Survivor: Philippines - Episode 4
Create a Little Chaos
By Ben Willoughby
October 11, 2012
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Later, we see Malcolm try to light a fire with Denise and Russell looking on glumly. Still no one is talking. Sometimes, there are just no words. Eventually, they suggest that Malcolm stop lighting the fire and try again later.
In interview, Malcolm says that things are piling on for Matsing, but that one win is all it would take to “turn the mood around camp, just one win to know that it’s possible we’re not just destined for annihilation.” That’s the positive mental attitude we need to ensure success!
Russell interviews that he has a plan – “to mount the greatest comeback that’s ever been seen. There is no quit in either one of them. I’m damn sure there’s no quit in me!” Because he nearly died! I’m sorry Russell, that’s not a plan. That’s just a dream. A plan would be setting out how you are going to mount the greatest comeback ever. I think Russell’s plan for Survivor is “My plan is Probst is going to name me Sole Survivor and I’ll win a million dollars!”
Over at Tandang, they are all sitting in the rain with nothing to do. Pete interviews that he plans on creating a lot of chaos, because any chaos will be beneficial to him. And he does the “this guy” thumbs! Pete’s kind of a doofus.
Right on cue, Abi discovers and points out to everyone there is something under RC’s bag. The hidden immunity idol clue! Abi interviews that RC must have gotten the clue from where she and RC buried it, and put it in her bag. RC has to read the clue out to the whole tribe, complete with “under your nose. What does that mean?” while Abi stands around looking annoyed.
Abi goes on to say that she doesn’t feel bad about finding the idol first, because finding the clue like that shows that she couldn’t trust RC. Cue shots of RC looking worried, and an interview of her saying she is wary of her place in the tribe.
If RC stopped to think for a minute, she would realize that Abi has sold her out and already has the idol. If Abi didn’t have the idol, she would have kept her mouth shut and confronted RC later. Instead, she points out the clue to everyone, knowing that it has no value.
In interview, Pete says that he planted the clue in RC’s bag and this couldn’t have worked out better for him. At camp, Pete and Abi are talking – with the editing suggesting that RC and everyone else is right there – and Abi is saying “I told her, if you mess with me you’re dead.” Pete says keeping people on their toes is a big part of his strategy because he doesn’t want anyone to play their game out there. I think Pete’s so sharp, he’ll cut himself.
The rain has cleared over at Kalabaw and Jonathan, Jeff Kent and Carter go out clamming. In interview, Jeff Kent says that he is out there with a bunch of kids who aren’t married and don’t know how to carry on a professional conversation. Are the two related? Meanwhile, Jonathan is married and therefore the only one who can carry on a professional conversation. Jeff Kent decides to adapt. Coot power!
Jonathan gets a moment with Jeff Kent, which was the whole point of clamming, and Jeff Kent goes on about how they each bring value – Jonathan with his experience and the hidden immunity idol and Jeff Kent with his relationships and the people he controls.
Jonathan is totally on board, and interviews that Jeff Kent likes him and they can be loyal to each other deep into the game, and in another interview taken just after the clamming says that he has “a real ally.”
Back at the canoe, Jeff Kent agrees with a “let’s ride together and see where we go.” And then he gives Jonathan all five fingers. He’s definitely less committed to the alliance than Jonathan is, but then Jonathan has nowhere else to go right now.
Jonathan then deigns to talk with Carter, to whom he’s probably spoken only five words since coming to the island. Jonathan feeds him some bull about a young man being true to his word playing a straight-up game, which is code for “you don’t come after me until after I’ve gotten rid of you”.
Carter tells Jonathan that being aligned with Dawson and Katie wouldn’t get him far in the game, and interviews that he’s allied with Jonathan. At least until the top five, when he can target him. So now, “the girls... are on the chopping block.” Poor Dana.
Of course, Dana, Dawson and Katie are all off together, talking about how the guys are off talking about them. Dana says “it was a democracy at the beginning, but now it’s a democracy between them three.” So, like the way democracy used to be. Eighteenth century democracy!
Dana suggests that the three of them should stick together, and come the merge gather in more ladies. Neither Dawson or Katie look like they want to play their hand this way, and while they are sitting in a row without any eye contact, no one is wanting to make eye contact with anyone else. “It’s about to get crazy,” says Katie. Poor Dana.
Day 9 on Matsing, and Russell is bemoaning the fact that he comes back on Survivor, and 50% of the tribe turned out to be almost useless, and that he will not make the merge because of “a smoker, a lunatic and a beauty queen.” Oh, Russell. Matsing’s closer to 66% useless.
