S37.E08: You Get What You Give

[Eolivet]

I was spoiled for this ending on Twitter six minutes after the episode aired on the East Coast, but I realized the editors did a really good job foreshadowing it. It was subtle, but it was right before tribal council, when someone (Davie or Nick?) said, "Who's their leader?" It was the only hint we got of who they might be targeting.

I'm all in on Mason-Dixon-Davie.

[susannot]

I have a kind of feminist feeling for Angelina.  When she said that a woman can have an idea that is disregarded, only to have the exact same idea advanced by a man a moment later, that is familiar to me.  It happened to me many times in my professional career and the awful thing is that most people didn't even notice it or act like the behavior was at all concerning.

So, I am rooting for her as the last surviving Goliath, although I still want a David (Davie) to win.

[Bryce Lynch]

1 hour ago, cooksdelight said:

I was really hoping that Angelina’s begging would fall on deaf ears.

 

That guy was stupid for saving her. I hope it comes back to bite him in the ass. I will miss John.

I thought Dan was an idiot for saving Angelina.  But, as it turned out, he didn't really save her as John had 3 votes and she had 2.  Still, he wasted an idol trying to save that harpy.

[Wandering Snark]

4 minutes ago, Eolivet said:

I'm all in on Mason-Dixon-Davie.

And hopefully this represents the end of the 'Rock Stars'.

[EllipticalAddicted]

I love this season.   Bravo.    John showed a classy exit, laughing when he saw it was him.    

 

What did Nick say to John at the end (in good fun), something like "and that's jumping from the top rope" .   I know it was a wrestling phrase.     The whole thing was just shocking, surprising and fun.    Well done!!!

[Eolivet]

1 minute ago, susannot said:

When she said that a woman can have an idea that is disregarded, only to have the exact same idea advanced by a man a moment later, that is familiar to me

But the thing is, I don't believe that's what happened here. This wasn't a business meeting where a woman had an idea and five minutes later, a man took credit for it. This was a suggestion for a vote that happened three days ago. She tried to dictate the Christian vote, the group came back and said it wasn't the right vote and she threw a hissy fit. Then the group decided it was the best option for this vote, and again, she threw a hissy fit.

And unlike a business meeting, who cares whose idea a vote is? Is this freaking Will Wahl and "I want a resume, I'm tired of people not respecting my ideas" all over again? For someone who absolutely insists she's not managing a jury, boy does she seem anxious to make sure she gets the credit she believes she is due.

[susannot]

Thanks Eolivet.  I often just pay half attention to the show while doing other things so probably misinterpreted everything.  It was not a business meeting but business meetings are often as you portray.

[willco]

I figured Christian wasn't going, it was too early in the episode for that talk to pan out. But since it seemed that more than one idol might be played, I had no clue who might be 'it'. Then they cancelled out the 2 with the most votes and I REALLY didn't have a guess. Very weird that it turned out to be John, as I heard no one say his name. I thought maybe Mike was at risk, since he was the one who seemed to be balking on one of his alliances. They did a good job tonight keeping the suspense ! Dan might regret saving Angelina, though. Most people seem to want her gone.

[susannot]

I still don't get why they targeted John.

[GenerationX]

Random thoughts on episode 8 - "Threat Level Midnight"

• It's not often that someone flips on a future alliance, but Secret Agent Mike managed it.
• Brochacho Blindslide, indeed.  Good to see John's sportsmanship.
• You have to love when Survivors give Peachy crap, and calling him on his patter was priceless:  "We've got nothing for you, either" and several of them mouthing "Immunity is back up for grabs" in sync with Jeff.  Heh.

[MerBearHou]

2 minutes ago, susannot said:

I still don't get why they targeted John.

John has major strength and a great personality.  He’s a quiet leader.  Big threat in every way IMO!

[princelina]

31 minutes ago, North of Eden said:

Okay now that the positive is out of the way let me take a moment to tear down Mike. I never cared for him on TAR and after tonight when he was talking smack about Gabby I absolutely loathe him. He looks like such a prick sitting there pontificating how smart he is with his stupid looking clown hair. What I would really have liked to have seen tonight was Alec clearing spelling it out to everyone in the six that Mike is NOT to be trusted....that he was the instigator of the Christian blindside. I cannot wait for the episode when he gets sent packing. The sooner the better. I was anxious tonight that when the others realized Christian was going to be in trouble they would include Mike in their planning to save him and he'd spoil it.

 I don't think they would have because Nick knew it was Mike.  From what we saw tonight Nick is pretty good about keeping his mouth shut!  He told Christian to chill, but didn't explain everything.  He told them the Goliath's were gunning for Christian but didn't expose Mike as the traitor.  I guess I should have known that about him since he is able to keep all of his alliance names straight :)

I never knew who Mike was before this show, and have liked him so far, but he put himself on my list tonight!

