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Wacky Wanda's S13 Episode 11 Commentary!
« on: Nov 28th, 2006, 12:29pm » |
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Here are Wanda's thoughts on last week's episode...
See-Saw, Margery Daw,
Jon shall have a new master.
Everyone wonders how long he will stay
Or who else has ever switched faster.
Well, okay. He doesn't always switch fast. He thought about this one for quite awhile, didn't move impulsively, and we were in suspense with him until the "It's-time-to-vote" proclamation at Tribal Council. But he has certainly moved back and forth on the see-saw! Jonathan on the fulcrum, tipping things this way, then that...
It's almost hard to remember that just two weeks ago, Raro was up 8-4 over Aitu. By the end of that show,voting Brad out, they were at 7-4. Last week they lost two, Rebecca and Jenny, and dropped suddenly to a 5-4 lead, still enough to control the action in the merge. Then just as suddenly this week, they lost two again, like a second double-elim for them, losing Nate to the vote and Jonathan to Yul's strategy-gamble, and Aitu went from being on the downside of a 5-4 count to being on the upside of a 5-3 count! Yippee!
As I suspected, Nate was not going to abandon Raro even though the Caucasians had him outnumbered 4-1 and he could easily have jumped to Aitu to take out the Old/Original Rarotonga-Caucasian tribe and give "the ethnics" a sure win. With Nate recalcitrant, Aitu's hope rested in Jonathan, and he did not let them down. (In Nate's defense, his best hope for the game would surely have been to be in the final two with Raro hanging together, while on Aitu he's likely have been 5th, as a late-comer to the tribe.)
Yul made a huge gamble, and he won. Jonathan could have betrayed Yul by telling the other Raros that Yul had the idol and that they would need to play around that by voting for Sundra or Becky and taking a chance that Yul would save the idol for himself. They would have to take out Yul in two steps, when Raro's numbers were down and they were ready, later, to lose one of their own on the initial ricochet of an idol-protected Yul-vote. Adam's skepticism, his reluctance to think things through with Jonathan when Jonathan hinted at Yul's secret, helped push Jonathan back to Yul. I felt fairly certain that if Jonathan did not betray Yul's secret to Adam-Candice-Parvati-Nate, then he was going to accept Yul's offer. Jonathan proved himself trustworthy to Aitu in this.
Yul offered Jonathan two carrots. First, he let Jonathan choose who Aitu-and-Jonathan would vote for. Almost certainly Ozzy would have attempted, otherwise, to protect Nate, and Adam or Candice would have been targeted. Nate was targeted because of Jonathan's sense of appreciation to Adam and Candice for their keeping him after C & J switched tribes, while Nate made no bones about not accepting the newcomers, especially Jonathan. Second, Yul offered Jonathan the number two spot in the game, suggesting that Jonathan is without doubt the best player to put in the games F-2 spot since his tribe-jumping has created enemies -- or at least lost him friends -- on both sides of the see-saw. Yul's right on target with his offer. No matter who might have the power to choose someone for the F-2 spot, Jonathan is probably the best choice right now to take along there.
Yul is thinking ahead much farther in this game than anyone else seems too. Adam and "his girls" show no evidence of thinking beyond whatever comforts and pleasures are available at the moment, and the rest seem mainly satisfied to continue to be there as each TC comes and goes. I have not said enough about Yul as one of the heroes of this game. He is intelligent, honest, straight-forward, strong, nobly competitive, gentlemanly, loyal, strategic, and a quiet leader. No one could ask for anything more; he appears as perfect as a human being can be. Although Ozzy has the edge in physical and survival skills such as swimming, fishing, and coconut gathering, Yul has some traits Ozzy perhaps does not have, in terms of leadership, maturity, and perspective. A Yul win would have to make good people happy everywhere. It would please me.
The Ants and the Grasshoppers: A recurring sub-theme in Survivor is that of the ants and the grasshoppers, or the worker bees and the drones. As we find it again and again (most classically in Survivor Africa), the older folks seem to see what needs to be done and prioritize getting the camp work accomplished first, while the younger ones work when it has to be done and might prioritize R&R, under the pretext of being rested up for challenges, if nothing else. This week was typical, as we saw Jonathan get up and go out to get food while the "twenties" back at camp discussed whether or not to make the effort to start fire, and ultimately didn't have it ready when he got back with the fish. This annoyed Jonathan, as it would annoy any of the ants or worker bees in the colony, and as is typical, it's usually folks in their twenties who not only laze about and but also resent any suggestion that they need to do a little more. Not that Jonathan was gentle in his suggestion. His take-charge management style would definitely have made him Raro's target if the tribes hadn't merged immediately after his morning agenda-setting pronouncements at camp. He should have known that kind of talk was suicide.
The timing of the merge was Jonathan's salvation. Suddenly he became the one person of the Raro five to have the power, and the laziness of the four "twenty-agers" unquestionably was a big factor as Jonathan stood on the see-saw's fulcrum and weighed things back and forth between Yul-Ozzy-Becky-Sundra on one side and Adam-Nate-Candice-Parvati on the other. With whom would he rather be friends? Whom did he respect more? Aitu. No question.
Ages of Aitu: Yul and Sundra - 31, Becky - 28, Oz - 25, but with a tremendous work ethic. Ages of Raro: Adam -27, Nate - 26, Candice and Parvati - 23. Averages: Aitu - 28.75, Raro - 24.75. It's amazing the difference that just four years in the world of work and responsibility can make in our lives. Of course, everyone is different, but anyone who can look back on his or her twenties or thirties will quickly acknowledge having had a lot to learn yet and a lot of growing up to do yet at age 25. Jonathan, by nature and by experience, is more Aitu than Raro.
Speaking of ages: Survivor Cook Islands had no cast members over age 45. Sekou, first out, was 45; Jonathan is 44, and Cao Boi was 42. Jenny and Billy were 36, Stephannie and Cristina 35, Rebecca 34, Sundra and Yul 31, and JP 30. That's three in their 40s, 8 in their 30s,(eleven players age 30 or older) and 9 in their 20s for the game, with an average age for the cast of 31.8. (In Palau, the only other show with twenty players, there were eleven in their twenties and nine who were thirty or over.)
All newscasts end with a forecast. So today's forecast is: It seems fairly likely right now that Candice, Adam, and Parvati are the next three to go. However, Ozzy is a huge threat, and I would look for him to be eliminated any time he doesn't win an immunity challenge. The rest know that otherwise their chances of winning a reward challenge, a car, or an immunity challenge range from slim to none. Other than the Oz-elimination factor, the Aitu 4 will stick together. (It will be interesting to see Yul, Becky, and Sundra ponder their loyalty to Oz when/if an opening occurs to vote him out.) We should see Candice, Adam, and Parvati looking really worried as episode 12 begins. They have little hope.
Reminiscent of Rob and Amber's union into "Romber," I threw out "Candam" last week to name the Candice-Adam team. My sister wrote back and said, "Just Can -'em." And that, folks, is what is likely to happen.
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