Trick Question

I thought there was something brewing in that scene of Michelle questioning why Adam had to be targeted immediately....like she was going to go off and arrange some alternate boot that would've spared Adam, eliminated a Gen-X threat, kept her in the game (though she was obviously surprised to be on the block at all) and kept her alliance strong. Unfortunately, it was just "target Adam? That seems dumb. Oh well, never mind!"

So we're merging at 13, which makes me think we're getting one more elimination before we hit the jury. We're left with seven original millennials (Taylor, Hannah, Jay, Will, Adam, Michelle, Zeke) and six Gen-Xers (Sunday, Bret, Chris, David, Ken, Jessica). Jay/Will are a clear pair, and it seems like they would try to get Michelle and Taylor back into their alliance to make it a solid four. They probably have a good chance of getting Hannah back in despite the Michaela blindside, via Michelle coaxing her again (we'll call them alliance #1). Adam/Ken/Jessica seem like a trio, though it's really Ken/Jessica and then Adam as the convenient third who could possibly be replaced. K/J could use Adam as the bridge to Zeke and potentially joining up for a Ken/Jessica/Adam/Zeke/David alliance (alliance #2). Chris, Bret and Sunday are sort of the wild cards here. I could certainly see the three of them joining right back up together and essentially acting as swing votes between the two groups. Chris obviously has a good tie with Zeke and probably David, while Sunday/Bret may feel like they can work with Jay/Will for at least one more vote. If this trio plays it smart, they could potentially leverage this swing status pretty deep into the game --- they don't have any idols as protection, though I feel Chris will be a big threat to win an immunity or several. Between the tribe swap into three, the fractures in the original tribes and all of the idols still in play, I really have no idea what's going to happen next week. There's a very good possibility that all three HIIs get played at the next tribal council, which would make things totally chaotic.

Jay has an idol, so if he thought Sunday/Bret/Hannah were teaming up on him, he'd just play it to save himself. It would suck for him using it so soon, but he'd still be around.

Claude's total exasperation at the "New York/Majorca" window was pretty hilarious. It was a pretty close score, though I'm surprised Granye's team lost; it seemed like they were generally a bit more on top of things, as least as per the editing. Mikai is pretty useless anyway, no big loss. I supposed it was probably too late (once tasks had been assigned and strategizing had already begun) to do a team shuffle to replace Aleksandra, as an 8-6 candidate led to people like JD just sitting around.

The Sandra comparison is solid. The thing about Sandra is that we the viewers all had the impression that Sandra was snarky and kind of a "villain" because of it, yet she was actually extremely well-liked within both her seasons. Any snark she had outside of confessionals was directed at Fairplay and Russell, who everyone else already hated anyways. In this case, Michaela telling Hannah to zip it probably didn't go over badly because, as we've seen, Hannah is kind of a mess out there. Post-merge Michaela will be a challenge threat, but she's hardly the only one. If Andrew Savage was here, he'd suggest that Michaela, Jay, Taylor, Ken and Chris all form an Alpha Alliance to prevent the others from picking them off.

Lack of airtime? She had key roles in the two challenges, she had the alliance-acknowledging moment with Figgy at the reward challenge (which may have swayed Adam's vote more than anything), it was further commented on back at camp and it seemed to cement to Zeke that he needs to get Michelle out of the game. She played a pretty big part in the episode, really. That said, Adam and Jay also had emotional "doing this for my family" confessionals, so it's not as obvious a telegraph as one might think. It was really "the massive alliance Natalie White took down," but otherwise, your point stands. Also, Taylor can't count....going into tonight's vote they didn't "already have the numbers" going into a merge since he has no idea when the merge is coming. It was four Gen X out to one M at that point, and obviously Taylor figured Ken was out next, but it could theoretically be a merge at 12 and the possibility of a 6-6 split.

Which makes it even funnier when you think about Chet Haze's existence. The mispronounced words has become a crutch for the character. The joke with the Girl You Wish.... is that she's insufferable, not necessarily that she's dumb.

That team should've lost based on the "Suck It And Sea" name alone.