[Neveragain]

1 hour ago, vb68 said:

I love Davey!  He becomes more and more a favorite each week! He's such a fun player, and he's smart! I think John ironically sealed his own fate talking about how you have to give to get something back...yada yada. Davey was clearly torn, but he was taking it all in.

I love him too!  On a shallow note, he’s adorable with that wink and I even like the toothpick in the mouth thing, he looks kinda cool.  And he’s sharper at this game than I thought. But I’m disappointed he used it on someone other than himself, even though I really like Christian. I think the best thing is to only use idols or other advantages to save yourself. And never tell anyone until the minute you use it.  Possibly though he used it keep the tribe from being pagonged, so I guess in the long run he was indeed saving himself.  But now he’s on the radar, and has no idol, and I don’t want him to go so I’m a little worried 

[OutOfTheQuestion]

51 minutes ago, susannot said:

I still don't get why they targeted John.

John was one of the core Goliath people (with Kara, Dan, Angelina) who hadn't given any indication about flipping, and were the most overtly "Goliath strong."  Since there was some real 3D chess here with the idols, the group probably suspected Dan would play his idol on either Angelina (since she was the obvious target) or maybe Kara, his island GF.  It's the old strategy of targeting the person in the alliance who isn't the most obvious threat at the moment, a la Edgardo in Fiji. 

Edited November 15, 2018 by OutOfTheQuestion

[nutty1]

Dang Dan. Why did you change your mind!?

Am I the only one who likes Nick?

[303420]

All right, God dammit, I'mma say it: I'm a FANGELINA.

1 hour ago, LanceM said:

Wait how was that bullshit?  Angelina is absolutely right.  The reason Christian is such a threat is because EVERYBODY loves the dude.

EXACTLY. She was exactly right last week about targeting Christian and about being concerned when other Goliaths wanted to save Christian. She was exactly right tonight when she said that Christian's connections were exactly why he needed to be voted out. For her game, sure, but that's all she should care about. She's definitely getting a goat edit, but I'm going to stand behind my Latina sister all the way to the final three if she makes it. And if not, I'm going to enjoy her saying "I TOLD YOU CHRISTIAN WAS THE BIGGEST THREAT" from the Jury.

Dan's playing the idol was a classic blunder along the lines of "I clearly cannot chose the wine in front of me." He failed to anticipate that they were both poisoned and that the Davids had developed an immunity to Iocane.

Otherwise, in general, I'm with the sentiment that I'm super sad to see John go, but it was a great episode and John's a shoe-in to return. 

1 hour ago, wallflower75 said:

Exactly.  Having said that--this was a pretty darn good episode.  Although it would've been better if Dan hadn't saved Angelina.  Because who would want to go to rocks for her--especially when the alternative was John?

I  began this reply by commenting that the Goliaths didn't know that John was the alternative, which is true, but in running through the possible scenarios in my head, the only thing I can think is that Dan thought that if all the votes were nullified, then they'd revote on whatever secondary target they'd already picked.

42 minutes ago, princelina said:

 I don't think they would have because Nick knew it was Mike.  From what we saw tonight Nick is pretty good about keeping his mouth shut!  He told Christian to chill, but didn't explain everything.  He told them the Goliath's were gunning for Christian but didn't expose Mike as the traitor.

YES. Basically Nick told Christian to trust him, and Christian did (because of Mason-Dixon? Who knows?). We don't know whether Christian was in on the whole plan or whether he just trusted Nick and voted the way Nick told him to vote. I can see it either way. If Christian wasn't in on the idol (which I truly don't think he was), it speaks well for his ability to sit back and trust rather than blowing his top when he becomes a target. I'm still a fan.

I do think Nick was in on Davie's idol, however. All of this puts Nick in an excellent position.

1 hour ago, North of Eden said:

Anyway, we learned tonight that Angela's luxury item was not a razor.

You gotta be kidding me. It's 2018 and we're still making women with hairy pits jokes? C'mon. Do better.

[Lantern7]

1 hour ago, Haleth said:

There were 12 pizzas. 

For six people. Of course. Not wasteful at all. Seriously, even if those were personal pan pizzas, two would still be too many for me.

ETA because @Mswldflwr also came up with the pizza total. And now, a cheap shot:

2 hours ago, PaperTree said:

A classic Survivor moment.  Where is tat dude Scot today?  The gutter where he belongs?

Like I said back then, he went back to his natural habitat: the bench.

