South Pacific: Episode 3

Not enough time to post a deep analysis, sorry! But here are the rankings, and a quick summary of my thoughts: 


- Brandon = YIKESSSS!
- Please blindside Ozzy soon, that'd be awesome
- Papa Bear's running form is one of the worst I've ever seen

The Standings

Team Top 3: Moon - 32 pts
1. Ozzy (17 pts)
2. Sophie (8 pts)
3. Jim (7 pts)

Team Baseball, Belts & Bibles: Doug/Bri - 23 pts
1. Albert (8 pts)
2. Rick (8 pts)
3. Dawn (7 pts)

Team ICRWYTNISTB: Dachui - 23 pts
1. Keith (7 pts)
2. Brandon (8 pts)
3. Stacey (8 pts)

Team Dungeons & Dragons: Me - 22 pts

1. John (7 pts)
2. Elyse (7 pts)
3. Coach (8 pts)

Team Hide Yer Kids, Hide Yer Wife: Bag - 20 pts 

1. Mikayla (8 pts)
2. Christine (6 pts)
3. Edna (6 pt) 

 

Team Country Bears: Courtney - 16 pts
1. Mark (7 pts)
2. Whitney (7 pts)
[3. Semhar (2 pts)]

Power Rankings

 

1. Top 3 – Sophie is growing on me, and I hope that she manuevers Brandon out of the game. It'd be a good move for her. In the war of the Savaii Alpha Male, the score remains Jim: 1, Ozzy: 1.

2. Dungeons & Dragons – Cochran needs to keep dodging these bullets! Man, I could use a Savaii victory next week pretty desperately. Happily my other 2 ponies seem to be out of harm's way. And Coach is still looking solidado.

3. Baseball, Belts & Bibles – Again, this team seems to lack a stand-out player. Since nothing's really happened with them I didn't feel like they should move down in the power rankings, but I think that Bag's Mikayla & Dachui's Keith both have better chances of a deep run than Albert, Rick, or Dawn.

4. Hide Yer Kids, Hide Yer Wife – Bag's team isn't out of the woods yet, but I think that Mikayla's in a better position now than she was before. Brandon is a lunatic, and the more he reveals it the more it helps Mikayla's cause. Plus, with the change in rules, having a player on RI isn't as bad as it was before, so Christine can still be a moderate point producer.

5. ICRWYTNISTB – Brandon and Stacey are still in bad spots, but Keith made some good moves last nights, so I'd say that Dachui's team is looking up! Fingers crossed that he'll make a move against Ozzy sooner rather than later - it seems like the longer they wait the harder it becomes for the tribe to pull the trigger.

 

6. Country Bears – With Semhar gone & Papa Bear heading towards his "slow death" Courtney's team's in some serious trouble. I'm going to miss Papa Bear! I hope he wins at least a few RI challenges so we can keep watching him.

South Pacific: Episode 2

Last night's episode definitely brought the entertainment factor into the show. My favorite moment was probably the way that the Upolu women destroyed that maypole! They actually looked like they'd been practicing for that exact challenge! I have a particular fondness for maypoles as we celebrated May Day when I was a kid growing up in Vermont. So I remember winding & unwinding those giant ribbons myself, and how much fun it was.


What I'm still not completely grasping, though, is how the Upolu men could have blown such a huge lead on that puzzle. Do they lack puzzle-solving skills? We're they lackadaisical, like Christine believed? I think it has to be the latter, because that puzzle really wasn't very difficult. Hopefully they'll learn from that and FAST, because you can't win Survivor if you're going to get lazy. I'm really happy that they blew it though, otherwise Cochran was probably going home.


Obviously the biggest drama of the night was Brandon's creepy obsession with Mikayla. Coach's summary of "Brandon has demons" is probably the most succinct way to explain Brandon's issues... but I'm still not sure what's really going on. He complains that she walks around in her underwear to other people as they all stand around in their underwear. He accuses her of being slutty, when I haven't seen her make a single play in that direction. Mikayla clearly came into this game thinking that her physicality would be her greatest strength, not her flirtatious nature. I don't want to get into it too much more because I could go on for a long time. Plus, I already talked with Ben & Moon about it for about 30 minutes last night, and now I'm sick of thinking about it. However, I'd love to hear other people's opinions! Ultimately it probably doesn't bear thinking about for too long because Brandon will probably be out within the next 3 episodes anyways.




