Here's your big excitement in the reality television genre. Yup, right here with Survivor! The alliance of six is at the point where they have to start picking off their own to outwit, outplay, and outlast.
Six are left. Who will be voted out tonight?
The show opened (after the inevitable recap of last week's events) on Day 34 at the Bula Bula camp.
Boo thinks he's going to be a target, rightfully thought. So, he's setting up an eavesdropping spot by the water well. Perfect! He can hide in there and see if anyone's talking about voting him out.
Well, it's too bad that while he was setting up his hiding spot, the other castaways were all back at camp talking about... you got it... voting Boo out next. They know he's strong in challenges and he's a bit of a wild card, too.
Tree mail came with hints of the Reward Challenge and the tribe automatically knew it was the yearly car prize. Of course, with the car prize comes the Survivor car winner curse -- in the history of the show, the winner of the car has never won the million dollar prize at the end. Dreamz went on and on about how much he wanted the car. He doesn't have one and he believes it would truly change his life.
It turned out that the prize wasn't a car, per se. It was a 2008 Ford truck. The tribe was split into two teams of three and tied together. Then they had to go over a series of see-saws, climb a cargo net crawl doohickey, find their buried hatchet and cut their rope. The winning three would take part in delivering needed school supplies to a local school, using the new truck of course. The winning three then had to compete against each other for the truck win.
The teams were Orange - Yau-Man, Boo, Stacy and Green - Dreamz, Earl, Cassandra. Yau-Man held his team back as he kept falling on the see-saw. Balance while walking just isn't his thing, I guess. But his team made up time in the cargo net crawl, then dug up their hatchet first. So, Orange won the first round for taking the supplies to the school.
In the second round, a hatchet toss, the first round winners had to throw a hatchet at a target. The first one to cut through the two ropes on the target won the car. And, it was Yau-Man!
In a surprise move, he decided to make a public deal with Dreamz. Dreamz wanted that truck so bad and Yau-Man, thinking on his feet better than he can balance on them, offered to give Dreamz the truck.
The hitch was that if they made it to the final four, Dreamz would have to give him Immunity if he won it. Dreamz jumped on the chance for the truck without even thinking it through. Had he thought it through, I think he probably would have taken the truck and his chances anyway. He wants that truck!
Then, continuing the surprises, Yau-Man sent himself to Exile Island. Later, on the island, he gave his reasons behind that to us. He thought Earl had been sent there too much and Cassandra wouldn't be able to handle it. He also explained to us that while a bit of giving the truck to Dreamz was because he thought it was a good deed, it was more strategy. He also mentioned his trust in Earl again and planned to share the latest clue with him. The clue indicated pine tree this time.
The reward shared by Boo, Stacy, and Dreamz seemed to really touch them. The children needed the supplies. The teachers even got a fully-loaded mobile office. It was one of those heart-warming do-good warm fuzzies all around rewards.
It took him a while, but Dreamz realized he was tricked by Yau-Man. He still thinks it was great for him to give him the car and he gave his word he'd give him the Immunity at that point if he won it. How to get out of it? Get Yau-Man out before that point. That way, he'd keep his word and the truck that went with it.
Earl poked around looking for the Idol based on the clues he and Boo got during their Exile Island stays. Dreamz worked on trying to get Cassandra to understand Yau-Man has to go first, then Boo. Cassandra is more worried about Boo.
At the Immunity Challenge, we got to see something different once again. Yay for no puzzles each and every week! It's Rounds which seems to be the keyword as of late. This was another challenge with rounds. In the first round, the castaways had to stand on a platform where there was a ball on a rope. They had to throw the ball into a hoop to bring down a balance beam. The next round had them on a perch using a grappling hook to get a buoy.
Dreamz, Yau-Man, Earl, and Boo made it through the first round. The final round was between Yau-Man and Boo. Boo, knowing he pretty much has to win Immunity to stay in the game, gave it his all and won Immunity.
Boo noticed that his win seemed to stir up the others and he thought they'd have to go to Plan B. Earl and Yau-Man didn't have time to think about Plan B. They had an Idol to find. Yau-Man stayed at the camp while Earl searched. Sure enough, Earl found it in a pine tree!
The scheming went on in camp with Dreamz trying to get everyone to vote Yau-Man while Earl and Yau-Man thought Stacy was the target. Stacy, without a doubt, bought the plan easily. She knew she would be the target as they couldn't vote for Boo to go.
Cassandra was a harder sell. She tried to think the situation through. If it backfired, she would make enemies of both Earl and Yau-Man. Was it a chance she was willing to take?
Yau-Man, smart dude that he is, was getting bad vibes. He told Earl, but Earl didn't think anything was going on. After all, he had talked to Dreamz, Cassandra and Boo. The plan was for a Stacy vote. No need to worry, right?