Edited November 15, 2018 by Lantern7

[SuburbanHangSuite]

2 hours ago, vb68 said:

I actually jumped for joy that Dan burned his Idol! My dog thinks I'm crazy!

 

 

My dog just returned to the room after being rudely jolted from his dead sleep at my shriek and clapping on the final vote reveal.

Brochacho Blindside indeed, John.  Way to be a good sport about it.

I love Davie but now I'm worried for him.  Everyone knows his harmless rock choreography was just window dressing and home boy is a player.  

Great, great episode.

 

5 minutes ago, nutty1 said:

Am I the only one who likes Nick?

No!  I love Nick too!  Funny how my opinions have changed over the course of the season.

Edited November 15, 2018 by SuburbanHangSuite

[MisterBluxom]

1 hour ago, dizzyd said:

I ❤️ this episode so much! This is what this fucking awesome game is all about. Loved, loved, loved it. Now I'll blissfully let you guys elaborate and enjoy ?

 

Oh my gosh!  I have not yet watched this episode. I am just now going to do that.  But, before I do, I just wanted to say how much I love this forum. 

So, here goes:  I LOVE THIS FORUM!  I sure do hope y'all won't mind my enthusiasm busting out like this.

I promise that I've not gone nuts. At least I hope not.  I just believe this is the best user forum anywhere and that is entirely due to all of you.  You people are the greatest!

[SuburbanHangSuite]

2 minutes ago, MissBluxom said:

Oh my gosh!  I have not yet watched this episode. I am just now going to do that. 

Get thee to your tv immediately!  You won't be disappointed but I hope the forum chatter hasn't lessened the glee you would feel if you were completely unspoiled.

[princelina]

8 minutes ago, nutty1 said:

Dang Dan. Why did you change your mind!?

Am I the only one who likes Nick?

No - I didn't mind him from the beginning and like him more each week.

[CraftyHazel]

26 minutes ago, 303420 said:

**SNIPPED**

Dan's playing the idol was a classic blunder along the lines of "I clearly cannot chose the wine in front of me." He failed to anticipate that they were both poisoned and that the Davids had developed an immunity to Iocane.

 

I think I love you.

[TVFan1]

Now, that's what I call a true blindside! Great job by The Davids. I love this show so much.

[Eolivet]

Forgive me if this was pointed out already, but it was pointed out on Twitter that there were only two David votes for Angelina (Carl and Gabby), and the other three (Nick, Christian and Davie) voted for John.

Meaning they flushed one of Dan's idols, and all of Angelina's begging was for an idol she didn't need.

Will be interesting to see if Jeff emphasizes this in the narration next week.

[BK1978]

43 minutes ago, Neveragain said:

I love him too!  On a shallow note, he’s adorable with that wink and I even like the toothpick in the mouth thing, he looks kinda cool.  And he’s sharper at this game than I thought. But I’m disappointed he used it on someone other than himself, even though I really like Christian. I think the best thing is to only use idols or other advantages to save yourself. And never tell anyone until the minute you use it.  Possibly though he used it keep the tribe from being pagonged, so I guess in the long run he was indeed saving himself.  But now he’s on the radar, and has no idol, and I don’t want him to go so I’m a little worried 

I spent the entire TC thinking, "Where the hell did he get that toothpick."  I agree, he was thinking long term here because he knew everything everyone had (both Nick and Carl's advantages) in his alliance advantage wise.  Therefore, he could go for the throat during this vote.

I would have thought they would have went after Dan instead of John.  Mainly because I thought it was known but everyone that Dan had at least one Idol.  They had reason to believe that Dan thought Angelina was going to be the David vote so maybe he would not play the Idol.  Or maybe I am just overthinking things.

[Irishsecra]

Was a mike fan before today.

No longer, can’t believe how he turned on Christian and blew up his new alliance.

all because he felt Christian was smarter and more liked than him. And also had no qualms with blindsiding Nick.

He was in a good position in the game before this turn of events now the Davids will never trust him and he is on the bottom of the Goliaths. Way to screw up your game 

[blackwing]

3 hours ago, susannot said:

Now THAT was a good episode!  Way to read the room, adorable Davie.  The Goliaths keep talking about Christian as the biggest threat among the Davids and maybe he is, and I love him.  But Davie was definitely the Playa of The Game this week.

I didn’t think he read the room, his words were just an act.  He knew exactly what was going on because Alec told Nick that Goliath was voting out Christian.  Nick must have gone to Davey and Christian.   I can’t figure out if Alec is really with the Six or if he is just dumb.  The Goliath portion of the Six all voted for Christian.  It didn’t work because Alec sold them out.  

Would much rather have kept John instead of Angelina.

