Previously on Survivor, Hey! Ha!
It looks like we’re witnessing the extinction of another Survivor tradition. The Luxury items are long gone, the fallen comrades aren’t shown anymore, the naming of the merged Tribe doesn’t make the final cut and now it appears that the “Previously on Survivor” segment is on the endangered species list. Two weeks in a row without one and this time it wasn’t because the editors were anxious to show us their season’s gimmick. Well, I do appreciate hearing a little less from Jeff but the summary was usually a good tool to analyze the edit; it sort of extracted all the superficial stuff and gave us the story’s essentials.
I guess we’ll have to keep our own records.As for the upcoming episode, I thought its theme was:
A Pilot Wins in the End.”
Or
A Dog at War Vata Night 19
Aurora had the first confessional of the evening: “Well, after my first Tribal, there were two idiots; one was Joe the next one was me! We were the only two out of the original Kama that were in the dark about tonight’s vote so that pretty much sucks right now. If I have to work with Kama and play nice, I can do that but I have no allegiances, I don’t care how I go at this point but I’m only going with the numbers.”
After receiving thanks from David and Rick, Ron gave an interview: “By saving David and Rick, they trust me, they’re loyal, they owe me a major one. I really wanted Rick and David to be so angry with the members of Lesu because I don’t want them for a second thinking of going back to work with them and the chasm that I built within Lesu is so strong that they are not going to cross it. War Dog, Wentworth and Lauren are on the bottom and they know it.”
Hearing that confessional, I figured Ron was heading for an epic fall in this episode. Well, I didn’t miss by much. Indeed, Ron was going to be blindsided but it was his friend Eric leaving for Island of Extinction. While he was less visible than Ron, he was the one pushing the “Family Visit” as if it was the “Nec Plus Ultra” in this game, the ultimate goal. Only a fool should fall for that non-sense. Strangely, there was a fool listening to Eric at that point and I’d never have guessed that it would be Rick as we were about to find out.
Kelley, War Dog and Lauren felt humbled by the big move pulled by their rivals. War Dog wisely figured that Aurora had been left out of the loop so all they had to do was to get Rick and David back on board, pull in Aurora and then threaten to go to rocks.
The real mastermind of this season had been quiet at the merger but he was now back and he’ll be working it throughout the episode.
War Dog’s interview: “Right now we need each other for the next few votes otherwise we’re all done. So, if we patch those wounds with Devens and David and bring Aurora in we can say we have nothing to lose, maybe we can go to rocks.”
The Island of Extinction segment showed us Joe in tears, counting the days left in the game. It was a moment for Joe to share with his fans.
The Reward Challenge
Personally, I have always said that we are cheated out of a lot of interpersonal dynamics when the editors don’t tell us who were the captains and their draft order. It would only take 5 seconds to inform us so don’t tell me it’s a question of time. This time though, it was the worst I’ve ever seen it; the challenge started and we didn’t even know who was on which team. We had to find out as the challenge evolved. Would you go to a ball game if you didn’t know who was playing? Of course not so why do we still watch this crap?
I’ll be kinder than those editors and tell you:
On the Blue team, we had War Dog, Devens, Aurora and Eric doing the swimming and retrieving. We would eventually see that they were teamed with Victoria and Julia, handling the puzzle.
(I noticed that there wasn’t a lot of difference between Aurora’s free style form and Franziska van Almsick’s. They even look a bit alike!)
On the Yellow Team, we had Kelley, Lauren, Julie and Gavin out in the ocean so that left David and Ron acting as their landlubber.
With three guys handling the physical part of the challenge, Blue was off to an early lead and the puzzle was relatively simple so Yellow wasn’t able to catch up.
To think, some people see these silly games as the highlight of the evening while I’d be happy with an episode, maybe even the whole post merger, without a single challenge!
