(S14E10) After last week's rather blah episode this week redeems the season with some very interesting last minute machinations. This may be a season with a really good last few weeks because unlike in some other seasons were alliances were set in stone, this crowd tends to be flighty and unsure and neither core team has enough votes without trusting some of the fringe players.When we start off this week, the quiet leader Earl is dealing with the loss of Michelle and the possibility that Mookie and Dreamz are suspect. One of the best parts of this season is watching Earl strategize. Like Yul, last season he is constantly reassessing and ready to make moves quickly but his alliances are a lot less solid than Yul's ever was.
This week's reward challenge is the popularity contest challenge where people have to guess what the consensus of the tribe was. This challenge also lets people get each other out of the challenge so it is telling that Stacy is the first out, quickly followed by Boo.
Who would you most like to be stranded on a desert island with? The answer is Yau-Man of course!
Who smells the worst? It's Dreamz.
Who mistakenly believes they are in control of the game? Alex.
Cassandra wins the challenge by guessing every answer right and she sends Mookie to Exile Island which really angers him. She picks Boo, Dreamz and Yau-Man to join her on her yacht adventure. It's all well on the yacht but once they return to the beach, Dreamz is seen as suspect for hanging with Alex and Edgardo but he make it up to Earl and Cassandra by telling them that Mookie has the idol. Earl's incredulous "it's a turtle" act is just one more reason to love this guy.
This week marks the first individual immunity challenge. It's the standard endurance challenge. Cassandra is the first person out. Edgardo drops, Earl slips, Mookie falls, Alex is out, Dreamz is down, Stacy gives in, Boo eventually falls and Yau-Man wins.
Mookie, Alex and Edgardo are in a tough spot because they have to confide in Dreamz about their plan to vote out Earl. Yau-Man tells Stacy to vote for anyone but Earl but Alex is pushing her to vote for Earl. Edgardo gets worried and wants to protect Alex with the immunity idol. Mookie isn't itching to use the idol at this point. Earl know that Mookie has given the idol to Alex and so they plan to target him. At the last minute though Edgardo decides they should switch their vote to Cassandra and Earl, et al decide to try for Edgardo. Basically no one knows who to vote for and chaos reigns.
Alex plays the hidden immunity idol. Dumb, dumb move. It's a rather delicious tribal council watching Dreamz and Earl try to cover their smiles. The votes come down to Edgardo and Cassandra and Edgardo gets out. Mookie and Alex are stunned and angry. (ooo, scowly) Interestingly the played idol will be rehidden with new clues on Exile Island. Will this make people send their allies into exile?
In his farewell speech Edgardo takes a swipe at Cassandra. I'm not sure why they dislike her so much.
Next week, Dreamz is on the hot seat and Alex and Mookie have a new plan.
I''m giving tonight's episode a 5. It was more satisfying than last week but the challenges weren't too exciting and sometimes I really feel like Jeff is just phoning in tribal council at this point.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
4-20-2007 @ 7:29AM
Mel said...
So Dreamz could either be an idiot savant or he could just be an idiot.
Best episode of the series in a long long time. Wonderful editing as well. Mookie's showing his true colours, and that's great to see. The season needs a new villain.
Poor, unassuming Cassandra is growing on me as a player and it can't be easy being Stacy on the island right now. But props to her for sticking to her guns and not being bought in by Alex's sweet talk. Alex falling off the proverbial pedestal (not like Michelle, thankfully) was a bonus.
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4-20-2007 @ 7:33AM
Mel said...
What was the last comment Edgardo said about Cassandra? I couldn't understand what he said.
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4-20-2007 @ 8:04AM
Max said...
I don't understand why Dreamz was so happy at Tribal. Doesn't he realize that he was the only one that voted for Mookie? His "alliance" is using him for info, but cutting him out of the loop. That's going to bite him in the butt.
And Yao-Man was hilarious with him ear-to-ear grin at Tribal. Best episode of the season.
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4-20-2007 @ 7:56AM
grumpyoldman said...
One of the greatest Tribal Councils ever. The looks on Edgardo and Alex's faces as they realized they were going down the toilet was priceless. I hope Earl remembers that it was Stacy who suggested switching to Edgardo!!!!
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4-20-2007 @ 8:43AM
Flutie said...
Someone already mentioned this, but it's great when they show Edgardo's reaction shot...I thought that was a classic Survivor moment....He was grinning, saw his name, and then realized exactly what they did......It was sweet!
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4-20-2007 @ 9:51AM
Erika said...
I hope Yau-man wins the whole thing - he seems to be getting stronger and smarter as the show goes on.
Dreamz is in biiiig trouble.
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4-20-2007 @ 10:05AM
Dave said...
Awesome episode! This is what Survivor is supposed to be!
That was a huge revelation by Jeff - the idol will be re-hidden. Look at all the deception that both tribes had to go through to find them the first time. Now with everybody in the same camp, and in two very distinct groups, how will anyone find the time and privacy to uncover it again? Each alliance will have to be diligent to keep watch over camp to prevent the other side from searching. This is going to be fun!
