Well, with a unified vote last episode, and a swap imminent, there’s no reason not to get straight to the foreshadowing! Nope, no need to concerns ourselves with vote fallout when there is no vote fallout to be had! Instead, we get Sophie and Nick gushing about how great their position in the game is at this particular moment. Nick in particular is happy, since he’s discovered Tyson willing him his remaining fire token. Nick tells us that this makes him think differently of Tyson, possibly even being willing to work with him down the line. Might this be foreshadowing of the biggest challenge threat currently on the Edge of Extinction getting back in the game? I think so.

Before we get to the swap itself, Yul talks about closeness with people. This time, however, Yul’s not discussing the closeness of others in the game, but the closeness of himself out of the game. He tells us the person he bonded the most with on “Survivor Cook Islands” was Jonathan Penner, which strikes me as odd. True, the pair were clearly friends in the game, but over someone like Becky, whom Yul was CLEARLY bonded with? Strikes me as odd, especially when you consider that Penner was the VILLAIN of “Survivor Cook Islands”. Sure, he’s beloved by the fanbase now, and he wasn’t exactly Jonny Fairplay (“Survivor Pearl Islands”) level of hated even at the time, but he was the bad guy. The mutineer. The snarky jerk who betrayed the Aitu Four, then betrayed his new tribe just to seal the deal. And THIS is the guy beloved Yul bonded with the most overall? I mean, it makes sense if you look at them outside the game, but if you only knew them from the show? This would be right the heck out of nowhere.

Yul, however, is focussing less on Jonathan, and more on Jonathan’s wife, Stacy. Stacy, you see, has rather advanced ALS, to the point of not being able to breathe on her own, and requiring around the clock care. Penner has selflessly and graciously taken up this task, and if by some stupid miracle he happens to be reading this, our thoughts go out to you and your wife, man. Sure, I could talk about how this scene really comes right out of nowhere, and basically hits you over the head with “Yul is going to win this season”, but I don’t care. It was touching! It was a humanizing moment for all involved, while still putting the focus on Stacy (her making the family reward on “Survivor Cook Islands” meant they had footage of her to use, and she and Penner had a call to action to start off the upcoming commercial break). Even the normally stone-faced Yul shed a few tears over it. But I’m not crying, you’re crying! Shut up!

Our swap comes around, which means we need someone complaining about it screwing their game up. Boston Rob is our big winner this time around, which I have to say is out of the ordinary. Despite Rob having played five times at this point (six if you count “Survivor Island of the Idols”), this is only his third swap (fourth if you count the tribe dissolution on “Survivor All-Stars”). A low number, though he might have some reason to complain. After all, while the new Mogo Mogo did have the numbers in his favor on “Survivor All-Stars” it was the swap that cost him the game, since asking for the favor to save Amber soured the jury towards him when he didn’t pay them back. Instead, Rob talks about the swap on “Survivor Marquesas”, pointing out that he lost power as a result, having been in control of Maraamu prior to moving to Rotu. A fair enough point, but Rob, I’d say it was really your tribe’s challenge ability that screwed you. Even if you hadn’t swapped, I’d bet money you lost at least one more pre-merge immunity challenge, meaning you’d in down in numbers anyway, and probably be voted out at the exact same spot. Sure, you were at risk on the new Rotu, but you ultimately didn’t leave until the merge, which like I said, is where you likely would have gone anyway. This is as opposed to, say, Sandra, who actually WAS swap-screwed on “Survivor Game Changers”, but let’s not split too many hairs.

With 15 players left, we of course split into three tribes, leading to the creation of a new tribe, which is green, because of COURSE it’s green. They’re almost always green. Doing anything different would upset the delicate balance that is “Survivor”. We’ll get into the split dynamics in a minute, but the big takeaway is that Sele is SCREWED by this swap. Oh sure, they were lower in numbers, which makes a swap harder to take advantage of, but the fact is that Sele was only down by one member, and so could easily have gotten the advantage on two tribes. However, given both the numbers and who ended up with whom, they effectively have the advantage on NO tribes. This is most obvious, funilly enough, on the new Sele. Parvati and Michele remain, being joined by Yul, Wendell, and Nick. Parvati and Michele have the triple disadvantage of being down in the numbers, not working together prior to this, and being with the tightest group in this game so far. As Nick says, those three couldn’t have put together a better tribe swap. Granted, Yul’s number one, Sophie, is on another tribe, but Wendell and Nick are both tight with him, and bring good challenge strength. To add insult to injury for Michele, she and Wendell used to date, and did not have the nicest breakup. More on that later.

