Survivor 42, Episode 10 - Tell a Good Lie, Not a Stupid Lie
KULA KULA (NIGHT 17)
Hai is celebrating another orchestrated vote out in Rocksroy, and despite his excitement, Hai acknowledges Mike’s help to make it a unanimous vote and “play his vote.” However, Mike isn’t happy about the situation. Mike is an honorable guy, but here, he had to lie and break his word to Rocksroy, yet Hai is unapologetically smitten from the outcome. Too smitten. Too pushy for Mike’s taste, but have no fear, Omar is here. Omar, my number one ranked player to win is there to pick up the pieces and rock Mike back to sleep on his side of the fence.
DAY 18
Next on the list of confiding in Omar is Lindsay. She’s happy to dish the dirt and express her frustration about how Jonathan tried to control the last vote and put Maryanne out there in a real attempt to oust Drea. Jonathan is an easy target because he’s a beast. Now that he tried to make a resume building blindside and it didn’t go down his way, he has to deal with the fallout of that misfire. That’s where Lindsay comes in to take the crack in Thor’s hammer and shove a lightning bolt of her own into it. Again, Omar is there to be the sounding board. Guy is like Zack Hample, seems. toalways be in the right place at the right time. But, Lindsay isn’t just airing her grievances, she’s idol hunting.
Now, even though Lindsay came LITERALLY INCHES SHORT of finding an idol it was such a breath of fresh, "I’m not crazy” air to know that people are aware that Maryanne’s idol went back into the game and it’s time to GO HUNTING. I mean come on. It felt like nobody looks for these things anymore.
Except Maryanne…
Low and behold, the idol that got put back into the game is found by Maryanne. Her and Drea are advantage magnets. Even if others try to search they come up short. Maryanne gets a straight up Hidden Immunity Idol. No twists. No catch. No bunnies in mailboxes. Best of all SHE ISN’T GOING TO TELL ANYONE! Again, FINALLY! Everyone just blabs everything in this new era of Survivor, but Maryanne getting another chance to have an idol isn’t that surprising that she is ready to keep this a secret this time. Learning so quickly within the same season to not give up all your secrets. The veterans watching at home and legends who’ve played multiple times are shaking their head in agreement with Maryanne’s new approach.
REWARD CHALLENGE
Wind. Rain. Shivering. People are miserable. REWARD is pizza, cold beer, and a night at “The Sanctuary”.
Challenge - Start in ocean, over and under bamboo hurdles, untie knots, balance sandbag on wood over a balance beam, assemble sandbag holder little table and land sandbag on it to win the reward.
Once again, Jona..wait, Lindsay drops her purple sand bag on the platform for the win. Celebration ensues but not for long because it’s decision time. Who to take with her?
Omar - “hasn’t had reward yet”
Then, Lindsay makes a move by asking Jeff if she can bring one more. Ballsy. She anticipated the move coming and with the wind and rain beginning to creep into her reward excitement she is ready to make things happen! Most aggressive she has been all season long.
Mike- no hesitation, wants to share some pizza with him. NY/NJ connection must be coming through.
Did you feel that? That tide of momentum beginning toward Lindsay’s game, elevating it to new heights? She was a 👻 the first 6/7 episodes finding herself under the radar and part of the majority alliances at TAKU and now at KULA KULA. Sound familiar? Little bits and pieces of Erika all over again. Maybe.
POST REWARD
The reward losers are miserable. No pizza. No bed. No beer. Just damp clothes and a waterlogged shelter that needs to be remodeled. Cue Hai’s backstory being the child of Vietnamese refugees and the pride it instilled in him. Felt like this was an abbreviated back story. Could have tapped more into Hai but maybe he is more guarded or too into game mode to open up and make himself vulnerable. Hai has a killer instinct despite the perception you have just by looking at him. He reminds me a bit of Shan from 41. Unsuspecting but perhaps getting a little too confident.
Hai now gets tapped into the Lindsay train. He gets the indication that she is leaning toward Jonathan being next out. Hai is good with it and Lindsay finds herself at the epicenter of game moves. Do you feel it yet?
