Recap

Coach and Brendan struggled for control at Timbira (and thus, the beauty of the edit as we were given only just a brief "teaser" of a potential situation when Tyson and Coach commented on Brendan’s budding relationships that was seemingly discarded but now is rearing it’s ugly head)

Coach (conf) "If Brendan got voted off and I was the leader I think this tribe would be better"

Tyson chose sides. (The scene where he speaks of Brendan’s budding relationships - I do find it interesting that Jeff narrates that Tyson chose a side when in reality, he never did choose a side)

Jalapao took a beating (JT and Joe shown) and they lost their third immunity challenge in a row (Brendan and Erinn successful at the last IC)

Brendan was saved by Tyson and Coach (More build up for the plot)

At Jalapao, with Tribal Council looming, Taj and Stephen in control of the hidden idol, Taj reached out to JT

Taj "Honestly I don’t want you and Steve to go out prematurely" (This sentence was chosen instead of a confessional by JT or words from Stephen or even why Taj told JT - prophetic?)

At Tribal Council, the three stuck together. Down four members to six, Jalapao became a desperate tribe.

Obviously quite a bit has been made regarding Coach and Tyson vs. Brendan due to what occurred in this episode and with the result on a holding pattern due to Joe being taken out of the game, this storyline is pending. What I do find intriguing and mentioned before is how "losing" tribes are edited and spoken about by Jeff. Jalapao has never been given a scorned edit as we have seen in the past. Negativity has never been attached to them which seems to bode well for the three remaining old Jalapao (in my case, two of them There has never been any secret that Jalapao is in dire straits, we heard quite a bit in last week’s episode that they are nervous due to their numbers but I don’t find the editing regaling a massive failure for them or a negative shading to the three left - we are meant to generally like these three and that made bode well for them or some of them. This seems further evidenced by the following scene; we are meant to like this tribe and hope they do not fall by the wayside

Post Tribal Council Aftermath

Taj (conf) "At Tribal Council, Sydney was voted out... I felt bad she had to go but one of us had to go and I’m glad it’s not me"

Joe (conf) "After tonight’s vote, I feel like the odd man out... so you get a little nervous, a little concerned when you see torch after torch put out, it’s not fun. It’s not fun to lose, it’s not fun to vote people out you like home"

JT "Jalapao’s down to four man" (a joke ensues over losing the "pao" part of "Jalapao"

Taj "How the tables turn, we were on a winning streak..." (Stephen shown)

JT "There’s no telling what tomorrow holds in store guys"

Taj "Good things. Maybe our luck will change tomorrow"
(nice bit of foreshadowing? JT shown) "Maybe it will change" (Stephen’s head flops down with a bit of dramatic musical end)

Coach, Coach, Coach

Quite an over the top sequence for Coach with the blaring sun and intense music. I applaud the editors for this effect - it was ridiculous, we were meant to see it that way as well as his edit. Brendan asks about Coach and told he is meditating

Coach (conf) "Almost to day 20; up till now it’s been about the team. I’ve been trying to get along.... .....I need to get centered.... ...it was like boom, everything just clicked, this is about me now" (Coach shown to give massages to his "team") "We’re so close to a merge.. so I’ve been pacifying everybody and getting along with the tribe"

Erinn (conf) "Coach has a new thing... if that’s the thing to turn you into Mr. Nice Guy, you do it, every day... ...I like new Coach" (A perfect confessional from the perfect person considering the discord that has been shown between these two (along with Tyson)

Coach "What will today bring?"

