Idol Speculation: “Survivor MGX” Episode 3: Back to School

After 33 seasons of a show, it’s pretty much inevitable that the advent of a new season will draw comparisons to an older one. Case in point, myself and many other people have drawn comparisons between this season and “Survivor Nicaragua”, both in terms of being a battle of the ages, and a pretty cringe-worthy theme. The cringe-worthiness I will not deny, but sometimes are judgements are too hasty. In terms of theme, this season is actually a lot closer to early “Survivor Cambodia”. Specifically, it’s closest to the early Ta Keo Tribe, where the divide was “old school vs. new school” “Survivor”, referring to a divide between those actually trying to survive, and putting the strategic game on the back burner, and those who put the game first and foremost. It may be a bit cliche, but as we’ll see, the Takali and Vanua tribes individually represent old school and new school gameplay respectively.

Dealing with your tribe after a major blindside is always a tricky business. Being hurt and/or outraged is a perfectly understandable reaction. At the same time, you really can’t afford to give in to that reaction, at least, not if you value your time in the game. Like it or not, if you want any chance at survival, you need to be diplomatic about the whole thing, since you’re going to need at least SOME people in the majority to still like you. So, where do Adam and Zeke, our betrayed players this episode, fall? Much like this season so far, they end up somewhere in the middle. Adam takes on the spokesperson role of the tribe, offering congratulations to the tribe as a whole, and Figgy and Taylor in particular, on their blindside. The correct words are there, but there’s a distinct tone behind them that makes me wonder whether this congratulations will be accepted or not. We also get a snarky comment from Figgy about how Adam is coming down hard on her and Taylor when a majority on the tribe ended up voting together, which is admittedly correct of her. However, I think what Adam’s REALLY trying to say is that he sees Figgy and Taylor as being the ones who swung the vote. Of course, this is ALSO a mistake on his part, since Michelle was the real power behind the swing this time, but in a sense, that only increases her credibility as a strategist. Swinging a vote is hard enough, but not taking any of the flak for doing so? That takes a whole other level of skill. Props to her.

Where Adam and Zeke (particularly Zeke) fall apart is in their dealings with Hannah, our indecisive voter from last episode. Correctly recognizing that she’s on the bottom of the majority, Hannah goes over to apologize and mend some fences with the pair, who are commiserating out on the beach. Zeke, however, is a no-sell in this regard, saying that he doesn’t particularly feel like talking to her right now. Fair enough, but again, there’s a tone there that indicates more animosity than needed. Add to this Hannah’s inability to take a hint (and by “hint”, I mean being repeated told “I don’t feel like talking right now.”), and you’ve got a situation where no one comes off looking good. Hannah doesn’t seem to understand about how to strategize with the recently burned, and seems to be looking more for forgiveness than an alliance. Zeke, meanwhile, is too stubborn in not talking to Hannah, and comes across as kind of an ass in how he ends up talking to her. Even Adam, who is charitably the most diplomatic of the three, ends up talking to Hannah rather harshly, such that I’m surprised she’s willing to hear out a proposal of his later.

Next morning does NOT see a continuation of this conflict, but we instead head over to Takali. Once we see what’s there, I WISH we’d kept on with Vanua. At this point, nothing at Takali really happens of note, except that we reaffirm how annoying Paul is, and call him out as a guy who can’t deliver. He takes the spear and goes snorkeling, but comes back with fish stories but no fish. We also get confirmation that CeCe and David do talk, and that Ken is more than just a middleman in this alliance, but that’s not a huge revelation.

Sadly, heading back to Vanua does not give us more strategizing, but instead a good fake out. We see Adam walking along a deserted section of beach with ominous music behind him. I’m sure most people were thinking “hidden immunity idol” at this point. I certainly was. But no, Adam instead walks right past the idol to get to tree mail. This reveals that the Vanua idol is NOT in a coconut, but under a seashell. Makes it harder to spot the logo, since seashells are generally more colorful than coconuts, but also makes it harder to just stumble across accidentally. All things considered, I prefer the coconut.

