LAST EDITED ON 11-12-11 AT 07:40 PM (EST)

Previously on Survivor, on day 19, the two tribes merged…and Ozzy returned from Redemption Island and was back in the game.
To get information to break the tie, Cochran promised to spy on the old Upolu…but Cochran’s espionage career was short-lived when Coach seduced him into actually jumping ship.
<we saw Cochran laugh at the suggestion he’d be sleeping between Coach and Edna>
At the immunity challenge, there were two winners.
At Tribal Council, Ozzy gave his immunity idol to Whitney…but Whitney didn’t receive any votes.
On the revote, Cochran blindsided Ozzy and his old alliance and voted with the former Upolu tribe…
<We hear Jim calling Cochran a coward>
…Sending Keith to Redemption Island.
Now the former Upolu tribe plus Cochran have taken over the game.
Jeff said it was, without question, the biggest move in the game thus far.

The recap ignored both Ozzy’s bad acting and Dawn’s attempt to keep Cochran loyal to Savaii so it’s very neutral towards Cochran’s move, Certainly saying that Coach seduced him isn’t very positive but it could have been worse; saying that Coach saw through his lies and forced his hand.

Tuna – Night 21

Ozzy wanted to talk to Cochran alone.
He asked what was up.
Cochran said it had nothing to do with getting back at Ozzy, adding: “I didn’t obsess about this game for 11 years to let my fate be decided by picking a stone out of a bag.”
Ozzy: “You totally screwed me over.”
Brandon interrupted, wanting to be sure no one was being aggressive.
Ozzy assured him he was calm.

Ozzy: “Cochran said it was all about self-preservation and, sure, that’s the easy way out, that’s how a weiner plays.”

Jim walked by saying Cochran was a poor excuse for a man.
Whitney added “You realize Keith and I saved you three times… You throw the whole tribe under the bus and we are going to be knocked out one by one… You disgust me.”

Cochran: “I kinda have mixed emotions right now. On the one hand; I am glad that I stood up to the people that have been repeatedly referring to me as indecisive, weak even annoying but it’s kind of a weird balancing act I am doing right now between the Upolu members who are now embracing me more than ever and my former tribe members who really seem to hate my guts.”

We heard Whitney saying: “He just lost me 6 weeks of my freaking life out here.”
Jim added: “He’s a piece of $&*!”

Day 22

Coach: “We pulled off an amazing feat at Tribal Council last night. Our tribe of Upolu members stood six strong against all odds and it’s cause for celebration. It’s cause for walking the beach, saying a little prayer, starting the day off right, maybe a little Tai-Chi. I feel like if I can just be confident and not arrogant, I can be humble but not weak, I think I have a good shot of going all the way.”

As we heard that, we saw a close-up of Coach’s clenched fist, as it began to shake.

Coach then asked Cochran whom he would like to see voted out next.
Cochran said that Ozzy would have to be voted out as soon as he lost immunity but that, personally, Jim would be his choice.

Ozzy: “Survivor can really be cut-throat and you got to trust people at certain points and those people can turn around and just stick a knife right in your gut. That’s what Cochran did so my total strategy is gone, I have nothing more I can do. I’m just going to keep fighting and I’ll bust my ass today at the challenge and I’m going to keep on winning until there’s no one left.”

The First Challenge

Despite his pledge to win, Ozzy didn’t get to the second round.
Dawn, Whitney, Jim and Sophie were the four competitors.
We heard these fun comments:
“Dawn, trying to stay in this.”
“Huge set-back for Sophie.”
“Jim, celebrating already”
Jim won immunity.

Back in camp, Brandon said it would have to be Ozzy, asking: “How many chances to you get to vote him out of this game?”
Cochran, jokingly replied: “Apparently two!”
Brandon took a minute to catch up and then realized: “Oh! Yeah!”

Ozzy was alone with Coach, saying he didn’t want to go.

Coach: “Ozzy knows that there’s a good chance he could get voted out tonight and there’s a huge difference between yesterday when he held all the cards and the cockiness that he had and then today. I actually appreciate Ozzy’s humility. If it’s fake, or if it’s too late or if it’s simply born out of desperation, that’s OK. Some of the greatest inspiration is born of desperatio, Marcus Aurelius once said. But, at this point, it’s too little too late.”

Coach hugged Ozzy saying: “You are coming back.”
Ozzy replied: “I’ll try.”

Next, Dawn invited Coach to try the shelter.

Dawn: “We are going to Tribal Council tonight and there are really 4 Savaii members. Jim has immunity; Ozzy, myself or Whitney are going to Redemption. So, we either have to just stay loyal to the final 4 of us and just go down in flames or I’m going to consider flipping and voting with the Upolu tribe.”

