Grid Effect

Well, that was…different. Even if it was expected. I know I’m supposed to jump on the internet bandwagon and decry how much Randy deserved to be laughed at and embarrassed on national television (and from what we can tell he very well did, I have no idea what happened off camera) but I’ve never been the real vindictive type and I think Susie had it pegged when she described him as “sad”.

Randy is probably the oddest player I’ve ever seen on Survivor. Only he could consider it sound strategic play to walk around camp going out of his way to piss everyone off. I understood the logic of it (assure they all vote for him so they know who to give the idol to when Bob came back with it), but it ignores everyone’s intentions past the next day, much less if he would have been fortunate enough to make it to the final 2 or 3. The oddest thing about him is, instead of just acknowledging that he was fighting an uphill battle from the start, admit that the thing looked like a real idol and that he was fooled, he goes off on a tangent about how he wishes to see everyone eaten by some Gabon freak creature.

It’s amazing that for as vindictive as Sugar and Crystal — the latter of which whose been almost completely irredeemable up until last episode when Randy went after her (consciously or subconsciously) with a David Duke light tangent — were, virtually no one is showing any sympathy for Randy. That says a lot about how he carried himself on this show and probably back home. Unfortunately, being the bleeding heart that I apparently am, can’t take too much glee in how Randy was sent packing. Sugar has always struck me as above all the petty bickering, but the ruse to get Randy to play a fake immunity idol proved otherwise.

Never has a cookie caused so much upheaval amongst adults.

She’s still a strong player, seems decent enough and I wouldn’t have any problem with her winning. Additionally, the fact that neither Corinne, Bob or Randy would even consider that she found the idol, proves that they all deserve to be sent home (How does Bob not realize this? Or any of them since Ken chose to send him to Exile. And why did he choose Bob?).

But sending him home should have been enough repercussions, not to mention that it is just poor strategy. He’s going to figure something is afoot, and the more people that flood into Ponderosa the likelier he is to figure out who went out of their way to humiliate him. Considering it was done purely out of spite kind of dampers the spectacle for us. The fact that they had numbers enough to guarantee that he was being sent home is the only reason they were able to pull off such a plan in the first place. It is rare you see that kind of solidarity on Survivor, but I suppose Randy just brings that out of people. Shit, even Charlie and Marcus were laughing at him, and as much as anyone sans Corinne, those two are supposed to be his friends. I guess that speaks to why Bob told Sugar about the fake idol, and why he agreed to use it for nothing more than someone else’s payback.

Onto others in the game, Randy had obviously pissed off everyone long before the master plan he stayed up “all night” concocting, because they really had it out for him at the auction. Several seem to be questioning Ken foregoing everything in the auction after he sent Bob to exile, and I can understand the reasoning: He is already thinking about the jury. Right now, between the three people on the jury, after Matty, Ken is probably the most liked in his alliance. Everyone in that alliance probably assumes this and that will make Matty all the more likely to be a target if it comes down to the five of them.

So, if it comes down to Ken and any mix of Sugar, Suzie or Crystal, who do you think Corinne is going to vote for now that Ken let her have that clue he didn’t need to win anyhow? Or Matty after he let him have that burger? In the short term it seems illogical to come into all that money and not use it, but in the long it makes the most sense. I mean, just look at what uproar those cookies caused.
Looking ahead though, there shouldn’t be much spontaneity for the next two or three episodes if everything goes according to plan (which means Corinne would go home, which we can’t wait for, because of this article here). In lieu of having any more South Park recaps for awhile, we’ll probably do a ranking of the seven remaining participants. We really have no idea how to go about this, as this isn’t the strongest group of players we’ve seen. The fact that the biggest power move played was essentially an elaborate prank kind of speaks to that.

Still, an eventful hour of television that we would be lying to say we weren’t entertained by it. These are the types of eventful episodes everyone trudges through those first five or six episodes of every season for and why, in this site’s humble opinion, this is still the best reality series available on television.

Sunny finale and Office recaps later.