REWARD
Voices. Pictures. Projections on boats and barrels. It’s time for a little Survivor under COVID edition of love. Reminder, this season was filmed within a COVID world so sending loved ones out to Fiji, not happening.
Lindsay’s mom, dad, and sister. Omar’s girlfriend (way to go Omar!) comes on to share a message of encouragement. Lastly, Mike gets a message of love and encouragement from his wife that brings a tear to any human watching.
Even in an alternate COVID influenced season the adjustment in 42 to make love from home part of a reward created an authentic and impactful moment. No matter how much the game evolves over 42 seasons or technology evolves over 22 years of Survivor, the loved one visits/messages/moments are still the best.
Love from home over beer and pizza isn’t the only reward to be gained. It’s also an opportunity to advance your game and guess who is answering the door when opportunity knocks, Omar. Again, Omar is seizing the moment and recognizing the walls are down and vulnerable and emotional moments enable quality strategy talk. He makes his move and LIES to Mike that Hai told Omar that Mike is “his puppet”. Uh oh…
Next up, Lindsay discloses the amulet advantage. Remember that? LOL. Well, if Omar and Mike want to target Hai, that means Lindsay’s 3-way amulet power of EXTRA VOTE could elevate to a 2-way STEAL A VOTE advantage between her and Drea. DO YOU FEEL IT YET???? BUELLER?…
WHAT A REWARD!
Now, if this were the Survivor of old, one would think that Omar lying to Mike to drive a truck through the crack between Hai and Mike wouldn’t be catastrophic. In other words Mike and Omar would join together and vote Hai out. In addition, Lindsay is on board and wants to increase her amulet, what could go wrong?
Well….
Remember, this isn’t the Survivor of old. This is the “new era” of Survivor where nobody keeps a secret and everybody runs and tells everybody what happens at every turn. Combine that with the title of the episode, my guess is that Omar finds himself scrambling to cover up his lie. But, if it works, he becomes an even stronger leader in my winner rankings.
IMMUNITY CHALLENGE
Stand on an angled balance beam that gets smaller with each round while balancing a lacrosse ball on a rounded bow. (MORE BALANCING?!?)
Quickly, the challenge is down to Drea, Maryanne, Lindsay, and Jonathan. Round 1 ends with Maryanne disheveled and Round 2 starts with a “sugar sticks!” from Maryanne as she exits the challenge. Drea close behind falls out in 3rd place.
CBS
Down to Jonathan (obviously) and…the new edit queen, Lindsay. Lindsay is solid. Ball isn’t moving while Jonathan is rocking all over the place and recovering like Nadal being pushed back our of position time and time again.
(Heart rate increases)
Lindsay showed some vulnerability at the end of round 2 but the new challenge of round 3 is the balance beam has gotten teeny tiny and Jonathan is everything but that. His Tom Brady like recovery ability is not able to be and he bows out off the balance beam.
Lindsay wins! Ok, if you don’t feel it by now then you really need to check your pulse.
WHAT DOES LINDSAY’S IMMUNITY WIN MEAN?
Lindsay is on a Vegas level heater!
Jonathan is vulnerable at Tribal to be voted out, but are people ready to discard their meat shield?
Hai didn’t win immunity and Mike is salivating. The puppet can become the puppeteer.
Omar’s next bullet point is added to his winner resume by lying to Mike to eliminate the biggest threat in the game, Hai.
Lindsay is able to approach the Pre-Tribal scramble from a position of power. She doesn’t have to listen to Jonathan. Also, she’s building a nice little challenge resume. Two in a row.
PRE-TRIBAL SCRAMBLE
Hai is ready to strike on Jonathan and enlists Mike to be his loyal henchman and puppet. But, Mike is ready to pull the cord on the guillotine and cut Hai’s head off. The snake is ready to be beheaded. Jonathan can’t believe his luck and Drea and Lindsay are ready to unite on Hai being the vote. Increase their amulets and take out a major threat in the game.
Hai isn’t going out that easy. If people are going out then they have to be groomed by Hai before passing through the pearly gates of Survivor. Hai think it’s Jonathan and tells him a lie to keep him comfortable and not thinking his Shot in the Dark.
