tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55273647853429718302024-03-13T04:53:24.783-07:00BurnThisDiscussion of all things pop culture and mass media.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger320125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5527364785342971830.post-47328388643180003442019-12-03T14:55:00.000-08:002020-05-19T15:15:52.860-07:00Mad Men Season 6, Episode 2 Recap: The Collaborators<br />
The title of this episode, "The Collaborators," can refer to those who work together on a project or for a common end. Or it can have the more malignant meaning of ones who work with the enemy, usually surreptitiously. There is much talk this episode about faithfulness but most of the action centers around betrayal. Don and Pete each betray their wives by cheating, their paramours betray their own spouses and friends, Megan betrays Don with her silence, Peggy (albeit innocently) betrays Stan's confidence, a Heinz exec betrays a rival, and Don betrays a client.<br />
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And still the show has the audacity to have Don extolling the virtues of loyalty.<br />
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We've known that Don Draper was a serial cheater, who has little trouble living a dual life, since the start. And yet it is still jarring to see him exchange pleasantries with his new good friend Dr. Arnold Rosen while planning on going back to Arnie's place and having sex with Arnie's wife. Sylvia, with no shame, questions how easy it is for Don to switch back and forth from Arnold's friend to his betrayer. That's the difference between Don and the other unfaithful on the show. He acts without guilt, segmenting his actions and his thoughts into discreet areas that never commingle, enabling him to cheat without suffering any internal conflict. The others wring their hands and feel shame yet continue to cheat.<br />
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And speaking of cheating, Pete Campbell continues to try and emulate Don by using his Manhattan apartment to entertain one of Trudy's friends. She is smitten and tries in various ways to express to Pete that this is not just a casual affair. But Pete just brushes her aside callously. This is not a relationship to him, it's just a perk of his station of life. The house in the country, the partnership, the beautiful wife, and the mistress in the city. He's got it all. That is until the woman is beat up by her husband who learns about the affair and she eventually tells Trudy. It's sad that all Trudy wanted was the resemblance of a faithful marriage. With Pete in the City and her at home she could pretend that all was well. What she didn't know couldn't hurt her. But Pete didn't have the discretion to find someone on his own to have an affair with, he had to choose her friend from down the street.<br />
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Sylvia walks in on Megan berating her housekeeper and later discovers that Megan is on edge because she's been keeping a secret from Don. Two weeks before she had a miscarriage and she still hasn't told Don. It could be because her Catholic guilt that makes her feel somehow responsible for the unborn life but more likely it's because she realizes that she was relieved not to be pregnant. Her career is starting to take off and this would be the wrong time to have a baby. And so she's kept this news to herself to not have that conversation with Don. Meanwhile, Sylvia, with whom Don is cheating, is being a comforting and nonjudgmental presence for Megan in her time of need. Not at all awkward.<br />
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Also not awkward, when Don comes home to find his wife in tears and his mistress looking uncomfortable and eager to leave. As Sylvia leaves, Don says, "See you tomorrow," and Sylvia looks like she's going to pass out until Don reminds her that the four of them have plans for dinner tomorrow night. So he wasn't making plans for their next dalliance in front of the wife. The next night, Megan is not feeling well (and as of yet still not telling Don why) and so he joins the Rosens for dinner. Until Dr. Rosen is pulled away for a medical emergency and Don and Sylvia are left to dine alone. They rush through their meal to get to what they really want and then each go home to their respective spouses as if nothing happened,<br />
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Peggy Olson is having the problem women have had from the first time they even approach cracking the glass ceiling at work. If you're too nice, you're not strong enough or tough enough to be in charge. If you're too hard, you're a bitch. And thus her male underlings prank her with a faux product: Quest Feminine Hygiene Powder. "Proof points--has baking soda, makes you nicer if you're stinky, kills overly critical bacteria. Target--professional women and other Olsons." She later complains to Stan about her problems at work and he wasn't at all surprised. They share stories from work and it's a great relationship they have where they can safely go and complain. Except with Ted Chaough decides to use some of the information from the call to his firm's advantage.<br />
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Heinz ketchup, one of the bigger ad gets, is displeased with its current sales and wants a little of whatever has been helping the Heinz beans sector take off. One of Sterling Cooper's first clients was Heinz beans and the work they did for that department has resulted in a spike in sales, while the ketchup branch's sales have remained flat. So the young hot shot from ketchup asks for an introduction and to get some of that magic working for him. Don takes the meeting and all goes well until it becomes painfully clear that the beans guy does NOT want Don helping the smug pompous ketchup guy succeed and you get a perfect picture of the pettiness inside corporate America. So the question is, do you stick with the guy who supported you, gave you his business when no one else did, or do you dump him for the bigger, better part of the company. While Don and his group decide, Ted is working to steal the client out from under them thanks to the tip from Peggy. Peggy resists at first, not wanting to betray the trust of her old friend Stan. But Ted convinces her there are no friends in business and that you take whatever advantage happens to come your way.<br />
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There are other clients causing problems for Don. Herb Rennet, the pig who demanded a night with Joan in exchange for his vote on hiring the firm to represent Jaguar, is back. He wants Don and company convince the Jaguar team that more ad money should be directed at the local market, bringing in buyers, rather than in a national ad on the luxury and exclusiveness of the car. Don probably wouldn't like the redirection of his ad campaign if it came from any other client, but he has a particular disgust for Herb. And so he devises an ingenious plan of backstabbing Herb while pretending to do exactly what he asked for. In a sea of betrayals, it's one we can all rally behind.<br />
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The episode leaves some issues still to be resolved. Will Peggy put together a great pitch for Heinz that Stan learns about and will it harm their friendship? Will Herb find a way to punish Don et al. for sabotaging him? Will Pete ever stop chasing dreams of being Don Draper 2.0 and realize he had the good life and is throwing it away? And how long before Don slips up and puts Sylvia's marriage at risk? He's playing with fire--coming to her back door unannounced, leaving her money (no tie-in to his youth in a brothel there!), sneaking into the apartment when Arnold is away--and it is hard to imagine they won't both get burned. And all the while Bob Benson is just there, big puppy dog smile and eager to help. Nobody is that nice; what's his story?<br />
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<b>Quotes:</b><br />
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Sylvia: You don't mind sitting across the table from your wife and my husband?<br />
Don: I don't think about it.<br />
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Don: I have to go.<br />
Sylvia: You love to go.<br />
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Don: This didn't happen.<br />
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Herb: I know there's a part of you that's glad to see me.<br />
Joan: [looking at his gut] And I know there's a part of you that you haven't seen in years.<br />
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Peggy: Everyone hates me here.<br />
Stan: Well, that was bound to happen.<br />
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Trudy: I refuse to be a failure. I don't care what you want anymore. This is how it's going to work: You will be here only when I tell you you can be here. I'm drawing a 50-mile radius around this house, and if you so much as open your fly to urinate I will destroy you. Do you understand?<br />
Pete: You know what? You're going to go to bed alone tonight, and you're going to realize that you don't know anything for sure.<br />
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Sylvia: You enjoy how foolish they both look.<br />
Don: Now I understand. You want to feel shitty right up until the point where I take your dress off.<br />
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Roger: As my mother used to say, your options were dishonor or war. You chose dishonor, you might still get war.<br />
Don: That was Churchill.<br />
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<b>Observations:</b><br />
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Don's statement to Sylvia that "this didn't happen" (referring to their affair) harkens back to his quote to Peggy back in Season 2, Episode 5 , "It'll shock you how much this didn't happen." It is one of Don's greatest gifts--his ability to compartmentalize his life and ignore harsh truths as if they don't exist. It's his self-absorption that leads him to believe that this is as easy for everyone else to do as it is for him.<br />
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We can time stamp this episode as after October 17, 1967, the Broadway debut of "Hair." This hippie, counter-culture, free love and stop-the-war musical was shocking to some, with its nudity, raw language and depiction of drug usage. If you were to watch the watered-down film version, you might not get what all the fuss was about. But it was revolutionary at the time giving voice to a movement and to the fears and dreams of young people in the Vietnam era. I know that I listened to that cast album about an infinity amount of times as a youngster living in the boring San Fernando Valley, dreaming of going to Haight-Ashbury or even New York City to be cool and hip and free. You can watch a 50th anniversary performance <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fa9Oc9LAVdE" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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Another time marker is the reference to the North Koreans taking a US spy ship in January of 1968. The USS Pueblo was the only U.S. Navy ship held by a foreign government and its men were held and tortured for almost a year before finally being released. The ship is still in North Korea. For more information, you can start <a href="https://timeline.com/pueblo-north-korea-captured-a09d81ef2602" target="_blank">here</a>. Around the same time, the North Vietnamese launched what is now known as the Tet Offensive, a surprise attack on South Vietnamese sites during the Tet holiday. You can start your reading on this attack <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/tet-offensive" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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We also get another Dick Whitman flashback, this one showing how growing up with an unattractive bowl cut could scar one for life. And also how living in a whorehouse where you watch your evil stepmother get sexually assaulted while pregnant may negatively affect your relationship with women in the future. Who'd have thought? The whole flashback is unnecessary and too on the nose. Living around prostitution makes you a repeat philanderer? We didn't need it--it didn't make Don a sympathetic character and didn't explain his behavior, it just gave an easy out rather than holding him accountable for his actions.<br />
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Pete tells Bob that "his wife" asked him to get more toilet paper. In reality, it was his girlfriend who mentioned they were out last time she was at is apartment. Pete is keeping up appearances that he's still a happily married man with errands to run for the wife.<br />
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<b>Spoiler-y Observations: DON'T READ UNTIL YOU'RE ALL CAUGHT UP</b><br />
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The fact that Peggy regrets breaching Stan's confidence and is loathe to take advantage of his inside information could be because she harbors some feelings for Stan (as will come to light next season) or because she still feels some loyalty to Don and her old firm. They did give her the opportunities to learn and develop her talents and become the bad ass ad exec. In the end, she can't abandon Don or the firm forever. She just needed to be appreciated and not taken for granted.<br />
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This episode makes it clear that Megan's number one goal is to become a successful actress and she won't let anything stand in the way of her dream. Not Don, not motherhood. She gave up her dream for a while, she won't make that mistake again as she ultimately moves to Hollywood, <i>sans</i> Don, to pursue her dream.<br />
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We ultimately learn that Bob Benson, who references his preppy, blue-blood background, was in fact an invention (much like Don Draper). A creation built to replace the boring West Virginia boy he wanted to leave behind.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5527364785342971830.post-19098842510489711612019-10-17T15:24:00.001-07:002019-11-06T07:16:12.567-08:00Mad Men Season 6, Episode 1 Recap: The Doorway"I want you to be yourself."<br />
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Hasn't that been the whole quest of Donald Draper, nee Dick Whitman, for lo these past five seasons? Be himself, whoever that is, whatever that means. He has donned many identities--scrappy salesman, successful ad man, suburban husband and father, cheater, divorcé, modern married Manhattanite, partner--yet none seem to satisfy him. He's in a constant state of wanting something else or discovering that what he has will never be enough. But when your whole identity is built upon a lie, can you ever find your truth?<br />
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Don's search for answers takes him from Dante's trip through the nine circles of Hell to the arms of another in his seemingly endless list of paramours. Along the way he questions life's meaning and leans on alcohol to quiet the noises in his head. Like Roger, he seems consumed by the ultimate of life's question--what's it all about? His drunken questions to Jonesy the doorman about what happens after you die come on the heels of his embarrassing performance at the wake for Roger's mother. Why can't he be happy seems tied up in what does this all mean anyhow?<br />
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Both Don and Roger take stock of their lives this episode. Don has it all--his beautiful wife is now happily employed as a daytime TV actress, his business is booming, he jets to Waikiki Beach for work--while Roger is feeling the nagging absence of anyone significant in his life. His mother's death is a reminder of the relationships he's ignored (not just his mother, but his daughter and grandson) in search of that magic pill that will make him feel complete.<br />
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Roger can't help but notice that his only family connections have purse strings attached and that "I love you" means, thanks for the money. He was loved unconditionally and, in his mind, undeservedly by one woman his whole life and now she's gone. He pushed away the other women who tried to love him and they've moved on with there lives. What else is there for him?<br />
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Roger and Don's quest for answers is at least more plausible than Betty's quest to find Sally's friend Sandy. The whole storyline is silly and just an excuse to remind viewers of the counter-culture the show mostly ignores. The show skipped over the summer of love and went straight through to disengaged youth thumbing their collective noses at the war-waging capitalist hegemony. What I think we're supposed to take away in Betty's journey through one circle of Hell's Kitchen is that she, like Roger and Don, is dissatisfied and unfulfilled and part of her envies the wanderlust and freedom of youth while another part is worried about what happens to a young girl who has her dream destroyed. Any question of whether Betty's slumming was for the girl's sake or hers was answered when she comes back out of the rabbit hole with dark hair. She can't or won't do the work of finding out what is really troubling her or what she needs. She can't fix herself, so a new can of paint will do the trick.<br />
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At the very beginning of the episode we are introduced to a new character Dr. Arnold Rosen saving the life of doorman "Jonesy." Dr. Rosen and his lovely wife Sylvia live in the same downtown high-rise as the Drapers. He is a short nebbishy guy who saves lives who looks up to (literally and figuratively) the suave and distinguished guy who makes people want to buy things. The world was and continues to be a strange place where how hot you are is more important that what you do. He and his wife have become close enough friends to spend New Year's Eve together and this may be the first time we've seen Don happily interacting with another couple.<br />
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The war in Vietnam is becoming more at the forefront of everyone's life, in small ways and large. While in Hawaii, Don meets a soldier on leave for his wedding and carries the memory with him throughout the episode in the form of a lighter. The soldier talks about having eight more months and it's impossible not to wonder if he'll be as lucky as Don to make it out of the war alive. Horrific war stories are turned into sick jokes on late night television and, along with the nightly news, starts to rouse the sleepy public about what is going on "over there." And kids become cynical at a much younger age now that they are forced to face their own mortality earlier than ever before.<br />
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Bob Benson. Suddenly he appears and no one knows his story. He "bumps into" Don in the elevator with a cup of coffee and a pitch to get some time with him. He puts his name onto a gift basket for a funeral he wasn't invited to. He hangs out in the middle of the office, striking up conversations with whomever walks by. Ken is suspicious, possibly because Ken is a writer and spends time thinking about people and their motivations and it less likely to take things at face value. And there's something suspicious about his eagerness, his puppy dog enthusiasm, his habit of placing himself in the right place at the right time Who is Bob Benson?<br />
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Peggy is finishing 1967 with a job that she does very well and a boyfriend who brings her cold sandwiches to work. She still remembers the work-related advice Don gave her and she still continues to shine. She has to quickly rework a TV ad and her crisis management skills are on fire. She also manages to keep up her friendship with Stan and they keep each other company on New Year's Eve as they work from their respective offices. Ted, who Peggy had frantically been searching for all episode, shows up after she's solved the problem and proudly feeds her some Wizard of Oz line of the power being with her all along. But even over the phone Stan can hear that Ted really likes Peggy more than as just a proud boss.<br />
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Don and Megan's trip to Hawaii was to get acquainted with the Royal Hawaiian hotel on Waikiki Beach, ahead of a new marketing pitch. So after a few days in paradise--endless sun, sandy beaches, warm tropical breezes--what is Don's takeaway? Hawaii, a great place to kill yourself. He is shocked when the clients look at the print ad and see visions of a man walking alone into the Pacific to end it all. Don thought he was conveying freedom and peacefulness. But even Stan saw the image as suicidal. Don could still be haunted by the two suicides he's been touched by (notice how the still tied tie in the picture could refer to how those men killed themselves) or he just has a strong fatalistic streak that sees paradise as something you have to die for to earn. The clients want to see their hotel, the famous outline of Diamond Head, not a man's footprints into oblivion.<br />
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Oh, so that's why Don was reading Dante on vacation. It was a gift from his new mistress, Mrs. Arnold Rosen. The surprise scene of their affair hearkens back to the stunner in the pilot when Don left his girlfriend to come home to his then wife and kids. But, Don's infidelity has never gone this far before. He's cheated on his wives, he's even cheated on girlfriends, but to cheat with the wife of a friend. That is low, even for Don. How can he live with himself knowing he's betraying not just his wife but Sylvia's husband? His guilt is not enough, he claims he wants to stop but the power is his. He hasn't.<br />
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So what are the doorways of this episode? There's the one that leads to the scuzzy rat's nest that Sandy escaped to when the other one--the one to her dream of studying at Julliard--was shut. There's the doorway that leads from the hallway to Sylvia's apartment, where Don escapes his marriage to break the sanctity of another's. There are the endless doorways that Roger spoke of that lead ultimately to nowhere. The largest doorway of course is the one through which we exit this world, and it is the doorway the show is focusing ever more on. The gang is getting older and they're all starting to lose things and they're all facing that reality. If you're lucky you can ignore this while at a luau in Honolulu, or smoking weed and having sex overlooking the ocean, or over a late night chat with an old friend. If you're unlucky, you cry alone in your office and wonder what it's all for.<br />
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<b>Quotes:</b><br />
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Sandy: You go to college. Meet a boy. You drop out. You get married. Struggle for a year in New York while he learns to tie and tie, and then move to the country and just start the whole disaster over.<br />
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Therapist: I can't laugh at everything you say.<br />
Roger: Either it's funny or it's not. I don't know how you can control yourself.<br />
Therapist: It's hard sometimes.<br />
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Roger: What are the events in life? It's like you see a door. The first time you come to it you say, "Oh, what's on the other side of the door?" Then you open a few doors. Then you say, "I think I want to go over that bridge this time. I'm tired of doors." Finally you go through one of these things and you come out the other side and you realize that's all there are-- doors and windows and bridges and gates. And they all open the same way and they all close behind you.<br />
Look, life is supposed to be a path and you go along and these things happen to you and they're supposed to change you. Change your direction. But it turns out that's not true. It turns out the experiences are nothing. They're just some pennies you pick up off the floor, stick in your pocket, and you're just going in a straight line to you-know-where.<br />
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The inscription on the lighter: In life we often have to do things that just are not our bag.<br />
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Roger: You know, I used to jump off mountains. It never occurred to me I had this invisible parachute.<br />
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<b>Observations:</b><br />
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Don is reading Dante's Inferno because of course he is. It's such an easy breezy beach read. The first of the three part epic poem The Divine Comedy it depicts Dante's journey through the nine circles of Hell, aided by his guide, the poet Virgil. In each circle, those in the afterlife are punished for their misdeeds while on earth. Is Don wondering what will await him in the great beyond? Is he looking to understand himself better? Or did he think he'd look really cool delving into such deep material? Or was it his way of cheating on Megan without his girlfriend around. Reading the book your lover gave to you while lying next to your wife is next generation tackiness.<br />
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Roger insists to his therapist that he doesn't feel anything. He doesn't crack when he hears of his mother's death, nor at her memorial. But alone in his office after he's been given the shoeshine box from the shoeshine guy who just pass, all those feelings he swore he didn't have come rushing to the surface. Roger is always fast with the quips to keep everyone at arm's length, but he finally is facing the feelings of loss and loneliness he's been ignoring. He tells Don later that their job is to ignore the bad things, like the fact that the cigarettes they advertise will kill you. He had become very astute at doing that, not just at work, but in his home life as well.<br />
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It's hard to realize now, but there was a time when air travel was not so commonplace. Long trips (coast-to-coast in a zippy 20 hours) and high cost kept commercial aviation from, if you pardon the pun, taking off until the 1950s. But by 1967, where we start this season, both the length of trips and their cost was starting to come down and flying was more available to everyone. <br />
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Five years later, Cat Stevens will record a song that Roger will relate to. In "Sitting," he writes: "Life is like a maze of doors, and they all open from the side you're on. Just keep on pushing hard boy, try as you may, You're going to wind up where you started from..." This parallels Roger's therapeutic rant about doors. "You go through one of these things and you come out the other side and you realize that's all there are-- doors and windows and bridges and gates. And they all open the same way and they all close behind you." It's depressing and nihilistic and emblematic of man's search for meaning in life. Some call it a midlife crisis, but it can happen to anyone at anytime if they feel empty, directionless, unfulfilled. What am I doing, what am I doing it for, does any of it matter. In 1967 you had to face these deep issues. Now, you can go on Instagram and search "Cute puppies" and make the bad thoughts go away for awhile.<br />
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Speaking of doorways, and paths that lead to nowhere new, in Episode 3.01, Don said: I keep going places and ending up somewhere I’ve already been.<br />
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<b>*******************************************************************************</b><br />
<b>Spoilery--DON'T READ UNTIL YOU'RE ALL CAUGHT UP!!!</b><br />
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It warms my heart seeing Stan and Peggy on the phone, both working deep into the night, chattering about work gossip and making each other laugh. A small moment like this is paid off big time when they finally realize that they belong together!<br />
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Bob Benson was an enigma from the beginning. Other than terminally delightful receptionist Meredith, no one is that chipper all the time. It took some time, but we finally had our answer to who was Bob Benson and what was his deal. Bob was Don Draper 2.0. He didn't steal anyone's identity or do anything quite that extreme, but he did weasel his way into the job he wanted by being whatever anyone wanted him to be. He created a person and then acted as if he were that person and for a while it worked. But in the Season 6 finale, Bob gave us the greatest gif(t) of all time, the "Not great, Bob" elevator scene.<br />
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They dropped a nice hint in this episode that the war would become front and center for the Rosens, when mentioning their son was in college. This was the height of the Vietnam War draft but college deferments kept certain men from serving, This issue came up later when their son is selected as 1A for the draft.<br />
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While Roger is indeed lost and sad this episode, we only have to wait one more season for him to find true happiness. It's worth the wait!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5527364785342971830.post-2028186197454129402019-10-15T16:23:00.001-07:002019-10-17T09:34:11.201-07:00Mad Men Season 5 Episode 13 Recap: The PhantomLife goes on, as painful, disappointing, and awkward as ever. Don is dealing with a literal pain in his mouth from a bum tooth, Megan is dealing with the double disappointment of both failing as an actress and having her artistic dreams belittled by her mother, and Pete is dealing with awkwardly engaging with the wife and the husband whose marital union he has--um--intruded upon. Poor Harry would rather complain about his lack of a window than take Lane's office and Don is seeing things. His deceased half-brother to be exact. Is he the phantom to which the title refers?<br />
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Or is it Lane? He is gone but still there, his empty chair a stark reminder of his presence and his absence. Joan takes up the talking points Lane would have raised at the partner's meeting but all she accomplishes is moving the discussion to a later date. Things are going great at the firm, at least money-wise, the only-wise that they used to all care about. Yet, no one seems that excited by the success. When you get what you want--at least what you told yourself you wanted--it's never really enough is it?<br />
<br />
It makes sense that Don would start imagining his late brother hanging around. He was, at least in his mind, somewhat responsible for Adam's suicide. He wasn't there for his brother when he needed him. Adam asked for help and received a chilly response and an offer of money. Lane too had asked Don for help and Don was cool and unemotional in response. He didn't register either man's desperation nor their need for something more from him than detached advise. And now both are dead at their own hands.<br />
<br />
Joan feels the guilt about not being there for Lane and while Don claims he feels no responsibility, his hallucinations and dental pain tell a different story. When later he goes to Lane's widow with a check and an apology, he's doing it for himself. To ease his pain and guilt. But she doesn't allow him to use the gesture to make himself feel better and calls out the hypocrisy and selfishness in his visit.<br />
<br />
Disappointing people is what Don is good at. Especially when he thinks he is being helpful. He doesn't see how his lack of support of Megan's acting is hurting her, once again thinking the calm, rational advice he gives is sufficient to deal with someone's heartache. But Megan is more the "suffer in silence and keep up a good appearance" type, crying alone in the bathroom, wallowing alone in the bed, but not letting on to Don just how much he's hurt her.<br />
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<br />
But her mother, of course, as mothers do, will be there for Megan. Comfort and support her and help her find her way. Give her words of encouragement, shower her with love and understanding. Or...she will tell her daughter that she's a petulant needy child who pouts when she doesn't get her way and that it's time she grows up and puts away her ridiculous acting fantasy. The phantom, according to Marie, is the unattainable, unrealistic dream. She gave up hers, as all little girls must, and now she expects her daughter to do the same.<br />
<br />
Megan does not take this well and punishes herself and Don, pretending to be "the little woman" staying at home waiting for her man to come home. It's not what she wants, it's not what Don wants. But he was happy when she was at work with him and she won't be happy until she captures her phantom career. So Don has a choice. Help her with her dream or continue to fail to be there for anyone who needs him.<br />
<br />
The one bright spot for Don after one failed interaction after another is bumping into Peggy at the movies. Her is someone he helped and guided and who is now living her best life. Perhaps that is what gets him to actually look at Megan's reel and finally involve himself in her dreams. He couldn't help Adam, he couldn't help Lane--his widow made that extra plain in their brief meeting--but he could be a supportive husband.<br />
<br />
The phantom Pete chases in this episode is the dream of being suave and sophisticated and handsome and desirable. Basically, to not be Pete Campbell. Anyone else looking at his life--successful career, beautiful loving wife, adorable child, house out in the country--would think he has it all. But he is restless and unsatisfied and he searches for a more exotic, exciting life with his train buddy's wife, Beth. But Beth has her own demons and no amount of attention from Pete will keep the depression at bay. So, she goes in for electroshock therapy to quiet the noises in her head. Unfortunately for Pete, the cure not only cuts the dark thoughts from her brain, but any memory of their time together. He is scrubbed from her mind and is just some nice man who comes into her room to talk with her a bit. Pete is angry and frustrated that he can't have his dream life with Beth and instead is stuck in his suburban rut. But perhaps help is on the way. Trudy says he can have an apartment in the city, giving him carte blanhe now to live that life he thinks he deserves.<br />
<br />
We see Peggy at work, going after a potential new client, and later at the movies trying to clear her head. Don happens to be there too and it's a melancholy reunion between mentor and mentee. Don is the man who helped Peggy get her wings then grew angry when she wanted to fly. He taught her a lot and he is in large part responsible for her career, yet he held her back and she had no choice but to leave him to get the career she wanted. Does Don see how he this parallels his relationship with Megan? How he was only happy when she was under his roof, not when she wanted to be her own person? How afraid he is of being left that he holds on to the point of smothering?<br />
<br />
Elsewhere there is a new and improved Roger Sterling. His mind recently expanded, he has more clarity about what he wants in life. And it's a real relationship with his emotional and intellectual equal. No longer is he chasing his youth or fearing growing old. He is willing to embrace a challenging woman, someone who is independent and strong. And Marie, for her part, is putting herself first. Megan called her out for giving up on her dreams, now it's time for her to consider what she wants. No longer is she sacrificing for her children or her husband. She is seeking her own happiness.<br />
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<br />
<br />
As we wrap up this season, the partners at Sterling Cooper are looking forward. They are moving on and up, the success they've chased for years is finally at hand. So what does the future hold? As they stare into the Manhattan skyline, no one knows. But a beautiful woman comes up to Don and asks if he's alone and not one of us thinks the answer is no.<br />
<br />
<b>Quotes:</b><br />
<br />
Don: lt'll go away. lt always does.<br />
<br />
Marie: Not every little girl gets to do what they want. The world could not support that many ballerinas<br />
<br />
Pete: And then he realized everything he already had was not right either and that was why it had happened at all. And that his life with his family was some temporary bandage on a permanent wound<br />
<br />
Marie: This is what happens when you have the artistic temperament but you are not an artist.<br />
Take my advice, nurse her through this defeat and you shall have the life you desire.<br />
<br />
Conductor: I am an officer of a New Haven line!<br />
Pete: Well! I'm the president of the Howdy Doody Circus Army!<br />
<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Observations:</b><br />
<br />
The first "cigarette for women" that I remember growing up was Virginia Slims. They advertised on TV with the nascent women's lib-y: "you've come a long way, baby." In retrospect, now that we all know of the dangers of cigarettes, it doesn't look all that empowering for women to have a "cancer stick" designed just for them. But this was the sixties and women were suddenly on advertisers' radar for more than cleaning and beauty products thanks to the women's liberation movement. This is not to say that cigarette companies overlooked women before this. As far back as the 20s, shortly after women were finally given the vote, Philip Morris aimed their print ads at these newly enfranchised women. But this was the first time they were tailoring the design of their product exclusively for just one segment of the population.<br />
<br />
Electroshock therapy was used since its discovery in the 1930s to treat depression and other mental disorders. A small electric signal was sent into the brain, stimulating a mild seizure. While effective for many patients, it fell out of favor as being too "brutal" and dangerous. The book, and later movie, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, brought both the practice and its risks (including some memory loss and other side effects) to the public's attention and stigmatize the name and the therapy. Electroshock therapy was replaced with medication (the birth of the Prozac nation) and talk therapy. Now renamed <a href="https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/ect" target="_blank">Electroconvulsive therapy</a>, it is still in use today as an alternative when traditional approaches are not successful.<br />
<br />
We can all assume that Megan's friendship with that actress ended the first time the commercial ran on TV. Unlike today with 500+ channels and dozens of streaming services, if you were on a national TV commercial campaign in the 1960s, EVERYONE would see it.<br />
<br />
The theme of this episode was a little too on the nose. Don has something rotten inside him and he needs to get it removed. Whether it's guilt or shame, Don needs to confront his past and make better choices in the future. He took a good step with Megan, let's see next season if he can continue and become a better person. Or is that a fool's errand?<br />
<br />
Not enough Ginsberg. We only saw him for a brief moment pitching "reasonably priced" pantyhose. But his confidence--shown in his unwillingness to consider the client didn't like his pitch--was a delight. Not so delightful, the stains all over his shirt.<br />
<br />
I absolutely loved Joan hiding the fact that the firm was considering space on the 48th floor from Harry. She's a partner and he's not and she is not going to forget that.<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>******************************************************************************</b><br />
<b>Spoiler-y Observations: DON'T READ UNTIL YOU'RE ALL CAUGHT UP</b><br />
<br />
One of the most iconic moments of Mad Men was Peggy Olson, cigarette dangling from her lips, striding down the halls of McCann Erickson in Season 7, Episode 12, ready for her next chapter. To think it wouldn't have been possible without Ted Chaough encouraging to take up smoking for their new client. And therein lies the problem. Would that scene be as memorable without the cigarette? Does it not add to Peggy's bad ass-ness? And then we wonder why people continue to smoke even in the fact of the medical data.<br />
<br />
Pete asks Beth to run away to California with him. Trudy mentions getting a pool and how Pete is better when he gets some sun. So it won't be a tremendous surprise when Pete ends up in California, soaking up the sun. What will be a surprise is when he comes to his senses, realize he too has been chasing a phantom--the idea of being the suave, complicated, cheating Don Draper--and finds happiness just being boring old happily-married Pete Campbell.<br />
<br />
When we first saw Roger and Marie together there were two thoughts. One, how odd it was to see Roger with someone so age-appropriate. Two, that this was just a fling that would end badly. Not so fast. Roger and Marie turned out to be just what the other needed and seeing them grow up and meld their two lives was a high point of the last season.<br />
<br />
Peggy will realize that her career success has come at a price and that she should aspire to have it all. She's always seemed almost embarrassed by being good at her job and unworthy of wanting it all. But she continues to grow, in strength and in confidence, and may find the love she's been looking for was not that far away after all.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5527364785342971830.post-11012869478625071002019-01-24T12:54:00.000-08:002019-01-24T12:54:32.794-08:00Mad Men Season 5 Episode 12 Recap: Commissions and Fees<br />
This was Mad Men's Game of Thrones penultimate episode shocker, the one with a death that hit us all hard. Lane may not have been handsome, or suave, or charismatic, but he was the stolid presence, the glue that held the various raveling threads together. For the facade to finally crack, for the hopeless person underneath the crisp accent to bare himself, was disturbing and sad. We may have laughed at his failed attempts to woo Joan, we may have cringed at his desperate attempts to get his father's approval, but we thought he'd soldier on, stiff upper lip and all that. We did not expect to see him take such a brutal final act. But should we have? Weren't the signs there all along; wasn't there a thick cloud of dread hovering over Lane for some time now? It's so easy to ignore the signs at the time, so easy to see them after the fact.<br />
<br />
As we begin, all is very well at SCDP now that they have entered the Jaguar-era. Other agencies are licking their wounds and enviously chatting about SCDP's automotive coup. Pete is beaming as the wunderkind who landed the big one, bringing the company from the brink to its new-found car-filled success. Lane is being lauded as the genius responsible for the company's financial turnaround. Joan is settling comfortably into her new place at the partner's table. And only Don seems bothered by how all this good fortune was brought about.<br />
<br />
At Casa de Francis, Betty and Sally are butting heads as per usual. Sally is outraged her mother would have the audacity to make her go on a ski vacation (the witch!), Betty is over her daughter's adolescent moodiness. So, in one of the more entertaining exchanges between the exes, she calls Don and lets him know that her problem will soon be his. She's not asking, she's telling.<br />
<br />
But Don has bigger problems that an irate ex-wife and a temperamental daughter. Bert brings by a canceled check that Don appears to have signed, giving Lane his Christmas bonus. Now, everyone had agreed to forgo bonuses this year, but Lane is in a big of a sticky wicket having misappropriated some of the firms funds. He had to find some money from somewhere to cover up his misdeed and so he forged Don's signature. As the chief financial officer for the company, he assumed this would go unnoticed. But with all the talk at the partner's meeting about changing the billing practices, unfortunately for him, Bert decided to check out the books.<br />
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Presented with the evidence, Lane at first tries to gaslight Don. We all sign so many things during the day, we can't possibly remember all of them. And a check for a substantial sum of money, for a bonus that no one else had agreed to, would easily slip one's mind. But the facade quickly crumbles and the truth pours out. While Don and the partners have been living the high life, Lane has not benefited from the company's success. He owed taxes and simply didn't have the money to pay them. Too proud to ask for a loan, too embarrassed to let Don know of his financial problems, he tried to make the problem go away. He "advanced" himself his bonus, expecting to cover it up when the bonus came. But it didn't come.<br />
<br />
Lane is devastated, to say the least. He has always wanted to be seen as an equal partner, to be respected and esteemed. But that never happened, he has always been second class. Just as his father never valued him, just as his wife took him for granted, he has never felt appreciated or "one of the boys" at the firm. And now he is desperate and at Don's mercy. Don sees no choice in the matter. The chief financial officer for the company embezzled funds and forged a partner's name on a check to do so. This is not a mistake, this is a crime. He could fire Lane, have him arrested. Instead, he believes he's giving Lane the fairest shot - resign, I'll cover the money, and no one has to know. But that only makes Lane more upset.<br />
<br />
And look at this from Lane's perspective. It was his idea to leave PPL and help start up the new firm, he was the one who put up his own money and did not ask to be compensated while building the company. He did the nitty gritty work while the other partners basked in the glow of the firm's ultimate success. But his stubbornness and his pride kept him from asking for help when he needed it. Now it was too late to ask for that help.<br />
<br />
Don thinks he knows how Lane feels. Don has lived with lies, lived in fear of being found out. But Don has also lived a charmed adulthood and none of his sins ever came back to destroy him. When the real Mrs. Draper demanded to know why he stole her husband's name and identity, instead of exposure and ruination, Don was given the gift of a lifelong friend. When Pete tried to undermine Don with the truth of his identity, Bert brushed if off with a "who cares?" Don has never had to pay the ultimate price for any of the bad things he had done, for any of the lies he told. He doesn't see that Lane may not see a better future arising from the ashes. He doesn't see how Lane's entire identity was rolled up in being a successful, American ad agency exec. Losing that was losing everything.<br />
<br />
If anything, the greeting he gets from his wife has to make this all even worse for Lane. She's proud of him, she wants to go and celebrate his good news. This is all he's wanted and now it's all a sham. To make matters far worse, his wife surprises him with a new Jaguar to commemorate all his recent successes. Lane can't tell her that it's all a lie, that he can't afford the car, that he has lost his job. He is overcome with dread. That night, he tries to end it all in the garage. But the vaunted car is such a lemon it can't even start up. Lane the lackless loser can't even succeed at killing himself.<br />
<br />
But while Lane deals with the lowest point of his life, everyone else goes about theirs completely unaware. Joan plans an Easter holiday, after rebuking Lane's untoward comments. Don talks to Roger about landing a bigger fish, like Ken's father-in-law's company, Dow Chemicals. Roger gets Ken to go along with the plan, accepting his demand that Pete be left off the account should they land it. Sally appears unannounced on Megan's doorstep and Megan is furious that Don couldn't spare a moment to let her know ahead of time that she'd be spending the weekend. Sally goes out with Megan and her actress friend and wants to feel grown up like they are. So she arranges for her friend Glen to come visit her.<br />
<br />
Don takes the Lane news as a kick in the ass. The firm needs to stop wallowing in mediocrity, grasping for one small client after another. They need to land the big one. And there is a big one right under their noses. So, despite being told repeatedly that the Lucky Strike letter he wrote has killed him and marked him as an ungrateful backstabber, he tries again to make a pitch for Dow. He is passionate and prepared and makes a great presentation, as Don always does. But will it be enough?<br />
<br />
While Don does his Don thing at the Dow meeting, Sally is having an awkward time with Glen at the American Museum of Natural History, culminated by the young girl "becoming a woman" that day. Scared, she flees back to her terrible, horrible, awful mother's loving embrace. They may be mortal enemies at times, but Betty and Sally are inextricable. Betty relishes in the victory as she tells Megan that Sally came home to her, because "l think she just needed her mother."<br />
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<br />
But while everyone else was living their lives, Lane finally took the last act in his. He went to the offices he had helped build, sat at his desk and typed up his resignation letter. I'm not one for pointing out the derivation of words, but resignation is the appropriate word here, meaning not just to retire or give up one's position, but two other more poignant meanings: an act of ending a game by conceding defeat without being checkmated or the acceptance of something undesirable but inevitable. Lane has been defeated all his life, not living up to others' expectations of him, nor his own expectations of himself. The sad sack who never reaches the pinnacle of those around him. He accepts his fate; he's never going to be a winner. He accepts as undeniable that his life will never get better from here. Don can talk all he wants about the future and bouncing back and picking oneself up, but Lane is not that person. He's tried, but he's been knocked back down every time. So it goes.<br />
<br />
At SCDP, Lane's secretary can't get into his office. Joan tries to enter with a key, to no avail. So she goes to the office next door to find out what's wrong. Pete, then Ken and Harry, look over into Lane's office and are met with a horrific sight. Don and Roger come back from their meeting, feeling pretty good, only to find the office abandoned save for the partners huddled around a desk. They are told that Lane hanged himself. When Don hears this, he is overcome. All he wants at that moment is to save Lane from any further indignity, to cut him down and put him to rest. Memories of his own half-brother's suicide must be flooding back to Don, along with the feelings of guilt of how he should have seen this coming or should have done something to stop it. The secret of why Lane killed himself will be buried with him as Don will not let his name or image be sullied by revealing the truth.<br />
<br />
<b>Quotes:</b><br />
<br />
Scarlet: Shouldn't we have a vote on the fee versus commission question?<br />
Don: l already said no. Or should l leave so you all can do whatever you want?<br />