[Fiftyninth]

I have to admit, when it seemed like the Davids were considering another target before tribal, instead of Angelina, I thought voting out Kara was how they would try to weaken Dan and the Goliaths. I didn’t even stop to consider John as the alternative target. 

[blackwing]

11 minutes ago, BK1978 said:

I would have thought they would have went after Dan instead of John.  Mainly because I thought it was known but everyone that Dan had at least one Idol.  They had reason to believe that Dan thought Angelina was going to be the David vote so maybe he would not play the Idol.  Or maybe I am just overthinking things.

Dan won individual immunity so they couldn’t go after him.   So they took out the other big strong guy.

[LadyChatts]

20 minutes ago, Eolivet said:

Forgive me if this was pointed out already, but it was pointed out on Twitter that there were only two David votes for Angelina (Carl and Gabby), and the other three (Nick, Christian and Davie) voted for John.

Meaning they flushed one of Dan's idols, and all of Angelina's begging was for an idol she didn't need.

Will be interesting to see if Jeff emphasizes this in the narration next week.

I really hope Jeff does bring it up next week, especially because there was hesitation on his part to play it.  The Goliath's could have split the vote and still sent a David home, but they failed to think that anyone from the Davids had an idol (because unlike Dan, Davie didn't actually tell anyone-nice change for once) or were actually playing the game and weighing their options.  The Davids had nothing to lose and thankfully split the vote, so it didn't go to a rock draw.  

It pains me to think that the Davids might still get Pagonged, because I think they have played a better game so far than the Goliaths (with the exception of Alec, who seems to be thinking ahead and trying to think what's best for his game), and are just more likable.  At least to me.

Edited November 15, 2018 by LadyChatts

[BK1978]

4 minutes ago, blackwing said:

Dan won individual immunity so they couldn’t go after him.   So they took out the other big strong guy.

And I am an idiot for forgetting something that happened only a few hours ago...I am not sure why but for some odd reason I thought it was Alec who had won Immunity.  Okay disregard my previous post...nothing to see there...move along...lol

[urusai]

3 hours ago, cooksdelight said:

If Angelina manages to make it to the finals ..... 

 

“Jeff.... Jeff..... Jeff, please..... Jeff.....Jeff.... Jeff, do you hear me?..... Jeff.....Jeff..... Jeff, please!

I'm thinking she would say that to each jury member.

[princelina]

22 minutes ago, Irishsecra said:

Was a mike fan before today.

No longer, can’t believe how he turned on Christian and blew up his new alliance.

all because he felt Christian was smarter and more liked than him. And also had no qualms with blindsiding Nick.

He was in a good position in the game before this turn of events now the Davids will never trust him and he is on the bottom of the Goliaths. Way to screw up your game 

IMO it started with sour grapes because he didn't get to eat delicious Survivor pizza.  "Losing this reward made me realize that I'm here to win, not get rewards - and some people are happy to forget why they're here and just enjoy the moment of eating pizza" -- sez the guy who ain't eating pizza.

[MisterBluxom]

1 hour ago, SuburbanHangSuite said:

Get thee to your tv immediately!  You won't be disappointed but I hope the forum chatter hasn't lessened the glee you would feel if you were completely unspoiled.

You were certainly correct. But I am not really happy. It really angered me to see Angelina escape. I achieved maximum anger when she asked Dan, "Did you remember to tell him who it was for?"

Oooh! I feel like cursing and swearing at her. Talk about micro-managing other people. What a beach!

 

But switching to a happier topic. Did you see Gabby's ears when she took that bite of pizza? She was so happy that ...

She started wiggling her ears and although you had to look carefully to see them, it was clearly visible. I was wondering if she got them to beating fast enough if she could take off and fly around the site. For an important addition to this message, see the spoiler box below. I promise I won't really be spoiling anything:

 

I'm just fooling about her ears. I just adore Gabby and her ears so much that I wanted to start some controversy. I hope you all will forgive me because it was just in fun. I hope you all realize that no matter how big her ears are, she can never use them to really fly. But please excuse me if I led you to believe that maybe she could fly.

5 minutes ago, princelina said:

IMO it started with sour grapes because he didn't get to eat delicious Survivor pizza.  "Losing this reward made me realize that I'm here to win, not get rewards - and some people are happy to forget why they're here and just enjoy the moment of eating pizza" -- sez the guy who ain't eating pizza.

When Mike was telling his tale about Christian, I kept hollering at the TV, "Hey! Do you hear what he is saying? Don't you realize it applies all the more to Mike than it does to Christian? This is the perfect opportunity to blindside Mike!

BLINDSIDE MIKE!  BLINDSIDE MIKE!  BLINDSIDE MIKE! 

