Survivor

Flip the Win switch

Season 47

Episode 11

Editorial review

2 stars

**

Photo: CBS

It’s the day before Thanksgiving. Most people spend time with their families, which hopefully gives these families 120 percent. When someone is at work, that’s hardly the case: they sit at their desk, dial it in, and wait until Cyber ​​Monday for something exciting to happen. The same seems to be true of this episode of Survivor. While it’s much better than the episodes stitched together with unused footage that the franchise aired around the holidays, it’s not much better. Besides a somewhat tense immunity challenge, most of the episode was spinning its wheels waiting for the inevitable vote. I really like the 90 minute format, but when there’s as little going on as there is in this episode, it feels longer than the line at airport security on (well, if you look at that) the day before Thanksgiving.

As the episode begins, Sue feels left out now that her key ally, Gabe, was voted out the night before, and she was the only one left out of the plan. She is initially angry with Caroline, saying that she is a loyal player and doesn’t know if she can trust someone she thinks has betrayed her. In a smart social move, Caroline immediately goes to Sue and lets her know why she voted the way she did. She tells Sue that she saw herself making moves that would benefit them from keeping Gabe around are game, and so at the end, if she made it to the end, he was going to demolish her like we’re all about to demolish some Stove Top stuffing on Thursday afternoon. Sue seems influenced and encouraged as Caroline assured her that they are still each other’s most important ally.

At the well they find three other players to meet with. Pardon the extended Thanksgiving metaphor, but it’s really a leftover alliance. Sue and Caroline are let go now that Gabe is gone; Teeny is still reeling from the loss of Sol and Genevieve’s betrayal; Andy has been left out from the very beginning, when he had a seizure in the first immunity challenge; and Rachel has been adrift since losing Sierra and Anika to the Yellow Tribe. (Buku? Tofu? Luba? I’m so glad I don’t have to remember.) They decide there can be five of them against the three they see as threats: Kyle, who has been winning challenges like he’s Super Mario and has an unlimited star buffet; Genevieve, who is so cunning she can make a dream catcher while voting everyone out; and Sam, who, I don’t know, is young and fit, so they’re worried about him for some unfounded reason.

Before the challenge, there’s a journey, and the only people who want to go are Sam and Genevieve, because they know they’re at the bottom and need one of Jeff Probst’s patented magical interventions. Rachel also puts her hat in the ring, even though producers don’t normally allow anyone to wear a hat. She eventually chooses the right stone and starts playing a game. It is a puzzle with five rows and a lot of balls. There’s nothing Jeff loves more than having lots of balls around him all the time so he can say balls and we can all chuckle at home. Balls. Anyway, the table puzzle is connected by a string, to which a number of weights are attached; As the weights sink, it will eventually pull the table straight into the ocean. Um, hello. Dramatically a lot. What is this challenge: a teenager who has been grounded from YouTube for a week? That’s the level of attitude it gives.

Anyway, Rachel completes the puzzle, doesn’t lose her vote, and gets the perk: a Steal-a-Vote, the unwanted cousin of Whac-a-Mole. Back at camp, she tells everyone that she failed the test, that the table went into the ocean, and that the Fijian government has issued a warrant for the challenge team’s arrest for polluting the ocean right off the coast of their beautiful island. To this season’s credit, it isn’t nearly as bogged down in gimmicks and perks as some previous seasons, and we barely see them play a role in the gameplay, which is a revelation.

Next up is the challenge, and we’re really waiting to see whether or not Kyle can get his fifth win, which will put him in a tie with several other players for winning the most individual challenges in a single season. It’s the classic challenge where there is a wobbly table and the players have to hold a rope and stack a number of tiles on it, saying ‘IMMUNITY’. As always, some players move fast and some players move slowly, but here’s one thing about tables: they spin. But they also wobble. Kyle, Genevieve and Sam get closer. Wiggle. They’re ready. Teeny comes close. Wiggle. She’s ready. Sue comes close. Wiggle. Wiggle. Wiggle. Finally, Rachel gets really close and makes her way back to the end of the challenge, and Kyle picks up the pace, waiting for a wobble that never comes. Rachel gets to wear the world’s ugliest immunity necklace, which probably comes with rabies, scabies and inconsolable babies.

Before we can talk about the inevitability of Kyle going home, can we take a detour to talk about Sue’s face? I’m not talking about her looks. I think Sue is a beautiful woman, not just for her age, but downright. But why is her face always so dirty? That’s not a rhetorical question. I want to know. (Editor’s Note: Sue claims that she “contours with dirt.”) We’ve seen 47 seasons of it Survivor, and no one has ever looked like they started using dirt as concealer. Yes, everyone looks thin, haggard, and a little scruffy, but not in the way Sue normally looks scruffy. Can we send her to the shelter where good things are happening, sponsored by Dove, so she can wash her face?

Did Sue wash her face because her eternal nemesis, Kyle, was finally voted out? We all knew this was happening, right? There were some good faith attempts from people within the core five to vote out Genevieve, especially from Rachel and Andy, who see her as a much bigger threat than Kyle, but no one listened.

Andy was the most convincing, trying to convince Teeny and Caroline with logic and statistics, and like a Black Friday sale on DVD players, no one bought it. I’m with Andy though. I don’t think immunity matters that much. Sure, it can have a big impact towards the end, but at this stage of the game it may change the order in which someone goes home, but it doesn’t save the game entirely. According to Andy, all players know that the record for winning challenges is five. We know this because Jeff said it after Andy’s fourth win. If the record for six challenges in 47 seasons isn’t broken, then the best Andy can hope for is one more win, and as Andy calculates, even that’s a long shot. So even if they voted out someone else this week and Andy won the following week, the five would still be able to eliminate him after eliminating Sam and Genevieve. Again, victory may change the order, but not who goes.

Furthermore, Andy and Rachel are absolutely right that Genevieve and her playing style are more dangerous than playing on the street during rush hour on a rainy day. Even if she doesn’t win, she will find her way into different groups, push them to change their voices and somehow make it to the end. And if Genevieve, who has big strides on her resume, could show she could survive to the end, she’s a shoo-in for jury votes. Andy is right that Kyle doesn’t have a good game and is just good at challenges. If he somehow managed to get a record-breaking sixth win and make it to the final, all he would say is, “Well, I was good at challenges,” and I don’t think any jury in the new era would just give him would give the check. based on that.

But I say this from the comfort of my warm home, calling in a recap, because it’s the day before Thanksgiving and that’s what we do. I’m sure if I were there I’d be a lot more like Teeny and Caroline and think: It’ll be stupid if we don’t get him out now, because there might not be another chance. So yeah, I get it. They made the decision that was right for them.

Tribal seems moot at this point, and while Genevieve is quietly stewing and thinking it will be her, since we haven’t seen anyone even considering switching votes, we know what all the votes would be except Kyle’s weird vote for Teeny, which makes little sense. Kyle gets kicked off, a fresh-faced Sue has an orgasm so loud that even the table at the bottom of the ocean heard it, and Kyle hugged everyone on the way out, a class act until the end. Maybe he can come home to his family for Thanksgiving, because it’s not like he really missed any excitement this episode.