OK, I’ll toss this off quickly, I’m kind of tired, but want to get my impressions up and get the thread started.
Wow, Jason is dumb as a box of rocks. Ozzy gets trampled because he didn’t play the idol last week, in a play that saved Jason. Did Jason get a clue? No, not a chance. “I knew you sent me away for a reason, now you’re all tight with me, right?” Jesus. Dumb, dumb dumb. I’ll give Jason a break, he really is smart in other ways; he follow the clues to two (well, 1.5) idols, so he’s not completely hopeless. But strategically and socially, he’s not the sharpest bulb in the drawer, and two knives short of a six-pack.
Ozzy and James think Parvati is the mastermind? Meanwhile, there’s Cerie, flying right above the tree tops, way low. And Parvati admits right out that to James that “girl power” is the plan, and she expects him not to be bothered by that?
I thought the girls snortin’ and giggling when their current target wasn’t around was kind of arrogant and annoying. But I guess they earned it this week.
And how stupid do you need to be to not spend ALL of your $500 at the auction (I’m looking at you Alexis, little miss “didn’t get any food” from last week and only got food because Natalie provided, pure luck). Its not like its worth anything after that. Why bid $120 and pull back when the bidding goes up? Bet $500!!!
I am a bit confused about James and Amanda’s conversation, right before TC. “Oh no, what ever will we do? I can’t think of anything!” That scene changed my opinion of Amanda from last season: I thought she was an intelligent strategist and simply broke down emotionally at the end, but after witnising her cluelessness tonight, I realized she really has no ability to strategize. James is the proven “Dumbest Survivor in History,” so I am not suprised that he didn’t realize the obvious move to make.
Here is what she should have done:
Amanda is in on the girl’s plan to eliminate the idol along with either Jason or James. She can easily get both of them on her side. She knows Erik is on the bubble too, so he will be swayed easily. Thats 4 votes, which they can use to eliminate one of the other four girls, preferably Parvati. The voting will be either Parvati - 4 Jason - 4 (with Jason using the idol, Parvati is gone) or more likely, Parvati - 4 Jason - 3 James - 1 (because the girls wanted to split the vote to ensure Jason or James goes home with the idol out of play).
If Amanda could have pulled this off, she would be the leader of a four-person-alliance in a 7 player game… pretty good odds. But she didn’t even think about it. In fact, she and James agreed that there was nothing they could do, and relegated themselves to future Jury status. So instead of top dog in a group of four, she has questionable standing in a group of five.
As for the others, it will be interesting to see the power play between Parvati and Cerie. Will Cerie continue to play puppet master, letting Parvati take the blame for everyone’s elimination, or will Parvati wise up and get Cerie out before it is too late? Can the clones (Natalie and Alexis) slip under the radar to the final three, or will they need to step up their game play to stay in the game? Is Erik bright enough to realize his low status in the tribe, or will he fall victim to the flirtatious trap set by the vixens? Tune in next week!
See Gary Hogeboom. Players used to be scared of the hidden idol, because it could be played after votes were read. With the new rules, there’s two correct ways to use the hidden idol. First, you could play it almost immediately, to avoid a blindside. Second, you could offer to share it with a weaker player on the other alliance (even if you are in the stronger alliance), to buy the loyalty of a potentially invaluable spy.
As for Amanda pulling a power move, I think they would’ve hinted at that more to build up the dramatic tension regarding who will go. Instead, we have the Chet season ™. Yau man might have been capable of rallying them together for a switchup, but Amanda is staying true to the philosophy of Chet. She apparently wants to fly under the rader, too. She probably figures she cannot win challenges against the three guys, so she’s casting her lot with the women. Little does she realize she is on a slow march out and her neck will be on the chopping block as the next biggest threat after the men are out.
That was exactly the play I was hoping she’d make. Alas.
I was really hoping that the editors were giving us a double-dose of smarmy smirking & gloating, just to set up the Girl Power Alliance for a fall. So it was doubly-annoying that they actually pulled off their plan (although I was at least consoled by the fact that James was spared).
Did you notice that Parvati was outed as the mastermind of Ozzy’s ouster? Ozzy appeared to have noticed, too. (And a Survivor first…I don’t think I’ve seen a jury member flip off the Tribal Council before.)
Actually, the HII rules have gone through 3 incarnations. When Gary had his, you had to play it before voting occurred, which is what Gary did - so it was exactly like the regular II (except for the hidden part). When Yul had his, you waited until after the votes were read to play it - this was way too powerful IMHO - there was no risk that you might waste it. Having it pretty much guaranteed you a spot at the end, especially if you announced once you got down to 5 or so. The past 2 or 3 games it’s been the “play after voting, but before reading” type.
