I was away for 4 days over the weekend so I haven't had a chance to post my thoughts, but I thought I'd try anyway, however late. I am SURE that there may be a lot that is redundant in this post, for that I apologize.

The stars:

Ozzy: (2 confessionals) I noticed that Ozzy had a good first confessional noting that they let Cochran stay and try to redeem himself....remember it's ALWAYS good when tribe members speak about other tribe members and then it's validated with the visuals.....I identify with his passion for the game but if he doesn't step up and make an effort at camp and in the challenges, he could be the next to go. Ozzy spells it out, he's narrating here, and he's dead on.

Ozzy's second confessional was really a narration and unlike some of you, I was quite impressed. He noted once again how he's played the game before and he's learned, 3 times around and you learn what to look for, then we see him finding the idol! So, again he's learned from his prior games and it's getting him farther in this game. His experience is paying off.... I look at that as quite positive, especially when combined with the second half of his confessional: I’ve had one of these little guys in my possession before and I was stupid enough not to play it. I squandered the opportunity to get really far in that game, I am sure as hell not gonna let that happen this time, but can’t let anybody know that I have the idol, If anybody senses that I have the idol there’s a very strong possiblity that they are going to try and flush it out. So, if I can make it to the merge and use it at an opportune moment, this might be my ticket to the win...

Ozzy is once again noting what happened in the past and that this time will be different.....he will play it if he needs to, he will NOT tell anyone about it, and it could be his ticket to the win. I'd say Ozzy is in good standing for now!

I would also like to point out that when the action cut to Savaii, we had our cheerful island music playing as the camera zoomed in on Ozzy as he was preparing to go out fishing with the guys....this music was associated with him as well in Micronesia. Ozzy is a real survivor and he makes for a happy tribe!

He had 2 confessionals which was a big drop from last ep, but I feel like all of the drama was at Upolu...they lost the challenge and Brandon, the drama queen, is there as well. Ozzy is safe!

Coach: With most of the action happening over at Upolu this week, Coach was a star of the episode. He had 6 confessionals. His first confessional brings us up to date...he started off in a bad way, Things didn't look too good for the dragon slayer, but now I feel like I've been given a 2nd chance....solid alliance of 5....but, with friends, you cna't ever have too many....

He notes he had a very humble beginning....and now, he's making a new friend with Edna...because you can't have too many. He notes later, loyalty sometime outweighs strength in this game. Coach is providing alot of experienced observations to the audience, almost like Boston Rob did last season...With Boston Rob, it was like we were shown, through his words and actions how to win the game of Survivor. If Coach keeps making prophetic observations and we see them come to fruition, then I'd say Coach may indeed be following Boston Rob's path...

He then moves onto the drama queen, Brandon. Noting that Brandon scares him. Brandon reveals his tats and Coach is really shocked, but in the end he's assessed the situation and it'll go one of two ways, either Coach will be duped once again or it's gonna be redemption for the Hantz Family. I hope it's the latter...

Then later Coach gets confessionals regarding the voting strategy, that they should vote 3 and 3 to flush the idol because they don't know if it will be in play. He's aiming for Christine, because he still remembers her calling him out, he hasn't forgiven her for searching for the idol when they were all working, and he's not her friend. He notes that it will be split between she and Stacey as Stacey and Christine are "thick as thieves" as we saw Edna inform him earlier....

Later Coach goes on to note why Mikayla needs to stay... Mikayla’s our strongest female player but Brandon has a wife and family and she makes him feel uncomfortable, young, good looking girl...I understand. But, to vote her off immediately...come on...Brandon, I think that he has demons that we don’t know about that he’s facing on a daily basis

Coach is narrating the events going on now at Upolu....and his assessments are validated with the visuals. Remember, always a good sign when other Survivors talk about another in a positive light, and we see the one spoken about validating it with their actions. A positive sign for Mikayla.

Sophie also validates Mikayla's worth with her confessional: For some reason or another Brandon wants to vote out Mikayla. I don’t know what his deal is. Maybe Brandon is threatened by Mikayla cause she’s a strong woman...if that’s the case then that worries me cause I think that I’m quite strong as well.

