SUCH a good episode, non? Like, the kind of episode where you think to yourself, "Now THAT is why I watch Survivor!"
OK, so where to start? THE MERGE! I always enjoy when the teams merge and they play all nice with each other for ten minutes while they drink wine and enjoy a lunch... heh heh. Team yellow was trying pretty hard to fit in and be all nicey-nice with team purple. But the beautiful one was Russell. Russell went hard at it. Started with Laura, who he'd made the relationship with previously. Laura tells him how it is, that no, in fact she is the one who holds all the cards. Quite rightly tells him that he can't be the one to decide who goes home & that it would probably be one of his people. Well. That is an attitude you just don't take with Russell. Right away he said, "Laura needs to go be the one to go home." Hee. Love it. I totally thought it would be a Russell-Laura alliance. Nope. They got me. Oh yeah, and I love that Brett's (Who? Right.) entire contribution in NINE episodes has been to come up with the new team name, "Aiga", 'cause our mystery man somehow knows Samoan. Really? Who ARE you? And why should we, at this point, even care?
So Russell starts putting his plan into action. Tells his team to vote for Laura. Starts working the other team. Talks to Shambo, who's totally on board with voting for Laura 'cause they hate each other. Talks to Monica & shows her the idol. No luck there. Goes to John & shows him the idol. John is more receptive & open to the idea of voting for Laura. Likes breaking up the strong girl alliance. Did you love how every time someone asked Russell if they'd seen the idol, he said, "Nobody." Hee. Then he tells us that he's just being like Babe Ruth (appropriate the day after the Yankees won the world series, non?). Tells us that Babe Ruth may have struck out more than any other player, but he also hit more home runs... so Russell figures you've "just got to keep on swinging." So true, Russell, so true!
I love Russell. I have decided that I don't even care about the Katrina story and the burning of the socks. I think he's funny, smart and a brilliant player. Thoughts?
Anyway, I digress. Comes time for the immunity challenge. Turns out that one guy will win and one girl. It's T-ball. (Tee ball? Whatever.) Best part is when Danger Dave comes up to bat & Jeff asks, "Is this your game, Danger Dave?" "No," replies Danger, "it's making love." I just about spit out my drink. The Jeff asks something about whether he gets to play enough & Danger says something like not as much as I'd like. Ha! Anyway, John wins for the men. And yep, we all knew it would happen.... Laura wins for the ladies. Russell's and Shambo's faces just about fall off. Dang it! Now what? GAH!
Russell's thinking Monica & convincing John that he can still split up the girl alliance. John tells Erik. Meanwhile, Erik comes over & tells Natalie, Jaison & Mick that "if they know what's good for them" they'll vote for Monica & not tell Russell. Jaison doesn't like Erik & doesn't like being told what to do. He figures, hey, let's vote for Erik instead & see what happens. Then Natalie (are you following so far?) zips on over to the mean girls (Laura, Monica & Kelly) and tells them that Erik is trying to vote out Monica. Which... delightfully, wasn't even Eriks idea in the first place. Natalie convinces the girls that their side will still have the numbers but they can get rid of a huge threat by getting rid of Erik now. The girls buy in. They tell Shambo that they are planning to vote for Erik. I kid you not... her response, "Erik? Who's Erik? OH. OUR Erik?" Hee hee. Shambo has no clue. And there are SO many wild cards. What will the boys do? Will Erik and/or Russell play their immunity idols? Gah! It's craziness. Even Russell admits it's the first time he's nervous.
At Tribal Council, Erik mouths off to the whole yellow team. Tells Russell he respects how he's playing but that he's desperate (Oh no he didn't!) and then tells Jaison how he's got so much wasted potential. Right, so never mind that he's right (we all think that, non? How Jaison is so smart and so athletic, but can't seem to do anything right....) but Jaison takes it super personal & goes on this rant about how he's had to overcome so much and all the hurdles and the adversity and blah blah blah.... I loved it. Just made Erik madder (is madder a word?) and just made everyone else want to vote Erik off even more. Lovely. And they did! But not before Russell played his idol. On one hand, smart, right? Everyone knew he had it. He didn't have to stick to his "promises" any more to give it to anyone. And the purple team could have easily been gunning for him to force him to play it. Right? On the other hand, and in hindsight, he will sure need that idol in the future and maybe it would have been a good risk? I don't know. I think he was smart to play it when he did... buuuuuut, it looks like next week he's in the doghouse & will need to win some serious immunity. One last thing... the looks on the faces when Jeff read the votes were precious. The smirks on Jaison's and Russell's faces... and the shock on Erik's face. Oh la! Love the blindside!! One more last thing... Erik is the first member of the jury, and note that there will be a lot more purple jurors than yellow ones. Oh yeah, and last-last thing... Shambo was the only one (aside from Erik) who didn't vote for Erik. Even having been TOLD the plan, she did not believe that was actually the plan, and will therefore be cranky next episode that she was again left out of the loop. Way to go, Shambo. Maybe try to learn the names.
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