<br />
Betty: Hello? l wanted to know if you would have any problem with me strangling Sally.<br />
Don: Should we be having this conversation on the phone?<br />
<br />
Joan: I'm thinking about taking a vacation this Easter.<br />
Lane: Oh. Where are we going?<br />
Joan: Do you think there's a difference between Bermuda and Hawaii?<br />
Lane: Well, neither are suitable for commemorating the death and resurrection of Our Lord.<br />
<br />
Don: lf you needed it so badly, why didn't you ask?<br />
<br />
Don: But what is happiness? lt's a moment before you need more happiness.<br />
<br />
Glen: Why does everything turn out crappy?<br />
Don: What do you mean?<br />
Glen: l don't know. Everything you wanna do, everything you think is gonna make you happy just turns to crap.<br />
Don: You're too young to talk that way.<br />
Glen: But it's true.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Observations:</b><br />
<br />
The Sally story-line seems shoehorned in this episode. I'm not sure what was the point. Sure, it gives Megan more opportunities to be irritated with Don and to feel that he doesn't appreciate her or her dreams and aspirations. It gives Betty the chance to get one up on Megan when Sally runs back to her maternal arms. And it gives the creator's son another chance to show that talent skips a generation. But it doesn't really say anything other than adolescence is hard.<br />
<br />
For a show that's very quotable, this episode had a dearth of great quotes. But the best is one of the show's most memorable--"What is happiness? lt's a moment before you need more happiness." If anything summarizes the consumer culture of the 1960s and beyond, it's this. It's what advertising and our economy runs on--the insistence that what you have isn't enough, you can never be satisfied, you always need more. It's also a luxury that our modern life has given us. We don't have real needs, so we create needs. I have to have that new car, even though my current car is perfectly fine and gets me from point A to point B. If there's always something better down the line, then how can we be happy with what we have? Isn't that just settling?<br />
<br />
The black humor award goes to whoever thought of the famed unreliability of the first wave of Jags in the US being the punch line for a failed suicide attempt. And the touch of Lane snapping his glasses in two only to have to tape them back together in the aftermath.<br />
<br />
Did you notice that Sally was able to take the go-go boots she wasn't allowed to wear at the Codfish Ball to her non-date with Glenn at the museum.<br />
<br />
Five years after Don's callousness indirectly led to his half-brother's suicide, it was sad to see that he had not developed any more empathy. Don is still too self-absorbed to notice how what he says and does affects other people. He didn't see it with Lane and he doesn't with Megan either. To him facts are facts and people should just brush themselves off and deal with reality. He doesn't understand that other people might feel hopelessness and despair and can't simple reinvent themselves to "get over it."<br />
<br />
Ken Cosgrove, who never really seemed to want to be in the advertising business, certainly showed a new cunning and cut-throat side of himself as he allowed Don and Roger to court his father-in-law's business on his terms. Does this mean he has forgotten about being a writer, or is potentially sticking it to Pete Campbell just too attractive to pass up?<br />
<br />
If you were curious, as I was, the 4A's is a real organization. Established in 1917, when one would have thought people would have been busy with that first war to end all wars, a bunch of advertising execs got together and formed a trade association "to promote, advance and defend the interests of our member agencies, their employees and the industry at large." Last year as this is written, they celebrated their 100th year.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5527364785342971830.post-65530237016692955572018-04-04T11:41:00.000-07:002018-04-04T11:41:14.231-07:00 Mad Men Season 5, Episode 11 Recap: The Other Woman"Jaguar, the mistress who'll do things your wife won't."<br />
<br />
Well, that is subtle. In 1966 there was no thought of selling cars to or for women. The pitch was clear. Men, do you want to get laid? Get a Jag. Do you want to feel like a stud, the envy of all around you? Get a Jag. Do you want to own something with sexy lines, something a little dangerous, something totally impractical yet totally desirable? Get a Jag. It was a not-so-secret selling point - Jaguar was the naughty car. You drive the wife and kids around in your Buick, but you take your girlfriend out in your XK-E.<br />
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It's no surprise that a room full of men could only see that angle - sell the sex, sell the danger, sell the naughtiness. Jaguar is the Holy Grail to SCDP and They have a packed conference room where they're working around the clock to come up with the ideal approach to winning the account. Yet do they have their best and brightest on the pitch? Sure Ginsberg is there, and every freelancer available, but star copywriter Peggy Olson is literally on the outside looking in. She gets Secor laxatives, the men get the luxury car. <br />
<br />
But that's not Peggy's only problem. Don is becoming increasingly abusive towards her, first ignoring her and dismissing her, then moving on to open hostility and petulance. He views Peggy as a tool, like his dictaphone or his pens - fungible, utilitarian, unfeeling. He forgets that you have to treat even inanimate objects well to keep them working. That is even more true with living, breathing human beings.<br />
<br />
Part of landing the Jaguar account is getting the approval of the large dealership owners in the region. So Ken Cosgrove and Pete Campbell wine and dine Herb Rennet, the largest Jaguar dealer in the northeast. Herb knows that he is being wooed and he makes it clear that to get his vote, to get the Jaguar account, Ken and Pete are going to have to make him very happy. Pete doesn't see that as a problem. "We're open to anything your heart desires." Unfortunately, it's not Herb's <i>heart</i> that has desires. Herb wastes no time letting them know just what it will take to get his approval. Joan. He saw her at their offices and right then and there he thought, there's no way a girl who looks like this would give the time of day to a guy like me. Unless I had something that her bosses needed very badly. Make my dreams come true and I can make yours come true too.<br />
<br />
So Ken and Pete jump up from the table, each slap him across his fat face, and tell him they will not be prostituting their office manager. No car company, no business, no amount of money is worth that. <br />
<br />
Except that's not what happens. Ken develops a nervous laugh and tries to steer the conversation away from Joan but Pete's eyes get wide at the thought that they are one step closer to landing this account. The company, as we've been reminded, needs a car account and needs a big infusion of money. Jaguar can give them both. Pete sees a way to make this happen and all it will take is selling Joan's body and his own soul to the devil. But it is for a car, after all.<br />
<br />
Over at Casa de Draper, Megan is whining about something. Because that is her default method of communication. Wait, no, she's actually happy. She has an audition that she's excited about! But she knows her acting career is of little interest to Don, so she switches the conversation to his work. And he tells her that they're all out of ideas for how to sell a car that doesn't, actually, drive. She offers help, which he wants and needs, but then he bites her head off when she tries to help. Because that is Don's default method of treating the important women in his life if they dare to engage him intellectually.<br />
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The next day Pete Campbell strolls into Joan's office under the pretext of telling her the "bad news" about Jaguar. His motives and intentions could not be clearer. He wants Jaguar and is willing <strike>to do anything</strike> have Joan do anything to get it. But rather than coming right out and asking Joan to sleep with that sleazebag Herb Rennet, he tries to guilt Joan into agreeing to do it. It's low even for Pete. It's bad enough that Herb made the request, worse that Pete didn't immediately shoot it down, but even more despicable that he wants Joan to agree to it rather than let the company down. It's only one night, haven't we all done things we've regretted for free? He equates sleeping with Herb Rennet to her becoming a queen, a la Cleopatra. Joan is understandably mortified at the request, but when Pete is about to leave, he asks her what would it take. When she says, you couldn't afford it, Pete can't stifle the smile. That wasn't a no. We're negotiating.<br />
<br />
We see a brief scene of Peggy Olson being her amazing self, selling the Chevalier Blanc client on a new approach to their commercial. It is advertising from - gasp - a woman's perspective. And note how Harry wanted to introduce Peggy to the client as Ginsberg's subordinate or, at worst, equal, when she is his supervisor. But Ken properly introduced her and then sat (and later stood) in awe of her creative talent. Peggy is a superstar, but she's also a woman in a man's world and it's 1966. And so rather than kudos and a trip to Paris, she gets another dose of Don's seething hostility.<br />
<br />
But for once, we can understand part of what is making Don angry. Pete called a partner's meeting to discuss the Jaguar account, Or, more to the point, how the only thing that is standing in their way is not coming up with a great pitch, but one night for Herb to have his way with Joan. Pete sees it as a simple business proposition. The others, to differing degrees, see it for what it is. But Pete is clever. He lets the partners think that Joan was not horrified by the very suggestion, he lets them believe that she's amenable for the right price. Don, who's had his own sordid experience with prostitution, wants no part of this and storms out. But the others, well, the others can be talked into it if they can be convinced that Joan is on board, if they can spin it to themselves that it's for the greater good, if they can ignore what they're sacrificing of their integrity and of her dignity. It's only one night after all. And it is, at long last, a car company.<br />
<br />
Pete may be the scum who bubbled up from the primordial ooze to present this idea, but don't kid yourself. Aside from Don, none of the other partners say no. They say they're disgusted, they say it's unseemly, they say let Joan know she can still say no. But none of them stand up for what's right. Pete sees himself as the savior of the company, the only one with the nerve to roll up his sleeves and get dirty to do what has to be done. But the others, they're too desperate to do anything but huff and puff and them quietly, oh so quietly, let it happen. In some ways, they're worse than Pete. He knows he's pimping her out and embraces it, the others pretend it's not happening at all. Just like Harry and Ken pretended that Don didn't throw a wad of bills at Peggy's face just for standing up for herself. There are those who do awful things and there are those who sit quietly by.<br />
<br />
Lane has his own demons to deal with. While he is attracted to Joan, and wants to stand by her honor, his more pressing concern is the money that he took from the recent advance to pay off his tax bill. He knows he can't go back to the bank and ask for another advance to get the $50,000 Pete thinks will buy a night of Joan's time. So he goes to her and plants a seed that if she were to go forward, it should be for a partnership interest and not simply a one time payment. Joan is offended knowing the partners all sat around discussing whether she should sleep with a potential client for business and is particularly hurt that Roger was part of that discussion. She believes that the partners want her to make this small sacrifice and will reward her, the only question being how well.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A little heavy-handed juxtaposition here. We get it, Pete's a hypocrite.</td></tr>
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Megan and her actress friend Julia come to the office and break up the all-nighter. Both women are shown in sexual poses, Megan atop Don in his office, Julia prowling atop the desk in the conference room. They have the full attention in the rooms they occupy. Earlier, in contrast, Peggy stood alone in her office looking out the window wondering what she has to do to get any attention and respect. Megan is Don's trophy wife, the pretty young replacement for his pretty first wife. She was once one of the gang, another copywriter, but now as Ginsberg notes she comes and goes as she pleases. But does she? When she talks to Don later about her audition for <i>Little Murders</i>, he's fine until he finds out it will inconvenience him. She'll be gone for two to three months for rehearsals and that's not where she is supposed to be. He wanted her at work with him, but if Don couldn't have that, then she should at least be waiting patiently for him at home. But running off to chase her dream and leave him alone with his thoughts, that's not what he wants.<br />
<br />
After a testy conversation with her mother about her ex-husband and finances and cleaning and every other part of daily life that bothers her, Joan starts to think that money could solve many of her problems. So she takes Lane's advice and goes to Pete demanding a 5% stake in SCDP in exchange for her services in helping to land the Jaguar account. Pete all of a sudden acts like a bumbling schoolboy, confused about the actual mechanics behind pimping out this married mother to the sleazy mouth breathing Herb Rennet. It's not a good look. Joan puts him in his place and retains as much dignity as she can under the circumstances, but it's a jarringly disturbing scene. What he suggested, what she agreed to, what she'll ultimately have to do. It's revolting and they both know it.<br />
<br />
Peggy meets with her old pal Freddy Rumsen to complain about Don's treatment of her, yet she's in the bind that many young workers, male and female. find themselves in. She's been promoted, she's working on many accounts, she has copywriters under her - in many ways her career is going gangbusters. For someone who started as a wide-eyed secretary, in just a few years she's really moved up. And she's done it without having to play grab-ass with her boss. But she's also hitting her head against the glass ceiling and being treated like a second class citizen at best, and like garbage when Don has one of his hissy fits. It may be time for her to stop complaining and actually start looking for another job.<br />
<br />
Ginsberg has a Ginsbergian epiphany and comes up with the perfect pitch for Jaguar. It's not vulgar, but gets the message across just the same. All your hard work men will finally pay off, this car is something beautiful you can actually own. Not like that mistress that you rent for a few hours a week. This you can keep in your garage, around your kids even! Don loves the pitch and feels confident heading into tomorrow's presentation. But then Pete brings his smug face into Don's office, a little canary feather popping out of the side of his mouth, to let Don know that there won't be any "impediments" to them getting the business. If you know what I mean. He might as well actually say "wink wink." Don is furious. But as Pete reminds him, the vote doesn't stop just because Don walks out of the meeting. Don storms out of the office and heads to Joan's apartment to stop her.<br />
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Don arrives at Joan's apartment and she comes out to greet him, just before heading into the shower. He tells her not to go ahead with Pete's plan. No client is worth that and who wants to be in bed with people like that. Literally or figuratively. Joan is taken aback. Pete had told her that everyone was in agreement and she's just now learning that not only is he a sleazy little scumbag but a liar as well. He told the partners that Joan was amenable and told Joan that the partners were all for it and yet neither was true. Finding out that someone stood up for her (unfortunately followed by walking out and missing a vote!) really touches Joan. She and Don have always had a good relationship, one devoid of the sexual power politics that Joan dealt with every day on the job. He had always treated her with respect and that respect meant more than landing Jaguar. Don leaves, feeling a bit like Superman, having swept in and saved the day.<br />
<br />
Only....<br />
<br />
The next day Don is suited up and ready to work his old magic. He's confident and on the top of his game, ready to seduce the clients with his charm and style and Ginsberg's words. He's going to land this client the old fashioned way.<br />
<br />
Only....<br />
<br />
We see Joan at Herb Rennet's hotel room. And we hear Don's words describing the sleek, stunning piece of art on four wheels that men covet from a young age and dream about possessing. But this thing, so beautiful, so exceptional, can be yours for a price. And we see Herb. And he's looking at this beautiful woman who ordinarily wouldn't give him the time of day and she's there, and he can have her. Bought and paid for. At first it's jarring, why would Joan go ahead with this after that talk with Don? We experience the degradation, the objectification from both perspectives. The balding overweight schlub who ordinarily would never get a woman like Joan, and the curvaceous, beautiful woman whose body is treated like a commodity. He wants her and for a price he can have her. Don's words spin around as the couple in the hotel do their own dance. The parallels between the car and the woman are hammered home until you forget that the car doesn't have feelings. <br />
<br />
And then the reveal. The scene between Joan and Herb took place <i>before</i> Don got to Joan's apartment. He was too late. And her reaction to his words was not just surprise but regret. The next day Don comes into the office after his impassioned pitch, excited that they may win the business. But he doesn't know that it was Joan who made the pitch that counted.<br />
<br />
At her audition, Megan is put on display before a couch full of leering men who believe it is necessary for her to turn around and show off her body rather than, say, read her lines. Ultimately she doesn't get the part and she's upset, but she doesn't tell Don about the audition, what she as a young woman has to go through just to have a chance at a part in an off-Broadway play. She knows he's happy she didn't get the part and knows that what she wants is not what he wants, and that is almost as troubling as what she might have to do to get what she wants.<br />
<br />
Peggy takes a clandestine meeting with Ted Chaough to discuss leaving SCDP. Like Freddy, he's always been a fan of her work. And he'd love to stick it to Don. He admits that as a woman, she'll be asked questions a man wouldn't be asked. Are you married, planning on having kids, willing to work for a fraction of what the men are. But all he cares about is that she's a good copywriter. He asks her what she wants and he makes sure to lock it down right then and there by offering her more than she asked for. Ted tried to get Pete not long ago, but Don probably wouldn't have shed a tear. But he knows how valuable Peggy is and what a loss it would be. <br />
<br />
Peggy wants to talk to Don, but before she can words starts spreading that Jaguar is about to announce what agency landed the car. And it's looking very good for SCDP. All the partners are invited into Roger's office for the phone call and that's when Don sees Joan and understands what happened. And he knows that whatever the outcome, it had nothing to do with Ginsberg's words or his pitch. They get the news they were all hoping for and it's champagne for everyone. Only Don is not in a celebratory mood anymore. And neither is Peggy.<br />
<br />
Peggy starts her speech and Don thinks it's a typical "I want more money" presentation. He's amused and feeling flush with the new car account, let's Peggy know that there is more money for her. But he's completely oblivious to the fact that he's been treating her like crap and not giving her any respect. He blandly admits to taking her for granted, but throwing money in someone's face and snapping at them whenever you're in a mood is not taking them for granted. Plus, for anyone who is mentored in their first job, it is difficult for the boss - even if he wasn't an abusive alcoholic - to ever seen you as anything but that newbie, all wet behind the ears. Sometimes, you have to go where someone didn't see you take your first steps to finally be treated like an adult.<br />
<br />
Don begs, cajoles, insults, and ultimately accepts that Peggy is leaving him. He wants to be a tough guy about it and tells her not to hang out for the two weeks. But as she offers her hand, he grabs it like a life rope and holds on. He kisses her hand and tears fall from both their eyes. This is not easy for either of them, but it's necessary. They both know it. As Peggy says, it's what Don would do. It's ironic, Don was so focused on not losing Megan that he ended up actually losing the one woman who meant the most to him.<br />
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<br />
Peggy struts confidently out of the office, living her own Mary Tyler Moore "you're gonna make it after all" moment years before that show aired. There were no rule books for women in the workplace back then, not many role models for how to move up and get ahead. Peggy represents the trailblazers of that time who had to rely on men to hire and promote them, navigating the sexist waters by themselves. Those with mentors who saw them not just as women but capable coworkers, were the lucky ones. Those who knew they deserved better and found a way to make it happen were the smart ones.<br />
<br />
We celebrate Peggy's independence and her courage to leave the familiar for the unknown. But how do we treat Joan's choice? After thirteen years at SCDP, was it wrong for her to take a situation that presented itself and use it for her financial comfort and security? Is this a case of her body, her choice? Or should a woman not even have to make that choice - one no man has to make? Is using your body a slippery slope, so that the Joan we saw Season one flirting for a free lunch was the natural precursor to the Joan we saw tonight, parlaying one night for a partnership for life? Or was this the patriarchy telling her that she only has two assets that matter and she might as well use them if she wants to get ahead? Regardless, what's done is done and Joan is now a partner, like Pete, sharing in the future successes of the firm.<br />
<br />
But another partner, Lane, is not thinking about future success, only Bert Cooper's repeated mantra that bonuses can wait. Lane has to pay back the money he took from the bank and without his bonus, where will that money come from?<br />
<br />
<b>Quotes</b>: <br />
<br />
Ken: You have to be excited about this car.<br />
Herb: Oh, it's a red-hot number. l'm excited about that. But l'm a hard man to please. l always feel like someone should go the extra mile.<br />
Pete: We're open to anything your heart desires.<br />
<br />
Ken: Was that what l think it was?<br />
Pete: Yes, it was.<br />
Ken: Why didn't you just let me tell him she was married?<br />
Pete: Because so is he. And he already knows that.<br />
Ken: Well, we wanted to be in the car business.<br />
<br />
Pete: She was a queen. What would it take to make you a queen?<br />
Joan: l don't think you could afford it.<br />
<br />
Roger: Don't fool yourself. This is some very dirty business.<br />
Bert: Let her know she can still say no.<br />
<br />
Lane: Every time someone's asked me what l wanted, I've never told them the truth.<br />
<br />
Pete: It's an epic poem for me to get home.<br />
<br />
Gail: His wife won't let him come here anymore.<br />
Joan: l don't want to talk about that. We can afford to have someone else fix the refrigerator, for God's sake.<br />
Gail: Why won't anyone believe me? Apollo and l are just friends.<br />
<br />
Joan: l don't want you talking that way around Kevin.<br />
Gail: He's a baby. He doesn't know that we all wish his father was dead.<br />
<br />
Joan: Which one is he?<br />
Pete: He's not bad.<br />
Joan: He's doing this.<br />
<br />
Herb: l feel like a sultan of Araby and my tent is graced with Helen of Troy.<br />
Joan: Those are two different stories.<br />
<br />
Don: What behavior would we forgive? If they weren't pretty, if they weren't temperamental, if they weren't beyond our reach and a little out of our control? Would we love them like we do?<br />
<br />
Megan: Well, you get to disappear for work whenever you want. And if l have to choose between you and that, l'll choose you. But l'll hate you for it.<br />
<br />
Peggy: l want you to know that the day you saw something in me my whole life changed.<br />
And since then, it's been my privilege to not only be at your side, but to be treated like a protege and for you to be my mentor and my champion.<br />
Don: But?<br />
Peggy: But l think I've reached a point where it's time for me to have a new experience.<br />
<br />
Don: Well, let's pretend l'm not responsible for every single good thing that's ever happened to you, and you tell me the number or make one up and l'll beat it.<br />
Peggy: There's no number.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Observations:</b><br />
<br />
Ah, the 60s. When sexism was alive and well and men were kings of their castles. What do you mean it's fifty years later and nothing's changed? That's ridiculous. There is no way today that a business deal would hang on whether or not a woman would agree to sleep with a rich and powerful man. Or that the creator of this very show would be accused of sexual harassment just a few years after this episode aired. Oh, whoops.<br />
<br />
Sexual politics in the workplace is a hot topic today. But Joan has been on both sides of the issue herself. Let us not forget how she instructed then new hire Peggy Olson on the proper way to dress and adorn herself to get a husband, back in the pilot episode. How she schooled her on the men to avoid and the men to enjoy. It's dangerous to even discuss how Joan might have used her substantial physical assets to her advantage as it raises issues of power imbalance, slut shaming and demeaning women. Has she flirted to get things she wanted, for herself or the company? Is that any different than Don flattering the wife of a proposed client?<br />
<br />
<i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Little-Murders-Jules-Feiffer/dp/0573611653/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_74_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=ZEQ6DF2WWBEHX3SSPW1D&dpID=31GIwDDsQeL&preST=_SY344_BO1,204,203,200_QL70_&dpSrc=detail" target="_blank">Little Murders</a></i> was a play that debuted off Broadway in 1967, then quickly shuttered, only to be rediscovered for the satirical gem it was. Written by Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist/satirist <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2010/03/a-conversation-with-jules-feiffer/37775/" target="_blank">Jules Feiffer</a>, it told the story of the absurdity of suburban life in the crowded, filthy, steamy, crime-ridden New York of the mid-century. It was a successful play in 1969 and then released as a theatrical film in 1971. Feiffer is still alive (as of this post) and recently wed his third wife at 87!<br />
<br />
My favorite line was from Joan's mom. After she said that the superintendent's wife won't let him come to the apartment any more, we all assume it was because of Joan. And then Gail springs on us: "Why won't anyone believe me? Apollo and l are just friends." <br />
<br />
Always great to see Freddy Rumsen back and on the wagon. He's always been a staunch supporter of Peggy's, really the first one to spot her talent. I wonder if he will follow up now that Peggy is gone and try to get some work at SCDP. <br />
<br />
1966 was a pivotal point for women's empowerment. While Megan is being ogled and Joan is being pimped out, elsewhere the National Organization for Women is being founded by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betty_Friedan" target="_blank">Betty Friedan</a>, author of the ground-breaking "The Feminine Mystique," and others seeking gender equality and fighting discrimination. They fought for passage of the Equal Rights Amendment and came within three states of ratifying the law that provided: Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex. It failed to garner enough support when <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phyllis_Schlafly#Equal_Rights_Amendment" target="_blank">Phyllis Shlafly</a> lead a pro-traditional values/gender roles opposition to the law. <br />
<br />
Don sure wants his wife to be, if not barefoot and pregnant, at least at home whenever he wants. She can have her own interests only to the extent that they don't interfere with his life in the slightest. Maybe he should have stayed with Betty, someone who at least pretended to be content with sitting at home waiting for her man to return. But these younger girls, they have some crazy ideas about having their own identity and their own dreams. <br />
<br />
<br />
*******************************************************************************<br />
<b>Spoilery Observations (Don't read until you've watched the whole show!):</b><br />
<br />
Compare the picture of Peggy leaving SCDP with her much Gif'd exit at the end of the series. Here, she's a little nervous but a lot excited about this new adventure. There, she's a certifiable bad ass.<br />
<br />
Freddy will be back not only free lancing for Don, but later acting as Christian de Neuvillette to Don's Cyrano de Bergerac. Ted also will be back not as a foil for Don but as a partner and even friend. But what we didn't see coming, and maybe we should have, was that his feelings for Peggy would go beyond professional respect and appreciation.<br />
<br />
In retrospect, we can see the building desperation that Lane is feeling. All he can focus on is the fact that he has stolen money from the firm and without the bonuses his misdeed will be discovered. He doesn't care that Joan gets more than just a one time payout, he only cares about not having to write her a big check on an overdrawn account. And he doesn't care that she's about to prostitute herself, all he cares about is that it doesn't implicate him in the theft. While everyone else celebrates, he continues to worry about the ax falling. <br />
<br />
Megan could not have been clearer. She'll do what Don wants, she'll abandon her dreams, but she'll resent him for it. And she was right. Living her dream was inconsistent with being Mrs. Don Draper and one had to give.<br />
<br />
Pete's talk about wanting a place in the city is another sign that Pete is getting restless. He's tiring of suburban life and wants something more exciting. He thinks it's Manhattan, later he'll think it's in Los Angeles, only to come full circle and see just how good he had it all along.<br />
<br />
Joan doesn't let this experience tear her down. She embraces her new role as partner and in fact comes to side with the partners who sold her out and do battle with Don. Later, she goes on to become her own boss, the ultimate in empowerment. Every experience only makes her stronger and more focused on providing for herself and her son.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5527364785342971830.post-13899374710954949162018-01-04T15:22:00.000-08:002018-03-02T08:39:02.378-08:00 Mad Men Season 5, Episode 10 Recap: Christmas WaltzLane Pryce is in a bit of a sticky wicket. Seems he owes $8,000 in back taxes in the U.K. If that doesn't seem like a huge problem, remember that in 1966 the average U.S. income per year was $6,900.00. And, more to the point, Lane does not have an extra $8,000 lying around. He won't, of course, tell his wife there's a problem and that he had to cash in on substantial investments to cover his partnership fee when Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce was formed last year. The taxes on that amount are now due and, simply put, Lane doesn't have it,<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Now, Lane could go to the partners and explain his predicament and ask for their help. But Lane has never completely felt at home in the firm that bears his name. He knows he was given the partnership and his name on the masthead because he was instrumental in helping them extricate themselves from the old firm. That is, alas, not the same as being a partner because you are considered an invaluable member of the team. His spat with Pete Campbell was emblematic of his role at the company, he feels. He's not one of them and never will be.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">But Lane is the chief financial officer for the company and it is his job to, among other things, get extensions on lines of credit for the firm. And so he devises a plan. He gets their bank to extend a line of credit to the firm, based on anticipated future revenues; the company does well in 1967 and he repays the credit and no one is the wiser. In the meantime, the firm will have</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> an "extra" $50,000 which they can spend on bonuses and his share will be, coincidentally, just enough to pay his tax debt. What could go wrong?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Back in Episode 5, "Signal 30," Lane had tried to help the firm snag the Jaguar account. Then, Lane had arranged a meeting with Edwin Baker from Jaguar to discuss business. It did not go well, but a follow up meeting <i>sans </i>Lane and <i>avec</i> a trip to a local brothel went much better. That is until Mrs. Edwin Baker discovered where her husband had spent his business din</span>ner. Well, Edwin is out and there is a new account exec at Jaguar and Pete Campbell has been hard at work getting Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce a meeting. A car client is the big white whale of advertising and every firm without a car wants in on Jaguar. Don thinks its a pipe dream, but Pete thinks they have a real chance. And if they land Jaguar it would be thanks to Pete's hard work and not Lane.<br />
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Elsewhere, a blast from the past returns in the form of a be-robed Paul Kinsey. Paul, the former wannabe hipster, has now become a Hare Krishna. Harry Crane thinks it's a joke at first, but then decides he understands Paul's motivation when he see the lovely Mother Lakshmi. Surprisingly, Harry actually gets into the chanting and later reveals to Paul that he had a vision of his daughter. Paul is surprised and we eventually learn that he is not a true believer and he hasn't had a spiritual awakening. He's there out of loneliness and desperation to belong. But what he really wants to do is write.<br />
<br />
At the partner meeting, to which Joan was not invited, Lane announces that the firm has a $50,000 profit. Of course, we know the "profit" is a line of credit from the bank and not actual income, but Lane convinces the partners that they've had an outstanding year and are flush with cash. Bonuses for everyone. Immediately. Like, now, cut the damn checks. But Don thwarts his plan, suggesting they hold off on the bonuses until after the Christmas party. The rest of the partners agree and Lane is shocked and shaken that this his financial troubles are not going to be erased as he had hoped. Meanwhile, oblivious to Lane's problems, Pete wonders why no one is as excited as he about the prospect of landing Jaguar.<br />
<br />
It's December 7th, the 25th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. And with that solemn reminder, old memories boil up for Roger Sterling. He found in WWII, in Japan, and he has carried the psychological wounds of battle with him in the form of strong anti-Japanese bigotry ever since. On this day, he will drink too much and say things he shouldn't say. Joan knows this and tries to get him to stop. They are connected as never before because of her son, their son, but Joan wants her independence and does not want to be reliant upon Roger's largesse.<br />
<br />
Megan drags Don to the theater where he is insulted by the anti-advertising theme of the play. Or, Don and Megan attend the theater where they watch a new satirical play about excessive consumerism. It's all a matter of one's perspective. And Don's is that Megan hates everything about what he does except the money it provides them, and he's not a happy camper. And Megan's is that she can't do anything without being criticized by Don and he doesn't care about what's important to her. And she's not too happy either.<br />
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Paul isn't happy, even with his peaceful new religion and its consciousness expanding, spiritual awakening. He feels as unappreciated as he did as a young ad exec at Sterling Cooper. Which reminds me of the old adage, wherever you go, there you are. Paul is the same Paul, even with the shaved head, soothing demeanor, and flowing garb. He still wants to be somebody, he still thinks of himself as an undiscovered genius. He presents Harry with a spec script for Star Trek, a then-new series airing on NBC. Harry has ins at the network and can get the script seen. Paul asks him for that favor.<br />
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Meanwhile, after hours, alone at the office, Lane can only think of one solution to his dire financial situation. With the agreement that the partner's bonuses will be delayed, and with the fact that he needs to send the money to England NOW to take care of his tax woes, he feels he has no choice. He grabs a check from the firm account, finds an old check signed by Don, and forges Don's signature onto a bonus check to Lane. He probably assumes that when the real bonus check comes in he can rip it up and no one will notice. So long as the real bonus check does come along.<br />
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Harry reads Paul's script and it's terrible. He doesn't want to shoot down Paul's hopes and dreams but lying to him won't help either. But while he's considering how to handle this, he gets a visit from Mother Lakshmi. She seduces Harry who is naive enough to think that they had a "moment" together and she was there because of his irresistible charm. After they have sex in his office, she drops the bombshell She's not into him, she set him up to blackmail him from staying away from Paul. Paul is one of their best recruits and she doesn't want Harry giving him a way out of the movement. Tell him his story stinks and send him back to the Krishnas.<br />
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Joan is surprised by a process server who hands her divorce papers. She doesn't even get the dignity of being the one to make it official. She takes her anger out on the poor, sweet, woman-child at the front desk, Meredith, and then Don smartly removes her from the office to get her mind off of whatever provoked her. They pretend to be a married couple looking at the new Jaguars then head off to a bar to drink and talk away their problems. Joan thinks Don has it all, perfect wife, perfect life. Don thinks that Joan is better off without her abusive husband and that things will get better for her, because women approaching their 40s who are unmarried with a child have it made in the shade in the mid-60s.<br />
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Both of them are wrong. Don does not have it all. Maybe he does, but he doesn't want it or appreciate it or nurture it. He does everything in his power to push Megan away. He comes home late, drunk, and Megan has been waiting for him for hours. She doesn't care that he was comforting Joan or test driving the Jaguar, she does care that he never thought to tell her any of that ahead of time. She does care that he thought he could just stumble home whenever he wanted, plastered, and she'd be waiting patiently for his arrival. This is not the life she wants.<br />
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Harry Crane is not perfect, not by a long-shot. He's arrogant and obnoxious. He cheats on his wife. He can be an ass. But he doesn't have the heart to just shoot down all of Paul's dreams. And so when faced with giving the harsh reality to Paul and sending him back to a woman who wants to use him and a movement that doesn't care about him, Harry can't do it. So he lies to Paul, tells his his writing is brilliant and gives him some money to move out to California and live his dream of becoming a writer. No one has ever shown any faith in Paul, no one has ever done him any favor. But Harry doesn't want his old friend being used and having his hopes crushed any more. And maybe he's spiteful that Lakshmi seduced and blackmailed him. Whatever his true motivation, he sends Paul off to an uncertain future in Los Angeles that still looks a hell of a lot better than anything he has in New York.<br />
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While things are steadily improving for SCDP, of course there are stumbling blocks. Mohawk Airlines is experiencing a strike which means they won't be flying which means they won't be buying advertising for their flights. That will hurt the firm's bottom line and so the anticipated partner bonuses will have to be tabled. Which is unfortunate for all but deadly serious to Lane who was hoping to have that money to cover up the bonus check he forged for himself.<br />
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It's time for the big announcement. The staff and the partners are in the conference room and Lane lets them know that because of Mohawk, the partners agreed to forgo their bonuses, but the rest will be honored. Apparently, that wasn't in plain enough English because the staff showed no reaction until Roger said "you're all getting bonuses and we aren't." That they understood. And just to further hammer home how it's not the message but the messenger, but when Pete tells all that they're in the running for the Jaguar campaign there is zero reaction. But when Don does his Don thing and pitches to the staff that they will be sacrificing their next six weekends to try and land Jaguar, they break out in applause.<br />
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<b>Observations:</b><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">According to Wikipedia (and why would they lie to us?): "America Hurrah" is a satirical play by Jean-Claude van Itallie, which premiered at the Pocket Theatre in New York City on November 7, 1966. Directed by Jacques Levy and Joseph Chaikin, the play was an early expression of the burgeoning 1960s counterculture, expressing discontent with American consumerism and involvement in the Vietnam War.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">We finally got the answer why Don never went after Joan. There is undeniable chemistry between the two of them and they're make a gorgeous couple, but I think Don was telling the truth when he said Joan scared him. Especially when we first met Don, he was with a more subdued, traditional woman and not a firecracker like Joan. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Aly Khan was a socialite who was once married to red headed actress Rita Hayworth, with whom Joan shares some familiarity. It was a nice touch that Don finally sent Joan some flowers, signed by the late Prince.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Pride goeth before the fall it is said and Lane Pryce is in perpetual need of someone to feel proud of him. He never had that with his loathsome father, he doesn't feel it at SCDP despite all that he's done for the firm, and he's hasn't felt it with his wife either. He has been a great disappointment to his wife, forcing her to give up her life to live out his dream of living in Manhattan. But with the little white lie that he has to stay in New York to help land the Jaguar account, that he is indispensable, he for the first time hears her say that she is proud of him. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">There are usually through lines, themes, connecting each of the storylines. But I'm not sure it's that clear here. Perhaps it's un-fulfillment and dashed dreams. That things do not turn out how we imagine they will and how each of us handles it when that reality hits home. Joan will not live happily ever after with Mr. Right. Roger will not get that fountain of youth woman he's always dreaming of. Don and Megan won't get that perfect marriage. Harry will never be the sexy guy that some woman throws herself after. Paul will never be a famous writer. But those are the normal realities we all face, that live is messy and not perfect. But for Lane, it's something more. His failure is at a deeper level which is why, out of all of those un-fulfilled souls, he's the one who fails to open up, to try and connect with someone else, but instead keeps his demons locked deep inside. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<b>Quotes:</b><br />
<br />
Harry: l don't know what the Russians are going to do. We may be living underground by Lincoln's birthday.<br />
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Don: l don't mind picking up the check for your friends, but not if they insult me first.<br />
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Don: No one's made a stronger stand against advertising than you.<br />
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Joan: Do you understand having you out here is the same as having no one?<br />
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Salesman: l'm thinking about paying to have you drive around in this.<br />
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Don: Those flowers God, my first week here l thought you were dating Aly Khan.<br />
Joan: My mother raised me to be admired.<br />
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Joan: And who do you think's waiting at home? l bet she's not ugly. The only sin she's committed is being familiar.<br />
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Harnry: You don't understand what it's like out there. This failure, this life it'll all seem like it happened to someone else.<br />
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<b>Spoiler-y Observations (Don't read until you're watched the whole series):</b><br />
<br />
Poor Lane. In some ways maybe what ultimately happens to him was foreshadowed from the beginning. He never fit in, he was never happy in his own skin, and he was constantly searching for someone to tell him he was special. He was not valued by his original bosses, nor by his new partners, nor by his father, nor by his wife. It was completely understandable that this would take its toll and that the facade he created of a happy life would crumble.<br />
<br />
Joan does eventually learn that she doesn't need a man in her life and that she can be happy and successful all on her own. And Roger does learn that he doesn't have to keep chasing youth or someone to save and that he can have a happy mature relationship with an equal.<br />
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This is but the start of many fights between Megan and Don. He drinks too much and holds on to anger too long. She isn't happy with the role society wants her to play, the dutiful wife. Don is only really alive when he's making a pitch and in that brief speech to the staff at the end of the episode, he is more alive than any other time in recent memory. Would they have lived happily ever after if she'd been content with working as an ad exec? Who knows. Don has a self-destructive streak that can't be ignored and Megan wasn't satisfied with being great at things that came naturally.<br />
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Let's talk Meredith. The sweet, simple receptionist who goes on to be the best secretary anyone could ask for. Devoted, sincere, lovable, we're all very lucky she didn't quit after the airplane incident.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5527364785342971830.post-42116588123873014242017-05-17T14:09:00.001-07:002018-01-04T09:04:43.622-08:00Mad Men Season 5, Episode 9 Recap: Dark Shadows<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Poor Betty Draper Francis. She's feeling not herself these days. The lithe beauty has packed on some extra pounds and she finds the world harder to navigate when you're not beautiful and desired. She has to count every calorie and every bite hoping to reclaim what she once had. Hoping to look into a mirror and see the old Betty looking back at her. The husband who once doted on her now snipes at her in frustration. This is hard enough to handle by itself, but when she has to come face to face with the newer, younger and decidedly more svelte Megan Draper, well, it's simply too much,<br />
<br />
But Betty is not the only one feeling envy towards the younger version of themselves. Don, who we've seen feeling his age this season, is looking at Michael Ginsberg not as a shining beacon of unbridled talent but an existential threat. He looks at Ginsberg's portfolio for an upcoming pitch with, at first, amusement, and then, something else. Ginsberg's ideas are hip and new and Don worries he can't keep up. His internal monologue is echoed in the conversation between Bert Cooper and Roger Sterling about pitching a new client without the help of <i>wunderkind</i> Pete Campbell. It is no coincidence that the term "generation gap" was coined during this time, it's alive and well and dividing everyone this episode.<br />
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Ginsberg does not help Don's feelings of impeding obsolescence at the Sno Ball pitch meeting. Peggy comes up with a Peggy idea - smart, visual but not earth-shattering. Ginsberg then pitches his puerile enjoyment of a snow ball being thrown at the face of some authority figure (though in his litany of nemeses he omits one that Don saw in his drawings the night before - Adolph Hitler). Then Don shares his idea of the Devil sipping on a Sno Ball. Ginsberg likes the idea. But it's how he conveys his appreciation that is the problem. He is pleasantly surprised that Don, after not being able to write, has suddenly found his mojo. It's the "old guy's still got it" reaction that undercuts the compliment. And Don does not want to be reminded of his creative dry spell or the fact that it was assumed his best days were behind him.<br />
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Megan has her demons as well. Being young and beautiful is not protection against feeling inadequate. She wants to be taken seriously as an actress, but from her penthouse of comfort she feels like a fraud. She's envious of her fellow actress whom she is helping practice for her audition. And she's resentful that she is thought of as a dilettante who is dipping her pedicured toe in the acting pool while "real" actresses are pounding the pavement to get work just to keep a roof over their heads. So Betty is envious of Megan with her perfectly flat tummy and stylish midtown apartment and the young actress is envious of Megan with her financial comfort and stylish midtown apartment. Yet somehow Megan feels like the victim because no one sees how hard it is for her.<br />
