LAST EDITED ON 11-24-12 AT 07:06 PM (EST)

Recap

From the moment Pete and Abi found the hidden immunity idol, they ruled the game with an iron fist.
They went into the merge with numbers…
…and took out their enemies one by one.

Everything changed when Skupin got tired of being at the bottom of their alliance.
At the last tribal council, Abi laid into Lisa…
…but, in the end, Lisa stayed true to her alliance and it was Skupin who joined the rebellion, taking out Pete and Abi’s biggest ally.

With their alliance crumbling, can Abi and Pete survive?

The recap really cut through the crap that we were served last week: Jeff clearly told us that Lisa stayed with her alliance and that Skupin was the real player. I noted that he described Mike’s move exactly the same way he sees Survivor: You’re at the bottom, you flip the game.

The Goat

Night 25

Abi: “Tribal council was a disaster basically. Seriously, what the (bleep). I thought we had agreed that Tandang was supposed to be strong and make a big move together.”

Meanwhile, Mike was heard saying: “If we hadn’t done what we did tonight, none of us would have had the chance at the mil.”

Mike then had a two part confessional. First at night: “Voting Artis out tonight was my first big move but I don’t believe you can win this game with just one big move. I believe there are several big moves that need to take place before the end of this game.” And then, during the day after we saw him agreeing to a Final 6 alliance with Denise: “Whichever way I go, I need to control this game as much as I can instead of letting somebody else determine my fate. It’s the only way I ever lived my life and it’s the way I’m going to play this game.”

Combine this with the recap and Mike is emerging as the mastermind of the season! All the silence of the pre-merge, the follower that went with the flow, the baby steps, that is now a thing of the past and Mike, the leader we knew in Australia, returned with determination.

The next segment began with a conversation between Abi and Lisa.

Lisa: “It’s hard to be in an alliance with Pete and Abi but I was never good at break-ups…A big part of who I am…is someone who feels comfortable to be used…The really good thing is that I feel like I am really taking control of my own destiny. I think it’s going to make a huge difference in the quality of my time out here and really, it sounds dramatic but, also for the rest of my life.”

This pretty much seals Lisa’s role as the journey player. In Survivor, many nice people have been used over the years. It’s very interesting that both Lisa and Mike talked about taking control but Mike’s control is over the game while Lisa is over her life. That’s the difference between the winner and the journey player.

The Challenge

The teams were randomly (yeah right) split into the 4 young players versus the 4 older ones.

In the first round, Carter proved to be faster than Jonathan.
In the second round, Malcolm forgot to flip a yellow drum, “opening the door for Skupin.”
Abi “flipped one from the other team” so Lisa easily won a point.
Jeff asked Abi if she understood what was going on and her answer was priceless: “No, not really.”
Denise was no match for Pete.
In a rematch between Mike and Malcolm, it was Mike that made the mistake: “Skupin flipped over the wrong one, the red team wins reward.
Before sending them on reward, Jeff had some fun with Carter who didn’t know the difference between manucure and pedicure.

The Reward

Malcolm: “We leave the challenge in a little boat then we get to this amazing little beach. We have massage tables, bathtubs, a picnic table…When I got here I sort of silenced the talk. The strategy behind that is that I am going to need to make a Final 3 or a Final 4 deal pretty quick and the people I want at the end are all sitting back at camp...”

Did Malcolm unknowingly just spoil the Final 4? Will it be all the older players?

Abi: “They came with platters of delicious food…Today, I feel like a princess…A queen!”

Pete: “It’s a pretty good feeling to be away from the game so that’s why I agreed with Malcolm not to talk about strategy today…The next challenge… I am going to be refueled and ready to kick some butt.”

Camp – Day 26

The players were already returning from reward and Abi told them all about it.

It had been a while (Cindy in Guatemala?) since we had seen a player get bashed for going on and on about their great reward. It used to be that people lied or avoided talking about the reward but nowadays the rewards are so lavish that everyone knows. It’s therefore strange that the players were offended by Abi’s talk. One thing that isn’t surprising was that the editors let us know that Abi had irritated the others.

Denise: “We were having a relaxing day and then Abi returned from the reward and it was like Urgh!”

Mike: “Normally, people are super gracious when they come back from reward but Abi’s downright cruel. She flaunted it, she wouldn’t stop.”

Malcolm: “Abi has all the social grace of a Mack truck. She has no understanding of how to talk to people.”

Then Abi said she was done with the cooking. She would eat but she wouldn’t do her share of the cooking anymore.

