S32.E03: The Circle Of Life

[Nashville]

Well I saw a hunchback devil dwarf on the right poking at a woman with her large intestine hanging right below her neck on the right.

 

Forgot to get this in a quote box but piewarmer I think said:  "And I swear I saw a lizard with lips."  I say twas strange it wasn't on that dude's back too.

 

This is too good to let fall off in an episode thread - I'm taking it to Bounty's own.  :)

[Guest]

I saw a man in a really baggy bunny suit.  I could not for the life of me figure out how people saw 'tied to a stake' until I realized what people saw as stakes, I saw as little bunny ears. 

 

I wonder if it's a doodle drawn by one of his girls.  I also wonder if some Walmarts have tattoo parlors and if he paid more than $50 for that mess.  Maybe it was a 2-for-1 sale.  Buy one giant goblin line drawing tat, get one free.  

[Paws]

Peter is such an ass and he looks so much like Obama that it makes me dislike Obama, which makes me more angry at Peter, because I love Obama!  Also, what an idiot to be so condescending at Tribal.  Not very brainy at all. 

 

I wonder with Debbie's work history and weirdness if she isn't a case of severe ADHD.  She is clearly very smart, she's just all over the place.

 

Did anybody else get a sense of Liz having a thing for Peter? She kept putting her hand on his knee and at one point on the beach she was walking towards him and I think she thought he would stop and chat but he just kept going. 

[Hera]

I'm a bit late to this season and finished catching up this weekend. Hello everyone! It's good to have a new season to discuss with you all!

 

First off, what was happening with Liz's neck after the immunity challenge? It was all red—it looked like she had been choked and didn't seem to have settled down by Tribal Council. I hope she was okay.

 

Early in the episode, Peter gave a confessional discussing how the two of them were "managing" the other two pairs, but apparently this was all in his head. It seemed to me that he and Liz made the classic error of not actually talking to the people they wanted to ally with until it was too late. It's also clear that they badly misread Joe and especially Debbie. I can appreciate that it can be difficult to choose the best time to approach someone about an alliance—some players are put off by alliance overtures before they know they're going to tribal council while others want to feel like they have an alliance before the immunity challenge. But still, even if you don't want to float the idea of an alliance, you should at least be spending time with the people you want as allies, both for the chances to bond and also to make sure they aren't teaming up with the people you want to target, the latter of which is exactly what happened.

 

This season, it seems like Beauty is the tribe to be on. While Nick gives me a weird vibe, it doesn't seem like he's closely aligned with or even liked by anyone. I hope the three Beauty women manage to stick together and tear shit up. I'm like Tai as well, but after watching him cut his foot on the tree while trying to get the idol, I realized that I'm not sure I want to see him on Survivor. He seems almost too nice and gentle for the game.

 

As for Brawn, I remember Scot Pollard from his basketball days. His personality seems a lot less out there than it did when he was playing—I remember my one of the local news stations in my hometown airing a video package of locker room interviews with his team and his contribution was singing "Home on the Range" in a weird voice. I agree Jason is awful, but I have to say that Alecia would try my patience, too. I think Cydney and Jason are pretty tight. At both of Brawn's tribal councils, I've seen them looking at each other to confirm/change plans. If anything, I think Scot might be the odd man out of that threesome. It seemed like Jenny was his partner in the initial foursome. Speaking of Jenny, I haven't seen a tribal council performance that bad since Shannon. In fact, hers might have been even worse than Shannon's.

 

At the moment, there is nothing I want more than for Jason and Debbie to be on a tribe together.

[Nashville]

"

I think Cydney and Jason are pretty tight. At both of Brawn's tribal councils, I've seen them looking at each other to confirm/change plans. If anything, I think Scot might be the odd man out of that threesome.

Funny; I had the impression Cydney/Scott was the tighter pair, for much the same reason. :)

Cyd and Bounty seemed to constantly need to confirm/reaffirm courses of action during TC, while Cyd did not require anywhere near as many check-ins with Scot. To me this indicated the Cyd/Bounty lines of communication weren't near clear as those between Cyd and Scot; C&S were already tight enough to know which page the other was on without repeated external conferrals.

ETA: Correcting G*****N AUTOCORRECT.

Edited March 7, 2016 by Nashville

[KimberStormer]

Nashville, on 06 Mar 2016 - 11:20 PM, said:

Funny; I had the impression Cydney/Scott was the tighter pair, for much the same reason. :)

Cyd and Bounty seemed to constantly need to confirm/reaffirm courses of action during TC, while Cyd did not require anywhere near as many check-ins with Scot. To me this indicated the Cyd/Bounty lines of communication weren't near clear as those between Cyd and Scot; C&S were already tight enough to know which page the other was on without repeated external conferrals.

