Thanks for the clean sheets, Dabo. It feels kind of weird but I think it was necessary.

I am sorry for starting a new curl but I have to be careful now that there are end game spoilers. I can't read all posts so I apologize for possibly repeating things other may have said.
Here is what I saw:

Previously on Survivor, on day 17 Upolu and Savai were dead even with 6 players each
Savaii lost the challenge and quickly put the blame on Cochran.
With the merge looming, Ozzy proposed a risky plan.

At Tribal Council, Ozzy also wanted Cochran to become a double agent..and he gave Cochran his immunity idol for safe-keeping.

In the end, Savaii went along with the plan.

Now, the questions are: “Can Ozzy win at Redemption Island, will there be a merge and can Cochran become a Master spy?”

I noted that the recap was still sympathetic to Savaii. Their decision was called risky but they weren’t portrayed as dumb players.

He’s leaving Home

Cochran: “What a difference a day makes… Ozzy came down from the Heavens today and came up with this miraculous plan…If everything connects in the way that we hope it will, this is going to go down as one of the single biggest and greatest moves in Survivor history.”

Keith was still blaming Cochran for not stepping up.

It is noteworthy that Keith wouldn’t get a single confessional in the episode where he was voted out. He’s only shown opposing Cochran, giving him a legitinate mobile to vote the way he would.

Cochran told them he would play any part they wanted him to play, even the villain.

Cochran’s confessional continued: “Another big part of the plan is I become sort of a double agent so we can figure out who the Upolu tribe intends to vote out from our tribe…I think that, if anyone in the game can pull off being a double agent, it’s me. I have already been pretending like I like these people in my tribe for the last 18 days. I think I deserve an academy award for that performance.”

His confessional ended with an Al Pacino imitation: “First you get the egomaniac returning player voted out, then you get his idol and get the million dollars.”

On Redemption Island, Ozzy woke Christine and told her his story.

Ozzy: “…I put on my actor suit…I think she bought it…This is part of the plan:
The first step was getting myself voted out.
Second step is getting her to believe that.
Third step is beating her and giving false information to the other tribe.
The move is either the stupidest thing I could have done or the craziest, ballsiest thing I could have possibly thought of doing.

It’s interesting that we didn’t see Ozzy getting any information on Upolu from Christine. Maybe he didn’t think of asking which would be incredibly dumb or the viewers are meant to think of him as being just that incredibly dumb.

Redemption Island – Day 19

At the duel arena, we saw both tribes assembling in the bleachers.
Coach looked surprised when he saw Ozzy walking in behind Christine but he had already seen who was missing on the other side.

Ozzy tried to sell his story but Albert looked over at Coach saying: “I don’t buy it.”
Undeterred, Ozzy went on with the charade, even pretending exasperation by choking up in anger.
He said he would come back into the game for revenge.
During the whole challenge, we saw most members of Upolu staring over at Savaii, judging their reactions, seeing through their act.

The intent was clear: What the previous episode and the recap hadn’t told us was that the move was bound to fail. Despite the dead fish and the over-the-top religious scenes, Upolu wasn’t going to be the Dumb Tribe. At least not at the merge.
I also think it was crucial to the story that the viewers realize that Ozzy himself blew it, that Cochran didn’t have a chance. The editors could have shown smiling Upolus as the challenge went on, making us think they were ready to eat up Cochran’s tale and then the blame would have been squarely on the failed double agent but that isn’t the story. His cover had been blown before he even went behind enemy lines.

Once it was over, we heard Jim saying: “Great run Christine.”

Ozzy after his victory: “I just made the craziest move that you could possibly make and now, I can only hope that Cochran can infiltrate Upolu and take the advantage, take the lead and take their victory.”

Merged Tribe – Day 19

The first focus of the merge was on Dawn as we saw her words on screen about not drinking and auctioning off her beer. Maybe it was only a cute character scene or maybe Dawn will make an nice deal later on.

Jim: in confessional after we heard some chit-chat: “Everybody does their niceties..immediately, it’s game on though. It’s six on six so everybody is looking for an in.”

With a couple of confessionals, I was thinking at this point that Jim would be Upolu’s target but since he wasn’t we have to wonder why he was given this airtime. It wasn’t to show he was a great strategist because he didn’t give us any indications about his read of Upolu. It was just narration.

