OK, I don’t have much to say about the episode in general, except for the typhoon part: wow… and I assume it won’t be the last, if I remember correctly several typhoons went over the area during the filming period – which made me realize that Cagayan is the closest I’ve lived from a Survivor location before – unless it’s Guatemala as I lived in Florida a the time?
So let’s get into details and players right away.
Aparri (Brawns)
– Cliff Robinson: Not much about Cliff this week. That’s the problem when a tribe is dominant in challenges early on, we barely see some of its members.
– Lindsey Ogle: Same goes for Lindsey.
– Sarah Lacina: Mmm… Last week I had pinned her down as the best player of the first episode, but the way Tony is playing her is quite concerning. Sure you’re a cop, he’s a cop, blue blood handshake, trust your life in his hands and such… in the real world… Not in Survivor! While it’s true that Sarah has no reason to mistrust Tony at this point, she also should be a bit more cautious, especially of someone you caught lying to you for no reason whatsoever.
– Tony Vlachos: He’s definitely this season’s character. Honestly, I don’t know how he really is in the real world, but he fits the idea I have of a New Jersey cop: funny character, but sketchy and not to be trusted (now after having said that I’d better never get into trouble with the law in New Jersey… It’s OK, chances that I ever return to New Jersey are pretty slim – except if I travel to New York and land in Newark that is). So yeah, so far Tony is this season’s lovely villain, he may be able to do some damage in his tribe (like pitting Sarah against Cliff and Lindsey), but while it may help him on the short term – he’s clearly on the outs withing his tribe right now, at least he thinks he is (is he really? Would they be on a losing streak, I assume that Trish and Lindsey would be out before him) – that will most likely bite him in the ass on the long term. In other words, I believe he can make it to the merge, getting rid of people like Cliff along the way, but after the merge, I don’t think he can long acting the way he does (unless he becomes the perfect goat because nobody trusts him nor likes him on the long run).
– Trish Hegarty: I don’t really have anything to say about Trish today.
– Yung “Woo” Hwang: While nowadays Survivor doesn’t show much of the survival part anymore, sometimes it’s inevitable, like when a typhoon hits the area. One interesting thing about that is that it shows us some of the contestants real character. Last week we had Garrett “not having fun and not wanting to survive” because he had spent a few days outside (most likely for the first time in his life). This week we saw Woo having a blast in the storm and in the rain. As usually the first days are the hardest, that says a lot of Woo’s character. This guy seems to have a positive no matter what. Now I want to see more of him as a player. Does he have a strategy? Does he have an alliance with Cliff (and Lindsey?) Or is he just having fun. In any case, I’m keeping an eye on him, if the big characters all go out early, he could be an under-the-radar winner.
Luzon (Brains)
– J’Tia Taylor: I was barely getting over the rice thing, when she had to rub it into our face again by asking for more food… I couldn’t believe what I heard. How did she survive two votes? I juts don’t get it. Or and did I mention that Brains almost lost again because of her uselessness in the challenge? Actually I’m pretty confused about J’Tia’s position in the challenge. A pretty pivotal one. Why wasn’t she the one who collects the water, seems like the easiest one to me. Maybe she got a few minutes for practice and she couldn’t throw a bucket? That’s my only explanation.
– Kass McQuillen: Not much about Kass right now, except for the fact that she’s in the safest position in the tribe right now. If Tasha wants to get rid of Spencer she needs Kass, but if Spencer wants to survive, he needs Kass. So right now, all she has to do is sit tight, be friendly and don’t make any mistakes like she did on Day 3 when she told J’Tia she was being voted out.
– Latasha “Tasha” Fox: I want to like Tasha, but I don’t know… Last week she rubbed me the wrong way with complaining to Garrett about not being able to strategize… You want to strategize? You just strategize, not need to ask permission to a clown like Garrett. This week, why is she telling Spencer that he’s basically next to go? That’s silly. And why want to keep J’Tia? I understand that J’Tia is the perfect goat right now, but please people stop playing like it’s the final seven when it’s only day 7. Did you see how much good that did to David?