Jim: “I would never, ever have thrown my tribe under the bus like Cochran did. I call a coward a coward. That’s me because I am not a coward.” Jim then presented a big idea to Ozzy: Giving him the necklace and telling Upolu to vote for Cochran, the only dishonorable player. Jim’s confessional continued: “If I don’t go tonight, I go tomorrow night. If I don’t go tomorrow night, I go the next night. I really don’t have many nights left here so my hope is that I can give a rousing enough speech at Tribal Council to get a couple of them to flip over to Cochran. It’s all I need: Two of those seven people to vote for Cochran. Then, all of a sudden, we’ve got a game.”

Ozzy: “Everything is pretty surreal to me right now. If Jim honestly gives me the immunity necklace tonight, I’ll feel like I am dreaming. Knowing Jim, if he says he’s going to give me the necklace, I believe he will. Who knows what will happen in this game and I am never going to give up, as long as I live and certainly not here on Survivor.”

Ozzy was then seen standing by the beach, a rainbow out in the distance.

Tribal Council

Jeff noted that the themes of the last two Tribal Councils had been big moves. He asked Cochran about the reactions to his huge move.
Cochran described it as chilly. Asked who had barked the most, Cochran told Jeff that it had been Jim.
Jim described his words as immature because he took it personally.

Cochran said his reaction was to remain silent and listen, adding: “It was a personal decision. I viewed it as an opportunity to take hold of my own fate…to play with the sort of people that I wanted to play with. I didn’t mean any disrespect to my old tribe…I didn’t mentally prepare for this for 11 years for having my fate decided by pulling a rock out of a bag. There’s a reason why the last time people drew rocks was season 4 because people realized that’s not how you play Survivor, it’s not the essence of Survivor. It’s about making decisions that I can be happy with.”

Jim countered that he had saved Cochran in many votes and that Ozzy had also saved him. He added: “I’ve known the Upolu tribe over the last couple of days and there’s not a single one of them that would let somebody fight their battles for them. There’s not a single person in that tribe that would do something so dishonorable.”
Brandon commented that the tone had changed since the last Council. He added: “The Upolu tribe is standing behind Cochran.”
Whitney felt she was being villainized while Ozzy asked Cochran if he had made him feel small.
Cochran answered that Ozzy had tried to get him voted out for being weak.
Asked about Immunity, Jim said: “I thought of giving it to Ozzy tonight…I know they respect us as competitors, I know that they see that I have a warrior heart and a warrior soul <Coach, obviously, shown here> and there are 10 of us that haven’t wavered from our tribe once. There’s one person who has. Today, as one voice, we can send the message to anybody that will ever play Survivor that you can go through this game honorably <Rick and Sophie shown> and that, if you are a turn-coat <Albert shown agreeing>, you have no place in my tribe. You can say that right now by voting out Cochran.”

Coach replied: “Jim starts talking about warrior this and warrior that, I stand up a little bit straighter and listen with a more attentive ear.”
Asked about voting Cochran, Coach saw a different message being sent: “I think it would send a message to everybody that, if you stick up for yourself, you are going to get screwed. And I’m not going to see that happen.”
Jim said it would still be 6-4.
Sophie told Jeff that they weren’t eliminating someone for sure.
Ozzy said that he won’t have to feed 11 people on Redemption Island, just himself. He will be back was the message he wanted to deliver.
Jim told Jeff he would be keeping the necklace.

As he reached for his torch, Ozzy told the group: “You guys fell for my master plan.”

Jeff sent them back to camp saying the game had been unpredictable for 22 days so, for Whitney, Dawn and James, they had to hope it would stay that way.

While we heard Ozzy’s exit confessional, we saw that Dawn and Whitney had voted with Upolu. Ozzy talked about his big risks and how it made him proud.
He was confident he’d send everyone packing as soon as they got to RI.

Day 23

It started at Redemption Island with Ozzy exploring the reef and catching the biggest fish we’ve ever seen caught on Survivor.
The music was nice but it made me think of a Caribbean vacation. It wasn’t an up-tempo “getting ready to fight” tune.

The Challenge

When Jeff announced the feast twist, he noticed that everybody was celebrating except Coach.
Coach explained that he wanted to compete.
Jeff stated the obvious: “Well, compete!”
Jim said that 7 people didn’t need to compete.
Coach replied: “We are like family…unified in our stance.”

Once the eating began, Jeff asked Coach if he was still wishing he was competing.
Coach simply laughed.
Jeff then asked Brandon about the pastries.
Brandon replied: “I don’t want to talk, I want to eat.”
Jim was the first to drop out to Brandon’s obvious delight.
Dawn told the group that she will stay so they can eat. She explained that she felt it was one tribe now so they should eat as much as they could.
A point was reached where they couldn’t eat anymore, Brandon even saying: “I think I am out.”
Cochran told him to rest his head on his shoulder, another sign of their bond.
Brandon showed he was pulling for Dawn when she made an “awesome” recovery.
Whitney noticed the favoritism.