Tree mail brings us our promised “rock drawing twist”, and it’s here that we find out that we, the audience, have been played once again. Most people, including myself, suspected a “Two tribes become three” twist like on “Survivor Cambodia”, but it was not to be. Instead, four members of each tribe are randomly selected by rock draw to go on a picnic together, to gather information. I have to say, in some senses I’m relieved by them not going the same route as on “Survivor Cambodia”. Don’t get me wrong, the further dividing of the tribes was a great twist that I’d like to see again, but on a season explicitly titled a “versus” season, I feel like it’s too soon. If you want to draw attention to the divide between two groups, to the point of making it the theme of your season, then you need to keep those groups consistent, at least for more than two episodes. Plus, it’s always fun to see how good people are at holding their cards close to the chest in cases like these

If I WERE to have a complaint, it would be the rock drawing method in and of itself. The twist of having people from opposite tribes meet up and pair off is still a good one that we haven’t seen in a while, but given the option, I always like to have choice in these matters. Seeing how the tribe picks who will go can give great insight into strategy, or, at a minimum, lead to hilarious moments. Recall Coby Archa’s “Should it be Gregg or should it be Ian?” confessional on “Survivor Palau”. A comedic highlight of the season that would not have been there had the tribe just drawn a rock to see who would get singled out. I rest my case.

Will, Taylor, Figgy, and Jay all end up going for Vanua, making things there kind of bland. After all, no one from the minority got to go, so the strategic possibilities are limited. Takali is a bit more interesting, with underdogs CeCe and David going alongside Chris and Paul. Despite this divide, though, I have to give the strategic edge in this twist to Takali. Pretty much everyone there plays things as they should. Ok, maybe not Paul, but given who he is, I think it’s the best he could do. Chris gives us our traditional “play things close to the chest” confessional, which for someone like him who’s currently in the power position, is a smart move. Paul, despite making kind of an ass of himself, does actually do something of a service to his tribe by making a spectacle of himself. If people are watching his crazy antics, and so long as he doesn’t give anything away about divides on his tribe, it distracts people from talking strategy. It’s like a magic trick: you want to draw the audience’s eye away from what’s really happening. Even CeCe and David, the only people who explicitly give away alliance secrets, do their job well. They make some alliances on the other side (a necessity for the pair, since they’re on the bottom), but don’t do it in such a way that it tips off the rest of their tribe. All this is not to say that Vanua has a bad performance, but it’s very inactive. The one bit of talk we DO see from them is them revealing Mari’s exit after a single question. Not that this is dynamite information (after all, they’ll see Mari left at the next immunity challenge), but I feel like it’s opening the door to further, more probing questions. Not a good way to be in a situation like this.

It’s when we head back to our respective camps that we REALLY get to see the “old school/new school” divide on this season. Ken in confessional has been the most open critic of Paul, mostly for his failure to deliver on fish, an argument made stronger by the fact that Ken actually DOES catch fish. We also see him criticize Paul in front of Jessica, and attempt to get her to flip. Jessica talks about the possibility, and even brings it up to her fellow ladies in the majority, Sunday and Lucy (yes, they exist). However, they all agree that they’re in a good spot, and it does no good to piss off the majority just yet. This stuff is pretty textbook old school “Survivor”: challenge and survival performance are paramount factors in length of stay, and once you’ve got an alliance going, you don’t deviate from it.

Conversely, our simple scene back at Vanua ends up being textbook new school “Survivor”. After a bit of the “Triforce” plus Will hanging out, Taylor declares them to be an effectively invincible powerhouse. ACK! HUBRIS! We see, though, that Adam the diplomat can come out. Taking advantage of time alone with Michaela and Hannah, he outlines why it’s dangerous to keep the “Triforce” around, in a very logical manner. All talk, and all strategy. Again, textbook new school “Survivor”. We never hear Hannah’s thoughts on the matter, but given that she wanted to talk strategy the night before, and Adam isn’t yelling at her, we can presume that it goes over ok. Michaela effectively continues her “As long as it ain’t me.” campaign, listening and taking what Adam says to heart, but not committing to anything just yet. She wants to see where the situation lies for her, and notes that in the end, she’ll “Follow her gut.” Ah Michaela, when will you learn? From Lex Van Den Berghe’s eternally wrong gut on “Survivor Africa” to Darnell Hamilton’s gastrointestinally-inclined gut on “Survivor Kaoh Rong”, following your gut on “Survivor” is almost NEVER a good idea!

