I apologize for this shortened format. Two episodes made it tough to put down in the usual scene-by-scene format.
“Perceptions” is Wrong
The StoryThe story is quite fascinating: As soon as we hit the merger, some of the Goliaths talked about flipping over to the Davids but they never did, getting cold feet and falling back on the easy option of staying Goliath strong. Those hesitations cost them dearly because their flirts with the Davids gave enough information to their rivals that the underdogs managed to use their secret advantages to change the course of the game. Now that the Davids could have stayed strong and voted out all the Goliaths, a couple of Davids didn’t hesitate at all to flip to the core of the remaining Goliath tribe. Was it a wise move? Time will tell but it’s certainly the more entertaining way to play the game.
The Characters
Angelina’s story:
It began right after the tribe returned from the Council that saw Dan get voted out. Alison told her that the two votes against her from Kara and Alec were a contingency plan.
Angelina then gave us a confessional: “Having your alliance stab you in the back doesn’t feel good and I will, without hesitation, write any of their names down as quickly and as soon as I can. The Goliath tribe is as dead as dead can be and I don’t think they know how vicious I can be but they are going to find out very soon.”
Despite her vow to use a “scorched earth” strategy, Angelina played the rest of the episode fairly quietly. It wasn’t until the second episode that her story surfaced once more.
After Carl told her that it was going to be Alison. Angelina gave an interview: “Essentially, I have been able to replace Gabby’s position within the historic Davids and put Gabby on the outs. Gabby has become so close with Alison and she’s going to go right down with her.”
Just before immunity challenge, Angelina told us in confessional what she would be asking our host: “The rice has just been quickly depleting basically, at this point, we will be out of rice within one or two days. I immediately identified this has my chance to start a negotiation with Jeff at the next immunity challenge. During my studies for my MBA at Yale there is a required negotiation class and I loved it so much that I actually elected to take Advanced Negotiations so it’s an area that I just love to do. It’s fun to me.”
The scene that followed at the Immunity Arena had quite a funny twist: Jeff had just explained the challenge and exposed what was at stake, the music was swelling as required to set up such an epic battle and then Angelina raised a finger, halting everything including the music. Our host’s hesitation showed his aggravation with the interruption but he quickly recovered his good mood. Angelina would manage to get the rice for the tribe but Jeff showed he wasn’t into any of her offers; what he wanted was to have someone put their life at risk by electing not to participate in the immunity challenge. I guess putting your life at risk isn’t part of the negotiation courses at Yale but Jiffy never went to Yale!
In confessional, Angelina explained her decision: “I wanted it to be me because it’s a big moment for my Survivor story and for my résumé but it wasn’t without risk and vulnerability. My name is the decoy name that is being given but it shows that I’m a risky player that’s willing to make big moves and big sacrifices to make things happen.”
After Davie’s triumph, it was Angelina who gave the post-game interview: “This is best case scenario: Someone in my alliance wins the immunity. Alison is without the necklace so I’m leaving feeling like I’ve won because I was able to close the deal with Jeff and we can take Alison out.”
If we pursue Mike’s comparison to the character in Election, we remember that Tracy Flick’s quest to win a school election was nearly derailed by her own ruthlessness and desperation but we can’t say that Angelina is ruthless and she never went into desperation mode even when the Goliaths turned against her. What we can say is that Angelina’s quest to win Survivor has already been derailed by her ambition to govern the tribe and her poor social game. Providing extra rations of rice would not weigh heavily in the eyes of the jury but it’s doubtful that she’ll even be there to see the end of those provisions.
Davie’s story:
While he was searching for an idol, we heard Davie’s interview: “Me and Nick want to have as many advantages as we can in this game, mainly for me because I suck at these immunity challenges. We started searching focusing on a certain area because most of the clues have been on the other side of the island. At first, we don’t see anything and we start getting nervous because the Goliaths are about to wake up.”