Denise: “You have lost your freaking mind, girl. Part of me thinks: That’s fine, let it ##### everybody else. Your time will come. I might not get to tell her anything until I write her name down in that tribal council when she’s finally walking out, I get to say: You know what: Whiners are wieners. You need to go home.”

I have a feeling that Abi isn’t going home so soon. She has been set up to be the decoy boot almost every week from now on but there are more important players to eliminate first and someone would be telling us about it soon.

Day – 27

Malcolm had a confessional after we heard him talking strategy with Mike: “With a pretty easy vote in theory coming up, my plan is the get a Final 4 set up today and kind of be able to coast after this vote until the end.”

Skupin told Malcolm it could be him and Denise but wondered who would be the 4th.
Malcolm suggested Lisa.
Mike said he’d check with Lisa.

Mike told Lisa about Malcolm’s proposal.
Lisa was pleasantly surprised.

Mike: “When someone wants to take you to the final four, you have to say, strategically, yes because, if you say no, you could wind up odd man out and, all of a sudden, you are on the chopping block.”

Lisa wanted to know his opinion so Mike said they had to make a pact with either Penner and Carter or Malcolm and Denise.
Lisa said she trusted Penner more.

This conversation between the two most important players of the last two episodes sounded like the key decision, the highlight moment that will be featured during the reunion to explain how the pair made it to the end.

Lisa talked with Penner in Mike’s presence.
Lisa told Penner that she wanted to go to the end with the two returning players.
Penner thanked her for the offer but said he was more comfortable taking care of one thing at a time. He added: “I am not interested to committing anything to anybody…not yet.”

While that was definitely Penner’s voice, the camera was standing behind Penner when we heard those words so it’s possible that he never said it exactly like that. For one thing, the voice quality was different than the rest of the scene. For all we know, those words could have been said right after the merge! The important thing though was that Jonathan didn’t want to accept a deal immediately after we heard that you had to take those deals or else you’d wind up on the chopping block. It made Jonathan look like an amateur at this game.

Jonathan had a confessional: “Lisa respects me and she said she wants to go to the final three with Skupin. It’s a great option but it’s too earloy for me to say who I should go to the Final three with. I will continue to keep them close and, if I get blindsided, more power to them. I will go out with my head held high.”

Sounded like Penner’s last words. He’s already written his exit speech!

Lisa: “Penner didn’t want to make that: “We’re true to the end” kind of deal. He said “let’s get rid of these two and see how it shakes down.” So, I think he missed an opportunity.”

The music took on a dramatic tone as Abi, Carter and Penner were alone in camp, Jonathan wondering: “Where is everybody.”

They, meaning Malcolm, Denise, Mike and Lisa, were making that deal.

Malcolm: “This is as serious a final 4 deal as you can make in this game. This isn’t just some quickie alliance where: Wham, bam, thank you mam! He’s gone, we are back on our own. I stuck my neck out…If it works out, it could be the best thing that’s happened to me in the game.”

Mike: “I committed a Final four with Malcolm but I am not too comfortable with it because he’s a gamer and that worries me. I felt I had to, I felt I didn’t have a choice. So, it makes me a little nervous. I want to be the one calling the shots so I am going to do my best to win the next immunity challenge.”

It’s strange that no one mentioned Denise and her chances to win. Is it because the editors are hiding the winner or is it because they want to prepare us for her lost, make us forget that she once mattered? I have to say that the editors have managed to make Denise look almost irrelevant which is pretty amazing considering her pre-merge build up.

The Challenge

Pete had a confessional that was inserted after Jeff gave them the rules of the challenge: “For me, it comes down to this challenge. Abi has the idol so, if I don’t win immunity, I am pretty much screwed so, all I can do is fight right now. Otherwise, it’s me.”

Peter didn’t even make it passed the first round; Malcolm, Penner, Denise, Skupin and Carter all beat him to the first post.
Skupin, Carter and Denise made it to the final leg.
In that leg, Mike had a lead late but Carter pulled it out and won immunity along with a bigger target on his back.

Camp – Day 27

Abi: “Today’s challenge was a really fun challenge however, I didn’t win it and Peter did not win as well so it’s basically, Peter, Abi and the hidden immunity idol. It’s like an alliance of three versus 6.”

With Skupin listening...

...Penner made it simple: “Split the votes 3 – 3 and if she doesn’t play the idol then we all vote for her.”

Jonathan: “Pete and Abi cannot win this game; they don’t have the numbers. There’s no reason to keep them around; their ship has sailed. Now, can somebody surprise me and play an incredibly stupid move? Maybe, but I honestly believe that all of us in the 6 are gonna stay strong so either Pete or Abi go home. Could it screw up? Yeah! But you could get hit by a car walking from your house to the post box too.”

