First off, my apologies for the lateness of this blog. I usually try to spot these things ahead of time, but didn’t anticipate the merge episode being double-length. Couple that with me needing to get up at my usual time for work, plus the blog both starting later and being extra long, and you’ve got a recipe for a blog you’ve got to wait for. That said, I’ve avoided reading other people’s thoughts on the episode, so you still get my unfiltered opinions. And ooh boy, this is going to be unlike most other episodes you see me blog.
Questions abound at Lairo as they return from Tribal Council, as one would expect after a blindside. Here, we see the pitfall in Kellee hinging her plan on Noura voting the way she expects. Not only is Noura a bit unreliable in this regard, but also tends to have a bit of a problem keeping her mouth shut. Questions emerge about who the second vote for Jack was, and Noura initially plays it off quite well, giving a pretty good dumbfounded look. However, after seemingly no pressure, Noura caves and says she was the second vote. Noura then gets questioned on why, and gives up that someone told her to make this move. Noura further professes loyalty to the person, saying she won’t betray her. Five seconds later, Noura is throwing Kellee under the bus. Again, great convoluted plan, Kellee! Jamal and Janet are naturally the most upset about this (being the most gung-ho about voting out Dean), and go over and talk with Kellee. Kellee offers up no real defense, but then Jamal and Janet offer up no real anger. Evidently Jamal is learning from his reaction to the Molly boot. Still, this does not look good for Kellee, which she realizes.
With confirmation that yes, idols can be found at camp now (Jamal having not been to the Island of the Idols at this point most likely means they’re not exclusively there), we get an idol hunting montage. Everyone on the tribe’s in on it. Even Janet, who just last episode said she didn’t want to put a target on her back, is looking. Noura frets about snakes, which makes me wonder why she doesn’t poke around with a stick first. Kellee, being the smartest of the bunch left (convoluted plan notwithstanding), ends up finding the idol, which is wrapped in orange paper. Now, this might just be because the idol’s on Lairo now, but I wonder if Kellee inadvertently found Chelsea’s idol that she never got to play instead. Not that it makes much of a difference in the grand scheme of things, but a fun little trivia note if so.
Not long after, the tribe gets a not that says “Pack your things”, which some immediately say means “merge”. Um, guys? I see the logic there, but a bit of a jump if you ask me. Sure enough, though, our remaining 13 players are whisked off to a feast, and some new blue buffs. This is pretty standard fare, so while our tribe members are celebrating, let’s talk about the new tribe name, Lumuwaku. Give it credit that it’s one of the longest merge tribe names we’ve had in a while that isn’t a repeated syllable. Although it’s not mentioned in the show proper, we also get the backstory behind this name. As a tribute to loved one’s back home, it’s a misappropriation of “Love You, Miss You, Really Wanna Kiss You”. Kind of cheesy, but it does make for a multi-layered name. I’m cool with it.
The game must recommence, though, and Tommy is the one to bring us back. He talks about how easy it would be for the original Vokai to sweep the original Lairo, being up 7-6. Certainly Jamal seems on board with the idea, despite being the one remaining guy who has been REPEATEDLY burned by the original Vokai. Tommy, however, wants to keep his options open. So, he reconvenes with Kellee. Remember how tight they were? How they worked together? How they basically made the decisions for their tribe early in the game? Yeah, throw that out the window. Tommy suggests she and Janet come on board with the new Vokai and run the game. Kellee says no, citing that Missy is a threat. This, to Tommy, means original tribal lines are dead, and he needs a mix to win the game. Look, Tommy, I want to like you, I really do, but this is just stupid! After one failed pitch, which you did a poor job on (he really should have emphasized using Kellee and Janet to oust the four remaining Lairo on that side, to give Kellee and incentive to rejoin), yo just give up on that advantage. Need I remind you that just two episodes ago, you were betrayed by the old Lairo on your tribe? And now you want to work with them? Where the hell did this come from? Look, the philosophy is sound. Work with a coalition, not just a simple majority. In general, I can get behind that. But Tommy, when your game so far has been about getting everyone to like you, and then you suggest betraying people for little reason? Doesn’t seem very likable to me. And again, what incentive does Tommy have for sticking with the new Vokai? Dan and Lauren I get, but the other four are clearly against you. If you can’t pull in some others (like, say, Kellee and Janet), you’re just dooming yourself to fifth place at best. Doesn’t sound very good. I still like the guy, but he REALLY dropped the ball strategy-wise here.