ISTR from interviews with other survivors that the auction lasts longer, and has more items, than actually wind up on TV. So by the time you see someone stop bidding at $120, they may have already spent a bunch of money on something else that didn’t make the final edit.
Is it just me or are the close-ups of Parvati looking more and more like the wicked witch of the west each week? Blech!!
Natalie was getting on my nerves a lot too with the “I’m so diabolical and evil” crap. Yes, you should be quite proud of yourself there. I mean, you’ve masterminded one move this entire season and it consisted of you lying to the dumbest guy ever who was pretty much begging you to tell him lies. Great Job!
I would give Amanda a bit of credit. I also thought tipping of Jason and using the idol to get Parv was a good idea (with or without Erik), but then what? She’s the only girl in an alliance of 4 powerful guys. Not the best position. Better to worm herself into the girl-power alliance and hope to make them forget them she wasn’t with them all along.
Yeah, Ozzy did notice, didn’t he? I think I saw him mouth the word ‘bitch’ after hearing that. The look on Parvati’s face was priceless after being outed.
You’re right about Cerie and Parvati now. Cerie did okay in her last game (and thus far in this game) by flying under the radar, but there’s going to come a time that she needs to step up her game, lest she be regarded as a coattail-rider, rather than a worthy opponent. She needs to be careful how and when she comes into her own, but she’ll have to do it soon.
I’d rather be voted out for being too powerful than come in second to a newbie player*.
*Well, the second place $100Gs would probably help me through the shame a little.
There are some real stupid men on that show this year. Wait, I mean there were. The men will soon be gone unless they can get the idol or win immunity.
I don’t know who hold the crown for king of stupid moments on Survivor right now, James or Jason. James had 2 immunity idols and three TCs to use them in and didn’t use one. Jason, on the other hand, just watched a guy with an immunity idol get blindsided the TC before, knows he’s not in the core group, and then gets a new hidden immunity idol and still doesn’t play it. :smack:
Also, what the crap with Natalie. I think she’s been shown twice the entire season, and suddenly she’s all over this entire episode. :dubious:
I liked Natalie better before someone woke her up.
And I honestly didn’t think anyone could possibly make me feel sorry for Jason LaDouche, but Natalie managed it within 30 minutes. I mean, damn! This is the same guy that I was laughing like a ninny at back when he actually thought Ozzy’s little whittling project was an actual immunity idol. And here I feel sorry for him. Thanks, Natalie! Now I have TWO reality-tv Natalie’s to actively feel burning hatred for…
Jason is an idiot. Obviously he’s smart enough to decode written clues and find the idol, but he’s completely naive and blockheaded about decoding social interaction. He had no real shot of winning unless he won every single immunity challenge.
I think I was supposed to hate Natalie with her “I am soooooooooo bad and evil! This is the real me, a maniacal bitch! Look at what a *Survivor *villain I am!” speeches, but I just thought she was an idiot, too. She also seemed desperate, like she was a hammy actor playing melodrama. So, rather than hate her, I just blow her off. Her uppence is coming.
Erik seems to know what the dealio is, but he’s got to start playing the social game better. Time to start making moves. James needs to do the same thing.
I don’t know how Erik can do anything. I’m taking at face value the pledge among the women to ally, and I’m taking at face value that they are doing it for no reason other than that they are women. Unless there’s some shocking revelation from Erik or some wholesale collapse of the women’s alliance, he’s toast without winning immunities.
The smartest one to me, this time around, is James. He absolutely knows exactly what’s going down. He knows that Parvati is lying. He knows that the women are conspiring. He knows that strong men are their targets. He knows he’s in trouble.
But James is a gentle man. What I don’t know is whether he can find it within himself to fight. In a stamina competition, I can just see him saying after some time, “Ah, to hell with it.”
I don’t really see Cirie as the puppet master. Parvati is the one who created this girl’s alliance in the first place. Deciding which guy to vote out doesn’t exactly strike me as the height of control. Getting split from your power alliance in a tribal shakeup, and then parlaying that new weaker position into the final power alliance strikes me as much more puppet master-y, especially since she had to betray an original alliance to do it.
How on earth did James and Erik not go to Jason and at least try to convince him to play the Idol? There was absolutely no downside for them to do that. Amanda I can see not wanting to upset the grrlpower. Bah.