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Over at Sterling Draper, Roger wrangles Ginsberg in on a secret plan to be his Cyrano de Bergerac in an upcoming pitch for the Manischewitz brand. This, not coincidentally, puts goyish Roger in the role of Christian de Neuvillette, the one who fears he's not clever enough to woo the coveted Roxane. Ginsberg worries that Don (you know Don - tall guy, short temper) will find out that he's working behind his back, but Roger allays his fears. Anyway, this plan is to stick it to Pete Campbell, not Don. With Ginsberg's palm sufficiently greased, he agrees to help Roger secure the new client with a young, hip pitch. To further show just how important landing a client is to Roger, he calls his ex-wife and agrees to get her a new apartment if she agrees to be the Jewish arm candy he need to impress the Manischewitz people. </div>
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In a late night kitchen scene, Betty shows her best self when she offers unconditional support to Henry as he deals with pangs of doubt and dismay about his professional future. But the next morning, triggered by seeing a love note Don had written to Megan, she turns spiteful and petty. While Sally is working on her family tree, Betty offers up that she should make sure to include Don's first wife, Anna. Hell hath no fury like a woman who's jealous of her ex's leggy new wife. Betty doesn't care if she confuses Sally or damages her relationship with her father. Betty was hurt, so Betty struck back.<br />
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Back at the office, Don presents the two prospective Sno Ball pitches to the account managers Pete and Ken Cosgrove. Both pitches go well, but Pete shows a distinct preference for the one Ginsberg came up with. While the younger creative barely suppresses his pride and pleasure, you can see even Peggy knows that Don will take this as a blow. His idea wasn't young enough, fun enough, funny enough. He doesn't hear the soothing words Joan gave him earlier that week: "look at all the great work you've done as creative director. Look at all these voices, all this talent." Instead what he hears is Don, the king of creative, is dead. Long live the new king. <br />
<br />
Not reading the room is Michael Ginsberg's specialty. After Don leaves, he decides to quote from Shelley's Ozymandias: "Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!" He crowns himself king of kings, and ignores that the king's own words are perched upon a pedestal surrounded by decay and desolation. <br />
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<br />
The bomb Betty planted at the kitchen table finally detonates when Sally is visiting her dad and Megan. Once her father leaves with her brothers, Sally turns on Megan with self-righteous resentment and hostility. How could she not tell her about Anna? Weren't they supposed to be friends? What other secrets is she keeping? And the <i>coup de grace,</i> are you going to make yourself cry? Megan gives Sally a watered down, child sized version of the truth then tells Don once he gets home. Now Don has not been having the best of days and this sets him over the edge. He's on the verge of calling Betty and tearing into her, but Megan wisely stops him. Disrupting their marriage is exactly what Betty wanted. She's done her damage, don't let her enjoy it as well. Instead he calmly explains the past to Sally and, afterwards, Sally sees Betty's "help" for what it was. And Sally's trust in her mother is the collateral damage.<br />
<br />
Don readies to go into the Sno Ball pitch, armed with the two pitches. But at the last minute he ditches Ginsberg's, leaving it behind in the cab and going just with his idea. Luckily for him, the client loves it and the sale is made. But at what cost? He didn't really win and he's basically conceded that Ginsberg's idea was better. He's shown himself to be insecure, conniving, and petulant and he took the wind out of an enthusiastic creative talent. <br />
<br />
Roger's client dinner with the Manischewitz people goes well. They find him charming and affable and love the idea (courtesy of Ginsberg) he pitches. Jane, with her Jewish <i>bona fides</i>, is a great companion to help the Rosenbergs feel comfortable going with a non-Jewish ad agency. Everything goes swimmingly until the young, handsome son comes to join the dinner and takes an immediate shine to his age-mate Jane. They look like a beautiful couple and Roger can't stand it. He and Jane may be divorced, she may have no interest in being with him, but he can't face that reality. Like Betty, like Don, he's not willing to be put out to pasture. To be told he's too old, obsolete, not the newer popular model. He has to be desired.<br />
<br />
He asks himself up to Jane's place after the dinner and then makes his move. She says no, briefly, then relents. But the next morning, she is overcome with regret. She wanted him out of her life and she wanted a place that was free of him. This new apartment is now the same as the old one, just a reminder that she was bought and paid for by a man she doesn't love. He sees it, finally, but too late. He was pushing for something that wasn't there and pretending doesn't make it so.<br />
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<br />
<br />
Don comes in to work after the Sno Ball success ready to ride in on a wave of euphoria. But not everyone is feeling giddy about the successful pitch. Ginsberg lets Don know that despite the fact that he's the boss, what he did was cowardly and stupid. He tanked the better pitch because he was afraid it would be picked and Don would no longer be the big cheese. Ginsberg is remarkably frank, telling his boss that he feels sorry for him. And in on of the series most memorable moments to date, Don shoots him down with an icy: "I don't think about you at all:" But that's a lie. We know it and Ginsberg knows it. Don hears the footsteps, he feels the breath on the back of his neck. Ginsberg (youth) is coming up behind him and he will soon be overtaken.<br />
<br />
<div>
The final two, brief, scenes contrast the Draper Thanksgiving with the Francis one. Megan prepares dinner in their upscale downtown apartment where the windows have to be kept shut to keep out the toxic air and champagne is needed to celebrate her actress friend's success. Betty and her family sit around the table, sharing that for which each are thankful. And Betty doesn't lie. She's thankful that she has everything and nobody has more. That is Betty Draper Francis in a nutshell. </div>
</div>
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<taii guy="" http:="" more:="" read="" short="" temper="" tv-show="mad-men&episode=s05e09</pre" view_episode_scripts.php="" www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk="">
<br />
<b>Observations:</b><br />
<br />
The TV show for which Megan's actress friend was auditioning was Dark Shadows, a spooky, atmospheric soap opera that first aired in 1966. It was sexy and foreboding, mixing the supernatural with the salacious. Megan may have thought it a "piece of crap" but it aired for five years.</taii><br />
<taii guy="" http:="" more:="" read="" short="" temper="" tv-show="mad-men&episode=s05e09</pre" view_episode_scripts.php="" www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk=""><br /></taii>
<taii guy="" http:="" more:="" read="" short="" temper="" tv-show="mad-men&episode=s05e09</pre" view_episode_scripts.php="" www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk="">You can buy the original Weight Watchers cookbook from 1966 on Amazon by clicking <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005EICFAG/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=wwwnourishing-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B005EICFAG" target="_blank">here</a>. No, I didn't call you fat. You look great and don't need the book at all. I was just providing some background info. The book was written by Jean Nidetch, co-founder of Weight Watchers. According to Wikipedia: An overweight housewife with a self-confessed obsession for eating cookies, Nidetch had experimented with numerous fad diets before she followed a regimen prescribed by a diet clinic sponsored by the New York City Board of Health in 1961. After losing 20 pounds (9.07 kg), and finding her resolve weakening, she contacted several overweight friends and founded a support group which developed into weekly classes, and incorporated on May 15, 1963 into the Weight Watchers organization. </taii><br />
<taii guy="" http:="" more:="" read="" short="" temper="" tv-show="mad-men&episode=s05e09</pre" view_episode_scripts.php="" www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk=""><br /></taii>
<taii guy="" http:="" more:="" read="" short="" temper="" tv-show="mad-men&episode=s05e09</pre" view_episode_scripts.php="" www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk="">Pete is visited by Beth, who seems to have misplaced her clothes. Luckily she has a huge mink coat and it's decades before protesters would rip it off her or throw paint on it. The smug, self-satisfied look on Pete's face tells us that his protestations that she shouldn't be there turned into a quick thanks for coming. Later, when he shares a train ride with Beth's husband and hears him complaining about having to leave his mistress behind to be stuck in the country with his wife, Pete can't take it. He resents Howard, but we're not sure it's for not appreciating his wife or for getting to have it all,</taii><br />
<taii guy="" http:="" more:="" read="" short="" temper="" tv-show="mad-men&episode=s05e09</pre" view_episode_scripts.php="" www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk=""><br /></taii>
<taii guy="" http:="" more:="" read="" short="" temper="" tv-show="mad-men&episode=s05e09</pre" view_episode_scripts.php="" www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk="">Henry questions his decision to leave Nelson Rockefeller to join with John Lindsay. He's at a bit of a crossroads and with the country in flux (with turmoil right around the country) it's hard to choose which horse to back. As it turns out, Rockefeller would have been the better choice. He held the governorship for four straight terms and then was appointed vice president by Gerald Ford in 1974. Lindsay was successful in his 1966 run for mayor and served two terms, but that marked the pinnacle of his political career. Interestingly, neither would be a Republican today. Rocky was too moderate and Lindsay actually switched parties in the early 70s.<br />
<br />Betty doesn't think that Rockefeller can run for governor now that he's divorced and in the past that would have been a problem. But Henry was right, times were changing. You can be divorced and even be president (see, Ronald Reagan).<br /><br />Bert forgets that Roger is divorced from Jane! Well, Roger conveniently seems to forget that too.<br /><br />Would an episode be complete without Harry Crane complaining about not being made a partner?</taii><br />
<taii guy="" http:="" more:="" read="" short="" temper="" tv-show="mad-men&episode=s05e09</pre" view_episode_scripts.php="" www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk=""><br />
<b>Quotes:</b><br />
<br />
Pete: I spent an hour and a half on the phone last night with my new best friend Victor at the New York Times.<br />
Roger: Gonna get a paper route?<br />
<br />
Roger: How Jewish are they? You know, Fiddler on the Roof, audience or cast?<br />
</taii><br />
<taii guy="" http:="" more:="" read="" short="" temper="" tv-show="mad-men&episode=s05e09</pre" view_episode_scripts.php="" www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk=""><br /></taii>
Michael: I like the connect the dots. What's it end up being?<br />
<br />
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</taii>
Roger: Michael, can you keep a secret?<br />
<taii guy="" http:="" more:="" read="" short="" temper="" tv-show="mad-men&episode=s05e09</pre" view_episode_scripts.php="" www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk="">
Ginsberg: Nope.<br />
Roger: I need you to do some work for me on a prospective account. It will involve a client dinner.<br />
Ginsberg: And murder.</taii><br />
<taii guy="" http:="" more:="" read="" short="" temper="" tv-show="mad-men&episode=s05e09</pre" view_episode_scripts.php="" www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk=""><br /></taii>
<taii guy="" http:="" more:="" read="" short="" temper="" tv-show="mad-men&episode=s05e09</pre" view_episode_scripts.php="" www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk="">Roger: </taii>Well, Michael, when a man hates another man very, very much, sometimes he wants to know that something is his, even if in the end he has to give it up.<br />
<br />
Betty: It's so easy to blame our problems on others, but really we're in charge of ourselves. And I'm here to help you, as you're here to help me. We'II figure out what's next.<br />
<br />
Jane: Stop telling me things I said that night. Like I know I didn't promise to remarry right away just to save you alimony.<br />
<br />
Ginsberg: "Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair."<br />
Stan: You should read the rest of that poem, you boob.<br />
<br />
Don: Don't wake me up and throw your failures in my face.<br />
<br />
Ginsberg: I feel bad for you.<br />
Don: I don't think about you at all.<br />
<br />
<b>*********************************************************************************</b><br />
<b>Spoiler-y Observations. Don't read until you've watched the whole series!</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Megan mocks the script for Dark Shadows then goes on to become a regular on an even cheesier soap opera. <br />
<br />
Don will eventually tell Sally even more about his past, including taking her a trip to his childhood home. Sally will go through many phases of a complicated relationship with her mother, but at the end she is by her side.<br />
<br />
Ginsberg again show signs of some slightly questionable behavior - he confronts Don, he fails to keep quiet about his deal with Roger. But nothing to hint at what's to become of him.<br />
<br />
Henry ultimately decides to run for office himself which, with his even-tempered nature and political experience, seems like a good bet. <br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5527364785342971830.post-17107380463718944432016-12-22T13:54:00.001-08:002017-01-19T10:23:24.279-08:00Mad Men Season 5, Episode 8 Recap: Lady LazarusPete Campbell is taking the train home and he gets the pleasure of enduring a brief, tedious conversation with a fellow suburbanite, Howard Dawes. Howard is in insurance and he jumps at the chance to try and sell Pete. But what he's really selling is not security, but fantasy. And enough money for both. With good insurance you can live your fullest life, without fear. In his case, that ideal life is having a home and lovely, dutiful wife out in the country and also a little something extra in the city. Pete is, or feigns being, disapproving, but note the firmly planted seed.<br />
<br />
This is far from the first time Pete has contemplated cheating on Trudy. Back in <a href="http://burnthismedia.blogspot.com/2016/01/mad-men-season-5-episode-4-recap-signal.html" target="_blank">Signal 30</a>, he let his imagination run wild as he dreamed that the cute coed in his driving class would be impressed by the older junior executive. But he ended up realizing that he was not her fantasy and probably was not going to be any girl's fantasy. Perhaps seeing a fellow schlub like Howard who is able to wrangle a girlfriend has emboldened Pete to dream again.<br />
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<br />
Pete has not been happy with being Pete since the first time we met him. He always has envied others for what they have that he doesn't. Whether it's Don Draper's creativity and sexual magnetism or Ken Cosgrove's confidence and writing success, Pete has always measured himself against others and always has fallen short. But maybe he has finally found someone who has what he wants that he can get the better of.<br />
<br />
At the office, Megan acts sketchy when she receives a phone call, but she normally acts like a skittish kitten so we don't know what to make of it. Meanwhile, Ginsburg does his usual great job presenting the Chevalier cologne pitch. Once the clients leave and it's Don, Michael and Stan talking about what music to use in the commercial that would sound like the Beatles (without having to pay beaucoup bucks to the real thing), the younger two debate bands while Don looks on nonplussed, like the out of touch forty-something he is. As the 60s march along, Don is looking older and acts less comfortable in his own skin than he did at the start of the decade. But the most notable part of their interaction was how Don brushed aside their ideas and said he'd ask Megan for her suggestion. She'd make the final decision. The Missus is a source of some jealousy among her co-workers as she will always be the boss' pet.<br />
<br />
When Pete gets off his evening train, wrestling with the new skis that Roger's client gave him, he meets a beautiful young woman. It's Beth Dawes, Howard's wife, and she's locked her keys in her car. Her husband was not on the train and she assumes he'll be staying at their apartment in the city. Pete knows all about Beth, she's never heard anything about Pete. But she feels comfortable enough to ask him for a ride home. Pete knows why Howard is not there and that he's probably with his girlfriend right now, but of course he maintains the bro-code and says nothing. She seems sweet, gentle, oblivious to what her husband is probably doing tonight. She talks about not wanting to live in the city lest she see the hobos who need a handout and she be reminded what her father once told her, you can't help everyone. <br />
<br />
Elsewhere, the mystery of what is going on with Megan is growing. She was acting strangely, even for her, taking that call earlier in the day, being nervous about leaving Peggy at work, and now it turns out that the story she gave Peggy about meeting Don for dinner was a lie as was her story to Don that she was staying late at work. Curious.<br />
<br />
Once Pete gets Beth home, we discover she is not at all unaware of what her husband is up to. And she wants to get back at him. And Pete, who has long wanted someone to feel passion towards him, to make him feel virile and special, is not going to push her away. This need has built up for so long and finally he can experience the excitement and danger that comes from an illicit coupling. Afterwards, Beth is fine. She's no longer upset. This dalliance has helped calm her and Pete can now go. But sitting alone in his car, Pete is the one who now looks in need of some comfort.<br />
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Peggy is still at the office when Don calls, again, looking for Megan. Not wanting to get in the middle of their domestic strife, let alone play another game of Twenty Questions - Missing Wife Version, she does what any sane person would do. Answer the phone in a strange accent pretending to be a wrong number. Perfectly normal. Megan eventually makes it home, lies some more to Don, and continues to look anxious and jumpy.<br />
<br />
The next morning the big mystery is unveiled. Megan admits to Peggy that she lied to her and to Don. But not to sneak off to have a sexual encounter, a la Pete, but to audition for an off off Broadway show. As an actress. Considering how bad she is at lying and covering her tracks, it's shocking she got a call back, but apparently the bar is pretty low for off off Broadway shows. At least they ultimately wised up and gave the part to someone else. But Megan is not dissuaded.<br />
<br />
Megan has apparently been holding on to her dream of becoming an actress despite her new career and marriage and she knows that Don won't approve. She doesn't want to be a copy writer and wishes she could find the escape hatch out of Sterling Cooper. Peggy is not a sympathetic ear, reminding Megan how lucky she is to have that opportunity and just how many people would kill to have her job. But this means nothing to Megan. It's not her passion, acting is. So she quits.<br />
<br />
The rest of the office deals with the repercussions of Megan leaving. There'll be more work, of course, but the part that really stings is in seeing someone take what is so meaningful to you and toss it away like it's nothing. Peggy works long hours and has given up having much of a personal life for the job, only to hear Stan belittle the struggle as a whole lot of work for "Heinz baked beans." Pete's reaction is slightly different. Megan's sudden departure is to him just another example of how women control everything and men are their powerless victims. She can quit because she wants to and that's all there is to it, Don doesn't even have a say. Of course, he's relating this to his brief dalliance with Beth and how she wanted him and then didn't want him and he had no say in the matter.<br />
<br />
Don walks Megan out and it is awkward to say the least. She is acting guilty and on edge and in whole making this uncomfortable moment even worse. It's as if she knows she's making a terrible mistake and can't stop herself. She knows that she's leaving the firm short-handed and killing Don's fantasy of his beautiful, brilliant wife being his partner at work as well as at home. She knows that this new venture will take her away from him and that all the time they now share won't be the same in the future. But it's what she wants more than anything. Don tries his best to be supportive and not discouraging, but past his smile you see that he's hurt.<br />
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\<br />
They part at the elevators, with a lingering kiss that would have irritated real fellow building occupants waiting in the elevator but barely registered to the show's extras. Then Don decides he wants to go downstairs too. To catch up with Megan? To change her mind? To arrange a quickie behind the building? We'll never know because as the door opens, Don looks in to see only the shaft. And unlike <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ov7aTXqMKfY" target="_blank">LA Law's Rosalind Shays</a>, he does not plummet to his death but is hit in the face with some heavy-handed symbolism about the fate of his marriage.<br />
<br />
Pete can't leave well enough alone and is still fuming about how he had no say in his relationship with Beth. So he weasels his way into Beth's home, taking advantage of her hapless husband. We know he's a cheating cad, yet Pete's brazenness in the man's own home with him acting the genial host makes us temporarily feel for him. Beth of course is shocked by Pete's forcefulness and runs off as any sane woman would under the circumstances. Pete is playing with fire and completely off his rocker, having one of the worst midlife crises to befall a man of just 32. He is obsessed with her and willing to risk getting caught just for a chance to be with her. Remember, he has the beautiful witty Trudy waiting at home. Pete just can't be satisfied with what he has.<br />
<br />
Too bad Don didn't take the plunge into the elevator abyss earlier in the episode because it would have saved us all from watching that unbelievably uncomfortable presentation to the Cool Whip clients. With Peggy subbing in for the absent Mrs. Draper, the Nick and Nora Charles witty/sexy banter now sounds more like Al and Peggy Bundy. It's a disaster. They have no chemistry, they didn't rehearse enough, and there's nothing for Ken to do but stand by and watch the presentation implode. After the client leaves, Don and Peggy unleash all their misplaced anger at each other. Don blames Peggy for driving Megan away, Peggy blames Don for his blind allegiance to his unappreciative wife. They both want to yell at Megan but can't and so they take all their bottled up rage and hurl it at each other.<br />
<br />
In the end, Don tries to be the good dutiful husband. He rushes home to meet up with Megan before her class and he takes her suggestion to listen to the new Beatles' album. As "<a href="https://www.beatlesbible.com/songs/tomorrow-never-knows/" target="_blank">Tomorrow Never Knows</a>" plays we see a brief montage summing up the episode. Peggy sharing a joint with Stan at work, Megan in her acting class, Pete once again getting very mixed messages from Beth, and finally Don stopping the record mid-song. He doesn't get it, it doesn't mean anything to him. Like the orange sherbet he wanted to share with Megan, their tastes are different and they reject what the other cherishes. Is the gulf between them too large? <br />
<br />
<b>Observations:</b><br />
<br />
It's the middle of the decade and women have yet to burn their bras or have their own brand of cigarettes. But the women of Mad Men, or at least some of them this episode, are standing up for what they want. Beth, the long-suffering suburban housewife whose husband cheats on her regularly uses Pete to get back at her husband, to feel wanted, to exercise control over something in her life. Similarly, Don's arm candy, trophy wife Megan doesn't want to play her role of Mrs. Draper any more, not in the office, not for the clients. She wants to follow her muse and not what her husband wants her to do. And both Pete and Don have no say in the matter.<br />
<br />
The Beatles' Revolver came out in the US on August 5, 1966. It was their seventh studio album and their most ambitious to date. Now Number 3 on Rolling Stones' list of the greatest albums ever, it was "revol"utionary at its time, experimental and unexpected. The happy, jingly Beatles addressed new topics and took tonal diversions that signified a change reflected in society at large. “Turn off your mind; relax and float downstream; it is not dying. Lay down all thought; surrender to the voice: it is shining. That you may see the meaning of within: it is being.” <br />
<br />
Don is shown time and again to be losing his connection to what is current. He's become an old man - out of touch with the younger generation. When he confuses some 50's pablum with the Beatles, you're embarrassed for him. And when he doesn't appreciate the genius of John Lennon's music, you can't understand how he can be so wrong.<br />
<br />
Pete's attempts to copy all of Don's mistakes continues. He pursues a married woman, the wife of a casual friend no less. In her he has invested all of his hopes for happiness. She is the answer to his ennui. He keeps looking outward for someone to make him feel like the man he wants to be (which is Don). Years from now, he'd sing along to Skee Lo's "I wish I was a little bit taller, I wish I was a baller," because that's all he can do. Think about how things could be better while never appreciating the good that exists.<br />
<br />
Megan could be a stand-in for the woman's movement, or she could be just another bored rich man's wife. It's not clear at this point. She claims to have a passion for acting, but it's not something we can fact check at the moment. But we do know she had a head for the advertising business and was a natural. Is it a good sign that she can give up the job she's good at to pursue her dreams or is it a slap in the face to the women like Peggy who paved a way for her?<br />
<br />
Is Cool Whip a metaphor for Beth and Megan's acting? That thing that is a substitute for something else, sold as just as good if not better than the original. Who wants their old boring wife when you can have an affair? She's younger, prettier, and more important new!! Who wants to be successful as an ad woman when you can be an actress? Everyone has a job, but how many people get to try to be be on stage, on TV, in the movies? Sure you've had the original, boring and reliable old whipped cream, but that's so passe. Try something new!<br />
<br />
It's great how over it all Joan is. Don wants his young bride to have a job at the agency despite her lack of experience. Sure. She wants to quit to become an actress? Sure. She's watched the revolving door of wives, whether it's Don's or Roger's, and they always get their way and things always work out for them. And Joan still plugs away at the office.<br />
<br />
How sad was that last lingering image. Don, alone, in the apartment that was supposed to be full of joy and love with his beautiful new bride. He had it all just days ago. They rode in to work together, rode home at night, exchanged kissed during the day as they worked together to make magic for the clients. And now she's gone and he's alone once more in that empty apartment with music he doesn't understand recommended by a woman he may know less about than he realized.<br />
<br />
<b>Quotes:</b><br />
<br />
Roger: See anything you like?<br />
Pete: Are you asking if I ski?<br />
Roger: No. I want to know which skis you want. Or take them both.<br />
Pete: Do they explode or something?<br />
Roger: Yes, Allen Funt sent them over.<br />
<br />
Don: Is Megan there?<br />
Peggy: Isn't she with you?<br />
Don: Yes, we're playing a hilarious joke on you.<br />
<br />
Beth: I've had men paying attention to me since before it was appropriate. They don't care what I say. They just watch my lips move.<br />
Pete: I'm listening to every word you say.<br />
<br />
Beth: It didn't bother you to see the earth tiny and unprotected, surrounded by darkness?<br />
<br />
Beth: You're taking away all my fears. I mean, suddenly I don't think about the fact that you ride with my husband on the train twice a day and that you live 20 minutes away and I'd see your wife at the market, if I ever went.<br />
<br />
Don: Sweetheart, sometimes we don't get to choose where our talents lie. I mean, what you did with Heinz. It took me years to be able to think that way.<br />
Megan: Well, I can't explain it, but I felt better failing in that audition than I did when I was succeeding at Heinz.<br />
Don: Because that was about making the client happy. Wait till you walk down the street and see the work on a wall or on TV, that's when you feel something.<br />
<br />
Joan: Well, I'm sure she'll be wonderful.<br />
<br />
Megan: I'm not going to work here anymore.<br />
Ginsberg: Did he fire you? That son of a bitch!<br />
<br />
Peggy: That takes a lot of guts.<br />
Ginsberg: I'll tell you what takes guts-- Never having money for lunch. She owes me, like, $15 at this point. What am I gonna do, ask Don? Call her? I think it's clear why she left.<br />
<br />
Pete: They do whatever they want, even to Draper.<br />
Harry: Well, the good news is we don't have to look over our shoulders anymore, wondering what she's gonna tell him.<br />
Pete: They work it over in their minds, turn it off and on when they feel like it, and we're just there, waiting at attention. It's not the way it's supposed to be.<br />
<br />
Pete: Have you seen those pictures of earth from space?<br />
Harry: Of course.<br />
Pete: Do they make you feel small and insignificant?<br />
Harry: No, Jennifer does that. And I'm not small, Pete. Don't know if you've ever heard that about me.<br />
<br />
Pete: Why do they get to decide what's going to happen?<br />
Harry: They just do.<br />
<br />
Ginsberg: Turn it off. It's stabbing me in the fucking heart.<br />
<br />
Joan: Peggy, she's going to be a failing actress with a rich husband.<br />
<br />
Roger: I sure as hell didn't get to choose what I wanted to do. My father told me.<br />
Don: I was raised in the '30s. My dream was indoor plumbing.<br />
<br />
<b>******************************************************************************</b><br />
<b>Spoilery Observations (Don't read until you've watched the whole show): </b><br />
<br />
Don says, of Megan, "I don't want her to end up like her mother." At that juncture, Marie was unhappy, saddled with an overbearing husband who she didn't love. But little did he, or Roger to whom this comment was directed, know, but Marie would end up a much happier woman, with the suave, loving, and French-studying Roger as her new beau.<br />
<br />
Don was surprised that Ginsberg cussed at the office, but the actual sounds coming off of the record player probably did cause Ginsberg physical discomfort. Now we may not know why he's so vulnerable and reactive, but as we learn more about Ginsberg - for whom the whirring sounds of computers was enough to send him over the edge - it does make sense.<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5527364785342971830.post-3018680475038752612016-12-08T18:48:00.003-08:002016-12-08T18:48:53.741-08:00Survivor Season 33: Millennials v. Gen X - Episode 13 RecapPreviously on Survivor.... I've got the numbers, I'm sitting on top of the world. Fare the well my old chum, David. You gave me your Survivor life, and now I shall end it. Hold up there, Zeke. I'm a big boy. Big boy makes big move. Yes, little grass hopper, you have passed my test and earned my trust. Let me now go and break yours all over the camp. I thought you were my bro, bro. Stay with us, Will. We have soda. No Will come back to us, all will be forgiven. Sitting me in the middle of tribal council was pretty subtle. Here's my big move. Wait, what is Adam pulling out of his crotch?<br />
<br />
Coming back from tribal council, Will has just had his Survivor Bar Mitzvah. Today he is a man. He's changed his LinkedIn to add dragon slaying as a skill. He tells us that he's got this game on lock. He can flip back and forth, voting out the power brokers one by one, to the end. But in the famous words of Dan Foley. Flippers. Never. Win. Or at least eighteen year old flippers named Will who are playing on a game stacked with super and super duper fans.<br />
<br />
Bret is frustrated with the young man. He doesn't understand his decision to flip at all. That's fair. Will was in a good spot and had a close ally in Jay. I don't think he needed to Make a Big Move™. What <i>I </i>don't understand is the following quote from Bret: "I'm used to tribal council going my way. Again, it didn't go my way." So which is it? Maybe this best describes Bret's game thus far, he is badly playing his way to the end and somehow still here to talk about it. Confusingly.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">So, it's us three to the end, right?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
While Will is telling us what a great move he made and how his Survivor resume is shaping up, Adam is working on<i> his </i>next move. With Zeke vanquished, his team - Bret, Sunday and Jay - would seem to be next in line to the gallows. David and his minions - Adam, Hannah, Ken and now Will - can pick them off one by one. But Adam sees a problem with this scenario. David is closer to Hannah and Ken than he is; in that fivesome, he is in the minority. So Adam realizes he needs to move against the new king sooner than later.<br />
<br />
He easily gets Zeke's old allies on board. Right now, Bret and Sunday would write down anyone's name so long as it wasn't theirs. Hearing that Adam would like to turn on David now is music to their collective ears. Adam adeptly gets Bret and Sunday to buy in on David, Jay and Will being the three most dangerous remaining players and ignore that perhaps the young, smart, super duper fan with the great idea may be your biggest threat. They're on board and agree that David is public enemy number one.<br />
<br />
Good thing they didn't choose Jay as their target as he made short work of the immunity challenge, flinging the disks through the holes with near surgical precision as David weakly sent them randomly down the ramp. While putting on a challenge clinic, Jay had time to notice just how ineffective David was. So afterwards, when he and Will plan their next move (part of Will's flip-floppy operation pendulum), Jay suggests Ken as the next target. He is the most physically fit competitor and Jay's biggest competition. But Will knows that Ken will win precisely zero votes, not even a pity one from his friend Jessica, if he makes it to the end. He wants the target to be David. Jay's fine with that. He knows that it won't be, can't be him.<br />
<br />
Buoyed by this conversation, Will then puts his Make a Big Move™ Part II into effect. With his confessional playing in the background we see him pull Bret, Sunday, Hannah and Jay in on his plan...<b>his</b> plan...to target David. And then, because the Survivor gods do not mind boasting or hubris, he tells us that no one is calling the shots there, no one is telling him what to do, he is in charge. <br />
<br />
David of course sees all these conversations and quickly notices that they are all going on without him. And without his closest friend on the island, Ken. He also knows that the last tribal council pitted him against Zeke as a clash of kings. With one conquered, it is now time to take out the other. But David is not one to just accept his fate. So he, off screen apparently, prays to the Survivor gods to send him an angel.<br />
<br />
Here comes Adam. He sees that David is still a threat, but he's an obvious one. He's on the radar. He's been a bit defanged of late and his position of power is more illusion than reality. But Will, that young man is starting to let his new found power go to his head. Suddenly, the High School senior is schooling the college grads and seemingly running the show. Adam decides that Will is a bigger threat right now than David. And this is true, especially for Adam. David and he have a loose alliance whereas he and Will have until the last vote never been on the same side. Adam can foresee Will turning on him sooner than he can see David doing that. David is predictable, Will is not. And that makes him the bigger danger.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hannah, just once can you vote my way?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
So Adam goes back to work on Bret and Sunday and the three recommit to their new alliance. Adam then goes to Hannah with the new plan, but she's momentarily forgotten that she's playing Survivor. She likes Will and, more importantly, she feels she owes him for him swinging his vote to their side and keeping their alliance whole. Adam reminds Hannah that Will did what he did not for them but for himself and that he thought the move was in his best interest, he wasn't trying to save her. <br />
<br />
But Hannah is still troubled. She feels she owes Will for voting out Zeke. She feels she owes David for going to rocks for her. She feels like she owes Aubry for not winning last year so they decided to give the nerdy adorkable girl another go. She has a lot of obligations and she can't pay them all back. Survivor is hard. But not for Adam. He can say things like "Hannah and I are in a power position" and it not come back to bite him. Someone is looking more and more like the winner.<br />
<br />
At tribal, the jury comes in. Michelle looks cute, Taylor looks goofy, Chris looks pissed, Jessica looks Ponderosa hot and Zeke looks like he should sue his hairdresser. Most are happy to see Jay has the immunity idol. Jeff does a little recap and the focus is on Will and his Make a Big Move™, then Hannah puts his move in perspective. Everyone has at one time worked with people and against them. As the game goes on, especially as it moves to the end game, "you want to work with the people who want to work with you." Similarly, Adam says you want to think about who you will sit with at the finale, but you also have to think about getting to the finale. And at that point, Will should have been worried. Because what Hannah and to a lesser extent Adam were saying is choose loyalty over the Big Move™. <br />
<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mom, I just played Survivor.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Going back to camp after voting out young Will, Jay is feeling pretty bad. Anyone who aligns with him is dead in the water. Maybe he should make a final two deal with David, if he really wants him gone that bad.<br />
<br />
Jay does bounce right back every time he's knocked down. As soon as they get back to camp, he asks Adam to go off and chat. Jay knows he's good for at least one more vote since he has the hidden immunity idol and with his physical prowess he might even make it two more tribal councils. But he also needs to at least try to make something happen to get himself up from the bottom. He tries to mend the demoslished fence between them, telling Adam that theirs has been a Yin/Yang type of relationship, butting heads while sppreciating the other. And we certainly have seen that dynamic play out as they time and again failed to come together and consistently targeted one another.<br />
<br />
Adam plays Jay like an old Sega game (I'd assume fiddles are harder to play) and gets him to believe that David is his main target. But Adam knows that he has to get rid of Jay and his hidden immunity idol before anything else. To make this happen, step one is to make sure that Jay does not win the next immunity challenge. And so, with the challenge going and Jay starting to pull into the laad, Adam gets the idea to help Ken. He keeps his eye on Ken's ball (obligatory ball reference, nailed) while Ken is trying to remember how to spell Millennials and, eventually, Ken does win. It does not go unnoticed by anyone, especially not Jay, that Adam wanted Ken to win, but the story Adam conveyed to him was that it was David who was getting close and he had to make sure that he didn't win.<br />
<br />
Jay knows where he is in the tribe and so is upfront with everyone. I'm voting out David. Please join me. You can vote me out later, but I just have to outlast David and Will. Nice try, Jay. They may not think they can vote you out tonight, but they're not going to keep you around to win your way to the finale. But Adam's play tonight is a little "b" big move. In a perfect world, he gets Jay to play his immunity idol and David goes home. That takes out the biggest strategic threat and gives them the chance of being able to take out the biggest physical threat before the end. <br />
<br />
But Adam knows, acutely, that this is not a perfect world. This is a world where his mother is fighting for her real life back home while he is here fighting to give her something to look forward to. So he has to keep his wits about him and figure this all out. How best to move the pieces around to get to the end so this can all be worth it. It's a tremendous amount of pressure that he has put on himself and it's no wonder that the before and after of Adam after 35 days looks a lot like the before and after of Barack Obama after eight years as leader of the free world.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">David, don't look but there's a cameraman right behind you.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
David is scrambling as much as Adam is as he knows his name has been on everyone's lips. Even if Jay is the target, if Jay plays his idol, David will go home. So he needs to come up with another name. He throws out Bret and Ken is fine with it, but Hannah has another idea. I don't know if it's a case of "I want to be the last girl standing" or just that she has slotted herself in the "take me to the end" goat spot, but Hannah wants Sunday out next. David, who is so desperate to stay, does not push back at all. If Hannah wants Sunday, it's Sunday.<br />
<br />
So she and Ken talk to Adam about the plan. But Adam's idea is a slight tweak on Hannah's. He wants to put the votes on David. Ken is not happy with that. David is his closest ally left and he doesn't see him as a threat at the end. David is his friend. Hannah is not happy with that. David is her closest ally, well, you get the point. David has played a masterful game of building real, tight, solid, impenetrable bonds and Adam is having trouble breaking them. Hannah wants to vote out Sunday instead as the backup should Jay play his idol.<br />
<br />
Adam is worried. His worst case scenario is coming back from tribal council with David and Jay (plus his idol). How to keep that from happening while not losing the support of Hannah and Ken? He works on the bond that he and Jay have built, and the fact that they are too familiar with one another and too far into the game to BS each other. So he tells Jay, you're going to have to play your idol. I'm not going to vote you out, but I'm not going to let you hang around with that much power. <br />
<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
But Jay isn't fooled. "Adam always lies to me." He realizes that this could all be a plan to flush out the idol and that his name won't even come up at tribal council. But is he willing to take that risk and leave the game with an idol in his pocket ... or wherever the Millennials are stashing them these days. He begs Adam to work with him. He wants it to be the two of them to the end. It means a lot to him and he has to get there. Adam understands.<br />
<br />
And then in one of the best moments of television I've ever seen - not just in the reality TV genre, but in anything broadcast over the last fifty years - the two young men have a real conversation. It's so raw and painful that I felt like I was invading their space to even watch it, but I know it's a story that Adam wants to share. Yet the first surprising thing we all discovered as he started talking was that this was the first time Adam was speaking these words to anyone in the cast. Adam told Jay his secret, what he's been holding in all these weeks. About his mom. About what his brother told him. About what she means to him and what making it to the end means to his whole family. And Jay understood and related on a deep, personal level. And the game was put into perspective and they were two young men playing for their mothers, not for fame or the money or as a lark. They don't want to get to the end, they have to. And the two formerly squabbling Millennials forged a bond that will far outlive this game.<br />
<br />
We wipe away the tears and the game talk continues as Hannah and Adam powwow. If Adam and Jay are bickering brothers, he and Hannah are an old married couple. He tells her what he wants and she says that's nice dear but this is what we're going to do. She does see David as a threat but she also sees David as her friend. As much as Jeff said at last tribal council that being liked won't win you Survivor (tell that to Michele from Season 32), Hannah tells us that she can't vote out David because she likes him.<br />
<br />
She then says that if you can get people to change their minds and vote the way you want them to, that's how you win Survivor. So who will get their way, Adam or Hannah?<br />
<br />
Right out of the gate, Jeff brings it back to friendship and alliances versus strategy. David, naturally, votes overwhelmingly for friendship. And why not? That's what he's worked on cultivating all game long. Form episode one's "Bret, Chris, I trust you. I trust you," David has worked on building strong interpersonal bonds. But his success is what makes him a threat. The ultimate double edged sword of Survivor. Have fewer friends, you're not that much of a threat, but then there's no one to fight to keep you around. And that is squarely where Sunday finds herself. She cultivated precisely one tight ally, Bret. So when her name came up, there was no one to argue against it.<br />
<br />
Still, David is not in the clear. Not only does his name come up, but Adam makes a great case for why he should be voted out. He has friends, he works hard around camp, he's made a stunning personal transformation. If he gets to the end, no one has a better Survivor story than David. He almost sells it too well and, if Jay were paying attention, he might have thought he was safe and kept his idol for another rainy night. <br />
<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kids, I just lost Survivor.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
But tonight is not David's night to go home. Hannah worked her magic on Adam and convinced him to keep the threat and boot the goat. I listened to some podcasts before writing this recap, which I usually avoid doing, so I'll try not to be tainted by Stephen Fishbach's tirade against Hannah and her move. I thought it was inspired. David is one of her closest allies and will never target her. Going on she has a close relationship with David, Ken and Adam, which means that she should be safe going to final five (where Jay or Bret are voted out) and then four. And she should also survive a final four vote as Ken and David would likely take her over Adam. <br />
<br />
Did that constitute a "Big Move?" Not exactly, but she made a move, swung a vote, protected an ally and got rid of someone who stood in her way. I was impressed.<br />
<br />
Did Adam do the right thing? If he voted out David, he, Jay, Bret and Sunday would be the tight majority and Hannah and Ken would have been on the outside looking in. Neither of them have any relationships on the other side of the tribe and would have been easily picked off next. Then the only question is would Jay have won the final four immunity and then joined with Bret and Sunday voting off Adam. I'm not sure that either vote was the better one for Adam. <br />
<br />
Going into the last two hour episode of the season, there are six players left. And, as if preordained, there are three Millennials and three Gen Xers among them. As we split up the remaining six, winning immunity seems more important than ever. Ken has an advantage that he can use on Day 36 and we will finally discover what it is. If it's something that can help him win immunity, then he's on to the final five. The vote will then come down to who is perceived to be the biggest threat. Jay, who can win challenges and has friends on the jury, David, who has the strongest remaining bonds, Adam, who secretly has been playing an artful social game, Hannah, who looks like the goat but actually has a pretty strong resume, or Bret who has flown under the radar, making few enemies along the way.<br />
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Looks like it will be a fantastic finale.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5527364785342971830.post-17715817171606690082016-12-01T12:13:00.000-08:002016-12-02T12:37:09.948-08:00Survivor Season 33: Millennials v. Gen X - Episode 12 RecapPreviously on Survivor: Chris is the biggest threat, no Jessica is, wait Zeke could win this whole thing, we have to target David NOW. Jay wonders, am I invisible? Do I really exist? Hannah hyperventilates, Ken is hot and I'm the target. I can't be voted out before I can profess my love. Bret and Zeke bond, Zeke runs off to see if his gaydar needs new batteries. Bret likes booze. Sunday does not like Jessica. Must vote out Jessica. Adam wonders, am I invisible? Do I really exist? Big guy is blindsided, Zeke and David split up. Who gets Hannah? When two tribes go to war, someone will be collateral damage. White rock good, black rock bad.<br />
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So Zeke and David both seem like smart guys, who've probably read up at least a little on 20th Century history. They have to be aware of the concept of mutually assured destruction. As the great Google machine defined it for me: The Mutual assured destruction, or MAD, is a doctrine of military strategy and national security policy in which a full-scale use of nuclear weapons by two or more opposing sides would cause the complete annihilation of both the attacker and the defender. <br />
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Imagine it on a smaller scale. A duel. Each side turns and aims. What is to be gained if you both shoot simultaneously and with precise accuracy?<br />
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When you find yourself in this position, cooler heads are supposed to prevail. You realize that it is in neither of your best interest to fire, to set off the weapon of choice. It will lead to your demise. Thus we get, hypothetically, deterrence. A reason for neither side to strike first. <br />
