LAST EDITED ON 12-09-12 AT 01:12 PM (EST)

Previously, on Survivor, Abi found out that she was universally despised but, in order to save herself, she bought an advantage at the auction.
She then used that advantage as part of a crazy scheme…
<We heard Abi telling Malcolm about a 4th idol>
…to make people think she had an immunity idol.
(Funny that we were shown Abi playing with her bikini bottom and top when Jeff said this as if she could hide it there!)

None of that mattered when she won immunity.

At tribal Council, it was clear that there was a majority alliance of Malcolm, Denise, Lisa and Skupin…but Penner tried to convince Lisa that it was a bad idea.
<We see Penner telling Lisa that she will be giving the money to “one of them”>
True to form, Lisa kept her word and voted out Penner.

After trying to draw sympathy for Abi in the previous recap, Jeff was back to bashing her. It was going to be the only way to draw an ounce of suspense in another rather boring episode.
It’s interersting that Penner apparently only tried to convince Lisa that it was a bad idea to keep Denise and Malcolm and that it was Lisa who voted out Penner when the last episode had shown that Mike was Penner’s last hope and the deciding voter. What would be more interesting is that this episode would show more of the same. Some, maybe even the majority, will say that it’s because Mike doesn’t matter but another school of thought would suggest that Mike was spared the blame of eliminating a fan favorite, that Lisa will be the one to suffer from making this move.

Playing with Their Heads

Night 30

Abi: “It’s clear to me that Denise, Lisa, Malcolm and Skupin have a foursome alliance going on. Between me and Carter, who are they going to take? A guy from Kansas or a girl from Brazil that they have issues with because she is too honest? (sic) I am going to go with the bluff that I have the 4th immunity idol. That’s all I have for me.”

Lisa: “Tribal Council was a very tough decision. I think Penner is correct: Malcolm is playing a brilliant game because it is strategic but it is likable, underdog, good at challenges, all-around really great game. Going to the end with Malcolm and Denise is not a great strategy but betraying that trust opposes who I am.”

While Lisa delivered that confessional, we heard Denise telling her that she was proud of her for standing up for who she was.

We have to note that the players value honesty and doing the right thing at this stage. The upcoming decision to eliminate Carter over Abi can not be called doing the right thing according to their own standards.

The Reward

Of the comments heard while meeting the loved ones, I noted the following that had some merit:

Mike: “For 12 years it’s been: Dad are you doing it again?”
Denise’s husband: “She has so much strength, so much love…so much more than people can even know.”
Probst: “Gotta say Lisa, I have seen powerful moments involving loved one, this might be at the top.”
Mlacolm’s brother Miles: “We’ve watched every episode.”

Malcolm won reward and chose Lisa and Mike to share with him.
As Denise’s husband left, we heard Skupin promising to take care of her.
Mike also told Bianca that her son Carter was “one heck of a guy.”

Malcolm: “You only have moments to make this decision and I’m rewarding Lisa and Skupin for sticking with me and Denise at the last tribal and through the last few votes. Those are my allies; I need to take care of them and keep them close.”

Day 31

Lisa: “Justice and I are so close…”

Malcolm had a confessional after his brother said he hadn’t missed Malcolm: “…He’s a knucklehead… when I am this close to a million dollars, that could cost me.”

Mike: “My son is bloodied from here to here…That’s my boy!”

After these introductions, Lisa and Justice talked about strategy.

Justice had a confessional to tell us about his sister: “I’m not surprised Lisa made it this far…She’s a really good game player… She knows how to win…” During this time, Lisa told him about her mistakes saying: “I could have played a great game.” Justice concluded: “…My job is to remind her that it is a game: Outwit, Outlast, Outplay the others.”

Mike mentioned that Malcolm wouldn’t play his idol at the next TC so that, with Carter’s vote, they could get rid of him and his idol.

Lisa: “I do know it’s a game and I do love this game but I haven’t been able to step outside of who I am to play the game…When someone…reminds me of the big picture…it was like Yay! I can play this game.” She told Mike who loved the idea. Lisa ended her confessional: “I am going to play by these rules to win.”

The next morning began in a prayer led by Lisa and she was joined by her brother and the two Skupins.

Looking at them, Malcolm realized: “They’re all going to bond over Jesus.”

Malcolm: “One of the biggest fears I have after the loved ones’ visit is Lisa. She was at rock-bottom emotionally, playing with her heart as she said…Her brother….might have knocked some sense into her.”