Brendan "You’re like a completely different person now"

Coach "Life is good" (as Debbie feeds Coach)

Brendan (conf) "My relationship with Coach to me has been good the whole time; there’s definitely been things he’s done around camp (Sierra) that have been annoying or outside the box (Coach being shown handling his hair) I mean he’s always doing (mimics Coach smoothing back his hair) his hair and we were talking about it and he said I kind of started this Samurai thing and I was like... they’ve been doing it for thousands of years in Japan and Johnny Depp’s been doing it for like twenty years here, you haven’t started anything!" (A last show of Coach over the water, arms raised in the air with the bright sun)

Obviously, we needed this scene to showcase the budding rivalry of Coach and Brendan as well as Coach’s narration on his change of philosophy from "team" to "me" (tied nicely to the merger and the events) and I do find it interesting going back to the first episode that Ben approached Brendan to join him in his quest to allow the strong to survive which was reiterated later by Coach in this episode. I had mentioned in my first post:

"He (Ben) set a future story line up with his notion on how this game should be played although that does not necessarily mean he, himself, will be the hero of his own story but rather, perhaps taken down in battle by a worthy opponent." I also questioned whether Brendan would be part/parcel to this as it was addressed to him.

While Coach’s words and ideas are often laughable, I continue to back burner these words by him - it may solely be relevant to Coach’s OWN demise as opposed to his battling someone at end game and/or it may be relevant that his own wish of how he wants to change the game may, in fact, come true... two worthy opponents (only not Coach) Time will tell

Jalapao

Joe’s leg was re-introduced to us again for obvious reasons with Taj confessing to her concern over it. Joe goes to lay down

JT "....Jalapao is still down to four members, things are really not looking our way so there’s a lot at stake for every one of us who want a shot in this game, it’s definitely the biggest challenge yet" (Of note is the difference between Taj’s confessional focused solely on the injury as opposed to JT’s confessional relating it to the game)

Timbira and Jalapao

Both tribes read their tree mail with Stephen questioning that it could be a merge and Taj just wanting to eat. Taj gives a cute confessional that whoever wins this challenge gets a huge feast and get’s excited whenever she hears a word that starts with "F" and the four question the tree mail some more

JT (conf) "I’m really hard on myself when I lose, I hate losing. I’m a sore loser. If it’s a merge, ball game’s on; that’s the reason why I am hoping it’s a challenge. I don’t know if I’m ready yet but uh I feel like I’ve got to redeem myself...."

Challenge Arrival

(Of note, both tribes walking down their pathways, one can a brief glance with Erinn and Joe as they lead their tribes and one can see Coach touching JT’s fist as they pass along the path. What is interesting about this is that this probably was not the first time there has been contact as I am hard pressed to believe Coach just randomly decided to touch JT’s fist but we were shown it this particular episode and for obvious reasons. I must say generally speaking I am enjoying the collective dynamic of the two tribes together; while Tyson has been shown ribbing Jalapao there is a nice vibe of both tribes’ interaction with each other (recall Taj hugging Debbie) and in a game where it can be very cutthroat I find it refreshing) With that said, both tribes reach the feast with cries of excitement and Tyson again in his usual manner asking JT to read the note due to his "sultry voice." JT then reads that they have merged

Stephen (conf) "Our biggest hope was that today was the merge feast, less the merge than the merge feast. Jalapao is freaking hungry"

(More joking shown with Erinn joking that Tyson is like a girl and all laughing. Coach then raises his glass in a toast)

Coach (conf) "The feast, man, it’s cool cause we are meeting new people. It’s like getting a new girlfriend, there are all kinds of things to explore. (Taj and Sierra laughing) I just wish we could have decimated their tribe just a little bit more. We had them on the ropes (Stephen then JT) they were going to go down... (shot stays on JT) ...we had them on the ropes (Erinn and Joe laughing) but it’s all good, we’re in control, we can be in control the rest of the way"

JT then asks if anyone has any secrets as he’s "got nothing" (Coach shown) with Stephen joking how JT is a rocket scientist. Coach then states he is a soccer coach as well as a conductor. JT replies: "instructor" and Coach clarifies as Erinn is showing smiling, Coach expands and Brendan shown smiling.

Coach (conf) "I like JT man, he’s a warrior. I’m looking forward to get to know him and Stephen, I mean he’s obviously intelligent so I look forward to these individual immunities challenges especially in the beginning where we got all the big horses and alpha males together, that’s gonna be awesome" (JT shown) (Poor Joe, did not even receive any "alpha male" acknowledgement)

Stephen suggests a tribe name which Coach is not sure about as the others also joke about and Coach proceeds to suggest his own name which purportedly means strength in Portuguese. Debbie does not seem too sure by her expression

Sierra "...we don’t have to talk about it now and that’s fine but we’re just shocked by the last two votes" (reaction shot from Brendan. JT shakes his head. Joe replies: "Good") "You guys didn’t come up with the idea of who was going home..."

