LAST EDITED ON 11-26-11 AT 00:07 AM (EST)

Jeff introduces the season by saying it gave new meaning to "Leadership, Humility, Winning and Losing."

Rick was shown "winning", Cochran during "losing"

He then told us that the returning legendary players were quick to set up their core alliances.
Coach named Edna in his alliance, Ozzy ignored Cochran

Coach struggled to control an unruly ally and Cochran was left dodging bullets all along the way.

After the merge...Coach found a chink in the armor of the former Savaii. At TC, Cochran did cross that line and Keith was voted out, followed by Ozzy (We hear his pledge to return)..leaving Coach in full control of the game.

In the early stages of the game, the two tribes took different approaches to camp life. These differences defined their journey for the rest of the game.
We saw Coach building a shelter, Ozzy going swimming.

Cochran and Dawn had trouble joining the party train.

As part of "his many quirks that prevented him from fitting in the tribe" Cochran told us he was an animal lover which made it difficult to gut the fish.

At Upolu... Coach was building a family.

Coach talked about Ozzy: "He is a great type of Survivor to have out here next to you. Would I rather have Coach Wade on my tribe or would I rather have Ozzy? I'd rather have Ozzy."
Isn't that a nice show of humility? If winning is about leadership and humility, I think we have to strongly consider Coach

We then heard Brandon and Coach forming a bond as men of God.
Brandon told us he had "mad respect for Coach."

Jeff mentioned that Brandon wanted redemption for the family name by becoming a provider.
We had a second dig at Ozzy when Edna said: "Brandon is going to be the new Ozzy." and Brandon replied: "Ozzy who?!"

When it came to hiding his true identity, Sophie had her suspicions about him. "I feel like he is hiding something."

Cochran...had to depend on his social game to integrate himself in Savaii.
Papa Bear was heard saying: "I really do like him. He has a good heart. I want to father him because I think this will be a good experiance for him."
Mark then gave John tricks to pick up girls in a bar.
They practiced on Whitney who told him: "If you told me my ear-rings looked good, I would think you're gay."
(That cracked me up considering where the advice had come from!)

Coach was a kind and benevolent father to his family but not so much to outsiders as Mikayla soon learned when she committed the sin of over-scooping her morning coffee.
Coach vented to Albert.
For laughs, he cooked up the pork fat in front of Mikayla, making her sick.

Cochran was busy making his own tribe cringe. He told Elyse of a bathroom mishap that happened to him in kindergarden.
Elyse's reaction: "You can't help but love the guy. What a weird kid!"

When Upolu went to TC, Brandon launched into an irrational outburst nut, unlike Mikayla, he was part of the family so he was forgiven by Coach.

Rick and Edna talked about the problem that Brandon could cause at merge. Rock told us they'd have to get rid of him.
Coach promised to keep him under control.
With Brandon, Coach prayed for peace and self-control.
Note that, since then, Brandon has been mostly quiet. It seems important that we saw Coach being able to control him.

Cochran was becoming more and more an outsider. All he could do was watch as the others got closer and closer.
Keith and Whitney got so close that they treated camp life like a honeymoon.
Whitney told us she was making an effort not to seem too close.
Cochran told us he liked Keith and Whitney but was hoping other people noticed how close they were.
He told us he had the "pleasure of sleeping in the lovers' bungalow with Keith and Whitney."

Jeff said: "To add insult to injury, Ozzy went out of his way to put Cochran in uncomfortable situations, making him an object of ridicule".
We saw the killing of the first chicken and Ozzy's laugh at Cochran's expression.

If this is about leadership and humility, Ozzy isn't winning

Cochran just hoped he wouldn't wind up like the chiicken.
Cochran then, (out of the blue) gave us a confessional where he said: "I knew I would be horrible at the tribe game. The individual game, come merge time, is where I am going to succeed. I am going to slip in and out of alliances and cut bonds as quickly as you can blink your eyes. If the merge comes and I am still here, you are going to see it happen."

This could go back to last episode where Jeff urged Cochran to make a move during TC and Cochran stayed with the same alliance. Cochran didn't follow his game plan.

After the loss, Ozzy drew up a plan so ridiculous that it just might work.

The first part of Ozzy's gamble paid off.

I'll add the post-merge scenes tomorrow.