Survivor Fiji, 4/26 recap: Snakes in the Grass

[Lucy]

Welcome back to The Show That Was Really Lame For The First Eight Or So Episodes But Now Is Getting Good. Last week, in a moment that was about as good as any I’ve seen on Survivor, Edgardo was voted out thanks to a stunningly well-played bit of strategy on the part of Earl’s alliance. Along with some betrayal by Dreamz. And Alex uselessly playing the immunity idol. It’s a long story, really, and if you missed it, A) shame on you! And B) just go read last week’s recap. Because now that I’ve gotten a taste of sweet comeuppance, I want to hurry and get to more, and I read the spoilers this week, and no one who was happy last week is going to be at all unhappy this week.


Betrayal, Help – It’s Such a Fine Line

So, let us return to the night of the last tribal council. Alex and Mookie, who were stunned by how tribal council went down so utterly and completely NOT the way they planned, quickly realize Dreamz double-crossed them. They also realize they’re going to be voted out next.

Dreamz – who thought the Earl alliance was voting off Mookie – is troubled by the fact that he wound up in the dark, and tells Stacy he wasn’t a liar. But she and the rest of the alliance reassure him that they were just covering their bases, in case Mookie took the idol back and played it himself. That’s why they voted Edgardo, they say. Dreamz says that was smart, and that he feels more secure now.

Earl says his alliance is six strong. Stacy says Alex and Mookie’s days are numbered and from there on out the others don’t have to worry. “They’re lucky if they get fed,” she says. Oh, like SHE’s the one out there catching food?

On the next day, the tattered remains of the Four Horsemen alliance are still mad, and comfort themselves by telling each other about it. Mookie says he’s got nothing to say to Dreamz, everything was a lie. Alex says he’s a true traitor. Dreamz comes upon the two of them and asks why they’re not hanging out anymore – acting as if he has no idea they’ve realized he betrayed them. Alex says he turned on them. Dreamz says no, he didn’t, that they all got outwitted. “As soon as you voted for Edgardo, that was the end of us,” Alex says. Dreamz says he didn’t vote for Edgardo. “It’s not me turning on y’all ever, ever,” he says. Dreamz says he wants them to think it’s not his fault. It seems to be working, because Alex starts talking, saying he just doesn’t want to be betrayed.

In my opinion, this is just stupid of Dreamz. You picked your side, stick with it. But Dreamz says he’ll need their vote if he makes it to final two. I hate to tell him how unlikely that is.


It’s Just a Flesh Wound

Moving on, it’s time for the reward challenge. After another random division into two teams, one person from each team will launch balls into a field of mud, while their teammates try to catch the balls in lacrosse-type stick-basket thingies. - technical term. They can catch the other team’s ball, and the first team to five points wins a trip to a spa and – heavy product placement alert – Olay body wash to clean off with. Jeff informs them they all need it.

For the orange team, Yau launches balls to Boo, Cassandra and Mookie. The green team has Stacy launching for Dreamz, Earl and Alex.

This turns out to be a physical challenge, with people running, falling, sliding, blocking each other, and occasionally catching a ball. Cassandra actually puts Earl in a choke hold to keep him from catching a ball; he complains, but Jeff says they’re policing themselves out there.

Then Boo falls into the mud after a scuffle, groaning. He says he thinks it’s his ACL. Jeff calls in a medical team, and Boo tells them it’s his right knee and he heard a popping noise. He stands up, and there’s another horrible sound that makes everyone wince. But he hops around a bit, looking rather comical, and declares himself good to go. Raise your hand if you think Boo ever played high school football. Yeah, me too.

The third thing that happens is that Mookie starts chastising Yau for not shooting the ball at him. I bet Mookie is a ball-hog at basketball, too. And any other sport. Anyway, Yau aims at Mookie once and he does catch it, but the second time Alex steals it. So there, Mookie. Way to screw the team.

Finally, the green team wins. So Stacy, Earl, Dreamz and Alex will get the reward. They decide to send Boo to Exile because, Earl says, “he’s been living the life of luxury since he’s been out here.”


You Can Shower, But You Still Stink of Strategy

On Exile, Boo reads the clue for the new hiding place of the immunity idol. It’s on a tree and easy to reach, at their beach. That’s fine, Boo says, because he doesn’t want to do anything to hurt his knee, like looking for an idol on the island. He’s also almost out of water, feels like he has heat exhaustion, and can’t be in the sun anymore. Gosh, he really is spoiled.

The others fly to their resort spa. Alex says he plans to wiggle his way back into this alliance. “I’m definitely going to give it my all.”