Anyways, it’s Challenge Time! We’ve had a great challenge and an awful challenge so far this season, so it’s only fitting that we average out to an average challenge this episode. One at a time, five tribe members will haul sacks containing coconuts and sandbags across a tricky balance beam. Once all the sacks and tribe members are across, two other members sort the sandbags from the coconuts, leaving two more tribe members to toss said sandbags at a finished, standing block puzzle. Once the puzzle is knocked down, two other tribe members reassemble it, with the first puzzle finished winning immunity as well as some chairs and other comfort items. This is pretty much a rehashed challenge. It’s tough to say where heavy bags and balance beams come from, since both have pretty much been “Survivor” staples since “Survivor Borneo”. The puzzle knocking down, though, comes explicitly from “Survivor Cagayan”, and I’m happy to see it back. It’s a nice twist on the puzzle concept, where instead of just solving a puzzle, you effectively have to take it apart and put it back together again. Where the challenge falls down for me is in comparison to it’s counterpart on “Survivor Cagayan”. Originally, you were racing to knock down another tribe’s puzzle, and the challenge stopped when one puzzle was completely gone. Therefore, there was an element of balance between strength and smarts. You might not be the best at puzzles, but if you could knock things down quicker, you wouldn’t have to worry as much about the puzzle. In comparison, knocking down your own puzzle seems like a weak change.

Oh, and there’s also a special rule on the balance beam. Someone who’s already made it across can go back and take a bag for someone else. The only stipulation is that bag or no, everyone at the start of the challenge must make their way across the balance beam, meaning for this rule to be useful, someone either has to be really good at the balance beam, or someone has to really suck.

In fact, we get both. We’ve once again got a relatively back-and-forth challenge where either tribe could lose (both had sufficient strategizing that I could see it going either way), but where Takali falls apart is CeCe. She’s incredibly slow at the balance beam, but insists on going the entire way. Conversely, it turns out that Taylor on Vanua is reminiscent of Ozzy Lusth (“Survivor Cook Islands”) in more than just looks, as he pretty much carries every bag across himself. This turns the tide in the end, as Vanua comes back to win it all. This leads to Chris getting mad at CeCe, and declaring her the next to go, which naturally means CeCe is safe for tonight.

At first, though, there’s no obvious path of escape for her. As I said, Takali tends towards old school gameplay, where you stick with your alliance no matter what. A combination of CeCe being eternally left out of the loop (girl, you need to be PROACTIVE about these things if you want information), and Jessica’s reaffirmation that she doesn’t want to piss off Chris and Bret tells us that she is legitimately in trouble.

Then, however, Paul makes a mistake, as he is want to do. Jessica was already a bit on edge about the power of the guys, or at least the losing of another woman. She was cool to stick with her original allies, but Paul then makes a comment about being willing to throw the ladies under the bus should a guys alliance form. This leads Jessica, Sunday, and Lucy to reconsider their position before Tribal Council, giving us a solid narrative for Paul’s inevitable exit.

Probst made a comment before the season began about how he preferred the millennials at Tribal Council, and after two Tribal Councils with Takali, it’s easy to see why: THEY’RE BORING! Is this hyperbole for comedic effect on the internet? Yes, but the fact remains that even a blindside can’t make a Takali Tribal Council as exciting as a Vanua one. For some reason, Vanua just gives more creative answers and better sound-bytes than Takali does. Not that Takali answers things POORLY from a strategy perspective, not at all. But from an entertainment perspective, they lack. There was a funny moment of levity in the debate of “U” versus “you” in texting, but even that came off as annoying, cliched, and pointless, much like the theme of this season.

There was, however, one really good moment, highlighting a member of Takali I’ve only briefly touched on: Sunday. You might remember her as “Lady who gave generic ‘Gen-X’ confessionals in a Minnesotan twang.” This time, however, she actually has something to say. With the subject of her young children brought up, she points out how they’ll try a bunch of different ways of reaching their end goal, while her tribe seems caught up in doing things “the right way”. As I’ve said before, it’s the person with the most flexibility who embodies the best of both tribes, who will most likely win this season. I hadn’t really considered Sunday a threat before this Tribal Council, but this shows self-knowledge and flexibility, both very good qualities in this game. You go, girl! Kick that butt!

