Survivor: Cagayan - Episode 5 - Recap and Results - We Found Our Zombies
Recap and results for Survivor Cagayan - Episode 5 - We Found Our Zombies:
Welcome to the recap and results for Episode 5 of Survivor: Cagayan -- Brawn vs. Brains vs. Beauty, “We Found Our Zombies”!
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Credit: CBS
Let's get this show on the road!
AFTER TRIBAL COUNCIL
-Trish announces she wants to make things clear, in hoping to explain her actions. Lindsey, however, absolutely does NOT want to hear it. Lindsey declares she has no allies, and begins going off on Trish. She tells Trish she's annoying and infuriating, and that she can't stand anything about her. Trish, of course, doesn't care. But Lindsey is so worked up, she goes off on her own to calm down, and...
ENTER THE PROBST!
-Probst apparently received a call that Lindsey wants to talk, and so he appears for a chat. Lindsey tearfully declares that she just can't remain in the game, because she's afraid she'll do something she'll regret if she stays. She frames this by arguing that Trish said a bunch of unspeakably awful things, but unless most of the argument was left on the editing floor, Lindsey needs to get thicker skin. You know, for the future, since apparently her game life has come to an end...
LINDSEY QUITS SURVIVOR: CAGAYAN!
Credit: CBS
-This may be the most richly absurd moment in the series in some time, as even Probst is shocked at someone quitting the game over fear of what they'd do to another player. Lindsey had wanted to "be the bigger person" and break the news to the rest of the tribe, but she decides it'd probably be best for Probst to do the honors. And so he goes and tells the rest of Solana...who are pretty much relieved that she's gone. In one fell swoop, Tony is proven to have made the right choice last week. Had he stuck with Cliff, he risked playing with a volatile, wishy-washy player like Lindsey, who likely would have bolted the minute things stopped going her way. As he rightly predicted, Lindsey completely fell apart without Cliff.
REWARD CHALLENGE
-The only reactions to the elimination better than Solana's is Sarah's, who completely loses her damn mind when she sees BOTH Cliff AND Lindsey are gone. You've never seen a woman so happy at an elimination. Spencer is amused that two people are gone without him having to do anything. (I'd have kept that to myself, if I were Spencer, lest people start seeing him as an eager manipulator)
Credit: CBS
-The reward will see two members of the winning tribe traveling to the losing tribe to perform a raid on their camp, which should make for some interesting TV. The challenge itself, less so. It's a duel of sorts, as two competitors must balance a small statue on a paddle while attempting to knock off their opponent's statue. First person's statue to hit the ground loses. It's a back-and-forth challenge in the early going, with Solana and Aparri keeping things even. It all comes down to Spencer and Woo: to keep Aparri alive, Spencer has to win, but Woo could end it all here.
And he does.
SOLANA WINS REWARD!
-Tony and Woo are sent over to Aparri, since they know the tribe inside and out. They're also provided with a note, presumably to a hidden immunity idol. I fully expect Tony to do some damage over there.
BACK AT APARRI
-Apparently, the note isn't just a clue to a hidden immunity idol, it's also instructions on what they can and cannot take. They can take two of either comfort items, fishing gear, or rice, so they decide on the comfort items and fishing gear. They then read the clue, and Tony immediately realizes it references the Solana beach instead of the Aparri beach. This gives Tony a rather devious idea.
-He plans to tell the other tribe that the note said they can give the immunity idol clue to one person on the other tribe. This way, they can burn one of the castaways in the other tribe and create dissension. So they come up to the Aparri camp and announce they'll be giving the clue to Jeremiah. Basically, Tony and Woo arrived, detonated a figurative bomb in the middle of the tribe, and bailed. It might be a bit of an overplay at this early point in the game, or it might be a genius move for down the road. Kind of hard to tell right now. Sometimes, I think Tony is SERIOUSLY overplaying, but then he shows flashes of quick thinking that suggests he's a far more formidable player than expected.
Credit: CBS
-Back at camp, Tony brags about the idol lie, and gets the rest of the tribe rolling with laughter along with him. He also admits he's been lying about his past in construction, and reveals he's a cop. He even admits he planned to invent a fake son he could swear on. Yeah, he's been emboldened by his idol trick, so now he's oversharing. Not wise. And this is immediately borne out by LJ's sudden suspicion of Tony. He didn't think Tony was all that smart before, but now he knows to be on his toes around him, which should have been the last thing Tony should have wanted.
APARRI
-Naturally, Tony's plan is doing exactly what he wants it to. Alexis immediately pulls Spencer aside and starts talking about how Jeremiah can't be trusted. They confront Jeremiah outright, and he reveals that it's the exact same clue they had back at the old Solana beach. And he's telling the truth! But nobody believes him. Not even Spencer, who is convinced it's not an old clue. He even starts making up excuses for why the clue MUST be new, noting that the paper was all rolled up like one. I don't think Jeremiah was arguing that they rolled up an old clue and presented it as new, but rather that it is a new bit of parchment, just with an old clue printed on it. Either way, Aparri just got snowed by a cop, so now they can say they have something in common with characters on The Wire.
