1. Sophie - I love me some Sophie confessionals. She has a good head on her shoulders and seems to be involved when strategy sessions come up. The producers seem to like her too, regularly throwing her confessionals even when she's not causing drama (in contrast to someone truly invisible like Rick).

2. Coach - Another solid episode for him. He's kind of riding the high from last week's good showing.

3. Dawn - I like her attitude. I'm not sure I completely buy that she really feels like it's one tribe (it might be gamesmanship), but either way, it's the right way to go. She might have oversold it a little in the IC (which aroused Albert's attention), but she made it through the episode.

4. Albert - Okay, I guess. Showed some nice observation skills, with the whole Dawn thing. The only thing that bugs me with him is that he's the kind of person in the game that should need floaters like Dawn (since Coach has Edna), so he should have instead seen her as an opportunity. Next week's previews suggest that he may come to this conclusion, thouhg.

5. Cochran - The guy still gets on my nerves, but he's completely right about his flip. He doesn't owe the Savaiis anything. Being given 6th place with them isn't much of a gift, and I would argue it's Savaii's fault for not giving him a deal that would make him stick around.

6. Edna - Quiet episode. She made the merge, so it seems obvious she gets to slide to the Final 3 or so. Not surprising she's falling into the background during the Pagonging.

7. Rick - Who?

8. Whitney - Oh Whitney, People magazine articles haven't been good to you lately, huh?

9. Brandon - Still can't stand him. I thought he was more tolerable lately, until he went into that horrible TC speech about how awful the Savaiis would be if they were in charge (so the Upolus don't have to civil). It struck me as the kind of argument that close-minded people make, to just make guesses about theoretical situations to justify one's own bad attitude.

A 2003 IceCat original