S04.E04: The Last Mile

[Charlesman]

17 hours ago, ChitChat said:

Hopefully things will get better now with most of the hikers now at base camp.  I've been bored with the hiking aspect.  So much so that I find myself wondering if the episode is almost over when sometimes we're only halfway through it.  

Yeah, all the focus on hiking makes me feel like we've seen nothing about camp life. Who has the best food source, who's done the best planning, who has the best skills, etc. We haven't even really seen what 10 items they all brought yet. 

 

On 7/7/2017 at 10:33 AM, humbleopinion said:

Notice how Brooke isn't mentioning being hungry.

Hard Side eyeing how wonderful her drop site is compared to the Baird and Brockdorff drop off sites.

She has:

Meadows, flat areas to build a camp

Sunshine

Dry wood conveniently laying around for building her shelter and burning

Food sources to be revealed

Fresh water so clean she drank out of it

Rocky beach like pastor Dave had when he finally learned how to catch fish with multiple poles.

Someone else pointed out elsewhere that her shelter location may not be ideal once the rain runoff starts. Will be interesting to see how it handles a change in weather. 

Edited July 10, 2017 by Charlesman

[Juliegirlj]

What a letdown this season is. I honestly don't care about any of them, and could care less who wins. 

If I hiked through that terrain for 9 days and arrived at my site to find that my partner had done little in the way of shelter or food provisions I would go " Larry on the rat" on my partner. 

It seems Brooke was the only one that realized the importance of tackling the big tasks early on before starvation and exhaustion starts setting in . 

I would have used that spider for bait. 

Edited July 10, 2017 by Juliegirlj

[simplyme]

I have a long and complex history of spiders attacking me starting when I was defenseless in my crib. Apparently I am some sort of spider treat that they work their way past all sorts of obstacles just to bite. It's freakish.

As a result, I would have beat that spider into a grease spot. This is war.

[cooksdelight]

51 minutes ago, Juliegirlj said:

I would have used that spider for bait. 

Absolutely!! After it had weaved a large orb to hold my small change and stuff.

[ProfCrash]

I have ended up watching a few episodes at work. ie, I am listening and rewinding when something interesting might have happened

[Auntie Anxiety]

14 hours ago, GreyBunny said:

 

The scene I want to see:

Pete: I'm going to wait for my son to show up before building a shelter.

Sam: Dad, I lost the axe.

 

I was waiting for that too and wondered how pissed the old man was going to be once he found out. 

[cooksdelight]

The old man can't get pissed. He's done nothing since he got there except catch a fish and explore bear shit.

[ClareWalks]

1 hour ago, cooksdelight said:

The old man can't get pissed. He's done nothing since he got there except catch a fish and explore bear shit.

Word. Why did his son even have the axe in the first place? First of all, it is the heaviest blade they've got (probably). Second, it's more useful for chopping trees...for a shelter...although who knows if he'd have been motivated to start it anyway. The son intrigues me because besides the axe-losing, he seems very competent, but I wonder about that dad.

[Canada]

3 minutes ago, ClareWalks said:

Word. Why did his son even have the axe in the first place? First of all, it is the heaviest blade they've got (probably). Second, it's more useful for chopping trees...for a shelter...although who knows if he'd have been motivated to start it anyway. The son intrigues me because besides the axe-losing, he seems very competent, but I wonder about that dad.

That's actually a really good point.  The axe would have been ideal for building a shelter, yet the dad didn't have it.  It's almost like they knew dad was never going to build a shelter, so they didn't give him the axe.  So, what was dad supposed to be doing?  He certainly wasn't gathering food.

[cooksdelight]

1 hour ago, Canada said:

So, what was dad supposed to be doing?

Singing Kumbaya while the bears poop.

[meep.meep]

4 hours ago, simplyme said:

I have a long and complex history of spiders attacking me starting when I was defenseless in my crib. Apparently I am some sort of spider treat that they work their way past all sorts of obstacles just to bite. It's freakish.

As a result, I would have beat that spider into a grease spot. This is war.

I am always getting spider bites when no one else does!  We must smell really good.

Unlike many of you, this is the first season that I've watched in real time, and it's better than season 1 but behind 2 and 3.  It was an interesting concept to try, but it's not working that well.

Brooke and Dave's spot looks to me a lot like the little that we saw of Jose's site.  

[holly4755]

On season 3, after people complained about how unfair the lot allocations were, we saw how people get their assigned lot by picking numbers. 

As to the meadow, it must flood, or otherwise not be suitable since Brooke built in the woods on the side of a hill. I am pretty sure everyone will struggle with the torrential rains.  it will be hard to find dry wood, and to keep shelters from collapsing.  We had very bad rains here, and I was afraid of flooding in my basement, not to mention the noise of the rain kept me from sleeping, and I have an attic.  

[ethalfrida]

And how do you use a compass to find someone anyway?

