'Survivor 14: Fiji' - Ep. 10 -or- "Dreamz Plays Both Teams... Not Very Well"

I've come to the conclusion that they should all band together to vote out Dreamz next. He plays both sides which, if done well and with sneakiness, works. But when no one trusts you, you're the lone wolf. And you're a dangerous wild card often a step out of step in the game.

Nine are left. Who will be voted out tonight?

The show opened on Night 24 at the Bula Bula camp. Mookie's mad about the vote. He thinks that Dreamz gave the power right back to Alex. Dreamz rationale for voting for Michelle last week, given to us in a confessional segment, still makes no sense. "I voted for her because she said she didn't know me. If she hadn't said that, she'd still be here." Um... okay.

Making it obvious that there is no real trust, Alex told Mookie that a different member of the Four Horsemen (Alex, Mookie, Edgardo, Dreamz) should hold the found hidden Idol each day. Well, he may have left Dreamz out of that equation. He did. I guess it's the Three Horseman and the Guy They Don't Trust.

In a confessional, Earl told us he was upset about Michelle being voted out. It "flipped the script" for him. He likened it to a chess game when you're down a few important pieces and have to rethink your strategy. The man is playing a thinking man's game. He doesn't think he can trust Dreamz, but thinks they may need him.

The Rewards Challenge was the Big Reveal one for the season. The castaways had to answer questions about their fellow tribemates in private, then guess the answers of the majority. Those who were right then got a chance to smash a tower of another tribemate. Each person had three towers. So, tribemates got to find out what others think of them, plus who wants whom out of the game. In the end, it was Stacy taking the personal blow, but she reacted better than a few in the past.

Here are the questions and majority answers:
1. Who do you trust with your life? Earl
2. Who is least likely to be invited to a family dinner? Boo
3. Who has the largest sense of entitlement? Alex
4. Who would you want to be stranded on a desert island with? Yau-Man
5. Who don't you want to see after the show ends? Stacy
6. Who smells the worst? Dreamz
7. Who mistakenly thinks he/she controls the game? Alex
8. Who wasted the greatest opportunity? Stacy
9. Who has shown the most athletic surprise? Yau-Man

Stacy was the first one knocked out with Boo, Cassandra, and Yau-Man taking her down immediately. The rest of the tower-smashing went along alliance lines or revenge until only Cassandra remained. She won Reward and sent Mookie off to Exile Island.

Reward was a luxury yacht trip with food and beverages. She got to choose three other to go with her. She first chose Dreamz, then Boo. She told us she chose them to work on them for the alliance. She chose Yau-Man last because she thought he deserved it.

Over on Exile Island, Mookie was steaming. He's mad at Cassandra and makes a personal vow to get her voted out, then her alliance one by one. He thinks Earl has the hidden Idol from their camp. But on the yacht, Cassandra and Yau-Man are doing their best to brainwash Boo and Dreamz. It looks like Boo's better for them than Dreamz. Neither Cassandra or Yau-Man feel they can trust Dreamz. They're both good people-readers. Heck, I don't know if Dreamz can even trust himself!

Then it all goes awry. Dreamz told Alex he's in danger as per what he's heard. Earl just happens upon them catching Dreamz spilling beans. Cassandra and Earl confront Dreamz away from Alex. Dreamz played the same "you don't trust me" card he played with the Four Horseman alliance. No, Dreamz. No one trusts you because you're playing both sides and proving you can't be trusted!

Then he did it. Dreamz betrayed the Four Horsemen to Cassandra and Earl. He told them Mookie had the hidden Idol from their camp. What is this guy thinking? Yau-Man told us in confessional that everything will now have to be rethinked.

No time for thinking when there's an Immunity Challenge to be endured! Yes, it was endurance this time around. It's the first individual Immunity Challenge of the season. The castaways had to stand in a frame using only their arms and feet.

The hitch was that each half-hour, they'd take a step down. The foot-holds grew increasingly smaller with each step down with the lowest being less than a quarter-inch wide. Cassandra fell almost right out of the competition. Edgardo gone, Earl out, Mookie, Alex, Dreamz... leaving it contest between Yau-Man, Boo, and Stacy.

