Grid Effect

Pretty mundane episode. I thought Alex made a decent case to vote out Yau-Man, but the contestants voted with their hearts instead of their heads. Really my only rooting interest is that Stacy is outed sooner than later. Onto the recap…

Pre-credits scene, Apparently Alex had a sneaking suscpiscion that they would split the vote between him and Mookie (hence his vote for Mookie). Earl was worried they would vote for each other and since that was true for Alex, Earl gets really heavy handed and tells Boo and Stacy that’s the last time he will ever do something he’s opposed to. Fucking King-Tut-ish is the best way to classify this vhastising. I am surprised he didn’t force them to sacrifice an appendage. Stacy apparently approached Alex and said she wants to be friends with Alex after the show. Alex’s response, “Like I care”, at least to the camera. Stacy asked Boo what’s going on, he says everyone is talking except her and Alex, she probably doesn’t appreciate the association. And Boo is downright Blairwitch cryptic in this exchange, she storms up to the circle, late, and symbolically out of the loop.

Nice overhead shot of the Fijian hills, or some hills in Fiji, whichever title is appropriate. While everyone is sleeping, Alex said he is just laying low and going all Buster Bluth on us. He says he’s like a ninja right now, but if you’re going to say you’re trying not to be seen or heard, the correlation to the Wilford School For Boys is too easy. Earl wants to bring Dreamz into a four alliance with Yau, Cassandra and Dreamz. Saying that Dreamz is occasionally shaky, but has been proving himself. Wow, that’s a lot of trust instilled on someone who turned on his former alliance just to “mix things up”.

Yau would rather bring in Boo or Stacy, because he says Dreamz and Cassandra would never vote for each other. He says he wishes Michelle was still around. I have never heard someone reminisce in casual conversation like that before. He wants Stacy because obviously all three of them would be prone to vote out Stacy before each other. You have to love how he sees the big picture.

At TC, they are ripping pieces of meat off a giant pork ball with their hands tied behind their back. Whoever has the most on their plate when time expires, wins. The winner sends one person to exile island and receives an advantage in the next IC that comes in the form of a velvet bag, that person along with the two runner ups will do a helicopter tour.
The conventional logic here is to tear off a piece simultaneously with someone else so the pork ball is more steady. No one is inclined to work with Alex. Boo looks like the favorite, Yau is doing well for himself and after that it’s a toss-up. This was all very “Lord of The Flies” and I have expected them to start hunting Alex. The results:
Boo: 9 lbs
Yau: 6 lbs
Cassandra: 5.8 lbs
Stacy: 4.3 lbs
Earl: 5 lbs
Dreamz: 6lbs
Alex: 5.2 lbs

So Boo wins, along with Yau and Dreamz getting to go on the reward challenge. He sends Earl to Exile, prefacing it with, “I know you don’t take this personally”. Yeah, but it doesn’t mean I want to go, dickhead.

The helicopter shows up the following day at camp. It is fairly scenic, apparently Yau grew up on islands similar to the ones they are flying over. He and Dreamz were annoyed by Boo’s incessant talking, it isn’t portrayed as all that agitating, but moe as them being overly sensitive. They hiked to a remote locale raft for some white-water rafting. Dreamz sums up the experience, “went white water rafting, probably never do it again, would like to take my family on something like this”. Alright, its unpopular, but I am actively rooting for him to win now. Especially with the way the he turned an otherwise dull season into something more eventful.

At exile, Earl is ecstatic for the idol clue.

Back at reward, they stopped somewhere random, except this random stop enabled them to eat caviar, lunch meat, and other assorted items. They also received letters from back home. Thankfully, its not a sappy, tearful moment until Dreamz gets a letter from his sister that invokes some emotion, but its not so over emotional that it queues the awful, sympathetic classical music.

With everyone (minus Earl) at camp now, everyone agrees they’re annoyed with Boo’s talking. Ironically, they’re all sitting around talking while Boo is by himself as quiet as a mouse. Alex, instead of recruiting him and going for two other likely candidates (namely Stacy and Dreamz), he begins to advocate for Boo’s ouster over his own.

At IC, Boo’s advantage is climbing steps, which implies he foregoes the first round and automatically advances to the final, because everyone else has to dig for theirs. The steps allow them to climb a pole, and plant a flag. First one to plant their flag wins. Dreamz gets his first step, Cassandra is playing like many in her position tend to do: with nothing to lose. Alex is going to reach the center of the Earth eventually. Dreamz gets his second step…and his third. He moves on. Yau gets his first, Alex gets his first, the two start throwing their sand into each others lane. Alex is the second contestant to get all three.

So it’s Boo, Alex and Dreamz in the finals. They start in the water, Boo gets out to a quick lead but Alex skips the steps and just shimmies up the thing. Unfortunately for him, he cannot get on the platform, and Boo takes it in a landslide of sorts. He begins giving a lot of raspy, overtly masculine, “Yahh”’s.

Boo is ecstatic, he probably started to feel a little isolated with everyone gawking at him and talking. Yau claims he won’t need to use his idol, which means he will. Al;ex has decided to try an inverted approach and wait for someone to talk to him, because an aggressive approach seldom works. Which is true, but being intentionally passive is probably counter-effective as well. One, it gives people the opportunity to play the “He must not want to stay here” card. Two, if they’re all secure for one more Tribal Council, why would they go out of their way to help you?

Never the less, Cassandra is the first person to do so. I really think she was just trying to be courteous, because she’s a genuinely nice person, but then Alex not so subtly transitions from “I think I played a game my children could be proud of” (literally, that’s what he says), to “You HAVE to vote out Yau-Man or you won’t make it through the day” (this is obviously figurative). Either way he begins to sound persuasive when he plays the angle that Cassandra is next on the chopping block, then uses the same tactic with Dreamz, then he does the worst thing possible and fills in Earl. Earl seems to think it’s a joke, says to Cassandra about Alex, “Don’t try to lawyer me”. Stacy seems to be on board with whatever Cassandra decides. Wasn’t she all dismissive and indifferent towards her back on the original Moto? Yau has to play his idol before votes are read so it now seems entirely possible that Yau is voted out. As of now, we know who Yau, Earl and Alex are all voting for, the other four votes are swing, which is unusual.

At TC, Alex plays the morality card again, despite trying to ruse the entire team, essentially. Yau is unphased, saying he can trust them and will not need to play the idol. Alex is surprised how confident everyone is at council, meaning they are all either really trustworthy or their decision is made or both. Jeff asks all of them if they are concerned:
Alex: Yea
Cassandra: No
Dreamz: No
Earl: No
Yau: No
Stacy: No
We go to the vote, Alex and Yau vote for each other, Yau does not play his idol, they are read as such:
Alex
Yau-Man
Alex
Alex
Alex
Kind of really poor play by Dreamz, Cassandra, Boo, and Stacy. But at least loyalty still counts for something, that’s the silver lining. I guess. Clearly Alex made a decent case and they just weren’t going to be swayed.

In his parting words, Alex encourages “All the kids who feel like their situation is hopeless, to never stop dreaming, never stop fighting, you can and will amaze yourself”. Yikes. he clearly is an Ivy-Leaguer, way too optimistic to be anything but. Should I mention the fact that everyone voted for him despite all his hope and ferocity? Oh, I guess I just did.

Tonight, Now we want to take out Yau, He attempts to cut a deal at reward or immunity challenge, nothing much else indicated.