Pete had a confessional after he talked to Abi about targeting Malcolm: “After the last Tribal, the whole game turned upside down. I went from the top of the pecking order all the way to the bottom but I am not going to give in and be like” OK guys! Vote me out. No! I’m going to try to get something going. Malcolm; he’s the biggest threat on the island, he has an idol and he needs to go home. We’ll be pitching this idea of “Get rid of Malcolm” to everybody, especially Skupin. He doesn’t think before he does things, he just jumps into it so he could be turned easily but all I really need is one person to flip.”

Lisa liked Abi’s plan but turned it down.
Carter told Peter he was in a pretty good spot.
Jonathan told Abi that he didn’t trust any of them because they had all voted against him at some point but he felt he had their trust. He was counting on the fact he had not betrayed them once.
Mike listened to Pete’s pitch. The music tried to paint a mystery movie moment while Mike silently listened. Then he said that Malcolm was “the biggest wildcard in the game.”

Mike: “I have a deal to go to the final four with Malcolm but now I am starting to rethink whether that was the smart thing to do or not because he is playing the hardest. Malcolm is a threat in challenge, he’s a smart strategic player and he’s liked by everybody. So, if I’m sitting next to Malcolm in the final three, I’m not sure I can beat him.”

Finally, he told Pete that he was’t saying no.

Mike’s whole story lies in these last three confessionals: He considered changing the plan to boot Malcolm so was he contemplating an incredibly stupid move like Jonathan called it? Can anyone say that booting Malcolm instead of Abi is stupid? Maybe the real stupid decision was made by Jonathan when he told everyone to write Abi’s name during the revote instead of Pete and maybe Mike only went along when he was sure she’d play the idol. Pete or Malcolm; one fit young guy had to go.

Mike didn’t jump into the plan like Pete said he would so we could say that everything Pete has ever said about Mike has been proven wrong but then he did jump into an alliance with Malcolm that he soon regretted.

What we do know is that Mike is looking ahead to the Final 3 like no one else in this game and that he has all sorts of hooks and storylines going into it. He is right when he says that Malcolm is the most likely winner at this stage but is he moving too fast? Is he forgetting someone? We need to be able to say no to these questions if we want to be sure that Mike is the winner.

Mike’s confessional went on: “The risk of changing it up again is that it could backfire. But, do I anticipate our current alliance to stay strong until the Final four and having a happy ending? It’s not that likely in this game.”

Malcolm: “Apparently, Pete and Abi realized that the easiest way to get someone to flip is to throw my name out there and run me over tonight. They just need one person to flop and I am going home. I have the idol but if nobody flips and I play that thing, I lose a lot of leverage moving forward. This is the trickiest situation about the idol that I have faced yet and I will have to keep my wits about me tonight, watching people and make the right decision., Otherwise, I’m toast.”

Right when Malcolm talked about the tricky decision, we had a shot of him looking over at a silent Mike as Jonathan went over the plan.

The image was meant to put doubt on Mike’s chances, telling the audience that Malcolm was watching him in particular. Of course, it could be interpreted the other way around: it could be telling us that Malcolm is smart enough to see through Mike’s evil plans but we have dismmised Malcolm as a winner long ago.

Tribal Council

Seeing Abi smile at Artis, Malcolm talked about jury management but right now, he was more concerned about staying in the game.
Pressed by Probst, Malcolm refused to admit it would be a good strategy to get rid of him.
Asked about it, Mike said he always thinks about the idol. He added: “At every tribal council there’s always an opportunity to vote whichever way you want.”
Asked about the feeling of going from Tandang never lost to beaten up, Pete said it wasn’t a good feeling but he hoped one person would flip.
That pleased RC.
Abi told Jeff she regretted the way she handled the last TC.
Jeff asked if any of it could be cultural.
Abi agreed, saying English wasn’t her first language and adding: “My attitude can be perceived as not the most gentle.”
Jeff noted that everyone was smiling at that.
Denise noted that she knew many non-English people that were still kind and helpful which Abi is not.
Abi said she’s usually loved so Jeff asked if she felt isolated.
Abi answered that she was emotional because Lisa didn’t forgive her.
Lisa set her straight by saying she forgave her but wanted to be with people that trusted her.
Abi said she understood.
When Jeff said she’d be great to take to the end, Denise replied: “If that’s the kind of game you want to play. You bring the deadweight, the unlikable person.”
Abi: “Wow! I didn’t know that I was unliked.”
Jeff: “I am starting to think that it is cultural…it was a sign, in our culture that you are full of it.”
Denise went on saying she wouldn’t want to bring someone like Abi to the end.
Abi asked her to stop. She added that she never had that much hatred thrown at her.
Denise said it wasn’t hatred, it was frustration. They argued back and forth, Denise repeatedly asking Abi to let her finish her trashing.