[cooksdelight]

16 minutes ago, ethalfrida said:

And how do you use a compass to find someone anyway?

You walk in the direction you are told to go until you holler and they answer. :)

[Snarklepuss]

On 7/8/2017 at 1:52 AM, TVbitch said:

I am not nearly invested this season as previous seasons. One of the things about when they are ALONE is that they kind of become yours. You get to know them more thoroughly and intimately, because it's just them and you. 

With the teams, they are always talking about their family member (and now interacting with their family member), and I'm not really getting to know them, I'm just observing their relationship. Usually by this point in a season, I will be aware of the contestants basic psychology and emotional patterns and thought processes and be keyed in on their vulnerabilities and strengths and why they may or may not last. Totally missing that intimacy here. 

I couldn't have put this better myself - that's exactly how I feel.  And I think that now that we have couples together the focus will be on their relationship more than the actual survival.  Just like the hiking was taking us away from learning their skills and inner thought processes, the focus on their relationships will also take us away from seeing those things.  As I have said in previous weeks, this kind of defeats the original premise of the show allowing us to see people surviving completely alone in the wilderness and because of that it's not as interesting for me to watch.  I can turn on any other reality show if I want to watch people bickering and getting each other annoyed.

On 7/9/2017 at 9:09 PM, cooksdelight said:

If it makes any of you feel better, I have fallen asleep during the past two episodes. I watch them the next day. After two tall cups of coffee.

LOL, me too, only in my case it's one large cup of tea!

[rmontro]

9 hours ago, Snarklepuss said:

this kind of defeats the original premise of the show allowing us to see people surviving completely alone in the wilderness and because of that it's not as interesting for me to watch.

To be fair though, this show has always pieced out the survival stuff with an eyedropper.  This season may be the worst though.  Before, most of the complaints centered around listening to the contestants whine about missing their family.

[ProfCrash]

At least they whined about missing family while building something or hanging out in their shelter that we saw them build. Or they used their homesickness to drive building other stuff before tapping out.

 

Right now they missing their loved one and doing nothing because they are so worried about their loved one. Son out hiking for 10 days? Let's sit around in a temporary shelter and not start gathering resources or actually building a fully functional shelter. And then let's complain that the kid might be annoyed that I don't have a good shelter or food for him.

Awful

[Jeanne222]

How will David and Brooke feel after a warm wash up.  I am anxious for them to tell us exactly what else they chose other than the soap.  Did they each get five things, ten for the couple?

Alex and Logan.  Logan gave up too early and you could see the sadness on Alex face but to his credit he was supportive.

Ted and Jim are going to be tough competitors to my favorites Brooke and David.

[Snarklepuss]

2 hours ago, rmontro said:

To be fair though, this show has always pieced out the survival stuff with an eyedropper.  This season may be the worst though.  Before, most of the complaints centered around listening to the contestants whine about missing their family.

Oh, I'm interested in the "alone" aspect from all angles, not just the "survival stuff".  I am just as if not more interested in emotional and psychological impact as well and I'm missing all of those things with the present format.  This season we get to see a lot less of every aspect of being "alone" out there.

22 minutes ago, Jeanne222 said:

How will David and Brooke feel after a warm wash up.  I am anxious for them to tell us exactly what else they chose other than the soap.  Did they each get five things, ten for the couple?

Forgive me for this, but I my mind goes somewhere when I think that the married couple is so concerned about soap and washing up - perhaps because of some presumed physical intimacy they may have that the others won't?  LOL

[holly4755]

well they do have a soft bed. branches covered with moss, covered with sleeping bags, which they can use to keep each other warm and not bored. 

[rmontro]

21 hours ago, Jeanne222 said:

How will David and Brooke feel after a warm wash up. 

Brook needs to build one of those Gilligan's Island style bathtubs, where they dump in the hot water heated from the fire.  

Still don't think that bar of soap is going to last very long though.

[Drogo]

Dad and son reunion, pre-axe discussion:

Dad and son reunion, post-axe discussion:

 

Heaven help me, I really like Brooke.  I didn't think I would.

[Quilt Fairy]

5 hours ago, Drogo said:

Heaven help me, I really like Brooke.  I didn't think I would.

ITA.  Of course, she's the only one that's exhibited any personality, so she's first in a subset of one.

Edited July 12, 2017 by Quilt Fairy

[ProfCrash]

29 minutes ago, Quilt Fairy said:

ITA.  Of course, she's the only one that's exhibited any personality, so she's first in a subset of one.

She is the only one to demonstrate that she is competent. Hell, she is the only one to build a shelter and a fire place and a raised bed. It is crazy how little how much the other contestants have accomplished.

[roamyn]

19 hours ago, ProfCrash said:

She is the only one to demonstrate that she is competent. Hell, she is the only one to build a shelter and a fire place and a raised bed. It is crazy how little how much the other contestants have accomplished.

She's more competent than most of the  survivalists from any season!  Even the vaunted Jose!

