http://survivortheblog.blogspot.com/2011/03/survivor-redemption-island-ep-06-their.html

There's my detailed recap...what do you guys think about the episode?

• RE: Episode 06 Thoughts...,Toban, 01:53 PM, 03-25-11
  • RE: Episode 06 Thoughts...,joshtaylor, 03:10 PM, 03-25-11
• RE: Episode 06 Thoughts...,iltarion, 05:11 PM, 03-25-11
  • RE: Episode 06 Thoughts...,dabo, 05:19 PM, 03-25-11
  • RE: Episode 06 Thoughts...,joshtaylor, 00:37 AM, 03-26-11
    • RE: Episode 06 Thoughts...,dabo, 01:11 AM, 03-26-11
  • RE: Episode 06 Thoughts...,garyc, 08:02 AM, 03-26-11
    • RE: Episode 06 Thoughts...,joshtaylor, 10:26 AM, 03-26-11
      • RE: Episode 06 Thoughts...,garyc, 11:57 PM, 03-26-11
        • RE: Episode 06 Thoughts...,iltarion, 11:50 AM, 03-27-11
          • RE: Episode 06 Thoughts...,dabo, 12:40 PM, 03-27-11
          • RE: Episode 06 Thoughts...,garyc, 01:49 PM, 03-27-11
            • RE: Episode 06 Thoughts...,iltarion, 08:45 PM, 03-27-11
              • RE: Episode 06 Thoughts...,dabo, 11:16 PM, 03-27-11

Nice summary.

Regarding your comments about Ashley, her CBS bio says she "played basketball professionally". Does that mean the WNBA? The bio also referenced that she spent time abroad in Switzerland. Maybe there's a women's league over there.

Ah, she's older than I thought she was! I suppose I just went on Rob's comment that they're "19, 20 year old girls." Yeah WNBA makes the most sense. That's interesting! Thanks for the feedback, Toban!

LAST EDITED ON 03-25-11 AT 05:31 PM (EST)

Good recap. It is difficult to read at times and could probably benefit from a tad more editing, but it was good enough for me to make it to the end and great pictures.

It does bring up two points, so far unmentioned elsewhere.

1) the notion that the scenes at RI could have been redemption for KRISTA rather than Matt. I had not considered that; after all, he is continuing in the game while hers is over, but it actually makes complete sense. Her contribution to the season had mostly been one of disdain, but it is, perhaps, redeemed by her generous gift to Matt.

Also, good insight in pointing out that in Andrea's confessional about Matt, the fact that he is a good guy is once again being interpreted as a threat.

With my first interpretation of the RI scene, I believed that Matt's story was over. However, if you go with this interpretation, it is possible Andrea's words may serve as basis of a new story for Matt.

2) the second idea I find very interesting is the irony that a "secret agent" would feel the need for recognition or receiving "credit.' Keep in mind, a real secret agent thrives on avoiding credit or recognition for anything. Once they receive actual credit or recognition, their career is over. The editing may be capitalizing on this irony for the mere sake of comedy, or they could just be allowing Phillip to paint himself as the needy schizophrenic who thrives on positive reinforcement. I believe Phillip represents the most schizophrenic character that the show has ever seen. As such, he is completely unpredictable, and thus, Survivor black gold. This dual nature is symbolized clearly in the gorilla and lion references, which have been plenty, two just in this episode.

As such we have two rather easily defined story lines:

Ometepe- One of Survivor's greatest players, Rob, at the height of his game, trying to play with the most combustible player ever. Does he have the lion and gorilla caged? Or could they still break free at some point and destroy him?

Zapatera- One of the strongest alliances of six falling victim to bad karma after throwing a challenge. Long after he is gone, the consequences of having Russell on their tribe continues to haunt them.

Throw into the mix some rather obvious stories of redemption coming from RI, and you about have this season's story.

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Real secret agents thrive on revealing what they've discovered and getting credit and all that, just not in public, from their bosses and compatriots in the box company.