Albert: “I didn’t like the way we treated Dawn at the challenge. I thought we were a little too inclusive with her. I want to nip this in the bud as soon as I can.”

Although Jeff twice said: “Upolu tribe and Cochran” there weren’t any direct jabs at Cochran for feeling so secure with his new tribe. It was like he was part of the family. It’s doubtful that Upolu, as a tribe, will decide to vote him out before the two other Savaiis. It would have to be an individual initiative.
An individual that could initiate a plan against Cochran is Albert. It’s interesting to note that we now have a second example of Albert’s plans being rejected by Coach. It’s a developing pattern so I expect that, when it starts to get funky as Ozzy said, he will try to make a move that will get him voted out.

Day 24

It started with Cochran goofing off in Coach’s attire. Everyone enjoyed the show except…

Jim: “Cochran, right now, is playing the most brilliant third place game in Survivor history. (I guess he didn’t see Dreamz!) Everyone of those nine people would love to take Cochran to the end. Cochran isn’t going nowhere but It’s not looking good for me. I am 100% going to Redemption Island unless I make some moves right now.”

During Jim’s confessional, we heard Coach enjoying Cochran’s act, saying: “You are the man!”
Edna added: “Now you are fully incorporated into our tribe.”

We know how much feeling incorporated is important for Edna. If we remember, last week we had a screenshot making us think that 3 of Edna, Cochran, Coach and Brandon would make it to the end. It can’t be a coincidence that, as soon as Jim mentioned that Cochran was a great Final 3 goat, we heard Coach and Edna commenting on Cochran. Coach also said he was surprised to see that side of Cochran so I expect the nerd will show a new side during that Final TC.

Jim talked to Sophie and Albert, the only two that, according to Jim, weren’t drinking the Kool-Aid, that weren’t in the cult. He proposed they vote out Edna.

Albert: “Jim approached me and Sophie and said: “I have a plan: Get rid of Edna.” He drew up something that was pretty creative and pretty outside-the-box so to speak. I don’t need to entertain Jim’s offer because I have a much better plan than anything he could offer me right now. I think that Dawn, even though she doesn’t seem as overtly dangerous as Jim is, is maybe more dangerous than him in a lot of ways because she is more likable and she is slowly but surely making her way into our alliance.”

Dawn: “I always see myself as someone that can bring together different types of people. So, for me, it couldn’t be better at this stage to be that kind of person because I’m probably a good person to try to get myself in with the former Upolu tribe members and see if there’s some wiggle room there. It’s just a matter of whether I can hang on long enough.”

It’s very interesting to have been shown this scene right after Cochran’s incorporation scene. It showed us that it was possible to become part of the Upolu family if you acted soon enough. Dawn, despite being good at bringing people together, started too late so she is now on Albert’s radar. On the other hand, Dawn will get more time so…

Sophie had a confessional after Albert told her his plan: “Albert, he is getting nervous. He’s thinking a lot right now of switching up the game and I think those are important things to think about in general Survivor strategy but I’d like to stay rigid with the plan. I’d rather get rid of Jim.”

Coach and Brandon joined the pair so Albert told them about his thoughts on Dawn.

Coach: “We are in the jungle right now so I think an analogy with the animal kingdom would suffice at this moment: You’ve got Jimbo who is like a rhinoceros that just comes charging straight towards you and then you got somebody like Dawn. She is the serpent, the snake that comes sneaking through the grass. Today, at the challenge, Dawn was getting the most cheers. People are starting to like Dawn so I see Dawn as a snake and Jim as a rhinoceros. Both can kill you but, hopefully, we are going to send the right person home tonight.”

Tribal Council

Jeff asked Coach: “Is it between Dawn or Jim?”
Coach said absolutely.
Sophie said that Dawn was really strong but that Jim would be her pick if she had to make a roster.
Albert commented that Dawn was more likable, adding that she might be the strongest female player of the season.
Dawn agreed that Savaii would have done the same to Upolu. She added that she wouldn’t have eaten the food.
That surprised Brandon. He didn’t buy her explanation. He said: “They are being nice because they have to.”
Dawn understood what Brandon was saying so she explained that it was hard for her.
Brandon promised Jeff to pagong the whole Savaii tribe.
Whitney said she felt they were being villified even if she had been as honest as Upolu. She added: “We are hungry too but we have to fight for our lives.” It brought her to tears because: “They don’t accept us as real people.” <Brandon and Coach shown on screen at that moment.> “We were pegged as the bullies. I never once was a bully, it’s hard to take. I am not a bad person.”
Brandon sympathised with Whitney but repeated: “We were excluded until we got power.”

