Do you love the layers upon layers of this season so far? Yes? And it's only episode two. Also, we don't have to hear Rupert's voice again 'til the Reunion show! Yippee!
So yeah, if you missed it, the girls kicked Rupert's butt at Redemption Island. Can we stop calling it an island? It's not. It should be Redemption Stadium, or Redemption Place, or Redemption Crescent. I digress. It was Marissa vs. Candice vs. Rupert. Rupert, like most boys, tried to rush his way through the exercise, while the gals took their time and did everything slow & careful-like. For some reason, I blurted out, "Oh, Candice, she's a doctor!" like somehow this was the reason she'd win. And who knows? Maybe it was. I do feel like doctors shouldn't be all rushing and messy with stuff, right? (Disclaimer: I don't even know what kind of doctor she is. Perhaps she's a veterinarian, or a has a doctorate in English? Unknown.)
So, when she won, Candice was given the opportunity to give a clue to the hidden immunity idol to anyone she liked. She likes her husband, John (yay!) so she gave it to him, natch. Go team hot doctors! However, he's now got a bit of a target on his back because he didn't share the clue with his dude-alliance. The problem with this rookie mistake is that 1. the target thing and 2. he hasn't yet actually FOUND the idol.
Also, John likes Rachel. Now, he doesn't LIKE-like Rachel. He's happily married to Candace. (Aside: what was with Tyson and Aras cuddling by the fire?) But, he's made pals with Rachel, who the boys have decided might be a good person to vote off next. John sticking up for Rachel also makes him a bit of a stand-out. And thing is, he didn't defend Rachel by saying all the good logical things. See, what's happening is that the dude alliance figures that it's best to vote off the person who a big strong dude will likely switch places with, thus putting a big strong dude in danger of going home. So, to this reasoning, you vote off Rachel in hopes that Tyson will step in & take her place. To me, it's flawed. Then, I think Rachel would end up on the other team, non? And you've got someone else who's now basically turned on you and allying themselves with the others. Also, Tyson may not step in for her and then you've gotten rid of your strongest woman. Finally, the logic of getting rid of Tyson vs. Tina isn't very forward-thinking. Tyson automatically becomes a target as soon as there's a merge. Strong dudes tend to be taken care of. Wiley moms on the other hand... Has any of these dudes actually WATCHED Survivor in the last bunch of years? Who has won? The last 4 seasons - Nerdy Survivor guy, Fit Mom, Bridal shop girl, Bookish Girl-nerd. Right? Statistically, get the damn nerds off first. But no one listens to me.
Anyways, where were we?
Let's switch gears a bit to Colton. Colton is once again trying to cause chaos and someone nailed it on the head last night when they called him the gay Russell Hantz. It's so visible to everyone, thankfully, and I think they are biding their time 'til they can get rid of him and his very bad behaviour. Though, it looks like next time he considers actually quitting the game as the preview shows him running over to Caleb and sitting on his lap crying. (Again with the crying.) We'll see if he actually quits or not, but either way, there's no way his days aren't numbered. And way to help out Caleb, who's butching it up quite well (can you say that) with the straight manly-men (who, let's be fair, are cuddling on the other tribe.) The best scene was the whole tribe giving each other back massages conga-line style while Colton just sat there, disgusted, proving once again he has no social skills that are needed to play this game and begging the question again, Do people actually watch this show before they go on it? Jury's out on that one.
My other favourite part of the show was where Marissa chats up Candace & Rupert at Redemption Circle camp and calls out her former teammates for "having the nerve to write frowny faces next to my name like they're actually sorry about it." Heh heh. I've always hated that myself. Or when people are all, "I love you guys...." No, you don't. At any rate, it's pretty fitting to see Rupert, who I've long referred to as Eeyore get the boot on an episode where we get to discuss frowny faces. His wife was good with it and said she feels relief that she doesn't have to worry about him any more and is less of a target herself now. Good points. Also, HE'S PLAYED 4 TIMES.
