So we’ve more or less hit mid-season and how many great episodes did we have? Jeff Probst, you are a liar again. After last season, I thought you had your mojo back, that Survivor would be great again, but no this season is as boring and predictable as seasons 22, 23 and 24. Sure it has its moments, but not enough to make a good season. And not scared of sounding like a broken record, but maybe you should rethink the way you cast and edit your show. These past few weeks, for the first time ever I’ve started wondering how long I’m going to continue watching the show. Yes, you read me right; I, who has never missed a single episode, I, who kept on watching the show religiously every week even after leaving the US, even breaking the law for that, I’ve been thinking about quitting watching the show. And you know what I think about quitters.
Honestly, I don’t understand why production is not course-correcting the show. It’s not like it’s not salvageable. The ratings are down, I don’t know one single true fan of the show who’s not pissed/annoyed/disappointed at the direction the show has been taking lately. Is Probst has delusional as Phillip? What’s wrong with him? I just don’t get it.
Ok, let’s try to see what we have to say about this episode, hoping I’ll write at least one or two interesting things (yes, I’m fully aware that the blog is not great these days, but with the content, we’re being provided, I’m not sure how to make it better – unless I change the focus, but sorry guys what I like about Survivor is the strategy, not the train wrecks and other camera whores).
Gota Tribe
– Andrea Boehlke: Nothing special about her this week.
– Brenda Lowe: Finally we saw her a little. She was hilarious during the reward challenge. However, still no confessional, still no conversation. Why is Brenda so invisible? We know she has an interesting personality and she can play the game pretty well, so why is she so invisible? It doesn’t make any sense to me. I read a rumor somewhere that she apparently gave out spoilers somewhere and that she’s paying the price for it. I don’t know. It sounds strange to me.
– Eddie Fox: No Eddie this week. It was kinda refreshing not hearing him say incredibly stupid things.
– Erik Reichenbach: What about Erik? Did he give out spoilers too? Or is it because he rejected Phillip during the first episode, and as apparently editing is in love with Phillip, it’s making Erik pay for this affront?
– Malcolm Freberg: He has decided to take control of his destiny by forming this young fit men alliance. The jury is still up in the air to decide whether it’s a good idea or not. Sure, he’s aware that he’s bottom five or six in his original alliance, but this new alliance… I don’t know… Sure I would ally myself with Erik, but Reynold and Eddie? Not sure, it’s a good idea. Sure they’re pretty gullible, but what strategic assets do they bring to the table. Also, despite the fact that they could do some serious damage with two hidden idols, using them too early is extremely dangerous, so they obviously need a fifth and even possibly a disposable sixth to go far. We’ll see. I think Malcolm should be wise to keep this alliance as a plan B but stick with his original alliance at first.
– Reynold Toepfer: I don’t know if it’s because he gets a lot of confessionals or what, but I’m always under the impression that Reynold – despite being a douchebag – is quite smart. But seriously? After being fooled twice about voting Shamar (and I won’t teach you the fool me once, fool me twice thing), now he’s so eager to make allies that he literally jumps into Malcolm’s arms, and he was this close to giving him his idol. Actually, if there is a goat to carry to the end this season, Reynold is a serious contender for that spot.
– Sherri Biethman: Nothing about Sherri this week, right?
Bikal Tribe
– Corinne Kaplan: Funny how I don’t hate Corinne this season. Probably because her venom is directed at Phillip who deserves it. However, I don’t understand why she didn’t try to have Phillip voted out this week. It was pretty simple: she pretends to go along with the split vote thing, so that means Michael gets two votes, Julia gets one (Corinne doesn’t vote for her). Then Corinne tells Michael and Julia to vote for Phillip. I see a few reasons why that didn’t happen: Corinne has yet to show any ability to play this game beyond staying loyal to her alliance until she gets voted out. She didn’t want to alienate Cochran and Dawn who obviously want to keep Phillip (but if they want to keep him, Corinne has to realize that this is til the end, so if she wants to win she’ll have to alienate them sooner or later. Or maybe Julia thought she was with Phillip and wouldn’t go along with the plan. Whatever the reason was, it was a huge chance to get some power in this game and she spoiled it.
– Dawn Meehan: Not much about Dawn this week, but we get at least one confirmation: she doesn’t want Phillip to go anywhere. Julia talking to her could have been a huge advantage had she wanted to oust Phillip, but instead she ratted her out to him.
– John Cochran: He continues to control this game (or at least his tribe). After splitting the Michael/Matt duo last week, he’s saving Michael this week to appease Corinne (OK, I just assume this is the reason why Michael was not voted out. Whatever the situation, I love his narrating, this is the Cochran I wish we had seen back in South Pacific. I love his great analysis of every situation and the fact that he apparently is the mastermind being everything that’s going on in his tribe (also I do speculate a little bit here, we’re given very few clues about what’s happening on the strategic level.
– Julia Landauer‘s voted out: I think that this is the first time I have nothing to say about someone who’s just got voted out. Sad. (sad that she was either cast in the first place and/or edited that way, although in her case – see Cochran’s comment about her and vanilla – I blame casting).
– Michael Snow: I wonder how much Michael appreciates being treated as a pet, a plaything by Corinne, but as this is what is keeping him in the game, so even if he doesn’t really appreciate that much, he’s gotta be thankful for it.
– Phillip Sheppard: Enough of him already! Can we switch his screen time with Brenda’s and Erik’s?
Next week:
The merge finally! Maybe some strategy will finally happen… Maybe…
Next person voted out:
Seriously? I have no idea. I see Reynold or Eddie being targeted, Malcolm telling them, an idol being played and a surprise eviction. Phillip? I guess it’s just wishful thinking from my part.
Winner prediction: Cochran is still sitting on the top of my list right now. Dawn and Michael are a bit further behind with Malcolm.
And now, the usual links to the other analysts I really like (sorry for not posting them last week).
- Rob has a website and a podcast and bloggers and a great “know-it-alls” show with Stephen Fishbach. Rob Cesternino was “the smartest player to never win the game” (with Fishbach in my opinion), he now has the best website about Survivor.
- Superjude’s blog, always interesting, even when he’s grumpy.
- Stephen Fishbach also has a column with People.com.
- Dalton Ross is always great and hilarious at EW.com
- Jeff Pitman at True Dork Times is also one of the most hilarious (and smart) Survivor blogger out there.
- Andy Denhart at Reality Blurred always has a great blog and is even unhappier than me with this season.
- more to come…