They shower, with Earl picking mud out of his armpit and declaring he’s “getting my sexy back.”

Stacy says the reward is good for morale. But it’s awkward to have Alex there, because he’s pushing himself out there. He keeps trying to tell them he’s a good player and that he has tried to minimize showboating. She says he does sometimes, not others

Alex says he’s clearly on the chopping block, and just wants to buy some time. He and Earl go sit down, and Alex asks the order – basically, whether the next boot is him or Mookie. Earl says he can’t tell him, the game isn’t over. Alex says Mookie wants to go, but Earl says that’s why he might not go first. Alex claims he’s not going down without a fight.


Privacy, Schmivacy

They return the next day. Mookie says he can smell them from the beach, and privately adds that he hates hearing about their trip. He knows he’s out of the equation, but his mind is still turning things over.

Mookie tells Dreamz he thinks Yau has found the idol, because Yau is always at camp. Dreamz falls asleep and Yau is fishing, away from camp for once. So Mookie and Alex go find Yau’s bag and paw through it, until they find the turtle immunity idol. They decide they can do something with that information. “Let’s see what is the most damage we can cause,” Alex says.

Meanwhile, Cassandra and Stacy are sitting on a log, drinking out of coconuts together. Alex and Mookie come down the path towards them and they hide. So … are you kidding me? Alex and Mookie sit down to discuss this, while Stacy and Cassandra listen? It can’t be that easy, can it? That’s like something out of a farce.

Anyway, Mookie and Alex sit down to talk about their find. They talk about outing Yau at tribal council, and they think everyone would vote with them. “That’s going out sweet, literally a blaze of glory, Scarface style,” says Alex, who clearly does not grasp the meaning of the word “literally.”

They’re seriously psyched about this plan. Alex says they’re on top of the world. Mookie says if they bring it out at tribal, people will be paranoid. But then Stacy moves in the bushes and makes a noise, and Mookie spots them. Alex says they’re screwed. What’s funny about this is that apparently, Cassandra and Stacy couldn’t even hear that well, and aren’t sure what Alex and Mookie are up to. But they’re convinced the girls heard, so they decide to run back to camp to beat the women, and go ahead and tell Yau they know he has it, and ask what he wants to do about that.

And that’s what happens. The guys find Yau and tell him they know he has the idol and they saw it in his bag. They say he’s shocked, but Yau says to them he doesn’t really think it’ll change very much, that he’s past that phase.

Yau says privately that he will have to tell his voting block. And I have to give Yau credit for immediately seeing just how to play this. He tells Stacy what happened – that Alex and Mookie went through his bag, and that Alex is trying to black mail him. Stacy is aghast they went through his bag. She tells everyone else. Cassandra is upset too. Earl says people are more pissed that they went through Yau’s stuff than that he has been keeping the idol a secret.

Dreamz does think it makes Yau more dangerous, and says this news is going to change a bunch of stuff. Mookie and Alex say they caused dissension and that’s what they wanted.


I Hope Our Army Generals Firebomb Better Than This

It’s now immunity challenge time. The tribe comes in and sits on a bench, their backs to a grid. Jeff says they’ll need a strong memory and a lot of strategy. They’ll each secretly pick three squares on the grid as theirs. Then they’ll select coordinates to fire-bomb other people’s squares. During all this they won’t see the actual grid – they’re looking at a drawing of it that Jeff has set up. When they pick a coordinate, he presses a button and a flame leaps up and burns the names of whoever picked that square.

Clearly, this is going to require people to remember not only the squares of other people as they’re revealed through the firebombing, but their own. Which doesn’t go so well; Dreamz and Cassandra manage to hit themselves straight off.

This is not a challenge that’s very exciting to describe, but gradually, of course, people get winnowed out, until it’s down to Stacy, Alex and Yau Man. Through what is likely much more luck than strategy, Stacy firebombs them all, but as she had less hits already than the other two, they’re knocked out and she wins immunity.

Back at camp, Alex says he’s up against the wall. He warns Mookie that he doesn’t plan to go quietly. Mookie says they have nothing left but to be but honest. “I’m going down, I’m bringing hell with me,” Alex says. He adds that he’s going to point out to Yau’s alliance that Yau can’t be trusted.

Meanwhile, Dreamz and Earl talk about voting Mookie out. Dreamz says Mookie just lays around. But Earl says Alex has a better shot at winning future immunities, because Mookie is mentally checked out. It’s all luck, Earl says, pointing at Stacy’s victory that day as sure proof that even the unskilled and useless can win an immunity. Well, he might not have used those exact words. He did say “luck” and “Stacy”, though.

