Feast or Famine?
Episode recap: Just Don't Eat the Apple
Hi
Survivor fans! Rhoda here with a special Thank you to Nina for filling in while I was on the road to North Carolina last week. And while I'm feeling grateful let me give a shout out to this On Demand world that we now live in. Yes, there was the VCR and then the DVR but this whole watching television whenever and with my laptop wherever thing is truly the best advance to come along since sliced bread.
At my leisure I caught the triumph of Courtney and the demise of Jean-Robert without missing a beat. Well, there was that hiccup with the buffering but we won't talk about that. With a little refreshing I was able to catch up without having to tinker with a videotape or worry that I would return home to the dreaded blinking clock on the VCR courtesy of a random power outage.
Last week the tribe voted out Jean-Robert and then went on to sleep easy with him gone. But with that huge target no longer around each of these players ought to watch their backs or at least recognize that if they aren't, Todd is.
Why is no one worried about Todd? I've said it before: He's shifty. Yet, he's the leader of the pack and to my surprise, I find that I've fallen for him. He amuses me to no end mostly due to faces he makes and his habit of surveying his crew of misfits like he's Lord Meerkat. Whether it's Peih-Gee, expertly annoying James or Courtney and Frosti canoodling as if they were chimps in a grooming circle you can always rely on Todd's face to quietly express his horror, disgust and/or frustration with those around him. I am completely delighted by the man and amazed that no one notices or is disturbed by the fact that he is constantly observing and plotting or at the very least keeping some wonderfully sarcastic comment to himself. Were I playing this game, this guy would be at the top of my list of targets. Now that he's won me over I worry that with every adjustment he makes to his strategy Todd will overthink himself right onto the jury.
I worry just as much for James who is not quite the shrinking violent we met in the early days of this journey. Remember how Leslie took him under her wing and we viewers all went, "Awww!" Now it seems he's either telling Peih-Gee to "shut up" or that she's "stupid". Looks like he's finally got that social game down.
Sadly, James has not excelled at following the bouncing ball. This week's very cool reward challenge required two teams to navigate a mild obstacle course while bouncing a ball against several drums. It was like a Chinese version of paddleball, except the paddle was a bongo and there were no strings attached. The team of James, Denise, Peih-Gee and Todd was not adept at this game and lost 3-0 to their opponents who were rewarded with a river cruise and a feast. At camp sore loser Peih-Gee had "the nerve" as James said, to accuse James of not trying to win the challenge. Her accusations caused James to get indignant (which I loved) and handed out the verbal smack-down. Of course while these two argued Todd watched and plotted.
Th immunity challenge offered everyone a meal if they were willing to forfeit a chance at immunity. James, Denise, Todd and Courtney were confident enough to risk going home and devoured burgers and fries while Peih-Gee, Frosti, Amanda and Erik battled it out in a memory game involving the Chinese zodiac. It came down to Frosti and Peih-Gee. While James managed to eat seven cheeseburgers during the challenge, Frosti couldn't recall the right sequence of tiles and lost immunity to Peih-Gee.
This was a difficult loss because it spared the outcast Peih-Gee from Jury duty and sent Frosti packing. What does this mean? It is clear you can't trust the Fei Long folk anymore. They had allied with Frosti yet sent him home over Erik the outsider from Zhan Hu. The way things are going Peih-Gee has a real chance of making it past the next vote but in yet another twist there is "More business". Tune in next week to find out just what
Jeff has up his sleeve.
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