Before the end of the night, Davie will have shown that he doesn’t entirely suck at challenges.
Davie’s interview while Nick was out searching for the idol: “Oh! my God! I’m just keeping guard and Alison is having this reaction from her reward and I’m like Hurry up Nick! Get your ##### back here. I can only cover you for so long.”
At the next reward, Davie had a confessional: “This was the best reward because not only do I get to eat but I was able to prove to myself that I am an athlete man! The fact that I was able to dunk on the first one! It was like come on man! you got this stuff in you dude!”
Davie won the immunity challenge just edging out Alison, the player that was aware she needed the safety provided by the necklace.
I don’t know what winning a spelling contest will do for the “black card” that seemed so important to him. From the start, Davie has been a fun loving contestant and he’s shared his laughs with the audience but now he’s been betrayed by members of his alliance and he could very well feel like he is the next in line if the alliance of Gabby, Christian, Mike, Alison and Kara continue working together. Of course, the previews put that very much in doubt but Davie will not know that during his walk back to camp from the latest Tribal Council shock. How will he adapt to the new situation? The ess waves he makes the better his chances to stay safe but it doesn’t appear that he has the allies to get to the end.
Allison’s story:
Her first confessional came at the beginning of the second hour after being consoled by Christian: “I wanted to fight for Alec and I did but at some point, I realized, just like in a hospital, I can’t save every life. There’s a point in time where someone is in too critical a condition and I think that with him out of the picture, I’m probably the next biggest physical threat there is. So, they’re probably going to target me and I have to prepare for that. I’ve been talking to these Davids about making moves and I didn’t do it. Now look at where I am. Now I’m just praying that Christian and Gabby still want to work together or did I miss my opportunity?”
Alison was staring at the Milky Way when she was saying the last part and we saw the billions of stars so maybe the editors were telling us that there were still many opportunities left for her.
The first opportunity didn’t take long to materialize as we heard in her next interview: “It is music to my ears that Gabby wants to vote together and take out a threat in this game. We’ve been doing a song and dance for five Tribal Councils now but the timing feels right. The clouds are parting, the sun is shining, there is a Hallelujah chorus; we are going to do this.”
Back in camp before Tribal Council, Alison gave an interview: “The margins heading into tonight’s Tribal Council are razor thin. It’ going to be a 5-4 vote, most likely, and the fate of my game rests in the hands of Kara, Christian, Gabby and Mike. So I obviously have that fear today that any of the people that I think is writing Carl’s name, they deviate and I’m just going to be the fifth member of the jury.”
The importance of the Alison Character is very variable. She was absent for large parts of the tribal portion of the season, gained much importance at the merger and then disappeared once more during the first hour of the evening. It’s possible that the editors neglected her story in the first hour because they knew it would regain steam in the second but it seems that Alison is an important part of the story only when she is in danger. It bodes well for her that Mike sees her as the most competitive player out there especially if that feeling is shared by enough members of the jury. But will she make it there? She is in a majority of 3 in her new alliance of five but Mike is already gunning for her. She could wind up in a majority of 4 women if another man gets voted out (it has been four in a row, completely negating the 8-5 lead the males had at the merger) but we know that she doesn’t believe anything Angelina has to say and the feeling is mutual. I doubt that those two can really work together until all the men are gone. Her best hope seems to be in keeping Gabby from turning on Christian but can she resist being part of such a big move?
Mike’s story:
His first confessional of the evening was delivered while he was sitting on the speed boat that was part of the aecond reward: “Winning reward with Carl, Davie and Kara was a triumph because Carl and Davie are kind of in power now. I’m truly a free agent and I feel like use them to my advantage so I felt it was a good time to suck up to the Kings. Kara and I did a lot of sucking up.”
His next interview: “To me, Carl is the Godfather. He brings me over and he’s like; we’re voting Alison and then we were supposed to kiss the ring and then head off to the beach but, for now, I’m kind of OK with that. I think the Davids have their pecking order and Alison is next up so I have to get on my lifeboat and like swim away from the Alison ship.”
