Instead of compulsively tweeting on the episode every second, I realized it would be better to consolidate my tweets into a single blog post.
Last week, I was dumbstruck when my second winner pick, the sushi guy- Jonas- went home. I thought he would at least crack the top three and would win for being so likable and probably being the only male in the finals, or lose due some negative inconsistencies in his edit. That being said, my number one winner pick- Kim- still remains. The question is- does this episode, where she seemed to be at the core of controlling everybody, hinder her chances of becoming the sole survivor?
Overall, I thought this was an extremely awesome episode that nailed the optimal balance of socializing, innovative challenges, strategy and a tribal council that kept me at the edge of my seat.
This episode set the foundation for how the rest of the game will play out. Will the woman stick together and mimic Micronesia’s infamous ‘Black Widow Brigade’ (Led by winner Parvati); more like ‘bat widow brigade due to the over kill bat imagery; or would the New-Salani alliance of Greek God’s dominate?
I thought Kim had put her self in a really flawless position to go to the end. She has the idol firstly, and secondly she has two core alliances- that being with the girls, and the one with Troyzan, Jay and Chelsea and apparent tag-alongs Mike and Kat. Now she had two chose which alliance to stick with. There was an uncanny resemblance to Micronesia when Kim and Sabrina decided to blindside the possible immunity threat- Mike, which mirrored Parvati and Cirrie deciding to wipe out Ozzy. The central theme of the episode that Jeff pointed out was the over confidence of the remaining 11 people in the game. What’s the reason for the over confidence? Answer- Kim. In my opinion, she is a female Russell Hantz, but is Supermodel grade attractive, and has social graces and Parvati’s smarts. She cleverly fragged Troyzan into thinking Mike was targeting him, and her timing could not have been more perfect when she swooped (with her bat-like villainous black cape) in on the conversation between Mike and Jay and convinced them to vote for Christina. On her Yul-level diplomatic responses to everything Jeff asks at tribal council- “carefully crafted” as Jeff pointed out. At the immunity challenge, she received a lot of focus from Jeff and the girls in her alliance, and she eventually lost closely. This challenge focus reminded me a lot of the focus that Sophie got in the coconut balance challenge and coconut water got last season, which set the stage for her future challenge dominance throughout the game. Kim’s challenge editing seems to be heading in that direction- where either it’s her challenge to lose or she wins it.
Jay’s edit seemed to spark this episode. He did exceptionally well in the immunity challenge that he won, despite claiming that he hates puzzles. Also he was shown to be constantly in game mode and a deep strategic thinker. Throughout the episode, he was shown to ben fully aware about a likely female alliance brewing, and his suspicions were confirmed by Chelsea’s less than obvious response- “not necessarily true”. I think if anyone is an obstacle tom Kim’s win, it would be Jay. Last week, I thought Troyzan would be the distraction, however the recap failed to mention him finding the idol and winning immunity, which was pretty pivotal in my opinion, and he took a huge hit edit-wise when he was shown to be completely malleable when he was mind-fucked by Kim and made his decisions based on emotions and not logically. Throughout the season, the men’s tribe collectively has been shown to make stupid decisions and be puppets to Colton; however Jay seemed to be distanced from that generalization. He was shown to walk away from his Rooster alliance when he realized that 4 out of 9 was a minority, he questioned the men’s decision to go to tribal council unnecessarily, and he expressed doubt over voting of both Jonas and Mike. He knows it’s a numbers game and each time they vote out a male, they are giving the woman more momentum. Also, his early game confessions showed that his strategy was flexible and he would be willing to work with the women and in Survivor, you have to play both sides of the fence if you want to make it far, which Jay effectively has covered. I think he is a worthy competitor to win and he would make a deserving winner. Just one basic thing gives me doubt that he wins- he was not given credit for starting the fire in the first episode. That’s a plain and simple flaw in his edit.
On Chelsea, she does have a slim chance of winning. Her low key dip in screen time is a bit discouraging, but it is likely that she could beat Kim in the final vote in a Danni beating Stephanie sort of way- where Stephanie/Kim played a superior and more dominant game, but also burnt too many bridges.
I dismissed Tarzan as a goofball on the first episode. I thought he was just a crazy, hypocritical character. However at tribal council, he did seem to have a sound mind and his responses were logical. But I do think that if he were the winner, there would be scenes where he explains the methods to his madness. On a similar yet different note, Kat is lovable but edited as a typical blond. It’s evident from the secret scenes that she actually is strategic and observant, but wouldn’t these scenes be shown too if she won?
On a side note, Alicia really took me by surprise in the immunity challenge- turns out she is good at puzzle. Also, the way Sabrina prayed with the winning team was the right way- praying to show gratitude and not for personal gain like last season.