We now have Coach assessing Brandon and betting on him being a man of his word. Then we have the drama of Brandon...Brandon had 5 confessionals. First they were about how he really liked Coach and wanted to play the same way as him, with honesty and integrity, but he feels like a hypocrite because he's lying to him about his Uncle. So he discloses the info to him. Then he tells us that he' s not going to stab Coach in the back, he's in his alliance and he's a man of his word.

Later, with the Mikayla drama however we see Brandon blatantly go up to Christine and Stacey and tell them to vote for Mikayla, once again, he's going behind Coach's back...Brandon says he's a man of his word, but clearly is not, by his actions. The editing is telling us he's more like his uncle than he wants to be. He's a liar and he's conflicted.

Brandon's remaining confessionals were all about how he doesn't like MIkayla, he doesn't feel comfortable with her around, she's like Parvati, he swears to us that he'll get her voted out of this game...Ain't no chick getting in the way of me, my family, and a million dollars!

Later, when it all blew up at camp and then at TC, we see Brandon coming clean, and he didn't do what he said he would do...get her voted out of the game. Brandon is not seen succeeding. Mikayla, despite her minimal defense of herself, survived...despite Brandon. Will Mikayla outlast Brandon? I think so.

One thing I noticed in particular was when Coach had his last confessionals..I hear that Chris and Stacey are gonna vote for Mik and it pisses the heck out of me because she’s done nothing wrong, but Brandon just wants to control the situation and if he wants an outcome he’s willing to risk XY and Z to get that outcome....Then we see a storm and lightening coming as we hear thunder...
This all implies that the controlling Brandon is going to wreck havoc in regard to the strong female Mikayla, setting up a great conflict at Camp Upolu.

Coach is clearly defending Mikayla and validating her as a strong player....he's validating her own assessment of herself...Mikayla (who had 2 confessionals) had noted, At home I bartend and I also play in a professional womens football league...it’s full tackle we hit as hard as the guys so I think I’m a pretty tough chick, I am kind of a tomboy, you see me at camp I am right in there with the guys doing all the dirty work, the hardest part of the game is the social aspect, you can’t be a little princess, I don’t see myself as a girly girl I see myself as a solid person and I think that is gonna help me in this game... Then we see Mikayla go off with the guys to fish...

Another positive sign when Coach is talking about Mikayla and describing her as she sees herself...and more importantly, as we, the audience, are seeing her.

Regarding Coach at the end of the camp drama with Brandon and who to vote for, we see Coach gathered around Rick, Mikayla, Sophie, and Albert....Coach says to his tribe...it doesn’t need to be like this btw. this game is simple, you need to find people who are loyal to you and that is it...then the camera pans to Rick, Sophie, Mikayla, Albert. It’s simple...you are loyal, see the group, or you are disloyal.... as the camera pans to... Brandon.

I thought this scene spelled it all out. Rick, Mikayla, Sophie, and Albert will be loyal to Coach and to each other....Brandon will not.

The Celebrities:

Brandon: As noted above Brandon had 5 confessionals. He noted that he really liked Coach and that he wanted to play the same way, with honesty and integrity, but he's a hypocrite so he has to tell Coach. And he does. He says he's not planning on stabbing him in the back and he's a man of his word. This is all conflicting with the drama scene that played out at camp regarding the boot. This is NOT a good sign for Brandon and his longevity... !

Brandon then goes on as noted above about his dislike of Mikayla, she's like Parvati, she's tempting all of the men, meanwhile we see Mikayla working and getting "dirty" with the guys and going fishing. His assessment is not congruent with what we are shown of Mikayla. Another bad sign for Brandon.... !

Brandon's 4th confessional was in regard to the challenge...We were over confident, we got too cocky.... I can't help but to wonder if this is what will happen with Brandon, he'll get over confident and too cocky and proceed to get the boot...