Surprisingly, new Dakal is really the only place where the old Sele have a decent chance of grabbing a little power. They’re down in numbers, with Jeremy and Denise against Kim, Sandra, and Tony, but Jeremy and Denise at least have a tentative alliance, and a possible “In” with Kim, since she never really worked with Sandra and Tony directly. Plus, they both have some form of immunity at this point (Jeremy has “Safety without power”, while Denise has a good old hidden immunity idol), meaning they can guarantee an original Dakal going home if they so choose. Granted, both Kim and Sandra have idols as well, but Tony going is not the worst thing. Oh, and four people immune on a tribe of five with FIFTEEN PEOPLE LEFT IN THE GAME is clearly not an indicator of too many idols and advantages in the game already! No siree!

In a parallel to the new Dakal, our newly-created Yara tribe (which will in no way be difficult to distinguish from the Yawa tribe of “Survivor Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers”, no sir) has a numerical advantage, but a fractious one. On paper, Sarah and Sophie are outnumbered by Boston Rob, Ben, and Adam, but then you remember that all three of the men have reason to be mad at each other, meaning that they likely won’t be able to work together. Add onto that them having to build a whole new shelter, and getting little in the way of supplies, and you’ve got the makings for a tribe in trouble. I would say new Dakal is probably the weakest tribe overall, due to having the biggest challenge sink (Sandra), and only one big gun in Jeremy, but given Boston Rob’s overall performance, the energy expended in building a new shelter, and Adam not being the strongest either, I’d say these two tribes may be fairly even early on. Not new Sele, though. New Sele is not going to lose a challenge unless they throw a challenge.

After Denise and Jeremy take time to gush at Wendell’s handiwork on the shelter, the game starts back up. Jeremy, unsurprisingly, is the driving force behind the attempts to work on the tribe, and quickly zeroes in on Kim as the weak link. I’m guessing he worked everybody, and they just showed us the one that worked, but if he did sense that out immediately, kudos to him. Given the public feud between Tony and Sandra on “Survivor Game Changers”, without any knowledge of tribe dynamics, that would have been my first guess as to an exploitable flaw. Not, Jeremy instead floats the idea of working with himself and Denise to Kim, which is further incentivized by her bonding with Denise. Kim admits that while it might be smarter to stick with her original Dakal members, she does have a bond with Denise and Jeremy that she doesn’t have with Tony and Sandra, as well as no real alliance with them, so things are up in the air. We’re left pretty unclear where Kim will go, but it looks to be an intriguing storyline going forward.

Checking in at Sele, Michele again laments being put on a tribe with Wendell, since they have “history”. Unlike with the poker alliance or Stacy from earlier in the episode, we don’t get any outside clips detailing their relationship. Which is a shame, not so much because I want all their dirty laundry aired on national tv, but because I’ve seen the pictures from when they were dating, and they were cute together! I’m really sorry to hear their breakup wasn’t amiable, because they do seem like a nice match on the surface. Bummer.

To distract from this, Parvati sets about bonding with the remaining members of her tribe. She and Yul share an original season, plus his wife really likes Parvati’s game, so she leans on that. With Nick, it turns out she was his crush back in the day, and we get to see “flirt” Parvati come out again a bit. Wendell, however, is a tough nut to crack. He gives very short, nondescript answers to her “Getting to know you” questions, which leads Parvati to call him “cagey”. Wendell argues that he’s just a slow leak, but combined with not really wanting to talk about their past with Michele, it seems like he’s just kind of quiet around them. Odd for a guy who won on the strength of his social game, but I guess that’s what a breakup will do to you. Michele and Parvati complain about this on the beach, noting how smug the guys are. They want Wendell gone, but have no way to do so. As such, they decide to “Give the guys something to look at” (seriously, these two may be the first people to say that in non-scripted reality), and go for a swim. And here, I must complain. Yes, an understanding of the tribe dynamics is necessary, and yes, the tension between Michele and Wendell is a big part of that. I’m not complaining about that so much. What I AM complaining about is the portrayal of Michele on this season. Look, Aubry will always be my girl, but I have a lot of respect for Michele. She’s a solid player of the game, and very likable in her own right. I have no complaints about the fact that she won, and as such want to see more of her on this season. So it bothers me that the ONLY Michele content we’ve gotten has related to three things: Voting out Ethan (which was all of ONE SENTENCE), her relationship troubles, and being a sex object. Yeah, “Survivor”. Way to be progressive in this day and age. All the content we get from one of the women relates to either relationships or looks? Those portrayals aren’t stereotypical at all!