Interesting vote, in no small part because it impacts how the other tribes will operate. Sunday and Bret may feel they're doubly screwed now that the Gen-Xers are still getting picked off, even on the tribe where they had a majority. On nu-Takali, Adam may feel even more inspired to turn on FigTails (ugh) if he sees it at the only way to halt the momentum of the Millennial tribe that had him on the bottom. I guess if you're David and you see the Chris/Michelle/Zeke dominoes all aligning against CC, it's not worth it at this point to burn *another* idol to save someone. If he saves CC, then it's at best a tiebreaker scenario in a next vote, and I'm sure David doesn't want to draw rocks or do a firemaking challenge against anyone (and he can't assume he'll find another HII again). If Chris/Michelle/Zeke end up targeting David next time, he knows he'll have idol protection and can control who goes home. Not sure I follow Jessica's logic in telling Ken about the legacy. If I was Ken, I'd be like, "wait, so you'll give me an advantage if you're voted out? Sweet! Guess I know who I'm targeting next." So am I to presume that there's also a hidden idol on the green tribe's beach? Adam has the one from old Vanua and David has the replaced one from old Takali, so logically there should be one more in play with a third tribe in the mix.

It's a question that has several answers... 1. Well, mostly. 2. I've complained about this flaw in the show's structure before, but the stated goal of Sugar finding a business to invest in really has nothing to do with running everyone through the Apprentice's tasks. It's probably not too far off that he only has four or five business plans that he's actually interested in and those people will get the benefit of the doubt throughout the process (unless they prove themselves as complete disasters) and literally everyone else is just there for entertainment value. 3. Also, to be somewhat sympathetic to the candidates, this process is hard! The short filming schedule, the constant inter-team politics, simply getting used to being filmed 24/7 and being on TV, the need to both prove yourself as a team player while also "stepping up"....it isn't easy. I'm a little curious as to why Natalie was fired in this case since, while she didn't seem to do anything, being a net zero is better than being a net negative (i.e. Jessica). Natalie didn't really even get the chance to do anything simply based on the task's structure. If you have eight or nine people working on a task where really 90% of the responsibility lies with the PM and sub-team leader, there's not much room left over for anyone else. Alana, Jessica, Mukai and Karthik all deserved to be fired far more than Natalie, in my opinion, though Karthik's outspokenness may have been somewhat justified here since everything was actually falling apart.

Three episodes in, and my People I Want To See Lose list is far longer than my People I Want To See Win list (which currently consists of Jessica and a GIF of a tumbleweed.)

I'm a little astounded that Paul volunteered to (or was allowed to) do the more strenuous swimming part of the challenge so soon after having some type of heat-stroke. I'm also surprised Dave the Family Guy writer did so poorly in the challenge. Aren't manatees good swimmers? 1. What I don't totally get is why Michaela went for Mari instead of Zeke, since he was the one who specifically said she was next on the chopping block. If it was known around camp that Mari/Zeke were an alliance, however, then it's actually not a bad move from Michaela. She and Figgy don't like each other but there's no direct targeting going on, so you might as well aim for someone who has specifically cited you as the next vote to go. Of course, now that the Triforce + Michelle have their pick of fifths in Hannah or Will, they can easily run the game and ditch Michaela on the very next vote if they want. 2. While I agree with your general disappointment about Survivor's casting or portrayals of African-American women, Tasha was apparently quite disliked by her fellow players on both occasions. If anything, editing gave her a great portrayal than how she apparently actually was within the game.