Sadly, they couldn't hear me. Sigh.

Edited November 15, 2018 by MissBluxom

[MisterBluxom]

3 hours ago, OutOfTheQuestion said:

Mike White, showing the same keen attention to detail that made The Emoji Movie's script such a winner, says "it's not like Carl and Davie will lead an insurrection."

Would I be out of line for getting the feeling that he is aptly named and that he may be allowing his negative racial stereotypes to show? I feel like calling him a real bad name that I will put in a spoiler box so as not to offend you. Please don't look if you don't want to be offended by racial attitudes. But I suspect Mike

is more of a racist prick than are most people.

[alegtostandon]

3 hours ago, cooksdelight said:

If Angelina manages to make it to the finals ..... 

 

“Jeff.... Jeff..... Jeff, please..... Jeff.....Jeff.... Jeff, do you hear me?..... Jeff.....Jeff..... Jeff, please!

I was thinking the same thing.  Also envisioned her begging for unused idols as someone left.  

I really, really hope she's next to go...please, please, please!?

3 hours ago, Straycat80 said:

I loved the big smile on Elizabeth’s face at the end.  It was like she was thinking ‘ I get to be alone for a couple days at Ponderosa with this hunky guy’.  I know I’d be thinking the same thing. 

Feel like I have no thoughts of my own, but that's exactly what I was thinking too!  And c she looked so different in her dress with her hair done.

3 hours ago, Haleth said:

It's a shame to see John go since he seems pretty nice, but that leaves the Strike Force intact, assuming anyone will trust Mike after this debacle. 

I keep forgetting Kara exists. 

I'm glad to find out we were right that the merge feast sign was a clue. 

Is Kara the blonde?  

Add my little dog to the list who was jolted awake by my screaming, she went running to Mr Tostandon, turning to give me the 'what's wrong with you' look.

[MisterBluxom]

3 hours ago, Rachel RSL said:

Yes!! That was amaaaaazing! I’m loving this season!

i really didn’t think Davie would use his idol and I thought my beloved Christian was a goner. More than that though, I was so pissed that we were going to have to sit through a Pagonging. I’m so happy that didn’t happen. (Yet) Sad to see John go but he left with class. He seems like a genuinely nice guy. So smart of the Davids to split the vote. *does the Myposian dance of joy*

Between that and seeing Dan lose the reward challenge because of his own hubris, this was a great episode!

Also, Mike is dead to me now. 

 

I was about to post some vitriol about Mike White here but I realized it would be seriously off topic. I have been sitting on some info about Mike White that is not widely known. But for any of you who don't like him after his behavior in tonight's episode, I will post some info in his thread (if he has one) that I think many of you will find truly offensive because it is so needlessly ugly and stupid.

OK. I posted it in his thread.  http://forums.previously.tv/topic/73859-s37-mike-white/

Edited November 15, 2018 by MissBluxom

[MisterBluxom]

3 hours ago, lids said:

This episode made me realize that Christian is actually really good at this game.

<snip>

I would love to discuss this concept - of being really good at this game.

Unfortunately, I suspect that what I would have to say will likely be either one sentence or more than 100 pages. I will try to say something extremely brief and maybe I'll have more to say if anyone else wants to discuss it. Maybe it would be good to start a new thread at what it takes to be really good at this game.

For the most part, I think that studying every previous season and spending hours and hours learning and analyzing all the plot twists is not really very important. It's probably good to watch a few previous seasons but my basic premise is that the things that make you a really good player is about your skill at surviving in a group of hostile people.

Christian has demonstrated that if he was really stranded on a desert island with a goup of people, he would be able to survive. The important skills involve finding a way to avoid making the other people want to kill him and cannibalize his corpse if their food runs out. I don't know what kind of name to give to this kind of skill. But it's not something that would be widely studied or have a name. But whatever it takes ... YES! .... Christian is extremely good at this game.

[LordBowen]

Oh, Davie, you are the best. Also loved Carl and Nick hugging/falling/laughing after finding the advantage.  Great episode in so many ways.

My hope is Davie, Carl, Nick, Christian and Gabby stay together as long as possible. Would love to see Dan, Mike, and Angelina be the next three out (in any order).

[GaT]

That was AWESOME!!!! Totally unexpected, & I'm glad Christian is still there & sad that Angelina is too.

[30 Helens]

I, too, was disappointed in Mike tonight. I understand why he might not want to go all the way to the end with Christian, but it seemed a little too soon to break that alliance. Having a strong group of six could get you far. Now, he has what? A group of five who don’t trust him for good reason and assorted others who either smell a rat or have no particular allegiance.