After Christian told him he was ready to pull the trigger on Carl, Mike had a confessional: “Christian and Gabby are ready to flip. Christian and Gabby along with Alison and Kara are ready to vote for Carl but they need a fifth and they need me. I definitely feel like I’m in the middle now; there are four on one side, four on the other but it’s a win-win. If Carl goes home then, you know, the godfather is gone and if Alison goes home the wonder-woman is gone and I can make the decision on which can serve my game the best.”
After listening to Angelina’s plan to get more rice, Mike gave an interview: “Angelina is like Tracy Flick from “Election”. Like she knows exactly how much rice we are supposed to eat every day for the rest of the thing. And she’s done an inventory of everything at the camp; the fishing gear, the luxury, the blankets, all that stuff and she’s ready to sell it all down to get some rice. In a way, she’s right but she still is aggravating every step of the way.”
In his last interview before Tribal Council, Mike said: “Right now, there are two camps and I’m in the middle. I’ve made really strong reassurances to both groups that I’m with them. I’m a writer and director but I’m also an actor and I have to do my greatest acting I’ve ever done to just get through this day. At this point, it’s every Goliath for himself and even though Alison and I have worked together from the beginning, Alison is the most competitive person out here so it would actually be easier for my game if Alison goes home. And Carl? I think he’s kind of become the Don Mafia of the camp and it’s annoying. So it’s going to be a hard call because I’m going to be burning some bridges one way or another.”
On the surface it would appear that Mike did make the right decision: His new alliance contains three original Goliaths and only two Davids and all four members of that alliance listen to his input. Had he chosen the other side then his role would have been reduced to playing a simple subject in Carl’s court. On the other hand, voting out Alison would have created an extremely electric atmosphere in camp, Carl knowing that Christian and Gabby voted against him. That tense situation could have served a brilliant man like Mike because Christian and Gabby would have had so much damage control to do that they wouldn’t have had time to concern themselves about Mike’s betrayal. While the return to camp will be calmer, Davie, Nick and Angelina will have plenty of time to reflect on Mike’s double dealing. The actor’s make-up has come off and he is out of lines to recite so how well can Mike ad-lib?
Kara’s story:
Her first confessional happened right after she toasted to the reward losers. She said: “Carl makes the plan that it’s going to be Alec. I’m looking at them and I’m like: We’re really going to be talking about this out loud in front of me? You know that I’m closest with Alec at this point. Carl is very confident after that last Tribal Council but when you’re overconfident in this game, I know for a fact as a Goliath that it doesn’t always go in your favor.”
She warned Alec that he was next to go.
Her next interview came after winning the 2nd reward of the evening: “Winning this reward was so crucial because I really do think that the Davids very well could, from here on out, just pick off the Goliaths one by one. So, it’s a great time to reconnect with Carl and Davie who I came back from Vuku and if we can get any closer, no matter what, it would take me further in the game.”
She soon added: “This is Carl’s first reward. He’s stoked. It’s apparent that he loves beer and he’s not worried about a thing. I don’t know if it was a slip-up on his part but the beers are flowing, he’s comfortable with me and he just decided that he wants Alison out which, unbelievable that you really think that I’m going to be fine with yet another Goliath, yet another person on my alliance to go home. I’m just going to pretend like we’re going to work together moving forward and I’m very glad that I have Mike here with me because we keep getting intel.”
She added a third interview during that single reward: “Carl’s error in this game at this point is his confidence that he can whatever he wants to and everyone is going to go along with it. It really solidifies the fact that I’m just a pawn in Carl’s grand scheme and I didn’t come here to play a pawn. He is just getting drunk on this reward; he’s drunk on power in the game. His confidence is flowing out of his beer bottle and it was great for my game because now I know where his head’s at.”
