HurricaneVal

Oh Austin. I still weep over that corn husk dress which was lyrically beautiful before it dried up overnight to curled up straw. That dress forever set the bar for the unconventional materials challenge for me, and nobody has ever measured up to the potential that dress had. If it hadn't dried up, and Austin hadn't had to spend the next day fixing it as well as he could rather than adding length and details, I think he would have won that challenge. Seriously. That dress, or rather, the potential of that dress, hooked me on this show. The Post Office uniform challenge sealed the deal. I want that level from the current show.

Maybe the mighty hunter was making too much noise tromping around and talking to the camera that he didn't hear it. Or he's trying to manufacture a narrative "story" to dominate screen time in as a strategy to bolster his post-Alone survival training/guiding/hunting business.

Hmmm.... The peeing conundrum. Carnivore pee is supposed to work to keep animals away. I've heard that peeing around the perimeter of your yard--presumably over time and not all in one dribbling line--is supposed to work to keep coyotes, deer, and other pests away. Haven't tried it myself. I've also heard that the sodium and minerals in human pee will also attract animals, like a salt lick. So.....which is it? Pee attracts or repels animals? Turns out it isn't recommended because it does attract some animals, like bears. But then again, I found this article that goes the other way, and says human urine is very effective at repelling animals. I won't link to any more articles, but it appears from a cursory survey of the first page of Google links, the aggregate between actual science and woo-woo tinfoil hat survivalist sites is that human pee does act as a deterrent for quite a few animals, but also serves as an attractant for curious animals like bears. So, I would say that tips the scales over to the "don't pee around camp" side, because you don't want your milkshake bringing those bears to your yard.

I.......cannot wait for Hester Sunshine to leave. She gets on my very last nerve. I like that Kayne has settled some, he was one who also got on my nerves, but it appears he's matured which just knocked off some of the jaggedy annoying edges of his big personality, so I'm going to see how this goes. He needs to step away from the botox and fillers though, he's dangerously close to becoming a clickbait article on bad plastic surgery. Anna, I fear, is just too weird and fragile for this competition. I expect she'll be an early auf-ee or will DOR by saying she's got PTSD remaining from the accident that happened in her original season. I think she does interesting stuff, but I don't think she's built for this sort of thing. Even though I don't think all the designers exactly followed the brief on the challenge and therefore should have been dinged for that (*cough*cough*Prajje*cough*cough*), I think we're going to be in for a good season despite this frustrating first challenge. With the glaring exception of Hester Sunshine, I like this set of designers, and I expect good things from them. Here's a sentence I never thought I'd write: Why was Alicia Silverstone serving her tits up to us on a tray?

Just, please, God......not Guy Fieri.

I do like that Quickfire challenge, it is usually kind of fun, but I don't think it is fair for the competition. It is good they saved it for toward last when immunity is off the table so it is more like a prize challenge rather than something that affects the rest of the competition. I like it better when it is family members than some commercial tie-in stunt casting--though I loved seeing the Olympic athletes, because I flove the Olympics. At least when it is family members there is a common cultural reference so when the chef says "coriander" you know what that is, and misunderstandings due to accents are minimized. Gabri did not cover himself with glory last night, shouting chef-y terms at his partner and not following up with good descriptions. Just shouting "Coriander....coriander....CORIANDER!!!" was not going to help Suni understand that he meant that green leafy looking stuff with flat friendly looking pale green leaves. Though, to be fair, when he told Suni to get the poblano chile, and she held up what looked like an Anaheim and asked if it was the green pepper looking thing, and he--holding his squatty, dark, poblano pepper--said "yes" and then they both went forward thinking they were both right. When Suni said "green pepper" she was thinking color, and when Gabri heard "green pepper" and agreed he was thinking shape. Did everyone get the same base ingredients? Or did they get ingredients in their culinary wheelhouse to help with the communication? Because if they were all the same ingredients, then production put some pitfalls in there, because I saw there was both cilantro/coriander and parsley in the final dishes, and those are two very different flavor profiles where a mistake would result in very different dishes. Each chef had such a different approach to the comp. I thought that was great, and very telling of their individual personalities. Ali picked something simple to do with the potato leek soup, as a strategy for success with a non-chef partner, and his use of measurements and precise instructions helped that work well. Sara took some time to get to know her partner to gauge ability and knowledge, and worked out something she thought the two could pull off together. Buddha's twenty questions to figure out who was on the other side was another example of his razor sharp strategic game play. As soon as he figured out it wasn't anybody he knew that he could take shortcuts with, he immediately pivoted to some other idea. Gabri just jumped in with both feet without taking time to figure out his partner, and that showed. Maybe unfamiliarity with the challenge, or nerves, or whatever, but his lack of strategy, and lack of communication was his downfall. At least he had the grace to look embarrassed at the end when he realized he'd been yelling and thinking bad thoughts about someone he actually admired.

