(S14E11) Some of you took me to task for only giving last week's episode a 5 rating. And perhaps rightly so, after all it was easily the best tribal council of the season. But I had my hopes set on tonight's episode because the most interesting thing is often the fall-out from a big shakeup. And sometimes players that are outnumbered and cornered suddenly become brilliant strategists. Not tonight.As we begin, Dreamz has some splaining to do but he does a rather ham-handed job of rationalizing what happened to the whole Four Horsemen alliance. I'm not quite sure what he said but he is certainly proud of his scheming. Maybe he thinks they believe him because he believed the other alliance members when they explained why he was the only one who voted for Mookie.
Tonight's reward challenge was an invitation to injury. An invitation Boo readily responded to. Has anyone notice that since the end of Luxury Moto, Boo's gotten majorly cranky? His natural tendency to being accident prone is exacerbated without a soft hammock to recuperate in. Life's hard without a couch.
It's a also delight for Stacy fans tonight because they get to see her in the shower, plugging the Olay shower gel and giving Earl a generous look at all of her assets. At the reward Alex, Stacy, Dreamz and Earl have an awkward meal. Alex seems to hold everyone else in such disdain that can't even let the game go for a minute. Always thinking is one thing, always thinking about a way to screw over your fellow man is another.
When they return, Mookie, who truly has had the worst luck of this entire season is angry and decides to go on an idol hunt. His first stop, Yau-Man's bag. Armed with that knowledge, they start scheming and dreaming of going out "Scarface" style. They'll tell Yau-Man they know about the idol. And he'll do what exactly? Answer, not much.
They confront Yau-Man who is a bit nonplussed by the whole situation. Aw, Stacy says "her heart is hurting right now" when she hears that Alex and Mookie went through his things and tried to strong arm him. Nice move, jackasses.
Tonight's challenge involves a rather fun game of battleship. It's not really much of a skills game. Sure there is some memory involved but it is basically luck for most folks. Stacy is victorious.
At tribal, Jeff is on fire tonight, chiding Alex and Mookie for the idol raid but also cautioning Yau-Man on his bravado. And then we have Dreamz, who never thinks before speaking but I don't think that anyone is really listening. Alex turns Nostradamus saying that past actions can foretell the future. But what kind of action is it when Alex votes for Mookie? Apparently it's the kind of action that gets Mookie voted off. Ouch.
Next week: Is there anything Alex can do to forestall the inevitable? Get the old Moto alliance back on track perhaps? 
Another solid 5 for this week. I'm taking off points for the totally random immunity challenge. I think the challenges should have been reversed. Immunity should be more about skill or endurance or strength than reward should be in my opinion.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-27-2007 @ 3:13AM
Mark said...
I liked this episode, but it didn't hold a candle to last week's tribal council, but overall, it was pretty good. The look on Yau's face when the "two horsemen" (should be two back stabbers, or one back stabber and a horseman) confronted him. Shock, surprise, distain, then that goofy grin.
I felt that the whole Mookie and Alex go off to discuss finding Yau's idol was terribly scripted and / or edited. I mean, they cut to Mookie talking to the camera about their sly ways, then cut back to the "live" action when Mook discovers the girls listening in on them - hence their "sly ways" are gone astray... so when exactly did they interview Mook about his convo with Alex?
One thing I want to get off my chest about what's so *bad* about the rewards this season. They're all the friggin' same! And I don't need the blatant product placement like we got for the Olay stuff - makes me not want to buy it.
The rewards are just a variation on a theme - go relax, get pampered, get fed, get washed, whatever.
IMO, the rewards structure on Survivor should be tied to the hardships level. IE, when they are first starting the game, they're generally in good shape and well fed - so give decent rewards.
DON'T make life easy for any tribe - this haves and have nots this season sucked. Every day should be harder and harder on them. Less food, no comforts, no what have you.
So on the Day 3 challenge, whisk them off to a Fijiian tribal dance and clambake. Give them full body massages, whatever.
Day 7, Day 10 challenge rewards? That's when you start giving them things like food to take back to their camp, or less fancy meals and services.
Day 20? That's when the reward challenge is for a hamburger and fries. Maybe a beer.
Day 30? Rice. Enjoy, and you know they will because if the hardships were truly hard, by day 30, rice will seem like a daylong clambake with the Fijiians.
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4-27-2007 @ 6:26AM
Kyle Beabo said...
Wow, what an interesting night this was. Seeing Dreamz try to 'pal up' to the guys was hilarious.
To paraphrase:
"We know you betrayed us. We did the math man. There were only three votes for Cassandra and four of us. You either voted for Edguardo or Mookie." -Them
"Naw we just got outplayed." -Dreamz
Then the whole sneaking around, blackmail and betrayal stuff. That was all very low. The snakes and rats really did come out.
And what was with everybody hitting their own squares in that game?
http://kylebeabo.blogspot.com/
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4-27-2007 @ 12:37PM
LC said...
Dreamz has to be one of the most idiotic players in a long time. He had a chance to make a difference and level the playing field. He was allied with the two guys (Edgardo and ALex) who didn't treat he and Cassandra like crap, when Lisi and Stacey were when the tribes were separate and what does he do? He betrays them to join a top heavy alliance to be the bottom rung.
Now that everyone knows Yao had the Idol and know how tight he is with Earl, they would be fools to boot Alex. Dreamz and Boo should ally with him and try to convince Cassandra to come over. Stacey really can't be trusted and at this point we can't tell who is higher in Earls alliance, she or Cassie.
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4-27-2007 @ 12:38PM
LC said...
Wish there was an edit feature. I meant to say how Lisi and Stacey treated Dreamz and Cassandra like crap when they were the odd ones out in the original alliance.
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4-27-2007 @ 12:48PM
doug said...
Alex forestall the inevitable? Yikes, he is suddenly key! Earl, Yau Man, Candice are three, Boo, Stacy and Dreamz are on the outside looking in, also three - suddenly, Alex's vote could be very important!
Alex voting for Mookie was such a shrewd move. It seemed as if he had no idea that the alliance was splitting its vote, so his vote was amazingly brilliant. He ended up saving himself, and perhaps for a long time.
This week's episode was not as good as last week's, but there are some things that I love about this season. The random mixup for reward challenges is a great idea, the hidden immunity idols are suddenly more interesting - at least they are being used, the first time since Hogeboom, IIRC, and affecting voting strategy so much.
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4-27-2007 @ 1:24PM
David said...
I don't buy-in to the "Alex is important" stuff right now. I just don't believe Earl and Cassandra and Stacy and Yau-Man (and less so, Boo and Dreamz) will chance anything right now. Alex is a bit of a pompous jerk, and they have a strong alliance, so like two seasons ago, the victorious alliance will vote-out all the opposing players, and only then, eat their young.
I thought last night's episode was blah. Nothing great, nothing bad. It was especially non-interesting after last week's brilliant politicking and tribal council fireworks.
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4-28-2007 @ 12:46AM
BartmanDK said...
Well Mook was voted out :/ i was kinda rooting for him.. So now im in that Stacy camp.. Dont know why, just like her! :D
But i just hope Dreamz (was that right) doesent win! He's a back-stabbing b**ch!!
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