I'm one of those people that hate what I call peoples' tendency towards "Instant History," in which everything that's most recent must be the best, worst, whatever extreme works into the discussion of the day. A playoff basketball game will come and go and be called "the most intense game ever!" A movie list declaring the best of a decade will be heavy with flicks from just the past three years. People have short memories, and hyperbole runs wild.
Well, I've just said all that, so you know it's time for me to contradict myself (at least kind of). I won't go so far as to say that this is "OMGZERS the best season eva!!," but it has to be in the conversation, doesn't it? Then again, I actually do have a terrible memory about things like this, so I
could say that it's the best season in recent memory and I wouldn't be exaggerating at all.
How will they keep the drama going tonight?
7:00: Shocker of all shockers - Russell is pissed that he wasn't the driving force in the events of the previous Tribal Council. I am Jack's Complete Lack of Surprise.
7:01: The downside of Rupert (finally) being right about something? Having to hear him say "I told you so." Thank god I'm not there on the island; I can only imagine how unbearable he'd be about that. Then again, the people out there with him actually deserve to hear it - we're just innocent bystanders.
7:05:
Survivor Shuffle? Sweet - I've been dying to learn a new dance. Oh...nevermind, it's just shuffleboard. Shame on CBS for not really going with what's hot and having
Survivor Curling. That'd truly be sweet.
7:08: Nice shot by Selleck!
(That's my nickname for Danielle's mustache - should you have any better ideas, I'm all ears.)
7:10: Alright - a commercial for Outback! They should sponsor the show or something.
7:12: Speaking of Outback, Bob Stevenson's house does a pretty decent job of resembling the Down Under steakhouse...
7:15: Amanda is a child. She's gonna cry now, isn't she?
7:17: Turnabout is fair play in the game of
Survivor. I'm not sure if Russell's decision to hide the fact that he found the idol is a good thing or not, but it's hard to fault him for it, at least in terms of emotions. Strategically, it's a pretty bad play. It's not as though the ladies aren't going to find out that you have it (and have been hiding it) eventually. You have (had?) a strong alliance with Parvati and Danielle - why risk that over some hurt feelings? Share the idol with them, but retain possession of it this time, and you'll be fine.
7:24: Lost in all this back-slapping by Russell is this question: what the hell did he need that clue for? How come he hadn't found the idol before the reward challenge winners even came back from Stevenson's house?
7:26: Uh, Sandra and Candace - I have some bad news. You're each doing badly at this game if you're in the role of swing vote at this point. Even should your plan work, you're the low woman on the totem pole (ah, memories of Stick...). Why not get with Jeri and Colby and create a team of four unbeknownst to the other players? Worst case scenario, you force the remaining players to bond together (haha - Rupert and Russell on the same team) to force a tie next week.
7:28: Mrs. Fletch doesn't like the card-building Immunity Challenge, but I dig this one. Wasn't it used as the challenge to get to a final three or something in a previous season? A tense, tough exercise (for the mind this time).
7:29: Oh, and something tells me J.T. would win this challenge were he still in the game.
7:30: Players not named Russell or Jeri: what the hell is wrong with you? Why are you watching them when there's always a chance that their towers could fall to the ground?
7:31: Of course, Jeri won the challenge as I was typing that. Whatever - point still stands.
7:32: "Even Coach, who I don't care about, but...I'll stick him in there, too." - Sandra talking about people she's winning one for the Gipper for (aka getting rid of Russell). Nice.
7:36: I guess I'm happy for Jeri and all, but damned if she hasn't been flying under the radar a lot here this season, seemingly being on no one's team at any given point. In other words, I'll be upset if she ends up going too far in the game.
7:38: Are you Team Villains or Team Heroes? And will Russell play his Hidden Immunity Idol? I sure as hell would if I were him.
7:41: I just realized that I've been spelling Candice's name wrong all season. Who the hell spells it with an "i?" Thanks for helping out, guys! It's hard enough to remember to spell Jeri's name correctly...
ETA: Apparently, I'm wrong about this and just don't know that many Canda(i)ces. I've been outnumbered, and just to be sure, left the final vote up to the Google, which had 12+ million hits for ICE and only 8+ million for ACE.
7:43: Could these people be more condescending to Candice? If I were him, I'd definitely be on Team Villain at this point. They're all saying "if this doesn't work, it'll be your fault," but she should be more like "if this doesn't work, it's because I didn't want it to work and I wanted to put myself in a position to win and see you lose." I know she's meek, but I don't think she's stupid.
7:48: Well, I have no idea what's happening tonight. Though from the first two votes shown, it looks as though Russ is safe. Parvati or Amanda? Perhaps a major player is going down tonight.
7:51: Though I'm not sure how good the future looks for Russ, Parv, Selleck, Jeri, and Candice, it's hard to argue with their numbers should they stick together. Although my entire family disagrees, I think Candice made a wise choice (outside of my 7:26 idea). She's higher up with the Villains than she was with the Heroes, and with the way the Heroes were treating her, it's obvious they didn't have plans to keep her much longer.
8:05: Ok, sorry for the delay - we've been arguing about Russell and Candice and who made the right call and who's in charge and whatnot. My final thoughts are that it looks like Russ is indeed going home next week....and my Official Question Request for Amanda is:
I have two, actually. First, are you aware that it looks like you're crying 80% of the time? And second, having had the opportunity to watch this episode, are you ready to admit that the hidden idol belonged to Danielle or will you cling to that sequence as your excuse for leaving the game forever?
Survivor news at Survivor.comSurvivor homepage at CBS.comInterviews with the castoffs at The Movie Encyclopedia
The results of the last poll have left me with a bit of a quandry: continue to let the testostcerone fly (even though I was unaware that I was doing so) and play to my overwhelmingly male demographic, or make an appeal to the ladies (what, the Dudes tournament wasn't enough beefcake for you?) to get those percentages at least more in line with the numbers I've observed as being normal in the movie blogging community (70/30)?