Stephen "How do you guys make your decisions?" (on screen as Joe states it was hard to talk about it)

Stephen (conf) "I was sort of tip toeing around Sierra because you do need to be discreet with how much information you give out. You know these are your future competitors so you can’t just be giving away your entire tribe dynamic"

Stephen (with JT’s face on camera) "You guys have been great competitors and it’s been a lot of fun you know competing against you (Coach) and when you guys win we all appreciate how well you’ve done" (Erinn heard to say thanks as camera goes back to JT)

JT (conf) "I was really worried about the merge. Traditionally, if you’re outnumbered 4 to 6 at the merge, you’re sitting ducks" (Debbie tells JT that he has to catch fish for them) "I’m really worried about the numbers (Sierra shown) and I hope that there’s a power struggle (Brendan) in the old Timbira and I can exploit that. (Coach) Going in this 4 to 6 (Stephen) that’s not a good odds" (JT)

Again we are hit over the head how down and out Jalapao is with respect to numbers and I find it very heavy handed so much so that I find that Timbira may just do exactly what JT hopes for and turn amongst each other so that Jalapao (or some of them) may survive for end game. There is a sincerity in this characterization that I found lacking (for example) in last season when Fang was downtrodden and much of that was based on the characterizations made about that tribe even when they found a ray of hope

Forza

Erinn welcomes JT to his new house as JT thanks her. The normal perusing of the camp ensues as the shelter is deemed a "fixer upper", Taj sits on a swing and Joe and Brendan shake hands as JT and Coach look over the shelter

JT (conf) "We walk into the old Timbira camp and first of all we got a little dog house shelter and I’m like what is this? I don’t know how the house is still standing" (Sierra and Taj sitting next to each - as they did during the merge feast)

Brendan suggests they start from scratch as Debbie is heard asking if they should take the new additions on a tour which was not immediate as Sierra is now shown sitting under the shelter unless she jumped up immediately. JT notes the bean situation as Joe jumps up to do the tour

Stephen (conf) "The Timbira people are definitely running the show; it’s definitely intimidating going into the merge down in numbers. They can pick us off if they want; we’re dependent on their good graces so even if we make allies with them those allies are in a dominant position" (This confessional was part of Stephen’s earlier confessional)

Male Bonding

JT and Coach are now shown fishing together, trading small talk when Coach initiates a strategy discussion

Coach (conf) "I knew the first time I looked at JT.... open, honest face and I said to myself he’s a good ole boy. We’re kindred spirits, we both love the outdoors. I think that we’re both warriors" (Circles back to the first episode in terms of Coach’s desire of worthy opponent but also first impressions - I stated in my last post that JT’s persona seems very tied to the impressions made storyline - the "Bama" boy who is all brawn and no brains however the audience is learning that JT has no problem allowing people to believe that when, in fact, that is not the case)

Coach "Let’s talk about the game a little bit..."

JT "I’m up for anything man"

(JT’s confessional shown)

JT "From what I know, Brendan thinks he’s in control of the game"

Coach "Who told you that?"

JT "Taj. I’m 95% sure he’s got the idol" (a snake is being shown)

Coach "You swear to me Taj does not have it"

JT "I don’t know if she’s got it or not; if she does, there’s two idols" (musical change)

Coach "It’s crazy. Alright, I’m gonna tell you a couple of things" (snake shown again) "...let’s keep it confidential between you and I. I said in the very beginning of this game to everybody I will not lie in this game so let’s just keep it honest between us, let’s keep it real" (the dreaded handshake!)