Rachel is the one who got voted to go to Redemption Town, by the way. :(
Thursday, September 26, 2013
Friday, September 20, 2013
Blood, Sweat & Tears
Blood vs. Water! Sorry for the late start, but I'm finally caught up. Let me start by saying I completely love-love-love this theme. I hated it at first. Aaaaand, I'm not super happy to see Rupert again. Did that guy need to be on a FOURTH time? Seriously? More on that later.
So the thing about this theme... First of all, it's awesome that they put the returning Survivors and their loved ones in separate camps. I like that. That's like all-stars vs. newbies again, which is fun. Second, what's becoming quite apparent, and will continue to be a theme-within-a-theme, is that it will totally depend on the TYPE of relationship. It seems that actual blood relatives (brother & sister, uncle & niece, mother & daughter) are more willing to compete against each other and potentially turn on each other than spouses/partners are. Makes sense, right? If I win the million bucks, my spouse by extension wins a million bucks so he wants me to succeed. Then there's the whole protective thing - especially for dudes. Whereas, if I win a million bucks, my brother/sister/niece/mom doesn't necessarily get to share in it. Yeah, I'll probably throw them some cash, but it's not necessarily halfers right? I mean, it might be for some of them. But it's a different dynamic. I LOVE IT.
Third, I love that you can get painted by the same brush as your loved one. Case in point... last night, Gervase was a total d-bag when his team won the challenge and therefore, his niece Marissa got voted out of the tribe. Let's mention that Gervase almost LOST the challenge for his team because he still, 13 years later, does NOT KNOW HOW TO SWIM. Dude. You're going on Survivor. Which you've done before. You know it's an island. Which, generally are surrounded by water. That means swimming challenges. And you don't bother taking an effin' swimming lesson????? What the...? For that reason alone, Gervase needs to get kicked off this show. So back to the story, he almost causes a loss but the puzzle ladies save his ass and win the challenge for the returning players. Gervase pulls out a "boo-yah" and a "that's how you do it" and generally pisses off the other team. Marissa tried valiantly to throw her uncle under the bus by saying, "Yeah, I can't BELIEVE him!" and stuff, but she pretty much gets voted off as a giant "That's how you do it" back to Gervase. Take that sucka. (Oh, and while you're learning how to swim, maybe all those newbies should have googled "how to build a fire." Sheesh.)
Another thing I love is that Redemption Island is back. It's been gone for a while, but it's back and I think that it's pretty clever. It'll make for good TV where relatives will have to watch each other compete for their 'lives' on the show and my former boyfriend, Jeff Probst can throw out stuff like asking if one wants to take the place of the other. This happened right off the bat last night as the teams had to vote someone out without even heading to camp first or learning each other's names. For the returning players, it was Candice. For the family camp it was Laura, who we'll call Mrs. Rupert from now on, as there are two Lauras and that's confusing. For the record, I like Mrs. Rupert way more than Mr. Rupert. Everything about Mr. Rupert annoys the hell out of me - from his beard to the way he talks to the damn tie-dye tank top. Mrs. Rupert seems pretty nice so far, though she also sports a tie-dye shirt, I can look past it for now. Mainly I really liked how she said that it's been annoying to have it all be about "Rupert, Rupert, Rupert" for the last bunch of years and it's her turn now! Ha. So, Jeff asks Rupert if he wants to trade spots with the Mrs., thus putting himself in danger instead of her. Of course, he does. She's thinking, yeah whatever buddy, you've played 3 times already. It's my turn. She has therefor ended up on the Returning players' team. He meanwhile has some sort of Coach-like chivalry thing going on. Then Candice's hubby John gets the same chance. He's like, no, you go beat Rupert. Heh. (Again, you've played already, it's my turn!) But now, of course, he feels bad about it. We'll call that Rupert-guilt.
At Redemption Island, it's hilarious. Poor Candice has to live with Rupert, which has got to be infuriating. She does all the work. He floats, sleeps and makes Rupert noises. It's part of his strategy (of course!) to save his energy for the challenge. We'll have to see if it pays off. If I'm Candice, I'd be telling Rupert to go boil his own water. Now, of course Marissa has joined and next time we'll see a duel (which of course is not a duel if it's three people, right?) Whatever. One will go home for good. I hope it's Rupert.