– Spencer Bledsoe: So far, he’s one of the good surprises of this season. I thought he was going to come out too strong and made terrible social mistakes from day one (basically I thought he was going to be David), but he’s played a solid game until now. His only problem is that he’s at the bottom of a very dysfunctional tribe. I think his only hope right now is that I suspect Kass would be more willing to keep him over J’Tia. However, if he survives long enough for a tribe reshuffling (which will most likely happen) he should be able to go far, alliance or no alliance.
Solana (Beauties)
They impressed me last week (because I had low expectations) not so much this week. Oh, not because they lost the challenge, rather because they behaved like I expected them to, both during the storm (what? the beauty queens didn’t do anything in terms of shelter building and such? what a surprise!) and in terms of strategy (of course the men were going to save the hot girls).
– Alexis Maxwell: Meh…
– Brice Johnston voted out: I’m bummed he got voted out so early. he had the potential to become both a great memorable character and possibly a great player too. Unfortunately there was nothing he could do once Jeremiah decided he liked the hot chick more than the skinny gay dude (because I’m pretty sure it came down to this). Too bad.
– Jefra Bland: Great last name indeed.
– Jeremiah Wood: While I’m sure Jeremiah voted against Brice for the reason mentioned earlier, I’m still debating whether it was a good move or a bad one for him. Sure you’d rather be in an alliance of four rather than an alliance of three (well that’s debatable too), but I feel that had he stuck with Brice and Morgan, they would have formed a much tighter and solid alliance. I don’t see how far the remaining foursome can go as is. Also, why did he tell Brice he was the target? He doesn’t make much sense to me, except that it shows that I’m not too sure if Jeremiah can play this game.
– LJ McKanas: I realized that last week I didn’t give my don’t-let-that-fool-you award (should I rename it by the way?) Let me remind you that last season I gave it to whatever player had a stronger impact on the episode. It can be good or bad. So, I retroactively give the episode 1 award to the whole Brain tribe for their amazing self-destruction (and if you really want me to give it to one player only, Garrett deserves it). This week, LJ is the winner for having the smarts to go look where Morgan was looking (and managing to find the idol she couldn’t find in the process), as well as taking control of the tribe. While I’m not sure what was best for Jeremiah, getting rid of Brice is definitely what was best for LJ. Now, with a idol and being in charge of his alliance (and pretty much of the tribe), I don’t see him going anywhere anytime soon.
– Morgan McLeod: Not much from her this episode. Last week, she seemed smarter than she looked (by the way, am I the only one on the internet that’s not drooling over her?), this week I was expecting some strategy from her, some scrambling, trying to bond with the girls, something… Nope… Didn’t happen (or it did and was edited out?).
Next time on Survivor:
Sarah, throwing a challenge is never a good thing. NEVER!
Next to go:
If Brains goes back to tribal, Spencer seems toast, but I reiterate what I’ve written last week: if it’s not J’Tia, I’ll lose faith in humankind.
If Brawns go, hard to tell really. Could be Cliff, could be Tony (I have the feeling that we see a lot of it because he won’t make it far).
If Beauties go, bye bye Morgan.
Winner prediction:
Some players are starting to stand out in terms of editing.
I’m not so sure about Tasha anymore, her portrayal is somewhat negative after all. Sarah still plays a prominent role in terms of story telling. Spencer has an interesting story that has started to be told; he’s the only one that didn’t do or say anything stupid in the Brains tribe and yet, he’s at the bottom right now. Could be a nice tale of overcoming adversity and all that. LJ is also the one that’s the most in control of the game right now.
So, yeah, Tasha, Sarah, LJ and Spencer. Advantage: Spencer.
More:
- Rob has a website, a podcast and an amazing know-it-alls analysis.
- Jeff Pitman’s True Dork Times is a must read every week.
- Stephen Fishbach’s blog too (now with illustrations by Erik Reichenbach)
- I usually don’t care recaps (why would I want to read a summary of what I just saw on TV?) but Dalton Ross‘s is much much more than just a recap.
- Andy Denhart at Reality Blurred.
- more to come…