Then I was liking Tom for the wrong reason! Ack!

I posted this somewhere else, but figured I'd bring it here too. Wow. Tom was an annoying roommate as well as an annoying competitor/teammate. It was definitely his time to go. He seemed to have kind of an opposite arc than usual in that as the competition went on, he got slightly less creative. Not by much, and maybe only in comparison to the others who kept improving. Wasn't Tom the one who created an entire dish from the humble onion that the judges just raved about early on in the season? I really liked him because of that and thought he had good potential. Then as the season progressed, I realized his arrogance really wasn't justifiably backed by brilliant talent and that he was basically an asshole. An occasionally charming asshole, but an asshole nonetheless. This is an excellent final four. Whenever I think Gabri might be playing out of his league, he pulls something out like a delicious trompe l'oeil Scotch Brite sponge with an incredible backstory full of pathos and hope which seemed perfectly tailored and calculated for the chef audience. Except I think Gabri genuinely came up with the inspired idea and enthusiastically pursued it without guile. He's my sentimental favorite. Buddha is cooking on another level, though, so this is kind of his to lose. I do like Buddha, the only thing that rubs me the wrong way is how calculating he is--not necessarily calculating about how to make the best dish, but how to use the parameters of the challenge to create the winning dish to impress the judges. Like this last episode when he immediately abandoned using the mold for his jelly, knowing it wouldn't set in time, and instead molded his ice cream for the requirement. And then I remember it is a competition, and winning is the point, so then I admire his focus. Maybe I'm just having cognitive dissonance from all that competitive intensity coming from such a genial looking guy named Buddha.

See, I look at a social game as potentially being very strategic--if it is used correctly, and it seems that Yam Yam used it that way. A good social game is different than just hanging out and being everybody's friend, and hoping that tribe popularity gets you votes at FTC like a prom queen. Yam Yam said during FTC that he used his friendly personality and natural ability to get close with people to get information about votes and dynamics and act accordingly. Through his social game, he manipulated votes, and where he couldn't manipulate votes, he worked on the others to make sure the votes went his way. Now, it could just be coincidence, but his statement at FTC that anyone who voted for him was subsequently voted out is demonstrably true. Was it his machinations that made that happen, or just ego talking--and he does have a pretty big ego to go with that big personality--we'll never know. He did say that through his social game, he knew how everyone was voting going into each tribal council, and that's actually quite something. I can respect that sort of social engineering kind of social game. The "prom king" kind of social game.....not so much. Edited to add: I have no explanation for Gabler.

Oooooof, Heidi..... She built up a fantastic end-game resume there, but I have never seen anyone totally strike out at Final Tribal Council like that. She went into that FTC on the highest high, with momentum on her side, and totally tanked it. She was so stiff, so corporate. She looked like the head of HR at a mediation session. No warmth, slightly combative with the interrupting, all starchy and austere. I don't know if that was a choice, to seem more controlled because she knew Carolyn would be flailing all over, and she wanted to provide a measured contrast, or if she just had some sort of stage fright or performance anxiety. I wonder if she'd been more exuberant "Hey! Look what I did, y'all!" if she'd have received more votes? Carolyn also totally whiffed FTC. Maybe Carson losing at fire and leaving the game left her grieving. Maybe with her history, she got too much into her head and thought "I'm not good enough" and kind of gave up. The Carolyn at FTC looked kind of defeated. She had no game. She was never all that great at expressing herself with finessed articulation, but somehow with all the spasmodic movements and dramatic facial expressions and vocal explosions, she managed to get her point across and actually be quite insightful. The problem was, nobody really saw past the flailing. I warmed up to Carolyn in the mid-to-late game, I saw that she was hiding in plain sight. Carolyn had quite the Survivor FTC resume, all it took was an inspired FTC performance to tick off everything she did under their noses, and she might have taken it. Or at least been a little competitive with Yam Yam. I really have no issues with Yam Yam winning. He never lost sight of the game. Sure, he could be petty, but he's human. In the past, we've all seen the huge alpha males absolutely raging back at camp for people daring--daring!--to write their name down and then go on witch hunts to find the traitors. Getting votes certainly needled Yam Yam, and there was certainly a time during the early game and just after the merge when I thought he'd be voted out, but he always managed to turn the tide. Yam Yam was managing his end game from the start. He took the time to make relationships with everyone. He was kind and a little goofy and I really do think his behind the scenes machinations and manipulations steered a lot of the game. And where he couldn't steer, he surfed. He and Carolyn made a great duo, and out of everyone there, I think he recognized that Carolyn had a great strategic mind under all the big personality. That was his strength, his insight into people, which gave him a huge advantage. His social game gave him the win. That said, this season was not Survivor for me. This was "The Yam Yam and Carolyn Show" with weekly guest stars. I did not like this at all. I think the editors got lazy, took a break, and just let the big personalities dominate. Good editors can make stories out of small moments from B-roll footage. Sure, they had their moments when they showed their cleverness--that reward trip with Carolyn, Brandon, and Danny was well cut together, and gave us one of the first clues that Carolyn was not the ditz she appears, and was really quite emotionally intelligent and getting more and more frustrated by the minute. But overall, while the editors may have shown us the path to the win, that was essentially all they showed us. Oh, and the showmance, which.....blech. This ain't Big Brother. Sigh. I miss a bitter jury. I need a good, heartfelt, teeth clenched, stony eyed "rat and snake" speech.

