Recap
After the two tribes merged, Tandang had a 7 to 4 advantage…
<Skupin: “I never made the merge before and, with numbers? Even better>
…While everyone was settling in, Lisa found Malcolm’s idol.
<Malcolm: “The church lady, who hopefully has a heart, found it.”>

With the tribes merged, Penner went to work, convincing Skupin and RC to turn on their old tribe.
But, unfortunately for Penner, Jeff wanted to take out the former winners.

At Tribal Council, Penner wasn’t sure of his alliance and decided to play his idol.
His instincts were correct: His alliance had turned and his ally RC was blindsided.

The recap was again manipulated to underline Skupin’s story. First, he told us once more that he is in a merge for the first time and then he is included in Penner’s allies. It was Penner, Skupin and RC that were trying to change the game but Jeff twarthed the plan. No mention of Lisa’s role or Malcolm’s or Denise’s. They somehow got included in the group that went after the returning players and the likable RC.

There Are Cracks

Penner went directly to Jeff for answers, telling him that he had blown it, that they had Pete if they had followed his plan.

Jonathan: “Does it hurt to get betrayed? Yes, of course it does. Why? Because you are left out of the secrets. There are secrets that are being talked behind your back. And the things that you trusted (a shot of Denise inserted right here) wasn’t true.”

Penner then asked Denise if she voted for RC.
She told him she voted for him.
He asked why.
She told him it was her own strategy adding: “It could blow up in my face.”
Jonathan dismissed her.

This is a terrible montage for Denise: She is on screen when Penner mentions she couldn’t be trusted, she mentions her plan could blow up in her face and she is seen somewhat stammering, marking her as one of the wishy-washy players that Kent blamed for the plan’s failure.

Jeff: “Penner’s played his idol, He doesn’t have anymore power that way. We are going to do our best to win the individual immunity or at least not let Penner have it…I gave up a lot pf power and authority when I voted with Tandang tonight.”

Ya think?

Then, Skupin had a talk with Jonathan: “I can understand how you feel but, I know you wouldn’t throw in the towel but don’t throw in the towel. There are cracks. There are cracks I am telling you. I am not going home after you…We just have to wait for somebody to screw up, waiting for a crack the get exposed. They are there.”

This little encouragement session defined Skupin’s game from the beginning and probably to the end. It didn’t explain his vote at the last TC but it certainly outlined his strategy. You don’t need to have control, you just have to wait for the craks to get exposed.

Jonathan: “I am not resigned to going home. There’s no quit in me but one way I can get myself further is to take my foot way off the gas pedal, climb into the backseat, put a blanket over my head and hope they forget that I am here for a while but they have betrayed me so all bets are off. I have no alliances…everybody is equal, they are all ready to die.”

Dangrayne – Day 20

Lisa had a confessional while Jonathan went fishing: “Everybody is so galvanized against Penner because they really don’t want returning players having a second chance, and they feel very strongly that they want Penner and Skupin gone first and second. For my game, I want to stay with Tandang but I have no qualms about making this battle to win a million dollars a little easier if it’s within my power. Once Penner and Skupin are gone, Jeff, Carter, Malcolm, Denise and I will then target the ones that everobody doesn’t like, Artis, Pete and Abi.”

Lisa then went to get tree mail with Jeff.

Kent: “Pete, Artis and Abi are a team and they think they are running the game. I’m fine to break that up. Lisa; she’s so naïve and so soft and so nice but we may be able to jump on board with each other and carry this thing into a flip scenario where we flip ourselves from the bottom to the top.”

As it always happens on Survivor, the Reward challenge was going to split the teams in just a perfect way to get that done:

The Reward Challenge:

We had on the Yellow Team: Lisa – Jeff – Penner- Malcolm and Denise.

On the Blue Team: Artis – Pete – Abi – Skupin and Carter.

As for Jeff’s comments, I noted: “Lisa, slow in the water…Skupin is stuck in the water…”

The Yellow team won the reward.

