And I’m finally back after a hiatus of two episodes. That was too long, wasn’t it? Sorry about that, two weeks ago, I was just too busy, last week, I was traveling to Kyoto for a few days (I could see the episode, just not blog).
Time to get back on track. And what an episode to do it, right?
It’s actually something that fascinates me this season. It’s full of big moves, but I’d say that most of them are pretty bad moves actually. Yet, they keep on making this season very entertaining, fascinating and even good. This tribal council kinda was the epitome of that. How many bonehead moves in it? three? four? I’m not sure. Yet, the result was one of the craziest tribal councils ever. Usually when people make terrible moves, it infuriates me, but this season, for some reason, I love it. Maybe because it makes the season unpredictable and interesting. Also because most of the cast is quite interesting and is playing to win, not just be on TV.
So, let’s analyze our players.
Sollarion
– Jefra Bland: Meh…
– Jeremiah Wood: After painting a big target on his back for betraying Brice while still not being solid with LJ, Jefra and Alexis, Jeremiah did a good job finding a stable position in his new alliance. He even managed to mend his issues with Morgan. Props to him for that. However, I don’t see a real strategy in his game beyond trying to float more or less under the radar to the end.
– Kass McQuillen: What happened?! This was a seriously stupid move to flip. She had a final three spot pretty much assured. Now, she has a sixth place… Maybe… It’s one thing to flip because you’re at the bottom of your alliance, but it’s another one to do it when you have nothing to gain and much (including a million bucks) to lose. I just don’t understand her decision. I guess she had become pretty paranoid with the situation. First, why was she getting so upset with Sarah. Don’t get me wrong, Sarah would totally have angered me had I been there, but I would have kept that anger to myself and it wouldn’t have influenced my vote, at least not to the point of betraying my alliance. Seeing Kass’ reaction to Tasha’s attempts to find a common ground for Kass and Sarah, I have only one explanation: She has become quite paranoid and she can’t see the big picture anymore. Honestly, Tasha was doing an amazing “diplomat” job there. How come Kass deduced Tasha was taking Sarah’s side there?
Now as Spencer said she has no chance to win. Even if she makes it to the end, she’ll have 5 people who are pissed at her in a jury of 8… Very lame indeed.
– Latasha “Tasha” Fox: Not much about Tasha, which doesn’t look good concerning her prospects to win. Apart from that, she really seems to be the voice of reason in her group, but will that be enough right now? No.
– LJ McKanas: And the other stupid move of the day is brought to you by LJ. If you’re going to play your idol at that moment, don’t play it on the guy who you’re pretty sure is not going to get votes. Play it on one of the girls, but honestly, the best thing to do at that moment, is to keep it in your pocket. I see what he was trying to do there. Show Tony that he was deserving of receiving Tony’s idol, that he could be trusted and that both guys could go together to the end. I get that. But is throwing away an idol the right move there? Hell no. First you keep your idol. Then, if you really really want to get that bond with Tony, you take him aside the following day, show him your idol and tell him that it’s their idol for both of them. But really, when you have an idol, you just keep it, shut your mouth and play it to save yourself.
– Morgan McLeod: Not much about her today. Before the vote, I was starting to suspect that she could be a dark horse final three member, but now, I doubt it.
– Sarah Lacina: And another stupid move today was Sarah’s.If you’re going to flip (or if you want a tribe to think you’re going to flip) tell them clearly and explicitly as early as possible. Just don’t be wishy washy about it. Sarah has learned it the hard way I guess. Honestly, I think she should have split, she was indeed at the bottom of her alliance. She had power for one vote and one vote only, after that she was expandable. On the other hand, if she had flipped to Tony, she’d be a good person to bring far, even possibly be a goat if the tribe she had betrayed was mad enough at her.
– Spencer Bledsoe: He really is the brain of this game. The guy makes the most sense, completely understands what’s going on, and makes or calls for the right moves every time. If only his tribesmates made a little more sense.
– Tony Vlachos: I really love the guy. He really is all over the place and I never saw anyone making so many moves so quickly. What’s funny of course is that one genius move is usually followed by one dumb move. Tribal council this week was the perfect example. The best move would have been to just play his idol and say nothing. But “say nothing” is something Tony can’t do. So he had to say that he had an idol and that he was going to play it. Well, it worked before (hi Malcolm), but then we’re you’re taunted by the other tribe (by Spencer, challenging him to show it), why can’t you resist the urge to show it? Oh, I know why, because you’re Tony. Then, once you’ve shown it, yes, giving it to the obvious other target was a great move indeed.
– Trish Hegarty: To quote a past Survivor contestant, “she annoys me greatly.” Still, I need to give her some credit. While she was at the bottom and the obvious first boot of her original tribe, she managed to take over and oust Cliff. This week, she managed to convince Kass to flip. So, yes, while she annoys me greatly, I gotta give credit where credit is du.
– Yung “Woo” Hwang: Not much about him this week, and I’m afraid he’ll be like that pretty much until the end.
Just a few words about the early departed that I missed:
– Alexis Maxwell: It made total sense to vote her out, she totally would have flipped.
– Cliff Robinson: I’m not totally sure how he ended up voted out. People online mentioned as he was excluding Trish and Tony too much. Probably, but Woo was blamed for that at all. Maybe, while Woo was allied with Cliff, he was still close to the members of his tribe not in his alliance.
– Lindsey Ogle: I wonder what happened exactly with her. Seeing her very invisible edit, I’m surprised a bit that she quit, but usually Jeff Probst has no nice words for quitters. In her case, he seemed to respect her choice, both when it happened, and recently in interviews. What are we missing from the biggeer picture?
Next time on Survivor:
Shit is about to get real at camp. Are Spencer, Tasha, Jeremiah and Morgan toasted? I hope not. Will someone find the super powered idol? Will the normal idols be put back into the game now that this idol as come into play?
Next to go:
Hard to tell, althought Spencer could be in trouble as Kass could out him as the ringleader of the alliance.
Winner prediction:
Wow, at this point I have no idea. Tasha and Kass chances seem very low at the moment. I still have hopes for Spencer. Tony is getting a very positive edit despite his blunders, so could he be the surprise winner?
You want to read more about this week’s episode:
- 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.
- more to come…