S04.E06: Karma Maria

[AntFTW]

Quote

A vengeful player makes a move to block an enemy from earning a star; a lone wolf must step up their game to stay in contention; a romance is reignited; an all-star makes a risky move when they try to expose a secret deal.

Air date: May 8, 2024 on Paramount+

[jsm1125]

I generally like Kam, but she can miss me with “everyone is stupid for playing for Cara Maria’s game.” As if she’s not hoping that the others play her and Leroy’s game. 

Veronica is killing it politically this season. 

[bunnyface]

Steve travels with duct tape and zip ties.  Yeah, nothing creepy there.

[Michichick]

What a shitty thing for Nicole to change her mind like that. I was hoping Jasmine would win somehow and take Cara’s star and hand it to Kam.

Edited May 9 by Michichick

[AntFTW]

41 minutes ago, Michichick said:

What a shitty thing for Nicole to change her mind like that. I wash hoping Jasmine would win somehow and take Cara’s star and hand it to Kam.

They shouldn't have let her do that. I'm indifferent to both Jasmine and Veronica so I didn't care who Nicole went against. However, I thought once she made her decision, she shouldn't have been allowed to switch.

Separately, going into elimination was probably the smartest game move I thought Nicole has ever made. She was winning that elimination regardless of who her opponent was.

Edited May 8 by AntFTW

[AntFTW]

I would have liked to see Kam go down into elimination and steal Cara's star. I think that would have been the most entertaining ending.

[WInterfalls]

I like seeing the strategy here of who do we put in or keep out so the star holders are safe with their stars. If I were Cara though I would not be mad at the idea of Jasmine in the final; she's very beatable in a final. I don't understand what Nicole's deal is here either. It was obvious she should go down into the elimination as she would be a huge favorite against either Jasmine or Veronica. But her number 1 male ally is working with Cara but she is dead set against Cara? I don't know how Jay can work moving forward with that dynamic. 

I'm going to miss Kefla though he was a breath of fresh air. I would not have minded losing Steve, but I don't hate him. 

Overall I'm really loving this season. 

ETA: Derek is really impressing me this season. I hope he keeps doing well. 

Edited May 9 by WInterfalls

[AntFTW]

On 5/8/2024 at 8:39 PM, WInterfalls said:

I like seeing the strategy here of who do we put in or keep out so the star holders are safe with their stars. If I were Cara though I would not be mad at the idea of Jasmine in the final; she's very beatable in a final.

I think Cara would agree with you that she would prefer Jasmine in the final. However, Cara is more focused on self-preservation now and she'll worry about who is in the final later. I get her wanting two star holders to go into elimination, because that means she, effectively, keeps her star safe no matter what happens. Cara had the best of all of the worlds in this episode. She had voting power, she was safe from elimination, and her star couldn't be stolen.

On 5/8/2024 at 9:09 AM, jsm1125 said:

I generally like Kam, but she can miss me with “everyone is stupid for playing for Cara Maria’s game.” As if she’s not hoping that the others play her and Leroy’s game. 

Everyone else don't seem to really have a game to play. The only people I feel like are actively playing are Kam and Cara. At this point, there is only two games to play, Kam's game or Cara's game, because everyone else just seems to be floating no particular direction.

One thing I do appreciate about both Kam and Cara is that they have a heading of where they see the game going or where they want it to be, and they are willing to put in the work to make it happen... and everyone else is giving us nothing.

If they want a star and/or be that one winner at the end, they're going to have to make some moves at some point.

Edited May 13 by AntFTW

[Lantern7]

Good episode. Better than tonight's Survivor, at least. I'll miss Kefla, but I a Steve fan from way back in the day, and I'm glad he's 2-0 in the Arena this season. And he gave Kefla's star to Ace, who hasn't come off as a giant tool in this installment.

10 hours ago, bunnyface said:

Steve travels with duct tape and zip ties.  Yeah, nothing creepy there.

I don't think Steve has the Dennis Reynolds Starter Pack for ugly reasons. With no phones and books, you have to make your own fun. Steve's fun is creating makeshift backpacks. Nothing creepy.

Nicole played the Arena perfectly . .  .except when she believed Veronica and swapped her out for Jasmine. Nicole should have been forced to stick with her original choice . . . and I'm not saying that because we would've been out one Verantula. Also, the hidden stuff with Laurel, which I can only imagine and shudder about. They know that what they're doing isn't healthy, but they do it anyway.

I'm hoping the cold open for next week isn't Nicole recapping the prior episode, with Steve "translating" for her.

[lasu]

I was REALLY hoping that somehow Jazmine would beat Nicole and take Cara's star and give it to Cam.  I would have cackled after all her machinations to have it go like that, but alas.

I also agree that Nicole shouldn't have been able switch at the last second like that.

Mmmhmmm, I see that Nicole put in a "healthy" boundary just to turn around and break it.  That push/pull will really fuck you up, and I expect we'll see Laurel upset again before too much screentime passes.  I've been in this same stupid position with my ex so many times of KNOWING better, and still falling for it.  It only makes you hate yourself more when it goes bad, which tees your self esteem up perfectly for the next "pull" round.  It can be super, super, super hard to break out of that cycle.

[peachmangosteen]

On 5/8/2024 at 3:42 PM, AntFTW said:

I would have liked to see Kam go down into elimination and steal Cara's star. I think that would have been the most entertaining ending.

I would have liked to see Kam go down and then lose lol.

This season really has devolved into basically just Kam vs. CM and I have to root for CM, which makes me very irritated lol.

[luckyroll3]

19 minutes ago, peachmangosteen said:

I would have liked to see Kam go down and then lose lol.