4 hours ago, OutOfTheQuestion said:

Mike White, showing the same keen attention to detail that made The Emoji Movie's script such a winner, says "it's not like Carl and Davie will lead an insurrection."

When I mentioned last week that I was a fan of Mike’s work, I didn’t know about the Emoji movie. I am currently reconsidering that position.

I don’t understand why Dan played that idol for Angelina, considering he really wanted her out. Too bad he had immunity, because how delicious would it have been if he had gotten the votes instead of John, and had to leave while burning an idol for someone else.

I’m still not totally on board with Angelina, because of all that jacket nonsense, but I do respect that she’s playing hard and I think that if she were a guy, Jeff would love her.

Hooray for Davey, even though I am a proponent of never playing an idol for anyone but yourself. And props to John, who exited with class. 

And finally, because it had to be said: FUCK YOU BRAD CULPEPPER!

[Ms Blue Jay]

3 hours ago, SuburbanHangSuite said:

I love Davie but now I'm worried for him.  Everyone knows his harmless rock choreography was just window dressing and home boy is a player.  

LOOOL.  Thanks for reminding me

[KimberStormer]

Wooooooow.  How much do I love this show.  I loved pretty much every single minute of this episode. 

I love Angelina, for calling out an experience which is probably almost universal for women, for not meekly accepting being the decoy vote and forcing concessions from Dan for it, and also for being maybe the most awkward contestant ever to grace the island with her presence and constantly hilarious.  I love the new reward challenge, for being legitimately interesting strategically and for an incredible pride-before-a-fall moment.  I love Davie, for figuring out the clue, for doing some Coa-chi to distract the Goliaths while Nick and Carl got the advantage, for using his idol strategically instead of waiting until all it could do was give him three more days (or rather, just one, I guess, now that I've learned the accelerated pace of the game these days.)  I love Nick, for being quietly in every single alliance, for taking care of shit when the need arose but not in a way as to draw attention to himself (did he know about Davie's idol?  He must have, right?)  I love whichever of the Davids realized that if the Goliaths were using Angelina as the decoy vote, it was better to split the vote instead of just going along with that.  I love John for being such a good sport and probably my favorite meathead/muscle bro ever to be on the show (yes please bring him back again!)  I love Alec for realizing that sticking his neck out for Christian twice in a row was too much and that the Strike Force was over if Mike was against it anyway, but making a move to keep himself in the good graces of the David side of it and possibly take out a Goliath threat (that's not him) if they had any tricks up their sleeves.

I even like Mike being such a chicken because it was a deliciously nasty edit he got: getting called out by Angelina of all people, saying "Christian's as smart as me," dismissing any possibility of Davie or Carl doing anything as @OutOfTheQuestion noted, just generally looking like a hapless moron the whole episode.  And Dan, getting goofily outplayed the whole episode, including outplaying himself in the reward challenge.  Just a delight from start to finish, this episode, I can't complain about a single thing, except I suppose for not getting any more of John's wry, charismatic confessionals.

4 hours ago, susannot said:

I still don't get why they targeted John.

There were little clues scattered, I think the main one was that they decided Dan was the leader (somewhat dubious idea, but OK) and they wanted to weaken him; since John was his fellow brochacho they knew the two were tight.  And I imagine they saw him as more of a challenge threat than Kara, who is Dan's other closest ally.

[SVNBob]

4 hours ago, truthaboutluv said:

Man those Goliath's have it out for Christian. Thing is, much as I like Christian, I'm not seeing why they think he's such a threat. Yes, he's smart but his book smarts haven't helped him in the first two individual immunity challenges and so far, I actually feel like Christian seems to be playing a rather passive game. I don't see him strategizing and sneaking around. He seems to just get along with people and trust them and yet those fools are convinced he's their biggest threat when Nick's there with his million alliances.

The bolded is exactly why he's a big threat.  He's not the obvious mental threat, as he's been trying to downplay that since the Day 1/Hour 1 challenge per his own words at this TC.  But he's a huge social threat.  Everyone seems to like him, and doesn't really want to vote him out...which means he could be able to "sneak" his way into FTC, then win because the jury all just like him so damn much.   And that's on top of his mental prowess and understated physical game (see a Secret Scene from a couple episodes ago about the Brochachos.  They all start doing pull ups on a tree limb, with Christian easily doing his in a fully-locked 90-degree angle seated position.)

 

4 hours ago, LanceM said:

Wait how was that bullshit?  Angelina is absolutely right.  The reason Christian is such a threat is because EVERYBODY loves the dude.

The letter was on parchment, but it was delivered inside a full sack of manure.  IOW, it's not what she was saying that was bullshit, but how she was saying it; couching it in terms of "trying to save her own ass by throwing someone else under the bus" when she knew full well Christian was the real target and she was just a decoy.

