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RSSTaj's patience and her secret alliance tested on 'Survivor: Tocantins'
We're in a groove with "Survivor: Tocantins." We have our secret alliance, we have those people that you love to hate, and we have two tribes that (with Jalapao's loss at the immunity challenge last week) are fairly well matched. All we need now is a big fat injection of drama into the equation, and we'll also have a respectable season of "Survivor." We need Coach or Tyson to engage in supremely insane behavior and freak out their tribes. We need one tribe or the other to find out about Team Secret. And, most importantly, we need to see some dramatic reversals of fortune.
Tribes spinning their wheels. Turns out that Taj voted for Joe during the last tribal council only because she didn't want to write down Sandy's name. That's not very exciting. What's more exciting is that she and Stephen find the individual immunity idol, an idol of which Stephen seems oddly possessive. Careful, Junior. If it weren't for Taj and her alliance that you were lucky enough to fall in with, you wouldn't have seen that idol until it was played at council.
A test of balance is soon underway at reward challenge, with a chance to get a snack and answer the call of nature in a civilized way on the line. Once again, Coach does not put himself in a position where his tribe will really have to rely on his abilities. Timbira does indeed lose this challenge, so what will it take for this "leader" to step up? Brendan again is selected to visit Exile Island, and he chooses Stephen to go with him. With this exile, all the members of Team: Secret will have met face to face. All of this contact does not go unnoticed by Tyson, however, and he begins to suspect Brendan of fraternizing with the enemy.
Secrets in the balance. The Jalapao tribe enjoys their reward at the Charmin Café, and letters from home are passed around. It's emotional, as always, but you know what, I think it's a little soon for the letters from home moment. It's only Day 13, these guys haven't been out there that long, relatively speaking.
Meanwhile, Tyson shares his suspicions about Brendan's motivations with the rest of his tribe. Mayhap Team: Secret will see their first test a little sooner than they might have thought. Tyson might be a mean, little bastard, but he's not a stupid one. Coach, on the other hand, embarrasses himself again by using his ability to communicate with the wind to predict that a brewing storm will bypass them. Sure enough, that storm pounds the Timbira camp. Erinn is very quick to point out Coach's ineptitude, if only the rest of the tribe was this quick on the uptake.
Brendan and Stephen bond while in exile, but Stephen seems to be holding back some. He isn't as sold on this alliance as the other three are. C'mon Steve, these three are your best bet right now. The least you can do is get with the program.
Two tough losses. CBS drops the hint that Spencer is going to be threatened with elimination by giving him the chance to talk about how his homosexuality makes him feel vulnerable around JT. It's such a shame that when there are so many people in the game, the producers have to tip their hand by giving extra attention to specific tribe members outside the narrative flow of the show.
At the immunity challenge, JT is a superstar for the Jalapao tribe, despite losing a tooth while trying (successfully) to catch a ball in a hand-held net. Unfortunately, along with the loss of the tooth, Jalapao loses the challenge despite an early lead. JT blames Spencer's weak defense for the loss.
Hurricane Taj strikes Brazil. Jalapao discusses the immunity loss and Taj flips out on the guys, attacking Joe in particular. Taj's extended periods of time in exile have kept her from making alliances with anyone other than Stephen. She has made herself a target for elimination, and put Stephen in a tough place. He is holding their immunity idol, and Taj is likely to need it at council. He can either not give it to her and have it for himself (should she be eliminated,) or he can completely throw his lot in with Team: Secret. With JT and Joe wavering between voting for Spencer and Taj, Stephen is going to have to make a decision.
At Tribal Council, Taj's outburst and Spencer's lackluster performance at challenge is the topic of conversation. It seems unlikely that anyone other than Taj or Spencer will be going home tonight, and the only question appears to be "will Taj play the idol or not?" She doesn't, and it's a good thing for her, as Spencer has been voted out of the game.
