(S16E13) "Win and survive, fail and die." - Erik
Well, maybe you can win and die, too. No, I'm not talking about an odd variant of a James Bond movie. I'm talking Survivor Micronesia. This season has been like a roller coaster ride. While castaways I've been cheering on have been blindsided and cast away much like fish guts to seagulls, I've been enjoying the season nonetheless. After all, it's been their own darn fault!
Read on past the jump for the full review of tonight's show.
Cirie continues to be the Puppet Mistress pulling the strings of everyone left on the tribe. When the promos for this week's episode went on about the biggest blindside ever, I was sure it would have to be that they finally caught on to the fact that she's been manipulating everyone all along. Everything she brings up to any of the others is carefully calculated for effect. And they're all falling for it! Not a one of them see how she's the one not only getting them to do what she wants them to do, but making them think it's their own best route! I'm not sure if the jury sees her game, either. If they do see it and she gets to the end, she should win on strategy. The shame of it all will be if the jury is as blind to her scheming as her current tribemates seem to be.
Tonight's challenges weren't anything all that new or different. During the reward challenge, I was surprised that Erik got any of the questions about previous seasons wrong. The immunity with coordinates, buried puzzle pieces, solving the puzzle, rinse and repeat twice, was only exciting because Erik ran through it like a panicked madman with his shirt on fire. Okay, he didn't have a shirt for half the episode, even worse. Man, that kid's skin was on fire!
None of that really made tonight's episode memorable, though. It was Cirie. She planted the seeds and watched them grow. Oh, yes ... it was Erik, too. As James would say, he just had to bite that apple, didn't he? It was the scheming which has ruled this season in play once again. Since Amanda and Parvati think that Cirie is so with them (she's not, she's fooling them as much as she is everyone else), they don't want either Natalie or Erik to go to Exile and find the new hidden immunity idol -- and it's the last one of the game.
While Erik screwed up their plan by winning reward, he went and bit that apple by letting Amanda work him. He chose her to go to reward with him and sent Parvati off to Exile Island based solely on Amanda talking him into it. And, who got Amanda going on that path? Cirie. Now, Parvati had no desire to find the idol. She desired relaxation. Since the goal was to keep the idol out of either Natalie's or Erik's hands, she napped and sunned.
But the real kicker came after Erik won immunity. He knew his life (in the game) depended on it. So, along comes a scheme by the four remaining women to get Erik to give his immunity to Natalie at tribal council. How can anyone fall for that? Natalie played it off well as she worked the boy over. Amanda played her part. They convinced him that they would vote out Parvati when he balked at giving up his immunity when their plan was Amanda for the boot. But the only plan on the minds of the women was to vote out Erik!
Oh, and whose idea was this? Yep, you got it. It was Cirie. Amazing...he fell for it! The second he gave it up, the jury went wild and the four remaining tribe members had to keep from guffawing! Worse than Charlie Brown falling for Lucy pulling the football away, Erik fell for the evil scheme. He landed harder on his back than Charlie Brown ever did -- to the tune of losing a million dollars. I'm still stunned he fell for it. Call it naivete, call it stupidity. Call it an all women final four for Sunday night's finale.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
5-08-2008 @ 10:50PM
Egg said...
OMFG...James said it all from the jury when he said he's "no longer the dumbest Survivor ever."
All I can add is that Cirie is the Goddess of Survivor FOREVER. I really hope she wins.
And thank gawd that Richard Hatch is still in jail and didn't have to see his reputation further tarnished by realizing he's nothing compared to Cirie.
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5-09-2008 @ 12:19AM
GL said...
Erik is the biggest fool on the planet. That isn't a blindside, that's just taking advantage of a mental patient (no offense to mental patients, who aren't that idiotic, but I had nothing else to go with as Erik has set a new bar for stupidity, foolishness and plain lunacy).
Cirie, I don't see doing a huge snow job. She is just pushing people in a direction they might go with anyway. Still good work, but I don't see the master manipulator at work. Either way, I'm not sure how great she'll be facing the jury.
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5-09-2008 @ 12:53AM
brett said...
Ugh. God, I hate them all. I wish none of them could win. Erik is stupid, yes, but all those women are just hateful. I don't even want to watch the finale now.
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5-09-2008 @ 5:35PM
MCW said...
Agreed. They are the meanest people ever on Survivor. Up until last night, this was my favorite season of the show yet... but what they did was just wrong. If I was Eric, I would have at least started crying when Jeff read his name off. Make them sluts feel horrible for what they did, because they should. I realize it is a game, but these characters are not "Goddesses", they are filthy 15 minutes of fame-whores, and none of them deserves to win, because they haven't stepped up and done ANYthing until last night. Backstabbing S.O.B.'s.
5-09-2008 @ 12:55AM
brett said...
Oh, and Cirie is a goddess? What? She is just lucky, that's all. If anyone this season had any brains, they would realize she is a useless b**** who just sits back and criticizes everyone and does nothing. F*** her.
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5-09-2008 @ 1:55AM
Andrew said...
You sure have a lot of anger towards people you've never met.
5-09-2008 @ 11:05AM
Bob Baft said...
Shut up Andrew. You're a d1ck.
5-09-2008 @ 12:16PM
brett said...
