This season I have a lot going on so unfortunately I am not able to make a long observation, but I do like to give my 2 cents after reading your very thorough account, michel!

The first part of the intro showed us the altercation between Cydney and Neal, this is very interesting to me, now that they are brought together later on the same tribe. It makes me feel like once again, Cydney will outlast Neal. But, will she? Clearly, it showed us that Cydney has more brawn to get away with that, but in the next altercation will Neal use his brain to outlast Cydney? Clearly, these two may come to conflict soon, will it be in the next episode? I like that you relate both of their positions to Debbie and end game? Perhaps?

Excellent observation of Tai possibly being the next victim. Clearly, his scrapes could very well lead to his demise. Foreshadowing.

I agree, the brains tribe area is the tribe of interest, so could our winner be there?
I do appreciate Debbie's positive comments to each individual, telling Peter, she thanked God for him. She's the master at diplomacy and making others feel better. We have to note that at it's core, it's a social game. But, as to your question, clearly she's far better at pandering than he is...hahha.

Great observation that Neal's confessional about the 4 people aligned and one cancer, and then he uttered the word cancer! Love it! Made me wonder if Neal will be the cancer after all? But, Peter told him, "no"!

When Neal went on the idol hunt and found it, when he placed it around his neck, he called himself the king. To me, Neal seems very condescending to the others and it gives me a bad taste. How he called their alliance the "children's alliance" vs. "the geriatrics", then how when Peter and Liz wanted to boot him, he said, they were bad and needed to be punished. I can't quite connect to his paternal, authoritarian role, perhaps? With him declaring himself King, and then patting himself on the back, making his own luck...just seems arrogant to me as well. His comment at the merge also sounds arrogant...Neal said: “It looks like we’ve got some strength, it looks like we’ve got some smarts and it looks like we have some beauty so I’ll take it. I’m talking about myself mostly!”

Now that we know how the episode ends, does this comment by Julia come to fruition next week? Julia said she was going to be Ok. She added: “The one down side is not getting to know everyone. I’m going to come in as the odd one out especially if a Beauty gets voted off at this next immunity.” Hmmmm?

Peter's confessional was so Peter. He was low hanging fruit, now it's in their best interest to move forward together, so he's ensured of making it to the merge. It was misdirection for this week, but what about next week?

Both Scot and Michele had similar confessionals regarding their new tribes. How they are going to fit in, who to trust to align with. I thought it was a more positive sign for both of them....we see that Scot lands on his feet in the end, so that's encouraging for Michele as well, I would think?

Aubry's confessional after Peter noted how it would make sense to take out a beauty, was there to place doubt, misdirection. We saw later that she would side with Joe on this one for now. Maybe not the next time....? More misdirection?

Nice comparison between Debbie's approach vs. Michele's approach. Then we see them play out.

Excellent observations by Jims. I agree, Cydney's edit is carefully manipulated. She's spared from blame with brawn, and here, she gets a very meaty confessional about how smart she is. She's one to watch. Debbie is disarming somewhat, with all the, "I want a girl to win this season". She's really on the offensive! To her, she's already cemented the alliance of 4 and declares herself the mastermind. Will anyone see her coming?

Interesting though, we then get Jason confessionals, which does cast some room for doubt. 2 brains on the Left, 2 beauty's on the Right....they can go either way. We saw Debbie going to Jason, then later we saw Nick go to him.

Regarding the development of the bromance between Tai and Scot, it was fun to watch. We saw Scot doing what he set out to do, a positive sign for him. I thought Anna was in a horrible position and she made the choice to throw Tai under the bus. It didn't work, but I highly doubt anything else would have either....? I thought she played it hard though!

They made Caleb a hero right from the start, as with the music that accompanied him everywhere. They are doing it with Tai as well, which makes me think he will indeed be the "next" medivac. Build them up to create more drama and hard feelings when they fall? Could Cydney be the third? Having her edit manipulated like it's been to shield her from the dirty work? I dunno?

We then see Nick have his arrogant confessional. When he gave this confessional, there was a picture on screen that had a colony of little tiny ants devouring a much larger dead centipede. This has got to be classic foreshadowing that the little people on his tribe will devour the big guy!

I agree with your assessment, michel, much more character dev't with Debbie/Neal so more likely they will be the longer term players. Nick is ripe for a big fall....he and Peter, imo.

Nice observation of the smoke that shrouded Jason as well.

Julia: Ugh, what will she do when she sees that her alliance mate Anna is voted out....she'll be alone again? She had a case of "cry-baby-itis".

Regarding the post IC drama/scrambling at Gondol:

If Joe had told me that he’d let me know their decision, I would have taken that as a slap in the face. My thoughts would have been: “You do that Joe but in the meantime, I’ll make other arrangements.”

Ditto. They are doing the exact same thing that Peter/Liz did at Brains that got Liz voted out....here is a pic in the next episode that shows them still isolating themselves to discuss what they want to do ASSuming that Peter will go along with whatever they decide....

If Joe interrogates Peter as we see him doing in the promo, then goes openly away with Aubry all the time, guess what? Peter is smart enough to see the writing on the wall.

I took the snake as Scot foiling the plan to play the idol to bounce Peter, therefore blindsiding Anna. I also feel that Tai's mentioning over and over about how he doesn't want to go home with the idol in his pocket is foreshadowing as well, if he is medivac'd. He's worried that he will be voted out with it in his pocket, yet he can be leave the game another way, with it still in his pocket.

With TC, Jeff must be thrilled that Peter is so blatant, and not socially aware of how his own words must sound. Hmmmm?

Jiffy's last comment was thought provoking to me, and almost sounded like, they didn't make the right decision....Tonight, you decided to keep Tai over Anna and the question you’re going to be wrestling with until the next immunity challenge: Did we make the right decision.”

Will Tai flip somehow on the brains, so they regret getting Anna out? Makes me wonder.

I feel that Peter, Nick are the most at risk. Their story is wrapped around arrogance so they are both being set up nicely for a big fall/blindside

I feel that Tai is in deep trouble, getting set up for a possible fall of another kind.

I think that Aubry, Julia, and Joe are at risk as well. Joe and Aubry getting back to Peter with their decision waves a pretty big red flag to someone that knows they are on the bottom. Julia, will she have a game without her buddy? If she finds out that Tai voted Anna out, what will she do? Will Peter use her next week to target Joe/Aubry?

Players gaining momentum: the brains! Scot, Jason, Cydney!

Neal and Debbie are sitting pretty for the time being.