Then came Tribal Council. As Jeff asked questions, Loose Lips Sink Ships and Stacys, Stacy said she thought it would be a split vote and the game would get harder. Both Yau-Man and Earl jumped a bit to hear that.
After Jeff tallied the votes, but before he read them, he once again said that if someone had the hidden Idol and wanted to use it, now was the time. Although it may have been editing, it seemed like forever before Yau-Man pulled out the Idol to save himself.
Sure enough, Yau-Man and Earl were the only ones to vote for Stacy. Everyone else voted for Yau-Man thinking he'd be confident that he was safe and not use the Idol. Had Stacy not mentioned the split vote, he wouldn't have used it. Stacy sent herself home.
The finale and reunion should be really interesting Sunday, huh?
Yau-Man saved his butt with the hidden Immunity Idol and Stacy was voted out.
Stop back later for a full review/recap!
Yau-Man won Reward - a 2008 Ford truck. (Oh, no... car winner curse!) He made a public deal with Dreamz (who's desperate to have a car) that if they make it to the Final Four and he (Dreamz) wins Immunity, he gives it to Yau-Man. Dreamz agreed and now has a truck.
Yau-Man sent himself to Exile Island.
Yes, he did.
Stay tuned for Immunity and the boot, as well as a full review/recap posted here later tonight!
Yet another dynamite episode!
Now, we all remember that Ben was originally introduced to us as Henry Gale. And, of course, Henry Gale was the Dorothy's uncle in The Wizard of Oz. The "Wizard" himself arrived in Oz via a hot air balloon (as was Ben/Henry's original story, but landing on the island). We all know that the Wizard of Oz was a sham; he was the "man behind the curtain' working all the controls and manipulating the good folks of Oz.
So, what does that make Ben? Or... could it be Jacob? Or, is there a Jacob?
Tonight's episode was Ben-centric and very powerful. Ben has been a real mystery and it's time we got some goods on his background!
In the Flashbacks
A man and his pregnant wife were hiking in the woods. Although she was only seven months pregnant, she gave birth to a baby boy... Ben. Emily Linus died shortly after giving birth as her husband, Roger, carried her and the baby to the roadside. A sign had mileage to Portland listed on it.
A young couple stopped to help Roger, his dying wife, and the newborn Ben. They were Horace Goodspeed and Olivia. Fast forward to when Ben is perhaps ten years old or so... Roger and Ben arrived on the island where Horace had promised Roger a job, Ben good schooling, and a better life. They would be a part of the DHARMA Initiative. Namaste! (That seems to be a welcome greeting.)
Roger Linus was upset as he was given his work uniform. He's a Work Man, the Roger "Workman" from the microbus Hurley found a few weeks back. He thought he would have a much better job. I think Roger was a very bitter and broken man, most likely due to the death of his wife.
In the orientation, Horace told them that they had to remain in the Barracks area and not pass through the pylon fences due to "hostiles" and wildlife on the island.
Young Ben seemed to fit in okay with the other DHARMA kids, and with one little girl in particular -- Annie. She was the only one to ever remember his birthday. She made him a doll and told him that she'd always be with him as long as he had the doll.
While at school studying volcanoes, the teacher told the class that there had been one on the island. All of a sudden, the intruder alert alarms went off. Hostiles! The skirmish with them caused Roger to get angrier and demand another thirty-thousand for hazard pay.
As his father argued about the conditions, Ben saw his mother at the window. Then she vanished, but a photo confirmed it was her. She seemed to be dressed in the same dress as the doll given to him by Annie.
His father saw the box with the doll from Annie and mentioned that he had forgotten Ben's birthday again. He had been drinking and got nasty with Ben. :How could I forget the day you killed your mother?"
Ben ran to the pylon fence where he saw his mother again. But she sent him back, telling him it wasn't time yet.
Now, I'm not sure how I missed how he got it, but Ben later returned to the fence with a note which held the code to turn off the power -- 54439. He sent his pet rabbit through first to make sure he had deactivated the fence. Then he went through, wandering in the woods and frightened at every sound.
Whom does he encounter? Why, I believe it's Richard Alpert with longer hair. Ben is a child, but Richard is a grown man. What's up with that? Richard asked him if he saw his mother here after Ben told him he was searching for her and that she was dead. Ben insisted that he wanted to go with Richard because "I hate it here." "Be patient, be very patient," Richard told him.
Ben did go back to the Barracks, because the next time we see him, he's an adult working for DHARMA. His shirt reads "Ben Work Man." So, he's a janitor like his father. Ben and his father were loading a DHARMA VW bus with beer to deliver to the Pearl Station.