Camp

Artis: “Man! I wanted that reward but, on the flip side, I’m here for the million dollars, I’m still in the game. I’ve been eating beans and rice for
21 days. Beans and rice for 19 more days? Not a problem for me.”

Abi started talking numbers with Carter while Skupin was listening.

Pete: “Abi’s got a big mouth. When Abi leaks information, that’s very dangerous. So, she’s like a puppy you have to take care of.” He told her they could keep Skupin to go after Kalabaw. Then Pete’s confessional continued: “Abi is kind of immature. She thinks that everybody is out to get her and I wish I could vote her out but I know that if she is in a final three, she’s not getting any votes.”

The Reward

Denise: “It was a great group to have on the reward (one could say it was the group the producers wanted to see make it to the end!) They are a pretty positive group that has meshed together well. It was nice to be with them.”

Lisa had a thought for Skupin left back there with those that always find a way to be upset after every challenge.

Malcolm: “There is a bit of the good versus evil dynamics going on in the tribe right now. The evil three being Artis, Abi and Pete, and the rest of the tribe considers themselves the good guys!” Lisa talked about having to kiss the behind of the three while Jonathan said he hated that they acted like tyrants. Malcolm’s confessional continued: “It’s one thing that Penner is trying to take advantage of; turning the vote against one of the three instead of himself.”

Jonathan: “It’s easy for me who has his head on the chopping block to say: “You got to make a move.” But I am saying it and if it can save me for just one more vote, I’d appreciate it and I think I can help you guys get on control of the game.”

Lisa: “Cetainly, the idea of battling it out at the end with 4 other worthy opponents is such a noble choice but I am discovering that I am not just trying to get to the final 5; I’m trying to win which means I first need to get to the final 3 with as many people who aren’t going to get more votes than me as possible. That’s just how you get ahead. The same rules don’t apply in the game of Survivor as they do in real life.”

Unfortunately Lisa, this was a terrible moment to show your schemes. The group had just mentioned the good versus evil dynamics and then the nice, naïve player tells us she would go to the end with the evil ones. That could be enough to make her evil in the eyes of her future jurors and the audience.

Dangrayne – Day 22

Lisa: “I anticipate that, after Penner goes home, someone will wake up and realize that this is the time to do a 5-4 alliance.” (Denise, Malcolm and Peter were shown NOT waking up while this was being said. The one that was awake was…Skupin who was shown fishing at the time) “It makes more sense to me and Skupin to go to the end with Abi, Artis and Pete cause they have made so many enemies and they have made so many hot head emotional moves that have ticked people off. I have a plan that assures him (Skupin) that he does not need to scramble and make alliances with someone else that is going to promise him the world because I am going to promise him the universe.”

This is the key confessional of the season: Lisa, who couldn’t fit in at the start, thinking she wasn’t good at this game has proven she does fit in and is good at the game but she will give the game to Skupin. He won’t have to scramble which he never has, he just has to follow the game as it falls in Lisa’s control.

Lisa told Skupin about her plan which involved blindsiding Malcolm who had an idol. She had to convince Peter that Tandang should stick together and eliminate Malcolm.

Skupin (solo): “Lisa is now in this game to win it which is great because she is my closest ally out here. A lot depends on who wins immunity. The only way to be safe is to win immunity. You are going to see a dog fight out here today.”

Jonathan had a confessional after cutting in Lisa and Skupin’s conversation just as Michael was asking what happens if Penner won immunity: “I never won an individual immunity challenge, never won, so maybe it’s high time that Johnny did and stick it right in their damn faces and say for once in three times, I won individual immunity.”

It’s interesting to note that, even before the tribe turned to Michael as a potential boot candidate, the editors decided to make the audience think he could be going home. There was no need to set it up so early unless the editors wanted the viewers to think it shouldn’t be Michael, it should be one of the rude kids.

