Idol Speculation: “Survivor 44” Episode 11: Island Cosplay Tutorial

We’ve all seen more and more nerdy things enter “Survivor”.  Statistical analyses.  3-D printed puzzles.  The mere existence of Christian Hubicki (“Survivor David vs. Goliath”).  Heck, this season alone with have Kane referencing D&D and “Star Wars” pretty much every other sentence.  Making clothes has also been a “thing” more frequently than you might think.  Sure we all remember Cody’s idol hat from “Survivor 43”, but let us not forget the trials and tribulations of Rupert’s skirt on “Survivor Pearl Islands:.  Yet somehow, despite all these factors, I never thought cosplay would enter into the show.  But here comes Carolyn, proving me wrong, providing an excellent tutorial on how to use random beach items to give yourself a headpiece and claws.  Bravo.  

Before we can delve into Carolyn’s “12 Secrets to Creating the Best Island Cosplay” tutorial, however, we have to have a brief announcement from our old friend…

MATT’S MESS-UP!

Just a brief bit of irony that I forgot to touch on last time.  Frannie, while somewhat bummed at not being immune from the vote again, was still also excited to “Test her social game”, and see how it stacked up.  Trying to put a bright side on being vulnerable.  Admirable, but we now see how much her game was actually worth.  

Last episode, I mentioned that a downside to getting rid of Frannie is that you piss off Carolyn in doing so.  This week, we see precisely WHY this is a bad idea.  To say Carolyn does not take it well is an understatement.  Not good at hiding her emotions at the best of times, Carolyn makes it abundantly clear how hurt she is by the vote, particularly since her allies Carson and Yam Yam did not clue her in on it.  Yam Yam tries to get her to calm down, asking that she not do this in front of everyone, lest the Tika hand be revealed.  All true, but pretty rich coming from Yam Yam, the man who, admittedly to a slightly lower extreme, did the exact same thing when HE was blindsided in a vote from his allies.  Add another one to the “Irony” counter.  Trust me, it’s going to be going up a LOT this episode.  

After justifying his vote as him paying back Carolyn in kind for the Sarah vote earlier in the season, we see that Carolyn is not the only one with a chip on their shoulder for the past vote.  Danny received a mystery vote, and the suggestion that it may be Frannie does not placate him.  He is convinced someone threw a vote his way, and is bound and determined to ferret out who that might be.  To that end, he (admittedly in a pretty cordial way all things considered) questions everyone as to who threw a vote his way.  The once exception to this is Heidi who, as his ride-or-die, he is certain would never have voted for him.  Since the most ironic thing must happen in any given situation this episode, naturally Heidi was the stray vote for him.  She’s upset since she thought for sure he was going home (indicating Heidi may not have quite the strategic grasp on tribe dynamics that we thought), but also wisely decides to NEVER admit to Danny that she voted for him.  

Oddly, this is an exact parallel of the Lex van den Berghe and T-Bird Cooper situation from “Survivor Africa”, which is admittedly a fun storyline to go back to.  That said, man, I never thought I’d be talking about Lex so much when I started this blog.  Don’t get me wrong, he’s a decently fun character, but he’s not one of my all-time favorites, nor quite as significant to “Survivor” history as some others, so it’s surprising I keep finding reasons to bring him up.  

Morning brings calmer vibes, largely due to group meditation led by Jaime.  Everyone reflects on what they’ve gotten out here, leading Heidi to talk about her own past in flashback.  It’s a decent transition, but much as I hate to say it, Heidi doesn’t have much in the way of “tragic backstory”.  She does mention moving to the US from Puerto Rico, speaking no English, but apart from that, it’s pretty generic “I showed how tough I am in life.” sentiment.  Admirable, but not the most unique by a long shot.  

More notable from all this is that Carolyn has calmed down enough to make amends with Carson and Yam Yam.  Guess she really did just need some time after all.  Granted, she doesn’t have a ton of options, but still, good on her for burying the hatchet.  All that said, she still doesn’t trust them completely, as when asked directly, she denies having the Tika idol.  While she probably has more reason to trust these two than anyone else out there, but with how long you’ve kept it from them, best not to upset the apple cart.  Not unless there are very specific circumstances, which may or may not come up later this episode.  

The Tika Three, after kind of making a commitment to the Final Three together (they don’t say it out loud, but indicate they do want to stick together), debate how to make it through this round.  After all, this is the last round they’re outnumbered, assuming they stay tight together.  Yam Yam hits upon the idea of letting Danny know about Heidi’s vote for him, thereby breaking up the pair and creating a rift the tribe can exploit.  So Yam Yam does just that.  A good plan, assuming Danny believes him.  In the other trend of this season, that of “The Truth Not being Believed”, Danny doesn’t believe Yam Yam.  Admittedly, given how close Danny and Heidi have been thus far, I can understand it.  Far more plausible that Yam Yam is trying to break up that pair with lies, from Danny’s perspective.  Heidi lying her butt off only convinces him more, and gets him to realize “Hey, maybe we’ve been giving Tika too much power.”  You know, that thing Frannie said two episodes ago.  Oh well, better late than never I suppose.  

After the aforementioned cosplay tutorial, Carolyn has a bit in the water reenacting “The Little Mermaid” (her words, not mine), using that time to bond with Yam Yam as well.  They talk again about who they want in the finals, but really, nothing new comes of it.  The exception is Yam Yam giving us a fun little bit where he proposes three of his “multiple personalities” take up the spots.  Oh, Yam Yam.  You may not be strategically as good as you think, but damn if you aren’t hilarious!

Hilarious, but vulnerable.  Danny, in his newfound anti-Tika crusade, needs allies, and so goes to Lauren, being another regularly-targeted person to get on his side.  While Lauren admits in confessional that she doesn’t fully trust Danny, she recognizes that what he says makes sense.  The pair agree to go for Yam Yam for being too “nice”, and thereby difficult to beat in the end, which is logic I can’t fault.  I’d say Carolyn and Carson are even better targets (Carolyn to flush the idol, Carson because he’s good socially and also has puzzle skills for an immunity run), but hey, Yam Yam also makes sense, and the larger goal is just “Weaken Tika”, which this targeting does.  

Off to our immunity challenge, which, unsurprisingly, is “Last Gasp”, aka “The Drowning Simulator” first seen on “Survivor Palau”.  I say “Unsurprisingly” since the show now LOVES reusing major structures, and hey, if it was on last season, why not do so again?  Beats most of the repeat challenges, and at least there’s no puzzle, but I stand by this one not doing it for me as much as for others.  Once again, it’s largely down to me being very comfortable in the water, and thus not finding this quite as creepy.  That said, if there’s someone for whom the creep factor is very visceral, it’s Lauren.  Understandable, given that she’s been shown to not be the best in water challenges, and part of that is keeping your cool underwater.  She’s out relatively quickly.  Not as fast as Janu in the first iteration of this challenge, but pretty quick.  

Our two Puerto Ricans, Yam Yam and Heidi, end up duking it out.  Somewhat to my surprise, Yam Yam wins, leading to Danny comically jumping in the water to let him know when he can’t hear Probst.  Given the size of his face, I would have given Heidi the edge, just because she can stick her face through the bars further.  Still, good for him, and Yam Yam gets a nice moment to celebrate being athletic, a trait he evidently doesn’t share with his family at large.  It’s honestly a nice, effective scene.  I would have preferred we explore the discrimination against the overweight, and how that can affect people a bit more, but hey, the scene still works.  Plus, now we have drama with the main target immune.  

The Tika Three, correctly realizing that they were not successful in dividing Danny and Heidi, switch to a split between Jaime and Lauren.  However, everyone else is ALSO aware that this is the plan, with Danny saying that will be the decoy plan given to the Tika Three so they don’t get suspicious.  I WOULD get on Danny’s case for appearing to order it without consultation once again, but given that neither Jaime nor Lauren seem particularly mad when he says this, I’m going to assume this was a group decision he was just reiterating.  