Like Hai, Omar has to get his finger prints on every vote before Tribal Council. He sees the writing on the wall for Hai. Lindsay, Maryanne, Mike, and Jonathan are all in on voting Hai. But Omar has other ideas. He sees this as a possible opportunity to get Jonathan aka Thor aka the Challenge BEAST out while they have the chance AND allying with Hai, who’s on the bottom all of a sudden.
It’s interesting to me how it feels like Omar and Hai are playing similar games but with a different tone. They are both in the middle and able to form strong bonds with people. They are both finding their DNA all over every aspect of Tribal Councils, the votes, and swaying votes. But, the difference is Hai’s tone, personality and game has a greater level of threat to it than Omar. Hai lacks that “Teddy Bear” or should I say stuffed animal Emu quality that Omar has that everyone wants to cuddle up with when it’s crunch time.
TRIBAL COUNCIL (NIGHT 19)
Jeff updates the jury on Lindsay’s streak of wins and the implications of the strategy involved in the the reward, who to choose, and the fall out. Lindsay hasn’t made enough enemies and she truly was diplomatic about her decision so it gets enough of the stink off of her.
Hai is full of analogies about the game being a marathon with blindfolds and Omar is connecting the differences between decision making as a vet and in the game. Maryanne is in on the analogies too comparing the game and each move being a block in a Jenga game. All of these are impressive analogies. Feels like they went through Tribal Council boot camp training and mastered the talking to Jeff checkpoint.
The theme of Tribal is decisions. How do you make them? How do you justify them?
Then, Lindsay’s decision to tip her hand about “evening the playing field” may be her first 7 to clear the hot Craps table she’s been on. That’s her decision for tonight’s vote but she showed her hand. She’s voting for Jonathan. Hai tries to cover it up and make him comfortable. It’s like you can see him writing his Final Tribal speech in his head as he goes.
VOTES
Hai 5
Jonathan 2
“Well played gang. Oh my god, that was amazing. That’s how I wanted to go out. Wow!”
Hai may have been the most excited person to every be blindsided in the history of Survivor. He did everything but applaud. Wait on second watching, he did applaud. I am surprised how well he took that. Hai was SUPER confident ever since the Daniel strong arming. He rode that “high” as long as he could and went out the only way that he could, blindsided. And he loved it.
Omar went with the rest of the troops and voted Hai. Romeo was the other Jonathan vote. (Remember Romeo?). Mike exercises another demon in the game. Mike has been instrumental on Chanelle, Rocksroy and now Hai’s exits in the game. Maybe other people’s moves are catching them up to Omar in the rankings.
Lastly, I was wrong on Lindsay’s blunder. It wasn’t a blunder at all. Her “evening the playing field” was all to make Hai comforable. Stone cold killer. That “7” I thought she rolled to crap out was actually another winner, winner, pizza dinner.
MVP - Lindsay
RANKINGS
12. Lydia
11. Chanelle (1st on Jury)
10. Rocksroy (2nd on Jury)
9. Tori (3rd on Jury)
8. Hai (4th on Jury)
NEEDS A MIRACLE BUT IT’S POSSIBLE
7. Jonathan - Meat shield. Failed on Drea blindside. Can’t win by just winning challenges.
6. Romeo - Capable of orchestrating moves but I’m not sure where he even stands with anyone. No power.
CONTENDERS
5. Mike - Being an engine behind the Hai vote helps point the arrow back up. Has idol.
4. Maryanne - Willing to stand up for something bigger than her game aka has a story. Found another idol, plus still has an EXTRA VOTE. Super. likeable. Needs a big move with the idol or EV.
3. Lindsay - Player of the episode helps. Needs to pull the trigger on another big move. Has Amulet (STEAL A VOTE)
2. Drea - Lack luster episode but has a story and a resume. Played idol for purpose bigger than herself. Has Amulet (STEAL A VOTE), EXTRA VOTE, Immunity Idol, and Knowledge is Power Advantage.
FAVORITES
1. Omar - Super likeable and a non threat. Hand prints all over every aspect of the game. Center of decision making. Can beat anyone in a final Tribal.
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