Boo throws a cog in the works, though. He tells the alliance that the idol is somewhere in their camp and that Alex and Mookie might have found it again. Earl points out that they haven’t even seen the first clue, but people are worried enough that the six decide to split their votes. Earl says that makes him nervous, people make mistakes. But that’s what the others want, so they decide they’ll make it a tie, and then choose Alex.


Jeff Calls a Rat a Rat

At tribal council, Jeff begins by asking if the reward challenge revealed anything about how people are playing? Alex says it showed how people are willing to play the game. Mookie says says respect is one thing, but how you’re going to win is another. He says there are alliances, one of which was completely destroyed at the last tribal council where “snakes and rats” came out, and he feels an outsider. Mookie further says that he and Alex have no way out, but that they came up with something that might be a way out, and reveals that they “found” an immunity idol in Yau’s bag.

To Jeff’s credit, he calls them out on this whole “found” business, making them admit they searched Yau’s private belongings. And he notes a bit of hypocrisy here. “That’s about as snaky and ratty as it gets, going through someone’s bag.” Yeah, Jeff!

Yau says it won’t affect the game for the next few rounds. Jeff says that’s a bold statement.

Earl says he was just pissed that they went through someone’s stuff. Mookie looks surprised, as if he hadn’t expected this to make people angry at him and Alex, instead of Yau.

Dreamz points out that he does worry, because after those two are gone, it’s still going to be the six of them, and they’ll have to choose sides again.

Alex says there are still people in the game who are threats. And he warns that “whatever they did to get to that top six, its going to bite them in the ass. Karma has a way of working in this game that’s pretty immediate.” He says people’s actions tell about the future. Is this his “blaze of glory”? His “Scarface”? That’s a pretty roundabout way to tell people they shouldn’t trust Yau.

Anyway, it’s time to vote. Amusingly, Alex votes for Mookie, hoping to save himself. And it works – Boo gets one vote, from Alex, Alex gets three, and Mookie gets four. He’s outta there. Mookie, who last week warned that he was going to make Cassandra regret taking him out of a challenge and promised to rain doom on her whole alliance. Oh, the chortling with glee, it is loud in my house.

Mookie leaves with a wave. Afterwards, he makes a confused speech in which he says he’s relieved, yet it would have been nice to still be in the game, “raising hell” and making people’s lives as miserable as his was. Yet he also says it’s been a great experience. Is it possible defeat has made Mookie unhinged?

Jeff says it sounds like there’s one strong group of six, and Alex. Which means Alex is the odd man out, or suddenly very valuable. He sends them all back to camp.


Next week:

Alex goes undercover, trying to be unnoticed. Dreamz’s constant chatter gets irritating, and the reward challenge is “primal” and apparently involves people gnawing raw meat off a rope. Good times.

[Google]

 

[roseskid]

Lucy, excellent recap as always. I finally got around to watching the show today and couldn't wait to see your take on it. Bravo!

Originally Posted by Lucy

Oh, like SHE’s the one out there catching food?

I hate to tell him how unlikely that is.

So there, Mookie. Way to screw the team.

Alex says there are still people in the game who are threats. And he warns that “whatever they did to get to that top six, its going to bite them in the ass. Karma has a way of working in this game that’s pretty immediate.” He says people’s actions tell about the future. Is this his “blaze of glory”? His “Scarface”? That’s a pretty roundabout way to tell people they shouldn’t trust Yau.

Oh, the chortling with glee, it is loud in my house.

[Marleybone]

Stellar recap, Lucy. Your version is right on.

[lildago]

Awesome recap, Lucy!

[waywyrd]

Welcome back to The Show That Was Really Lame For The First Eight Or So Episodes But Now Is Getting Good

So true. I hate that it took this long to get interesting (unlike your recaps, which are always good!).

[ScoutMom]

Great recap. Thanks!

[ShrinkingViolet]

Thanks for another terrific recap, Lucy! Surely, this season has to have a big payoff at the end. I'm hoping so for your sake.

So there, Mookie. Way to screw the team.

You Can Shower, But You Still Stink of Strategy

He’s also almost out of water, feels like he has heat exhaustion, and can’t be in the sun anymore. Gosh, he really is spoiled.

It can’t be that easy, can it? That’s like something out of a farce.

I Hope Our Army Generals Firebomb Better Than This

It’s all luck, Earl says, pointing at Stacy’s victory that day as sure proof that even the unskilled and useless can win an immunity. Well, he might not have used those exact words. He did say “luck” and “Stacy”, though.

[lopevian]

Great job, Lucy!