Enough word of this gets back to Tika that they go to Jaime and Lauren offering to split between Danny and Heidi themselves.  This puts Jaime and Lauren as the swing votes, between Carson (the actual target of Danny with Yam Yam immune) and Danny.  For once, there is a clear “Right” and “Wrong” choice.  Carson is the correct person to vote out.  Don’t get me wrong, Danny will need to go at some point.  You don’t want him in the end with you, since he’s a likable guy who can say he made it despite a target on his back, and hasn’t made any real enemies (maybe Frannie, but even that’s a stretch).  But there are so many reasons to go for Carson instead.  I would list them all, but I don’t have to.  Jaime does it for me.  She says the Tika Three need to be broken up, and Carson is more of an immunity threat, given his prowess with puzzles, and the fact that he’s, you know, WON individual immunity, unlike Danny.  

Yes, take it in, folks.  Jaime said something that was 100% correct, with no caveats.  

Lauren does bring up trusting Carson more than Danny, which I can understand.  They’ve lived together longer, and actually voted together.  Even so, Jaime’s points are salient, and ultimately the better move, at least for this vote.  

Misdirection effectively neutered, we need something new.  Enter Carolyn and her idol.  Give the woman credit: She quickly recognizes that something is up, and sets about interrogating Danny.  Danny, in my view, actually does a pretty good acting job in denying it, but Carolyn smells trouble.  As such, wanting to keep Carson around (sensibly, since sticking with the Tika Three for now gives Carolyn a better spot in the game), she decides to play her idol on him.  NOW she tells Carson about her idol, and again, I can understand why.  By doing it now, she skips the “Oh, you kept something from me.” phase that would put her at risk, and have it be overridden by the “Thank you so much for saving me!” phase.  

Carolyn’s real dilemma, though, is who to vote for between Heidi and Danny.  Her fear is that if Danny plays an idol (and for all that I knocked her game earlier, it must be said that Heidi IS really good at keeping secrets, both with her idol and her vote against Danny), then the vote might bounce back against herself, and thus throwing a vote on Heidi might be smart, despite really preferring Danny.  Frankly, this should not be a dilemma.  Heidi should get Carolyn’s vote.  Either Jaime and Lauren are with you, in which case your throwaway vote won’t matter (save for possibly making Heidi angry, but at this point, a worthy safety risk), or they aren’t, in which case a safety vote is a wise decision.  Yet Carolyn is somehow conflicted as we head off to Tribal.  

Look, this has been a stellar episode.  Pretty standard in some ways, but we get a deep dive into the “Why” of each strategic move, and a good amount of time to just sit and let the players be people (something we’ll hopefully get more of now that 90-minute episodes will be the norm come next season).  All very good stuff, and all well-put together.  But the Tribal Council, while by no means the WORST, even by general standards, is just weak.  We are, blessedly, largely devoid of metaphors this time, but it’s mostly just generic strategic talk with little fun thrown in.  Admittedly there is one good moment wherein Carolyn gets rather aggravated after mishearing something that Lauren said, and then at Danny’s attempts to clarify the situation.  It doesn’t get inflamed, but DOES lead to her staring intensely at Probst, which freaks him out.  That’s always good for a chuckle.  

Carolyn agonizes in the voting booth, which, again, I don’t think she should be doing.  At first, it seems like she might have been agonizing over whether or not she needed to actually play her idol, since she waits until Probst gets to the “Okay” part of “Okay, I’ll read the votes” to do so.  Play it she does, though, and despite what the numbers will tell us momentarily, I don’t blame her.  That Carson was a likely target was a good read, and while this may show her hand a bit early as a strategic threat, given how long she kept her idol secret, it needed to be done, I feel.  Yes, she could have done a Maryanne (“Survivor 42”) and just revealed it at the end, but consider just HOW kooky Carolyn is perceived here.  The ONE reason there were any second thoughts on voting out Yam Yam or Carson was that Carolyn would be tough to deal with in the aftermath.  Not the look of a player well-respected strategically.  Unless you’re an orator at godly levels, you need to start changing that perception a bit earlier, and by the looks of the jury and the remaining players when Carolyn comes up to player her idol, she’s starting to do that.  It’s a risk, as again, she now seems a more appealing target than before, but one I think she needs to take to stand a chance at winning.  

So no, despite Carson not actually receiving a majority of the votes, I will not fault Carolyn this idol play.  I WILL, however, fault her for pulling an Aubry (“Survivor Kaoh Rong”).  Given my well-documented love for Aubry, you would think this would mean a good thing, and most of the time you’d be right.  Despite the fact that she remains my all-time favorite player, however, that does not mean I think she is flawless.  In particular, probably her biggest mistake was crossing out Julia very bluntly to write down Peter’s name instead right before the merge; a move so infamous most people avoid even the remotest possibility of doing so like the plague.  Those people are not Carolyn, however.  Admittedly, her idol play probably overshadows that particular reveal, so I don’t think the consequences will be as devastating for her as they ended up being for Aubry (and even Aubry’s I think were not played up enough in the moment given the outcome of the season, but that’s neither here nor there right now), but still, not the move of Aubry’s game to be copying, Carolyn.  

In the end, as mentioned, the idol play actually WASN’T needed mathematically, as Lauren and Jaime decided to vote for Heidi, meaning Danny would have gone home anyway (unless Carolyn had voted for Heidi, but if Carolyn had known they were voting that way anyway, she would have known not to play her idol, so I stand behind my logic for her not needing to agonize over this).  Danny TRIES to be memorable on his way out, giving some spiel to Probst about snuffing his torch.  Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t get it.  From what I’ve gathered asking around, he’s doing a Robert De Niro impression, but having never watched any of his films, I can’t say.  Doesn’t do it for me either way.  I’m mixed about Danny leaving.  He was definitely the bigger character of the targets tonight, but also not the most interesting strategically, and I can’t deny his character didn’t really “do it” for me.  All that said, it does leave Tika firmly in control, barring some break-up and/or idol shenanigans from Heidi, which is not that great.  

Possibly predictable season outcome aside, this was still a fantastic episode.  All the reasons I said earlier still apply: Good insight into strategy, good character moments, excellent humor.  The worst I could say is that the misdirection wasn’t the best (Carson got too little content for this to be his boot episode), and the Tribal Council was a bit dull.  The rest of the factors very much make up for that, though, and I hope this season can finish as strong as its buildup!

-Matt

Title Credit to Jean Storrs.  

Idol Speculation: “Survivor 44” Episode 10: Jedi of the Sea

I know that “Star Wars” day is not technically until tomorrow (and thus, in advance, May the Fourth be with you all, dear readers), and it does feel wrong to make this the title AFTER Kane left the game.  But hey, Carolyn’s son gave us a drawing of a narwhal.  That’s almost as good, right?  

Naturally, we start off on getting everyone’s reaction to the blindside of Kane.  Oddly, we start off with Frannie. Despite not being close to Kane, she’s not happy at being left out.  She notes, not unfairly, that she’s not particularly close with anyone left, and thus needs to start changing up her game fast.  Time will tell how well this actually goes for her.  

More circumspect is Lauren.  While naturally upset that the old Ratu is down to 2 players, the least of any original tribe, and that her extra vote is now gone, she mostly keeps it to herself.  She saves her irritation for confessionals, and resolves to try and make things turn around for herself and Jaime.  