After a rather explosive tribal council that was so mind boggling and Oscar award deserving by everyone who spoke, I was puzzled with the way the votes went. Two votes for Christina, two for Tarzan (why couldn’t there be more?) and the bulk for Mike- left me confused. Fortunately this is not Survivor: Redemption Island, where we don’t see who voted for whom. It turned out that Tarzan and Mike vote for Christina- to no surprise. Christina and Alicia voted together against Tarzan and this is what made my mind race. I did some asking around on Facebook and Twitter, and Alicia was kind enough to tell me that the vote was a decoy to prevent the guys from knowing that the alliance she was part of with the girls was strong. That’s a pretty savvy way to play the game- keep the opposition guessing.
Possible winners quotes this episode:
Troyzan did not declare the title deeds to the island of Samoa this season, so there weren’t many quotes that stood out as what a winner would say.
• Chelsea: “I hate to say it, but I’m thinking that Tarzan needs to stick around longer” (finally some strategy that Tarzan is the ultimate goat)
• Jay: “slow and steady wins the race baby” (classic quote)
• Kim: “Something’s going to be different after tonight…things will never be the same if we do this”
• Kim: “Whatever happens is going to change the whole game” (speaker of a pivotal move)
• Kim: “I think you have to keep your options open, and know when to stick with the plan too”
• Tarzan: “I hate to say this Jeff, but we’ve all been playing you because we all know how important this night it. (not individual enough, but so witty that I had to include it)
• Tarzan: “The game is afoot” (to repeated to ignore)
Foreshadowing this episode?
The sounds of thunder were heard by Christina and Jeff during the voting. If this does not spell that a storm is hitting next week (figuratively) then nothing will.
To sum up, it looks like its Kim’s game to lose. However, I do think she has balanced her options well and this gives her the leverage to sail to the finals. Maybe Jay can go on an immunity run and win or Chelsea can appear to have less blood on her hands and win.
Is Kim being set up to be dethroned like Brenda Lowe in Nicaragua? I can’t wait to find out next week. Seven days is too long.
Last week, I was dumbstruck when my second winner pick, the sushi guy- Jonas- went home. I thought he would at least crack the top three and would win for being so likable and probably being the only male in the finals, or lose due some negative inconsistencies in his edit. That being said, my number one winner pick- Kim- still remains. The question is- does this episode, where she seemed to be at the core of controlling everybody, hinder her chances of becoming the sole survivor?
Overall, I thought this was an extremely awesome episode that nailed the optimal balance of socializing, innovative challenges, strategy and a tribal council that kept me at the edge of my seat.
This episode set the foundation for how the rest of the game will play out. Will the woman stick together and mimic Micronesia’s infamous ‘Black Widow Brigade’ (Led by winner Parvati); more like ‘bat widow brigade due to the over kill bat imagery; or would the New-Salani alliance of Greek God’s dominate?
I thought Kim had put her self in a really flawless position to go to the end. She has the idol firstly, and secondly she has two core alliances- that being with the girls, and the one with Troyzan, Jay and Chelsea and apparent tag-alongs Mike and Kat. Now she had two chose which alliance to stick with. There was an uncanny resemblance to Micronesia when Kim and Sabrina decided to blindside the possible immunity threat- Mike, which mirrored Parvati and Cirrie deciding to wipe out Ozzy. The central theme of the episode that Jeff pointed out was the over confidence of the remaining 11 people in the game. What’s the reason for the over confidence? Answer- Kim. In my opinion, she is a female Russell Hantz, but is Supermodel grade attractive, and has social graces and Parvati’s smarts. She cleverly fragged Troyzan into thinking Mike was targeting him, and her timing could not have been more perfect when she swooped (with her bat-like villainous black cape) in on the conversation between Mike and Jay and convinced them to vote for Christina. On her Yul-level diplomatic responses to everything Jeff asks at tribal council- “carefully crafted” as Jeff pointed out. At the immunity challenge, she received a lot of focus from Jeff and the girls in her alliance, and she eventually lost closely. This challenge focus reminded me a lot of the focus that Sophie got in the coconut balance challenge and coconut water got last season, which set the stage for her future challenge dominance throughout the game. Kim’s challenge editing seems to be heading in that direction- where either it’s her challenge to lose or she wins it.
