Tonight's episode is titled "No Man Left Behind."

More later.

--
Brian

On Wednesday, October 11, 2023 at 6:06:08 PM UTC-6, Brian Smith wrote:
> Tonight's episode is titled "No Man Left Behind."
>
> More later.
>
> --
> Brian

I thought tonight's episode was great. They made good use of the extra time to tell a few compelling stories and appear to be setting us up for some drama down the road. I really liked how tonight's episode showed the importance of building a relationship based on trust early on over trying to screw someone over.

The episode started with Queen Emily's tribe coming back from the last TC. Like Queen Emily, I was shocked that Sab gave her back her SITD. I thought for sure she would keep it. It seemed like Queen Emily had gained some trust from Sab.

We didn't see much of Bruce's tribe but they did show us Jake fall into the fire. IIRC, he said to Kendra he might have had a seizure. This was no doubt shown for a reason. Are they foreshadowing a medevac? On a sidenote, I can't stand Kendra.

We got a rare standalone RC tonight. Was it just me or did the part where they had to throw the ball up on to the ramp and then run through the rope maze to catch the ball on other side seem easier than in the past? Seemed like everyone either succeeded on their first or second try. I was a bit worried for Queen Emily when she failed the first time but she nailed it on her second run. It was nice to see her tribe win the challenge. I thought it was very smart of them to let Kaleb go on the camp raid. He's clearly their best social player. The twist where Kaleb got to give someone on the tribe he raided an advantage to regain a lost vote was well-thought out. I love how they remembered to factor in that a person might have more than one lost vote. Kaleb did a great job getting info from the other tribe. Drew coughed up that he has a power quite easily. The question going forward is will Drew and his gang work with Kaleb when they merge?

I'm finding the relationship dynamic between Drew, Austin Dee, and Julie fascinating. The guys are so sloppy yet the girls keep trusting them. After finding the rope and hammer I was surprised the girls gave Austin the hammer to break the rocks. Kudos to production for how they made it so difficult to find that HII. I also love how the power gets extended based on whether or not the holder wants to give up votes. This will force people to make some big strategic decisions.

I found the IC hard to watch. It seemed like Queen Emily's tribemates weren't listening to her when she was guiding them to solve the huge cube puzzle.. You could tell she was heartbroken when they were ignoring her. Horrible performance given how easy the other tribes made it seem.

I thought Sab was way too cutthroat when they got back to camp, especially for someone without a guaranteed vote. I'd love to know if a producer told her to put her idol into the fire and pointed her toward those convenient "tong" sticks. I thought that part was a little too scripted but I loved when she found out her HII came with conditions. We'll have to wait until next week for confirmation, but I'm glad Kaleb and Queen Emily decided to stick with each other. They seem to be on the verge of building a very strong relationship built on trust. Sab was untrustworthy and I think she might have screwed Sean over. I'm glad she's gone. She wasn't good for the Queen's game.

Next week we get a tribe shuffle.

One other moment worth noting is how excited Queen Emily got when they won the RC. It was out of character for her. IIRC, she even referenced the moment.

--
Brian

On Wednesday, October 11, 2023 at 9:49:51 PM UTC-7, Brian Smith wrote:
> I thought it was very smart of them to let Kaleb go on the camp raid. He's clearly their best social player.

Well, as far as know, he was the only player on Yellow Tribe who volunteered to go which made the others' decision pretty straightforward. Also,
having Caleb out of the camp for the afternoon allowed Truck Driver, Gay Principal, and Emily to talk freely about how dangerous a social player
he is, and how much they would like to get him out of the game. IMO, Caleb made a mistake by volunteering.

>The twist where Kaleb got to give someone on the tribe he raided an advantage to regain a lost vote was well-thought out.

It was a new game element which is often interesting. However, boneheaded Stick Insect's decision to share the advantage with
the other grad student and the two women screwed over both himself and Caleb. The very first line on the parchment read "Someone
wants to form an alliance with you". Uh...I wonder who that "someone" might be?

>The question going forward is will Drew and his gang work with Kaleb when they merge?

With a tribal shuffle coming up, Caleb is likely going to be a target on whatever new tribe he ends up on, so it is not guaranteed that he even makes
the merge.

> I'm finding the relationship dynamic between Drew, Austin Dee, and Julie fascinating. The guys are so sloppy yet the girls keep trusting them.

I'm not sure that Cuban Entrepreneur and Older Woman trust Stick Insect and the other student, but as long as the two guys keep sharing
everything they find with the women, there is no reason to "rock the boat".
I'm finding Red Tribe's edit to be quite amusing as it sometimes looks like there are only four people on the tribe. Singer/Songwriter and
Nicholas were rarely seen in E03. In Nicholas' case, I consider that to be a good thing.

>Kudos to production for how they made it so difficult to find that HII.

Yes, both "Beware" advantages have been difficult to find (as they should be). Production deserves credit for coming up with new
ways to make the game more challenging for the players, and entertaining for the viewers.
> I thought Sab was way too cutthroat when they got back to camp, especially for someone without a guaranteed vote.

Yes, IMO she overplayed her hand big time, and then got greedy at TC. After going to all the trouble of freeing her immunity object from the wax, she should
have used it to ensure that the person she was targeting did not "wriggle off the hook". Her best move, IMO, was to play immunity which would have nullified
Emily and Caleb's votes, sending Caleb home 2-0.

>I'd love to know if a producer told her to put her idol into the fire and pointed her toward those convenient "tong" sticks. I thought that part was a little too scripted

Good point! I wonder if Truck Driver approached one of the on-site producers and asked if she would even be allowed to put the immunity object in the TC fire.
If such a conversation took place, the producer, knowing what a great moment such a move would be, might have offered some "helpful ideas" to make it even better.