Speaking of whom, Jaime is the one person Carson feels compelled to talk to about the vote.  And by “Talk to”, I of course mean “Lie through his teeth.”  Carson does a good job spinning to Jaime that the Kane vote was necessary, as he was spreading that she had an idol.  The truth, Carson notes privately, is that HE was the one telling everyone that Jaime had an idol.  Kudos to Carson for doing the smart thing, though, and throwing under the bus someone no longer in the game, thus meaning they can’t contradict you.  Jaime falls for this hook, line, and sinker, but is more upset about the loss of her “idol”, leading to the hilarious moment of seeing the “fake idol” part of her chyron slowly fade away.  Whatever flaws there are with the modern era, the editing jokes remain on point.  

Jaime tells us that now she’ll have to either come clean or find another idol fast, no doubt leading to fascinating maneuvering, and TOO BAD, CHALLENGE TIME!  Your standard obstacle course, this is the “Maryanne Oketch” tribute challenge, courtesy of “Survivor 42”, so named because it includes the obstacle to make you dizzy, which Maryanne memorably attempted to counteract by spinning in the opposite direction.  Honestly a pretty boring and forgettable challenge.  The reward is a trip to “The Sanctuary” for tacos and margaritas, both alcoholic and virgin, along with letters from home.  Way to bury the lead on that one, Probst.  Sure, who cares about surprise?  

It says something about how much interest I have at this point that rather than focus on the challenge itself, I wonder about a hypothetical scenario: Non-alcoholic drinks had to be offered because the show started allowing people 18 and up to compete.  This was done because contestants must obey both US law and Fijian law, with the stricter standard taking priority.  However, what about a Canadian who was younger than 21?  There are several provinces (notably Ontario, where the majority of Canadian contestants have come from thus far) that have a lower drinking age than the US’ 21, and they’re not on US soil.  Do they have to follow the US standard despite 2 out of the 3 relevant countries saying it’s ok for them to drink?  Seems like kind of a raw deal for the Canadian, should they want to imbibe.  

Frannie wins, her third individual win, as Probst is keen to remind us.  I’m sure this will in no way bite Frannie in the butt.  Frannie is also given the task of picking three players to come with her on reward.  Citing wanting the “moms” to get the letters from home, Frannie picks Carolyn, Lauren, and Heidi.  Not bad picks overall.  All have a good excuse outside of “strategy” as to being picked, and all have at least some potential to be allies of Frannie.  I would say that Carolyn is a bit weird, since Frannie last episode seemed to be anti-Tika, and she could have picked Jaime as well with little suspicion.  However, as we see that going against Tika is NOT Frannie’s long-term plan later, I’ll let it slide.  

Rather than follow those on reward, we first check back in at the Va Va camp.  Yam Yam is the most cut up about missing the reward, noting that he’s the only person left yet to go on one.  However, he’s more upset at missing the letters from home.  This gives the show and excuse to give us more flashbacks to Yam Yam’s life outside the game.  Not the most forced I’ve ever seen, but still pretty forced.  That said, I’m willing to let it slide since we get to see Yam Yam’s husband as a result, and dammit, they’re really cute together!  

The bigger story at camp is Jaime, though, how has evidently settled on the “Come clean” route.  I’d have gone for a bluff myself, but I can understand her logic.  With how often the idol makes you a target, there is a good reason to just admit to not having one.  Unfortunately for Jaime, however, she can’t win for losing, as despite the fact that she’s literally telling the truth, no one buys it.  They applaud her acting, noting that she’s out looking for an idol, but Danny in particular is dismissive of the idea.  I’m of two minds about this whole scene.  On the one hand, it is kind of funny that Jaime just keeps being so catastrophically wrong no matter what she does.  On the other hand, does she deserve it?  She’s by no means the best player, but she seems nice, and again, this sort of comedy works best on someone you want to see fail, which is not necessarily the case with Jaime.  

Over on reward, after Carolyn partakes in her virgin margarita (sobriety and all, understandable.  To clarify my thought experiment from earlier: It’s not that I don’t WANT there to be virgin options on alcoholic rewards, I just don’t want someone FORCED to take that option if it’s legal for them to choose otherwise), we get our letters from home.  We actually don’t see what Frannie and Heidi got, all our time being devoted to Lauren and Carolyn.  The former is the emotional moment, with Lauren getting a renewed drive to win for her kids, complete with flashback photos.  Again, kind of forced, but there’s been worse and the kids are pretty damn cute, so I’ll let it slide.  Carolyn’s is more for the comedy.  Rather than be in tears over her letters, she notes how tough it is to get her son to write, with the note he sent her being “The most he’s ever written” according to her.  Hey, kid’s got a career as an artist ahead of him, though.  That’s a pretty sweet narwhal drawing.  

Strategy talk does eventually return, with Frannie putting out the idea of getting out Danny.  Not a bad one, considering he’s the most active player left in the game, and yet also seems very set in his alliances.  Not his insistence on going against Ratu when it may not have been wisest to do so last episode.  Thus, if you’re not with him, you have little incentive to keep him around.  Lauren is, of course, right on board, mostly because any name that isn’t hers sounds good right now.  Heidi would seem like the least-inclined to go for this plan, since she and Danny have been seen to be close, but Heidi tells us that she and Danny have never made any commitment.  Carolyn’s also been working with Danny, but it does behoove Carolyn to keep the Soka/Ratu feud going, to strengthen the position of her and her fellow Tika members.  Plus, as she tells us, she likes Frannie, and thus was to work with her even if it’s not strategically the wisest move.  

We touch base back at camp, basically just to see Jaime come clean to those who were on the reward about her “idol” being gone.  They don’t believe her either.  Poor Jaime.  Can’t win for losing.  This brings us to our challenge, another repeat obstacle course drawing heavily from “Survivor Edge of Extinction”, and thus earning my ire.  People being forced to crawl in the sand with hands and legs bound is at least more unusual that what we normally get, but still, nothing much to write home about.  Danny does do an excellent job on the obstacle course part, but as this ends in a puzzle, he’s stumped.  Yam Yam makes a decent comeback to get to the puzzle, though to me watching, it looked like Probst okayed him to undo his shackles despite not hitting the mat.  Carson, who admittedly also did pretty well on the physical part, ends up taking the win here.  Good for him.  

With Frannie being available to target, and so much conversation centering around her as a challenge threat, naturally Frannie is targeted.  Even Lauren, a supposed ally, is willing to go along with the plan, since again, she’s justifiably in “anyone but me” mode at this point.  This would then seem to be a simple “Danny vs. Frannie” debate, but no!  Paranoia about Jaime’s “idol” reaches an all-time high, with Carson in particular wanting to split votes between Jaime and Frannie, preferring Jaime as the target should no idol be played.  But even THIS is not enough!  We at first get what seems to be a pat “Maybe I’ll play my idol” confessional from Heidi.  Hardly anything to write home about, both because we’ve heard it before, and both because she doesn’t seem to be in danger.  But then Danny engages in frankly kind of a dick move for someone who’s supposed to be his ally.  He lets Heidi in on the “Get Frannie” plan, which is all well and good in and of itself.  However, rather than have it be a conversation, he just tells her that’s where the numbers are without, you know, telling her who those numbers are.  Strongarming someone is never a good look, and serves only to put a target on your back.  When that person is you ALLY?  Time to look for a new ally.  Heidi relays this information to Carolyn and Frannie, but since she doesn’t have the details, they come to the conclusion that Heidi is just snowing them, and intends to vote Frannie.  This galvanizes the pair to try and rally votes against Heidi, nominally roping in Jaime and Carolyn’s Tika allies to add in this cause.  