Ron had the post-game interview: “So we lost and everyone’s upset but I’m sitting back thinking this is awesome because the last thing I want is for Wentworth and Lauren to be strong. I want them to feel lost and lonely because I’m the puppet master and I’m trying to break them down.”
Now that’s it’s surfaced, it seems that the man’s arrogance has no limits. It’s too bad that they went for his ally Eric instead because sending Ron to the island of Extinction still holding bits of string in his hands would have been perfect. Notice also that, on a second level, the editors really played a nasty trick on Ron by including a confessional in which he says he wants to break Lauren down and she was soon going to actually break down physically. Viewers could ask: Would he have been happy if she had died out there?
Vata Day 20
Lauren gave us an interview when half the tribe was enjoying Chinese take-out: “I just needed some sort of food and some sort of win. I am so freaking hungry.” Quite cruelly, the editors inserted a scene where the victors had just finished enjoying their reward.
Kelley seized the occasion to apologize to David for their votes against him. David was very receptive and he apologized himself.
Kelley’s interview: “At this point, I’m kind of on the bottom with War Dog and Lauren. I don’t know where Rick and David stand completely but we’ve got to bury the hatchet. It’s dumb; unless the group is totally going after each other and forgetting that there’s this whole Kama situation. It’s exactly what Kama wants and they just run the game. If the Lesu Five come together and ... (See below) if the Lesu Five come together and pull in Aurora, we have six people to try and vote one of these Kama people out.”
There was a funny image that interrupted Kelley’s confessional: There was a bug in Kelley’s plan, literally! She forcefully swatted that troublesome fly away and it wound up right on Ron! Well, we saw Kelley swatting the fly towards the right side of our screen and then the next image had another fly coming in from the left side of our TV and landing on Ron’s knee. So I thought the imagery was clear: Kelley was going to get rid of her problem and it was going to land squarely on Ron’s lap. We know that Kelley has learned how to play from the bottom so now we’ll have to see how Ron manages it.
Even if Kelley told him that they had a shot at grabbing Aurora, David realized they’d only be six. Kelley countered that Kama would probably split their votes if they thought they had 9 people going against the three Lesu.
David’s interview: I’m really excited about what Wentworth is proposing because the Kama tribe is in control of this game. I’m not in control of anything. I’m just a piece in their game, especially to the people who are in charge of it like Ron and Eric. We need to band together and flip this game on its head. I just have to pull in my strongest alliance member which is Devens. That should be no problem.”
Right then War Dog was talking to Devens who proved to be a huge problem by using sarcasm: “I’m dying to get back with the old Lesu now that I know that I can trust you guys. I really want to get back with you all. Except that I don’t F___ing want to get back with you guys at all.” The sound of a cymbal crash underlined the finality of Devens position. War Dog pointed out that the game had to be played to win so he couldn’t understand why Devens could be playing so emotionally.
Rick’s interview: “That was so stupid: Don’t come out here and War Dog at me. Don’t yell at me how I’m not playing the game that I should be playing. I don’t like to be barked at, I’m not going to play with them. If I know I can’t trust Lesu then let’s do everything I can to get in with Kama. They just saved me at the last tribal so don’t bark at me about how I’m playing the game just because I’m not doing what you want me to do. He needs david and I to swing with them but like it’s just not going to happen.”
With this confessional, Rick showed the limitations of his game. He closed a door on his own, locking himself with a group that didn’t even count him as one of their own.
I liked David’s comment to Rick: “You always remember one conversation on Survivor...” I’m sure Rick was remembering this conversation when he saw the episode play out on his screen.
David explained that they’d both be puppets if they went with Kama. David’s logic didn’t shake Rick’s obstinacy.
David’s interview: “There’s nothing more important than breaking Kama but unfortunately, Devens is not on board; 100% opposed to it. Devens is letting emotions run his game so the last thing I want to do is give him half of the idol I have so that he could do something even more irrational with it. It is so frustrating to have found someone that I can trust as much as I can trust Devens and realize I have to find another path to day 39. I wanted it to be with Devens but the way things are shaping up right now, I don’t think there’s any hope for that.”
