Survivor: Tocantis Thoughts - 04/23/09

A quick post because I'm still blown away by this episode.

Last episode, when Brendan was voted out, I thought that JT and Steven were screwed, all because of their own stupidity. They chose an alliance with Coach, Tyson et al where they were in the minority. And they weren't going to be in a position to change that without aligning with Sierra, which they were dead set against for reasons that are still unclear.

Meanwhile, Sierra was screwed, and nobody was trying to make her feel otherwise. From Coach's suggestion to "take her death honourably", to Debbie's argument that Sierra wasn't loyal and Tyson's telling her to straight to her face that she was stupid, it did not look good for her.

A glimmer of hope arose when the immunity competition was a modified game of shuffleboard. Sure enough, with one rock left, Sierra was winning. But Debbie knocked Sierra out and won immunity.

While Sierra struggled to try to stay in the game, JT and Steven came up with a new plan. Why not get rid of Tyson, who had won 2 of the 3 immunity challenges? They knew that Sierra would vote for him, and they, along with Taj and Erinn, would have the numbers to execute their plan. Sure enough, Tyson is confident at Tribal Council, but gets blindsided and voted out in one of the most satisfying tribal councils that I can remember.

The thing that really bugs me is that I should have seen this result coming. The editing was very much showing Tyson as overconfident, and Sierra having no hope whatsoever. And yet, I was still convinced that Sierra was getting voted out. After 18 seasons, I should have seen the swerve coming. But I didn't, and I enjoyed the show immensely.

It goes without saying that this season has probably been the best in a long time, with blindside after blindside, likeable characters in JT and to a lesser extent Brendan, a great villan in Tyson, and the greatest character since Rupert in Coach. I can only hope that the season keeps up the pace it has set.