April 19, 2007: Mission Impossible
Do we even need to discuss the challenges? The strategizing between the game play was where the action was tonight. OK, a few words because I do love the What We Think of Each Other Axe Wield. Basically, Stacy should have her own
CW sitcom because
Everybody Hates Her if being voted the person no one wants to see again after the show is any indication. It was Cassandra, dear, "uh-huh"-ing Cassandra, who won her first challenge by answering every question correctly. Girlfriend's been taking notes and may even be making a move for the final four, but Boo and Stacy are definitely on the block.
Next was the immunity challenge, which left me wondering about the minds behind this torturous device of miniscule footholds. Thankfully, Yau-Man came through to win the first individual immunity seemingly unscathed. Sadly, that sinister immunity necklace, made of what I'm going to say are wild boars' husks, was not all that flattering around his neck, though it did make for a fearsome stance at tribal council.
Before tribal, Mookie spent some time on Exile Island at Cassandra's bidding. He returned to the group with an intense dislike for her and a renewed devotion to his alliance. Even so, Mookie is a player who actually sees an 'I' in 'team' so Alex was right to worry when Mookie showed no interest in Alex's rotating-custody plan for the idol. I'm actually surprised that Mookie passed the turtle to Alex before tribal, but like a good soldier, he was working the plan.
When I say "the plan" I mean it. Both gangs had orchestrated the same bait-and-switch tactic to bring each other down. The Four Horsemen knew Earl's group was targeting Alex (thanks to Dreamz) so they gave him the idol, and planned to vote out Earl but then shifted their sights to Cassandra. Earl's group knew that Alex had the idol (thanks to Dreamz) and so targeted Mookie. Dreamz, of all people, was playing a rough-hewn Benedict Arnold, whose double-cross worked quite smoothly except for the part where he was left to cast the lone vote for his best bud Mookie. Stacy, in a move that probably bought her the most goodwill all season, suggested a surprise attack on Edgardo. Votes were cast. Alex's idol was played. Edgardo was sacrificed to the manipulations of the game.
Yes, the season has been on a slow burn, but its fire is blazing hot now. In a first for
Survivor, the idol has been played, and will be re-hidden. Though the horsemen have taken a huge hit they shouldn't be counted out just yet, for who knows if Stacy and Boo can be trusted? Will they saddle up and join Alex and Mookie? And is Dreamz a better game player than anyone suspected? Does he bear watching? That remains to be seen. All I know is that tonight's show is how
Survivor was meant to be played and so in tribute to a great episode, I leave you with some of the show's best moments:
- Dreamz telling Alex that Mookie was like Gollum and that the idol was
his precious (my personal favorite).
- Dreamz revealing that Mookie had the idol, and Earl's faux surprise at the existence of such a thing.
- Edgardo sizing up Stacy for a baffled Alex: "It means she's not in, Dude."
- Stacy suggesting the group target Edgardo instead of Mookie. Nice strategy, and maybe the one move that changed her position in the game.
- Earl busting up Dreamz and Alex's tête-à-tête and then calling Dreamz out on playing both sides.
- Dreamz actually working a
Cirie-level double-cross.
- The turtle handoff between Mookie and Alex - such a Bristow-Vaughn move(R.I.P.
Alias).