I'm not angry at her, I just don't like her. She and her little coven of witches have made the show no fun to watch. That smile that they all had after they hoodwinked poor deluded ice-cream boy was pure evil.
5-09-2008 @ 1:55AM
MERVE-THE-PERVE said...
That was priceless when Cirie was needling Natalie with a big ol' smile on her face! I can't stand her. They need to get her out next. And somewhere in the world a village is missing their idiot Erik! As Dick Bay used to say - 'Where do they find these people'? They must have took the final 500 fan candidates and given them IQ tests and used the dumbest ones. I'm hoping Amanda pulls it out.
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5-09-2008 @ 6:36AM
Ju-Ju-Bean said...
I think you'll find that the jury does know Cirie's game. If they've watched her season, they'll know how well she calculates every move she makes and every word she says. And in the end, she'll win if she's sitting beside anyone except Amanda, who may have a few votes based on some strategic game play (see finding & playing the hidden immunity idol). Best bet is for the last immunity winner to take Parv with them - what a useless twit!
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5-09-2008 @ 8:41AM
David said...
An exceptionally well-edited, well-told episode. Seeing the light bulb go off over Cirie's head when she had the idea to get Erik to give up the immunity necklace, then watching them pull it off, was fascinating. My viewing party kept saying "OMG... no way he's going to fall for this... OMG... no way...." and then when he started his speech and it was clear he was going to hand over the immunity necklace, we all died laughing.
The haves-vs.-havenots episode where Earl turned the game in his favor, leading him to a win, was my favorite Survivor episode until tonight. Tonight is now my favorite :)
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5-09-2008 @ 9:02AM
Darren said...
They do need to get together and vote Cerie out, otherwise, she will win hands down. The perfect ending last night should have been - Erik giving his immunity up, but having Pav giving him the hidden immunity - thus really screwing everyone up. That would have went down as the move of Survivor - of course didn't happen and he is the DUMBEST survivor ever!
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5-09-2008 @ 9:32AM
Dave said...
Unbelievable. How on earth did he fall for that ploy? What a stupid, stupid move. You don't trust ANYONE in Survivor. Erik (R.I.P) trusted all four of them. James is right, his title has been passed.
With all of the discussions regarding votes, why is it that the discussions NEVER include Cirie? I have yet to hear anyone say "why don't we vote out Cirie?" It boggles my mind to see them overlooking her every time.
As much as I don't want Cirie to win, I have to admit that she deserves it the most. She has engineered the ousting of Yau-Man, Ami, Eliza, Ozzie, Jason, and Erik. And nobody realizes it. She'd better hope the jury realizes it when it comes time to vote.
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5-09-2008 @ 9:55AM
jessie said...
I haven't read your post because I have to say this first:
ERIK IS AN IDIOT! HE THREW AWAY $1 MILLION! ERIK IS AN IDIOT!
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5-09-2008 @ 10:55AM
Eric said...
Erik needs to go back and read some Shakespeare namely Hamlet, it would have saved him in the game.
"And these few precepts in thy memory
Look thou character. Give thy thoughts no tongue,
Nor any unproportion'd thought his act.
Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar.
Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,
Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel;
But do not dull thy palm with entertainment
Of each new-hatch'd, unfledg’d comrade. Beware
Of entrance to a quarrel but, being in,
Bear't that th' opposed may beware of thee.
Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice;
Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgement.
Neither a borrower, nor a lender be;
For loan oft loses both itself and friend,
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.
This above all: to thine own self be true
(edited for brevity)
What Erik didn't realize is that it doesn't matter how the jury sees you, if you never get to stand before them.
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5-09-2008 @ 11:09AM
Dave said...
Wow, Hamlet compared to Survivor. Now I've seen everything.
If you can quote the Bard, I'm going to reference something that struck me during the episode. Cirie reminds me of the antagonist in Agatha Christie's novel, "Curtain".
***spoiler if you haven't read the book***
Someone performing the vilest of acts by proxy through the power of suggestion. That's what she's doing, making others do her bidding while she doesn't get her hands dirty.
5-09-2008 @ 11:08AM
Rickyrapp said...
I'd pull it out for Amanda. And Parvati.
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5-09-2008 @ 11:15AM
I Hate Eliza said...
I think they should "shield" the Jury from the Survivors during tribal council so the jury can see them, but they can't see the jury.
Then we wouldn't be able to see Eliza and her overly annoying responses to everything people say. From the brief glimpses of the Jury last night, it seemed as though Ozzy wasn't happy to be there...sure because he could still be playing the game, but imaging having to sit with and possibly hang out with Eliza. I'd take Exile Island any day over that...
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5-09-2008 @ 11:24AM
Stigmata said...
i really dont like cirie, but i have to give her props. MY GOD, how did she pull that one off? erik has to be the dumbest HUMAN ever, forget survivor. he's supposed to be a fan, he knows all the tricks, he's probably watched every single episode, what a total idiot, deserved every thing he got.
while i still hope amanda doesnt win, it will be hard for people to NOT vote for cirie, cause she really has played the game very very well indeed!
she is unathletic, lazy, bossy, conniving, totally useless member of any tribe, yet she's calling all the shots? wow!
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5-09-2008 @ 11:25AM
Stigmata said...
correction on my post above, should read " while i still hope amanda DOES win...."
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