This, then, puts Yam Yam and Carson in the “swing vote” position, this time between four different options.  As always, let’s consider what the smartest move is here.  First things first, the only truly “Bad” move for these two from what I see here is getting rid of Jaime.  The last thing you want is to risk a tie with the remaining three Soka members down the line, and getting rid of one of them now should definitely be a priority.  Plus, the only reason Jaime is a target is because of an “idol” she does not have.  Can’t fault the players for not realizing that, but in a vacuum, there’s no reason to boot her.  Thus, Jaime is the only truly “bad” option here.  Speaking of things the players don’t know, the idol of Heidi’s that no one knows about makes her really the best target to go for at this juncture.  Even leaving that aside, there’s reasons to go for Heidi anyway.  She’s playing a smart, but subtle, game, and thus a threat down the line.  She’s friends with a lot of people, especially compared to Danny and Frannie, giving her more options, and thus making her a greater threat to your power.  Just below her is Frannie.  I’m not one to advocate a vote purely based on “challenge strength”, but Frannie has shown herself to be a good competitor in a variety of types of challenges, so for once it might be warranted.  Moreover, with Matt being the first jury member, you can bet that she’s being talked up to the jury, and thus may be hard to beat at the end.  The reasons to keep Frannie are that A: She has basically no firm allies at this point, and is therefore less threatening in that regard, and B: It will piss off Carolyn.  In the case of the latter, though, where is she going to go?  She won’t be happy with you, certainly, but with this group left, with a fair number of people with dug-in battle lines, it’s going to be hard for her to move against you anyway.  As for Danny, well, like I said, the main reason to boot him is his inflexibility.  You’re either allied with him, or not.  As Carson and Yam Yam fall into the “allied” category in his mind, well, no reason not to keep the super-loyal guy around.  Admittedly he does need to go at some point, given his frantic idol hunting and being a hog for the face of strategy, making him tough to beat in the end, but another round or two should be fine.  

For all my griping about how lame Tribal Councils have become, the last few episodes have actually been decent.  Sadly this one breaks that streak, being a bunch of meaningless nothing talks.  The only thing even REMOTELY noteworthy is that Jaime tells the truth about her idol again, leading to some pretty good exasperated reactions from the rest of the players.  Also notable that Kane manages to keep a good poker face about this, as he should as a juror.  

Yam Yam and Carson don’t ultimately make the smartest move here, but avoid a super dumb one as well.  Frannie goes home, and I am kind of sorry.  Not that she was my favorite player or the biggest character.  Indeed, it’s kind of unfortunate that most of her screen time got taken up by her relationship with Matt, only for her to relatively fade into the background until this episode.  But she seemed nice enough, and had decent strategic chops.  Really, the big reason I’m sorry for her loss would be because of the poetry of her making the end, given that she was a contributing factor to Matt’s ouster.  The star-crossed lovers, one the first juror, one potentially the winner, would have made for a great story, and it’s a shame that we’re deprived of that!  

I won’t say this episode was bad, but that’s because that would imply this episode made me feel any strong emotion.  Everything was done competently enough, but this was just BORING!  Good mystery, at least, but nothing we haven’t really seen before, and very by-the-numbers logic.  Not the worst, but I expect better from you, season!  

-Matt

Title Credit to Jean Storrs.  

Idol Speculation: “Survivor 44” Episode 3: We Have Wormsign!

One of the common criticisms lobbied at new-era “Survivor” is that it’s “Too nice”.  Sometimes related to the lack of drama, sometimes in relation to the backstory segments being too touchy-feely.  This is a criticism that I personally don’t agree with, but after tonight, I think I can see where people are coming from.  Even by my standards, people were a bit too nice.  

Before we delve into the love-fest, though, it’s time for another edition off…

MATT’S MESS-UP!

Being honest, I nearly didn’t include this one, since I did touch on the event itself, and this is more of a missed joke opportunity than me neglecting part of the episode.  But I did love the joke, so I’m throwing it in a week late, timing be damned!  Long story short, while I discussed Danny opening the birdcage and getting his idol, and discussed the strategy related to it, I neglected to discuss Danny’s reaction to finding said idol.  The show really IS loosening up in references to past seasons, as Danny gives us the Mike Holloway trademark “Happy Dance” from “Survivor World’s Apart”.  Not that I strongly want that season in particular referenced, but hey, you do you, Danny.  

For all my snark earlier on, “Happiness” is probably too strong a word to describe Tika coming back from Tribal Council.  Yes, Yam Yam and Carolyn do celebrate, but they have the decency to wait until they’re in private, so I won’t hold that against them.  Publicly, they simply call for tribe unity, and state that the vote was not meant to exclude anyone in particular.  The sentiment is publicly echoed, but Sarah, being the person explicitly left out of that last vote, is not buying it.  Since Sarah possesses common sense, she rightly blames Carson, the swing vote, for her position.  Paradoxically, she states she trusts Carson the most, though she mainly uses this as evidence for how good he is at the game, and why she needs to watch out for him.  All conclusions I have to agree with on her end.  

Keeping the happy train going, we cut over to Ratu.  Here, we see that happiness and bad gameplay go hand-in-hand, as Kane, already on the outs, decides to dig himself deeper by singing “O Canada” for his tribe.  Not that he’s a bad singer or his tribe hates it or anything.  No, the problem is that in doing so, Kane outs himself as a Canadian.  This is a problem because, at the time this was filmed, the most two recent winners (that these players saw) were Canadian, meaning being Canadian now makes you a target.  And if you don’t believe players would be so petty as to target someone based on something like nationality, I refer you to the fear that remains to this day of women’s alliances that sprung to great prominence after only ONE successful one.  Unless you’ve got an accent, the only way one would be outed as a Canadian is if there happened to be a spelling challenge, which with the way challenges are being designed these days, seems unlikely.  Might as well minimize your threat level, and say you’re from Wisconsin or something.  

Kane is not just Canadian, though.  No, Kane is a Canadian NERD!  Because that demographic DEFINITELY doesn’t also get targeted on “Survivor”.  In this case, Kane’s nerddom tends towards the “Dungeons and Dragons” side of things, meaning he is very happy to have the sword part of the Immunity Aegislash.  Kane talks about wanting to be the hero of the game, and how it related to the sword.  He does a bit of play-fighting with it in front of the tribe.  Knowing a good opportunity when it drops in their laps, the editing team wisely cues up sound effects in keeping with the motions Kane makes.  I would mock this, but if I’m going to be honest, I would do the exact same thing were I in Kane’s shoes, so no faulting him there.  

Even switching the focus to Brandon does not get us off the happy train.  Brandon goes fishing, and while he’s not getting Rupert Boneham (“Survivor Pearl Islands”) amounts of fish, any food is good food.  He also uses the time to discuss how he doesn’t want to be seen as just a football player, and describes himself as a “Renaissance man”.  While I would dispute some of the things he uses as examples of why he is this way (while using different skill-sets, things like snowboarding and scuba diving are enough in the athletic realm that I would say they do not a Renaissance man make), I cannot deny that cooking and playing piano are pretty far out of the realm of what one would expect the skill set of a professional football player to do, so yeah, he’s got a fair point on this one.  

Soka is probably our least happy tribe out of the three, but I think that’s mostly because Frannie and Matt are monopolizing the happiness for themselves.  We see them going off and flirting with one another yet again.  We don’t dwell on it too long, though, as we instead cut back to camp, where the remaining four are having the obvious conversation of “Hey, shouldn’t we team up against the obvious pair who will never vote for each other?”  Claire in particular is gung-ho on this.  She’s the most pointed in how bad a strategy it is, and dismisses them talking about “Nerd Stuff” like “Star Wars” instead of playing the game.  Ok, I agree it’s bad strategy, but the nerd bashing is low.  In particular, it’s low coming from Claire, who mentioned in her bio that she listens to audiobooks of “The Hunger Games” to go to sleep, which I would say definitely falls into the category of “Nerdy”.  Pot.  Kettle.  Black.  