The Challenge

The first round was indeed a dog fight: Abi (!) led after the first obstacle but it soon came down to the men. Pete and Jeff claimed the first two spots while Jonathan barely inched out Michael for the third and final spot.

The puzzle looked like a race between Pete and Jeff much to the delight of Artis, Malcolm, Lisa, Carter and Abi who were shown encouraging the duo. Then, “out of nowehere” Jonathan took the lead and won! Michael, the one that had the most to lose if Jonathan won immunity, was not once shown rooting against him. The audience wasn’t supposed to agree with the ones encouraging Pete and Jeff so it’s important to note that Michael wasn’t included in that group. We only saw him scratching his head after Jonathan won immunity.

Jonathan was all smiles after returning to camp for his interview: “I don’t know what to say about that challenge. Maybe that was the best thing I ever did in my life!”

Malcolm: “Going into the challenge, all everyone said was “Don’t let Jonathan Penner win immunity. Of course, Murphy’s law states that has to happen so I don’t know why I am so surprised (he) won immunity today. It just threw everyone’s plans for a loop. Now we have to do a scramble to figure out who we are going to get rid of instead of Penner.”

That’s twice now that Malcolm was chosen as the spokesperson for the rude kids, the villains’ alliance. That’s not a good sign for him.

They all agreed that it had to be Skupin.

Jeff: “My vote is going to be for Skupin tonight because Penner kind of done the unthinkable. He’s won two challenges in a row: One on my team and one by himself so he just bought himself another three days of dead man walking.”

We saw Jeff telling Michael that he will be voted out.
Michael just listened while preparing the clam he had caught earlier.

Lisa told Peter that Malcolm had the HII and how she found out about it. She concluded that he had to be blindsided.

Peter: “That whole plan of getting rid of Malcolm and this information about him having the idol, I got blindsided by that because I actually kinda trusted Malcolm. This plan right now is Lisa’s plan. Is it a good plan? Is it a plan that is going to be effective because Malcolm does have an idol and Malcolm is playing two sides? I don’t know.”

So, instead of blindsiding Malcolm, Pete leaked the information to him.
It was ironic to see that Abi wasn’t the only one that had a big mouth! Pete, probably jealous that Lisa had a good plan, gave away much more vital information.

Malcolm: “Pete confronts me about the idol so my first thought is to lie, lie, lie but already my heart is in my stomach because the rumors are out there: It’s going to come out eventually that I do have the thing.”

Pete offered to save Malcolm by going after Jeff.

Peter: “Malcolm freaked out and that right there was enough of a reaction to just kinda know, to look in his soul and know that he doesn’t have the idol. So, I don’t know what Lisa is trying to pull here.” Pete’s ego is so big that he can’t admit that Lisa was right. They go back to the shelter and tell everyone to eliminte Jeff. “The vote right now is Jeff who was going to be second anyway after Penner just to keep Skupin as a swing vote. Right now, Jeff is going home. He’s a nice guy, he’s played a great game but he’s a big threat and I want him gone.”

Since Peter was in control of the majority and he wanted Jeff right after Penner, it seems that Michael was never really in danger of going home this time. It was just edited that way to make the audience think it was the consensus. That is another good point in Michael’s favor.

Pete then told Lisa he only informed Malcolm that they knew about his idol.

Lisa: “Well…Malcolm pulled Pete aside and Pete was thrown off guard and wasn’t very good at convincing him that his name wasn’t on the chopping block so everything just hit the fan.”

Peter after reassuring Lisa that she wasn’t in danger, had a confessional: “Playing the mastermind role is definitely hard work. It isn’t easy and you never really know you are the mastermind. It’s just at the last moment before tribal that you know if you have everybody and if it’s solid.”

The audience probably thought that it’s easier to be the mastermind when you are smart but it’s interesting that this candid admission matches well with the theme saying it isn’t good to be in control. The true mastermind is now Lisa and, even if she is good at it, she will find it hard to lead and win.