Kara was much more decisive than Mike, choosing her side immediately and not making solid reassurances to both sides. However, the fact that she didn’t give us an interview during the scrambling portion of the episode shows that she is a pawn in the eyes of the editors no matter the group in which she’s playing. At a time of the season when the players start looking scrawny, Kara brought a lot of beauty to the night’s Tribal Councils and that could play a role in the eyes of the many Goliath males on the jury! But will she make it to the end? She doesn’t have the challenge skills, the hidden idols or the close allies necessary to navigate the treacherous waters between Final 8 and the Final Tribal Council.
Nick’s story:
On the morning of Day 26 everyone but Nick and Davie was sleeping. Nick had a confessional: “Once again, the only people awake are me and Davie. There are five Goliath sleeping, literally sleeping. Come on; as super fans you have to know that when somebody plays an idol, another one is likely out there.”
This is the interview that Nick gave after finding the clue to the idol: “I’m stoked! I’m thinking I finally found an idol but this is not an idol, it’s an idol clue.” The clue told him he’d have to walk to the end of the island during the folllowing night. Nick then said: “It’s going to be hard to sneak out of camp. It’s going to need creativity but I’m going to do what I have to do, even staying up all night to find this thing.”
After the winners came back from reward, we returned to Nick’s story: “I can’t wait for everybody to go to bed because tonight, I have to go get this idol. Thank god! the people that went on reward are complaining about their stomachs and stuff. They ate too much, too fast and Alison is throwing up everywhere. Yeah! they’re exhausted and burnt out so there’s a bit of distraction already. In my real life at home, I’m an attorney in a court room so it is fun to get out here and be mischievous kind of be like a criminal and sneak off. I don’t want to put my game in jeopardy by doing this mischievous stuff but at the same time; I want an idol! I got to get it done quickly; I can’t take all night. Luckily, Davie is looking out for me”
Nick’s interview as he approached the idol’s position: “I trying to get there as quick as possible and I don’t know how far away this thing is. I’ve walked farther down the beach than I’ve been the whole time I’ve been here. Finally, out in a distance, I see a light so, yeah, my heart is pounding. I got powers in numbers right now but eventually people are going to recognize; hey! Nick’s taken out a lot of targets; he’s got a solid résumé so wearing this idol feels amazing like I’m going to be in the best position in this game for a long time. I want to take advantage of every second in this game and play as hard as possible and that’s why I take a risk in going for these idols and I play hard. I’m trying to win this game more than anything because when you have a chance at a million dollars and there are ten people left and I’m one of them”
Along with Angelina and Carl, Nick chose to eat instead of compete but he wouldn’t get nearly as much grief as the other two during Tribal Council.
Nick had the first interview of the second hour: “Watching Alec walk out with his torch snuffed? man! that just made my whole time out here because now I know that there are five Davids and four Goliaths. The Davids have swung the game completely in our favor and we have all the power in the world now.”
Nick told us that getting the numbers for the Davids made his day and then he practically disappeared from our screens so that leaves us to ask: Was the Alec vote Nick’s zenith? He still has an idol but it looks like the Mason-Dixon alliance suffered the same early death as the Rock Star one. He knew better than anyone that Christian was very close to Gabby so he should have worried about the chances of success of Carl’s plan. Nick should have asked for a private session with Christian in order to hear what he had to say. Would Christian have told him the truth? It’s possible and if so then the two former friends would still be together and going strong. You need two points to define a line so what his Mason without Dixon?
Gabby’s story:
She was part of the Orange team that won the evening’s first reward. She was being schmoozed by Alison and Alec who explained that he’d be like a bartender working for tips.
Gabby’s interview: “Now that the tables have turned, of course the Goliaths want to work with us. They held all the power before and they could kind of jerk us around as long as they wanted but now the Davids have the power so it almost forces their hands in a way to play with us which is great because I have more options now.”