His last confessional is again about Mikayla. Brandon doesn’t like lying but it’s got to be Mikayla. She’s got every guy here wrapped around her little finger but me...it’s just not gonna happen, she better be going home tonight. I took it as a very good sign that she indeed did NOT go home. I believe that Mikayla will indeed outlast Brandon.

Cochran: Cochran got the first confessional of the show. He had 2 confessionals. His first told us that TC was kind of a disaster for me, I went into flight or fight mode, i guess I chose fight which really didn’t have the outcome I wanted, even though I did stay in the game. MY tendency to turn into this anxious debate mode wasn’t helpful I am going to have to turn on the cool mellow Cochran rather than this antsy paranoid nerd kid that I’ve been the last few days... He is telling us that he needs to change....

Then we see him thanking his tribemates and then going to bed to sleep on it...

His second confessional: This is all part of the new era of Cochran, my mom’s going to have mixed feelings about the new Cochran, she’ll be thrilled that I’m doing in work but the first thing she said to me when she heard I was doing Survivor was that she didn’t want me handling the machete without supervision I appreciate her advice but new Cochran doesn’t always follow mommies advice. New Cochran cuts open a coconut when he needs to , he does it by himself. I need to make them think less of me as a liability and drain on the tribe and more as a survivor.

I’m certainly never gonna become the big survivor, I’m never going to be Ozzy, I’m never going to be Keith, I’m never gonna be Jim but I can be a new Cochran.

During this confessional we see Cochran trying to implement the "new Cochran"...it's also what Ozzy noted he needed to do...this is a positive sign for his longevity...he's changing to be more of a "survivor". Bodes well.

Mikayla: While she had only 2 confessionals, she gets a starring role this episode because the drama was wrapped around her. She told us in her first confessional that she's not a girly girl, she's not afraid to get dirty and work with the guys, and she's a tomboy, a solid player, as well as a tough football player. Then we see just that as she excels at the challenge and she's a worker bee at camp, catching fish.

Her second confessional is in reaction to being on the hot seat regarding who to boot out...it sounds alot like Cochran did last week, imo.... It’s like a mad scramble right now. And all of a sudden they think that I’m not “trustable”...are you kidding me? I didn’t even do anything, you’ve gotta be kidding me!!!...

At TC she was very present as the others were talking about her, I noted that she let Coach do her defending, and was content with that....did she trust Coach? Clearly. Now, will she repay him with loyalty? We know Coach feels like you can never have too many friends!

Supporting cast

Keith: He had 2 confessionals where last week he had none. He was shown conspiring with Ozzy in the beginning after TC, and then later with Jim. He is attached to Ozzy and he tells us why...I really do like Ozzy alot I think an alliance with Ozzy could be the best bet to stay strong physically but he’s played this game before so I have to watch him like a hawk...

So, while Keith is with him for now, he will have to watch his own back. Then later Keith goes out fishing with Ozzy and Jim. Jim and Keith talk about aligning while Ozzy is seen swimming and fishing. Keith notes at the end...Jim has made this little alliance of 5 that he wants to go to the merge, he really doesn’t suspect that me and Ozzy were already talking to each other which is great because it let’s him think that he’s in control... I'd say that Ozzy and Keith are already one up on Jim.

Jim: Jim had a great start last season. He directed the vote, and rallied to boot Semhar thus sparing Cochran. I think his edit took a severe downturn with this episode. His 2 confessionals were all about "me". We went fishing, don't think it happened by chance, I'm a world poker champion, I'm thinking a few moves ahead, I've got the 3 + 2 plan...the 2 guys and me are the core, then the girls. Wow, what an ego! We see JIm set the 3 + 2 plan in motion. Then he says to Keith, "I don't see any of the 5 of us flipping, definitely all of us to the end!"

That last sentence spells doom to me. If he says that he doesn't see any of them flipping, clearly, someone is indeed going to flip as he is taking full credit for this plan, but we've already seen Keith and Ozzy discussing it just after TC. He finishes with more egocentric talk...I'm the orchestrator of the plan, I'm the architect....Cochran, Dawn, and Papa Bear, they don't fit in. I know because I used to not fit in, but now I'm at the cool kids table, barely there, but there.... Clearly, someone will flip and Jim will be toast...or at least kicked off of the cool kids table. Jim will not win Survivor.