In the end, though, the inevitable happens, and Paul must leave us. His time was short and somewhat annoying, but entertaining and not overly annoying. I’m not sorry to see him go, but I’m glad he was at least on the show briefly. As to whether his ouster was a smart move: I’m stumped. Really, I don’t think there was a wrong move for Jessica, Sunday, and Lucy in this position. If they booted Paul, as they did, they keep themselves in power and keep the women at even numbers with the men to prevent a gender alliance, but piss off Chris and Bret, and theoretically end up 3 against three versus Ken, David, and CeCe. Keeping Paul, on the other hand, makes the threat of a men’s alliance greater, and theoretically limits your options. Either choice could work out for them in the end, so it’s hard to say one’s better than the other. If you hold me down and force me to choose, though, I’d say that getting rid of CeCe would have been the better choice. I think the chances of David and Ken joining a men’s alliance are minimal, so you could pull them in next vote and be up on them 3-2 in the alliance, and you piss off fewer people. Still, I’m not going to chastise them for the move. It’s logical, and perhaps a men’s alliance was more likely than we’ve seen.

All in all, we’ve just got another ok episode. It wasn’t very surprising, but if you’re going to do an obvious boot episode, this is how to do it: set up early and clearly WHY this person will go, and give us strategy for future episodes to help keep things moving. Just kind of a ho-hum decent episode we get through before the REALLY good stuff comes.

-Matt

Title Credit to Jean Storrs.

Idol Speculation: “Survivor MGX” Episode 2: Long-Lost Sibling

I’m normally not one to advocate for the “First Two Episodes Crammed in a Two-Hour Block” format for starting “Survivor”. With some exceptions, neither episode really feels like it has a chance to stand on its own, the impact of the first vote is lessened, and it rarely does either half justice. For once, though, I think “Survivor” did itself a disservice by not following this format. Nearly all my criticisms of the previous episode disappear in the events of this episode. Not seeing the inner workings of the Takali alliances? Not a problem anymore. Not getting much from the Vanua tribe in terms of strategy? Out the window! Having to hear annoying confessionals about what it means to be a “Millennial” or a “Gen-X’er”?… Well, two out of three still isn’t bad.

What made this episode better? For once it doesn’t start at the beginning, though we do get a bit more insight into the pecking order of Takali. We knew that David, Ken, and CeCe (plus the now-evicted Rachel) were on the outs, but apart from David and Rachel, we didn’t know why. Chris is kind enough to inform us that CeCe is a bit aloof, helping to alleviate some of the confusion, and Ken’s info will come later. For now, be content that it comes at all. The tribe has trouble making fire, so David, in “Generic Gen-X Confessional Number 25”, talks about his “stick-to-it-iveness” and eventually makes fire. This earns him jack-diddley-squat from his tribemates, so David is forced to take other measures, namely continuing to look for an idol. Say what you will about David, but the man is aware of his mistakes and works to correct them. Except with sticks. He’s still trying to break the damn sticks.

No, what I mean is that David is both aware that he’s still on the bottom, and that blatant idol hunting helped get him there. So, David switches to the smarter strategy of combining idol hunting with chores. He sets off to fetch rocks (flashbacks to “Shane’s Thinking Seat” from “Survivor Exile Island” spring to mind), and uses that time to check likely looking trees for idols. This time, however, the idol is not IN the trees, but OF the trees. During his search, we zoom in on what appears to be a coconut with a face painted on it (my tv is kind of small, so it might have been a tribe symbol). This does not, in fact, mean that Yau-Man Chan (“Survivor Fiji”) has re-entered the game, found an idol, and hidden a fake one, but that the idol is in said coconut. I actually really like this change. It’s a different hiding place from what we usually see, and it throws people off of their game by not being what they’re looking for. Plus, I like the idea of someone not noticing the symbol, bringing it back to camp, and then breaking open what they think is a meal only for it to be an idol instead.