Danny, however, is going a step farther in the strategizing.  He has taken out the fake coin from the birdcage, presumably replacing it with rocks or something since it still looked full in the shots we saw.  He has wrapped the coin in paper and green string, the paper stating the traditional “Congratulations, you have found a Hidden Immunity Idol” message.  The latter seems odd to me, since from the messages we heard read aloud the ones this season DESCRIBE what the idol looks like, but I’m guessing they included a fake message in there to allow for plays such as this.  All this he has hidden in the roots of a significant-looking tree, because Danny has watched a season of “Survivor” that aired in the past 5 years.  

To top all this off, Danny then eats the part of the note detailing the coin is fake.  A bit over-the-top as a disposal method, and normally I’d say this is at least a foolproof way to prevent someone figuring out your scheme.  However, Carolyn is on this season, and we know from last episode that she’s willing to search that shit.  Danny better hope it passes through quickly.  And to those who ask how it might not pass through that quickly, I would remind you that it took Gervase two weeks on “Survivor Borneo” to have one bowel movement.  Fiber is not high in the diet of these people.  Stuff passes slowly.  

Speaking of stuff passing through, it seems Brandon’s fishing skills are not enough, as they have all collectively decided to eat worms.  Ok, so it’s presented more as a “Get the most out of your experience” event rather than “nourishment”, but still.  Jaime is the main instigator here, but pretty much everyone eats one.  Matthew is the only exception (that we see; he might have eaten one offscreen), making him instantly go up in my estimation.  

This, then segues into Jaime talking about the fun she’s trying to have here.  The earthworm eating is one thing, but it goes further than that.  She gives us what she calls the first “‘Survivor’ Houseplant” by putting some sand and a sapling in a half coconut shell.  Seems kind of pointless, but hey, it is clever and functional, and I suppose you need to do something to pass the time out there.  Props for giving us something we haven’t seen before.  

All this is very much in Jaime’s wheelhouse.  She’s the Plant Mommy, you see.  She even has a necklace to prove her bona fides in this area.  And, despite not eating a worm that we saw, it seems she even has a kinship with Matthew, owing to both of them loving the experience so much, talking with wonder about what they’re looking at as they hike together (Matthew’s arm wisely back in the sling.).  Even if he won’t partake of the worm himself, Matthew will help out Jaime in her worm-eating endeavors.  He points out a muddy patch by the water well where it seems like there might be some good worms.  But it is not worms Jaime finds, but a hidden immunity idol, specifically the one Brandon played in episode 1!  The pair agree to keep this between them, and Jaime talks about how strong this makes their bond, putting both of them in a good position.  

Good scene overall, but I want to give particular props to the producers on this one.  I rag out of love, but it HAS been getting annoying how predictable the “Significant Looking Tree” hiding place has been lately.  While not unheard-of, the water well is at least a variation, so kudos to them for…

KNOCK!  KNOCK!  KNOCK!

(Matt answers door)

MATT: Oh hey, Matthew.  I was wondering when you’d show up.  

MATTHEW: You knew I’d be coming?  

MATT: Eh, sooner or later, some contestant always improbably shows up at my house.  Given that we live in the same metropolitan area, you seemed most likely if I were a betting man.  No airfare to pay.  

MATTHEW: Ah, good deductive skills!  

MATT: So, what specifically brings you here?

MATTHEW: Well, I heard you giving production some credit for the idol hiding spot, so I just wanted to make sure it went where it was due.  

MATT: Meaning?

MATTHEW: That idol’s a fake.  I planted it myself, to help build a bond with Jaime.  I found the real one in…

MATT: Let me guess, a tree?

MATTHEW: Yup.  

MATT: Figures.  When the superfans are more creative than the production team…

MATTHEW: No doubt.  

MATT: Speaking of creative, any chance I could have a go on that backyard plywood snake maze?

MATTHEW: Sure thing, man!

(Several Hours Later)

Ok, well, this blog’s going to be late.  Talking a little more about Matthew’s move here, it is pretty standard in plan, but masterful in execution.  Dude realized there were similar looking beads on the tribe torches, and so chopped some off to use as the fake.  Given that he has the real note, he was able to use that as well.  His misdirection of Jaime seemed very natural, and he mainly used it as a way to secure an ally without giving that ally real power.  A bit cruel to lead her on?  Perhaps, but that’s the game, and given how much of a nice guy Matthew is, it’s nice to know that he CAN be cutthroat when he needs to be.  Certainly makes him go up as a game player in my estimation.  

For as impressive as Matthew’s move was, though, it pales in comparison to the editor’s here.  Based on what we saw, all this plotting and planning of Matthew’s was something that happened some time last episode.  Possibly it happened after the Tika Tribal Council from last episode, but we have no way of knowing for certain.  Either way, it would have been all too easy for them to play this exactly the same way they did Danny’s: Show us all this happening to make a payoff for later.  Now, while I’m the first to complain about the show not adequately foreshadowing stuff, here I’m ok with it.  Unlike the decision as to who gets voted off, this is not something we NEED to hear about ahead of time.  It wasn’t relevant until now, so it wasn’t shown until now.  On top of that, we get emotionally invested, since we were fooled right along with Jaime.  We need SOME foreshadowing for who gets the boot each episode, but for things like idol finds, more of the fooling of the audience, please!

Danny is having less luck with his fake idol.  Soka is doing a big group search for the thing, but no one is looking.  Danny even has to suggest that they check in the roots of significant looking trees, as opposed to just giving them a visual once-over.  I’m with him 100% when he complains about how these people don’t know how to look for idols.  They still aren’t even using sticks!  

Eventually, Matt finds the coin, and falls for it hook, line, and sinker.  He’s more subtle about hiding it than Brandon was in episode 1, but since Danny saw him nearby, he still figures it out.  Danny then proceeds to out Matt in front of everyone, because you know, the target just wasn’t big enough on Matt’s back.  He does use it to bond with Matt, which I can support.  His plan may have backfired, however.  Matt was a target already, as we saw, but with him having what most believe to be an idol, he’s now less safe to vote for.  The majority have enough votes to do a split, it’s true, but then the whole endeavor is largely pointless unless you go for Frannie on the re-vote.  Moreover, it might make people reconsider their allegiances.  Josh (yes, I’m sure there’s a Josh on this season) says that with Matt no longer being a safe vote, he might have to work with him instead of against him.  Brilliant play, Danny!  Take the target off of someone who wasn’t yourself, and leave it to an open field that includes yourself!

Also, can we just take a minute to be sorry for Matt?  Poor guy is on the outs of his tribe due to playing with his heart more than his head, loses his first two votes of the season (partially not his fault, as well), then gets his first piece of good luck in finding an idol, only for that idol to be a fake.  I know Spencer Bledsoe (“Survivor Cagayan”) is the show’s go-to Charlie Brown character, but I think Matt surpasses him as of this episode.  Unfortunately, unlike Spencer where it was kind of cathartic for him to get repeatedly denied given how arrogant he was at the start, I just feel back for Matt.  He did little to deserve this (the second vote loss was all him, though, and the pairing off with Frannie is 100% on him), and seems like a pretty nice, humble guy.  Just overall much less satisfying to see him get repeatedly screwed like this.  

I did say this was the happy episode, right?  Tika is here to bring us back to that vibe.  The tribe as a whole gets along, everyone says so!  When Yam Yam brings up a fear that his snoring will lead to him getting voted out, everyone (particularly Carolyn) emphatically denies this will happen.  Pretty much everyone gets a confessional about how well they gel; even Sarah gets in on the action.  She’s the only one who even mildly harshes the vibe, though.  She notes she’s still on the bottom, and while she is still trying to find an “in”, most of her hope rests on the tribe winning immunity.  A tall order, she tells us, unless the challenge is tailor-made for their tribe.  