Cochran told Coach that he felt reborn and Coach answered that the game was just beginning,

Cochran had a confessional: “As luck would have it, our plan worked perfectly…Now it’s time to work my magic like I knew I could all along, become the double agent I was meant to be, infiltrate Upolu and change the game.”

Alone with Coach, Cochran talked about how poorly he had been treated in Savaii, focusing on Keith: “He’s constantly ostracizing me for my performances in challenges.” He asked: “I am wondering if I am working with the right people right now.”

Coach’s response was very direct: “Our tribe isn’t budging and I feel like you guys are trying to play us. You guys came up with a story, you sent Ozzy to Redemption, you have an idol in your pocket and, knowing that Ozzy would win Redemption, it was a risk, but you knew Ozzy would win Redemption.”

Cochran folded like a house of cards, letting Coach increase the pressure: “We will not bend, we will vote 6 strong and, if all 6 Savaii tribe vote together, there is a one in 5 chance that you are going to be drawing a black rock and so will I. It’s a bullsh*t way to play the game. Whether or not these people have treated you like that…I know what those kind of people think about people with an intellect. I’ve been made fun of my whole life, dude. I might be the dragon-slayer now but I know what it feels like to be superior in one way to people and they know it so they find ways that you are inferior to cut you down. I know what it feels like, man but you have a chance to change the game for yourself. There’s a line in the sand; come across that line.”

Cochran: “All in all, what I took away from Coach is that he is an incredibly intelligent guy…He made it quite clear…I could draw rocks or…I could completely jump ship, betray my old tribe and join Upolu.”

Then with Sophie and Albert, we had more confirmation that it was Ozzy that blew the plan;
Sophie: “You should have picked a better actor. I want to know if he volunteered.”
Cochran then completely spilled the beans.
Sophie added: “The beans were pretty loose.”
The scene ended with Cochran saying that he didn’t want them (us?) to think he was disloyal, to look down on him.
Albert told him (and us) that it wasn’t being disloyal if he wasn’t inside their inner circle and he had been mistreated.

Cochran then started bonding with Brandon who asked who had given him the most trouble.
Cochran replied: “Jim has a big temper but Keith has been more consistently rude to me.”
Brandon promised protection.

Cochran: “There are many downsides to flipping but, on the other hand, I do believe that the Upolu members are super solid, <Why insert a shot of Edna right there? Especially one with her standing next to Brandon, Coach and Cochran> completely honest and trustworthy. I consider myself a strategist and maybe even a mastermind but not an evil mastermind. So, I returned the hidden immunity idol to Ozzy…Up to this stage of the game, I feel like I put my fate in the game in people that I don’t entirely trust and who don’t entirely respect me.<we know why they gave us a shot of Keith here> Now that the merge has come and it’s an individual game, I finally feel like I am in control of my fate, to make decisions about who I want to work with <shot of Coach> and who I want to betray<shot of Ozzy>. It’s a little bit surreal but also kind of a little bit exciting that I am the person that gets to decide how Survivor South Pacific takes shape and possibly end.”

I believe this scene told us exactly how Survivor South Paicfic will take shape to the end. We just have to look at the people that were shown in this montage: Keith; we know that he’s the first casualty. Ozzy, we know will get betrayed. That leaves Coach, Brandon, Edna and Cochran as our final four. With the additional shot of Coach inserted when Cochran made a jury like statement of deciding how the game ends, we have a clue that Coach could win. But we also saw Cochran standing tall, during that voice-over portion of his confessional. His expression there can only be described as a look of satisfaction:

Satisfaction that he was the King-maker? Or satisfaction about his own coronation?

Merge Tribe – Day 21

The editors didn’t show us anything about day 20. I’d say it’s because they’ve already given us a map to day 39!

Dawn after Cochran had told her about a possible revote and the looming rocks, had a confessional: “Cochran and I went to get tree mail this morning and I know that, for a good 20 days that Cochran and I have been out here, I have watched Cochran specifically not being treated as an equal in the group. As a Survivor fan when I watch the game, I really like it when I see people stand up for what they believe in, kind of at the expense of the million dollars. I feel like I should have stood up for Cochran sooner.” (Teering up, she continued) “He’s a really great kid, I have a son that reminds me of him with red hair. But you are trying to protect your interest all the way through, you want to stay. I try to remember that this is a game for a million dollars and this is a game with casualties but I don’t really want the casualty to be Cochran. For me, that’s a way to say I don’t like how it’s been going even if it means I’m losing my footing in the game.”