Edge of Extinction – Day 21
Chris had messages for everyone. They were going on a hunt. Aubry was determined to get the prize first and she did. It was a chance to practice for their next challenge and an extra vote to send to someone.
It was interesting hearing Aubry saying that she had to be sneaky, sneaky like Kelley Wentworth to get the clue that was under everyone’s nose.
The Immunity Challenge
We had a funny moment When Devens fell off fifth: Jeff had labeled the first four players out of the challenge “four of the fittest” so Devens added: “Five of the fittest”. David commented that Devens probably fell off just for the joke.
It wouldn’t surprise me at all if he did.
That challenge didn’t favor the men at all as we soon wound up with Lauren, Veronica and Aurora facing off for immunity. That’s when the cameras gave us close-ups of Lauren saying she felt dizzy. We could see her eyes loosing focus so we knew something was wrong.
If the filming of this scene was from actual footage then I’d accuse the cameraman of criminal negligence. It was clear that Lauren was in trouble so why didn’t he call medical right away? I counted a full minute of air time between the time Lauren said she felt dizzy to the time she collapsed so that’s the minimum amount of time that the cameraman had time to react. Instead, she had to faint and fall to the ground before any help came her way. Was he waiting for her to die out there? Of course, those close-up images were probably recreated a few hours after the end of the challenge to give viewers the full sensation of someone about to collapse. At least I hope they asked Lauren to recreate the unfocused look. While it was less sickening than someone filming a young woman’s distress without intervening, what we saw and heard from Jeff and Aurora was also in bad taste.
After calling medical to Lauren’s aid, Jeff told Victoria and Aurora to continue with the challenge. That’s when Aurora started pleading for Victoria to give it to her. The pleas went on for a while but Victoria held up for some time before eventually falling off.
Jeff should have stopped the challenge right there and then to focus everyone’s attention to Lauren. That challenge could have been resumed afterwards or they could even have settled it with a tie-breaking question or even simply a coin flip because it was all very distasteful. At least, when Lauren said she felt embarrassed, Jeff said it proved she was a warrior.
I have another question to ask Jeff: Why was he standing behind the contestants? Was it to get a good look at the women’s butt?
Lauren’s interview: “It was really scary when I passed out but I was even more pissed that I was on the ground because that means I didn’t win and it leaves me very, very vulnerable but playing my idol is the absolute last resort.”
Vata Day 22
Aurora’sinterview: “There’s not as better feeling going into Tribal knowing that you’re a hundred percent safe especially when everything around you has told you lately; you are not safe. So I get back to camp and I’m happy but then i go in my back and there is a parchment and I’m pretty sure I don’t have a parchment. So I immediately sneak away. I went from feeling not accepted to this; having the power of an extra vote to cast at any time. It’s amazing but right now, I’m going to stick with the numbers and hold my tongue until it’s time to make a move.”
On the beach, Ron led a cheer for the 7 “Kama Strong” players. He added that they’d see all their loved ones if they stuck together. Eric seconded that feeling.
Ron’s interview: “Eric and I are working together to control everybody and we’re using the Loved Ones visit as a threat almost by saying; don’t we all want to have our Loved Ones here? By saying that, it makes them not flip and have another alliance. It’s genius.”
Eric’s interview: “I know this Kama alliance won’t last forever. Things are going to get crazy and when it does myself and Ron have David and Devens in our pocket to make the big move but it’s not a worry for today: Let’s use our numbers that we so craftily acquired and let’s split some votes and let’s get some of those Lesu players out starting with Kelley.”
I’ve often said that splitting votes is the best way to turn a minority into a plurality but it seems Eric never listened to me!
Kelley’s interview: “The original Kama people along with Rick Devens are all this big voting bloc and they are going to vote probably for myself or Lauren tonight and it’s a scary thing. Luckily, Lauren and I have idols. When you have an idol it’s just like a gut feeling and hoping that you are right.”