Rant over, we head to Yara, where even before shelter building commences, Rob wants to know what happened to Amber. Sarah and Sophie wisely throw Tyson under the bus, saying that he threw out Amber’s name when he was on the chopping block. At least partially true, it also shifts any blame to someone who can’t defend himself right now, and lets them keep up the pretense of a full united front for the original Dakal. Smooth playing, ladies. Less smooth are the men, who when asked immediately spill their hatred for each other. Way to play, guys. Ok, ok, I suppose there was no way they were going to hide if for long, but a token effort would have been nice! Sophie and Sarah talk with everyone, and are naturally relieved that they have options. Still, they don’t trust the numbers, and so go idol hunting, followed shortly by the men. Rob complains about the difficulties in idol hunting, despite, as Adam points out, having FOUND an idol. To be fair, Rob did have clues, and their new island has many significant looking trees. In the end, the show does something I really like, and keeps the finding of the idol subtle. While Rob rants, we see Sophie grab something out of a tree, later revealed to be the Yara hidden immunity idol. Like other idols this season, she has to split it for it to be useful. Since Sophie is NOT an idiot, she gives it to the one person she’s played with so far, and we move on to our immunity challenge.

As we’ve come to expect this season, this is your standard obstacle course with a puzzle at the end, though two things about this challenge stand out. One is the color. While most challenges have a good amount of color to them, for some reason this challenge really “pops” particularly in aerial shots. Kudos to the art department! The second element is the puzzle. At first, it seems like another rehash. The “Stack four blocks so no color appears twice on any side” puzzle from “Survivor Samoa”. Decently tough, but not much to note, were it not for a design choice I like. Previously, the blocks had to be stacked in a rotating frame. Here, they’re stacked on top of one another on a rotating platform. It’s a small change, but it helps this version stand out, along with the look of the blocks themselves. I’ve complained in the past about “Plastic ‘Survivor’”, where elements look manufactured and fake, as in not part of the environment. Here, these crates are clearly just wood squares nailed together and painted. This could be seen as lazy, but I say it adds to the authenticity. These feel like something someone would develop naturally on an island, or even make at home, and it’s a nice touch to an otherwise just average challenge.

Yara does surprisingly well early on in the challenge, even getting to the puzzle slightly ahead of Sele. Of course, though, the puzzle matters, and despite having the more than competent team of Sophie and Adam on the puzzle, they choke. Our idol mercifully splits apart naturally this season (as all multiple idols should, show), so Sele gets the skull for coming in first, while Dakal’s impressive puzzle performance nets them the crossbones. Though I have to ask, since Yara was right next to Sele, why didn’t they just copy their solution when Sele won? Regardless, Rob leads us out saying that while he hates losing, he feels fairly in control tonight. Gee, I wonder who our boot is?

Despite the earlier tension between the guys, when push comes to shove, they don’t want to go home. At the water well they agree not to vote for each other, and decide on Sarah for bringing less to challenges than Sophie. A bit odd, given that Sarah is a police officer, and therefore presumably quite physically fit, but I guess if you factor in puzzle ability it’s a wash. Given that all have an incentive to get the connected people out at this point, Sarah at least works from that perspective. Rob, however, is still a bit paranoid, and thus implements the “buddy system” from “Survivor Redemption Island”. With only three, though, it rapidly devolves into “Everyone sit in the shelter until Tribal Council”. You know, the strategy that worked SO WELL for Garrett on “Survivor Cagayan”. Geez, Rob, you’re supposed to be better than this. Adam complains about the boredom, thereby making him the most likely to quit on Edge of Extinction. You think this is boring, buddy? Try being out of the game. Or the audience watching the people who are out of the game. Last episode aside, boredom city.