This confessional was heard over a melancholic melody on the piano. The same melody we heard when Shambo told Brett that Galu was dead. Here, I think we are meant to choke up at Dawn’s personal sacrifice for Cochran. With a few words, she truly became his “mom” and the audience’s conscience at the same time. Letting us listen to that confessional, the editors wanted us to be on Cochran’s side.

The Challenge

Jeff showed that there were two necklaces.
The tribe learned that they will have to be careful not to drop their coconuts.
They would have to balance on a small perch while holding the coconuts between two ropes.
At intervals, the players would add more rope to make it harder
There would be one immunity for the men and one for the women

Dawn and Ozzy won immunity.

Te Tuna Camp

The 6 Savaiis were happy to have reduced the number of rocks they would be picking. Ozzy and Jim wanted to make sure everyone was solid with the plan to draw rocks.

Jim: “As of right now, my impression is that both tribe believe it is going to be a dead-lock at the vote. Nobody likes the idea of picking rocks for a million dollars but 2 Savaii members have immunity. That’s great for us. If it comes down to a pick ‘em, there’s 10 picks and there’s going to be only 4 of us on the chopping block, six of them. I think they will vote for Whitney because, if it comes to rocks, Whitney becomes immune and they want to have some of the strongest players in there: Me and Keith and, in their minds, they can get rid of Whit later.”

Cochran: “Savaii may feel confident that we have a 3 out of 8 shot or whatever the numbers are but those numbers aren’t that reassuring to me. Even if it was 1 in 30 that a rock would send me home, I wouldn’t want to do it because that is not what this game is about. I love this game, I respect this game but I do not respect reducing my game to a game of chance in pulling a rock out of a bag.”

Cochran told Sophie that Savaii was voting for Rick and that Ozzy would give his idol to Whitney. He wished that Rick would play the idol because then he wouldn’t be seen as flipping. Sophie told him it wasn’t going to happen that way.

Sophie: “You can never count on someone flipping over, you can never know for sure. That being said, I think I feel as confident about Cochran flipping over because Cochran thinks that if he switches and comes back to camp, he’s going to get beat up which is a legitimate thing … to be afraid of.”

Showing us Jim and Keith beating up on a coconut at that moment showed us exactly what Cochran could expect!

Cochran brought his fears to Coach, saying: “They are going to tear me apart tonight.”
Coach was reassuring: “You are sleeping right between me and Edna.. Or you can sleep next to Sophie if you want. You have “carte blanche”.”

I think Coach just “spoiled” the Final 3 here!! Cochran in between Edna and himself? It does match with the hints above when Cochran gave us his end-game confessional.

Coach : “We don’t have any choice right now but to trust in Cochran because the odds are not in our favor. It looks grim, it looks dismal. So, I did everything that I could. I got Cochran on our side to play the rest of the game with us. I have convinced him that he would be valued and loved over here. I have convinced Cochran that he will be the man of the match, that the weak would finally become strong. That the nerd would rise up to the bully and give him a bully beat-down.”

Thanks Coach for telling us that Cochran will be the man of the match. Now, help me convince the other posters that Cochran will win!!

Dawn asked one more time what Cochran was going to do but she knew his intentions.
Dawn told us that she wasn’t ready to flip anymore.
I noted that, once again, one of Cochran’s key scene was preceded by a butterfly, the symbol par excellence of metamorphosis.

Cochran: “The fact that Dawn is now completely unwilling to flip her vote alongside me and alongside Upolu gives me some pause in debating whether or not I want to make the jump but it’s a tough choice. Do I go with a bunch of people that have been constantly rude to me for the past 21 days or do I ditch the rock scenario, jump tribe and possibly cost myself a million dollars because I am going to be causing so many people to be furious at me?”

Dawn, after giving Cochran some motherly advice, had a confessional: “Before the challenge, I spent some time praying, I know it soundes cliché, but I kind of backed off of my original feeling that I should flip with Cochran because I realize I have liked my tribe. It hasn’t been as Kumbaya I think as the other tribe but there are things about each of these people that I love and I have had great experiences with them and I don’t want to go back on that. I want to stay loyal to the tribe. I haven’t talked to the rest of the tribe about that because I can understand why he is waffling but I am praying that he doesn’t. I let him know that I am disappointed. I don’t think that it’s right to flip and I think that he is watching out for himself tonight, not thinking of everybody else and I let him know that I don’t want him to do it.”

