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The surprising element of tonight's episode occurs when Coach and Tyson have a moonlit conversation. Rather than discuss the beauty of each other's eyes, they focus upon Brendan, presumably to make one another jealous. The agreement is that they will target him at the next vote rather than pick off one of the (presumably) outnumbered members of the former Jalapao tribe. This is frankly suicidal strategy, as the 6-4 lead currently held by the old Timbira group is shaky as is. At 5-4, only one of them would have to flip in order to guarantee a very bad series of Tribal Councils for the others in their alliance. Once again, fear of the hidden immunity idol is creating irrational decisions by rational players...hey, Tyson still qualifies for that description even if The Maestro does not. The problem with plans such as this is that secrecy is a must. Tyson, showing signs of being another Corinne from last season, brags to the camera about what a masterful liar he is. Then, he behaves just like any James Bond villain would and proceeds to tell J.T. their nefarious plan to eliminate Brendan. What you always want to do right after a merge is tell a member of the smaller alliance that you plan to vote off a member of your own alliance. That always ends well. Tyson is like a November turkey running straight at the dude wielding the axe.

Speaking of being sworn to secrecy, Brendan and Sierra are playing their ultra-secret alliance so cool that Taj and Stephen are freaked out about the lack of communication. When Tyson watched this episode on television, I hope he was taking notes. The problem here is that Brendan is making plans without his allies, and that's not always the best thing to do. During a monologue, he states that they need to do absolutely nothing together until Joe and J.T. have both been eliminated. This alliance is so super-secret that he doesn't even know J.T. is a part of it. There is a fly in this ointment and Tocantins does not appear to be chock full of bug spray.

Tyson pulls Debra aside and tells her that the alliance is: "You, me, Coach, J.T. and Stephen." J.T. missed his calling as a double agent. An ally is planning his demise while his enemies are celebrating what a great friend he is. Almost as if the show were fixed, Brendan chooses this moment to enter the conversation. Tyson, who is plotting against Brendan for this very vote, states that Joe needs to be next to go. Brendan, who is plotting against Tyson, is pleased by this because he wants Joe then J.T. to go before he targets Tyson and Coach. I think I understood Mission: Impossible and all of its Tom Cruise masks better than I do the current permutations of who is with who on the current season of Survivor. What is clear is that Tyson has major insecurity issues regarding Brendan. He spends a remarkable amount of time trying to convince himself that he is a better manipulator.

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