Now we know what happened to Dmitri from Madame Secretary. He went to prison where he shank's his oligarch leader's son in a surprise twist to a terror plot! I'm never a fan of a Torres focused plot, but I did appreciate Kasie's hustle and Palmer's exasperated "Troubled, Kasie. The word is troubled."

Sometimes this show gets too *wink*wink* clever for its own good. Cedric The Entertainer as Calvin pestering D.L. Hughley about the Kings of Comedy was just too annoyingly meta for words. D.L. even got a bit of an irritated gleam in his eye during that scene that seemed more real than what was called for. Tina pounding the big stick while she stalked around the wary looking student cast was a hilarious Lydia Grant from Fame moment ("You've got big dreams, you want fame. Well fame costs, and right here is where you start paying; in sweat.") I liked the brief bit of tension early in the episode when Tina and Gemma were unpacking the costumes for the musical and Gemma does this little role play with finger guns as a "Mod Squad" type groovy undercover '70s detective arresting Tina. The look on Tina's face was "this ain't funny" and Gemma catches a clue. Nicely done, show, nicely done. Subtle, I like that.

I really like how Bob stayed honest there in the end. This episode got back to the core of the show: how much Bob loves Abishola, and that she loves him right back. I don't know what the next season will bring. If cutting characters is what will happen, I'll be extra sad to lose the church scenes. Those are often the best. It has struck me before, but I just wanted to mention that the actress who plays Ebun is really good. It takes talent to portray an insufferable person who isn't entirely irredeemable, and really be equally believable on both sides even when you must turn on a dime. She's also really beautiful too.

Most Survivor fans complain when the castaways don't prepare enough--like trying to make fire at home, or taking extra time in the pool to strengthen their swimming skills, or putting on extra pounds. But if Carson wins, I think there will be some grumbling, admittedly some from me, regarding over preparation. I mean, he put in the work, he reproduced comps in his back yard, 3D printed puzzles. He studied up on strategies for all the classic comps, and possible variations. That's fantastic. But it also points out how horribly routine and predictable Survivor has become. I hope the producers have taken note, and instead of slapping a new coat of paint on and slightly rearranging all the props and structures, they'll actually change it up and do something different from obstacle course/untie or dig up puzzle pieces or balls/complete puzzle or get balls through hoops or on platforms or knock over stuff challenges, or variations on endurance challenges. They don't even have to completely reinvent the wheel, they could recycle some of the older challenges we haven't seen in a while. However, I think that will take a while before any changes--if they wake up and realize the challenges are BORING now--can happen. We're stuck with these challenges for the next couple of seasons at least. Maybe there are more Carsons out there, and the next season will have several of them on and they can leave the rest of the castaways in the dust.

I know! It is like they all look at the Tika three and say "Wow, they're tight!" then they look at their three and just shrug and go "whatever..." It is like they're just ceding the win to the royal court or something: "All hail, the great Tika!" I actually think that's a problem caused by the compressed filming schedule these days, where each episode is only one, maybe two, days of filming. Between production talking head interviews, idol/advantage searching, transport to and from challenge sites, the challenges themselves, eating, intense strategy sessions prior to Tribal Council, transport to Tribal Council, and the multiple takes needed so production gets the right shot, that doesn't leave a lot of time in the day to socialize and have fun. All the production rigmarole doesn't leave a lot of time to explore new strategic relationships, send out feelers to see where weaknesses lie, or just find like-minded folks to band together. There's always been a Us vs. Them tribal loyalty, but generally after the merge that softens and breaks down as people sort into like-minded social groups. Now with the compressed schedule, there's no way new alliances can form, so everyone sticks with the one alliance they came with--even if they can't stand each other--because there's no time to build anything else as solid. I was thinking about this the other day, and I realize that's why there's so many idols and advantages now: If they weren't there, Tribal Council would be constantly deadlocked as people vote along tribal lines. (Kind of like Congress... Hmm....) If Jamie, Lauren, and Heidi really wanted to, they could have controlled the game last night. Hell, last week it was 4-non!Tika vs 3-Tika, and they could have started to pick them off one by one--or any week prior to that. But no. Everyone stayed voting as a tribe because they're so locked in to thinking there's nothing else, and that's that. Could we get a shout-out to the lovely ladies at The Sanctuary? They were the best part of the episode.

