Redemption Island Ep. 08- "The Game Respects Big Moves"

Previously on SURVIVOR:

Ometepe

As long as they kept winning challenges, nobody had a concrete reason to question Rob's authority. Phillip only wanted respect, or deferential treatment, or attention, or... something - but he didn't feel like he was ever going to get it. This upset him for a while, and he secretly started plotting Rob's demise the second he got the opportunity. However, they won so many challenges in a row that Phillip couldn't help but feel a sense of tribal unity by the episode's end. Will he burst at the merge or merely join the rank-and-file?

Zapetera

Where do you even start with this tribe? If you just looked at Zapetera vs Ometepe on paper, you'd pick Zapetera every time (especially with strong faces like Steve, Mike, and Julie). Instead, we have a jumbled mess of an alliance with so many people in it, they started having to vote out their own by the fourth Tribal Council. And they even screwed that up! Fellow poster Iltarion over at Reality TV World pointed out last week how utterly stupid it was to blindside Sarita, when everyone knew it was either her or Dave. Why blindside someone when there's a good chance they could return to the game as a potential ally or enemy? As it turns out, none of that mattered, considering she lost her duel this week and appeared to hold no ill feelings towards anyone (besides Dave). Honestly, the best and worst thing for this tribe is to just put it out of its misery. Cue the start of this week's episode:

Redemption Island Ep. 08- "The Game Respects Big Moves"

The Game Respects a Champ

I won't spend much more time on the various ways Zapetera completely mishandled the "Dave vs. Sarita" situation, but I will say that it was absolutely hilarious to hear them recap their evening with, "We completely blindsided her," and "She took it like a champ." What? It was almost as if they knew they had made a stupid move, and they were trying to justify it. "Yeah! Yeah, we...we got her real good! Wait. What if she comes back? Maybe we should have uh... maybe we should have told her she was going home instead of letting her think it was gonna be Dave... since we pretty much implied that it was gonna be Dave... Maybe we should stop being weasels." Ah, but Dave doesn't care! He's ready to make his peace with Ralph and call it a night.

The Game Respects a Trooper

It turns out that Sarita did take it like a champ. She arrives at Redemption Island and can't stop talking about how great the members of Zapetera are (Well, minus Dave, who she doesn't really mention). So Matt gets the lowdown on literally everyone, with an extra serving of goodness to the tune of how good a player Mike is. Matt is riding so high, he says that he might just have a great opportunity to take out Ometepe.

Well, man, you did. You really did. But you screwed it up. I'm getting ahead of myself...

The Game Respects Loyalty

We got a completely different Phillip this week than we did last week. Or ever, really. He seems content. He's not starting trouble. He's not necessarily pledging allegiance to Rob, but  definitely to his tribe. And since Rob is leading this tribe... well, there it is. It's not really clear what sparked this change in Phillip other than those repeated Immunity wins. Perhaps it was when he realized that the numbers finally tipped in their favor? Whatever it is, he seems like he's starting to feel comfortable, and safe. We'll see how that attitude bodes for his relationship with Rob. We didn't get much of that dynamic this week, but I can't imagine we'll go much longer without something happening. For the time being, however, Phillip has joined the rank-and-file.

The Game Respects Perseverance

Matt and Sarita show up for their duel to find everyone has come to watch them play. That can only mean one thing: Merge! The challenge is a Survivor classic: stand on the pegs as long as you can. Matt's suffering from an injured foot, which works in Sarita's favor. You can see the desperation written all over Zapetera's faces. She is their only hope! The way they cheer her on is like this pitiful "Sure, we blindsided you, but we're still buds...right? Right?!" When it comes down to it, Sarita actually seems like she's going to pull it out. But eventually she slips, disappointment all over her face.

Her exit leads to Probst's announcement that Matt is back in the game, and the tribes are now merged. As I predicted last week, Redemption Island continues on. Probst says that this means Matt's butt could be kicked right off all over again and he could be sent right back. A lot more ironic, upon second viewing. "Please, guys, give me a minute," he jokes. If only you knew, Matt!