I personally think that this challenge was actually better for those who weighed the least and may have the smallest feet. And, I'm sure those two would be Yau-Man and Stacy. Boo had to be hanging in with sheer determination.

In the end, Yau-Man won and looked like he could last another hour or two.

Day 27 at the camp found Dreamz doing more double-dogging backstabbing on both sides. Mookie is still determined to get rid of Cassandra and thinks Earl has the Idol. Yau-Man talked to Stacy and won her over. He told her she wouldn't be alone voting for Alex, but please don't vote for Earl. Stacy, thinking smarter than Dreamz, thinks she'd do better with the Cassandra, Earl, Boo, and Yau-Man alliance and decides she'll vote out Alex.

Dreamz went to Mookie and told him that he thought Earl and company knew he had the idol and they were planning to vote out Alex. So, Alex convinced Mookie to give him the Idol so he could save himself with it although Mookie was reluctant to give it up.

Then Dreamz saw Mookie pass Alex the Idol and ran to Earl and company to tell them. So, they switched their plan. Without telling Dreamz (because he can't be trusted!), they decided they would all vote for Edgardo and get him out by surprise. It was actually Stacy's suggestion. It looks like she is going to be valuable to her new alliance. She thinks.

At the Tribal Council, that's pretty much how it all went down. After the votes were cast, but before they were read, Alex used the Idol to save himself. So any votes for him wouldn't count. But there were no votes for him. Alex, Edgardo, and Mookie voted for Cassandra. Dreamz was a whack-vote again -- he voted Mookie. (I just can't get his thought process or lack thereof.) The other five all voted for Edgardo.

"Edgardo, the tribe has spoken."

Well, I'm glad that a hidden Immunity Idol has finally been used. And, I like the thinking game of the Earl, Yau-Man, Cassandra, Stacy alliance. Yeah, I know Boo's in there, but I see him as more of a follower. It's too bad that Edgardo paid the ultimate game sacrifice when the target was originally Alex or Mookie, but it was a good move. Another interesting development is that the Idol will be re-hidden and new clues will be set.

Your thoughts?

'Survivor 14: Fiji' - East Coast Update - 4/19 - Voted Out

Twisty and turny and a mis-used Idol... Edgardo is voted out.

A full review/recap will be posted later tonight.

'Survivor 14: Fiji' - East Coast Update - 4/19 - Individual Immunity

Yau-Man won the first individual Immunity for this season.

(As it should be.)

Stay tuned for the boot East Coast Update and the full review/recap later tonight!

'Survivor 14: Fiji' - East Coast Update - 4/19 - Reward, Exile

Cassandra won Reward - a trip on a luxury yacht. She had to choose three others to go with her. She chose Dreamz and Boo first (to work on them) and then Yau-Man. She sent Mookie to Exile Island.

I'll post another update at Immunity, then the boot. A full review/recap will be posted later tonight.

'Lost' - "Catch-22"

Another good episode, although this one created more questions than answering them. Just what we need... new mysteries when I would like to know more about the giant polar bear!

The episode was Desmond-centric, a character whom we get in occasional bursts, but one of the more mysterious characters on the island. The flashback sequences showed us a bit more of his psyche and, more importantly, explained why he calls all men "my brother." I had thought it an affectation, but there is indeed a reason.

In Flashbacks:
Desmond is a monk just completing his vows of silence. There's your "my brother" reasoning! At the monastery, they produce wine (and imbibe a bit, too). The Head Monk told Desmond that he underestimates the power of sacrifice. He spoke of the story where Abraham was asked to kill Isaac and Isaac was spared by God. Desmond mentioned that Isaac was saved anyway, but the Head Monk said the importance of the story was that Abraham was willing to make the sacrifice.

Then a man arrived at the monastery and punched Desmond in the nose. No, not a random man. It was Ruth's brother (I think). Remember, Ruth was Desmond's fiance that he unexpectedly deserted shortly before the wedding. Desmond then went to talk to Ruth. He thought he owed her an explanation. He said he woke up on the street at one point and heard a voice ask, "Can I help you, brother?" He knew he was supposed to go with him... sacrifice all answering a greater calling.