(More of JT’s confessional)

JT "If Brendan’s got the idol, we got to blindside him" (Coach nodding thoughtfully)

(More of Coach’s confessional)

JT (conf) "Not even 15 minutes and Coach is ready to talk about the game and it was perfect, I couldn’t wait to talk to him about the game" (Again, this is part of the confessional during the merge feast) and "I’ve seen cracks right away. I had some ideas before there ever was a merge; it’s hard to keep six people from different walks of life stick together when they hate each other so I’m just here to make sure everybody hates each other" (This is from a separate confessional)

Coach (conf) "I have a lot of emotions going on. I have said I thought Brendan was a little bit squirrelly but if you flat out lied to me you better be prepared to go to war" (Indeed, I believe there will be one)

The Seeds Are Planted

Coach "I’d gone to JT and the reason why I did, I told you from the beginning that he and I had this rapport without talking. I know he’s a good ole boy, well check this out. Brendan has the idol"

Tyson "I thought so"

Coach "I want you to think about an alliance with Stephen and JT" (Tyson nods)

Tyson "Here’s what we do, me, you, JT, Stephen and Debbie. Keep that five, we can take it"

Coach (conf) "It’s time to go for the jugular, Brendan is the head of the dragon. If you want to defeat the army, you cut off the head of the dragon. Brendan going out as the first person from the merge? Yes, I love it. That’s awesome!"

Tyson "I was talking about getting rid of Brendan because it just didn’t feel like he was being sincere with anybody"

Stephen "Yeah, I think he basically has underestimated everybody else" (Another potential tie to the theme.)

Tyson "He’s told me he doesn’t have the idol which I don’t believe and he’s told me he wants to take me to the final which I also don’t believe. We’re taking you and JT"

Stephen "Oh good"

Tyson "It’s you and JT, Coach and myself and Debbie"

(Stephen’s confessional)

Tyson "We just have to take our time and be quiet about it" (Stephen: Yeah) "If we do that, once we get Brendan out the game is all in our hands" (Stephen on screen who flashes a big smile as they both laugh)

Stephen (conf) "We definitely found an inroad with Timbira, this is clearly a very fractured tribe because there’s no strong bonds.... ....makes it very easy to exploit"

Again, more "set up" for the story line that emerged and will continue. It is normally safe to say that the best laid plans.... and more than likely Tyson and/or Coach will suffer for it. Why would JT and Stephen not? The editing is not making a secret that Coach’s demise will be (or should) be of epic proportions. It stands to reason that Erinn may be a big part of this fracture that occurs in Timbira. JT and Stephen (and later Taj) have never been shown skewing negative in this planning; they were/are "desperate" (to use the show's word) and desperate measures call for any action necessary but let’s not mistake a headstrong move due to no other recourse as opposed to a move that we, as the audience, are getting full insight from Stephen and JT that has been thoughtful. Further, who would Brendan be looking to seek revenge? Would not Brendan be more angry at his own Timbira members than Stephen and JT and clearly the editing has been building on the "competitive" nature between Coach and Brendan in their bout for leader (although one would suspect that Brendan may want to "kill off" the assistant coach since Tyson is not as predictable as Coach (we know Brendan enjoys predictability) We have gotten inside the thought process of Stephen and JT and what their hopes are and their concerns whereas Coach’s have been very linear; solely about taking Brendan down. The depth of insights lends better to Stephen and JT’s success than Coach and Tyson’s. Stephen accurately assessed this situation that they can exploit something already established

A New Day, A New Fishing Partner

JT and Tyson are now shown fishing together with Tyson catching a small catfish that even JT doesn’t recognize

JT (conf) "I expected not to get along with Tyson at all, we talk a lot of smack to each other and now you know we get on the same tribe... you’re still competing against him but you’re living with him, it’s a little different now" (Note this confessional was taken at the same time as his much earlier confessionals which is probably when the tribe was just newly merged.)

JT "Stephen’s the only guy I can vouch for 100% so.."