This confessional asks us: Which role is Dawn playing at this time? Is she the audience or is she Cochran’s mom? If she is the audience then Cochran’s chances of winning have just disappeared. We aren’t meant to want him to flip. BUT, if she is still his mom then this is only a normal reaction: A mom doesn’t want to see their child leave the house even if she knows it is best for him. If that is the true intent then we are right in thinking he wins.

Tribal Council

Jeff asked Coach if it would be a six-six tie.
Coach said “most certainly”
Ozzy agreed and said that it was good they had both immunity necklaces.
Dawn said that big stakes are worth big risks
Jeff had another observation: The only way to avoid a tie was if somebody flipped. He turned to Edna and asked: “What would make a person flip.”
Edna said it depended on how well the person felt incorporated in the tribe.
Cochran said that he had never seen two tribes being so cohesive.
Jim said that it wouldn’t make sense for one of them to flip.
Albert talked about Ozzy’s big production had delivered at the dueling arena and was waiting to see if he had lied about the idol.
Sophie told Jeff that they were offended by his show.
Seeing that he was busted, Ozzy said he did have the idol and said he had done it for his tribe.

Jeff sent them to vote.
Returning with the urn, it was time to see if an idol would be played.
Ozzy stood up and said he was playing it for Whitney.
We saw Sophie smiling, realizing that Cochran had told them the truth.
As expected the vote went 6-6 between Rick and…Keith.

We had a revote and, just as expected, Cochran flipped, sending Keith to Redemption Island.
Immediately, he turned to Ozzy and Jim saying that he had swapped and would explain later.
Jim wasn’t in the mood for an explanation. “Coward” was all he could say.
Brandon came to Cochran’s defense: “Don’t talk to him like that. That’s what you get for talking to people like that in the first place.”

Jeff told them that this was the biggest move in the game by far.

The Story

Before this episode, we thought the winner had to come from Savaii. Upolu was too over the top, especially in their religious bonding. Usually, such an extravagant display prepares us to see someone’s fall but we know that the eidtors love Coach and that Burnett appreciates persons of faith. As Coach said, the game started when he met Cochran. I know he meant it started at the merge but he said it when he was sitting alone with Cochran. Upolu isn’t a dead fish (yet) so we will have to take a second look at their members.

Savaii, on the other hand, is dead. The somber piano melody that accompanied Dawn’s first confessional was meant for a funeral. There can only be one member of Savaii that can win and that’s Cochran. The story of this episode was told best by Ozzy in his confessional on Redemption island: “I can only hope that Cochran can infiltrate Upolu and take the advantage, take the lead and take their victory.” The first part has already been accomplished: Cochran did infiltrate Upolu! Of course, Ozzy meant that he hoped Cochran would bring the information and the lead back to Savaii but Cochran has infiltrated Upolu so well that they are now promising him protection. Before long, Ozzy, who wants a Savaii to win, may be hoping that Cochran can indeed take THEIR victory. I suspect that, on his second appearance on a jury, Ozzy won’t be so bitter. That, of course if Cochran makes it to the end. The episode gave us hints that the final 4 will be Edna, Coach, Brandon and Cochran.

The Characters

Keith: He is probably a nice person but his role was to be the Bully. Except Cochran didn’t turn out to be his victim. The nerd gave him a bully beat-down. We were certainly meant to dislike Keith and be happy with this result. His lack of airtime tells me he won’t last very long on Redemption Island.

Whitney: It seems that most of her words have to be censored. She doesn’t get a confessional but most of the time that we see her speaking, it’s some sort of expletive that needs to be bleeped. Whitney isn’t someone we should like either and it isn’t because she’ll be in the final 3 but because she will be voted out by Cochran’s actions. Another disrespectful player that got what she deserved, not a likable victim.

Jim: He did get some confessionals and, even if he has a temper, he hasn’t been as dislikable as the previous two. His confessionals however, were more narration and lost most of their strategic value. It wouldn’t surprise me if Jim turns out to be the person that keeps us interested in what happens on Redemption Island. He’s the one that acknowledged Christine’s winning streak so that was probably to prepare us for one of his own.