Malcolm interviews he “sized Russell up pretty good right off the bat and he’s met my low expectations the entire way through.” He goes on that Russell lacks self-awareness, and “it’s apparent in challenges, it’s apparent in the way he talks to us around camp, it’s apparent in the way he loses his cool in Tribal for no reason.” Well, no reason except when he goes to Tribal Council he knows that it’s him or someone else, and he wants it to be the someone else.
Malcolm concludes that Russell is still here only because the tribe is doing badly and needs muscle mass. Ouch.
We are back with Russell, who is interviewing that everyone is wondering whether it will be them next, and that neither Malcolm and Denise has come to him yet to talk about what will happen when the bottom falls out, and that makes him suspicious. I know Russell talks up his positive attitude, but he should listen to all the negative things he says once in a while.
Russell finally remembers that he has a clue to the idol and goes pottering around camp for it. He’s sarcastic about the clue – “I love this word… ‘somewhere’ near your beach” and even he does finger quotes. As if the clue is not telling him exactly where the idol is. It’s right under his nose!
Russell feel like he has walked past the idol 100 million times, so the cruel but funny Survivor editors make sure to include several shots of him looking for the idol with Matsing’s monkey idol right in the foreground.
Russell has even anticipated the Survivor editors, saying “then everybody’s gonna see me looking for it, and there’ll be this flash on the screen, and they’ll say ‘this dummy is walking right past it,’ and it’s gonna suck.” So of course the Survivor editors are sure to include a digital flash around the idol when he’s looking in totally the wrong place, like a dummy. He should be looking at where the camera crew is positioning itself.
Denise spots Russell rummaging at the rear of the shelter and Russell makes up some long excuse about some banana leaf that he had to check out or something. For some reason, this makes Denise think Russell has the idol instead of flailing around blindly for it. She fills in Malcolm and they go through all his stuff.
There’s a clip of a spider with a caterpillar caught in its web when we cross to Tandang, so you know what that means. Of course, we get one of those every time we cross to Tandang now. Michael is cooking something and thinks more water should be added. Abi wants to have more salt because she’s a “salty person”. Asked to taste test, RC makes the mistake of taking Michael’s side.
RC tries to clear the air with Abi about the immunity clue thing and protests that she did not do anything, but Abi goes on and on about how she is over it and doesn’t want to talk about it and that RC betrayed her and broke her trust and she doesn’t want to talk with her any more. “I didn’t do anything,” complains RC.
“Abi is irrational,” explains RC “She’s not a rational player.” meaning that Abi is the type of player who goes with her emotions instead of logic. No, Abi is bad-tempered, unreasonable and ridiculous but she is acting quite rationally. RC's mistake is that she is approaching Abi as an ally when really, Abi sees her as a threat and isn't interested in talking. Abi just wants RC gone. It's that simple. RC interviews that she has no idea what’s going on, but she is now worried about her place in the tribe.
RC asks Pete what Abi is talking about and Pete claims to know nothing about it, and says “it’s between you guys.” RC correctly infers that Pete is lying to her and tells him so, but he's about as interested in talking with her as Abi was.
RC is left to complain to Lisa - “if I knew what I did wrong...” - because Lisa will listen patiently to anyone. And then Abi complains to Lisa about how “RC is too much, seriously are you insulting my intelligence right now?” In interview, Lisa comments on Abi’s “Brazilian spice” and how she (Lisa) “is pouring oxygen on the fire and... letting them flame out.” Way to go, Lisa!
Going back to Abi, she seems to honestly believe that it is RC who has betrayed her trust, and not the other way around when she took the idol for herself. All those crappy things she did – totally justified! Whatever, I hope Abi makes the jury because she is going to have an awesome crazypants Tribal Council question along the lines of “Why did each of you betray me?”
Jellyfish! Lake! Volcano! Probst sighting!
Kalabaw and Tandang both get their first look at Matsing, with Angie voted out. The chicken idols are back up for grabs, and Probst explains the challenge.
One at a time, tribe members must carry two pots of rice slung over a pole through obstacles and place them on top of columns. Once all six pots are in place, a team member will use a wrecking ball to smash the pots and spill the rice. Probst, there are people starving in the Philippines! Though all 15 of them are probably well sick of rice by now.
First prize is steak, vegetables, spices and utensils, and second prize is chillis, garlic, salt, pepper and a pot. Probst mentions that either reward can be traded for a tarp.