Tyson "And for me it’s Coach so..." (JT interrupts stating that is what Coach said)

Tyson "I was thinking of getting rid of Brendan like since two or three eliminations ago"

JT "He’s gonna be surprised" (They shake and hug)

(Tyson’s confessional shown)

Tyson (conf) "I’d like to get rid of Brendan; he’s the biggest threat, he seems like a sneaky bastard you know. I can’t look him in the eye and believe a word he says. You can look at my sweet blue eyes and I’ll tell you sweet nothings and you’ll believe all of them"

(A bit of the Tyson we’ve come to know and at this juncture, we really have not been shown anything from Brendan that validates Tyson’s words especially with his quip about himself being someone anyone would believe; we have already seen Tyson lie straight to Candace, her believe him and Tyson laughingly tell her he just lied to her. The irony that may befall Tyson is his "underestimating" that anyone would believe him and I notice that neither Tyson or Coach expressed any wariness whatsoever regarding their formed alliance with JT and Stephen)

Tyson suggest to Debbie they go look for firewood in order for Tyson to let Debbie know of the plan. Taj is shown in close up which moves to Brendan then back to Taj as a cymbal crashes down - Taj is watching closely

Taj (conf) "After the two tribes merged I was thinking we were probably safe, Stephen and myself because of the secret alliance we have between us and Brendan and Sierra but they haven’t even made any signs or signals so it makes me think they are going to stick behind their tribe right now"

Taj "I went to Exile with Brendan three times"

Stephen "What do you think is going on?"

Taj "I don’t know; I can’t tell if he’s still with us or not... I don’t feel like he’s doing the things he said he was going to do before"

Brendan (conf) "My exile alliance with Taj, Sierra and Stephen is still kind of laying low which is what I think needs to do cause that alliance is only effective once the numbers get down to seven or eight so right now Joe needs to go, JT needs to go and then my exile alliance can kind of take charge if need be" (Perhaps a fatal flaw by Brendan which remains to be seen - once more Brendan does not communicate which could end up being potentially dangerous for him as we that Taj is very concerned that Brendan has not given her any indication they are on the same page)

Tyson "Coach talked to JT last night and we’re good; JT’s a straight shooter, good guy (perhaps there is someone else besides Tyson who is good at lying no?) he said he trusted Stephen with all his life. You, me, Coach, JT and Stephen"

Debbie "I like JT and Stephen"

Tyson "They’re both..." (Debbie finishes: straight shooters then Brendan approaches)

Tyson "Do you think Joe?

Brendan "Yeah. What do you think?"

Tyson "He’s injured so he’s not going to be able to compete at stuff we think"

Brendan "Um yeah"

Tyson (conf) "I talked with Brendan and I just wanted to let him fee like I was still on board with any plan he had. I do feel proud being a better schemer than Brendan; he’s supposed to be this big league businessman who gets businesses rolling, makes tons of money; he’s like putty in my hands. I can mold this game however I want right now"

While Tyson has always been noted for his rather outrageous commentary, this episode’s tone for Tyson has taken a bit of a turn as his words stand out more from the rest commenting on Brendan’s demise; surprisingly even Coach’s! Additionally, while what Tyson may be saying is true, we have no real evidence to support it and Tyson’s words are solely personal with only one comment that Brendan is the biggest threat - THAT would be understandable but he compounds his thoughts with more of an attackful approach that the audience has really yet to see with Brendan. Recall that many times those in "danger" are not the ones who leave and with Tyson’s escalation and let’s not forget his love for the "blindside" this may come back to haunt him somehow

(A little owl pops up to "hoo")

Joe and Erinn take a little walk to the tree mail

Erinn (conf) "...I was able to figure out there were most likely two idols and Joe and I decided we were going to work together..."

Joe "So you don’t know where it is?"

Erinn "Oh no, not at all"

Joe "You can’t even trust me" (Erinn laughs) "I don’t know what you’re doing, it’s a simple question if you have the immunity idol"

Erinn "I don’t have it. We’re here"

(Joe then shows her where it would be hidden and sees it is not there)

Erinn (conf) "There’s a very specific pocket... there’s nothing in there so we can assume Brendan or Sierra has the idol; we’ll vote them both out and then we can actually play the game for real" (Easier said than done?)

Immunity - Individual Feathers!

JT responds to Jeff advising of their newly named merged tribe as the introduction to the individual immunity necklace is given. Sierra and Brendan get close shots upon Jeff’s talk of the necklace.