Well, after Ben’s Oreo conversation is exhausted (for the record, I’m in the “Peel apart the cookie and lick out the creme” camp), Sophie and Sarah go off to grouse. They can see the writing on the wall, and confess that they can’t even get a signal or a wink from any of the guys. However, they pool their advantages, and actually do have a plan. Sarah having given Sophie back her half of the idol, they have it available now, but want to save it. Fair enough. Less understandable is Sarah wanting to save her vote steal. Look Sarah, I understand wanting to have it available down the line, but if ever there was a time to play it, this is it! It breaks up a possibly insurmountable threesome, does not require the potential guesswork of playing a hidden immunity idol, and prevents any targeting of you should people find out you have it. Plus, with larger numbers, it can have less of an impact. Play it now, when it’s most useful.

Our Tribal Council is once again mostly a subdued affair, with no one wanting to give away anything. That said, I do want to praise one bit of Sophie’s maneuvering this time around. After giving the usual talk about finding “cracks” and splitting people up, Sophie reframes the conversation brilliantly. Pointing out that such a metaphor, while commonly used, can have negative connotations, Sophie instead says she wants to use this vote as an opportunity to build bonds, and start working WITH people, rather than splitting them up. This is a brilliant bit of politicking on Sophie’s part. It flips the underdog narrative on it’s head, and makes you seem desirable, rather than desperate. It’s delivered well too; calm but still with some force behind it. There’s a reason Sophie’s back here, and it’s not just for snark.

I’d play up the mystery here, but we all know Rob’s going. The narrative has been leaning too heavily in that direction for it to be anyone else. The women don’t even have to play any of their advantages. Like with the Kim thing earlier, I’m guessing there’s just some strategizing between everyone but Rob we didn’t see, and so there was no need to discuss things further post-immunity-challenge. Quite honestly, I’m not too sorry to see Rob go. He’s a legend, don’t get me wrong, but because of that, we all knew this was coming at some point. It’s like the boot of Richard Hatch on “Survivor All-Stars”: You may not like it when it happens, but you know going in it’s inevitable. Better to get it out of the way early so that we can focus on newer storylines. That said, was this a smart move? I’d say not. Even without the knowledge of Sarah’s advantage, she has more connections left in the game than Rob does, making her overall the bigger threat. I get that Rob’s strong-arming gets old, but that continues to make him a target, and therefore worthy to keep around as a shield. Even looking at it from the perspective of who Sophie and Sarah should target, I’d say they made the wrong call. They should have gone for Adam. As we saw this episode, while Ben and Adam may be mad at each other, they CAN still work together. Not so much for Boston Rob and the others, and since Adam has less challenge ability than Ben, I’d say he should have been the target.

For all my complaints so far, this season has more hits than misses, and this episode is definitely one of the hits. True, the hits have not been fantastic hits, and the misses have often been spectacular, but my overall impression of the season still remains positive. True, after the immunity challenge there was zero mystery as to who would go home, but sometimes you don’t need that. We got a clear story on “The Downfall of Boston Rob” which was compelling in its bluntness, and that can be fun to. Add to that a good understanding of the new tribe dynamics after WAITING and establishing the status quo, coupled with some heartwarming moments, and you’ve got yourself an above-average episode. Plus, NO EDGE OF EXTINCTION! YAY! We even got Probst’s final words this episode, saving Boston Rob’s willing of his fire tokens until the credits. He, of course, wills them to… MICHELE! No, with Amber out of the game, he’s clearly giving them to Parvati. What did you expect? Honestly, the only complaint I can really have with this episode is it felt like we were intentionally not given information to try and up the drama in places, which I can’t really complain about since it happens with most episodes. It was just less subtle here.

Oh, and the abundance of idols and advantages. I can complain about that. Admittedly not really a problem in this episode, but it’s already hard to keep track of who has what, and that problem looks to only be getting worse as the season progresses. We may be fine next episode, but if our “Two tribes at Tribal Council” is two tribes voting for one person AGAIN, rather than a proper Double-Tribal, I’m going to be pissed.

-Matt

Title Credit to Jean Storrs.