Whoa. That looks so bad it will be good! Or......so bad it will be bad. Who am I kidding....I'll watch! (At least the first episode....)

Jeff just standing there, frozen, cracked me the hell up. I suspect Jeff was just standing there, poised to snuff the torch, and when Danny started going on and on with his really awful De Niro impression, he may have had some concerns over Danny's mental health and was afraid to move because he thought he might become a target. He was probably inwardly screaming "SECURITY!!!!! SECURITY!!!!! REPORT TO THE TORCH SNUFFING STAT!!!!!!" Or he was getting orders in his ear bug to hold still, and they'll edit all that out in post production and seamlessly splice the footage. But it ended up being funnier to allow Danny to embarrass himself, so they left it all in. Aaaaaaaawkwaaaaaaaard.......

I hate this challenge. It makes me so anxious--especially as others have said, when they weave their arms and legs through the bars. You actually saw that when Heidi started to panic and gave up. She had a hard time unwinding herself from her monkey grip and you could see her actually get stuck and start to really panic--you could see her jerky motions right before she freed herself. My heart was in my throat, but it all came out OK. Then when Yam-Yam didn't immediately pop up and had to be shaken out of his zone, I wondered if he'd actually gone unconscious. I really hate this challenge. Good on Yam-Yam for winning. Did I hear it correctly, that the comp had gone on for well over an hour? The fact that it goes over 20 minutes is amazing to me. Last season's marathon when the tide began to slack before the Jeff called it, boggled me. I have to say, though, that last night's camera angle on Jeff during the comp is probably the first time I've seen evidence of civilization on Survivor. Usually they're soooo careful when framing their shots that you don't see anything in the background, but several times you could see structures and sailboats in the distance behind Jeff. I don't think Carolyn wasted her idol. Sure, it turned out Carson didn't need it, but the timing--intentional or not, Carolyn has good instincts--was fantastic. It was a huge FU to Danny, and with Frannie fangurling on the jury, Carolyn will have a good advocate there talking her up. It was a big move. Nobody expected goofy Carolyn to have an idol. Not that she couldn't find an idol, mind you, but that she could keep her mouth shut about it. Earlier in the episode, she even denied having an idol, and that will not be forgotten by the people still playing, and that allllll goes to her endgame. It puts a target on her back, but she's so goofy they'll soon forget about her strategerizing and move on. Here's a sentence I never thought I'd write at the beginning of this season: I hope Carolyn finds an other idol.

I really like the format of this show. A little Alone, a little EcoChallenge, a little Amazing Race ... I hope that the ":" in the title means we will get subsequent seasons of Race to Survive: Malaysia, Race to Survive: Tasmania, Race to Survive: Patagonia, etc. I was crushed by the son going out and picking the berries he didn't even like, as a special gift for his dad, and then to be dismissed like that back at camp. In front of everyone. Thank you for starting the thread! I was afraid I was the only one here watching.....

Oh Malcolm.... So well intentioned, so eager to please, yet cursed with his father's situational blindness.... I do like that they took on the controversy over a relationship between a student and teacher head-on and made it the clear B-plot of this episode.

I thought Tunde was only working in the factory while it was getting built up, acting as some sort of general contractor facilitating the work. I didn't expect him to continue working in the factory once the construction and set up was complete. How often are we going to see the theme of Abishola being utterly rigid about something due to her mindset and inflexible thinking, then Bob showing her there are other options and she softens once she sees that the world does not end and there is value in different things? I get it that this is the entire underlying premise of the show, Abishola opening up to new things, but the writers need to get a little more clever than "Abishola declares something, Bob shows her an alternative, Abishola decides the alternative isn't so bad." I absolutely loved the scenes with Bob and Dele. Or should I say "Anthony?" I also loved that Abishola knew what they were up to, and accepts it because she also loves the relationship between Bob and Dele.