It seems that he and Lauren are all-in on this plan, though, as Lauren goes and informs Missy of Kellee’s plan to target her, cementing Kellee as a target a the upcoming Tribal Council. Look, I get that Kellee is a threat. She needs to go at some point. But right now, for Tommy and Lauren, she’s a USEFUL threat. Let her take the brunt of attacks for making moves, get out a few old Lairo to cement your majority, then blindside her when the time is right. Sure, she has an idol, but you can’t know that! On top of that, Missy is also a threat! Possibly the one person who can unite the old Lairo! And you’re just kowtowing to her right now. If you two get voted out, at this point, you deserve it. Lauren further advises Missy that she ought to win immunity. More on that later.
And now we come to something unlike anything I’ve yet blogged about. An entire segment of rarely-seen footage on “Survivor”. I’m talking, of course, about a peek behind the scenes of how the show gets made.
Now, we know conceptually that this is a show being filmed. There are camera crews with sound crews watching these contestants every minute of every day. Players aren’t just talking to themselves in confessional; they’re talking to a producer who’s asking them questions. But it’s a mark of the professionalism of the show that you so rarely see that. Sure, there’s occasionally times in the show proper where they make their presence known. The challenge on “Survivor Kaoh Rong” where three people got heat stroke comes to mind. The most infamous is probably the “He’s burned pretty bad, Terry.” from “Survivor The Australian Outback.” But usually that happens in the presence of a real medical emergency, where making a show takes a back seat, priority-wise, to saving people’s lives. Here, there’s no immediate danger, but they show us footage that clearly shows production, as well as giving us what I believe is our first ever on-screen producer sound-byte, in order to show us the gravitas of the situation.
And what situation could be so damning that this was needed? Well, Dan’s hands are finally coming to a head. And leg. And chest. And pretty much any female body part they can find. Yes, Kellee may want to vote our Missy, but she’ll still commiserate with her about what a creep Dan’s being. This leads to a flashback montage where we see various shots of Dan putting his hands on people (both ones we’ve seen before, and ones we haven’t) as they’re described. One could argue that it’s a little cheap that we’re just learning about some of this stuff now, but I think it works. Dan’s handsiness is well-established at this point, and since we do get some old footage, it stays in good continuity with the new. Kellee understandably gets somewhat emotional about this, given that she’s had a problem with this before, and despite her talks, it only seems to be getting worse. This is where the producer comes in: to ask if she wants him removed from the game. When she says know, he informs her that she’s always free to say so if she’s uncomfortable.
Now, I’ll be getting into the ramifications for the show as a whole in a minute, but I want to take some time out to discuss the rules conundrum this presents. “Survivor” has relatively few rules about what you can and can’t do in terms of the game, with two hard and fast exceptions to that. You cannot intentionally hurt someone, and you can’t conspire to share the prize money. Clearly, Dan has not done the latter, and you could argue he hasn’t done the former. The former rule usually refers to physically hurting someone, and while Dan is emotionally hurting someone, there’s no physical damage here. As Dan himself will later claim, it’s also possible there’s no intentionality to it. Yet, his removal for this is still discussed. My guess is that they’re including sexual harassment under “physical harm”, and Dan’s actions at the very least border up on this area, given the experiences of the women. Good on the show for being progressive, I say.
Know what else I’ll praise the show for? This whole segment. Yeah, it’s not the only time we’ve seen the production side of things, but it’s one of the most extensive, and it’s a fascinating look. Plus, this would have been so easy to sweep under the rug. Jumping ahead a great ways, while this does come up in conversation a lot, and will be the major focus of the second Tribal Council, Dan faces little in the way of comeuppance for his actions here. The show could easily have gotten away with just showing the complaining to explain why the subject comes up later on in the episode. They cynical might say the show HAD to acknowledge the role it had in this whole scenario, since Janet will later make reference to “the powers that be”, but to me, this comes off as the show saying “Hey, for all that this is a game, we take this shit seriously. This is how it went down, and this is how we handled it.” The only editorializing comes from the players themselves. Scenes are presented, shown, and discussed, all with little fanfare. This culminates in a card from the show as we go to commercial, stating that production talked with all individuals, as well as the group as a whole, and Dan in particular, about proper conduct. Again, could be covering their asses, but I think the show was trying to handle a delicate situation maturely.