-Stephen struggles early (he has a lot of limbs to which Erinn jokes "More than the rest of us?")
-Joe now struggling (JT: "Joe hang in there buddy. You know me or you is going home tonight" Joe: "I know")
-Stephen falls off and Joe follows soon after with Jeff noticing his leg
-Taj and Brendan both having trouble with JT also moving
Sierra, Debbie, Coach and Tyson in very good shape
Brendan drops out (as Coach smiles) followed right by Taj and then Erinn
-JT falls as only Timbira members are now left as Coach notes they are "going strong" and subsequently decides to drop.
-Sierra struggles then painfully drops down.
-Erinn tells Tyson to be careful or he will fall off to which Tyson replies: "Don’t boss me around lady" to which Erinn states: "I just don’t want you breaking your pretty little face" as Tyson states: "That’s true, it is my money maker" (Jeff and Debbie shown laughing)
-Tyson then goes on to win immunity and Joe stays behind

JT (conf) "It’s really scary right now having to trust people I just met. I just gotta remain strong in what I hope is a firm alliance. I really don’t have any other options, I have to trust Coach and Tyson right now and if I’m still here tomorrow I’m not worried about old Timbira anymore" (The game turned on its head with Joe leaving and no Tribal Council so these words should provide for interesting viewing)

Joe’s Goodbye

Medic is shown looking at Joe’s leg and giving him options which leave him no real choice in the matter

Scrambling at Forza

Debbie admires the necklace as Tyson gives Debbie a kiss "right on the lips" (for whatever it is worth, Debbie seems to instill the only affection that seems sincere from Tyson) Sierra giggles as Tyson gives Debbie the necklace to try.

Tyson (conf) "So yeah I kick a– like I always do and if any ladies want my phone number I guess uh, ask" (Again, Tyson’s edit (for even Tyson) has been turned up a notch in this episode which concerns me considering how the story is progressing)

Stephen (conf) "We immediately knew something was up with Joe because he hadn’t come back... (Erinn: "I hope he’s okay" Taj: "Oh yeah") We’re hoping we can take out Brendan tonight but honestly I’ve known these people for two days, they’re obviously crafty people, that’s why they’re out here so I don’t trust anyone but you got to go with your gut sometimes in this game and you gotta make that move sometimes in this game and I think this is one of them"

(The group discusses the challenge as JT then walks away with Stephen following)

Debbie or Erinn? "Are we gonna vote for Joe?"

Tyson "Should we vote for him or JT?" (Looking at Brendan)

Erinn "I say we vote for JT anyway; we can all beat Joe at whatever" (subtle move by Erinn to keep Joe in her pocket to which we hear "Yeah" by Tyson perhaps)

Tyson "Okay let’s vote for JT regardless"

(Tyson’s confessional)

Erinn? "I feel bad we’re all huddled over here talking and they’re all.." (Taj shown)

Brendan "That’s the way it is, right? I’m happy we’re in the bigger group and they’re in the smaller group" (Coach)

(More Tyson)

Tyson (conf) "Lying to everybody, especially Brendan and Sierra actually brings me pleasure. In my alliance now, Stephen and JT replaced Brendan and Sierra. I never liked Sierra ever; I have no clue why she’s out here other than to give hope to stupid people around the world" (More escalation for Tyson with no real basis for it as the two of them have never been shown truly interacting in a way to validate this)
and "And Brendan? He’s really the sneakiest bastard I have to worry about. We smile at each other, we hug, I’ve kissed him on the neck, softly.... but as the old adage goes keep your friend’s close and your enemies closer..." (Taj shown walking away)

Stephen "Here’s the thing, if I go with you, (stumbles over words) there’s two basic alliances right, I know I can get to the final four with Taj, Sierra and Brendan (did Stephen confide to JT about his other alliance? This would negate those "teasers" thrown to us in the past over whether they could trust each other - those "teasers" seemed very forced/inserted to me and I question the validity of them as it seemed more for television doubt than reality. We have seen this before with bonded pairs in order for the audience to wonder if the pair would turn on each other.) and I’ll go with you with Coach, Tyson and Debbie now if you promise me you’ll turn on them" (JT assures them as Tyson walks over on the pretense of - beans!)

