Survivor: Caramoan - Recap: The Blind Side

Survivor: Caramoan - Episode 12 - Recap and Results - The Beginning of the End

Since the very start of Survivor: Caramoan, the season has been building to the point where Stealth R Us would begin to cannibalize itself. Granted, there have been moments where the alliance has already gotten rid of its own members, either due to defection (Corinne) or an unavoidable, forced vote (Phillip). Yet, wherever possible, the alliance has remained pretty strong all the way through, staying the course despite temptation to deviate from the agreed upon plan. "The Beginning of the End" is an aptly named episode for how it marks the beginning of the end not only for the Three Amigos, but for Stealth R Us as well, as longstanding alliances fall by the wayside as we get closer to the final tribal council of the season. I had expected that the reason this episode featured two tribal councils would be because of the predictability factor, with Reynold and Eddie getting voted out back-to-back. Given the obviousness of the vote, the editors would naturally want to get those two votes over with as quickly as possible. However, while the first vote absolutely was predictable, the second was another satisfying Survivor blindside that could rearrange how the remaining castaways approach their alliances in the future, as no one is really all that safe, at this point.

In the first half of the episode, there isn't much strategic maneuvering because there isn't that much maneuvering to do. Reynold and Eddie are on the outside looking in, and there isn't a whole lot they can do about it, try though they might. All they can do is try their best to win immunity. Unfortunately, Eddie doesn't try terribly hard. The first immunity challenge is a balance/endurance test in which each castaway must stand on a notched platform in the water for as long as possible, with immunity going to the last person standing. However, Probst tests the castaways' resolve by offering them food, and Erik and Eddie quit the challenge almost immediately, once Jeff pulls out a plate of donuts. Reynold seems disappointed in his camarade, but it's just as well, since he was fighting for his own game life anyway, and less for the remnants of the Three Amigos alliance. Reynold makes some stellar recoveries throughout the challenge as he squares off with Brenda and Andrea, but it ultimately proves not to be enough, as he falls in the water.

This is where the game changes, and sets up the result of the second tribal council, peculiarly enough. I've long felt that Andrea has been playing way too hard, and way too paranoid. While it's always good to be aware of your standing in the game at all times, Andrea's paranoia made her a far more aggressive player than she needed to be, which proved to be to her detriment. I'd argue that her aggressive, hyper-aware play style is what has put her in jeopardy since the start of the game, far more than any perceived threat she presents, since it's hard for anyone to trust a player that's more concerned about their own game than about the survival of their alliance. I feel that the relationship between Andrea and Stealth R Us was always a temporary, mutually beneficial relationship, with each side using the other until they proved to no longer be useful. Andrea would stick around until she could get a better alliance, and Stealth R Us would keep her around because they needed the numbers. But now that the game is down to single digits, both sides are rethinking their positions. As soon as it's down to herself and Brenda, Andrea begins making a deal with Brenda, saying that if she steps down, she'll share the game information reward that the winner would receive with their immunity win. But Brenda doesn't take the bait, and chooses to stay on her perch. After another three hours, they come to an unprecedented decision, making up new rules for the challenge. They'll each balance on one foot, to hurry the conclusion to the challenge along. With this rule change, Brenda falls off and Andrea wins immunity. At tribal council, Reynold gets the boot, and the second of the Three Amigos is sent packing to the jury.

But the intrigue doesn't end there. After Erik wins the second immunity challenge, a race in which the castaways must assemble a ladder and raise their flag, the scrambling begins. Andrea continues to overplay her hand by approaching Cochran and suggesting that they blindside Brenda, since she's a clear challenge threat, and Eddie is of greater use to their alliance. However, Cochran sees through this almost immediately, surmising that Andrea wants to take Eddie to the end, and is jettisoning her alliance to do so. Cochran tells Brenda and Dawn about Andrea's plan, and the plot is set in motion to eliminate her. But there's one problem. With the clue she was provided as reward, and the help of the rest of her alliance, Andrea was able to procure the hidden immunity idol (sure, it was Erik who found it, but they were all digging in the same place when he did, so he turned it over to Andrea, since her clue is what allowed them to find it in the first place). With Andrea now protected, they need to be able to make her feel safe so she won't play it.

The plan is devised to split the votes between Andrea and Eddie, although Andrea continues to try and sell her allies on the Brenda plan. Though Andrea had won the first immunity, she wasn't wrong in arguing that Brenda is a bigger challenge threat. She also makes a good point in her observation that Brenda would make a huge jury threat, since she hasn't burned anyone or made any enemies. Moreover, I genuinely believe that Andrea's hyper-paranoid gameplay put her in a position where she was very unlikely to actually win if she made it in front of the jury. So, from a strictly strategic standpoint, they probably should have gone along with her plan. But Andrea's unreliability made her a target, as none of her alliance mates could know for sure when she would try to organize a blindside against one of them. As Cochran says, big moves are about striking against the person who wants you gone before they can strike against you. And this is exactly what happens, as a shocked Andrea is blindsided and sent packing with an idol around her neck (Her "WHAT?!" and "YOU GUYS!" reactions to her name coming up in the votes are absolutely priceless). The irony, of course, being that the one time Andrea isn't paranoid is the one time where a certain level of skeptical paranoia could have saved her game. But then, I still don't feel like she could have won, regardless of the outcome of this vote.

We're now down to six castaways, and I feel the game is in total flux at this point, as no one has complete control of the game. I suppose Cochran and Dawn have the most control, but Brenda is a challenge threat, and her gameplay in Nicaragua shows that she's strategically-savvy as well (although it's hardly been in evidence here before tonight. And her move against Andrea seemed more personal than strategic anyway, since she wanted to get Andrea out simply because Andrea was targeting her). Erik is also becoming more dangerous as the weeks roll on, as he's another person who hasn't made enemies, and who is also a challenge threat in his own right. Furthermore, while he's not exactly a strategic mastermind, he recognizes the power he wields as the swing vote between two potential voting blocs. He's in an exceptional position right now, all the more so because no one considers him a threat for the win, probably because everyone still sees him as the idiot from Micronesia who gave away his immunity necklace and got voted out, and why would the jury want to give THAT guy a million dollars? But his Sandra Diaz-Twine style "Anyone but me" gameplay is proving to be tremendously effective, and I'd be far more worried about him than I would be about someone like Eddie, who doesn't really appear to present the challenge capabilities that Erik does, nor the rudimentary strategic acumen. This is the first season of Survivor in years where the outcome is genuinely in doubt. Normally, you have a clear frontrunner by this point in the game, but everything is so far up in the air that it could really go to any one of the remaining six, provided the wind is blowing in the right direction. This has proven to be one of the more exciting seasons in recent memory, if not for gameplay than for sheer unpredictability.

Survivor Caramoan - Episode 12 - Recap and Results - The Beginning of the End

Survivor Caramoan - Episode 12 - Recap and Results - The Beginning of the End