Grid Effect

Even with the pathetically generic title, this was a pivotal episode for so early in the season. Let’s get right to it…

Jaime and Erik sit around in that disgusting lake water as it sifts in and out of there mouths exchanging innocuous details about themselves, like middle names and such. After confining to her that he’s a virgin, Jaime tells him about the Hidden Immunity Idol. It’s a bizarrely edited little scene.

Back at Fei Long, James has a platonic crush on Denise, implying that if they were ten years closer in age she might have a suitor. Denise, while liking his company, is content to ride his coattails as well.

Fei Long gets a message asking them to pick two “warriors” off the other team they would most want on their team, and Zhan-Hu is presumably getting the same message. The former assumes they’re swapping two players, while the latter, for whatever reason, just assumes they’re getting two players without sacrificing any, to “even out the game”. Which, first of all, evening out the game would be getting one player from the other team, not just switching positions (going from up two to down two). And…

They are shocked (SHOCKED!) that Sherea and Frosti have been summoned by Fei-Long. This entire scene is a testament to the poor casting this season. PG and Jaime hug, really intensely, over the parting of Frosti, whom they’ve known for 13 days. And Sherea, someone they were all deliberating sending home less than two days ago.

Fei Long is bitter about losing James and Aaron. Especially Jean Robert, who pouts about it considerably. I believe he sums it up as, “It’s a bad day for Fei Long, and an awful day for Jean Robert”. Jean Robert says they should discuss the game plan before the two new members arrive. None of them seem to realize why this might be in there best interest, or else they’re playing dumb because they don’t want to have to talk with him.

The two pairs of castaways switching teams cross paths on the river. I would have mutinied if I were James.

When they get to the camp they receive gift baskets, meaning no reward challenge.

James, not surprisingly, being a gravedigger and all, says he likes misery as opposed to happiness. He tries to extract information out of them, but they do not budge.

Frosti is glad to wake up with the rest of his new tribe to discover that none of them like Jean Robert as the scapegoat is pleading with them to assist them in cooking breakfast, they interpret it as barking orders because they can.

PG and Jaime decide to toss the challenge after doing the numbers game, which is flawed for the following reasons:

1) There plans are contingent on the fact that the producers, who now probably resent them for sabotaging their newly added “twist”, will not retaliate.

2) They weren’t in anyway discrete, so what’s to stop James from telling everybody on Fei-Long (I suppose I just gave away who went home, but its been a week already).

3) They have to merge at exactly ten. If they merge at eleven, they’re screwed. If they merge at 9 or under, they’re screwed. Unless the diminutive Jaime, PG and Erik can win a challenge amongst the three of them, which I’ve only seen evidence to the contrary.

4) They’re relying on Sherea and Frosti to re-merge. Frosti would presumably be a shoe-in. Sherea, however, who was ecstatic with the change despite the significant disadvantage it put the other three transferred contestants at, wasn’t exactly relating to the original Zhan-Hu.

Again, I understand the rationale and the attempted creativity, but with all these mitigating factors that need to go exactly right, just to have even numbers into a merge, they would have had a better chance at persuading Aaron and/or James to join their alliance. A daunting task? Sure, but now they’re set to be scorned around camp post-merge, regardless of how things pan out, making all the aforementioned circumstances that much more unlikely to swing in their favor.

Good luck with the ruse, kids.

At the challenge, Erik and Aaron go retrieve discs underwater used for a puzzle that Jaime, James and PG are going to solve, They get a fairly significant lead and PG and Jaime do the worst cover job possible while throwing this thing, yet James, seemingly not expecting the worst in people, isn’t expressing any suspicions, though he looks skeptical, as he should.

Probst points out Jaime’s lackluster approach, James starts to get frustrated. James tells PG to stop letting Jeff distract her with his commentary. Fei Long wins in a landslide, which they celebrate, and though they would have no idea, they must look back on it now and feel a tad ridiculous. Jeff calls it “the worst performance at a challenge yet”, which is some real hyperbole.

James and PG cannot quit giggling, which seemed to offend more people than the actual throwing of the challenge. Personally, I don’t find any of it offensive, just remarkably idiotic. Erik is brought in on the plan after the challenge, and when PG brings up the fact that Erik is talking to the James and Aaron, Jaime replies in a cocky, indifferent demeanor that only a woman could say about a virgin who’s interested in her while playing Survivor, “he’s not going anywhere”. Which is evident when he says to James and Aaron: “I feel like I have to vote with them”. I mean, kind of. They are part of his original alliance, but they left him in the dark about throwing a challenge which almost killed Jean-Robert. Good golly, you can just sense the inexperience seeping through the small screen.

James insists on the team sending him home for his own sanity. People continue to say that James and Aaron were “outplayed”, given the circumstances, I’m not sure how they could have outplayed the other alliance. If anything, I’d classify them as being fucked horrendously by some shortsighted girls, the producers and their own athletic prowess, which led to them being brought over to the new tribe in the first place.

At TC they come forward with the full on omission that they threw the IC. Nothing much else is said of interest, they go to the vote, James votes for PG, Aaron votes for James, they read as such:
PG
James
Aaron
Aaron
Aaron
He goes off demoralized and probably feeling a little slighted. Jeff all but tells PG and Jaime they’re morons and will rue the day they decided to do this.

In his parting words, Aaron wishes James the best of luck and non-curses the rest of Zhan Hu.

Tonight: An eating challenge. That’s it. It will probably be a climatic episode, given the succinctness of the previews.