 

2 hours ago, 303420 said:

Dan's playing the idol was a classic blunder along the lines of "I clearly cannot chose the wine in front of me." He failed to anticipate that they were both poisoned and that the Davids had developed an immunity to Iocane.

 

I  began this reply by commenting that the Goliaths didn't know that John was the alternative, which is true, but in running through the possible scenarios in my head, the only thing I can think is that Dan thought that if all the votes were nullified, then they'd revote on whatever secondary target they'd already picked.

First off, +1 for the references.  Second, I had to go back and refer to the time in SC when all the votes got nullified (not GC's Idol-geddon, but that is related.). In that TC, there was a new vote cast, with everyone voting again, but the two people that played idols still immune alongside the winner of the IC.  Which, if that had happened here, would have meant that Dan, Christian, and Angelina would all have been immune.  Since I doubt there was a back-up plan in place for the Goliaths, this would have been bad for Davie; since his idol play spoiled the Goliath plan, he would probably have become the target in revenge.

 

One other thing to note that I haven't seen brought up yet.  Alec is clearly a superfan.  While Peachy was giving the traditional speil at the IC (From after "C'mon in, guys!" up to the explanation of the IC itself), Alec was either saying  it all along with him under his breath, or at the very least just mouthing it.  And I think he did the same thing at least once before the merge, when Peachy was taking back the big idols.

[Wandering Snark]

2 hours ago, 303420 said:

Dan's playing the idol was a classic blunder along the lines of "I clearly cannot chose the wine in front of me." He failed to anticipate that they were both poisoned and that the Davids had developed an immunity to Iocane.

Oh how I love a good Princess Bride reference. He didn't seem to know to not get in a LAND war in ASIA either!

One thing I've not seen mentioned in our glee was that the show had to "re-use" the feast image with the "map" on it like "Well, nobody caught the idol under the tree thing maybe we'll give them another clue in bright string." But they got it this time!! I'm so glad a David found it because it gives them more options and started the events of the evening at TC.

[loki567]

Yes! Yes!! This episode and this season shows why Survivor made it to season 37. Because when it's good, there's nothing else on television like it. 

[mojoween]

I can’t get behind Angelina’s lamenting of corporate culture.  If you don’t agree with her you’re wrong; if she doesn’t get her way she cries and then runs to Elizabeth and tries to cause chaos; when she’s called out on it she tells a string of lies to save her own ass.

Her story about how Elizabeth found out she was going was so transparent that even DAN saw through it, which means she isn’t half as slick as she thinks she is.

[MissEwa]

8 hours ago, PaperTree said:

HaHaHa!  Bye John!  Good move Dan, you got one of your bros tossed and are stuck with Angelina.  HaHaHa!

7 hours ago, leocadia said:

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Dan was decidedly NOT smart to use his idol to save Angelina.  It seemed like his competitive spirit kicked in and didn't want the David's to get any kind of an upper hand.  Now that John paid the price, I hope he regrets that decision. 

John was the target - he would have gone anyway. Dan wasted his idol (although there are so many votes it was confusing to work out until the very end). 

7 hours ago, lids said:

That said, I have such a love/hate relationship with Angelina. That part where she talks about being a women and suggesting a good idea and no one wants to listen until a guy suggests it five minutes later is completely accurate. As conniving and inauthentic as Angelina is, I think she’d get less flack if she was a man playing that way. Men are expected to take charge/be bossy and self-first. When they see Angelina do it, they act like she’s overstepping social boundaries.

6 hours ago, susannot said:

I have a kind of feminist feeling for Angelina.  When she said that a woman can have an idea that is disregarded, only to have the exact same idea advanced by a man a moment later, that is familiar to me.  It happened to me many times in my professional career and the awful thing is that most people didn't even notice it or act like the behavior was at all concerning.

So, I am rooting for her as the last surviving Goliath, although I still want a David (Davie) to win.

This and this. When she was talking about that I was relating hard. And yes, it wasn't five minutes and it was a different vote, but I still totally got it. I've been on the Angelina hate train all season but this episode really turned that around. She is awful in some ways but at least she is trying to play. 

5 hours ago, 303420 said:

You gotta be kidding me. It's 2018 and we're still making women with hairy pits jokes? C'mon. Do better.

Thank you. 

This was a great episode. The editing this season has been great - subtle foreshadowing but not enough that the results are obvious, and almost everyone is getting *some* sort of edit. I liked John but I'm glad they got a Goliath out (if only because I was doing the math when the Davids were celebrating their extra vote and thinking it was a shame they rolled over so easily last week because that vote would only have got them to 6-6). 