That’s when the Dog went to War.
It started with War Dog talking to Julia, telling her that he could be going home or Kelley or Lauren but that the seven Kama weren’t going to be the Final 7. He rightly surmised that Ron and Eric’s plan was to use Devens and David.
Did he really come to that conclusion on his own or did David inform him of that plan? If David told War Dog that Ron and Eric were working to get them on board then it takes a bit of shine off War Dog’s image but shown this way it paints him as this great player, the only one able to see through the deception.
War Dog’s interview: “You know you got to go out there and find cracks. You can’t just say: Oops, I tried but it didn’t work. You keep fighting in this game. My best strategy is to convince these younger Kama people that they need soldiers for a war because, once that war starts, who is Devens and David siding on?”
Notice that the editors used the same montage as they did with Aubry in an earlier episode. We saw and heard War Dog making the rounds, talking to Julia and Gavin and repeating the same exact words to both. That earlier scene told us that Aubry was going to get played by these players but here we have the opposite impression. Why? It’s because we didn’t hear any Kama player laughing at War Dog’s attempts. Instead, they heeded his advice. That’s a huge difference in the editing world.
Julia’s interview: “War Dog was breaking down his perception of the dynamics of Kama saying that Ron and Eric are trying to pull in David and Devens and eventually make a move on Gavin, Victoria and myself. War Dog might have a point and I didn’t realize it until he said it. So, I’m going to have to test Eric by trying to push a David or Devens vote and that will be the true testament to who is working with whom?” Julia went to Eric, asking if they should vote for David first. Eric’s reluctance told her all she needed to know as we heard when her interview resumed: “War Dog was right; they are going to try to use David and Devens down the road to flip on us Kama members. It might be my time to make a big move.”
Gavin’s interview: “Eric and Ron saying we’ve got to get to the family visit was like an epiphany; it hit me, like I’m going to win for my family. That’s why I’m stepping my game back up and coming in guns blazing.”
Interesting choice of words considering we heard that War Dog was Doc Holliday and his Lesu allies were the Earp brothers. I’m not sure Gavin has the skills to defeat those gunslingers.
Victoria was hesitant when they brought her in on the plan. She thought it would be best for them to wait for one vote before making the move.
Since Victoria has been portrayed up to now as a slightly more skillful player than Gavin and Julia, it suggests that this plan will indeed fail to get the young Kama players to the end.
Julia’s confessional: “Every decision, every option carries some risk in this game. Tonight, we can stay Kama strong and it can be an easy vote, taking out Kelley or we can pull in the people at the bottom and we can make a big move now and target Ron or Eric. They’ve taken advantage of the power that this alliance has gotten but the bad part for them is that we realize it and they might be on the wrong side of the vote at Tribal Council.”
Tribal Council
Eric told Jeff that the Kama 7 made a group decision. He said the Lesu players come in packages.
That made War Dog laugh, saying one package may have gotten more attention than his.
Devens was completely up front saying he wasn’t with the Lesu Five. He was trying to get on board the Kama train.
After saying that Kama saved Devens and him, David said that everyone had to decide if they wanted to be a Pilot or a Passenger adding that a “Pilot Wins at the End.” David called himself a “passenger”.
We’ve had numerous discussions about this, an idea that is front and center in the Nash Theory of Survivor. That states that a “pilot”, or really a leader, is more likely to win in a season when there aren’t many leaders while a “passenger”, a follower in the Nash terminology, is most likely to win in a season where there are many leaders who set out to kill each other. Since we know that Jeff and his team have a great fondness for Nash’s theory then winners have often been portrayed obeying that law. (S1 Hatch the only leader going against a leaderless tribe. Vecepia, a follower, won in Marquesas, a season that featured Hunter, Rob, Sean, Kathy and John all trying to lead. In S9 Chris, the leader of the fat guys’ alliance, won over a tribe of women which was split between Ami and Mia before the merger and then between Ami and Scout after it. The examples abound.) Here however, the Theme is simple: “A Pilot Wins in the End.” I apologize for the tangent.