Ozzy: Now we see that Ozzy’s redemption arc was only for one week. Still a fan favorite, he will get a nice exit but the way his acting part was presented, how quickly we saw that Upolu wasn’t buying it, showed everyone that Ozzy isn’t a smart player. That impression was reinforced when we didn’t see him getting any information from Christine during their night alone together. He was infatuated with his big move, unable to see its pitfalls. Even his fans should understand that he’s getting what he deserves.

Dawn: She should get the fan favorite vote and the end of this. Her role is clearly established as Cochran’s mom on the island. She wants what is best for him, doesn’t want to see him as a casualty so she knows he had to leave the nest but, like any mother, she hated it when the time came.
Dawn is also the conscience of the audience, telling us that Cochran is a good kid, that he had reasons to flip.
As she said, she lost her own footing in the game but she stood up for what she believed.
Quite a nice edit.

Rick: I don’t know if the editors really wanted us to think that Rick was in danger of leaving but he received no confessionals in this episode either. He is a meaningless player so he should leave once the Upolu’s don’t need him anymore.

Edna: She was “designated” as being part of the end game by both Coach (you will be sleeping between me and Edna) and by Cochran as we saw her when he talked about flipping to the more trustworthy Upolus. Interestingly, she had been Upolu’s Cochran; the sometimes socially inept, challenge deficient outsider but that part of her story never came up in this pivotal episode. Jeff even turned to her, tending her a perch to realize she could have flipped but her answer led us to believe she wouldn’t, that she feels incorporated in her tribe.

Albert: His role was also to talk directly to the audience, telling us what we should think of the situation. He was the one that we heard saying Upolu didn’t buy Ozzy’s act and he’s the one that told us we shouldn’t see Cochran as a disloyal player, that his motives were justified. As such, Albert still doesn’t have a story for himself, serving that of others.

Sophie: Much like Albert, she served to let us know just how dumb, how poor an actor, Ozzy was. Her interventions show that she is an intelligent person and would be a force to be reckoned with but it seems that Cochran will not choose her! Was there an ulterior motive in showing the weird scene where Coach “offered” both Edna and Sophie to Cochran? Sophie wasn’t shown when Cochran talked about shaping the end game, she doesn’t talk about her end game so it would come to reason that Sophie isn’t part of the end game.

Brandon: From the bully in the first few episodes, Brandon is now the one protecting Cochran against bullies! In our reality, that makes him quite a hypocrite but, in Survivor editing, that means he is being redeemed. His next blow-apart will probably come when he realizes that some Upolus are considering turning on the flipper and that will probably end with him getting his way again. Cochran will probably stay close to him all the way to the finale!

Coach: Once more, I have been fooled by Coach’s edit. I thought that his tribe would fall at the merge because of his portrayal lately. I have to remind myself that Coach is considered gold by Jeff and the team of editors so, yes, Coach could be our winner. He has the best character development on Upolu and he has the strategy discussions. That could earn him the title of Sole Survivor. We have also been told that he is a very intelligent person. (The editors even took a direct jab at us because we were told that when we mock him, we are cutting him down because we know he is really superior!!!) Cochran’s “shape of things to come” confessional could be interpreted as meaning that Cochran will play King-maker for Coach but I have serious reservations. Mostly because we have seen that Coach’s honesty and integrity have holes. It should only get worse if he continues to decide who will stay and who will go. If his next victims feel like Christine, Stacey and Mikayla, he should have trouble getting the votes in the end.

Cochran: I will certainly get heat for sticking with Cochran. Some may even know that he will be voted out soon if not next but the story still tells me that Cochran will be our winner. It may not make game sense but the editing is there.
Dawn’s confessionals were key. She is his mom and she told us he was right to want to flip, that she had to stand up for him. We also have to keep in mind that one of the first thing Cochran told us that he had to do was stop listening to his mom. So, when Dawn, like most moms, didn’t want to see him leave the nest/tribe, we knew Cochran shouldn’t listen. He had to use the machette and cut the (umbilical) cord.
As Coach said, he will be the man of the match. Ozzy told him he could win, they all agreed. I have to also!

I wrote this week's summary up in Bashers. I hope you enjoy it:

http://community.realitytvworld.com/boards/DCForumID1/4180.shtml