The Game Respects Murlonio

New tribe, new camp, lots of food. Everyone is in good spirits, high enough to believe whatever Rob says. If the man somehow continues to run the board and ends up winning, he would have truly controlled the entire game, down to naming the merged tribe after his wife's stuffed animal.

The Game Respects Chaos

Where exactly to go next in this recap? So much happened. Rob wasn't happy that Matt came back, because he's afraid he'll defect ("I mean, that's what I'd do!" he tells us). Matt knows he can go either way. He's the "lynch pin," as Mike calls him. Mike immediately gets to work, trying to convince Matt of Rob's hold on the game. Mike even promises to forsake his Big 5 alliance and take Matt to the final four. All the power seems to be in Matt's hands, but he's unsure of his official position. Mike even promises an idol at Matt's disposal if he needs it. He's living the high life! What could go wrong?

So Matt decided to make a big move.

The Game Respects Matt's Original Master Plan

It's hard to tell what would have happened if Matt had actually stuck with his original plan, but I'd say that the odds were in his favor to stick around longer than he did. His plan made a heck of a lot of sense, at least to me. Here's how it went- Step 1) Let Rob think everything is good, and vote a Zapetera person out (Probably Steve. Why does his name always come up first?). Step 2) Go after Phillip, sitting on the outskirts of Ometepe. Step 3) Blindside Rob. Step 4) Commence with the mercy killing of the rest of the leaderless, confused Ometepe. Matt told Andrea this plan, and she was on board. Well, she sounded like she was. Her first real contribution to the plan was to make sure he told NO ONE. She wants to think of Matt as an ally, but she isn't sure if it's the wisest move for her in the long run. So she acts like they're BFFs when she's around him, but she's playing a game all her own when he's not around. She's a contender. I'm curious to see how far she'll make it.

But, I mean, really, it sounded like a great plan, had he been able to execute it. But I guess it just wasn't in the cards. Matt's heart wouldn't allow it.

The Game Respects Beautiful Language

If Matt bought that whole thing with Mike picking up Krista's Bible and reading the book of Matthew (He wasn't even subtle!), then he's straight up just dumb. Matt's been really straightforward about how important that book is to him, and Mike was taking advantage of that in order to maybe get two extra votes. From a distance, Rob didn't like what he saw. He says he has no problem with God, but if a group of people like the same thing, Rob doesn't like it - even rom-coms and cookies are threatening if people start bonding over them. This solidifies for him that Mike needs to be sent packing first.

The Game Respects Endurance

After last week's marathon, this week's Immunity Challenge was a nice change of pace: keep the balls on the disc while balancing on a log. Mike's level of stoicism was epic, and it didn't look like he could be beat. But eventually he slides off, giving the victory to Natalie, and Rob breathes a sigh of relief.

The Game Does Not Respect Anything Matt Does for the Rest of the Episode

While I've argued in the past that Matt keeps getting dumped on for being a nice guy, what he does next is inexcusable. After coming up with a near-genius plan that could have gained enough traction to eventually get rid of Rob, he immediately decides that God has him on Survivor to honor him, which means honoring his commitments and being honest with those around him. This is all well and good - no one will ever argue that Matt has anything but the utmost respect for his God and for the people around him. The problem starts when he decides to tell Rob everything. And he does just that, sounding really contrived, and sort of innocently arrogant the whole time. This does two things: it relieves Matt's conscience for ever thinking up that awful plan in the first place! And it successfully changes Rob's vote from Mike to Matt. He likes his allies dumb and quiet. And you've gotta love Rob's face as Matt tells him how great the plan was, how he had everything figured out, but in the end he just couldn't do it. Rob puts on his best poker face and tells him he appreciates his honesty.

Oh, but wait for it! Andrea shows up and he drags her into it, too, like she was 100% on board with the plan the whole time. Matt's a nice guy, he really is. He isn't entirely without self-awareness the way Phillip is, but it seems like that same trait lies somewhere within him, just to a lesser degree. There is a way to be honest with your mouth shut.