The dodo music actually does a good job of convincing us that David is going to miss the idol literally in front of his nose, but the man ultimately finds it, and scampers off before Chris can show up to give him another lecture on manhood. David eventually cracks the coconut, and reads just enough of the rules of the idol to verify that it is legitimate. Watch this be a season where the idol rules have changed, and David gets screwed by not reading them. We get our usual triumphant music, gloating confessional from David, and head to our abbreviated introduction and commercial.

Actually, I will say that if the abbreviated introduction HAS to be a thing, I like how they did it here. Bleeding in the music at a triumphant moment is different, yet somehow appropriate.

We head over to the action at Vanua, and I do mean “Action” in this case. Yes, what started out as simple flirtation between Taylor and Figgy has now devolved into full-blown romance. And yes, it IS just as cliched and teeth-gratingly annoying as the OTHER “Survivor” romances. Figgy in particular loses points with me in this scene. She’d earlier claimed that she was playing the flirt card intentionally, which I could have a least a modicum of respect for, but her heart is sapping away all of her brain cells, and it doesn’t look good on her. To her credit, though, I have to agree that those baby blues on Taylor would be hard to resist.

Naturally, an obvious coupling like this leads to the standard “Couples never last/couples are a threat” confessionals from a number of people, and while they’re standard, I can’t deny that there’s truth in what they say, at least in regards to the second half of said confessionals. Couples are a threat. It’s a tight alliance that puts logic in the backseat, always a danger in a strategy game. Plus, there’s been a number of tight pairs that have run the game all the way. Cochran and Dawn on “Survivor Caramoan” come to mind, and if you want to get REALLY recent, you could even argue that Aubry and Tai on “Survivor Kaoh Rong” could qualify. And, if we’re only talking romantic couples, remember Boston Rob and Amber running “Survivor All-Stars” virtually unopposed. Hell, they even disprove the first half of that confessional, since they are still married to this day.

In a nice twist, though, some of the couples criticism comes from inside the alliance, with Jay noting the points listed above. At first, I’m tempted to be charitable with Jay and say that it’s all strategic thinking with him, but then his rant about couples devolves into some sort of story about men with boyfriends bailing on your bowling night, and it becomes clear that Jay has a few “issues” in this area. He tries to talk Taylor out of the coupling, but Taylor assures Jay that he’s “Got it covered.” most likely meaning that Taylor does not, in fact, have it covered.

Back at Takali, we now get the promised explanation for why Ken was left out of the alliance. It seems that the guy is a bit of a loner, which we probably should have expected from him given the whole “lived five years alone in the jungle” thing. Point being, he’s not that good socially, and while he doesn’t make a fool of himself like David, the pair do bond over their shared awkwardness, though in different ways. Thus, when David tries to use his idol to form an anti-Paul coalition, Ken is the first one he turns to. Ken is right on board with this, and I have to give credit, it’s a good use of idol. I’m normally one to advocate for the Kelley Wentworth (“Survivor San Juan del Sur”) style of idol play, but in David’s case, the guy needs all the help he can get. He’s clearly the next target, and unless you can find that idol every single time, you’re going to need to form an alliance. If an idol will help you do that, then by all means, spread the news. The pair agree to draw in CeCe and target Paul. The CeCe thing makes a lot of sense, but in terms of gunning for Paul, I feel like it’s a poor choice, at least from a “biggest threat” standpoint. This is sort of like Malcolm and the Three Amigo’s targeting Phillip Sheppard (“Survivor Redemption Island”) with their “Three Idol Play” on “Survivor Caramoan”. Yes, he’s annoying, and OSTENSIBLY he’s the head of the alliance, but in actuality, there’s a power behind the throne. Paul, though nowhere NEAR as annoying as Phillip, is in this category. If we’re talking in terms of what move can REALISTICALLY be pulled off, though, it makes a lot more sense. David, Ken, and CeCe make a threesome, so you need to pull in two more people. Chris and Bret have been averse to strategy talk thus far, but subtly done, I think they could be swayed. Have Ken (who seems to be in their best graces, and his style of patter doesn’t obviously scream “strategizing”), put it in their heads that Paul’s grabbing a lot of power that he doesn’t deserve. Chris and Bret seem like the power behind the throne, so they’d probably take umbrage at that and swing to vote off Paul. Then, use the irritation that Sunday, Lucy, and Jessica feel at the betrayal to swing the game on Chris and Bret. BAM! Power.

