My sincerest hope is that post-merge, there will emerge a cross-alliance faction whose first order of business will be to boot the loud-mouthed psycho bitch. And if anybody catches her doing what she was shown doing in the previews, it might just happen.
The sound mix was off during last night’s episode so I had to switch the tv to mono to hear any dialog over the music. Anyone else have the same problem? (Commercials and all other shows sounded fine.)
Based on last week’s promos I was looking forward to some real challenges. Way better than last week, but still pretty lame. Especially the immunity challenge, which involved virtually nothing. Point the ball and let it go?
Why don’t they at least have puzzles in the challenges? Over the years the game had evolved to the point where every challenge had a significant physical component followed by a difficult puzzle. That setup was not only more fun to watch, but also gave weaklings a chance to be valuable by being good at puzzles. Wouldn’t puzzles have given the older tribe a fighting chance? I just don’t understand what production is doing.
Same problem here, too. The center channel was very subdued.
I can’t say I’m even close to thrilled with the challenges this time, but I’d been hoping for a change from nearly every challenge being an obstacle course + puzzle like it’s been the last couple of seasons. Granted, I almost want them back after these last few challenges. Almost. Hell, I’m thrilled they had two challenges this episode, I’m sick of listening to this cast sometimes.
Be patient. I’ve never seen a “bad” Survivor season that didn’t end up being good after the merge.
I gotta say…*Survivor *has been appointment TV for me since Season 1, and this is the first time I’ve been seriously bored with an entire cast. Maybe it’s just been on too long–I know all the editor’s tricks for building suspense, etc., but I don’t think so. Like someone said, Marty and Jill didn’t even *try *to get something going. Booorrring.
ETA: ** John Mace **has a good point. I’ll hang on for a few more episodes, 'cause there’s always hope for after-merge excitement.
I agree. It seems like every Survivor season that we’ve talked about on this board has gotten posts early on that typically read, “wow, this season sucks!” and “I give up, these people are hopeless and boring”. And then, almost always, some fun, awesome stuff happens toward the middle and late part of that season. Hell, this season we’ve gotten the TC where Shannon talked himself off the tribe in a hypnotically bizarre diatribe (“are you GAY?!?!?”), and a few other good moments as well. I’ll stick around.
No, it is a very weak cast. I think the people are not being as interesting on the Island as they were in the casting room.
Jeff said Jill was really interesting, but ended up boring on the show.
It’s a boring group.
From the interview on Jeff’s blog this week, Jill picked up on Kelly’s prosthetic leg, fingered the NFL coach, and sized up the strengths and weaknesses of the strongest and the most intelligent of the group, all before she talked to anyone.
Isn’t Jill an MD?
Man, did I read *that *sentence wrong. :eek:
What was with the immunity challenge? Did they have a finite number of balls or have to alternate shots between teams or something? Why all the slow movements that seemed to take forever? Just roll a ball and if it misses, move it a little one way, quickly roll another ball, move it again, quickly roll another ball, etc.
My favorite part of last night’s episode was purple Kelly’s first confessional appearance of the season, where she expressed her disappointment at not getting to “milk the milk”. 
It wasn’t a race. They staggered the rolls. Part of the challenge was that in between rolls, the people on the ropes had to hold the chute (which was probably pretty heavy) steady so that they could use the previous attempt to guide them for the next attempt.
I liked this challenge because it was heavy on physics – you had to take into account the speed and weight of the ball to calculate how far it would travel. Some people can do this innately, but others (e.g. Brenda) can’t. I’d have put Dr. Jill up top because I’ll bet she passed physics with flying colors.
I hope so. They list her occupation as “ER Doctor.” And Marty said, “Goodbye, Dr. Jill” when she was voted off.
And we actually got to see Purple Kelly’s purple hair for the first time. It’s been mentioned by a bunch of players, but I think that’s the first time it appeared on TV.
Hmmm… Maybe we should keep an eye out for Purple Kelly. She’s been practically invisible in the edit so far. This could mean there’s lots more of her to come, or it could mean she’s just an uninteresting and ineffectual player. I kind of hope it’s the former.
Funny how the idiot kids in La Flor now look like geniuses for not voting off Marty, since now they get the idol. But I’m pretty done with everyone on that team now (except for Brenda, but that might just be her cute butt… I wonder how she’ll feel watching the show and seeing how many butt shots CBS put in of her). Hell, Fabio is probably the most likeable on that team. And Espada isn’t that much better.
When you think about it, it’s pretty amazing that a player like Dan made it to the merge. Gyeah.
Jill and Marty had a decent strategy but executed it wrong. It became apparent to everyone from the get-go they were a twosome, and they didn’t do a good job of trying to pull in others - Marty assumed he had control too early and didn’t go out of his way to really bring in people like Tyrone or Jane as solids, and they ended up leaving the game or turning on him. The tribe swap really undermined his strategy, and Jill paid for it.
I also was amused by the fact Kelly got her first confessional of the season. I didn’t even know why she kept getting called “Purple” Kelly… the fact she had purple hair is news to me, given how little she’s been in the edit.
No “probably” about it in my opinion. One of the few worth watching at this point.
Well, weak players in strong alliances have been carried along before, but making it to the merge as a weak player without an alliance? Only in the modern “play for the end-game starting Day 1” game.
They really just didn’t build a big enough team. A strong twosome is worse than no alliance at all (see: Marty’s position vs. Jane’s). You need 5 or 6 at a minimum early on, with a strong core of 4, IMO. It didn’t help that Jane isn’t really playing, just voting against who she likes and doesn’t like. I do wonder if not being told about Sash’s idol will wake her up to her position vis-a-vis Sash/Brenda/Kelly next week.
Kelly either did something to royally piss off the powers that be, or is the most boring person in the world. Gets her first confessional, and it’s just to make fun of her.
I definitely don’t get a “look out for her” vibe - the final few always get a bit of airtime throughout, IIRC. Certainly way more than Kelly has been getting.
Good point here. In fact, I remember a lot of people complaining about the last two seasons before the merge as well. Frankly, the post-merge game is the real meat and potatoes of Survivor. Pre-merge is just “win challenges, vote off the weakest, try not to screw up.”
I’m interested to see how the merge will work out. There’s really only 3 strategic players right now, all on the same team: Marty, Brenda, and Sash. Marty is courageously stupid (see the last two tribals) and Brenda is emotionally stupid (voting off Kelly B). Sash has been a bit of a silent partner, but now that he has the Idol he’s going to break out. Let’s not forget he formed the “minority alliance,” which I don’t think really had anything to do with being a minority. He saw he was the skinniest and probably weakest guy on a team of power players, and figured out how to get 3 other people on his side right away.
And the more I think about it, voting out Jill was actually a pretty smart move. Marty is smart, but he’s basically powerless. He has no idol and no allies. So you get two ways of this playing out, either you lose a challenge and Marty goes home no problem, or you win and he survives until the merge. Now you have numbers, because he owes you for saving him. If Marty went home, Jill wouldn’t have allegiance to anyone and would have a much easier time finding someone to ally with (Dan, Alina, the crazy older lady)
One last note, I hope Fabio gets a spin-off where he teaches Freudian psychology.