This episode feels no need for preamble before starting the action, so neither do I! Quite honestly, these lines are only here so that people seeing a preview online don’t get accidentally spoiled on anything. We don’t even get a “Previously On…” segment this time around. We get one clip of things to come with no announcement and no Probst narration. I’m all for keeping things short and sweet, and I’m glad the audience is being trusted to understand what’s happening without being told, but I must admit, I think not recapping the previous episode is a mistake. The “Survivor” fanbase numbers have been holding steady for years, but that’s not because no one ever leaves. Rather, it’s because new fans come in at about the same rate as old fans leave. As such, while we the superfans don’t need a recap, I feel it’s essential for drawing in the superfans of tomorrow. Hell, I only became a fan about 2/3 of the way through “Survivor Guatemala”, and that might not have happened if I didn’t have the recap to catch me up to speed. You’ve got the right idea, “Survivor”. Now just fine-tune it.

Naturally, we start off the episode at Vokai, since we’ve got the fallout from a blindside to deal with. Jason is, naturally, thrilled to not have been targeted, but we don’t dwell on that for long. For once, the reaction is not yelling, screaming, or any sort of indignation, but rather cold silence. In some ways, this is more terrifying than a blowup. Janet tries to start things off, but that doesn’t really go anywhere. Instead, it falls to diplomat Tommy to smooth things over with the burned Jack and Jamal. Tommy starts with Jack, taking him over to the water hole, and explaining that the move was against Molly, not himself or Jamal. True enough, but that still doesn’t change the fact that you didn’t include Jack on the vote, so he still has a reason to be concerned. Only an idiot would think this means everything is cool. Naturally, our next confessional is Jack being stoked about still being in the majority. I was willing to give Jack the benefit of a doubt from my first impression of him, but now it’s seeming like it might be correct.

Tommy guesses that Jamal will not be such an easy sell, and sure enough, the man’s pissed. He can’t keep the bitterness out of his voice, and asks the fair question of why he wasn’t included on the vote. The man has few options, so on the surface agrees to work with the group, but it’s clear to everyone that’s he’s out for himself, which he pretty much confirms in the confessional.

Dawn at Lairo brings us the women fooling about in the water, which is all the cue Karishma needs to talk about her heritage, and how it separates her from others. Specifically, she’s older and more modest, stating that Indians are conservative by nature. Not sure if that’s true or not, but I applaud her for going against her own personal morals to fit in, playing in the water with the other women as carefree as you please. It fits with the Rudy Boesch (“Survivor Borneo”) maxim of the individual needing to conform to fit the group to survive, not the other way around. I still maintain it’s the best summation of “Survivor” to date, and Karishma carries it well. Kudos.

The cavorting of the girls does not go unnoticed, and I don’t mean in the “Survivor The Amazon” fantasy sequence way. The guys, but particularly Tom and Aaron, notice this, and speak with the remaining guys about sticking together, not wanting the women to pick them off one by one. I would applaud their powers of observation, but sadly, I think this is just a case of dumb luck. Whenever there’s more women than men on a tribe, it seems inevitable that the accusation of “Women’s Alliance” will be leveled. The only difference in this case is that it happens to be correct. Sadly, even if I am shooting them on their powers of observation, they still don’t have much hope. Even if 4 was somehow able to be greater than 5, they still wouldn’t have a hope. Vince has not forgotten being targeted by Aaron at the first Tribal Council, and refuses to work with him. Still, at least our victims this season aren’t COMPLETE morons.