Interesting to note that we only saw Keith agreeing to his plan, no one else. Not Ozzy, not Elyse, not Whitney....

Christine: Had 3 confessionals...about finding the clue, about the post challenge assessment that was indeed accurate... We lost the challenge and the reward. It started out well but the guys were kind of you know, walking...I just think they could have had quicker feet. So now we have to vote somebody out, I just hope it’s not me tonight.

This was an enlightening confessional for me. She was dead right. The girls did well in the challenge, yet one of the girls was going to be voted off...This tribe may self destruct if they continue to not vote out the poor challenge performers. But, we did have Coach tell us that loyalty is better than strength in this game, so maybe it will work out ok?

Her last confessional was that she didn't know who was going, she thought that they were supposed to vote out the weak, a shot of Edna, but it could be her. And, indeed it was!

Sophie She only had one confessional and it was to validate Mikayla as a strong player....as noted above.

Edna. She had one confessional, she's knows she at the bottom of the tribe totem pole so she thinks Coach is a strong player, so she'll align with him! I say, good choice, Edna. I think this bodes well for her...

Under the radar:

Papa Bear: disappeared, no drama at Camp Savaii...identified by Jim as weak and expendable.....in trouble.
Dawn: Disappeared, no drama at Camp Savaii...identified by Jim as weak, expendable....in trouble.
Whitney: No sign of Whitney yet...Kelly Purple? Jim wants her to be one of the five, not identified as weak....safe
Elyse: Shown calling on her native American ancestors to help her catch a fish, but didn't. Jim wants her to be one of the five, not identified as weak....safe.
Albert: Seen but not heard. Seen in Coaches "loyal" five.....safe.
Stacey: Identified as with Chrisitine, expendable....in trouble.

In sum, I agree with most that point to themes of loyalty, friendship, and especially with what Corvis pointed out....

That ability to harness your passion and stand up to what everyone says is impossible and say I can do it.

Taking this theme to heart, who are our underdogs at the start or rather who have started out with strong odds against them for whatever reason: Cochran, Coach, Ozzy, Dawn, Mikayla, Brandon, Edna. Will one of these folks be our winner?

Coach and Ozzy are underdogs because they have both played the game 2 other times before. So far I feel like Ozzy and Coach are noting things that they have learned from their past and applying in this game with success. I think that bodes well for them both. Coach is clearly making alliances and underlining loyalty and friendship, and noting that loyalty may be more important than strength in this game. This bodes very well for him, imo.

Ozzy on the other hand is not seen as strategic in this game, yet he's found another idol using resources that he learned from other games. To me, Ozzy always represents the underdog. I would not be surprised at all to see Ozzy align with underdogs on his tribe.

Cochran is a blatant underdog and I think there is no need for debate. Will "new Cochran" be the survivor he dreams about in episode 2? I think he just could!

Dawn is an underdog, she had a meltdown in episode one, and now is on the endangered list.

Mikayla is an underdog as it seems she's not in with "the cool kids" either. She is not in the stargazer alliance, but I would bet she will replace Brandon at some point. She definitely is exemplifying passion, and she's going to have to stand up to Brandon. She is in a great position to fulfill that theme.

Edna is an underdog because she is the weakest, as identified by Christine, and herself, when she noted she's at the bottom. She's aligning with Coach another underdog. I think she will continue to be aligned with Coach through the game, but I don't see her as winner.

Finally, Brandon is an underdog because he's related to RussHell and his tribe will soon know about it. I think Brandon will not last to end game. He will be a liar and disloyal and his alliance will cut him...at some point.

This leaves my list of end game players that could fulfill the theme as having passion and an ability to stand up to what everyone says is impossible and quite possibly win it as: Coach, Ozzy, Cochran, Mikayla, or Dawn. We'll see.