Personalities began to shine through and strategic players and partnerships started to take form during Episode 2 of Survivor: HHH. It was a very welcome change of pace following last week’s over-stuffed and rushed premiere episode. This episode took its time, gave us a lot of insight as to how the players are starting to align and ultimately ended with your standard “is it him or her?” question entering a pretty tame Tribal Council.
Please remember that this recap assumes that you have already seen this week’s Episode 2 of Survivor: HHH, so if you have not and don’t want to be spoiled, please come back later! It’s important to add too that while we WILL hit on all of the important developments of the episode, this is not a linear “blow-by-blow” recap, and is more of a discussion and reaction of what we just witnessed together.
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So a fairly decent episode, right? I mean, nothing crazy took place, there wasn’t anything ground-breaking, there were no “Survivor Firsts.” But I liked how this episode flowed. We didn’t get into the Immunity/Reward Challenge till nearly the 40 minute mark of the hour, which meant that we got to spend a lot of time with the contestants we didn’t get to meet in last week’s premiere. Lauren, Patrick and Simone – of the Hustlers Tribe – all got the spotlight for a bit, and of them, I for one felt compelled to root for Lauren, the socially-awkward fisherman from North Carolina. Watching her sit in silence next to the goofball-clown Patrick was maybe the funniest moment of the night. Patrick was definitely painted as a guy who may be an interesting “character” on the show, but probably isn’t going to go the distance. And as for the inexperienced Simone…well…now we understand why you weren’t shown much at all during the first episode.
Perhaps the most highly-anticipated part of the episode came in the first few minutes, as we got some answers from Chrissy as to why she didn’t play her Super Idol at last week’s Tribal Council. Turns out she had a great reason behind not using it: She plans to keep the now “useless” Idol and use it as a “Decoy Idol” moving forward…meaning that if she gets in trouble, she will just flash this Idol or use it to strengthen an alliance. This could potentially prevent people from targeting her, knowing that she has a power to save herself after the votes (even though she doesn’t, the other players don’t know this!). Plus it obviously looks awesome and like a legit Idol, so it’s fair to assume nobody will probably question its authenticity. A brilliant move Chrissy! At least until she ends up playing the game with Ryan, who will know that it’s a bogus Idol since he’s the one who gave it to her.
Chrissy looks to be one of the front-runners, and if I had to place a pick for Sole Survivor right now, I’d pick her. She looks to be great at assessing the game and knowing where she stands…and choosing Ben as her “ride-or-die” seems to be a great move. But unlike other, lesser players, that doesn’t mean that she has to burn all of her other bridges. Even though we hear Chrissy have doubts about her other tribe mates, pretty much everybody else on the Heroes tribe believes they are aligned with her.
The other player to watch however, is Ali. Over the course of the first two episodes, she definitely is getting a lot of screen-time, especially for not doing all too much. She looks to be very strategic and to have a great social game…but as we know, Ryan and Devon are super-tight and if she is a third-wheel to this alliance it could cost her. That being said, she seems to have both Lauren and Patrick on her side and is in a great position thus far.
The Healers contributed with some good drama as well this week. Joe – who looks to be the season’s most aggressive player out of the gates – finds a clue to an Idol and then shares this intel with Cole. Together, they manage to find it (although it is technically Joe’s Idol). Joe didn’t necessarily want to bring Cole in on it, but admitted that he probably wouldn’t have figured out the clue without Cole’s help. So Joe has an Idol, but Cole is in a budding showmance with Jessica and as the preview for next week shows, Cole isn’t all that loyal to Joe. Joe may be too focused on getting rid of Dr. Mike – for who knows why? – to see the forest for the trees.
Episode Take-away: Again, it may not have been the best episode of Survivor, but I really enjoyed getting to know these players and seeing the dynamics start to reveal themselves. There seems to be a lot of really likable contestants, and several that are going to be playing the game strategically. Players like Simone are usually not long for this game,..not just because she is scared of bugs and seemed totally out of her element, but because her muted personality just isn’t intense enough to win screen-time away from others like Patrick. Time will tell if Ali made the right call in getting rid of Simone, but I feel like she did…as quiet and reserved as Simone was, she did seem to be game-smart in the sense that she was willing to do whatever it took to stay in the game. Patrick may be obnoxious, but – forgive me for saying so – he just seems a bit dimmer when it comes to the game. A loyal dim-wit? That’s the ideal partner for a social strategist such as Ali.
Strategic Move of the Week: The move really took place last week, but because Chrissy revealed her motives behind it this week, we’ll count it. I think this “Decoy Idol” could be a great tool moving forward, and buys Chrissy far more power than had she just used it to save Katrina.
Voted out this week: Simone
Won Immunity: Heroes and Healers Tribes (also won fishing gear)
Vote: No Idols or advantages played. 5 – Simone (Ali, Patrick, Ryan, Devon, Lauren), 1 – Patrick (Simone)
Next Week’s Episode: The rift between Patrick and Lauren begins to grow, with the word “hate” thrown around…meanwhile Cole spills the beans to Jessica about Joe having found an Idol, and they discuss whether or not they should try taking him out.
QUICK NOTE! Being out of town this week, my Podcast Exit Interview will post on Friday instead of the usual Thursday. So remember to return right here to RealityTea for my FilmSurvivor Podcast on Friday, where you can listen to my full exit interview with Simone. Last but not least, I encourage you to check out my weekly movie reviews. And as always, the easiest way to get all of my Survivor coverage and movie reviews is to follow me on Twitter – @tomsantilli – or on Facebook.
TELL US – WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THIS EPISODE? DID JOE MAKE A HUGE MISTAKE IN TRUSTING COLE? AND NOW THAT YOU’VE SEEN TWO EPISODES, WHO DO YOU PREDICT WILL BE SOLE SURVIVOR THIS SEASON?
Photo Credit: CBS/Monty Brinton/Robert Voets/Timothy Kuratek/Jeffrey Neira