Mike joked that Jesus would look like Malcolm to which Lisa added: “He’d probably play like Carter.”

Lisa: “I don’t think God chooses sides…”

If the strategy is edited as being played according to the Prisonner’s Dilemma as we suggested last week, it’s interesting to note that Lisa’s brother is responsible for making Lisa and Mike want to target Malcolm before he betrayed them. Malcolm actually cooperated with them so it wouldn’t be the best move to go after him but, coming from an outsider, the game changes: There is no more advantage in cooperating.

More directly, it was strange that we didn’t hear from Denise and how she felt about Malcolm’s decision. This isn’t the first time that her reaction at key moments isn’t presented. Quite unusual for a potential winner.

The Challenge

On Day 33, “Jesus” won the challenge. It had to be that way…

Lisa: “I was so ready to play this game hard and make a big move but Pouf: And Malcolm wins immunity and Lisa’s plan is shot into smithereens.”

Malcolm: “It’s the most relaxing feeling I have felt this entire game…I can sit around camp and not worry about people wandering off in pairs. My mind gets a break…I can’t be voted out tonight and the last time I can play (the HII) is at the final 5. I’m in the Final 4 in Survivor and it’s only day 33. I can taste it.”

This sounds like the typical over-confident confessional that we hear from players who get a surprise boot. Malcolm is in the Final 4 but what about after that?

Lisa told Mike that since their plan didn’t work there had to be a bigger plan that they couldn’t see.
What Mike could see was a giant ant on a tree!
Mike then refocused her by saying there was something for them at Final 4 and that they had to decide between Abi and Carter.
She couldn’t answer.

While it was very funny to hear Mike interrupt Lisa with the big ant comment, it seemed to show that Mike wasn’t intererested in hearing Lisa’s talk of divine intervention. Mike is more pragmatic: Wait until F4 and decide what needs to be done now. Strangely, he didn’t mention Denise so the question becomes: Is he forgetting about Denise? If he has then Denise’s story could very well be the winning one. After looking for a crack she has now fallen into it and no one targets her. On the other hand, it could also be that it won’t matter if they missed an opportunity to eliminate her here.

Mike next went to Malcolm saying he didn’t want to get rid of Carter.
Malcolm agreed but said it was the right strategy.
Carter then walked over, asking if he was interrupting.
They told him the truth.
Carter left it up to them.

Carter: “On a personal level, I know that this game is about strategy…but people have been talking about keeping people that deserve to be in this game.”

Sitting around camp, Denise pointed out that Lisa’s name hadn’t been written down. Malcolm added that Skupin’s name hadn’t been written down either. They also realized that Carter hadn’t seen his name.

Abi asked if Lisa wrote her name down. Lisa said yes.
Abi said they could write Denise’s name.
Lisa said that she may have to do that at Final 4.
Denise said she’d understand.
Abi went on so Denise tried to end the conversation but Abi wanted to make her point since she wasn’t safe.

Malcolm had a confessional to make us think Abi could leave: “She’s like the Dementor…Nobody can stand her.”
Carter said in confessional that Abi’s problem could be that she’s from another country.
Denise had a confessional saying it was not cultural. “It’s the culture of Abi.”

What to make of the exchange where we heard that Lisa and Mike hadn’t received any votes? Was it a hint that they wouldn’t see their names written ever? Or was it to tell us that they played a good game, avoiding being targets? Few winners have gone through an entire game without receiving votes so it could be a way to show that Lisa and Mike would be deserving. Interestingly, one of those rare winners that never received an elimination vote was Tina!

Abi then went into the woods to retrieve her stick.

Abi: “I am definitely on my own, I am fighting for myself. I can…try to bluff in this game.”

Malcolm: “Abi continues to threaten that she has an immunity idol. I think she’s obnoxious but, as empty as we think Abi’s threat is, it is something that we have to consider…I am considering making a really bad strategic decision just for my own morale…If Abi goes home tonight, it’s because she is a bitch.”

Tribal Council

Jeff asked Malcolm if he needed the safety of immunity.
Malcolm answered: “I felt safe, I have my group of four and I trust them completely.”
Carter didn’t understand why it had to be between him and Abi when everyone talked about bringing deserving players.
While he said that, we were shown Skupin nodding his head in agreement and Malcolm bowing his in resignation. To the jury, the message looked clear: Mike would have kept Carter but Malcolm had decided otherwise.
To drive the point, Mike said: “I don’t know if Carter is more a son to me or a friend to me but we clicked very well. To consider Carter, it’s like voting out my own kid.”
Lisa went the other way: “I would sit next to somebody I could beat.”
That really disappointed Carter…and Penner.