Gabby gave a valiant effort during the endurance challenge, lasting 2 hours and 30 minutes.
While everyone was in agreement that Alec had to go, Carl was really pushing it. That bugged Gabby who, in private, said: “Carl has shown himself to be a controlling player. I call him the “Godfather” because I feel that within the Davids he likes to call the shots. It’s like; don’t tell Kara who is an ally of the person whose name you’re throwing out. That’s infuriating! Do you not know what game we are playing? We’re in Survivor.”
Sitting on the beach, Gabby told Christian that they needed to remove Carl from the game in order to claim their free agency in the game.
She gave us an interview: “My job as a technical writer is to look at a whole bunch of information, synthesize it and figure out what is actually needed. And that’s what I’ve been doing with Carl. I’m gathering information; how he treats me, how he treats others, how he acts in the alliance and I’m not going to just sit on that information, I’m going to act on it.”
Gabby told Alison that she wanted to blindside Carl.
The next morning, Christian told Gabby the real *wink*wink* plan was to vote against Angelina. We got Gabby’s reaction in confessional: “The real target is Alison and the reason the Davids aren’t telling me is because they think that I am close with Alison. I don’t know how you can say you are in an alliance and not tell one of your alliance members who you are voting for. Then we’re not in an alliance, are we?!”
Gabby had the last interview of the night just before Tribal Council: “If Carl goes home tonight, I’m going to feel so vindicated. This whole time, I’ve been seen as an emotional young woman, seen as hysterical, all these insults flung my way. I’m going to feel so proud that I broke free from those perceptions and show that I’m not going to be an underdog in this game anymore. But the plan really has to be executed flawlessly. Otherwise, I am writing down Carl’s name and he’s coming back to camp with me after all will be exposed.”
Carl came up with “Perceptions” during the Immunity Challenge but that proved to be wrong. It’s funny that the perception of Gabby has also been proven wrong! It is weird that the only thing most saw was that emotional young woman because she had shown during her very first Tribal Council that she could rally people to her cause. We’ve seen many rivals leave one after the other this season: Natalie leaving soon after Jeremy, Natalia going right after Natalie, Dan going soon after Elizabeth, Carl following Alec just now so we have to wonder if Gabby will follow her antagonist Carl and be the next one out of the game? Has eliminating the player who was literally drunk on power go to her head and be her downfall now that she is setting her eyes on her closest ally? It seems to be a precarious and a precocious move. Wouldn’t it be smarter to first go against the people who will be looking to get revenge on Gabby, namely Angelina and Davie? On the other hand, ever since Alec said that telling the charming woman about your hidden idol goes against Survivor 101, we have the feeling that Gabby will be Chritian’s kryptonite but that didn’t feel like a Final 8 move. Can both survive the next episode? If not then the one that makes it to Final 7 should also be the Sole Survivor.
Christian’s story:
While he was reading his letter from home, Christian’s interview aired: “My dad said “hey! find an idol, win a big feast and make Jeff laugh.” I think I got all three of those things already. Reading these letter truly acts as motivation for me. It tells me I can win this. It’s going to be hard. It’s going to require me to burn people and make hard decisions. And make them confidently, not tepidly. I want to prove now that people should not underestimate me; that I am a force in this game.”
Christian’s words about burning people were heard in voice-over while we were seeing Alison reading her own letter. His next words about making moves confidently, not tepidly, were heard while we were being shown Alison and Alec bent over reading. This montage told me that Christian was going to burn both Alison and Alec, the very examples of tepid players, in a way that will hurt. We would only have to wait for the end of the first episode to see all of Alec’s pain inflicted on him by Christian. This great confessional and montage tell me that Christian could very well be our Sole Survivor...unless Gabby proves to be his kryptonite.
The Immunity challenge turned into an epic battle between Christian and Alec.
