Survivor: Blood vs. Water – Episode 13 – Recap and Results – Out On a Limb
Recap and results of Survivor: Blood vs. Water – Episode 13 – Out On a Limb:
Welcome to the recap and results for Episode 13 of Survivor: Blood vs. Water, “Out On a Limb”!
Credit: CBS
It's the last episode before Sunday's finale! Is a shakeup on the horizon? Can Hayden turn the tables on Tyson? Will Tina sacrifice herself for Katie on Redemption Island? Keep refreshing, as I’ll be recapping all the highs and lows and adding my analysis for the penultimate episode of Survivor: Blood vs. Water!
After Tribal
-We replay the scene from the credits last week, with Katie arriving on Redemption Island and revealing that they had to draw rocks at tribal council (which shocks both Tina and Laura). Tina then has a chat with Katie in which she proposes the possibility of sacrificing herself to allow Katie to remain in the game.
-Over at Kasama, Hayden is dumbfounded that his attempts to swing Ciera actually worked! He wishes it had been Tyson to go home, but either way, he's happy to have survived another three days. Hayden is also now confident (perhaps too confident) that he'll be going to the end with Ciera. Of course, Tyson is annoyed with Gervase for telling Hayden he was next, since it compelled him to scramble in the first place. "You never tell the person on the bottom that they're going home. That's Survivor 101," Tyson says, and I can't argue with him there.
Credit: CBS
However, while Tyson's alliance survived the rock-draw, Monica isn't so certain of her place in the alliance. She talks about how she hasn't forgotten Tyson concealing the idol for all that time, and wonders what else he might be hiding from her (you know, like another idol? Like the other one he found and isn't telling you about?). For his part, Tyson is irritated with how hard Monica is playing the game, as her paranoia has reared its head again, and she won't stop scrambling. I love how everything is coming apart at the seams as we get closer to the end.
-After the opening credits, Ciera feels like a weight has been lifted off her shoulders, because now she feels like she can say she actually made a move. She then talks with Hayden about how her plan to draw rocks didn't go like she'd planned, as Katie went home and they're now down in numbers. Ciera has a LOT of nerve talking about "oh, we're down in numbers" after she was the one who flipped to Team Tyson in the first place, and would have been all too happy to ride that alliance as far as they would carry her if Hayden hadn't made clear what should have been obvious to Ciera: that she was at the bottom of the alliance. If they're down in numbers, it's only because of Ciera's ambitious lack of planning and self-awareness. Now Ciera is relying on Laura being the one to reenter the game to put them back on an even playing field.
Credit: CBS
Redemption Island Duel
-Probst asks Tina if she's feeling conflicted about having to compete against Katie, and she discusses just how difficult this day is, as the finality of it all is finally hitting her. She breaks down in tears, but she's going to compete.
-The challenge involves fashioning a pole out of wood and twine, and using it to retrieve three sets of keys on the opposite side of a giant bamboo gate. The competitors must then use the keys to open the gate and get to safety. Immediately, Tina begins barking out advice to Katie about how to build the pole in an attempt to give both of them a better chance of defeating Laura.
Credit: CBS
But it's no use. Laura easily wins another duel, leaving it down to Katie and Tina. Katie falls behind and Tina quickly makes up ground, despite Laura attempting to help Katie. Tina retrieves all three keys and hesitates at the locks, asking Katie if she's okay with her winning. Katie insists it's alright, and urges her mother to go through the door. Tina unlocks all three locks and waits at the door to make certain Katie is okay with it. Katie insists, so Tina tells her she loves her and walks through the door.
LAURA wins the Redemption Island duel! TINA comes in second!
KATIE is eliminated from Survivor: Blood vs. Water!
Credit: CBS
-Probst asks Tina about her conflict, and she talks about having been adopted and never experiencing as deep a level of connection until she had Katie. For her part, Katie talks about how proud she is of her mother, and it's a pretty sweet moment, all in all. Of course, we get another moment of mother-daughter bonding, as Laura gives the hidden immunity idol clue to Ciera. Naturally, neither knows that Tyson already beat them to the punch. Again. Without a clue.
Back at Camp
-Ciera is proud of her mother for winning yet another duel, but she realizes that she and Hayden need to protect themselves. One of them needs to win a challenge, and the other needs to find the hidden immunity idol. So they go searching for the idol, and Hayden even narrows it down to the exact tree where Tyson eventually found the idol. So it's hard to imagine they won't put it together that the idol is in someone's possession -- and it isn't that difficult to surmise who has it.
-Gervase is working hard to keep his three-person alliance together, and pulls Monica aside to reassure her. Monica is concerned about the alliance after they decided to draw rocks. She even fights back tears when talking about what that decision meant to her, and how it hurt her. Gervase pledges himself to Monica and wins her back, and she even states in a confessional that she feels she'll have a connection to Tyson and Gervase the rest of her life. However, she states that she needs to start "playing for Monica, not for Gervase or Tyson." Awfully late to start playing for yourself, but I suppose final 5 isn't the worst place in the world to start if you want to get to the end. But it might be too late to win, since a strong case for the win requires a full resume of clear strategic thinking and gameplay. But who knows? Nobody called Natalie White winning at this same point in Survivor: Samoa.