The Standings

Team Top 3: Moon - 27 pts
1. Ozzy (17 pts)
2. Sophie (3 pts)
3. Jim (7 pts)

Team Dungeons & Dragons: Me - 17 pts

1. John (7 pts)
2. Elyse (7 pts)
3. Coach (3 pts)


Team Country Bears: Courtney - 16 pts
1. Mark (7 pts)
2. Whitney (7 pts)
3. Semhar (2 pts)

Team ICRWYTNISTB: Dachui - 13 pts
1. Keith (7 pts)
2. Brandon (3 pts)
3. Stacey (3 pts)

Team Baseball, Belts & Bibles: Doug/Bri - 13 pts
1. Albert (3 pts)
2. Rick (3 pts)
3. Dawn (7 pts)

Team Hide Yer Kids, Hide Yer Wife: Bag - 7 pts

1. Mikayla (3 pts)
2. Christine (3 pts)
3. Edna (1 pt)

Power Rankings

1. Top 3 – Moon is getting his wish and is moving to the top of the power rankings board. Ozzy did himself & Moon a favor by finding that idol in almost no time. As Moon said, if Ozzy makes it to the merge he'll have a good chance to win a decent number of challenges, and he has a safety blanket. Still, he does have a huge target on his back, and if word gets out that he does have an immunity idol, they'll start gunning for him. My guess is that Sophie will actually outlast both Ozzy & Jim. In the war of the Savaii Alpha Male, the score's now Jim: 1, Ozzy: 1.

2. Dungeons & Dragons – I can summarize my reasons for placing myself 2nd in the power rankings with two words: Dragon Slayer. Coach is playing a crafty game, and I think he's doing a great job of controlling his team. I expect him to drop Brandon from his alliance within a couple episodes, and then bring in either Edna or Mikayla for the New Final Five. He's not being super dominating like Boston Rob was, but he's definitely still getting his way. I think Coach has a real chance to get far in this game if he can keep it up!

3. Baseball, Belts & Bibles – Doug & Bri's team is decent, but none of them seem to be stand-out players. Even if they all make it to a merge, I don't see anything of them racking up a lot of points. It's only 2 episodes in, so this could definitely change, but that's the vibe I'm getting right now. I've gotta say, though, that I was really impressed with Albert's smooth-tongued diplomacy. That guy can probably talk his way out of trouble if it starts coming his way.

4. Hide Yer Kids, Hide Yer Wife – Bag's team is aptly named, although that wasn't intentional. His team o' ladies really should hide - from Brandon! I'm really happy that no one on the Upolu tribe wanted to go along with Brandon's "get rid of the Jezebel" plan. I like Mikayla, plus Bag would've been essentially knocked out of the game without her.

5. Country Bears – Papa Bear and Whitney got almost no air time this week, so I can't really change Courtney Bar's power ranking. But we'll be cheering for Semhar in next week's "Battle of the Useless" on Redemption Island!

6. ICRWYTNISTB– Dachui's team is getting worse and worse and creepier and creepier! Brandon now has tattoo issues as well as women issues. Stacey is definitely the most disposable on her tribe. Keith's in a good spot, but 1 out of 3 is not enough strength to win the Survivor pool.

Survivor South Pacific: Draft & Episode 1

It’s time for another season of Survivor, and therefore another Survivor pool! I mean really, what’s Survivor without the pool? It’d be like jelly without peanut butter, Oreos without milk, Jersey Shore without Sammie & Ron screaming at each other. It just wouldn’t be the same.

We had a successful draft last night, and I took a bunch of notes… which I then left at the restaurant. So I won’t go into as much detail in this post as I’d hoped, but we’ll still get the essentials in there.

Overall, I was impressed with the first episode. This seems like a canny bunch that won’t get completely owned the way Boston Rob owned everyone last season. I think it should be entertaining, even without Phillip coming back! To me, Coach seems like he’s in a more secure position right now than Ozzy. Ozzy actually pissed me off in the first episode with his attempts to be “easy going.” These people are looking to you to organize them not be the tribe’s social committee! Coach understands better what his role needs to be to keep in him the game. He’s playing the “wise veteran, but not leader” role that works well with his personality.

The Rules

The rule changes were fairly minimal this season. We increase the Redemption Island win from 1 to 3 points. Our only other change is that we’re no longer awarding standard amounts to 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd place finishers. Beginning this season, the players who make the Final Tribal Council will earn a baseline of 25 points, and then they’ll get 5 points for each vote they earn.

