Survivor: Blood vs. Water - Episode 5 - Recap and Results - The Dead Can Still Talk

Recap and results of Survivor: Blood vs. Water - Episode 5 - The Dead Can Still Talk:

Welcome to the recap and results for Episode 5 of Survivor: Blood vs. Water, "The Dead Can Still Talk"!

Refresh throughout the night, as I'll be updating with results as well as my analysis as the night goes on!

After Tribal

-Ciera is floored about what happened at tribal council, and an off-hand comment from Vytas turning on Brad on the re-vote clued her in that neither Vytas nor Hayden knew what Caleb was planning to do prior to tribal council (although it's not necessarily like Caleb knew going in either). She believes that she and Katie can take control of the game from the guys with Caleb's help as they apparently don't feel, like Hayden does, that Caleb can't be trusted anymore.

-Over on Redemption Island, Brad expresses surprise over Caleb's bold move, believing that Colton must have taught him a thing or two about the game. (Somehow, I doubt that) Upon arriving at the camp, Brad tries to wave the white flag and make amends with John and Candice. However, Candice isn't really in any kind of mood to hear it, as she explains in a confessional that Monica was instrumental in voting her out on Day One, and Brad himself voted out John when John trusted him most. In essence, this means war.

Of course, Candice's anger completely ignores John's culpability in his own elimination, as Brad did everything short of putting a giant sign around his neck reading "DON'T TRUST ME. I'M ACTUALLY A TRIAL LAWYER." Sure, Candice was faultless in getting voted out on Day One, but I'd argue John has no one to blame but himself for getting voted out when he did.

-At the Galang camp, Laura M. works her magic on Aras, gaining his trust by comforting him with therapeutic touch. Or, at least, that's what she thinks she's doing. But Aras explains that Laura M. isn't really as slick as she thinks she is. She's outside of his core alliance, and Aras recognizes just how hard she's trying to work her way in. She must have read from the Book of Culpepper, Chapter 1 Verse 5: "Go Hard 100% of the Time, or Go Home 50% of the Time (Or Something That Sounds Equally Reasonable But Is Completely Absurd If You Think About It For More Than Two Minutes)."

Redemption Island

-The tribes come in for the duel, and Monica is devastated to see Brad has been voted out, despite stating last week that she'd be shocked if Brad made it to the merge.

As soon as Brad enters, she offers to take his spot, but Brad is nothing if not noble, and refuses to allow her to torpedo her own game for his sake. "This is my duel. I'll get back," he explains, adding, "I adore you." It's actually a surprisingly affecting moment from a guy who, up to this point, has been portrayed as the de facto villain of the season. "I'm not here because I'm a jerk," Brad declares, stating that he's only here because of the things his opponents have been saying about him, words which made his allies actually believe he was as bad as everyone thought. Monica goes off on Candice and says that her feelings were hurt by how she screamed obscenities at her husband. "You hurt my feelings when you wrote my name down!" Candice responds. And like that, our duel is on.

-The duel is a bridge-building challenge that involves using the various planks to solve a puzzle. It's close all the way through, and it looks as if Candice might finally lose a duel. And, as it turns out, she does. John wins the duel, leaving Candice and Brad to duke it out for second place. Though it's a photo-finish, Brad finishes just ahead of Candice.

CANDICE is eliminated from Survivor: Blood vs. Water!

-Both Candice and John are heartbroken, yet my immediate thought is that Brad and John, alone on Redemption Island, is a sitcom waiting to happen.

-Eventually, Candice bucks up and says "No more tears," and holds her head up high as she tosses her buff into the flames and walks on, leaving John to decide who gets the hidden immunity idol clue. In an attempt to once again paint a target on Brad's loved one, he gives it to Monica, who smartly throws it in the fire again at Brad's suggestion. Can't argue with that logic.

The Culpeppers clearly have an understanding of the broad strokes of Survivor strategy. But it's the particulars that are hurting them. Admittedly, the smaller details of Survivor (the subtlety and nuance of a game that is largely social) are the hardest to get right. Players have a hard enough time controlling how they're perceived without other people making judgments about them and spreading those perceptions around camp. Brad's game may be beyond salvaging at this point, even if he returns from Redemption.

Galang

-Monica explains that this is the most demoralizing day of the game for her. However, she has confidence that Brad will come back into the game. Tina expresses concern about this possibility, as Monica and Brad have the potential to become a serious power couple, but Monica pulls Tina aside to assure her that her loyalty to Brad will not affect their alliance. Yet Tina isn't sure whether Monica will prove to be an asset or a hindrance just yet. I don't think Monica herself has entirely decided whether or not she'll be a help or a hindrance to Tina yet. She strikes me as someone who'd prefer to keep her options open (and, admittedly, this isn't a bad approach to take).

