Thursday 19 April 2012

Troyzan: "this is my episode!!!"




It was a really epic episode of Survivor that kept me guessing through out the episode and I really think it explored so many themes. This has become a really enjoyable season of Survivor to be glued to.

My prediction for this weeks episode was too the tee. I may have been wrong about Chelsea becoming emotional about voting for Leif, but due to editing, that probably did happen and just wasn’t shown. Kim did not confess that she may want to play the idol because she was insecure, but her facial expressions spoke for her.

Once again, Kim was painted as the queen in the recap. I do remember Kenny and Brenda getting a similar recap after the merge, and their faith didn’t go to well. Nonetheless, I’m still keeping Kim as my winner pick. Interestingly, Chelsea was given good credit for winning immunity. If, grudgingly, Kim is being set up for a fall and doesn’t end up winning, her lady in waiting will take the win.

Troyzan came across too much as Ozzy last season (after Elyse was blindsided). It’s hard to watch somebody be so much on the outside and you can’t help root for them.

It was great to see a different side to many of the characters this week. The character development that I appreciated the most was Alicia’s. Her relationship with Christina has certainly evolved from the days she was nasty and bullied Christina. Now she sticks up for Christina and tells Troyzan “not to attack her”. A few scenes later, you even see Christina wearing Alicia’s clothes. What I thought was best was how emotional she got when she read the letter from her dad. It really showed us a new side of Alicia and I’m glad of that. She has become a really likable character.

The primary theme of this episode was building Troyzan to be the underdog and the whole episode seemed to filter from his eyes. At the start of the episode, his confidence and desire to win immunity seemed like a red herring, and the story that the editors tried to depict was that he gave it his all, but came up short (like Ozzy last season). But his desire to win and passion for the game really is impressive. I was able to separate his emotions from buying the loved one letter from his logic of realizing that he needs to buy the clue for the leg up in the next immunity challenge.

The good old Survivor Auction is always one of my favorites. This one seemed to be the best. I did think that the Tocantins Auction where Taj watched the video from her husband and half-pounced on Jeff when she realized he was back at camp was the greatest moment ever, but watching the emotions from Alicia, Tarzan and Troyzan, as well as everyone else was much more moving. I never thought we would get to see this side of Tarzan either. I thought he was just a grumpy old man who doesn’t like people for no apparent reason. Clearly, I was wrong. Kat was once again adorable when she called the wrong amount. I could understand where Christina was coming from by not outbidding Troy- she really felt bad that he has become an outcast, and probably sympathizes with him since she was treated in a similar way on Manono. And what’s a Survivor Auction without a shower and Peanut Butter? And Kim got both. I love peanut butter, not to mention Kim’s sensational shower whilst she ate peanut butter.

The immunity challenge was great, but Jeff dropped the ball here by not reminding everyone that you could play some of these games in your backyard. It was epic. I never would have expected Tarzan to do well in a challenge, yet he dominated here and gave Troyzan a run for his money. They are seriously over looking Tarzan as a challenge threat- last week he basically won the reward for his team, and he was so close to winning this time. As predicted, Troyzan screamed “this is my island” when he moved to the next round. As much as in find these sort of out burst from him a little intimidating, it just depicts how passionate he really is, and that’s a good thing. Sabrina and Chelsea seemed to be sick of hearing it. I wonder how many times he declares ownership of Samoa that is not being shown. Troyzan is much more likable, but I have to say that Samoa belongs to Russell Hantz, the end. The sound effects whilst Troyzan won immunity and was shown walking back to camp reminded me so much of the subtle climax building sounds when Harry defeated Voldemort in the last book adapted Harry Potter movie. It was certainly a warrior’s tribute.


Kim was smart in keeping a watchful eye on Troyzan in the case that he also finds the idol. This just reminds me so much about Sophie when she watched Brandon trying to conspire with Coach. Kim is just too talented as a player and her edit is royalty, but Sophie was probably exponentially better than what was shown last season and definitely deserved this type of edit. God forbid there be another season with two returning players and a bunch of newbies, who steal the camera time away from the winner.

Troyzan also displays his super fan knowledge of the game which is always brilliant to watch. Echoing Marquesis, he tries to get the people at the bottom of the dominant alliance (supposedly Leif, Tarzan, Alicia and Christina) into flipping. He very easily could have usurped Kim’s throne. (Side note, Kim’s throne, the boat, was shown empty and drifting in the water- foreshadowing?).

This was another unassuming tribal council. All the girls seemed to swap clothes, which could signify there closeness. Kim even dons Jay’s T shirt and I’m pretty sure Tarzan was wearing Monica’s pants at the beginning of the episode. I really thought that Alicia would fulfill Kat’s prophecy of killing her, by flipping the vote. What was interesting to me was that Troyzan called Sabrina out as betraying Jay at the last Tribal Council, and Kim gets away scotch free. I think it’s safe to say that after this revelation, Sabrina won’t win, and Troyzan’s loose lips probably sunk her ship. A potentially fatal mistake though was him openly targeting Kim by calling her out as the most strategic player. Now the jury knows who is running the show. Chelsea did come across as extremely over confidant by reminding Troyzan that she beat him last week and that he is not unbeatable and that they will vote him out the first chance they get. I’m not so sure- ever heard of Bob, JT, Fabio, Jenna and Chris? Once you give someone a pass with the assumption that they will be voted out next, it could blow up in your face- just look at what Danni did spectacularly in Guatemala.

The voting further builds up more anticipation and Troyzan yet again votes for Kim, whilst complementing the game she plays, and I respect that. I was expecting Kim to pull out her idol, but she is even more daring than I can imagine. This reminds me of my favorite winner- Parvati. Kim seems to be an android of many of the other great players that came before her. She even got naked and ate peanut butter like Jenna.

When Tarzan’s name came up, I said- ‘now this is what a blindside is’. But sadly, Leif got voted out. I’m definitely gonna miss Leif sleeping in the box and being so hyperactive when he wins something. I guess it’s that part of the game when everyone is so likable and it’s sad when any of them get voted off.

So right now, it’s looking like a two many race between Kim and Troyzan. Although I picked Kim as my top contender from Day 1, I would be happy with Troyzan winning, because he deserves it just as much. I’m hoping for both of them to be in the finals and the vote would end in a 4-4-1 tie between them. That would be the most explosive end to this hyped up season.

Next week, I think Sabrina’s relationship with Kim may be shattered, and Sabrina will find herself on the receiving end of the power of the idol. I’m chancing that Troyzan will yet again win immunity. Also, maybe somebody will try to convince Kat to flip, and Alicia will try and save herself by telling this to Kim to cause them to mistrust Kat.


____________________________________________________________________

Other blogs or recaps to read

1. xxSuperJudexx's Super Blog http://superjude.blog.com/2012/04/19/survivor-one-world-episode-10-thoughts/

2. John Sciacca's blogring http://johnsciacca.webs.com/apps/blog/categories/show/546519-tv

3. Jeff Pittman on TrueDorkTimes http://truedorktimes.com/s24/recaps/index.htm

4. Brenda Porter's prediction and thoughts http://brendassurvivorblog.blogspot.com/2012/04/predictions-and-observations.html

5. Rob has a website http://robhasawebsite.com

__________________________________________________________________


No comments:

Post a Comment