Ron said they had to avoid that type of panic, Eric adding that they all want to see their Loved Ones.
War Dog asked: “Are we playing for the Million Dollars or for the Loved Ones’ visit?”
David, to his personal (faked) dismay, agreed with war Dog. He nicely added that most players had blank résumés with only an address that read: 404 Edge of Extinction Drive.
Jeff asked Victoria if it was just a question of “When do I make my move?”
Victoria hinted that with 12 people still in the game shooting your shot could mean shooting yourself in the foot.
Aurora said that everyone had a chance to take control of the game but who was going to decide to do it.
It was time to vote.
When Jeff asked if anyone wanted to play an idol, Lauren and Kelley stayed put.
Eric and Ron voted for Kelley.
Julie and Devens voted for Lauren.
War Dog, Kelley, Lauren, David, Julia, Aurora, Gavin and Victoria voted against Eric.
The StoryFinally these new players are showing that they are game savvy. Our early impression that they weren’t good players was mostly due to the fact that so much time had to be spent on the fan Favorites but now the game is in full motion and it looks like it will be an interesting ride. My favorite seasons are always the ones edited to follow the Nash Theory so hearing an indirect reference to it piqued my interest. If we were to count the different pilots, I’d say we’d have to include Ron, War Dog, Julia Kelley and Devens so there should be enough fireworks to favor a follower but the Nash Theory only states that a type of player is more likely to win under a certain condition. Maybe we should limit ourselves to what we heard on the show: A Pilot wins in the End.” So who will it be?
The Characters The Fallen Pilots: The Edge of Extinction offers a shot at redemption that wasn’t given to past Fallen Leaders.
Eric: His portrayal before the merger was so thin, so impersonal that it would take a huge redemption edit to give us a satisfying winning story. I’ll eliminate Eric for good.
Ron: His arrogance was on full view and his attempt to sell the family visit was so pathetic that I don’t think Ron could ever present a winner’s résumé no matter what he does from now on. The “Fogs of War” imagery didn’t let us down.
The Passengers – According to the Theme delivered by David, these players don’t stand a chance, yet, according to Nash they’d be favored.
Aurora: She wasn’t even riding the Kama Train, just running along the tracks so flipping didn’t improve her standing much. It certainly didn’t give her the command of the game. That advantage will need to be used in a way to dazzle the jury if she’s going to have a chance.
Devens: He had an option to go back with Lesu but he slammed that door shut. That puts him in no man’s land, a place where the trains don’t go so how can he pilot anything. He can’t even get his idol back. If he wants to make it to the reunion he will have to walk.
Julie: Last week, she had been spared from the “Fogs of War” smoke probably because she was reluctant to eliminate Joe so early. Who can say that wasn’t a mistake now? Joe is a great passenger and he would have voted with Kama no matter what. Unfortunately for Julie, the “smoke monster” (!) caught up to her this week as we saw her engulfed in the camp fire smoke just when Julia and Gavin were thinking of voting against her alliance.
Gavin: This vote gave him a chance to steer the ship but it was only for a moment. We even heard him say that he wanted to eliminate Ron before Eric because he was much closer to the Firefighter than he ever was to the Teacher but he didn’t even get his way there.
Victoria: With the theme in this episode stating: “Pilots win the game”, Victoria’s chances of winning are dwindling. She was a pilot in the early days of Kama but her game was too relaxed so she fell out of the driver’s seat. Ron was first to take her place but he was swiftly shoved aside by Julia. Victoria was slow to adhere to the plan of her young tribe mates and that could be an indication that her position should have been heard. As is, I think she did shoot herself in the foot.
Chris: His portrayal on the Island of Extinction was promising for a few episodes but now his role has faded back into the background. I don’t think his story is leading to victory.