Placement Points
Making Final Tribal Council: 25 + 5 points per vote received

Jury: 10

Challenge Points
Win team reward challenge: 2
Win team immunity challenge: 3
Win individual reward challenge: 4
Win individual immunity challenge: 6
Invited to share reward challenge: 1
Sit out a challenge: -2

Hidden Immunity Idol Points
Find the hidden immunity idol: 10
Play hidden immunity idol (success v. fail): 10/-5
If you play hidden immunity idol unsuccessfully during the last tribal council you can play it: 0
If you don't play your immunity idol on the last day you can play it (whether necessary or not): -5
Plays a fake immunity idol: -10
Creator of fake immunity idol, if played: 5

Redemption Island Points
Win battle on Redemption Island: 3
Get back on the tribe from Redemption Island: 3
Miscellaneous Points
Buy bad item at auction/don't buy an item at auction: -2
Buy good item at auction: 2
Fan Favorite: 5
Quitters: -10


The Picks

Again, I lost my notes, so if I put the wrong players on your team, please let me know! Definitely a lot of differing opinions on who’s going to be valuable this year, but I think we all agree that Bag won the “worst value” award by taking Christine in the 2^nd round. I’m giving myself the “best value” award for getting Coach as the 2^nd pick in the 3^rd round.

Team Hide Your Kids, Hide Your Wife: Bag - 9 pts
1. Mikayla (3 pts)
2. Christine (3 pts)
3. Edna (3 pts)

Team I-Can’t-Remember-What-Your-Team-Name-Is-Supposed-To-Be: Dachui - 8 pts
1. Keith (2 pts)
2. Brandon (3 pts)
3. Stacey (3 pts)

Team Baseball, Belts & Bibles: Doug/Bri - 8 pts
1. Albert (3 pts)
2. Rick (3 pts)
3. Dawn (2 pts)

Team Top 3: Moon - 7 pts
1. Ozzy (2 pts)
2. Sophie (3 pts)
3. Jim (2 pts)

Team Dungeons & Dragons: Me - 7 pts
1. John (2 pts)
2. Elyse (2 pts)
3. Coach (3 pts)

Team Country Bears: Courtney - 6 pts
1. Mark (2 pts)
2. Whitney (2 pts)
3. Semhar (2 pts)

Power Rankings

1. Baseball, Belts & Bibles – Doug & Bri jump into an early lead on the power rankings board simply because they have 2 out of the 5 players who made an alliance in Upolu on the first day. This has put them in a secure position… at least for now. Also, bonus points for Dawn not getting booted in the first episode even though she had an emotional breakdown.

2. Top 3 – Moon got is top 3 choices, mostly because he had the first pick & took Ozzy, and no one else wanted to touch Jim or Sophie because their videos on CBS made them both look like giant douches. Giant douches they may be, but so far they’re hiding it pretty well. Sophie’s in a good alliance, and Jim did some good work getting Semhar out instead of John like Ozzy wanted. In the war of the Savaii Alpha Male, the score is Jim: 1, Ozzy: 0.

3. Hide Your Kids, Hide Your Wife – Bag may have picked horrible Christine way too early, but he does have Mikayla – my early favorite to win it all. Edna is a bit of a dark horse too. I think she could go far, but for some reason I see her getting voted out in one of those “we can’t take out the guy we actually want to vote out, so we’re going to pick on this rando player instead in his/her alliance” moments. Edna: my early pick for collateral damage.

4. Dungeons & Dragons – I think I could do well this season, but I need to dodge a few bullets in the first 4-5 episodes. My team is set up to do really well in a merge, but until then they could be easy targets. Keep dodging those bullets, Johnny boy!

5. Country Bears – I like Courtney’s team, and Mark is one of my favorite players on the show so far. Semhar wasn’t a choice; she was dumped on Courtney as the final dreg, so it’s not her fault that she’s on her team. Still, being down to just 2 players this early can be crippling, which dropped her in the rankings. And no, Semhar doesn’t have a chance of getting back in the game. RI is going to destroy her.

6. I-Can’t-Remember-What-Your-Team-Name-Is-Supposed-To-Be – Dachui gets last place because 1) they have Brandon who is so paranoid about his tattoos that he’s already made it super apparent to everyone that he’s hiding a big secret, and 2) Stacey can’t see a hidden immunity idol clue that was literally inches away from her hand. Also, negative points assessed for Brandon’s creepy stalker behavior & dislike of Mikayla after spending 1 day with her. This team has problems. Hopefully they’ll resolve them quickly!

Bronco's QB

I made a bet with Bag that Tim Tebow would be "successful" with the Broncos within 3 years of being drafted. This is the start of year 2. Things weren't looking so hot for me, but last night's game gave me hope, as I wasn't alone in chanting "Tebow! Tebow! TEBOW! TEBOW!"

GL me :)