Survivor – Week 12

This episode was a doubleheader – 2 survivors were voted out! Wow, that’ll kick things into high gear! At the beginning of the show, Rupert decided to call Russell out in front of everyone, hoping to expose him for what he really is – “a terrible human being”. I think it just polarized the group and made Rupert look bad. For the Immunity Challenge, Rupert really wanted to win (and after his verbal outburst he needs it!) but ended up losing out to Parvati. During the challenge Jeff tempted the survivors with treats, trying to get them to step out. Sandra and Russell took the first treat without even seeing what it was. C’mon, at least try! It was funny to see Colby step out to enjoy 4 donuts all by himself. Really? 4 donuts? Well, if they were Dunkin’ Donuts, I think I’d step out too. I love donuts!
After the challenge was over a clue was read that would lead to another Hidden Immunity Idol. Naturally, everyone wants to find it so things at camp were quite hectic as everyone scrambled to find it. Sandra eventually found it, but had to re-hide it to prevent others from finding out that she had it.
I thought it was great when Rupert decided to play like the Villains and put a rock in the pocket of his shorts and played if off like he had found the hidden idol. It was the perfect size! Russell fell for it immediately. “I know how big they are, I know how they sit in a pocket.” Oh yeah, sure you do! Then at Tribal Council when Rupert was asked about how things transpired at camp after the challenge, he said that he took of his sandals and took a walk in the jungle until he was comfortable. That sealed it for Russell; he was utterly convinced that Rupert had found it. The build-up was great, Rupert played the part well. When he put his hand in his pocket and pretended like he was going to pull out the idol then didn’t – I laughed out loud! He’s good! Everyone was looking at Rupert waiting for him to play the idol. AWESOME!!
I was really pulling for Rupert to win the second Immunity Challenge, and he came really close only to lose out to Russell. Rupert felt that he was certain to get voted out, but in a bizarre turn of events, Russell sets his sights on Danielle and eventually gets her voted out. She started crying at Tribal council, obviously taking it very personally. I think Russell was smart in getting rid of Danielle – he’s really lucky that things played out like they did during tribal. I think that made all the difference in how Jerri voted.
So Rupert and Colby survived yet another Tribal Council while being outnumbered by Villains. I just hope that this latest move by Russell eventually leads to his elimination. He’s fun to watch, but he’s WAY too confident and I’d love to see him blindsided!

Lost – The Last Recruit

Smoke Monster John and Jack catch up at the beginning of this episode. Jack gets some info on why the Smoke Monster acts the way he does. Or at least the Smoke Monster led Jack to believe certain things in an effort to control him. Smoke Monster John told Jack that he was the one that was Christian on the 3rd day they were on the island. Apparently, the Smoke Monster wanted to help Jack find water. I don’t believe that at all. Here is the Man in Black taking credit for things that Jacob had done. Smoke Monster John is trying to gain Jack’s trust, so he’ll say whatever he needs to say. We’ve seen this before.
Zoe makes an appearance and tells Smoke Monster John to give back Desmond – he’s obviously has a big part to play before this whole thing ends. Desmond is able to avoid being killed by Sayid by asking him, “What will you tell her when she asks what you did to be with her again.” That was pretty smart of Desmond. I thought that Sayid was totally on the dark side. He does whatever Smoke Monster John tells him to do, why would he listen to Desmond all of a sudden. Maybe there is still some shred of the old Sayid left.
Jack seems like a different person ever since he visited the lighthouse. He tells Sawyer that it’s a mistake to leave; the island isn’t done with them. It’s nice to see him this way, yeah if I was stuck on an island; I’d be all for doing whatever it takes to get off the island and get back home. But there are greater forces at play here. These people are all linked together. It’s most noticeable in the flash sideways. Even though they never visited the island, they have visions or flashes of their alternate life on the island.
At the end of the episode, Widmore displays the awesome power at his disposal by ordering a mortar strike on Smoke Monster John’s position. Smoke Monster John grabs Jack and gets him away from the attack. He tells Jack that it’s going to be ok, “you’re with me now.” Oh no – that can’t be good!
Just a few more things:
– When Jack jumped off of the boat, did he really have to jump directly in front of the boat’s path? Seriously? I thought for sure he was going to bump his head!
– One of the funnier moments was when Smoke Monster John pulled Sayid aside and asked him, “Do you still want what you asked me for? Then go do that thing that we talked about. It was so secretive, it was funny.
– I don’t think Sayid killed Desmond in the well. How is Desmond supposed to get out of the well? If anyone comes back for him, they’re definitely gonna need a rope.
– Finally, for all you COD fans out there, when I was watching the mortar scene unfold, all that was running through my head was, “Enemy AC130 is in the air!”

Survivor – Week 9

At the beginning of this episode, the Heroes received a wooden box and the Villains received a key. The teams will be merging; it’s a whole new ballgame! JT and the Heroes are sold on Russell right away, he’s playing them perfectly. Later, Sandra spilled the beans to Rupert about Russell’s plan. Rupert let us know that “this is where the game gets crazy.” When Russell’s plan was revealed, Rupert was the only one from the Heroes tribe that had an open mind about it. I think the others really wanted to believe that Russell was on the outs with the Villains.
The individual challenge was difficult; Sandra and Colby were out within the first few minutes. It came down to Danielle and Parvati, Parvati decided to step down and let Danielle win.
Tribal Council was very interesting. The Heroes were shocked to see Parvati give Hidden Immunity Idols to both Sandra and Jerri. The majority of their votes didn’t count – in a crazy turn of events, JT was voted out! We couldn’t believe it, how could this happen? Why did JT put so much trust in Russell? Because he’s a good ‘ol boy? C’mon, you just can’t trust Russell! JT deserved to get voted off, “well played” is right JT – YOU GOT PLAYED! JT the tribe has spoken.

Survivor – Week 11

This episode started out with Russell voicing his displeasure over being kept in the dark about Parvati’s hidden idol. He doesn’t really have control if his team is keeping secrets from him! Candice and Sandra are the swing votes now and both sides are desperately trying to pull them into an alliance. Colby won the Reward Challenge on his final shot – doesn’t that always happen? Another hidden idol is found by none other than Russell, Jerri won the Individual Immunity and Amanda is voted out.
It was a fun episode to watch at times. I think that Russell is too confident; he’s let his ‘power’ go to his head. I can’t wait to see how he reacts when he’s finally voted out. If he’s voted out! The fight between Danielle and Amanda was silly. There were like 2 little girls fighting over their favorite toy. I felt sorry for Colby; you could tell that he was a little annoyed. He was just trying to relax and enjoy their reward. I’ll admit though, he probably should have been thinking about the idol clue as well. He ultimately decides that Danielle should keep it since she was the one that found it. It was too bad the way things worked out. If you’re going to find a hidden immunity idol clue, you don’t want anyone to know about it, poor Danielle.
It was too funny when Russell found the hidden idol and decided to keep it a secret from his friends. “They hid one from me; I’ll hide one from them.” He’s really lucky to have found so many hidden idols in his Survivor career. I’m glad that he believed that his name was going to come up at Tribal Council. He ended up playing the idol to save himself (which he didn’t really need to do) so at least it’s out of play now. Did you see Courtney during Tribal Council? My wife pointed it out to me – She must’ve been drunk! She made a few animated faces and looked to be just a little too happy. Oh well, I guess there’s not much to do when you’re on the jury. You’d think she’d want to pay attention though. Oh well. Amanda, the tribe has spoken.