Off to our immunity challenge, and as you’d expect, it’s another endurance challenge involving balancing balls. Honestly, I don’t know why I even both explaining these anymore, since they all just blend together. What is more noteworthy is how obvious it is that Missy will win. We had the foreshadowing from her and Lauren, plus these sorts of challenges tend to favor the women. All that makes for a greater surprise, then, when Missy falls out. She lasts a good way in, but still falls short. Hell, none of the women make the finals, as it comes to a showdown between Aaron and Jamal. Aaron takes it when Jamal gives out of nowhere and seems unable to get up. Aaron does the smart thing and checks in on his victory before going over to help Jamal, though I’m glad he did help. Good in terms of keeping up the mystery, bad in terms of having a coherent story. As to our individual immunity idol of the season? Well, it’s better than the tribal one, though it’s not saying much. They keep with the Easter Island Head thing, but add some artfully burned bamboo to make it look creepy. I’ve seen worse, but this one’s not going down in the history books by any stretch.
Kellee is, of course, the main target for the night, but we need some plausibility that someone else will go home instead. There are two ways we get this. One is Dean. While the new Vokai members have a majority on their own, they want as many people in on the vote as possible. As such, Tommy and Lauren talk to Dean about voting for Kellee. Unbeknownst to them, however, Dean feels some debt to Kellee, owing to her saving him last episode. Nothing comes of it yet, but it is a plot thread to bear in mind. Another is Kellee not being content with just one idol. Recognizing that merges often have multiple idols, she goes hunting and sure enough finds a blue idol. While recent track records (Tony Vlachos, Jeremy Collins) would indicate having two idols simultaneously as being a good thing, I still tend to favor the James Clement (“Survivor China”) model, where they make one overconfident, and more trouble than they’re worth. Still Kellee is definitely smarter than James, so she’s still got a chance to make this work.
But of course, all this would be worthless without another target in case Kellee does play her idol. Jamal, as one of the more sensitive people to topics like this, pitches voting out Dan due to the controversy surrounding him. Not a bad idea, when the merge is this big. Rather than going for the big move, merges like this tend to move for the consensus boot, just to ensure the safety of the group as a whole, and avoid the headache of strategizing with so many numbers. Actually, for Tommy and Lauren, voting out Dan would probably be the BETTER move for them, since they piss off fewer people this way. But no, they’re still stuck on the Kellee thing. Whoopee.
Good or bad, this Tribal Council is LONG! You’d think with the surface-level tribe dynamics, this would be an open and shut Tribal Council, but no, we have long discussions and lots of double-talk. Probably the two standout moments (at least the two that stand out nearly 24 hours later) are Dean’s “I’ve gotta be honest.” comment, since his delivery and editing are the one thing that really make it seem like he might blab to Kellee, thus getting her to play her idol. The other is the masterful play by Lauren. Kellee, during voting, looks at her and asks if they’re good. Lauren nods and assures her they are. A simple lie, but brilliantly played off by Lauren. It’s a brilliant play for what I’ve emphasized is the wrong move, but brilliant nonetheless. And all capped off with the awesome music.
We get a commercial break as the votes are tallied, trying in vain to convince us that Dan will go. But no. Doesn’t work. Look, the controversy around Dan is palpable, but if people were more concerned about that than the game, he would have been ejected before this Tribal Council. People are focussed on gameplay now, and the “strategists” have targeted Kellee. Sure enough, she doesn’t play her idols and goes. A dumb move, and one that I can’t even support from a viewer’s perspective. I don’t think Dan is the scum of the Earth or anything, but he’s brought very little, apart from controversy. He’s Ted Rogers (“Survivor Thailand”) lite. Kellee, while making some dumb moves recently, has brought strategy to the game, and crazy, out of the box thinking, which we always need more of. Point being, I’m very much in favor of her getting a second chance somewhere down the line. Not the greatest game ever played, but a strong showing for a first time.