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That is the lesson that Zeke and David did not learn or if they learned it they failed to implement it on the island. While their decision to launch full scale mutual destruction resulted in each of them leaving last week unscathed, there was collateral damage - poor black rock grabbing Jessica. But the direct damage was only held in abeyance for the moment. And it only took a few days for the bomb to hit its intended target as Zeke headed out of the game and down the ramp of regret and rethinking. What if.<br />
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Zeke's journey from the bottom to the top to out is a great lesson for future Survivor players. When you're at the bottom, you scramble. You make something happen. And that was what he did when he found himself on a five person tribe when he and fellow Millennial Michelle was outnumbered 3-2. He built a rapport with Chris, based on their Oklahoma connection and their mutual love for the Sooners and Zeke's hero worship of one of the championship members. He also built a strong bond with fellow outsider/nerd David. Zeke went from the bottom of the Millennials to a solid position with these two Gen Xers. <br />
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After the merge, Zeke was sitting very pretty. He reconnected with Hannah and they rebonded (albeit warily) with Adam. But Zeke was not on anyone's radar. He was close with Chris (who had in his pocket Sunday and Bret), he was close with David (who had in his pocket Ken and Jessica). He was in the majority nine-person alliance and on the other side of the pariah foursome of Michelle, Taylor, Jay and Will. He could have let the majority take out each of the four Millennials. <br />
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How would the remaining nine have broken? Ken and Jessica were a solid two. Bret and Sunday were a solid two. Those four had their sights set on each other. The remaining five, Chris, Zeke, Hannah, Adam and David could have moved back and forth in flexible voting blocs to let those four take each other out. And <i>then</i> with five left, Zeke could have targeted David. Hannah and Adam would have been amenable to getting their Gen X counterpart out and letting them be the remaining angsty neurotic people left on the island. Zeke knew that Hannah was having doubts about Adam and Chris was in his pocket, so at four he had a great shot at getting rid of Adam. Now he's final three with two people who would take him if it were a final two. <br />
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But no. Once Zeke tasted power he got, as we Big Brother fans like to call it, HOH-itis. No longer operating from behind, he had no idea how to put on the brakes once he was in the lead. You keep speeding, you're going to hit a wall. Or a Wahl. Get it? Will Wahl?? I'll wait.<br />
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At the tribal council when Jessica was rocked out, the tribes were split between David's side and Zeke's side. But despite the nomenclature, no one sees David as having or running anything. David doesn't appear to be in control of his gross motor functions, it's not likely he can control a group of Survivors. But Zeke, Zeke is smart, calculating, a chess master capable of moving pieces at will. He is a threat. David is only a threat to himself, no one sees him as anything but a frightened puppy curled up, quivering in the corner. But Zeke, Zeke is the one you have to watch out for.<br />
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And so young Luke Skywalker, with the voice that probably led the show's sound mixer to take up heroin, decides that he must take down the season's greatest threat to catapult himself into the winner's spot. Going into the vote, there were nine players left and "Zeke's team" of Jay, Will, Bret, Sunday and Zeke had the numbers to pick off "David's team." They decided on Ken as he is the clearest physical threat of the four. But Will does not like being told what to do. He's a big boy now and he can stay up as late as he wants. And he's not going to pick up his clothes, he likes them wadded up on the ground. And he can keep playing Final Fantasy, he doesn't have to do his homework.<br />
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Will is feeling his oats. So he goes to the other side and tells them that he wants to Make a Big Move(c) and that Zeke is going to win the whole thing if they don't take him out now. They are giddy. David was 100% sure he was going next and now there's hope. Adam figured he still had a target on him because of his advantage and now he doesn't have to worry he was next. Hannah had her name written down five times last tribal and now she doesn't have to worry that she's next. Ken sees a butterfly and marvels at the beauty of the universe. <br />
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Oh Ken. You gorgeous specimen. Possibly when you were living off the grid you ate too many suspect mushrooms, maybe you smoked too much pakalolo. Remember a couple weeks ago when you were on the Gen X tribe and you told Jessica that she was being targeted and she didn't believe you but instead went to Lucy, Sunday et al and told them what you said? Remember how we all called the lovely, smart attorney a dumb ass? Remember how it almost got her voted out, but for David's largesse?<br />
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No, Ken did not remember. After grilling Will like he's auditioning to play Mr. Miyagi in the road company of the Karate Kid, he then goes to the other alliance. The group he's competing against. The five that voted against his four two days previously. And he outs Will and tells them that Will tried to turn on them, tried to align with Ken and his group, and ratted out that they were going to vote out Ken. Ken blew up Will. Ken blew up his own alliance. And Ken blew up any chance anyone would ever talk to him, let alone trust him, again. <br />
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Will is caught with his hand in the cookie jar and he knows he's a dead man. If he stays with Zeke's group, they will remember and they will make him pay the first chance they get. If he goes with David's group, he loses his one true ally, Jay, with whom he's been tight since the beginning. And he's now allied with someone unpredictable who could blow up his game in an instant. <br />
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Before we get to Will's decision, and the play that made his decision, moot, a moment on the loved ones' visit. This is always a high point for the season as we get to see the human side of the players, the tough guys who become softies and, in Hannah's case, the big bundle of exposed nerves who becomes calm and reassuring. We see how lucky some people are in the genetics game as both Jay and Ken reveal similarly attractive siblings and we see the cruel side of the gene pool as Adam now knows where his hairline is destined.<br />
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As touching as all the family reunions were, Adam's time with his brother was of course the most poignant. How's mom? Such a powerful question and how for his brother to answer? Adam is thousands of miles and still many days away. What words can sum up what's been going on back home in the time of one brief embrace? Adam wants, needs, more, but he tearfully tells his brother and the rest of the families that despite aching for more time, he will not use his advantage to deny anyone their loved one's visit. And we all fall in love a little bit more with Adam.<br />
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After Jay smokes the competition, he gets to pick who will join him and his sister on the reward. He picks Will and then Sunday, all while Adam is pleading. Jeff tells Jay he can pick one more and showing himself to be capable of putting the game aside and be a human being, Jay says that despite their many differences, he will choose Adam. Adam had impressed him by promising not to use the advantage and he rewarded that selfless act. And any taint that Taylor had left on Jay is now completely gone. Jay has rapidly moved up to be one of my favorite remaining players.<br />
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Out of respect I won't delve deeper into Adam's talk with his brother, but I will say that his sharing this most painful and private moment probably will help many people watching. <br />
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I will say kudos to the challenge producers this season. We have yet to have a repeat winner of any individual immunity challenge and we have had an equal mix of expected comp beast wins - Ken and Jay - and less likely winners - Will, David and Adam. With Adam's win, and Ken having blown up Will's game, it looks like it will be four votes for Zeke, four votes for Ken, and Will the decider. But with Will having said earlier in the episode that he's voting out Zeke, I know that Zeke is not going this episode. It's NEVER the person they mention before the immunity challenge that actually is voted out. And Zeke is WAY too big a character this season to go out without a huge episode devoted to him. No, there's is ZERO chance that Zeke is going. So, I prepare for my eye candy to be voted off as we head to tribal council.<br />
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The producers lay it on pretty thick at tribal, what with Will sitting in the middle of the warring sides. Adam is safe and for some reason David is not on Zeke's radar any more. But Zeke's side tries to be clever and out-think the other side. It worked great last time, as they managed to convince David's side that they were targeting Ken. So if it works once, it should work again. They want the other side again to think they're targeting Ken, but again they will write down Hannah's name. This way even if David has found his fiftieth idol this season, he'll again misplay it and this time Hannah will go home.<br />
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But Zeke failed to calculate two things. One, that David's group would suss out their true plan and play the idol correctly. And, more importantly, that Will would realize that once his game was blown, it was in his best interest to flip and vote against Zeke. And so not only did David's side launch their nuclear weapons at Zeke first, they also used the Strategic Defense Initiative missile defense to neutralize any nukes Zeke sent their way. 5-0, Zeke was voted out of the game.<br />
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Adam may have wasted his nutsack idol, but he gained respect and undying loyalty from Hannah and, with Jeff not revealing all the votes, he looks like the savior to the jurors, rather than Will who actually cast the vote that mattered. It wasn't that long ago that everyone was targeting Adam. But he graciously didn't play his advantage at the family visit, he ended up giving the advantage to Jay as an appreciation, and he gave up his immunity idol for an ally. Someone's star is on the ascent. <br />
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Going to Day 34 there are still eight players left, interestingly four original Millennials - Adam, Hannah, Jay and Will - and four original Gen Xers - Bret, David, Ken and Sunday. Jay is the only one with a hidden immunity idol and Ken, if he can make it three more days, will have the benefit of the Legacy Advantage. Based on the vote, Bret, Sunday, and, to a lesser extent Jay (who might be able to reconnect with Will) would seem to be on the outs, but as this year has proved (especially the last few episodes) things move pretty fast on Survivor and you can't predict the future. With Zeke gone, is David the biggest threat left? Or will the Survivors focus on Jay who is a physical threat, has the most friends on the jury and still has an idol?<br />
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Here's Zeke's day after video:<br />
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Want more Zeke?<br />
<a href="http://www.ew.com/article/2016/12/01/survivor-zeke-millennials-vs-gen-x-ew-morning-live-podcast" target="_blank">EW</a><br />
<a href="http://parade.com/528478/joshwigler/survivor-millennials-vs-gen-x-zeke-smith-exit-interview/" target="_blank">Parade</a><br />
<a href="http://robhasawebsite.com/survivor-2016-exit-interview-podcast-zeke-smith-voted-off-november30/" target="_blank">RHAP</a><br />
<a href="http://people.com/tv/survivor-zeke-smith-millennials-vs-gen-x-exit-nterview/" target="_blank">People</a><br />
<a href="http://my.xfinity.com/blogs/tv/2016/12/01/survivor-castaway-zeke-id-rather-go-swinging-go-end-lose/" target="_blank">XFinity</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5527364785342971830.post-24844059964637819682016-11-17T14:04:00.004-08:002016-11-18T14:40:45.346-08:00Survivor Season 33: Millennials v. Gen X - Episode 9 RecapPreviously on Survivor: I hope I can get my freakin' revenge, I'm ready to play. Hannah, the gods have heard you, it's time for a merge! Hugs all around. And food, a lot of food. And Mason jars. You all feast, I'm going digging around -- there must be a pony in here somewhere. I found...a really awful advantage. Gee, thanks. Clang clang. I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that and go back to sleep. I'm going to go out and bond with my old friend TayTay over stolen food. You have a secret, I have a secret, let's be secret friends. Nah, dude, bro, I'm like totes voting you out. Let's undermine the kingpin, who to target? Well, we could go after Will. Scratch that. Well, we haven't voted a woman out in two days. Adam is the worst ally ever. I was thinking the same thing! Taylor stole food! That's such a Millennial thing to do. Bye Michelle.<br />
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You have to feel sorry for the Survivor editors this episode. Obviously, Taylor is the next to go. He's close to Jay (whom everyone views as a huge threat), he's been caught stealing food (though the magnitude of the theft is only known by Adam at this point), and he only has two people left in his alliance (Will who is not seen as a threat and Jay who many suspect may have an idol). So how to pad the hour? A little misdirection, a lot of filler and a little explosiveness right at the end.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Can you believe we lost someone who we trusted so much?</td></tr>
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Jay comes back from Tribal Council particularly salty. He calls out his former Millennial tribemates for being stupid, allowing themselves to be the bottom three of a nine person alliance. But Adam correctly notes that, at least for him, being at the bottom is still preferable to being voted out, which was Jay's plan for him that night. If Jay was so concerned about the Gen Xers having the numbers, perhaps he should have rethought his decision to vote out the most loyal Millennial out there, Michaela. As that great philosopher Taylor once said, "There are only so many people you can trust in this game and when they're gone it sucks, Bro." <br />
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Jay can't believe the Gen Xers trusted Adam over him, but he doesn't realize that no one trusts Adam at this point. I doubt Adam trusts Adam. Adam has run back and forth between the two sides so much that on the Google satellite picture of the Vinaka beach you can see the rut he created. But he is an easy later boot, he's not winning any challenges and he has no one at this point. By contrast, the tight four person, now three, about to be two, Triforce alliance was a bigger immediate threat. <br />
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We - and I speak for every viewer out there - already are over Taylor, so we didn't need <i>another </i>confessional of him gloating about having stolen half of the merge feast and playing guess the fruit in the dark. If the purpose of the scene was to make us all stand up and cheer when he's eventually voted off the island, we're already there. Taylor boasts that his secret is safe because the only one who knows is Adam and Adam has a bigger secret that Taylor is keeping. <br />
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While Taylor is stuffing his face with soggy pretzels and mystery fruits, Hannah is reveling in turning the table on Jay. Remember Jay how you kept Hannah in the dark about your plan to blindside Michaela? You told Hannah that you couldn't tell her ahead of time and you were sorry and you'd let her know next time? Well, guess what Hannah gets to say? I'm sorry Jay, but I had to do what was best for me. Sorry I couldn't tell you ahead of time. Maybe next time. Ah, sweet revenge.<br />
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Right after Hannah's "I'm really playing the game" quote, she comes way back down to earth after the Reward Challenge. Charged with putting a team together, school-yard pick style, she went for potential allies instead of brute strength and her team was smoked by the unbeatable Chris-Bret-Ken combo. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Is this Survivor or Club Med?</td></tr>
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The winning team feasts and drinks to their hearts' content. Except for Will who were are told, about a hundred times by my count, cannot partake even though the legal drinking age in Fiji is 18. Apparently, the Survivor contract requires you to abide by the laws of the U.S. regardless of where the show is filmed. This is because the blue haired cat ladies who watch CBS will have a fit if they see that sweet young boy get his first (hahahaha) taste of demon liquor right before the next police procedural. But Bret happily takes Will's share and gets wasted, though luckily not drunk enough to forget to come up for air after his epic cannonball. <br />
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So everyone on the winning side is well fed, well lubricated, and happy, right? Not so much. Sunday is fretting about the fractured Gen X tribe. Despite their unified vote at Tribal, she sees the six as two warring groups of three with David, Jessica and Ken on one side and Sunday, Chris and Bret on the other. Sunday wants to make a move before the other side does and she's convinced Jessica is gunning for her. So she wants to put Jessica's head on the chopping block as soon as possible. We sure didn't see this cutthroat person behind that Fargo-esque "donchaknow" voice, the mom of four persona, and the unruly mop of curly blond hair!<br />
<br />
While Sunday may be an under the radar strategist, Adam is waving huge red flags wherever he goes, drawing unneeded attention to himself. He suggests to us that maybe...MAYBE?????...he's been playing too hard. Ya think? So what does he do to slow down? He takes Jay aside and tries to strategize with him. Adam tests the waters with Jay, explaining his vote, discussing his thoughts going forward. He doesn't apologize for flipping against one of Jay's allies as he was Jay's target. Okay, fair point. He goes on to tell Jay the truth, that Taylor pisses people off and is the number one target and that those aligned with him are by the transitive property of annoyance also going to be targeted. That's why you, Jay, and Will and Taylor are at the bottom. <br />
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This somehow is a bombshell to Jay. He is flabbergasted. I'm at the bottom? He asks this incredulously, after one of his closest allies was just voted off in a 9-4 blindsiding vote. Somehow it is a complete shock to him that he, one of the remaining three in that alliance, would be at the bottom in a tribe of twelve? Simple math would have told him he's at the bottom. But he acted like Adam kicked sand in his face, then stomped on his head, chortling all the way. His overreaction to Adam explaining obvious facts to him was hard to comprehend. How oblivious was Jay to his surroundings that Adam telling him the truth was seen as mocking, ridiculing, and insulting him?<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jay, you can do math, right?</td></tr>
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So the rift between Adam and the Triforce grows exponentially at this point. Adam is now a "huge jerk" for telling someone whose ally was just voted out by the majority alliance that he is in the minority. I cannot even fathom how this was misinterpreted. But kudos to Will. When Jay came to him and said that Adam rubbed it in his face that they were at the bottom, Will asked "What did he actually say." Will realizes that there's a difference between the words said and how someone interprets them. That may be a key moment in Will's story right there. He didn't just react, he questioned. He is wise beyond his years and someone to keep your eye on.<br />
<br />
After Taylor and Jay catch up and Jay informs him of his conversation with Adam, the camera pans back and we see that both Hannah and Zeke were around for this anti-Adam bitchfest. And they are more than happy to join in. Jay and Taylor may be at the bottom and one of them may be going next, but nobody trusts Adam. And nobody sees how dangerous it is to keep someone around that you can't trust and targeting obvious targets instead. So they all join in Adam bashing, yet two of them are still going to are putting off dealing with him until later.<br />
<br />
One person does want to switch up the target and that's Sunday. She confides in Jay that Jessica is her real target and he's more than thrilled to promise her his vote against Jessica or pretty much anyone she mentions. This is the crack in the majority alliance he's been hoping for. Sunday next tells Bret she'll do whatever the majority wants, but she would rather get rid of Jessica. Since for us the viewer it's been months since the two were on the same tribe, we don't understand why Sunday is afraid of Jessica and why she wants her out so badly. But whatever bad blood existed on the old Gen X tribe is not long forgotten, at least not for Sunday.<br />
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The Immunity Challenge was a balance upon balance contest and Jeff offered the Survivors a choice. Compete or feast. Only two opted out of the challenge, taking the bait and trying to live down Jeff's repeated suggestion that these two feel awfully safe to give up a chance at immunity just for some delicious sandwiches and beer. But not for Will, who's only 18 in case you forgot. Put down the phones, ladies, Will will be drinking a nice safe soda pop. Zeke rightly points out that he had zero chance of beating the boarders (surf, snow, skate, any plank you have to stand up on) in a balance challenge and that he was better off refueling for a challenge he might have a chance at later. But Jeff would not let it go unnoticed that you had to feel pretty darn confident not to try for immunity. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYiTrlSX9OfAS0ON3pGo1t8WTDm73TYk_f1-MsXkYaBM8SQLPEGePuydC_OK8YE_SzXE1WljjkdNSzcUs-gB3vjZeWYisHX9h22vAHpQABDd1r0dUbTtzNDQcLgqFk75FPmZ0dU4bSE6w/s1600/survivor+9+ken.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYiTrlSX9OfAS0ON3pGo1t8WTDm73TYk_f1-MsXkYaBM8SQLPEGePuydC_OK8YE_SzXE1WljjkdNSzcUs-gB3vjZeWYisHX9h22vAHpQABDd1r0dUbTtzNDQcLgqFk75FPmZ0dU4bSE6w/s320/survivor+9+ken.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Your obligatory Ken photo. You're welcome.</td></tr>
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In the end it was down to Ken, the surfer with the abs of steel, and Taylor, the snow board instructor who has been secretly chowing down so he could crush challenges. Ken pulls out the win, giving him all of his screen time for this episode. I know he's boring, but he's so purdy to look at. Damn you Survivor editors who only care about strategy talk!<br />
<br />
So Taylor and Jay realize it's down to them in tonight's vote. Taylor decides to share with Jay his hidden jars of food and they have their island Last Supper. He tells Jay that Adam knows about the stash and that Adam has a secret of his own that he's going to blow up at Tribal Council. He's doing this for Figs, his woman. He will avenge her! Until he breaks her heart by breaking up with her after the show, but for now, he will avenge her!<br />
<br />
At Tribal Council Taylor, Jay and Adam act like immature middle schoolers. Jay says it was rough being blindsided, Adam says welcome to my world, Jay says, well welcome to Survivor, and they go back and forth seeing who can be more petty and more whiny. It's a tie. <br />
<br />
While Jeff points out the obvious - the three who voted wrong last Tribal are now at the bottom - Chris throws out a lifeline. You can be on the bottom (like he was) and you can fight back. There are cracks. That's a hell of a lot of information to slip out at Tribal. Chris is admitting that the nine are not tight and a savvy player can find and take advantage of the rifts. Taylor misreads the situation and decides that the crack Chris is talking about deals with Adam so he puts all of his energy in trying to undermine Adam. The problem with this is, the tribe could have voted out Adam if they had wanted to last week. He is not seen as the biggest threat and he is not currently the biggest target. This was a shot that Taylor, and Jay, tried to take last week and they missed. They should have worked to find a new target, maybe even Sunday's target.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Happy, hyperventilating, confused, giddy</td></tr>
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So Taylor goes balls to the wall on the offensive against Adam, and it gets some traction. He admits to not only eating food at night at the camp, but stealing large amounts and burying it to eat later. Everyone is shocked, but even more so when he adds that Adam helped him and joined with him. Now we know this is not true. But Adam is not blameless. While Taylor is lying about Adam helping him bury the food and partaking, Adam did know that Taylor hid food from the tribe, did not stop him, and did not tell anyone. Those are big enough red flags without the lies added on. In fact, had Taylor not lied and just laid out the facts, Adam would have had nothing to say in his defense other than "I was being sneaky and trying to create a secret alliance." <br />
<br />
But now the entire tribe is in chaos. Hannah needs oxygen lest she have another panic attack. Will can't believe that his ally kept this secret from him. Michelle thinks this is hysterically funny. And the rest of the tribe isn't sure who to strangle first. David wants an accounting of what food items were stolen. Sunday wants to know if anything remains. <br />
<br />
But wait, there's more. Taylor then tells the tribe that not only did Adam know about the food stash (which Adam admits), not only did he keep the secret (which Adam admits), but he did so because ADAM IS KEEPING HIS OWN SECRET. He's Batman. No, that's not it. He's got a secret advantage which he can use to drug and rape your women, murder your children and wipe out your bloodline. When your loved one comes to the island, he can have them murdered and their bodies used as chum to summon sharks while you look on helplessly. <br />
<br />
Taylor tries to make Adam having found an advantage that anyone could have found the moral equivalent to stealing food from your hungry tribemates. <br />
<br />
Just when things cannot get any crazier, Jeff lays a wet fart in the middle of the proceedings and tries to connect Taylor's brazen selfishness and audacity to the Millennials v. Gen X theme. But he's wrong. Taylor is not espousing a Millennial position, he's being a jerk. He has not played Survivor since he first decided to hook up in a showmance on day one and he's still not playing Survivor. He's playing, have as much fun as I can while I'm out here, and he's the only Millennial who has taken that approach.<br />
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So <i>not</i> Millennial is Taylor's approach that his best buddy Jay rips him for it, calling him a dumb surfer, no offense. Taylor doesn't take offense at being called dumb, only at being called a surfer. He's a dumb snow boarder, bro. But not Jay. He has hopes and dreams and is willing to work for them. And to his credit, he is and has been playing Survivor and not Fijian Fantasy Island. Maybe the best thing for Jay's game would be for Taylor to be gone.<br />
<br />
Adam is becoming apoplectic and you expect him to burst a blood vessel in his brain as everything seems to be crashing down around him. Taylor admits to stealing, hoarding and feasting on the tribe's food. Jay admits to eating some of the stolen food. Yet the focus is still on Adam who did not partake of even a crumb. Keeping Taylor's secret is becoming a bigger crime than what Taylor or Jay did. This Kafkaesque drama is about to torpedo Adam's game and he feels powerless to stop it. Until secret cop Bret puts this all into perspective: There were a lot of errors made, we have to determine who's the most culpable.<br />
<br />
And with that, the tribe votes. Shockingly, Jay does not play his hidden immunity idol, but when all the votes are shown we discover why. Knowing the tribes would be splitting the votes, he thought it would be 5-4. If he voted for Taylor, as he smartly did, at worst it's a tie. But it was pretty clear to him that the 5 would probably go for Taylor, the "most culpable" of the two. And so it did.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gnarly man. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
What Jay may not have anticipated was that his ally Will would read the writing on the wall and vote with majority, casting his vote against Jay. Regardless, it was Taylor who saw his torch snuffed as his horrendous gameplay at long last caught up with him. Or as Jeff put it so well, sometimes the vote at Tribal Council is all about consequences. <br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8fb6XpaYD-4" width="560"></iframe>
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<br />
Want more Taylor? Check out these post-eviction interviews:<br />
<a href="http://www.tvguide.com/news/survivor-taylor-figgy-stealing-food-adam/" target="_blank">TV Guide</a><br />
<a href="http://parade.com/524831/joshwigler/survivor-millennials-vs-gen-x-taylor-stocker-exit-interview/" target="_blank">Josh Wigler - Parade</a><br />
<a href="http://my.xfinity.com/blogs/tv/2016/11/17/survivor-castaway-taylor-best-family/" target="_blank">Gordon Holmes - Xfinity</a><br />
<a href="http://www.ew.com/article/2016/11/17/survivor-taylor-figgy-millennials-vs-gen-x" target="_blank">Entertainment Weekly</a><br />
<a href="http://robhasawebsite.com/survivor-2016-exit-interview-podcast-taylor-stocker-voted-off-november-16/" target="_blank">Rob Has a Podcast</a><br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7suTfJb-LuE" target="_blank">GoldDerby</a><br />
<a href="http://mashable.com/2016/11/17/survivor-taylor-exit-interview/#yP.UMRdhpqq0" target="_blank">Mashable</a><br />
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Ponderosa Video:<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/b0Sr28dAE90" width="560"></iframe>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5527364785342971830.post-52174605401993785722016-11-10T13:54:00.000-08:002016-11-13T09:47:18.767-08:00Survivor Season 33: Millennials v. Gen X - Episode 8 RecapPreviously on Survivor: Taylor, I know I blindsided you, backstabbed you and ruined your chance of giving Figgy the final rose but... what point was I making? Adam, I will destroy you. And your little dog too. Jess, Ken, let's shake on getting Adam out because handshakes are totally binding. Zeke, I trust you, here's my hidden idol, my SSN, all my passwords and a full body scan. Michaela saves the day again, what would we do without her? So here's my plan for the next three weeks - let me show you via some sea shells, a slide show, a hand puppet and an interpretive dance. Michaela is dangerous. Ya think?<br />
<br />
So the day after Jay and Will executed their plan to get rid of Jay's biggest threat, Michaela, Hannah is in her usual position of out of the loop cluelessness. She is not happy to have been the only one not in on the plan to blindside Michaela. This shows her to be firmly at the bottom of her so-called alliance and proves to her that Jay is not someone she can trust. She swears her revenge, which now makes two people (adding Taylor's plan to avenge Figgy) in the Inigo Montoya role this season.<br />
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But before anyone can put a plan into play, it's merge time. Adam, who has been our guide through most of the season, puts this moment into perspective. "This is the point when alliances and loyalties are tested and the great players are separated from the mediocre players." He of course misses the most crucial meaning of the merge. They're all date-able!<br />
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There are hugs all around and jubilation as old friends come together. Michelle is lofted into the air by Hannah and she tells us she is thrilled to have her old allies back so she can be back in the driver's seat. She was at risk in her small four person tribe, but with Jay, Will and Taylor back, how could anything go wrong? Cue the dark clouds, rumbling thunder, maybe a lightning strike or two? Too obvious?<br />
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The Survivors enjoy the merge feast and the opportunity to become reacquainted with old tribe members and get to know new ones. While they feast and and share stories, they are unaware that someone from production worked very, very hard to hide a clue to a secret advantage right in plain sight. There, on the inside of one of the boxes, is a message to decode.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Look I'm a clue. Read me!</td></tr>
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Look at all the words below "congratulations you have made the merge." More specifically, look just at the initial letter of each of the words. They have to mean something. They probably spell something, right? Otherwise, why so many random adjectives? Unless some intern was studying for their SAT, there's no reason for words like gregarious, right? So what does it spell? "Mail brings advantage. Find it first." Aha! So, likely, there is something by the location of the tree mail. Surely, one of the super, maybe even a super duper, fans will see the message, figure it out, and find whatever is hidden there. <br />
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Or Adam can just bypass all that, make all that hard work for naught, and just use his general Survivor knowledge to go root around for a hidden something while his fellow tribemates gorge themselves. And so lo and behold, Adam finds a first of its kind advantage. It gives him the power to take away someone's reward, also known as the "Make an enemy for life" advantage. He is thrilled as he knows that this is something new to Survivor and as a super duper fan he will now be in SurvivorWiki as the first person to find the hidden steal a reward advantage! Maybe it'll be named after him, like that god forsaken Tyler Perry Idol. Adam then gives us a perfect soundbite, that he will use this advantage at the perfect time later in the game. And now we have Chekhov's advantage to keep our eyes on.<br />
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With the merge comes some major evaluations of what is the power structure. Who has whose back, where do you fit in your alliance, who is dangerous, who can you trust. So, naturally, we get a few confessionals of people assessing their place in this brand new tribe. Jay is sitting on top of the world. He is Il Duce, el jefe, the boss of all bosses, or, as he puts it, the kingpin, meaning, apparently, that he is a vertical bolt used as a pivot. Best of all, no one knows how godlike he is because he's so humble, unassuming, and covert. No one has any idea that Will would fall on a grenade for him, that Taylor would give him his left nut if he asked for it and that Michelle looks to him as her guiding light. Nope, Jay is sitting pretty. He's got them, plus Hannah and Sunday and Bret (who he just saved and who owes him his life). That's seven. That's a majority. That's a wrap.<br />
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Only... Bret the cop has noticed that Jay and his fellow Millennials are thick as thieves and he starts to get suspicious whether going with Jay is a good idea. He reconnects with Chris, who tells him that he and David are tight and hoping to get back together with him and Sunday. That's four. They also have Zeke. But they need more if they want to be in power. Oddly, he doesn't immediately think of Ken and Jessica and it's easy to wonder if there might be some residual distance there from when they were on opposite sides of the Gen X tribe. Time to put those differences away!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We got this, we totally got this.</td></tr>
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Meanwhile, the old nerd crew has reunited and they bring together perspectives from each being on a different tribe the last few days. Zeke, Adam and Hannah have the bond and the intel and could certainly direct how this game goes from here if they're smart. And since they went to Harvard, Stanford and Northwestern, respectively, they should have the brain power to pull this off. That or our higher educational system has some 'splaining to do.<br />
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Zeke, like Bret, has a Jay epiphany. This charming, magnetic bro could completely dominate the game with his magnetic charm. Jay is dangerous. And charming. Both mostly dangerous. With his perfect teeth, unruly hair and twinkling eyes, Zeke realizes that everyone will fall into Jay's charismatic gravitational pull. And Zeke worries that if the majority of bro'y bros join together, he might be back on the bottom of the totem pole. Jay has to go.<br />
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In the wee hours after the feast, there is scrambling around the campsite. But it's not for a hidden immunity idol. Nope, it's for banana chips. Taylor tells us that he is a MacGyver of the Mason jars and that he uses them to create a super secret stash of food just for him. Because nothing says loyal tribemate like stealing and hoarding food. Not surprisingly, he make enough noise to wake up half the camp. Bret and Adam each see him but take different tacks in how to deal with this information. Bret pretends to be asleep and just file away the information for later use. Adam decides to get up and go over and use the information to create a bond with Taylor.<br />
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The person who he had just blindsided and backstabbed.<br />
The person whose girlfriend he had just voted out.<br />
The person whose game he had just destroyed.<br />
The person who had just vowed that Adam was his mortal enemy.<br />
The person with whom he was never aligned even back when they were on the same tribe.<br />
<br />
This was the moment where I completely lost my faith in humanity. Not the election. That was more understandable (if more horrifying) than what Adam did next. <br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTpRJlexi42d5KNT8GIIBP7zKWmKwTrbnQeI9zmgP-6B0aPzEAfdQnUYdmAUpchGt9i_GLBk8cCjNusPHzMhqrJHuM_3Hl09QHy9_q4J4pYfjl4f18QcSRQWHcKFK4nhvgbYenbJPN04w/s1600/survivor+8+taylor+adam.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTpRJlexi42d5KNT8GIIBP7zKWmKwTrbnQeI9zmgP-6B0aPzEAfdQnUYdmAUpchGt9i_GLBk8cCjNusPHzMhqrJHuM_3Hl09QHy9_q4J4pYfjl4f18QcSRQWHcKFK4nhvgbYenbJPN04w/s320/survivor+8+taylor+adam.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">So you want me to bag on my closest ally? Gnarly.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Adam decides to have a midnight bro-down to build an unlikely alliance with Taylor. Adam admits it's unlikely based on their fractious history. But what Adam completely, totally, utterly, entirely misses is that isn't not an <i>unlikely </i>occurrence it's a <i>never in gazillion years even if you were the last Survivor player in the galaxy </i>occurrence. No matter how hard you try, no matter what you say, Taylor will never ever ever ally with you. Ever. Never. Adam, you're a nice kid. You're a smart kid. But don't try to fit a square peg in a round hole. You're a nerd. Embrace it. Revel in it. Don't try to cozy up to the cool kids, they'll be working for you soon. You don't need Taylor's help to run this show. Look around. You, Zeke, Hannah, join with Dave, Chris, Bret and Sunday. Boom that's seven. Get rid of all the physical threats - Jay, Taylor, Ken - you're home free. <br />
<br />
But, no, Adam, suffering from heat stroke, island madness, or an old fashioned brain fart, decides instead to tell Jay's closest ally that his best move is to vote out Jay's henchman Will. Now, I kinda get the logic behind what Adam was saying. You get rid of Will and Jay will come running back to Taylor. That's what he was selling. But Taylor was not afraid of Will, Taylor did not see Will as a threat to him, Taylor did not doubt Jay's loyalty, and Taylor did not want to shoot himself in the foot by voting out one of his <i>own</i> allies. AND, if Taylor voted out Jay's closest buddy, Jay would be hella pissed and very unlikely to mend fences. No, on second thought, I don't see the logic behind what Adam was trying to sell Taylor. <br />
<br />
And then to double down on the dumbest moment of Adam's Survivor experience, he then tells his mortal enemy about his secret advantage. <br />
<br />
Adam, WHAT WERE YOU THINKING??????<br />
<br />
Sorry, didn't mean to shout. Well, that's the end of Adam. He had a good run. <br />
<br />
Taylor vows quick revenge on Adam and the thought of him outlasting super duper fan Adam makes me queasy.<br />
<br />
But the Gen Xers are here to save the day. They're pissed at Taylor's cavalier attitude about the tribe's food and concerned about his strong alliance with Jay, Will and Michelle. They start talking about Taylor as a potential first post-merge boot. They do the math, they have the numbers. This should be easy.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfpSbxKizEvtLQ-fD8W9su1lGdkWSg89dtagxXUObkKCDAkJlH1BT9RdALcXIg5Z3zzK6LPx5L2NWmwP_00WynmPgGhcL4jh3V6nUw0j3OBF5nHk9k-67vFmwSDFrYkUHjo8cLsl-Tm_4/s1600/survivor+8+jay+taylor.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfpSbxKizEvtLQ-fD8W9su1lGdkWSg89dtagxXUObkKCDAkJlH1BT9RdALcXIg5Z3zzK6LPx5L2NWmwP_00WynmPgGhcL4jh3V6nUw0j3OBF5nHk9k-67vFmwSDFrYkUHjo8cLsl-Tm_4/s320/survivor+8+jay+taylor.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You have the gnarliest hair. No you do.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Taylor and Jay are strategizing, which means Taylor is throwing out random words and Jay is thinking tactically about what is best for their chances. Jay wants to keep it Millennial strong, and plan for the Gen Xers to target one of their own. There are seven Millennials - Adam, Hannah, Michelle, Jay, Taylor, Will and Zeke - to six Gen Xers - Bret, Chris, David, Ken, Jessica and Sunday. If the Millennials join together, they can wipe out the Gen Xers. It's simple math. But life on Survivor is never that simple. <br />
<br />
So Taylor tells Jay - after getting him to promise he won't tell a soul - that Adam has thrown around the idea of voting out Will. He doesn't tell Jay that Adam's stated reason is so that Taylor and Jay can be closer, he tells Jay that Adam is doing this to target him. So in a few minutes, Jay has gone from thinking he has a nice, tight, final seven with his Millennial peers to finding out that Adam is gunning for him. Jay, who was so set on sticking together, at first cannot process what this means, then eventually comes over to forgetting Millennial Strong agreeing that Adam has got to go.<br />
<br />
Luckily for Adam, Zeke is in the right place at the right time and overhears the conversation between the two dudes. In the first known use of the word "coterie" in 33 seasons of Survivor, Zeke tells us that Jay and his cool kids clique now have their sights set on Adam and he needs to get in there and work to save his fellow nerd. All he has to do is get Adam back in line and get him to forget any idea of building an alliance with the surfer dudes.<br />
<br />
Will was minding his own business, content knowing that he was in the majority post-merge and that his school vacation would continue while his fellow seniors were waiting on their college applications. Then Taylor tells Will that his name has been thrown out there, by Adam no less, and Will is now scared. And also super duper motivated going into the immunity challenge. And we know what often happens on Survivor when there's one player who really needs safety more than anyone else. It's a test of strength, balance and, coincidentally, will, and it come down after an hour to two more unlikely players - Will the youngster and Jessica the determined. It's a tremendous showing for Jessica, but in the end, youth wins out. Let me take a moment to give a shout out Dave for not being the first out and actually lasting pretty long in the competition. He's really coming into his own!<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpPzbnhrDNapCohVQPqnkMV0EOLahx2-K6-HqPGLW0s-7a0g_BI3mNRN8qINnnAIFM0ehFQuDJC54DdvuI0uk-_vcOjDMNJVcfcrbMvY_OtciCyoR-UNOFmgSBFo0Xt_DBJl4gG-DFWC4/s1600/survivor+8+michelle.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpPzbnhrDNapCohVQPqnkMV0EOLahx2-K6-HqPGLW0s-7a0g_BI3mNRN8qINnnAIFM0ehFQuDJC54DdvuI0uk-_vcOjDMNJVcfcrbMvY_OtciCyoR-UNOFmgSBFo0Xt_DBJl4gG-DFWC4/s320/survivor+8+michelle.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Someone is not happy with the plan</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
After the challenge is over, Jay, Taylor, Hannah, Michelle and Will talk about their next move. The men want to vote out Adam, even if it cuts the number of Millennials down to six. Michelle, who in the second episode proved herself to be a keen strategist with her flip to get Mari vote out, is not convinced. She thinks it's too early to target one of their numbers and that they should instead weaken the Gen Xers first. But this is personal for the guys and they want Adam to pay for what he did now. Reluctantly, Michelle goes along.<br />
<br />
Zeke takes Adam aside and tells him everything. What he overheard, how Will knew he had to win the challenge, and how Adam is now the target. Adam suggests that maybe he played too hard. If by too hard he means really stupidly because he never should have trusted Taylor with any information because he is not his friend, then, yeah, that was too hard. If he means naive and risky telling Jay's closest ally that he wanted to vote against him and expecting that would not come back to bite him then, yeah, that was too hard. <br />
<br />
If you ever go on "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" make sure Zeke is your phone a friend. This guy is the ultimate lifeline. <br />
<br />
But Adam, instead of kissing Zeke's feet for bailing him out of the huge mess he's made, thinks that because the Gen Xers can't decide who of the Taylor/Jay/Michelle group to target (since they're worried, rightly as we know, that Jay has an idol and would, wrongly, play it for Taylor), HE SHOULD TRY AGAIN WITH TAYLOR.<br />
<br />
I'm sorry, was I shouting again?<br />
<br />
Adam, becoming the most frustratingly oblivious player this or perhaps any season, thinks he has to do some weirdo voodoo, some crazy magic trick rather than simply realize that NINE PEOPLE are united in getting one of the three out. And if you as a super duper fan know anything, you know the number one rule of Survivor is "anyone but me." That's what Queen Sandra would tell you. So if it's not you, just go with the flow. Adam, you told us not long ago that maybe you're playing too hard. You know, you might be playing too hard. <br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGaY20SmR2gi-HTOSYjMgmUPgpVEELjMq_4Wm6dhN9pQYhyD7PKeO9OqFIC-hZle6c6dNIxZOq4VxGPUboWsr3HK_Teb0HD42O8GykkMWKTZ-W7c1yVqBtc0Rerr3mZaZUZ_WXEip361w/s1600/survivor+8+adam+taylor.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGaY20SmR2gi-HTOSYjMgmUPgpVEELjMq_4Wm6dhN9pQYhyD7PKeO9OqFIC-hZle6c6dNIxZOq4VxGPUboWsr3HK_Teb0HD42O8GykkMWKTZ-W7c1yVqBtc0Rerr3mZaZUZ_WXEip361w/s320/survivor+8+adam+taylor.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Give it up, Adam. He's not that into you.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Adam, please do not go back to the Taylor well. It's dry. Sahara desert. No, make that the Atacama Desert of northern Chile. Because I googled driest place on earth and I saw that. Coincidentally, next to it was a picture of Taylor's dead blue eyes. There's nothing for you there, Adam. He wants no part of you. No bygones, no alliance, no secret pact, no final whatever. You voted out his girl and Taylor is not playing Survivor he's playing Avenging Boyfriend. Still, Adam tries and gives Taylor another chance and it goes just as badly as possible. Worse, he does it in front of the tribe!<br />
<br />
Dave asks Hannah, incredulously, "You don't think Adam would try to flip on us, do you?" Yes, David, yes he would and yes he is - trying, at least - because he is playing too hard. But please, David and Hannah, join with Zeke and save Adam from himself. Because when his fever goes down and his brain goes back to normal he will thank you for keeping him from blowing up his game. "Adam is the worst teammate ever," says Hannah. "Adam a bad alliance member," says Zeke. "Adam is the most frustrating person ever," says Zeke and every Survivor fan watching. Adam is actively trying to grab defeat from the jaws of victory and make something simple very complicated. And it is only a matter of time before even those fighting so hard to keep him in the game will get tired of bailing him out and just let him drown.<br />
<br />
But fortunately for Adam, all of the Gen Xers and the nerd herd from the old Millennials all want to break up the foursome of Taylor, Jay, Will and Michelle. They dislike Taylor and are afraid of Jay, the other two are just numbers. Will is off the table thanks to his immunity win, and their fear that Jay has an idol that he would play on himself or Taylor lead them to Michelle as the likely target. Zeke has never trusted her and their time together on the orange tribe did nothing to bring them closer together. Plus, he and Hannah know Michelle is the brains of the triforce alliance, a dangerous player as they go forward, so she's the target. Unless everyone is fed up with Adam and his vacillations in which case he'll get an invite to the blindsided club.<br />
<br />
At tribal council the discussion first turns to Taylor secreting a stash of food for himself to feast on while his tribemates followed the rules. He makes zero friends as he explains that he took what he wanted because he could and because it was there and because he decided he deserved it since the merge feast did not include any gold stars. This causes most of the tribe to bristle, but Taylor just continues to laugh that stupid laugh that he uses to let everyone know that he doesn't give a damn and will do whatever he wants whenever he wants with no repercussions.<br />
<br />
Jeff notices how completely at ease Taylor is with all the negative attention to his late night snack hoarding. Hannah calls Taylor a chill bro and he actually gives the "rock on" sign as he gleefully laughs at the fact that he can eat more than his share of the food and not be at all in danger of going home tonight. And he does that even after Zeke reminds him that this is a game for a million dollars and that making unnecessary enemies, or bringing unnecessarily negative attention to yourself, could be a million dollar mistake. He doesn't care. Taylor's gonna Tay.<br />