We soon see that Jamal is willing to make good on his promise of revenge back at Vokai. We start off simple enough, with another montage of Noura being irritating. This prompts Dan to inform us all that despite voting with her last time, she’s not in favor on the tribe, and touts a plan to pretty much everyone but her to take her out in a unified vote. Not a bad plan, all things considered. Nothing of great value is lost, and it unifies a tribe that needs to be unified. Jamal, however, is not about unity at this point, and so whispers in people’s ears, particularly Janet, about how Dan is taking control and needs to be stopped. My fault with Jamal here is not his plan as such. After all, this sort of talk is what got out Molly last episode. Jamal makes a good argument, but he’s doing it way too early. When you’re on the losing side of a vote, you’re in about the most vulnerable position you can be in in this game. Any name you hear that’s not yours, be grateful, and hang on to it. Don’t make waves. Now, should Jamal just forget about the betrayal, and reunify with Vokai long-run? Of course not! This is the sort of thing one should not forget about. But one should take a note from the playbook of Natalie Anderson (“Survivor San Juan del Sur”), and WAIT for the proper moment to enact your revenge. Lull your betrayers into a false sense of security, then strike. Otherwise, you run the risk of seeming like an unstable element in a game with far too many unstable elements already.

Sure enough, Janet’s not fully on board with this plan, and brings it to Tommy. He puts the kibosh on it, since he really wants that tribe reunification, where his social bonds are most helpful. As such, Jamal is now a prime target, where he wasn’t before. Way to go, Jamal.

I see it’s time to get our preview scene out of the way at Lairo. We were promised an injury, and sure enough, Karishma manages to cut her hand open while slicing some coconut. She claims she can see the bone, but surely that’s… AAGH! OH MY GOD! WHY DID YOU PUT THAT ON SCREEN?

After establishing that if anything Karishma is UNDERREACTING by calming saying she needs medical and walking away, we see that the focus of this injury is oddly not going to be the injury itself, but rather everyone’s reaction the the injury. Karishma starts to feel light-headed, presumably from shock, and so gets on her knees with her head down, to prevent passing out. A wise maneuver, but one that she does entirely on her won. You see, not one person form the group approximately 15 feet away comes over to help or comfort her. Karishma notices this, and claims that it shows she’s not really a part of the tribe, and that they’re out to get her because of her differences. Now, I applaud Karishma for paying attention to her surroundings, and I admit her conclusion has some logical basis. However, in this case I think that conclusion is wrong nonetheless. You see, I don’t think Karishma is being left out of the group, so much as she is the victim of a little something called the Bystander Effect.

For those of you not versed in Introductory Psychology, the Bystander Effect states that when a large group is asked for help, responsibility to help is diffused throughout the group, thereby decreasing the likelihood of anyone actually helping. Put more simply, if you ask a big group for help, each member of the group thinks “Someone else can do it”, making all of them less likely to actually help. Plus, in a large group, there’s then pressure to not deviate from the norm. If no one else is helping, you don’t want to stand out by helping. As a side note, this means that if you ever need help in a public place, you should call someone by name, or at least make eye contact, and ask a specific person for help. This puts all the pressure on that person, thereby making them more likely to actually help you. We should get back to “Survivor”, though. This, to me, is what’s happening with Karishma. Rather than asking one person for help, she asked the group (and didn’t even rally ask, just expected others to notice her), and didn’t make a big deal about her injury. Thus, everyone could pass off the blame and not rock the boat at the same time. Logical thinking on the part of Karishma, but wrong in this case. Don’t worry, though. Karishma will have legitimate reasons to be worried later in the episode.

After establishing that Karishma has been all bandaged up, a boat arrives at Lairo to take the next person to the Island of the Idols. Our victim this time is Vince, which worries many people. Everyone in general is worried about the possibility of an idol, while Elizabeth in particular is worried about Vince blowing her cover. More on that later. Suddenly, though, a voice from the background, mysterious and strange, comes with a solution. It is Dean!

Yes, Dean Kowalski, the most invisible contestant so far, has come to make his case. Frankly, given the quality of the case he makes, he should have kept his mouth shut. Dean, noting the idol paranoia, suggests splitting the vote in case Vince has an idol. A worthy suggestion, were it not for the fact that everyone BESIDES Vince is here, meaning that, by definition, you are suggesting voting someone off to their face, or at least bringing them close. Dean at least realizes his faux-pas, but the damage is done. Really should have just stopped talking. Karishma gets even more paranoid at this development, though again, I see little evidence that SHE will be the split vote here. It’s coming though.