Also, Ken catches an octopus and names it “Octopus Prime”. Let it never be said that Takali has no sense of humor.

For a little variety, we head back to Vanua, to find that Hannah, so often compared to our beloved Aubry, is really pulling more of a circa “Survivor South Pacific” Cochran here, as she struggles to open a coconut. Mari takes this time to give us one of the LEAST forced confessionals about being a Millennial thus far, pointing out how REAL the game is outside of a screen. Mind you, it’s still forced, but it’s better than what we’ve been getting, and makes a bit more sense. But enough of that, back to the romance stuff! Taylor and Zeke forcefully tie the romance into being a millennial (of course they do), and we head over to midnight make-out session. Now, unlike most of the “Survivor” fan community, I’m not a huge fan of Cirie (“Survivor Exile Island”). She’s grown on me more as time’s gone by, but even after the dying down of my Terry-fanboying allowed me to look at her more objectively, I still don’t like her condescending attitude, and sense of entitlement when she’s in power. This episode, however, I wish she was back on the show, if only so that we could have a confessional about the imminent arrival of “Figlets”. Instead, we have to settle for the comedic stylings of Michaela, who limits her snark to saying that their kissing is “gross”. Sorry, Will, but your record has been usurped. Clearly we’ve got ourselves a first-grader on “Survivor”. Somehow.

Actually, to be totally honest, I get where Michaela is coming from. After five days of not showering or brushing one’s teeth, people would be pretty gross. I just couldn’t resist the cheap shot.

Next morning. Michaela makes sure to spread the news of the make-out session the night before, just in case people couldn’t hear the loud vacuuming sounds from one end of the shelter. She stops just short of singing “Taylor and Figgy/sitting in a tree!/K-I-S-S-I-N-G!”, instead limiting her remarks to a cheap joke about not wanting to hit Michelle in the head with the machete. Again, jokes aside, I do get the spreading of the kissing thing. Couples, even non-romantic ones, are dangerous on “Survivor”, and the more people know about their existence, the less dangerous they are. Figgy gets really worked up over this for some reason, and I get the feeling that’s going to come back to bite her.

Heading over to Takali, to reassure us that the talk about Paul being annoying was more than just talk, we get a brief scene of Paul barking orders at his tribe. Again, we’re nowhere NEAR Phillip Sheppard levels yet, but the potential is there. Ken talks to CeCe, trying to get her on board the Anti-Paul train, which she agrees to with no comment. Not much to talk about, but given David’s persuasive skills thus far, probably good to let Ken do the talking. Now, however, it’s time for our advertised medical emergency. Sure enough, given the “heart attack” talk we heard earlier, it’s the most obviously overweight and old guy who ends up getting the blow. His tribe does everything they can for him, forcing the producers to call an audible and get Dr. Joe, the chopper, and even Probst in on the action. After a commercial break of concern, though, we find that Paul has just a bit of heat exhaustion, and will probably be fine with some water in him, kindly supplied by his tribe. Ok, they did a good job here of hiding the fact that Paul would be ok. The lack of advertising of a medevac pre-season, coupled with our seeing a challenge that hasn’t happened yet, should really have let on that he would be ok. But I, at least, was fooled. Good job.

I have to admit, there was ONE thing the first episode did better than this one: the challenge. We’ve got a combo-rehash for our challenge today. Basically, one at a time, five tribe members swim out to a platform, where they must jump off and grab a key. Once all five keys are obtained, tribe members can open a box containing a mask, which they can use to help dive down to untie five rings to toss. Once all the rings are obtained, one tribe member must toss them each on a separate pole, with the first one to get all their rings on wins immunity. This one is pretty much pure “Survivor Cook Islands”, though the ring toss comes courtesy of “Survivor Caramoan”. About the only positive it has is the current. It’s hard to judge the strength of a current in the ocean by watching it on tv, but for the most part, the currents seen on “Survivor” look pretty mild, at least in terms of shaking the platforms. This time, though, there’s no doubt that these are ROUGH ones. Usually the platforms in the water are akin to solid ground. This time they’re akin to ground in an earthquake.