Luckily for Sarah, this challenge ends in a puzzle, which seems to be Tika’s specialty.  Four tribe members start in the water, pushing a large hollow crate to the underside of two poles, where one tribe member releases a key from a spring by climbing on top of such a box.  Once ashore, they dig under a log and unlock a platform.  There, they must stack boxes with colored sides so that no side has a duplicate color.  The first teams to do so win immunity, varying amounts of fruit and tools (depending on if they get first or second place), and in the case of Tika, flint.   Losers have Tribal Council and the loss of flint awaiting them.  For all that this is the generic “Obstacle course followed by puzzle” we’ve come to know and loathe, this one at least has a cool new element in rolling the crate through the water.  It’s something we’ve not seen in a challenge on US “Survivor” at least (it may have come up on an international version; I don’t know), and helps make the challenge more memorable than your average outing.  

For all that I’ve praised Matthew this episode, I do have to ask: WHY ARE YOU THE ONE CLIMBING ON TOP OF THE CRATE?  Sitting out Lauren rather than yourself I get.  The shoulder seems to be healing, and Lauren has proven to be not so good in the water, which makes a significant portion of this challenge.  But what do you bring to crate climbing?  This is not a particularly skill-based part of the challenge.  All you need is height, where both Kane and Brandon have you beat.  Jaime may be shorter, but she’s also lighter, and therefore less likely to GRIEVOUSLY INJURE HERSELF IF SHE FALLS, UNLIKE YOU!  I’m willing to cut you some slack since your shoulder seems mostly better and you’re keeping it in the sling outside challenges (though you’ll note it does hurt again during the digging portion, though), but maybe DON’T do the riskiest portion of the challenge where you bring nothing particularly special to the table?  

Eh, I shouldn’t be worried, though.  There’s decent mystery as to who will lose between Soka and Tika, but Ratu has had basically no strategy talk outside the one scene between Matthew and Jaime.  Even that didn’t touch on targets, so it’s hard to count that.  And yep, Ratu comes in first place.  The race between Soka and Tika is tighter.  Soka, unsurprisingly given their challenge prowess, takes an early lead, helped by Tika’s box going off-course.  All are in it on the puzzle, though, and that’s where Tika shines.  When Ratu finishes first, both sides unabashedly go over to look.  This, combined with Tika’s general puzzle prowess, leads to them getting second place.  Probably the most obvious outcome (between Sarah’s comment about needing a miracle, and Soka having by far the most strategizing this episode, they were probably favored to lose), but also the most intriguing.  It’s always nice when there isn’t one dominant tribe and we get to see dynamics in all three.  Nicely reminiscent of “Survivor 42”, and given that I maintain at this point it’s the best season to come along since “Survivor David vs. Goliath”, I’m not going to complain.  

Having conspired to make Matt as big a target as possible, once they’re all back at camp, Danny sets about targeting… Claire, for sitting out every challenge so far, heavily implying that she’s the weakest tribe member they have.  Not that I don’t see the logic, but then what was the point of going so hard against Matt?  By making it look like he has an idol (since only Danny knows it’s a fake, and revealing it as such to everyone else would put suspicion on him), you now throw out an alternate target possibility, which means you are potentially another possibility!  Sure enough, Frannie is not 100% on board with this plan, and informs Claire that she’s being targeted.  And who does Claire get mad at for this?  Danny and Josh.  True, the alternate target ultimately settles on Josh rather than Danny, but this could EASILY have backfired.  Don’t get me wrong, he pulled the move itself off masterfully, but to what end?  Maybe he can turn this around to a long-term gain, but for now, it seems pointless at best.  

Why is Josh being targeted, you ask?  According to Heidi, our swing vote for tonight, he’s “shifty”.  Not that we’ve seen evidence of that, but again, there’s barely any evidence of Josh on this season.  More logically, Heidi notes that she’s closer with Claire than Josh, but Clair is more of a challenge hinderance.  With Danny saying he’ll go with whatever Heidi wants, Heidi now has the power.  Yes, someone we BARELY remember more than Josh, and that’s mostly because she’s the one who first started fire for the tribe.  

I kid, I kid.  Heidi is in a good position here.  Not targeted at all, and no matter the outcome, has the twosome of Matt and Frannie she can target with whatever three are left.  On the whole, I would say it’s slightly smarter for her to keep Claire around, since she says she’s closer with her, as opposed to being the third with Danny and Josh.  Gives her more decision-making power.  Not to mention, I don’t buy the idea of “addition by subtraction”, wherein a tribe gets better in challenges by losing someone.  Particularly in this case, where the tribe will still be able to sit one person out, given that Tika is down to 4 people.  Wouldn’t fault either move, though.  

Not content with asking the players for metaphors, Probst is now supplying the metaphors himself!  He compares the game to the gargoyle above the “Walk of Shame”, in what may be the most forced metaphor this show has ever seen.  Probst, drop the metaphors overall, but ESPECIALLY drop your own.  

For all my snark, this is actually a pretty good Tribal Council.  Discussion is, for once, centered on the dynamics of the tribe, and in particular challenge strength vs. loyalty.  I will also give Claire credit that she argues effectively for why she should stay, noting that “Tribe Strength” doesn’t just mean challenge strength, but loyalty.  How she has this over Josh, I don’t know, but it’s about the most effective argument she can make.  Also, kudos to Heidi’s poker face.  When Claire asks her is she’s changed her mind from earlier that day, Heidi stone-cold says she hasn’t, despite the fact that she’s going to vote for Claire momentarily.  None of this is the stuff of legend, but its all well-done and engaging, which I’ll take.  

Claire plays her shot in the dark despite Heidi’s poker face, and I really can’t fault Claire here.  Since Matt can’t vote, it’s up to Frannie, Heidi, and Danny who will go home.  If they vote the way Claire wants, her vote doesn’t matter.  If they don’t, this is her only chance of survival.  More justified than Jaime’s play in episode 1, but also less successful.  Claire is not safe, and then voted out unanimously.  I am really sorry to see her go.  A pre-season winner pick leaving is never easy, and nerd-bashing aside, I did really like Claire.  She had good strategy for the most part, and it hurts to only participate in one challenge (and an abbreviated reward challenge at that) before leaving.  About the only good thing about this is that Josh gets more screen time hopefully, since it would have been a low blow for him to leave without us really getting to know him.  

While perhaps not reaching the heights of the first two episodes, this one still holds up.  A bit touchy-feely maybe, but fun nonetheless, with clear dynamics and good strategy.  So far, liking the season!

The spice must flow.

-Matt

Title Credit to Jean Storrs.  

Idol Speculation: “Survivor Island of the Idols” Episode 12: Mirror Universe

With the nation of Fiji subsidizing half the show, and it being relatively easy to film there, it has seemed like “Survivor” would never leave again. Yet, this episode provides us with an alternative, one that keeps the ease that the show currently has in filming, and have no extra cost. Ladies and Gentlemen, I propose to you Season 41: “Survivor Mirror Universe”.

What’s that? Getting to a metaphysical concept where alignments are switched is beyond the realm of mortal ken? Nonsense! The show’s clearly been there already! They brought back the version of Tommy that actually gets pissed at stuff, so they obviously are able to get there! Now all we need to do if film a season there, and we’re good to go. Before we can talk about my fee for this new idea, however, we have to talk about…

MATT’S MESS-UP!

Yep, can’t help but have a stumble in the antepenultimate blog, even if it is a small one. In all the excitement of the last 10 minutes of the previous episode, I forgot to mention that Elaine played her idol. Unnecessary in her case, since she wasn’t a target, but she had no way to guarantee that, and I can’t really fault her for being cautious. Now, on to the episode proper.