Over on the Island of the Idols, we at first seem to be answering my prayer of Sandra taking the lead, as she’s the one to great Vince. Sadly, Boston Rob will again take the lead later on, but it’s a slight improvement. Vince, like Kellee before him, cries, and I’m less sympathetic here than I was to Kellee. Maybe Sandra and Boston Rob really are Vince’s heroes, but it isn’t really built up much, so his reaction seems a bit over the top. Kellee, by contrast, had a moment all of us could find emotional, making her crying far more understandable.

To be fair, though, Vince’s crying does mean the lesson for the day ties in better than before. Boston Rob wants Vince to work on controlling his emotions, and while that may not be a fatal flaw in Vince’s game, we have previously established this as something Vince struggles with, so it fits better overall. Vince’s “test” for this is to sneak into the Vokai camp and steal some fire, or other proof that the fire is out. Succeed, and you get an idol good for two votes. Get caught, and lose your next vote. Vince goes for it, which I can’t fault him for too much, since he doesn’t appear to be at risk, and I don’t see Vokai getting overly mad at his sneaking around. That said, I must call out Boston Rob for not giving Vince grief for holding out for a better deal. If this is something that’s supposed to be obvious to do, why does only Elizabeth get chastised for it?

Vince preps for the stealth mission. No, this does not mean Woo from “Survivor Cagayan” comes in to bestow upon Vince his “Ninja Stealth Mode”. Instead, Sandra teaches him her trademark techniques for sneaking around. I like this. It gets Sandra more involved, and is more visual than any lesson we’ve had so far. As Vince leaves on his mission, we get some good banter between Rob and Sandra. Sandra wishes to go with him to help, while Boston Rob jokes that she’d make too much noise with her nonstop talking. Funny, and natural. If we get more of this, I’ll go from being neutral about these two returning to overjoyed at their return.

Vince’s mission into Vokai is fairly uneventful, so I’ll save it a blow-by-blow. It’s really well-edited, though. The music and the shots of Vokai waking up combine to add a lot of tension to the scene. It’s also nice to see Vince improvise when their fire turns out to be out, scooping ashes into his canteen instead. It’s capped off to Vince comparing himself to a super-spy, while showing him fall on his butt. Boston Rob and Sandra deem his efforts worthy of an idol. Good for him, even though he too should have been given grief for not holding out for a better deal.

CHALLENGE TIME! And yes, it has been a while since I’ve used all-caps when announcing a challenge, but then, it’s been a long time since I’ve been this excited about a challenge. I don’t think I’ve seen something this fun or original since the third immunity challenge of “Survivor San Juan del Sur”, and that was five years ago! Now, some elements might seem pretty standard. You’ve got a one-on-one swimming race to retrieve a key. Nothing unusual there. Our challenge ends with a puzzle. Again, pretty standard, but they at least combine a couple of puzzle elements, specifically the hanging fish from “Survivor Redemption Island”, and that bonsai-tree puzzle first seen on “Survivor One World”. Getting better, but nothing all-caps worthy. But that middle section! You see, our remaining six players (having used one on swimming and two on the puzzle) need something to do. As such, they all climb up on a see-saw balance beam, and must then maneuver the last player up to both ends of the see-saw to retrieve bags of puzzle pieces. This is an element like nothing we’ve seen before. Closes was the first reward challenge of “Survivor Vanuatu”, and even that was more about the maneuvering than about the balance. You have to take both into consideration here, and it makes for an engaging visual we’ve never seen before on this show. More of this creativity, please!

Even the reused parts of the challenge manage to be exciting, though that’s in part due to the stakes being high. Unlike the previous two episodes, both tribes have had some talk about multiple targets, and thus there’s actual MYSTERY as to who wins. Even the damn swimming challenge is engaging, with Olympic Swimmer Elizabeth going up against lifeguard Janet. Janet is kind of in a win-win situation here. If she loses, no big deal. She was up against an Olympian, and can use that as an excuse. If she wins? She beat an Olympian, and her stock goes up tremendously. She’s sort of in the same position as Nick Maiorano going up against Scot Pollard in basketball on “Survivor Kaoh Rong”, with similar results.