This challenge doesn’t even have mystery about the outcome going for it. True, we do get some good back and forth, but let’s think for a minute: which tribe has had more strategy talk overall, and which has been more complex? The answer to both is obviously Takali, naturally meaning that they’ll be headed back to Tribal Council. Yep, there’s Jeff Probst handing off the idol to… Takali.

Ok, I’ll admit that they got me again (won’t be the last time that happens this episode), but unlike other times where I enjoy getting the wool pulled over my eyes, this one feels a bit like a betrayal. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a great surprise, and I like it overall. But with all that buildup at Takali, and comparatively little at Vanua, the victory feels like we were cheated out of what we were promised. Granted, what we see shortly at Vanua will help make up for that, but it’s frustrating to say the least.

Back at Vanua, we rehash the Figgy targeting, though it does give us a clearer idea of the alliance. We had the idea that Mari and Hannah were kind of leading the charge, and when we see that pair, Zeke, and Adam coming together to make the call, it’s clear who the power is with. We see them bring in Michaela and Will, presumably as numbers five and six, though they do a good job of not indicating that the pair are five and six, and all seems locked. Even Jay, who doesn’t want to vote out Figgy, since it would ruin his game, is despairing. Fortunately for him, his alliance has at least ONE competent person in its ranks, and that person is Michelle.

Yes, pretty much out of NOWHERE, Michelle is suddenly this powerhouse strategist. I’m ECSTATIC at this turn of events. This could have been another “Bro Down” situation, like I discussed last time, but some of the players in this minority alliance actually seem competent. Michelle (with help from Jay, admittedly, but it’s primarily her move), starts to get things moving and shaking. She correctly targets Will and Michaela as the swing votes, and tries to get them against Mari, correctly seeing her as the power in the alliance. Both, however, have their struggles. Will is uncertain that a move against Mari is a good idea at this point, and I have to agree with him. While Mari is DEFINITELY a threat overall, couples are a threat also. With someone like Mari, you can lull her into a false sense of security and get her out later. Plus, you can guarantee she’ll play logically. I cannot stress ENOUGH how, if you’re playing a strategic game, you want to keep in the most logical players possible. You can predict what a logical player will do, with at least reasonable accuracy. When strong emotions like love enter the fray, all bets are off. Again, definitely keep an eye on Mari, but she can be taken out later. Break up that couple while you have the number to do so. Michaela presents a different challenge. she’s more open to strategizing (so far, she seems to be following the Sandra Diaz-Twine doctrine of “As long as it isn’t me.”), but that spat between her and Figgy is causing problems. Jay comes in to mediate, and to help things along, fabricates a semi-plausible lie about Mari telling him that Michaela was next after getting rid of Figgy, due to being an “easy vote”. Michaela doesn’t bite right away, but does consider the possibility, which at this phase of the game is the correct reaction.

Tribal Council is much improved, with a lot more fun moments worth commenting on. Probst mentioned this in pre-game interviews, and for once it wasn’t exaggeration. There really WAS a marked difference between the attitudes of the two teams. Takali, while having superfans of its own, didn’t seem as interested in the strategic part of the game, and came in somber and serious. Vanua, meanwhile, is pretty much EXCLUSIVELY superfans, and has a fun, bright atmosphere. As we’ll see, that atmosphere hides a dark and twisted underbelly, but the atmosphere is there nonetheless. And you know what else this scene does? It highlights the generation gap WITHOUT BEING IN YOUR FACE ABOUT IT! Take note, future episodes. There’s evidence here that the twist can be done right, WITHOUT needing to shove it down our throats. If you want me to stop being so harsh on this twist, follow this pattern.