Naturally, with a blindside, there’s going to be fallout. Janet, Jamal, Noura, and Karishma were all left out of that particular vote, and all have a reason to be upset. One person usually takes point at times like these, and as you might expect, that person is Janet. What you might not expect is her reasoning. From what we saw, Jamal just threw a name out there he thought people could get behind, not being on any sort of moral crusade. It was for Janet, though. She talks with Tommy and Lauren about the why of it. The pair really don’t do a good job explaining themselves, when really all they need to do is say “The talk with production handled it, so we went with what we thought was best from a gameplay perspective.” In spite of their waffling answer, Janet seems satisfied, and goes to explain herself to Dan. Dan, for his part, seems perplexed at the whole thing. Odd, considering production supposedly talked to him about his behavior. Seeking consolation, Dan talks initially to Missy and Elizabeth, two of the people Janet implicated as having a problem with him, with Elaine and Aaron coming around as well. Dan says that he’s completely dumbfounded at these accusations, and you don’t know how hard I’m resisting making an impeachment joke right now. This leads to Dan confronting Janet about this, who pulls over Missy and Elizabeth to talk with Dan, where Elizabeth, despite being one of the few people to say she didn’t find Dan particularly objectionable, does admit to talking go Janet about it. It becomes clear to Janet that she was being fed something of a story, so our scene ends for now. Rest assured, though, the issue is not done with yet.
We get back to our now usual “Survivor” stuff, in a good, old-fashioned idol hunt by a few of our members. Aaron and Missy agree to go looking for an idol, and so get up to try and avoid the rush. Unfortunately, they pass by an already-awake Janet on their way, and their lame lie of “going for a walk” does not fool her. She tails them, and when that doesn’t work, she just hits on her own. Janet is justly rewarded for her efforts. Good for her.
Janet’s not the only one finding goodies, though. After hearing Karishma complain about how Tommy won’t talk to her (literally the ONLY THING resembling fallout from their move that either he or Lauren gets. Seriously, how are they getting away so unscathed?), we get a comedic moment of a piece of paper dangling in between them without them noticing. Karishma finally spots the paper, only for Jamal to be closer and grab it. He’ll soon wish he hadn’t, though. The show may be handing out advantages like candy on Halloween, but even they’re not that blatant. Jamal’s “advantage”, such as it is, is to go to Island of the Idols, mercifully absent from the merge so far. Even Rob and Sandra’s reactions at Tribal Council are kept to a minimum. Jamal swears to come back with an advantage, only to be told that the thing that looked so much like schmuck bait was indeed schmuck bait. For being so foolish as to grab a possible advantage dangling right in front of him, Jamal has lost his vote at the next Tribal Council. Still, Rob and Sandra offer him a chance to screw over someone else as well. They give him a blank piece of paper and pencil, telling him he can make any fake advantage he wants with it. Sure, a blank piece of paper. That you write a fake advantage on. That will DEFINITELY fool people! I mean, it’s not like there’s a very specific style of writing on advantage notes that would be nearly impossible to forge! Clearly, people will fall for this.
Coming back, Jamal tries to pass it off as a legacy advantage, which he gives to Dean to put a target on the latter’s back. Jamal’s penmanship is nice, but it’s clearly a fake. People entertain the idea it might be real, and keep an eye on Dean, but when even Dan is saying he doesn’t buy it, you’re in trouble.
Our second immunity challenge is a reused concept, but more distinctive than the first. Contestants hold a rope as they’re slowly lowered closer horizontally to the water. Last man and woman standing win immunity. A bit overdone, but it’s been a while since we’ve seen this particular challenge, and any opportunity to have Jeff Probst play the role of torturer is always glorious. I’m less of a fan of the “split gender immunity” thing. I’m ok with it for the first immunity challenge, particularly if you’ve got a large number of people at the merge. But now it just feels cheap and arbitrary. If you’re not going to do it during the first challenge, don’t do it at all.