<br />
After a discussion of whether tribal loyalty is more important than interpersonal trust, it's time to vote. Prophetically, Michelle couches tonight's vote thusly: trust will be broken with some people and strengthened with others.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBNesZ1M9UnY0Q7kN472b4jyzGdD6mGOBAveeVQncS2UW7GlFxXpqDK67eEcHc6fTjZuwIeTceuSWMiPassbqsGJQWFcOOYzpyEGjMCur2Wb0P9t4EH4LDzI9kODsFr0jfV46eLPmfvKY/s1600/survivor+8+michelle+torch.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBNesZ1M9UnY0Q7kN472b4jyzGdD6mGOBAveeVQncS2UW7GlFxXpqDK67eEcHc6fTjZuwIeTceuSWMiPassbqsGJQWFcOOYzpyEGjMCur2Wb0P9t4EH4LDzI9kODsFr0jfV46eLPmfvKY/s320/survivor+8+michelle+torch.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Why did I stick with Jay and Taylor?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Michelle was a smart player, had a good social game and was great at challenges. But she stuck with the wrong alliance, failed to reestablish a bond with Hannah, failed to recognize the numbers were against her and ignored the need to pull more people in. Her instinct not to target Adam was good but she didn't fight hard enough to go with her gut and get the Millennials to agree on a Gen X target. And so, she's off to Ponderosa as the first member of what will be a very large jury!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/kYFtEjutlqw/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kYFtEjutlqw?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
<br />
<br />
Want more Michelle?<br />
<a href="http://people.com/tv/survivor-michelle-schubert-millennials-vs-gen-x-exit-interview/" target="_blank">People</a>\<br />
<a href="http://robhasawebsite.com/voted-off-survivor-2016-exit-interview-podcast-michelle-schubert-november-9/" target="_blank">Rob Has a Podcast</a><br />
<a href="http://parade.com/523022/joshwigler/survivor-millennials-vs-gen-x-michelle-schubert-on-her-fatal-mistake/" target="_blank">Josh Wigler/Parade</a><br />
<a href="http://www.tvguide.com/news/survivor-michelle-exit-interview-jay-taylor-food/" target="_blank">TV Guide</a><br />
<a href="http://mashable.com/2016/11/10/survivor-33-michelle-exit-interview/#i.PaGebnpmq3" target="_blank">Mashable</a><br />
<a href="http://www.sheknows.com/entertainment/articles/1129709/survivor-michelle-schubert-exclusive-interview" target="_blank">SheKnows</a><br />
<a href="http://www.goldderby.com/article/2016/survivor-exit-interview-podcast-michelle-schubert-millennials-vs-gen-x/" target="_blank">GoldDerby</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5527364785342971830.post-67188223545344548982016-11-03T13:54:00.004-07:002016-11-03T15:14:08.471-07:00Survivor Season 33: Millennials v. Gen X - Episode 7 RecapIPreviously on Survivor: Zeke is giddy, Adam is undecided, Taylor is in love. Jay and Will find a hidden immunity idol, Michaela finds Jay and Will with the hidden immunity idol. <br>
<br>
Oh, who am I kidding, let's not bury the lead.<br>
<br>
Michaela is gone.<br>
<br>
Backstabbed, betrayed, blindsided. A victim of her awesomeness. Survivor has no meaning any more. Life has no meaning any more. Why play out the rest of the season, when its greatest contestant has her fire snuffed out too soon? Even if you were a Cubs fan, you had to feel awful after that tribal council. Thanks to Jay and Will, I have now entered my blue period. I will reluctantly continue to watch the rest of the season, knowing that somewhere Michaela is winning at life because every single person watching last night thought that Jay made a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad move voting out a loyal, trustworthy ally. But part of me died a little inside last night as the competition and confessional goddess walked down the lonely path of pre-merge oblivion.<br>
<br>
Michaela - gone, but not forgotten. <br>
<br>
When the episode begins, and there was still hopefulness hanging in the air, Taylor was pissed to the max, like totally, about Adam's blindsiding vote to break up the greatest love story Survivor had ever known. Adam - forgetting how after being blindsided Zeke was not in the mood to chat - decided now was the perfect time to talk to Taylor about his betrayal. Taylor, surprisingly, doesn't tell him to go take a walk into the ocean, but sits down to listen to his plea. <br>
<br>
So what does Adam say to patch things up between him and Taylor? "Taylor, this was in your best interest. Showmances never last. Without Figgy around, you've got a great chance to go far. You weren't seeing clearly, so I had to come in and bail a bro out. I'm totally with you dude, bros before, um, girls who could potentially mess up their game." No. Adam instead decides to fall on his sword, a grenade and whatever other weapons of destruction he can find and fuel Taylor's rage.<br>
<br>
So what words does Adam offer Taylor to bridge the chasm between them, to start the process of healing and forgiveness and resolution? "I screwed you. I lied to you and I screwed you. You are now in a worse position than you were before. And that's my fault." Adam, Adam, Adam. Whoever told you that honesty is the best policy lied to you. Honesty almost never works. Especially not on Survivor. But also not in the real world. "Does this dress make me look fat?" The answer is "No" without even looking. No one wants to hear a bitter truth. <br>
<br>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1Ar8HELEKObbdp75qjpxItoe_LUx6PpyyA24tWR7o_Gaq8ejoHK6jSEWnX2JwWTFdI_F1WJu1i08NDviCxBoSuLqj-H_A7LTLgHE_M1wUX7KxPlTMNldLr-MwZo0aUWRWdUJBAbPVNVs/s1600/survivor+7.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1Ar8HELEKObbdp75qjpxItoe_LUx6PpyyA24tWR7o_Gaq8ejoHK6jSEWnX2JwWTFdI_F1WJu1i08NDviCxBoSuLqj-H_A7LTLgHE_M1wUX7KxPlTMNldLr-MwZo0aUWRWdUJBAbPVNVs/s320/survivor+7.png" width="320"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The dead - but pretty - eyes of the Terminator.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
What does work? Not reinforcing the angry, vengeful thoughts already percolating in Taylor's mind. Taylor is furious, how does validating that feeling help? How does stoking that feeling help? Now Taylor knows, not only was Adam a rat who sold him and the love of his life out for a measly $1M, but that Adam knows that he did this awful thing and takes full ownership. Why make an enemy for life who you have to sleep near for the next however many days, who will make it his life's goal to make sure you do not get to the end of the game? <br>
<br>
For better gameplay, we go over to the orange tribe where David is always thinking. His plan if they go to tribal council is to vote out Michelle next and he thinks the rest of the tribe is on board. But he also knows that Chris is a reluctant ally at best and that his support - and vote - cannot be guaranteed. So David works on building a bigger bond with Zeke. He makes a risky move by telling Zeke he found a hidden immunity idol. There are two schools of thought on the best way to play finding an idol. One is the Kelly Wentworth/Carolyn Rivera approach of keeping it secret and using it tactically at tribal council. The other, championed by Stephen Fishbach on the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GXDUx5hHfc" target="_blank">RHAP Know it Alls</a>, is to use it strategically to create a feeling of trust and unity with another player. David is potentially going down as the first player to use the idol both ways in one season. <br>
<br>
We didn't have to wait long to find out that, at least as of day 20, telling Zeke was the right choice. Zeke is now a loyal ally of David, willing to protect him and go far with him into the game. David could not have hoped for a better quote coming from Zeke after the big reveal than "He has put his life in my hands and I'm going to take very very good care of his life." That could not have gone any better. David/Zeke final two. Oh, what was that Zeke? What did you tack on to the end of the sentence? "For the time being." Oh bother.<br>
<br>
When the three tribes meet for the Reward Challenge, the Millennials are shocked to see that Adam switched over to the Gen Xers and voted out Figgy at the last tribal council. Not shocked, but stoked, is Michaela. Jeff reminds her how she had told the Millennials that there were three of them to two Gen Xers and if they couldn't figure it out they deserved to be voted off. But today Michaela admits that she knew exactly what she was doing when she helped the orange tribe win immunity and that she knew exactly what she was doing when she helped send the purple tribe to vote someone off. "It's been time for Figgy to go for a while." And just in case no one picked up on the vibe, Michaela added, "Bye, Felicia."<br>
<br>
In retrospect, probably too much information. If you're in an alliance one of the key things you want from your allies, besides fidelity and honesty, is secrecy. No airing dirty laundry for the other side to see. Michaela was way too open about everything and became the Wikileaks of the Millennials, dumping information for the other side to pour over. <br>
<br>
The orange and green teams win the Reward Challenge, but the most notable part of this scene was what Michaela said after she, once again, led her tribe to victory. "It makes me nervous when I help the team win. I don't want people to think that I'm the one to beat." Too late, Michaela. Way too late. While Bret responded to her win by looking like a proud papa, Jay was feeling some combination of intimidation and fear. And every Survivor super duper fan had the feeling of impending dread. That was too dangerous and too accurate of a quote not to be meaningful. #foreshadowing #whydidntyoufigurethisoutsooner<br>
<br>
Over on the losing purple tribe, Taylor is scrambling. And for the chill, seemingly clueless, surfer dude, he's actually doing a good job trying to save his game. On-coming bus? Check. Grab Adam? Check. Throw him under the thundering wheels? Check. He lies like a lying liar to Ken and Jessica that he was completely betrayed by Adam who had sworn his undying fealty to him and Figgy, had promised to be the best man at their wedding, and had offered to name any future offspring FigTayls. He conveniently forgets to mention how Adam was on the bottom of the Millennials' totem pole and that he was the next to go if they had ever lost a challenge and that he and Figgy had no alliance/deal/arrangement with Adam other than their placement on the generational spectrum. <br>
<br>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC3h2vQkNt-PwBbbHR5Q0urLDNn8iaWJbay8r-cMZMictv1kgTnX5KGpYSpi_VSEgTFqsYTVTeRjc7X8xRgsZrbPHLX7Q2FPHAEVkfcTfSFgbCJGTOFNh-kO2OKglNEbvji0nBnP3tJlc/s1600/survivor+7+ken+jess.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC3h2vQkNt-PwBbbHR5Q0urLDNn8iaWJbay8r-cMZMictv1kgTnX5KGpYSpi_VSEgTFqsYTVTeRjc7X8xRgsZrbPHLX7Q2FPHAEVkfcTfSFgbCJGTOFNh-kO2OKglNEbvji0nBnP3tJlc/s320/survivor+7+ken+jess.png" width="320"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Do they look convinced to you?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
He gets Ken and Jessica to make a handshake deal with him, he'll never write their names down, they'll never write his, blah blah. And I'm momentarily worried until I look again at their body language during this discussion. Whatever Taylor is selling them, they don't look like they're buying. Ken is not a Survivor strategist, he's a loyal, stick to your word kinda guy. He bonded with Adam and I'd guess that means something to him. He has totally zoned out from what Taylor is saying and would not turn his back on Adam. Jessica, on the other hand, is a lawyer and so she's thinking what's best for her game and not about loyalty. She'll consider the fact that keeping a savvy player like Adam versus a clueless guy like Taylor may not be best for her game.<br>
<br>
It's Day 20, past the halfway point and for once I wish the producers weren't giving me more Michaela sound bites. This isn't good. She's saying funny and empowering Michaela things - about being strong, mind over matter - and I can't help but worry about her safety in the game. It's dangerous to show strength, especially if you're also smart. And especially if you're also a woman. That's a threatening combination to a lot of guys. And when you start comparing yourself to Steve Jobs and Michael Jordan, you might scare a few people. <br>
<br>
Hannah is still Team Millennials and feels good about the 4-2 tribe split. She likes Sunday but she's suspicious about Bret. He looks like a cop, sounds like a cop, walks like a cop. He's a cop. This "funeral director" cover story is not convincing anyway. She interrogates him and he does not hold up under the scrutiny. She can use this syllogism to her advantage. If you can't trust him, you can't trust him. But what Hannah doesn't suspect is that Bret is not the most untrustworthy person on her tribe. Or in her "alliance."<br>
<br>
Then, the unthinkable happens. Michaela and her team loses a challenge. It's as shocking as Cubs fans having something to celebrate. And any hope that I had that the Millennials would stick together and vote out Bret or Sunday was dashed the second that Taylor said, "Sorry, Bret you've got to go." CBS advertisers are not paying to run their commercials before a boring, predictable outcome. And no one wants to watch ten minutes of the easy, obvious vote. Well, in retrospect, that would have been awesome. <br>
<br>
So the green tribe comes back after the loss and literally no one says anything for a half an hour. The two on the bottom know that they're dead in the water. Which is ironic since they're standing, alive, in the water as they come to this realization. They hate that fate isn't in their own hands, but the numbers are the numbers. While Sunday and Bret are resigned to one of them going home, Michaela pulls together the four Millennials for an unnecessarily complicated strategy session While coming to the conclusion that it doesn't matter which of the two Gen Xers are voted out, Michaela shows more attention to detail and military strategizing than Hannibal, Genghis Khan, and Eisenhower put together. It was overkill. There's four of you, two of them. Vote out either of them. By planning maneuvers and playing with people like chess pieces, she showed herself not only to be a physical threat in the game but a strategic one as well. .<br>
<br>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizQopyIlVBjPZcUmtJ9ZWKiYgcPIHPnN1shqGtJJW2UIj-e3E6C7012K-rzMPH_aoFtMV4-tlLqd8SYXiZeCHAZsTc-wNkCaGek6SBzUv-T1ktEeQTIEkznqr3R7VSxLWn8uku3pYCq3A/s1600/survivor+7+jay.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizQopyIlVBjPZcUmtJ9ZWKiYgcPIHPnN1shqGtJJW2UIj-e3E6C7012K-rzMPH_aoFtMV4-tlLqd8SYXiZeCHAZsTc-wNkCaGek6SBzUv-T1ktEeQTIEkznqr3R7VSxLWn8uku3pYCq3A/s320/survivor+7+jay.png" width="320"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My brain just went boom.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
So Jay has an epiphany. First, he realizes that he knows the word epiphany. Second, he realizes that Michaela is his biggest threat post-merge, not Bret or Sunday. He can easily beat them in competitions. But Michaela? She's smart, physical, personable and strategic. A deadly combination. Michaela got him thinking down the road with her sea shells, but what he sees down the road is a rough ride while she's in his way. <br>
<br>
From there things unravel quickly and we plow forward on an inevitable trajectory. We don't need Will chiming in that Jay is right, that Michaela is dangerous to their game. And we certainly don't need him telling us how great and loyal an alliance member she is but how she strategizes too hard and she knows about their hidden immunity idol. And we don't need to hear how much Will likes Michaela and he'll hate to blindside her and also blindside Hannah. Because we know what's coming. <br>
<br>
Jay throws out a little misdirection, lest we think his vote is in stone. Michaela is in my alliance. She is loyal as the day is long. She's never lied to us. Bret has lied to me and is not in my alliance and is instead part of the Gen Xers. As of this moment, there are six Gen Xers remaining: Bret, Chris, David, Ken, Jessica and Sunday. There are eight Millennials: Adam, Hannah, Jay, Michaela, Michelle, Taylor, Will and Zeke. With Adam and Zeke being wobbly at best, keeping Michaela would keep the numbers. Plus, she would act as a meat shield as she's such an obvious threat after a merge. So he should vote out Bret. Right? <br>
<br>
At tribal council, Jeff opens his big fat mouth and points out that each time a tribe has come to tribal since the tribe swap, a member of the majority has been voted out. Thanks for reminding them, Jeff, and giving Jay another reason to target one of his own. Michaela tells Jeff that she's not concerned about what the other tribes have done, her four is strong and loyal. Jay suppresses a laugh. The longer tribal council goes on, the bigger the hole is for Michaela to fall into. Or, rather, to be pushed. The game has evolved. Loyalty and alliances are not necessarily what will get you to the end. You have to be flexible. You have to trust your gut. Now Michaela picks up a shovel and made the hole even wider - the merge is coming soon, she reminds everyone. Who do you want to go to the end with? Me, the female Joe Ingram, or the out of shape Gen Xers?<br>
<br>
Everyone talks about loyalty and how sad it is to break up this loving tribe. And Michaela offers regret at having to vote out Bret or Sunday and offers an olive branch to whoever stays. She doesn't want to, but she has to. She's loyal. They go off to vote and Hannah is having a mini-panic attack, but at least she knows who to vote for. She says she wishes she and Bret could have gone farther in the game. Be careful what you wish for.<br>
<br>
Jeff comes back with the votes and reads off two quick Brett votes. Expected. Now it's time for a Sunday vote, right? He opens up the next vote and it's for Michaela.<br>
<br>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKivuit8GGNQbVza2zaZiBiclX9KUPR42lAfCtuODkPIZGJKAnk8QjQX1_ajrWrY8guOewnVCbgjT9zklLHsVjauca5JLXc5xuU2zbpqHUGs1GVmfYJfWmoBWEHKDLchtFI0VOrk7L_qs/s1600/survivor+7+tribal.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKivuit8GGNQbVza2zaZiBiclX9KUPR42lAfCtuODkPIZGJKAnk8QjQX1_ajrWrY8guOewnVCbgjT9zklLHsVjauca5JLXc5xuU2zbpqHUGs1GVmfYJfWmoBWEHKDLchtFI0VOrk7L_qs/s320/survivor+7+tribal.png" width="320"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The anatomy of a blindside</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br>
What???<br>
<br>
Did you do that?<br>
<br>
Yeah.<br>
<br>
Like a boss, Jay just looks Michaela in the eye and admits his role in her demise. It's Brutus stabbing Caesar, Ollie stabbing Jon Snow. It made Ciera voting out her mother look like child's play (see what I did there?). Jay is one cold-hearted SOB. And if you thought his age and unwieldy hair meant he was not a cut-throat competitor who came to play, you were mistaken. That cold, steely look in his eyes was that of an unapologetic assassin. Ice water has replaced blood in his body. He probably doesn't sleep at night, just swims back and forth. Waiting for his next attack. Russell Hantz seems warm and cuddly by comparison. <br>
<br>
Hannah is shocked, confused, and doesn't know what to do, where to look, how to process what just happened. Not unlike her panic attack during a challenge she wasn't even playing in, Hannah can't help but make Michaela's blindside all about her. <br>
<br>
Michaela, never one for hiding her emotions, did not take this game move in stride. She called out Jay, she looked at Will, she was not going to go quietly into that good night. But it was all too late. The <strike>die was</strike> votes were cast and it was over. She was dead woman walking. She failed to understand the "new Survivor" game. She relied too much on loyalty and didn't remember that this is a game for money and there are no rules besides get to the end. She recognized she could be seen as a threat, yet did nothing with that information. She knew Taylor and Will had an idol. She could have easily made an alliance with Bret, Sunday and Hannah to get rid of one of them and the idol. But, again, loyalty kept her from even considering that as a move. <br>
<br>
Michaela played an old school version of Survivor, the same one Mike Holloway played. But, unlike Mike, she was not one of the boys and she was clearly not just a physical threat, and so she was an easy target. But I, and most of Twitter, hated Jay's move. I think it was premature and, worse, gives him a distinct numerical disadvantage going to the merge. He makes an unnecessary enemy in Hannah who has two friends, Zeke and Adam, still in the game, And none of those two were all that close to Jay. Plus, Jay now needs Secret Service protection from what I've seen to deal with the threats that have come his way after he disposed of a fan favorite so unceremoniously, so calculatingly, so gleefully. <br>
<br>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRvM77cddazeANEm9cHyE9NOksnTyxPO1EHJMnAEPD3PoCsc92tEQKgTRcoJXmeBcXNBG5IxeK4E9UN0r8mCpXzSgWKEgNlZuJXeRT-AWvN0GKWPji_swbkbB1-GbBrlaNnFKxvfc94q8/s1600/survivor+7+michaela.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRvM77cddazeANEm9cHyE9NOksnTyxPO1EHJMnAEPD3PoCsc92tEQKgTRcoJXmeBcXNBG5IxeK4E9UN0r8mCpXzSgWKEgNlZuJXeRT-AWvN0GKWPji_swbkbB1-GbBrlaNnFKxvfc94q8/s320/survivor+7+michaela.png" width="320"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This was my face when she was voted out. :(</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br>
Goodbye Michaela. You will be missed. If you ever come back, be a little more circumspect and a little less trusting.<br>
<br>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/p04SW4ivVOI" width="480"></iframe>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br></div>
Of course you want more Michaela!<br>
<a href="http://www.ew.com/article/2016/11/03/survivor-michaela-millennials-vs-gen-x-ew-morning-live-podcast" target="_blank">Entertainment Weekly</a><br>
<a href="http://parade.com/521053/joshwigler/survivor-millennials-vs-gen-x-michaela-bradshaw-exit-interview/" target="_blank">Parade/Josh Wigler</a><br>
<a href="http://my.xfinity.com/blogs/tv/2016/11/03/survivor-castaway-michaela-better-hit-tree-hit-person/" target="_blank">XFinity/Gordon Holmes</a><br>
<a href="http://robhasawebsite.com/voted-off-survivor-2016-exit-interview-podcast-with-michaela-bradshaw-november-3/" target="_blank">Rob Has A Podcast</a><br>
<a href="http://www.realitytvworld.com/news/exclusive-michaela-bradshaw-talks-survivor----i-vocalized-my-targets-and-shouldve-kept-my-mouth-shut-20856.php" target="_blank">Reality TV World</a><br>
<a href="http://www.goldderby.com/article/2016/survivor-season-33-exit-interview-michaela-bradshaw-millennials-vs-gen-x/" target="_blank">GoldDerby</a><br>
<a href="http://www.tvguide.com/news/survivor-michaela-bradshaw-exit-interview-blindside-jay/" target="_blank">TVGuide</a><br>
<br>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5527364785342971830.post-58850446833136349282016-11-03T13:54:00.002-07:002016-11-03T15:17:49.294-07:00Survivor Season 33: Millennials v. Gen X - Episode 7 RecapPreviously on Survivor: Zeke is giddy, Adam is undecided, Taylor is in love. Jay and Will find a hidden immunity idol, Michaela finds Jay and Will with the hidden immunity idol. <br />
<br />
Oh, who am I kidding, let's not bury the lead.<br />
<br />
Michaela is gone.<br />
<br />
Backstabbed, betrayed, blindsided. A victim of her awesomeness. Survivor has no meaning any more. Life has no meaning any more. Why play out the rest of the season, when its greatest contestant has her fire snuffed out too soon? Even if you were a Cubs fan, you had to feel awful after that tribal council. Thanks to Jay and Will, I have now entered my blue period. I will reluctantly continue to watch the rest of the season, knowing that somewhere Michaela is winning at life because every single person watching last night thought that Jay made a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad move voting out a loyal, trustworthy ally. But part of me died a little inside last night as the competition and confessional goddess walked down the lonely path of pre-merge oblivion.<br />
<br />
Michaela - gone, but not forgotten. <br />
<br />
When the episode begins, and there was still hopefulness hanging in the air, Taylor was pissed to the max, like totally, about Adam's blindsiding vote to break up the greatest love story Survivor had ever known. Adam - forgetting how after being blindsided Zeke was not in the mood to chat - decided now was the perfect time to talk to Taylor about his betrayal. Taylor, surprisingly, doesn't tell him to go take a walk into the ocean, but sits down to listen to his plea. <br />
<br />
So what does Adam say to patch things up between him and Taylor? "Taylor, this was in your best interest. Showmances never last. Without Figgy around, you've got a great chance to go far. You weren't seeing clearly, so I had to come in and bail a bro out. I'm totally with you dude, bros before, um, girls who could potentially mess up their game." No. Adam instead decides to fall on his sword, a grenade and whatever other weapons of destruction he can find and fuel Taylor's rage.<br />
<br />
So what words does Adam offer Taylor to bridge the chasm between them, to start the process of healing and forgiveness and resolution? "I screwed you. I lied to you and I screwed you. You are now in a worse position than you were before. And that's my fault." Adam, Adam, Adam. Whoever told you that honesty is the best policy lied to you. Honesty almost never works. Especially not on Survivor. But also not in the real world. "Does this dress make me look fat?" The answer is "No" without even looking. No one wants to hear a bitter truth. <br />
<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The dead - but pretty - eyes of the Terminator.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
What does work? Not reinforcing the angry, vengeful thoughts already percolating in Taylor's mind. Taylor is furious, how does validating that feeling help? How does stoking that feeling help? Now Taylor knows, not only was Adam a rat who sold him and the love of his life out for a measly $1M, but that Adam knows that he did this awful thing and takes full ownership. Why make an enemy for life who you have to sleep near for the next however many days, who will make it his life's goal to make sure you do not get to the end of the game? <br />
<br />
For better gameplay, we go over to the orange tribe where David is always thinking. His plan if they go to tribal council is to vote out Michelle next and he thinks the rest of the tribe is on board. But he also knows that Chris is a reluctant ally at best and that his support - and vote - cannot be guaranteed. So David works on building a bigger bond with Zeke. He makes a risky move by telling Zeke he found a hidden immunity idol. There are two schools of thought on the best way to play finding an idol. One is the Kelly Wentworth/Carolyn Rivera approach of keeping it secret and using it tactically at tribal council. The other, championed by Stephen Fishbach on the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GXDUx5hHfc" target="_blank">RHAP Know it Alls</a>, is to use it strategically to create a feeling of trust and unity with another player. David is potentially going down as the first player to use the idol both ways in one season. <br />
<br />
We didn't have to wait long to find out that, at least as of day 20, telling Zeke was the right choice. Zeke is now a loyal ally of David, willing to protect him and go far with him into the game. David could not have hoped for a better quote coming from Zeke after the big reveal than "He has put his life in my hands and I'm going to take very very good care of his life." That could not have gone any better. David/Zeke final two. Oh, what was that Zeke? What did you tack on to the end of the sentence? "For the time being." Oh bother.<br />
<br />
When the three tribes meet for the Reward Challenge, the Millennials are shocked to see that Adam switched over to the Gen Xers and voted out Figgy at the last tribal council. Not shocked, but stoked, is Michaela. Jeff reminds her how she had told the Millennials that there were three of them to two Gen Xers and if they couldn't figure it out they deserved to be voted off. But today Michaela admits that she knew exactly what she was doing when she helped the orange tribe win immunity and that she knew exactly what she was doing when she helped send the purple tribe to vote someone off. "It's been time for Figgy to go for a while." And just in case no one picked up on the vibe, Michaela added, "Bye, Felicia."<br />
<br />
In retrospect, probably too much information. If you're in an alliance one of the key things you want from your allies, besides fidelity and honesty, is secrecy. No airing dirty laundry for the other side to see. Michaela was way too open about everything and became the Wikileaks of the Millennials, dumping information for the other side to pour over. <br />
<br />
The orange and green teams win the Reward Challenge, but the most notable part of this scene was what Michaela said after she, once again, led her tribe to victory. "It makes me nervous when I help the team win. I don't want people to think that I'm the one to beat." Too late, Michaela. Way too late. While Bret responded to her win by looking like a proud papa, Jay was feeling some combination of intimidation and fear. And every Survivor super duper fan had the feeling of impending dread. That was too dangerous and too accurate of a quote not to be meaningful. #foreshadowing #whydidntyoufigurethisoutsooner<br />
<br />
Over on the losing purple tribe, Taylor is scrambling. And for the chill, seemingly clueless, surfer dude, he's actually doing a good job trying to save his game. On-coming bus? Check. Grab Adam? Check. Throw him under the thundering wheels? Check. He lies like a lying liar to Ken and Jessica that he was completely betrayed by Adam who had sworn his undying fealty to him and Figgy, had promised to be the best man at their wedding, and had offered to name any future offspring FigTayls. He conveniently forgets to mention how Adam was on the bottom of the Millennials' totem pole and that he was the next to go if they had ever lost a challenge and that he and Figgy had no alliance/deal/arrangement with Adam other than their placement on the generational spectrum. <br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC3h2vQkNt-PwBbbHR5Q0urLDNn8iaWJbay8r-cMZMictv1kgTnX5KGpYSpi_VSEgTFqsYTVTeRjc7X8xRgsZrbPHLX7Q2FPHAEVkfcTfSFgbCJGTOFNh-kO2OKglNEbvji0nBnP3tJlc/s1600/survivor+7+ken+jess.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC3h2vQkNt-PwBbbHR5Q0urLDNn8iaWJbay8r-cMZMictv1kgTnX5KGpYSpi_VSEgTFqsYTVTeRjc7X8xRgsZrbPHLX7Q2FPHAEVkfcTfSFgbCJGTOFNh-kO2OKglNEbvji0nBnP3tJlc/s320/survivor+7+ken+jess.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Do they look convinced to you?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
He gets Ken and Jessica to make a handshake deal with him, he'll never write their names down, they'll never write his, blah blah. And I'm momentarily worried until I look again at their body language during this discussion. Whatever Taylor is selling them, they don't look like they're buying. Ken is not a Survivor strategist, he's a loyal, stick to your word kinda guy. He bonded with Adam and I'd guess that means something to him. He has totally zoned out from what Taylor is saying and would not turn his back on Adam. Jessica, on the other hand, is a lawyer and so she's thinking what's best for her game and not about loyalty. She'll consider the fact that keeping a savvy player like Adam versus a clueless guy like Taylor may not be best for her game.<br />
<br />
It's Day 20, past the halfway point and for once I wish the producers weren't giving me more Michaela sound bites. This isn't good. She's saying funny and empowering Michaela things - about being strong, mind over matter - and I can't help but worry about her safety in the game. It's dangerous to show strength, especially if you're also smart. And especially if you're also a woman. That's a threatening combination to a lot of guys. And when you start comparing yourself to Steve Jobs and Michael Jordan, you might scare a few people. <br />
<br />
Hannah is still Team Millennials and feels good about the 4-2 tribe split. She likes Sunday but she's suspicious about Bret. He looks like a cop, sounds like a cop, walks like a cop. He's a cop. This "funeral director" cover story is not convincing anyway. She interrogates him and he does not hold up under the scrutiny. She can use this syllogism to her advantage. If you can't trust him, you can't trust him. But what Hannah doesn't suspect is that Bret is not the most untrustworthy person on her tribe. Or in her "alliance."<br />
<br />
Then, the unthinkable happens. Michaela and her team lose a challenge. It's as shocking as Cubs' fans having something to celebrate. And any hope that I had that the Millennials would stick together and vote out Bret or Sunday was dashed the second that Jay said, "Sorry, Bret you've got to go." CBS advertisers are not paying to run their commercials before a boring, predictable outcome. And no one wants to watch ten minutes of the easy, obvious vote. Well, in retrospect, that would have been awesome. <br />
<br />
So the green tribe comes back after the loss and literally no one says anything for a half an hour. The two on the bottom know that they're dead in the water. Which is ironic since they're standing, alive, in the water as they come to this realization. They hate that fate isn't in their own hands, but the numbers are the numbers. While Sunday and Bret are resigned to one of them going home, Michaela pulls together the four Millennials for an unnecessarily complicated strategy session. While coming to the conclusion that it doesn't matter which of the two Gen Xers are voted out, Michaela shows more attention to detail and military strategizing than Hannibal, Genghis Khan, and Eisenhower put together. It was overkill. There are four of you, two of them. Vote out either of them. By planning maneuvers and playing with people like chess pieces, she showed herself not only to be a physical threat in the game but a strategic one as well. <br />
<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My brain just went boom.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
So Jay has an epiphany. First, he realizes that he knows the word epiphany. Second, he realizes that Michaela is his biggest threat post-merge, not Bret or Sunday. He can easily beat them in competitions. But Michaela? She's smart, physical, personable and strategic. A deadly combination. Michaela got him thinking down the road with her sea shells, but what he sees down the road is not a tight alliance of four but a rough ride while she's in his way. <br />
<br />
From there things unravel quickly and we plow forward on an inevitable trajectory. We don't need Will chiming in that Jay is right, that Michaela is dangerous to their game. And we certainly don't need him telling us how great and loyal an alliance member she is but how she strategizes too hard and she knows about their hidden immunity idol. And we don't need to hear how much Will likes Michaela and he'll hate to blindside her and also blindside Hannah. Because we know what's coming. <br />
<br />
Jay throws out a little misdirection, lest we think his vote is in stone. Michaela is in my alliance. She is loyal as the day is long. She's never lied to us. Bret has lied to me and is not in my alliance and is instead part of the Gen Xers. As of this moment, there are six Gen Xers remaining: Bret, Chris, David, Ken, Jessica and Sunday. There are eight Millennials: Adam, Hannah, Jay, Michaela, Michelle, Taylor, Will and Zeke. With Adam and Zeke being wobbly at best, keeping Michaela would bolster the numbers. Plus, she would act as a meat shield as she's such an obvious threat after a merge. So he should vote out Bret. Right? <br />
<br />
At tribal council, Jeff opens his big fat mouth and points out that each time a tribe has come to tribal since the tribe swap, a member of the majority has been voted out. Thanks for reminding them, Jeff, and giving Jay another reason to target one of his own. Michaela tells Jeff that she's not concerned about what the other tribes have done, her four is strong and loyal. Jay suppresses a laugh. The longer tribal council goes on, the bigger the hole is for Michaela to fall into. Or, rather, to be pushed. The game has evolved. Loyalty and alliances are not necessarily what will get you to the end. You have to be flexible. You have to trust your gut. Now Michaela picks up a shovel and made the hole even wider - the merge is coming soon, she reminds everyone. Who do you want to go to the end with? Me, the female Joe Ingram, or the out of shape Gen Xers?<br />
<br />
Everyone talks about loyalty and how sad it is to break up this loving tribe. And Michaela offers regret at having to vote out Bret or Sunday and offers an olive branch to whoever stays. She doesn't want to, but she has to. She's loyal. They go off to vote and Hannah is having a mini-panic attack, but at least she knows who to vote for. She says she wishes she and Bret could have gone farther in the game. Be careful what you wish for.<br />
<br />
Jeff comes back with the votes and reads off two quick Bret votes. Expected. Now it's time for a Sunday vote, right? He opens up the next vote and it's for Michaela.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The anatomy of a blindside</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
What???<br />
<br />
Did you do that?<br />
<br />
Yeah.<br />
<br />
Like a boss, Jay just looks Michaela in the eye and admits his role in her demise. It's Brutus stabbing Caesar, Ollie stabbing Jon Snow. It made Ciera voting out her mother look like child's play (see what I did there?). Jay is one cold-hearted SOB. And if you thought his age and unwieldy hair meant he was not a cut-throat competitor who came to play, you were mistaken. That cold, steely look in his eyes was that of an unapologetic assassin. Ice water has replaced blood in his body. He probably doesn't sleep at night, just swims back and forth. Waiting for his next attack. Russell Hantz seems warm and cuddly by comparison. <br />
<br />
Hannah is shocked, confused, and doesn't know what to do, where to look, how to process what just happened. Not unlike her panic attack during a challenge she wasn't even playing in, Hannah can't help but make Michaela's blindside all about her. <br />
<br />
Michaela, never one for hiding her emotions, did not take this game move in stride. She called out Jay, she looked at Will, she was not going to go quietly into that good night. But it was all too late. The <strike>die was</strike> votes were cast and it was over. She was dead woman walking. She failed to understand the "new Survivor" game. She relied too much on loyalty and didn't remember that this is a game for money and there are no rules besides get to the end. She recognized she could be seen as a threat, yet did nothing with that information. She knew Taylor and Will had an idol. She could have easily made an alliance with Bret, Sunday and Hannah to get rid of one of them and the idol. But, again, loyalty kept her from even considering that as a move. <br />
<br />
Michaela played an old school version of Survivor, the same one Mike Holloway played. But, unlike Mike, she was not one of the boys and she was clearly not just a physical threat, and so she was an easy target. But I, and most of Twitter, hated Jay's move. I think it was premature and, worse, gives him a distinct numerical disadvantage going to the merge. He makes an unnecessary enemy in Hannah who has two friends, Zeke and Adam, still in the game, And none of those two were all that close to Jay. Plus, Jay now needs Secret Service protection from what I've seen to deal with the threats that have come his way after he disposed of a fan favorite so unceremoniously, so calculatingly, so gleefully. <br />
<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This was my face when she was voted out. :(</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Goodbye Michaela. You will be missed. If you ever come back, be a little more circumspect and a little less trusting.<br />
<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
Of course you want more Michaela!<br />
<a href="http://www.ew.com/article/2016/11/03/survivor-michaela-millennials-vs-gen-x-ew-morning-live-podcast" target="_blank">Entertainment Weekly</a><br />
<a href="http://parade.com/521053/joshwigler/survivor-millennials-vs-gen-x-michaela-bradshaw-exit-interview/" target="_blank">Parade/Josh Wigler</a><br />
<a href="http://my.xfinity.com/blogs/tv/2016/11/03/survivor-castaway-michaela-better-hit-tree-hit-person/" target="_blank">XFinity/Gordon Holmes</a><br />
<a href="http://robhasawebsite.com/voted-off-survivor-2016-exit-interview-podcast-with-michaela-bradshaw-november-3/" target="_blank">Rob Has A Podcast</a><br />
<a href="http://www.realitytvworld.com/news/exclusive-michaela-bradshaw-talks-survivor----i-vocalized-my-targets-and-shouldve-kept-my-mouth-shut-20856.php" target="_blank">Reality TV World</a><br />
<a href="http://www.goldderby.com/article/2016/survivor-season-33-exit-interview-michaela-bradshaw-millennials-vs-gen-x/" target="_blank">GoldDerby</a><br />
<a href="http://www.tvguide.com/news/survivor-michaela-bradshaw-exit-interview-blindside-jay/" target="_blank">TVGuide</a><br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5527364785342971830.post-84567903942766449422016-10-27T07:38:00.002-07:002016-10-28T13:36:23.385-07:00Survivor Season 33: Millennials v. Gen X - Episode 6 RecapPreviously on Survivor: Let me explain about tribal council. Shut up Dave. At least the idol is back in play. Look what I found, again. Drop your buffs. Jeff, oh hell no. Taylor&Figgy4Ever. 2 out of 5, that's the bad news. You played for Oklahoma, I love Oklahoma! That's the good news. Gen Xers are useless. Michaela makes fire like a boss. You didn't vote for me, Ken, but I'm totally giving you my legacy advantage cuz you're hotter than Dave. CeCe's swimming through molasses, Dave makes CeCe look like a comp beast. Michaela is a comp beast. I trust my old Gen X tribe. Wait, what?<br />
<br />
You gotta love Zeke. He's as shocked as the rest of us that the Gen Xers last week actually agreed to vote out one of their own rather than try to even up the numbers before the merge. With age wisdom does not necessarily come, Zeke. Dave was so excited that he wasn't the target, and was so wary of being choked out on national TV by someone the size of a refrigerator, he of course eagerly jumped at the idea of sabotaging a former ally. Chris was so butt hurt about being blindsided repeatedly by his old tribe that he rather ditch them and go with the Millennials who will cut him the first post-merge vote. And he was so happy to have a fanboy in his new tribe, someone who would not just figuratively look up to him, that he had no trouble deciding to lose a number. It may be hard to play with your head and not your heart, but I think Chris will be showing us shortly why that is a tactical mistake. But for David, the betrayal was a no brainer.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Whatcha got there?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Over on the green beach, Jay and Will rightly assume that there is an immunity idol hidden somewhere. They go searching together because Will is too young to be allowed to roam free unaccompanied on the island. Insurance company rules. They find the idol, though Jay takes possession of the idol and if Will ever needs it my guess Jay's response would be, roughly, "Idol, what idol?" And not unlike Hannah coming upon Adam when he found his tribe's immunity idol, Michaela manages to show up right when the two guys are celebrating their find. They may all be from the same original tribe, but it is noticeable that the two guys were not thrilled with Michaela being in on the secret. For her part, Michaela will sit on her discovery. For now. Bwahahah.<br />
<br />
"I think the truth works well in this game," said no one in 32 prior seasons of Survivor. But Michelle tells Jeff just that as the explanation for why it's perfectly fine for Figgy to tell all the other castaways just how close she is with Michelle and how happy she is that she wasn't voted out the night before. Michelle just escaped elimination but she's not worried that her strong ties to the former Millennial tribe will come back to bite her. But this strategic mistake is put aside for the moment as the orange team very quickly agrees that they made the right decision in keeping Michelle as she leads her team to victory at the Reward Challenge. David should be particularly grateful as he basically Davided the competition by failing to follow, or seemingly even hear, her shouted instructions, wandering aimlessly, flailing his arms during most of the challenge. A move that is also known as the David.<br />
<br />
But when you think the orange team may have forgotten what Figgy said, it comes up again courtesy...Michelle. This girl must feel pretty confident. As the orange tribe enjoys the fruits of their win (which is so much better than fruit - cookies and brownies!!), they joke about Figgy's reaction to seeing that the two Millennials escaped last night's tribal council. Michelle is safe! Thank you lord! Woohoo Yippee, Yahoo, Yay, OMG. Oh, and Zeke is still there too. Cool. So Zeke is reminded that his status among the Millennials is still at the very bottom. He tells us that he is more than willing to cut Michelle if he has to, so he can be a central cog in a new Millennial/GenX alliance rather than likely first sacrificial lamb of the old Millennial one. <br />
<br />
While most of the castaways were running around, competing blindfolded, during the Reward Challenge, Hannah manages to work herself into a mild panic attack. She's embarrassed how this will look on TV and concerned that it might make her an easy target if her tribe has to vote someone out. There is some irony that the person needing the medical attention was sitting on the bench during the competition and that the medical intervention needed consisted of telling her to <b>breathe more slowly</b>. But even the snarkiest of us who watch Survivor should never mock someone's emotional (over)reaction until we've walked a mile in their buff. Hannah's "you're not going to let me die," was pretty funny. Plus, it seems like a good thing to say to a doctor, just in case they forget what they're there for. <br />
<br />
So Figgy decides that she hasn't said enough to damage her status in the game yet, so after going on about just how close she is with Michelle she thinks it's time to tell Jessica and Ken that she and Taylor are a thing. "We're a power couple and there's no reason to hide it." Well, she soon learns they hadn't been hiding it and everyone was on to them. As both Jessica and Ken tell her, she's not very good at keeping secrets. But she is unconcerned. FigTayls is safe because "Adam is on our side." And somewhere, the music composer wanted to add a "wah, wah, wah" at the end of that sentence.<br />
<br />
The Immunity Challenge is another opportunity for Michaela to show Ozzy, Malcolm and Mike there's a new superplayer in town. The girl may bark orders, and may not be too concerned about her teammates feelings, but she knows what she's doing. Her team started from behind, thanks, shockingly, to David, but she flew through the maze with a successful strategy. Get Hannah to do and say as little as possible and take over the bulk of the task. In fact, Michaela is so good at this comp that she was able to help the orange tribe win and avoid back-to-back tribal councils. As Brett said of Michaela "There's nothing you can't do." And the legend grows.<br />
<br />
This leaves the purple tribe having to vote someone off. When Jeff pointed out to Michaela that it was curious why she would help one tribe and not the other she said, of the purple tribe, "There's three of you (Millennials). If you can't figure out how to work it out, you deserve to go home." #foreshadowing #famouslastwords #she'sright<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSyG_TZjBCDjyNOUP1MXbYnsTlx4ZTIIUIYa9oJpSVoOi_udMQ9A1voddeM2nebBlcDe-qaBcDa9vc7N7EQZa8NgPapkoo7r7CVr91pgTvo6jX-ZcbjfBLbBhQOGRDOXTkxU4t7_k-nF0/s1600/survivor_the_truth_works_well_tribe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSyG_TZjBCDjyNOUP1MXbYnsTlx4ZTIIUIYa9oJpSVoOi_udMQ9A1voddeM2nebBlcDe-qaBcDa9vc7N7EQZa8NgPapkoo7r7CVr91pgTvo6jX-ZcbjfBLbBhQOGRDOXTkxU4t7_k-nF0/s320/survivor_the_truth_works_well_tribe.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">So you're cool with us voting you out, right?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Taylor and Figgy are not too concerned with tonight's vote. Obviously, you target Ken as he's a physical threat going forward. Adam will vote with them because...numbers. Who wants to be on the bad side of the Millennials going to a merge? They're sure of his vote. Even when prodded by the producers to consider that maybe, just maybe, Adam might go a different way, Taylor gives a small obligatory soundbite. "Maybe Adam is double-crossing us and is way smarter than we think." But then he laughs at the very thought. How could that Stanford-educated guy who's watched every episode of Survivor since before Richard Hatch stripped down to his birthday suit be smart about the game?<br />
<br />
But they failed to look at the facts from Adam's perspective. Adam was on the outs at the Millennial tribe. He and Zeke were the bottom two of nine. They had tried and failed to break up the romance and that sealed their fate with their old tribe. Now FigTayls want to be his friend because they need him for the numbers, but he knows where he stands with them. And a romance, showmance, or any kind of mance (as he calls it) is too risky to have in the game, even if they were on his side. Which, Adam knew, they were not and would never really be.<br />
<br />
Plus, when Adam had to consider voting out Ken, one look into Ken's soulful blue eyes told him that would be impossible. No one is immune!<br />
<br />
At tribal council, Figgy and Taylor try to play off the importance of their relationship. They're just two votes, like Jessica and Ken are two votes. There's nothing unique about their relationship. So she looks at you Adam just like she looks at Taylor, asks Jeff. Adam quickly rejects that notion. At no time has Figgy looked at Adam like he was a a double cheeseburger and she was just coming off a meatless Lent. Adam knows that among two person alliances, one is closer than the other. Way, way, who packed the condoms, closer. Plus, Figgy did herself no service reminding Adam that she hasn't forgotten that he voted against her twelve days ago. The "we're all good now" story she tried to sell was belied by the fact that with all that was going on, she was still bringing up his vote from day six. And the hand clamp on his head solidified that Figgy still may be just a wee bit pissed about that vote. She's not going to like Adam's next vote any better.<br />
<br />
When Adam tells us that one person is going to go home mad and someone else is going back to tribal mad, we know then what his decision is. And mad will not due justice to Taylor's emotions after losing his favorite plaything on the island. Figgy burned bright but for too short a time, a victim of island fever. Will her boo get his revenge? Adam should sleep with one eye open. <br />
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<br />
Want more Figgy (we know you do, Tay):<br />
<a href="http://www.ew.com/article/2016/10/27/survivor-figgy-taylor-millennials-vs-gen-x" target="_blank">Entertainment Weekly</a><br />
