By John Powell – Binge News
Like the nine-tailed fox, or Kitsune of Chinese folklore, it seems like our favourite substance abuser counselor will live 900 years in the Survivor game. Although smack at the bottom of the Vula tribe not only did Mary survive the longest and craziest tribal council in Survivor history but with the tribes merging next episode odds are her game will start anew in many ways.
The same cannot be said for Italian restauranteur Justin Pioppi who was unlucky collateral damage at a never-seen-before tribal council and another one of those time-wasting journeys that are made to throw more wrenches, advantages into a game already filled to the brim with them. He was screwed perhaps more than any other player in the history of the game. Mama Mia!
It was just a matter of time before the doomed Vula tribe was absorbed by the other tribes. Although the last three weeks haven’t been a complete waste of time having three tribes was. Jump-starting the game with drama at the beginning is not worth what has happened to Vula and its players. Their tribe was mismatched upon creation by the producers. With so little muscle-power and so little pure athleticism there was no way they could compete with the other tribes this season.
Having three tribes not only opens the door for what happened to Vulu but it limits the gameplay and strategy with so few tribemates, the swaps can ruin the established games of many players, can create challenge imbalances as we saw with Vulu and there are fewer social games at play. The worst part is that it can have a direct effect on the merge and the rest of the game because the gameplay tends to be more chaotic and less strategic but maybe that is what the producers want for “good TV”.
Justin spoke to me about that this week, along with the real reason he was on the island playing Survivor. I had issues with the actual video and Justin’s connection wasn’t the greatest but he does reveal a lot of what went on behind the scenes at the zany tribal council including the fact that even though the edit didn’t make it seem like it, he did fight for his life in the game.
On with this week’s Survivor Stock Ticker:
He got screwed over by the journey, all of the advantages other had in the game and his bond with Cedrek wasn’t as strong has he thought it was.
He continues to prove how strong a social and athletic player he is. Will he be able to sort out the strategic part of the game? That remains to be seen.
Mary had everyone fooled at Vulu playing her role quiet nicely. Will she find new footing as the game shifts? Will she rise from the bottom and finally gain some stability? We shall see.
Star might not be as chaotic and feeble at the game as we thought she was. Throwing Eva under the bus to Bianca and Thomas might have gained her some currency in the game. The curious thing to see is where does she end up and can she like Mary get a solid foothold in the game.
With Star turning on her, Bianca and Thomas’ mistrust of her bond with Joe has grown but will it matter due to the tribe swap coming?
Who’s next to go?
Without knowing the tribal dynamics at play it is difficult to predict who might be in danger of being fed to the sharks. The speculation on the make-up of the swapped tribes is that Kyle lands on one where a secret alliance takes him out. I am not totally sold on this though as he would seem to be someone you want to keep around for challenges but this week we are chucking darts in the dark for a pick so…
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