[rainsmom]

40 minutes ago, roamyn said:

She's more competent than most of the  survivalists from any season!  Even the vaunted Jose!

What makes you say that? We really haven't seen much of her skills. I don't remember anything that was unique compared to several others from past seasons.

[ProfCrash]

Her shelter is much farther along then the shelters we have seen in the past. I don't think that I saw a raised bed and a full fledged fire place in doors until the first month was done, perhaps longer. Her shelter is a ton better then the final shelters we saw in the first two seasons and is on par with some of the shelters that we saw last season. Last season the contestants had lots of bamboo to work with, which was a massive upgrade from the building material on VI. So the fact that she built a shelter that looks like it could have come from Patagonia is, to me, impressive.

I still think Jose was massively overrated. We did not see a ton of his camp but his boat, while pretty, took forever and was not functional.

[holly4755]

I am afraid for tonight and heavy rainfall, all buildings on the side of the hill may go. 

[ClareWalks]

I will say that Brooke appears to be the only "camper" survivalist (as opposed to "hiker") who understands WTF their job is out there. Nobody else did jack shit to establish a homestead. It's like they don't care if they win or not. Brooke cares...or if not, she at least wants to be comfortable and make her partner comfortable while they're out there. Everyone else is all "let's hang a tarp from a branch and...that's it, fuck it, I've got fishing to not do."

[SRTouch]

On 7/6/2017 at 11:57 PM, LittleIggy said:

Dave was really impressed by the shelter Brooke made (as he should be). What kind of shelter did Sam's dad build?

Or the Baird Bro camper - surely not just a tarp overhead to keep the rain off as shown in the preview. Had to laugh after Hiker Bro talking about how he hoped to come into camp to find smoked venison and venison steak on the fire.

[Jeanne222]

I'm really excited for tonight.  Even more excited for Alone than Big Brother.  Imagine that!!!   :)

[SRTouch]

On 7/7/2017 at 1:22 PM, simplyme said:

I'm glad someone else laughed as hard as I did at the other Baird brother throwing a stick at the grouse. Just save your energy, you idgit. I also am not sure if there actually was a cougar there. There could have been, or he could have been overly paranoid, or he could have used the scat he saw earlier to play for the cameras.

Ok, I've said it before, I'm not a hunter. But I do enjoy reading about animals, and it just seems to me this is more playing to the camera for airtime with little hope of success. First, maybe a thrown stick would work if the bird was foraging, but it looked to me like it was a sentry. From what I remember, grouse are normally sort of solitary birds, but nest at the foot of trees and/or rocks, and sometimes gather at good feeding grounds. Hmmm, again, not a hunter, but maybe he should have looked for other birds foraging instead of wasting time trying to sneak up on the alert bird.

As for the cougar, maybe it was a curious cougar in the night, not sure how VI mountain lions react to humans in their territory. OTOH, from what I've read, cougars can travel up to 20 miles a day while roaming their territory, so not sure how worried I'd be to find scat while making camp. Anyway, I think cougars are more ambush predators.

Edited July 13, 2017 by SRTouch

[SRTouch]

On 7/9/2017 at 4:12 AM, Stoned said:

Hear,hear.The previous seasons had Me glued to the TV,but this season is like background noise when I'm on the pc,or other things..

Yep, here it is Thursday and I finally watched last week's episode. Same thing last season, where I started out watching as soon as it came on, but then recording the last 2-3 episodes and watching them all at once.

[SRTouch]

On 7/10/2017 at 11:24 AM, Canada said:

That's actually a really good point.  The axe would have been ideal for building a shelter, yet the dad didn't have it.  It's almost like they knew dad was never going to build a shelter, so they didn't give him the axe.  So, what was dad supposed to be doing?  He certainly wasn't gathering food.

Not just building the freaking shelter, but maybe cutting/splitting firewood and building a freaking covered wood rack to dry some... couldn't believe he's complaining about not having any dry kindling/wood and being unable to start a fire. Like someone else said, he's needs the son lots more than the son needs him.

[muffkins]

Quote

 First, maybe a thrown stick would work if the bird was foraging, but it looked to me like it was a sentry. From what I remember, grouse are normally sort of solitary birds, but nest at the foot of trees and/or rocks, and sometimes gather at good feeding grounds. Hmmm, again, not a hunter, but maybe he should have looked for other birds foraging instead of wasting time trying to sneak up on the alert bird.

Unless you are really accurate and have a spear or aboomerang, chucking a stick at a grouse really isn't going to do much.  A slingshot or bow and arrow would be better, or one of those things with the balls on either end, connected with a line.  A bolo?  Anyway, hope they eventually catch one, grouse are tasty.  I think I ate more grouse than chicken for a few years.  I used to take great pleasure in eating them after they had scared the crap out of me by exploding up in the air out of a bush.  All you see are wings and feathers as they fly up in front of your face.  I really prefer a cooked grouse to a live grouse.