Stephen "Is Debbie for sure"

Tyson "Debbie’s for sure, 100%"

Stephen "If it’s 5-5, we got to get Taj..."

Tyson "I will get Erinn to go to do this but she’s not in on this" (Tyson leaves)

Stephen "What a mess"

(They come back, the group makes small talk then all go about their business)

Brendan (conf) "There’s definitely a scenario where I could be in trouble... if Timbira sense something going on with Stephen, Taj and myself; they might say let’s get rid of Brendan now but so much of it’s gonna be on the fly; I’ll have the immunity idol in my pocket and I’m not afraid to play it tonight" (This confessional appears to be the same time frame as his earlier confessional discussing his alliance and how he feels it needs to "lay low" for now)

Taj "Brendan and Sierra haven’t tried to communicate yet"

Stephen "I know. Would you be willing to take out Brendan tonight?"

Taj "Tonight?" How?"

Stephen "I think we could like swing Coach. Coach and JT are seriously bonding right now..."

Taj "If you can pull it together, I’ll do it"

Stephen "I know how tight you guys are"

Taj "I mean we’re cool but we’ve been over here two days now and I haven’t had a chance to talk to him. I don’t feel secure. If we were even, it would probably be different but because he has all the numbers, it doesn’t feel good"

(Tyson comes over and tells Taj her teeth are also abnormally white as they "bond" over whitening)

Coach "I said when we merged my last hope was to talk to JT"

JT "You can trust me, I know I can trust you"

Coach "I know that"

JT "Y’all just keep reassuring me"

Coach "It’s perfect, while you guys went out and talked, while we were in that circle and I’m not telling any lies, they were going to vote you out"

JT "Okay"

Coach "And you’re the warrior and we’re together now...(they high five then hug)

Coach "Don’t burn me"

JT "I won’t man"

Coach "I just screwed my whole tribe"

JT (conf) "If I’m reading Coach right he’s telling me the truth; my life in this game is in his hands tonight but you know, this is a game for a million dollars" (and?? This confessional seemed abruptly cut off...)

JT "Coach said Sierra and Brendan are the only two who are going to vote me"

Stephen "That means..."

JT "Hopefully he won’t play his idol. If he does dude, I’m out"

Stephen "You’re not going out"

JT "I was thinking if uh, Brendan’s going to vote me"

Stephen "Damn. That’s because Joe is injured"

JT "If Brendan votes for me and Sierra votes for me, that’s two"

Stephen "We can split votes. This is awesome"

Stephen (conf) "If Brendan plays the idol then it doesn’t matter how many of us vote for him, one of the Jalapoa tribe, whoever he chooses, is going home and it sounds like Brendan is targeting JT which is disastrous for me so our solution is to split the votes. We have at least four or five solid votes for Brendan the rest of us vote for Sierra that way if Brendan does play the idol Sierra’s going home and Brendan can go home next"

(A snake)

Stephen "JT and I were talking about splitting the votes in case he uses his idol so four people, five people, vote for him and two or three vote for Sierra that way he can’t vote JT out no matter what"

Tyson "That’s true, that’s true, let’s do it"

Tyson "We need to split the vote now; we need four on Brendan, three on Sierra and then Brendan’s and Sierra’s can go anywhere and they don’t count for anything so whether an idol is played or not you know?"

Coach "I gotcha"

Coach "At Tribal tonight, if it goes the way I plan to it will actually shake the hell out of the foundations that were Timbira" (A brief scene showing Coach discussing the lack of fishing) "So what do you want to call me? The orchestrator for orchestrating a beautiful move at this point in the game cause it does two things, keeps my initial game plan intact and I don’t have to compromise by keeping weak people around and voting out one of the strongest (shot on JT) and most manipulative (moves to Brendan) and possibly the most deceitful players to date or do you want to call me the dragon slayer cause I’m cutting the head off the dragon; you guys call me whatever you want to because at this point in time, I feel brilliant!"

Tribal Council – Not!