Our outcome this time is just as uneventful as the first. Missy and Aaron win immunity, though I must say I’m surprised ANYONE fell out before Dan. Dude’s kind of top-heavy. Still, if you though our challenge did nothing, our strategizing does even less. Not even TRYING to pretend the majority is going to break, we instead get mystery in the form of who the target will be. They plan to split votes between Jamal and Karishma, the former due to possibly having an advantage from Island of the Idols, and the latter due to… well, basically for voting the wrong way, and not being Janet or Noura (the latter of whom seems to have been absorbed into the new majority). Kind of random, since I’d say Janet’s the biggest threat, due to being well-liked and uncompromising, but if you must choose between those two, there’s no contest. Jamal is a better strategist, and more likely to pull something crazy. Janet would be the best choice, but if it can’t be her, better Jamal than anyone else.
You would think that the limited amount of strategizing would lead to a long Tribal Council, but this is not so. Not to say that nothing happens, but in terms of time spent, it takes up less time than the first. Our topic of discussion also seems misplaced, as it’s NOW that Dan is put through the wringer for his handsiness. Janet feels the need to justify herself, explains her actions, and gets some feedback from the other women. And it could have been dropped there, but Aaron just has to go put his foot in his mouth, arrogantly saying that he doesn’t believe it because he hadn’t heard it. Jamal rightly points out that Aaron is not entitled to know anything until someone is ready to tell it, nor does it make it any less true. This leads to Dan defending himself, Janet breaking down, and everyone building Janet back up. A good honest discussion we needed to hear, and very emotionally impactful on multiple fronts. Too bad Probst just has to keep talking about how important this conversation is! Look, I largely thing production handled the whole situation well and with much dignity for all involved, but Probst trying to force-feed us the social commentary is really pushing the limits of my patience. I’ll give him credit for at least saying he’s not going to let Dan off the hook just because the man’s getting emotional, but again, Probst, the scene speaks for itself. Sometimes your narration is just too much.
Unsurprisingly, Jamal goes home, though there is some tension. Janet plays her idol. I can’t blame her, since she knows she’s on the outs, and she did receive votes, but in the end, they’re just throwaways. Jamal and Karishma are the main targets, and Jamal is smartly sent home. I will miss the guy, though. For every forced Probst talking point about social commentary, Jamal made it feel natural and comfortable, talking about uncomfortable subjects in a way anyone can understand. Dude might not have been the best player of “Survivor”, but he was and presumably still is a decent and fun human being. For this, I respect him.
Apologies if this blog was less detailed than usual. Not being able to write right after the episode does hamper me a bit in this area. One area where it helps, though, is in giving me time for another…
TOP 5 AND BOTTOM 5!
Yes, it’s time once again to bring out the best and worst “Survivor” has to offer. I don’t often talk about episodes titles as a whole, but they really dropped the ball on this one. As you’ll soon see, it’s bland and generic, despite them having a multitude of good quotes to choose from (I personally would have gone with dan’s cringey “Dope-Ass Merge” comment for hilarity alone). But they didn’t. So, let’s first look at the best titles to herald a merge, and then see where it all went wrong.
TOP 5
5. “I’m not as Dumb as I Look”-Hailing from “Survivor China”, this one may require a little context to understand why it’s so good. On the surface, it’s a pretty generic episode title. Then you remember that this is being said in reference to the infamous, yet hilarious, first fake idol play in the history of “Survivor”. The title may be a bit on the generic side, but anything that reminds one of that deserves a mention on this list.
4. “The Hidden Immunity Idol”-This may raise a few eyebrows to newer fans of the show. After all, and episode talking about hidden immunity idols. Don’t you mean EVERY SINGLE EPISODE OF THE SHOW? Ah, but this title hails from the merge of “Survivor Guatemala”, the first season to introduce this particular twist. Not only would this be a topic of discussion for several episodes to come, thereby making it relevant as a title, but also heralded mystery and excitement. After all, we were seeing this for the first time. We didn’t know what was coming. Thus, by adding excitement and intrigue to an already exciting time in the game, this title accomplishes its most important job.