Jeff: “We were going to vote Skupin but now I find out they were gunning for me.”
He rallies Malcolm to the idea of eliminating Pete. A lot of scrambling ensued, showing that Michael was right all along: There are cracks! So many in fact that we were in for quite a Tribal Council.

Malcolm: “Everybody is going mad in the past hour. (He says something about Lisa and his idol but I can’t catch it) I will go to this vote with it in my pocket. If it seems close, I am playing it. My vote’s for Pete right now. That’s not the way I planned it at all. I was going for Skupin but it’s going to be hell tonight.”

Tribal Council

Jonathan reacted with a “right on” at RC’s entrance.
Asked about the feelings against returning players, Probst asked Michael if he felt pressure.
Michael said he did, adding: “When I came back to camp, it took a little bit of the pressure off when I heard some people talking
Malcolm laughed and explained that the little Texas girl threw him under the bus.
Lisa agreed, saying that the back up plan was Michael but that he had been a strong member of the Tandang tribe so she wanted to eliminate the biggest threat in the game, Malcolm.
Denise ageed with Jeff that Malcolm could be their 5th against Tandang. “Every crack is an opportunity.”
Pointing to Lisa, Jeff asked Abi if she was concerned to find out that one of your tribe members screwed the whole game up.
Abi said she had considered Malcolm as part of Tandang so it was “ludicrous”.
Lisa countered saying that they were willing to send Michael home.
Abi justified it by saying that Michael and RC were always on the outside. That Tandang “was always you, me, Peter and Artis.”
That shocked Malcolm so Abi belatedly tried to include him but Probst stopped her: “It may be too late for that, Abi.”
Abi told Lisa she had made a mistake because Malcolm was stronger in their alliance than Michael.
Lisa then talked about flushing out the idol. “I brought it up to make the Tandang stronger. I was playing both sides but my allegience was to the original alliance.”
Malcolm then simply pulled the idol, saying he would play it that night: “There’s too much chaos tonight, I am not going home.”
Jeff wanted to know if there were any other idols so Abi obliged (!)
Penner, the necklace around his neck, thought that this was awesome so he wanted to ask something: “It looks like there could be 6 people here ready to march forward in this game. That means keeping Skupin and I in that 6 at least for a while.”
Lisa made her own proposal to the people she had given her word, keeping the majority if they went with plan B.

Probst said there were two pitches but I wonder if Jonathan’s 6 weren’t at least partially the same 6 as Lisa’s. His vote for Abi sure made it look that way since it didn’t help Kent.

Pete thought they were coming after him while Kent said his name had been thrown around also as were Malcolm’s, Penner’s, Skupin’s, Lisa’s and Abi’s.
Kent concluded by saying it was pretty fun
Probst said this was the most interesting and complicated TC ever and, for once, he wasn’t only hyping.
It was time to vote and RC smiled when Penner walked by her.

Malcolm and Abi kept their idols so Kent was voted out.

After snuffing Jeff’s torch, Jeff said that this vote may go down as the biggest blown opportunity ever.

Even if the camera showed Malcolm, it wasn’t clear at that time who Probst was referring to but the audience would have preferred to see Pete get eliminated. Had Malcolm kept quiet about the idol and simply used it, Pete could have been going home.

The Story

It’s rare that the theme of an episode is so clear but the craziness that followed Jonathan’s IC win tells us that “There Are Cracks”. That theme leads us to believe that too much scrambling isn’t a good thing. It’s better to stay calm and wait for an opportunity to expose someone.

If so then the only two main characters shown remaining calm were Skupin and Denise, the two players that talked about cracks.

The Characters

Pete: No, being the mastermind isn’t easy when you are this dumb. I noticed though that Lisa wasn’t angry with him when she learned that he let it slip about the idol so he must have some redeeming qualities that the edit isn’t showing. From the viewers point of view the blown opportunity had to be missing the chance of eliminating him. Since Malcolm was the one shown regretting the result then we can say that the ground was set for us to say: “Malcolm was a good played but he blew it”…just like Kent blew it last week…just like Pete will probably blow it soon. All the ones who felt in control at one point will blow it if this season goes according to the themes we’ve outlined.