There's also a whole lot of crying this season already, and I expect that there's going to be more. Usually, of course, crying is reserved for the couple of people who freak out at first because they're overwhelmed (Dawn, Lisa...) or for the family visit episode. Well, the families are already here. Cue crying. The biggest crybaby so far is Colton. Now you guys will have to debate whether he should have come back in the first place. He was SUCH a bad human last time. He has tried to sell us - and his tribemates - on the fact that he has changed. He has found a fiance. He was just mean because he was insecure. Blah, blah, blah. He completely broke down & cried with his tribe which the women ate up, gave hugs, etc. The looks on Tyson's and Aras's faces, on the other hand, were priceless. Kind of amazement meets what the heck is going on here. Now, I was willing to believe Colton for a bit. Then there was a challenge where his team was losing after Gervase's bad swim and then the fact that no one can paddle/steer a boat. He shrieked at Kat something about Paddle! and she actually, mid-paddle, said "Oh, no, you did not...." Yeah, here's the thing dudes. Human behaviour = consistent. It's not like he was just sort of not very nice and decided he'd be nice now. He was a total and absolute a-hole. A bad person. And, I'm sorry, but I'm not sure that sort of stuff changes. At the risk of making a bad joke on purpose, uh, he was born that way.
So you're pretty much caught up. As for interesting characters... I'm looking forward to Tyson & his girlfriend Rachel. Former winners are always interesting to watch - in this case Tina and Aras. And I really enjoy the dynamic so far between Aras and his brother Vytas. Aras has always been the golden boy and Vytas is the former junkie who did jail time, now 14 years clean and a yoga teacher. I like both of them a lot and think they have a good chance. Monica's former NFL player hubby Brad (who Jeff ALREADY calls by his last name and is therefore a favourite) is interesting in that he's already created an all alpha male alliance of 5 on his tribe and has established himself as a leader. Hard for those sports dudes to sit back, I think. (Though, "We've got 4 dudes and a gay dude" was a bit off base. Caleb is still a dude, dudes.) And Hayden, being a Big Brother winner may prove to be interesting. Also, I barely remember Laura M. Do you? Anyway... we'll see. This season has a lot going for it so far. That is, if you can get through all the crying.
So the thing about this theme... First of all, it's awesome that they put the returning Survivors and their loved ones in separate camps. I like that. That's like all-stars vs. newbies again, which is fun. Second, what's becoming quite apparent, and will continue to be a theme-within-a-theme, is that it will totally depend on the TYPE of relationship. It seems that actual blood relatives (brother & sister, uncle & niece, mother & daughter) are more willing to compete against each other and potentially turn on each other than spouses/partners are. Makes sense, right? If I win the million bucks, my spouse by extension wins a million bucks so he wants me to succeed. Then there's the whole protective thing - especially for dudes. Whereas, if I win a million bucks, my brother/sister/niece/mom doesn't necessarily get to share in it. Yeah, I'll probably throw them some cash, but it's not necessarily halfers right? I mean, it might be for some of them. But it's a different dynamic. I LOVE IT.
Third, I love that you can get painted by the same brush as your loved one. Case in point... last night, Gervase was a total d-bag when his team won the challenge and therefore, his niece Marissa got voted out of the tribe. Let's mention that Gervase almost LOST the challenge for his team because he still, 13 years later, does NOT KNOW HOW TO SWIM. Dude. You're going on Survivor. Which you've done before. You know it's an island. Which, generally are surrounded by water. That means swimming challenges. And you don't bother taking an effin' swimming lesson????? What the...? For that reason alone, Gervase needs to get kicked off this show. So back to the story, he almost causes a loss but the puzzle ladies save his ass and win the challenge for the returning players. Gervase pulls out a "boo-yah" and a "that's how you do it" and generally pisses off the other team. Marissa tried valiantly to throw her uncle under the bus by saying, "Yeah, I can't BELIEVE him!" and stuff, but she pretty much gets voted off as a giant "That's how you do it" back to Gervase. Take that sucka. (Oh, and while you're learning how to swim, maybe all those newbies should have googled "how to build a fire." Sheesh.)