Jeff sent them to vote, a small smile on his face as Cochran passed by in Coach’s outfit.

At the end, Jeff wondered if anything had been revealed that would help Dawn and Whitney.

The Story

Coach is in complete control, Ozzy cannot be defeated, Albert has plans, Sophie sits back and analyses and Cochran? Surely, he can’t win. Then why was the episode mostly about justifying his move?

We heard Jim calling Cochran a coward which many think we wouldn’t have heard if Cochran was the winner but then, Jim himself was shown acting cowardly, keeping his necklace and abandoning his big plan to save Ozzy.

We also heard that “mom” Dawn wanted Cochran to stay with Savaii but then we saw her flip to Upolu also, enticing Coach to her shelter and voting against Ozzy. We heard her say that she was the right person to get along with Upolu and we heard Albert say that she was dangerous because she was so likable. This showed us that Dawn was too little too late. If she had acted at the merge, she could have infiltrated Upolu. Maybe the message was that she still has time. With Albert failing to get her voted out, she could still make it. My opinion is that she served Cochran’s story, showing that he was right not to waste a great opportunity.

We heard Jim saying that Cochran was playing a brilliant game for third place. That, right there, tells us that Cochran will not finish third. There is still the possibility that he gets voted out before the finale but his story points to a seat in front of the jury. If he does make it like I suspect he does, then we should see a new side of Cochran just like Coach said in the “imitating Coach” scene that was inserted in the middle of Jim’s “third place” confessional.

We also had Whitney’s accusations, her reaction of disgust and her tears at Tribal Council that make people think Cochran can’t win. However, Whitney is a minor character so the audience wasn’t meant to feel too bad seeing her tears. Besides, those tears were directed at Brandon and Coach as the camera revealed. They were the two that made her feel bad. Cochran wasn’t seen on screen during that time.

There remains the most damning accusation: Ozzy’s “that’s how a wiener plays”. Cochran's biggest editing problem is that he doesn’t deserve to win. Not a small detail! But, as Coach said, he stuck out for himself, pulling off a huge move so he shouldn’t get screwed because of it. There are still moves to make to get to the Final 3 so there is time for Cochran to show he “deserves” to be there because it is his story.

The Other Characters that Matter:

Jim: As he said, he doesn’t have many nights left.

Brandon: His reactions and comments make him almost as good a goat as his uncle so why are we getting hints that Edna will join Coach and Cochran? Something will have to happen to make Coach think that Brandon could beat him. Brandon’s words during the feast: “I think I am out” make me think he will see it coming and will blow up at TC, making Coach look bad. Coach will put a bullet in Lenny’s head but Lenny will have a chance to retaliate: His final “blow-apart” will cost Coach a chance to win the game.

Ozzy: Showing him once more on the reef could be a sign that he will be the returning player or it was simply part of his tribute. Those under-water scenes were too good to leave out though so we can’t really use them to judge his chances. I think we have to rely on Coach’s words: We did see Ozzy’s Oscar side, the arrogance and the cockiness were only tempered in defeat. Coach seemed to hit it on the head: It was all too little too late. If Ozzy does return to the game it seems that, like Cochran, Brandon will get a second chance to vote him out and Ozzy will set a record for being voted out three times!

Albert: What we see of this other coach tells us he is a smart player. He certainly had no reason to go with Jim’s idea. We heard that he had a better plan and, interestingly, we heard him exposing a plan right after that: He wanted to eliminate Dawn instead of Jim. Just like he wanted to eliminate Edna instead of Mikayla. This new plan also failed. So, even if eliminating Dawn was only part of his “better plan”, the audience sees a player that constantly tries and fails. That doesn’t make a winner.

Sophie: She is still coasting effortlessly through the game, however I expect to see her suffer a huge set-back at some point like Jeff’s challenge commentary foreshadowed. There are no doubts put in her path, no jury questions that usually immediately come to mind when we are dealing with a future finalist. She is there but she is only there. Also, her initial story was about being a strong woman but, in this episode, we heard her closest ally saying that Dawn was the strongest woman this season. It could be a subtle hint that Sophie’s story won’t lead her to victory.

Dawn: As Jeff said during the challenge, she is trying to stay in this but she is falling back fast. However, did Upolu send the wrong person to Redemption Island? Dawn has more time to wiggle and that’s all she said she needed. Her story could get interesting but she would have to outlast one Upolu first…or return from RI!

Coach: I do believe he will make it to the end as his opening scene suggested. Even more, he should be there between Cochran and Edna as the editing suggests. If so, there’s an immediate jury question that arises: What happened to Coach’s mantra of “iron sharpens iron”, of going to the end with warriors? Coach would have sold out to go to the end with the two characters that have been repeatedly called weak in challenges. That question will undoubtedly be raised by Ozzy or Albert. Coach will start shaking at that moment.