So, half of Kalabaw and Tandang have to sit out of the challenge. Who’s it going to be? All six of their ladies are sitting this one out, though it’s probably right choice here.
Malcolm, Carter and Michael are the first out, with Malcolm taking a big lead at the beginning, while Carter breaks a pot almost immediately and then falls at one of the obstacles. Probst points out that he is “struggling!” Malcolm gets done first, with Michael not too far behind, and they go back through the obstacles to tag in Russell and Artis. “Artis, really taking his time,” mocks Probst, as Russell continues Matsing’s lead and Jonathan is able to make up some time. Wait, what? Matsing is ahead?
Russell gets back first and taps in Denise, while Jonathan is unable to catch Artis, and Pete and Jeff Kent go out with their rice. Pete overtakes Denise, gets his pots up on the columns and then heads back so the Tandang men can all come back through the course. Denise gets her pots back and Kalabaw – Jeff Kent, no less – gets a “Hustle up, Kalabaw” from Probst.
Artis is wrecking for Tandang, and he knocks out one pot immediately, and then knocks out two on the next swing. Malcolm also gets in a swing that knocks out two pots and Kalabaw is looking like they are in trouble. But then professional baseballer Jeff Kent is wrecking for Kalabaw, and he gets two on his first swing and it looks like two left for Matsing, four for Kalabaw as Artis smashes Tandang’s last pot. Tandang wins immunity and first place reward!
Kalabaw smashes two more pots and then another, while Malcolm smashes the second-last pot for Matsing and we are tied with one pot left. Matsing misses! Kalabaw misses! Matsing misses again! Kalabaw gets a nick that jostles the pot in its stand... and then the pot is smashed when the wrecking ball swings back. Kalabaw wins immunity! And Matsing loses for the fourth straight time.
Matsing isn’t the only thing losing it for the fourth straight time. Russell grabs Matsing’s remaining pot and smashes it to the ground. The other tribes take a break from celebrating to look at him. “Same old crap,” he yells. “Lord, I do not know what happened. You gave me another opportunity. I don’t get what’s happening, Father. I just can’t take this.” I think at this stage, God has broken the clue stick over Russell’s head and stormed off.
Probst asks Russell who he is talking to. “I’m talking to God, Lor- I mean Jeff.” says Russell. Hey Russell, don’t give Probst any ideas.
Russell explains his worldview, which is that he is “a guy who was formed by God’s hands, a perfect creature” and that “everything he is supposed to do is supposed to be excellent.” Doesn’t Russell have abundant evidence that this is not the case?
Anyway, Tandang collects their reward, and Kalabaw tradea their meager prize for a tarp. “Really?” Probst mocks, as though they have been staying in the same luxury resort he’s been in. Probst must have missed the endless rain because of a limbo contest or something. And Matsing is off to tribal council again. Cue the dejected slow-motion walk.
Matsing’s walk of shame continues after the commercial break, and Malcolm interviews that he did not cry when his dog died, but he was ready to cry after losing the challenge. While they are all down at the beach washing off the caked mud and stench of defeat, Malcolm gets a word in with Russell. “Vote Denise out, that’s it. Gotta keep the two athletes.”
Back in interview, Malcolm again talks about his frustration at it being Day 9 and he’s having to make decisions that he wasn’t planning to make until Day 20 or so. I love his low expectations that he wouldn’t have to consider stabbing his closest ally in the back until at least halfway through the game.
At camp, Malcolm reassures Denise that Russell is going home and that Russell thinks that it is her, but it’s really not. They discuss Russell maybe having the idol and agree to keep him comfortable.
Now it’s time for Russell to have a little therapy session with Denise. This sucks, this isn’t right, I can’t expect less than the best, you know how this goes. Russell tells Denise a story about how when he was eight, he was jumped by two kids and beaten up, and for a long time he would be scared at school because those two kids would tease him.
Anyway, one day Russell punched one of them in the face and the other kid started crying immediately, and Russell realized that he wasn’t going to live in fear any more, and from that day he wasn’t going to cower in the face of anything. I’m not sure what the point of the story was in the context of Survivor, but I did like the part where Russell punched the little turd in the face and he went blubbing.
Russell and Denise go on to talk about the individual immunity part of the game, and how the physical game matters a lot less than the social game – in other words, Denise suggests that Russell votes for Malcolm. Russell had always assumed there was an alliance between Denise and Malcolm, but interviews about the hypothetical notion that he is actually in a pivotal position.
