Survivor: Philippines - Episode 11 - Recap and Review - Hell Hath Frozen Over
Recap and review for Survivor: Philippines - Episode 11 - Hell Hath Frozen Over
Ugh, I hate this show sometimes.
Don't get me wrong. I'll love Survivor until the day it's canceled for no longer turning a profit for the network. But episodes like tonight's really leave a sour taste in my mouth, and not just because a castaway I like got voted off while someone I loathe sticks around.
From the episode title, "Hell Hath Frozen Over", it was fairly obvious how this episode of Survivor: Philippines was going to play out. And after last week's brutal evisceration of Abi-Maria at tribal council, it was even clearer that (allow me to put on my conspiracy theory hat, for one second) the producers were going to do what they could to manipulate that drama to their advantage. Case in point, the fact that the Survivor auction makes its triumphant return, as it usually does when one castaway is on the outs and likely to be voted out at the next opportunity. I guess it's hardly Abi's fault that everyone decided to splurge on food instead of hoarding their money to keep her from purchasing that immunity challenge advantage, but it annoys me that the final leg of the challenge, to which Abi gets an automatic bye, is designed to benefit smaller fingers. But the manipulation doesn't really stop there, as Probst seems to get more involved in the game with each tribal council, to the point where one might consider it interference. His attempts to get Lisa to reveal her showbiz past, and the hard times she's faced in her life as a result, is hardly the first time he's tried to get a castaway to come clean about their past at tribal council, as he also tried to get Jeff Kent to reveal his status as a National League MVP at a previous tribal council ("Soooo...you've never played another game that requires strategy? Because you can totally tell us if you did; like, tell all of us."). I can see why the producers would stack the odds in a rogue element's favor, since wild cards often make for great TV, but even if my conspiracy theories are hilariously off-base (which they very likely are), the fact remains that the presence of characters like Abi-Maria (and NaOnka Mixon, Colton Cumbie, and Ben Browning before her) can be as damaging to the show as their absence. And it looks like we're stuck with Abi for at least one more week.
But enough about conspiracy theories and sour grapes. The episode is actually pretty solid throughout. The day after tribal, Penner tells Abi that her bluntness can be off-putting in a game like this, and suggests how she might have been friendlier. Abi, who has a serious lady-boner for playing the victim, facetiously apologizes for being too honest with everyone (because, obviously, she's too real for this bunch), and adds that everything in her life is a learning experience. Penner says he's sorry that it was her turn to be bashed (and it's to his credit that I couldn't tell if he, too, was being completely facetious). They hug it out, though Penner is more than happy for Abi to continue being crazy, since it helps him continue to fly under the radar.
Which brings us to the Survivor auction, one of my favorite recurring reward challenge scenarios in the show. These usually tend to turn into face-stuffing fiascos, and this is no different. Denise gets pancakes, Skupin gets food and wine, Malcolm gets donuts and iced coffee, Penner gets fried chicken, Lisa buys a big-ass sandwich, and Carter not only trades a baked potato with fixins for rice and beans for the tribe (and as a Puerto Rican, he'd have my vote for this act alone), he also wins veal shanks for the entire tribe. Abi, meanwhile, won't shut the hell up about being next on the chopping block. That should have clued in the other castaways that Abi would likely make a bid for the clue/challenge advantage (every Survivor ever auction has had one). Abi spends her $500 for the mystery piece of paper, which she opens up at camp. The parchment is essentially a voucher to go straight to the last leg of the immunity challenge. And this is where Abi nearly flips my entire opinion about her with a very resourceful, borderline-genius move.
