Because The A.V. Club knows that TV shows keep going even if we’re not writing at length about them, we’re experimenting with discussion posts. For certain shows, one of our TV writers will publish some brief thoughts about the latest episode, and open the comments for readers to share theirs.
- The ladies of Gen-X immediately start doubting their decision, leading Lucy to pin all of the deception on Jessica. She promises Bret and Chris that she has in in with Dave and Ken if they want to get rid of Jessica. And for Jessica, here lies the problem with making big moves early: the people around you start panicking.
- Idol hunting > goat hunting, and Adam gets the best showcase out of all the Millennials here, finding an idol and then breaking down over his Survivor-fan mother’s cancer diagnosis. That feels like an edit for someone who’s going far in the game.
- Michaela shedding her top in the (great) Reward Challenge is an iconic move. Also iconic? That wave almost taking Jeff Probst out. May it live forever in gif infamy.
- “I don’t want to see you guys talking to anyone else. If I do, I’ll be upset.” Lucy’s demanding behavior rubs Ken just as wrong as Paul’s leadership did. I’m totally here for a game where every time someone fancies themselves a leader, Ken quietly works in the background to take them out. (The problem with that? Ken is bad at being quiet.)
- Ken starts doing the background work, telling Jessica about Lucy’s plan and that she’s getting all the blame for Paul’s ouster. The catch is that she doesn’t trust him and tells Lucy, and it all blows up in Ken’s face, throwing the entire tribe into chaos.
- The Immunity Challenge is a good one, even if the puzzle phrase is so dumb that it essentially equalizes any of the physical portion of the contest. “Somebody loses their flame tonight” is not a thing, really.
- Tribal Council is one of the ones where everyone’s cards are essentially laid out on the table, and it all basically boils down to two camps: Are you with Lucy, or are you with Ken? Smart money says everyone should be with neither, but that’s not how it plays out.
- That’s not how it plays out, because David bafflingly uses his idol to save Jessica, and with two votes Lucy goes home. My assumption was that David and Ken knew everyone was voting for Lucy, so they had David use his idol so they could vote Lucy out. But no, Ken voted for Jessica! He didn’t appear to have any idea David was going to do this at all!
- Was that worth burning David’s idol for? It seems pretty shaky considering Jessica didn’t even trust Ken enough to believe Lucy was after her. If everything works out, it seems like David will have a four-person alliance with Ken, CeCe, and Jessica, but next week’s promised tribal shuffles proves nothing works out like you think it will on Survivor.
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