<a href="http://www.tvguide.com/news/survivor-figgy-taylor-showmance-millennials-gen-x/" target="_blank">TV Guide</a><br />
<a href="http://robhasawebsite.com/voted-off-survivor-2016-exit-interview-podcast-with-jessica-figgy-figueroa-october-27/" target="_blank">Rob Has a Podcast</a><br />
<a href="http://xfn-blogs.xfinity.com/tv/2016/10/27/survivor-castaway-figgy-boston-rob-taylor-amber/" target="_blank">Gordon Holmes/Xfinity</a><br />
<a href="http://www.usmagazine.com/entertainment/news/survivors-figgy-reveals-whether-she-and-taylor-are-together-w447206" target="_blank">UsWeekly</a><br />
<a href="http://cartermatt.com/227516/survivor-millennials-vs-gen-x-exclusive-jessica-figgy-figueroa-adams-vote-taylor-update-michaelas-actions/" target="_blank">CarterMatt</a><br />
<a href="http://hollywoodlife.com/2016/10/27/figgy-eliminated-survivor-millennials-vs-gen-x-episode-6/" target="_blank">Hollywood Life</a><br />
<a href="http://www.sheknows.com/entertainment/articles/1129362/survivor-interview-figgy-and-taylor" target="_blank">SheKnows</a><br />
<a href="http://mashable.com/2016/10/27/survivor-figgy-figtayls-exit-interview/#lbdTW_.KpSqb" target="_blank">Mashable</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5527364785342971830.post-36289489793520156772016-10-20T12:31:00.000-07:002016-10-20T14:02:26.256-07:00Survivor Season 33: Millennials v. Gen X - Episode 5 RecapPreviously on Survivor: Boom chick a wow wow. Figs, I'm so glad you and I came on Bachelor in Paradise. I'm a tiger mom and everyone hates when I boss them around so I'm totally going to boss everyone around. They'll love it. I found the hidden immunity idol...clue. No wait, take two. I found the hidden immunity idol. For real. As soon as I can open it. Do you have a pick ax or a screw driver you can lend me? Oh hey Adam, whatcha doin' buddy? Where's the beef? Jessica, you're in trouble. Says who? Um, the tribe? Oh what a cool and totally unnecessary obstacle course before the puzzle. Stop staring at me, Ken, I'm totally safe. Despite what Lucy just said. Jeff, before you count those votes.<br />
<br />
The night after David's bold (stupid) move to save tribe pariah Jessica and blindside tribe tyrant Lucy, David is ready for everyone to yell at him. Except of course for Jessica who will vow her undying gratitude to him for playing his idol on her and being one of only two votes to save her. Right? Not exactly. Jessica takes Ken aside and thanks him (despite the fact that he just voted against her), apologizes for not believing his soulful blue eyes when they tried to tell her the truth, and offers him her first born, a kidney, and anything else he wants. Oh, and the legacy advantage should she get voted off.<br />
<br />
The next morning, the hunt is on for the hidden immunity idol that is back in play. David has the advantage of knowing what he's looking for and it pays off when he sees the tribe logo on a tree branch. After summoning all the strength he can muster (which is usually not enough to open an envelope without help), he revels in having found his second idol. Hopefully, he'll play this one more wisely. Last week, Adam's idol-discovering confessional was about a young man in a time of great personal crisis finding happiness in fulfilling dreams. This time, it was about an older man who has waited 42 years to feel a real sense of victory. And that was sad in its own way.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTZg4joFS8LpWiKMQqb4vOwqxlaIdlnK-DlDw-3-V-an0AwupZ8HvPGRwfj3aIXRMla_0eS7k5YcbI4SN43Z2nxIag59EciUQRW56lrHf-vFmaicHHhzqkLUAzhOyTrM5I2Kgoz4-NLbQ/s1600/survivor+5.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTZg4joFS8LpWiKMQqb4vOwqxlaIdlnK-DlDw-3-V-an0AwupZ8HvPGRwfj3aIXRMla_0eS7k5YcbI4SN43Z2nxIag59EciUQRW56lrHf-vFmaicHHhzqkLUAzhOyTrM5I2Kgoz4-NLbQ/s320/survivor+5.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Someone is not happy</td></tr>
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After 33 seasons, it was about time for Jeff to admit that luck plays a factor in Survivor and things happen that will change the game that you have zero control over. That a fourth word should be added to the motto - outluck. And with that said, it's time to "drop your buffs." Two tribes will become three and the Figgy/TayTay romance may be in jeopardy. But have no fear, fans of Figtails, they remain together, now on the purple tribe. They may be happy, but one person who is not happy is Michaela. I assume Michaela is not a poker player because she has zero filter and the most expressive face on the planet. She is #pissed, #overthis. She ends up on the new green tribe which will have to start from scratch, building a shelter, getting fire, finding food. Plus they have the longest, most difficult to pronounce tribe name. It's a raw deal and she's not going to pretend it's anything other than a raw deal. She tells Jeff that he did them wrong and he really can't argue. <br />
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But she's not the only one who's upset about the reshuffling. Zeke is complaining that he went from being in the majority, almost-never-lose Millennials tribe to being in the minority in a five person tribe. But if Zeke were being honest with himself, he went from being in the bottom two of nine, to the bottom two of five. So really not much has changed for him. Taylor on the other hand is facing some real hardship. Now that they're on a new tribe, Figgy tells him they have to be on the down low about their romance. No cuddling, no kissing, no canoodling. It's torture. Poor guy.<br />
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Adam is frustrated that of all the Millennials he could be joined up with, it had to be Figgy and Taylor. He is not in their alliance, he is one of only two remaining players to have voted against Figgy, and he knows they have less than no loyalty to him, numbers notwithstanding. But there is hope. He talks to Ken who tells us later that Adam is the nicest kid ever. Adam admits to Ken that he was at the bottom of the Millennials totem pole and Ken sees in Adam a ray of hope for him and Jessica. Adam sees it a little differently. He went from being expendable to being a key fulcrum between two pairs. So post switch, Adam is as happy as Michaela is pissed.<br />
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But we're not done. Now Debbie Downer comes out of the shelter the next morning, looking like her pet rat just died. Michelle was sitting on top of the world over at the Millennials tribe and now she is one of only two at her new tribe and, to make matters even worse, she's there with Zeke who she is not aligned with. But certainly she can use her looks and charm to work her way back into the majority. She starts by having everyone introduce themselves. As soon as she finds the Christians, she'll drop in about her missionary work and she'll be good to go. Only...Chris mentions he's from Oklahoma and guess where her arch nemesis Zeke just happens to hail from? Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweepin' down the plains. And where young boys grow up idolizing the local college stars - like Chris. Zeke can't wait to work with the big ginger-haired football player. And as it turns out, Chris wants to work with the Sooners fanboy as well.<br />
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So the two Okies bond over Chris' awesomeness and Michelle starts making plans for the pre-jury trip and wonders what she could possibly talk about with Mari, Rachel, Paul, and Lucy.<br />
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Back over at the green tribe, Jay and Bret have had no luck making fire. They're over it. So Michaela steps in. In her confessional, while we watch her work on the flint, she tells us that every time she has wanted to give up in life she just pushes herself a little harder and we know that there is a hundred percent chance that we will be seeing a spark that illustrates how her hard work and determination will pay off. #winnersedit We then get Bret saying Michaela saved us today (spoiler alert, she'll be saving them again shortly) and how happy he is for her. <br />
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Michaela was overcome with emotion and went off to process what she was feeling - pride, relief, happiness. This gave us another glimpse of how Survivor is so much more than just a game show. It reveals things about people that they may not have known about themselves. We've already had Zeke talk about how Survivor has shown him a better version of himself. Today Michaela was moved by reminding herself that she really could overcome and dig deep, surprising herself with her own strength and determination. Put to the test, she aced it.<br />
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The Immunity Challenge also revealed things the survivors may or may not have known about themselves. David sucks at challenges. CeCe does more harm to her tribe than good. Cross walking along a balance beam carrying a 40 pound bag and swimming with a buoy as things CeCe is capable of doing. But she is Simone Biles/Michael Phelps compared to David. Jeff's play-by-play tells the tale. David cannot get out of the water with the buoy. David loses the buoy. Disaster. Zeke asks what we all were thinking, "is he throwing this?" It looks like David may never get on the platform. And he's lost the buoy again. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Michaela saves us, part deux</td></tr>
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As lame as David is, and lame does not do his pitiful performance justice, that is how adept Michaela is. She's Steve Nash/Stephen Curry/Rick Barry all rolled up into one amazingly beautiful and athletic goddess. My favorite part of watching her in this challenge was noting how she would toss or spin the balls before shooting them. Totally bad ass.<br />
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The orange team ultimately loses to the purple team, even though Ken had trouble sinking the shots. David and CeCe had put their tribe at too much of a disadvantage for Chris to make up and eventually Ken was able to get all his balls in. #obligatoryinnuendo Despite their horrendous performances, David and CeCe are unfazed as they return to camp. They have the numbers so they feel they have nothing to worry about. But Chris is not so sure. He has no allegiance to David or CeCe, who have consistently voted against him, and he has this new bond with Zeke. He'd like to see them get rid of some of the dead weight. And by dead weight he means CeCe.<br />
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Interestingly, Chris goes to David and tells him the plan. In his own words, he's trusting in someone who has blinded him twice. This would not seem the wisest course of action. Especially, as we know, since David again has an immunity idol that he could use to mess up Chris' plans. David has a lot to think about. Does he make two boneheaded moves in back to back episodes, playing his idol for someone else too early in the game, or does he vote with the majority knowing that at worst he's safe if they go to tribal council three days hence?<br />
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Michelle is told the plan, told she's safe, but she doesn't know who to trust. She goes to CeCe and tries to sell her on David being the weakest link but CeCe immediately goes and tells David what Michelle was planning This could have blown up in her pretty face, but David ultimately had to weigh the risk of backstabbing Chris a third time versus keeping someone in the game who is a potential vote against him. Add to that the threat of being the first person choked at tribal council as Jeff looked on, David had a lot to think about.<br />
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At tribal a lot was said, but the decision was in stone. As David said before they got there, no matter what is said, let's stick to the plan. So while Zeke sounded desperate and worried, Chris talked about repairing past fractures and Michelle explicitly named David as the most logical target. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Oh, so this is what it feels like to be blindsided</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
CeCe was so sure the majority Gen X alliance would keep her safe, that when the third vote against her was called she could only muster a stunned "wow." She walked up to Jeff, put her torch in the hole and walked away before her flame was snuffed out. Since I've been doing recaps, I can't remember not being able to screen grab someone standing behind their extinguished torch. <br />
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Did David do the right thing? Last week I thought it was a huge mistake to waste an idol on someone who had no loyalty to you, especially so early in the game. This week he had to decide whether to play the idol on the only person who has consistently voted with him and would be loyal to the end. If he played his idol to save CeCe and vote out Michelle, and they went to tribal next week (and unless the immunity challenge was for one player to hold the rest of their tribe on their shoulders, they're due for another trip there) would Chris really risk a tie and vote to save Zeke? I think David made a mistake. Now he's in the minority and will probably have to play his idol at the next tribal council.<br />
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CeCe was a dead woman walking from the beginning. She and Rachel were on the outs from the main alliance on Day One. After Rachel left, Cece was in the bottom still, this time with the tight duo of Ken and David. She was spared last week only because Jessica had put a huge target on her back and Lucy managed to make herself a bigger threat. She finally had the numbers but was such a challenge liability that her lack of a bond was more than she could overcome. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Want more CeCe?<br />
<a href="http://www.ew.com/article/2016/10/20/survivor-cece-millennials-vs-gen-x" target="_blank">Entertainment Weekly</a><br />
<a href="http://xfn-blogs.xfinity.com/tv/2016/10/20/survivor-castaway-cece-trying-get-rid-strong-women/" target="_blank">Gordon Holmes/Xfinity</a><br />
<a href="http://www.tvguide.com/news/survivor-cece-exit-interview-david-idol-swimming/?rss=breakingnews&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter" target="_blank">TV Guide</a><br />
<a href="http://cartermatt.com/226554/survivor-millennials-vs-gen-x-exclusive-ciandre-cece-taylor-votes-strategy-challenges/" target="_blank">CarterMatt</a><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5527364785342971830.post-56733152496628444492016-10-13T12:25:00.004-07:002016-10-14T21:01:35.117-07:00Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5527364785342971830.post-8236657052639421692016-10-13T12:25:00.000-07:002016-10-14T21:02:04.946-07:00Survivor Season 33: Millennials v. Gen X - Episode 4 RecapPreviously on Survivor. Let me explain. Not right now. But I want to talk now. Later. But later isn't now and I want to talk now and make sure you're not mad even though you were blindsided and I voted against you and you thought we were friends. I feel great, top of the world, brand new life, I'm in total control. There's no guys alliance, right? You have nothing to worry about - what's your name again? My name is ... blindside.<br />
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So in a slightly older version of last week's Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, a blindsided man tells the blindsiding female that he really doesn't want to talk about what happen. So she walks away. That was an option?? Jessica goes talk to the more receptive Bret and eventually Chris comes into the discussion and she tells him how Paul's one ill-advised sentence heightened her paranoia and led to her orchestrating the overthrow. Chris wants to go all J-Tia and dump out some rice, but instead decides to hold on to his anger and redirect it at the Millennials in the upcoming Reward Challenge. Meanwhile, Jessica gives us the confessional of impending doom as she realizes that she may have made an epic blunder.<br />
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The next morning Sunday asks Lucy if they made a mistake the night before and the answer of course is yes, they shouldn't have turned on their solid alliance so early in the game and made two enemies out of prior allies when they had an easy vote that would have solidified their numbers. It's Survivor 101. Lucy abandons the sinking USS Jessica and goes over to Bret and Chris, tells them she has Ken and Dave in her back pocket, and they all can get their revenge next tribal council. No reason to watch the rest of this episode! #zapherass<br />
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What is that up on the hill near Millennials camp? Is that Tony Vlachos? No, it's a different goat! And while the tribe goes off to see if they can rustle up some vittles, Adam turns his sights on even more elusive prey. The hidden immunity idol. As he's followed closely by a camera man, Adam wisely figures he's on the right track and he does indeed find the...clue to the idol. Well, still better than nothing!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Recreating Season One GoT, Hodor and Bran</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
But before he can continue his search, it's time for the Reward Challenge where we learned that Chris on the Gen X tribe and Michaela on the Millennials tribe are potential comp beast threats. If they make it to the merge, they could be hard to beat. In fact, after Michaela single-handedly kept the Millennials alive through sheer will, Jeff dropped perhaps a little hint? "That's what it takes to win Survivor."<br />
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You know what else it takes to win Survivor? Safety. And so Adam goes back to search for the immunity idol with so many clues - tribe insignia, on a shell, on the beach, over here where the lighting and camera guys are set up - that you wonder if the producers were concerned the Millennials were too lazy to find it on their own. Just because they have an app to get them a ride, an app to bring them food, an app to find them a date and an app to find their phone with all their apps doesn't mean they need things spelled out for them that obviously.<br />
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So "super duper" Survivor fan Adam - who has been watching the show since he was nine and has probably been dreaming of this very moment since then - has one of the key Survivor moments as he at last finds the hidden immunity idol. This should be the biggest high he has ever experienced (and he lives in the Bay Area, so, you know) but instead this moment of all moments is immediately put into somber context. And calling Adam's post-discovery break down hard to watch is an understatement. <br />
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I can't possibly imagine the range of emotions this experience brought forth for Adam. Living out his Survivor dream on a month-long respite from the biggest nightmare in his life. Looking forward, probably for the first time in a long time, to have something happy to share with his mom. From some interviews, I know that Adam and his mom had been considered for Blood versus Water and being on Survivor had been both of their dreams. When he got the call to go out on his own for Season 33, it must have been an agonizing decision whether to leave for six weeks to go on the show but I'm sure that the experience was something he was hoping to buoy her, something to share with her while they lived through the darkest time in their lives. <br />
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With all that real emotion hitting me in the face, I almost forgot how Hannah just happened to pop up at the exact wrong time. Hey, there, buddy. Whatcha doin'? How's the ol' idol hunt goin'? Put a pin in that. Since, spoiler alert, Millennials are not going to tribal council tonight, that issue - did she see him find the idol or didn't she - will wait for another day.<br />
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All is great on Gen X beach. There are plenty of leftovers for breakfast so everyone should be in a great mood, right? Not so much. Self-described tiger mom Lucy is not in the mood for any funny business from Dave (if she's seen any of the shows he's written for, she'd realize she had nothing to worry about). Dave asks, as one does when one is on a tribe and in an alliance, what the plan is. She bites his head off and feeds it to the cloud of bats hanging in the trees. He'll not make that mistake again. She then tells him and Ken, just be quiet, do what you're told. She points at Ken and gives him the stern mom voice and makes sure he heard her and understands and will not mess this up. She does realize this is a social game, right?<br />
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The Immunity Challenge was visually fun, as the tribes lofted a member up to gather puzzle pieces and was, at least for Jeff, a contrast in styles. Because he is contractually obligated to work in a Millennials do it this way, Gen Xers do it that way comparison at least twice an episode. What I saw was the Gen Xers locking into the first random words they saw way too early and then not giving themselves the flexibility to see anything else. Meanwhile, the Millennials found a few key words like "tonight" and "flame" and then built around it. In the end, it was the tribe that stood back, kept their cool, and analyzed the situation before they took action, who won. <br />
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With that, Gen X was on its way to another visit with Jeff and his shirt of many buttons. The plan was for the remaining Gen Xer's to get their revenge on Jessica and make her pay for trying to take control of the tribe. Lucy and Sunday had buyer's remorse and decided voting out Paul was a terrible idea and all part of Jessica's evil plan. With Paul gone, Lucy came out of nowhere, invisible in the first three episodes, to fill the power vacuum Paul's departure created. You can't have two alpha females, so Jessica had to go. Now, after the loss, the tribe could have blamed Dave as he contributes absolutely nothing to their tribe except for his promised puzzle solving skills which have thus far proved worse than his stick breaking skills. But Lucy has her sights set on Jessica the turncoat, so the rest of the tribe needed to get on board.<br />
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One of many Survivor mistakes is to assume what works in the outside world will work on the island. What's even a greater mistake is assuming what irritates people in the outside world won't irritate people on Survivor. Lucy feels comfortable that everyone will be happy with her ordering them around and making all their decisions for them. Even though she admits that this very behavior actually makes her family hate her at times. But for some reason, complete strangers who are competing against you for a million dollars should be happy to be told what to do and what not to do.<br />
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But hers is not the only mistake on the Gen X tribe. Jessica is told by Ken that Lucy has thrown her name out there and the plan is to blindside her at tribal council. Now Ken is not a savvy Survivor player. He is a heart on the sleeve, Kumbaya singing, Namaste kind of guy who has show zero signs of being a strategist. He seems honest to a fault, an open book of sappy poems about dolphins and puffy clouds. As a deputy district attorney, one of Jessica's jobs is to assess the veracity of statements, to determine whether someone is more likely than not to be telling the truth. She should be thinking of a career change. She is convinced that Ken is lying to her.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You had this guy on your side and you turn on him?</td></tr>
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So she of course runs directly to the person he names as targeting her and asks, are you targeting me. Because of course if someone is planning on blindsiding you the way to find out is to ask them. Lucy of course denies the plan she has worked so hard to keep the lid on and then marches off to find out who didn't listen to her. Someone is getting a time out.<br />
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Dave, wisely, disavows any knowledge of Ken spilling the beans and then immediately goes to tell his pal that he's in deep trouble. Mom is mad. Ken confronts Lucy and she does not get him at all. He's so emotional, like a girl. Ew. Girls are the worst (insert eye roll). Lucy does have a point, there shouldn't be any emotions in Survivor, especially not about voting people off. But she is wrong that there isn't a diplomatic way to get people to do what you want; barking orders is not the right way. Not for women or for men. <br />
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So Dave has a lot to think about. Do the easy thing, and vote out Jessica? If he does, he's worried that he and Ken will be back to the bottom. But he just swore to Lucy he wouldn't vote her out, can he break that promise? Are you allowed to do that on Survivor? He meant to read the rule book, but it was so heavy, he couldn't hold it. But he does have an immunity idol. And it's pocket sized, so he's going to bring it with him just in case.<br />
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At tribal, it's like the whole tribe took truth serum before they sat down. Everyone is spilling everything. Ken wanted to vote out Lucy because she was acting like a dictator. Lucy thought Ken was man enough to handle her bluntness. Lucy basically admits in front of Jessica that Ken was telling her the truth, but that perceptive Jessica still cannot grasp that Lucy had turned against her. This is an astounding lack of awareness and I wonder if whatever has infected her eyes has spread to the left side of her brain because she seems incapable of logical thinking at this moment. Or, as Lucy would say, she's such a girl.<br />
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Jessica is dumbfounded. She turns to Ken, "Am I supposed to believe you when you tell me my ally is turning on me?" "Yeah." For a split second, Jessica senses she's made a huge mistake. But it's too late for her to change her mind so, to paraphrase Chris, she's about to go all in with the losing hand. Until Dave springs up to save her ungrateful, undeserving ass. He shocks everyone by playing his hidden immunity idol this early in the game, on someone who has shown him no loyalty, to vote out someone who was not an immediate threat to him. <br />
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And with that Jessica sees that Ken <i>was</i> telling her the truth and she <i>was</i> the target as one after another, the Jessica votes are revealed and then discarded. Her worthless vote for CeCe shows just how out of the loop she was. And with only two votes, Dave's and CeCe's, tiger mom slinks out of this jungle and back home to run the lives of those who can't vote her out of the family.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lucy gets the football pulled out from her #charliebrownsrevenge</td></tr>
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Jessica, when she recovers the power of speech, manages to tell Dave, thanks. Will this form a bond that will carry both of them further in the game, will Ken be impressed by his little buddy's maneuver, and will Chris and Bret ever not be on the wrong side of a vote? Stay tuned.<br />
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Check out Lucy's post eviction interview:<br />
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Want more Lucy?<br />
<a href="http://people.com/tv/survivor-recap-lucy-huang-exit-interview/" target="_blank">People</a><br />
<a href="http://parade.com/515653/joshwigler/survivor-millennials-vs-gen-x-lucy-huang-exit-interview/" target="_blank">Josh Wigler/Parade</a><br />
<a href="http://www.ew.com/article/2016/10/13/survivor-lucy-huang-millennials-vs-gen-x" target="_blank">Entertainment Weekly</a><br />
<a href="http://www.tvguide.com/news/survivor-lucy-huang-elimination-ken-david-idol/" target="_blank">TV Guide</a><br />
<a href="http://robhasawebsite.com/voted-off-survivor-2016-exit-interview-podcast-lucy-huang-october12-cbs/" target="_blank">Rob Has a Podcast</a><br />
<a href="http://www.goldderby.com/article/2016/survivor-33-millennials-vs-gen-x-lucy-huang-exit-interview-podcast/" target="_blank">Goldderby</a><br />
<a href="http://cartermatt.com/225593/survivor-millennials-vs-gen-x-exclusive-lucy-huang-immunity-idols-david-ken-alliance-loyalty/" target="_blank">CarterMatt</a><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5527364785342971830.post-22748956437842592602016-10-06T14:27:00.001-07:002016-10-06T15:18:46.342-07:00Survivor Season 33: Millennials v. Gen X - Episode 3 RecapPreviously on Survivor: The showmance has got to go. This showmance is ruining my bromance. Who will I go bowling with? They don't even have toothbrushes. Bye Figgy. Dave you're next. I'm so totally screwed, oh my god is that an idol? Let me show it to my new best friend, the octopus-catching Adonis. Paul breathes control, Paul can't breathe, Paul is struck by heat exhaustion and a bit of irony. Jay tells Michelle Figgy has to go, Michelle says not so fast bro. Whispers at tribal, did Hannah get lost on her way to vote? Blindside #1.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Just tell me I'm not the worst person in the world</td></tr>
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Coming back from the unexpected, uncomfortable tribal council, Zeke and Adam try to play it cool. Good game, nicely played. Zeke manages not to blurt out "I'd like to stab you all in your sleep." He and Adam go off to count their numbers, which is easy now that it's just those two. Hannah comes over to apologize and explain/justify what just happened. Zeke does not want to talk about it at this particular moment when his head is still reeling from the fact that his game has just been turned upside down. The show is only 44 minutes long, but we still get a full two minutes of Zeke and Adam alternately telling Hannah that Zeke.does.not.want.to.talk.about.it. Maybe tomorrow, maybe next week, maybe in an Reddit AMA, maybe in couple's therapy, but not now. But Hannah wants absolution, wants to be told she's not a horrible person, and wants them to make her feel better right now.<br />
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Hannah has good arguments. The numbers were there, her vote meant nothing, she did what was in her best interest, it doesn't mean that she's not still with them in spirit, it hurt her more than it hurt them. But as in most interpersonal relationships, Zeke is upset and disappointed and so all the logic in the world is not going to work at that precise moment. She could fly in Justin Bieber to serenade Zeke with a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyPz-kfMW1g" target="_blank">live version of Sorry</a> and it wouldn't make up for what he feels is a huge betrayal of the quirky kids club. But Hannah wants back in and wants Zeke and Adam to know that they're still tight and she's still here for them. "Use me," she wants to tell them. She doesn't even like everyone in the damn majority alliance that she just sided with, she tells us. Is a reality TV show really the place to work out your high school insecurities?<br />
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Adam gets a great confessional where he talks about it being his dream since he was nine to play this game, which means he's either getting the ironic soundbite before his torch is snuffed or his hero arc is still solid. He tells Zeke that it's "You and me on dumb ass island" and he's right. Had they not told Jay their plan last week, Figgy would be gone, they'd still be in the majority, and they wouldn't have had to deal with Hannah's neurosis and the Triforce's smugness. But they're now firmly at the bottom and there's no where to hide. Still, Adam tells us, "I wouldn't count me out" and so we won't.<br />
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Over on Gen X beach it's a beautiful sunrise with a deep scarlet horizon. Paul the old salt quotes the old adage, "Red sky at night, sailors' delight. Red sky at morning, sailors take warning." If that isn't the most over the top piece of foreshadowing, I don't know what is. Paul, you're in trouble; the skies don't lie. He may think that Cece will be the next voted off, but she's seen telling Dave, "I trust god. I think we're going to be all right." And CBS is not going to let her go out after saying that. For good measure, Dave tells her that you should never give up so the underdogs battling back is as sure as Jeff making a dumb Millennial/Gen X comparison sometime during the show.<br />
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Paul tells us that he's back from the dead, which of course means he's about to take a stake to the head to make sure he's gone and not coming back. Ken is tired of Paul's boasting about being the leader and the provider and all his experience. Put up or shut up. Ken can't believe that he's on the bottom of the tribe and I can appreciate his confusion. Any other season, any other tribe he'd be the alpha male. Instead, his position is taken by an overweight, bombastic, clueless, David Lee Roth wannabe. <br />
Both tribes are given the chance to send some members to a summit where they can meet and get to know some members of the opposing tribe. The Triforce and Will go to for the Millennials, CeCe, Dave, Paul and Chris for the Gen Xers. Figgy pronounces respite like it's despite and so I momentarily cannot pay attention to what anyone is saying. Later, watching Big Brother Over the Top, a twenty-something there pronounces heir like here and I die a little inside. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Taylor's thought bubble: She's the jelly to my peanut butter</td></tr>
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Back to the summit, Chris the lawyer is, not surprisingly, smart about keeping quiet and hoping to hear more than he speaks. The Millennials are also smart about what they share, keeping quiet about showmances and somehow convincing Figgy and Taylor to keep their hands off each other while in front of the parents. Paul, of course, talks. A lot. Way too much. I'm a little embarrassed for him until he goes after Dave. He tells the Millennials that Dave is incredible, and Dave is touched to find out that the big guy actually likes him. That is until Paul goes on to say, he's incredible because he screams any time he sees a bug. Paul's last few fans jump ship.<br />
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The Millennials are curious about Ken and CeCe is nice enough not to objectify him which I would never do just because of his chiseled body, angular face and surprisingly <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5s4LGdMkBGE" target="_blank">good singing voice</a>. Dave takes Taylor aside and goes all Jonathan Penner on him offering to jump ship, abandon his teammates, and vote their asses out of the game the first opportunity he has. Taylor was probably thinking about licking some of the peanut butter off of Figgy and missed everything that Dave said, but Dave felt better and saw Taylor as his ray of hope if he ever wanted to get rid of Paul. Oh Dave, hope is closer than you think!<br />
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Ken starts working on Jessica. He flatters her, "you and Sunday are humble." But Paul acts like he's the king of the camp. And why? Because he's the biggest, the loudest? What does he really contribute to the group? Jessica hears what he's saying, but she's committed herself to Paul and the rest of their six person alliance and she doesn't want to betray them. But Ken planted a seed and sometimes that's all it takes. Which is why having people question their alliance, think about their place in the game is a good strategy. Kudos to Ken. <br />
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Taylor is so happy with life on Millennial camp he's doing backflips. His girl is safe, they don't have to worry, Zeke is out next. "Ain't nothing to it." Adam still can't believe how his fortunes have turned. This is particularly galling to superfan Adam as "Figgy sucks at Survivor." But even with her showmantic misstep, she was smart enough to ally with the cagey Michelle while Adam allied with "loose lips" Zeke. He is also probably frustrated that the four person Triforce (I will never tire of their name) is so obviously tight that their temporary allies should reconsider sticking with them much longer, but will he be able to get Michaela and Will to see the light?<br />
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We don't hear from Will at all and Michaela is not making any decisions yet. She doesn't like or trust Figgy (shocker), but she's going to wait, watching and thinking, before deciding what to do next. That is a thoughtful approach and Michaela is showing herself to be a strategic, rather than emotional, player. Hopefully all her watching and thinking will get her to see that those four are planning on moving in together when the show is over and go into business selling Triforce friendship bracelets (with four strands!) and so should be broken up sooner than never. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">How'd this picture get here?</td></tr>
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There's an immunity challenge that requires carrying heavy bags, walking across a balance beam, knocking down a puzzle and putting together a puzzle. The Millennials do a better job at figuring out who can best get the bags across the beam, while the GenXers do not strategize enough ahead of time, leaving us with a long stretch of CeCe struggling to make it across in the time it takes three Millennials to cross. Of course, that means that her tribe loses and Chris gives us the premature and, thus, obvious misdirecting statement that after that poor performance, "I'm not sure how CeCe doesn't go home tonight."<br />
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Paul has watched Survivor before so even though he gives us the "CeCe is going next" quote, he's quick to add that it's dangerous to get too complacent on Survivor. He fails to add that it's also dangerous to say something to alert someone in your alliance that they are at the bottom. <br />
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Sunday confirms with Bret and Chris that to keep the tribe strong they have to vote out CeCe. She performed the worst at the challenge (in truth, only because Dave was waiting over at the puzzle and didn't have to prove himself on the beam) and so she has to go. Bret, the police sargeant, says it sucks that they have to vote her off, Chris, the lawyer, says it doesn't suck. And we wonder why lawyers get a bad rap.<br />
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CeCe asks the girls if they know what the plan is and Jessica says she thinks the boys are working it out. Hopefully as the words are coming out of her mouth, Jessica the Assistant District Attorney realizes that she doesn't want a bunch of boys making decisions about her future in the game. While she and the other females lie to CeCe and pretend that they don't know she's going home, Ken and Dave wonder if there's a chance of switching the target to Paul. Nothing to lose. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. A whole lot of nothing, can they turn it into something?<br />
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Yes, with a heaping serving of help from Paul himself. Jessica already had Ken plant some seeds of doubt in her head about Paul. So when she and Paul talk about the vote, she reluctantly agrees to stick with the six person alliance. But then she asks Paul if there's a boys' alliance. And he tells her not to worry. "If they decided to do that I would say, ladies, you're on your own." And the Survivor music composer brings out the strings of doom to signify that Paul just said the worst possible thing at the worst possible time.<br />
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So Jessica pulls together Sunday and someone who just landed on the beach to give them a solid three girl alliance. Jessica tells Sunday and this mystery woman (Survivor Wikia says her name is Lucy but I've been unable to verify that) that the three of them are at the bottom of the six person alliance. I say, they're also at the top of the six person alliance. But definitely not in the middle. Regardless, this concerns her. So she thinks she may have to flip on Paul. But could she possible convince Cece, Dave, and Ken, the next three on the chopping block and Paul's targets, to turn on him. Good thing she's a DA and is used to making persuasive pleas because this is going to be really hard to sell.<br />
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One more moment of hubris before trial council as Bret, Chris and Paul see all the women talking and immediately Paul dismisses the conversation as nothing for them to worry about. Bret is concerned. This is the second positive editorial choice for Bret this episode. Keep your eye on that one. <br />
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Dave talks too much at Tribal Council, mentioning that meeting with the Millennials helped humanize them and build bonds between them. That's not what your tribe wants to hear. He did mention that this experience is helping him cope with his anxieties and make him more calm, which is something we all can be grateful for because he makes me nervous just sitting still. <br />
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Jeff throws CeCe under the bus, making sure everyone noticed that she cost them the game. But then he tries one of his many sets of questions designed to hammer the Millennials vs. Gen X narrative over our heads. The young people worked together, you all did your own thing. They were an efficient team, you were a bunch of unconnected individuals. And then, in an exchange that Jeff will be regretting for some time, he asked the Gen Xers if they text. This isn't the dawn of the texting generation, where only a few have one of those new-fangled, hand held devices for communicating with words instead of sounds. EVERYONE texts. But you know what everyone does not do in 2016, abbreviate "you" with "u." Jeff has dated himself worse than if he were wearing a Milli Vanilli t-shirt and raving about his new flip phone.<br />
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Begin rant.<br />
There is nothing sadder than someone Jeff's age trying to pretend he understands what it's like to be in your twenties. The division is not about how we text, but how we see the world and ourselves in it. And that is not something that can be discussed in a two minute tribal council setting. I have nothing against this season's theme of a generational divide and everything against forcing certain "we do this, they do that" simplifications. Let us the viewer observe the differences - and the similarities - don't try to create some facile, stereotypical contradistinctions between the groups. <br />
End rant.<br />
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Before it's time to vote, Jeff asks about paranoia. And this is always a good question. Who feels vulnerable and who feels safe speaks volumes at tribal council. Last week, Mari was sure that Figgy was going home. This week Paul is just as sure that he is safe. But he goes a step farther. He blames those at the bottom for where they are and says that the top six are where they are because of hard work. He then, faux humbly, said that he was sure he'd be sitting where the bottom three are now and he won't feel good about it either. All the time he was speaking, he was speaking the truth. There was a six and a three. The top six <i>did </i>work hard to get there. The bottom three <i>were </i>responsible for where they are. Had Paul not put doubt into Jessica's mind, they would not be in trouble. And had the top six not worked hard to come together, they wouldn't have the numbers to blindside him.<br />
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Paul had the numbers absolutely correct. He just didn't know the three and six had rearranged themselves.<br />
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Paul told us earlier this episode that he was given a new life in this game after his medical scare last week. Unfortunately for him, that life was short-lived as he was ultimately hoisted on his own petard of poor alliance management. But, Paul did have a very classy exit with a nice farewell to his tribemates. Bret and Chris exchange, "what the hell just happened" looks and have the night to figure out how they went from the top of the totem pole to the part that's buried in the dirt.<br />
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Check out his "The Day After" video interview <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kM_1VV2wv6A" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
<br />
Want more from Paul?<br />
<a href="http://www.ew.com/article/2016/10/06/survivor-millennials-vs-gen-x-paul-wachter" target="_blank">Entertainment Weekly</a><br />
<a href="http://parade.com/514045/joshwigler/survivor-millennials-vs-gen-x-paul-wachter-exit-interview/" target="_blank"> Josh Wigler/Parade</a><br />
<a href="http://robhasawebsite.com/survivor-2016-exit-interview-podcast-paul-wachter-millennials-vs-gen-x-october5-cbs/" target="_blank">Rob Has a Podcast</a><br />
<a href="http://people.com/tv/survivor-paul-wachter-medical-scare-interview/" target="_blank">People</a><br />
<a href="http://www.goldderby.com/article/2016/survivor-millennials-vs-gen-x-exit-interview-paul-wachter-eliminated-podcast/" target="_blank">Goldderby</a><br />
<a href="http://mashable.com/2016/10/06/survivor-millennials-vs-gen-x-paul-wachter-interview/#AO07BYD9fqqh" target="_blank">Mashable</a><br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5527364785342971830.post-66977913872462946052016-09-29T00:37:00.003-07:002016-09-29T15:08:46.986-07:00Survivor 33: Millennials v. Gen X - Episode 2 RecapPreviously on Survivor. Dude, bro, you're hot, I'm hot, let's find some hot chicks and the four of us can make a three person alliance. Oh you Millennials with your gold stars and your SnapChatting, we had to walk uphill both ways to rent a video at Blockbuster. It's getting a little windy. Look what I found! What do you mean I can't use it for 35 days? Is that six inches, it doesn't look like six inches. Where's our fire making trophy? Okay, it's like really windy. I'm scared of everything, someone hold me. Being bossy and standing off from the group totally will not make me a target. Evacuate evacuate, fallen trees, squashed camp. I'm the puzzle master. Welp, Millennials win immunity. Oh crap, it's me. I trust you, I trust you, Jeff don't call on me. Rachel, the tribe has spoken. 19 are left, who will be voted out tonight? Spoiler...not who you expected!<br />
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Last we saw David he was setting new lows for island adaptability. I've seen a lot of people compare his physicality with one Stephen Fishbach, but I maintain that Fishbach is Gregor Clegane compared to the spindly-armed anemic. John Cochran could snap him in two. The only thing going for him as a potential ally, he's so weak I doubt he can break a promise.<br />
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Paul is over David. He tells us that he has a strong, tight six-person alliance and there is no room for CeCe and David. CeCe's kiss of death was allying with Rachel and since early in the game you look for easy targets, her friendship with the first person out has left her in Paul's crosshairs. David is simply not Paul's kind of guy and seems so overmatched by the elements, you'd be doing him a favor to send him to the Tokoriki Island Resort. <br />
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What David lacks in strength and courage he more than makes up for in self-awareness. He recognizes that he's playing a miserable Survivor game and wants to do something, anything to prove himself to his tribe. And so the Survivor gods smile down on him and grace him with the ability to make fire...with just a flint, a knife and kindling. Basically, what any Survivor should be able to do, but what his tribemates all failed at. So kudos to Dave. Will this save, Dave? Probably not.<br />
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Chris tell us that they'll keep David busy running errands while waiting to punch his ticket out of the game and David is thrilled to use the excuse of looking for rocks to really look for an idol. And when you are so devoid of musculature that no one expects you to be able to move or carry more than one rock an hour, this give him plenty of time to go idol hunting. And wouldn't you know it, "oh my god, oh my god, oh my god," he found the hidden immunity idol. And how does he view the importance of this serendipitous find? Gamechanging. "Especially at the nadir I was on, and now I'm at a zenith." That's pretty accurate. At least for one vote. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You're the cutest, no you're the cutest.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Meanwhile over on the Millennial tribe, Taylor is macking on Figgy big time and Figs is falling for TayTay's blue eyes and they have their own oh my god, oh my god, oh my god moment on their beach one night. Michaela is having none of this stanky unhygienic smooching and she busts them the next morning. So of course they are going to be immediately targeted for their budding showmance right? Nah, dude, we're Millennials. We hook up, no biggie. Just chill. Zeke is worried, they're not playing Survivor. Oh, yeah, Zeke. Let's see who makes a boneheaded move that blows up their game and who gets to make out with someone hot AND dodge a bullet at tribal council.<br />
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Zeke tells Mari, Hannah and Jay about his concerns either not realizing that Jay is in an alliance with the showmance or forgetting that the four of them have been tight since day one. Jay is worried that his closest allies are about to be number one and two in the boot order, so he immediately runs to give them the red alert. How do you tell two young smitten kids that their love is doomed, that there's about to be a nuclear bomb vote dropped on one of them if they don't stop the after-hours smooching?<br />
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So Jay takes his broski Taylor aside and cautions him about the risk of getting too close to Figgy. Jay asks him how they're each going to win a million dollars if he wrecks their game with a showmance? Yes, dear reader, along with getting participating trophies, these Millennials apparently think they're each going to get a million dollars at the end of the game. But if he plays the game right (i.e., ditch Figgy), Jay tells Taylor all good things will come his way. He will get to snowboard and chill. Now is any girl worth giving that up for? But wait, Taylor thinks, why can't I have it all? It's the Millennial way!<br />