Credit: CBS
Abi concocts a scheme whereby she claims, to Malcolm, that the parchment she bought at the auction contained a clue to a secret, fourth hidden immunity idol, one which she's found. Malcolm is uncertain whether or not he believes her, and I thought the move was kind of moronic, in the sense that it would be obvious the paper didn't really say anything about a hidden idol once she actually used her advantage at the challenge. This is where Abi actually pulls a dynamite play. At the challenge, when Probst tells Abi to reveal what the paper she bought at the auction says, she not only reveals the immunity advantage she's been given, she goes on to claim that the paper has a second revelation, one which she has the option of revealing or not revealing to the other castaways. Abi declares that she's choosing not to reveal what the second revelation is, and she rips the paper to shreds to keep anyone from ever finding out. And with that, Abi has, to my surprise, brilliantly planted a seed of doubt in the other castaways' minds as to whether or not she actually does have a hidden immunity idol.
The challenge has three legs, the first involving the castaways answering a series of trivia questions about the Philippines. The second features an obstacle course, in which the castaways must carry a sack with 5% of their body weight for each question they got wrong in the first leg. And the final leg, to which Abi received a bye, is a challenge that basically amounts to untying a bunch of knots in rapid succession. I won't retread the conspiracy theory about the challenge, but needless to say, Abi becomes one of the least likely individual immunity winners in the show's history.
Back at camp, Malcolm pretends he's upset that Abi won, but he confesses to the camera that he's actually glad to have an excuse to vote out Penner. Meanwhile, Lisa has another tired, irritating crisis of conscience, repeatedly declaring that she's not very good at this game, and that she's just not cut out for it. She tells Penner that she probably won't be able to hold up her end of the alliance, and Penner understandably doesn't want to hear it. Apparently, his reticence last week to make a final four deal with her and Skupin comes back to bite him in the ass, as Lisa is unsure of just how far she can go with him, even though he's one of her favorite people out here. Penner is aghast, saying it's "unbelievable" that she's voting him out simply because he refused to make a promise. She claims she still wants to go to the end with him, and that it isn't about the money, though she doesn't offer to contribute any aid in keeping him in the game, instead telling him to "go do your magic that you do."
Credit: CBS
At the very least, Penner recognizes he made a mistake last week by not choosing a side, instead trying to play down the middle. Success on Survivor is often predicated upon a confluence of circumstances that are often beyond a player's control, which is why it's so vital to seize the few moments of agency you have in the game. Granted, a great player will manipulate circumstances to their advantage, but sometimes that really just isn't possible, and so you have to make due with the options you're presented. Penner thought he was making the right choice in holding off on allying with Lisa, but it ultimately proves to be a mistake. He spends the rest of the episode scrambling, first approaching Abi and Carter, and tells them they're voting Denise, then approaching Skupin to be the swing vote. Skupin debates which three tribemates he has the best shot of winning with, Abi/Carter/Penner or Lisa/Malcolm/Denise, although the final soundbite before tribal, in which Skupin theorizes that perhaps it would be best to align with Penner, pretty much confirms that Penner is going to be leaving.
At tribal, things get heated when Penner calls Lisa to the carpet for her wishy-washy nature, and for voting for him twice in previous tribal councils. Malcolm comes to Lisa's defense, however, and reaffirms her commitment to him, claiming that she's a person he trusts, even now, in the eleventh hour. Penner states his case for why the other castaways should work with him, particularly Skupin, stating that nobody has a chance of actually winning the game against Malcolm and Denise, and that voting with them is essentially voting to hand them a million dollars. Skupin reasserts that, at the end of the day, he has to think about what his best move is to win this game. When the votes come in, it turns out that Skupin believes his best shot is with Malcolm/Denise/Lisa, as Penner gets his torch snuffed and tells the rest of the tribe to go suck eggs (and much like earlier with Abi, I genuinely couldn't tell whether or not he was being facetious). It's my honest belief that Skupin might just have cost himself a million dollars with this decision, since I don't think he has a shot of winning against Malcolm or Denise, unless the jury turns out to be a bitter one. It's not like he's out of the conversation for the million dollars, but he has made winning a lot harder for himself than it might otherwise have been. But I could sit here and "what if" this scenario all day. The fact of the matter is that Penner is out, and we're within breathing distance of the final tribal council. I'm looking forward to seeing the alliances cannibalize themselves as the individual members try to stake their claim for the million.