Before sending them to vote, Jeff said: “Any time there is somebody on the bottom, there’s this great opportunity to shuffle the game.”

While they voted, we heard Abi telling Pete: “That was brutal by them.”
He tried consoling her by saying she would be OK.

Abi played her idol. Mike went along with Jonathan’s plan so Pete went home.

In the end, Jeff encouraged Abi: “Your back is against the wall but…anything can happen.”
She thanked Jeff and walked out of TC so quickly that she forgot her torch and had to come back to get it!

Pete’s final words first mentioned Abi: “I felt bad for Abi…they ripped her apart.”

The Story

Now that we are coming to the end of the season, it’s clear that the season has been following Mike’s game all along. It was mainly told by Jonathan, RC and Lisa who were the main narrators and the audience’s compass. It was through their words that Abi, Pete and Artis were perceived as bullies and that Kent was seen as having an obsession against the returning players. But the flow of the story went step by step along Mike’s game. He was very quiet pre-merge where his only highlights happened by helping Tandang win challenges. That was exactly Tandang’s story: A great tribe in chalenges that didn’t get along. However, Mike was able to stay under the radar while RC was always pressing Abi, putting herself in position to be voted out early.

Since the emrge, Mike has been able to flip the vote to his advantage a couple of times. Once with Lisa’s help, once on his own. So we have to answer the questions: Is Mike moving too fast? Would it have been stupid to vote against the plan? Is he forgetting that someone else besides Malcolm could beat him in the finals? Is it stupid to flip the game on the 6? And will his idea of making many big moves hurt him like it hurt many schemers in the past? Well, for that, we need to look at the other players first.

The Characters

Jonathan: Jonathan may be proven right to have rejected the final 3 deal. After all, it’s the best way to avoid losing jury votes, something that could cost Mike dearly. But note that Jonathan himself told us that he would respect being blindsided. “More power to them” he said. Jonathan already gave us his final words and we know he will not hold it against Mike. Jonathan clearly missed an opportunity and the way the confessionals were presented underlined that. First, Mike told us you couldn’t refuse alliances, Penner then told us why he refused the alliance offer and then Lisa told us Jonathan missed the boat. It couldn’t be clearer: Sooner or later, Jonathan will be blindsided.

Malcolm: By his own admission, we were told that booting Malcolm wouldn’t have been a stupid move. Mike is right in saying that Malcolm is an extremely dangerous player and it would have been a waste to eliminate Abi instead of him. Elimnating Pete, on the other hand was a good trade. Pete is also smart and played hard and could have done well in challenges. Malcolm made the final four alliance but he didn’t say anything about his plans after that. That tells us he will fall short in the end, maybe missing out on the final 4.

Lisa: We were able to define her role as the journey player once and for all when she gave that confessional about taking control of her life. It had been opur contention all along but there was always something about Lisa’s edit that made us hesitate along with her. As she said earlier, she is there to learn about herself because she isn’t that good at the game.

Denise: If Mike is forgetting someone that could beat him in the end, then it would be Denise. However, her story has been dropped since the merge and she only served to trash Abi in this episode. Certainly, the audience was happy to see Abi put in her place but Denise was edited as going overboard. Pete’s final words carried a lot of weight and they remeinded of David’s words when he said that Zapatera was wrong to be dancing on Hantz’s grave. The point had been made when Abi started crying and asked for them to stop but the editors continued showing Denise wanting to make the same point again and again. It felt as if Denise went too far, making some (most?) viewers feel sorry for Abi and potentially losing some jury votes.

Mike: Looking at Jonathan’s story, it’s clear that Mike’s big moves wouldn’t hurt him. It would be accepted as part of the game. From listening to Malcolm then it’s clear that Mike wouldn’t have been stupid to move against him. As likable as Malcolm is, the audience would see that Mike had no choice. Denise’s lackluster post merge edit and her passive aggressive attitude towards Abi showed us that she isn’t the under the radar winner. Mike isn’t forgetting about her chances to win the jury votes because she wouldn’t be as liked by the jury as Swann and Malcolm thought she’d be. As for moving too fast, it’s clear that Mike kept his plan to himself, that he only entertained the idea but the way he was shown observing and listening told us he will strike at the right time and that he will make the big moves that he needs to win. And it wouldn't surprise me if he used Abi, the goat, to reach his goal.