Immunity/Reward Challenge
-We don't waste time getting into the challenge, as it involves both water and puzzle elements. Basically, the first leg of the challenge is a race through the water, retrieving letters to solve a word puzzle at the end to form a phrase that Probst has repeated hundreds of times on Survivor.
-It's a pretty close challenge all the way through, surprisingly, as every competitor appears to have a legit shot at winning it, particularly once we get to the puzzle portion. But the win ultimately goes to...CIERA?! Yes, Ciera takes the win by solving the puzzle just as the other four castaways are starting to put it together. The phrase in question? "You Are Going To Have To Dig Deep"
CIERA wins immunity/reward!
Credit: CBS
-Ciera is positively giddy at having won, and her reward involves a feast for which she can invite one other person. Without even thinking about it, she chooses Hayden. Tyson, Monica, and Gervase seem perturbed, but wear smiles anyway, because what else are you going to do?
Reward Getaway
-So Ciera is being obnoxiously boastful about her win, saying that all the people who doubted her for going against the almighty Tyson will now have to rethink their position. Of course, this completely ignores that she and Hayden still don't have the numbers. She's still relying WAY too much on her mother coming back into the game as well, not recognizing that if she blindsides Tyson, her mother will have a real challenge threat on Redemption Island. The first real challenge threat she'll have faced in the duels. But Ciera actually does do some legwork in getting the numbers in her favor, as she pulls a High School and tells Monica that Tyson has been talking "mad crap" about her. And it appears to work, as Monica seems sufficiently hurt by Tyson's apparent betrayal, and says that tonight, for the first time, Tyson and Gervase will be on the defensive. Seems like a misdirect to me.
Tribal Council
-Katie looks like a million bucks. With that out of the way, Hayden immediately calls out Tyson for going to rocks in order to keep Monica around, since he can't beat anyone else at the end but Monica. Tyson challenges this opinion, and it creates a stir that prompts Monica to speak up about her concerns regarding the three-person alliance. Tyson outs Ciera for saying that she can beat Monica at the end, and says that Monica knows the kind of person he is. "To her face," Hayden says, "but not behind her back." Ciera picks up that thread and adds that all Tyson and Gervase do is talk trash on Monica, and she'll be kicking herself when she watches this back at home and realizes it's all true.
Gervase flips out on Hayden and challenges him to name the person running their alliance. Hayden is evasive, and Gervase goes nuclear! This guy just has no idea how to control his anger, as he says that each person in Hayden's alliance will be going home one-by-one. And then comes the good stuff, as Hayden and Ciera turn on the rhetoric, arguing to Monica that she could either play her own game, or play Tyson and Gervase's game. Ciera poignantly notes that her husband and kids will see this on TV and be proud of Monica for playing her own game if she decides to seize control for herself. Tyson, meanwhile, reminds Monica that he's never told her what to do, he comes to her and asks for her input. There are decent arguments flying all over the place, and it's one of the more interesting tribal councils of the season, although I'm not sure I buy that any major shakeup was coming. Just from the look in Monica's eyes, she seems wearily resigned to the direction to which she's committed herself.
Everyone votes, and Probst asks if anyone would like to play the hidden immunity idol, but Tyson hangs onto it. And so we get to the votes...
Hayden
Gervase
Hayden
Gervase
Hayden
HAYDEN is voted out and sent to Redemption Island!
Credit: CBS
-Hayden hugs Ciera and tells her "Get em, girl." So strange that they're suddenly friends now. We see Hayden arrive at Redemption Island to the shock and amusement of Laura and Tina. Hayden trash talks Monica for being a "lapdog," and I'm actually starting to feel pretty bad for her, as she can't seem to escape ridicule, no matter what she does. Sure, she hasn't been playing the best game, but it's starting to come across like sour grapes, not terribly unlike the attitude Brad faced earlier in the game. Just something about those Culpeppers angries up the blood, I guess.
Thoughts
Ciera is both an exciting and thoroughly infuriating presence on this show. Seriously, she seems to have no sense of self-awareness about how her choices are affecting her game, and how she'll be perceived by a jury. She's at the bottom of the totem pole, yet she still has the mistaken idea that she's somehow running things, that she can exert some measure of control, yet so much of her game relies on Laura returning from Redemption Island. Is a jury really going to respect her if she makes it to the end? Especially when her game has been this weird mix of competent strategy, riding coattails, and messing up the games of others?
I still think she's a huge threat to make it to the end, but I just can't see her beating anyone in front of a jury except for maybe Gervase, who's been such a loudmouth the past two weeks that I just can't see anyone on the jury really respecting his game. I don't even think she could beat Tyson, who's burned just about everyone. At least Tyson has a gamesmanship argument to make. Hell, Monica is slowly creeping up on having a serious case for the win herself, despite just how obnoxiously hard she's been playing since day one. I mean, she's remained loyal to her alliance, has taken an (occasionally) unfair berating while at tribal but has remained relatively graceful throughout (paranoia back at camp notwithstanding), and has been an insane challenge threat. She's also continued to survive despite having had a target on her back for ages. If nothing else, this could end up being one of the most exhilarating endgames in recent memory. Bring on Sunday!
So what did you think of the results? Did Monica make the right choice sticking with Tyson and Gervase? Or did she miss an opportunity? Sound off in the comments!