Kind of a weird first episode, though probably one that couldn't help but be weird given the extreme weather situation. It's interesting to think of how being removed from the wild so early could impact the game itself....if a weather evac happens later on, it seems like that would be a great 'refresh' for players who are really struggling after several days. Even the early evac may have helped some players who may have had a quick case of the anxiety, like Aubry last season or Holly in S21. This generation vs. generation thing may be the lamest twist yet. It honestly feels like they did their usual casting, realized they needed some kind of gimmick for the season (since god forbid they just run a regular Survivor series) and decided on age 33 as their arbitrary generational cutoff point. And am I crazy, or isn't it Generation X generally people born in the late 60's through the 70's, then Generation Y is the 80's to mid'90's, while Millennials are 1995-on? I swear I read somewhere that the internet's explosion into mainstream use (which happened in roughly 1995) was used the cutoff point between Gen-Y and the Millennial generation, since it went Gen-X grew up without an internet, Millennials have always had the internet and Gen-Y had both? It seems to me that if you're playing that challenge and the other team is advantage-ing their past way an obstacle, you absolutely should do so as well to save valuable minutes. I'd say the difference in time between 10 people struggling through that rope maze is greater than the extra time it would take for 10 extra pieces in a puzzle. Yeah, this also struck me as pretty weird. If I recall correctly, it was... Aligned: Bret/Chris/Jessica/Lucy Not aligned: David, CeCe, Rachel I forget where Sunday, Ken and Paul fell in the mix, though I vaguely think it was Paul and Sunday in the alliance and Ken was on the outs. Everyone voted for either CeCe or Rachel (except for CeCe voting for David and Rachel for Sunday) which could've been a sign that the alliance had opened up a bit to include the full eight. This definitely makes sense in a first vote when you seemingly have two targets and can then do an easy 4-4 split to ensure an idol won't work.

Uh, Fred Armisen hosting the season finale? They couldn't have found a bigger name?

Amber was only a 'big character' in hindsight. She was a total non-entity in her first season, to the point that people were wondering why the hell she was even cast for All-Stars. Tina, Rodger, Alicia, Kimmi, Varner, Skupin....hell, even early boots like Kel and Debb were far more memorable than Amber from S2.

My Survivor-watching crew (two men, two women) had a long discussion tonight about whether Cydney was the best-looking woman in the show's history. Two votes were ultimately yes, one vote was for Brenda Lowe, one vote was for Andrea Boehlke (this one wasn't without some bias since my friend's wife looks quite a bit like Andrea Boehlke). Cydney is actually playing a pretty straight-forward game that makes for a decent "didn't backstab anyone" jury case. Cydney pretty clearly makes it known when she doesn't care for someone, and might vote along with them for a round or two but clearly has them targeted. It's a bit Sandra-esque.

The issue here isn't just that the Three Wankers have a superidol, it's that the rest of the players still don't really know what the SI is or how it works (unless Neal told Aubry the rules, I forget). So they can lord it over everyone until the final five and by then it'll be too late. Tai and Julia are both playing a decent strategy since obviously either would win a F3 vote against Scot or Jason. Of course, if it's a surprise F2 due to another medivac, then they're both screwed and we the audience are also screwed.

If Tai figures this out, he could claim that he was the Debbie vote (as planned for the Beauties) and Nick was the one voting for Jason. Then again, I'm not sure why Tai would necessarily want to alienate Debbie at this point since she's suddenly perhaps in the majority alliance.

I think this was definitely a ploy on Tai's part. Remember, the original plan was the three Brawns voting for Aubry and the four Beauties going for Debbie, so all one Beauty had to do was flip to the other three Brains and someone else goes home. I wonder if Tai either figured the three Brains would all vote for Jason and he's quietly flip on the downlow, or if he approached with them with the flip idea but the Brains decided to go with Michele/Julia/Cydney to oust Nick. For all know, maybe Debbie and Aubry were never actually in real danger at all --- they simply had to choose which of Nick or Jason to vote out, and maybe Nick was the pick because Cydney told him about Jason's idol or that Debbie/Aubry saw more value in joining a women's alliance now. Tai has also saved himself at least a couple more rounds since I'm sure the first question most of the group will have for him back at camp is "WTF is up with this super-idol???" Since presumably nobody else knows the rules except for Scot and Jason (and they're not talking), Tai could imply that HE has a super-idol to and maybe even get himself a more or less free pass until the F5 or F4. Between all this and his boss performance in the immunity challenge, great episode for Tai tonight!