Since we don’t need to consider Artis, Abi or Carter anymore, that leaves us with the 5 players that have great stories. Stories that could lead anyone one of them to victory. Some may think that I’m trying to convince you that I am right regarding my views about the winner but I not even sure if I am right myself! I’m just trying to point out some manipulations in the story that make me think Michael will win,
So, with that in mind, let’s look at how I see the remaining players’ chances:

Malcolm: Not only did he regret the result of the vote, we have seen him twice now acting as the spokesperson for the “evil” alliance even if he sees himself being part of the good guys. Since he is a fan favorite, the editors are laying the groundwork for us to understand why he won’t win.

Jonathan: The dead man walking could have found enough of a repreive to make it all the way to the end. Maybe seeing him receiving advice from Skupin at the start of the episode was a way of showing that he was picking up the story that Mike had set up from the beginning of the season: Go with the flow and look for cracks. The editors also clearly connected him with RC, the first juror as if we were meant to think she’d vote for him in the end. His story could be to show that he has more power now without the idol than with it

Unfortunately, we also saw Jonathan trying to rally people for a last minute change of plan when we were being told that scrambling wasn’t the best thing to do. We need to keep our eyes on Jonathan even if this string of episodes looks like a final tribute to one of the great characters in the serie’s history. We all know that the former mutineer cannot keep his foot of the gas pedal!

Lisa: She certainly is becoming a power to be reckoned with. She played this episode as if she had all the cards in her hands, having not only a Plan A but also a Plan B, C, D and E. Her first thought was to accept the elimination of Jonathan and Michael which would have led to a final 5 with Malcolm, Denise, Kent and Carter. Then she wanted to go to the end with Abi, Peter and Artis so she targeted Malcolm, breaking her promise not to tell anyone about his idol
.
What I found most troubling for her chances was that she was heard saying that the same rules don’t apply in Survivor as they do in real life at the moment when everyone was talking about going with the “good” people. Her story lines are reaching their conclusions too early: She started as the outcast thinking she wasn’t good at this game but she has fit in well for a while now: She’s the church lady that everyone likes. Now we even see her as the mastermind that applies different rules to this game than in real life. The season could be the story of how the nice Lisa managed to win this horrible game by becoming ruthless but it looks more like she will overplay her hand, costing her the game. In addition, even if the plan failed because of Peter’s big mouth, the editors left in Probst comment that Lisa had screwed the whole game. But then again, he was talking about Abi’s game so maybe that’s not so bad!

Denise: After a great premerge story, it looks as if Denise’s story is being ignored. It’s not necessarily a bad thing since she is still connected to the themes of the season by her intervention at TC but I didn’t like that the editors showed us Denise when Kent mentioned wishy-washy players, when Jonathan said he couldn’t trust “them” anymore and when she stammered to find an explanation for voting against Jonathan. Her great story could blow up in her face. Lisa said people had to wake up but Denise was shown sleeping at that moment, something I consider a clear hint that she won’t find her way to victory.

Michael: When Lisa said people had to wake up, Michael was the only one shown in action, doing a basic Survivor task: Fishing. His endeavour earned him a clam but could be foreshadowing that he will claim the big prize. His story continues in a straight line from his opening confessionals: He has followed the pace of the game, at first only concerned to help his tribe win challenges. Then, at the merge, he had a rebirth and, since then, he hasn’t scrambled needlessly; he simply waited for the cracks to get exposed. No one complained about Michael after the reward loss even if he could have been held responsible so that could be another indication that his postmerge story is truly a rebirth.

It really looks like Michael will keep his cool all the way to the end, following his closest ally as she takes control and pays for it in the end when she does hand him the “universe” she promised him.