A really good episode for Davie, who's been kind of invisible for a few weeks. Although had he really not told anyone about his idol? He got them to split the votes and I don't get why they would have bothered if they didn't know. 

I couldn't stop wondering during the immunity challenge what the rules are about survivors who fall out of the challenge. The water was right there and it looked so hot and I kept waiting for someone to just dive in before heading for the losers bench. Guessing it's forbidden but damn it must have been tempting. 

[MisterBluxom]

6 hours ago, 303420 said:

Dan's playing the idol was a classic blunder along the lines of "I clearly cannot chose the wine in front of me." He failed to anticipate that they were both poisoned and that the Davids had developed an immunity to Iocane.

Wow! What a great post! I'm not at all sure that I understand what it means. But someone who writes like that could be another Shakespeare. Why have you not posted more?

Please post more?  Seriously. That is some fabulous writing.

3 hours ago, Wandering Snark said:

Oh how I love a good Princess Bride reference. He didn't seem to know to not get in a LAND war in ASIA either!

One thing I've not seen mentioned in our glee was that the show had to "re-use" the feast image with the "map" on it like "Well, nobody caught the idol under the tree thing maybe we'll give them another clue in bright string." But they got it this time!! I'm so glad a David found it because it gives them more options and started the events of the evening at TC.

Aha! No wonder I didn't understand it. I've never seen Princess Bride. I'll have to go see it now. BBL.

[ProfCrash]

8 hours ago, susannot said:

I still don't get why they targeted John.

That was freaking brilliant. John is a huge threat. He is personable, strong and a challenge threat. They took out a huge threat while burning an idol and saving an ally. That is how Survivor is played. I saw a few posts about John potentially being bitter but I doubt that will be the case. John is a professional athlete. You can talk about wrestling being fake but it is not. It is scripted but those men and women are still flinging their body around and hitting each other, and the mat, hard. There are ways to lessen the physical impacts but those are still hard core hits. Most of the Pro Wrestlers have played plenty of other sports and competed at a high level, they understand winning and losing and sportsmanship. John is going to be fine and probably more likely to give his vote to Davie for that play.

I came into this season expecting John to be a huge dick and hating him but he has been one of my favorites. He seems to have pulled his weight at camp, hang out with everyone, and was generally speaking a good guy. And he was hot. Very, very hot. Yeah. My first comment when he was voted out was that there were a lot of disappointed women watching at home.

Davie is playing advanced Survivor. He found the idol and kept it quiet. Even when Nick and Carl were discussing their different advantages, Davie kept quiet about his idol. And when he played it. Oh my god was that perfect. He apologized to his alliance for not having told them he had the idol but that he wanted to keep it quiet so he could play it when needed. Then he plays it for Christian. All while playing with a toothpick.

Christian played that as well as he could. He didn't get too worked up when Nick told him they were targeting him. Christian handled tribal well. And Christian demonstrated how much of a threat he was because he voted out his Brochacha.

Nick played that ok. He took the info back to Christian and helped Christian stay calm. He worked with his alliance to find an advantage and not use the advantage, saving it for a later day. He trusted Davie and Carl. I don't know how Nick could have played the advantage better, he went looking with Davie and they found it together. Technically it is Nick's because Nick has it in his possession but I wish that there was a way to have kept it quiet.

That said, I did love how Davie distracted the Goliath's from focusing on Nick and Carl as they went advantage hunting. The Goliath's were a smudge obnoxious where their Tai Chi jokes but points to Davie for knowing that doing what he was doing would distract the others. And props to Nick and Carl for trying to hide by crawling around and staying out of sight when searching.

Carl gave away info about the Nullifier. I am not certain that was great play but I can see how it would be useful to work as a group while down in the numbers.

And then there were the Goliath's.

Angelina was kind of right. She targeted Christian three days earlier because he was a target. What she is missing is that others thought that Christian could be useful to them and hence Christian was not the best vote for them. Angelina doesn't bother me, but I was fine with Chrissy as well. She is annoying and trying to be something that she just isn't. But she is playing and she isn't evil, she is just annoying because she comes off entitled. Entitled to a jacket. Entitled to people liking her. Entitled to people following her. Entitled to an idol. Just entitled. I am sure she sees it as just asking for things with the hoped of people giving it to her and not entitled.

Mike was an idiot. He was in a good place and could have used Christian, Nick and Gabby to help take out some of the physically stronger Goliath's and then targeted Christian. He massively overplayed his hand and shot himself in the foot.

Hopefully things have been stirred up enough that the pagoning BS stops but I suspect that all this did was tighten the original tribal lines.