I'm not sure whether Steve refused to give Taj the idol, or if they decided that they were going to hold it back tonight, but somebody did something right. Team: Secret still has two idols in play, and no one (on Jalapao at least) is aware of their alliance. It looks like there is going to be a clip show next week, but the good news is that when we get our special WEDNESDAY episode in two weeks Tyson and Coach will be going completely mental. So nice of CBS to give us these nutjobs to keep ourselves entertained!
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Don't agree with your analysis of Stephen. I think he's playing it smart. He has good relationships with other people in his tribe so he doesn't need to rely on the secret alliance. Having a tight alliance of 4 people is helpful when there are 7 people left, but right now it can be a humongous target.
They will continue to have nightmare decisions about exile island. How long can they continue to make sure 2 of the 4 go? Eventually somebody else will go and find out they have the idol. I don't quite see how this alliance of 4 is going to last. If it does crumble I think Stephen is in the best shape because he has decent relationships outside of it. You also mentioned in your review that you weren't sure if Stephen refused to give Taj the idol...surely he didn't refuse to do it. In all likelyhood it was quite clear that she was safe anyway. Taj to m demonstrated a lack of true survivor strategy in just giving the idol to Stephen...hello why not hide it!!
If the alliance of 4 doesn't add a few suckers and grow to 5 or 6 really soon I think they are doomed.
Where the heck was Coach during the Immunity challenge? Did he just stand still in one place so the camera guy didn't bother showing him or was that just editing? He should be thankful that his tribe won the Immunity otherwise this wannabe leader would have lot s'plaining to do. Ohh and how great was his weather prediction skill. Hahaha.
The thing that bugs me about Taj - and I was wholeheartedly liking her - is her behavior after the immunity challenge. She must not have any self restraint at all to have blasted off at the guys the way she did. I don't think she's stupid by any stretch, so she will definitely be the downfall of the secret group. I totally agree with Dave that hiding the idol should have been the right thing to do - or just finding it and not telling Stephen where it is. Taj's behavior was particularly incomprehensive after she received the letter from home. You'd think she would have been more focused on the game after that, not so careless. I am disappointed with her.
I do hope that Coach and even more so, his ridiculous sidekick, Tyson, get the rest of their team to gang up them. That would be fantastic, in my opinion.
I continue to be disappointed in the attitude of any player(s) who have an advantage in the game and then behave as though they have total control over everyone and are not endangered. Have they never seen this show before? Cripes!!!!!
It would be nice if they focused on some of the fringe players for a change so that we could get to know them better - I don't even feel as though they have spent enough time on TJ. Speaking of whom, I could not believe TJ. What a beast. He is quickly becoming one of my favorite players, and I hope he can at least make it to the end.
Did I see this correctly? It looked as though JT lost his tooth because Sierra took a wild swing at the ball, missed, and hit him squarely in the mouth. Is that right?
Immunity challenge...did nobody have the thought that maybe it would make more sense to move slightly slower in unwinding the person?? You could spin the person 5 seconds slower but instead of spinning them around like a maniac they wouldn't be totally nauseous.
i was thinking that exact same thing as well dave. at first, i thought they were spinning the other teams tribe member but when i realized that it was their own tribe member, they should of just walked quickly.
I am also disappointed in the editing job they did last night. They are too easily telegraphing who is going to get the axe. The immunity challenge was anticlimactic for me as in the previews of the episode they showed Taj freaking out. Since that hadn't happen yet in the episode, you knew that Jalapao was going to lose immunity as they only focus on the team going to tribal council after the challenge is completed. And they suddenly start focusing on Spencer who I had even forgotten was on the show! I realize that they spotlight the outrageous/outspoken contestants to make a more compelling show, but don't make it so obvious who is doomed.
The longer I watch this show, the more convinced I am that it is scripted.
Isn't this usually about the point in the show/game where the physically weaker players will gang up and begin to vote out any physically stronger tribemates in preparation for the merge.
Or said another way, the "outwit" part of the game begins to come into play, right?
Andrew:
No show next week.
Clip show the following Wednesday.