Jay’s edit seemed to spark this episode. He did exceptionally well in the immunity challenge that he won, despite claiming that he hates puzzles. Also he was shown to be constantly in game mode and a deep strategic thinker. Throughout the episode, he was shown to ben fully aware about a likely female alliance brewing, and his suspicions were confirmed by Chelsea’s less than obvious response- “not necessarily true”. I think if anyone is an obstacle tom Kim’s win, it would be Jay. Last week, I thought Troyzan would be the distraction, however the recap failed to mention him finding the idol and winning immunity, which was pretty pivotal in my opinion, and he took a huge hit edit-wise when he was shown to be completely malleable when he was mind-fucked by Kim and made his decisions based on emotions and not logically. Throughout the season, the men’s tribe collectively has been shown to make stupid decisions and be puppets to Colton; however Jay seemed to be distanced from that generalization. He was shown to walk away from his Rooster alliance when he realized that 4 out of 9 was a minority, he questioned the men’s decision to go to tribal council unnecessarily, and he expressed doubt over voting of both Jonas and Mike. He knows it’s a numbers game and each time they vote out a male, they are giving the woman more momentum. Also, his early game confessions showed that his strategy was flexible and he would be willing to work with the women and in Survivor, you have to play both sides of the fence if you want to make it far, which Jay effectively has covered. I think he is a worthy competitor to win and he would make a deserving winner. Just one basic thing gives me doubt that he wins- he was not given credit for starting the fire in the first episode. That’s a plain and simple flaw in his edit.
On Chelsea, she does have a slim chance of winning. Her low key dip in screen time is a bit discouraging, but it is likely that she could beat Kim in the final vote in a Danni beating Stephanie sort of way- where Stephanie/Kim played a superior and more dominant game, but also burnt too many bridges.
I dismissed Tarzan as a goofball on the first episode. I thought he was just a crazy, hypocritical character. However at tribal council, he did seem to have a sound mind and his responses were logical. But I do think that if he were the winner, there would be scenes where he explains the methods to his madness. On a similar yet different note, Kat is lovable but edited as a typical blond. It’s evident from the secret scenes that she actually is strategic and observant, but wouldn’t these scenes be shown too if she won?
On a side note, Alicia really took me by surprise in the immunity challenge- turns out she is good at puzzle. Also, the way Sabrina prayed with the winning team was the right way- praying to show gratitude and not for personal gain like last season.
After a rather explosive tribal council that was so mind boggling and Oscar award deserving by everyone who spoke, I was puzzled with the way the votes went. Two votes for Christina, two for Tarzan (why couldn’t there be more?) and the bulk for Mike- left me confused. Fortunately this is not Survivor: Redemption Island, where we don’t see who voted for whom. It turned out that Tarzan and Mike vote for Christina- to no surprise. Christina and Alicia voted together against Tarzan and this is what made my mind race. I did some asking around on Facebook and Twitter, and Alicia was kind enough to tell me that the vote was a decoy to prevent the guys from knowing that the alliance she was part of with the girls was strong. That’s a pretty savvy way to play the game- keep the opposition guessing.
Possible winners quotes this episode:
Troyzan did not declare the title deeds to the island of Samoa this season, so there weren’t many quotes that stood out as what a winner would say.
• Chelsea: “I hate to say it, but I’m thinking that Tarzan needs to stick around longer” (finally some strategy that Tarzan is the ultimate goat)
• Jay: “slow and steady wins the race baby” (classic quote)
• Kim: “Something’s going to be different after tonight…things will never be the same if we do this”
• Kim: “Whatever happens is going to change the whole game” (speaker of a pivotal move)
• Kim: “I think you have to keep your options open, and know when to stick with the plan too”
• Tarzan: “I hate to say this Jeff, but we’ve all been playing you because we all know how important this night it. (not individual enough, but so witty that I had to include it)
• Tarzan: “The game is afoot” (to repeated to ignore)
Foreshadowing this episode?
The sounds of thunder were heard by Christina and Jeff during the voting. If this does not spell that a storm is hitting next week (figuratively) then nothing will.
To sum up, it looks like its Kim’s game to lose. However, I do think she has balanced her options well and this gives her the leverage to sail to the finals. Maybe Jay can go on an immunity run and win or Chelsea can appear to have less blood on her hands and win.
Is Kim being set up to be dethroned like Brenda Lowe in Nicaragua? I can’t wait to find out next week. Seven days is too long.
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Cooler blogs and recaps that are nice to read:
- xXSuperJudexX's Super Blog http://superjude.blog.com/2012/04/05/survivor-one-world-episode-8-thoughts/
- TrueDork Times http://truedorktimes.com/s24/recaps/e8.htm
- Gordon Holmes recap http://xfinity.comcast.net/blogs/tv/2012/04/04/survivor-one-world-recap-kimpressive-strategy/
- Dalton Ross recap http://insidetv.ew.com/2012/04/05/jeff-probst-episode-8-survivor-one-world/
- Rob Cesternino's podcast http://robhasawebsite.com/survivor-world-michael-jefferson-interview.html
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