Still, despite this early lead, Lairo takes the loss. It seems puzzles are their achilles heal, as Karishma and Vince can’t get it together, letting Jamal and Lauren take the win on this one. NOW Karishma has reason to be worried. She may have exaggerated how outside the group she was earlier, but a challenge loss, particularly when you had a decent lead, is reason enough to vote you off. Sure enough, when discussion comes as to who to split the vote with against Vince, Karishma’s name comes up, due to her poor performance. Of course, Karishma at camp isn’t helping herself, either. Not with the “Everyone hates me” thing so much, but with being too enigmatic in her strategy. Playing cards close to the chest is one thing, but Karishma refuses to name names, simply saying she doesn’t want to go. Again, I get the strategy. It’s basically the “Anybody but me.” strategy. Karishma, unfortunately, does not have the subtlety to pull it off, and suffers for it. Plus, if someone’s begging you for a name, GIVE THEM A NAME! There comes a time of diminishing returns on the enigmaticness.

The women, however, are not content to just have two targets. They’re still the majority, so they can decide who to vote for. They could just stay for Vince, but as noted, he’s nominally on their side, so it may not be the best idea. They cast around for men to vote off, and settle on Tom, for being older and quiet. I can understand the decision, but I’m still shocked that Dean didn’t get targeted for his faux-pas earlier. I know they say they need his strength, but it’s been established at this point that Lairo is not hurting for strength. It’s brains they need, and unless Dean’s going to step up on the puzzles, there’s not much of a need to keep him around.

As we head off to Tribal, let us discuss the pros and cons of our three targets. Overall, Karishma is the worst choice to go, particularly from the women’s perspective. She puts the dominant alliance in jeopardy if she goes, and two poor puzzle performances does not a challenge sink make. There’s an argument to be made that she’s unstable, as we’ll see at Tribal Council later, but I think Karishma has a big difference from other insecure players I’ve advocated getting the boot in the past. Specifically, while she’s insecure, she’s not flipping due to that insecurity, just begging the women to stay together. She may be uncertain, but she’s loyal in her uncertainty, meaning it can go away with more votes going the way she hopes, and making her an asset down the road. Vince, while not the best choice, is still ok. He’s probably the most unified choice, as the only person out of the vote is him, and he’s gone. Still, he does seem loyal to the women, making him an asset. Surprisingly, despite being the last minute target, Tom is actually probably the smart choice. I hate advocating getting rid of the older guy, but I don’t see him bringing much to the tribe, and he’s probably the least loyal to the women’s alliance. True, he does have an “in” with Elaine, but Vince does as well. Sure, it will piss off Aaron and Dean, but they’re probably out next, so who cares. The exception to all this is Elizabeth. As she mentioned earlier, so far the only person on Lairo who can contradict her story about the Island of the Idols is Vince. I wouldn’t suggest she advocate hard for Vince, since that in and of itself would arouse suspicion, but if others are saying it, I might push for it slightly from her point.

With Karishma so on edge, Tribal Council is understandably a fun affair. After Aaron displays some confidence, Karishma again vocalizes her discomfort with her position in the tribe. Tom tries to calm things down by giving his “team” pep talk, and correctly pointing out Lairo’s puzzle weakness, but Karishma will not be stopped. She goes and whispers in the women’s ears, a move that plays better on tv than it does in the game. If anything this hurts Karishma, as now she can be painted as a schemer. Again I understand the paranoia, but this is not the right way to express it.

For once, our mystery is kept all through Tribal, but in the end, the women go for Vince. As I stated previously, not the worst move, but not the best either. I am personally sorry to see Vince go. He wasn’t the best player in the game, and I don’t think he would have won, but the guy did make for a lot of fun moments, and for that, he shall be missed. The only flaw in his exit is Boston Rob and Sandra up in the peanut gallery, reminding us that he got voted out with an idol. You know, in case we forgot from 30 minutes ago.

This episode is probably the best of the season. It keeps the strong characters and intriguing storylines, but adds in better mystery and more humor. If this season keeps up, it definitely stays in the top-tier, and with a blindfold challenge promised for next episode, it seems likely to do so!

-Matt

Title Credit to Jean Storrs.