Thinking about this a few days later... I'm actually amazed Tom C. didn't mention anything about how nearly every dish on the winning team has something to be performed tableside: the pouring of the tomato tea, the pouring of the broth for the cullen skink, the dusting of the meringue powder etc. Did the scallops get something tableside, or did they go out fully dressed? I can't remember. I know the lamb and pasties went out complete from the kitchen, that's what made Tom C. go in and check--I think he was expecting a pour over of the jus! In past seasons, the judges--particulary Tom--have dinged chefs for unnecessarily fussy dishes with complicated services. The dreaded "cheffing it up" criticism. But in this episode? Not one word. Not one mention. Either the judges are mellowing, the food was just that good, or........ maybe the guest judge and her restaurant Core does a lot of tableside action dishes, so making that criticism would be impolite in that company.

I have to say, I really loved this version of Restaurant Wars. Top Chef should be all about the food, not if the decor matches the theme and the plates and cutlery choices support the concept. The person doing FOH is always screwed (Fabio notwithstanding, he was built for FOH) because they have to scramble around in the weeds in the front as well as execute their own dish--or rely on others with an opposite agenda--for the judges. Inevitably, the serving and timing get messed up because the chefs in the kitchen have had less than 24 hours to figure out that their choices don't really work for pacing a meal. Plus, they have to take on finalizing the FOH's dish, so everything gets out of whack...and it always shows. Ironically, the team that actually did some deep background, front-of-the-house preparation, had the smoothest service and servers presenting the dishes with knowledge and flair. Which.....really helped since they had a secret diner/judge to note that. I think the losing team's servers were left with no guidance, and had to just plonk the plates down and recite the menu description. They didn't have to do it, but I think at least Buddha and Sara from United Kitchen recognized that linkage between the front and back of the house was essential to success. All that time and angst spent on the pasties, and they were essentially dismissed. I felt badly for him, but if he hadn't been so obsessed with those pasties--which did sound fantastic--he might not have let his lamb jus over reduce, and he would have had enough for more than a scant spoonful for each serving. I'm a pretty good cook myself, so I don't understand why he couldn't just loosen it up with some water, wine, and butter and then be able to stretch it further? I think the right person went home. While I would love it, and would probably order it, seafood pasta just was not at the level it should have been for the show. If she'd put an Asian twist to it, that might have saved it--maybe. I was worried Gabri would go, nobody said his food was bad, it was just overwhelmed by the sauces. I suspect with the squid ink and cauliflower puree, he was going for a black and white contrast, and going with the onions just didn't hold up that vision. Not to mention the lack of texture which he was planning on getting from the cauliflower garnish. A fried onion ring might have given nice contrast!

Yeah...Hetty is an interesting person. How old is she, really? Rebecca Wisocky is around 50yo, so you assume Hetty is also around that same age. Or rather, that Hetty died when she was around that same age, fixing her age and appearance as a ghost. Hetty strikes me as very conservative, even for a very conservative caste in a conservative age. She appears to be a bit of an ultra-conservative outlier, even among her peers--her enthusiasm for cocaine notwithstanding. So it would make sense that her manner of dress would harken back to a more straight-laced time. On the other hand, Hetty strikes me as kind of vain, and I could see that Hetty constantly updating her wardrobe to keep up with the fashion of the times, so then it doesn't make sense that her dress would be so old fashioned at the time of her death. Her manner of death is also a mystery. Cocaine overdose, laudanum overdose, hmm....? She has no outward evidence of her means of death, so it can't be from a disfiguring accident like Flower or Pete. Evidently Sass, Thor, and Isaac were elsewhere when she died because it has never come up. Perhaps she was playing dress-up in her old clothes in a manic, cocaine fueled episode and keeled over from a heart attack? Maybe that's why she kept insisting Alberta died of a heart attack, it was the first thing that came to mind for her. I wonder what it was like for Hetty, to watch her descendants grow up and die in the house, to watch her beloved mansion fall into disrepair? I know we saw a tiny slice of that in the pilot, when Sam's great-great-aunt died, with the ghosts in attendance, but it is hard to recall that far what Hetty did and said at that moment. I didn't know how invested I was going to become!

Sigh. Frannie. Just when I was warming to her and hoping she and Carolyn--with their astute evaluations of the game--team up and take it to the end, she gets voted out. I totally understand why, though. She was making a name for herself as a challenge beast, to be sure. I, too, noted that the jury is not looking as well groomed as Survivor juries usually look. Maybe the boyz just don't care? We'll see next week when Frannie joins them. If she's still looking unkempt, then we can assume there's something wrong with the plumbing at Ponderosa. Just, please God, don't have her show up at the next tribal council with whisker burn....