Thanks VS for the compliment but if people come to this thread it is because of your wonderful observations. Some of those were used in the SOTS since we practically have no long term spoilers. I took your feeling of a Jenny boot as one clue. I underestimated Burnett’s wishes to be a spoiler himself giving us another obvious boot with Cristina! Anyway, we’re here to uncover the story so the weekly boot is only for fun and games. Again your post is very insightful. Here are my observations:

From the start of the season, besides Parvati, the men have attracted most of the attention. Yul, Jonathan and Nathan have been 3 of the 4 narrators. Ozzy has been given a lot of airtime for his accomplishments and Cao Boi had taken care of comedic relief. Besides punctual contributions by targeted players and Flicka’s camping stories, the other women have been confined to secondary roles. Last night was a prime example: In Aitu’s confessionals, the women were happy but Cao Boi did some heavy scheming, Yul analyzed the situation and Jonathan expressed his fears. At TC, those three and Ozzy were asked all the questions. Not a single woman spoke! At Raro, Cristina pleaded her case to Adam, Nate and Brad who were seen has being in a position of power. At TC, Cristina defended herself and Jenny attacked her but it was the men who talked about the story and the dynamics at camp.

As consistent as that portrayal has been, it seems it is all a smoke screen because, if we look under the surface, we are witnessing the power of the Silent Majority

The Aitu women with Candice as the first star and the assistance of Jessica and Becky were the stars of the challenge. In Raro, while Brad and Adam split their votes, Parvati and Rebecca decided whom they wanted to keep: Jenny or Cristina. It could be only a matter of time before we see a women’s mutiny to grab the spotlight and most of the men are made to walk the plank!

Aitu: Women Power

Candice as noted, was responsible for winning the feast and the little sit-in. Her resistance to the attacks of Parvati and Rebecca required her last once of energy as we saw her unable to get up to cheer on her teammates. It also gave an insurmountable lead that the equally spent Raro women couldn’t close. She was then seen very close to Sundra. That was surprising as it had been Becky and Yul who had brought the Hiki woman into the alliance. It could be quite a coup for the OldRaros. For all the points gained during the episode, swooning over Adam at TC could only confirm the suspicions of the rest of the tribe. Plan Voodoo may have died with its inceptor but it could return in a new form with her as its target.

Sundra has not only gotten into the alliance, she’s now narrating how the team feels. The confessional after the RC win wasn’t about strategy or future plans but it showed how the team has come together. The only way to break the strong bonds made in the first 6 days is to make teams suffer together. In that sense, last night’s brutal challenge was essential to the social experiment. The walk back to camp with Sundra supporting the hurting Candice lets us ask the question: If it comes down to it, would Sundra go with Candice or Rebecca? Not as final opponent where you want someone you can beat but at a crucial vote after merge. What do you think she would do? It seems it would depend on whether Jonathan is in the picture or not, as she is another one that doesn’t trust the “leader.”

Becky reacted to Jeff’s comment about listening in on the losing tribe’s tribal council with a “Oh! My goodness.” Information is precious to a clinical player. She did her strategizing with Yul. She has a calming influence on him and she may have opened his eyes to the reality of the game. Now that she made her big brother suspicious of the “leader’, has she gone further off his radar? We didn’t hear much from her but every word seemed calculated to get the result she wanted. She showed her determination during the challenge. Cristina had her hands full with Jessica, Becky relentlessly pulling her legs was too much to overcome.

Jessica was happy to have wrestled a cop. The smile on her face makes me suspect she had a few run-ins with the police in what could’ve been a turbulent past! She was the only one to adhere to Plan Voodoo. Its failure demonstrates her own isolation. She voted against Jonathan and her reaction at TC when he claimed he wasn’t patronizing shows there is no love between those two. For that matter, many of her facial expressions serve as barometers to the feelings on Aitu. Now that OldRaro is the only intact tribe, she is the extra luggage and Sundra seems ready to be the new mood indicator.

Jonathan is a smart player. It’s been twice now that we’ve seen him accompany “king Neptune” on his fishing expedition. What we haven’t heard are the discussions these two are sharing while paddling out to their favored spot. That time was used to hear a confessional in a voice over. In it, Jonathan recognizes Ozzy’s essential role in the tribe and he is wise enough to note that it could be better to target him just before merge, rather than after it. But when was that confessional recorded? It could’ve been done as early as the day Ozzy won the two challenges and therefore, the rivalry could have evolved into a frienship. Jonathan was also aware of the conspiracy brewing in camp and made the necessary moves to thwart Cao Boi’s plan. His performance at TC wasn’t inspired however. Yul’s comment about being a natural leader put Jonathan on the defensive and the sustained glances of his tribe showed he didn’t judge them correctly. A better response would have been to acknowledge his role but add that he shares the responsibility with Yul.