You would think, given that pretty much everyone was done with Karishma, that things would be fairly chill following the past Tribal Council. You forget, however, that Tommy has been replaced with an evil doppelgänger, who is none too pleased with only finding out about the votes coming his way at Tribal Council itself. Naturally, his anger is directed at Noura, since she seemed to be in on the plan. Even Tommy’s natural diplomacy can’t hide the rage in his voice. This, naturally, increases Noura’s rage, and she goes to take her revenge on Dean. She pulls from the Holly Hoffman (“Survivor Nicaragua”) school and goes for his shoes. She says she’s going to put them on the tribe sign, which I initially think is just a height thing, but then she mentions that this is where they always put an article of clothing from the people who’ve been voted out. I’d like to talk about the ominous yet subtle threat this poses to Dean, or Noura’s great “Soul/Sole” pun, but I can’t because I’m too busy being pissed that THIS IS THE FIRST TIME WE’RE HEARING ABOUT THIS TRADITION! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THIS SHOW? Seriously, this is a great little slice of life that both humanizes and connects us with the cast, and is a unique feature we would get only on this season, yet we’re only just now hearing about it! Man, this show really has its priorities screwed up this season. And believe it or not, this is not the last time I’m going to say that about this episode.

Even if I had avoided the “Matt’s Mess-Up” section, Elaine would have made sure it was mentioned anyway, as she and Dean get up to go idol hunting. I’m all ready to blast this cast for sleeping in when there’s idols in them thar hills, but fortunately Janet is here to prove me wrong. She shakes Tommy awake, and the two pairs go idol hunting. Since Tommy or Janet finding the idol would be the outcome that removes the most tension from the moment, naturally Janet finds the idol and shows it to Tommy. Not that she gets away scot-free, though. Dean and Elaine note that Janet appears to be showing Tommy something, and Tommy is looking down, leading them to correctly conclude that Janet found the idol. I’d normally complain about Tommy and Janet not doing a 360 to check to see if they’re being watched, yet we’re clearly shown that Tommy did. Chalk one up to Dean and Elaine’s spying skills, I guess.

Coming back from commercial, we see that Elaine has now developed plan B to avoid going home, now that an idol seems out of the question. She goes back to the “women’s alliance” well by cozying up to Lauren, but surprisingly is the first person to actually try and convince Lauren to turn against Tommy. Not Missy’s plan of voting Tommy out independently, and then win Lauren’s loyalty, but to actually appeal to Lauren’s strategic nature. And Elaine actually has kind of a point, saying that nobody wants Lauren at the end, and that Dean will supplant her. It helps that Elaine doesn’t put the focus so much on getting out Tommy (a harder sell) as she does getting out Dean. Lauren discusses this with Tommy, who I have to say is kind of condescending here, comparing her to a jealous girlfriend. He can’t pretend that Dean hasn’t moved up, since he’s grateful to Dean, but spins a good lie that he’s replaced Janet, not her. Lauren seems to buy it, but we then see that this is another case of self-fulfilling prophecy. Just as talk of a women’s alliance can cause one to form where there was none before (see “Survivor Kaoh Rong”), so too can talk of a men’s alliance cause one to form. Tommy talks about how he, Dean, and Dan have a pact to the end, since Tommy can beat both of them, and how they need to get rid of Lauren. Funnily enough, while this is not the first alliance to be nothing but men, it IS the first one to be referred to as a “Men’s Alliance”.

Talking about how much Tommy likes Dean now can only lead up to something making Dean look terrible. Sure enough, a boat comes and informs the group that a random person needs to be sent to Island of the Idols. Guess who that random person is!

Fittingly for the last individual visit to Island of the Idols, Dean’s is a combination of both the humiliation type and the strategy type. We start off, fittingly for Dean, with the humiliation angle, as he talks about his “brilliant” move of playing the fake Legacy Advantage, instead of his REAL fake legacy advantage. This should be hilarious, but here’s where Rob and Sandra basically being producers hurts them. Look, Dean seems like a nice guy, but this is a dumb move on his part, and he should be HUMILIATED for it. Sandra should be talking about his “stupid ass”. Rob should be coming up with some crazy, working-class metaphor for what Dean’s trying to pull. But instead, they can’t give away that info, and just keep a straight face. Way to cut the teeth out of two of the best snarkers in the history of the game, show! Our lesson is much better, though with a caveat I’ll get to in a second. Rob and Sandra’s lesson is about jury management, something new, relevant to the game, and that Dean desperately needs. He’s been getting the goober edit for most of the season, and if that’s what we’re seeing, most likely that’s what the jury is seeing. But what they say about winning over the jury, I don’t get. They talk about the need to have victories in front of the jury, and about making a coherent narrative. A bit of an oversimplification, and leans in a bit too much into modern “Survivor” and its penchant for “BIG MOVEZ!”, but nothing too egregious. But it’s Sandra saying “The jury always wants to vote for the player who played the best.” that gets to me. Um, Sandra, more often than not it’s the jury voting for who they like the most, or at a minimum dislike the least, the leads to someone winning, game or no game. Rob I can understand having the philosophy of “the best player winning”, since that’s how he won “Survivor Redemption Island” but Sandra, BOTH OF YOUR WINS WERE DUE TO BEING AGAINST DISLIKED PLAYERS! DID YOU JUST FORGET THAT OR SOMETHING? Again, I think this is the producer hat coming on, but all this does is reaffirm that the pair are far more interesting as players than as producers.

In the vein of a move to impress the jury, Rob offers Dean the challenge of a “Coin Flip”. It’s about as much of a challenge as the “Pull rocks from a bag” family challenge on “Survivor Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers”. He loses, he loses his vote. He wins, he gets his choice of an extra vote, an idol nullifier, or a hidden immunity idol good for one vote, and must be played on someone else. This is a toughie. On the one hand, if people are truthful, Dean really doesn’t have much to lose, even if he can’t vote. On the other, as he saw with Kellee, there’s no guarantee of loyalty after being saved, so perhaps better not to risk it with so few numbers, on something you have no control over. Plus, I don’t buy Rob’s comment that the jury will respect Dean risking everything in his game on a coin flip. Using an advantage correctly, I could get behind. But pulling that big a risk on something you have no control over? I wouldn’t respect that, and I don’t think the jury will either. It’s a moot point though, as Dean wins. He correctly picks the idol nullifier as the most powerful of the three, and the most useful to him, given his knowledge about Janet’s idol. He lies back at camp, both about having the idol nullifier and about losing his vote. The first part I get. No need to put up the hackles of someone you might want to use it on. But why lie about losing? Granted, it makes you less of a threat, but also means people won’t want to strategize with you. Dean corrects this by informing Dan, Tommy, and Lauren about what really went down, but this seems like it would backfire to me as well. After all, now you’ve proven to your allies that you lied to them, and are now more of a threat than you were previously. Sure enough, Tommy now says that Dean is maybe not as sure a bet as he thought, and may need to be eliminated. Not sure I buy his logic 100%, but I can see where he’s coming from.

CHALLENGE TIME! And yes despite overall being a “generic obstacles with puzzle at the end” challenge, this one gets my seal of approval for two reasons: One, it features dizzy people, which is always a riot, and two, the puzzle is quite creative. It’s another word puzzle, which Eliane is mad at, but rather than individual cubes, the letters are now basically on Tetris blocks, which have to be stacked to make the phrase “This game will mess with your mind”. Creative, challenging, and even the puzzle phrase is kind of clever. Hey, the challenges have been really repetitive of late, so I’ll take what I can get.

With this sort of challenge it all comes down to the puzzle. Dean wins, though since no one else seemed to make actual words (at least ones that related to the show; Dan’s “Sith” was amusing), it’s not too surprising. Good for him, but way to cut the tension, show! Since Lauren’s been presented as the only viable target, she’s obviously going to be the next to go. Sure, Tommy brings up Elaine to the group as a whole, which makes sense. Elaine is the only threat left bigger than Lauren. But soon enough, we’ll get a confessional from Tommy saying that they need to go after Lauren. Yep, there he goes talking about throwing a vote on… Noura? Wow, this really is Evil Tommy. That’s a bona fide grudge and everything. Apart from that, there’s really no reason to go for Noura. Sure, she’s just the decoy vote, and Elaine is the main target, but what happened to Lauren? Surely she’d be a prime decoy vote.