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So last recap I mildly mocked Ken and his "live off the grid" story, positing that roughing it on Maui was not exactly Robinson Crusoe-esque. There's a Duke's Beach House for crying out loud. If you can get to nachos and mai tais within an hour how radical is your life choice? But the guy catches an octopus spear fishing and feeds his tribe and I have to admit that was pretty impressive. And my change of heart has nothing to do with his increasing hotness as he slowly develops the inevitable Survivor scruff. Nor am I all swoony because he has found a soulmate in the awkward, nebbishy David whom he has now introduced to the joys of walking sticks and newly-caught cephalopods. <br />
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David and Ken strategizing gives me life. The two recognize that Paul is running things on their beach and they better get a move on if they want to topple the power on the Gen X tribe before it's too late. It's refreshing to see the cool, chill, physical guy go full game mode with the neurotic super fan. So Dave fortifies their bond by showing Ken his idol and they make a tight twosome that I can totally get behind. Maybe I was premature up above. Maybe the Dave as Fishbach comparison is not that far-fetched, especially if Ken is his JT.<br />
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Back on Millennial beach, Hannah is hacking away at a very resistance coconut and Mari gives us the eye roll inspiring quote of the episode, 'We didn't realize playing this game would be so hard.' When you're used to playing video games all day in an ergonomic rocker, being outdoors must be a shocker. Less of a shocker if you'd ever seen the show before. Ask Russell Swann or Caleb Reynolds, they'll tell you. But, whatever you do, don't contact Michael Skupin. And if you do, don't take Will with you.<br />
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Did Michaela have Jeremy Collins write her first confessional? "This girl is so dumb," she says of Figgy and she's partially right. Everything I've ever seen on Survivor tells me that a tight twosome is an easy target and an obvious showmance is going to get you in some serious early boot trouble. But may I stop to ask, why is it Figgy who is getting all the negative attention? Last time I checked it took two to tango, or whatever dances those youngsters do these days. Why is Michaela not calling Taylor dumb (other than her desire not to state the obvious)? Why isn't the target on him for flirting with Figgy instead of the other way around? <br />
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Obviously, something went down during the first six days because Michaela is having none of Figgy. The tension at camp is thick and the other tribemates smile and look nervously as the two girls go at it. And you know that everyone is feeling great right now knowing that it's the ones stirring things up that have the biggest targets, so they can all just relax at the next vote. Isn't that right, Mari?<br />
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Adam confirms the basic laws of Survivor that all of us superfans know. Since I didn't go to Stanford, I'll sum it up UCLA style. Don't stir shit up. But since Adam got so little screen time this episode I guess I shouldn't yadda yadda his sage advice. So, if you ever intend to play the game, just follow these rules: don't come blazing out of the gate, don't get into catfight and, for the love of Probst, don't get into a showmance. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I'm king of the...wait, I can't feel my arm.</td></tr>
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Paul tells us that he's in control at Gex X beach. 100%. He breathes control. He should have tried oxygen because not long after he tells us how in control he is of everything, his body tells him something different and he goes down like the proverbial ton of cocksure bricks. Since he's fine, I'll forget that while he was lying there, shaking, not feeling his hands, having his vitals checked for a possible heart attack, David (and we, let's fess up) were thinking, this would sure help the minority's game. We're awful people. <br />
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But Paul was just another in a long line of heat exhaustion/dehydration victims who just needed a little rest and water to get back on their feet. So Jeff, Dr. Joe and the chopper left along with Dave's chances of turning things around should they head to tribal council.<br />
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The immunity challenge was a nail biter and very surprisingly the Gen Xers came out on top, which had me cheering. Ken and Dave were safe and I'd get to see one of the beautiful people sent home by my beloved freaks and geeks alliance. Zeke shared my excitement. As a fan, this is what he was looking forward to. Voting people out, after all, is an integral part of the game. Only, Zeke should have learned from the very long line of soundbite providers that when you tell the cameras you're jazzed to go to tribal, things will go very badly for you.<br />
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It starts well. Hannah, Zeke and Adam set out the plan to target Figgy. They then tell Mari and she's a little concerned that Figgy might get wind of the plan, but they tell her not to worry. Hannah confirms with Michaela and Will that they are down with the plan. And the six of them agree on the vote, keep their mouths quiet, go to tribal council, compliment Jeff on how great it looks, and vote out their biggest threat. Easy peasy.<br />
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But then Zeke and Adam pull Taylor's brochacho Jay aside and TELL HIM THE PLAN. Now, let's take a step back for a moment. Zeke went to Harvard. Adam went to the Harvard of where the weather doesn't suck. And these two geniuses take Taylor's best friend, tightest ally, his bro for life, Jay, and tell him that they're going to target someone in his alliance. His best friend's girl. Zeke and Adam, two huge superfans, not two guys who were recruited from a WeHo nightclub, but actual Survivor fans who live and breathe the show and could not wait to play the game, took one member of a tight four-person alliance and told him they were going to vote out one of the other four. If I wasn't an arthritic Baby Boomer I'd probably write another page or two on how watching this conversation was like watching an unwary pedestrian who is standing in the middle of the railroad tracks, head phones on, back turned to the rapidly approaching train. I tried shouting at them, abort mission! Say JK. Suck the words back into your mouths. But to no avail. It's too late. The damage is done.<br />
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Now it is possible that they saw the wavy haired surfer as too much of a stoner to process the words that were coming out of their mouths or they thought he was too laid back to actually react to the information he was hearing in time to do anything. And in some ways they were right. Jay took in the information and was bummed that he was about to lose one of his closest allies. He was resigned to this fate. But what Zeke and Adam did not count on was that Jay would tell someone with a brain in her head.<br />
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Michelle hears that they are about to lose a number and she says no. It doesn't make sense to get rid of Figgy. We have to switch the vote. And it's that simple. Michelle looks around to find another option that she can sell and it's Mari. Mari is smart, Mari is a gamer, and Mari is not part of her alliance. So Mari has to go. Now, the obvious emotional target would have been Michaela. She and Figgy have been at each other's throats, but Michelle doesn't name her. Instead, she tells Jay we have to bring her back into the fold. She must have picked up something around camp that made Mari more of a potential threat, someone she was more likely able to convince people to vote out.<br />
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Last week, we were all so impressed with Hannah making friends with Michelle and trying to bridge the gap between the Kappa Kappas and the nerds. But we were wrong. It was Michelle who was brilliantly making friends with Hannah. That will come into play shortly. But before that, she and Jay go to work. They tell Figgy and Michaela about Zeke's plan - Figgy first, Michaela second. And they get them to bury their mutual hatchets for now (while remembering to bring them to tribal council so they can plunge them into the unsuspecting Mari). <br />
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Last week, I also made fun of the three amigos and their four-person alliance in a ten-member tribe. But sometime between then and now they did some more math and realized that they needed to be six strong. So if they have Michaela, thanks to Zeke's loose lips, they only need one more. So they go to Will. Will is worried about Figgy and doesn't like the idea of changing his vote, but he's an 18 year old high school student and Michelle is probably the most beautiful girl he's ever seen this close up and so he agrees with her to switch the target to Mari with the promise that somewhere down the line they'll revisit Figgy lest she become the next Parvati. Somehow, he ignores the fact that he could be talking to the next Parvati.<br />
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So with the new plan in motion, they head to their first tribal council. But Michelle is not convinced things will go her way, so she has a plan to make sure she can squeeze every last vote out of her tribe.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">OMG is that really Jeff Probst standing before me?</td></tr>
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Many of the Millennials are awestruck at their first visit to tribal council. Adam looks like a toddler at Disneyland about to be handed a giant cotton candy. It's pretty darn cute how he doesn't hide just how excited he is, no feigning apathy for Adam. Being there, while sucky for obvious reasons, is the ultimate Survivor fan dream come true. Hannah, Zeke and most of the others geek out that they're really there sitting around the fire pit, about to fill out their first piece of parchment. Mari talks about how real it is to have to vote out someone in person rather than playing a simulated game (you have no idea, girl). Zeke the firestarter talks about becoming his best version of himself out here. Michaela for her part is not having the warm fuzzies and tells Jeff that she feels that Survivor is bringing out the worst things.<br />
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While she and Adam debate whether it's better to be forthright about the negatives or better to paint a rosy picture, Michelle starts whispering to Hannah that she's voting out Mari. Jeff and his shirt of many buttons tries focusing the conversation on the optimist/pessimist dichotomy at the tribe, while on the far right Hannah is having a meltdown as she is getting an unexpected message at an unexpected time. Back and forth they go. Vote out Mari. Why? I can't tell you. Vote out Mari. Why? Because. Vote out Mari? Why? Ask me tomorrow.<br />
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Hannah is lost and confused and trapped on the outskirts of her alliance, stuck between a rock that is Michelle and a hard place of the very amused Jay. She gets a brief respite when Jeff asks her about alliances and she proceeds to tell Jeff about the romance between Figgy and Taylor and everyone laughs nervously about it. Jeff points out the obvious, two people together, two votes together, it's pretty strong, pretty dangerous. They're not hiding it, everyone sees it, so what are they going to do about it?<br />
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Figgy says it's not a problem. Taylor says it's not a problem. It's too early to be worried about this already inseparable couple who can't keep their hands off each other and finish each other's sandwiches and will be having startlingly beautiful children together 8.75 months from now. Michaela can't believe the load of horse crap that they are trying to pass off as caviar. Of course they're a dynamic duo. Of course they need to be broken up.<br />
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Eventually, Jeff can't ignore the side conversation. Hannah starts getting lightheaded and giddy and loses whatever chill she ever had. Hannah, Michelle and Jay try to play if off like they're not having this huge discussion about Hannah changing her vote at the eleventh hour. And Mari, in what was a case of very bad timing, says all that chatter was probably just "Hannah being Hannah." Having no idea she was on the chopping block, thinking it was obviously Figgy's last few minutes in the game, Mari made a throwaway joke at Hannah's expense. She did not wonder why that end of the tribe was locked in a heated conversation moments before the "obvious" vote and she did not try to corral Hannah away from the power of Michelle and make sure they were on the same page. Whoops and double whoops. <br />
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Hannah was faced with a real dilemma. Stick with the plan (heh heh heh) or switch her vote because the popular girl wanted her to? I'd love to hear what was going on in Hannah's mind other than, I want to be with the in crowd. She did seem troubled by the decision and she stayed at the voting urn so long Jeff was about to call in the chopper to rescue her, but eventually she decided to put her faith in Michelle and turn her back on her allies Zeke and Adam. As it turned out, all that grandstanding was for naught as Will and Michaela inexplicably decided to keep Figgy and vote out someone who posed no immediate threat to them at all, Mari.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Where's the reset button?</td></tr>
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Mari is blindsided, as are Zeke and Adam. So much for the anti-cool kids alliance. How long before they realize it was their decision to tell Jay the plan that caused this stunning vote? How long before Adam changes his Survivor laws to include, don't tell someone that you're voting out a member of their alliance? How long before they revoke Hannah's membership in the nerdy kids club? <br />
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<br />
Want more Mari?<br />
<a href="http://www.usmagazine.com/entertainment/news/survivors-mari-takahashi-tiptoed-around-camp-after-hookup-w442675" target="_blank">UsWeekly</a><br />
<a href="http://www.ew.com/article/2016/09/29/survivor-mari-millennials-gen-x" target="_blank">Entertainment Weekly</a><br />
<a href="http://parade.com/511822/joshwigler/survivor-millennials-vs-gen-x-mari-takahashi-exit-interview/" target="_blank">Josh Wigler/Parade</a><br />
<a href="http://robhasawebsite.com/survivor-2016-exit-interview-podcast-mari-takahashi-millennials-vs-gen-x-september-28/" target="_blank">Rob Has a Podcast</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5527364785342971830.post-78927778024282956222016-09-22T14:07:00.002-07:002016-12-20T16:22:33.227-08:00Survivor Season 33 - Millennials v. Gen X - Episode One RecapUsually when Survivor comes up with a tribe division based on some overriding quality, I can easily plug myself in. I'm a white collar brain, I'm a nerdy superfan. Not this year. As a Baby Boomer, I get to sit back and watch those young whippersnappers, those MTV-watching, latchkey, slacker Gen Xers who separated themselves along the eyeliner/flannel divide have to deal with the reality that they're not young anymore. Their time has passed. They're yesterday's news. And now a whole new group of Vine-obsessed, Snap Chatting, quinoa-eating, entitled Millennials are here to stake their claim. In this culture war, I take no sides. I'm just here to observe.<br />
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Season 33's conceit of the great generational divide gets a lot of support early on from the castaways. Proud Millennial Taylor Stocker tells us that despite his young age, he's had much life experience. He's been to North Dakota! Scratch that off his bucket list. If the Survivor producers wanted to give him the Debbie Wanner edit, they could change his chyron every appearance. Bee Keeper. Beer Brewer. Snowboard instructor. Midwest traveler! He calls himself a Peter Pan who will never grow up and if he can get away with it, good for him. He should be allowed to rock that silly hairstyle as long as he wants. <br />
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Mari Takahashi echoes Taylor's forever young sentiment. A professional video gamer, she plans to never grow up - which certainly seems like an early candidate for words that will come back to bite her, not in the game but probably in her forties. She tells us that she wants to spend her entire life playing and I'm thinking maybe she took that board game too seriously when she was younger. But she gives us the first "I'm going to win" confessional which means she is another Richard Hatch, accurately predicting the outcome, or another delusional player giving a soon to be ironic soundbite.<br />
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Immediate fan favorite, Zeke Smith, is dressed like he was blindfolded, dropped in a dumpster outside a Hawaiian-themed restaurant, and grabbed whatever he could find to wear. He is 28 but does not go full metal Millennial. He tells us he's a middle aged man trapped in a doughy twenty-something body and is not quite sure where he belongs. On my TV, Zeke, for the next thirteen weeks.<br />
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Chris Hammons has two strikes against him. He's an attorney, and no attorney has won Survivor. And he's a ginger whose lack of melanin means he'll probably burst into flames early on. But at least his tribe will have fire! He talks about being in the "older" group but as he's young enough to be my son, I don't hear anything he says after the word "older." I was in law school when you were born, Chris. Don't tell me about old.<br />
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Sandy Burquest is auditioning for Fargo Season 3 dontcha know with that cute Minnesota accent of hers (okay, unlike Taylor I don't travel the middle of America so I don't know that much about its geography, but I'm pretty sure N. Dakota and Minnesota are right next door). She is the mom of four and as a mom of two I salute her and hope she wins and then is invited back so she can spend another 39 days away from having to feed and clean up after that brood. <br />
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David Wright is a pale, nebbishy, frail guy with zero survival skills, crippling anxiety and a fear of just about everything. On <a href="http://www.people.com/article/survivor-millennials-vs-gen-x-premiere-stephen-fishbach-exclusive-blog" target="_blank">his People blog</a>, Stephen Fishbach called him his Dopplenerder and I don't think I can outdo that description. Cirie Field would call him a wuss. His idea of a nature walk is the Organic aisle at Pavillions. He hasn't had a backpack since high school. He says it took him 14 years as an assistant to finally get a writing job and it's probably because he spent all that time curled up in the corner trying to keep all the bad things away. David, whoever signed you up for Survivor has a sick sense of humor. <br />
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18-year-old high school senior (that is not a typo) Will Wahl is excited about the generational war and says may the best generation win. He's 18, so he doesn't yet know that the best doesn't always win. Didn't he watch Season 32? (I kid, Michele. But really, <i>Michele</i>??). The castaways are shocked to have a high school student on the show but not as shocked as the teacher who gave him the hall pass two months ago. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Where's the oldest Gen Xer?</td></tr>
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On the other end of the spectrum we have Paul Wachter the elder statesman at 52. He drags out all the stereotypes about Millennials in his comparison of the two groups. We never got a trophy just for playing, we didn't have iPods, there weren't apps for everything, and no drones were delivering milk. I have yet to see a milk-delivering drone, so I am clearly missing out on one of the coolest dairy product delivery systems created since the teat. <br />
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CeCe Taylor makes a lot of friends over at the other tribe by insulting them with how they don't work for what they have and that everything is handed to them and the looks on the faces of the younger tribe can be summed up with a simple, "oh no she did not just say that." Each Millennial was thinking of the perfect eye rolling GIF they would tweet her if only they were in the real world right now. If CeCe wants to make it post-merge she is going to now have to work doubly hard because she is on the Millennial's radar. Did someone forget to tell her that the tribe divisions weren't for the full game?<br />
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Adam Klein gets off to a great start with Jeff. Jeff points to him and says "Adam," and he replies with a Cochran-esque "Probst" and we all fall just a little in love. Jeff, already on the hunt for this season's bromance, might have found his soulmate. Adam throws it down by promising that the Millennials will win the first challenge and show those old fogeys who knows how to work hard. It's a risky prediction that could come back to bite him, but just from sizing up the two tribes unless it's a program a VCR task, the Gen Xers are probably not going to win.<br />
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But before they compete, each team runs to grab supplies for their camp and they have some decisions to make (fishing gear v. chickens, a hammer v. pots and pans). Amid the chaos, Jessica Lewis, a 37-year-old district attorney, finds a note. She wisely pockets it and goes on gathering items. Jeff makes a big deal about the Gen Xers picking fishing gear versus the Millennials taking the chickens. Paul says the decision was about the long haul, planning for 39 days. Taylor had a better reason for choosing the chickens. "They lay eggs, Jeff." I bet he learned that in his travels to North Dakota. <br />
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Jeff gives both tribes some sobering news about an upcoming storm before he sends them on their way to fend for themselves in the elements while he goes back to his comfy climate controlled haven.<br />
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Mari has about a dozen confessionals about how awesome the Millennials are and it seems unfair that she gets to do here on the island what she does on the outside - talk to the camera about a game. Why don't they bring in some criminals for Jessica to prosecute while they're there? How about letting Michelle pour someone a coffee?<br />
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Taylor has found his brochacho. Jay Starrett, a real estate agent from Florida. They have a brotastic bromance the two broennials. They talk about which of them is the hottest and which of the two girls - Figgy Figueroa and Michelle Schubert - is the cutest and how totally rad it would be if the four of them were like you know a thing which would be for real so awesome. And so three of the four come up with a cute name for themselves, the three bromigos or something, and ignore that three or even four out of 10 is not what you should be looking for. Great for batting averages, not great for making past a jury vote.<br />
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Meanwhile, Zeke, my spirit animal, the light of my life, the cream in my coffee, the salt in my stew (yes, the last two are actual song lyrics. That Silent Generation sure knew how to write!) is telling us how he really doesn't fit in on his tribe and feels like the crotchety old guy yelling at those youngsters to get off his lawn. <br />
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Paul takes his role as the real crotchety old guy by bringing the tribe together to give a speech, which is going great until Ken McNickle decides to grab the mic away and give his old speech. For a chill, off the grid, go with the flow guy that was a little cold. Ken goes on to discuss his alternative living arrangements in the jungles of....Maui. He's picked up survival skills by braving the harsh unforgiving and wildly popular vacation destination. But he has pretty eyes, so we'll give him a pass.<br />
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Jessica wisely gives herself time to go off and read the clue she picked up earlier when everyone was scrambling to grab supplies and it's a Survivor first. The Legacy Advantage (sounds like something my financial planner might suggest). Whoever holds the advantage on day 36 will have an advantage in the game. If she is voted off before day 36, she can hand it over to someone else. Now we (and she) don't know any more specifics, all we can hope is that it won't be this year's Medallion of Power. It's great that they're shaking things up, but an advantage with three days to go in the game seems pretty lopsided.<br />
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I'm getting mixed messages from Figgy. Do you want me to think that you're a pretty face? If so, stop making ugly faces with the cameraman two feet from you. But I don't think that's what you want since in every preseason interview you dropped in that you <i>didn't</i> want to be another pretty face. Beauty fades, but being annoying is forever, so you have that to look forward to. Figgy is hoping to go the Amber route and find a husband and a million dollars, but just as Brett the Boston cop is no Rob Mariano, you are no Amber Brkich.<br />
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Now, I would give Jay credit for mentioning that if he, Figgy and Jay are a tight three they still need three more (giving them what we like to call a majority), but I would then have to take the points right back from him for never actually going to any of the others outside his core beautiful people alliance to have them join up. They bring in Michelle but that's it, leaving six normal looking humans on the outside of the people who would have chosen ANTM instead had it not been canceled. We could be in for some old fashioned Survivor showmances as Figgy likes Taylor's dreamy blue eyes and Jay thinks Michelle is super hot and suddenly this has the makings of a new CW show, The Triforce Diaries.<br />
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Hannah Shapiro is already writing her next blog while she's on the island, pointing out the emergency of the Kappa Kappa Survivor gang of gorgeousness. Now, Hannah is a cute if bookish nerdy girl but the beauty sub-tribe would make anyone feel insecure. But rather than let any insecurity get the best of her she's taken a page out of her former professor Max Dawson's Survivor rule book (subtitled: Do as I say, not as I did!) and is trying her best to bond with the group she doesn't feel part of. Keep an eye on that one!<br />
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Shelter building is often the first place where a survivor can make a bad game move. Being too bossy, too demanding is bad. Not helping, not showing your value is also bad. You have to find that sweet spot of working hard (or appearing to be working hard) and not barking orders. Paul and Rachel Ako immediately butt heads over how deep to build a hole. If you're playing a game for a million dollars, you shouldn't fight over the depth of a hole. And you shouldn't tell a grown man that he doesn't like to work, especially when he's made a point of how he's on the old hard working people tribe. You don't tell the old guy that you have to keep him focused. Basically, if you're playing a game for a million dollars do the exact opposite of everything Rachel does this episode. Too late to say spoiler alert??<br />
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David also has his own problem with oversharing. But in his case, it's not to tear down someone else but to bring self-deprecation to a new height. He goes way out of his way to tell his tribemates just how bad he is at any and all things that would help them as a tribe. Not since Prissy famously cried, "I don't know nothin' 'bout birthin' babies" in Gone With the Wind has any character so loudly proclaimed just how useless they are for the job at hand. This is 2016, nor 1816, most people don't have any experience building a shelter, Dave. The standing and nodding part was good, the volunteering that piece of useless information, not so much. David then doubles down on putting an "easy target, first boot" sign on his ass by wincing and covering his ears when the men folk get down to the actual shelter building. But he'll redeem himself later, we all assumed, as he flies through the inevitable puzzle during the immunity challenge. Let's put a pin in that.<br />
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With his game on shaky ground, David then goes full paranoia mode by claiming that part of his team has already found the hidden immunity idol. He's driving his teammates crazy, but Chris hints at David's secret weapon. He's funny and he's charming. This is why there aren't a lot of buff, ridiculously handsome comedians. David has to hope that on the scale, the funny charming is outweighing the paranoid and unhelpful.<br />
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Back over with the young uns, Adam is the sober voice of reason, noting the impending storm and wanting to make sure they're prepared. Building a shelter should be a priority he thinks, but Millennials just want to have fun, so his tribemates all go off to frolic in the ocean while she stands on shore with Mari, the old married couple who can't control their rambunctious kids. Adam sounds like a Gen Xer and seems pretty concerned that he's with the Veruca Salt "I want it now" group.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">Just a little rain.<br />
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So that little wind and cloudy sky turns into a rain, which turns into thunder and lightning, which turns into a monsoon with turns into a long night of regret over not having build a shelter and instead playing in the ocean like a bunch of Millennials. But guess what, the next morning we find out that the Gen Xers didn't do any better and they too had a long freezing cold and very wet night. CeCe is in pretty good spirits all things considered and if she can go through a night like that with such a positive attitude, I may have to move her up my standings.<br />
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The new day brings news of two things that have never happened - Jeff shows pity of the tribes and sends them each a tarp and whoever wrote the note that accompanied the tarp eschewed the usual poetry format. This must have been serious if they didn't take the time to find a rhyme for thunder.<br />
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Our first confessional with Michaela Bradshaw shows her to be a Survivor fan as she recognizes that if Jeff just hands you a tarp and doesn't make you run through a rope course, jump over a wall, dig through thirty feet of sand and put together a 3D puzzle first, something is seriously wrong. Despite both team's greatest efforts, the meager stick and palm frond shelters, even with the emergency tarp, are not going to protect them from what Mother Nature has in store. And so in comes "Jeff Probst" (as Zeke calls him as if there were another Jeff around) to tell the tribes that the weather has been upgraded to a cyclone and so they are getting the hell out of Dodge.<br />
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It's a Survivor first! Obviously, either the weather is the worst they've ever faced or they have a new insurance adjuster/legal team who is wary of getting sued when a falling tree impales one of the castaways. Anyone who is a fan of the show knows that they are now part of Survivor history in a good way, not in an Erik Reichenbach hand your immunity idol over and then get voted out way.<br />
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Using footage from The Perfect Storm lest we lose any camera operator (seriously, why did they leave some behind to film, who drew that short straw??) we see the castaways evacuate before the torrential downpour comes to wreak havoc on their modest shelters. The sky opens and dumps down on them with enough water to solve the California drought and it is not surprising the next day when they find out they would have been flattened like a baking soda-less pancake has they not been evacuated. <br />
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Okay, David, I'm sorry I said you blew your chance at the game with your obvious weakness, your unbridled paranoia and your unrelenting fear of absolutely everything. You see the words coming out of your mouth and you can't stop them from flowing. I get it. I also get the existential angst. But you have to pull yourself together. This is your shot to play the game you love. I'll give you one weepy confessional but then get back out there and play the game! But, wait, don't play it so hard and so openly. David goes out waving a flag that says follow me to find an idol and starts very obviously searching around camp for salvation which only increases the target on his back three fold. If he isn't gone next, this will be one hell of a redemption arc. Because right now he's a candidate for the suckiest survivor ever.<br />
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While David is wallowing in his insecurities, Zeke instead is overcoming his. He is by his own words rising to his potential and my love for him grows exponentially. He made fire without flint, dude. This is what you hope to see on the show, someone who tests their limits, who puts themselves in an awkward, unfamiliar position and surprises themselves with what they can do. We have the "no participation trophy for us" Gen Xer who can't get his act together, and the "que sera, sera" Millennial who pushes himself to do something outside his comfort zone. And you start to think, maybe these generational constructs are pretty arbitrary.<br />
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Hannah pulls in Mari and starts to create a Freaks and Geeks narrative with the awkward turtles banding together to overtake the beautiful swans. She's lucky that the gorgeous Mari considers herself a geek gamer. She works on Adam and Michaela - also both very attractive but still feeling on the outs of the four person alliance - and convinces them to let their freak and geek flags fly and take down Regina George (Figgy) and her minions.<br />
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The immunity challenge has a nice twist where you have a choice to make at two places along the course. If you choose a shortcut then the puzzle at the end becomes harder. It does not go unnoticed that the "work hard" Gen Xers take two of the shortcuts, the Millennials only one. The puzzle at the end, as it usually does, allows someone to shine while others become the goats. In this case, it's Figgy and Michelle who bask in glory while it is Rachel who takes the brunt of the loss even though she was not the only one on the puzzle and rather than insisting she do it (as she is later blamed for) she volunteered only after no one else wanted to. <br />
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So Millennials beat the "old people" (including someone two years older than their older member) and it's the Gen Xers who are first at tribal council. David of course looks like the obvious one. He was there at the puzzle, in fact he was the first to volunteer. He swapped out when it was clear that he hadn't a clue where to put any piece. He's as paranoid as a tin foil hat wearing 9/11 truther. He's as useless as Jeff Probt's white shirts. Plus his tribemates think he found the hidden immunity idol. The one smart thing David does is tell them that he absolutely does not have the idol and that if they spare him he will forever be in their debt and will be the most loyal person in the history of Survivor. <br />
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As questionable as David's game is, it's the Tony Vlachos of games when compared to Rachel. She sees a bunch of people talking, knows that an alliance "is forming," yet does nothing to confront them, infiltrate them, work with them or even just talk to them. She and CeCe build a solid two person alliance which she somehow thinks will protect her in a tribe of ten people. But other than that, Rachel stays far away from the discussion about who is tonight's target, doesn't strategize with anyone besides CeCe and does not capitalize on the fact that David has done a lot wrong these first four days.<br />
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At tribal, Jeff says David's name and he jumps out of his skin. The whole tribe jokes about how he's afraid of his own shadow and Jeff gets the vibe that maybe he'd be happier out of the game and into a nice warm (but not too hot) bath. But David fights back. He wants to stay in the game, he tells everyone. And in the biggest understatement of the episode, he admits that "my biggest enemy is myself." David is a friendly, funny, trustworthy guy. The only thing that will ruin things for him is his own insecurities. And so he makes a plea to stay and have the chance to stop the self-sabotage.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Who is not going home tonight?</td></tr>
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Everyone is worried they could be on the chopping block. Rachel realizes that she can be a bit confrontational and promises that she'll reel in back in if she stays. Probably something she should have discussed with the tribe before sitting around the fire minutes from the vote. To no one's surprise, Rachel is the first person evicted from Survivor 33. The recruiting director from LA was probably recruited to be on the show and was not prepared for how quickly you need to get your bearing. Before she knew it, her game was already over. <br />
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Want more from Rachel?<br />
<a href="http://parade.com/509861/joshwigler/survivor-millennials-vs-gen-x-rachel-ako-exit-interview/" target="_blank">Interview with Josh Wigler/Parade.</a><br />
<a href="http://www.ew.com/article/2016/09/22/survivor-rachel-millennials-gen-x-cyclone" target="_blank">Interview with Entertainment Weekly.</a><br />
<a href="http://www.realitytvworld.com/news/rachel-ako-talks-survivor-millennials-vs-gen-x-cyclone-evacuation-it-was-survivor-purgatory-hell!-20645.php" target="_blank">Interview with RealityTV World</a>.<br />
<a href="http://xfn-blogs.xfinity.com/tv/2016/09/22/survivor-castaway-rachel/" target="_blank">Interview with Gordon Holmes/Xfinity</a><br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WV6XHcPygjc" target="_blank">Interview with GoldDerby</a>.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5527364785342971830.post-8354433847903927912016-06-23T14:56:00.001-07:002016-09-09T11:12:31.750-07:00Mad Men Season 5, Episode 7 Recap: At the Codfish BallAnd down goes Bluto. While Sally Draper talks on the phone to her friend Glen, complaining about her evil step-grandmother, the telephone cord (remember those?) causes the old woman to take quite a tumble. Of course, Sally lets the blame fall elsewhere and becomes the hero who saves the day. But with Pauline out of commission and Betty and Henry gone for the weekend, this lands Sally over at her Dad's for the weekend. That ultimately leads her to fall headfirst into adulthood as she experiences things way above her pay grade. She dresses up to join the grownups at a big fancy dinner only to discover the adults around her acting like irresponsible children. And we're left wishing Sally could have stayed an innocent child just a little bit longer.<br />
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At the Draper residence, Megan's parents are in town for the weekend. They bring baggage both literal and figurative and pull out some dirty laundry to shake out in front of their daughter and her new husband. The Calvets are not happy and their favorite activity to do as a couple is snipe at one another which is what they proceed to do within seconds of settling down in the Draper's "exquisitely decadent" apartment. Dr. Calvet is particularly adept at managing to appear to be self-effacing while his actual target is his wife. But then he doesn't reserve his condescending dismissiveness just on his wife, mocking the Drapers' wealth and extravagance.<br />
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While this married couple play out their version of George and Martha, Roger Sterling and his ex-wife Mona are getting along famously. Roger is a changed man since he dropped both acid and his young bride and Mona likes the more mellow and self-aware person she sees beaming with happiness before her. He comes to Mona asking for a favor and he is so honest and straightforward that she's captivated. Plus, he does still support her so any success for Roger is a success for Mona. So she agrees to help him find out what potential clients may be ripe for the picking.<br />
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News that Pauline has injured herself and that Sally and Bobby will soon be visiting is a welcome relief from the marital battle at Chez Draper. While Don is picking up the children, Emile turns his attention from Marie to criticizing the Draper's wealth and Don's attempts to seem high class. The constant derision appears to much for Marie who excuses herself from the table no sooner than the children start in on their heaping plates of spaghetti. <br />
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Later that night, Megan sees the dynamics of her parents' marriage a bit differently. She sees her mother as jealous of her - she's Emile's favorite - and notices that the jealousy manifests in her flirting with Don. Don is oblivious, but then when you look like that you're probably pretty used to stray women flinging themselves at you.<br />
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Peggy is still seeing Abe and he's trying his best to work himself into her busy schedule, sharing lunch with her and her coworkers. But Abe wants more. When he suggests a special dinner during the week, Peggy knows something is up. She thinks he's ready to break up with her - Stan did mention that Abe was too good-looking for her after all - but Joan suggests that maybe he's going to propose. So Peggy takes Joan's advice, goes out an gets a fancy new dress for this special occassion. And Abe does pop the question. Will you...shack up with me. This is not the proposal that the good Catholic girl was expecting, but that girl probably wouldn't be having sex out of wedlock with a Jewish guy so maybe she'll say yes. Joan certainly makes her feel better by letting her know that it is a beautiful statement that Abe wants to spend more time with her.</div>
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Heinz has not been an easy client to please and the team is scrambling to make a new presentation that can keep the bean account. Megan has an epiphany - a way to sell beans as a family tradition passed down through the ages. Everyone loves the idea, even Stan who has to scrap all his work to provide artwork for the new pitch. At dinner with the Heinz exec and his wife, however, there are some signs that it may be too late to keep the client as Raymond lets slip that he and his wife Alice have been in town for a few days. </div>
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Don had planned on doing a formal presentation back at the office the next day, but Megan's intel from Alice that Heinz will be going with another agency forces their hand. Megan whispers to Don that they're about to be fired and you see his wheels turn as he tries to figure out a way to keep Raymond at the table. Megan adjusts on the fly and starts to direct the conversation towards the pitch. And Don clicks into gear and starts doing what Don does - weaving a story full of familial love and bonding. Over beans. This resonates with the Heinz exec who thinks that everyone should feel as deeply about the little legumes as he does. And Don assures the pitch's success by letting the client believe that he came up with something they hadn't thought of before (casting the same mother and child). </div>
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Don is getting an award from the Cancer Society for his open letter against the evil tobacco industry and will be accompanied by his wife, her parents, and Sally, who ends up becoming Roger's de facto date to the dinner. Sally looks beautiful all grown up in her Nancy Sinatra boots and sparkly modern dress, but Don is not ready for his little girl to be a woman quite yet (especially not after Emile's unfortunate malapropism). <br />
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At the dinner, Roger engages Sally as his date and co-conspirator for the evening as he tries to go to work on networking. Pete Campbell and Ken Cosgrove are also there to swoop around for potential new clients. Pete has an interesting moment with Emile Calvet when the good doctor (*PhD) tries to belittle him, asking what exactly an account manager does. But Pete gets the upper hand as he schmoozes the hell out of Emile, buttering him up and playing to his wounded ego's need for reassurance, and after the French Canadian is fully puffed out Pete tells him - that's what I do. Ouch.<br />
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Over at Peggy's place, her mother has come over (and brough cake) to hear the big announcement. But Katherine, who we've seen as a good practicing Catholic with the local priest a frequent dinner guest does not want to hear that it's 1967 not 1947 or that all the kids are doing it. Her daughter is not living in sin. So she takes her celebration cake and goes. But not before dealing out what she considers to be some hard truths. Peggy, she tells her, is selling herself short. Abe may not want to marry you but he will marry someone and start a family with them and it won't be you. You think Katherine is being old-fashioned and unsupportive, but you later realize she's being protective. Peggy is a grown woman, but to Katherine she's still her daughter and she needs someone to look after her and make sure she doesn't get hurt.<br />
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At the dinner, Emile is looking at Roger like he's a perfectly cooked steak and she has just come to the end of a long meatless Lent. She laughs at all his jokes and notices when he moves around the room. Emile, her husband, is invisible to her. Not only has she been watching Roger all night, turns out he has noticed her as well. They have a brief conversation about life and decisions, ambition and mistakes and next thing they know they're off in a secret corner and Marie is playing Aloutte on Roger's flute. Or something like that. At least that's the story Roger will try and sell poor unsuspecting Sally when she walks in on the two of them. <br />
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But before that, give Emile credit for being the first one in her orbit to notice that Megan is not deliriously happy with all her Heinz success, her fancy apartment and her dashing husband. There is some emptiness in Megan that he sees. He scolds her for giving up on her passion, for trading it for the Capitalist symbols of success. She argues with him, but his words hit a nerve and speak to something that's been gnawing at her. She may be very good at what she is doing, but isn't not making her feel very good. Something is clearly missing.<br />
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Sally has a shocking experience when she walks in on Marie pleasuring Roger and her father has his own shock when Ken Cosgove's father spills some true on him while a bit inebriated. The Cancer Society Board and all these big executives may love Don's work and shower him with praise, but they don't trust him, can never trust him, and will never hire him. Don turned on his biggest client, they all saw it. That's why they're there. How can they not worry he'd do the same to them? Don may be an advertising genius, but he's also poison. So enjoy that award, Don.<br />
<br />
<b>Quotes:</b><br />
<br />
Emile: My daughter pretends to find interesting what I find interesting because she loves me.<br />
<br />
Emile: I see she's convinced you that she's particular. I'm the proof she is not.<br />
<br />
Roger: My whole life, people have been telling me I don't understand how other people think.<br />
And it turns out it's true.<br />
<br />
Mona: I thought you married Jane because I had gotten old. And then I realized it was because you had.<br />
<br />
Stan: Well, it's not fair that just because you're a boob-carrying consumer that your opinion means more.<br />
<br />
Megan: I think I have an idea. It might be really good. But it might be terrible.<br />
Don: Well, you've established a firm bed of insecurity.<br />
<br />
Roger: We are being lowered in a bucket into a gold mine. I'm gonna bring my pick and crack something off the wall.<br />
<br />
Roger: Who knows why people in history did good things? For all we know, Jesus was trying to get the loaves and fishes account.<br />
<br />
Marie: Every daughter should get to see her father as a success.<br />
<br />
Marie: You seem like you were born in a bow tie.<br />
Roger: I didn't tie that one either.<br />
<br />
Emile: Don, there is nothing you can do. No matter what, one day your little girl will spread her legs and fly away.<br />
<br />
Katherine: I need my cake.<br />
Peggy: Why?<br />
Katherine: Because I'm not giving you a cake to celebrate youse living in sin.<br />
<br />
Peggy: You want me to be alone?<br />
Katherine: You know what your aunt used to say? You're lonely, get a cat.<br />
<br />
<b>Observations:</b><br />
<br />
Emile tells Don "My daughter pretends to find interesting what I find interesting because she loves me." What Don doesn't know is that is what Megan is doing for him as well. She's not in love with advertising and it's not her passion but she pretends because it is Don's passion and it means so much to him. <br />
<br />
Don is reading "The Fixer" by Bernard Malamud. According to Wikipedia, the book "provides a fictionalized version of the Beilis case. Menahem Mendel Beilis was a Jew unjustly imprisoned in Tsarist Russia. The 'Beilis trial' of 1913 caused an international uproar and Russia backed down in the face of world indignation." Megan jokes to Don that her father won't mind finding out he reads James Bond, but this reflects Don's possible insecurity especially when dealing with a erudite scholar like Megan's father. Don may be rich and sophisticated now, but down inside there is still lurking the country bumpkin who used an outhouse.<br />
<br />
"At the Codfish Ball" was a song and dance routine made famous by Shirley Temple in her movie "Captain January" in 1936. Apparently, there was nothing at all weird or creepy about a bunch of grown men standing around as a little elementary school girl sashayed and swiveled her hips around. Temple's dance partner was pre-Jed Clampett Buddy Epsen and their twenty-five year age difference was not meant to arouse any concern as they performed together. The parallel between their pairing and that of Sally and Roger is clear (if they age gap much, much larger) and we see Sally the young girl being caught up in very grown up activities that the adults should be sheltering her from. Stolen childhoods and misbehavior by the adults who should know better are strongly paralleled.