The original David tribe member not only beat the Goliath, he broke him. Did his litany destroy Alec’s will? The way the Goliath walked off, staring at the ocean after stepping off the perch showed that he knew he had snuffed his own game.
Christian’s interview about the challenge: “I won immunity and it had nothing to do with algorithms. It was just that I wanted it more than Alec. He’s an obvious choice for this vote because he’s such a strong immunity threat but when you’re sitting around for a full day; it’s a lot of time for plans to change.”
Christian’s next confessional happened right after the blow-up between Gabby and Carl: “Gabby is one of my closest allies in this game and so much of my job is making sure that Gabby is happy but right now she is quite upset. I find Carl is becoming increasingly problematic. He’s both an alliance liability and perhaps also a personal liability at some point because Carl and Gabby are on a collision course.”
After talking to Alec about possibly voting out Carl, Christian had another interview: “Getting rid of Alec now takes one more threat of the board but I’ve always believed that in order for me to survive I have to keep threats around or I’ll be the only threat remaining. At this point of the game the tribal lines are finally blurred to the point where it’s like two liquids have just mixed and you have to start figuring out what’s best for your own game going forward. This is the make or break point for my relationship with Alec for sure. Either I’ll be voting with him or I’ll be sending him home; one of those two things. This game is about to get very dynamic, very quickly.”
Besides the obvious vote, the first Tribal Council showed us that the jury is already discussing Christian in a very positive manner. No one else got positive comments from the gallery.
In the second reward challenge, Christian wasn’t picked by either team. We know that Kara and Angelina were the acting captains, so we can understand Kara picking Davie over Christian but Mike and Carl are questionable choices but not as weird as Angelina choosing Gabby over Christian. Did Christian sacrifice himself for Gabby? It’s not impossible.
After learning from Carl and Nick that Alison was their target, Christian gave us another interview: “The plan, handed down by Godfather Carl when I was beckoned to his bedside; he tells me: “Christian, the vote is Alison. We’re leaving Gabby out of it. Are you cool with that?” Carl, I’m cool with that! Absolutely! I always love to defer all my major strategic decisions to someone who’s still half-sloshed. I mean Gabby is my closest ally so that moment was a final data point for me that Carl must go.”
That line about deferring his decisions to a half-sloshed man was great. We could almost smell the alcohol on Carl’s breath!
Christian had a confessional before the vote: “I love Mike and I think Mike wants to take out Carl but Mike is a professional actor, he works in Hollywood. I mean this is his job. He voted for me twice and yet I’m trusting him on this vote to vote with me but I have to take the shot.”
Christian truly is an exceptional player and not just because of his strategic abilities. His win during the endurance challenge was extremely impressive. More importantly, he’s great at reading people, knowing that Mike was using his acting skills to navigate between both sides. Will he be able to see that his closest ally is quickly becoming his most dangerous adversary? If he sees that torpedo coming, manage to dodge it and carry the momentum all the way to the title of Survivor then he’ll certainly go down as the best winner ever. I wonder though about his decision to ditch his alliance with Nick. Did he also see that Nick had put his entire trust in Davie and Carl? That’s something even us viewers haven’t completely realized even from our privileged observation position. A player like Christian needs all the allies he can have and maybe Nick would have warned him about Gabby’s strike. Will Christian have the necessary resources to escape such a perfect betrayal? He does have an idol but Gabby knows he has an idol. He knows she knows and she knows he knows she knows. What is the algorithm to calculate the probable outcome of their confrontation? Leave it to Christian to come up with it!
A quick note on Carl and Alec: We can say that, just like Elizabeth, John and Dan before them, these eliminated players weren’t boring caricatures or one-dimensional characters has we so often seen in the past for players that were falling short of the goal. Maybe that’s why it’s harder to decipher the editors’ clues to the eventual Sole Survivor. IN the episode just before his elimination, Carl had a great confessional where he explained his desire to win and we all saw his teary eyes that proved he really wanted this.
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