3. “Girls Gone Wilder”-Look, I’m a sucker for a good pop-cultural reference, and this one works out well. Not only appropriate to the gender theme of “Survivor The Amazon”, it also references Jenna and Heidi’s infamous stripping for chocolate and peanut butter. On a more PC level, it could also refer to the girls going “wild” with power, since not only do they pretty well dominate the game from here on out, but exert their influence on this episode in particular, by insisting Roger go. Maybe a bit sexist in this day and age, but at the time, quite a fitting title.
2. “There’s a New Sheriff in Town”-I like this one for how brazen and yet not brazen it is. This, as you might guess, hails from “Survivor Game Changers”. You know, the season won by officer Sarah Lacina, aka Sheriff Lacina? Obvious in hindsight, but still makes for a decent title on its own. That’s the kind of subtlety I like.
1. “An Emerging Plan”-Out of all the titles on this list, I’d say this is the most subtle. At first seeming like a fairly generic episode title, you glanced over it without much thought. Then you think about it and realize: “An eMERGEing plan”. See, show, if you’re going to work the word “merge” into your merge episode title, do it like this: with a good dose of pun and subterfuge. Not bad for “Survivor Exile Island”.
Honorable Mention: “I’m the Kingpin”-Yet another fairly generic title for a merge, and one that unfortunately has less to justify it. All that puts it on this list is the possible Marvel reference. What can I say? I like Daredevil. Props for playing to your audience, “Survivor Millennials vs. Gen-X”.
BOTTOM 5
5. “Double-Agent”-I may not have as much to say about the titles on this half of the list, mostly because the worst a title can do is be generic, and there’s only so many ways I can say that. “Double-Agent” from “Survivor South Pacific” is no exception to this rule, and so ends up on the list, though I keep it low because, unlike some titles we’ll get to, it’s at least appropriate. After all, this is there episode where Cochran fully jumps ship. It may be overdone, but you can’t say it doesn’t fit.
4. “Play to Win”-What puts the generic merge title from “Survivor Cambodia” on this list is the fact that it’s a lie. Look, the strategic gameplay this season was overall top-notch. It’s my second favorite season for a reason. But the fact remains that this episode was not decided by “Play to Win”, but rather by old grudges coming to light for an easy boot at a large merge. Not saying it’s a good or bad way to play, but call a spade a spade.
3. “Blindside Time”-I really have nothing else to say to this one. It’s generic, more so than the previous two, and what we’ve come to expect at a merge. And for how good the post-merge of “Survivor Caramoan” was, that’s disappointing.
2. “This Game Respects Big Moves”-Yet another thing to blame “Survivor Redemption Island” for: The start of the “BIG MOVEZ!” era. Yes, not only do we have a title that could fit pretty much anywhere, we also have one actively encouraging impulsive and erratic gameplay that stifles individual creativity for the sake of entertainment. Joy. What could possibly be worse than this?
1. “We Made it to the Merge!”-Yes, our most recent season tops the list, though really, it’s a placeholder for all the generic titles just announcing that it’s the merge. We KNOW from the preview that it’s coming. Why not hype us up with what’s special about this one? But no, we just get genericness in a sea of good quotes. It’s not like you didn’t have things to work with this season, CBS. Is a little quality too much to ask?
Honorable Mention-“The Merger”-This one really falls under the number one slot, but I single out for two reasons, one good and one bad. On the good side, this title comes from “Survivor Borneo”, where yeah, they had a reason to be generic. Like what I talked about with “Survivor Guatemala”, even though now it seems old hat, this was a new and exciting development for first-time viewers, making the title not as bad as at first glance. On the bad side, though, this title perpetuates the myth of the “merge” being a “merger”. It is not. Stop calling it that. For this sin, this title must be singled out.
This episode as a whole is unique, if only in the insight it gives us into production. That makes it hard to review, and it does have some annoyances. Parts of the game seemed to go too fast, and I still can’t fathom how we’re supposed to side with Tommy and Lauren when they’re making such bad moves. That said, it was fairly exciting, set up stuff for later, and handled a difficult situation maturely, which is always nice to see. Hope things stay on track, or even improve, in the next episode!
-Matt
Title Credit to Jean Storrs.
idolspeculation 