Excellent points! Yeah, the longer we go along, the less and less likely it is that he was ever any kind of secret agent. Which begs the question... what DOES he do?

And thanks for the positive feedback. I'll work on editing it a little better so it's easier to read in the future thanks iltarion!

Finally got a chance to read this week's blog. Thanks, Josh, it is always good to get a fresh perspective.

Don't know what Phillip did for the government. One time he said something about reading people. One time he said something about shoveling sh*t (but that could be just about any government job).

Would say that the story of the season so far has been the contrasting effects of the two returning players on their tribes, with Philip and RI as subplots (although if Matt returns to the game and goes to final TC, the RI and Matt could become the season's story, for better or for worse.)

Yeah you raise a good question... what IS the storyline of the year so far?

Russell was out week 3, I think it was. So I don't think it's the "Return of Rob/Russell," if anything, it's just the story of Rob's glory run so far. I have a sinking feeling he's going to end up getting bit in the butt here soon, but it would be incredible if he was finally able to make it to the end.

But you could also make a case for it being the Rob/Phillip story, like I kind of outlined in my last recap. Will Phillip end up being his best friend, or his worst enemy?

The Zapetera storyline is still playing out. It'll be interesting to see what happens with Dave after last week. I'm not sure how I feel about the Big Six. Whether they're complacent, or smart. We'll see.

LAST EDITED ON 03-27-11 AT 08:48 AM (EST)

But throwing a challenge to get Russell out end up costing Zapatera the advantage in numbers it seemed likely to get. Early on it looked the stronger tribe in challenges.

The editing and JP have focused on that challenge, no surprise, but I would forward that Ometepe was blowing through that challenge and would have won whether Zapatera tried or not. That, of course, is the huge possibility that goes unmentioned.

Also, the key challenge up to now was actually the one that Stephanie lost on the puzzle. With B-Rob accidently knocking a letter on the ground, that was the challenge that Zapatera should have won. This last challenge was a no contest gift for Ometepe. Grant was going to dominate that no matter what.

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Not necessarilly. Zap had bad firing strategy, but they also had bad pairing strategy. Steve may be older but had they paired the old lineman with the young back he might have thrown some blocks and tackles into it to keep Grant from running away with the ball, especially after Stephanie gave him that gut check.

Don't know that Stephanie lost in on the puzzle as she was behind when she started the puzzle. She only gained a lead because she got her puzzle pieces out of the bag quicker.

LAST EDITED ON 03-28-11 AT 05:07 PM (EST)

I also would have liked to see Steve go up against Grant. Yes, the younger, faster, stronger Grant would have likely cleaned his clock too, but it would have been cool to see two ex-NFLers go head-to-head. But I maintain having Grant was a near insurmountable advantage for Ometepe.

If you watch it closely, the only reason Stephanie "appeared" to overtake B-Rob on opening the bags was because Stephanie just dumped all the bags out whereas B-Rob sorted the tiles out from the seeds as he opened them.

Still, B-Rob accidently knocked a letter piece on the ground, and that should have led to his defeat. When else have we seen a mistake like that made and the person still win? Fortunately for B-Rob, before solving the puzzle, he set up all the tiles in the available spaces. Because of that, he noticed he was short one and quickly found it.

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The lineman wouldn't have been able to beat the receiver playing the receiver game. But this is a short pass game and the lineman knows his own game. Mike held back, Steve would have known he could go all out.

How it works: hit him hard and keep hitting him hard, punish him on every play. Maybe he gets a couple of goals early but hammering him he gets worn down, starts worrying about the next hit, throw him off his game. Steve wears himself down in the process but he's in his element, this is what he knows.

That's football. Steve doesn't need to score, he needs to keep Grant from scoring.

And they should have had Stephanie paired against Andrea instead of shooting. Find out early if Stephanie can outspeed Andrea, if she can then keep firing to the corner of the goalzone as long as her legs hold out.

There's strategy in everything. They handed Ometepe an easy win.