Another thing I love is that Redemption Island is back. It's been gone for a while, but it's back and I think that it's pretty clever. It'll make for good TV where relatives will have to watch each other compete for their 'lives' on the show and my former boyfriend, Jeff Probst can throw out stuff like asking if one wants to take the place of the other. This happened right off the bat last night as the teams had to vote someone out without even heading to camp first or learning each other's names. For the returning players, it was Candice. For the family camp it was Laura, who we'll call Mrs. Rupert from now on, as there are two Lauras and that's confusing. For the record, I like Mrs. Rupert way more than Mr. Rupert. Everything about Mr. Rupert annoys the hell out of me - from his beard to the way he talks to the damn tie-dye tank top. Mrs. Rupert seems pretty nice so far, though she also sports a tie-dye shirt, I can look past it for now. Mainly I really liked how she said that it's been annoying to have it all be about "Rupert, Rupert, Rupert" for the last bunch of years and it's her turn now! Ha. So, Jeff asks Rupert if he wants to trade spots with the Mrs., thus putting himself in danger instead of her. Of course, he does. She's thinking, yeah whatever buddy, you've played 3 times already. It's my turn. She has therefor ended up on the Returning players' team. He meanwhile has some sort of Coach-like chivalry thing going on. Then Candice's hubby John gets the same chance. He's like, no, you go beat Rupert. Heh. (Again, you've played already, it's my turn!) But now, of course, he feels bad about it. We'll call that Rupert-guilt.
At Redemption Island, it's hilarious. Poor Candice has to live with Rupert, which has got to be infuriating. She does all the work. He floats, sleeps and makes Rupert noises. It's part of his strategy (of course!) to save his energy for the challenge. We'll have to see if it pays off. If I'm Candice, I'd be telling Rupert to go boil his own water. Now, of course Marissa has joined and next time we'll see a duel (which of course is not a duel if it's three people, right?) Whatever. One will go home for good. I hope it's Rupert.
There's also a whole lot of crying this season already, and I expect that there's going to be more. Usually, of course, crying is reserved for the couple of people who freak out at first because they're overwhelmed (Dawn, Lisa...) or for the family visit episode. Well, the families are already here. Cue crying. The biggest crybaby so far is Colton. Now you guys will have to debate whether he should have come back in the first place. He was SUCH a bad human last time. He has tried to sell us - and his tribemates - on the fact that he has changed. He has found a fiance. He was just mean because he was insecure. Blah, blah, blah. He completely broke down & cried with his tribe which the women ate up, gave hugs, etc. The looks on Tyson's and Aras's faces, on the other hand, were priceless. Kind of amazement meets what the heck is going on here. Now, I was willing to believe Colton for a bit. Then there was a challenge where his team was losing after Gervase's bad swim and then the fact that no one can paddle/steer a boat. He shrieked at Kat something about Paddle! and she actually, mid-paddle, said "Oh, no, you did not...." Yeah, here's the thing dudes. Human behaviour = consistent. It's not like he was just sort of not very nice and decided he'd be nice now. He was a total and absolute a-hole. A bad person. And, I'm sorry, but I'm not sure that sort of stuff changes. At the risk of making a bad joke on purpose, uh, he was born that way.
So you're pretty much caught up. As for interesting characters... I'm looking forward to Tyson & his girlfriend Rachel. Former winners are always interesting to watch - in this case Tina and Aras. And I really enjoy the dynamic so far between Aras and his brother Vytas. Aras has always been the golden boy and Vytas is the former junkie who did jail time, now 14 years clean and a yoga teacher. I like both of them a lot and think they have a good chance. Monica's former NFL player hubby Brad (who Jeff ALREADY calls by his last name and is therefore a favourite) is interesting in that he's already created an all alpha male alliance of 5 on his tribe and has established himself as a leader. Hard for those sports dudes to sit back, I think. (Though, "We've got 4 dudes and a gay dude" was a bit off base. Caleb is still a dude, dudes.) And Hayden, being a Big Brother winner may prove to be interesting. Also, I barely remember Laura M. Do you? Anyway... we'll see. This season has a lot going for it so far. That is, if you can get through all the crying.
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