fun moment in there, though, when Will, Jessica, and Adam all try and act tough, only for Hannah to call them out, and admit to her FACE hurting, in a challenge that in no way involves her face. Hilarious. Also worth noting: Will is the first man to ever win this challenge in any of its forms, so good on him there.
Back at the camp, Adam is naturally upset, especially when his name gets tossed around. There’s dissent, though, as Michelle feels that infighting amongst the old Vanua will only strengthen the old Takali. Not a bad thought, but I have to disagree with Michelle here. Adam is as much not with you as any old Takali, and being willing to sacrifice one of your own might actually endear you to the old Takali more, and help earn a majority. Still, it’s dissension like this that helps make this episode exciting.
Fortunately for Adam, Taylor’s food stealing seems to have sent most of the old Takali into the arms of Hannah, Zeke, and Adam. Unfortunately, we’ve got another “Jefra vs. Tony” debate of “Survivor Cagayan”, as the old Takali can’t decide whether to target Michelle, since she’s unlikely to have an idol, or Taylor, since he’s a challenge threat. Of course, the real best target is Jay, since he has both qualities and an idol, but they’ve no way of knowing the latter point, so I don’t hold this against them. Between those two, it’s pretty well a toss up, but like with the “Jefra vs. Tony” debate, I’d say go with the one less like to get an idol played on them. Make sure you keep those numbers. Plus, in this case, despite Taylor’s physical prowess, I’d argue that Michelle’s smarts make her a bigger threat overall. Most of the group seems on board, but Ken goes all Sarah Lacina on us and tries to gun for the physical threats. This, naturally makes Adam nervous, and in the one categorically bad move of the night, tries to talk to Taylor about saving his butt. Now, I understand Adam’s nervousness. If you can’t get a coalition solid, and you’re on the chopping block, it’s a bit nervous-making. But Adam should know by now that Taylor has been amongst those throwing his name out, and so cannot be trusted. Yet Adam keeps trying. As he himself explains, he’s basically trying too hard to be the mastermind and play both sides of the fence. Which can be a good strategy. If done right. Which it isn’t.
You see, Adam is falling into the Matthew “Sash” Lenahan trap from “Survivor Nicaragua”. Sash was a schemer from the season, good at playing multiple sides of a conflict, and even making impressive comebacks after losing his allies. The trouble was his transparency. Everyone knew he was a schnook, since he didn’t really bother to hide it, and it cost him in the end. Same case with Adam. The dude is smart, and has had his victories, but you need to keep in on the down low. His scheming is such that even his ALLIES start to turn on him. Zeke reads him the riot act in confessional, David gets a bit leery, and Hannah pulls him aside to tell him to calm down. When HANNAH, she of the challenge sit-out panic attack is telling you to chill, then you know you’re doing something wrong. To his credit, Adam does pull back and relax, but the damage is done, as he seems to be the only firm target going into Tribal Council, and potentially a unanimous one. It looks like only his idol can save him now.
Once again, we get a very fun Tribal Council, and this one can be divided into two parts. First up, the food part, in which the hunger of the tribe as a whole and Taylor’s selfish behavior is brought to the forefront. Taylor tries to defend himself by… basically stating that he ate not because he was “hungry” but because his body was crying out “emergency!” So, basically, he was hungry. As pretty much everyone else there says, ALL their bodies are saying that, but Taylor’s the only one to act on it. What we really need is to bring back the Heroes Tribe, so they can explain Banana Etiquette to Taylor.
We then move on to our strategy portion of Tribal Council, which starts out pretty standard, but really heats up, especially when Taylor gets to talking about trust, and no so subtly calls out Adam. Adam’s facial expressions here are priceless, and the back and forth a really good way to round it all off.
Kudos to the editing team here: they really build up a potential idol play. One must also give Adam credit: it took balls to not play that idol. With all that talk and those looks at Tribal Council, I’d have played it. But then, I’d have wasted it. Evidently Hannah, Zeke, Adam, and the old Takali were able to firm up a plan, and Michelle is sent packing. Not their smartest move, since Jay is probably the biggest threat in that alliance, but still better than Taylor overall. While she isn’t the biggest loss, and I’m happy Adam is still around to triumph, fail, be goofy, and have an advantage that can be played in future, Michelle is still something of a loss. For one thing, her exit makes the most gender-lopsided merge yet even more lopsided (it’s now 9-3 in favor of men), but she was also a beacon of some strategy. Not the greatest, but she will be missed. At least she made the jury.
Like I said at the beginning, this is a damn fine merge episode! We get a lot of good convoluted strategy, good character bits, funny confessionals, and great mystery at Tribal Council. Definitely up there with the greatest of all time. Next episode looks to rehash a lot of the points from this one. Will it be the sequel that surpasses the original, or will it be a rehash that sends us reeling?
-Matt
Title credit to Jean Storrs.