Asked if she was surprised, Abi said: “I’m surprised but, at the same time…I found the 4th hidden immunity idol so I am going to play it and I don’t think I am going to go home.”
Denise said that no one had seen Abi’s idol.
Malcolm added: “We have seen Abi play with an idol. I think she is smart enough that, if she has it, she should be leveraging it more than she is.”
Abi said she was trying to protect herself.
Denise hesitantly said that her relationship with Abi had improved but not enough to take her to the end.
Penner liked that.

Abi laughed because she didn’t think she brought tension.
Denise said that Abi couldn’t win this game because people looked for a more balanced player: Social, strategic and physical.
Once more, Mike was the last one shown voting.

In his final words, Carter said “they are playing with their heads, not their hearts.”

The Case for Malcolm: Do we even have to make a case for Malcolm? If “Jesus” makes it to the end, he wins. There is no doubt about it even if he told us that he couldn’t beat Lisa and Denise.
I didn’t like is “I can taste it” confessional though. It still seems that Malcolm will fall short. What I found interesting is that we saw him making fire again in this episode. He appears to be the fireking this season and everyone ought to know about it. Tying the votes wouldn’t be giving him a chance at F4 to win his way to the end, it would be letting him get to the end. Is that what happens? He pleads to split the votes 2-2 to have a shot but it falls on deaf ears? To win, Malcolm needs to make it to the final tribal council but there are very few editing hints that suggest he does.

The Case for Lisa: The season is presented as Lisa’s game. Her struggle with the rules of the game has been the centerpiece of many episodes and now she has found a way to play a good game. From the start, the story of the season has shown us her turmoils and now we have finally reached a point where she can play with her head and make the tough decisions so that should earn her the victory, right? That would be why we heard Jonathan talking to her about what the viewers wanted to see.

Unfortunately, Lisa’s story has soured so much lately that many in the audience can’t take much more of it. The editors know that because they showed us Penner, the storyteller and therefore the de facto conscience of the audience, disapproving when she said she wanted to sit next to someone she could beat. To win, Lisa would need to play with her head without forgetting about her heart but that’s what has caused her so many problems.

The Case for Denise: This strong person in a small package as defined by her husband has not only found the crack she had been looking for all along but she seems to have been completely overlooked as a target. The audience had to wonder why Lisa and Mike wouldn’t target her when they couldn’t go after Malcolm. It’s the usual alternative: When you can’t eliminate a rival, you go after his closest ally. We didn’t hear Mike and Lisa considering that option other than Lisa saying she may write Denise’s name at F4 so maybe that’s Denise’s winning story.

The player that was described as the biggest jury threat premerge found a way to stay off the radar after it all the way to the end where the jury will agree with Swan: Everyone else stinks, she wins. To do that, Denise will need to get to the end without compromising her loyalty and her word that she will want to sit against deserving players.

The Case for Mike: All along, I refused to consider Mike’s problem with jury votes because we didn’t know enough about the jury: Would it be a Final 3 or a Final 2? Would Mike be facing Lisa and Denise or would Abi somehow fit in? It seems that Mike doesn’t have a chance to win if it is a Final 3 and Denise is there at the end. Maybe there was nothing behind the Rise of the Phoenix other than a brief nod at a former favorite.

But look at this episode: Everyone but Mike played with their heads. He was clearly shown still playing with his heart. That’s why we heard him talking to Denise’s husband and Carter’s mother as they left. That’s why we heard him comparing Carter to his son whom he obviously adores. Maybe Denise doesn’t want to sit next to Abi but she wasn’t heard saying anything on Carter’s behalf.

We saw Mike and Malcolm talking about Carter and it was Malcolm that said they had to be strategic while Mike hated the idea of booting Carter. If we go by Penner’s reactions, the jury will reward the player with the biggest heart not a gamebot, not even the balanced player that Denise described because Survivor strategy is heartless. I now think that Mike could even beat Lisa and Denise in a Final 3 and it would put a big twist to what Malcolm said when he doubted he could beat those two! It would be quite ironic to see Mike beat Denise and Lisa when Malcolm thought even he couldn’t do it.