Okay, Survivor, here’s the thing. If you have to open an episode with a “Previously on” segment recapping all the idols and advantages currently in play in the game, THEN THERE ARE TOO MANY ADVANTAGES AND IDOLS CURRENTLY IN PLAY IN THE GAME. But the worst part about it is that it was extremely helpful. You should be able to keep track of these kinds of things without the showing spoon-feeding the viewers the details. But that’s enough for the mini-rant, let’s get down to the nitty gritty.
Picking up where we left off last week, we catch up with Erika on Exile Island, as she debates between flipping the script to keep herself safe and keeping things as they are, allowing herself to remain in danger. Really, it’s no decision at all. It’s one of the easiest “big” choices ever to be made in Survivor.
Erika can do nothing, and keep six people happy with her who weren’t exactly close allies with her to begin. Or she can turn back time and make herself immune from the next vote. Sure, there can be more to it than that, but there doesn’t need to be. It’s the obvious choice. Even without the added potential bonus of gaining new allies, it was the only decision to make. In a season where production can’t help but get their fingers all up in the game, they kept this one surprisingly simple.
There was absolutely no risk for Erika to smash that hour glass. Even if the initially-safe-now-not-safe group would be upset with her, it would be impossible to fault Erika’s logic behind it. So it was a completely anti-climactic moment when she revealed at the immunity challenge that she made the clear and obvious choice.
Immunity Challenge
In a challenge that would make Quentin Tarantino and Rex Ryan blush, the players use just their feet to release a rope, which drops a bag of blocks. They stack the blocks in a circle, three levels high, before placing a flag in the center.
Ricard beats Sydney by mere seconds, earning the first individual immunity of the season.
Before sending them back to camp, Probst mentions the Shot in the Dark, all but guaranteeing that at least one person will play their’s at Tribal Council.
Pre-Tribal
I need to give Danny some flowers. Back at camp, he’s rightfully upset and annoyed about how things played out. His group won a challenge and was promised immunity, only to see that decision reversed by an unforeseen twist they couldn’t have possibly planned around. It actively punished players for achieving something in the game. I know, I know, this is a “new era” of Survivor, and nothing is safe anymore. But at some point, you need to be able to take Jeff Probst and production at their word. And I think “If you win this challenge you are safe from the next vote” is a pretty good point.
But as correct as Danny is in his thinking here, that’s not something you can let take over your mind in the middle of the game. It’s certainly not something you complain about out loud. Granted, he did it among allies, so it was probably a safe spot for him to do it. But still, at this point there was nothing he could have done. His focus has to be on the upcoming vote, and securing his safety and his group’s majority.
And now, let the chaos begin. Danny and Deshawn have their target locked and loaded on Evvie. But Liana has been close with Evvie since Day 1, and doesn’t want to go after her this early. But once Danny, Deshawn, and Shan are on board, she doesn’t have much choice.
Tiffany tells Evvie about Liana’s Knowledge is Power advantage. I was shocked here, as I had assumed Liana had already told Evvie. Maybe that alliance wasn’t as strong as we were lead to believe. So then Evvie tells Xander who tells Danny (why, Xander?!) who tells Liana (duh!). Everyone is telling everyone everything! It’s madness! It’s chaos! I love it!
Then in a great scene shortly before Tribal, we get Liana, Xander, and Evvie together, walking on eggshells to try to play off that they’re all still together. Xander makes point to show Liana his idol, telling her Evvie is going to be safe, and even going so far as to say the idol is staying with him all night.
Tribal Council
Evvie plainly states she feels like she could see her name written down tonight, but that she wasn’t too worried because she knew Xander had her back with his idol. Xander then even shows the idol package. But then he actually takes the idol out and flashes it around for all to see! I had so many thoughts running through my head at this point. At first, I thought the package Xander showed was going to be a rock or something, just to make Liana think he still had the idol on him. But then when he showed the idol, I lost it. He knows about Liana’s advantage, and he knows Liana knows he knows about it. It’s like that great moment in Friends…
…except that here, everyone knows everything.
Could Xander actually believe that Liana was still working with them and wouldn’t use her Knowledge is Power to steal his idol? Or was there something more at play? Because he and Evvie were really laying it on thick. Alarm bells should have been going off all over the place for Liana and her alliance. Except that they weren’t. Did Liana believe she convinced Xander, Evvie, and Tiffany that she was still with them?
Apparently so, because she uses her Knowledge is Power and asks Xander if he has an idol. PLOT TWIST! He doesn’t. “No, but you can have this fake.” ALKHDGN;AB;DG I love it. Just a perfect response from Xander. We see through a flashback (another well-placed one; Survivor hasn’t always gotten these right this season, but when they have, it’s been great) Xander giving Tiffany the real idol, along with his swapping in of the fake idol. A lot had to fall into place – from both sides – for this to work. And it resulted in one of the top moments of the season so far.
As much as I still hate the Knowledge is Power from a functional standpoint, it ended up working out in spite of itself.
Honestly I'm obsessed with #Survivor players accidentally making the "Knowledge is Power" twist better by letting everyone know that it exists 😂
But even after all this excitement, there’s still a vote to get to. First, though, there was the chance – albeit an almost nonexistent one – that all six players could have been immune. Ricard won immunity, he’s safe. There are three active idols, so in theory three more players could be safe. We know there are two “Safe” scrolls from the Shot in the Dark. If you do the math, that adds up to six. Even though the odds are astronomically against this, it’s still a possibility. And that simple fact is a huge problem. What would happen here? I have no idea. But it’s worth wondering about whether production didn’t see this possibility, or just decided the odds were so long that it was worth keeping things the way they were. But there should never be the chance – no matter how remote – that the game can be broken like this.
And then the Tribal goes “live.” Walking around and whispering abounds. And it’s still just as bad as ever. It’s probably not even worth talking about anymore. It’s all the same talking points over and over. But still, the problems remain.
Aaaannnddd now we get to the actual vote. Before Jeff reads the votes, Sydney reveals she played her Shot in the Dark, and pulls out her parchment. Sadly, she is not safe. Then Tiffany starts to play the idol, but Xander convinces her not to play it. I don’t know how or why, but Xander seemed supremely confident that Evvie was safe. Given the fact that Xander and Evvie had only literally just began working together, I’m not too surprised he didn’t play it for her. If he truly felt good about Evvie’s safety, he now has two strong allies, plus his idol.
And with Sydney’s failed Shot in the Dark, her lost vote proved consequential. She is voted out, by way of a 5-4-3 vote, with Evvie and Deshawn receiving four and three votes respectively. Had Sydney kept her vote, she would have had to vote for Evvie to make a difference. And she very well may have. She knew the vote was between her and Evvie, and unless she felt completely certain in the numbers, voting against Evvie would have been the smart decision. But alas, it’s not to be, as one of my favorite players exits far too early. But because she’s Sydney and awesome, she leaves with fantastic final words,
“I’m relieved I’m not on the jury so I don’t have to see their faces ever again. And I’m just glad I’m me, because what I have outside of this game is 500 kajillion times better, so that makes me feel good, even if it’s super immature.”
Sydney is awesome, she was was much fun. Because Luvu never lost, and therefore never had to go to Tribal until now, we never really got to see how she was as a Survivor player. But she was TV gold. She was a walking soundbite, and the show was better off for it. There are lots of entertaining players left, but Sydney provided most of the humor so far. We’ll see if someone can pick up the slack there.
For now though, we mourn a fallen queen, so we’ll lick our wounds and hopefully come back strong next week.