Yul had an important episode for his character development. He showed he is aware of the dangers of the game but he needed the others’ help in seeing the ramifications. He was the one that neutralized Nathan while his partner did the dragging. We were led to believe that the tribe knew he had the idol but it seems he had CB and Flicka fooled. What about the ones who have a better grasp of reality, Ozzy and Sundra; were they also fooled?

Ozzy seems much too comfortable in camp not to have made inroads into the alliance. He was the first to suggest to Cao Boi that he should sit in the physical challenge and he also voiced the kidnapping choice. There is no doubt that his position in the tribe has improved. Of the men, he may have had the best challenge performance. There weren’t any scenes to show his bad boy image, his confessional was limited to fishing and had no mention of his power as so many others had. Are we suppose to have forgiven him? Should we even start feeling sympathy for him because of Jonathan’s remarks? Many think he won’t make the merge, but he seems to be destined for the end game. That would mean the editors have accomplished their jobs of making him look like an underdog.

Aitu: The Power of the Women’s votes

Rebecca had the opening confessional and it served to set up the conflict with Cristina. She was supposed to control Candice so Parvati could drag her but these two never got their act together. She wasn’t given much to say about the decision but then she and Parvati did get their act together and booted Cristina to restore tribe harmony.

Parvati has the tribe she wanted and didn’t have much to do to keep it that way. It doesn’t seem that she cared one way or the other about Jenny or Cristina but since it made Adam and Rebecca happy, she appeared to simply go along. It is amazing how she only goes along after considering her options and it always works to her advantage!

Jenny won’t win any popularity contest. I believe her confessional about not trusting Brad and hoping he will think of the good of the tribe came from this episode’s time frame. Brad voting against her is a signal she is only holding on by a thread.

Adam is presented as the leader of this tribe but there is no real leader in Raro. He told Cristina the harsh truth about her iritating personality after returning from TC. He took the offense for Raro during the challenge but couldn’t handle Ozzy very well. Last time, he had reassured Jeff his tribe was doing well but now he is frustrated with the results. He had promised Cristina a second chance after their exchange in camp but his confessional and his vote proved he had his mind set.

Interestingly, the recap made it appear that Nathan was with Adam and Brad when Stephannie talked about going home. Do they want to make us forgive or forget he alone decided to change the vote? He took the defensive for Raro and didn’t dig in enough to recover from Jenny’s loss. His confessional showed us he is a competitor who doesn’t accept defeat easily and wants to keep the morale of his team up by getting a good meal anyway. He did seem receptive to Cristina’s attempts to save herself and even if it hadn’t mattered, I wonder who he was voting for. He told us he didn’t trust Jenny and she has to be next in line. His TC appearance was priceless. His longing looks at the feast had me laughing. He did once more try to boost morale by talking about coming back in the 4th quarter. Being kidnapped may give him a great opportunity to help his game. His friendly personality could be well received in Aitu’s cut-throat tribe. It will be his first look at players who have conflicts because of the game and not living arrangements. It could shock him. Will it help him recognize Parvati’s scheming?

Brad has no influence in this tribe it seems. They show him because the others need his vote so he serves their story, not his own. Soon it will be his turn to look for votes and they will be scarce.

So which story are we seeing?
- Despite Billy, Adam, Raro’s decision to save her, Becky and Jonathan’s alliance offers, and Sundra’s attentions, I don’t think the story this season is “Everybody loves Candice!”

-A Sundra or a Nathan win would be that of a follower who got into a minority early but worked quietly to get back into a strong alliance.

-A victory by Jonathan would be that of a scheming and not very well liked older man leading his alliance. We’ve seen that one long ago and this season is about going back to the roots of Survivor. It makes me wonder!

-Yul’s story would be that of a nice person, trying to play with integrity and leading by example a strange tribe that had a very talkative older Asian man. We’ve seen that story very recently.

There are three scenarios that seem to show more promise:

- Ozzy’s win would be that of a young man very well suited for survival that was able to adapt from leader of his tribe to a follower in a strong alliance. It would be quite a story!

- Becky, from behind the scene, has the role of a cold, calculating player who seems ready to get rid of every member of her alliance. The absence of confessionals tend to make me think this will be the story of the second place finisher however.

- Parvati knows how to make friends and infiltrate unsuspecting alliances. In a season where we’ve already had quite a few backstabbing, that strategy holds many promises still.