This season really has devolved into basically just Kam vs. CM and I have to root for CM, which makes me very irritated lol.

Same and same. It really annoys me that things Kam is calling Cara Maria out on are the same things that Kam is doing. From the first episode, when she begged everyone not to vote Leroy in. And since then, everything has had to be Kam's way, even when it didn't benefit the other person she was trying to convince. This is one of the major reasons I never liked Johnny and his alliances. Also, I really dislike the whole, "I want to go in, so everyone should honor that," thing they try to do. No they shouldn't! They should actively try to block you unless you're someone like Jasmine who most people could probably beat if it came down to that. 

 

4 hours ago, lasu said:

Mmmhmmm, I see that Nicole put in a "healthy" boundary just to turn around and break it.  That push/pull will really fuck you up, and I expect we'll see Laurel upset again before too much screentime passes.  I've been in this same stupid position with my ex so many times of KNOWING better, and still falling for it.  It only makes you hate yourself more when it goes bad, which tees your self esteem up perfectly for the next "pull" round.  It can be super, super, super hard to break out of that cycle.

Nicole will never stick to a healthy boundary with Laurel because then it would make it that much harder to manipulate Laurel when she needs to. Nicole doesn't give 2 shits about Laurel except for where whatever relationship they have can help her advance her game. Note how she's letting Laurel make the advances, cross the boundaries. Master manipulator that one. 

[AntFTW]

On 5/9/2024 at 5:53 PM, luckyroll3 said:

Also, I really dislike the whole, "I want to go in, so everyone should honor that," thing they try to do. No they shouldn't! They should actively try to block you unless you're someone like Jasmine who most people could probably beat if it came down to that.

On the flip side of this, I really hate that no one is trying to go in. They all need a star and no one is really trying to get one.

Are other people trying to go into elimination and they're not showing us?

One tweak I would make to the season is that I don't think TJ should say what the elimination is before the daily challenge winner gets to decide whether they want to go in. I want them jumping into an unknown elimination rather than take an elimination they know they have a good shot of winning. I would prefer there to be risk of a player volunteering themselves into an elimination that they may not be good at.

Edited May 11 by AntFTW

[WInterfalls]

I've seen some discourse online that it was dumb to put Jasmine and Veronica because it gave Nicole an easy person to beat to get her star. I don't think there is any other possible outcome to this episode though. among the bottom possibilities the only one that could have beaten Nicole in that elimination is Kam and even if Kam was down there with someone else Nicole would have just sent Kam up and gone up against whoever else was down there (Veronica, Jasmine, Tina, Flora). Not to mention I don't think Nicole is very threatening in a final. She's good physically but once she hits any puzzles or math she's lost. 

[AntFTW]

16 hours ago, WInterfalls said:

I've seen some discourse online that it was dumb to put Jasmine and Veronica because it gave Nicole an easy person to beat to get her star. I don't think there is any other possible outcome to this episode though.

It was smart move for Cara in this moment, and arguably dumb for everyone else. The whole nomination was a benefit to Cara for both the men's and women's nominations.

With regard to Cara, she doesn't care that it gave Nicole an easy person to beat. That's not Cara's priority. Cara's primary objective is keeping her own star safe. Cara blocks Kam from going into elimination solely because it keeps her star safe. She's not giving Kam an opportunity to steal her star. Cara nominates all star holders into elimination solely because it keeps her star safe. Everything she does is to keep her star safe.

Cara was trying to get all star holders into elimination. Luckily for Cara, every other person with a star happen to be in the losing group and eligible to be thrown into elimination. Cara says it's easy for her to vote for Leroy "because of the star."

Cara votes for Kefla, Leroy, Jasmine and Veronica. Why? The elimination winner, whoever that happens to be, would not be able to steal her star. Even though she doesn't get Leroy, her goal is still met. Four star holders are nominated into elimination. That means her star is safe.

16 hours ago, WInterfalls said:

among the bottom possibilities the only one that could have beaten Nicole in that elimination is Kam and even if Kam was down there with someone else Nicole would have just sent Kam up and gone up against whoever else was down there (Veronica, Jasmine, Tina, Flora).

Right!

Although, Flora couldn't be nominated into elimination because she was in the middle group. Flora had voting power.

To go back to what @luckyroll3 said about Kam volunteering herself and people not having to honor that, if the middle group voted Kam and Tina into elimination, Nicole probably would have taken Kam's spot against Tina, blocking Kam. I think we're all in agreement that Nicole would have beat Tina in that elimination too. If it wasn't Cara blocking Kam, it would have been Nicole.

Separately, I like the division of power this season. The daily challenge winners don't have all the power of voting someone in, and/or deciding if they want go to instead.

16 hours ago, WInterfalls said:

among the bottom possibilities the only one that could have beaten Nicole in that elimination is Kam

...and Laurel. Laurel was eligible to be nominated into elimination. Laurel and Kam are likely the only two people Nicole would have not volunteered herself to go against.

The only way I see Nicole not going down into elimination is if the elimination was Laurel vs Kam... but Cara wouldn't have let that happen. That means her star is not safe.

16 hours ago, WInterfalls said:

Not to mention I don't think Nicole is very threatening in a final. She's good physically but once she hits any puzzles or math she's lost. 

I agree. I think Nicole would lose. 😂

Edited May 11 by AntFTW

[WInterfalls]

17 hours ago, AntFTW said:

Although, Flora couldn't be nominated into elimination because she was in the middle group. Flora had voting power.

You're right I got confused on that. I forgot Laurel was down there as well so I guess there is one scenario where Nicole doesn't end up with a star in this episode.