<br />
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<br />
Don doesn't mind carrying the bags and doesn't see the need to bother the doorman, perhaps harkening back to his rural, no-frills roots. Dr. Calvet seems much more to the manor born than Don and is more comfortable with being waited on. For all his money, there is still part of Don that is the poor, humble farmer's son who was taught not to take any help. <br />
<br />
The theme of children growing up too soon comes forward in Michael Ginsburg's discussion of how to market Playtex bras. Peggy's approach, he says, is to sell sexy bras to old ladies whereas he believes that they should target young girls who are in a hurry to grow up.<br />
<br />
In the Heinz pitch at dinner, the back and forth between Don and Megan is pretty erotic. She's feeding him lines he's in her head and they're communicating on a nearly subatomic level. She pretends the idea was Don's, inspired by her domesticity. He accepts the credit but feels guilty enough to try and let Megan take some credit for at least a part of the idea. It's a pretty sexy scene between the two of them, not unexpectedly leading to a little make out session in the back of the taxi that leads, we imagine, to a longer one back at the office. <br />
<br />
The next day everyone is celebrating, but Megan is fairly muted. Peggy, whose account this was and who was fired for not making Raymond happy, is overjoyed for her, yet Megan can barely muster a toothy smile. Why is she not ecstatic over this, why is she having trouble accepting praise and feeling celebratory?<br />
<br />
Notice how Peggy's mom greets Abe with the formal "Abraham" and seems surprised when he tells her that ham is his favorite. You get the feeling she's still processing her daughter having a Jewish boyfriend. Not surprising then that her reaction to their big news is about as ebullient as Megan's reaction to landing Heinz. But it's not his being Jewish that's the problem, it's his not putting a ring on it. She's dealt with Peggy's unwanted pregnancy, her being a "career girl," and her dating outside of the faith. But shacking up is a bridge too far.<br />
<br />
When Bobby and Sally arrive at their Dad's place, Bobby tells Megan that Sally doesn't like fish. Megan realized this so she made a different dinner for the kids. But at the American Cancer Society dinner, Sally showed that she was dabbling with becoming a grown up and tasted the fish. She wasn't immediately repelled and, as it turned out, it wasn't her worst experience with adulthood that night. <br />
<br />
The episode was bookended with two phone calls between Sally and Glen. Glen is only a couple of years older than Sally, but he's always been the more mature one. She was the wide-eyed innocent to his jaded adolescent. But with what she perceived as Roger's betrayal (and seeing her step-grandmother in that position) she's now as world-weary as Glen. <br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>*****************************************************************************</b><br />
<b>Spoilers - Don't read until you're all caught up.</b><br />
<br />
Stan tells Peggy that Abe is too good-looking for her. Typically joking around for the two work buddies. But, a few years hence, Stan decides he's the right one for her after all.<br />
<br />
Of course, Emile was right. Being a copywriter was not Megan's passion. She came to New York to be an actress and she was determined to make that dream come true. So she eventually tells Don that she is going to pursue her passion, despite her natural gifts as an ad woman. She had some middling success in New York, getting cast on a soap opera, but when she moved to Los Angeles she can't get arrested. <br />
<br />
Marie is flirting with Don and she later flirts - and more - with Roger. We see this as a sign of her unhappiness in her marriage, perhaps also her reaction to growing older and losing her looks. But no one could have predicted then that she would ultimately find love and happiness with Roger! Two old coots who lamented their lost years and lost youth coming together in the end to find the person they were always meant to be with.<br />
<br />
Learning that practically no one wants to work with Don hits him hard, understandably. That plus Megan's decision to quit working with him makes him go down a very dark, very deep hole from here on out with various levels of success and failure. He almost completely bottoms out before rallying. But Don will be battling the demon he created with "the letter" for years to come.<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5527364785342971830.post-43489774787094793312016-03-25T16:15:00.001-07:002016-05-09T15:56:29.264-07:00Survivor Kaoh Rong, Episode 6: Disbanding the Brain TrustAnyone with a perfunctory understanding of reality TV narratives knew that the cocky, arrogant ER doctor who alternately proclaimed himself the smartest in the game and the best positioned was not going to win. Peter Baggenstos was given the "Pride Goeth before a Fall" edit from day one. But with his former Brains tribe still in the majority, and numbers being crucial pre-merge, he would have to do something pretty dumb to get booted this early. And he did. In fact, showing again that the smarts necessary for success in the real world do not necessarily translate to Survivor, the doctor made not one but two strategic blunders that led to him becoming an undateable pre-merge boot.<br />
<br />
But first, we come back from the last tribal council at Gondol beach with hugs all around for Tai Trang. He managed to be more useful and lovable than Anna Khait and that bought him at least three more days in the tribe. Tai basked in the compliments, especially hearing everyone tell him what a great guy he is. How many would share that opinion had they known he had the hidden immunity idol and had led Anna to believe he was using it on her? Tai doesn't have to worry because the only person left who knows about the idol, Scot Pollard, is keeping mum as he plans to use the info down the line. Tai plans to continue to provide for the tribe with the tacit understanding that if they have to go to tribal again, it will be Julia Sokolowski and not him sent home.<br />
<br />
But wait, before the smoke from Anna's snuffed torch has completely faded, Peter is scheming. He pulls Tai aside and tells him that he's fed up to here with Joe Del Campo who is not pulling his weight and is more ripped that he is (and 40 years older). That old guy and his six pack has got to go. It occurs to Peter now, as opposed to, say, before tribal council, that he is the low man on the Brains totem pole and he needs to get rid of one of them before they target him. Last vote, when Scot, Tai and Anna were scrambling for what to do and who to target, he could have pulled the three together against Joe and Aubry Bracco and picked them off like overripe mangoes. <br />
<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It's like looking in a mirror</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Over on Chan Loh beach, Nick Maiorano just realized he's on Survivor. It's Day 13. But, better late than never. He does have a keen insight into the wonder that is Debbie Wanner and recognizes that what she admires most in others are their intrinsic and extrinsic similarity to her. So he does his best to be what Debbie believes herself to be which is, among other things, a finely chiseled Greek god. I'm a little worried about Debbie as the two quotes from her early in the episode are that her main goal is to make the merge (which we assume is next week) and that she can make fire with one match (which possibly hints towards a fire-making challenge). Hopefully, though, the overwhelmingly loopy, fun, positive edit she's been getting was so strong that the producers decided to throw a few red herrings in there on the way to her ultimate march to victory.<br />
<br />
At the reward challenge we have former professional NBA center Scot Pollard in a basket sinking contest against former amateur point guard (and Adonis, according to Debbie) Nick Maiorano. Putting aside that centers are not that accustomed to shooting from the perimeter and that the buoys into a basket is not exactly the same as basketballs into a hoop and that Scot was not exactly a scoring beast in his NBA days, it looks like Gondol might have the advantage. This goes from theoretical to actual when their go-to challenge beast Aubry manages to untie and free their buoys about an hour before the hapless Michelle Fitzgerald. Nick is waiting patiently for his chance to show his moves which watching Scot go out to an early lead. Eventually, they get their buoys and he makes it a race, but ends up losing in the end. It was a feast for the reward which I'm sure Julia enjoyed after her two days alone in exile on To Tang beach. <br />
<br />
"As long as it's not my name I'm gonna go with it, because I've gotta save myself." Julia may be young, but she's not naive and she understands the basic rules of Survivor. So when Peter comes to her after their feast to tell her he's thinking about voting out one of the Brains, she is all in favor. She could have not gotten better news that the fact that there is a fracture in the main alliance and she may not necessarily be meeting up with Anna in two days. Peter is pissed at Joe but he also recognizes that Aubry is a threat so he's gunning for both of them. Or not. He's spit-balling here, sharing his strategy with the only person lower on the totem pole than he is, trying to formulate a plan by saying everything he's thinking out loud and to the one person with nothing to lose.<br />
<br />
Peter makes the fatal mistake of strategizing right under the watchful eyes of Joe and Aubry. Scheming is not something that endears yourself to your old alliance and Peter is doing it blatantly. So Aubry starts thinking that he may be more of a liability to the Brains alliance than he is an asset.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, the Chan Loh tribe is trying to forget all about the wonderful feast that they missed out on because Michelle failed to unhook the buoys until the other tribe had an unbeatable lead. Michelle is worried that if they go to tribal council, she'll be the logical scapegoat/target. She is consoled by Debbie who manages to be wherever she needs to be at all times and I have no proof that she's not actually a twin. Debbie tells her (as she previously told Cydney Gillon) that she wants a girl to win and that her target would be Kyle Jason. Michelle feels pretty good about their talk until Nick wet blankets all over her warning her that Debbie is manipulative and cunning and could be setting Michelle up for failure.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Let the man do all the thinking, little lady.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Michelle is not keen on being told what to think by Nick. She is a grown woman with her own mind and she does not want to be babysat or handheld by the big strong guy. Nick tells her not to trust Debbie or Neal and Michelle tells us that she'll do whatever she damn well pleases. He tells us in his confessional that he has to coach Michelle, that's his job, making sure she's under his wing and says the right things. And Michelle tells us that she plans to go along, letting him baby her and think he's controlling her, waiting in the wings to pounce at the right time. I love their close trusting relationship!<br />
<br />
Peter is still scheming and scrambling but "retired FBI guy" Joe sees right through it. In fairness, Stevie Wonder can see right through Peter as he actively chases down everyone who is not Aubry or Joe and tries to pull them into his plan. Joe wants to get to the bottom of this and he goes all NCIS/CSI on Peter, staring him down and demanding that he tell Joe the truth. Peter, sadly, does not shout back, You can't handle the truth. Instead, he stammers, looks like a cornered puppy standing next to an unfortunate puddle, answers questions with questions, hesitates and finally gives a too sincere and ultimately unconvincing denial. Busted. Peter knows he's been caught and all he can do now is a few <i>mea culpas</i> as he meekly crawls back into his alliance. Or help his tribe win the immunity challenge and then he'll never have to worry about this conversation.<br />
<br />
But Peter shows he's not only incapable of good game strategy, but also good challenge strategy. With a twenty foot high tower of blocks to build, he decides not to build from the bottom up, loading the bigger squares first, but from the top down. (Tai meekly questions, why are we stacking the small ones first, but no one listens). Not surprisingly, this plan fails and though they were behind for most of the challenge, Chan Loh ends up winning.<br />
<br />
Now it's really time to scramble. Aubry and Joe don't trust Peter and know he's a liability and knows that he tried to turn on them and that he probably will bolt the next chance he has but, like the last vote, they decide to go with the devil they know and stick with him, voting out Julia. Peter recognizes when he's beat and so he decides to go along with his former tribemates, bury the hatchet, and go with the original plan a - voting out Julia. Scot comes over to Peter to find out what the plan is and he hears that Peter has abandoned the get rid of Aubry or Joe plan and is back on the voting out Julian bandwagon. <br />
<br />
Scot has had enough of Peter's vacillation. While Aubry and Joe may not be in his alliance, they at least don't tell him one thing one minute and another thing the next. Peter is untrustworthy and unpredictable and those are not great traits in a tribemate. So rather than go along with his plan to target Aubry or Joe, Scot talks to Tai and Julia about going after Peter. Julia, who may be 18 but is pretty smart, recognizes right away that Joe is loyal and not likely to abandon his ally. So she suggests they target Aubry. And they have ammunition - Peter did throw her under the bus. But will she believe them and be willing to take out one of her own.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">So I just have one teensy weensy change in our plans.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Scot, Tai and Julia make their pitch to Aubry and she's not thrilled at what she's hearing. It was one thing for Peter to throw Joe's name out there, but a whole different thing when it's her name and her life in the game on the line. Now she's pissed and now she's rethinking her devil you know strategy. Why keep someone around only for them to stab you in the back. Get them out before they can get to you. So she goes to Joe. You know how we had that long talk and we decided to let bygones be bygones and welcomed Peter back into the alliance and agreed to vote out Julia. Yeah, let's forget that. Let's vote out Peter. Joe cannot believe what he's hearing and he thinks Aubry has fallen victim to island fever/game paranoia and is no longer in her right mind. Joe is a loyal guy and he made a deal with Peter and he wants to keep it. Aubry thinks this might be a huge mistake. Or not. It's day 14 or 15, it's volcanically hot, they don't get enough food or sleep and there are all manners of creatures feasting on them. Give her a break, it's hard to think straight!<br />
<br />
And so Aubry and the rest of her tribe go to tribal council with the vote up in the air. And it's not at all clear what is the right move. More than likely, a tribal merge is coming and going into the merge 5 strong would be good. But is Peter really Brains-strong or will he bolt the moment after Jeff Probst tells them to drop their buffs? But if you vote out Peter, you guarantee going to the merge with a 4-4 split between Brains and Beauties, with the 3-member Brawn tribe potentially having the deciding votes. Has Aubry noticed how close Scot and Tai are, who does she think the Brawn tribe will side with? But on the other hand, Joe is her closest ally right now and he's asking for her to stay the course. Does she want to break his trust?<br />
<br />
At tribal council, at first, it looks like the vote will be the non-controversial, expected vote as Tai and Scot decide it's easier to go along with the plan to vote out Julia. If Aubry, Peter and Joe are solid, it would be a 3-3 tie and no one wants that. But it doesn't take much prodding for Jeff to get everyone talking about the elephant in the room. Peter's bouncing back and forth beween different factions has brought him unfavorable scrutiny and so the logical vote of Julia is no longer a no-brainer. You can see the growing recognition sweeping across Peter's face as one by one his tribemates point to his scrambling, his uncertainty, his unreliability as concerning traits going forward. Meanwhile, Julia can only hope this conversation is having some impact. And it does as we see Tai mouth something to Scot.<br />
<br />
As the conversation continues, the two switch their plan on the spot and decide to go after Peter. Peter has fallen into the trap that he himself created. When Jeff asks him if he made the case on why the five should stay tight and vote out their newest member Julia, Peter instead mentioned how that is one way to look at it but that the tribe is more complex than that and there might be some fissures in it. Peter basically admitted that he was not gung ho about the plan to get rid of Julia and had entertained other discussions. Scot jumps on this to point out that someone - whose name rhymes with Meter - makes a decision then five minutes later changes his - or her, but really it's his because I'm talking about Peter - mind. <br />
<br />
Joe picks up on how the discussion has taken a turn and instead of the farewell Julia show it's suddenly become the outing Peter for being deceitful show. Joe isn't so sure where the vote is going either. Meanwhile Tai and Scot have changed their plan and are now conveying the change to a surprised Aubry. For those who think tribal council is an unnecessary waste of time, that the decisions are all make ahead of time, and that Jeff's questions and the Survivors' answers have no effect, this last minute whispering and rethinking is a big surprise. On the fly, we're watching peple take in new information and make last minute decisions. It may not be the optimal way to make a decision that could ultimately cost you a million dollars, but it's better than stubbornly sticking to a plan without giving it any additional thought. Perhaps. Time will tell.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Well that didn't go as I planned.</td></tr>
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"As long as it's not my name that's written down, I'm cool." And those are the last words of Peter as his former Brains teammate Aubry does what I don't remember seeing before - writes one name down, then crosses it out and changes her vote. I'm not sure I love Aubry's play. It's not that I don't think she should have voted against Peter, it's the uncertainty and seat-of-her-pants redirection that does not look good (and is not a great resume builder). She should have hammered this out with Joe better ahead of time and planned for various outcomes. Instead, with this vote, she has shown herself not to be a strong ally and to make executive (and potentially rash) that potentially undermine her alliance. At the merge, I'm not sure how strong the Brains will be after this vote and whether she was more at risk of Peter switching post-merge or of going into the merge down in numbers. And don't think Julia will forget that her name was written down on that parchment first.<br />
<br />
With Aubry's last second change of heart, Peter is the sixth person voted out of Survivor Kaoh Rong. Peter was doomed from the beginning. He was too cocky, he overplayed his hand and he was too unwilling to play the social game of Survivor, i.e., pretend to get along with people, pretend not to have to be right all the time, practice humility, and don't make yourself the center of attention.<br />
<br />
Want more from Peter?<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfGdHSqjy1U" target="_blank">Peter the day after on CBS</a><br />
<a href="http://robhasawebsite.com/survivor-2016-kaoh-rong-exit-interview-peter-baggenstos-voted-off-podcast/" target="_blank">RHAP interview</a><br />
<a href="http://parade.com/465805/joshwigler/survivor-kaoh-rong-peter-baggenstos/" target="_blank">Josh Wigler/Parade interview</a><br />
<a href="http://www.ew.com/article/2016/03/24/survivor-kaoh-rong-peter-baggenstos" target="_blank">EW interview</a><br />
<a href="http://www.sheknows.com/entertainment/articles/1116903/interview-survivor-season-32-peter-baggenstos" target="_blank">SheKnows interview</a><br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5527364785342971830.post-63864636093471411962016-03-17T14:19:00.000-07:002016-03-17T14:35:40.197-07:00Survivor Kaoh Rong, Episode 5: How Not to Play a Bad HandMuch was made pre-season of the fact that Anna Khait is a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhK03o0P814" target="_blank">poker player</a>. This was supposed to give her an advantage over the other players, much as it was supposed to for Jean-Robert Bellande (voted out 8th in Survivor: China) and Garrett Adelstein (vote out 2nd in Survivor: Cagayan). Anna ended up splitting the difference, voted out 5th her season and further establishing no correlation between poker prowess and Survivor smarts. But while Jean-Robert and Garrett were most to blame for their boots, Anna was a victim of a poker player's worst enemy - the random deal of a bad hand. But any poker player will tell you that it's easy to win if you're dealt aces, what sets the greats apart is what they can do when they get, say, <a href="http://www.beatthefish.com/poker-players/doyle-brunson-hand/" target="_blank">10-2</a>. <br />
<br />
Before the swap that ended Anna's run in the game, the Brains tribe is highlighted after having voted out Liz Markham the night before. Dr. Peter Baggenstos continues to vie for the combined title of most un-self-aware, most narcissistic, and most tonally clueless contestant ever. He recognizes he's at the bottom of the totem pole, but rather than show any contrition, any humility, he boasts to the camera how he'll play the game and pander to his tribemates. He just doesn't get it. Pandering to them is what put him in the position he finds himself. But he reluctantly lowers himself and offers medical advice to Joe Del Campo whose finger is swelling up like a cantaloupe. Peter will leverage his life-saving - or in this case, digit-saving - capabilities to make him an asset to the tribe that hates him.<br />
<br />
It was not lost on the viewers that the tribe labeled the Brains had still not located their hidden immunity idol after the other two intellectually-challenged tribes had. So this episode, Neal Gottlieb fixes that by going on a successful idol hunt (motivated by his desire that Peter not find it). We now have all three idols located, one with Kyle Jason, one with Tai Trang and now one with Neal. So it's a perfect time for Jeff Probst to utter those famous words - drop your buffs.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkafZvKtJFd7pohdFGFWpAwizt4o4br28STcJH_kCz6uiJC2Rhb-T3_Mdqax0qM4vqGAsR3L1N4BvXSC8FijV5qlBfQdf9xitNhQr2pF4WS6JZTkpXV8Qe7zzAUW0VV7KypZEBcqxQZGc/s1600/survivor+kaoh+rong+episode+5+tribe+split.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkafZvKtJFd7pohdFGFWpAwizt4o4br28STcJH_kCz6uiJC2Rhb-T3_Mdqax0qM4vqGAsR3L1N4BvXSC8FijV5qlBfQdf9xitNhQr2pF4WS6JZTkpXV8Qe7zzAUW0VV7KypZEBcqxQZGc/s320/survivor+kaoh+rong+episode+5+tribe+split.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This doesn't seem like an even split</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Jeff explains that they had planned on going from three tribes down to two at 14 players, but with Caleb Reynolds' unexpected departure last episdoe, they were in an unusual situation where they were splitting at 13. Now, they could have gone the Solomon way and cut up one of the contestants. As Tai noted, Scot Pollard is like three Tais, so he could easily have been rationed between the two. But since the show is shopping <i>this short </i>of actually killing any of its contestants, they instead decide to split up into two groups of six, with one person left out of the two tribes. That person spends a couple days on the old Brawn tribe beach alone to wallow in misery and loneliness and thirst while everyone else scrambles and strategizes and hydrates. After one of the two tribes loses the next challenge and votes someone out, that extra person will join the losing tribe and we'll then have an even 6-6 split. <br />
<br />
After a random draw this is how the three teams (and let us all bid a fond farewell to the brains, beauty, brawn alliteration) split up:<br />
<br />
Chan Lo (blue buffs):<br />
Debbie<br />
Neal<br />
Cydney<br />
Jason<br />
Michelle<br />
Nick<br />
<br />
Gondol (yellow buffs)<br />
Aubry<br />
Joe<br />
Peter<br />
Anna<br />
Tai<br />
Scot<br />
<br />
Lonely girl (red buff for now)<br />
Julia<br />
<br />
Chan Lo has a 2-2-2 split with no one tribe having an advantage. Gondol has a 3-2-1 with the Brains in the majority. But within that group is Peter, the outcast, the pariah, the royal pain in the Brains' collective butts who they cannot stand and who resents his teammates and his status among them. But it is Scot who seems the most in peril. He is the lone member of the Brawns tribe and at 6'11" a gargantuan physical threat. As Jeff surveys the new tribes and makes some obvious observations, you can see the survivors all taking in what he is saying and wondering how this all plays out for them. Chan Lo is all lovey-dovey with a lot of hugging and laughing, but over on Gondol there is more contemplation of what this all means. And then Jeff talks to Julia Sokolowski about being the lone wolf and she makes a huge blunder. <br />
<br />
There is nothing in the Survivor rule book that says you have to speak the truth and you don't have to say anything to put yourself or your allies at a disadvantage. But Julia does just that, saying that she is concerned about her position in the game - especially if a Beauty is voted out. Right there she highlighted that whatever you might have wanted to do in the next vote, your only correct, logical, right, safe, and proper decision is to vote out a Beauty. Only moments after being told the old tribe designations were over and this was a new game, Julia reminded everyone where her loyalties lie and that she would consider the loss of a Beauty member a loss of an ally. Dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb. Dumb.<br />
<br />
Who's not dumb is Peter. He may have absolutely no emotional or interpersonal intelligence, but the guy can do basic math and a 3-2-1 will become a 3-3 if they vote out Scot and Julia comes in. Worse for the Brains, who currently have the majority, if they target him, when Julia comes in it would be 2-3-1 with the Beauties in the majority. No matter how much Aubry Bracco may hate him, she has no choice but to agree that voting as a solid block right now is the only logical choice and voting out a Beauty if the only logical move. Scot, realizing that as the lone Brawn in this new tribe he could easily by the target, is happy to join Peter and Aubry in targeting either Tai or Anna. Smart move on his part. There is no reason for him to wheel and deal and try to stir things up. If it's not him, that's all that should matter right now.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8py8xaNFGEtfKb1Mke6UM6YAiI5X0rwnupqm15KIuUVn_ICcue8mnopTy1eIjjIxRptFaRVilFE7ri6Bcmy7Vapah_uHSaoHDWjtOI_S8fNYi-0prWYFLYVldlLiqgmNDSefu1xwVYTE/s1600/survivor+kaoh+rong+episode+5+cydney+and+debbie+coconuts.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8py8xaNFGEtfKb1Mke6UM6YAiI5X0rwnupqm15KIuUVn_ICcue8mnopTy1eIjjIxRptFaRVilFE7ri6Bcmy7Vapah_uHSaoHDWjtOI_S8fNYi-0prWYFLYVldlLiqgmNDSefu1xwVYTE/s320/survivor+kaoh+rong+episode+5+cydney+and+debbie+coconuts.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I like your coconuts</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Also not dumb is Debbie Wanner. Loony as all hell, sure. Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs, most definitely. But she looked at her new tribe and immediately zoned in on Cydney Gillon, recognizing not just her amazing physique but the fact that she's also a very smart cookie. Cydney, who has only had a small dose of the crazy cat lady, immediately gravitates to Debbie. This is a dynamic duo and I would love to see them stick together. Debbie tells Cydney that she and Neal are tight and Cydney agrees to get Kyle on board with them. Debbie also tells Cydney that ultimately she'd like to see a woman win this season and Cydney is a-okay with that plan,<br />
<br />
Speaking of a woman winning, Michelle Fitzgerald is devastated that her tight all-girls' alliance has been split up and she hopes she can get the band back together. But with Julia on a brief exile at the old To Tang camp and Anna in the minority on the other tribe, she's not feeling too good about their prospects. Debbie, though, is feeling <a href="https://media3.giphy.com/media/jrC5zowLdpw5y/200_s.gif" target="_blank">pretty pretty pretty good</a> about her position as the mastermind and the tribe shake up has not at all dimmed her enthusiasm that she is controlling the game.<br />
<br />
While Debbie plots and schemes, Tai falls back on charm and talent to further himself in the game. With a Beauty being the natural next target, Tai has to find a way to be more valuable (or less of a threat) to his new tribe than Anna and he does it by being the warm, lovable provider for the team. Scot immediately takes a liking to Tai and a new bromance is formed. Tai and Anna both know what they have to do - it's the old joke about two people being chased by a bear. You don't have to outrun the bear, you just have to be faster than your friend. So she directly targets Tai by telling everyone within earshot that he probably likely definitely has the hidden immunity idol and he indirectly targets Anna by being adorable and getting food for the tribe and talking zero strategy. Let's guess which approach will work better.<br />
<br />
Over at Chan Lo, Nick Maiorano is vying with Peter for most delusionally self-aggrandizing and giving the ER doctor a run for his money. “When it comes to being manipulative, I think I’m the most intelligent person out here,” he boasts. Nick thinks he's brilliant and charming and conniving and fails to realize that it is Cydney and Kyle who holds all the cards on their tribe. He also is ignoring the huge threat that Julia poses to his chances as it would take a miracle for his team to keep both Beauties and let them have the majority once she joins up. But this won't play out as they won't be heading to tribal council tonight. <br />
<br />
It's another multi-stage immunity challenge, with a water, land and puzzle component and the only noteworthy thing is that no one died. Chan Lo won with Neal and Debbie smoking the puzzle at the end, taking down Peter and Anna. Then the theoretical turned into the realistic as Gondol now had to finally choose between Scot's man crush Tai and the perpetually plotting Anna. Scot wanted to keep the little guy. He liked his work ethic, his positivity and how much fun it is to toss him up into the trees. But the pro-Tai tide came first from an off-handed remark by Peter. <br />
<br />
Showing, for the first time, some savviness and, dare I say, good gameplay, he listened as Joe and Aubry presented their decision to vote out Tai and then tactically weighed in with a different opinion. But he didn't Peter his way about it - showing them how stupid they were, taking control and masterminding everything with pompous glee. No, he subtly mentioned that he'd be okay with voting out the person who provides food for the tribe and never talks strategy and keeping the smart schemer. He then oh-so-gently suggested that they might go the other way and vote out Anna, but it's okay with him either way. And you know what, that approach actually worked. Had he tried to bully them, Joe and Aubry would have immediately closed down. They might even have rethought their plan to keep him. But he used tact (something I didn't think he had in his arsenal) and the power of suggestion to get them on his side.<br />
<br />
While Peter was working to get Tai to stay, Tai was targeting Peter. Recognizing that either he or Anna were on the chopping block, he thought of a way to get rid of Peter. He could play his idol and voila, one less Brain. So he tells Anna and Scot that he has the idol and that he's going to play it at tribal. Anna was down with the plan, of course, and Scot liked it as well. Because even after one day with Peter it was impossible for his new tribemates not to fall in loathe with him as quickly as his old tribemates had. He wears his arrogance with all the subtly that Donald Trump styles his hair. So, bye bye Peter.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBetrjk0Er1zDRSmmT6VYK7kfW9wNkFUddFI00Z63w6np33Ei659DK_w3HrusYiIn2bVQ0d4u6yqxwmG1QK_txJPxMZ3Odd11ZzC_Leu4Zbuc7onhrjTvmNsarI-n8EXJ-lWEELwKqsi8/s1600/survivor+kaoh+rong+episode+5+tai+trang+scot+pollard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="167" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBetrjk0Er1zDRSmmT6VYK7kfW9wNkFUddFI00Z63w6np33Ei659DK_w3HrusYiIn2bVQ0d4u6yqxwmG1QK_txJPxMZ3Odd11ZzC_Leu4Zbuc7onhrjTvmNsarI-n8EXJ-lWEELwKqsi8/s320/survivor+kaoh+rong+episode+5+tai+trang+scot+pollard.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Say hello to my little friend.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Not so fast. Just as Anna was gleefully telling us that she loves blindsides and hidden immunity idols especially when they're played to get rid of someone other than herself, there was a change in plans. Aubry told Scot that the new target was Anna, not Tai. This got Scot thinking. Let's pause for a moment. Scot has voted in three of the four tribal councils this season and his votes have not always made the most sense. In fact, he's often been at odds with his own alliance. So seeing him thinking so strategically was a bit of a shock. But when it came to his attention that Tai would not be the traget, he got to thinking. If Tai stays, with an idol, then he, Scot, knows where two of the idols are in the game. One with his new broski Tai, the other with his former BFF Kyle. He would be sitting pretty. So he did not want Tai to play his idol, even if it would get rid of the smarmy conceited doctor.<br />
<br />
What I like about Tai's game is that he doesn't immediately decide which way to go. He weighs his options - the risk of not playing the idol and getting voted out holding it, the benefit of using it o Anna to blindside Peter, the chance to escape tribal council safely with his idol intact - and decides to take it to tribal council and get a feel for what is going on while he's there. He handles tribal council beautifully, telling his tribe how he wants to be straight forward to them while lying to their faces about not having the hidden immunity idol. He also tosses in how he would love to continue to provide them food if they decide to keep him around. It's a pretty brilliant pitch and would make me very nervous about going to final tribal council with this guy.<br />
<br />
Conversely, whatever kudos I gave to Peter for handling Aubry and Joe earlier in the day I want to take away for his abysmal performance at tribal council. Having learned nothing from his last trip there, he continues to go on about how unconcerned he is about the vote and what a position of power he is in and how he could not be in a better spot, blah blah blah. He is tempting the Survivor gods once again and he escapes again by the skin of his gleaming teeth only because Scot had other plans. Peter had no clue he was one idol away from having his torch snuffed.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLUSyxfDcHykPgmO5qqrFHLcLV4dMZlx7FvMdv-qA_Znrfo80qhHZjCnxR-wn9sl2EfpD8WY1dyn8mf1F7hCWtXsMsUVcWqObDSCgYcBltjBL1v4hSNUQ_a0_SoF3iafCzhsMIRmBjekk/s1600/survivor+kaoh+rong+episode+5+anna+khait+torch+snuffed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLUSyxfDcHykPgmO5qqrFHLcLV4dMZlx7FvMdv-qA_Znrfo80qhHZjCnxR-wn9sl2EfpD8WY1dyn8mf1F7hCWtXsMsUVcWqObDSCgYcBltjBL1v4hSNUQ_a0_SoF3iafCzhsMIRmBjekk/s320/survivor+kaoh+rong+episode+5+anna+khait+torch+snuffed.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">But you just lit it, Jeff!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Alas, it is the poker beauty whose torch is snuffed just moments after it was lit for the first time. Could she have strategized better, should she have told the Brains that Tai had the idol, was she too trusting of Tai? Tai comes off so genuine, so friendly, that it's hard to see him as a calculating game player, but as a poker player it was Anna's job to see through the ruse and read her opponent better. Not only did she not see him for the dangerous competitor he turned out to be, but part of her was so fond of him that on her way out of the game she decided NOT to blow up his game by telling the rest of the tribe that he has the immunity idol. When you can get someone you just turned on and helped get voted out to not undermine your game, you're doing something right. Tai is on a roll.<br />
<br />
Want more of Anna? Check out:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://parade.com/464362/joshwigler/survivor-kaoh-rong-anna-khait/" target="_blank">Interview with Josh Wigler/Parade</a><br />
<a href="http://robhasawebsite.com/survivor-2016-kaoh-rong-exit-interview-anna-khait-voted-off-podcast/" target="_blank">Interview with RHAP</a><br />
<a href="https://youtu.be/0xRuSQ_CzzE" target="_blank">The Day After on CBS</a><br />
<a href="http://www.ew.com/article/2016/03/17/survivor-anna-daredevil-walking-dead-insidetv-podcast" target="_blank">Interview with Dalton Ross/Entertainment Weekly</a><br />
<a href="http://www.realitytvworld.com/news/exclusive-survivor-kaoh-rong-castoff-anna-khait-talks-(part-1)-19468.php" target="_blank">Interview with RealityTVWorld</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5527364785342971830.post-31842474150562082902016-03-10T15:19:00.000-08:002016-03-10T15:19:31.522-08:00Survivor Kaoh Rong, Episode 4: Pushed Too FarI may sound like a hypocrite, but that wasn't fun to watch. This comes from someone who watches pro football even knowing about the risks the players face due to concussions, from someone who did not get morally outraged at Chase Utley breaking a guy's leg in a MLB playoff game, from someone who questions how daring aerial acrobats are if they're wearing a harness. But watching people who haven't had much to eat or drink for ten days digging in the sand in 118 degree temperatures for 45 minutes is not my idea of great entertainment. Someone could have died.<br />
<br />
I get overheated when it's in the high 80s and have been known to embarrass my family by pulling out a small battery-charged fan if I'm the least bit uncomfortable in the summer. And this is when I'm standing still. The survivors were physically exerting themselves beyond the point of collapse while just out of camera view, the crew filming the show have chilled water, fans and umbrellas to stave off the sweltering weather. But the Survivors had no respite from the intense direct sunlight, ambient heat, crushing humidity and the solar radiation soaked sand. It must have been like being trapped in the seventh circle of hell while running and digging. And for what? A million dollars? No. For some salt and pepper.<br />
<br />
It was a low moment for Survivor and showed a cavalier attitude towards the survivor's safety and a startling lack of awareness that these are human beings who have normal physical limitations and not TV characters immune to their surroundings. The show is not live, like Big Brother, but shot on film for later broadcast. If it was too damn hot to run the reward challenge, you don't run the reward challenge. No one needs coffee and spices that badly. If you were wedded to having that challenge run, then put up some lights and run the challenge at night. We understand that Survivor is punishing and grueling, but even within those parameters, there needs to be some common sense. <br />
<br />
What's disturbing is that last season -- which was filmed AFTER this brutal season -- there was a challenge held during the middle of the day with the sun bearing down on the contestants as they held a pole aloft, looking straight into the blinding, cloudless sky. Joe Anglim, the buff young stud, collapsed during that challenge. So even after three contestants went down in one challenge, during the very next Survivor -- filmed at the very same location -- the powers that be again scheduled and ran a competition in spite of the conditions and one of the contestants again passed out. So not only did Survivor not learn its lesson from the evacuation of Caleb Reynolds and the heat-induced collapse of two others (Debbie Wanner and Cydney Gillon) but they actively put more contestants into harm's way, pushing them beyond their limits while the cameras rolled.<br />
<br />
It is not enough that Jeff Probst sounds concerned or that Dr. Joe swoops in to save the day. The contestants should not have to risk death to be on a reality tv show. Should Survivor be hard, sure. But living on restricted rations, with little shelter, exposed to the elements, feasted on by all matters of bugs and physically and mentally challenged is enough. Doing so in 118 degree weather is inexcusable.<br />
<br />
There won't be a recap of this episode. Caleb was pulled out of the game, airlifted to a hospital where he spent five days. According to his post-show exit, it took him months to fully recuperate. Alecia Holden was voted out with no help from Jeff who took her boot as a <i>fait accompli</i>. Caleb is fine now and will likely make a return to Survivor. Alecia is having fun on Twitter poking at her island tormentor Scot Pollard by mentioning his not-very-impressive NBA stats. Bur if you want to read more, here are some links:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://robhasawebsite.com/survivor-2016-kaoh-rong-exit-interview-caleb-reynolds-beast-mode-cowboy-alecia-holden-voted-off-podcast/" target="_blank">Caleb and Alecia with RHAP</a><br />
<a href="http://parade.com/462694/joshwigler/survivor-kaoh-rong-caleb-reynolds-breaks-down-his-emergency-exit/" target="_blank">Caleb with Josh Wigler/Parade</a><br />
<a href="http://www.ew.com/article/2016/03/10/survivor-caleb-alecia-greg-nicotero-inside-tv-podcast" target="_blank">Caleb with Entertainment Weekly</a><br />
<a href="http://www.inquisitr.com/2875680/caleb-reynolds-talks-survivor-exit-castaway-remembers-little-of-his-evacuation-would-pounce-on-a-second-chance-in-a-heartbeat/" target="_blank">Caleb with Inquisitr</a><br />
<a href="http://parade.com/462695/joshwigler/survivor-kaoh-rong-alecia-holden-talks-about-life-on-brawn/" target="_blank">Alecia with Josh Wigler/Parade</a><br />
<a href="http://hollywoodlife.com/2016/03/10/survivor-alecia-eliminated-jason-fight-sexist-interview/" target="_blank">Alecia with Hollywood Life</a><br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dB3KfVJ8zos" target="_blank">Alecia the day after on CBS</a><br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1