Our real story, though, comes at the other end of Tribal Council. The seating arrangement Gods have aligned, and Hannah is now at the far end, with Jay behind her and Michelle on her right. For the “Triforce Alliance” (as the Bros wish to be called), this could not be a better spot. Due to Michaela and Will being wishy-washy on their votes, you need to swing someone else. With this seating arrangement, you isolate another swing vote, and get your two strongest advocates whispering in her ear. For once, Probst doesn’t feel the need to narrate this conversation, distracted by Adam and Zeke’s fanboying. While I’m nicer about Probst needing to narrate things than other fans (it leads to some hilarity, and in a lot of cases I feel actually ADDS to the experience), it did make an interesting change of pace, and again highlighted the strategic thinking of Michelle and Jay. The pair’s argument? Not so much. They clue Hannah into the fact that they’re voting Mari, and that’s fair enough. The trouble, however, is that Hannah wants some REASONING behind why to vote for Mari. A fair question. So, what half-cocked lie can Michelle and Jay come up with to get Hannah to make a move that is blatantly against her own self-interest?

“We’ll tell you later.”

Not even some half-baked story to try and justify your lobbying. Spoiling what will happen in a few minutes, I’m AMAZED this worked.

Probst finally catches on that there’s a conversation going on without his input, and we talk about that for a bit before we head to the vote. Right beforehand, though, Mari makes a comment that, while seemingly fluff, I think is important to the result of this episode. I’ll explain the importance later, but the substance of what she says is that Hannah was “Probably talking about puppies or something.”

Even our voting provides some funny moments, with Hannah putting in an early bid for the “Eliza Orlins Agonized Vote Award”, hemming and hawing over what to do to such lengths that even Probst feels the need to look in on it. Also, while I still maintain that Hannah overall is more like Cochran 1.0 than like Aubry, given Aubry’s crossed-out vote debacle, I have to say that I see the similarities there. Still, I maintain that the Cochran comparison is the better one. While Aubry often projected being overwhelmed and somewhat confused, she wasn’t taken for a fool easily. I feel like that was more Cochran’s early schtick: being in over his head and not really knowing where to go. That is what I see from Hannah here.

In the end, though, despite what logic would say (but as the editing indicated), Mari is sent packing, and by a good margin. Only Zeke and Adam stayed true to her, meaning that of the original dominant six (Zeke, Adam, Will, Hannah, Mari, and Michaela), only Zeke and Adam voted in their own self-interest. Again, Mari is definitely a threat for down the road, but that threesome, and by extension the coupling, really needs to be broken up first.

Now, Mari ALMOST falls into the category of “unearned exit” as we really didn’t get anything to indicate her leaving, or any reason for it, until after the immunity challenge. However, what evidence we DID get, and what strategizing we saw, is enough to save this one. So, if Figgy was obviously the better move (something most swing votes ACKNOWLEDGED this episode), what got Mari? Partly is was the salesmanship of Michelle and Jay (on an argument that weak, salesmanship is about the ONLY thing that can pull it through), but I get the feeling that Mari wasn’t as nice as she was made out to be. She was built up a lot early on as exemplifying the “Millennial Ideal”, and was a good narrator, which is probably why we missed out on some of her harsher moments, but that last comment at Tribal Council struck a nerve with me. It came across as very condescending, and if Mari acted like that more than once, and Figgy was quiet apart from the snogging, I think people might have been disposed to go after Mari. Is what we got sufficient to justify her exit? Yes, but a little bit more justification would have been nice. Again, going back to the “Combine this and Episode 1” argument I made in the beginning, you could have cut out some of the fluff in the first episode and given us time to see why Mari might NOT be as well liked as was indicated.

But, c’est la vie. For what we got, it was interesting strategy that made for a great and unpredictable episode. I’m truly sorry to see Mari go, as she did bring a lot to the table, but I think I feel about this like other people felt about the exit of Anna Khait on “Survivor Kaoh Rong”: Yeah, she had potential, but for the strategy of her exit, and what she ACTUALLY brought, we’ll let it slide.

I will say again: this episode was GREAT! Not without its flaws, but we ended up getting a clearer picture of both sides of the show, some good surprises, and even a non-annoying “What it means to be this generation” moment. Had these two episodes been combined, things probably would have been fine. But let us hope this is merely an indicator of things to come.

Also, Gen X winning is probably making Carl Bilancione (“Survivor Africa”) toss in his sleep.

-Matt

Title Credit to Jean Storrs.