Survivor Heroes vs. Villains Episodes 3 and 4

It's fun to compare how both tribes are going about getting rid of "problem players" for lack of a better term.

In Episode 3, the villains were concerned with Parvati getting too ingrained in the tribe and beginning to set her path to the final 4. Everybody recognized her as a threat, but in the end, they chose to put the strength of the tribe ahead of the potential of a player destroying their game by voting out Randy over Parvati. In part this was because most of the villain tribe believes they are actually able to run the show and deal with "problems" like Parvati whenever they want. There was also a bit of reality setting in. They realized they were not unbeatable. If they wanted to avoid Tribal Council, it was best to get rid of the weakest player (in this case, Randy.)

In Episode 4, we saw the other end of the spectrum. The Heroes tribe had been to Tribal Council twice already, so they had already devolved into self-preserving alliance forming early on. This was driving their decision to get rid of Tom or Colby. There was no thought to what would make the tribe stronger, no matter what platitudes were being spouted by Rupert. When Tom and Colby made their move to counter the anti-Tom/Colby movement, they chose Cirie because of her mid/late game play, not to make the Heroes tribe stronger.

As the game goes on, both tribes will continue to move along the path of the Heroes - make alliances, cover your own butt. It's the bature of the game. For now though, it is interesting to watch the Heroes tribe act more like Villains, while the Villains tribe act like Heroes (well, Boston Rob at the very least.) I doubt the producers expected this, but I believe they are loving the storyline being handed to them.