Oh well, at least it creates a bit more tension. Elaine and Lauren realize that if Dan is voting for Noura, they can use their votes plus Janet to get her out, sparing the pair of them. A great plan for Elaine, bad for anyone else. Jumping into Tribal Council shows us why. Everyone naturally talks about how tough the game is now they’re down to the finals, but the main story of the night is Elaine. She again bemoans her bad luck, and gets a big speech about how she keeps on fighting until her torch is snuffed, and gets a lot of love from the players as a result. A very touching moment that makes her WAY too dangerous to keep around. The jury loves her. Let her get anywhere near, and you’re screwed. Elaine makes the best argument she can, suggesting she be kept around as basically a shield, an alternate target so no one looks too closely at you. Sort of what Spencer was to Tony on “Survivor Cagayan”. And that’s a good argument… for when you’ve got a bunch of people left. Even not knowing what happens at the end of this episode, you’ve got at most three votes after this one left, and Elaine is no slouch in challenges. She could easily win her way to the end, and swipe that million-dollar check that’s so rightfully yours. I’m not saying Elaine has a better argument to make at this juncture, but I am saying that her best argument falls kind of flat.

In keeping with the overall pattern of this season, Elaine goes home. She is not sent out with the awesome music, but I’m not sad about that. After how heartfelt the Tribal Council was, it would have been inappropriate. I am sorry that Elaine is gone, however. Smart move though it may have been, Elaine was that rare combination of good character and good strategist that this show so richly needs. She was a bright spot in a season that gets darker and darker still, and she will be sorely missed, particularly over Noura, who just doesn’t do it for me. I look forward to Elaine’s inevitable return, unless the show gets cancelled before they get the chance.

But now, you may be noticing that this blog is not ending despite having reached its natural endpoint, just as viewers noticed that she show was not going to credits despite the vote-out having taken place. We skip the fallout from Tribal Council and cut to the next day, where Jeff Probst is walking to camp. Sadly, this is not some new twist in the game, but an old plotline rearing it’s ugly head. There, shoved into the last minute or so of the show, is the reveal that Dan has been removed from the game, and will not be allowed to sit on the jury. Tommy bemoans in confessional how this screws up his game, and we go out on a card saying that Dan was removed for being inappropriate with a producer.

Allow me a second here to go find my “MORONS” megaphone. It may be a little dusty from “Survivor One World” but I’m sure it’s around somewhere. Ah, there it is. Now, if I may…

WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THIS SHOW? OH, SO IF A PLAYER COMPLAINS ABOUT SOMEONE TOUCHING THEM INAPPROPRIATELY, THEY GET OFF WITH A “WARNING” THAT CONVEYS NOTHING, BUT AS SOON AS IT HAPPENS TO A PRODUCER, THE PLAYER HAS TO GO? WHAT THE HELL KIND OF STANDARD IS THAT? DO THEY THINK WE’RE THAT STUPID? THAT WE WON’T NOTICE? ARE WE SOME KIND OF JOKE TO YOU? Now, I already hear the counterargument: “Well, Dan received a warning, and this was his last strike after the warning.” To that, I say, “THEN WHY THE HELL DIDN’T HE GET A WARNING THE FIRST TIME, AND WHY THE HELL DIDN’T HIS SECOND VIOLATION WITH KELLEE RESULT IN THIS? I swear, I’m even more pissed off now than I was at the Kellee boot with all this. Yes, production handled that poorly, but this just feels like them doubling down on the whole fiasco. Not only did their negligence allow this to happen again (true, they’re not responsible for Dan’s actions, but they are responsible for the safety of their cast, and Dan’s continued presence jeopardized that), but it comes across as them being held to a different standard than the cast, which is just wrong on so many levels. But the real kicker here for me is that, for all the flaws of Kellee’s boot, the show at least showed us what happened, and how and why it went wrong. They were up front about the incident. By both not showing us any of the leadup and sticking it at the end of the episode, it feels like they were trying to sweep this unpleasantness under the rug, which is the complete wrong move. Show it, own up to it, and explain what you’re going to do to prevent it in the future. For as uncomfortable as it is, lay it bare to show how wrong it is. Now, they say the incident happened off-camera, but you’ve already had the producer’s voice in the show. Why not bring the producer on to explain what happened? And if, for some dumb reason, that’s not possible, at least have more buildup than this. Have the players talk about Dan being taken away, and what they think’s going on. Don’t just shove this at the end of the episode like it’s nothing. Because it’s not.

Ugh, this episode was never going to get a rave review from me. True, it’s hardly the worst this show has produced, and I would even say is overall a pretty good episode of the season for how it bookends some plot lines (the talk of gendered alliances), and some nice human moments (the sign of lost souls), but is overall lost in the quagmire of pointless strategizing and a continued emphasis on the philosophy of “You need idols and advantages to win this game.” But the whole Dan thing coming back, and being so poorly handled, just makes me sick, and puts this episode down at the bottom of the season, along with the OTHER Dan is a creep episode. Still, if there’s one silver lining, his elimination this episode means I only have to rank five people left in who’s most to least likely to win. Speaking of which…

LAUREN-My top spot is always reserved for the person who “If they get to the end, they win.”, and this year that title goes to Lauren. She and Tommy have both played stellar social games, but Lauren also has an immunity win and higher visibility in her corner. Tommy’s a behind-the-scenes kind of guy, which is great for getting stuff done, less good for actually winning the game. With these victories, Lauren makes it a slam dunk for her to win if she gets to the end, but harder for her to actually do so.

TOMMY-Like I said, a stellar social game, but not many firm victories. If he eliminates Lauren, that’s a feather in his cap, and gets back any votes Lauren might siphon off of him. He says he’s down and out with Dan gone, but with everyone else recognizing Lauren’s threat level, I think he’s still got a decent shot. He beats anybody but her, and since everyone likes him, I don’t see them targeting him.

JANET-While not as social as Lauren or Tommy, Janet’s just likable in her own right. She is who she is, and won’t compromise that for anything. I get the feeling, if she gets to the end, the jury will respect that. Add to that some good plays when she was swapped to Lairo (the Tom boot is a particular feather in her cap), and I think Janet’s got a decent shot. It’s a testament to how good Tommy and Lauren’s social games are that they’re the only thing preventing a guaranteed win for Janet.

DEAN-Dean’s not out of the competition yet, but he’s got an uphill battle if he wants to win. True, he’s been the underdog with no real alliance, and so hasn’t pissed off anybody, plus is the last remaining Lairo. But tell me, what victories can Dean point to? Every move he’s made for himself has pretty much made him look like a goober, to the point that he can’t be taken seriously. True, he did play Kellee’s idol correctly, but Kellee can confirm that that move was more her than him, leading to that not really being a victory for Dean. He has a much better shot if he plays that idol nullifier correctly, but without that, I don’t see a Dean victory in the cards.

NOURA-No one respects Noura. No one understands Noura, and that includes Noura. This jury will not reward a crazy game. You want her in the end with you.

A quick heads-up: I stupidly forgot to ask for the day following the finale off. I’ll still watch it live, but if I have to work the next day, I just won’t have time to blog about it immediately afterwards. I promise, as always, not to get any other opinions until I blog, but it won’t be out until like Thursday or Friday instead of Wednesday night. Sorry for any inconvenience, but this doesn’t pay the bills for me.

Man, this show really has its priorities screwed up this season.

-Matt

Title Credit to Jean Storrs.