David: He called himself a passenger, in direct contradiction to his definition of what it takes to win so I’ll eliminate him.
Julia: She jumps up in the peloton of racers chasing the front runners because she was portrayed as the “Pilot”, the one that guided the young Kama half into making a big move. Unfortunately for her chances, the edit also showed that her piloting lesson was accomplished under War Dog’s guidance and she has already ceded the wheel to him.
The Contenders
Aubry: At first, I noticed a certain quality in Aubry’s interviews: Where the players interviews are usually filmed in such a way that we see the person sitting and we have a view of their surroundings, all Aubry’s confessionals were done in close-ups but then i realized that the same applied to Reem and Joe so it’s nothing special. Still Aubry’s chances cannot be completely dismissed and she’d have a strong case to present to the jury if she beats Joe, Chris, Eric and whoever else comes her way.
Joe: With such a clear path to the end game we’ll never be able to eliminate Joe but I would prefer not seeing an outcast win, especially if it’s a returning player.
Lauren: If a passenger is going to prove David wrong (proving that Nash was right after all!) then it would be Lauren. She was called a warrior and her idol could certainly impress the jury if she plays it right. She could profit from the jury’s perception that the returning players have had their chance already. I can imagine her sitting between Kelley and Joe at the end and wouldn’t that be a wild throwback to her quote at the season’s opening? She wanted to play with Joe and Kelley but what if she beats both of them in the end. Joe could be penalized for having been an outcast while Kelley could be seen as just another passenger so the jury would be happy to reward the woman that had the roughest ride of them all. Was she a Passenger? Yes, but it was quite a bumpy ride.
Kelley: I simply loved the montage that the editors did with Kelley’s confessional when she was assaulted by that fly. Survivor is often compared to the “Lord of the Flies” and there is even a theory that was popular among viewers for a while. It went back to the image of the pig’s head covered in flies in the famous book and it stated that “A Winner Has Never Been Shown With a Fly on his Body.” I’ve contested it but, to be honest, I’ve never had an example to refute that theory. This season, we clearly saw Lauren with a fly on her foot during a challenge, she even commented on it tickling her so that would eliminate her but what about Kelley’s fly? Kelley was in terrible danger, close to the Edge of Extinction but, just as she swatted that fly away, she escaped once more. I think it was even more significant that, after Kelley swatted the fly away we saw a fly landing on Ron’s knee. WShile that would eliminate Ron if we go by the “Fly Theory” what I enjoyed most was the perfect coordination of the fly’s path: With her hand. Kelley swatted the fly to the right of our screen and when the image changed to Ron and Aurora in the shelter, we saw the (or rather “a”) fly traveling from the left side of the screen to the right before resting on Ron’s lap. The angle of the fly’s trajectory was perfect; it gave us the impression that Kelley not only got rid of her problems but sent them directly on Ron’s lap. Can he deal with it as well as she’s done? She's done such a good job that I doubt Ron can handle it!
War Dog: In an episode titled “I’m the puppet master” the editors showed us clearly that the real master was War Dog. If a “Pilot is Going to Win” then it should be War Dog. It was extremely telling that the editors showed War Dog talking to Julia and Gavin using the same words for both to the point that his sentences were spliced together between screen shots of both listeners. Such a montage had been used to discredit Aubry but here it underlined War Dog’s mastery of the game. Such portrayal is usually reserved to the winner.
The only thing holding me from declaring War Dog the Sole Survivor is that all the attention, all the doubt is cast on Kelley. From the start, what we’ve heard has constantly been “Let’s get Kelley out.” It started with David, Reem, Wendy, Chris and now it even spread to Eric while absolutely no one has mentioned the need to get rid of War Dog. Is it to show that his game is truly exceptional or is it telling us that they won’t respect his game? Would the jury, most of which will be comprised of players who thought that returning players had their chance already, vote for a returning player over a new one like War Dog or Lauren?
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