Likes.... * The acting was pretty terrific across the board, even if I'm still not totally sold on Elden Henson. I feel like some of the storylines and dialogue could've gone awry had the performances not been so wonderful at selling them...Bernthal, Woll, Cox, Yung, Dawson, D'Onofrio, everyone tremendous. * Along these same lines, Cox had great chemistry with both Woll and Yung, really helping sell the 'Karen or Elektra?' choice that Matt faced * Building pretty much everything around the Fisk storyline in S1 kind of made the season feel a bit long to me, maybe as if the story couldn't have been told in 10 episodes rather than 13. (I had the same feeling even moreso about Jessica Jones.) This season, however, was structured quite well with the Punisher up front, then Elektra's introduction dovetailing around the Punisher trial, then Fisk shows up and we get the greater Hand involvement in the back end when everything all ties up. * The action scenes, wow Dislikes and questions.... * Karen becoming an actual reporter seemed a bit silly, especially the hackneyed nature of his first story. Having the dollar-store Giamatti editor hold her hand through the whole process was also too much. * The cops weren't watching the Castle family house the entire time?!?! * Why was Stephen Rider (ADA Tower) in the opening credits? Seems like kind of an odd secondary character to make a 'main' character, or else Rider just had a really good agent. I actually thought it was going to end up that Tower was the Blacksmith, as there was seemingly no other reason for Rider to be so prominent in the cast. Of course, as soon as Karen went to go see Clancy Brown, it dawned on me since Clancy always plays the villain.

I noted this in another thread, but right now it looks like the Brawns + Julia + Tai alliance may have this thing just about wrapped up --- even if Nick/Michele target them now, it's still 5v5 and Jason and Tai both have idols. The only question would be if Julia flips (rejoining Michele?) and Scot is wrong about her being "devoted to them because we saved her" or whatever that B.S. was all about. Of course, the constant medivac threat hanging over this season is making it really hard to predict things.

Sherri and Scott should just team up at this point and leave their do-nothing kids to fend for themselves. I question the logic of having an express pass at this stage of the race. Having one as an early prize and saying it must be used by the 5th/6th/7th leg is fine....introducing it NOW and having it be used up to the ninth leg?? That's quite a massive advantage. Especially when it ends up in the hands of the guys who have been pretty much cleaning house in every leg anyways. I was already thinking that Brodie and Kurt would need a true 'leg from hell' to get eliminated before the F3, and now even if something goes wrong for them, they have an out.

Right now the divisions are the three Brawns, Tai and Julia (who both seem aligned with Scot), Nick/Michele, and Aubry/Debbie/Joe. If the Brawns/Tai/Julia group is solid, then this game might be over; that group has two idols between them, if Nick/Michele went with the Brains now it would be 5-5 at best. It'll depend if Cydney or Julia wanted to flip, which is still a possibility since they both have to feel they're not on the top of that alliance. While Aubry is responsible for her position, I don't think she necessarily made a bad move in voting out Peter. Remember, Peter wasn't really in the brains alliance. he would've 100 percent been a free agent come the merge. Aubry/Joe would've been in rough shape had there not been a merge but, c'mon, with 11 people left I think it's fair to say Aubry was confident a merge was coming.

While Nick is generally a douche and his comments last week about leading Michele around were eye-rolling, I didn't think this scene was really any of that. It looked like the two of them were legitimately on the same page. Like, she was giving her reasons for siding with the Brawns and he was just said, "ok, sounds good, let's go with Brawn."

Steph's story in S10 (the lone survivor from a decimated tribe) was so unique that the show couldn't help make it 'heroic' in a sense, even if Steph was more realistically the least-losing of her tribe of epic losers. Also, since literally 75% screentime in the early episodes went to the Ulong tribe (since they kept going to TC), I can't blame the editors for trying to portray these people in as likable a light as possible since we'd be spending so much time with them. By S11 rolled around, it was either a case of Steph taking her "Iron Steph" fame too seriously or letting it go to her head, or else this was her personality all along and the editors could more freely show it. And yet even still, Guatemala was one of those seasons where the show tries to keep a fan favourite's "goat" status hidden in the edit the entire time --- Steph, Russell, Matt von Ertfelda, Sugar, Spencer, Tasha, Coach, all players who had no chance in hell of winning but Survivor tried to keep this hidden to keep the suspense going.