After the confession, what does Desmond do? He went and got wasted on the expensive and rather rare wine they produced at the monastery. He thought he wasn't cut out to be a monk. But the Head Monk left him no choice; he fired him. "God has different plans for you, bigger plans." Head Monk told him that he spent to much time running away to realize what he was running toward.

It was then that Desmond met wealthy Penny. She arrived at the monastery to take a shipment of wine for her father. Desmond helped her load the shipment and told her he was a fired monk.

On the Island:
The show opened with Charlie and Hurley in an animated debate of Superman versus the Flash walking through the woods with Jin and Desmond. Then something impales Charlie in the upper chest/low neck area. Whap! Scenes of dark clouds with a red beacon light in them. Oh, so confusing, but they meant something to Desmond.

Ah, but it was a vision of Desmond's, not actually happening. Not right at that time, anyway. Cut to Desmond telling Hurley he needed him to find the cable wire, something also in the vision. When Hurley asked why, all Desmond said was a cryptic, "Someone's coming."

Desmond asked Jack for the first aid kit, explaining that he had to tape up his twisted ankle. Hurley demanded more of an explanation, so Desmond told him it was indeed a vision, but one like a jigsaw puzzle with no accompanying picture. He didn't know how the pieces fit. But he saw Hurley pulling the cable out of the sand, so he needed him to do that. This was a vision he wanted to happen, not to stop or change.

They needed both Jin and Charlie to complete the vision troop. He told Charlie that someone was coming to the island and denied that his life was in danger. (But.. but... the WHAP arrow!)

They whistled "Bridge Over the River Kwai" as they headed to the area where the cable was buried. They set up camp after Charlie and Hurley balked at going into the dark jungle. While Jin told ghost stories in Korean to Hurley and Charlie, Desmond sat a distance away looking at the photo of Penny and himself.

The sounds of a helicopter came from the distance, but they soon sounded a bit wrong. The men were at the beach as the helicopter crashed into the ocean. Then they saw a red beacon in the sky which indicated someone had ejected. (Do people really eject from helicopters? Maybe they jumped.)

Desmond wanted to immediately go to where the beacon seemed to go down, but the others refused. Since he knew they had to be with him according to his vision, he agreed they would go at first light. Now, in his vision, Charlie dies. Desmond wanted the vision to go according to plan so that he could have Penny, his love who ejected from the helicopter.

But, when the time came, he couldn't sacrifice Charlie to obtain Penny. The Superman versus the Flash argument was ongoing and Desmond spotted the trap with the arrow. He yelled "Duck!" before the trap-arrow hit Charlie. He was sure that he would lose Penny, but couldn't do it to Charlie. Charlie realized that Desmond had to know about the arrow. Desmond told Charlie he was supposed to let him die. He reminded him it was pointless. It would happen again and again until Charlie died.

"I'm so sorry, Penny."

They first found a pack, apparently from the ejectee. In it was a copy of Catch-22 in Polish, a cellphone which died the second they turned it on, and the photo of Penny and Desmond which was tucked in the pages of the book.

Jin spotted the ejectee hanging from a tree and Desmond climbed to cut her down. The others were ready to catch the body in a blanket. Yes, they were pretty sure it was a body, not a live Penny.

Ah, but it wasn't Penny at all. When Desmond removed the mask from the ejectee, it was an unfamiliar face. And, she was alive, just barely. According to the credits, the character is Naomi.

She knows Desmond and utters his name before passing out. He doesn't seem to know her.

LOST [thunk]

Wait! Wait! How could I forget the thrilling love triangle now square betwixt Sawyer, Jack, Kate, and Juliet? Kate doesn't seem to know what (or whom) she wants. She appears upset that Jack is paying attention to Juliet, so she jumps Sawyer's bones. She told Sawyer that Jack knew about them, he saw it on the monitor at the Others. And so forth and so on.