Jeff is shown arriving in the midst of a storm as Taj applauds him for not using an umbrella. With Coach’s hand on Stephen’s shoulder, Jeff explains Joe won’t continue with Stephen: “What?” Jeff further explains with closeups on Sierra to Tyson A very melancholy change in the music occurred when Jeff explained Joe did not want to leave with Stephen very sad. Brendan to Taj is shown as Jeff continues to discuss Joe going to the hospital. Tyson then Erinn are shown as Jeff then continues to advise that the impact for them is no Tribal Council with a ringing noise and the camera honed in on Stephen then shifts to Brendan Jeff then states: “Good news, bad news” as the camera shifts to JT in the background. Coach is then shown as Jeff states: “Nobody getting voted out” Taj asks Jeff to tell Joe that they miss and love him.

Tyson (conf) “Brendan lives to see another day, I’m disappointed. The main thing about getting the plan to work was keeping everybody quiet long enough to vote him out so he didn’t use an idol if he had it. Now I don’t know how much is gonna leak or what’s going to happen but” (takes a deep breath)

JT (conf) “I can’t wait until the next Tribal Council moreso now because I have had some plans in order and someone on the old Timbira tribe bought themselves three days and they don’t even know it”

Coach “So no Tribal Council tonight, that sucks, you know it’s like we got a game plan and ready for action, the dragon slayer has to wait another day to taste blood” (With that Joe is shown leaving with his thoughts on the game)

Curiously, Erinn was not given a confessional which struck me as odd if one is of the mindset that she is at end game and/or winner. I know there has been mention by some (Michel I believe you stated this in your thoughts last week as I know you like to choose a winner; I tend to examine who may be at end game) that they believe Erinn is this season’s winner; while I am not of that mindset per se I do think she is integral to plot points, again though, I do find it a bit curious that someone who would be seriously affected by Joe’s evacuation was not edited to give her thoughts and concern in the matter. She counted on Joe’s partnership and I would suspect his leaving was upsetting. Naturally we all look at the show differently and the edits and this was one nugget that I found a bit peculiar on Erinn’s part

I enjoyed this episode tremendously and must say how I am enjoying this season as well. I really have not changed my interpretation especially with how I’ve seen JT and Stephen’s progression. Sierra was extremely low key this episode which ultimately may not bode well for end game (again I don’t know if final two or three) but I still feel she merits progression over some others. JT and Stephen’s friendship (forgive me for again repeating myself as I have said this on a couple of occasions) has been noted in some innocuous situations and I found it to be (hopefully) relevant at some point; now I feel very sure there is relevance and often times two individuals that share not just an alliance but a closeness do rather well together in reaching end game. They also both embody the long standing theme as well as words that have been spoken by Coach. Much of Coach’s statements are ridiculed in the editing but his words in the first episode I questioned if they may be important to the progression of this season and I still tend to believe that. At this time, Tyson’s edit has escalated even for Tyson and I’m concerned he will reap what he sows and soon regardless of the upcoming “war waged” by Brendan on Coach. Unfortunately, I do not feel Debbie merits anything other than the normal low key part of an alliance edit that may get far but not reach the brass ring and while Taj is still relevant I am somewhat concerned on the repeat of her words that she would give Stephen or JT the idol as she would not want them to leave prematurely and wonder if this is another plot point. Brendan is an interesting character, he is not a “dynamic” character and therefore his low key persona is all that one is going to get and logically speaking he is well equipped to be at end game (in fact this episode helped him greatly with his confidence being compromised by the events surrounding him) and there is a huge irony that the dragon could not be slayed by such a big character as Coach. He was immediately pegged by Coach in the first episode and has had some key insights in prior edits; my issue (much like Erinn’s path seemingly largely involving the demise of Coach and/or Tyson) is that I feel his edit is more focused on claiming victory of domain as opposed to the actual end game and some of his confessionals were questionable to me. I am wordy enough I won’t bother to note them. In fact, I should have just posted my end thoughts from each episode that I normally do instead of this novel as reading back, they pretty much summarize what I think right now. Again, however, viewing is subjective; what I may see someone else may see something entirely different as evidenced by those of you who believe in certain contestants’ at end game and believe me, I mull what you say time and time again.

(FP - thank you )