I love Survivor. It’s awesome, the best. Even after 20 years, the show keeps delivering (usually). And Winners at War is so far living up to its enormous hype. Three episodes, three knockouts. There’s bound to be a down episode at some point, but I’m just going to keep riding the wave as long as I can.
Dakal Beach
Tyson wants to consider taking out Sandra. She is the Survivor queen, after all. Nobody wants to see her stick around too long, so why not just do it already? He broaches the idea with Yul, who seems receptive, outwardly at least. Yul tells us in a confessional that Sandra is too unpredictable for his liking. He likes keeping players around that are more or less reliable in their actions. But on the flip side, Sandra has so far been a part of Yul’s early success. He’s not so sure he wants to rock the boat just yet.
Sarah receives the Steal a Vote clue from Natalie. It’s hidden at the Sele beach, inside one of the other player’s torches. She brings in Tony. She eventually finds it.
Sele Beach
We didn’t get a ton from Sele in the first half of the episode. The only real thing of consequence was seeing Adam forming the beginnings of a plan to vote out Parvati. She’s a huge threat, it makes sense. But then he goes and tells Ethan. You know Ethan, right? Someone who is a clear ally of Parvati, who has been working with her the entire game, who considers her his number one, and “trusts her with his life.” Yeah, that’s the guy Adam told. Not the best move by Mr. Klein here. But he wouldn’t be done, just wait until after the immunity challenge…
Edge of Extinction
All hail Natalie Anderson, Queen of Edge of Extinction. She finds yet another advantage, this time a clue to a steal a vote advantage. Again, she can sell it to a player for one Fire Token. But this one comes with a bit of a twist. If the player buys it, they will not simply be given the advantage. No, the advantage will be hidden in one of the torches…at the other tribe’s camp, which she does successfully find.
So Sandra can buy her idol for one Fire Token, done deal. Jeremy can do the same for his Safety Without Power. But now this person – which would be Sarah – has to go on a full-on stealth mission just for the *chance* to obtain an advantage? I’m not saying every idol or advantage should be a simple, normal transaction. But this seems like a big jump from a basic “this for that” deal to what Sarah had to do. We’ll have to wait and see how this part progresses, but I’m not too keen on the possible wild imbalance that could come into play with obtaining these gifts from EoE.
And if there was one bad thing about tonight’s episode (aside of Ethan being voted out, of course), it’s that too much time was spent on the Edge. And this is a legitimate fear I have going forward. As more and more castaways get sent there, the show’s likely going to spend more time with it. But life on the Edge simply isn’t as exciting or engaging as life in the real game.
Immunity Challenge
Here we have another visually fun challenge with everything prior to the puzzle essentially meaningless. Each tribe leaps across a series of walls before digging up a ladder in a sand pit (could Dakal have just brought Tony’s bamboo ladder?). The ladder is used to retrieve a rope, which someone tosses up a tower to hook onto a latch. They climb that portion of the tower and then have to climb the next part without any rope or ladder. This leads to the always fun sight of various human ladders. People getting stepped on, players’ faces being exposed to parts they wouldn’t want their faces exposed to. You know, standard Survivor stuff. And of course it finishes with a puzzle, one of Survivor’s awesome tree puzzles to boot.
I love these puzzles in particular. Whereas most of the puzzles on the show have a definitive shape the puzzler can build towards. But with the trees, there’s no obvious end result. It takes a different sort of brain power to complete. As a result, these puzzles are often more fun to watch than most.
Once again, Sele loses, even after Dakal practically tried to give them the win. As Sarah and Sophie were putting the last piece in, it and the other piece it was connected to fell off. Chaos! Well, maybe *potential* chaos is more apt. Rob and Michele had two pieces left at this point, but couldn’t get them in fast enough, as Sarah and Sophie recovered in time to secure the win for Dakal.
Pre-Tribal
Adam is hellbent on getting Parvati out of the game. So who does he go to with that plan? Why Boston Rob, obviously! After all, Rob has been campaigning to vote out Parvati since day one. She’s his number one target, as they haven’t been able to get along or together in the slightest. Huh? What’s that? Rob and Parvati are actually super close allies who have been working together the entire game? Hm, someone should tell Adam that.
Honestly, it boggles the mind that Adam would tell Rob this plan. Adam tells the audience that “Strategically, telling people truths in important times can be very helpful.” And yes, that can be true. But this is not one of those times. And with Rob in particular, it might never be that time. So Rob – who knows exactly what Adam is trying to do – plays along with him before immediately going and telling Parvati. Because OF COURSE THAT’S WHAT BOSTON ROB WAS GOING TO DO.
Rob also talks to Jeremy and Michele, and tries to get them on board with flipping the vote to Adam. The twosome still wants
Adam goes to Rob with the Parvati plan, assuring Rob that they have the votes. Rob goes to Jeremy and Michele and tries to flip the vote to Adam. Jeremy and Michele still want to break up the old school Survivor trio, but they’re second guessing themselves a bit now, unhappy with how Adam is handling things.
But while Adam’s decision making isn’t great Survivor strategy, it certainly makes for fantastic Survivor drama. And I am all about the Survivor drama. Feed me that slop all day, every day. It’s my Survivor lifeblood. Well, that and Tyson Apostol one-liners.
Tribal Council
Tribal Councils have arguably been the weak point of the season so far. Not that they’ve been bad, just that they haven’t quite matched the preceding 40 minutes of television. But tonight’s did feature one moment that I found particularly interesting.
When talking about big and obvious targets, Adam mentions Boston Rob’s statue (the one from Island of the Idols). I don’t know all the logistics behind this, but removing the Rob and Sandra statues before Winners at War began should have been a top priority. As Adam pointed out, it’s obvious, it’s not like it needs bears special mention. But still, you’re on an island with a guy who had a freaking statue built in his honor by the show you’re both competing on. It feels like it’s giving everyone extra motivation to vote out both Rob and Sandra. It’s very possible I’m making a mountain out of a molehill, but still.
Anywhoo, Ethan goes out 4-3-1, with Adam receiving three votes and Parvati one. The fun part of these means that Adam was left out of the vote. Jeremy and Michele successfully ran their plan to change the vote from Parvati to Ethan, keeping everyone but their four in the dark. Considering two of those in the dark are Parvati and the Robfather himself, and another is Adam’s close ally Denise, that’s a damn impressive move. Michele is on a mission to prove herself, and moves like this will certainly help with that.
Ethan bequeaths his Fire Token to Parvati.
Final Thoughts
- Adam entrusts his Parvati plan to Ethan (and then later to Rob), in another instance of someone putting their trust in the wrong person
- I hope this keeps happening, it’s amazing
- I want Dakal to lose, just to see Yul have the chance to flex more of his strategic chops
- He had such a great first episode, but hasn’t had much of a chance to do anything since then
- Aside from Tony, Sarah, and a little bit from Sandra, pretty quiet night from Dakal
- I’m going to need a lot more Tyson, Wendell, Yul, and Kim pretty dang soon, folks
- Sele keeps talking about weakening the Rob/Parv/Ethan trio, but never by voting out Rob?
- Parvati is/was obviously a huge threat, but to not even seem to consider Rob seems a bit short-sighted
- I cannot wait to see Adam’s reaction next week to being left out of this vote
- It feels like a swap is coming, if not next week, then the following
- The players have to be thinking it, so wouldn’t it be great if Survivor mixed things up and delayed the swap?
