We skip the post-Tribal breakdown and go right to Coco the next morning, where they open Tree Mail. I appreciate the show wanting to get right to the action. But they couldn’t spend one or two minutes showing us Ryan’s reaction to being blindsided and having his closest ally sent home? Seems like there could have been room for that.
They’re instructed to drop their buffs, the game is about to change. Obviously you think merge, but Karla is a little more reserved. Having seen the last two seasons, she knows there’s probably some sort of trick up production’s sleeve.
Merge?
Coco and Vesi arrive at the Baka camp, as the Yellow tribe welcomes their new (maybe) tribemates. Everyone is kind of on edge, as they’re not quite sure what’s coming next. Jeff isn’t there, they haven’t been given new buffs, there’s no food or merge feast. They all want to get the next phase started, but it’s hard to really start without knowing where the game itself stands.
Noel starts telling Elie about Cody’s bead-adorned hat, alerting Elie to the fact that Cody has the Coco idol. Elie goes to Jeanine, and they start toying with the idea of going with a Baka-Vesi “super majority.”
Challenge
“Earn the Merge” is back (though thankfully without the AWFUL Hourglass Twist). The players are divided into two teams of 6. They have to remove a heavy pile of debris to free a sled, which they drag to a series of stations, collecting crates along the way. After getting all the crates, they build a staircase to retrieve a ring with a set up keys. They climb up a steep ramp, to unlock the pieces to the final huge word puzzle. The winning team is in the merge, safe at Tribal Council, and receive the valuable merge feast. Someone from the losing team will then be the next player voted out of the game.
Since there are 13 players left, that leaves one odd player out. That person picks one team to back, winning or losing with their choice.
Blue: Gabler, Jesse, Ryan, Jeanine, Dwight, Karla
Red: Cassidy, James, Elie, Sami, Owen, Cody
Noelle drew the gray rock, and backs the Blue team.
Dwight and Jeanine cement Blue’s big comeback at the puzzle, securing the first 7 spots in the merge tribe.
Merge Camp
Elie has been getting good vibes from the Vesi group, so she wants to go after either Cassidy or James. They’ll float either Cody or James as the decoy. Cassidy tells Elie she feels closer to James so Cody should be the target. Elie has the same conversation with James, but James doesn’t feel great about working with her. She kind of hem and hawed her way to finally put out Cody as the target, which, in James’ eyes, solidified his feelings about working with her.
Spirits are obviously higher over at the winners’ feast. Out of nowhere, Ryan says this group could be the final 7. Lucky for him, he’s safe, because he keeps proving he’s not very good at this game. They start talking about the vote, and of course nobody is too willing to put a name out there. Well, nobody except Gabler. He tells the group that Elie went through his bag on Day 3, and he would have no qualms about voting Elie here. It’s not necessarily a bad idea, except for the little, tiny, minuscule detail that Elie’s closest ally, Jeanine, is literally sitting right there. It’s a net positive for us, the fans, though, because Gabler gives us one of the best quotes of the season so far:
“By throwing out Elie’s name, I was trying to…throw out Elie’s name.” The man continues to be absolute gold, pure and simple.
Pre-Tribal
Once both groups join back up, Dwight and Jeanine tell Elie about Gabler blowing up her spot, and she denies it 100%. Then Elie blows up on Sami and Owen, still denying she went through his bag. They both categorically deny telling Gabler about the bag search. I honestly don’t remember if Elie physically went through his bag, but she effectively did. It’s semantics.
Gabler actually has some good points, when Elie confirms to Gabler that Jeanine has the idol. Elie says she wants to work with Gabler, but Gabler counters with the point that Elie didn’t share information with him when she had the chance, even though she shared with the rest of the tribe. Baka is imploding and it’s amazing.
Elie is trying to damage control, but she’s got an uphill battle. Vesi is told Elie is the one who originally threw out Cody’s name, so she becomes an easy target for their group. Then Ryan comes to James and Cassidy and tells them Elie’s plan to vote one of those two. Elie is sure looking like the vote, but Jeanine’s idol could be her saving grace. Jeanine, for some reason, thinks they were able to talk Gabler down. But she tells Elie she will play her idol for Elie if she gets a bad feeling about the vote.
Tribal Council
No idols are played. I understand Jeanine’s mindset here. It’s tough to give up something so powerful for another player at this critical point in the game. I’m not surprised Cody didn’t play his. For one, he must have felt good. For another, he simply feels like a player who would like the risk. I honestly don’t know what to think about Gabler. I want to think he didn’t play his so as not to spook Jeanine into playing hers, but I don’t know that he can think like that.
In the end, Jeanine’s read on Gabler was wrong (shocker!) and Elie is voted out. She’s in a tough spot but at least has her idol. And now being separated from Elie could lower her threat level and actually let her fly under the radar for a little bit. But as always, only time will tell.