As they went through a meadow with "Shabala" blaring, they stopped to open a beer to "celebrate" Ben's birthday. Roger promised him he'd remember the next year. At exactly 4 PM, Ben popped a beer top, handed it to his father, then put on a gas mask. He set off a cannister of gas in the vehicle and sat emotionless as his father bled from the nose and died.
Ben went back to the Barracks where all the other members of the DHARMA Initiative had also been gassed. Richard Alpert, looking like the Richard Alpert of the present, and a group of armed "hostiles" were at the Barracks, also wearing gas masks. Ben had been patient well into his adult years.
On the Island
Sawyer brought the recorder that Locke gave him to Sayid, telling Sayid that Locke went back with the others. Sayid and Sawyer were looking for Juliet, but neither Juliet or Jack are anywhere around. When Kate arrived, she told them that Juliet had left with Jack. "Play her the tape." What they're hearing on the tape is Juliet's message to Ben about testing Sun.
Juliet and Jack came back to find the camp talking about them. Jack told them that he knew of Sun's trip to the medical station with Juliet. She had told him. They were shocked that the world thinks there are no survivors of the plane crash. Juliet told them to turn the tape over. On the other side there were the plans to raid the camp, take Sun as well as mention of "Austin's sample." They must think that Kate could be pregnant. Jack again told them that he knew because Juliet had told them. When questioned why he didn't say anything, he told them he hadn't decided what to do about it yet.
Huh? What's with Jack? You don't know what to do about an upcoming raid and kidnapping? You don't tell anyone until you're cornered?
At the Others Camp, Ben has the doll. It's his birthday, y'see. Richard arrived to take the recorder back for Juliet when they discovered the recorder had gone missing. Their search was interrupted by John Locke's arrival, dead body of his father over his shoulder. Ben was shocked!
Locke reminded Ben that he promised to tell him everything about the island if he brought his father's body there. Ben told him he (Ben) wasn't the leader -- he had to answer to Jacob. Locke was persistent. He wanted to know about Jacob. In questioning Ben, he found out that no one but Ben had ever seen Jacob. Locke called him a liar, the man behind the curtain.
That's when a not-dead Mikhail arrived. He told them that the pylons weren't set at a lethal level -- that's how he lived. He was stunned to see Locke there questioning Ben. "What are you doing? We don't answer to him!" Ben told him that Locke was with them now. Mikhail told them of Naomi, the crashed "helo" and the freighter ship offshore.
When Ben told Locke that he had to attend to those issues, Locke demanded he take him to Jacob. He told Mikhail, "Ben's not going with you. He and I are going to see Jacob." Then Locke beat Mikhail to a pulp. (Mikhail really gets hurt a lot, eh?) Ben cried for the others watching to stop Locke, but they all stood and watched. It was like a battle of power between Ben and Locke even though it was Mikhail being beaten.
After Locke stopped beating Mikhail, Alex gave him a gun to take with them to go see Jacob. "Happy birthday, Dad."
As Ben and Locke hiked through the woods, Ben told him that Jacob would be angry. After all, he wasn't the kind of man you go to see. He was the kind of man who summoned you to see him. Ben glanced at dirt in passing, then Locke paused and examined it. Volcano ash? I'm not sure.
They arrived at a wooden shack and Ben told Locke he'd have to turn off the flashlight because "Jacob doesn't like technology." "Are you sure you want to go in there?" Ben asked Locke. "So be it."
Inside the shack was a table, a rocking chair, a picture of a dog, and four jars of something on a shelf. Ben started talking to the chair reminding me so much of Norman Bates in Psycho. Apparently the chair was talking back to him, but neither John nor we heard him.
Locke started yelling that Ben was a fraud, crazy! "You made it all up!: Ben told him he must be too limited to see and insisted that Jacob was in the empty chair. Locke went to leave when he heard an unearthly voice say, "Help me." He quickly turned on the flashlight when all went wild in the room. The chair moved, items whizzed through the air, and Ben looked terrified. When a fire started from the lantern, Locke ran out followed by Ben.
"What did he say to you? What did Jacob say to you?" Locke yelled at him that he put on a show and that he was a fraud. He was going to tell his people the truth. They headed back to the Barracks, but not the way they had taken to get there.
Instead, Ben led Locke to a burial ditch containing the skeletons of the members of the DHARMA Initiative. He shot John in the left chest and let him fall in with the bones. "What did Jacob say to you?" "Help me." "What did he say?" "He said 'help me.'" "I hope he helps you, John."
LOST [thunk]
So... Ben wasn't born on the island. The aging thing is odd, too. We know Richard was in Portland, but yet his work is separate from DHARMA. And, the Others are the hostiles, not DHARMA. Has anyone other than Aaron been really born on the island?
Great episode!
Here's your big excitement in the reality television genre. Yup, right here with Survivor! The alliance of six is at the point where they have to start picking off their own to outwit, outplay, and outlast.