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4-20-2007 @ 10:11AM
Allen Mendelsohn said...
Wow. Finally, a good ep this season. Real strategy, drama, excitement. It's good to have Survivor back!
Someone at TVS want to do something about the comment spam??? Never seen that on TVS before...
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4-20-2007 @ 11:36AM
David said...
While guest hosting on "Regis and Kelly" this week, Jeff Probst mentioned that last night's Tribal Council was going to be awesome -- he noted that long-time Survivor fans were going to love it. In our household, we all cracked up laughing, gleefully, when Alex's face fell to the ground when it hit him that he had been outwitted. It was a wonderful episode!
Too bad Earl REALLY REALLY REALLY screwed up by leaving Dreamz hanging out to dry. Maybe Earl has a good plan for dealing with Dreamz, who is going to be scathing mad at him next week, but I'm not getting it yet. It was an unnecessary mistake, imho.
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4-20-2007 @ 11:57AM
Amy said...
I don't see that it was chaotic at the end. Stacy, Earl, Cassandra, Boo and Yau-man all agreed to switch their votes to Edgardo and they deliberately left Dreamz out since no one is sure whose side he's on. And yep, Dreamz is in big trouble, he's going to have to explain that vote to Mookie. I can't wait to see that.
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4-20-2007 @ 1:14PM
Mel said...
Where ye all the Survivor fans? This episode pretty much kicked dust in the face of its detractors. This was as good an episode of television that I've seen all season.
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4-20-2007 @ 4:02PM
Rose said...
Although this season has been lacking some, I have to say, this show knows how to reinvent itself! I'm rooting for Yao-Man all the way!
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4-21-2007 @ 4:30PM
Chris said...
I too am wondering if they have just decided that they don't really need dreamz (gosh I hate writing that). Earl really appears to be the ruling master of this game, it was pure genius to get dreamz to betray everyone, test his loyalty (see if he was going to vote for mookie ), and get the enemy's immunity idol out of the game. If dreamz had been double dealing with them, mookie would have had the idol back and they would have exposed mookie and still gotten the numbers. I wonder, however, if editing is taking something away from yao man. I wouldn't be surprised if he is behind a lot of the scheming that goes on. I also think that alex and those guys made a mistake going for cassandra, there was no way dreamz was going to be ok with that. If they had targeted stacy I think they might have had a better chance keeping dreamz.
A terribly boring first half of the season has finally revealed a great ending!
/c
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4-20-2007 @ 5:47PM
Joseph Land said...
It's going to be interesting seeing whether the people that win the reward challenge figure out that it is best to send your mates to Exile Island rather then give your rivals the chance at the idol.
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4-20-2007 @ 11:58PM
Paul Little said...
I'm curious, with the idol being re-hidden, if Yau-Man's fake idol is going to come into play. It looks ridiculous, but maybe people will think the idol has changed looks to throw people off. Or maybe not, but I find it weird that they'd show him making and hiding it early on, and yet not have it come into play at all.
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4-21-2007 @ 5:54PM
JDog said...
Not only the best episodes of the season, one of the best episodes of Survivor ever (imo). With Alex & Mookie discovering the other idol, what "new plan" can they possibly hatch to turn that to their advantage? They don't have the numbers unless they can pull Boo and Stacy back in.
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4-22-2007 @ 12:47AM
LC said...
I thought the same thing at first David. Why vote Edgardo out when you can string Dreamz along for another couple of weeks? Then I realized, that they really couldn't trust him. He kept mentioning Mookie and Alex as passing the Idol among them, yet never mentioned Edgardo as even thinking he was threatened. Brilliant move on Earls part on having his team go for the one horseman that thought he was safest.
He couldn't risk telling Dreamz and for good reason. Dreamz couldn't keep the turtle a secret and quite frankly, they really didn't need him once they got Stacey aboard.
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4-22-2007 @ 12:49AM
LC said...
I forgot to add that Earl probably thought Dreamz would blab so in case he did, he would warn Alex and force the idols use.
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4-22-2007 @ 10:51AM
Nosy Wombat said...
I love the expressions on everyone's face at the tribal council before the votes are read. Alex, Edguardo and Mookie think they're being so very clever playing the idol, whilst the others all know what's REALLY going on. Hilarious.
http://www.nosywombat.com
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4-22-2007 @ 9:31PM
Mark said...
This episode only merited a "5" on TVSquad's goofy ratings system? (it's goofy not because it's only to 7 - it's goofy because it's totally lowball weighted - the only "good" numbers are 6 and 7).
This was definitely the best episode of this season, and truly one of the best tribal councils ever. I was saying to my g/f "there's going to be four surprised people at tribal, but all surprised for slightly different things".
- Mookie - shocked Alex didn't even get a vote.
- Alex - shocked that he's not voted, and that Casandra isn't leaving
- Edguardo - leaving - oops.
- Idiot Dreamz - for not knowing the vote was for Edguardo.
I have to say, seeing the promo for next week was really disapointing - they find Yauman's idol!!!??? WTF? I give Yau much more credit normally! You'd think he'd hide the bejesus out of that thing.
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