Tadhana

-The physical toll of Survivor is starting to get to Ciera. "Our bodies are disintegrating," she states, and Katie affirms she's got athlete's foot from wearing wet shoes all the time. In a gag-inducing bit, we learn her toenails are falling off, and she and Ciera compare gruesome foot injuries like they're ex-boyfriends they'd rather not have had. For his part, Vytas worries about what it will mean for his game if Tadhana keeps losing, saying that not only are the girls demoralized, but no one can trust Caleb anymore after what he did at tribal council. Caleb, however, feels he holds a lot of power now as a swing vote. While he's not wrong in recognizing the power of his position, I get the feeling he might be counting his eggs before they hatch, since he only really has that power if his tribe keeps losing.

Immunity/Reward Challenge

-The tribes enter and Probst introduces the challenge, which looks like fun, and not just because it involves a water slide (although okay, yeah, mostly because it involves a water slide).

-The reward is steak....lots and lots of steak. Or, you can trade it all in for fishing equipment. Oh, poor Tadhana. I feel for you, what with your lack of fishing equipment, your empty stomachs and your rotting toes the color of Galang's buffs.

-So the challenge takes place in individual heats, with one member from each tribe racing down the water slide, recovering a ring, and tossing it onto a hook. First person to successfully hook the ring scores a point for his or her tribe. First tribe to five points wins immunity/reward.

-Tadhana takes an early lead thanks to the efforts of Caleb, Katie, and Vytas. With a 3-2 lead, Caleb scores another point over Tyson, making it 4-2 for Tadhana. Survivor precedent would dictate that this would be the point at which Galang makes a crazy comeback to win immunity and embarrass Tadhana once again. But with a two point lead going into the Hayden vs. Gervase matchup, Tadhana seals the deal with one glorious underhand toss from the former Big Brother winner. Even Galang has to give it up for the opposing tribe's effort...

TADHANA wins immunity! No, seriously!

Image: http://www.reactiongifs.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/celebrate.gif

Galang

-Laura B. assumes she's going to be the first to go, and decides to plant seeds of doubt among the fortified alliance by telling Kat that the other girls were talking smack on her for taking their place in the challenge. In a moment of keen observation, Kat tells the camera that when a person on the bottom of an alliance tries to rattle you, you simply need to accommodate their conversation, ignore what they try to say, and just try to make the outsider feel better about their inevitable elimination.

-Everyone seems set on writing down Laura B.'s name, since she's getting on everyone's nerves. But Aras feels that the "easiest vote" can often be the dumbest vote, and rationalizes that it would be better to vote off Laura M. since she's good at puzzles and could potentially beat Brad at Redemption Island. If Laura M. is able to defeat Brad, Aras speculates that Monica will be theirs completely, since she won't have the promise of Brad to fall back on. Galang heads off to tribal council, and I'm immediately stricken by the suspicion that somebody is going to write the name "Laura" down and forget to specify a last name, leading to awkwardness all-around. PLEASE, SURVIVOR GODS, LET THIS HAPPEN.

Tribal Council

-At tribal, Gervase and Tina make a good point about how Survivor has changed since they played the game, as contestants are in the habit of making big moves now. As Tina explains, "I've played more in five days here than I did in my entire season in Australia."

-In a spectacularly awkward moment, Probst asks Laura B. if she feels she belongs out here, saying that she isn't an outdoorsman like Rupert. Of course, what makes this awkward is that Jeff adds a weird growl to (I guess?) mimic Rupert, but it's just cringe-inducing. Oh, Jeff. Never change.

-We get to the vote, and the two Lauras predictably vote for each other. Probst collects the ballots and reads the outcome...

Laura M.
Laura B.
Laura M.
Laura M.
Laura M.
Laura M.

That's five votes, and that's enough...

LAURA M. is voted out of Galang and sent to Redemption Island!

Credit: CBS

-Well, that was kind of a dumb move. Galang seems to be banking on the likelihood of there being a puzzle challenge at the next Redemption Island duel, but this ignores the very real possibility that the next reward/immunity challenge could be a puzzle...and they just voted out one of their best puzzlers in favor of Laura B., who hasn't contributed much of anything to the tribe so far. The only potential positive outcome would be in a tribe shuffle, as Galang could end up losing Laura B. and gaining a strong player or two. Then again, they could end up with a tribe full of people just as ineffectual as Laura B.

-Over the credits, we see Laura M. arriving at Redemption Island, with both John and Brad expressing disbelief that Galang actually lost a challenge. Laura M. declares that while she was completely blindsided by the move, she's still not out of the game yet, and resolves to win the next Redemption Island duel. If it's anything other than a puzzle, I don't see how she sticks around.

Thanks for reading my recap and review of Survivor: Blood vs. Water - Episode 5, "The Dead Can Still Talk":