The Game Respects Rob

It's interesting to note that as much scrambling as everyone did, Rob waited for people to come to him. He's sitting pretty, sure, but the level of cool he exudes is uncanny. He observes, waits, and then acts.

After talking to Matt, Rob sets off to tell the people what his will is, so that it can be done. Natalie and Ashley are immediately on board, because, you know, it's anything Rob says. Grant feels bad, but is convinced after Rob quips that Matt can still be a good, Christian guy on Redemption Island. Rob doesn't even have to ask Phillip before Phillip asks him, "So who am I voting for?" (What's with this guy?). We don't see the conversation Rob has with Andrea (which is understandable for dramatic effect) but I wonder how she explained what Matt had just confessed to Rob. And I'd like to know if it happened before Matt got that note from Zapetera. If so, that means she straight poker faced him the same way Rob just had. But, I'm getting ahead of myself again...

The Game Respects Secret Notes!

So Mike writes Matt a secret note that asks if Matt likes Mike the same way Mike likes Matt. I mean, it explains the magic plan for final THREE if Matt votes Grant. Maybe in the end, Matt was just holding out to see if Mike would give him a final two guarantee. "Top three huh? That's not bad..." he contemplates, like it's a done deal or something. He shows it to Andrea, and Matt is too caught up in his own importance to see that Andrea has mentally checked out of her friendship with him. She simply asks if he thinks he'll do something big tonight.

The Game Respects a Split Tribe

At Tribal Council, Ralph says that Murlonio (I'll probably chuckle every time I write it) is split big time, and Rob seconds it. Apparently the tribes don't talk to each other, sleep with each other, or do much of anything with each other. It'll be interesting to see that line inevitably begin to fade, and I'm curious to see how much it does fade. Just look at them, they don't look like the kind of people that would hang with each other, or even get along. We'll see. For now, the divide is apparent.

The Game Respects Andrea's Vote

So much was made this week of the importance of Matt's vote, but really, it was Andrea's that ended up being the decider. Her decision to screw Matt and solidify her place in the Ometepe alliance avoided a tie and sent Matt packing. But before the votes could be read, Ralph decided to play his hidden idol on Mike, assuming that's who Rob would target. Rob is amazed. They seem to be making it too easy. So the votes are read- Grant gets 5. Steve gets 1. And then Matt gets 6. You can tell, as much as he talked about using caution this week, Matt felt safe. And now he's mad. He stomps back to Redemption Island, and Probst is probably correct in his assertion that Matt won't be in a forgiving mood.

Steve and Dave put it perfectly with their post-vote observations, "Let the fireworks begin," and "Genius is what that was." To everyone else, Matt was the swing vote, the most important key in the game. To Rob, he's a menace, a loose cannon that can't be controlled or manipulated. Why worry about where he's going to be when he could just be gone? The looks on the faces of the former Zapetera members say it all: Uh oh.

Observations

Grant already seemed a little iffy about voting Matt out, but from the preview for next week, it appears he's going exercise some self-awareness and try to be his own man. Now, granted, sometimes these previews are just rabbit trails, edited together to throw off those of us looking for clues; but I thought about it, and honestly even if Grant decides to flip, he thinks that Rob doesn't have an idol. Rob went out of his way to make sure Grant thinks that. If Grant votes with the Big 5 to get Rob out, Rob could play his idol and (more likely than not) Grant would be gone. All of that being said, if Grant flips, I think the Big 5 + 1 would be smart enough to vote for someone in Ometepe other than Rob. Cut those numbers down a little more. But the fact remains that, in Grant's head, there is no way Rob has an idol, and that mindset could potentially play a huge role in the weeks to follow.

The problem that remains for the other ten players is that the further along this goes, the less likely it becomes that anyone will be able to blindside Rob. He's just too observant. Whether it's about reading the other players' motivations, simply knowing where everyone is and who they are talking to at any particular moment- no one is as tuned into this game as Rob. And it's going start costing people dearly if they don't act soon.