IMMUNITY CHALLENGE
-The challenge is a combination obstacle course/puzzle, because of course it is. The tribes have to go through a ropey course, untying knots along the way, before getting a key and using it to unlock a machete that drops a bag of puzzle pieces. Two tribe members will then gather the pieces and solve the puzzle and reveal a combination to a lock that will raise their flag. First tribe to do so wins immunity.
Credit: CBS
-Much like the reward challenge, it starts out relatively even, until Tony lags behind on the key/machete portion and costs Solana valuable time. By the time he gets the puzzle pieces for LJ and Woo, Spencer and Alexis already have a big lead. But Tony helps instruct LJ and Woo, and it apparently makes all the difference. The two quickly gain ground, and it's every bit as big a "come from behind" win as Aparri's last week.
SOLANA WINS IMMUNITY!
-Because Tony can't do something cool without also doing something completely idiotic, he starts shouting "TOP FIVE, BABY! TOP FIVE!" during the victory celebration, which basically lets everyone within earshot know who Tony's alliance is. And Sarah happens to be one of those people. So now she realizes that her fellow cop doesn't count her among his top 5. For the first time since making an alliance with him, Sarah wonders if maybe she needs to start looking for other, non-Tony options.
SERIOUSLY, Tony! A little silence goes a long way.
BACK AT APARRI
-So Tony's "top five" comment has everyone at camp buzzing, not just Sarah. Alexis says Solana's confidence tells them everything they need to know, since they don't even have the tribe numbers. Hence, for the "top five" comment to make sense, they need to have an insider on the Aparri tribe planning to flip. But instead of suspecting the natural target in Sarah, they instead play right into Tony's hands by suspecting Jeremiah.
-However, Spencer isn't so quick to go along with Alexis's plan to blindside Jeremiah, agreeing to go along with it just to shut her up so he has time to consider what's really best for his alliance. Sarah, for her part, swears she isn't going to flip, and though she comes across convincingly in this moment, I think the game changes so often that it'll be almost impossible for her to keep that promise without compromise.
TRIBAL COUNCIL
-The tribe is worried about dynamics heading into the merge. Sarah discusses the "top 5" comment, and how it prompted her to reconsider her original alliances. Alexis then talks about the raid, and calls out Jeremiah as being untrustworthy due to the hidden immunity idol clue he received. She says that Jeremiah has tried to rationalize it as Solana trying to target him, but she thinks that's ridiculous (again, shows how effective Tony's plan ultimately has been). She argues that he'll flip and give Solana the majority. Morgan, who probably should just keep her mouth shut in case attention turns to her, notes that either Alexis or Jeremiah could flip. I don't know where she gets the idea that Alexis would flip, unless they're thinking she'll just hook right back up with LJ and Jefra...
...yeah, she's a goner.
Everybody votes, and we see Alexis vote for Jeremiah (who notes it only takes one lie to lose her trust), while Jeremiah votes for Alexis. We hear Morgan speak to the camera for her vote, claiming that the person she's voting for is someone she KNOWS will flip. Probst gathers the votes...
JEREMIAH
ALEXIS
ALEXIS
ALEXIS
ALEXIS
Blindside city! Alexis goes from bug-eyed on the third vote, to completely and utterly defeated on the deciding vote. She breaks down in tears as she leaves, and it's hard not to be a little sad for her. She really thought this was the last thing that ever would have happened.
ALEXIS is voted out of SURVIVOR: CAGAYAN!
Credit: CBS
-Well, looks like Tony's plan to create turmoil worked, even if the person he targeted ultimately wasn't the person that went home. Then again, Jeremiah going home likely wasn't his endgame more so than simply creating a ruckus, although I did think it was smart to make the physical threat the target, in case the merge wasn't forthcoming. Either way, he caused a big stir, and I doubt this is the last we'll see of its effects.
-As for the elimination, I'd argue this was the right call, since Alexis was far more likely to hook back up with LJ and Jefra than Jeremiah. Although, admittedly, Jeremiah is almost as likely to try and see if he can find an in somewhere once the merge comes, since it's not as if he was unfriendly with LJ and Jefra. Maybe not close, but not unfriendly either. I do worry about Sarah though, as she's basically the swing vote between two five-person alliances. Obviously, one of these alliances is stronger than the other in terms of bonding, but neither is without its cracks. So it should be interesting to see which group Sarah chooses, since she'll essentially be dictating the entire direction of the game, and not just her own. (This assumes that nobody else is planning on flipping)
-In her exit interview, Alexis is a mess of tears, saying she's one of the biggest fans, and it breaks her heart that she didn't do better. Aw well, fans aren't always the best players, since there's that ineffable social component that complicates things for even the sharpest minds.
What did you think of the vote? Did the right person go home? What about Tony's big Idol lie? Mistake or brilliant move? Sound off in the comments!