 

How I love that we tease these subtleties out of even rather mediocre episodes of Survivor!  I feel like I've gotten an impression, on an intuitive level from just body language, pure feeling, etc, that the dynamic on Brawn is that Scot is the social center of the alliance, but Cupcake, because he's aggressive and pushy and just more active, is more or less the "leader".  I think Cydney defers to Cupcake because he's with Scot, but would be willing to send him up the river if necessary.  And poor Alecia has no connection of either kind but a very tenuous one-sided one to Cydney.

 

A crude ASCII social map might look like:

Cupcake<--Scot-->Cydney-->Alecia

whereas a power map might look like

Scot<--Cupcake-->Cydney-->Alecia

if that is followable?

 

But I have been very wrong about this sort of thing before!

[laurakaye]

Alecia could have also sat on top of the box so they couldn't open it, but I have no doubt they would have physically dragged her off of it.

I am thinking the same thing - based on the fact that Bounty acted like she wasn't even there the entire time Scot was trying to push the key out with the stick.  He completely ignored her as she was standing next to him while he and Scot joyfully exclaimed that they'd gotten the idol.  This ticks me off to no end.  He acts like she's not worthy of his attention.  Which might be funny - except that Bounty is now being warmed and hydrated by the fire that Alecia created, and he is enjoying the idol based on the clue that Alecia found.  And yet, he treats her like she's invisible.

 

I want him to stick around long enough to be booted out by a grand scheme of Alecia's creation.  Preferably while he smugly sits at Tribal with an idol.  Bounty might actually be worse than Dan Foley (and THANK YOU, Survivor, for constantly reminding me of that guy)!  While Dan treated the women in his tribe like they were morons, Bounty is barely acknowledging that he has someone named Alecia on his tribe.  

Edited March 7, 2016 by laurakaye

[Nashville]

How I love that we tease these subtleties out of even rather mediocre episodes of Survivor! I feel like I've gotten an impression, on an intuitive level from just body language, pure feeling, etc, that the dynamic on Brawn is that Scot is the social center of the alliance, but Cupcake, because he's aggressive and pushy and just more active, is more or less the "leader". I think Cydney defers to Cupcake because he's with Scot, but would be willing to send him up the river if necessary. And poor Alecia has no connection of either kind but a very tenuous one-sided one to Cydney.

A crude ASCII social map might look like:

Cupcake<--Scot-->Cydney-->Alecia

whereas a power map might look like

Scot<--Cupcake-->Cydney-->Alecia

if that is followable?

But I have been very wrong about this sort of thing before!

I believe we're kind of paralleling in our thinking - thinking similar things, but with different foundational bases. For example: I see the same sort of relationships as you do, but in different terms. You see the distinguishing differentiation as being social v. power. My perception is different. It is true social is a significant factor in the initial formation of an alliance; once formed, however, I see the significant differentiation to be between "internal" (how the core alliance members view their own internal power structure) v. "external" (how core members want the alliance to be perceived by both outsiders AND non-core members).

I see the actual core of the three-strong alliance as Cyd and Scot; Jason is definitely a member as well, but I don't see his bond with either Cyd or Scot as being as strong as their bond with each other. So Jason, whether he recognizes/acknowledges it or not, is more of an outlier or "outer circle" member, while Cyd and Scott form the "inner circle". Now, the primary job of the inner circle is to protect itself at all costs and avoid becoming a target - and what's the best way to do that? Answer: present outsiders with a more prominent and obvious target, to distract attention from being focused on the true core.

Jason is outstanding in this regard: a loud, (overly) outspoken outer-circle member who believes himself a member of the inner circle, Jason is the perfect patsy for anyone targeting the alliance - and will continue to be so by the simple expedient of being himself. The deception is further perfected by Jason himself; he believes he is the controlling head of the alliance, so his labors under this delusion will only help in selling himself as a figurehead ripe for targeting.

So - to illustrate my perception of what's going on:

Core-alliance-internal power perception:

[Cupcake<--Scot<==>Cydney]-->Alecia

Alliance-external power perception:

[scot<==Cupcake==>Cydney]-->Alecia

The only potential blowback I see to Cyd/Scot in this approach is if Jason does his "I'm the head of a powerful alliance" sell job too well, to the point externals are afraid to go after him for fear of failure followed by retribution - in which case, they might instead go after his externally-perceived "subordinates " (Cyd/Scot) to undercut his "power base" rather than go at him head-on.

ETA: Fun With Maps. :)

Edited March 7, 2016 by Nashville

[Jersey Guy 87]

Jason also has the idol - he's not going to share it with Scot/Cyd.  Alecia will out him for having it.  That will have an impact on how others attack their alliance.