Malcolm, who has the filthiest ears you’ll ever see, talks about how they are all paranoid about the dynamics where they all have to say “the person who isn’t here is going tonight”, and they all know that the other two people have to say it.
Denise is as pragmatic as you’d expect, saying Malcolm and Russell are both good guys and if it’s her going home tonight it was her that screwed up and they played the game better than her.
Tribal council! Probst sighting! No snake this week, but there is a centipede. Dramatic Tribal Council music, too.
Probst says to Denise “Crazy, right!” and Denise says “Crazy, that doesn’t even hardly explain it. Absolutely nuts.” I think they are actually talking about the weather, which is blowing hard, rather than Matsing, which is also blowing hard.
Probst asks Malcolm about what it was like at camp, because of the whole three-person dynamics that Malcolm talked about earlier. Malcolm says there is no telling what will happen, and that you’re not playing if you’re not saying something different to everyone else. Denise agrees.
Probst goes to Russell and paraphrases his attitude as “I do my best, I should win.” Russell says that he thought about that all day, and eventually came to the conclusion that there is “nothing wrong with me expecting excellence for myself every time.” Which is true, but it sounds like something you would say at a corporate retreat.
Also, Russell came to the conclusion that what he thought in the first place was awesome? Quelle surprise! And I think that’s Russell’s problem with Survivor. Every time something goes wrong, he goes into corporate retreat mode and comes out with some hollow slogan that no one else believes like “dig deep” and “we have to decide that we are unbeatable.”
What Russell should have done was take a step back, have an honest performance review, come up with a plan that addresses his weaknesses and then successfully implement that plan in the game. That is how you achieve excellence – by working hard to improve yourself. How is he going to be excellent, rather than just expecting it? It’s “My plan is, I’m going to win a million dollars” all over again.
Probst asks who was to blame for the challenge loss tonight, as though we weren’t past that weeks ago. Malcolm raises his hand, saying that he volunteered to be the wrecking baller, and he did not get close. He talks about how he was let down in the earlier challenges, and when he lets other people down, it stings double. Yeah, I suppose it must really sting when you finally run out of people to blame.
Probst asks Denise and then Malcolm why they should stay. Denise says she will continue to be a strong physical player and will have a strong social game, and Malcolm argues that they cannot wait for a twist or a merge – they have win something at one point, and with 20 years on Russell and a foot on Denise, he’s the biggest physical asset they have.
Probst then asks Russell why not Malcolm, and Russell points out that Malcolm is “such a young stud” and an obvious physical threat later on. And while Russell is “no slouch,” he has “something on the social end, experientially” based on his 15 previous days and one Tribal Council playing this game.
Malcolm, why not Denise? Malcolm says she is a step above everyone socially and no one can say anything about her. Russell agrees before Malcolm has finished speaking, saying if she makes it to a jury vote, she wins, and then they both fall over each other to confirm what a jury threat Denise would be.
Probst asks Malcolm what will happen tonight. The response is that he is going forward with the “two that have the best chance together to go deep in this game, Denise, hint hint.” And it’s time to vote.
We see Russell vote for Malcolm and Malcolm vote for Russell and when Denise returns it’s time for Probst to do even less work than usual “tallying” the votes. But before that, no one has the hidden immunity idol, so I guess Russell expects excellence in everything he does except clue-reading.
When the votes are read, it’s Russell, Malcolm... and Russell. “Uhhhhhh…” he says, visibly deflating. Russell, it’s time for you to go. He doesn’t even say anything when Probst snuffs his torch. Poor guy. I don’t think I’ve seen any player want to achieve the mediocre excellence of just making it to the merge so badly, and it’s not going to happen for him. Truly, the name of Russell is cursed on Survivor.
“That’ll get your heart pounding,” Malcolm says to Denise before Probst gives some final advice of “keep fighting.”
Next week on Survivor, Matsing is down to two, and we are supposed to believe they are both scrambling for the hidden immunity idol... together? And at Kalabaw, everything changes when Probst voiceovers “The only time medical pulls anyone from this game is when their life is in danger.” Survivor needs one of those “X days without a workplace accident” signs. We don’t know for sure who it is, but it seems Kalabaw may be erecting a memorial to Jeff Kent’s leg.
In Russell’s post-snuffing interview, he talks about how shocked and completely blind-sided he was. Dummy. He complains about how his tribe was dysfunctional in so many different ways, none of which have anything to do with Russell, and about how that “it is obvious he and Survivor don’t get along, so I am done with this.” And to rub salt into the wound, those kids who beat him up when he was aged eight just wet themselves laughing.