That was great the way the three amigos played it – but – maybe… Eddie should have played the idol - as he did. Reynold could have given Malcolm the immunity necklace and Malcolm could have hung on to his. They’d still have one left to share to keep things interesting.
And as Cochran implied - the show can still be fun to watch - just as many of the above post described as well.
One problem I see they have in ‘recruiting’ new members is that those three are just so clearly superior in physical challenges.
Look at it from the POV of Dawn or Cochrane or any of the other members of the major alliance. Which is a better position to be in: Low man in an Alliance of Six, in which you can hope to win an IC and effectively move yourself up in booting order? Or one of an Alliance of 4, in which you have pretty much zero chance of ever winning an IC against the others?
That was awesome, and a brilliant play by Malcolm. He correctly concluded that everyone on the Favorites alliance was letting Phillip call the shots (because they all thought he wouldn’t win a jury vote) so no one else has shown a lick of leadership. Andrea is the only one who has gone against Phillip, but she seems to be the least liked/wanted of the Favorites left.
Dawn, Cochrane, Sherrie, Brenda and Erik are a bunch of coattail riders who haven’t shown a lick of initiative in any of their seasons, and Cochrane is known to not be trusted. Sherrie has some leadership abilities but it only led her team to a bunch of losses, plus she is the only fan in that alliance. The scrambling next week should be epic.
Malcolm is dominating this game with absolutely no support or advantages. He’s still a huge underdog, but I think he is smart enough to figure this out. I wouldn’t want to be Dawn next week. The three guys should be able to mess her up something fierce.
Reynold would have to have done this before the vote in which case he would have been voted out in a heart beat. He also didn’t know Malcolm had 2.
I don’t remember everything about that season, but you are right it was a great TC. But I have to give props to Malcolm to having two memorable TC is a row - what he pulled tonight and what he did last week, talking Reynold into giving him the HII. Sure, it’s nice when you are dealt aces, but you still need to know how to play them. Malcolm knows.
I loved that TC. I don’t think the Three Amigos have a chance in hell next week, but they shook things up a lot this week so… maybe.
My recollection is Brenda was a good (maybe key?) strategic player in her season (someone alluded to this in threads from this season), but somehow she’s become pegged to 2nd or 3rd banana status this time, for reasons that are unclear to me. I agree with the rest of your collection.
Completely untrue with regard to Brenda (who was doing a good job managing the sub-alliances in her game until NaOnka randomly decided to backstab her for no reason). Cochrane was certainly a coattail rider his first time around, but I think this was due to him just being star-struck. This time around he seems much more prepared/grounded, and well aware of what’s going on. He’s in a good spot now (and I think him and Malcolm are 1-2 or 2-1 in best chance to win).
Pretty good TC - pretty funny to watch the majority seven suddenly go from “I’m totally safe” to “wait, one of us going home” and start throwing each other under the bus. Brenda tells Dawn to vote out Andrea, Andrea suggests voting out Phillip, Cochrane and Erik whisper something (likely trying to suss out the chances of Malcolm and Eddie both playing their idols). In the end, Phillip ruined some of the fun by basically falling on his sword, which his tribe was happy to oblige him and flush the idols.
I wonder if Reynold will put two and two together and realize Malcolm had the idol in his pocket when he asked for it, but like Malcolm said, it was the safe play last time, and they do seem pretty close. I’m not sure if the 3 can turn someone (would’ve had a better chance if Malcolm disclosed the idols before tribal, but hey, it made for a good dramatic moment) but there are still cracks in the group. Andrea seems to be the one most in trouble who should think about switching. Erik and Sherri both seem ripe to turn too. Still, going from an alliance of 6 to an alliance of 4/5 doesn’t seem like a great move, especially since the three guys seem pretty close and are all strong in challenges (which could really hurt if you’re the last person in the final 4 challenge, for example).
Very happy to see Fillup gone.
Malcolm, IMHO, missed a great opportunity in the last episode to draw the “Stealth-R-Us” alliance out and play the HII.
What happened in this episode was the three brothers just railing against the dying of the light.
6 v 3 now, and the only one of the 6 I’d like to see win is Cochran. Or maybe Brenda.
But if Andrea wins I’ll accept it. She’s played a decent game.
Erik is completely clueless. Dawn has only a smidgin more integrity than Sherri.
Yeah, bugger it. Out of the possible choices I have to root for Andrea.
Also lost in the excitement of THE BEST TRIBAL COUNCIL EVER was Brenda actually taking a speaking role in the Dawn’s Lost Bridge incident. Welcome to the game, honey.
Do the two HII now go back into play? It would be pretty funny if everyone drops any pretense of team work and spends the all of the episode just combing the woods for the idols.
ETA: I think Erik and Andrea might be ready to look at new alliances.
I welcome more opportunities for Brenda to do some snorkeling.
Absolutely they should… the fact that one was played the prior tribal was the reason for the search in last night’s episode. Don’t see any reason why only one of the idols would be returned to the game.
I thought that Malcolm should have given Eddie the HII after the votes were cast, rather than giving the opposition time to scramble. Since FSA? Fillup wanted to stick to the original plan, guessing that maybe an HII wouldn’t be played, it worked out the same anyway. In retrospect, revealing the whammy before the vote made for some good TV. All of that gloating and the ‘Three Amigos’ comments may come back to bite them though. They’re still down on numbers.
It’s going to be an interesting episode next week. The snake has lost its head. Maybe. FSA? Fillup thought he was the snake’s head, and some of his minions believed it. Andrea might be able to get some others on her side. She’s been doing some thinking, as has [del]Rick Moranis[/del] Cochrane.
No, it was the right move. He wanted them to scramble - he wanted them to start feeding on themselves, and create as many fissures as possible. No one took any chances voting outside the agreed-upon plan, which was Malcolm’s ultimate goal, but he did get quite a bit of scrambling to vote for someone other than Phillip (Brenda was mentioning Andrea’s name, and I believe there were others).
It was certainly in the top ten. :eek:
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And I must say , Phillip went out like a man, doing the right thing. I salute him.
Kinda glad he’s gone, tho.
I wasn’t clear. I meant that when he made his move, I thought he should have waited until after the votes were cast. After seeing how it played out, I thought it was the right move.
Phillip on the jury could produce the funniest “My question is YOU SUCK!” moment at Final Tribal EVER!
I wish the three amigos had taken the time to listen to who was being talked about in the conversations. If Andrea knew that she was being targeted by Brenda and Dawn, it might make her open to a switch. Even if they started making things up:
Eddie: “Hey Erik, Brenda over here just said your name”
Brenda: “No I didn’t!”
Eddie: “Oh sure she’s gonna say that”
Why would I pick Eddie for this fake conversation? Like he’s got brains enough to think of this!